162 Alexander E. Caddy — Asulia Inscriptions in India. [Nov. 



32. Returning to the temple and descending the liill a few yards 

 on the opposite side, we find the ruins of an okl temple of Mahadeo, 

 where two lingas have at one time each claimed devotion from the wor- 

 shipi3ers. A few pillars are still standing, not vci-y perpendicular, but 

 nothing of the original exterior remains. 



33. Returning to the foot of the hill, and following its base near 

 the stream which skirts it, a little less than a mile brings us to the Son 

 Bhaudar cave — the treasury of gold. This is an artificial chamber, 34 

 feet by 17 nearly, with an arched ceiling of 11| feet. The polishing of 

 the interior may not compare with that of the Barabar caves, but still 

 it is noteworthy. Outside the cave there is a level space which gradual- 

 ly merges into the plain. At one time the cave was embellished^ and 

 stucco still adheres to the ceiling. A window lights up the cave at the 

 end, away from the door. Outside and inside there are and have been 

 inscriptions dating from the remotest antiquity. Some are readable, 

 others barely so. A very interesting Pali inscription is lost from over 

 the door. Three or four letters remain of it. Of the shell character, 

 too, there are two or three examples. 



The chief interest attaching to this cave is its supposed identity 

 with the Saptaparna. The meaning of this word is seven-leaved. Not 

 very far outside is to be found a septafid tree — the bomhax Malahari- 

 cicui — or common sZmaZ tree, whose bloom throws a crimson note into 

 the March landscape everywhere in India. The leaves group in seven 

 from a common centre, and the term would scarcely apply to a roio of 

 seven, as has been proposed for what I believe is the great northern 

 cave. The name Nyagrodha, too, has been applied to this cave, as it is to 

 one of the Barabar ones which especially was a sanctuary ; Nyagrodha 

 meaning the banian tree. But the Son Bhanddr cave has outside, a few 

 feet above the door, a series of mortice holes, which must at one time 

 have supported a roof covering a portion of the space in front of the 

 two caves. There are also stairs cut in the rock leading up to a seat 

 midway between this cave and its companion.* 



This cut stair, the several mortice holes, and sundry other chisel- 

 lings on the rock-face having a constructive purpose ; the general em- 

 bellishment of the cave, au-d its expensive polishing, could only have been 

 done by royal command. Its correspondence with the Burmese account 

 of the locale of the synod, as translated by Bishop Bigandet, throw- 

 much evidence into its favour as the Saptaparna. 



34. Another cave, too, claims this distinction — the Pipolo cave at 



* Originally tlierc were two caves of almost similar dimcusions; the one to 

 the right has been blasted down by treasure-seekers, the name of the cave being 

 taken too literally. 



