corner of this mound there are two small eminences, which may be the remains of temples, but as the surface of the mound now presents nothing but small fragments of bricks, all the larger bricks having been removed to furnish materials for the present village, it is quite impossible to say what kind of buildings may once have stood upon it. All that can be inferred, I think, from the present remains is, that Dharâwat must at one time, probably about the 8th or 9th century, have been the seat of a considerable Buddhist community. Major Kittoe paid a hurried visit to Dharâwat by moon-light. He notices the twelve-armed figure, which he calls a Buddhist sculpture, as being very remarkable. XV. BESARH. The village of Besárh, or Besádh in Nagari characters, is situated 27 miles, a little to the east of north from Patna, and 20 miles from Hâjipur on the left bank of the Ganges. Both the distance and direction from Patna point to this place as the representative of the ancient Vaisáli. The name also is the same, as it is written Besárh by Abul Fazl in his Ain Akbari.* Now, Hwen Thsang places the King's Palace in Vaisâli at 120 li, or 20 miles, to the east of north from the northern bank of the Ganges opposite Pâtaliputra, that is, from the present Hâjipur. He also describes the King's Palace as being from 4 to 5 li (from 3,500 to 4,400 feet) in circuit, which agrees with the size of the ruined fort now called Raja Bisál-ka-garh, which is 1,580 feet long and 750 feet broad inside, or 4,660 feet in circuit round the crest of the mound. This almost perfect coincidence of name, position, and dimensions, seems quite sufficient to place the identification of Besârh with Vaisâli beyond all reasonable doubt. I will, therefore, now proceed to describe the objects of interest that still remain in Besârh and the neighbouring village of Bakhra, which will afford further proof of the identity of Besârh and Vaisâli. These ruins were visited by Mr. J. Stephenson in 1834, and described by him in Prinsep's Journal. They consist of two distinct groups, one at Besârh itself, and the other * Gladwin's Translation, II., 198. Julien's Hwen Thsang, II., 399. To Swetapura 90 li, plus 30 li to the Ganges. In Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, 1835, p. 128. King of Magadha in Raja-griha, over the other half of the remains of Ananda, is said by Hwen Thsang to have been a superb one. An annual fair is held at the Besârh stupa in the month of Chaitra, when many thousands of people assemble at the shrine of Mîr Abdal. As the occurrence of this fair is regulated by the solar reckoning of the Hindus, and not by the lunar year of the Muhammedans, I conclude that the festival was established long before the time of the Musalmân Saint. I would, therefore, as the fair is held beside the ruined stupa, connect the festival with some celebration in honour of Buddha, or of one of his disciples. Two ornamental stone pillars of medieval date were found a short time ago in excavating near the foot of the mound. To the westward of the fort there is a large sheet of water with an island on the east side, on which is situated a small temple dedicated to Mahâdeva. Inside the temple all the sculptures found in the ruins of Besârh have been collected. The principal sculpture is a group of Mahadeva seated on his bull Nandi and caressing Durga, or Gauri, who is seated on a lion. There is also a standing figure of the four-armed Vishnu with a radiated halo round his head. In his hands he holds a club, a ball, a quoit, and a shell. A third sculpture represents the Ashta Sakti, or eight female energies seated on their respective vahans or vehicles. The remaining sculptures are Buddhistical. One is of Buddha the Ascetic, two represent the Dhyâni Buddha, Amitâbha, while a fourth is a seated figure of the famous Bodhisatwa Avalokiteswara. There are several small sheets of water to the north and north-west of the fort, but when I saw them they were irregular in shape and seemed to me mostly natural hollows filled with the rain which had recently fallen. The Natives, however, say that formerly there were 52 tanks (Báwan Pokhar) around Besârh, two of which still exist in the neighbourhood of Bakhra. The remains at Bakhra are all situated on a low mound just one mile to the south-east of the village, and two miles to the north north-west of the Fort of Besârh.* The greater portion of this mound is now cultivated, but the whole surface is covered with small fragments of bricks. The edge of the mound is best defined on the western side, where it * See Plate XXI. |