IdO Alexander E. Caddy —AsoTca Inscriptions in India. [Nov. 
more distinct. Another mile (the fifteenth) and we were in the modern 
Ilajgir. This too we pass, and through the ruined fort of old Rajgir , 
the capital of Magadha before Asoka’s time. The walls and ramparts 
are still from 20 to 50 feet high. Here we halted at the inspection 
bungalow. Mounds of ruins lie between us and the valley, while 
right and left are level fields. 
As we look southward into the valley, from either side of the 
emerging stream rise two hills. To the east is Vipula, to the west Baibhcir , 
while inside is the long valley of 42 miles which reaches from Giryak 
(14 miles due south from Bihar) to Gaya. The pass through this valley 
is the only traversed spot in its whole length. 
In the Rajgir valley I found the inscription to straggle over a space 
of nearly 200 yards, and to consist of 35 patches, the large deep letters 
being cut into the floor of a sparry rock, which had been chiselled 
down to form a roadway 20 feet wide to the Baivanganga defile. The 
road led from the southern gate of old Rajagriha and the Nekpai em¬ 
bankment to the palace of Jarasandha near where the Baivanganga de¬ 
bouches over a rocky defile into the Panchdnan river. 
27. The “ shell ” character is still a puzzle to philologists. Most 
likely it is a cypher for the initiated only, which was in vogue among 
dispersed Buddhists during the 7th and 8th centuries. General Cun¬ 
ningham, speaking of some of these characters found on a pillar at 
Rajaona , says as to their readability, “ I have already made some pro¬ 
gress towards it.” He did not know of the Rajgir inscriptions, and 
does not mention those in the Son Bhandar cave in this valley. 
28. My workmen were soon on this inscription, and made over 
eighty moulds without covering the whole inscribed surface. I made 
tracings of the rest, and having taken bearings and distances, so as to 
enable me to lay the inscriptions down relatively as they lie on the road¬ 
way, I had them packed for Calcutta. 
29. During the time I was here, I was able to visit the sites of 
chief interest in the valley. 
The valley of Rajgir is all holy ground to the Buddhist. 
The sacred feet of Buddha have trod all its paths, his presence has 
hallowed all its caves, and his touch made holy all its streams. Nor to the 
Buddhist alone is this holy ground. The Jain is everywhere where the 
Buddhist has been, and his symbols and tirthankaras occupy all the high 
places of the Buddhist. To the ordinary Hindu, too, a place sacred to 
one sect is sacred to him also. The Buddhist pillars of Asoka enter 
into the Pantheon of the Hindus of each locality as their Phallic 
emblem. Images of Buddha, and Cliaityas from his ruined temples, are 
everywhere to be found enshrined in groves and holy places. Buddha 
