naturally go past Pakbirrá and Buddhpur, through or close past Barabhum, through or close to Dulmi (which I shall subsequently show to be Hwen Thsang’s Kirana Suvarna), there crossing the Suvarna Riksha, close past Rânchi, Palâmow, across the Son to Benares. There are remains about Palâmow and Rânchi (see notices in Journal, Asiatic Society), and there are extensive remains at Pakbirrá and Buddhpur. Their occurrence is well explained by the circumstance that the cross road connecting the two great roads from Tumluk to Patna and to Benares started from Pâlgunj, going through Katrás, Chechgáongarh, Pârá, and Chorrá, and striking the great Benares road at Pakbirrá and Buddhpur. Kâtras was once a place of importance and succeeded Jhâria as the capital of Jhârkhand; Chechgáongarh is at the crossing of the Damuda; Pâra is at the intersection of this cross road with the road between Dulmi and Jhâria, Chorrá alone enjoys no particular advantage of location, but nevertheless possesses ancient remains, and is therefore an anomaly.
Thus we may trace the great old roads, and by their aid fix upon the sites or lines which on examination would be likely to yield any return. It appears to me quite a mistake to imagine that districts like Mânbhum, Palâmow, the Sântal Parganas, Jhârkhand, &c., could ever have been extensively cultivated and peopled densely like the plains of Magadha or the valleys of the Jamna and the Ganges; the occurrence of ruins among the wilds of Chutia Nagpur can only be due to cities having from some generally intelligible natural cause sprung up at points along a great road; and by no means to the whole district, or even a considerable portion of the district, having been in a flourishing condition, densely peopled and highly cultivated. The contrast between the profusion of remains scattered broadcast in the fertile and known densely-peopled plains of Magadha and the isolated remains in the wilder districts is too great to be explained away by any amount of imaginary dilapidations and destruction from any causes; indeed, so far as destruction goes, built remains, in the civilised tracts, are generally in a far more advanced stage of decay (even when they have not absolutely disappeared as structures, leaving only the materials as witnesses) than those in the wilder places.
List of old places.—The following is a list of places known to possess ancient remains, or otherwise of archæological interest, in the districts of Gaya and Patna. For facility of reference I divide them into groups.
