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the road from Giriyak to Bihar ; it is just to the
east of the road.” The following description of Pawapuri appears in the District Gazetteer of Patna (1924) :
"Pawapuri is a sacred place to the Jains, as it was here that Mahavir, the founder* of their religion, died; according to another account, he died on Vipulgiri hill at Rajgir, and his body was brought here to be burned. The village is situated a short distance to the north of a great lake in the midst of which stands the holy temple of JalMandir. The lake is a little more than one-quarter of a mile on each side ; and there is a bridge on the north side leading to the temple in the middle of an island 104 feet square. The temple is of dazzling whiteness outside, and dismal darkness inside, and is only entered through a low door which forces the visitor to stoop. To the north of the lake there is an old temple called Thal-Mandir, which according to the priests, is built on the spot where Mabavir died, the Jal-Mandir being the place of his cremation. The lake did not then exist; but such count-less crowds of people came to attend the ceremony of burning the body, that the mere act of each taking up a pinch of dust to make the usual tika or mark on the forehead is believed to have created a great hollow which now forms the lake.
Between Thal-Mandir and the lake there is a curious circular mound which rises by four successive broad steps or stages, up to a platform 32 ft. in diameter. On this there is a small round terrace
*It is a very common mistake to describe Mahavira as the (founder of Jainism. Jainism was there from long before. Mahavira was the last or the 24th Tyrrhankar and not the founder (P. C. Roy Choudhury).
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