1872.] A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic Remains of Bihdr. 293 
(\i?) + + + 
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(i>) f^gYfwnfTwif^ir 
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(\ c ) ww f*rarfaHTfg? *ro farrurt^r 
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I have removed the pillar from tlie place in which it lay, half buried in 
the ground, and set it up on a brick pedestal opposite the Bihir court house. 
It is much to ho regretted that so much of the inscription has disappeared, 
as to make its further translation impossible, but it is curious on account of 
its undoubted great antiquity, and as evidence of the Gupta rule in Bihar. 
From the enormous number of Buddistic remains found on the elevated pla- 
teau, which forms the site of the Bihdr fort, there can be no doubt that 
a large vihara and other Buddhist buildings of more than ordinary 
importance once existed on the spot, but, more than this, the colossal 
fortifications which surrounded it make it more than probable that it 
also formed the seat of the government of the surrounding country and the 
residence of its rulers. Not only have we the Gupta pillar, but numbers of 
the inscribed figures found there, bear the names of the Pala rajas of Bengal, 
of Madna-pala, of Mahi-pala, of ltama-pala and of Yighara-pala. Montgomery 
Martin* speaks of it as the residence of the Magha nlja, but this is exceedingly 
vague, as everything not constructed within the memory of man, is univer- 
sally stated in Bihar to be “ Magha.” We know that at one time Kdjagriha 
was undoubtedly the capital of Magadha, and there can bo little doubt that 
the metropolis was subsequently removed to Patali, but of this Bihar tradition 
and history are silent. Such evidence as we have got, inclines me to the 
conclusion that Bihar was, for centuries preceding the Muhammadan conquest, 
both at any rate the residence of the subordinate Hindu, Buddhist, or 
Jaina governors of the country, if not of the kings themselves. It seems 
probable that even its occupation by the governors of the surrounding 
district had ceased beforo the capture of the ancient fort at the end of 
the twelfth century. The popular tradition of Bihar makes the seat of 
government at this time to have been at Ilohtas, and we know that when 
Muhammad Bakhtyar Khilji marched into the fort, he found nothing 
there but a vihara. Minliaj i Siraj gives the following account of the fall 
of the ancient scat of Buddhistic and Hindu learning in his Tabaqat-i- 
Nafiri.f “ It is said by credible persons that ho went to the gate of the 
* ‘ Gya and Shahabad,’ p. 92. 
t “ The History of India as told by its own Historians,” by Sir H. M. Elliot, Lon- 
don, 1809, Yol. II, p. 30G. 
