306 A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic Remains of Bihar. [No. 3, 
a great “ vihara” or college — perhaps rather a cluster of viharas — a uni- 
versity, in fact, of Buddhist learning, Buddhist philosophy, and Buddhist divi- 
nity — defended alone by its sanctity, patronised by a long succession of 
princes, and regarded by Buddhists generally as the chief seat of their faith 
from Tibbat to Ceylon. 
XI.— Conclusion. 
With the mound of rubbish and broken idols, which marks the site of 
the once doubtless important vihara on the northern shore of the Jir lake, 
ends my attempt to sketch the existing antiquities of Bihar. 
Written, as it has been, at a distance from books and from those so able 
and so willing to give me assistance, I feel sure that it must be replete with 
errors and omissions ; but I shall feel my labours amply repaid, if I have 
demonstrated to those who truly admire and understand the archaeology of 
India, the vast importance of the subject. There is scarce a mile in the whole 
tract of country which does not present to the traveller some object of deep 
interest, and the curiosity thus awakened and intensified at almost every step, 
is speedily concentrated as it were, on the ruinB of the hill-girt capital of 
Magadha, or the mounds and figures which mark the site of the greatest of 
great Buddhistic viharas. The associations of the former bring us back to 
that far distant Brahmanical period, the obscurity of which is dispersed 
only at intervals by the occasional gleam of some recovered treasure 
from the poetical storehouse of the Mahabharata or the Ra may ana ; 
and then passing swiftly over the space of an unknown and indefinite 
number of centuries recal to our recollection the birth and growth and 
glory of the Buddhistic faith. Rajagriha belongs to one age of the 
religion of Sakhya Muni, and Nalandd to another : the former to the 
early days of the new faith ; to the time of true Buddhistic austerity ; of rude 
buildings ; of mountain solitude ; of the constant contemplation which was 
alone consummated in “ nirvaga the second to the age of artistic cultivation 
and skill ; of a gorgeous and luxuriant style of architecture ; of deep philo- 
sophical knowledge ; of profound and learned discussions ; and of rapid 
progress in the path of civilization. In Rajgir, the archaeologist lights 
uniformly on rude battlements of giant proportions ; on temples of the 
crudest design ; and on cave dwellings of the greatest possible simplicity of 
construction. The thousand years which elapsed brought about a vast and 
remarkable change : the grottoes of the “ arhata” gave place to the four- 
storied and highly ornamented pagodas of the ecclesiastics of Bargaon ; 
the four laws of Sakhya Muni were overladen with the interpretations and 
commentaries of a countless multitude of sages and philosophers ; the simple 
topes of Rajagriha were exchanged for a style of architecture more gaudy and 
