1862 .] 
305 
Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 
Giryek, Rajgir, Bargaon (or Kundilpur), Bihar, Ghosrawa, Titrawa, 
Prinawa—the Barabar and Nagarjuni caves and Dharawat, all in 
south Bihar. To the north of the Ganges I visited Besarh, (the 
ancient Yaisaii) Bakhra, Kesariya, Laoriya, Navandgarh, Parharaona, 
Kasiya, Khukhundo, Kaliaon, Hathiyada, Bhitari, and Sarnath 
Benares. I closed work at Benares on the 1st of April. 
At Gaya I got numerous inscriptions including one dated in the 
era of Buddha’s Nirvan. At Giryek I opened Jarasandha’s tower 
and a small ruin close to it from which I obtained 83 lac seals with 
impressions of topes and the Buddhist formula, Ye Bhdrmma, &c. 
At Bajgir (the ancient Raj agriha) I opened the central tope with¬ 
out any result, excepting the discovery of a narrow passage showing 
that the monks had easy access to the relics, and must have removed 
them when they were ejected from India. The cave called Son 
Bhandar in the Baibhar hill, is beyond all doubt the celebrated cave 
in front of which was held the first Buddhist synod. In two in¬ 
scriptions it is called Subha Guha , the auspicious cave. 
Bargaon or Kundilpur is the ancient Ndlanda. I found two in¬ 
scriptions giving the name of Nalanda. The ruined mounds are enor¬ 
mous in size, and would perhaps repay excavation, one of them ought 
certainly to be completely excavated, but the work would not occupy 
less than six months. 
At Bihar I copied the two Gupta inscriptions on the stone pillar. 
The lower one opens word for word the same as that on the Bhitari 
pillar. 
At the Barabar caves I copied all the inscriptions. The oldest are 
of Rajah Dasarath dated in the 1st, 12th, and 19th years of his 
reign. 
At Besarh I found the ancient Yaisaii. There is a ruined fortress 
1,600 feet long, by 800 feet broad, with its ditch still in good order. 
There is also a tope, covered with Musalman tombs, and the ground 
to the south of the fort is strewn with large bricks. The building 
of the fort is attributed to Rajah Bisdl. 
Two miles to the north of Besarh stands the Bukhra Lion Pillar, 
and another ruined tope. Immediately to the south of the pillar 
there is a tank which is certainly the celebrated Mar kata hrada , or 
Monkey Tank, on the bank of which formerly stood the Kutdgdra 
Hall in which Buddha first made known his approaching Nirvan, 
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