1892.] 
19 
at Mount TJren in Mungir ( Monghyr ) district , 8fo, 
style of the Mathura sculptures figured by General Cunningham.* At 
a hamlet about a mile to the west is a perforated screen and a portion 
of a slab with an elegant scroll design. 
The only trace of impurity, observed by me, was found in a small 
four-armed figure of Avalokitesvara and a small highly carved marble 
image of the Bodhisattva Tara of the Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhists. 
On the back of the latter image is inscribed the Buddhist creed in 
mediaeval Kutila characters, and in the base are portrayed the seven 
treasures of a Ghakravarti raja, such as S r akyamnni was to have been, had 
he not adopted the life of an ascetic ; viz., (1) a wheel (chahra-ratna), 
(2) elephant ( hasti-ratna ), (3) horse (asva-ratna) , (4) a jewel on a trifid 
pedestal (manihya-ratna) , (5) a general (senapati-ratna), (6) a minister 
(grahapati-ratna) and (7) a good wife (stri-ratna ). 
In its palmy days, this rocky hill, studded with stupas and its pro¬ 
fusion of images and ministering monks, must have formed a most pic¬ 
turesque sight. 
Date and mode of destruction of this Buddhist establishment. 
Buddhism is known to have been the state-religion in Magadha so 
late as the reign of Mahipala, whose inscription, notifying this fact, is 
dated 1026 A. D. It would thus appear, in Magadha, at least, to have been 
little, if at all, affected by the Brahmanical persecution under S'ankar- 
acharya.f General Cunningham statesj that Buddhism “ continued to be 
“ the dominant religion of Magadha from the middle of the eighth century 
“ down to the time of the Muhammadan conquest, when the monasteries 
“ were destroyed, and the monks put to death by the ruthless and il- 
“ literate Musalmans.” But it is not apparent on what grounds the 
General makes the latter portion of this statement, and the attitude to¬ 
wards Buddhism of the Pala kings, subsequent to Matiipala, does not 
yet appear to be definitely known. Some evidence, however, seems to 
be available regarding the approximate date and mode of destruction of 
this Buddhist establishment at Uren which favours the above statement. 
The latest Buddhist inscriptions on the images are written in medieval 
Nagari characters, such as commenced to be current about the 12th and 
13th centuries A. D. And local tradition ascribes the destruction of 
the ‘garb’ aud the temples containing the images (Buddhist) to the 
# Arch. Survey Reports., vol. I, pi. 40, and vol. Ill, pi. 6. 
t “ Ce fut dans ce temps (9th century A. D.) que parurent des ennemis terribles, 
pour les bouddistes. Qankaraatchareia et son disciple Bataatchareia, qui exterminer- 
ent le Bouddisme, le premier dans le Bengale, le second, a Ori^a.”— Taranath ir. 
Vassilief’s Le Bouddisme, p, 53. 
% Arch. Survey Report., vol. Ill, 119. 
