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fragments of which lie scattered around. Among the ruins may be observed a mutilated horse and rider, which perhaps represented Raja Kurun and his steed; a large female bust with three faces; and a head, the size of life, (we searched and inquired in vain for the trunk), having the thick lips and curly looking hair of a Budhist or Jain saint. The latter we incline to believe, since the Jain faith, as will be presently seen, was formerly very prevalent in this neighbourhood, and no traces of Budhism were observed; unless the trimukhi be assigned to that sect,-as are by some,* the celebrated trimurtis of Elephanta, &c. An Indian Budh too, may generally, (perhaps not invariably,) be distinguished+ from that of a Tirthaukur by its more elaborate ornaments. There is usually on the crown of the first, a knot which resembles hair collected into a knob; but this knot is often changed into an ornament, evidently attached to a cap,§ probably in some cases made of hair; and which, fitted tight to the skull, covering the bald shaven head, with which Budh priests are so often twitted by Hindoo dramatists.|| Thus in the "Prabodha Chandu Udaya" (see Wilson's Theatre) Soma Siddhanta calls the Budh, "thou uncombed one." The Budh head-dress is indeed most changeable; but the Jain twenty-four are almost invariably imaged, wearing only the non-increasing locks which forms one of their atisyas:¶ these, they are

Quar. Oriental Journ. No. 14, page 219. Several female trimurtis are figured in Raffles' Java.

There is seldom any difficulty in deciding whether a perfect image is Jain or Budh, though some of the tests recommended are of questionable value. Wilson says, As. Rs. 16; 457, "It is more common to find Jain pontiffs shaded by the snake." Now, though many Budhs, (T. R. A. S. 3; 481-As. Rs. 16; 458 plate-Crawford's Siam, 109-Davy's Ceylon, 468, &c.) and inferior Jain deities, are thus shelteredParusnath alone of the Tirthaukurs is shaded by the Nag; and even he is sometimes represented without the hood,-the snake being merely carved at his feet, as the Sanchun, or distinguishing mark. Perhaps one of the best tests is the "Sri Butch,” which (here at least) is carved on the breast (butchus, the chest) of every Jain image. We have never remarked this symbol so placed on a Budh statue.

Prinsep says the contrary (J. A. S. 5; 485), but the Budh head-dress is not certainly "simple."

§ See the drawings of the Dhyani Budhs, Bombay Trans. vol. 2; or As. Rs. vol. 16. The shaving of the head among the Hindoos was infamy, As. Rs. 17; 616. That Budh was shaved, we may judge from the curious pantomime practised in Ceylon. Davy 125. Among the living representatives of the saint there would appear to be no fixed rule, as in Du Halde, vol. 2, one Sama is described as having the head shaved, another with curly locks.

A. R. 17; 247, In the only list of atisyas at hand, that in the Sri Pal Cheritra, the curling of the locks is not included. Wilson's authority was probably different

often described in their Shastrus as pulling out by handsful: and some Jain pundits have even assured me, that what appears like hair on their statues, is not intended to represent hair, but the naked scalp thus forcibly deprived of it.* Jain saints, however, like the Budhs, sometimes wear a mookhut.

On a pilaster to the right, as you enter the temple, is a rudely cut inscription, from which it is to be feared but little light will be thrown on the history of the place; as it merely records, and that indistinctly, the grant during the reign of the liberal and wise Deva Pal, of ground for twenty temples to one Yusheek Pal. The date, A. D. 1158, is a dark period in Malwa history and Deva Pal, whose name is not to be found in the list of kings, was probably some petty chief, who in those days of anarchy and confusion, raised himself to temporary consequence in this wild part of the country.

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Peeplia, three miles from Kurnawud, contains no antiquities, and but one place worth visiting-a Digumbir Jain temple; which as the place is under the tolerant rule of a Rajpoot, (the Raja of Baglee), occupies a conspicuous position in the Bazar, instead of being concealed, as in a Mahratta town, in some obscure alley. It may be here noticed that from this to Saugor, the Jains are chiefly Digumbir, consisting, for the most part, of Pudmavati Pwawurs; which Ginat+ is entirely of that class. Switumbirs, as elsewhere remarked, are more commonly met with round Ougein.+

From Peeplia a road strikes off to Hoshungabad, and the report of antiquities at the first march induced us to deviate so far. We found

Modern Jain priests, as far as I can learn, have no fixed rule of wearing their hair. They generally shave it in front, and allow it to grow long behind. But Dhoondias, Soomegis, and a few Gooroos and Juttes eradicate the hair, though not in the Panch Mooshti fashion of their ancestors, only plucking them out occasionally, as for instance once a year, tenderly, and one by one. Budh priests have, if I mistake not, in all countries always shaved their heads, Davy 296, 210, 219. Carous, Japan, Crawford, Mandeus, M. Polo 253 and note. When a Jutti adopts achela he shaves all the hair off the child's head, except one lock, which it is the Gooroo's part to pull out (lachun.) The Digumbir sannyasis of the south never shave A. R. 9. 284.

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a So vulgarly spelt and pronounced. Miles writes the word Nat: Tod, Nyat : Sanscrit ज्ञाति.

That is taking Ougein as a centre, and giving the circle a radius of forty miles: but north of Ougein, Visnooi Buniahs outnumber the Jains. From Rutlam the Digumbirs begin to increase; and from Banswarra to the Aravulli, hardly any other tribe is to be met with but Digumbir Hoomurs. Guzerat, Marwar, and north Mewar are the chief seats of the Switumbirs.

however, only some Jain statues, eight or ten feet high, a few lying in the miserable village; the best on the top of a hill, which overhangs it. The temples which once sheltered them, of which there were the ruins of three or four on the hill, have long been thrown down; but we could calculate their age with sufficient precision; for, though the weather-worn inscriptions on the plinths of the statues were illegible, the date 11th or perhaps 12th could be traced. We made out but one Sanchun, the deer of Santinath.*

Whether these images are Digumbir or Switumbir, it is impossible to say, for all statues of the twenty-four are Digumbir, or at least naked. Some Switumbirs indeed pretend that their statues may be detected by a string (Kundora) round the loins-a doubtful proof, since the wrinkles of the belly are very likely to be mistaken for it. All, whether Digumbir, or Switumbir, have as before remarked, the Sri butch, with which mark the future Tirthaukur is said to be distinguished at his birth. In fact there is not any positive distinction between the undressed images, as is proved by some of them-the celebrated Rikhabnath near Doongerpoor for instance-being claimed by both sects. Tod's remark (Raj. 2; 744) which seems to argue the contrary, may be safely taken as a flourish.

Though the antiquities of Bijwar proved so little interesting, the excursion was altogether pleasant enough. One of our party, a Jutti, was in high delight as we neared his native place Baglee, which he had not visited for twenty years, though he had been all that time at Indore. It was amusing to watch the eagerness, with which he recognized every old hut, mata, or tree, to most of which some

*The Sanchun is frequently omitted on old Jain statues, and sometimes, but more rarely, on modern ones. In such cases the saint represented must be guessed at.

It must be confessed, however, that the Digumbir figures As. Rs. vol. 9, are without it.

The Sri butch, which is generally painted as a flower, but carved on an image as if a square is one of the Jain Asht Mungliks, or eight auspicious symbols, which slightly differ from those of the Budhs. As. R. 16, 460. They are represented in drawing (A.) a copy from a small brass table, sometimes placed before a saint, as a kind of altar. It was picked up by me at a fair, from the miscellaneous rubbish of a Bohra's shop, and may have been plundered from some old temple. At the back is scratched the date 1167. The signs, according to the Jiva Bhagawut Sutra, 3rd Kund, are the,-1st Swastica,— 2nd Sri Butch,-3rd Nandivertha,-4th Censer,-5th Throne,-6th Kullus, (or water) --or 7th the Fish,-8th Looking-glass. The Sri Butch occasionally carved on images of Krishna seems somewhat different from the Jain mark,—if indeed I mistake not in supposing the former to be synonymous with the Briguluta, As. R. 16, 461; Prem Sagur 88.

tradition was attached, or a story of the bad old times of the Pindaries. He shewed us, inter alia, after much searching, an old Mhowa tree by the road side, the hollow trunk of which was full of water. This he challenged us to empty. "Fill your lotas," he cried out triumphantly, (for we had often before received rather incredulously his tales of this very tree)“ fill your lotas all day long, and there will still remain a cupful for the next comer." As the water is sweet, and the hole covered, a spring perhaps rises under this new species of Arbre voyageur. A similar reservoir is described in the Journal of the Bor Khampti expedition.

The Raja of Baglee honored us with a visit, and finding that we were curious in such matters, gave a short sketch of his history, and desired the Kool Gooroo, to extract from his papers, any thing they might contain regarding the family. The Raja would seem from his putravali to be a Champawut* Rahtore. We could not learn the date of the emigration of his ancestors and indeed the history of the family is but a barren list of names, till we come to Kakul Das; who, in the middle of the last century, served with a few followers under the Bhopal Nawaubs.

The popular account, of how the strangers first obtained land, appears more romantic than probable. The Nuwaub stuck some very small object, (tradition says a peppercorn,) on the top of a pole, and offered a reward, for whoever should knock it off, without hitting the pole. All having failed, Suktawut Gee, the wife of Salim Sing, the youngest son of Kokul Das' four sons, stepped out, and at the first shot performed the feat: for this, the village of Bamun Kheri was given to her in enam. Baglee, three coss from Bamun Kheri, was at this time in the possession of a Chohan Grassya, named Banki Rao; who instead of attending to his interests, amused himself daily with boating on a tank, about a mile from Baglee, called the Koomptalao. Salim Sing, taking advantage of this negligence, attacked and took the fort, while its master was absent; and though the expelled chief made one desperate effort to recover it, he was driven back, and the Rahtores have ever since kept the place.† To confirm their power they

* The Gooroo's tables commence with ten names prior to Jya Chund, the last king of Canoge; none of which, except the penult have any resemblance to those in Tod's list, or in the new lists elicited from coins, &c. Two princes, Birda Sing and Jutaran, connect Jya Chund with Seoji; from whom, to Rinmull the names, (allowing for provincial spelling,) strictly correspond with Tod. After Rinmull, comes his third son Champa, from whose time, the catalogue is evidently defective,-seven names occupying a period of more than 300 years.

The turned-out Grassya's family still reside, I am told, at Mukhsi, a celebrated Jain Tiruth near Ougein, and receive through our mediation some small annuity.

offered themselves as tributaries to Scindia, and with the usual activity of new settlers, soon cleared away large tracts of the forest; so that when we came to the country, about sixty years* after the first conquest, they were lords of as many villages. The present Raja, Bheem Sing, is the son of Salim Sing.

From Bijwar, Ashta may be reached by a difficult pass over a range of hills of considerable height. At a village called Magherda, half way, a few handsome Jain statues have been collected and enshrined in a low walled court, some fourteen feet square; where they are worshipped by the ignorant piety of the villagers as matas. The court we should have supposed to be a "bettu" (A. R. 9; 285), did not that description of temple seem to be peculiar to the Jains of the south. On one of the stones of the wall, there was an inscription in modern Nagari. It was placed at an inconvenient height, and as we were pressed for time, and it evidently contained no date, we did not copy it. The image, which misled the inhabitants of the village, was doubtless a Pudmavati ;† who occupies the principal place, while Santinath and some other saints, sit around her; nor could the rustics be expected to know whom this figure represented: for, as is worthy of remark, the lesser Jain deities are rarely to be found amongst ancient ruins; inducing the belief, that their admittance into temples is a modern innovation.

The name of "Deo Burno," the Hill of Gods, and the hopeinspiring intelligence of a large "Kumbh," tempted us to make a run from Ashta to a village named Belpan, about fourteen miles north-west of it, and situated close to the boasted Tiruth. On this spot we were assured we should literally find one mass of deities, "tantum statuarum ut alter populus lapidens videretur"—and to give us some notion of the number of the images, (many of which were said to be milkmaids, turned into stone while milking), they borrowed a fable very popular at Kasi; where you are told that one maund of rice will not suffice the worshipper, who should wish to drop only one grain at each shrine.

* The exact date of the taking of the fort we could not learn; they said the beginning of the current Sumvut.

+ Pudmavati you are acquainted with from a notice in the T.R.A. S. but of the forms and legends of the numerous Dii minores of the Jain Pantheon very little seems to be known. It is however very necessary to be au fait on these subjects before visiting Jain temples, as they are frequently covered with mythological paintings. I had proposed giving some account of the more common ones, but fear I must now abandon the design. They might possibly have been useful in decyphering the anci ent Budh paintings.

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