27 G A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic -Remains of Bihar. [No. 3, 
Giryak, the traveller arrives at the sandy bed of a once mighty river, the Sakri. 
On the opposite shore there rises a solitary hill — steeper, but less lofty, than 
the isolated rock of BiMr. Three sides of it are precipitous cliffs, the fourth 
a series of shelving rocks sloping away to the north. The summit is an even 
plateau four or five hundred feet square, literally covered with the remains 
of an enormous vihara, and of numerous stiipas and temples. Some of the 
piles of brick are thirty or forty feet high, and I found the remains of Bud- 
dhist idols in several parts of the hill. This rock is called Parahati, and a 
flourishing village of the same name lies at its foot. One mile east, or perhaps 
rather north-east of the “ solitary hill,” is situated the village of Aphsar. 
Aphsar is singularly rich in Buddhistic remains, and on its outskirts there 
is an enormous tumulus, seventy or eighty feet high. It appears to me to 
be the remains of a large temple attached to a vihara. I visited Aphsar in 
September, 1871, and recovered four or five figures from it. They all of them 
merit detailed description. The most important of them is a colossal male figure, 
[a statue, properly so called,] about eight feet high, and four-armed. The 
head is surmounted by a richly jewelled crown, almost identical in shape 
with the regal cap of Banna and Siam, from underneath which long 
ringlets fall profusely over the shoulders. The sacred thread \_poita~\ is» 
noticeable on the body, in addition to the usual ornaments. In my opinion, 
the figure represents some prince or general — certainly not a Buddha, or any 
Hindu deity. 
Another remarkable figure is a large, and exquisitely carved linga, 
hearing on either side a face life-sized. The style of carving is 'precisely that 
of the other purely Buddhist idols, and it was found close to the tumulus, 
near the site of the colossal boar for which Aphsar is famous, and strange to 
say, close to the place where Major ICittoe discovered an Ayoka inscription 
of great length and value, but which almost immediately afterwards was 
lost. During my stay in Bihar, I made every effort to trace it, but without 
success, although I received every aid from my friend, Babii Bimola Charan 
Bhattacharjya, then Deputy Magistrate of Nowada. likbu Bimola Charan 
has succeeded me at Bilnir, and devotes much time and care to the preserva- 
tion of my large collection of Buddhistic sculptures. Owing to his zeal in the 
matter (for which he deserves the thanks of all scientific men), there is now 
every prospect of the Bihar Museum becomiug a permanent local institu- 
tion, and he tells me that it has become a sort of place of pilgrimage for all 
the country round ; in fact, the descendants of Afoka’s brahmans at Raj agriha 
are beginning to look on it as a serious opposition, and to tremble lest it 
should cause a diminution in their income. I take this opportunity of pub- 
licly thanking my successor for all he has done in this matter. To return 
to Aphsar. The Parabati rock, we must remember, is as nearly as possible thir- 
teen miles south-east of Bihar, and the ruins I have just described, shew it to 
