Lieut. Col. Francklin's Description of the Temple of Pars' wandf ha. 527 



inscriptions this mark is prefixed to all numbers and has no value. The 

 inscription on the front of the stone is an exhortation to the believers in the 

 Jinas, to worship the feet of Vasupujya. But some parts of this inscrip- 

 tion, although fairly written, were not understood by the Pandit of the 

 survey, who says that it contains words which are peculiar to the sect. 

 The stone was in a small temple, but (when I visited the place) had been 

 removed, in order to have the building repaired, to the Pyjdri's house. 



I must also remark, that in digging a tank in the immediate vicinity, the 

 people of Mr. Glas, surgeon to the station, found four small images of 

 brass. On one is an inscription, which my people have some difficulty in 

 explaining. It is dated after Pdrsa 925 : I presume years after the era of 

 Pdrsa, probably meaning Parswanat'ha, the twenty-third teacher of the 

 Jainas. It is also dated at Chdmpd?iogara ; but the rest of the inscription, 

 probably in the old Maghadha or Pali language, could not be explained. ■ 



Description of the Teivple of Pdrszvandt'ha at Samet St/char. By Lieut. Col. 

 JFiLLiJM Francklix, M.R.A.S. 

 Read November 18, 1826. 



At the foot of Pdrs'wandt'ha's mountain {Samet Sikhar*), on the Ram- 

 ghur frontier, and one hundred and thirty-six miles south of Bhagalpur, 

 are situated the temples dedicated to Pdrs-xandfha Iswara (the twenty-third 

 deified saint of the Jains), and constituting one of the principal places of 

 the Jain worship in Hindust'han. They consist of large square brick 

 buildings painted white, with a dome in the centre, and four smaller domes 

 at the four corners. The centre dome is crowned with a gilded spire, like 

 the Piathas of the Buddhaic temples of Ava, as described by Colonel 

 iSymes. 



The domes of all the temples are surmounted by crellisses of copper gilt, 

 which sliine like burnished gold. In front of each temple is a gallery for 

 music, the instruments of which are constantly playing during the time of 

 worship. A brick wall surrounds tlie whole ; and at the end is a Dharma- 

 said, or Sarai, for the use of visiters and worshippers. Within the area of 

 the largest of these temples I witnessed a piijd, or act of worship per- 

 formed at the temple. On a terrace was a square canopy of white cloth. 



* Mount Sammeya or Samet sichara. — As. Res. vol. ix, p. 310. 



Vol. I. 3 Z 



