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1906
THE JAINA GAZETTE.'
and can be reached by bullock carts, ekkas or in some cases by tandem or a tikka garry. Most pilgrims take the bullock carts and if a man has time they are not bad conveyances; but the eklas and tandems are swifter, although more costly. The distance is travelled by carts in about 4 hours and by the horse-carriages in about half that time. Starting from Behar, the pilgrim passes across & road, on both sides of which clumps of tall palm-trees stand the most prominent in their high majesty against a calm and mild sky. The frequency with which the palm meets your eyes reminds you of the saying: he wrisult s "The Turks or Musulmans, vilmen, and palm-trees; these three abound in Behar." The palm is a very useful tree and the natives get an intoxicating drink of a white bluish color from its juice, which they mix with water and sell. Of its broad leaves they make fans; and of its strong timber they make rafters for their roofs and many other things of wood. On the road-side other trees are hedged in by circles of nagaphana seej. A small river, now dried up, called Paimar, is in the middle of the path. Crossing the Paimar you come in sight of the pancha pahari, the five hills on the site of the ancient city of Rajgriha, which is also a resort of the Jaina pilgrims that visit Pavapuri. About three miles from the Paimar, at the end of your journey you come in sight of the temples that constitute Pavapuriji.
A small hamlet of moderate dimensions, and of mid-houges mostly, Pavapuriji is a place lovely in its simple surroundings and lovelier still in its sncred traditions. There are several dharmashalas (restingp!Aces) for Jaina pilgrims. There are about half a dozen temples, erected by the Svetambaras and Digambaras. Many pilgrims of both sexes vruceed to the place, chiefly on the 'Dewali occasion, the day on which Lord Mahavira attained Nirvana and then up to the month of March, when the attendance begins to fall. The main temple, which contains the charanas, sacred-foot-impressions, of Lord Mahavira, stand in the middle of a tank, covered with lotus leaves and other aquatic plants if various kinds. Many fish Hoat in the water and make a very funny sight by their incessant fitting. Sometimes a bigger fish would attack a shoal of smaller fish and make them dart down into the water in great confusion, At present po lotuses are blooming in the tank but it is easy to imagine how charming the tank must look when white and red lotuses dot its surface and the fish dance in its pellucid depths through the mazes of the totus-stems. The sun also may then be imagined as converting every stray drop of water that the ever-busy tails of the fish have cast on to a lotus, into a pearl of the most beautiful pink color. The insulated tempie of our
