pillars were found in different localities, although not far apart, I believe that they originally formed different enclosures. The sand-stone pillars are said to have been found at the southern side of the Great Temple, and close to the holy Pipal tree. I believe, therefore, that they originally formed an enclosure round the Bodhi tree itself. The granite pillars are said to have been discovered about 50 yards to the east of the Great Temple; and I think it probable that they once formed an enclosure either round the stupa which stood on the spot where Buddha received a bowl of rice and milk from two milkmaids. According to Hwen Thsang, this stupa was to the south-west of the Great Temple.*

To the south-east of the Great Temple there is a small tank called Budhokar Tál, which exactly answers the description given by the Chinese pilgrim of the tank of the dragon Muchalinda.† This agreement is so striking, that it was seen at once by the members of the Burmese Embassy.

There are two ruined small temples to the east of the Great Temple, the nearer one being called Tára Devi, and the further one Vágeswari Devi. But the former temple contains only a standing male figure, with a short inscription over the right shoulder in characters of about A. D. 1000, Sri Buddha-Dásasya, "(the gift) of the fortunate slave of Buddha." The goddess Târa belongs to the later days of Buddhism, after the introduction of Tântrika doctrines. The other temple contains a seated male figure, holding a lotus in his left hand, and sword in his uplifted right hand, with a Buddhist tope or solid tower on each side of him.

To the north of the Bodhi tree there is a ruined fortress of earth 1,500 feet long by 1,000 feet broad, attributed to Raja Amara Sinha Suvira. This is possibly the same person as the Amara Deva who built the Great Temple, as the arched passage leading to the temple is said to have been built for the convenience of Amara Sinha's Râni when returning from her morning bath in the Nilâjan River to pay her devotions at the shrine. The preservation of the title of Sinha down to the present day would seem to strengthen the supposition of Amara Deva's identity with the author of the Amara Kosha.

I venture to make this guess, as kúra or kúr is the Sanskrit name for "boiled rice," and kuragi may, therefore, have been the name of the holy spot where Buddha accepted the offering of the milkmaids. Kuragi means also a measure of land in Mahratti; the inscription may, therefore, mean simply "Gift to the holy spot of land."

+Julien's Hwen Thsang, II., 478.

The remaining antiquities at Buddha-Gaya consist of numerous Buddhist statues of all sizes, some placed in small temples, and others scattered about the ruins; but the greatest number of them, and by far the finest, are fixed in the walls of the Mahant's residence.

The existing inscriptions at Buddha-Gaya are few in number, and, with one exception, they are of little importance. Two valuable inscriptions, translated by Wilkins and James Prinsep, are no longer to be found; nor does the Mahant know anything about them. This is the more to be regretted, as the former was the record already quoted of Amara Deva, and the other had a doubtful date which might have been re-examined. In searching for these, however, I found a new inscription in the pavement of the gateway of the Mahant's residence. The tenon hinge of the gate works in a socket formed in the very middle of the inscription. There are two socket holes, the second one having belonged to an older gate, or having been cut in the wrong position. This inscription opens with an invocation to Buddha.

III. BAKROR.

To the eastward of Buddha-Gaya, on the opposite bank of the Phalgu or Lilâjan River, and immediately to the north of the village of Bakror, there are the ruins of a large brick tope, with a stump of a sand-stone pillar at a short distance to the northward. The ruined mound, which is called Katani, is 150 feet in diameter at base, and 50 feet high. It is built of the usual large bricks, 15 × 101 × 31. Several excavations have been made in it in search of bricks and treasure. About 70 years ago numerous lac seals, impressed with a figure of Buddha, were found in excavating this tope. These are engraved in Moor's Hindu Pantheon, Plate LXX., Figures 6, 7, and 8, where they are said to have been dug up at Buddha-Gaya. My information was, however, derived from the Mahant himself; and as Bakror is only half a mile to the eastward, it would have been more correct to have described the locality as near, instead of at, Buddha-Gaya. The stump of the pillar, which is still in situ, is 3 feet 0 inch in diameter, and there is another fragment near a well to the north-west that measures 3 feet 0 inch in diameter. Both of these pieces belong to the rough bottom portion of the pillar, which must

have been imbedded in masonry. The shaft of this pillar is said to have been taken to Gaya by a former Magistrate. Accordingly in Sâhebganj, or the new city of Gaya, there is a sand-stone pillar 2 feet 4 inches in diameter, and upwards of 16 feet in height, which was set up as a central point in Sahebganj, as recorded in a Persian inscription by Charles Bâdom Saheb (Boddam) in A. D. 1789.

The tope and pillar of Bakror were visited by Hwen Thsang, who relates a story regarding the capture by a certain king of an "Elephant of Perfume" (gandha-hasti).* In a former existence, as a Bodhisatwa, Buddha was said to have been the son of this Elephant, and a stupa and pillar had accordingly been erected in commemoration of the tradition. There was also a sacred tank, which is, perhaps, represented by a small walled tank generally called Márttand Pokhar or Suraj Kúnd, that is, the "Tank of the Sun." It is also called Buddhakúnd; but this name was applied by some to a large unwalled tank about 800 feet square, immediately to the north of the small tank. An annual fair is held at the Suraj Kûnd, when thousands of pilgrims assemble to bathe in its holy waters. They sit in the water in rows, and repeat, after their attendant Brahmans, the names of all the holy places around Gaya. The ancient name of Bakror is said to have been Ajayapura.

IV. PUNAWA.

The village of Punâwâ is situated 14 miles to the eastward of Gaya, between two hills of grey granite. To the north there is a fine old square tank called Budhokar Tál, and to the east another tank called Karamár Tál. The principal object is a pillared temple of Triloknáth. As it stands at present, this temple is a modern work made up of different sized pillars of various patterns, some with and others without capitals, so as to bring them to the required height. Pilasters have even been made use of as whole pillars, with the old rough engaged backs left exposed. One of the doorways of hard blue stone is richly sculptured. In the centre is a figure of the ascetic Buddha, with a three-pointed crown over his head, and on each side of him nine figures with joined hands

* Julien's Hwen Thsang, III., 1.