23G 
A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic Remains of Bihar. [No. 3, 
ancient days the metropolis of the country Its name, he says, was derived 
from a flowering shrub, which grew there in abundance. Ho continues : 
“ De hautes montagnes l’entourent de quatro cotes et forment ses murs ex- 
terieurs. A l’ouest on y penetre par un sentier qui existe entre deux mon- 
tagnes ; au nord on a ouvert une entree a travers la montagne. Cette 
ville est allongee de Test a l’ouest et resserree du sud au nord. Sa circonfe- 
rence est de ccnt-cinquante li (30 miles). Les restes des fondements de la 
ville interieure ont environ trente li detour.” 
This area would make the outer walls of the old town to extend from Gir- 
yak to the Chhata hill, a distance of ten or eleven miles ; and from the foot of 
the Udayagir and Sonargir hills to the opposite side of the valley, a distance 
of two or thi’ee miles. From a careful examination of every part of the 
valley, I have little doubt that the whole of it, or very nearly so, was sur- 
rounded by the fortification of the ancient capital, but the inner town, (the 
ramparts alone of which I have endeavoured to trace) certainly did not ex- 
tend further than the Nekpai embankment on the one side, to the Jarasan- 
dha band on the other. I will now proceed to describe as shortly 
as possible the present appearance of the valley of the “ sweet-scented 
shrub.” 
The north side of the valley is watered by two streams, both bearing 
the name of Sarasvati, which rise, the one at the foot of Batnagir, and the 
other at the western extremity of Mount Sonar. These rivulets join a short 
distance to the south of the ravine which forms the entrance to the valley. 
The sides of the hills and the plain at their feet are covered mostly by a 
tangled mass of flowering shrubs and wild tulsi grass, broken only by some 
protruding escarpment or the white cupola of a Jain pagoda in the one 
case, and in the other, by heaps of bricks — the rums of temples and topes, 
and the huge piles of stones which still mark the ancient ramparts of the 
city. The form of the walls can, with a little difficulty, be traced with 
tolerable accuracy. Strictly speaking, these ramparts formed an irregular 
pentagon about four miles in circumference. One side faced the west, and 
was about a mile in length, extending along the western branch of the Saras- 
vati ; a second ran south to the foot of the Sonargir ; a third east to the 
entrance of the ravine between (Jdayagir and Batnagir ; a fourth north, to- 
wards the junction of the streams ; and the fifth and smallest joins the first 
and fourth. A road seems to have run through the city from the new town 
to Banganga. The northern side of the city, facing the ravine, appears to 
have been protected by a lofty tower composed of stones of irregular shape, 
placed one upon the other (not squared and arranged in courses as in the 
walls of new Bajgir). Near the stream appears to have been another tower 
of great height and of similar appearance, and close under it an outer gate 
towards the north. From this place an enormous wall, 18 or 20 feet thick 
