XX1V Archeological Survey Report. 
with the large bricks of Buddhist stupas. One of these last monu- 
ments can still be traced outside the south-west corner of the town 
in a large circular hollow mound, which attracted the notice of both 
Buchanan and Kittoe. I examined this mound carefully, and I was 
satisfied that the hollow represented the original site of a stupa 
from which the bricks had been carried off, while the surrounding 
- circular mound represented the mass of earth and broken brick 
rubbish left by the workmen. The excavated stupa at Sarnath, near 
Benares, now offers almost exactly the same appearance. According 
to Hwen Thsang’s account, this circular hollow was the site of a 
stupa 60 feet in height, which was built by Asoka. Beside it there 
was a stone pillar, 50 feet high, on which was inscribed the history 
of the foundation of the stupa. ‘The pillar was surmounted by 
an Hlephant. 
60. On Mount Baibhar there are five modern Jain temples, 
besides the ruins of an old Saiva temple, of which 4 granite pillars, 
10 feet in height, are still standing, and 50 or 60 smaller pillars are 
lying confusedly about. At the southern foot of the mountain the 
rock has a natural scarp for about 100 yards in length, which at the 
western end has been smoothed to a height of 19 feet, in front of 
which the rock has been cut away to form a level terrace 90 feet in 
length by upwards of 30 feet in breadth. Two caves have been 
excavated out of the solid rock behind ; that to the west, now called 
the Son Bhandar, or “ Treasury of gold,” being 34 feet long by 17 
feet broad, and that to the east perhaps somewhat less in length, 
but of the same breadth. This cave has either fallen in naturally 
through the decay of the rock, or, which is more probable, was 
blown up by a Zemindar in search of treasure, as related by Major 
Kittoe of the other cave. 
61. The Son Bhandar Cave has one door and one window. Inside 
there are no traces of seats, or of pedestals of statues, and the walls 
and roof are quite bare, excepting where a few scarcely legible 
inscriptions have been cut. ‘There are several short inscriptions on 
the jambs of the doorway, as well as on the outside. In the principal 
inscription, which is in two lines outside, the author speaks of this 
eave as the “auspicious cave,” evidently alluding to the fact of the 
first Buddhist Synod having been held in a temporary building 
erected in front of it by Ajdtasatru, Raja of Magadha. This 
