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1895.] Alexander E. Caddy— Asoka Inscriptions in India. 
himself is absolutely unknown, but his image is worshipped variously; 
indeed, in one locality, the site of the Nalanda monastery, his image is 
worshipped as Bukmini. Elsewhere a traditional worship has come 
down, and I have seen his statue garlanded and milk poured over its 
mouth—vermeil and redlead touching up every prominent feature, as it 
also does with every other object they hold sacred. 
30. The objects of interest in the Bajgir valley, besides the shell 
inscriptions, are: — 
1st. — The hot springs; where Brahmans have prepared bathing 
places and built small temples, which make a very 
picturesque group at the entrance of the valley. 
2nd. — The basement known as Jarasandha ha baithak, immediate¬ 
ly above these temples. 
3rd. — The Pipolo cave; where Buddha used to sit in deep medi¬ 
tation, after his midday meal. Originally it was a 
pit from which stone was quarried for the basements. 
4 th. — The Great Northern Caves. 
hth. — A ruined temple of Mahadeo. 
6th. — The Son Bhandar cave. 
7th. — The cyclopean walls and platforms and the Nehpai embank¬ 
ment. 
8th. — The causeway to Sailagiri, with the two stairs leading one 
to Ananda’s cave and the other to Buddha’s. 
9 th. — The caves in the Sailagiri rocky eminence,— called Gridhra- 
huta. 
31. Ascending the Baibhdr hill we pass several basements and the 
remains of two stupas. Continuing, we pass three Jain temples and 
come to a fourth. Here, descending a mountain path, a few, yards, we 
come to another basement, and crossing on to a natural platform, just north 
of this temple, we are immediately in front of the Great Northern Caves. 
These caverns pierce the hill horizontally for a depth of fifty feet and 
more, leading into cross-galleries running at right angles to them for 
thirty or forty feet. Many of the minor recesses near this may be taken 
as caves. It is a mile from the Pipolo cave, in the northern shadow of 
Baibhdr ; consequently it answers the precise description given of the 
Saptaparna cave by the Chinese traveller Fa Ilian, so far as position is 
concerned. Of the tremendous labour with which it was converted into 
an assembly hall for the 1st Buddhist synod, where 500 Arhats met to 
discuss the future of Buddhism, there is no trace. The stairs, if any, 
have long since disappeared ; of embellishment there is none. A small 
paved space exists at the entrance of the principal cave, but this may 
have been made at any time. 
