1892.] 
at Mount TJren in the Mungir (Monghyr) district. 
11 
menade for the great ascetic, affording an outlook only to the distant 
hills and overhead the sky. 
Marks where Buddha sat down. —8th. “ Below a corner of the south¬ 
east side of the mountains is a great stone. On this are marks caused 
by Buddha sitting thereon. The marks are about an inch deep, 5 
feet 2 inches long and 2 feet 1 inch wide. Above them is built a 
stupa.” Julien, however, notes* the existence of a cave here in which 
Buddha dwelt. He says “ Au bas d’une caverne situee au Sud-est; ” 
yet, Beale makes no remark when giving a different translation, viz ., 
‘ corner.’ It will be seen presently that Julien’s translation seems the 
correct one. I have left the identification of this site to the last, because 
the whole of the old surface of the S. E. corner of the hill has been 
removed by blasting, and the markings on the rock here must have been 
demolished by the quarriers. Evidence, however, is still extant of the 
former existence of a Buddhist sacred spot within the quarried area 
near the point marked No. 7 on Plate I, “ on the south-east side of 
the hill.” On the vertical face of the rock, about twenty and thirty 
yards to the south and S. W. of that spot, are carved two stupas pointing 
to that spot, and the old surface of the rock on the verge of the quarry and 
about seven or eight yards above that spot shows the commencement of 
an area of high polish such as is only found at the sacred spots ; and here 
are numerous traces of short inscriptions but mostly illegible. Evidence 
also is found of the existence of a cave here. On this edge of the 
quarry, in comparatively modern Devanagari characters, is cut the 
inscription Jaju ghaur, i. e., £ Jajii’s cave or house.’f This Jaju was 
evidently a modern occupant of the cave in which Buddha formerly 
dwelt, which was close to the large pipal tree ( Ficus religiosa ), see 
No. 7 on Plate I, and which was removed by the railway quarriers. 
But the villagers possess no tradition of any ascetic or local worthy of 
the name of Jaju, nor indeed were they aware of the existence of this 
inscription, till I pointed it out. He must have lived several genera¬ 
tions ago. The greater portion of this side of the hill was blasted about 
thirty years ago, but farther blasting was done' three years ago and 
also this year, and as the ballast coolies gather up fragments of bricks as 
well as stones, the remains of the stupa here must have been removed. 
In a hollow in the rock immediately to the west of this are the numer¬ 
ous remains of broken bricks presumably those of the stupa. 
The Hot Springs in relation to Uren. —The above are the remains 
* Op. cit., Ill, p. 70. 
f Ghaur is the Mithila vernacular for ghar, a dwelling, and this portion of 
Monghyr district is included within the Mithila range of dialect. Griekson’s 
Bihar Peasant Life, p. 331. 
