80 Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitari. [No. 2, 



Some Account of Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitari. — By the 



Rev. M. A. Sheering, LL. B., and C. Horne, Esq., G. S. 



[Received 4th. January, 1865. — Read 1st February, 1865.] 



Some account of the remains found at Bhitari has heen already 

 inserted at various times in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal. This refers for the most part to the stone pillar standing 

 there, and to the inscription upon it, elating from the epoch of Sii 

 Kumara Gupta. General Cunningham, in his interesting and valuable 

 Beport, printed in a Supplementary Number of the Society's Journal 

 for the year 1863, supplies important information respecting other 

 objects at Bhitari. Yet there are several very remarkable relics of 

 the past which, so far as we have ascertained, neither this indefati- 

 gable investigator nor any other archaeologist has hitherto described. 

 It is our purpose to give a succinct description of these relics. 



It is necessary to draw attention to the circumstance that Bhitari 

 is usually spoken of in the Society's Journal as Saidpur -Bhitari, 

 whereas Bhitari and Saidpur are distinct places, the one being about 

 4 J miles distant from the other. The high road from Benares to 

 Ghazeepore passes close to the large town of Saidpur, while the 

 village of Bhitari lies several miles away from this road. Its 

 proximity, however, to Saidpur, is no doubt the reason why the two 

 have been associated together ; besides which, there is good ground 

 for believing that in ancient times both contained large Buddhist 

 structures. 



SAIDP17K. 



This is a flourishing town of ten thousand inhabitants, chiefly 

 Hindu traders, many of whom, judging from the multitude of well- 

 made houses adorning the streets, are living in comfort, if not in 

 affluence. Two large Hindu temples have been recently erected in 

 the town, which, together with the Government Tahsili school, are 

 situated on the left bank of the Ganges. Passing down the main 

 street to its extremity and thence diverging to the right, you come 

 immediately upon the outer wall of an enclosure, on entering which 

 you observe three separate buildings appropriated by the Mahomedans 

 for sacred purposes. One of these is a modern structure ; the remain- 



