Lieut. Col. Francxi1y’s Description of the Temple of Pars wandtha. 527
inscriptions this mark is prefixed to all numbers and has no value. The inscription on the front of the stone is an exhortation to the believers in the Jinas, to worship the feet of VAsuptsya. But some parts of this inscription, although fairly written, were not understood by the Pandit of the survey, who says that it contains words which are peculiar to the sect. The stone was in a small temple, but (when I visited the place) had been removed, in order to have the building repaired, to the Pwjari’s house.
I must also remark, that in digging a tank in the immediate vicinity, the people of Mr. Glas, surgeon to the station, found four small images of brass. On one is an inscription, which my people have some difficulty in explaining. It is dated after Pdrsa 925: I presume years after the era of Parsa, probably meaning PArswanAr’na, the twenty-third teacher of the Jainas. Wt is also dated at Chdmpdnagara ; but the rest of the inscription, probably in the old Maghadha or Pali language, could not be explained.
Description of the Temple of Parswandtha at Samét Stkhar. By Lieut. Col. William Francklin, M.R.A.S.
Read November 18, 1826.
At the foot of Pdars wandtha's mountain (Samét Sikhar*), on the Ram- ghur frontier, and one hundred and thirty-six miles south of Bhagalpur, are situated the temples dedicated to Parswandt’ha Iswara (the twenty-third deified saint of the Jains), and constituting one of the principal places of the Juin worship in Hindust’han. They consist of large square brick buildings painted white, with a dome in the centre, and four smaller domes at the four corners. The centre dome is crowned with a gilded spire, like the Piathas of the Buddhaic temples of Ava, as described by Colonel Symes. .
The domes of all the temples are surmounted by crellisses of copper gilt, which shine like burnished gold. In front of each temple is a gallery for music, the instruments of which are constantly playing during the time of worship. A brick wall surrounds the whole ; and at the end is a Dharma- sald, or Sarai, for the use of visiters and worshippers. Within the area of the largest of these temples I witnessed a pdjd, or act of worship per- formed at the temple. On a terrace was a square canopy of white cloth,
- Mount Sammeya or Samet sic'hara.—As. Res. vol. ix, p. 310.
Vor. I. SEZ
