To the north of the town, the granite hill of Rámsila rises to a height of 372 feet. The granite temple on its summit contains a lingam called Pátáleswara Mahadeva, as well as small figures of Siva and Pârbati. The upper portion of this temple is modern, being constructed of various ancient fragments that do not fit well together, and which are in some instances placed upside down. The lower part of the temple, from eight to ten feet in height, is undoubtedly old; and perhaps the date of 1071 Samvat, or A. D. 1014, found on one of the blocks of the granite pavement may record the actual period of the erection of the temple. The basement mouldings are strikingly bold and effective. To the north-west of the town, the hill of Pretsila bears a small temple erected by Ahalya Bai to pacify the ghost or spirit (preta) who is said to dwell in the hill. I could learn nothing of the origin of this spirit, who is held in great awe, from which I infer that he is identical with Yama, the god of death, one of whose titles is Pretaraja, or king of ghosts, that is, of departed spirits. The hill is 541 feet in height, and its rocks are believed to contain gold. The shrine is much frequented by pilgrims who seek to appease the dread spirit by their offerings. There is a curious serpentine road leading from the foot of Râmsila to Pretsila. The road has been metalled, and trees have been planted on both sides of it by some wealthy devotees. Ráma Gaya is a small hill on the eastern bank of the Phalgu River, opposite Brahmjuïn. There are some ruins and broken statues scattered about it, but nothing of any interest except one short inscription of Sri Mahendra Pála Deva, dated in the eighth year of his own reign, or of some new era. II. BUDDHA-GAYA. Buddha-Gaya is famous as the locality of the holy Pipal tree under which Sâkya Sinha sat for six years in mental abstraction, until he obtained Buddhahood. The name is usually written Buddha-Gaya; but as it is commonly pronounced Bodh-Gaya, I have little doubt that it was originally called Bodhi-Gaya, after the celebrated Bodhi-drum or "tree of knowledge." A long and detailed account of this sacred place is given by the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang, who travelled all over India between the years A. D. 629 and 642. He describes minutely all the temples and statues which surrounded the celebrated Pipal tree, known throughout the Buddhist world as the Bodhi-drúm. Several of the objects enumerated by the Chinese pilgrim I have been able to identify from their exact correspondence with his description.* The celebrated Bodhi tree still exists, but is very much decayed; one large stem, with three branches to the westward, is still green, but the other branches are barkless and rotten. The green branch perhaps belongs to some younger tree, as there are numerous stems of apparently different trees clustered together. The tree must have been renewed frequently, as the present Pipal is standing on a terrace at least 30 feet above the level of the surrounding country. It was in full vigour in 1811, when seen by Dr. Buchanan (Hamilton), who describes it as in all probability not exceeding 100 years of age. Hwen Thsang also describes an early renewal by King Purna Varmma after its destruction by King Sasangka, who dug up the ground on which it had stood, and moistened the earth with sugar-cane juice to prevent its renewal. Immediately to the east of the Pipal tree there is a massive brick temple, nearly 50 feet square at base and 160 feet in height from the granite floor of the lower story to the top of its broken pinnacle. This is beyond all doubt the Vihár, from 160 to 170 feet in height, described by Hwen Thsang as standing to the east of the Bodhi tree. Its base was about 20 paces square. It was built of bluish bricks plastered with lime; it was ornamented with niches in stages, each niche holding a golden statue of Buddha, and was crowned with an amalaka fruit in gilt copper. The existing temple, both in size and appearance, corresponds so exactly with this description, that I feel quite satisfied it must be the identical temple that was seen by Hwen Thsang. The ruined temple, as it now stands, is 160 feet in height, with a base of rather less than 50 feet square. It is built entirely of dark red brick of a bluish tinge, and has formerly been plastered all over. Lastly, the walls are ornamented externally The life and travels of Hwen Thsang have been given to the world by M. Stanislas Julien in three volumes entitled Voyages des Pelerins Bouddhistes. This translation, the work of twenty years' persevering labor in the acquisition of Chinese and Sanskrit, combined with an intimate knowledge of Buddhist literature, is a lasting monument of human industry and learning. with eight tiers, or rows, of niches, many of which still hold figures of Buddha. These figures are made of plastered brick, but they were no doubt formerly gilt, as is done with the plaster statues of the Burmese at the present day. There is, however, no trace of the copper-gilt amalaka fruit. I have thus been particular in noting the points of correspondence between the two temples, because there seems to me to be a very strong probability that the existing temple was originally built by the celebrated Amara Sinha, the author of the Amara Kosha, as I will now proceed to show. On the site of this temple, according to Hwen Thsang, there was originally a small Vihár built by Asoka between 259 and 241 B. C.* Afterwards, a new temple of very great size was built by a Brahman in compliance with the instructions of the god Mahadeva conveyed to him in a vision. Inside the temple was placed a statue of the ascetic Buddha as he appeared when seated in meditation under the Bodhi tree. The statue was 11 feet and 5 inches in height, 8 feet 8 inches in breadth across the knees, and 6 feet 2 inches across the shoulders. The figure was sitting cross-legged facing the east. Now these particulars correspond almost exactly with the arrangements of the present building. Its doorway is towards the east, and consequently the enshrined statue must have faced toward the east. The statue itself has long ago disappeared, but its pedestal still remains in good order. Its dimensions are as follows: length 13 feet 2 inches, breadth 5 feet 8 inches, and height 4 feet inch, which measurements agree most closely with those recorded by Hwen Thsang; namely 12 feet 5 inches in length by 4 feet 2 inches in height. Considering how exactly both the temple and the pedestal of the figure correspond in size and in other respects with the description of Hwen Thsang, I think there can be no reasonable doubt that the present temple is the same that was seen by him in the 7th century of our era.† Now, in an inscription dated in A. D. 948, which was found at Buddha-Gaya, and translated by Sir Charles Wilkins, the author of the record ascribes the building of this *Julien's Hwen Thsang, II., 465. See Plate IV. for a plan of the temple, and Plate V. for the pedestal. |