160 Alexander E. Caddy — AsoJca Inscriptions in India. [Nov, 



more distinct. Another mile (the fifteenth) and we were in the modern 

 liajgir. This too we pass, and through the ruined fort of old Rajgir, 

 the capital of Magadha before Asoka's time. The walls and ramparts 

 are still from 20 to 50 feet high. Here we halted at the inspection 

 bungalow. Mounds of ruins lie between us and the valley, while 

 right and left are level fields. 



As we look southward into the valley, from either side of the 

 emerging stream rise two hills. To the east is Vipnla^ to the west Baibhdr, 

 while inside is the long valley of 42 miles which reaches from Giryak 

 (14 miles due south from Bihar) to Gaya. The pass through this valley 

 is the only traversed spot in its whole length. 



In the Rajgir valley I found the inscription to straggle over a space 

 of nearly 200 yards, and to consist of 35 patches, the large deep letters 

 being cut into the floor of a sparry rock, which had been chiselled 

 down to form a roadway 20 feet wide to the Bawanganga defile. Tlie 

 road led from the southern gate of old Bajagriha and the Nekpai em- 

 bankment to the palace of Jarasandha near where the Baivangavga de- 

 bouches over a rocky defile into the Panchanan river. 



27. The "shell " character is still a puzzle to philologists. Most 

 likely it is a cypher for the initiated only, which was in vogue among 

 dispersed Buddhists during the 7th and 8th centuries. General Cun- 

 ningham, speaking of some of these characters found on a pillar at 

 Rajaona, says as to their readability, " I have already made some pro- 

 fjress towards it." He did not know of the Rajgir inscriptions, and 

 does not mention those in the Son Bhanddr cave in thi& valley. 



28. My workmen were soon on this inscription, and made over 

 eighty moulds Avithout covering the whole inscribed surface. I made 

 tracings of the rest, and having taken bearings and distances, so as to 

 enable me to lay the inscriptions down relatively as they lie on the road- 

 way, I had them packed for Calcutta. 



29. During the time I was here, T was able to visit the sites of 

 chief interest in the valley. 



The valley of Rajgir is all holy ground to the Buddhist. 



The sacred feet of Buddha have trod all its paths, his presence has 

 hallowed all its caves, and his touch made holy all its streams. Nor to the 

 Buddhist alone is this holy ground. The Jain is everywhere where the 

 Buddhist has been, and his symbols and tirthankaras occupy all the high 

 places of the Buddhist. To the ordinary Hindu, too, a place sacred to 

 one sect is sacred to him also. The Buddhist pillars of Asoka enter 

 into the Pantheon of the Hindus of each locality as their Phallic 

 emblem. Images of Buddha, and Chaityas from his ruined temples, are 

 everywhere to be found enshrined in groves and holy places. Buddha 



