274 F. S. Grmvse— The town of Bulandshdhr. [No. 3, 
been well executed. On a ledge in a line with the feet is an inscription 
in characters apparently of tho 9th or 10th century, which reads as 
follows : 
Ye dharmma hetu-prakhavd hetus teshdn tathagato hyavadat tesham 
cha yo nirodha, evam-vadi mahasramanah. 
This would be in English “ All things that proceed from a cause, 
their cause as well as their destruction the Tathagata has declared: such 
is the dictum of the great philosopher.” It is curious that a popular 
symbol of faith should have been framed with so much tautology in so 
short a compass, and also with such inadequacy of expression. For the 
cardinal feature of the doctrine, viz., that effects can only be destroyed 
by destroying their causes, is not stated at all but merely implied. 
Another very curious find was a terra cotta seal (PI. XXIII, fig. 5, 
in full size), probably some 1400 years old, but as fresh and clear as if it 
had been baked only yesterday, and still showing the pressure of the 
workman’s fingers who had handled the clay while it was yet damp. It was 
inside a closed earthen jar, which accounts for its excellent preservation. 
It is oval in shape, with a dotted rim, and is divided by two parallel lines 
across the centre into two equal compartments. In the upper are two 
devices, one of which is a conch shell, the other—which is raised on a little 
stand—looks like a wing, and may possibly be intended to represent the 
chajcioa, or Brahmani duck, so frequently introduced in old Indian painting 
and sculpture. In the lower compartment is tho name ‘ Mattila,’ in charac¬ 
ters of about the 5th century A. D. 
It is quite possible that the Fort on the river-bank may also have 
been founded by Parmal, for the protection of his infant town of Ban- 
chhati. Tradition, however, ascribes it to one of his successors, who is 
made to bear the name of Ahi-baran, interpreted to mean ‘ cobra-coloured.’ 
But this appears to me to be absolutely untenable. Baran is certainly 
not the Sanskrit word varna, ‘ colour,’ but varana, ‘ a hill-fort or enclo¬ 
sure ;’ and Ahi-baran would thus mean ‘ snake-fort ’ or ‘ Naga fort,’ 
in the same way as Ahi-kshetra means ‘ Snake-land.’ No Iiaja Ahi-baran, I 
should conjecture, ever existed, though there may well have been an Ahibaran 
Raja, the town being so called because it was a stronghold of the Naga 
tribe. Nor is it impossible that the epithet ‘ Naga,’ like the English 
« reptile,’ may have been attached to a Buddhist community by their 
Brahmanical neighbours by way of reproach. Another explanation may, 
however, be suggested. Some twenty-one miles to the north-east of Bu- 
landshahr, on the right bank of the Ganges, is the small town of Ahar, 
which (according to local tradition) is the spot where, after Parikshit, 
the successor of Raja Yudhishthir on the throne of Hastinapur, had met 
his death by snake-bite, his son Janamejaya, to avenge his father’s death, 
