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The hills in the vicinity were famous as abodes of sages and mendicants in the ancient past and certainly continued to be so in the early 7th century A.D., when Hieun Tsang, the Chinese traveller, while exploring the ancient city of Champa, remarked “To the east of the city 140 or 150 li, on the south of the river Ganges, is a solitary detached rock, craggy and steep, and surrounded by water.
On the top of the peak is a Deva temple; the divine spirits exhibit many miracles (spiritual indications) here. By piercing the rock, houses have been made; by leading the streams (through each), there is a continual flow of water. There are wonderful trees (forming) flowering woods; the large rocks and dangerous precipices are the resort of men of wisdom and virtue; those who go there to see the place are reluctant to return”. Later, Tibetan monks like Nag Tcho (1039 A.D.) and Dharmasvamin (1234 A.D.), too described the scenic aspects and also left behind interesting accounts of difficulties then faced by travellers in crossing the Ganga, as the dangers arose not only from the then prevailing outlaws, but, also from the presence of numerous violent crocodiles.
To be continued...