Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.131

c8.131

*Bansi*.—It is a village in the district of Bhagalpur situated near the base of the Mandar hill. The numerous buildings, tanks, large wells and stone-figures found round the base of this sacred hill show that a great city must have once been in existence there. How the city fell into ruin is unknown, though the local tradition ascribes its destruction to Kālāpāhār. After the destruction of the temple of Madhusudana on the Mandar hill, the image of the deity was brought to Bansi where it now remains. On the last day of the Bengali month of *Pauṣ* the image is carried every year from Bansi to the foot of the hill. There is a sacred tank at the foot where the pilgrims bathe, as they consider the water of the tank to be sacred (vide *Bhagalpur*, by Byrne, *B. D. Gazetteers*, 1911, pp. 162-163).