being raised we saw a chamber, 1 foot 8 inches long from north to south, by 1 foot 3 inches broad, and 1 foot 6 inches in depth. The bottom of the chamber was therefore only 1 foot 3 inches above the terrace. In the chamber there were two red earthenware pots, or covers, shaped like beehives. See Plate XXV., figs. 8 and 9. On raising the larger cover, which was 11 inches in height, we saw a cylindrical red earthenware box, 7 inches in diameter, closed by a domed lid. There was no inscription of any kind. The mouth of this vase is broken in two places; and I believe that it was an alms-dish of the holy man whose relics were here enshrined.

9. On raising the smaller cover, which was 92 inches in height, we found a similar red earthenware box, containing two small caskets, one of steatite and the other of red earthenware, and both without inscriptions. Of these relics, therefore, nothing more can be said, than that they are probably the remains of some of the principal teachers of the Satdhára fraternity.

10. The remaining Topes at Satdhára are now little more than mere circles of stone, from 12 to 20 feet in diameter. Two of them are hollow in the centre, and contain trees; and it is therefore possible that these circular walls may once have been only the enclosures around different holy trees. It is remark

able, however, that at Satdhára we found one solitary trace of the real builders of these Topes, in the name of Buddha Bitha, or " Buddha's Topes," which is the name still current amongst the people for these massive and mysterious piles.

CHAPTER XXV.

TOPES AT BHOJPUR:

1. THE Buddhist remains at this place were first visited by my brother, who gave a brief notice of them under the name of "the Pipaliya-Bijoli Topes."* The former name is so common in this part of the country, that it is the usual practice to add the name of Bijoli to distinguish it from the other Pipaliyas. In the same way Sánchi is invariably called SánchiKánakhera, to distinguish it from two other places of the same name. As Bhojpur has long been a deserted village, my brother probably never heard of its name. The ruined houses of Bhojpur, however, still remain on the hill between the Topes, and I have adopted this name in preference to the others, as it may possibly have had some connection with the monastic establishment in the midst of which it is situated.

2. The Topes of Bhojpur† stand on the southern end of a low range of hills, 6 miles to the S.S.E. of Bhilsa, and 7 miles to the E.S.E. of Sánchi.

* Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, xvi. 752.

+ See Plates VI. and XXVI.

To

the S.S.W. stands the celebrated Fort of Raysen, which offered so gallant a resistance to the treacherous Shir Shah. On the west the great Sánchi Tope, and on the east the Andher Topes are all distinctly visible.

3. The Topes are situated on the south-east corner of the hill, on four successive stages, rising one above the other, and separated by rocky ledges, which here and there have been formed into rude steps. The principal Topes stand on the uppermost stage, and are very nearly in a straight line from north to south. On the same stage, to the east, are the ruined houses of Bhojpur, and to the west are the remains of a large square solid building, 96 feet long by 84 feet broad. The ruins of a second building known by two names, either as Siddh-ka-makán, the "Saint's house;" or, as Mádhu-Deo-ka-mandar, the "Temple of Mádhava Deva," that is, Krishna, are 113 feet long from east to west, and 82 feet broad, and upwards of 20 feet in height. The walls slope considerably, and are supported by square towers of small projection at the corners. The entrance is in the north-east corner, from which a flight of steps leads to the top of the terrace, which is covered with grass. At the western end there is a small ruined temple,† of which the

* Seventeen feet high on north and east sides, and twenty-eight feet high on the other sides. The walls have a slope of one inch for every cubit of height.

+ Amongst Sir Charles D'Oyly's lithographed sketches on the new road from Calcutta to Gya, there is one of an old temple at Budh-Gya or (Bodhi Gya), which stands upon a solid terrace, the same as this at Bhojpur.

doorway and a few pillars are still standing. The enshrined figure of Buddha is squatted in the usual manner, with the soles of the feet turned up, the right hand lying over the knee, and the left placed in the lap. To the right and left of the head there are representations of Topes and other ornaments. Below, there is the following inscription in characters of the seventh or eighth century, similar to that which I extracted from the Sárnáth Tope near Benares.

Yé Dharmmá hetu prabhava, hetun teshán Tathúgato Hyavadat teshán cha yo nirodha, evam vádi Mahasramánas. "Of all things springing from cause, that cause hath the TATHAGATA explained. The cause of their extinction the great ascetic hath also declared."

Dharma is personified Nature, or all existing things. Tathágata and Maha Srámana are names of Buddha. Besides this figure of Buddha, there are some small broken images, of which one is recognizable as Surya, or the Sun, with his seven-horsed chariot represented on the pedestal.

UPPERMOST STAGE OF TOPES.

No. 1 TOPE, A.-BHOJPUR.

4. There is a considerable breach on the south side of this Tope; but the hemisphere of dry stones is otherwise nearly perfect, excepting the upper surface, which is wanting in all the Topes. The diameter of the hemisphere is 66 feet 2 inches, and the