1902.] Parameshwar Dayal — A new Inscription from Tlmga. 61 



consists of two artificial rock-excavations at the south-eastern foot o£ 

 the Baibhar Hill, near Rajgir, in District Patna. One of those is no-w- 

 in a dilapidated state. They are generally believed to have been made 

 by Buddhists in the 2nd or 3rd century B.C. I think, however, that 

 an inscription in the outside wall of one of them gives us a clue to their 

 age and original inhabitants. It is a Sanskrit verse in the UpajdH 

 metre, written in two lines, and saying that ' the excellent teacher, 

 Muni Vairadeva, made two beautiful caves, which were renowned on 

 account of Arhants, and which were suitable for ascetics in order to 

 obtain Nirvana.' There can be no doubt that the two caves referred 

 to are the very ones, where the recoi'd is found, and as the writing 

 belongs to the 3rd century A.D., we are constrained to put down 

 their age to that period. But the inscription, moreover, shows that 

 they were occupied not by Buddhists, but by Jains. The reference to 

 the Arhants and the title mtoni borne by Vairadeva, instead of the 

 Buddhist title hhiksu or gd,kyahhiksu, both point to this, and I think the 

 name Vairadeva may be added as an additional proof of the same kind. 

 Vaira, I take as a corruption of vajra^ which is very frequent in the Pra- 

 krit of the Jains, and which is met with as the name of a section of this 

 order. There is further just below the inscription a carved figure, 

 now mutilated, of a Jain Tirthankara^ which corroborates the above 

 assumption. 



As the caves at the time of the visit of the Chinese pilgrims pro- 

 bably were inhabited by Jains, to whom they originally belonged, we 

 need not try to identify them with any of the Buddhist sites mentioned 

 by the pilgrims. They probably have been left unnoticed, as, for a 

 similar reason, the caves in the Barabar and Nagarjuni Hills near Gaya. 

 General Cunningham's attempt to identify them with the Saptaparna 

 Cave, the traditional site of the first Buddhist Council, has never met 

 with any approval. 



2. A contribution to the history of Western Bwidelkhand. — By 



ChAS. a. SlLBERRAD, I.C.S. 



3. A new Inscription from Tlmga in the District of Gaya. — By 

 Parambshwae Dayal. Communicated by the Philological Secretary. 



(Abstract.) 

 The Inscription, which is here published for the first time, is on a 

 lose slab of stone lying on the top of the Gauri-Shaokar Hill, one of 

 the highest peaks of Umga group of hills in the southern part of the 

 District of Gaya, It contains in its historical portion a list of twelve 

 Rajas down to Bhairavendra. The same occurs also in another pub- 

 lished inscription from Umga, but the present inscription helps to make 



