524 Dr. B. Hamilton's Description qfJaina Tempks in South Bihar. 



with one dome. A very bad road with a rude bridge leads into 

 the island. The temple contains two stones, on each of which is an 

 inscription, and the representation of two human feet, the most usual 

 object of worship among the Jainas of this district. The inscriptions are 

 exactly the same : only the one is a year earlier than the other : I give 

 therefore a copy only of the earliest, dated in Samvat I676 (A.D. I619).* 

 The object of worship is Gautama, whom the Jainas, as well as the 

 orthodox and Bauddhas, claim as, of their sect ; and the image was made by 

 a certain Nihdlo, mother of Thakur Sangrama, son of Gbvardhana das, 

 son of Tulasi das, son of Bimala dds, of tlie Chopra tribe, descended of 

 Mantridal, all persons equally obscure. 



There is not in the vicinity of the tank the smallest trace of any ruin, 

 to induce one to suppose that it had been formerly a place sacred to the 

 worship of the Jainas, from which they had been expelled by the Bauddhas, 

 and to which they might have been allowed to return, when the Muham- 

 medan conquerors beheld all the Hindu sects with equal contempt. 

 Neither does a single Jain reside near the place. Why it has, therefore, 

 been chosen as a place of pilgrimage, it would be difficult to say. Many 

 pilgrims, however, come to it from the west of India. 



The other place, called Fokhai-puri, is just on the boundary of Bihar, 

 north from Giriyac ; and when I visited it, was crowded by pilgrims, who 

 informed me that it was the place where the body of Mahavira, one of 

 their twenty-four lawgivers, was burnt about six centuries before the birth 

 of Christ. It entirely resembles that at Nakhaur : but the tank and build- 

 ings are larger, the road leading to the temple better, and the water clean. 

 The earth of the tank has been thrown out towards its north side, forming 

 an eminence on which has been constructed a circular work of bricks and 

 plaster, rising by low steps into several concentric terraces. The 

 centre is somewhat in the shape of a large bee-hive, in the cavity of which 

 is a representation of MahavIra's feet. These buildings were erected 

 by the family of Jagat seth, and are kept in repair at its expense. Tliere 

 is not near it the smallest trace of any ancient building ; but adjacent to it, 

 in the division of Bihar, there is a more considerable place of Jain worship 

 which will be described. 

 • At each of these places resides a Bhqjac Brahman, with a Mali (gardener). 



• See Plate. The date appears to be 1686. 



