BHAGALPUR.
348
— Near
Antiquities.
Muhammadan
town of Bhdgalpur are two interesting and in the western suburb the Jain sect
the
shrines,
The only other have two curious places of worship. special interest in Bhagalpur are the Karndgarh Hill or Plateau, which formerly contained the lines of the Hill Rangers (embodied by Mr. Cleveland, the Collector, about 1780), but now occupied by a Native regiment ; and the monument erected to Colgong that gentleman by the Directors of the E. I. Company. (Kahalgaon) was, until quite recently, a place of commercial of Oswals
of
objects
importance, being on the main stream of the Ganges
has since receded, and a large number of traders have
Mahmud
consequence.
left
but the river the place in
Shah, the last independent king of Bengal,
Umarpur, Khandauli,
and Sultanganj are considersituated on the bank of the Ganges, and is conspicuous for two large rocks of granite, on the top of one of which is a Muhammadan mosque, while the other is crowned by
died here.
Balud.,
able trading villages; the last mentioned
a
Hindu
is
The
temple, dedicated to Siva.
of Singheswar-
little village
But the most interesting place in the District is Mandargiri, the sacred hill, which is fabled to cover the body of the giant who attempted to destroy Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Vishnu struck off the monster’s head, and in order to than
is
the scene of a frequented elephant
fair.
prevent the headless trunk from rising and shaking off the weight it, the god keeps his foot ever on the hill, which is, in It consequence, a spot of the greatest sanctity in Hindu mythology. is a huge mass of granite, 700 feet high, and bare, save near the
which covers
summit and on one ing round the
hill,
side,
where
it is
overgrown with low jungle.
Coil-
the figure of a great serpent has been cut in relief
one of the legends connected with Mandar being that it was the hill used by the gods and Asurs to churn the ocean. Besides being a
Mandar
favourite place of pilgrimage,
the antiquary,
artificial curiosities.
Statistical
Hill possesses great interest for
and abounds with remarkable
A
ruins,
and natural and
detailed account of these will be found in the
Account of Bengal,
and of temples dating back
95-102. Ruins of old forts, Buddhist times, are found in various
vol. xiv. pp.
to
parts of the District.
Agriculture.
—The
principal crop
staple does not bear the
most other August
The bhadai
the
aghan'i
December and January.
the District
in
relative
Districts of Bengal.
part exported. in
same
The
importance rice
or early crop
rice
is
Among
also
is
sown
in
produced sown in in
rice, but this Bhagalpur as in
is
is
for the
May and
May, but reaped
and
Indian corn forms the staple food of the poor of Bhagalpur sown in April or May, and ripens in August. When grown on
indigo. is
in
the other crops grown in the District
are wheat, Indian corn, several kinds of millet, peas, oil-seeds,
it
most
reaped
