290 A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic Remains of Bihar. [No. 3, 
figures of Buddha under pillared canopies, but some are of different design, 
e. g., one piece is divided into compartments by curious short pillars, with a 
ribbed pattern in the centre. The compartments thus formed contain alter- 
nately a lion-couchant and a richly caparisoned elephant. Another slab, 
seven feet long, contains grotesque dancing figures surmounted by plain mould- 
ings. This piece is particularly worthy of note ; for the costume depicted is 
almost identical with that worn by the jesters of the Middle Ages of Euro- 
pean history. The next carving worthy of note is a figure of Padmapani 
under a canopy, one foot four inches high. On either side of the central 
canopy were two carved panels. One is broken off, but the other exhibits 
a fine piece of scroll work springing from the hands of a grotesque figure. A 
seated figure of Mayadevi, one foot seven inches high, seated on a pedestal of 
lotus leaves. The legs are crossed, and the sides of both feet are turned out- 
wards, and exhibit the royal signs. The hands rest on the knees, the left 
grasping a lotus stalk ; the earrings are circular and the ornaments (espe- 
cially the batisi) are very large. A spangled dhuti descends from a jewelled 
girdle to the feet. There are small female attendants on either side ; the 
one to the right being four-armed. Portion of. the background of a figure 
of Buddha. A pillaster and part of an arch covered with the most minute 
and exquisite omamentalia. Inside it a dragon and rider are seen in the 
act of destroying an elephant. Another specimen of the same sort of carv- 
ing differing in detail and design from the last. As regards the square 
tablets containing figures of Buddha, they have been generally described at 
the bases of pillars, but I believe this to be wholly erroneous ; for I found 
piles of them in front of the Nalandii temple, and they are met with in great 
number in the Bihar fort. I believe them to have been purely votive, serving 
exactly the same purpose and end as the cliaitya. These are of inconsider- 
able thickness, generally oblong, sometimes rounded at the top. They vary 
from one foot to two or three feet in height, and are of proportionate breadth. 
Besides these Buddhistic sculptures I found very few Hindu figures, the only 
one of them worthy of description being that of a bull, most artistically exe- 
cuted, and wearing a string of bells round the neck. 
About one hundred feet inside the great northern gate of the fort once lay 
a broken monolith, about fourteen feet high, and oval in shape. Ge- 
neral Cunningham gives an account of it [vide Report of Archaeological Tour 
of 18G1-G2.] 
Babu llajendralala Mitra writes of it as follows ; — * 
“ One mile due oastf from the dargah, and about a hundred yards inside 
the northern gate of the old fort of Bihar, there lies a sandstone pillar, 
which bears two separate inscriptions of the Gupta dynasty. Unfortu- 
* Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, XXXV, p. 270. 
f This is a mistake. The pillar was due north of the dargah. 
