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The soft sandstone which everywhere underlies Junagadh formed apparently in very shallow water, showing on all sides complicated lines of stratification. The facility with which it is worked may be one reason why it has been largely excavated into cavedwellings in Buddhist times.

The Caves. In the N. part of the town enclosure, near the old telegraph office, is the group called the Khapra Khodia. These caves appear to have been a monastery, and bear the cognisance of the then ruling race a winged griffin or lion. They appear to have been two or three storeys high. They are excavated in good building stone, and the modern quarrymen have been allowed to encroach and injure them; but they have recently been cleaned out and built up with supporting masonry. The most interesting caves of all are in the Uparkot (see below) about 50 yds. N. of the great mosque. They are now protected by an iron gate. They consist of two storeys, the lower chambers being II ft. high. The upper storey consists of a tank surrounded by a corridor, and of a room 36 ft. by 28 ft., supported by six columns, beyond which is a small kitchen. From

here a winding staircase leads to the lower storey, measuring 39 ft. by 31 ft., with broad recesses all round it, and over them a frieze of chaitya windows. Of the columns, Dr Burgess says:

Few bases could be found anywhere to excel in beauty of design and richness of carving those of the six principal pillars." Inside the Wagheswari Gate, through which the Girnar Mount is reached, are the caves known by the name of Bawa Piara-a comparatively modern Hindu ascetic who is said to have resided in them. These caves date from about the time of Asoka (272-231 B.C.), are among the very oldest in all India, and

are nearly all small and plain. They are situated in the scarp of a circular detached mass of rock, and face S. and E., a third line to the N., also facing S., being excavated on a higher level than the S. line. Facing E., a number of caves were dug round a central space.

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The Uparkot, on the E. side of the city, used as a jail until 1858, is now practically deserted, though modern waterworks now located on its S. aspect. It was the citadel of the old Hindu Princes, and is probably the spot from whence Junagadh derives its name. Without presenting any very special features, the Uparkot is a most interesting old fort. The parapets on the E., where the place is commanded by higher ground, have been raised at least three times to give cover against the increasingly long range of projectiles. The views from the walls are delightful. Here were quartered the lieutenants of the great Asoka, Buddhist King, and later of the Gupta Kings. The entrance is beyond the town in the W. wall, and consists of three gateways, one inside the other. The fort walls here are from 60 to 70 ft. high, forming a massive cluster of buildings. The inner gateway, a beautiful specimen of the Hindu Toran, has been topped by more recent Muhammadan work, but the general effect is still good and, with the approach cut through the solid rock, impressive. On the rampart above the gate is an inscription of Mandalika V., dated 1450. About 150 yds. to the left, through a grove of sitaphal (custard apples), may be seen a huge 10-in. bore cannon of bellmetal, 17 ft. long and 4 ft. 8 in. round at the mouth. This gun was brought from Diu, where it was left by the Turks. There is an Arabic inscription at the muzzle, which may be translated: The order to make this cannon, to be used in the service of the Almighty,

was given by the Sultan of Arabia and Persia, Sultan Sulaiman, son of Salim Khan. May his triumph be glorified, to punish the enemies of the State and of the Faith, in the capital of Egypt, 1531." At the breech is inscribed: The work of Muhamman, the son of Hamza."

Another large cannon

called Chudanal, also from Diu, in the Southern portion of the fort, is 13 ft. long, and has a muzzle 4 ft. in diameter. Near this is the Jami Masjid, evidently constructed from the materials of a Hindu temple built by Mahmud Bigara. The mosque is much ruined.

The Tomb of Nuri Shah, close to the mosque, is ornamented with fluted cupolas, and a most peculiar carving over the door. There are two Wells in the Uparkot-the Adi Chadi, said to have been built in ancient times and named after slave girls of the Chudasama rulers, is descended by a long flight of steps (the sides of the descent show the most remarkable overlappings and changes of lie in the strata, for which alone it is worth a visit to any one with geological tastes); and the Naughan, cut to a great depth in the soft rock, and with a wonderful circular staircase.

There is a fine dharmsala belonging to the goldsmiths near the Wagheswari Gate.

The mountain Girnar is the great feature of Junagadh, and the Jain temples upon it are amongst the most ancient in the country. It is 3666 ft. high, and is one of the most remarkable mountains in India. From the city of Junagadh only the top of it can be seen, as it has in front of it lower hills, of which Jogniya, or Laso Pawadi, 2527 feet, Lakhshman Tekri, Bensla, 2290 ft. high, and Datar, 2779 ft. high, are the principal. Girnar was anciently called Raivata, or Ujjayanta, sacred amongst the Jains to Nemnath,

the 22nd Tirthankar, and doubtless a place of pilgrimage before the days of Asoka (274-237 B.C.).

The traveller, in order to reach Girnar, will pass through the Wagheswari Gate, which is close to the Uparkot. At about 200 yds. from the gate, to the right of the road, is the Temple of Wagheswari, which is joined to the road by a causeway about 150 yds. long. In front of it is a modern temple, three storeys high, very ugly, flat-roofed, and quite plain. About a furlong beyond this is a stone bridge, and just beyond it, on the right, is the famous Aoska Stone, a round boulder of granite, measuring roughly 20 ft. by 30 ft., and covered with inscriptions, which prove on examination to be fourteen Edicts of Asoka (250 B.C.).1 Nearly identical inscriptions have been found at Dhauli and Shahbazgarhi (pp. 454 and 341) and elsewhere. The character is Pali.

On leaving Asoka's Stone the route crosses the handsome bridge over the Sonarekha, which here forms a fine sheet of water, then passes a number of temples, at first on the left bank of the river and then on the right, where Jogis go about entirely naked, to the largest of the temples dedicated to Damodar, a name of Krishna, from Dam, a rope, because by tradition his mother in vain attempted to confine him with a rope when a child. The reservoir at this place is accounted very sacred. The path is now through a wooded valley, with some fine Indian fig-trees. Near a cluster of them is an old shrine called Bhavanath, a name of Siva, and round it are a number of large monkeys, who come on being called. Most persons who are not active climbers will probably proceed up the mountain in a swing dholi (p. 207),

1 See Life of John Wilson, F.R.S., by Dr G. Smith, for picture and account of the stone; or Dr. Burgess, Second Archeol. Rep.

to the right along the edge of a precipice, which, though improved of late, is still very narrow, so that the dholi almost grazes the scarp, which rises perpendicularly 200 ft. above the traveller. On the right

is seen the lofty mountain of Datar, covered with low jungle. At about 1500 ft. there is a stone dharmsala, and from this there is a fine view of the rock called the Bhairav-Thampa, “the terrific leap," because devotees used to

here form a sort of fort on the ledge at the top of the great cliff, but still 60o ft. below the summit. The largest temple is that of Nemnath (see plan, p. 214), standing in a quadrangular court 195 ft. by 130 ft. It consists of two halls (with two porches, called by the Hindus mandapams), and a shrine, which contains a large black image of Nemnath, the 22nd Tirthankar, with massive gold ornaments and jewels. Round the shrine is a

cast themselves from its top, falling 1000 ft. or more.

At 2370 ft. above Junagadh the gate of the enclosure known as the Deva Kota, or Ra Khengar's Palace, is reached. On entering the gate the large enclosure of the temples is on the left, while to the right is the old granite temple of Man Singh, Bhoja Raja of Cutch, and farther on the much larger one of Vastupala (see below). Built into the wall on the left of the entrance is an inscription in Sanskrit. Some sixteen Jain temples

passage with many images in white marble. Between the outer and inner halls are two shrines. The outer hall has two small raised platforms paved with slabs of yellow stone, covered with representations of feet in pairs, which represent the 2452 feet of the first disciples. On the W. of this is a porch overhanging the perpendicular scarp. On two of the pillars of the mandapam are inscriptions dated 1275, 1281, and 1278-dates of restoration, when Dr Burgess says it was covered with a coati