810 March between Mhorv and Saugor, 1838. [Oct. 



offered themselves as tributaries to Scindia, and with the usual 

 activity of new settlers, soon cleared away large tracts of the forest ; so 

 that when we came to the country, about sixty years* after the first 

 conquest, they were lords of as many villages. The present Raja, 

 Bheem Sing, is the son of Salim Sing. 



FromBijwar, Ashta may be reached by a difficult pass over a range 

 of hills of considerable height. At a village called Magherda, half 

 way, a few handsome Jain statues have been collected and enshrined 

 in a low walled court, some fourteen feet square ; where they are 

 worshipped by the ignorant piety of the villagers as malas.- The 

 court we should have supposed to be a " bettu" (A. R. 9 ; 285), did 

 not that description of temple seem to be peculiar to the Jains of the 

 south. On one of the stones of the wall, there was an inscription in 

 modern Nagari. It was placed at an inconvenient height, and as we 

 were pressed for time, and it evidently contained no date, we did not 

 copy it. The image, which misled the inhabitants of the village, was 

 doubtless a Pudmavati ;t who occupies the principal place, while 

 Santinath and some other saints, sit around her ; nor could the rustics 

 be expected to know whom this figure represented : for, as is worthy of 

 remark, the lesser Jain deities are rarely to be found amongst ancient 

 ruins ; inducing the belief, that their admittance into temples is a 

 modern innovation. 



The name of "Deo Burno," the Hill of Gods, and the hope- 

 inspiring intelligence of a large " Kumbh," tempted us to make a run 

 from Ashta to a village named Belpan, about fourteen miles north-west 

 of it, and situated close to the boasted Tiruth. On this spot we were 

 assured we should literally find one mass of deities, ec tantum statua- 

 rum ut alter populus lapidens videretur" — and to give us some notion 

 of the number of the images, (many of which were said to be milk- 

 maids, turned into stone while milking), they borrowed a fable very 

 popular at Kasi ; where you are told that one maund of rice will not 

 suffice the worshipper, who should wish to drop only one grain at 

 each shrine. 



* The exact date of the taking of the fort we could not learn ; they said the begin- 

 ning of the current Sumvut. 



f Pudmavati you are acquainted with from a notice in the T.R.A. S. but of the 

 forms and legends of the numerous Dii minores of the Jain Pantheon very little seems 

 to be known. It is however very necessary to be aufait on these subjects before 

 visiting Jain temples, as they are frequently covered with mythological paintings. 

 I had proposed giving some account of the more common ones, but fear I must now 

 abandon the design. They might possibly have been useful in decyphering the anci- 

 ent Budh paintings. 



