162 
Alexander E. Caddy— A sole a Inscriptions in India. [Nov. 
32. Returning to tlie temple and descending the hill a few yards 
on the opposite side, we find the ruins of an old temple of Mahadeo, 
where two lingas have at one time each claimed devotion from the wor¬ 
shippers. A few pillars are still standing, not very perpendicular, hut 
nothing of the original exterior remains. 
33. Returning to the foot of the hill, and following its base near 
the stream which skirts it, a little less than a mile brings us to the Son 
Bhandar cave—the treasury of gold. This is an artificial chamber, 34 
feet by 17 nearly, with an arched ceiling of lid feet. The polishing of 
the interior may not compare with that of the Barabar caves, but still 
it is noteworthy. Outside the cave there is a level space which gradual¬ 
ly merges into the plain. At one time the cave was embellished, and 
stucco still adheres to the ceiling. A window lights up the cave at the 
end, away from the door. Outside and inside there are and have been 
inscriptions dating from the remotest antiquity. Some are readable, 
others barely so. A very interesting Pali inscription is lost from over 
the door. Three or four letters remain of it. Of the shell character, 
too, there are two or three examples. 
The chief interest attaching to this cave is its supposed identity 
with the Saptaparna. The meaning of this word is seven-leaved. Not 
very far outside is to be found a septafid tree—the bombax Malabari- 
cuni —or common slmal tree, whose bloom throws a crimson note into 
the March landscape everywhere in India. The leaves group in seven 
from a common centre, and the term would scarcely apply to a roio of 
seven, as has been proposed for what I believe is the great northern 
cave. The name Nyagrodha, too, has been applied to this cave, as it is to 
one of the Barabar ones which especially was a sanctuary; Nyagrodha 
meaning the banian tree. But the Son Bhandar cave has outside, a few 
feet above the door, a series of mortice holes, which must at one time 
have supported a roof covering a portion of the space in front of the 
two caves. There are also stairs cut in the rock leading up to a seat 
midway between this cave and its companion.* 
This cut stair, the several mortice holes, and sundry other chisel- 
lings on the rock-face having a constructive purpose ; the general em¬ 
bellishment of the cave, aud its expensive polishing, could only have been 
done by royal command. Its correspondence with the Burmese account 
of the locale of the synod, as translated by Bishop Bigandet, throw 
much evidence into its favour as the Saptaparna. 
34. Another cave, too, claims this distinction—the Pipolo cave at 
* Originally there were two caves of almost similar dimensions; the one to 
the right has been blasted down by treasure-seekers, the name of the cave being 
taken too literally. 
