178 Report of the Archaeological Survey. [No. 3, 



1430, at which time it was the Capital of Northern Pdnchala. The 

 name is written Ahi-lcshetra, as well as Ahi-chhatra, hut the local legend 

 of Adi Raja and the Naga, who formed a canopy over his head when 

 asleep, shows that the latter is the correct form. This grand old fort 

 is said to have heen huilt hy Raja Adi, an Ahir, whose future elevation 

 to sovereignty was foretold hy Drona, when he found him sleeping 

 under the guardianship of a serpent with expanded hood. The place is 

 mentioned hy Ptolemy as A8icrd8pa, which proves that the legend at- 

 tached to the name of Adi is at least as old as the heginning of the 

 Christian era. The fort is also called Adikot, hut the more conmon 

 named is Ahichliatr. 



205. According to the Mahdbhdrat the great kingdom of Pdnchala 

 extended from the Himalaya Mountains to the Chambal River. The 

 capital of North Pdnchala, or Rohilkhand, was Ahi-chhatra, and that of 

 South Pdnchala, or the Central G-angetic Doab, was Kdmpilya, now 

 Kampil, on the old Ganges hetween Budaon and Farokhabad. Just 

 before the great war, or about 1430 B. C, the King of Pdnchala, 

 named Drupada, was conquered by Drona, the preceptor of the five 

 Pandus. Drona retained north Pdnchala for himself, but restored the 

 southern half of the kingdom to Drupada, According to this account 

 the name of Ahi-chhatra, and consequently also the legend of Adi 

 Raja and the serpent, are many centuries anterior to the rise of 

 Buddhism. 



206. It would appear, however, that the Buddhists must have 

 adopted and altered the legend to do honour to their great teacher, for 

 Hwen Thsang records that outside the town there was a Ndga-hrada, or 

 " serpent tank," near which Buddha had preached the law for seven days 

 in favour of the Serpent King, and that the spot was marked by a 

 Stup>a of King Asoka. Now, as the only existing Stupa at this place 

 is called Chattr, I infer that the Buddhist legend represented the Ndga 

 King after his conversion as forming a canopy over Buddha with his 

 expanded hood. I think, also, that the Stupa, erected on the spot 

 where the conversion took place would naturally have been called A hi- 

 ehhatra, or the " serpent canopy." A similar story is told at Buddha 

 Oya of the Naga King Muchalinda, who Avith his expanded hood 

 sheltered Buddha from the shower of rain produced by the malignant 

 demon Mara. 



