The great statue of Buddha stood on a pedestal, which is now placed near it, the statue itself being set on the ground; the pedestal is inscribed in Kutila characters with the usual Buddhist formula.
A small inscribed female figure of Akshobhya is among the collection; the inscription is mutilated; the terminal letters are perfectly distinct.
The chaityas represented in these sculptures are in height twice the width of base, exclusive of the umbrella on top, which consists of seven diminishing discs, measuring in the aggregate height one diameter of the base of the chaitya, the total height to the top of the umbrella being three diameters.
There are numerous other statues, many Buddhist, but a few also Brahmanical. Of these last, the principal one is a fragment of Ganeça, but greatly inferior to the Buddhist sculptures in execution and design.
To the south-east of and just outside the village is a high rocky eminence which must once have been crowned by buildings, as the remains of floors and foundations yet exist; they were built of brick, as shown by the existing remains and by the numerous brickbats strewn about; tradition says it was a garh built by a Rajput Raja named Sobh Nâth, after whom the eminence is named Sobhnâthia.
Regarding the ruins at Hasra in the Kol valley, tradition gives no information beyond this, that the ruins there are the remains of the palace and garh of the same Raja who built the temples of Punâwa; his name is variously given as Tiloknâth and as Banauti Raja.
SITAMARHI.
About 12 miles east from Punâwa and a mile and a half south of the road from Gaya to Nowâda is a curious isolated boulder standing by itself known as Sitamarhi. This boulder has been hollowed to form a chamber 15 feet 9 inches long by 11 feet 3 inches wide, the doorway being 2 feet 1 inch wide at bottom and 1 foot 11 inches wide at top, with a height of 4 feet 4 inches. The roof of the chamber consists of a semi-ellipse with its major axis vertical and the minor axis at the level of the floor; the semi-major axis is 6 feet 7 inches, being the height of the roof at the apex above the floor; details are given in the plate accompanying. The interior is highly polished, and is fully equal in this respect to the finest of the polished caves in the Barâbar and Nâgârjuni hills; the interior, however, now is of a dirty colour from the effects of smoke; portions of the
