968 On the route of Fa-hian through Behar. [Sept. 



Che. The earth outside the hole is that over which Kya Che washed 

 his hands : when the people of the country are troubled with head- 

 ache, they rub themselves with this earth and the pain goes.'' 



As the Pei-to is the starting point, and no particular direction men- 

 tioned, I assume that the cluster of hills at the southern extremity of Gaya 

 proper, called Burrumjooeen are those alluded to, although the distance 

 of three " li" is too short by half or more. The old town of Gaya in which 

 is the Vishnupad, stands on a rock, a spur of the larger hills, under 

 which the Hindoos believe, that the demon Gaya Asura is confined by 

 the weight of Vishnu's foot. 



By Kya Che the translators from the Chinse text conjecture, that 

 Maha Kasyapa is meant,* but I am inclined to think, that it is this said 

 Gaya Asur of the Hindoo legends. The absurd story of all the divini- 

 ties failing to subdue the monster till Vishnu put him down with his foot, 

 appears to me to be an allegory expressive of the final triumph of the 

 Vishnuvites over the Buddhists, Vedantis, Saivas and other sects. The 

 first and last named must have predominated here from the numerous 

 lingas and yonis of every age and form, as well as fragments of Budhist 

 carvings. This subject is worthy of consideration, we have the com- 

 mon legend as above quoted, we have also Fa-Hian's testimony. As to 

 what existed fourteen hundred and fifty years ago, he seems to speak 

 of Kya Che as a law-giver of his own sect (Budhist), and does not 

 lead us to suppose Gaya to have been in other hands than those of 

 Buddhists. — " Kya Che" seems more to resemble the word " Keechuc" 

 or demon than any other. I should be inclined to think that allusion 

 is to a story having a common origin with both sects — Brahminists 

 and Buddhists, who in all probability, only differed (in early times) in 

 points of doctrine and sacrificial practice. Orthodox Hindoos only 

 acknowledge a very small space at Gaya to be sacred for them, which is 

 alluded to in the Purans and in the Mahabharut — this information ob- 

 tained from a learned Pandit, from the outskirts of Calcutta, who told 

 me, that not more than two or three of the forty-five spots, at which 

 most pilgrims offer the funeral cake, i. e. perform the " pind," are pro- 

 per, the rest belonging to the Buddhists and Jains ; for instance, the hill 

 called Burrum Jooeen, before described, is properly Bruhm Jain. The 

 very one, we may suppose, FaHian to be describing, on the top is a 

 * There is no doubt upon this point.— Eds. 



