B URD fVAN DIVISION 89
Aornos is inapplicable to Mahaban, and that the real Aornos, if there be
such a place, must be sought elsewhere. In the same tour Banj was
examined ; and the suggestion has been made that it is the famous
place of Buddhist pilgrimage, at which a shrine was built to commemo-
rate the offering of his body by the Buddha to feed a starving tigress.
The buildings described by the Chinese pilgrims are now completely in
ruins and all sculptures have been removed.
The ruins at Asgram are of some interest, and the place has been
identified with the Asigramma of Ptolemy. Buner proper was traversed
by Dr. Stein in January, 1898, with the force dispatched for the punish
ment of the Bunerwals. In the report then published reasons were set
forth for the identification of Panjkotai with the site of the famous
Mahawana monastery described by the Chinese pilgrims, of Gumbatai
(T ursak) with the Mosu monastery and shrine, and of Girarai with the
shrine commemorating Buddha's ransoming of a dove, also a place
of pilgrimage.
Bunera.-Estate and chief town thereof in Udaipur State, Rajputana.
See BANERA.
Burdwan Division.-A Division or Commissionership in Bengal,
lying between 21° 36' and 24° 35' N. and 86° 33' and 88° 3o' E. The
Division, which covers an area commonly known as West Bengal,
includes all the Districts of Bengal proper west of the Bhagirathi, the
earliest known channel of the Ganges, and corresponds roughly to
the ancient Rarh and Tamralipta. The Bhagirathi, called in its lower
reaches the Hooghly, separates it from the Presidency Division, and it
extends along the right bank of this river to its mouth in the Bay of
Bengal. It is bounded on the south and west by the sub-provinces
of Orissa and Chota Nagpur, and on the north by the Santal Parganas
and Murshidabad District.
Though outside the Gangetic delta, the eastern portion of the tract is
low and of alluvial formation. Farther west, laterite begins to predomi-
nate, and the surface rises and becomes more and more undulating and
rocky until at last, in the west of Birbhum, Burdwan, Bankura, and
Midnapore, it embraces the eastern fringe of the Chota Nagpur plateau.
Since the Division was constituted in 1854, the head-quarters have
been several times moved between Burdwan, Howrah, Hooghly, and
Chinsura. They were finally transferred to Chinsura in 1896. The
table on next page gives details of the area, population, and land revenue
of the six Districts of which the Division is composed.
The recorded population fell from 7,604,661 in 1872 to 7,393,954 in
1881, but rose again to 7,689,189 in 1891. The greater portion of the
Division suffered severely from the ravages of the notorious Burdwan
fever (see'BURDWAN DISTRICT, which broke out nearly half a century
ago and caused a terrible mortality. During the last twenty years the
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