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A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic Remains of Bihar. [No. 3, 
it is six miles in the very opposite direction. The identification of 
Nalandd with Bargaon (Viharagrama) is undoubtedly right, and as a 
consequence, that of the “ solitary hill” with Giryak — undoubtedly wrong. 
General Cunningham writes as one reason for identifying Nalanda with 
BargSon — “ Fah-Hiyan places the hamlet of Na-lo at one yojana, or seven 
miles, from the hill of the isolated rock, i. e., from Giryak, and also the 
same distance from New Kftjagriha. Tins account agrees exactly with the 
position of Barg Aon with respect to GHryak and Rdjgir." Now in reality 
both translators agree in placing NalandS to the south-west of the hill, and 
as a matter^of fact Bargaon is north-west of Giryak. 
General Cunningham must, therefore, rely on two arguments, 1st, the 
supposed etymology of Giryak, i. e. ek giri = one ( = a solitary P) hill ; 
2nd, the coincidence of the fable of the forty-two questions. As regards the 
first, it is entirely opposed to all principles of etymology, and I feel sure no 
instance of a similar inversion of the numeral can be found throughout the 
whole range of Indian names. It must be of course admitted that Fah-Hiyan 
relates a certain incredible story about his “ solitary -hill,” which H wen Thsang 
reproduces two centuries later in connection with his Indra-Saila peak, but 
the supposed event must be allowed to have happened, or rather to have been 
alleged to have happened, at least a thousand years before the visit of even 
the earlier pilgrim, and it is by no means improbable that the recluses of the 
one vihara contended with those of the other for the possession of the actual 
site of so remarkable an event in the career of their great teacher. Scarce 
two centuries have passed away since Oliver Cromwell was gathered to his 
fathers, yet three museums at least lay claim to the exclusive ownership of 
his scull, while no less than half a dozen cities vie with each other for the 
honour, of being the birth-place of Dante, of Chaucer, and of Christopher 
Columbus. An accidental coincidence as to the locality, made the scene of 
a mythical fable, can scarcely be sufficient, to convert the end of a rugged 
chain of mountains into a “ small isolated rock, standing by itself,” — especi- 
ally when such an identification is diametrically opposed to given directions 
and distances, and to distinct nomenclature. 
I have no hesitation in identifying the “ solitary hill” with that rocky 
peak at Bihar, which rises by itself in the midst of the plain covered with 
rice and poppy fields, and which gently slopes from the northern foot of the 
liajgir hills to the banks of the Ganges itself. My reasons for so doing are : 
first, — correspondence of the relative distance and position of the Bihar rock' 
and Patna, and of the solitary hill and Pataliputra ; second, — the agreement 
of the relative distance and position of the Bihar rock and Bargaon, and the 
“ solitary hill” and Nalanda ; third, — natural appearances of the hill itself. 
Some great Buddhistic fane once stood on the top of the Bihar 
rock. The dargali of Malik Bayu Ibrahim, which now surmounts it, is 
