166 Alexander E. Caddy — Asolm InscriiJtions in India. [Nov. 



stayed at the dak bungalow till my cases were despatched to Calcutta. 

 There were 86 moulding pieces in 12 cases. 



14. My next journey was to Sasaram. Travelling back by rail to 

 ^lokameh, I joined the East Indian Railway regular line at Bankipore, 

 whence 32 miles to Arrah. 



At Arrah the Sone Canal has a terminal lock. It is the head- 

 quarters station of Shahabad. A contract steamer plies the canal to 

 Dehri, in svhich I travelled the 51 miles from Arrah. The remaining 

 eighteen miles I had to drive to Sasaram. I arrived there on the 31st 

 December, and on New Year's Day I had the mould of the rock inscrip- 

 tion completed. 



Where the Kaimur range of hills ends in the sandstone cliffs near 

 Sasaram, — on the crest of its last peak, some 400 feet above the sur- 

 rounding country, may be seen the chirdg of a Muhammadan fakir of 

 a dark night. In the day the white tomb of a Muhammadan saint 

 gleams above it. The chiragdan (or candle-stick) stands in a small 

 recess on the broken side of the cliff towards Sasaram. A wall is built 

 on either side of it not quite five feet high. Two lodged rocks make an 

 angle pointing inward, where the chiragdan on a third rock stands at the 

 apex. The ledge on the left hand bears an inscription 42 inches long 

 and about a foot deep. It is an extra edict of Asoka, and is im- 

 portant for the figured date it bears, 256 years of the Nirvana. 



From below, the entrance to the cave may be observd as a small 

 square hole in the hillside near the top. The inscription itself is scarce- 

 ly known, even in Sasaram. 



15. So soon as my Sasaram case was despatched, we returned to 

 Bankipore to take the Gaya railway, which has its junction here with 

 the East Indian Railway. 



Gaya is 57 miles — a three hours' run from Bankipore. I made it 

 my base and sent out my camp to the Barabar hills, 15 miles north. 

 The little station of Bela is 12 miles up the line from Gaya — 45 miles 

 from Bankipore ; it stands abreast of a group of hills. The nearer one, 

 Kauwd Dlwl, with its grand tor surmounting it, makes a very pic- 

 turesque mass. A road takes one east from Bela, past this hill and the 

 hill next it, where it norths and skirts it at its eastern extremity ; then 

 turning east again, passes the Barahar hill-path and the very holy Fatal- 

 ganga well, which receives the perennial waters from a Barahar spring. 

 Again it recurves northward, crosses a field and reaches the Nagar- 

 jimi, and ends at the stair leading to the milkmaid's cave. Round the 

 Nagarjuni hill, either way, paths will lead one to the two caves behind, 

 among detached boulders. 



J 6. The locality about the Barahar hills is one of the Holy Places 

 of the Buddhists. 



