OF THE HINDUS. 28J 



the fame day. Thefe events are natural and probable^ 

 if the city of Chandra-Gupta was on the fite of Raje- 

 mehal, or in the neighbourhood of that place, but are 

 utterly incredible, if applied to the fituation of Patna 5 

 from which the hills recede at leaft thirty miles in any 

 direction. 



Again, Patalcandara in Sanfcrit, flgmfies the craft? 

 of a volcano ; and in fact, the hills that form the 

 glen, in which is fituated the place now called Moo- 

 tijarna, or the pearl dropping fpring, agreeing perfectly 

 in the circumrtances of diftance and direction from 

 Raje-mehal with the refervoir of Patalcandara, as des- 

 cribed in the poem, have very much the appearance 

 of a crater of an old volcano. I cannot lay I have 

 ever been on the very fpot, but I have obferved in the 

 neighbourhood, fubftances that bore undoubted marks 

 of their being volcanic productions : no fuch appear* 

 ances are to be feen at Patna, nor any trace of there 

 having ever been a volcano there, or near it. 71/;% 

 Davis has given a curious defcription of Mootijarna, 

 iliuftrated with elegant drawings, He informs us there 

 is a tradition, that the refervoir was built by Sultan 

 Suja : perhaps he only repaired it. 



The confuiion Anania^ and the other authors above 

 alluded to, have made in the names of Patali-nutra and 

 Bali-putra, appears to me not difficult to be accounted 

 for. While the favefeignty of the kings of Maghadha, 

 or fouth Bahar, was exercifed within the limits of th( if 

 hereditary dominions, the feat of their government 

 was Pataii-putra, or Patya : but Janqfandka, one of 

 the anceltors of Chandra-Gupta , having fubdued the 

 whole of Prachi, as we read in the purhias, fixed his 

 refidence at Bali-putra, and there he xfuffered a molt 

 cruel death from Crijkna and Bala Rama, who 

 caufed him to be iplit af under. Bala reftored 

 thefon, Sahadeva, to his hereditary dominions ; 

 and from that time the kiiigs of M&ehadha, for 

 twenty-four generations, reigned peaceably at 



Vol. V. S Patna, 



