some 9 feet in height, the result of which merely proved it to have an ancient dust heap; A third, through a very high and likely mound resulted in nothing but earth and broken bricks; Another has since been made, but the results were the same as in the other cases. The reason for this is very plain : Each of these mounds represents an ancient edifice not, perhaps, of the time of the Buddhists (for the bricks do not bear that character), but the constant excavation of foundations for the past 200 years for the purpose of building has produced the results above alluded to. Each party has taken the bricks he needed and filled in again the rubbish.

"Just below the Idgah and exterior to the work is an old Muhammadan bridge across the Gângi Nadi, which might be repaired with advantage. This has been entirely constructed with the cut-stones taken from the Buddhist structure above. The date of its erection may have been from 200 to 250 years, since or subsequent to the erection of that of Jonpur, which it resembles in many points. The carved work is built inwards.

"There are around Bhitari, at some little distance, say a quarter or half a mile, a number of detached mounds evidently of Buddhist origin, and apparently of artificial construction. These might repay excavation.

"In conclusion, I would beg to suggest with all deference, and without access to books, my knowledge must be limited that Bhitari was of old a strongly fortified earthen camp, in which there was at least one large Buddhist temple and several edifices in connection with the same; but nothing short of a lengthened residence on the spot, together with careful exploration, can ever accurately determine the nature of the latter. It is difficult to account for the base of the monolith being so far below the present level of the soil with which it does not appear to me ever to have been even.”

XXV. BANARAS, SARNATH.

Banaras is celebrated amongst the Buddhists as the scene where their great teacher first expounded his doctrine, or, as they metaphorically express it, where he first began to "turn the wheel of the law." This is one of the four great events in the life of Buddha, and accordingly it forms one of the most common subjects of Buddhist sculpture. In the

great Buddhist establishment near Banâras, which is described by Hwen Thsang the principal statue enshrined in a temple 200 feet in height, was a copper figure of Buddha represented in the act of "turning the wheel of the law." I found numerous statues of Buddha in the same attitude during my explorations about Sârnâth in 1835-36, and Major Kittoe discovered several more in 1851-52. I found also many others figures, but those of Buddha, the "Teacher," were the most numerous. The inscribed pedestal found by Dewan Jagat Singh in 1794, also belonged to a statue of Buddha, the Teacher. Similarly at Buddha-Gaya, where Sâkya Sinha sat for six years meditating under the Bodhi Tree, the favourite statue is that of Buddha the Ascetic.

The city of Banâras is situated on the left bank of the Ganges, between the Barna Nadi on the north-east, and the Asi Nála on the south-west. The Barná, or Varaná, is a considerable rivulet, which rises to the north of Allahabad, and has a course of about 100 miles. The Asi is a mere brook of no length, and, owing to its insignificant size, it does not appear in any of our most detailed maps. It is not entered in the Indian Atlas Sheet No. 88, which is on the scale of four miles to the inch, nor even in the larger lithographed map of the District of Banâras on the double scale of two miles to the inch. This omission has led the learned French Academician M. Vivien de Saint Martin to doubt the existence of the Asi as a tributary of the Ganges, and he conjectures that it may be only a branch of the Barna, and that the joint stream called the Varanasi may have communicated its name to the city. The Asi Nala, however, will be found, as I have described it, in James Prinsep's map of of the city of Banâras, published by Hullmandel, as well as in the small map which I have prepared to illustrate this account.* The position of the Asi is also accurately described by H. H. Wilson in his Sanskrit Dictionary, under the word Varanasi. I may add that the road from the city to Ramnagar crosses the Asi only a short distance from its confluence with the river. The points of junction of both streams with the Ganges are considered particularly holy,

*See Plate XXXI.-The Asi is mentioned by Abul Fazl in his Ain Akbari, II., p. 28; and by Bishop Heber, I., 397, and more particularly in p. 399, where he speaks of "the small river."

and accordingly temples have been erected both at Barna Sangam below the city, and at Asi Sangam above the city. From the joint names of these two streams, which bound the city to the north and south, the Brahmans derive Varanasi or Varanasi, which is said to be the Sanskrit form of the name of Banâras. But the more usual derivation amongst the common people is from Râja Banár, who is said to have re-built the city about 800 years ago.

The Buddhist remains of Banâras are situated nearly due north, and about 3 miles distant from the outskirts of the city, at a place popularly known by the name of Sârnáth. This name, which is usually applied to the great Buddhist tower, or stupa, belongs properly to a small Brahmanical temple on the western bank of the lake, while the great tower itself is called Dhamek. An annual fair is held close to the temple of Sârnâth, and there is an indigo factory only 200 yards to the north of it. The name of Sârnâth was, accordingly, well known both to the Natives and to the English, and when the neighbouring ruins first attracted attention, they were always referred to by that name. The earliest mention of them is by Jonathan Duncan in 1794, in his account of the discovery of two Urns by Babu Jagat Singh "in the vicinity of a temple called Sârnâth."* It is possible that Duncan here refers to the Brahmanical "temple;" but in the subsequent notices by Wilford and James Prinsep, both of whom had resided for many years at Banâras, the name of Sârnâth is always applied to the great tower. The same name is given to the tower in an engraving which was published in 1834 in Captain Elliot's Views in India.

Sárnáth means supply the "best Lord," which title is here applied to the god Mahâdeva, whose symbol, the lingam, is enshrined in the small temple on the bank of the lake. I believe, however, that the name is only an abbreviation of Sárangganátha, or the "Lord of Deer," which would also be an appropriate epithet for Mahadeva, who is frequently represented as holding a deer in his left hand. As the lake in front of the temple is still occasionally called "Sárang Tál," my conjecture that the true name was Sarangga Nath seems a very probably one; but I would refer the epithet to Buddha himself, who in a former existence was fabled to have roamed

* Asiatic Researches, V., p. 131.