498 Sanscrit Inscription from Behar. [June, 



of Jain sentences, meaning the cross-legged position of absorptive con- 

 templation of the Buddhas, the word could not be found in any dictionary. 

 Be the date the 9th or the 10th century, we have here clear proof that 

 the Buddhist faith flourished in India (all the land) at that period, that it 

 did so even much later, is proved by the numerous short inscriptions on 

 the images and Chaityas abounding in the district ; and even at Sarnath 

 near Benares. I have on former occasions noticed the existence of the 

 Linga amongst Buddhist fragments. The figure of Surya, and Mahesh 

 and of Vishnu as Gadadhar, and Varaha are of equally common occur- 

 ance ; there are other idols of the Surrawuc Jains and of the Sheshanag 

 type all jumbled together in this district, and particularly one of Siva 

 with a Buddha on his forehead, also female figures with the same, and 

 Buddhas with the trisul, one figure at Bargaon represents a fury danc- 

 ing on a prostrate Ganesha with an attendant holding a royal umbrella 

 over her head : all belong to one period, ranging as I infer, from the 

 8th to the 10th century if not later ; the later sculptures are the poorest 

 in execution, and most extravagant in form. I have made a tolerable 

 collection of drawings which are about to be submitted to Government 

 officially as the result of my tour. This season they will no doubt be 

 laid before the Society. I think that a grand collection should be made 

 and published ; but it is a work of labour and care. The collection 

 I have made, and which will be sent to Calcutta, is very good and 

 instructive. 



My friend Mr. Laidlay considers that the Nagarahara mentioned 

 in the inscription as the birth-place of Vira Datta is Jalalabad or some- 

 where in its vicinity. I had imagined it to have been somewhere in the 

 Gorackpur, district as the term northern country is used, but the pan- 

 dits allow that Uttara Desa implies Cashmir and Cabul. Maha 

 Bodh is mentioned as a place to which the scetic proceeded. This is 

 modern Bodh Gaya still known by that name. 



Note on the foregoing by J. TV. Laidlay. 



I suggested the identification alluded to by Capt. Kittoe, as well on 

 the ground that there is no other celebrated Buddhist locality of the 

 same name in northern India, as from the reference made in the in- 

 scription to the neighbouring convent or monastery of Kanishka. Of 

 Nagarahara, what little we know is derived from the narratives of the 

 Chinese travellers Fa hian and Hiouan thsang, by the former of whom 



