An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c30.338

v2.c30.338

**Chirand** (25°45′; 84°50′), Dt Saran, also called Cherand or Cheran, on the bank of the Ghaghra, 11 km e. of Chapra. Hunter’s *Statistical Dt Account* of 1877 mentions it as on the bank of the Ganga, but Carlleyle, (*ASI—AR*, 22, p. 74) saw it on ‘the junction of an old river channel (old bed of Ghaghra) with the Ganges’, the site already partially cut away by the river and the resultant high cliff of earth revealing the ruins of ancient wells, red-ware sherds and numerous ancient bricks of various sizes including ones with convex curve, the last probably of a *stūpa*. Carlleyle also found a mosque entirely built out of the ruins of a Hindu temple, with eight pillars or pilasters of Hindu character inside and an inscription on its doorway in Kufic characters mentioning the erection of the mosque by Sultān ‘Abul’l Muzaffar Hussain Shah of Bengal in A.H. 909 (A.D. 1503). Dey, 1927, mentions the existence of a few Buddhist images. The old *Dt Gazetteer* also mentions Chirand as a Buddhist site. Various identifications of the site have been proposed and the *Cirāṇḍa-māhātmya* gives legends about the place.