branch called Sanr passes on one side of the ridge, and the eastern branch retains the name and passes on its other side.1

24th November.-I went a little way east to Ibrahimpur in the fork between the Sanr and Fulgo rivers. To the former from Nagarjuni is about of a mile. The river is about of a mile [wide]. Immediately in the fork has been a small fort with round bastions at the corner, but the buildings within have left several heaps, one round and pretty considerable. The walls of a small brick building are still remaining. The village extends about half a mile from the fort to the mosque, which is small and covered with three domes, but is not destitute of taste. It stands on a terrace raised on short thick pillars, which support flags under which some holy men have made hovels. There is a gate and place for a crier on the east side of the terrace, opposite to the mosque which occupies the western. South from the mosque has been the house of Ibrahim the conqueror of the vicinity, who with the spoils of the infidels seems to [have] erected a large abode of brick and stone. Two parts of the walls only are now standing, but the size of the heaps of ruins shew that the building has possessed considerable dimensions. This Ibrahim was a great saint, and is buried at Behar.

3

25th November.--I went to Aima Choki 3, and by the way visited Kenipahar, where it was said there were some remains of antiquity. Rather less than two miles from Nagarjuni I came to the boundary of Sahebgunj, and followed it a little way south, having that division on my right and Holasgunj on my left for about a quarter of a mile. About one mile from the boundary I came to the Fulgo, which I crossed obliquely for half a mile to Keni, which is washed by the river. It is a great heap of very large

(1) Westernmost branch now called Phalgo N. and easternmost branch Mohane N. The former divides again about eight miles further north, and its eastern branch is called Sunr N.

(2) Ibrahimpur or Jaru.

Alwan.

masses of perfect granite, where very fine stones might be procured. I went a little way along its south side, where I found a small temple. The Pujari said that the only thing remarkable was a cave where a hermit had passed his time in devotion. With great difficulty I scrambled up the rock and found the hermitage to be a den undera shelving rock not above three feet high, but wide and long enough to shelter several people, and quite dry. The priest then shewed me at the foot of the hill a large block of granite under a tamarind tree, where he said the great man (Mahapurus) was wont to play (Kelna). What play the holy person used I cannot say. There were two holes on the stone such as those in which the people here often beat rice. From the east end of heni I proceeded about 1 miles east to join the great road between Patna and Gaya, which is miserable. I followed it south-west for about three miles to Aima Choki, so that my route was exceedingly circuitous.

26th November.--I went to Sahebgunj. The road until near that place leads near the Fulgo, and is very bad. About a mile from Ram Sil are two ruined small mud forts called Alepi. They seem of modern Hindustani structure, being square with bastions at the corner. South from them I crossed the Fulgo, which is very wide and contains some small islands. Rather more water than at Nagarjuni, and several fine canals go from it for irrigation. The water clear. In the rainy season it rises and falls with great suddenness. I crossed at Ramsil. The Gunj begins a little way south from thence and is not large; but the streets are straight and tolerably wide, with a row of trees on each side. Almost all the houses are tiled, but in general small and poor. Some however are decent, and some are built of brick or rough stone. The Jail is large, and consists of several ranges of tiled buildings surrounded by a strong wall of rough stone and brick. South from the Jail are two gateways with a street between, one is like a triumphal arch built after the European

style with brick. It never seems to have been finished. These gates seem to have been intended to have formed the entrance into a serai, which has never been finished. They are attributed to Mr. Seton, one when Register and the other when Judge. may be rather more than half a mile from south and somewhat less from east to west.

The town north to

29th November.-I went to visit Ramsil, which is about a mile from the south end of the town. At its south side is a tank dug a few years ago by a Krishna Chond Bose of Calcutta. Immediately above this is an European bungalow, beyond which, passing to the north with the hill on the left, you come to the Imamvari, a small building. Beyond this, where the hill comes to the edge of the Fulgo, is a small but neat temple of Siva built after the Moslem style with a dome, and adjacent to it is a small tank surrounded by a wall of stone with turrets on the corners. The stone of the temple and tank is in rough masses covered with plaster. Two inscriptions in white marble, one in Songskrit the other in Persian. It was lately (about 20 years ago) built by Trikait Rai, Dewan of the Nawab Vazir.

From the temple of Siva to the top of the hill the above mentioned Krishna Chond has constructed a way, where the hill is steep in the form of a stair, and where the declivity is small in [the] form of a sloping pavement. Both are constructed chiefly of rude stone found on the hill, united with lime, and are inconceivably rude. In the rainy season the stones are so slippery that many of the pilgrims have been severely hurt, and if the ascent has been rendered more easy, the descent has become much more dangerous. On the left at the top of this stair is a small temple of rude stones, said to be that of Ram and Sita. The images shown as such and as Hanuman appear to be totally different from such as I have before seen. That of Sita has been broken, and the larger portion thrown out. Above this has been constructed a terrace of stone, mostly of granite which must have been brought from

a distance. On this is a small mundir of cut granite which contains a Linga. The Pandas have no tradition by whom it was built, they know that the image came to the place of itself (Prakas). The same Krishna Chand has erected a small and rude Nat Mandir in front of this temple. It seems evident to me that the temple has been built of the ruins of another, which has been much larger and probably occupied its present site, or rather the whole summit of the hill. For a great many of the stones of which the terrace consists, from the ornaments carved on them being broken through the middle and placed without symmetry, show that they have been taken from a ruin; and those which contain no ornaments are exactly of the same granite with them which are carved and with the temple. The mass contained in the terrace is vastly larger than that of the temple, and a great many stones of the same kind have been employed in the structure of the stair. From this I judge that the old temple has been much larger than the present, and the present temple also contains many stones ornamented with carvings that could not have been intended for their present situation. Raja Mitirjit indeed alleges that no one of the present temples at Gaya is above 90 or 100 years old. What the God was which occupied the old temple, I cannot say. Among the ornaments built into the new temple or terrace I observed nothing in the human form, but on the terrace are lying several images, and by the sides of the stair are placed a good many, some of which are still objects of worship and most of which are exactly in the same style with those called Ram, Sita, and Hanuman. Most of them are standing, which is here considered as a sign of their gods worshipped by orthodox (Astik), but some are sitting, which Raja Mittrejit contends is a proof of their having been made by heretics (Nastik). Among them is one evidently of a Buddh in the usual sitting posture, but it is at present worshipped as Brahma. This image is however said to be a stranger. A Brahman two or three years ago found it among the ruins of Kurkihar, about six coses east from Ram Sil, and established it on the hill with a

small endowment for a priest. There are however other images in a sitting posture, especially some said to represent Bhairob, but quite different from such as I have seen of that deity. I have seen the same, however, both in the ruins of Peruya and Mungger, and it seems to me to represent a man sitting in a boat, but so very rude that I may readily be mistaken. The priests were very sturdy beggars.

The view from Ram Sil is exceedingly fine-an immense rich plain like a map under your feet, studded with little rocks, and terminating towards the south and east by mountains. The hill is very rocky, barren, and parched, but not so rugged as those of proper granite. It has more the appearance of those of petrosilex, and the stone1 certainly approaches nearly to that, being divided by numerous fissures, horizontal and vertical, into cuboidal masses, and being exceedingly hard. It is however an aggregate, consisting of black, ash-coloured, and some glassy particles, concerning the nature of which I cannot pretend to decide, but they may be of the three natures usually found in granite, somewhat changed from their usual appearance.

30th November 1811.-I went south-east in order to view that part of this overgrown division.

Crossing the Fulgo obliquely, I went up its east bank to a small hill about a mile from the south end of Sahebgunj. The country near the river very poor and sandy, but planted with mangos and palms, which grow well enough. At this hill I turned easterly, and for about a cose went along high poor land, very badly occupied but clear. I however crossed two fine canals conveying water from the Fulgo, and even now containing streams. About a mile from the river [I] had on my left a small cluster of low bare hills, named Gunhar. On the eastern edge of the high land towards my right was a low smooth bare hill.

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(1) Appendix, No. 11.

(2) Gandhar.