India Unsolved Ep 2: Why King Bimbisara's Hidden Treasures Were Never Found

Who was Bimbisara hiding his treasures from? What happened when the British fired a cannon at the secret chamber?

Who was Bimbisara? Who did he hide his treasures from?

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Editors: Prashant Chauhan, Prajjwal Kumar
Illustrations: Vibhushita Singh

Bimbisara was a very rich king of the Magadha Empire (present day Bihar) in 540 BC. But after adopting Buddhism, he gradually abandoned all worldly desires and began donating his wealth.

His son Ajatashatru didn't quite get this other worldliness. He wanted to stop Bimbisara from giving away his treasures and possess the riches. But legend has it that before he could get to his father's gold, they were safely hidden away – and have not been found till date.

The British rulers even fired a cannon ball at a secret chamber, hoping to recover the riches...

In the second episode of The Quint's new series 'India Unsolved', we decode why Bimbisara's treasures were never found.

Do We Know Where the Treasures Could Be?

Ajatshatru was dethroned, exiled, and if that wasn’t enough, killed Bimbisara. But before he could lay his hands on his father's coffers, his mother secretly handed them over to a Jain monk called Vaira Devan.

Legend has it that Vaira Devan safely hid the treasures somewhere inside the Son Bhandar caves, two artificial caves at the foot of the Vaibhar Hills in Bihar's Rajgir.

And inside these caves, possibly lies a 'Chamber of Secrets' with tonnes of gold, jewellery, and precious gems! Just that parseltongue won't help open this chamber...

Will the Chambers Ever Open?

On a wall of the cave is a trace of carving which resembles that of a doorway. Next to it is an inscription that no one has been able to decipher. This inscription is our 'khulja sim sim'. If only you can read it!

And in all these centuries, no one has reportedly managed to open the passage. Explorers, historians, invaders – even the Mughals and the British – tried to open it but in vain! The British once fired a cannon at the wall. However, it just left a black mark above the mysterious doorway. The mark is reportedly visible to tourists even today.