128 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [Mat, 1873. “ Now, for the amusement of the learned, the account of the composition of the illustrious ‘ Century addressed to the Sun,’ is narrated, as it has been learnt from the mouth of the illus¬ trious ancients. It is as follows. Two eastern poets, called Bana and Mayfrra, lived at the court of Maharaja Sriharsha, the chief of poets, the composer of the NatikA called Rat- ndvali, who was lord of M a 1 a v a and whose capital was U j j a i n. Amongst them Ma- yfirabhatta was the father-in-law, and Banabha t ta, the author of the Kddambari, was his son-in-law* They were rivals in poetry. But B A n a b h a t ta had before, at some time or other, approached the king, had been honour¬ ably settled near him, and dwelt with his family in U j j a i n. After the lapse of some time the king heard, on the occasion of a poetical recital, some verses of MayArabhatta and called him from his country,” etc. The remainder of the story agrees with the extract from an anonymous commentary on the Bhaktdmarastotra, adduced by Dr. Hall, Vdsa- vadattd p. 8, and narrates how, in punishment of a licentious description of his daughter’s charms, Mayftra became a leper and was cured by the Sim after composing a century of stanzas addressed to that deity. No men¬ tion, however, is made of the Jaina S u r i MAnatunga, who plays so great a part in the account of the commentary on the BhaJctdmara. Madhusfrdana’s account, ‘learnt from the mouth of the illustrious ancients,’ and written down a thousand yean after Harshavardhana’s and Balia’s times, of course cannot claim any higher authority than any other of the thousand and one literary anecdotes which delight the Pan¬ dits of our days. It contains undoubtedly some grains of truth, as it associates Sriharsha with Bana and Mayfira. It is probably inaccurate in making Ujjain Sriharsha’s capital. For though, according to the Harshacharita, Rajya- vardhana, Srihanha’s elder brother, conquered Malava, neither that work nor Hiwen Thsang’s account of his stay with Harsha shows that that monarch actually resided there. The importance of MadhusAdana’s story lies in this, that it pos¬ sesses an authority equal to that of the statement ofMammata’s three commentators about Dha¬ vaka, and consequently tends to discredit tho latter. The various reading given by Siti- kantha gains in importance, and Dr. Hall’s inde¬ pendent arguments are strengthened. NOTE ON A BUDDHIST CAVE AT BHAMER, KHANDESH. BY W. F. SINCLAIR, Bo. C. S., KH ANDESH. The fort ofBhamer, in the NizAmpur Peta of Khandesh, lies about 30 miles W. by N. of Dhulia as the crow flies, and consists of two steep rocks lying nearly at right angles to each other, and rising from the centre of a plateau which separates the valleys of the Kan and Burai rivers. The hollow between them, facing south, is enclosed by two semicircular and concentric ramparts, within the lesser or innermost erf which lies the mdcM or cantonment, while the outer protects the town or kasha. Each of these has but one gate, and there is no other approach but by a steep and narrow footpath between the two hills, called the Kasai Bari. The Bpace thus enclosed is of about 100 acres, and seems to have formerly contained about a thousand houses besides several fine wells and cisterns; but there are now about a dozen resident families, half of them Bhills and Mhars. There are three large tanks, one of which is sacred to MahA- deva, who has here a temple of considerable size and unknown antiquity. This tank and another are dry; the only one retaining any water is a little lake called the Raj TalAo, which local tra¬ dition holds to be bottomless, and to have an un¬ derground communication with a spring called the G o k A r PAni, about three miles away on the farther or northern side of the fort. There are several caves visible in the eastern and larger hill, and one in the western. This latter is a small plain vihara, resembling some of those at Junnar ; the first two in the eastern or castle hill are apparently mere cellars and reservoirs of the same class as those at Lulling near Dhulia, and probably of no great anti¬ quity ; but on entering the third, above the doors of which I noticed some carving, I was surprised and delighted to find myself in a ▼ihAra muoh resembling, but for its small size, some of those at Ajantt. I had, unfortunately, no means of measurement with me; and the
