The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s7.7

c5.s7.7

Indrasilā-guhā—Mr. Laidlay has identified it with the Giriyek hill, six miles from Rājgir, which is evidently a corruption of Gairik-giri, a large portion of the stones of this hill being of red (gairik) colour. It is a spur of the Bipula range. It is the most easterly of the range of hills in which Rājgir was situated (JASB., XVII, p. 500). The Panchān or Pañchānan river flows by its side, and just across the river is situated the ancient Buddhist village called Giriyek. It has two peaks; on the lower peak on the east is situated the celebrated brick-tower called Jarāsandha-kā-Baiṭhak which was the Haṃsa-stūpa of the Buddhists. In some portions the moulding of sand and plaster in niches are well preserved. It is said to be the only building in India that has any pretention to be dated before Asoka's reign (Fergusson's Cave Temples of India, p. 33). In front of it there are the remains of a monastery (Saṅghārāma), a dry well, two tanks and a garden. The western peak which is connected with the Haṃsa-stūpa by a pavement is the higher of two; to this peak the name of Giriyek properly belongs; it contains the remains of a vihāra. It is the "Hill of the isolated rock" of Fa Hian. It was on this hill that Indra brought the heavenly musician Pañcha Sikhā to play on his lute before Buddha, and questioned the latter on forty-two points, which questions he traced with his finger on the ground (Legge's Fa Hian, p. 80). According to the Buddhist account, the cave was situated in the rock Vedi, at the north side of the Brāhman village Amasanda, on the east of Rājagṛiha (Spence Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 298).