metallic strata, and it is thickly covered with trees that flourish in the greatest magnificence-their beautiful foliage is the cause of the singularly blue mantle that the giant seems to assume at twilight.

AT Palgunjo the devotional duties of the Jaina pilgrims who flock to this remote spot from every part of India, even from the furthest provinces of the Dukkun, commence. The Zemindar, who has dubbed himself with the title of Raja, is considered by that sect as the guardian of the holy lands, and has in his possession a small image of Párswanath, which every pilgrim pays for worshipping before he proceeds to the temples at the foot and on the summit of the mountain. The manner in which this petty landholder acquired the charge which the Jainas themselves acknowledge to be in his hands, was thus related to me by that person himself. Several centuries ago an ancestor of the family, whom he called Nawadeo Sing, came from the Western provice of Rohilkhund to perform his devotions at Benares. There in reward for the unusual piety which he displayed, he was one night visited by a God in a dream; but the degenerate descendant has forgotten the name of this generous messenger of Indra. The supernatural stranger declared to the pilgrim that his devotions had been well received, and that if he would travel Eastward, he would be invested with the sovereignty of Mount Sekhar. Accordingly Nawadeo Sing proceeded to the country pointed out, and meeting little opposition in the jungles, made himself master of the lands lying at the feet of the mountain. After a residence of some years, Párswanath, the principal object of Jaina worship, and the habitant spirit of the mountain, appeared to him in a second dream, revealed to him his satisfaction with his conduct, named a certain pond, in the bottom of which would be found an image of himself, and declared that henceforward prostration before the Raja should be a necessary prelude to a favorable reception within the sacred precincts.

THE only two seeming supports to this claim to ancient and sacred authority, are the facts that Párswanath, the principal Deota of the place, was born at Bheloopoor, a suburb of Benares,* and that the name of the mountain preserved in the Shastras of the Jainas is Samet Sekhar; circumstances which the extremely igno1ant character of the Raja would scarcely have discovered except from tradition. But the whole fable is upset by the fact that the Zemindar belongs to the Bhoonya tribe, and has no claim whatever to the Rajpoot titles he gives himself. The general history of the province will afford a better clue to the mystery of his present situation as guardian to the Jaina sanctuaries.

*Two of the Jaina Tirthankars were born at Benares, Supárswa, the seventh, and Párswanath, the twenty-third,

THE old Raj of Kurrukdeea, the family of which is of a high Brahmana caste, is the representative of the ancient and probably of the earliest local authority in the province. The dependent villages of the Zemindary, scattered amongst immeasurable jungles, paid their scanty revenues through such persons of the Bhoonyat tribe as possessed the greatest influence or interest in each petty state. During the usurpation of Kamdar Khan, the Mahommedan Raja of Mye, who forcibly expelled the family of Moor Narayun Deo from Kurrukdeea, the heads of villages were held responsible for the charge of all the Ghauts upon the public roads, and for the safety of travellers and their property. In the course of time the increasing passage of travellers, pilgrims and baparies, upon whom they levied a tax in return for safe conduct, improved the Ghautwals, and gave them power and privileges, which, when their rightful Raja was restored by the British Government in 1783, procured their independence as separate proprietors under the perpetual settlement. But at a time long antecedent to this, the Ghautwals of Palgunjo levied a rich harvest from the Jaina pilgrims who flocked through that country to their sacred mountain, and it is no inconsistent imagination to suppose that some more cunning Zemindar, profiting by the superstition, should conceive the project of investing himself, by some fable adapted to the credulity of the pilgrims, with a sacred right to the revenues which he originally collected by force. This plan, in such conformity with the universal customs of Hindoos, must have been aided by the fanatic character of the Sravaks or Jainas themselves, who will comply with any imposition of penance or sacrifice, even to the mutilation of their bodies, rather than be prevented from completing the duties of pilgrimage when once undertaken.

THIS solution of the mystery seems confirmed by the circumstance that the receipts derived from the nuzzurs of pilgrims are divided between the Palgunjo Raja and three other junior branches of the family, who, in days of yore, quarrelling amongst them

As Behar Proper was formerly the seat of a Jaina Dynasty, it is not impossible that this province, previous to its conquest by the predominant sect, may have been subject to Jaina authority. The consecration of Mount Sekhar renders this more probable.

THE Bhoonyas are a singular race of people who seem to be the aborigines of Kurrukdeea and the other provinces above the Ghauts in Behar. They have nothing in common with the Hindoos, by whom they are despised and treated as wild inhabitants of the jungles. Their language contains many signs of a differ ent root, and their only religion consists in a superstitious fear of wild beasts, and of the ghosts of those who have suffered violent deaths, and whom they pro. pitiate with offerings or animal sacrifices.

TRAVELLING merchants who convey grain and other articles from the mofussil to the great markets in droves of bullocks.

Palgunjo receives 8 annas; Jerrya 8 annas and a half; Newaghur 2 annas and a half; Katras 2 annas.

selves, took forcible possession of other parts of the Elakeh on the South side of the mountain :-this clearly shows that the revenue is a Ghautwaly tax, and not a right attached to sanctity of character. The Raja shows a small image of stone, which he affirms to be that found in a tank by the direction of Párswanath; its rude ap pearance and small size (not being above 8 inches high) clearly betray that it was made at Palgunjo, probably by the same person who invented the fable attached to it. In posture it is an imitation of the idols peculiar to the sect, and is not otherwise worthy of description.

THERE are two images of Párswanath in the possession of the Raja, besides this old and rude one; one inscribed with the name of Bindrabund Sa, of Gwalior, by whom it was given to the Raja, and another which has been lately sent from Delhi by a Muhajun, in whose charge the old idol was broken about three years ago, while being carried from Palgunjo to Mudbun, where the temples stand. The broken image, which is the most beautiful, represents a naked figure sitting cross-legged in that attitude of abstract meditation which is peculiar to all the idols of the Jainas, with the exception of the gigantic figures of Gomat Iswar at Belligola and Kurkul. It measures one foot three inches high, and is cut out of a single piece of black marble with very fair proportions. Comparing this figure with the plates attached to Mr. Colebrooke's article on the Jainas in the 9th volume of the Asiatic Researches, it appears to differ from them in the superior beauty of its form and features, the closed appearance of the eye-lids, two rows of necklaces round the neck, and the Chuttr rising over the head from the back of a Tiara that encircles the brows. The Chuttr distinguishes the image of Párswa or Párswanath from those of the other twenty-three Tirthankars, which are otherwise undistinguishable by posture or appearance. It is related in the Jaina Shastras, that, in token of approbation for his piety, the Deity sent a Snake to preserve this favorite Saint from the approach of all contaminating things during the period of his Tapasya, or abstract devotion; the obedient animal crawling up the back of the honored Devotee, arched his hooded head above his crown, and retained this attitude of protection and watchfulness until the apotheosis of his ward. This is the form represented by the marble image; though it was explained to me that the Chuttr is composed of 20 funs or hoods of that species of Snake which is known to us by the name of Covra Capella.

THE more ignorant pilgrims, believing that the image of Párswanath was found by the Raja at the bottom of a tank, in consequence of a revelation from the God himself, commence their devotions at Palgunjo by propitiating the guardian of their Deota, and procuring his permission to worship the idol and his charge. Every visitor, of whatever consequence, considers this commence

ment of his duties absolutely necessary. Arrived at the village, the first proceeding is to settle with the Dewan the day and hour at which they can be admitted to the presence of the Raja. This individual himself is one of those many examples of idiotcy, to which the ministers of such persons too often intentionally reduce their masters with a view to the usurpation of all authority in their estates. The Dewan, at the time of my visit, was an adept in such matters, and persuading both the Raja and his heir, that prayer and ablution were the only occupations becoming a terrestrial representative of the deified Saint, had appointed a Kanojia* Brahmin to direct them in these difficult ceremonies. The disciples have too little sense to know one religious system or even ceremony from another, and their tutor appears to have little scruple in giving up his services to an idol, considered by his sect the emblem of disgraceful infidelity; for it is to Párswanath that all the adorations are offered. Under these circumstances it will easily be believed that the preliminary fee to the Omlah constitutes the heaviest call upon the pilgrim's purse; tens, hundreds, and thousands of Rupees, according to the means of the individual, are in this manner exacted on pretence of propitiation.

THE day of ceremony being fixed, the Raja is washed (for he is almost as helpless as the stone image he protects), dressed in his smallest clothes, and his brows adorned with some of the sacred sandal wood. Thus prepared, he sits in state to receive the pilgrims in the small court yard of his house, when the Devotees spread before him their nuzzurs in money and offerings of fruit. The Raja, having approved the presentation, holds out his right foot to every pilgrim in turn, who having touched his hand and eyes with it, washes the great toe, and pours the abluent water over his own shoulders. This done, the pilgrim begs the Raja's blessing upon himself and train, a boon which is granted towards every living thing in the caravan of Devotees, the Raja repeating "Soobh sahib, soobh Ghora" until every goat and dog of the procession has received the blessing of fruitfulness. The pilgrims are then permitted to carry away the idol for their private adorations.

FROM Palgunjo the Jainas proceed three koss farther to the village of Mudbun at the foot of Mount Párusnath, and as this was my own route, I will endeavour to describe the approach to that noble pile of earth.

THE Brahmins bearing this name have an old reputation for intrigue-See Malcolm's Malwa, &c.

A Jaina Muhajun at Gayah, with whom I conversed, strenuously denied that this humiliating ceremony took place; but a native whom I sent to take down the inscriptions on the images, saw it performed. Perhaps the Raja's people only impose it upon the most ignorant of the Devotees, no notice is taken of any such practice by the intelligent Jain, whose journey via Párswanath to Gayah, is published in our monthly series, vol. 1. page 769.

THE wild scenery which had so excited me between Kurrukdeea and Palgunjo, assumed a still grander scale after leaving the latter place. The region of plains ended as I rode up a steep path between two small hills about a mile from the last station of my tents, and from that time I did not traverse a furlong of level ground in one situation, until entering another pergunnah after a march of several days. Hills, sometimes crowned with threatening rocks, but more frequently covered to the summit with high jungle, rose on all sides, the stupendous bosom of Párusnath perpetually frowning above them, and throwing their heights into insignificance. The road was sufficiently good for horse or elephant even without the extensive destruction of trees on either side, to which the notice of my coming had given occasion. Sometimes it ascended a sheltered Ghaut; sometimes it swept along a spacious valley, and sometimes winding round the side of a higher hill, it gave me a distant view of the many little mountains, the perpetual forest, and the few peeping villages that lay between me and the monarch mountain I approached. But on whichever side I looked, I could fancy the lurking place of the Tiger or the Hyena; and the magnificent scale of the desert scene seemed indeed a fit dominion for the most powerful of savage animals. I beat the bushes and the long grass in vain for smaller game; it was a jungle for wild beasts alone the patches of long grass seemed the prepared bed of the Tiger, and the frequent openings which widened into glades along the forests afforded fine pasture and playgrounds for the Saamur and Neelgay. It was a kind of jungle through which, if alone, a man prefers to travel on an elephant to horseback; so changing from my saddle to my howdah, and loading my guns with ball, I sought to surprize some monster in the midst of his cover; but the clearance of the road, which had been effected by large parties of woodmen, seemed to have driven all wild animals to a distance.

AFTER about two hours' leisurely marching, I ascended a small hill, from the top of which a view opened suddenly upon my sight for which I was very little prepared. A panorama, extending far to the East and West, lay before me nothing impeded my marking the very line at which the pediment of Párusnath rose out of the earth; and there, about three miles before me, snugly immersed in the midst of rounded banyan and mango trees, under the very pedestal of the mountain, a collection of brilliantly white temples, with their pointed cupolas, were brightly glittering in the Since I left Europe I had seen nothing so picturesque as this singular landscape. The contrast of these graceful buildings, with the deep colour of the foliage, the huge shadows of the mountain and the desert scene all around, gave a novelty to the combinations of the landscape, indescribable by any comparisons with other views that I can remember. Then indeed that noble pile of hills, revealed in all its grandeur to my sight, looked like a gigan tic monarch sitting in state, and surveying the surrounding wide

sun.