Report of a Tour through the Bengal Provinces/Dharâwat
DHARÂWAT.
Following him from this hill, it is found that he went 30 li north-west to the Gunamati monastery, which was situated on the slope of a hill in a pass.
Adopting his bearing and distance, we get to the village of Dharâwat. The road from the Barâbar hill skirts the easten foot of the Barâbar bill, and going round the spurs of Murali hill stretches northwards, dividing into two branches; the eastern one goes to the village of Dharâwat with a detour, the western one goes direct over a pass in the Dharâwat hills, and a branch from this again goes over a pass over Ratani hill. At this pass in the Ratani hill, and on either side of it extending westwards more than half a mile, and eastwards a short way, are ruins of brick structures. These ruins consist of mounds and brick terraces, profusely scattered all along the slope and toe of the hill. At the west end, at about one-third of the height of the hill, there is a great mass of ruined masonry. Here the excavations of the villagers for bricks have disclosed several statues; the smaller ones have gone to adorn the modern shrines in the village, but a colossal figure of Padma-Pâni, with the Buddhist creed engraved round the head in Kutila characters, has been left in situ, being probably too heavy to move. The figure is very well executed in black basaltic stone and finely smoothed. A small Buddha is represented seated in Padma-Pâni's hair. This statue appears to be in situ, as remains of a straight wall behind and touching its back can yet be traced. I conclude, therefore, that this mound and terrace with its flight of brick-paved approach was a temple. At the foot of the hill is a larger mound, where also images, large and small, have been discovered. A colossal figure, mutilated, lies neglected here.
A few feet off are other terraces and mounds, from which small statues have been exhumed. They were also small temples or chapels, judging from the square cells which have been disclosed in the foundations.
Further on are other terraces and mounds, all of bricks of large size, and each group with a separate approach or paved way leading up to it, with terraces at intervals. The quantity of bricks dug out and yet untouched is incredible; a large quantity has been broken up into road metal, either to metal the Patna branch road which passes a few miles off, or to use as khoa for terrace roofs.
To the east of this great collection of ruins the ground at the foot of the hill appears to have been used as a burial-ground; excavations at this end have disclosed numerous human skulls and bones, mostly broken, or so decayed as to crumble under pressure between the fingers, but many yet hard, though devoid of all smell or soluble organic matter.
Near the pass, however, the terraces and mounds, which at other parts go up only to one-third of the height of hill, are found up to two-thirds of its height. No excavations have been made here, but from the results at the west end I am sanguine this part would yield results equally rich.
At the foot of the hill runs a small stream which once was spanned by a small bridge, the foundations of which still exist entire, showing that the road over the pass, now seldom used, was once a much-frequented route.
A few feet from the foot of the hills stretches a fine rectangular piece of water known as the Chandokhar Tal. The stream just mentioned feeds this tank, and the surplus water passes out at the south-west corner. The tank is bounded on all sides by high earthen embankments. On the western embankment is a Muhammadan brick dargah, and near it a brick mound like a tope.
To the east of the tank is a large piece of high ground, and behind it a smaller tank; the high ground is roughly rectangular, and is known as the “kot,”or fortress. Near it are several large mounds containing bricks, fragments of stones, and pottery. An annual fair is held on this spot. The pottery is clearly due to this, but the fragments of bricks and pieces of squared stone and statues which sometimes occur, are ancient. A small stone, much resembling a sati pillar, now stands near the south-east end of the high ground where the fair is held, and is pelted with stones by the village boys and passers-by.
The ancient name of the village is traditionally stated to have been Dharmmapura. The legend of its foundation is. that on a certain occasion Raja Chandra Sen came on a hunting excursion to this place, which was then a small village with a good deal of jungal round about. While here, he had occasion to go out to the field with a lota of water, but as he set the lota down a thirsty cow came and drank up the water. The Raja seeing this, reflected on the great hardship men and animals must be suffering for want of water here, as there were no tanks then, and only a single well; he accordingly ordered his ministers to dig a tank as large as the ground his horse when let loose would circle round. The ministers, apprehensive of the horse making a longer circuit than convenient, selected the north-east corner of the tank (where now a small dilapidated brick temple stands) as the starting point for the horse, turning his head southwards, so that the hills on the south would be the limit of the size of the tank in that direction. The horse, when let loose, went near the hill, up to the nala which, issuing from it, feeds the tank, kept along the nala some distance, then turned north and round to where it started from. The ground thus marked was formed into the Chandokar Tal; numerous costly buildings were soon constructed, and Dharawat become a great place.
General Cunningham has described Dharâwat, but it is strange that while describing it, the close coincidence between the remains here and Hwen Thsang’s account of the Gunamati monastery did not strike him.