242 A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic Remains of Bihar. [No. 3, 
the remains of a Buddhist temple, probably larger than any other on the 
hill. Its pillars, &c., lie about in all directions, and it seems to have served 
as the quarry from which Manikehand built his. A quarter of a mile fur- 
ther on, and near the crest of the hill, I had the good fortune to find an- 
other Buddhist temple in the jungle, about five paces to the north of the path. 
Its details resemble very much those of the great temple below, but a figure 
of Buddha still occupies the centre, and the foundations of a court-yard can 
still be traced. 
Proceeding still westwards for nearly half a mile, the highest peak of 
the hill is gained, where is an enormous tope, covered with brushwood, and 
crowned with a Jaina temple. The view from the top is magnificent, espe- 
cially towards the valley, the whole of which Baibhar commands. 
Descending the almost precipitous southern face of the mountain, I 
arrived at the Sonbhandar cave, which is situated in the “ northern shade” 
of the hill, as nearly as possible a mile to the south-west of the hot wells. 
I have little difficulty in identifying this with the Sattapanni cave spoken 
of both by Fah-Hian and Hwen Thsang. In doing so it must be borne in 
mind that the Baibhar hill runs due south- west — not ‘ west,’ and that the 
Sonbhandar is near the northern end of the mountain. Fah-Hian says, 
that “ going in a westerly direction five or six lis" (i. e., from just above 
the hot-springs) “ there is a stone cave situate in the northern shade of the 
mountain, and called Ohe-ti. This is the place where 500 Iiahats assembled 
after the Nirvana of Buddha to arrange the collection of sacred books.” 
This coincides exactly with the position of the Sonbhandar cave, and it also 
agrees with Hwen Thsang, who places it five or six lis to the south-west of 
the Karandavenuvana clump of bamboos, which both authors represent as 
being close to the hot-springs. The words of Hwen Thsang are as follows 
— “ au sud-ouest du Bois des Bambous, il fit cinq a six liv. Au nord d’une 
montagne situee au midi,” (this I have previously explained) “ au milieu 
d’un vaste bois de bambous il y a une grande maison en pierre. Ce fut la 
qu’apres le Nirvana de Jauldi, le venerable Malia Kashyapa et neuf cent 
quatro-vingt-dix-neuf grands Arhats formerent la collection des trois Re- 
cueils sacres. En face de cette maison, on voit encore d’ancients fonde- 
ments. Le roi Ajatasatru avait fait construire cet edifice, &c.” 
The cave appears to have been formerly approached from the south by 
a staircase or sloping path, which has now almost entirely disappeared, and 
to have been faced by a broad platform nearly 100 feet square. This space 
was occupied by an extensive hall, the rafters supporting the roof of which 
rested in cavities in the rock that still exist. Piles of bricks and stones lie 
in all directions. The face of the cave has a naked surface of rock, as 
smooth and even as if built of brick. It is 44 feet in length and 16 feet 
high, and is bounded on the west by a protruding rock and on the east by 
