128

[MAY, 1873.

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

it has been learnt from the mouth of the illus

stanzas addressed to that deity. No men tion, however, is made of the Jaina Sū ri Mâ na tunga, who plays so great a part in the account of the commentary on the

trious ancients.

Bhaktamara.

“Now, for the amusement of the learned, the

account of the composition of the illustrious ‘Century addressed to the Sun,' is narrated, as It is as follows. Two eastern

poets, called Bâ na and Ma y ára, lived at the court of Mahārāja Śri harsha, the chief of poets, the composer of the Nätikä called Rat návali, who was lord of Mál a va and whose

capital was Ujjain. Amongst them Ma

y & rabha t t a was the father-in-law, and B an a bh a t t a, the author of the Kadambari, was his son-in-law. They were rivals in poetry. But B an a bh atta had before, at some time or other, approached the king, had been honour ably settled near him, and dwelt with his family

in Ujjain. After the lapse of some time the king heard, on the occasion of a poetical recital, some verses of May drabha t t a and called him from his country,” etc. The remainder of the story agrees with the extract from an anonymous commentary on the Bhaktúmarastotra, adduced by Dr. Hall, Väsa vadattá p. 8, and narrates how, in punishment of a licentious description of his daughter's charms, M a y ár a became a leper and was cured by the Sun after composing a century of

Madhusädana's account, “learnt from the mouth of the illustrious ancients,’ and written

down a thousand years after Harshavardhana's and Bâna's times, of course cannot claim any

higher authority than any other of the thousand and one literary anecdotes which delight the Pan dits of our days. It contains undoubtedly some

grains of truth, as it associates Sriharsha with Băna and Mayúra.

It is probably inaccurate in

making Ujjain Sri harsh a 's capital. For though, according to the Harshacharita, Rājya

vardhana, Sriharsha's elder brother, conquered Mālava, neither that work nor Hiwen Thsang's account of his stay with Harsha shows that that monarch actually resided there. The importance of Madhusudana's story lies in this, that it pos sesses an authority equal to that of the statement of Mammata's three commentators about Dhā vaka, and consequently tends to discredit the

latter. The various reading given by Siti kantha gains in importance, and Dr. Hall's inde pendent arguments are strengthened.

NOTE ON A BUDDHIST CAVE AT BHAMER, KHANDESH. BY W. F. SINCLAIR, Bo. C. S., KH ANDESH.

The fort of B ham er, in the Niz à m pur Petà of Khāndesh, lies about 30 miles W. by N.

steep rocks lying nearly at right angles to each

deva, who has here a temple of considerable size and unknown antiquity. This tank and another are dry; the only one retaining any water is a little lake called the Rāj Talāo, which local tra

other, and rising from the centre of a plateau

dition holds to be bottomless, and to have an un

which separates the valleys of the Kān and Burai rivers.

derground communication with a spring called the Gok ſir På ni, about three miles away

The hollow between them, facing south, is enclosed by two semicircular and concentric

on the further or northern side of the fort. There are several caves visible in the eastern

ramparts, within the lesser or innermost of which

and larger hill, and one in the western. This latter is a small plain vihāra, resembling some

of Dhulia as the crow flies, and consists of two

lies the maché or cantonment, while the outer

protects the town or kasba. Each of these has but one gate, and there is no other approach but by a steep and narrow footpath between the

of those at Junnar ; the first two in the eastern

There are three

or castle hill are apparently mere cellars and reservoirs of the same class as those at Lalling near Dhulia, and probably of no great anti quity; but on entering the third, above the doors of which I noticed some carving, I was surprised and delighted to find myself in a vihāra much resembling, but for its small size, some of those at Ajantä. I had, unfortunately,

large tanks, one of which is sacred to Mahā

no means of measurement with me ; and the

two hills, called the K a sa i Bari. The space thus enclosed is of about 100 acres, and seems to

have formerly contained about a thousand houses besides several fine

wells and cisterns; but

there are now about a dozen resident families, half of them Bhills and Mhárs.

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