September, 1873.] RAMGARH HILL. 243 ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF RAMGARH HILL, DISTRICT OF SARGUJA. BY V. BALL, M.A., GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. MY duties as a Geological Surveyor have led me into many remote and seldom-visited localities in Western Bengal. Few-of these have appeared to me more curious and interesting ♦hftn the Ramgarh hill, in the district of Sarguja, Chota Nagpur Division. Previous notices of some of the antiquities of the Ramgarh hill by Col. Ouseley and Col. Dalton, C.S.I., will be found in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal* In the paper by Col. Dalton there are some technical details of the architecture. On the 22nd of March 1872 my camp reach¬ ed Khudri, a village some six or seven miles west of Lakanpur, in Sarguja, and on the following morning early I started to explore the Ramgarh hill. Two miles south of Khftdri we passed through a miserable Gond (locally Gor) hamlet called Saontari, soon after leaving which the path became almost obliterated, and we found our¬ selves on the rise to the Ramgarh hill. Proceed¬ ing onwards for some distance' through a tangled mass of charred and smouldering branches and logs, where the jungle had been set on fire, we at last emerged on a piece of flat ground shaded by a few mango and ebony trees, and bounded on the south by a wall of rock which rises perpendicularly for several hundred feet. At the foot of this wall an unusual lux¬ uriance of the vegetation at once attracted attention,—ferns, species of Ficus, and other moisture-loving plants being abundant. On going a little closer the cause of this became apparent, as a grotto, to which there is an ascent by a few steps, opened out to view. There, from a fissure in the massive bed of sandstone, a constant stream of pure water spouts forth in so strange a way that it is no cause for wonder that the natives regard the place as sacred. Col. Dalton compares the fountain to the one which we are told issued from the rock at the touch of Moses. I found the water refreshing but not cool; at the same time the temperature was not higher than that of the air, as Col. Dalton found it. This is easily explainable by the probable constancy of the temperature of the water, and the different seasons at which our visits were made, his being in the cold season, and mine towards the end of March. The sandstone out of which the water gushes rests upon a seam of coaly shale 4 feet 5 inches thick, but not of much value for burning. Leaving the fountain and grove, which are at the north-east comer of the rectangular block of sandstone which forms the main mass of the hill, and renders it a conspicuous and easily recognisable object for many miles around, we proceeded round by the eastern side to the south. The general level of the path, which runs for nearly three-fourths of the way round the base of the rectangular mass, maintains an elevation of about 2600 feet above the sea, or of 600 below the summit of the hill. High up on the south-east comer, water trickles down over the vertioal face of the cliff till it is caught by a ledge of rock, which doubtless serves to redirect its course and cause its appearance on the north-east. After passing rather more than three-fourths of the way along this path, the attention is arrested by a rudely cut model of a temple or memorial stone which is about four feet high. In the lower portion of it there is a cavity for the reception of a tablet. But no vestige remains of one now, if it ever did exist. This object the natives call mal kam. It is on the right hand of the path. A few steps farther, on the left, there is a block of sandstone, which, if the attention were not specially drawn to it, one might pass without remarking anything particular about it. It is, however, of some interest, being artificially hollowed, with an en¬ trance facing to the west. This block measures externally 3 ft. 5 in. by 3 ft. 8 in. by 6 ft. The en¬ trance is 1 foot 5 inches by 1 foot 4 inches, and the internal length 8 feet 10 inches. The bottom is now somewhat filled up, but it is evident that there was room for a man to creep inside and squat down. The natives call it ‘ Muni go far’— the Muni’s den. Close by this are the remains of an old wall built of uncut stones. A short distance beyond, the ascent of the great block of sandstone commences by the only prac¬ ticable route : this is at the south-west comer. • Vol. XYII. pt. i. (1848), pp. 66-68, and vol. XXXIV. pt. ii. (1865), pp. 28-27.
