The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t4.14

c6.s3.t4.14

The residence of Bhim Pandu is still shown on the top of a long low rocky hill about one mile to the north of the town. The hill is formed of enormous blocks of coarse gritty quartz, which are much weather-worn and rounded on all the exposed sides. Some of these blocks have a single straight face sloping inwards, the result of a natural split, of which advantage has been taken to form small dwellings by the addition of rough stone walls plastered with mud. Such is the *Bhim-gupha* or Bhim’s cave, which is formed by rough walls added to the overhanging face of a huge rock about 60 feet in diameter and 15 feet in height. Similar rooms, but of smaller size, are said to have been the dwellings of Bhim’s brothers. The place is still occupied by a few Brahmans, who profess to derive only a scanty subsistence from the offerings of pilgrims, a statement which is rather belied by their flourishing appearance. Just below Bhim’s cave, a wall has been built across a small hollow to retain the rain water, and the fragments of rock have been removed from a fissure to form a tank, about 15 feet long by 5 feet broad and 10 feet deep; but at the time of my visit, on the 10th of November, it was quite dry.