30 
On several places in Sub-Division Banka. 
[No. 1, 
appeared rather surprising to me that Raja Debai should, in trouble¬ 
some times, have fixed his capital outside rather than within this im¬ 
pregnable natural fortress, which is about ten miles in circuit. The 
climate of Cozhi is, however, considered very unhealthy. This 
may be the effect of prejudice, as the Hindus have a natural anti¬ 
pathy to hills and the sea. The highest of the Cozhi hills, named 
Bhorom, is inconsistently enough believed to be the ill-fated resi¬ 
dence of Rama, whence his wife Sita was taken away by Ravana. 
The name of the hill, which means 1 error,’ is said to refer to the 
circumstance of Rama’s pursuing a counterfeit deer, which caused 
the loss of his beloved wife. The trace of a well is all that is to be 
seen on the spot connected with the memory of this deified hero. 
Panchboti where Sita’s abduction is believed to have taken 
place, is situated on the banks of the Godavari near the present 
town of Nasik. But the natural proneness of human nature to 
associate localities with great names, seems to have led the Hindus 
to identify not only Cozhi, but various other places in India with 
reminiscences of Rama’s wanderings. At Bhubaneswar near Khond- 
giri, the priests show pilgrims the spot where Sita gave birth 
to twins, though that honour more properly belongs to Val- 
miki’s hermitage near Bitliur. I was shown the footprints of 
Rama alike on the marble rocks of the Narbadda near Jabalpur 
as well as on the stones buried in the bed of the Mahanaddi near 
Sambalpur. 
In the boundary line between Cozhi and Kukwara, stands 
a Kenclii tree bearing the signatures of all versed in letters who 
pass by the way. The bark, it is believed, possesses the singular 
virtue of spontaneously tracing the Nagari characters which com¬ 
pose the name of Rama and of retaining any inscriptions written 
on it for ages, the growth of the tree making them ascend higher 
and higher from the ground. The tree has given name to the vil¬ 
lage on the confines of which it is situated. For the village is call¬ 
ed Likhni Cozhi ,—Likhni signifying to write, and Cozhi being 
a corruption of Kenclii. It is highly probable that the principal 
village, Cozhi, which has given name to the whole mahall and the 
long range of hills in it, has derived its own name from a large 
number of Kenclii trees which formerly grew there. 
