ARCHE OLOGICAL SURVEY

I N D I A .

FOUR REPORTS

MA D E D U R IN G T H E Y EAR S

1862—63—64—65,

ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM, C. S . I .,

MAJOR—GENERAL, ROYAL ENGINEERS (BENGAL RETIRED)

DIRECTOR GENERAL or TE E ABCHE OLOGICAI. SURVEY or INDIA

m vM BB, ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY : IION . MEMBER, RENGAL ASIATIC SOCIETYMEMBER, ANTE ROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

MEMBER, NUMISMATIC SOCIETY.

VOLUME I .

What is aimed at is an accurate description, illustrated by plans, measurements,ags or photographs, and by copies of inscriptions, of such remains as most0 notice, with the history Of them so far as it may be traceable, and a record

1'

tradi tions that are preserv ed regard ing them.—LORD CANNmG.

t at the learne d world demand of us in India is to be quite certain of our

to place the monumenta l record before them exactly as it now exists,and to

ret It faithfully and literally.

"JAMPS PRINSRP.

Benga l Asiatic Society'

s Journal, 1838, p . 227.

S IML A

PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS.

P R E F A C E .

THE matter contained in these two v olumes is the resultof the archaeological surv ey which I conducted during fourconsecutiv e years from 1862 to 1865. The object of thissurv ey cannot be better stated than in the memorandumwhich I laid before Lord Canning in Nov ember 1 861 , and

which led to my immediate appointment as ArchaeologicalSurv eyor to the Gov ernment of India, as notified in the

following minute

Minute by the Right Hon’

hle the GOVERNOR GENERAL or INDIA

in Council on the Antiquities of Upper India,— dated 22nd

January 1862.

IN Nov ember last, when at Allahabad, I had some communications with Colonel A . Cunningham,

then the ChiefEngineer of the North-Western Prov inces, regarding an

inv estigation of the archaeological remains of Upper India.

It is impossible to pass through that part,— or indeed,so far as my experience goes, any part— of the British ter

ritories in India without being struck by the neglect withwhich the greater portion of the architectural remains, and

of the traces of by-gone civ ili zation hav e been treated,

though many of these, and some which hav e had least

notice, are full of beauty and interest.By ‘

neglect’ I do not mean only the omission to

restore them, or ev en to arrest their decay for this wouldbe a task which, in many cases, would require an expendi

ture of labour and money far greater than any Gov ernmentof Indi a could reasonably bestow upon it.

But so far as the Gov ernment is concerned, there hasbeen neglect of a much cheaper duty,— that of inv estigat

ing and placing on record, for the instruction of futuregenerations, many particulars that might still be rescuedfrom obliv ion, and throw light upon the early history of

England’

s great dependency ; a history which, as time mov eson, as the country becomes more easily accessible and

PREFACE .

trav ersable, and as Englishmen are led to giv e more thoughtto India than such as barely suffices to hold it and gov ernit, will assuredly occupy, more and more, the attention of

the intelligent and enquiring classes in European countries.

It will not be to our credit, as an enlightened rulingpower, if we continue to allow such fields of inv estigation,

as the remains of the old Buddhist capital in Behar, thev ast ruins Of Kanonj , the plains round Delhi, studded withruinsmore thickly than ev en the Campagna of Rome, and

many others, to remain without more examination than theyhav e hitherto receiv ed . Ev ery thing that has hitherto beendone in this way has been done by priv ate persons, imperfectly and without system. It is impossible not to feel thatthere are European Gov ernments, which, if they had heldour rule in India, would not hav e allowed this to be said .

It is true that in 1 844, on a representation from the

Royal Asiatic Society, and in 1 847, in accordance withdetailed suggestions from Lord Hardinge, the Court of

Directors gav e a liberal sanction to certain arrangements forexamining, delineating, and recording some of the chiefantiquities of India . But for one reason or another, mainlyperhaps owing to the officer entrusted with the task hav ingother work to do, and owing to his early death, v ery littleseems to hav e resulted from this endeav our. A few drawingsof antiquities, and some remains, were transmitted to theIndia House, and some 15 or 20 papers were contributed byMajor Kittoe and Major Cunningham to the Journals Ofthe Asiatic Society ; but, so far as the Gov ernment is con

cerned, the scheme appears to hav e been lost sight of withintwo or three years of its adoption .

I enclose amemorandum drawn up by Colonel Cunningham, who has, more than any other Officer on this side of

India, made the antiquities of the country his study , andwho has here sketched the course of proceeding which a

more complete and systematic archaeological inv estigationshould, in his opinion, take .

I think it good, —and none the worse forbeing a beginning on a moderate scale. It will certam cost v ery littlein itself, and will commit the Gov ernment to no future or

unforeseen expense. For it does not contemplate the spending of any money upon repairs and preserv ation. This,

PREFACE .

when done at all , should be done upon a separate and fullconsideration of any case which may seem to claim it .What is aimed at is an accurate description,

— illustratedby plans, measurements, drawings or photographs, and bycomes of inscriptions,— of such remains as most deserv enotice, with the history of them so far as it may be traceable, and a record of the traditions that are retained regarding them.

I propose that the work be entrusted to Colonel Cunningham, with the understanding that it continue duringthe present and the following cold season, by which time a

fair j udgment of its utility and interest may be formed .

It may then be persev ered in, and expanded, or otherwisedealt with as may seem good at the time.

Colonel Cunningham should receiv e Rs. 450 a month,

with Rs. 250when in the field to defray the cost of makingsurv eys and measurements, and of other mechanical assistance . If something more should be necessary to obtainthe serv ices of a nativ e subordinate of the Medical or PublicWorks Department, competent to take photographic v iews,it should be giv en.

It would be premature to determine how the results of’

Colonel Cunningham’

s labours should be dealt with ; butwhilst the Gov ernment would of course retain a proprietaryright in them for its own purposes, I recommend that theinterests of Colonel Cunningham should be considered in theterms upon which they may be furnished to the Public .

”

Memorandum by COLONEL A. CUNNINGHAM, of Engineers, regarding a

proposed inv estigation of the archaeological remains of Upper India.

DUR ING the one hundred years of British dominion inIndia, the Gov ernment has done little or nothing towardsthe preserv ation of its ancient monuments, which, in the

almost total absence of any written history, form the onlyreliable sources of information as to the early condition of

the country . Some of these monuments hav e already en

dured for ages, and are likely to last for ages still to come ;but there are many others which are daily suffering fromthe effects of time, and which must soon disappear alto

gether, unless preserv ed by the accurate drawings and faith

ful descriptions of the archaeologist .

PREFACE .

All that has hitherto been done towards the illustrationof ancient Indian history has been due to the unaided effortsof priv ate indiv iduals. These researches consequently hav ealways been desul tory and unconnected and frequently incomplete, owing partly to the short stay which indiv idualofficers usually make at any particular place, and partly tothe limited leisure whi ch cou ld be dev oted to such pursuits.

Hitherto the Gov ernment has been chiefly occupiedwith the extension and consolidation of empire , but theestablishment of the Trigonometrical Surv ey shews that ithas not been unmindful of the claims of science. It wouldredound equally to the honor of the British Gov ernment toinstitute a careful and systematic inv estigation of all the

existing monuments of ancient India .

In describing the ancient geography of India, the elderPliny, for the sake of clearness, follows the footsteps of

Al exander the Great . For a similar reason, in the presentproposed inv estigation, I would follow the footsteps of the

Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang, who, in the sev enth centuryof our era, trav ersed India from west to east and back againfor the purpose of v isiting all the famous sites of Buddhisthistory and tradition . In the account of his trav els, althoughthe Buddhist remains are described in most detail with all

their attendant legends and traditions, yet the numbers and

appearance of the Brahmanical temples are also noted, and

the trav els of the Chinese pilgrim thus hold the same placein the history of India, which those of Pausanias hold inthe history of Greece.

In the North-Western Prov inces and Bihar the princi

pal places to be v isited and examined are the following, whichare also shown in the accompanying sketch map

I . t i lsi, on the Jumna, where the riv er leav es thehills — At this place there still exists a large boulder stone,cov ered with one of Asoka’s inscriptions, in which the names

of Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas, and Alexanderare all recorded. This portion of the inscription, which on

the rock of Kapurdigiri (in the Yusufzai plain), and of

Dhaul i (in Cuttack) is much mutilated and abraded, is herein perfect preserv ation. A copy of this inscription and an

account of the ruins would therefore be v aluable.

PREFACE .

II . Haridwar, on the Ganges, with the opposite cityMayurpoora.

III. Manddwar, Sambha l, and Sahaswdn, in Rohilkhand

IV . Karsdna near Khfisganj .

V . San/siesta, betweenMainpuri andPattehgarh,whereit is known that many remains of Buddhism still exist.This was one of the sacred places amongst the Buddhists.

VI . Matimra .-In one of the ancient mounds outside

the city the remains of a largemonastery hav e been lately discov ered . Numerous statues, sculptured pillars, and inscribedbases of columns, hav e been brought to light . Amongstthese inscriptions, some, which are dated in an unknown era,

are of special interest and v alue. They belong most probablyto the first century of the Christian era, and one of themrecords the name of the great King Huv ishka, who is pre.

sumed to be the same as the Indo-Scythian King Hushka.

VII. D elhi — The H indu remains of Delhi are few,

but interesting . The stone pillars of Asoka and the ironillar are well known, but the other remains hav e not yet11 described, although none hav e been more frequently

Visited than the magnificent ruined Cloistersaround the KutbMinar, which belong to the period of the Great Tuardynasty .

VIII . Kanauj —No account of the ruins of this oncecelebrated capital has yet been published . Sev eral ruins areknown to exist, but it may be presumed that many morewould be brought to light by a careful

.survey of the site .

IX . Kamdmbi .— On the Jumna 30miles abov e Allahabad — The true position of this once famous city has onlylately been ascertained . It has not yet been v isited, but itmay be confidently expected that its remains would wellrepay examination.

X . A llahabad — The only existing reli cs of antiqui tythat I am aware of are the well known pillar of Asoka andthe holy tree in one of the underground apartments of thefort. Many buildings once existed, but I am afraid thatthey were all destroyed to furnish materials for the erectionof the fort in the reign of Akbar.

XI. To the south of Allahabad there are the ruins ofKaj ra

’

lzo and Makoba, the two capitals of the ancientChandel

PREFACE.

Rajas of Bundlekhand. The remains at Kajraho are morenumerous and In better preserv ation than those of any otherancient city that I hav e seen . Sev eral long and importantinscriptions still exist, which giv e a complete genealogy of theChandel dynasty for about 400 years.

XII . B andw a— The magnificent tope of SfirnAth is

well known but no description of the tope, nor of the ru ins

around it, has yet been published. A t a short distance fromBanaras is the inscribed pillar of Bhitari, which requires tobe re-examined .

XIII . Jonpur .

— Although the existing remainsat thisplace are Muhammadan, yet it is well known that the principal buildings were originally Hindu temples, of which the

Cloisters stillo

remain almost unaltered. These ruins hav e

not yet been described, but from my own success, in the

beginning of this year, in discov ering a Sanskrit inscriptionbuilt into one of the arches, I believ e

o

that a careful examina

tion would be rewarded with further discov eries of interestillustrativ e of the great Rathor dynasty of Kanouj .

XIV. Iyzdbdd.—The ruins of Ajudhya hav e not been

described . Numerous v ery ancient coinsare found in the siteand sev eral ruined mounds are known to exist there but no

account has yet been published . As the birth-place of

R itma and as the scene of one of the early ev ents in Buddha

’

8 life, Ajudhya has always been held equal ly sacred, bothby Brahmins and Buddhists, and I feel satisfied that a sys

tematic examination of its ruins would be rewarded by the

discov ery of many objects of interest.

XV. Srdv asti .— Ev en the site of this once celebratedcity is unknown, but it may be looked for between Fyzabadand Gorakhpur.

XVI . Kap i lav astu, the birth-place of Buddha, washeld in special v eneration by his followers, but its site isunknown.

XVII . Kusinagara, the scene of Buddha’s death,was one of the most holy places In India In the estimationof Buddhists, but its site is at present unknown . It may,

howev er, confidently be looked for along the line of the

Gunduk riv er. At Kap ila and Kusinagara , the scenes ofBuddha’

sbirth and death, numerous topes and stately monasteries once existed to attest the pious munificence of his

Votaries. The ruins of many of these buildingsmust still

PREFACE .

exist, and would no doubt reward a careful search . At

Ma thia , R adhia , and B akra , in Tirhut, stone pillars still re

ma in , and in other places ruined topes were seen by MajorKittoe ; but no description of these remains has yet beenmade known .

XVIII . Vaz'

sa‘

li .— This city was the scene of the

second Buddhist synod, and was one of the chief places ofnote amongst Buddhists. At Bassar, to the north of Patna,one tope is known to exist, but no search has yet been madefor other remains. The people of VaisAli were known toPtolemy, who calls them Passalce .

XIX . F atwa— The ancient Palibothra. I am not

aware that there are any existing remains at Patna, butnumerous coins, gems, and seals are annually found in the

bed of the riv er.

XX . R aj agriha , between Patna and Gaya, was thecapital of Magadha in the time of Buddha . Some of the

principal scenes of his life occurred in its neighbourhood,and the place was consequently held in v ery great v enerationby all Buddhists. Ev ery hill and ev ery stream had beenmade holy by Buddha

’

s presence, and the whole countryaround Rajagriha was cov ered with buildings to commemorate the principal ev ents of his life . Numerous ruinedtopes, sculptured friezes, and inscribed pillars still remainscattered ov er the country as lasting proofs of the high v eneration in which this religious capital of Buddhism was held bythe people .

In this rapid sketch of the places that seem worthy of

examination, I hav e confined myself entirely to the NorthWestern Prov inces, and Biliar, as containing most of the

cities celebrated in the ancient history of India . But tomake this account of Indian archaeological remains morecomplete, it would be necessary to examine the ancientcities of the Panjab, such as Taxila, Sékala, and Jfilandharon the west, the cav es and inscribed rocks of Cuttack and

Orissa on the east, and the topes and other remains of Ujainand Bhilsa, with the cav es of Dhamnar and Kholv i inCentral India .

I behav e that it woul d be possible to make a careful

examination of all the places which I hav e noted during twocold seasons. The first season might be dev oted to a surv eyof Gaya and R ajagriha, and of all the remains in Tirhut tothe eastward of Banaras and Gorakhpur, while the surv ey of

all to thewestward of Banaraswould occupy the second season.

PREFACE .

I would attach to the description of each place a generalsurv ey of the site, showing clearly the positions of all the

existing remains, with a ground plan of ev ery bu ilding or

ruin of special note, accompanied by drawings and sectionsof all objects of interest. It would be desirable also tohav e photographic Views of many of the remains, both of

archi tecture and of sculpture ; but to obtain these it wouldbe necessary to hav e the serv ices of a photographer. Careful

fac-similes of all inscriptions would of course be made,ancient coins would also be collected on each site, and all

the local traditions woul d be noted down and compared.The description of each place with all its accompanyingdrawings and illustrations would be complete in itself, and

the whole, when finished, would furnish a detailed and

accurate account of the archaeological remains of UpperIndia.

”

A perusal of the four reports contained in thesev olumes will show that I carried out with but little dev iation the programme laid down in this memorandum. The

report of each season’

s works was written during the following hot weather and rains, which was too short a periodto admit of sufficient reading and reflection for the preparation of a well considered account of all the interesting placesv isited . Each report was printed immediately after its submission to Gov ernment for official circul ation . Some of

these Official copies hav e been reprinted, but the whole stockwas soon exhausted, and, as frequent enquiry is still made forthem, the present publication is intended to place within thereach of all who are interested in archaeological researchesa cheap account of the only systematic, though incomplete,surv ey that has yet been made of the antiquities of Northern India.

The work has been carefully examined and cleared of allobv ious errors ; and numerous alterations and additions hav ebeen made to the text, which is now supplied with the

necessary notes and references that were wanting in the

official copies. Tomake the account as complete as possible,I hav e added no less than ninety-nine maps, v iews, plansand other illustrations, all of which hav e been drawn by myown hand .

S I M L A ; A . CUNNINGHAM .

The 15th October 1871 .

C O N T E N T S .

V O L U ME I .

PREEACE

INTRODUCTION

REPORT OF 1861 62.

Gays

Buddha-GaysBehror

Pundwa

Kurkihar, or Kukkutapfida giriGiryeh, or Indra-siIS-guha

RAjgir, or Rajagriha

Baragaon orNManda

BihAT

Ghosrawa

Titarawa

Dharfiwat

Besfirh or Vaisdli

KesariyaLauriya Ara-NajLauriya Nav andgarhPadaraona, or PAWS

Kasia, or Kusinagara

Khukhundo, or Kishkindapura

Kahaon, or Kakubbarati

Hathiya-dah

Bhitari

CONTENTS.

V O L U M E I .

REPORT OF 1862—63.

Delhi

Mathura

Khalsi

Madawar, orMadipur

Kfishipur, or Gov isana

Ramnagar, or Ahichhatra

Soron, or Surakshetra

Atranj ikhera, or Pilosana

Sankisa, or Sangkasya

Kanoj or Kanyakubja

Kfikupur, or Ayuto

Daundiakhera, or Hayamukha

Allahabad, or Prayfiga

Kosam or Kosambi

Sultanpur, or Kusapura

Dhopdpapura

Ajudhya, or SaketaHatila, or Asokpur

SAhet-Mfihet, or Starasti

TARda

Nimsar

Bdrikhar

Dewal

Parasua-kot

Bilai-khcra

KAbar

CONTENTS.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF PLATES .

V O L U M E I .

I . Map of the Gangetic Prov inces, showing the trav els of Fa

Hian and Hwen Thsang

II. Map of North-West India, showing Hwen Thsang'

s Route

III. Map of Gays and Bih8r

IV. Plan of the Great Temple at Buddha-Gays, with the Bodhi

drtifm, or Holy Fig tree, and the Buddhist Railing sur

rounding the Tree and Temple

V. Pedestal of Status In the Great Temple, with Niches from

the exterior ornamentation of the Great Temple, and

Temple of TAPS Dev i ”

VI . Pav ement Slabs from the granite floor of the Great Temple,showing worshippers paying their adorations after the

manner of the Burmese Shikoh

VII . The Buddha-p ad, or Prints of Buddha’

s feet, in front of the

Great Temple. Inscriptions on Granite Pillars reading

Ayaye Karagiye ddnam

VIII. Corner andmiddle Pillars of the Sandstone Railings— ia the

Samadh of GuruChaitMall, markedB andC In Plate IV.

IX . Sculptured Basreliefs on the Buddhist Railings. The letters

A . E . F. refer to sandstone Pillars in the Samadh, and

the Nos. to Granite Pillars In theMahant'

S residence

X . Ditto ditto ditto

XI . Ditto ditto ditto

XII . Maps of Pandwa and KurkiharXII I . Inscriptions atNdlanda, RAjgir, Giryeh, andKurkihar. In

scriptions Nos 1 and 2 contain the name of Ndlanda.

No. 1 giv es the name GopAla, the founder of the Pfila

dynasty of Bengal in the l st year of his reignXIV. Map of RAjgir and Giryeh, showing the site of the ancient

city of Kusfigfirapura and the positions of its fiv e sur

rounding hills

XV. View of Jarssandha s Baithak at GiryehXVI . Map of the ruins of NAlanda

XVII . Bihfir Pillar Inscriptions

XVI II . Map of Barabar and NAgArjuni Hills

XIX . Plans and Sections of Bardbar and Nagarj uni Cav es

Inscriptions In ditto ditto

XX I . Map of Besdrh and BakraXXII . Pillars at Bakhra and LauriyaXXIII . Maps of Kesariya and Lauriya Nav andgarh

CONTENTS.

V O L U M E I .

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF PLATES.

View of the Kesariya Stupa andMound

View of the Pillar andMounds at LauriyaMap of Kasia, orKusinagara

View of Kasia

Maps of Khukhundo andXzihaonKahaon and Bhitari Pillars

Inscriptions on ditto ditto

Maps of Shrndth, Banfiras

Maior Kittoe’

s Excav ations at Sarnath

Lieutenant Cunningham’

s ditto ditto

Ditto Inscriptions from Sarnath

No . 1 is the Buddhist profession of faith, found at 10 feet

fromthe top of the Great Stupa.

NO. 2giv es the characters in use when the Stupa was building .

No. 3 records the religious gift (of a statue) of SAkya Bhik

shu by Buddha Sena.

No. 4 records a giftby Hari Gapta.

No. 5, inmuch later characters, giv es the Buddhist profession

of faith, and records the religious gift of the Updsika,

Thakkur Sri Yajnaka ?

Map of the Ruins of Delhi

Map of LSIkot, the H indu Citadel of

Hindu Pillar, and mason’

s marks on

Plan of the Masd Kntb ul Islfim, or KutbMasj id

Map of Mathura

Female statue fromMathura

Asoka Inscription on Rock atKhfilsiMaps of Maddiv ar and Kashipur

Map of Ahichhatra

View of Stupa and Ruins at Ahichhatra

Map of Sankisa and Agahat Sarai

Elephant Capital of Asoka Pillarat SankisaMap of KanojMap of Kosambi

Map of AjudhyaMap of Srfiv asti

Inscription at Dcwal In Rohilkhand

I N T R O D U C T I O N .

THE study of Indian antiqui ties receiv ed its first im

pulse from SIR WILL IAM JONES, who in 1 784 founded theAsiatic Society of Bengal . Amongst the first members wereWarren Hastings, the ablest of our Indian rulers, and

CharlesWilkins, who was the first Englishman to acquirea know ledge of Sanskrit, and who cut with his own handsthe first Dev anagari and Bengali types. During a residenceof little more than ten years, Sir Will iam Jones Opened thetreasury of Sanskrit literature to the world by the translation of Sakuntala and the institutes of Manu . H is annual

discourses to the Society showed the wide grasp of hismind ;and the list of works which he drew up is so comprehensiv ethat the whole of his scheme of translations has not ev en

yet been completed by the separate labours of many suc

cessors. H is first work was to establish a systematic anduniform system of orthography for the transcription of

Oriental languages, which, with a v ery few modifications, hassince been generally adopted . This was followed by sev eralessays— Ou Musical Modes— On the Origin of the Game of

Chess, which he traced to India— and On the Lunar Year ofthe H indus and their Chronology . In the last paper hemade the identification of Chandra-Gupta with Sandrakottos, which for many years was the sole firm ground inthe quicksands of Indian history . A t the same time hesuggested that Palibothra, or Pdtaliputra, the capital of

Sandrakottos, must be Patna, as he found that the senR iv er, which joins the Ganges only a few miles abov e Patna,was also named H iranyabdhu, or the golden-armed,

”an

appellation which at once re-called the Erranoboas’

of

The early death of Jones in 1 794, which seemed at firstto threaten the prosperity of the newly established Socictv

a

INTRODUCTION.

was the immediate cause of bringing forward Colebrooke,so that the mantle of the elder was actually caught as it fellby the younger scholar, who, although he had not yet

appeared as an author, v olunteered to complete the Digest ofH indu Law, which was left unfinished by Jones.

CHARLES WILKINS, indeed, had preceded him in the

translation of sev eral inscriptions in the first and secondv olumes of the Asiatic Researches, but his communicationsthen ceased, and on Jones’ death in 1 794 the public lookedto Dav is, Wilford, and Colebrooke for the materials of the

next v olume.

SAMUEL DAVIS had already written an excellent paperon Hindu astronomy, and a second on the Indian cycle of

Jupiter ; but he had no leisure for Sanskrit studies, and hiscommunications to the Asiatic Society now ceased alto

gether.

FRANCIS WILFORD , an officer of engineers, was of

Swiss extraction. He was a good Classical and Sanskritscholar, and his v aried and extensiv e reading was successfully brought into use for the illustration of ancient Indiangeography . But his judgment was not equal to hislearning and his wild speculations on Egypt and on the

Sacred Isles of the West, in the 3rd and 9th v olumes of theAsiatic Researches, hav e dragged him down to a lower position than he is justly entitled to both by his abilities andhis attainments. His Essay on the comparativ e Geogra

phy of India, which was left unfin ished at his death, andwhich was only published in 1 851 at my earnest recommendation, is entirely free from the speculations of his

earlier works, and is a liv ing monument of the better judgment of his latter days.

HENRY COLERROOKE was the worthy successor of Sir

William Jones, and though his acquirements were, perhaps,not so v aried as those of the brill iant founder of the Society,yet he possessed a scholarship equally accurate in both theClassical and Sanskrit languages. This soon ripened into awide knowledge of Sanskrit li terature, and his earlymathematical bias and training, combined with a singularly

H. H. Wilson, in his Hindu Theatre, I., 9, calls Wilford a“ learned and laborious,

but injudicious writer.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

INTRODUCTION.

appointment of Buchanan, in 1807, by the Court of Dircetors, tomake a statistical surv ey of the Bengal Presidency .

For sev en years Buchanan pursued his surv ey throughthe prov inces of Bihdr, Shahabad, Bhagalpur, Gorakhpur,D inajpur, Puraniya, Rangpur, and Assam, when his labourswere unfortunately brought to an abrupt close. The results

of the surv ey were transmitted to England in 1 816, where

they remained unnoticed until 1838, when Mr. MontgomeryMartin obtained permission to examine the manuscripts,which ev entually led to their publication . To him we

certainly owe the publication of this v aluablework ; but Imust confess that the warmth of my gratitude for thiswelcome serv ice is absolutely frozen by the coolness of

appropriation displayed on the title-page, where the nameof Buchanan is entirely omitted, and the districts of EasternIndia are stated to hav e been surv eyed under the ordersof the Supreme Gov ernment, and collated from the originaldocuments at the East India Office by Montgomery Martin .

”

This singular proceeding has not escaped the notice of

M . Viv ien de St. Martin, who remarks that the three v olumeshad been published sans ymettre lo nom deM. Buchanan .

”

It is, howev er, but fair to say that full credit is giv en toBuchanan in the introduction, and that the work appears tobe satisfactorily edited.

A lthough the instructions giv en to Buchanan includedneither the history nor the antiquities of the country, yetboth were diligently explored by him ; and when, after alapse of upwards of twenty years, a great mass of the mattercollected by the surv ey was found to hav e become useless,the v alue of the traditional or recorded history, and of the

monuments and relics of antiquity, remained unchanged .

All this part of the work has been published by the editorwith a fair proportion of plates, from which we learn thatBuchanan was amongst the first to perceiv e the v alue and

importance of detailed plans and exact measurements of

remarkable buildings and ancient sites. His notices of theBuddhist remains at Gaya and Baragaon in Bihdr, of Kasiaand Rabson in Gorakhpur, and at many other places, are

not less creditable to him because, through delay in thepublication of his work, they were partly anticipated byJames Prinsep. His historical and archaeological researchesin the districts of Eastern India are specially v aluable for

INTRODUCTION.

their sound judgment and conscientious accuracy . I hav emyself v isited many of the places described by Buchanan,

and I can v ouch for the meritoriousminuteness and strictcorrectness of his descriptions.

The Indian mantle of Jones, which Colebrooke hadworn so worthily for twenty years, was not destined to remainwithou t a claimant. Before Colebrooke left India in 1815HORACE HAYMAN WILSON had become Secretary of the

Asiatic Society, and had published his translation of the

Meghan-data , or cloud-messenger”

of Kfiliddsa. This wasfollowed in 1819 by his Sanskrit Dictionary, a work of

great labour and merit, and in 1 827 by his Hindu Theatre,which opened to the European world a nov el and interesting v ariety of the dramatic art. At the same time be con

tributed many v aluable papers to the Quarterly OrientalMagaz ine, amongst which his translations of stories fromSanskrit and of some episodes from the Mahabharata, are

perhaps the most pleasing, and his rev iew of the first fifteen

v olumes of the AsiaticResearches the most important . In

1825 he published an essay on the H indu history of Kashmir,which giv es a clear and v ery interesting account of the

early history of the famous v alley .

In the beginning of 1833Wilson returned to England,where he continued hisOriental studieswith unabated ardour.

The two principal works of his English career were an

account of the coins and antiqui ties of Afghanistan,contain

ed in “ Ariana Antiqua,”and his translation of the B ig

Veda. The geographical portion of A riana Antiqua, underthe head of Early Notices of Ariana,

”is full and v aluable

but h is account of Masson’

s collection of coins makes no

adv ance in Indian numismatics, beyond the point whichPrinsep had reached at the time of his death. Indeed,Wilson’

s archaeological writingshav e added little, if anything,to his reputation. His fame rests on his Sanskrit scholarship, and on the many v aluable works, both original andtranslated, which he gav e to the world during his long and

brilliant career. To the general public, his most popularwork is undoubtedly the H indu Theatre, in which his truepoetic taste and feeling enabled him to do full justice to themasterpieces of the Indian drama. This work has just beenrep rinted, and it is not likely to be soon superseded by anyfuture scholar, as the different qualities required to produce

INTRODUCTION.

an adequate poetic translation are v ery rarely combined inone person as they were in Horace HaymanWilson .

In Western India the Kanbari Cav es in the Island of

Salsetwere described and illustrated by Salt asearly as 1806,although his account was not published until 1 819 in thel st v olume of the Bombay Transactions. In the samev olume appeared Erskine’s admirable account of the

elephanta cav es,which, howev er, waswritten asearly as 1813.

Like Buchanan in Bengal, Erskine anticipated the periodwhen v ague and glowing accounts would giv e place to

accurate descriptions and detailed plans. H is essay on the

Elephants Cav es has been corrected in a few points by suc

ceeding observ ers ; but it is still the best account that we

possess of those interesting Brahmanical excav ations.

‘

In the 3rd v olume of the same transactions, ColonelSykes gav e the first description of the Muhammadan city ofBijapur, which has since been amply illustrated by the

drawings of Hurt and Cumming, and the photographs ofLoch, with text by Meadows Taylor and James Fergusson .

To Colonel Sykes also belongs the credit of a good accountof Ellora, which had been prev iously illustrated by the

drawings of Wales engrav ed by the Danielle.

The earliest illustrations of Southern India we owe to

Thomas Daniell , who, at the close of the last century, v isitedMadras and made sev eral admirable drawings of the sev en

pagodas at Mahamallaipur, which are not surpassed by thebest photographs. About the same time Colonel ColinMackenzie began his antiquarian career in the South, whichhis successiv e positions in the Surv ey Department enabledhim to extend successfull y ov er the greater part of the

peninsula. His collection of manuscriptsand inscriptions isunriv alled for its extent and importance -t His drawings of

antiquities fill ten folio v olumes ; and to this collectionMr. Fergusson was indebted for sev eral of the most

A. new description of the cav e temples and other antiquities of Elephants is

shortly about to be published by Mr. J. Burgess, illustrated with plans and other drawings,besides thirteen photographs. As Mr. Burgess has already prov ed himself a most competentdescriber of Indian antiquities by his two prev ious works—fl The Tw ples of KMhiAwflr,

”

illustrated by forty-one photographs, and the Temples of Satrunjaya,

”illustrated by forty

fiv e photographs, his new work on Elephants will, no doubt, be a most v aluable and welcomeaddi tion to the library of Indian Arche ology .

‘l' See Taylor’

s Cata logue of the Oriental Collection of the Library of the College of

Fort St. George, 3Vols., thick, 8v o.

INTRODUCTION.

v aluable illustrations of his tree and serpent worship .

Colin Mackenzie was an ardent and successful collectorof archaeological materials, but he was not an archmologist. He could dig up and make drawings of the splendidsculptures at Dharanikotta, but he coul d neitherrestore the building, nor translate the inscriptions. But,

although not a writer himself, t he splendid collection of

antiquities which he left behind him has been the cause of

writing in others. To his drawings we partly owe Fergusson

’

s tree and serpent worship ,”

and to his collection of

manuscripts and inscriptions we are indebted for the greater

part of what we at present know of the early history of the

southern portion of the peninsula ‘

When HoraceWilson left India in 1 833 the mantle of

Sanskrit scholarship fell to Dr. Mill, whose acquaintancewith the sacred language of India is acknowledged to hav ebeen as profound and as critical as that of his three great

predecessors. To him we owe the translation of sev eral

portant inscriptions ; and his early departure from India,in the end of 1837, was looked forward to by James Prinsepas a loss that was not likely to be soon supplied.

But a new era now dawned on Indian archaeology, and

the thick crust of obliv ion, which for so many centuries hadcov ered and concealed the characters and language

of the earliest Indian inscriptions, and which the mostlearned scholars had in v ain tried to penetrate, was remov edat once and for ev er by the penetrating sagacity and intuitiv e perception of JAMES PRINSEP. During a great part of

the years 1836 and 1837, the most activ e period of his career,I was in almost daily intercourse with him. With our

mutual tastes and pursuits this soon ripened into the most.intimate fri endship . I thus had the priv ilege of sharingin all his discov eries during their progress. The maturedresults will be found in the pages of the Bengal AsiaticSociety’s Journal ; but the germs of his discov eries are

related in his letters to me, sometimes almost in the samewords as he afterwards made use of in the j ournal, butgenerally in the more familiar language of friendly corre

spondence.

See Professor Dowson’s account of the Southern Kingdoms in the Royal Asiatic

Society’s Journal , VIII., 1 and H. H. Wilson’

s Historical Sketch of the Kingdom ofPandya in the Royal Asiatic Society

’s Journal, III.

, pp . 199 61. 387.

VIII INTRODUCTION.

Prinscp’

s first great work was the partial deciphermentof the Arian Pfili legends of the Bactrian Greek coins, andhis last and most important achiev ement was the decipherment of the Indian Pali legends of the coins of Surfishtra,and the consequent decipherment and translation of the

still earlier edicts of Asoka on the pillars at Delhi and

A llahabad. In both of these achiev ements the first steptowards discov ery wasmade by others, and this was mostfreely and fully acknowledged by Prinsep himself. Regarding the decipherment of the ArianPeli alphabet, he saysMr. Masson first pointed out in a note addressed to my self

through the late Dr. Gerard, the Pehlv i signs which he had

found to stand for the words Menandrou, Apollodotou,

Em aiou, B asileos, and Soteros. When a supply of coinscame into my hands, sufficiently legible to pursue the

enquiry, I soon v erified the accuracy of his observ ation,

found the same signs with slight v ariation constantly torecur, and extended the series of words thus authenticatedto the names of twelv e kings, and to six titles or epithets.

It immediately struck me that if the genuine Greek nameswere faithfully expressed in the unknown character, a cluewould through them he formed to unrav el the v alue of a

portion of the alphabet, which might in its turn be appliedto the translated epithets and titles, and thus lead to a

knowledge of the language employed . Incompetent as Ifelt myself to this inv estigation, it was too seductiv e not tolead me to a humble attempt at its solution.

“

The clue pointed out by Masson was eagerly followedup by Prinsep, who successfully recognized no less than

sixteen, or just one-half of the thirty-three consonants ofthe Arian alphabet. He discov ered also three out of the

fiv e initial v owels, and two of the medials, or just one-halfof the v owels. Here his progresswas unfortunately stoppedby sudden illness , and he was soon after cut off 1n the v erymidst of his brilliant discov eries leav ing the task to be slowlycompleted by others.

In the May number of his journal for 1837,i‘ Prinseppublished his readings of the legendson the small silv er coinsof Surashtra. In this case he has also giv en a brief notice

i “ Bengal Asiatic Society’

s Journal, 1835, p 329.

1" Published in June 1837.

INTRODUCTION.

of the steps which led to the discov ery ; but as his letters tome conv ey a much more v iv id and liv ely account of the

untiring persev erance which secured his success, I willgiv e a connected v ersion of the discov ery in his own spiritedlanguage by extracts from his letters

1 1 th May 1837. Here are two plates addressed to meby Harkness on the part of J . R . Steuart, quarto engrav ingsof 28 Saurz

'

ishtra coins, all Chaitya rev erses, and v ery legibleinscriptions, which are done in large on the next plate. Oh 1

but we must decipher them I I ’ll warrant they hav e not

touched them at home yet. Here to amuse you try yourhand on this” (here follows a copy of three of the coinlegends, with the letters forming the words R aj nah and

Kshatrapasa, each of which occurs twice, marked, respec

tiv ely, 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, shewing that he had begun to analyzethem the same day) .

1201 May, 7 o’

clock, a . m. You may sav e yourselfany further trouble. I hav e made them all out this v erymoment on first inspection. Take a few examples (herefollow both the original legends and the Negari renderings)

1 to é— Raj a Krittamasa Rudra Sa‘

hasa Swdmi Jahatama

p utmsa .

5 to 8— Raj a Krittamaaya Sagadamta Raj a Realm Sdhasa

putmsya .

And thus ev ery one of them giv es the name of his father ofblessed memory, and we hav e a train of some eight or ten

names to riv al the Guptas ll Hurra l I h0pe the chaps athome wont seize the prize first. N0 fear of Wilson at anyrate I I must make out a plate of the names on ours addedto Steuart

’

s, and giv e it immediate insertion. It is marv ellonely curious that, like the modern Sindhi and Multani,all the matras, or v owels, are omitted, and the Sanskritterminations sya, &c. , p dli or v ernacularized . This confirmsthe reading which I had printed only a day or two ago,Vij aya Mitasa forMitrasya , of Mithra, identifying him andthe dev ise with our OKPO bull coin ! Brav o, we shall

unrav el it yet.”

Here we see that, although he had mastered the greaterpart of these legends almost at first sight, yet the readings

6

INTRODUCTION.

of some of the names were still doubtful . But two dayslater he writes as follows

Sunday (postmark, May 14, Look into yourcabinet and see what names you hav e of the Saurashtraseries. Steuart

’

s list is as follows

Rajas Rudra Sah, son of Swami Janaddma .

A tri D amd Rudra Sah.

&c. , &c.

The Sanskrit on these coins is beautiful , being in the

genitiv e case after the Greek fashion . We hav e R aj aya forR aj a , A tri-d nah for A tri-d a , Vira-d nah for Vira

d a , Visma Sdkdsya for Viswa Scika, which are all con

firmed by the real name losing the genitiv e affix when

joined to p utrasya .

I hav e made progress in reading the Peacock Saurashtrans

Sri bama saga dev a j ayatiIcramaditya paramesa ,

Chuleo bhai, juldee puhonchoge z’w

In these liv ely letters we see that the whole process ofdiscov ery occupied only three days, from the first receipt ofSteuert ’e plates to the complete reading of al l the legends.

Nothing can better show the enthusiastic ardour and un

wearying persev erance with which he followed up this newpursuit than these interesting records of the daily progressof his discov eries. When I recollect that I was then onlya young lad of twenty-three years age, I feel as much wonderas pride that James Prinsep should hav e thought me worthyof being made the confidant of all his great discov eries.

But the decipherment of the legends on the SaurAshtrancoins was but the precursor of a still more important discov ery . Success only seemed to inspire James Prinsep withfresh ardour. No difficulty daunted his enthusiasm, and no

labour tired his persev erance. Only a few years prev iouslyhe had analyzed the characters of Samudra Gupta’s inscription on the A llahabad pil lar, and had distinguished the

This is the common exclamation of pdlki bearers to encourage one another Go on

brother, we shall soon get there !”

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INTRODUCTION.

B uddha-p dlitasa lichlmnon ddnam.

The gift of the protected of Buddha, the Lichhundn.

’

Vij igatasa da’

nam.

Eh will not this do P and the pillar inscription

D eodnamp iya p iyadasz‘

R aj a bscom ahd.

The most particularly-belov ed-Of-the-gods Raja de

clareth thus.

I think with Ratna PAIa, whom I shall summon, we

shall be able to read the whole of these manifestoes of the

right faith— Buddha’

s bulls. Will send plates after breakfast.

Yours,

J. P.

The formal announcement of this discov ery wasmade inthe June number of the journal whichwaspublished in July,by which Prinsep had recognized the true v alues of all the

letters which he had yet found, and the Old alphabet wascomplete wi th the exception of the v ery rare letters gh andj b, and the gutteral, palatal , and cerebral n

’s.

To Professor Lassen belongs the honor Of hav ing beenthe first to read any Of these unknown characters. In the

prev ious year, 1836, he had read the Indian Pdli legend onthe square copper coins of Agathokles as Agatha lcla Raj a

-I

JamesPrinsep was puzzled by finding that nearly the samecharacters appear on the coins of Pantaleon .

”He admit

ted, howev er, that itmight be possible to assimilate the wordto the Greek on the supposition of the first syllable beingwanting,

” thus forming ta lav a . On referring to the coinindicated I find that the first letter is actually wanting, and

that he had read the three letters of the name correctly.

So near was he to making the discov ery at that time that itwould probably hav e been completed at once had there beena perfect coin of Pantaleon to refer to for the first letter ofthe name.

4' This word should be BhicMuno, the mendicant monk, but Prinsep had not then

recognised the true form of the bet. He took I for bk, and when he came to the true I inhigh, he read the word as Raga, as in the next instance which he giv es from the DelhrP111ar.

1' In a letter to James Prinsep referred to in the Journal of Bangal Asiatic Society.1836, p . 723.

INTRODUCTION. XIII

Asmentioned in his letter to me, Prinsep had at onceinv ited Ratna Pals, the PAH scholar, to assist him in readingthe inscription, and with his aid he was able to translate at

once sev eral important passages, such as, in the twentysev enth year of my reign.

”SO unremitting was his industry

and so rapid his intuitiv e perception, that he had finished histranslation by the end of July, and the complete v ersionappeared in the journal for that month, which was publishedin the middle of August.

Coins and inscriptions now poured in upon him so fast

from all parts of India that much of his v aluable time was

now occupied in priv ate correspondence, and when I leftCalcutta towards the end of October 1837, he was workingfrom twelv e to sixteen hours daily. Much of his time was,of course, occupied with his public duties as Assay Master ofthe Calcutta Mint, as he wrote to me, my whole day isconsumed at the scales. What a waste of preciousmoments l”

A few days aftermy departure he receiv ed copies of theUdayagiri and Khandagiri inscriptions from Kittoe, and

faithful impressions of all the inscriptions on the Allahabadpillar from Colonel Smith. With all his wonted industryand enthusiasm he set to work upon these new records, and

was able to giv e a rev ised translation of Samudra Gupta’

s

inscription in the Nov ember number of his journal, and a

long and v aluable note on the inscriptions fromUdayagiri andKhandagiri in the December number. Yet, in spite of all

these labours, so little conscious did he feel of exhaustion thathe wrote to me on December 27th, 7 A . M . , to get a new

Gupta inscription for the January Number 1 l

Prinsep now took up the rock-inscriptions of Asoka,and in a postscript to a letter of 12th February 1 838, he saidto me dont expect me to write again for a long spell . Imust set to work on the Girnfiri.

”But on the 3rd March

I heard from him again that he had made une découv erteepouv antable l no less than the treaty (an article at least)between Antiochus and Sophagasenas. Shall I leav e you toguess how, where, and whenP NO, butkeep it secret till I announce it at the Society . I hav e happily discov ered thatmany of the edicts at Gujarfit and Cuttack are v erbatim the

same. Among them is one announcing the establishment

INTRODUCTION.

of a medical arrangement formen and animals. This discov ery was announced to the Asiatic Society on the 7th

March , and published in the February number of the

journal .

As Prinsep proceeded with his examination of the rockinscriptions, he discov ered the namesof Ptolemy, Antigonus,and Magas, in addition to a second mention of Antiochus.

He had prev iously felt the want of a good 1mpression of the

Girnfir inscription, but this brilliant discov ery made himstill more anxious to obtain a complete and correct copy .

After thinking ov er the matter for some time, it seemed thatthe surest and quickest way was to address the Gov ernorGeneral on the subject, which was accordingly done at once,as explained 1n the following letter to me

28th March 1838. In the enthusiasm of the momentI took up my pen and addressed the enclosed bold petition toLord Auckland, which, on sober reflection, I am afraid of

sending, lest I should be thought presumptuous in imaginingothers care asmuch about old inscriptions as I do I I thereforeenclose it to you instead that you may act upon it as you

may find a fit occasion. The passage in the l 4th edict ismuch mutilated, and I long for a more correct copy .

It really becomes interesting to find Egypt and Ptolemyknown to Asoka l I must giv e you the real text” (herefollows the text in the original Pa1i characters, which Igiv e in italic letters with Prinsep

’

s interlinear translation)

Youa rdj a p arau cha teua Chap ta‘

ro

Greek King furthermore by whom the Gyp ta

R aj auo Tu lamayo cha Antigona cha Maya cha

Rajas, Ptolemy and Antigonus and Magas and

sauata D evdnamp iyasaev erywhere belov ed’s

Dhammduusasti anubatate yata p aj atiReligious precept reaches where goes.

Some doubt about the P tdro rafano, or Chap taro, whichmaybe read cha twaro raj ciuo, the four kings

’

, P taro, the P ta

or P tha (worshipping) kings, Gup taro, or Chap taro, raj auo,the KOptic or Aegyptic kings but the name of Magas i s

so distinct that I gi ve up the fourkingsm fav orof Egypt.

INTRODUCTION.

I hav e no time to expatiate hereupon. I shall publishin the next journal, although probably I shall be forced toalter my Antiochus the Great theory to the contemporaryAntiochus of Ptolemy Philadelphus (247 B . in whosetime Magas held part of Egypt (Cyrene) , and whose periodagreesbetterwith Asoka

’

s reign. Hurrah for inscriptions l

Prinsep’

s bold appeal to the head of the Gov ernmentwas of course successful , for Lord Auckland was a liberalpatron ofboth literature and science. The Gov ernor ofBombaywas accordingly requested to depute a qualified officer for thepurpose of taking afac-simi le of the inscriptions.

‘ The new

impressions were made with great care, but they did notreach Calcutta until afterPrinsep

’

s departure. I wasnot ev enaware that they had been sent to Calcutta until last January,when, looking for some of Kittoe

’

s inscriptions, I stumbledon the GirnAr edicts of Asoka.

In the meantime Prinsep continued his labours by publiebing a translation Of the Junagarh inscription of RudraDAma in the April number of the journal ; an examinationof the separate edicts at Dhauli in Cuttack” in the Maynumber ; translations of some additional short records fromthe Sanchi Stupa near Bhilsa in the June number ; and the

discov ery of the Bactrian alphabet” in the Ju ly numberwhich was published about themiddle of August. These werehis last contributions to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of

After his rev ision of the Bactrian alphabet, be naturallyturned to the inscriptions which Ventura and Court had ex

tracted from the stapes at Mdnikyfila, and which Massonhad obtained from the stupas of the Kabul Valley . H isattention was also turned to the reading of the later coinswhich mark the decadence of Greek dominion and Greek

skill . These are the most precious to the student of Indianhistory . Through their Nativ e legends we may yet hope tothrow light on the obscure age of Vikramhditya and the

Scythian successors of the Greeks on the north of India .

”i

So important did he consider this class of coins that he

0 See Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1838, p . 365.

f These different articles will be found in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society for1888, pp. 864, 484, 562, t 636.

1 Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1831 , p. 655.

INTRODUCTION.

specially inv ited attention to them,and promised to return totheir inv estigation, his text being those coins on which theNativ e and Greek legends differ, or record different names.

”

This subject still occupied his attention when he wasov ertaken by sickness and obliged to proceed to sea forchange of air. He was Ofi

'

Kedgeree on the 28th Sep tember 1838, when he wrote his last letter to me to acknowledgethe receipt of the coins which I had selected from SirA lexander Burnes’ new collection for his examination. He

was disappointed at not finding any new names, and saysI almost fear the field is exhausted ; my only ho

pe is of

new Sp a lahara types among the crowd of ‘frustes coins.

”

As the coins of Sp a lahara belong to the class on whichthe Nativ e and Greek legends difi

’er, this passage shows that

down to the v ery last his thoughts were engaged on the com

pletion of the Bactrian alphabet, and the translation of the

tOpe inscriptions. I also draw the same conclusion fromanother paragraph of the same letter where he says, I told

you (did I not ?) that Lassen hadhit upon the exact key to

the Bactrian alphabet I hav e made use of.

Hi s trip to sea did him no good, ashe wrote to me thathe nev er was so idle, so listless, or so headachey in hislife ; and after a long and amusing account of all the surrounding discomforts, he exclaims Oh !the pleasures of

running down to the Sandheads for a.week to restore thehealth I He longed to get home to his own desk in

Calcutta, where he hoped to find that Dr. McLeod had

arriv ed safe, that is, with the massof Burnes’collection of

coins.

On his return to Calcutta he gradually became worse

and was obliged to leav e India in the end of October. He

was in a hopeless state when he reached England from soften

ing of the brain, and after lingering forabout a year he sankon the 22nd of April 1840, at 40 years of age. Thus diedJames Prinsep in the v ery prime of l ife, and in the v erymidst of hisb rilliant discov eries. When we remember thathe was only just thirty-nine years old when his career wassuddenly arrested by illness, it is impossible to help regretting that he was not spared for a few years longer to com

plete and perfect what he had already done, and perhaps toadd fresh laurels to his fame by further discov eries. But

INTRODUCTION. XVII

James Prinsep had done his work ; for all his brilliant discov eries, which would hav e been the labour of ten or a dozeny ears to most other men, were made during the last threeyears of his career ; and although he was still young in years,he had already done the work of a good Old age. The careerof James Prinsep has been fitly and eloquently described byhis friend Dr. Hugh Falconer, who knew him well . Fromthis able sketch I extract the following appreciativ e noticeof Prinsep

’

s rare talents Of hi s intel lectual character themost prominent feature was enthusiasm— one Of the primeelements of genius ; a burning irrepressible enthusiasm, towhich nothing could set bounds, and . which communicateditself to whatev er came before him. The v ery strength of

his mental constitution in this respect was perhaps opposedto his attaining the excellence of a profound thinker ; it ledhim to be carried away frequently by first impressions, andto apply his powers to a greater range of subjects than anyhuman mind can master or excel in. To this enthusiasmwas fortunately united a habitude of order, and power ofgeneralization, which enabled him to grasp and comprehendthe greatest v ariety of details. H is powers of perceptionwere impressed with genius— they were clear, v i

gorous,

and instantaneous.

“

Dr. Falconer formed a true and just estimate of Prinsep’s powers Of perception which were equally remarkablefor their v igour and their 1nstantaneousness. The quicknessof his perception was indeed wonderful , so that many of hisdiscov eries may be said literally to hav e flashed upon him or,

as he himself describes one of them in a letter to me, “ likeinspiration, or lightning, or Louisa

’

s eyes, the light at oncebroke upon me.

”t But the great point in Prinsep

’

s characterwas his ardent enthusiasm, which charmed andmelted all whocame in contact with him. E v en at this distance Of time,when a whole generation has passed away, I feel that hisletters stil l possess the same power of winning my warmestsympathy in all his discov eries, and that his joyous and

generous disposition still communicates the same contagiousenthusiasm and the same strong desire to assist in furtherachiev ements.

0 Extracted from the Colonial Magazine for December 1840, by Mr. E. Thomas in hisedition of Prinsep

’

s Essays on Indian Antiquities.”

1“ Letter of 27th January 1838. The name of Louisa is written in Asoka characters as

h i gh.

xvm INTRODUCTION.

The powerful impulse giv en to Indian archmology byJames Prinsep was produced quite asmuch by the enthu

sisemwhich he kindled in ev ery one who came in contactwith him, as by his translations of the old inseri tions ofAsoka, which gav e life to records that had been cad for

more than two thousand years, and that now form our

chief land-marks in ancient Indian history . The impulsewas not lost after his death ; but the progress of research,which during his life-time had been conducted as one greatv oyage of discov ery under his solo command, has sincebeen limited to lesser expeditions in v arious directions. As

these were led by many different persons, each acting independently, the amount Of progress may, perhaps, seem comparativ ely little, whereas it has been really great, and onlyseems little because the work actually done has been v ery

gradually achiev ed and has nev er yet been summed up andgathered together.

Of James Prinsep’

s successors during the last thirtyears, the most prominent hav e been James Fergusson,

{darkham Kittoe, Mr. Edward Thomas, and myself, inNorthern India ; Sir Walter Elliot in Southern India ; andColond Meadows Taylor, Dr. Stev enson, and Dr. Bhau DAj iin Western India.

From the foundation of the Asiatic Society by SirWilliamJones in 1 784 down to 1834, a period of just half acentury, ourarchaeological researches had been chiefly literary, and, with a few notable exceptions, had been confined totranslations of books and inscriptions, with brief notices of

some of the principal buildings at Delhi and Agra and otherwell known places. The exceptions are sev eral v aluableessays by Jones, Wilford,‘ Colebrooke; and Wilson, on the

religion, the geography and the astronomy of the Hindus,which hav e already been noticed . These early labourersmay be called the Closet or Scholastic Archwologists. The tra

v ellers Of their day gav e glowing accounts of the wondersof Ellora, of the massiv e grandeur of the Kuth Miner, andof the matchless beauty of the TAj Mahal at Agra. But all

was v ague and indefinite. There were but few measurementsand no plans. True history was then but little known, and

0 I consider Wilford ’s essays v aluable in spite of their wild speculations, as they con

tain much information and undigested learning, in which important facts and curious

classical references will be found imbedded in a ms of crude speculation.

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INTRODUCTION.

a few fixed stand-points of known dates for comparison.

Thus we may be quite certain that any temple B is an improv ement on A , and is less adv anced than C and we con

clude accordingly that it is of intermediate age between A0. But if the dates of A and O are both unknown , our

deduction is comparativ ely of little v alue ; and ev en

if we should know the date of C, any deduction as to the

date of B will be liable to at least half the amountof error in the assumed date of A . No one is more fullyaware of this than Mr. Fergusson himself, as he admits thathis conclusions hav e been arriv ed at almost entirely from a

critical surv ey of the whole series, and a careful comparisonof one cav e with another, and with the different structuralbuildings in their neighbourhood, the dates of which are at

least app roximately But I think that he is inclined to ov errate the v alue of these critical deductions,when he says that inscriptions will not certainly by themselv es answer the purpose and he giv es in proof of thisassumption the fact that there is a comparativ ely moderninscription in the Ganes Gumpha Cav e at Udayagiri . But

what proof hav e we that many of the cav es were not originally quite plain like those of Barabar, and that the ornamentation is not the work of a much later age ? I differfrom Mr. Fergusson on this point, as I consider that inscriptions are, beyond all doubt, the most certain and the mosttrustworthy authority for determining the dates of Indianmonuments, whether buildings or cav es. I freely admit thecorroborativ e v alue of architectural ev idence when it isfounded on ascertained dates ; but when it is unsupportedby inscriptions, I look upon it, in the present state of our

knowledge, as alwaysmore or less uncertain, and, therefore,weak .

The best proof which I can giv e of the weakness of

Mr. Fergusson’

s argument, in the present state of our knowledge, is to quote the dates which he has deduced for thewell-known cav es of Kdnhari in Salset, which he assignsas follows : First those in the rav ine in the fourth or fifthcentury, those last described, with those on each side of the

great cav e, probably at least a century later then the greatcav e.

‘r Now the inscriptions in the Kanbari cav es are v ery

0 Rock-cut Temples of India, p. 2.

‘I‘ Rock-cut Temples of India, 39.

INTRODUCTION.

numerous ; and though there are a few mediaev al records, yetany ev idence of late date which they might be supposed toafford is u tterly annihilated by the presence in the samecav es of much older inscriptions of the same style and

character as themass of the Kanhari records, which are cer

tainly not later than the Gupta inscriptions of NorthernIndia . In fact, one of them giv es the date of 30 of the Saka

ditya-kdla, or A . D . 108. I hav e copied part of the inscription in the great cav e with my own hand, and, after com

paring my copy with that of Mr. West, I can see no dif

ference of age between the characters used in the great

cav e and those in the other cav es. I therefore refer the

great mass of the Kanbari inscriptions to the first and secondcenturies of the Christian era, so that there is a differenceof at least four centuries between Mr. Fergusson

’

s meandate and mine.

The Karle cav esMr. Fergusson is inclined to assign

to the first, or ev en the second century before Christ .‘ One

of the cav es is certainly older than the Christian era, as itpossesses an inscription of the great SatrapKingNahapana .+But there are two others of King Pudumayi, the son of

Vfisithi, whom I place in the beginning of the second centuryof the Christian era, but WhomMr. Fergusson assigns to themiddle of the fourth century, although in his chronologyhe admits that Ananda, also a son of v asithi, and thereforemost probably a brother of Pudumayi, and the founder of oneof the gateways of the Great Sanchi Tope, liv ed towards theend of the first century .

I hav e entered thus ful ly into the question of the datesof the Western Cav es, partly lest my silence should belooked upon as acquiescence in Mr. Fergusson

’

s conclusions,1 and partly out of deference to his deserv edly highname and well-earned reputation as an earnest and ableenquirer into Indian H istory and Archmology. Mr. Fer

gusson is well aware that I differ from him on many points

9 Rock-cut Temples of India, pp. 30-84.

f Journal, Bombay Asiatic Society, V. ; KArli Inscription No. 5, for Nahapana ; andNos. 0 and 18 for Pudumayi.

This, indeed, has already happened, as Mr. C. R. Markham. in hisMemoir on theArche ological Surv ey, p. 181 , concludes that Mr. Fergusson

'

s Rock-cut Temples of India

may be considered as hav ing placed the theory of the age and uses of those monumentson a basic of certainty, which hasnever since been called in question.

”

XXII INTRODUCTION.

of early Indian chronology ; and I believ e that by thus publ icly stating my v iews on these points, we shall the soonerarriv e at the truth, as probably others will now be led to

think upon the subject, who would otherwise perhaps hav e

passed it entirely ov er as a matter that was undisputed, and

therefore finally settled .

In his next work, entitled Picturesque Illustrationsof Ancient Architecture in India,

” Mr. Fergusson makesuse of the same principles of characteristic differences andsimilarities of style to fix the dates of the mediwv al templesof the Brahmans and Jains. Here I agree with himthroughout ; for the process of deduction is now perfectlytrustworthy, being founded on actual dates, as there is a

sufficient number of structural temples of the Jains and

Brahmans of known age to furnish us with data for determining v ery closely the ages of uninscribed buildings. Thisis specially noteworthy in the case of the rock-cut Brahmanical temples of Dhamnar, which, from their general

style, Mr. Fergusson has assigned to the eighth orninth cen

tury,‘ a date which must be v ery close to the truth, as Ifound a statue in one of the smaller temples inscribed withcharacters which certainly belong to that period . The

examples of Indian architecture giv en by Mr. Fergussonin this work are v ery fine and choice, especially the richtemple at Chandrav ati, which I hav e seen, and which Iagree with him in thinking the most elegant specimen of

columnar architecture in Upper India .

In his Handbook of Architecture (1 855) he has giv ena classification of all the different Indian styles, both H induand Muhammadan, which is considerably enlarged andimprov ed in his later work, the H istory of Architecture

In the latter we hav e the matured resul t of a

long and critical study of the subject. The classificationis complete and comprehensiv e, and though perhaps exception may be taken to one or two of the names, yet it isdifficult to find others that would be better. The limitedspace at his command has obliged him to treat each differentstyle v ery briefly, but the distinctions are so broadly and

clearly defined in the typical examples selected for illustration, that I cannot help feeling impatient for the appearance

Book-cut Tw ples of India, p. 44.

INTRODUCTION. XXIII

of his great work, the Illustrated History of Indian Architecture,

”which he originally projected more than a quarter

of a century ago, and for which, during the whole of thattime, he has been assiduously collecting materials.

Mr. Fergusson’

s last work, named “ Tree and SerpentWorship is the most sumptuously il lustrated work on

Indian antiquities that has yet been published. In it he

giv es a description of the two richly-sculptured Stupas of

Sanchi and Amarav ati, with a profusion of excellent illustrations from Colonel Maisey ’s accurate drawings and CaptainWaterhouse’s photographs of the former, and from ColonelMackenzie’s drawings, and the actual has-reliefs of the latterwhich are now in London. Mr. Fergusson has accepted mydates for the Banchi Tope and its gateways, namely, B . C .

250, during the reign of Asoka for the former, and the first

century A . D . for the latter ; but the Amarav ati Tepe he

places three hundred years later, in the first half of the

fourth century A . D . I understand that he has beenled to adopt this difference of age chiefly on account of the

difl'

erenee of style which he has observ ed in the sculptures ofthe two monuments. I must confess that this great difference of style is notpalpable to me. On the contrary, fromthe similar dress of the men, and the similar general nakedness of the women, sav e only the peculiar belt of fiv e rowsof beads, the sculptures of the two monuments appear to meto be of much the same age. I draw the same conclusionalso from the inscriptions which are undoubtedly of the

same age as those of the cav es of KAnhari and of the sanchiTepe Gateways. As I hav e already pointed out, there are

in the Kanhari cav es two inscriptions of Pudumayi, the son

of Vésithi , in exactly the same characters as those of Ananda,the son of Vasithi, on the south gateway of the SanchiTepe . I conclude, therefore, with some certainty, that Pudumayi and Ananda were brothers ; and consequently I referall the inscriptions of the King Gotamiputra Sfitakarni and

his successors Pudumayi and Yfidnya Sri to the first and

second centuries A . D . As by far the greater number of theAmarav ati inscriptions are in exactly the same characters, itseemsalmost certain that theymust bel ong to the same period.

This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that Buddhistcoins of all these three Princes hav e been found at Amarav ati, with types and inscriptions which range them as

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

contemporaries of the Satrap Chiefs of Surashtra. Mr. Fer

gusson has adopted the statement of the Puranas, that theAndhras ruled ov er Magadha in succession to the Kanwas ;but this position is quite untenable, as we know from Plinythat at this v ery time the Prasii, that is the people of Palasaka or Magadha, were dominant on the Ganges, and

possessed an army six times greater than that of the AndaraeIndi ‘

With respect to the title of this last work of Mr. Fer

gusson, Tree and Serpent Worship,”— I submit that it is

not borne out by the illustrations ; and further, that, asserpent-worship was antagonistic to Buddhism, such a titleis not applicable to a description of the religious scenessculptured on a Buddhist Stupa . I can perceiv e no serpentworship in these illustrations. On the contrary, I find thatthe Nagas are generally doing homage to Buddha, in perfectaccordance with all the Buddhist legends, which inv ariablyrepresent the Nagas as at first the bitter enemies of Buddha .

A fterwards, when conv erted by his preaching, they becamehis staunchest adherents, and are specially stated to hav eformed canopies ov er his head with their hoods to protecthim from the sun and rain. The presence of Na

’

gas in the

Amarav ati sculptures is onl y natural, as the king of the

country and his subjects are described in all the legends asNagas. In the sculptures, therefore, the king and his

women are generally represented with serpent hoods ; but,as far as I hav e observ ed, they are inv ariably the worshippersof Buddha, and not the objects of worship .

On these two points I am sorry to be obliged to differfrom Mr. Fergusson . But neither of them affects the mainpurpose of the work, which is dev oted to the illustration and

restoration of the Amarav ati Tope . This work he has donemost thoroughly, and I accept his restoration as almostcertain .

MARKHAM KITTOE was already known for his architec

tural taste by his design for the little church at Jonpur, and

his drawings of Muhammadan buildings, when, towards theclose of 1836, the march of his regiment from the UpperProv inces to Medinipur brought him through Calcutta,

0 James Prinsep saw that these Succcsairc dynasties of the Puranas must hav e beenparallel or contemporary .

—Journal, Bengal Asiatic Society, 1838, p. 847.

INTRODUCTION.

where he first saw James Prinsep . He was.

then engagedpreparation of a work, which apppeared in 1 838

under the title of Illustrations of Indian Architecture .

The work was chiefly v aluable for its illustrations, of whichmany hav e now been superseded by photographs. Kittoe

’

s

antiquarian zeal and architectural knowledge were strongrecommendations to James Prinsep, who induced him to paya v isit to the Khandag iri rock to examine the inscription inold Pali characters, of which Stirling had published a poorand imperfect copy in the Asiatic Researches. The result

was an excellent copy of a v ery important inscription of

King A ira, and the discov ery of one of Asoka’

s edicts atDhauli, with sketches of the more important cav es and principal sculptures.

Kittoe’s serv iceswere warmly acknowledged by James

Prinsep in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, and also in a

letter to me of 4th Nov ember 1 837 in which he mentions“a beautifully illustrated j ournal from poor Kittoe,

”and

begsme to“ keep an eye to his interests, for he would be

an inv aluable antiquarian trav eller.

”A t this time Kittoe

was temporarily remov ed from the army for bringing indiscreet charges of oppression against his Commanding Officer,for which there was but little foundation sav e in his own

ov er-sensitiv e disposition. Through Prinsep’

s influence hewas appointed Secretary of the Coal Committee, which ledto his extended tour through Orissa, the results of whichwere published in the Bengal Asiatic Society

’

s Journal for1 838 and 1 839 . He was afterwards restored to his positionin the army, and appointed to the charge of one of the

D iv isions of the High Road from Calcutta to Bombay, leading through Chutia Nagpur.

For sev eral years he was employed in the uncongenialwork of a Road Omcer, and it was not until 1846 that hehad the opportunity of returning to his archaeologicalresearches. In doing so he felt that he was partly carrylngoutthe w ishes of James Prinsep, who oft expressed a wishthat he should ramble ov er the district of Bihar, and caterfor During 1846 and 1847, he accordingly trav elledov er a great part of the districts of Bihar and Shahabad,and addedmuch v aluable information to our knowledge of

Bengal Asiatic Society’

sJournal, 1847, p. 273.

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

their antiqui ties. But his chief aim seems to hav e been to

make a large collection of drawings of choice specimens of

sculpturewith a v iew to future publication . In following outthis plan much of his v aluable time was wasted in makingdrawings of sculptures and architectural ornaments, of

many of which photography has since giv en us finer and

ev en more detailed copies. But no less praise is due to himfor the unwearied industry and patience with which he performed his self-appointed task, the results of which now

form a v aluable collection of about one hundred and fiftydrawings belonging to the library of the East IndiaMuseum.

About this time, through the influence ofMr. Thomason,Lieutenant-Gov ernor of the North-Western Prov inces,Kittoe was appointed Archaeological Enquirer

” to Gov ernment, on a salary of Rs. 250 a month . Whilst engagedon this work he was requested to prepare a design for the

preposed Sanskrit College at Banaras. H is design was

approv ed ; and, when the building was fairly begun, Kittoewas obliged to reside altogether at Banaras to superintendits construction . With thiswork he was ful ly occupied duringthe remainder of his career, his only archaeological re

searches being some rather extensiv e excav ations at Sarnath,where he uncov ered a complete monastery, and added con

siderably to his collection of sculpture drawings. The

work at the College was sev ere, as he had to model most ofthe mouldings with his own hands. On the 1 9th May 1 852,he wrote to me Oh how I wish the College were out ofhand, that I might set to work and compile my drawingsand papers into some shape. When I saw Kittoe at

Gwalior in September 1 852, he spoke despondingly of

himself. H is health was ev idently much impaired, and hecomplained of headache and want of appetite.

He was sick of the drudgery of the college work ; andin the beginning of 1 853 his health completely broke down,and he was compelled to seek for change of air in England.

On the 2nd of February he gav e a lecture in Calcutta beforethe Asiatic Society on the antiquities of Sarnath, and exhi

bited to the meeting his collection of sculpture drawings.

The v oyage to England did him no good, and on his arriv alhewas so ill that he saw no one, and, as one of his friendsinformed me, he went straight to his home and died” in

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

XXVIII INTRODUCTION.

and v ariety of the contributionwhich he has made to Indianarchaeology during the past twenty years.

1 848— Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Vol . IX . ,

Coins of the H indu Kings of Kabul .

2. 1 848— Ditto ditto, Vol . IX .,— Coins of the Kings of

Ghazni .

3. 1 850— Ditto ditto, Vol . XII . ,— Coins of the Sah

Kings of Saurashtra .

4. 1 855— Journal, Bengal Asiatic Society,Vol . XXIV.,

— On the Epoch of the Gupta Dynasty .

5. 1 855— Ditto ditto, Vol . XXIV.,— On the Coins of

the Gupta Dynasty .

6. 1 855— Ditto ditto, Vol . XXIV. ,— On ancient Indian

Numerals.

7. 1 858— Prinsep’

s Indian Antiquities, 2 Vols.,thick

8v e ; wi th numerous plates of coins, and many able independent notices, bringing the state of knowledge in each

branch up to the date of publication .

8. 1 860— Journal, Royal Asiatic Society,Vol . XVII . ,

Supplementary Notice of the Coins of the Kings of Ghazni .

9 . 1864— Journal, Bengal A siatic Society, Vol .

XXXIV . ,-On ancient Indian Weights (continued in the

same journal for10. 1 865- D itto ditto, Vol . XXXV. ,

— On the identityof Xandrames and Krananda .

1 1 . 1866— Ditto ditto, Vol . XXXVI . ,— The Initial

Coinage of Bengal .

12. 1871— Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi .

On all these different periods and subjects Mr. Thomashas thrown a flood of light by his accurate observ ations and

critical sagacity . But his principal researches hav e beendirected to the Muhammadan History of India, and moreespecially to the two periods of the Ghazniv ide and Pathandynasties. Here he has had the field entirely to himself ;and to his critical sifting of ev idence and noteworthyaccuracy, we are mainly indebted for the clear and satisfactory settlement of the chronology of the Muhammadankingdoms of Ghazni and Delhi . He has also initiated the

same accurate arrangement of the chronology of the

INTRODUCTION. XXIX

Pathan kingdom of Bengal , which will ev entually becompleted as more coins and inscriptions are brought tolight and made av ailable.

The greater number of Mr. Thomas ’

s essays hav e beenconfessedly limited to the almost technical description and

illustration of v arious important series of oriental coins.

But in his notes and independent articles, inserted in hisedition of Prinsep

’

s Essays, and more particularly in his

last production,— the Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of

Delhi, — he has made good use of al l accessible inscriptions,and of numerous passages of historians and geographers,which bear upon his subject . H is “ leading object,

”as he

himself states, has been to collect materials for history,in the form of documents, which it was primarilydesirable to retain in their most authentic form.

” Thisobject he has accomplished in the most complete and satisfactory manner ; and the future historian of MuhammadanIndia will be sav ed much of theweary and v exatious troubleof weighing the respectiv e v aluesof conflicting ev idence, andof balancing the probabilities of opposing dates. A ll thislaborious work has been well and careful ly done by Mr.

Thomas, whose critical sifting of ev idence, and able scrutinyof all av ailable information,

hav e effectually winnowedmost of the chaff of doubt and dispute, and left littlebut the true grains behind .

In Madras SIR WALTER ELLIOT completed what ColonelMackenzie had left undone. Mackenzie’s great collectionof inscriptions wasmade chiefly in the Tamilian pro

v inces to the south of the Krishna R iv er, while SirWalter’scollection of 595 inscriptions was formed principally in theancient KarnAta country, amongst the upper branches of theKrishna . His first contribution to Indian archaeology wasa v ery v aluable and interesting historical sketch

,

‘ foundedsolely on the inscriptions of the principal dynasties whichhad ruled ov er the countries between the Narbada andthe Krishna for nearly eight centuries. Of these the great

Chalukya family was the oldest, the strongest, and the mostlasting ; and its line has since been traced back to the earlypart of the fourth century by the discov ery of other inscriptions. Its career probably began in A . D . 318. For the

0 In Royal Asiatic Society'

s Journal, IV. , for 1836, and re-printed with correctionsin the Madras Literary Journal, Vol. VII , p. 190.

XXX INTRODUCTION.

early history of the northern half of the peninsula, thisinv aluable essay is our principal, and indeed almost our

only, guide.

Sir Walter has also illustrated the history of the

Chalukyas and other southern dynasties by their coins,which he was the first to arrange systematically . He thusobtained their trustworthy ev idence in support of the moreextensiv e data supplied by the inscriptions. A ll prev iousenquiries had been contented to arrange the coins according to their dev ices, without regard to their age, or to

the localities in which they were usually found. Thus, all

the coins bearing the type of an elephant were assignedto the Gaj ap ati dynasty, which was asserted to hav e reignedov er Orissa ; all those with a horse to the Am ap a ti dynastythose with the figure of a man to the Narap ati dynasty ;and those with an umbrella to the Chhatrap ati dynasty.

These are currently believ ed to hav e been the titles of fourtributary princes who held the four chief prov inces of

Southern India under the rule of the one supreme sov ereign of Delhi . The single omission of the bear of the

Chalukyas is fatal to this neatly-contriv ed scheme.

In Western India Colonel MEADOWS TAYLOR has chieflyconfined his attention to themysterious cromlechs and cairns,and stone circles, of which he himself made numerous and

important discov eries in the ShorapurDistrict .‘ The originof these monuments is at present unknown . Colonel Taylorcalls them pro-historic remains, and attributes them to the

great Turanian or Scythian race which occupied SouthernIndia before the immigration Of the Aryas. Certain it

is,”he remarks, that in the purely Aryan and Northern

Prov inces of India, no such structures hav e been found ”?But this is a mistake, as they hav e already been foundin the billy parts of the districts of Delhi, Mirza

pur, and Orissa, and I conclude that they will hereafter bediscov ered in many other parts of Northern India . I aminclined also to doubt that these monuments were peculiarto the Turanian races, for I look upon the stone colonnadethat surrounds the great Sanchi stupa as only an improv edv ersion of the rude stone circle enclosing an earthen

See his able account of this interesting subject in the Journal of the Etenological

Society. Vol . I., p . l57. , On the Pro-historic Archmology of India.

”

1 Student’

sManual of the History of India, p. 40.

INTRODUCTION.

tumulus ; and as the Sanchi monuments is an undoubtedAryan structure, the probabilities seem to be rather infav our of the Aryan origin of its prototype, than thatthe Aryas borrowed the design from the earlier Turaniansettlers. This howev er is, at present, a matter of Opinionwhich will probably be settled by further researches. In the

meantime the public is deeply indebted to Colonel Taylorfor the v ery full and accurate details which he has giv en of

the early stone monuments of Southern India.

In his Student’s Manual of Indian History, ColonelTaylor has assigned the building of the second tope at

SAnchi to Pushpamitra, the first of the Sunga dynasty ofMagadha, whom he affirms to hav e been Buddhists, and

famous for their religious zeal in the construction of religious edifices and excav ation of cav e temples.“ Now, thisis certainly a mistake, as Pushpamitra was a noted persecutor of the Buddhists, and is recorded to hav e offered a rewardof one hundred dinars for the head of ev ery Sramana. 1

'

As Colonel Taylor rarely quotes authorities, it is impossibleto trace the source of this error. I can only conjecturethat it is founded on a misreading by Dr. Stev enson of one

Of the cav e inscriptions, which will be presently noticed, inwhich he identifies a petty Buddhist chief, Ndyak, namedAgnimitra, with the great Sunga King of Magadha, who

would certainly appear to hav e been a Brahmanist, as wellas his father, Pushpamitra i

To the REVEEEND J . STEVENSON, D . D ., we owe the onlyseries of translations that hav e yet appeared of the numerousinscriptions in the cav es of Western India. These were

published in 1 857“ from copies of the inscriptions prepared

by Lieutenant Brett, whi ch, though carefully and laboriouslymade, are deficient in many places, and are not sufficientlyaccurate in others to be fully relied upon. For these reasonssev eral passages, and ev en a few whole inscriptions, were leftuntranslated by Dr. Stev enson, whilst others were insufii

ciently or incorrectly rendered by him. New and muchmoreaccurate copies of the inscriptions in the Kenhari and Nasikcav es hav e since been published by Mr. West, but ev en

0 Student’s Manual of Indian History, page 54.

f Burnouf “ Introduction t l’

Histo ire da Buddhisms Indian, page 431 .

1 See the drama of Malacihdgnimitra inWilson’

sHindu Theatre.

XXXII INTRODUCTION.

these are only hand copies, carefully reduced, it is true, bysquares, but still only hand copies, and not facs imi les orimpressions. I hav e myself v isited both of these places,and I can state that I hav e not seen any inscriptions thatWould yield better impressions than the great Satrap andAndhra records of the Nesik cav es. The most beautifuland perfectly accurate impressions or rubbings of theseprecious recordsmight hav e been made by Mr. West in one

tenth of the time which was occupied in making his muchless trustworthy hand reductions.

Taking Dr. Stev enson’

s translations altogether, there isno doubt that he has succeeded in giv ing the general scepeof all the more important inscriptions, and has therebyadded a v ery v aluable amount of authentic informationto the scanty records of early Indian history . With someof the shorter inscriptions he has been less successful ; forinstance, he has taken d i ldya as a masculine name, andidentified d ild with the famous Chanakya, the ministerof Chandra Gupta Maurya, thus ignoring, not only the

feminine possessiv e termination in aya , but also the preceding feminine word B hikhaniya , or mendicant nun,

”

the inscription, in fact, being the simple record of a gift ofthe female mendicant In a second short inscription, by reading Maharam

‘

sa, of the emperor,” instead of

Maharathisa , of Maharashtra,”he identifies the Ndyalc,

or“ petty chief, Agnimitra of Maharashtra with the great

King Agnimitra of Magadha, the son of Pushpamitra, thefounder of the Sunga dynastyst Again,

in his anxiety toObtain some name that would help to fix the dates of theseinscriptions, he has identified Salaam with Vikramfiditya byreading Sakari, where the preceding names of Nabhaga,Nahusha, and Janamcjaya, as well as the following name of

Yayati, should hav e shown him that the solar hero Sagarawas the person really intended i

Historical names and facts contained in the KAnhari inscriptions.—Bombay Journal,

V., page 29, No . 14, Inscription from KEnhari.

f Sahyfidri inscriptions.—Bombay Journal, V. , page 152,No. 1 , Inscription from Karla.

I On the Ni sik cav e inscriptions (Bombay Journal, V. , page 43, No. 1 Inscription), Dr.

Bhau Daj i has adopted this erroneous identification of Vikrarnfiditya in his Essay on

Kelidasa. I pointed out Dr. Stev enson'

s error to Mr. Fergusson, but he refers to it as if

a Vikramfiditya was mentioned by name .— See his Essay on Indian Chronology, page 52,

note 1 The Vikramhditya mentioned in Gotamiputra’s inscription is ev idently, from the

company in which he is named, of pre-bistoric Mr. Fergussou must hav e

remembered imperfectly what I told him, for there is nomention whatev er of any VikramAditya inGotamiputra

’

s Nasik inscription.

INTRODUCTION. XXXIII

To Dr. Stev enson we owe the first real progress thatwas achiev ed since Prinsep,m reading the numerical figuresof these old inscriptions. But he contented himself withnoting the more Obv ious cyphers, and hastily adopted v aluesfor others, which 1n one case led him to make the curiousblunder of assigning thirty two days to a fortnight . Thishappened from reading the letter 3; as the figure for 30, bywhich he changed batiya 2 into bati 32.

Dr. Stev enson also published sev eral papers on the earlyreligion of the H indus of Southern Indiayt and a single

paper on the Titlayas or Tirthalcae of the Buddhists, whome identifies with the Gymnosophists of the Greeks, and

with the D igambara sect of Ja1ns 1 These papers showmuch patient research and accurate Observ ation in a new

and interesting field of mquiry, and lead us to regret thatDr. Stev enson shoul d hav e been cut off m the v ery midst ofhis career, just when his judgment had become mature,and promised to guide his acknowledged scholarship to use

Since Stev enson’s death the study of archaeology in

Western India has been taken up ably and enthusiasticallyby a Nativ e gentleman, DR . BEAU DAJI, whose contributionsto the Bombay Journal hav e thrown much light on the earlyhistory of the northern half of the peninsula. As a scholarhe v ery early earned the thanks of all students of Indianliterature and history by his essay on the Poet Kalidfisa,and by his translations of the inscriptions in the AjantaCav es, and of the inscriptions of Rudra Dema and SkandaGupta at Junagarh His reputation has since been amplymaintained by his interesting and v aluable notice of the

Inroads of the Scythians into and by his discov eryof the v alues of sev eral of the unknown early numeralswhich had puzzled Dr. Stev ensonfif

1 Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal, V., pp . 189, 264, and VI On the ante

M worship of the Hindus of the Dakhan ; ditto, VII. 1 , On the intermixtured M lf-n wit-h

pBrahmanism in the religion of the Hindus of the Dakhan ;

’ ’ ditto,

VII, 04. On theBuddha-Vaishnav as of the Dakhan .

3 Bombay Asiatic Society’s Journal, Vol . V.

I Bombay Asiatic Society’s Journal, VI ., published in 1867, On the Sanskrit Poet

Hindi-f ’ ditto, VII, Ajanta Inscriptions,” and ‘‘Translations of the Rudra DAma and

M Gupu Inscriptions at Junagarh.

l Dittq m , p. 139,“ The lnroads of the Scythians into India.

1 new, VIIL, p 225, The Ancient Sanskrit Numerals in the Cav e Inscriptions, and

C the Sah Coins.

xxxrv INTRODUCTION.

But Dr. Bhau Daj i s judgment has not kept pace withhis scholarship, and he has consequently been led to thepublication of sev eral v ery grav e errors. He thus rashlyannounces his condemnation of Dr. Mill ’s translation of

part of the Bhitari Inscription : I may now warn writerson Indian antiquities against implicitly receiv ing as correctthe names giv en by Dr. Mill of the female connexions of theGuptas, namely, Lichchhav i and Kumari I amhappily in a position to settle this point by prov ing the abso

lute accuracy of D r. Mill ’s translation, by referring Dr.

Bhau Daj i to the gold coins of Chandra Gupta bearing twofigures, male and female, on the obv erse, and a female seatedon a lien on the rev erse. These precious coins would almostseem to hav e been designed by Chandra Gupta

’

s mint-masterfor the special purpose of refuting D r. Bhau Di j i

’

s assertion,by labelling the two figures on the obv erse as Chandra

Gup ta”

and Kumriri D ev i , and by adding the name Of

.Dichchhav ayah on the rev erse ?

In another place he has seriously proposed the alteration of the Chinese chronology of the pilgrimHwen Thsangby sixty years to suit the date of Jayendra of Kashmir,simply because Hwen Theang mentions that, on his arriv alat the capital of Kashmir, he was lodged in the Jayendra

Viha‘

ra . But surely one may sleep in a palace of AkbarWithout becoming a contemporary of that great Mogul . If

not, thenHwen Thsang’

s date is hopelessly dubious, for he hadalready lodged in theH uskkara Vihdra opposite Varahamfila,and must, therefore, hav e been a contemporary of the Indo

°Scythian prince Hash/ca or Huv ishka, at the latter end of the

first century before Christ .

I pass ov er some wild identifications proposed in Dr.

Bhau Dfiji’

s Brief Surv ey of Indian Chronolgy, to note thecurious error in what he cal ls a correct genealogical table of

the Balabbi Kings supported by dates from copper plates.

In this genealogy I notice that Dhruv a Sena, who is dated in310, is followed by six generations, all of which are made to

passaway by 346, so that sev en generations, including Dhruv a

Bombay Asiatic Society’s Journal, VII., p . 216.

f I possess two of these coins w ith the legends quite legible. The names of the Kingand Q ueen are written perpendicularly. The rev erse legend has hitherto been erroneouslyread as Panch Uldtarayah.

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XXXVI INTRODUCTION.

2.— 1842— Bengal Asiatic Society

’s Journal, XL , p.

130— Second notice of some new Bactrian coins.

3.— 1843 —Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal— Account

of the discov ery of the ruins of the Buddhist city of S4.— 1 843 -Numismatic Chronicle—The ancient coinage

of Kashmir.

5.— 1843—Numismatic Chronicle—Attempt to explain

some of the monograms on the Greek coins of Ariana and

India.

6.— 1845— Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal , XIV.,

p . 480— Notice of some unpublished coins of the IndoScythians.

7 —1 854—The Bhilsa T0pes, or Buddhist Monumentsof Central India, 8v o.

8.— 1854— Benga1 Asiatic Society

’s Journal , XXIII.

Coins of Indian Buddhist Satraps with Greek inscriptions.

9 .— 1863— Bengal Asiatic Society

’

s Journal , XXXII .Translation of the Bactro-Pali inscription from Taxila.

10.— 1865— Bengal Asiatic Society

’

s Journal,XXXIV.

Coins of the nine Nfigas, and of two other dynasties of

Narwar and Gwalior.

1 1 .— 1867— Numismatic Chronicle— Coin of the Indian

Prince Sophytes, a contemporary of Al exander the Great.12.— 1868-1869-1870— Numismatic Chronicle Coins

of Alexander’

s successors in the East,”Part I the Greeks

of Bactrians, Ariana, and India.

13.— 1870— The ancient Geography of India, Vol . I

the Buddhist period, 8v o.

In my account of James Prinsep’s final labour, I hav e

been able to show from his letters that the anxiety which hepublicly expressed to obtain more specimens of the lattercoins, which mark the decadence of Greek dominion and

Greek skill,”and of those coins on which the Nativ e and

Greek legends differ, or record different names,” continued

down to the last, when in October 1 838 he was compelledby ill health to giv e up work and to seek for change of air

in England . This subject I was able to follow up in 1840,when the acquisition of a large number of coins fromAfghanistan putme in possession of new specimens of Gondophares and Abdagases, which I published in the Journal of

INTRODUCTION. XXXVII

the Asiatic Society for that year. Sev eral collectors then

placed their cabinets atmy disposal ; and with the purchaseof a second collection from Kandahar and Sistfin, I was ableto prepare during the years 1840-41-42 no less than fifteenlithographed plates of all the known coins of the Greek andIndo-Scythian Kings of Bactriana, Ariana, and India.

While this work was in progress, I published, in 1842,a second notice of new Bactrian coins, in which I first madeknown the names of the Greek Kings Straton, Telephus,Hippostratus, Nikias, and Dyonysius, of the Greek QueenKalliope, and of the Scytho

-Parthian Kings Arsakes andPakores. In these two papers I gav e the true symbolsof theArian letters (1, g, and p h, from the Nativ e legends of the

coins of Gondophares, Abdagases, and Telephus, and the truesymbol for the compound letter at from the coins of Stratonand H ippostratus. These discov eries were followed up byfinding the title of Strategasa, for the Greek Stratégos

or General, on the coins of the Aspa Varmma, which hear

the name of the great King Azas on the obv erse, and thatof his Hindu General on the rev erse. These,

”as Prinsep

truly said, are the most precious to the student of Indianhistory,

”for they prov e that the military discipline of the

Greeks was still in use nearly half a. century after their dominion had passed away .

At the same time I found that the rev erse legends of

the coins of Queen Agathokhia, which had puzzled Prinsepand Lassen, contained only the titles and name of Straton,who must, therefore, hav e been her husband . Continuingmy discov eries, I obtained the true v alue of the Arian bit

from the words bhrdta-putrasa , or brother’s son, which,on the coins of Abdagases are the equiv alent of the GreekAde lp hideds. Following up this clue I next discov ered thesymbol for 9h on the coins of the Nativ e King Amoghablmti .

About the same time I assigned one of Prinsep’s series

of imi tationsof the Indo-Scythianmoney to its proper countryKashmir, by identifying the coins of no less than eighteenof the Hindu Rajas, from Toramana to Jaga Dev a, who

ruled from about A . D . 500 to 1200. This discov erywaspublished in the Numismatic Chronicle for 1843. A few yearslater, in 1847, I was able to assign another series of some

XXXVIII INTRODUCTION.

extent, but of later date and of less interest, to the HinduRajas of Kangra.

In 1845, in a notice of some new coins of the IndoScythians, I first published the reading of the name of thegreat Kashda tribe of Indo-Scythians on the coins of Kujula,and in the Manikyala inscription of General Court . At thesame time I added a genuine Buddhist type to the knowncoins of Kanishka.

In January and February 1851 , Lieutenant Maisey andmyself explored a large number of Buddhist stupas, or

topes, in the Bhilsa D istrict . In the same year I submitteda short account of our discov eries toH . H . Wilson, which hepublished in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society . At

the same time I prepared a detailed account of all the stupasthat we explored, W1th translations of sev eral hundred shortinscriptions. This work, which was completed in 1851 , wasnot published until 1854, under the title of The BhilsaTopes.

” Twenty years hav e since passed, many of themyears of rare experience in archaeological inv estigation, and

I see no reason to alter the dates which I then proposed ofthe third century B . C . , for the erection of all the principaltopes, and of the first century A . D . for the sculptured

gateways of the great stupa.

These dates hav e been generally accepted ; in fact, I amnot aware that they hav e been disputed by any one sav e

H . H . Wilson .

” His arguments I will now examine at

length, as it seems to me to be v ery important that thereshould be no doubt as to the age of these remarkable monuments, whose sculptures are so v aluable for the illustrationof Indian art. In justice also to myself I think it isabsolutely necessary that I should take notice of the objections which hav e been publicly brought forward in a lectureon Buddha and Buddhism, by so eminent an oriental scholaras Horace HaymanWilson .

He begins by stating that I make the age of the greatBhilsa tope as old as Asoka, “ its being as old as Asoka,depending upon the identification of Gotiputra, the teacherof Mogal iputra, who presided, it is said, at the third council

Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal, Vol. XVI , On Buddha and Buddhism,

” by H. H.

Wilson. PP. 250-251.

INTRODUCTION. XXXIX

in B . C. 241 , a statement altogetber erroneous, as Mogali

putra, Maudgala, orMaudgalayana, was one of sakya’

s first

disciples three centuries earlier.

”In this passage it is

Wilson’

s own statement that is altogether erroneous,”and

not mine ; and I now repeat my former assertion thatMogaliputra did preside at the Buddhist synod held in thereign of Asoka . The mistake which Wilson has here madeis a strange one for an oriental scholar, as he not onlyignores the detailed hi story of this council giv en in the

Mahawanso,‘ but stranger still he confounds Mogalana or

Maudgalydyana, the disciple of Buddha, with one of his

descendants, for Mogaliputra bears the same relation toMogali that Will

’

s-son, orWilson, does to Will .

A little further on he falls into another error, equallygreat, and almost as strange as that just noticed . He objectsto the date of the Bhilsa topes, which I had inferred from theinscriptions on the relic caskets, because no legitimate con

clusions can be drawn from inscriptions of this class as tothe date of the Sanchi monuments,

”as the presence of relics

in any monument is no more a proof of its antiquity, thanwould the hairs of Buddha, if ev er dug up, prov e the ShweDagon of Rangoon to hav e been built in his day.

”Here

the professor has entirely lost sight of the one great fact onwhich I relied, that the inscriptions on the caskets are

engrav ed in characters of Asoka’

s age. On this fact aloneI argued that the stupas which contained these relic casketsmust be as old as the reign of Asoka . Hav ing ignored thisfact altogether and tilted against an argument which I nev erused, he then proceeds to say that the topes of Ceylonapp ear to be of an earlier date, if we may credit the tradi

tion whi ch ascribes the erection of the Ruanv elli mound atAnuradhapura to King Dutthagamini, who reigned 1 61 B . O.

to 1 37 B , C.

”So that, in the Opinion of one of the most

eminent Sanskrit scholars, a tradition is of more historicalv alue than a self-ev ident fact, the truth of which has beenadmitted by ev ery one except Wilson himself.

Hav ing thus settled to his own satisfaction that thetopes of Ceylon, which could not hav e been built before the

0 It seems almost superfluous to refer to the Mahawanso for a fact which is so wellknown but asWilson has publicly asserted that Mogaliputra was a disciple of Buddhahimself, and has branded my statement as altogether erroneous,

” I refer the reader to the8rd Chapter of Tumour

’s Mahawanso for the proceedings of the First Buddhist Synod

under Mahakassapo to the 4th Chapter for the Second Synod and to the 5th Chapter for

the Third Synod, held during the reign of Asoka, under the guidance of Megalipntra.

INTRODUCTION.

conv ersion of the Ceylonese to Buddhism by Mahindo, theson of Asoka, are older than the great Sanchi stupa, which,as I hav e pointed out in my Bhilsa topes, almost certainlygav e its name to the hill of Chetiyagiri which was knownby that name before the birth of Mabindo, Wilson con

tinnes his remarks as follows A somewhat earlier periodthan that of the Indian stupas may be assigned to anotherimportant class of Buddhist monuments, the cav e templesbelonging to that persuasion, but they also, as far as has

been yet ascertained, are subsequent to Christianity .

”Thus,

according to Wilson, the cav e temples of Western India, inwhich not a single inscription of Asoka’

s period has yetbeen found, are older than the Shnchi stupa, the rail ings of

which are literally cov ered with inscriptions of Asoka’sage.

But although the points to which Wilson so strangelytook exception are not inaccurate, there are in my Bhilsatopes sev eral undoubted errors, of which, perhaps, the worstismy making the fiv e Kings of Magadha, whose names are

mentioned by Hwen Thsang, form a continuation of the

eat Gupta dynasty . Their true period would appear to

fiv e been sev en hundred years prior to Hwen Thsang s v isit,or about 66 B . C. Accordingly I look upon these fiv eKingsas the immediate successors of the Sunga dynasty in

Magadha, and the predecessors of the Guptas, while theKanwa Kings of the Puranas were their contemporaries inNorth-Western India. Following out this v iew,

I now placethe building of the great temple at Bodh-Gaya in the first

century B . 0.

In the same year, 1854, I published a notice of theCoins of Indian Buddhist Satraps with Greek inscriptions,

”

in which I made known the symbols for the Arian letters ch

and chh and rm,

‘and applied the discov ery of the former to

prov e the Buddhist faith of the Scythian King Kozola Kada

phes, who calls himself on his coins Sachha dharma thidasa,the supporter of the true dharma.

”1' Here, again, I was

met by the adv erse and erroneous criticism of Wilson,t who

0h is found in aproti—chakm, inv incible wi th the discus, chit in chlaatrapa or Satrap,

and rmin the two Hindu names, Aspav armma and Indra Varmma.

f I hav e adopted the reading of thidma from Professor Dawson, in lieu of pidaca,which was my original rendering.

London Athenteum, 15th March 1856.

INTRODUCTION.

objected that the legends of these coins had not been satisfactorily read and be especially objected to the reading of

the word Kshatrap aca or Satrap, the letters of which were

v ery doubtful, and no other ev idence being found to prov ethat this title had ev er been borne by a H indu prince.

”

The statement that no other ev idence had been found isstrangely incorrect, as Prinsep had found the title in the

Girnar bridge inscript ion of Rudra Dama, a H indu prince,andWilson’

s own translation of this inscription, afterwardsfurnished to Mr. Thomas) contains the title of Mahaksha

trap a applied to Rudra Dama. The Satraps whose coins Ibrought to notice in this paper were Zeionises or Jihoniya,and Raziobalos or Rajubul ; and I may add of the legendsof their coins, whichWilson declared had not been satisfactorily read,

”that ev ery single letter was rightly assigned.

In the same paper I first made known the names of the

Scytho-Parthian Kings Orthagnes and Sasi, or Sasan, both of

whom claim on their coins to be connexions of the great

King GondOphares. I also added my mi te towards the

identification of Chandra Gupta Maurya with Sandrakoptos by bringing to notice a fragment of Euphorion,

the librarian of Antiochus the Great, which makes the

Indian Morias liv e in wooden houses,”and the statement of

Hesychins that the Morias were Indian Kings.

”

In Nov ember 1 861 I began my explorations as Archaeological Surv eyor to the Gov ernment of India, and the resul tsof my four years’ work form the subject of the presentv olumes, in which are recorded the discov ery of manyancient cities, of which the most famous are Taxila and

Sangala in the Panjfib, Srughna, Ahichhatra, Kosambi, and

Srév asti in the north-west, and NManda in the east .

In 1862 I discov ered the names of the Macedonianmonths, A rtemisias and Ap el laios, in two of the Ariano Paliinscriptions from A fghanistan . This discov ery was also

made independently by Professor Dowson ; and, althoughobjected to by Bdbu Rajendra IA] , it has since been fullyconfirmed by the further discov ery of the names of Panemosand D a ieios in other inscriptions. The name of Panemosoccurs in the well known Taxila inscription of the Satrap

Prinsep’s Ru n on Indian Antiquities, IL, 68.

XLII INTRODUCTION

L iako Kuj ulalco, dated in the 78th year of the great KingMega , whom I identified with the H aas of the coins,conclusion which is now generally accepted . I also publ ished a partial translation of this inscription, in which Imade known the v alues of the Arian compounds of the letterr in thewordsp arev a , sarv v a, and dchcirya , whichwere at thesame time independently made out in England by ProfessorDowson .

In a note on the same inscription, published shortlyafterwards in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ,I gav e the true v alues of the old Indian cyphers for 40, 50,60, and 70, of which three had not prev iously been asoer

tained by Dr. Bhau Daj i m his paper publ ished m the same

journal .

In 1865 appeared my essay on the Coins of the NineNagas, and of two other dynasties of Narwar and Gwalior.

”

The coins of the Naga Kings are of considerable importanceas they are certainly as old as those of the Gupta dynasty,and comprise as many names. The coins of Pasupati arev aluable, as their date is almost certain Pasupati being theson of Toramana, who ruled ov er the countries between theJumna and the Narbada towards the end of the third century A . D . The latest series of coins are also interestingas they are dated and include one Hindu Prince ChaharaDev a, who for a long time was the successful Opponentof the early Muhammadan Kings of Delhi . In the samepaper I successfully identified Narwar with the city of

Padmav ati of the poet Bhav abhuti, by the names of no lessthan four streams in its immediate v icinity which are mentioned in the drama of Malati and Madhav a.

During my stay 1n England from 1866 to 1870, I puhlished first an account of the Coin of a Indian PrinceSephytes, a contemporary of Alexander,

” preparatory to a

long contemplated work on the Coins of Alexander’s suc

cessors in the East,”of which the first part, relating to the

Greeksof Bactrina, Ariana, and India, 1snow nearly complete,nine out of ten portions hav ing already appeared in the

Numismatic Chronicle. In this work I hav e added coins ofthe new Kings Artemidorus, Epander, TheOphilus, Apollophanes, and Straton II . Altogether there are described thecoins of no less than thirty Kings with pure Greek names, of

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ARCHfEOLOGICAL REPORT.

Report of operations of the Arch ological Surv eyor to the Gov ernment ofIndia, during Season 1861

-62

IN the explorations which I hav e carried out during thepast season, I hav e adhered strictly to the plan ofproceedingssketched in the memorandum which I submi tted to theGov ernor General in Nov ember 1861 . I began work inDecember at Gays ; and after exploring all the places of

antiquarian interest in Bihar, Tirhut, and Champaran, Iv isited sev eral ancient sites in Gorakhpur, Azimgarh, and

Jonpur, on my way to Banaras, where, on the 3rd"April,

I closed work for the season . I will now giv e a brief sketchof my operations at the difi

'

erent places in the order in whichI v isited them

I . G A Y A .

There are two places of the name of Gaya, one of

which is called B uddka Gaya , or Buddhistical Gaya, todistinguish it from the city of Gaya, which is situated six

miles to the northward .

“ In Gaya itself there are no ancientbuildings now existing ; butmost of the present templeshav ebeen erected on former sites andwith oldmaterials. Statues,both Buddhistical and Brahmanical, are found in all partsof the old city, and more especially about the temples, wherethey are fixed in the walls, or in small recesses formingseparate shrines in the court-yards of the larger temples.

I hav e noted the names and localities of all these statues.

The inscriptions at Gaya are‘

numerous ; but, owing tothe destruction of the ancient temples, there are but fewof them in situ, or attached to the objects which they wereoriginally designed to commemorate . I hav e taken copiesof all the inscriptions, of which the most interesting is a

long and perfect one, dated in the era of the N irva'

n, or

death of Buddha . I read the date as follows :

Bhaya'

vati parin'irtmltte samv at 1819 Karttike badi 1 Budhe,

that is, “ in the year 1819 of the emancipation of Bhasrav ata,onWednesday, the first day of the waning moon of Kartik .

”

See Plate III.

aucnmomcl cu REPORT, 1861 -62.

I f the era here used is the same as that of the Buddhists of

Ceylon and Burmah, which began in 543 B . C the date of

this inscription will be 1819— 543=A . D . 1 276. The style ofthe letters is in keeping with this date, but is quite incompatible with that deriv able from the Chinese date of the

era . The Chinese place the death of Buddha upwards of

years before Christ, so that, according to them,the date

of this inscription would be about A . D . 800, a period muchtoo early for the style of character used in the inscription .

But as the day of the week is here fortunately added , the datecan be v erified by calculation. According to my calculationthe date of the inscription corresponds with Wednesday, the1 7th September, A . D . 1342. This would place the N irvanaof Buddha in 477 B . C. , which is the v ery year that was firstproposed by myself as the most probable date of that ev ent.This corrected date has since been adopted by ProfessorMax

Muller.

‘

Some of the inscriptions, though less interesting , are

still v aluable for the light which they will throw upon themediaev al period of Indian history . Sev eral Rajas are men

tioned in them ; and in one of them the date is v eryminutelydetailed in sev eral different eras.

The most noteworthy places at Gaya are the temples of

Vishnu-pad, or Vishnu ’

s feet of Gadadhar, or the macebearer,

”a title of Vishnu , and of Gayeswari D ev i . The

figure in this last temple is, howev er, that of Durgga slayingthe Bufi

'

alo, or Maheshasur ; but as the destruction of the

Asur Gaya is univ ersally attributed to Vishnu , this templemust originally hav e contained a statue of that god as

Gayeswara Dev a, or the“ lord of Gaya .

”Gaya was an A sur

or demon . All the gods and goddesses sat upon him, but

were unable to keep him down, when Vishnu put his footupon him and prev ailed ; and the giant is said to be stilllying there under the temple of Vishnu-p ad. This, howev er,is the Brahmanical story, for the Buddhists say that thename is deriv ed from Gaya Kasyapa, a fire-worshipper, whoon this v ery spot was ov ercome by Buddha in argument .

I hav e since submitted this date to the scrutiny of my learned friend Bapu

Dev a Sfistn , the well known astronomer ; according to whose calculation the l st of

Karl L' Ii adi in A . D. 1276 was a Frrdny, and m A. D. 1342 a Monday ; but in A . D.

1341 it fe ll on Wednesday the 7th of October N. S. ,which would place the begtnmng

of the Buddhxst era m B. C. 478.

GAYA . 3

Sev eral interesting sculptures, and one long and well preserv ed inscription, are also to be seen at the Kric/ma.Dwarika temple.

In the neighbourhood of the Vishnu-pad there is a deeptank called Suraj Kund, to the west of which is a temple toSurya or the Sun . The v estibule of this temple is formed of

two double rows of pillars, all ten feet in height, and all

leaning more or less to the north . There are fiv e pillars ineach row . The whole temple, both inside and outside, hasbeen repeatedly white-washed, so as almost to conceal theornaments of the pillars. One long inscription was foundinside, and a second was afterwards obtained by scrapingoff the thick coating of white-wash from a part of the

fivall pointed out by a good-natured Brahman . This inscription was the v aluable one first mentioned as containing adate in the era of the death of Buddha.

The sev eral hills in the immediate neighbourhood are

also esteemed holy, and are accordingly crowned with temples.

The highest of these, to the south of the town, is calledBrahmjmn, orB rahma-yam, the temple on its summit beingdedicated to the Sakti, or female energy of Brahma, whosefiv e-headed statue is enshrined in the temple .

‘ This figureis placed on an old pedestal which is said to hav e beeninscribed with a v erse stating the date of erection in V. S .

1 690 or A . D . 1633. The destruction of the statue is attributed with much probability to Aurang Shah . On the lefthand of this statue there is a small two-armed standing figurewith a horse on the pedestal . It is, therefore, most probablya statue of Sambhunath, the 3rd of the 24 Jain hierarchs,whose cognizance is a horse. Beside this figure there is a

group of Siv a and Parv ati with the Bull Nandi below, and

a short imperfect inscription in three lines, of which onlyone-half now remains. The characters belong to the periodof the l 0th or 1 1 th century . The hill is 450 feet in height,and v ery steep on the town side. But the ascent has beenrendered easy to pilgrims by the erection of a long flight ofsteps from the base to the summit by the Mahratta Dev aRao Bhao Saheh, since the accession of the present MaharajaJayaji, of Gwalior, that is, within the last 18 years, as te

corded on an inscription slab let into the pav ement .

See Plate III. for the position of this bill . This statue belongs properly to Siva who

has fiv e heads, as Brahmahas only four heads.

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BUDDHA GAYA . 5

642. He describes minutely all the temples and statueswhich surrounded the celebrated Pipal tree, known throughout the Buddhist world as the .Bodhi-drzim. Sev eral of theobjects enumerated by the Chinese pilgrim I hav e been ableto identify from their exact correspondence with his description .

“

The celebrated Bodhi tree still exists, but is v ery muchdecayed ; one large stem, with three branches to the westward,is still green, but the other branches are barkless and rotten .

The green branch perhaps belongs to some younger tree, asthere are numerous stems of apparently different trees clustered together. The tree must hav e been renewed frequently

,

as the present Pipal is standing on a terrace at least 30 feetabov e the lev el of the surrounding country . It was in fullv igour in 181 1 , when seen by Dr. Buchanan (Hamilton),who describes it as in all probability not exceeding 100 yearsof age . Hwen Thsang also describes an early renewal byKing Puma Varmma after its destruction by King Sasa

’

ngka ,

who dug up the ground on whi ch it had stood, and moistenedthe earth with sugar

-cane juice to prev ent its renewal .

Immediately to the east of the Pipal tree there is a massiv e brick temple, nearly 50 feet square at base and 160 feetin height from the grani te floor of the lower story to thetop of its broken pinnacle. This is beyond all doubt theVihdr, from 160 to 170 feet in height, described by HwenThsang as standing to the east of the Bodhi tree. Its basewas about 20 paces square. It was built of bluish bricks

plastered with lime ; it was ornamented with niches in stages,each niche holding a golden statue of Buddha, and was

crowned with an ama laka fruit in gilt copper. The existingtemple, both in size and appearance, corresponds so exactlywith this description, that I feel quite satisfied it must bethe identical temple that was seen by Hwen Thsang . The

ruined temple, as it now stands, is 1 60feet in height, with a

base of rather less than 50feet square. It is built entirely ofdark red brick of a bluish tinge, and has formerly been plas~

tered all ov er. Lastly, the walls are ornamented externally

The life and trav els of Hwen Theang hav e been giv en to the world by M. Stanislas

Julien in three v olumes entitled Voyages da Pelerins Bouddhistes. This translation, the

work of twenty years’

persev ering labor in the aoquimtion Of Ch1nese and Sanskrit, combined

with an intimate knowledge of Buddhist literature, is a lasting monument of human ia

dustry and learning.

6°

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861 -62.

with eight tiers, or rows, of niches, many of which still hold'

figures of Buddha. These figures are made of plasteredbrick, but they were no doubt formerly gilt, as is done withthe plaster statues of the Burmese at the present day.

There is, howev er, no trace of the copper-gilt ama lakafruit. I hav e thus been particular in noting the points of

correspondence between the two temples, because thereseems to me to be a v ery strong probability that the existing temple was originally built by the celebrated AmaraS inha , the author of the Amara Koska, as I will now pro

ceed to show.

On the site of this temple, according to Hwen Thsang,there was originally a small Vika

‘

r built by A soka between259 and 241 B . C.

‘ Afterwards, a new temple of v ery grea tsize was bui lt by a Brahman in compliance with the instruotions of the god Mahadev a conv eyed to him in a v ision .

Inside the temple was placed a statue of the ascetic Buddhaas he appeared when seated in meditation under the Bodhitree. The statue was 1 1 feet and 5 inches in height, 8 feet8 inches in breadth across the knees, and 6 feet 2 inchesacross the shoulders. The figure was sitting cross-leggedfacing the east . Now these particulars correspond almostexactly with the arrangements of the present building . Its

doorway is towards the east, and consequently the enshrinedstatue must hav e faced toward the east . The statue itself haslong ago disappeared, but its pedestal still remains in goodorder. Its dimensions are as follows length 1 3 feet 2inches,breadth 5 feet 8 inches, and height 4 feet i; inch, whichmeasurements agree most closely with those recorded byHwen Thsang ; namely 1 2 feet 5 inches in length by 4 feet2 inches in height . Considering how exactly both the templeand the pedestal of the figure correspond in size and in otherrespects with the description of Hwen Thsang, I think therecan be no reasonable doubt that the present temple is thesame that was seen by him in the 7th century Of our erasl’

Now, in an inscription dated in A . D . 948, which was

found at Buddha-Gaya, and translated by Sir Charles Wil

kins,$ the author of the record ascribes the bui lding of thi s

Julien’s Hwen Thsang, II 465.

1 See Plate IV. for a plan of the temple, and Plate V. for the pedestal.

I Bengal Asiatic Researches, v ol. I.

BUDDHA GAYA . 7

temple, and the erection of an 1mage of Buddha, to the illustrious Amara D ev a , who is stated to hav e been one of the

nine gems of the court of King Vikramaditya . The last factserv es at once to identify Amara Dev a with Amara Sinha,the author of the Amara Kosha, who, as a contemporary of

Varciha M ilzira and Kdlidcis, must hav e liv ed m A . D . 500.

In this inscription the temple 1s said to hav e been erected incompliance with the command of Buddha himself, conv eyedto him in a v ision . Here then we hav e the same story thatis found ln Hwen Thsang . In both statements, a Brahmanin a v ision receiv es command from a deity to build a templewith an enshrined figure of a god. The correspondence iscomplete, excepting only one curious point of difference inthe name of the god, whom the Buddhist Hwen Thsang describes as the Brahmanical Mahadev a, but whom the Brahmanist recorder of the inscription calls Buddha himself.

The holy places at Buddha-Gaya were v isited betweenA . D . 399 and 414 by another Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hian, but

his account of them is unfortunately v ery brief. It is, howev er, sutficient to show that there was no temple in existenceat that date . Fa-Hian notes the spot where Buddha, seatedon a stone under a great tree, eat some rice presented to himby two maidens.

'l he stone still existed, and is described by

him as about 6 feet in length and breadth, and 2 feet inheight .

’ Now, there is a large circular stone, 5 feet 712 inchesin diameter and about 2 feet high, in the small temple of

Vageswari D ev i, which from its dimensions would seem to bethe identical stone described by Fa-H ian . It is a blue stonestreaked with whitish v eins, and the surface is cov ered withconcentric circles of v arious minute ornaments. The secondcircle is composed of Vaj ras only . The third is a wavy scroll,filled with figuresof men and animals. These circles occupya breadth of 15 inches, leav ing in the centre a plain circle,3 feet 1—1 inches 1n diameter, inside which 1s a square. Thissimple stone I believ e to be the same as that mentioned byHwen Thsang as a blue stone with remarkable v eins.

Jr

From all the facts which I hav e brought forward , suchas the non-existence of any temple in A . D . 400, the recordederection of a large one by Amara Dev a about A . D . 500, and

0 Beal’

s Fa—Il ian, c. XXXI.

1' Julien’

s 11 “ en Thsang , II 441 .

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BUDDHA GAYA . 9

pretend to reconcile these differencesmyself ; but I submitteda copy of the inscription to Sir Arthur Phayre, whose intimate knowledge, both of the Burmese language and of the

Buddhist history, entitles him to giv e an authoritativ e epi

nion on the disputed points of this interesting record . He

reads the two dates as 667 and 660, corresponding with A . D .

1 305 and One thing is qu ite clear, if these differentrecords are to be reconciled, namely, that Penlhagu-gyi (orNa ik Mahanta) should represent the B rahman of Hwen

Thsang, and also the celebrated Amara Dev a of Wilkin’

s

inscription .

The Burmese inscription goes on to say that the temple,after being again destroyed, was re-built by King Thado.

Then hav ing once more become ruinous, the “ Lord of theWhite Elephant” and the great King of R ighteousness

”

deputed Sri D harmmap ada R aj aguna to re-build it for a

third time . Af ter some delay, the work was begun in A . D .

1 305, and the temple was consecrated in the following year1306.

The granite pav ement both inside the temple and in the

court-yard outside is cov ered with rudely carv ed figureskneeling in adoration after themanner of the Burmese Shilco.

Two specimens are giv en in Plate VI . with their aecompanying inscriptions. The upper one is dated in Samv at1385 or A . D . 1328, and the lower one three years later.

The inscriptions record the names of the worshippers. On the

left of the upper slab the inscription giv es the name of a

Thakur and of two Thakurins, no doubt his wiv es, one of

whom is called Jciio. From the representation of a stupa as

the object of worship on the right of the upper slab, it wouldappear that at least one holy stup a was still standing at so

late a date as A . D . 1328.

In front of the Great Temple there is a small opentemple of four pillars cov ering a large circu lar stone, withtwo human feet carv ed upon it . This temple is now calledB uddha-p ad but there can be little doubt that it is thesame which is mentioned in the Amara Dev a

’

s inscriptionunder the name of Vishnu-pad or

“ Vishnu ’

s feet.

” Originally the feet may have been those of Buddha, which, on the

In a priv ate letter dated 9th March 1869.

10 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

decline of Buddhism,were quietly appropriated to Vishnu by

the accommodating Brahmans. There is a short Nagari iascription on the east side of the stone, giv ing the date of

sake 1230, which is equiv alent to A . D .

There are other points of interest connected with the

building of the Great Temple at Buddha-Gaya, such as the

date of the Brahmanist King Sascing lca , who rooted up theBodhi tree, and placed an image of Mahadev a in the temple,as well as the date of his contemporary the Buddhist Puma

Varmma , who renewed the Bodhi tree.

Close to the Great Temple there is a small plain Samadh,or cenotaph, ov er the remains of the earliest BrahmanicalMahant. This is of no interest in itself, but the v estibulein front is supported on nine square sand-stone pillars, whichhav e once formed part of a Buddhist railing, similar to thoseat Sénchi near Bhilsa, and which cannot be of much laterdate than Asoka. Many similar pillars, but of grani te,support the arcades in one of the courts of the Mahant

’

s

residence. A few of them hear an inscription in the ancientPali characters of Asoka’

s well known records, Audys

K arag iye da'

nam, that is, Gift to the holy Kuragi .” There

are altogether 33 of these pillars still remaining, of which fiv eor six bear the abov e inscription . As the pillars are all sculptared, the v alue of the gift made to the holy Kurag i

could not hav e been less than Rupees. Some of the

sculptured has-reliefs on these pillars are highly interesting .

They show the Buddhistic belief of the donor in the v enera

tion for solid towers and trees ; they show the style of architecture in the representations of temples, houses, gates andcity walls ; and the costumes of the people in the dresses of

the king, and of other worshippers of each sexHr

Of the 33 ancient pillars abov e described, there are 10of sand-stone from some distant quarry, and 23 of granitefrom the neighbouring hi lls. They are all of the samedimensions and of the same age ; but as the two sets of

See l’late VII. for a v iew of thi s famous stone .

1“ See Plate VII. for the inscription,and Plates VIII. , IX , X and XL,

for the pillars of

the Buddhtst railing and thei r sculptured medallions. The excav atwns which hav e since

been made by Gm emment, on my recommendation,hav e brought to light a similar series

of grani te pillars, w luch form an oblong colonnade surrounding the Great Temple, 131 feetfrom east to est, and 96 feet from ne i th to south. Severa l of the lower horizontal rails.u e sti ll attached to the broken pi l laus.

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BUDDHA GAYA . 1 1

pillars were found in di fferent localities, although not far

apart, I believ e that they originally formed different enclosures.

The sand-stone pillars are said to hav e been found at the

southern side of the Great Temple, and close to the holyPipal tree . I believ e, therefore, that they originally formedan enclosure round the Bodhi tree itself. The granite pillarsare said to hav e been discov ered about 50 yards to the east ofthe Great Temple ; and I think it probable that they onceformed an enclosure either round the stup a which stood onthe spot where Buddha receiv ed a bowl of rice andmilk fromtwo milkmaids. According to Hwen Thsang, this stupa wasto the south-west of the Great Temple .

‘

To the south-east of the Great Temple there is a smalltank called B udlzolcar Tai l, which exactly answers the

description giv en by the Chinese pilgrim of the tank of thedragon M mha lindafi This agreement is so striking, that itwas seen at once by the members of the Burmese Embassy .

There are two ruined small temples to the east of theGreat Temple, the nearer one being called Tara D ev i , and

the further one Vageswari Dev i . But the former templecontains only a standing male figure, with a short inscriptionov er the right shoulder in characters of about A . D . 1000,

Sri B uddlia (the gift) of the fortunate slav e of

Buddha .

”The goddess Tara belongs to the later days of

Buddhism, after the introduction of Tantrika doctrines. The

other temple contains a seated male figure, holding a lotusin his left hand, and sword in his uplifted right hand, witha Buddhist tope or solid tower on each side of him.

To the north of the Bodhi tree there is a ruined fortressof earth feet long by feet broad, attributed toRaja Amara S inha Suv ira . This is possibly the same personas the Amara Dev a who built the Great Temple, as the archedpassage leading to the temple is said to hav e been built forthe conv enience of Amara Sinha’

s Rani when returning fromhermorning bath in the NilaJan R iv er to pay her dev otions atthe shrine. The preserv ation of the title of Sinha down to thepresent day would seem to strengthen the supposition of

Amara Dev a’

s identity with the author of the Amara Kosha .

I v enture to make this guess, as h im or Mr is the Sanskrit name for boiled

rice,”

and kuraqi may, therefore, hav e been the name of the holy spot where Buddha

accepted the ofl'

ering of themilkma ids. Kuragz'

means also a measure of land in Mahmttxthe inscri ption may, therefore, mean simply (h it to the holy spot of land.

”

f Julian '

s Hwen Thsang, II 478.

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BAKROR PUNAWA . 13

hav e been imbedded in masonry . The shaft of this pillar issaid to hav e been taken to Gaya by a former Magistrate.

A ccordingly in sahebganj , or the new city of Gaya, thereis a sand-stone pillar 2 feet 4-2inches in diameter, and upwards of 1 6 feet in height, which was set up as a centralpoint in Sahebganj , as recorded in a Persian inscription byCharles Badom Saheb (Boddam) in A . D . 1 789.

The tops and pillar of Bakror were v isited by HwenThsang, who relates a story regarding the capture by a

certain king of an Elephant of Perfume” (gandhaIn a former existence, as a Bodhisatwa, Buddha was said tohav e been the son of this Elephant, and a stupa and pillarhad accordingly been erected in commemoration of the

tradition . There was also a sacred tank, which is, perhaps,represented by a small walled tank generally calledMartland.Poklzar or Suraj E rind

, that is, the “ Tank of the Sun .

It is also called B uddhakzind but this name was appliedby some to a large unwalled tank about 800 feet square,immediately to the north of the small tank . An annual

fair is held at the Suraj Kund, when thousands of pil

grims assemble to bathe in its holy waters. They sit inthe water in rows, and repeat, after their attendant Brahmans, the names of all the holy places around Gaya . The

ancient name of Bakror is said to hav e been Aj ayap ura .

I V . PUN AWA .

The v illage ofPunawa is situated 14miles to the eastwardof Gaya, between two bills of grey granite . To the norththere is a fine old square tank called B adkokar Tai l, and tothe east another tank called Karama

‘

r Tat. The principalobject is a pillared temple of Trilo/cndth. As it stands at

present, this temple is a modern work made up of differentsized pillars of v arious patterns, somewith and others withoutcapitals, so as to bring them to the required height . Pilastershav e ev en been made use of as whole pillars, with the old

rough engaged backs left exposed . One of the doorways of

hard blue stone is richly sculptured . In the centre is a figureof the ascetic Buddha, with a three-pointed crown ov er hishead, and on each side of him nine figures with joined hands

Julian’

s Hwen Theang, III., 1 .

14 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

kneeling towards him. The other doorways are of grani te,and, though v ery plain, are ev idently of the same age as themore highly ornamented one)

“

Sev eral statues and granite pillars of different sizes are

scattered about the foot of the hills. Portions of the usual

Buddhi st formula, Ye D harmma ,”&c.

, are found uponsome of the statues. There are no dates in any of theseinscriptions, but the style of their letters fixes their date at

about A . D . 1000. To the north-west, on a mound 60 feetsquare, there are fiv e broken pillars and a broken statue of

the th1ee-headed goddess Vaj ra Vara’

lzi, one of the principalobjects of worship amongst the later Buddhists. Two of

her heads are human, but the third 1s that of a hog, and on

the pedestal there are sev en hogs. The ruined temple on

this mound is called Na’

rting .

V . KU R K I H A R .

About three miles to the north-east of Panama is thelarge v illage of Kurkihar. It is not to be found in any of

ourmaps, not ev en in No . 103 sheet of the Indian A tlas,although it is perhaps the largest place between the cities ofGaya and Bihar. The remains at Kurkihar consist of sev eralruined mounds, m which numerous statues and small v otiv etopes of dark blue stone hav e been found . The principalmass of ruin, about 600 feet square, lies immediately to thesouth of the v illage .

‘ A second less extensiv e mound lies tothe south-west ; and there is a small mound, only 120 feetsquare

,to the north of the v illage. The last mound is

called Sagatgarh, or the house of Sagata,”one of the well

known titles of Buddha . In the principal mass of ruin, the

late Major Kittoe dug up a great number of statues and

v otiv e topes ; and a recent excav ation on the west sideshowed the solid brick-work of a Buddhist stupa . In the

north-west corner of this excav ation the relic chamber hadbeen reached, and I was priv ately informed that a small

figure and some other remains had been discov ered inside .

But the head man of the v illage stoutly denied that anythinghad been found, and all the v illagers then denied the discov eryalso .

Soc Plato XII.

KURKIHAR . 1 5

The principal statue is a squatted figure of the asceticBuddha under the holy Pipal tree , or B odhi-drum. Ov erheadthere is a representation of the N irvana , or death of Buddha,and on the pedestal there isan inscription in three lines, whichis incomplete owing to the loss of a projecting corner of thebase . To the right and left there are smallerfigures of Maya

”

standing under the $511 tree at the birth of Buddha, and of

Buddha himself teaching the law at Banaras after his first

attainment of Buddhahood . On the mound to the east thereis a standing figure of Buddha, with a small attendant figureholding an umbrella ov er him. As this attendant has threeheads, I believ e that it represents the Hindu Triad in thehumble position of a serv itor of Buddha .

At the north-east corner of the v illage there is a smallrude H indu temple of brick, in and about which a large

number of statues hav e been collected . The temple is dediouted to Bagheswari Dev i (Vyaghreswari), but the principalfigure inside is a life-size statue of the eight-armed D arya

”

conquering the Maheshasur or Buffalo demon . The figure

pointed out to me as that of Bagheswari was a four-armedfemale seated on a lion with a child in her lap ; but I believ ethat this figure represents either Indra

’

ni with her son the

infant Jayanta, or Shasti , the goddess of fecundity, a formof Durga. The principal figure outside the temple is a l ifesize statue of A kslzobya , who is represented squatted underthe Bodhi tree, in the same manner as the ascetic Buddha,with the left hand in the lap, and the right hand hangingov er the knee . There is a halo round the head inscribedwith the usual Buddhist formula, Ye Dharmma , &c. ; and

near the head there is a short inscription giv ing the name of

the figure TzZn A kshobya—v aj ra , Iain.

”

I procured sev eral short but interesting inscriptions at

Kurkihar. The name of Sa’

ka la is mentioned in sev eral of

them, and also Kera la in Dakahinades.

‘ The age of theseinscriptions, judging from the shapes of the letters, must beabout A . D . 800 to 1000.

The true name of Kurkiha'

r is said to be Kurak-v ihar,which I believ e to be only a contracted form of Kala/cuta

pa‘

da Viha’

ra or“ temple of the cook

’

s foot,”which must

hav e been connected with the Ka lekuta-pa'

da-giri or

See Plate Xl l I.

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GIRYEK . 1 7

slope, and within 50feet of Jarasandha’

s Tower, a tank 1 00feet square has been formed, partly by excav ation, and partlyby building up . There is a second tank, at a short distanceto the north, formed by the excav ation of the rock for building materials. Both of these tanks are now dry.

The stupa, called Jarasand/ia-Ica-ba itkalc, is a solidcylindrical brick tower, 28 feet in diameter, and 21 feet i nheight, resting on a square basement 14 feet high . The

cylinder was once surmounted by a solid dome or hemisphereof brick, of which only 6 feet now remain, and this dome

must hav e been crowned with the usual umbrella rising out

of a square base. The total height of the building couldnot, therefore, hav e been less than 55 feet or thereabouts. The

surface has once been thickly plastered , and the style of

ornamentation is similar to that of the Great Temple atBuddha Gaya .

‘ I sank a shaft 41 feet in depth from the topof the building right down to the stone foundation ; and Icontinued a gallery, which had been begun many years ago,

at the base of the cylinder, until it met the well sunk fromabov e, but nothing whatev er was discov ered in either of theseexcav ations to show the object of the building.

On the west side of Jarasandha’

s Tower, and almosttouching its basement, I observ ed a low mound which seemed like the rain of another stupa . On clearing the top

,

howev er, I found a small chamber 5 feet 8 inches square ,filled with rubbish . This chamber gradually widened as i twas cleared out, until it became 7 feet square. A t 5; feetin depth, the rubbish gav e place to brick-work, below whichwas a stratum of stone, ev idently the rough foundation of

the building . In the south-west corner of the brick-work,

about one foot below the surface, I found 84 seals of lac

firmly imbedded in themudmortar. The sealswere all ov al ,but

of different sizes, generally about 3 inches long and 2 inchesbroad . A ll, howev er, bore the same impression of a large

stupa with four smaller stupas on each side, the whole S ll l

rounded by an inscription in mediarval Na fran characters,Ye D harmma hemprablzav a , &c. , being the well known formula of the Buddhist faith . Externally, this building wassquare with projections in the centre of each face and similarin i ts ornamentations to the basement of Jarasandha s Towe1 .

See Plate XV. a sketch of th e stupa.

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v Ex. 19

following legend : One day, when taking exercise, a mendicant, who was the steward of the monastery, saw a flockof geese high in the air, and as the monks of his fraternity

,

a lthough strictly abstemious, had experienced great difficultyin procuring sufficient food, he exclaimed playfullyTo-day the pittance of the monks is insufficient . O noblebeings (Ma lni

’

satlway you ought to hav e compassion on

our circumstances.

”No sooner had he spoken these words,

than one of the geese fell dead at his feet . The horror-struckmendicant ran to tell the tale to his brethren, who becameov erwhelmed with grief. Buddha,

”said they

, establishedhis law for man

’

s guidance under all circumstances. The

Mahayana (Great Vehicle) is the source of truth, while wehav e foolishly followed the doctrine of the H ina

'

ya’

na (LesserVehicle) . Let us renounce our former opinions. This goosehas taught us a salutary lesson, let us do honour to her eminent v irtue by transmitting it to the most distant ages.

”

They accordingly built a stupa ov er the dead goose, whichwas interred in the base of the monument

, and adorned itwith an inscription relating the pious dev otion of the goose .

If my identification of the Giryek Hill with the Indrasila-guha of Hwen Thsang is correct, there can be little doubtthat Jarasandha ’

s Tower is the v ery stupa that was built inhonour of the dev oted goose. Only this one stupa is mentioned by Hwen Thsang, and Jarasandha

’

s Tower is the onlyone now existing on the hill . In further corroboration ofthis identification, I may mention that close by I found a

broken figure with a large goose carv ed on the pedestal andfurther, that one of the stupas on the lac seals found on the

spot, appears to bear a goose on its summit . As no mentionis made of any stupa by Fa-Hian,

the erection of this towermost probably took place between his date and that of HwenThsang , or about A . D . 500.

The position of Giryek corresponds so exactly both inbearing and distance with that of the hill of Indra-sila

guha , that I feel quite satisfied of their identity . No etymo.

logy has yet been proposed for the name of Giryek but itseems to me not unlikely that it is nothing more than Girieka ,

one hill,” that is, the Hill of the Isolated Rock

of Fa-Hian .

Both of the pilgrims mention the cav e in the southernface of the mountain, which corresponds exactly with the

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RAJGIR . 21

respecting Raj gir , as the representativ e of the ancient R aj a

gr iha . The name is still preserv ed in the modern Rajgir,and I found it repeated in numerous inscriptions in the tem

on the Baibhar and Vipula Mountains. The old city of‘

jagriha is described by Fa-H ian as situated in a v alleybetween fiv e hills, at 4 li (or two-thirds of a mile) to thesouth of the new town of Raj a

g riha . The same position and

about the same distance are giv en by Hwen Thsang, who

likewise mentions the hot springs which exist to this day.

’lt

The old city of Rajagriha is called Kw agarap ura , or the

city of the Kusa grass, by Hwen Thsang, who further describes it as the town surrounded by mountains. This lastis almost a translation of Giri-v raj a , or the city of manyhills,

”which is the old name of the capital of Jarasandha,

preserv ed both in the Ra'

ma'

yana and the Mahabharata . Fa

Hian states that the fiv e hills form a girdle like the wallsof a town,

”which is an exact description of the site of old

i girst A similar description is giv en by Tumour from the

Pali annals Of Ceylon, where the fiv e hills are named Giyj hakulo, Isig ili, Web/wire, Wepullo, and P andawo. In the

Mahabharata the fiv e hills are named Va ikdra, Varaha ,17rishabha , R ishig iri, and Gha ityalca but at present they arecalled B a ibha

'

r-giri , Vipula-gird R atna-giri, Udaya-giri , and

Sona-g iri .

In the inscriptions ofthe Jain temples onMount B aibhtir

the name is sometimes written Baibhz’

tra , and sometimesVyav aha

'

ra . It is beyond all doubt the Webluiro Mountainof the Pali annals, in which was situated the far-famed Sattap ana i Cav e in front of which was held the first BuddhistSynod in 543 B . C. The Baibhar Hill lies to the west Of thehot springs, and the Vipula H ill to the east . In Baibhar

there still exists a large cav e called Son-bhanda'

r, or the

Treasury of Gold .

”The situation correspondsexactly with

that of the P i-po-lo cav e of the two Chinese pilgrims, inwhich Buddha used to meditate after his noon-day mcal . IThe famous Sattapanni Cav e must be looked for in the

Beal's Fa-Hian, c. 28 and Ja lien'

s Hwen Thsang, I. , 159, III . , 23.

‘l' See Plate XIV. for the relativ e positions of these fiv e hills.

1 Both M. Julien (in Hwen Thsang, III. , 24) and Mr. Bea] ( in Eu-Hian, c. 30) readPi-po

—Io as the Pippa! tree, but I would suggest that it may be only the Chinese transcriptof i

’

az’

bhdra . As, howev er, the great cav e in which the First Synod was held was called theca v e of the Nyagrodha tree (Banian, see Asiat. Res. X X

,it is v ery probable that this

other ca v e was called the Pxppal tree cav e.

22 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1801-62.

northern face of the south-west end of the mountain, atabov eone mile from the Son-bhandar Cav e.

Mount Vip ula is clearly identical with the Wepullo of

the Pali annals, and as its summit is now crowned with the

ruins of a lofty stup a or Cha itya , which is noticed by HwenThsang , I would identify it with the Chaityaka of the M J16

blzdrata . Regarding the other three mountains, I ha v enothing at present to offer, but I may mention that theyare also crowned with small Jain temples.

The old city between the hills is described by Fa-Hianto be 5 or 6 li from east to west, and 7 or 8 li from north tosouth, that is, from 24 to 28 li or4% miles in circuit . Hwen

Thsang makes it 30 lz’

or 5 miles in circuit, with its greatestlength from east to west . My surv ey of the ancient rampartsgiv esa circuit of feet

,or4

2thmiles, which is between

the two statements of the Chinese pilgrims. The greatestlength is from north-west to south-east, so that there is no

real discrepancy between the two statementsas to the direction of the greatest length of the old city . Each of them musthav e taken his measurement from the Nekpai embankmenton the east (which has been described by Major Kittoe) tosome point on the north-west . If taken to the PanchPandu angle of the ramparts, the direction would be W . N .

W . , and the length upwards of feet ; but if taken tothe temple of Torba Dev i , the direction would be N. N. W . ,

and the distance upwards of feet.

I hav e already quoted Fa-Hian’

s statement that thefiv e hills form a girdle like the walls of a town . This

agrees with Hwen Thsang’

s description,who says that high

mountains surround it on four sides, and from its exterior

walls, which hav e a circuit of 150 l i or 25miles. For thisnumber I propose to read 50Ii or 8% miles, a correction which isabsolutely necessary to make the statement tally with the

measurements of my surv ey . The following are the directdistances between the hills

1 . From Baibhfir t) VipulaVipuls to Raina2.

3. Ratna to Udaya

4. Udaya to Sena

5. Sena to Baibhfir

feet.

BAJGIR .

This is somewhat less than eightmiles but if the ascentsand descents are taken into account, the actual

'

length will

correspond v ery closely with the statement of Hwen Theangwhen corrected to 50 15. The old walls forming this exteriorline of rampart are still to be seen in many places. I tracedthem from Vipuls-giri ov er Ratna-giri to the Nekpai embankment, and thence onwards ov er Udaya-giri, and across thesouthern outlet of the v alley to Sona-giri . At this outlet,the walls, which are still in good order, are 13 feet thick .

To obtain a circuit of 25 miles, as giv en in Hwen Thsang’

s

text, it would be necessary to carry these ramparts as far as

Giryek on the east . As similar ramparts exist on the Giryek

H ill, it is perhaps possible that Hwen Thsang intended to include it in the circuit of his outer walls. But this immensecircui t would not at all agree with his statement that highmountains surround the city on four sides,

”for the distant

H ill of Giryek cannot in any way be said to form one of the

sides of old Rajagriha .

The new town of Rajagriha is said to hav e been builtbyKing Srenilca , otherwise called B imbisc

’

ira, the father of

Aj a'

tasatru , the contemporary of Buddha . Its foundationcannot, therefore, be placed later than 560B . C. according toBuddhist chronology . In Hwen Thsang

’

s time (A . D . 629

the outer walls had already become ruinous, but theinner walls were still standing, and occupied a circuit of 20 Ii,or 3 miles. This statement corresponds tolerably well with themeasurements of my surv ey. which make the circuit of the

ramparts somewhat less than 3 miles. Buchanan calls newRaJagriha an irregular pentagon of yards in diameter.

This is clearly a misprint for yards, which would giv ea circuit of feet, or 27

1

; miles ; but this was probablythe interior measurement, which, according to my surv ey, is

feet . The plan of new Rajagriha I make out to be an

irregular pentagon of one long side and four nearly equalsides, the whole circuit being feet outside the ditches,or rather less than three miles.

’

On the south side towards the hills a portion of the

interior, feet long and feet broad, has been cut off

to form a citadel . The stone walls retaining the earthenramparts of this work are still in good order in many places.

See Plate XIV.

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RAJGIR . 25

upwards of 30 feet in breadth . Two cav es hav e been exca

v ated out of the solid rock behind that to the west, nowcalled the Son Bhandar, or Treasury of gold, being 34 feetlong by 1 7 feet broad, and that to the east perhaps somewhatless in length, but of the same breadth . This cav e has eitherfallen in naturally through the decay of the rock, or, whichis more probable, was blown up by a zemindar in search of

treasure, as related by Major Ki ttoe of the other cav e.

The Son Bhandar Cav e has one door and one window.

Inside there are no traces of seats, or of pedestals of statues,and the walls and roof are quite bare, excepting where afew scarcely legible inscriptions hav e been out. There are

sev eral short inscriptions on the jambs of the doorway, aswell as on the outside. In the principal inscription, which ison two lines outside, the author speaks of this cav e as the

auspicious cav e,”ev idently alluding to the fact of its former

occupation by Buddha for the purpose of meditating after hisnoonday meal . This inscription, which isnot later than A . D .

200, and is perhaps earlier, records that a certain Muni,named Vaira Dev a, of powerful dignity , was able to obtainemancipation, hav ing shut himself up for spiritual enjoymentin this auspicious cell, a retired abode of Arhantas, fitted foran ascetic for the attainment of liberation .

”On the east

jamb of the door also the same epithet is applied to this cav e,as if it was a well known name for it . This cav e is excav atedin the south face of the hill, where there is a natural scarpfor about one hundred yards in length . The face of the cliffat the west end has been smoothed to a height of 1 9 feet, infront of which the ground has been lev elled to form a platform of more than 30 feet . The cav e itself is 34 feet long by1 7 feet broad and feet high . To the east there has beena second cav e, about 22-3, feet long by 1 7 feet broad ; but one

half of the roof fell in long ago, and the cav e is now filledwith masses of rock and earth . The floor of this cav e is on a

lower lev el than that of the Son B kdnda‘

r, but the front is in

the same line . Both cav es had some building or v erandah

in front, as there are numerous socket holes cut in the rockabov e the door for the reception of the ends of beams. The

whole length of lev el clearing in front of the cav es is 90feet.

In the centre of the v alley between the fiv e hills, and inthe v ery midst of the old city of Bftjagriha, there is a ruined

D

26 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1 861-62.

brick mound 1 9 feet 8 inches in height, which my excav ations prov ed to be an ancient stupa. A diminutiv e Jain temple, called Manifir Math, stands on the top of the mound .

It was built in A . D . 1 780. As I expected to find a solidbrick bui lding, I sank a. shaft outside the Maniar Math withthe intention of inclining gradually towards the centre ; butI soon found that the core of the mound was a mere mass of

rubbish, filling a well 10 feet in diameter. This rubbish wasso loose that its remov al was dangerous but by propping upthe portion immediately below the little temple, and removing the bricks cautiously, I was enabled to get down to a

depth Of 21 4} feet . At 1 9 feet I found three small figures.

One of them representsmya lying on a couch in the lowercompartment, and the ascetic Buddha and two attendantsabov e. The second is a naked standing figure, with a sev en

headed snake forming a canopy ov er the head . This is

clearly not a Buddhist, but a Jain sculpture. The third is soexcessiv ely rude, that it is difficult to identify it. The figure

is four-armed, and is seated upon a recumbent animal , whichlooks more like a bull than anything else. It probably,therefore, represents Mahadev a and his bull Nandi . As all

three figures formed only a part of the rubbish, it seems tome certain that the well must once hav e been empty ; andfurther, that the rubbish wasmost probably thrown in when

the little Jain temple was about to be built.

The nativ es of the place call this well the Treasury, andthey assert that it has nev er been Opened. On my arriv al Ifound a Punjab Sepoy, with a serv ant, making an excav ation on his own account. He had sunk a shaft 3 feet indiameter at 71; feet from the li ttle temple. The shaft was

then 1 7 feet deep . I examined the bricks which had beentaken out, and on finding some with bev elled and roundededges, and others thickly coated with plaster, I guessed at

once that the original structure had been cov ered with an

outer wall, and that the shaft had been sunk just outside theoriginal work . To ascertain whether this conclusion was

correct, I laid bare the top of the mound, and soon discov ered that the well was surrounded by a wall only 6 feet inthickness. This woul d giv e the original stupa a diameter of

22 feet . The Punjab Sepoy continued his shaft down to thestone foundation without finding anything, and then gav e upthe work .

BAJGIR . 27

Hav ing Observ ed that the slope of the mound on the

north side was v ery gentle, I thought it probable that thebuilding must hav e been approached on this side by a flightOf steps. I therefore made an excav ation in a line due northfrom the centre of the mound, and within a couple of hoursI found a doorway. Continuing the excav ation to the eastand west, as well as to the north, I found a small room withbrick walls and granite pil lars containing two middle-sizedsculptured slabsof middle age. Outside the doorway a flightof steps led downwards towards the north ; I therefore turnedto the south, and continued my excav ation until I reached themain building . On examining thewall I found three recesses,themiddle one being roofed by ov erlapping bricks. On clearing out the rubbish, this opening prov ed to be a carefullybuilt passage only 2feet 2 inches wide, and 3 feet 44} inchesin height, right through the outer wal l of the building .

Behind it, but a few inches out of line, there was a similarpassage through the original wall , only 2 feet in width . At

the end of the passage I found thewell fil led with the samerubbish as on the south side.

The discov ery of this passage shows that the BuddhistMonks had easy access to the interior of the building. I conclude, therefore, that it must originally hav e contained somerelic that was occasionally shown to v isitors, and to the publicgenerally, on certain fixed days. I cannot, howev er, discov erin the accounts of Fa-Hian and Hwen Thsang any mentionof a stupa inside the walls of old Rajagriha.

The hot springs of Rajagriha are found on both banks ofthe Sarsuti riv ulet ; one-half of them at the eastern foot ofMount Baibhdr, and the other half at the western foot ofMount Vipula . The formerar enamed as follows :1 , GangsJumna ; 2, Anant Rikhi ; 3, Sept Rikhi ; 4, Brahm-kund ;5, Kasyapa, R ikhi ; 6, Bits-kund ; and 7, Markand-kflnd.

The hottest of these are the springs of the Sept R ikhi . The

hot springs ofMount Vipuls are named as follows : 1 , Sitakund ; 2, Sun j-kund ; 3, Genes-knnd ; 4, Chandramakflnd ; 5, BAm-kund ; and 6, Sringgi

-R ikhi-kflnd. The

last spring has been appropriated by the Musalmfins, bywhom it is called Makhdum-kund, after a celebrated SaintnamedChil ls.Shflh,whose tomb is close to the spring . It issaid that Chi lls was originally called Chilwa, and that he wasan Ahlr. He must, therefore, hav e been a conv erted Hindu .

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BARAGAON OR NALANDA . 29

Fa-Hian calls Nalanda the birth-place of Sftriputra,who was the right hand disciple of Buddha ; but this statement 18 not quite correct, as we learn, from the more detailedaccount of Hwen Thsang , that Sariputra was born at Ka la

p ind’

ka, about half-way between Nalanda and Indra-SimGu lza , or about 4miles to the south-east of the former place.

Nalanda has also been called the birth-place Of MahaMogalana, who was the left hand disciple of Buddha ; but thisis not qui te correct, as the great Mogalana, according toHwen Thsang, was born at Ka li/ca , 8 or 9 l i, less than 1 ;mile, to the south-west of Nalanda . This place I was ableto identify with a ruined mound near Jagdispur, at l i

'

miloto the south-west of the ruins of Baragaon .

The mound of Jagdispur is 200 feet square, and Of

little height, except in the south-east corner, where there isa considerable eminence, 70 feet square . On the southernedge of this height, there is a magnificent Nim tree, underwhich sev eral statues hav e been collected . One Of these isthe finest and largest piece of sculpture that I hav e met with .

It is a figure of the ascetic Buddha, seated under the Bodhitree at Buddha-Gaya, and surrounded by horrible demons andalluring females, who are seeking by different means todistract him. On each side other scenes of his life are repre

sented, and ov er all his Narv an, or death . A large drawingOf this elaborate piece of sculpture is giv en by Buchanan .

The slab IS 15 feet high and 9—1 feet broad ; and, considering the excellence of the sculpture, the mul tiplicity of thedetails, and the fine state Of preserv ation, this work is in

ev ery way worthy of being preserv ed by photography. The

figure 1s called Rfikmini by the ignorant v illagers, who dailysmear its forehead and nose with red lead, and

c

pou1 milk ov erthe mouth . The Offering of milk is considered v ery effica

cions ; but the most acceptable Offering is a goat ; and at

the time of my v isit, the ground was still wet with the

blood Of a recently killed goat .

The remains atBaragaon consist of numerousmasses Ofbrick ruins, amongst which the most conspicuous is a row of

lofty conical mounds running north and south . These highmounds are the remains of gigantic temples attached to thefamous monastery Of Nalanda The great monastery itselfcan be readily traced by the square patches of cultiv ation

0 Easternman, Plate x111

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BARAGAON OR NALANDA . 31

the principal masses after the ancient tank on its westernside. Othermounds will be described with reference to theirrelativ e positions with respect to the principal ruins. In mysurv ey of the ruins, I hav e also attached a letter of the

alphabet to each separate mound .

‘

Hwen Thsang begins his account with a v ihdr, or

temple, just outside the western wall of themonastery, whichhad been erected on a spot where Buddha had dwelt forthree months, explaining the sublime law for the benefit of

the gods. This temple I would identify with the ruinedmound marked A , still 53 feet in height and from 65 to 70feet in thicknessnear the top, and which is situated immediately to the westward Of the ruined monastery . It standsto the east of the Punwa tank, and may, therefore, be calledthe Punwa mound . My excav ations, which were carrieddown to a depth of 1 7 feet, exposed the straight walls of a

temple.

To the south, at 100 paces, there was a small stupa,erected ov er a spot where a pious mendicant, from a far

country, had performed the p anchdnga , or rev erence Of the

fiv e members (namely head, hands, and knees) in honour of

Buddha. This stupa is well represented by a smallmound marked B, which is due south Of the Punwa mound.

Still further to the south, therewasa statue OfAv alokiteswara. As this statue must hav e had some kind of cov eringas a shelter from the weather, I believ e that it is repre

sented by another small ruined mound, marked C, immediately to the south of the last.

TO the south of the statue there was a stupa, containingthe hair and nails Of Buddha. Sick people recov ered theirhealth by making the circuit Of thismonument . Anothermound, marked D , to the east of the Bahela tank, corresponds with the position Of this stupa exactly, as it is duesouth Of the last mound C. It is still 20 feet high . I madean excav ation in the top, which showed that the mound hadbeen opened prev iously, as I found nothing but loose rubbish.

The solid brick-work on all sides, howev er, satisfied me thatit was the ruin of an ancient stupa .

See Plate XVI.

32 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

Outside the western wall of the monastery, and close toa tank , there was another stupa erected on the spot whereBuddha had been questioned by a heretic on the subject oflife and death . A small mound, marked E, on the east bankof the B a len Tank, corresponds exactly with the position of

th is stupa.

At a short distance to the east there was a lofty v ihar,200 feet in height, where Buddha had explained the law forfour months. In the position here indicated, there standsthe highest and largest of all the mounds, marked B . It isstill 60 feet in height, with a diameter of 70 feet at 50 feetabov e the ground, and of 80 feet at 35 feet abov e the ground.

As the outer edges of the walls are much broken, the originalsize of this massiv e building at the ground lev el cannot hav ebeen much less than 90 feet square. To ascertain its probable height, we may compare it with the Great Temple at

Buddha-Gaya, which has a base of 50 feet square, and a

height of 1 60 feet . But as the copper-gilt ama laka fruitwhich once surmoun ted it no longer exists, the originalheight cannot hav e been less than 1 70 feet . Now, takingthe same proportions for the Nalanda temple, we may deducethe height by simple rule-Of-three, thus as 50 1 70 90 306

feet. It is true that Hwen Thsang states the height at only200 feet, but there is a discrepancy in his statements of the

height Of another Nfilanda temple, which leads me to preposecorrecting the height of that now under discussion to 300feet . In speaking of the Great Temple erected by Baladitya,Hwen Thsang in one place makes it 200 feet high, and inanother place 300 feet high.

‘ In both accounts the enshrinedstatue is said to be of Buddha himself, as he appeared underthe Bodhi tree, and, as the other large temple also containeda statue of Buddha, it seems highly probable that there hasbeen some confusion between the accounts of the two temples.

I am quite satisfied that the lofty mound marked F . is

the ruin of a temple, for I discov ered three horizontal air

holes, each in the form of a cross, at a height of 35 feet abov ethe ground . They measured respectiv ely 6, 8é, and 1 1 % feetin length . The last measurement, coupled with the brokenstate of the brick-work, shows that the walls must hav e beenupwards of 12 feet in thickness. In fact, on the east side,

Compare Jul icn’

s Hwen Thsang , I . with 111. 50.

BARAGAON OR NALANDA . 33

at 50 feet abov e the ground, the broken wall is still 1 5 feetthick. Most probably the walls were not less than 20 feetthick at this height, which wou ld leav e an interior chamber30 feet square . There is now a great hollow in the centre of

this mound, which I would recommend to be further excav ated down to the ground lev el , as I think it highly probablethat both statues and inscriptions of much interest would bediscov ered. Perhaps the colossal statue ofBuddha, the teachernow standing at the foot of mound H . , may hav e beenoriginally enshrined in this temple.

‘

In the north-east corner of the square terrace that sur

rounds this massiv e ruin,I found the remains of sev eral small

stupas, in dark blue stone Of v arious sizes, from 10 to 30 feetin height . The ornamental carv ings are still in good order,many of them being v ery elaborate . Rows after rows Of

Buddhas of all sizes are the most fav ourite decoration . The

solid hemispherical domes are from 1 foot to 4 feet in diame

ter. The basement and body of each stupa were bu ilt of

separate stones, which were numbered for the guidance of

the bu ilders, and cramped together with iron to secure greaterdurability . N0 amount of time, and not ev en an earthquake, could hav e destroyed these small bu ildings. Theirsolid wal ls Of iron-hound stones could only hav e yielded tothe destructiv e fury of malignant Brahmans. I tried to complete a single stupa , but I soon found that sev eral pieces weremissing

. I believ e, howev er, that a complete one might beobtained by a careful search about the v illage temples, aroundthe Jain temple, and in the smal l court-y ard Opposite Mitrajit’s house . If one could be obtained complete, or nearly so,it wou ld form a most striking and ornamental addition to theCalcutta Museum.

This mound was subsequently excav ated by order of Gov ernment under the superin

tendence of Captain Marshall . The temple stood on a plinth 12 feet high abov e the ground

lev el, forming a terrace 15 feet w ide a ll round . The inner room is 20feet square, W ith an en

trance ha ll on the east side. The walls, which are of extreme thickness, are built of largebricks laid in mud . There are few remains of plaster, but the lower walls appear to be

sound, but externally they are much cracked. The remains of the pedestal occupy nearlythe whole west half of the inner room, but there were no traces of any statues. Pieces

of broken statues were, howev er, found in the entrance hall. A portion of the entrance

is of more modern date, the same as at Bodh-Gaya. Capta in Marshall closes his account of

the explorations with the following op inion, which seems to be well founded : The general

appearance of the building , v ia , the false doorway , the abstraction of the idols, and the

absence of inside plaster, all giv e me the notion of the bu ilding hav ing been made use of

after the g lories of the temple had passed away, and then to hav e fallen to pieces by neglect and consequent decay.

”

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maxexos on NALANDA . 35

consequently of much smaller dimensions than those whichhav e been already described . But the remov al of the brickshas exposed the actual walls of the temple in sev eral places ;and, by making a few excav ations, I was able to determinethe exact dimensions of the base of this temple . It was 70}feet by 67 feet, and it stood on a raised terrace 6 feet inheight and 125 feet square . If the relativ e proportion ofbase to height was the same as that of the Buddha-GoyaTemple, the height of this temple could not hav e been less

than 228 or 240 feet, according to which side of the base istaken for the calculation.

Hwen Thsang also mentions a large well which was justwithin the gateway on the south side of the surrounding wallsof this v ihar. Now, there is a large well, marked P. ,

immediately on the south side of the ruined mound abov e described, which must be the v ery one noticed by Hwen Thsang as

hav ing owed its origin to Buddha himself.

There are many other objects worthy of notice at Bara

gaon, which I can only briefly enumerate : 1 st, The sculpturescollected in the enclosure at Baithak Bhairav , marked M .

2nd, The colossal figure of the ascetic Buddha at S. Thisstatue is remarkable for hav ing the names of the attendantfigures inscribed ov er their heads. Thus we hav e A rya

Sdrip utm and A rya Maudga la’

yana inscribed ov er two flyingfigures carrying garlands and A rya Mitreyamitha and A rya

Vasumitra ov er two attendant standing figures. An inscription in two lines on the back rail of the seat giv es the usual

Buddhist formula, and adds that the statue was“ the pious

gift of Ganggakd (a lady who had attained the religiousrank of This statue is well worthy of

being photographed . 3rd, A small temple, marked T . ,

with a figure of the three-headed goddess Vaj ra Vard'

hi .

The Buddhist formula is inscribed on this figure, which is

ev idently one of those mistaken by Major Ki ttoe for Durga

slaying the buffalo demon Maheshasur. The goddesshas oneporcine head, and there are sev en hogs represented on the

pedestal . 4th, A life-size ascetic Buddha in the v illage of

Baragaon, and a number of smaller figures at an adjacentHindu temple, and also at the house of Mitraj l t Zamindar.

5th, Two low mounds to the north of the v illage marked Vone hav ing a four-armed image of Vishnu on Garud, and the

36 ARCILEOLOGICAL narea'

r, 1861

other hav ing two figures of Buddha seated on chairs. T he

former must clearly hav e belonged to a Brahmanical temple .

6th,Three statues atW . , near the Tar Sing Tank, of which

two are females and one a male figure seated with hands on

knees. 7th, The small temple in the hamlet of Kapatiya ,

marked X . , where there are sev eral interesting figures col

lcotea. Amongst them there is a fine Vaj ra Varahi, and

a v ery good Vagiswari , with an important inscription in

two lines, which giv es the name of the place Nalanda, and isdated in the year 1 of the reign of the paramount sov ereignSri Gopala Dev a .

‘ 8th, A large mound at Y . , which lookedlike a ruined stupa . I sank a shaft 20 feet deep in the centreof the mound, and found that it was filled with rubbish . If

,

therefore, it was a stupa, it had been opened long before ;but I am inclined to believ e that it was a temple, as a largestone was found in the excav ation at a depth of 13 feet .9th, A Jain temple at Z . , which is only remarkable as beingof the same style of architecture as the Great Temple at

Buddha-Gaya . It is probably of about the same age, or

A . D . 500. Its present height is only 36 feet without thepinnacle, which is modern . The whole is white-washed .

Inside the temple there are sev eral Jain figures, of whichthat of Mahciv ir bears the date of Samv at l 5o4s, or A . D .

l 0th, On the banks of the Suraj-kund many interesting figures are collected . They are chiefly Buddhist, butthere are also some figures of Vishnu four-armed, of the

Varaba Av atar, of Siv a and Parvati, and also of Surv a

himself.

I cannot close this account of the ancient Nalanda without mentioning the noble tanks which surround the ruins on

all sides. To the north-east are the Gidi Pokhar and thePansokar Pokhar, each nearly a mile in length while to thesouth there is the Indra Pokhar, which is nearly half a milein length . The remaining tanksaremuch smaller in size, anddo not require any special notice.

I X . B I HA R .

The old city of Bihar lies 7 miles to the north-east of

Baragaon . In our maps the name is spelt B ehar, but by thepeople it is written .Bilza

‘

r, which is suflicient to show that it

0 See l‘late XIII. for a copy of this insci irtion.

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BI l IAR .

must once hav e been the site of some famous Buddhist Vihar.

But the only existing Buddhist remains that I could findwere v otiv e stupas and fragments of figures. One of the lastwas inscribed with characters of about A . D . 900, but the

inscription is unfortunately only a fragment.

The city of Bihar consists principally of one long nar

row street , pav ed with rough stones. There are two bridgeswith pointed arches ov er some irrigation canals, the remainsof former prosperity ; but the whole place is now dirty and

decayed . In all directions are seen Musalman tombs ; thesmaller ones of brick, the larger ones of squared and carv edstones from the usual Muhammadan quarries of ru inedBuddhist or Brahmanical bui ldings. To the north-west ofthe city there is a long isolated hill, hav ing a precipitouslysteep cliff on its northern face, and on the southern face an

easy slope in successiv e ledges of rock . The hil l is now

crowned by some Musalman buildings, of which the largestis said to be the tomb of Malik Baya, but I believ e that it isthe tomb of one Ibrahim in the reign of Firuz , as I readboth of these names in one of the inscriptions. To thenorth-east of these tombs and distant feet, on the

highest point of the hill , there is a square platform of brick,which must once hav e been the basement of a bu ilding,perhaps of a stupa, while themore genial site of the Durgah,where fine trees are now growing , might once hav e held a

Buddhist Vihftr and its attendantmonastery .

One mile due east from the Durgfih, and about 100yardsinside the northern gate of the old fort of Bihar, there lies asand-stone pillar which bears two separate inscriptions of theGupta Dynasty . Unfortunately, the surface of the stonehas peeled off considerably, so that both of the inse1 iptions

are incomplete . The uppe1 inscription, which 18 of KumaraGupta, has lost both ends of ev ery line, being probably aboutone-third of the whole. The lower inscription has lost onlythe left upper corner, and some unknown amount at the

bottom, where the pillar is broken off. But as the remainingportion of the upper part is letter for letter the same as the

opening of the Bhitari pillar inscription, nearly the whole of

the missing part of the left upp er corner can be restored at

38 ARCHE OLOGICAL asponr, 1861-62.

once .

‘ This record apparently belongs to Skanda Gupta,the son and successor of Kumara Gupta, as the genealogyis continued beyond Kumara in the same words as in the

Bhi tari inscription.

Outside the northern gate of the old fort, there are sometombs that are said to belong to Christians, as they lie eastand west, whilst all Musalman tombs lie north and south .

One of them bears an inscription surmounted by a cross,which prov es it to be a Christian tomb. The inscription Ibeliev e to be in the Armenian character, but though it doesnot appear to be old, probably notmore than fifty or a bun

dred years, yet I coul d not obtain any information regardingthe tombs.

The cyclopean walls of the old fort are v ery curious ;but as the fort has been fully described by Buchanan , it isunnecessary forme to do more than make thismention of it.

X . G H O S R AWA .

A Buddhistical inscription from Ghosrawa, a v illage tothe S . S. W . of Biliar, distant 7 miles, was first discov eredby Major Kittoe, who published a translation of it made byDr. Ballantyne. This inscription is a v ery important one forthe illustration of the later history of Buddhism, as it mentions the existence, somewhere about the 8th or 9th century,of sev eral of the most famous places of the Buddhists. For

instance, it mentions, l et, the Kanishka Monastery in the

city of Nagarahara, close to Jelalabad in the Kabul Valley ;2nd, the Vaj ra

’

san, or Diamond throne of Buddha, atBuddhaGaya 3rd, the Indra-Simpeak , which I hav e already identified with Giryek ; dtb, the Vihar in Ndlanda, the city of

Yaso Varmma . Thispart of the translation, howev er, requiresrev ision, as the name of Nalanda, which occurs twice, hasin both instances been rendered as if it wasmerely a termfor some ascetic posture, instead of the preper name of the

See Plate XVII. for the Bihar Pillar inscriptions, and Plate XXVII. for the Bhitari

Pillar inscription. Babu Rajendralal Mitra, in the Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal 1866, p.

271 , denies the accuracy of my statement . He says General Cunningham imagines itto be a counterpart of the Bhitari record

” -I imagine nothing of the kind. My remarks referto the upper part of the inscri ption alone, and this I again assert to be “ letter for letter

the same as the opening of the Bhitari Pillar inscription.

”The Babu says that no specific

name is legible.

” I refer him to his own Negari transcript of line 4. where he reads lace/m

potrasya . This should be kacha , forGhatot-kacha, the predecessor of Chandra Gupta, whose

wxfeKumari Dev i is mentioned in the next line.

Gnosnxwx TITARAWA . 39

town which contained the most famous monastery in all

India . I will submit this inscription for re-translation .

The other remains at Ghosrawa are few and unimportant. There is a mound of brick ruin touching the

v illage, and a small temple on a low mound with some

broken figures between Ghosrfiwa and the small v illage of

A sanagar. The inscription obtained by Maj or Kittoe is

now fixed in the wall of this temple . At the western footof the Ghosrawamound there is a four-armed standing malestatue of life size, inscribed with the usual formula of the

Buddhist faith . In the upper right hand there is a necklace,but the lower hand is open, the upper left hand holds a lotus,and the lower hand a bell . There is a small figure of Buddhain the head dress of the statue, from which I believ e thatthis figure represents A v alokiteswara, as Hwen Thsang des

cribes a similar statue at the Kapotika SangharAma . The

characters of the inscription do not seem to me to be laterthan A . D . 800.

On the top of the mound I found the lower portion of

a female figure, of which the upper part was fixed in the

ground near the Asz’magar Temple . The statue is two-armed,

and holds a lotus in one hand . It probably representsDharmma . There are two four-armed female attendants,that to the left carrying a human head .

X I . T I T A R AW A .

At Titarfiwa, 2 miles to the north of Ghosrawa, there

is a fine large tank feet in length, with a considerablemound of brick ruin to the north, and a colossal statue of

the ascetic Buddha to the south, which is now called Bhairav .

The pedestal is 7 feet broad, and the whole figure is still 9 feethigh, although the upper portion is wanting . The usual

Buddhist formula is inscribed on the lotus leav es of the

pedestal . There are besides sev eral others small and unimportant, one of which bears the Buddhist formula, and anotherinscription in three lines of small letters. The greaterportion of this inscription is injured, but sufficient remainsto declare the date of the statue, which I believ e to be aboutA . D . 800; I can read the name of Mahfipala at the end

of it . On the west side of the statue there is the foundationof a brick stupa, 18 feet in diameter.

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BARABAR . 41

to the east-north-east of the Bela Dz‘

tk Bungalow. Thisbill is quite inaccessible, as it is formed entirely of huge

masses of granite piled precipitously abov e one another,and crowned with a single lofty block that frowns grandlyov er the plains below . It is said that this pinnacle wasformerly topped by another block, which was so nicelybalanced that it used to rock ev en when a crow alightedupon it . From this belief the hill acquired the name of

Kamoa-D ol, or the crew’

s swing,”or rocking-stone.

”

At the northern foot of the Kauwa-Dol there has

formerly been a temple of hewn granite . A large v illagemust also once hav e existed on the north and east sides of

the hill , as the foot of the hill, which is considerably raisedabov e the fields, is strewn with broken bricks, hewn stones,and fragments of pottery . There are sev eral Muhammedantombs on this mound, built chiefly of pil lars and othersquared and ornamented stones of some Hindu temple.

The name of this old place is said to hav e been Samanp ur .

Major Kittoe, howev er, was told that this name applied onlyto the northern portion of the ruins, the eastern portionbeing called Sara in.

On the rocks of the northern face of the hill, numerous rude figures hav e been sculptured . One of these is a

figure of Ganes, feet high, beside a lingam. Sev eral of

them represent Gateri Sankar or H ara Gauri ; but the mostcommon of these scu lptures is the fav ourite figure of the

four-armed Durgfi. slaying the fl akesasur, or Buffalo Demon .

In her two right hands she holds a sword and a trident, and

in her upper left hand a shield, while her lower left handgrasps the tail of the Buffalo . All of these are Brahmani calfigures ; but there are also rude figures of Buddha seated,and one female figure which is said to be P adonavati, or

Al dyci D ev i , but which ismost probably only a representationof .Dharmma . In a recess on the east side of the hill , and

amidst the ruins of a large temple, of which sev eral pillarsare still standing, there is a colossal figure of Buddha theascetic, as he appeared when seated in mental abstractionunder the Bodhi tree at Buddha-Gays . A drawing of thisfigure has been giv en in Buchanan Hamilton’

s EasternIndia .

"i It is the largest statue that I hav e seen, the figure

Vol . I , I'

latc XIV Fig. 5.

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BARABAR . 43

feet thick, and from 30 to 35 feet in height . The top of theridge is rounded, and falls rapidly towards the east . It isdiv ided longitudinally by natural cleav age into three separatemasses. The block towards the north is much the smallest,being not more ‘

than 50 feet long by 27 feet in thickness.

Originally it was probably abou t 80 or 100 feet in length, but

its eastern end has been cut away to obtain access to the faceof the central mass of rock, in which the Karna Chop a

’

r

Cav e has been excav ated . A lingam and two rude Brahmanical figures are sculptured on the end of the northern rock .

The middle rock is between 200 and 300 feet in length,with a perpendicular face towards the north. The

largest mass of rock which faces towards the southis rounded at top, but the lower part has been scarpedto form a perpendicular wall for the two large cav es now

called Suddma and L omd s R ishi . A lev el piece of ground,about 100 feet in width, interv enes between this great rockand the foot of the southern hill . Sheds and temporary buildings are erected on this spot during the annual fair time,when the cav es are v isited by thousands of pilgrims. The

ground is strewn with broken bricks and fragments of pottery ,and the rubbish has now accumulated to a height of three feetabov e the floors of the cav es. This will account for the factof there hav ing been one foot of water in this cav e when

v isited by Buchanan. The waterwas drained away by MajorKittoe, who dug a trench along the foot of the rock, andbrought to light sev eral pieces of stone pillars which pro

bably belonged to some portico or cloister in front of the

cav es.

The Barfibar Basin is naturally a strong defensiv eposition, as it possesses plenty of water, and is onlyaccessible at two points, on the north-east and south-east .Now, both of these points hav e been closed by walls,and as there are also traces of walls on the surroundinghills, and more particularly on the Siddheswara H ill, itseems certain that the place must once hav e been used as

a stronghold . There is indeed a tradition of some Rajahav ing been besieged in this place, and that he escaped bythe narrow passage ov er the Siddheswara H ill . Its v eryname of Barfibar, that is, bare and aware , or B arawara , the

great enclosure, points to the same conclusion, althoughthis may hav e been originally applied to the much larger

4A, ARCH/EOLOGICAL REPORT, 1 861-62.

enclosure between the Barabar and Nfigfirjuni H ills, and the

western branch of the -Phalgu R iv er, where, according toBuchanan’

s information, the original Ram Gaya was situated .

The numerous heaps of brick and stone that lie scattered ov erthe plain would seem to show that this had once been thesite of a large town . The situation is similar to that of oldRaja-griha, namely, that of a small v alley or basin almostsurrounded by hills ; but in size it is v ery much less thanthe famous Gim

’

v raj w, or hil l-encircled city of Jarasandha .

This enclosure had the Bardbar H ill on the west, the Sangar

branch of the Phalgu R iv er on the east, and the two parallelridges of the Nagfirjuni H ills to the north and south . It wasupwards of one mile in length, with a mean width of half a

mile and a circuit of rather more than three miles. The

circuit of the hills surrounding old Raja-griha was abouteight miles.

The cav es in the Barabar Hills are usually known as the

Sat-ghara, or sev en houses.

” Major Kittoe proposed Sap lgarbha , or the sev en cav es” as the true name but I thinkthat Sap ta-griha , or, as it is pronounced in the v ernacular of

the present day, Sat-ghara , is a preferable etymology, as itis the v ery same name by which this collection of cav es isnow known .

The Nfigfirjuni H ills consist of two v ery narrow ridgesof granite running nearly parallel, and about half a miledistant fromeach other, between the Barebar Peak and the

Phalgu R iv er. The nerthern ridge would appear to be thesame as that whi ch Buchanan callsMura li,

‘ but my informants applied this name to another peak in the Barfibar group .

The southern ridge contains the famous old cav es, of which thelargest one, called the Gap i Cav e, is on the southern side, withits entrance to the south . The two other cav es are situatedon the southern face of a small spur, or off-shoot, on the northern side of the hill .

There are, therefore, altogether sev en cav es in thesebills,four of which belong to the B eri ber or Siddheswara group ,and three to the n day

’

uni group . I incline, therefore, tobeliev e that the name of Sat-91mm , or the sev en houses,

”

belonged originally to the whole of these sev en cav es, and not

Eastern India, Vol . I. , p . 100.

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Bananas . 45

to the four cav eswith sev en chambers in the Barabar group .

It is true, indeed, that the Barabar cav es are somewhat olderthan those of Nfigfirjuni, but the difference of date is v erylittle, being notmore than 30years, as will be shown when Icome to speak of the inscriptions.

The Kama Chapdr Cav e, marked A . in the map, issituated in the northern face of the Barfibar ridge of granite,which has already been described . The entrance, which is ofEgyptian form, faces the north . The cav e is 33 feet 6%inches in length, by 14: feet in width .

‘ The sides of the

cav e are 6 feet l inch in height, and the v aulted roof has arise of 41 feet 8 inches, making the total height 10 feet 9inches. At the western end there is a raised platform 7 feet6 inches long, 2 feet 6 inches broad, and 1 foot 3 incheshigh.

From its length I infer that this was the pedestal of a statue.

The whole of the interior of the cav e is polished . On the

outside, and at the western corner of the entrance, there is asunken tablet containing a short inscription of fiv e lines inthe ancient character of Asoka’

s Pillars. It records the ex

cav ation of the cav e in the 1 9th year of the reign of RajaP iyadasi, that is, of A soka himselfd

' This cav e, therefore,dates as far back as 245 B . C. The inscription has been so

much injured by the weather, that it is v ery difficult to makeout the letters satisfactorily . It also faces the north, so thatno adv antage can be obtained from the difference of lightand shade which is caused by the sun in the hollows of the

letters of such inscriptions as face in other directions. Thereare also sev eral short inscriptions on the jambs of the doorway, such as .Bodhimula the root of Intelligence, D aridra

c ntcim “ the cav e of the poor,”or

“ the mendicant’s cav e,”

and others the records of mere v isitors.

The Suda’

ma Cav e , marked B . in the map, is situated inthe same granite range, but on the opposite side of it, andwith its entrance facing the south . The door-way, whichis of Egyptian form, is sunk in a recess 6% feet squareand 2 feet

. deep . On the eastern wall of this recess or

porch, there is an inscription of two lines in the ancient Palicharacters of Asoka’s Pillars. An attempt has been made toobliterate the greater part of this inscription with a chisel,

See Plate XIX Fig . l , for plan and section.

1' See Plate XX.

, No. 1 Inscription.

46 ARCHJEOLOGICAL nsronr, 1861-62.

but owing to the great depth of the letters the work of des

traction was not an easy one, and the clearly cut lines of theoriginal letters, with the exception of one, perhaps, at the

end, are still distinctly traceable in the midst of the roughholesmade by the destroyer

’

s chisel . This inscription re

cords the dedication by l aja P ig/add er: (that is, Asoka himself), in the 12th year of his reign, of the N igoha cav c.

*

The excav ation of this cav e, therefore, dates as far back as

252 B . C. , the v ery same year in which many of Asoka’

s

edicts were promulgated, as recorded in his different inscriptions both on pillars and rocks. The cav e itself consists oftwo chambers, of which the inner one is nearly circular witha hemispherical domed roof. This roof, which projectsbeyond the wall of the circular room into the outer apartment, is considerably under-cut, as if to represent a thatchwith its ov erhanging cav es. The circular room is 1 9 feet 1 1inches in diameter from west to east, and 1 9 feet from northto south . The outer apartment is 32 feet 9 inches in length,by 1 9 feet 6 inches in breadth . The walls are 6 feet 9 inchesin height to the springing of the v aulted roof, which has arise of 5 feet 6 inches, making the total height of the chamber 12 feet 3 inches. At the east end of this apartmentthere is a shallow recess which may hav e been intended as aniche for a statue, or more probably as an entrance to anotherprojected chamber. But the work was abandoned soon afterits commencement, and remains rough and unfinished,while all the rest of the cav e, both roof and walls, is highlypolished ?

The L amas R a'

s/ti Cav e, marked C. in the map, is similarto the Sudcima Cav e, both as to the size and arrangement of

its two chambers but the whole of the interior of the

circular room has been left rough, and both the floor and theroof of the outer apartment remain unfinished i The straightwalls of this apartment are polished, but the outerwall of thecircular room is only smoothed and not polished . The chiselmarks are yet v isible on the floor, while on the roof, whichhas only been partially hewn,

the cuts of the chisels, bothbroad and narrow, are still sharp and distinct . The excav ation of the roof would appear to hav e been abandoned, owing

0 See Plate XX. , No. 2 Inscription.

See Plate XIX ,Fig . 2.

I See Plate XIX , Fig. 3.

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BARABAR . 47

to the work hav ing reached a deep fissure, which forms one

of the natural lines of cleav age of the rock . It possesses noinscription .

The door-way of this cav e is exactly of the same sizeand of the same Egyptian form as that of the Sudama Cav e,but the entrance porch has been much enlarged , and hasbeensculptured to represent what I believ e to be the ornamentalentrance of a wooden building . A tolerably faithful sketchof this entrance will be found in Buchanan,

"E butowing to theaccumulation of rubbish at the time the sketch was taken,

the full height of the work is not shown . The incriptions

also are represented as extending below the top of the doorway on one side, which is not the case, as they are all con

fined to the semi-circular space abov e the door. This sketch,howev er, shows distinctly the ends of the roofing beams andthe bambu lattice work of the gable, just such as may stillbe seen in the wooden buildings of Barmah .

As the inscriptions ov er the door-way of this cav e are all

in the same character as those of the later princes of the

Gupta dynasty, the date of this sculptured facade may beassigned to the 3rd or 4th century of our era . But as the

cav e itself corresponds so exactly, both in size and in

arrangements, with the Sudama Cav e, I feel satisfied that itmust hav e been excav ated at the same time, and that, beforethe enlargement of the entrance porch, there must hav eexisted an inscription of Asoka, recording the name and

purpose of the cav e . The present inscriptions are deeplyand boldly cut, but the letters are not polished . There aretwo distinct inscriptions, the upper one, of two lines, beingsomewhat later in date than the lower one, of four lines, inrather larger letters. Both of these inscriptions hav e beentranslated by James Prinsep,+who, owing perhaps to the misplacement of the lines of his fec-simz

’

lis, did not perceiv ethat translations of both had already been published byWilkins in the second v olume of the Asiatic Researches.

There is some v ariation in the two v ersions of these inscriptions, which will be examined hereafter.

The fourth cav e of the Barebar group is that which iscalled Viswe M itre by Major Kittoe, but which was named

Eastern India, Vol. I. , p . 104.

“I' Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1837, p. 647.

48 Anemsomcrest nnPonT, 1861-62.

simply Viewa-j hOp ri, or Viswa’

s but, by my informants.

This cav e, marked D . in the map, is excav ated in a large blockof granite lying to the eastward of the cav e ridge and at a

somewhat lower lev el . It consists of two rooms, an outerapartment or ante-chamber which is polished throughout, andan inner apartment of 1 1 feet in diameter, which is roughand unfinished . The former is 141 feet long by 8 feet 41 inchesbroad, and has an inscription on the right hand wall of fourlines in the ancient Pali character of Asoka’s inscriptions.

The last fiv e letters hav e been purposely mutilated with the

chisel, but they are still quite legible.

‘ The inscription,

which is otherwise perfect, records the dedication of the cav eby Raja P iyedesz

'

(that is, Asoka himself,) in the 12th year of

his reign, equiv alent to 252B . C. This is the only inscriptionin this cav e which would seem to hav e escaped the notice of

the Brahmanical occupants or v isitors of the other cav es.

On the floor of this outer chamber there are four oblongsocket holes, which would appear to hav e been intended forthe reception of timber framing, as suggested by MajorKittoe.

The great cav e in the Nagfirjuni Hill, marked E . in the

map, is excav ated in the southern face of the rock, at a

height of 50 feet abov e the country . It is approached bya flight of stone steps, but the entrance is concealed partlyby a tree and partly by an Idga

‘

h wall, which was builtby the last Musalman occupants. It was inhabited whenv isited by Major Ki ttoe in 1 847, but was empty when Isaw it . This cav e is 46 feet 5 inches long and 1 9 feet 2inches broad, both ends being semi-circular. The walls

are 6 feet 6 inches high, and the v aulted roof has a rise of

4 feet, making a total height of 10 feet 6 inchesst The

whole of the interior is polished, but quite plain. Thereis a low brick platform of modern date at one end, which issaid to hav e been the seat of a Musalmfrn Saint, who was thedisciple and successor of B ay Hermeyen. The door-way of

the cav e is of Egyptian form, being two feet 6 inches wide attop, and 2feet 1 1 12; inches at bottom, with a height of 6 feetand half an inch . On the eastern jamb of the door-waythere is an inscription in ten lines of the same fami ly andsame date as those ov er the door-way of the Lomas R ishi

Sec Plate XX No. 3 Inscription.

‘

I' See Plate XIX.

, Fig, 5.

mamas . 49

Cav e. This inscription has been translated by Wilkins andby James Prinsep. On the western jamb of the door thereis a short inscription in large letters of the 7th or 8th centu i yA charya Sri Yoganende , the teacher Sri Yogananda,

”whose

name will be found repeated in another cav e ?

On the outside, immediately ov er the door-way, thereis a small sunken tablet, containing a short inscription of

four lines in the ancient Pali characters of Asoka’

s edicts.

This has been translated by James Prinsep l The cav e iscalled Gop i-Ice-kublze , that is, the Gopi’s or milkmaid’sCav e .

”The inscription records that The Gopi ’s Cav e, an

abode lasting as the Sun and Moon, was caused to be exca

v ated by Dasaratha, belov ed of the Dev as, on his accessionto the throne, as a hermi tage for the most dev oted B hedeetee

(Buddh ist

The other two cav es of the Negfimjuni Group are situatedin a low rocky ridge on the northern side of the hill . Tothe south, and in front of the cav es, there are two raisedterraces. The lower one to the eastward has a well, 9 feetin diameter and 23 feet deep, immediately in front of the

entrance to the eastern cav e, which in the inscription is

called the Vap iye-ke-kubhe , or

“ Vapiya Cav e,”which I

believ e refers to the well ( cap e) abov e described, and whichmay, therefore, be translated as the Well Cav e The

upper terrace to the westward is 120 feet long from north tosouth, 60 feet bread from west to east, and 10 feet in heightabov e the plain. The walls are chiefly of brick, but thereare sev eral squared stones and granite pillars near the top .

These must, I think, hav e been added afterwards by theMuhammedanswhen they occupied the cav es, for the platformis cov ered with their small tombs. A ll around there are

heaps of bricks and fragments of carv ed and squared stoneswhich show that sev eral bui ldings must once hav e existed inthis place . The upper platform I believ e to hav e been thesite of a other or Buddhist chapel monastery, but there isnothing new remaining to prov e any Buddhist occupation,excepting only one fragment of a standing statue.

See Asiatic Researches, I. , 282 and Bengal Asiatic Society'

s Journal, 1837, p . 672.

7 See Plate XX.,No. 7 Inscri ption

Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1887, p. 677.

See Plate XX.,No. 4 Inscription.

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BABABAR . 51

been used by the occupant for the reception of food . On theright hand jamb of the door-way there is an inscriptionof four lines in the old Pali characters of Asoka’

s edicts, inwhich this cav e is called the Vedethi-kd-Icubhe . The re

ma inder of the record is letter for letter the same as those of

the G0p i and Vap iya Cav es. The meaning of the name of

Vede thi I am not able to explain. The root cede means toseparate or div ide, to surround or encompass, and also tocov er. Any one of these meanings might be appropriatelyapplied as descriptiv e of the peculiar position of this cav e,for it is entirely separated from the other cav e ; it is encompassed by the blufl

'

rocks of the gap in which it is situated,

and is so effectual ly cov ered or screened from v iew, that italtogether escaped the notice of Mr. Hathorne when he

made copies of the inscriptions in the G0pi and Vapiya eav es

for James Prinsep. I think, therefore, that the termsecluded” would be descriptiv e of the position of t he cav e,

and I would suggest that Vedethike may probably be a

v ernacular form of cede erthike , the whole meaningsimply the cav e of the secludedmendicants.

”According to

Buchanan, this cav e is called the abode of Hep Hermdyee .

‘

From the foregoing account of the Barabar cav es, it willbe seen that the two groups are separated by date as well as

by position, the Sa tghara cav es hav ing been excav ated m the

12th and 1 9th years of Baja P iyedisi (or Asoka) whilethose of NAgArjuni were excav ated in the first year of

D asaratha , the belov ed of the Dev as. According to the

Vishnu Purdna, D asaratha was the grandson of Asoka, andthe son of Suyasas ; and as the son of A soka, according to theVaya I’urana, reigned only eight years, the accession of

Dasaratha must hav e taken place m 2141 B . C . The age of

the Nav erj um cav es is, therefore, 31 years later thano

thatof the Kama-chepar, and 38 years later than that of the

Sudama and Viswa Cav es.

From the v arious inscriptions we learn that these cav eshav e been successiv ely occupied by Buddhists and byBrahmanists. They were originally excav ated for the occu

patiou of Buddhist monksby the Kings Asoka and Dasaratha

in the third century before Christ . A bout the third or fourthcentury after Christ, the Kings Sfirdula Varmma and Ananta

Varmma, placed Brahmanical images of D ev a-mete, of

See Plate XIX ,Fig. 7, for plan, and Plate XX , No. 6, for inscription.

52 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

Ketyciyeni, and of Mahddev a and his wife in three of the

eav es. At a somewhat later date, in the sixth or sev enth cen

tury, the teacher Yogananda recorded his adoration of the Sid.

dheswera lingam. This occupation by Brahmans in the sev enthcentury may account for the silence of the Chinese pilgrimHwen Thsang regarding the cav es, which, as being in theimmediate neighbourhood of Gaya, would otherwise hav e

attracted his attention . At a still later date, somewhere aboutthe twelfth century, the Jog i-Karmame

'

rge and the pilgrimB hayanlcara t lze v isited the cav es and inscribed theirnames.

’ Still later, the NegArjuni cav es were occupied byMusalman Fakirs. The Idgdh outside the Gopi Cav e is saidto be only 150 years old, but the numerous grav es on theraised terrace in front of the Vap iya Cav e would seem to

denote a much longer occupation of probably not less than300 or 4100years.

During this successiv e occupation, the cav es wouldappear to hav e receiv ed new names, as not one of the ancientnames recorded in the inscriptions has been preserv ed .

Indeed, the most ancient names would seem to hav e been lostat a v ery early date, for the G0p i Cav e of Dasaratha is designated by Ananta Varmma as

“ this cav ern of the Vindhyamountains, and the Vedathi Cav e is called simply thisCav e,

”as if the ancient names had already been forgotten .

Similarly, the Lomos R ishi Cav e. is called P rev ara-g iri-guha ,

or the greatmountain cav e .

” From these instances, I wouldinfer that the present names of the cav es are all of later datethan the time of Ananta Varmma in the third or fourth cen

tury . That they were also of Brahmani cal origin seems to me‘

to be quite certain for the following reasons : Kerne-ckop dr

I take to be simplyKerne-j hop ra , or Karna’

sHut,”so named

after Kama, King of Angga, the illegitimate son of Pritha,

the mother of the Pandus. Similarly, L amas R ishi, whowas described to Buchanan as a

“v ery hairy saint,

”is no

doubt the same as L oma-p dda or hairy foot, who was alsoone of the Kings of Angga (or Bhagalpur). But as Loma

pdda is only a descriptiv e appellation of a Prince whosetrue name was Dasaratha , it would seem as if the name of

See Plate XX ,D and B inscriptions from the Vapiya or Well Cav e. The other

inscriptions giv en in the same Plate are short desultory records of little importance .

No. 1 6,da r id ra-kdntdra

,the cav e of pov erty,

”and Nos. 18 and 19, kksa

-kdnaira , the

cav e of aflhctron,”no doubt refer to Buddhism, and show that these cav es were inhab1ted,

or at least v isite d, by Buddhist v otaries as late as the third or fourth century A . D .

BARABAR DHARAWAT. 53

Dasaratha, the founder of the three Nagarjuni Cav es, had ao

tual ly been preserv ed down to a comparativ ely late period, andwas then ignorantly referred by the Brahmans to the early kingof Angga, instead of to the Maurya Prince ofMagatha . Be

garding the name of Suddma or Sudhdma , I am unable tooffer any conjecture ; but Viswamitm was one of the mostcelebrated of the sev en R ishis, or great Brahmanical Saints.

The silence of Hwen Thsang regarding the cav es hasbeen already noticed ; but I hav e a suspicion that he had heardof the celebrated spring of the Pdtdl Gangd at the foot of theBarabar Hil l . According to his account, there was a famousSpring of pure water situated at 30 Ii (or 5miles) to the northof Gaya .

‘ Now , as I could not hear of any spring to thenorthward of Gaya nearer than Barabar, I would suggestthat Hwen Thsang

’

s distance of 3“ li should be corrected to1 30 li (or 2135 miles) , which would make his famous springagree exactly with the position of the Pdta

’

r’

l Ganga , according to .the distance by road, which is 13 miles to the BelaDak fll angalow 6 to the Kauwa-Dol Hill 2 more to theP334 1 Ganga. Hwen Thsang adds that the Indians, following an ancient tradition, called this spring the holy water’

(l’

eau sainte) , and that at all times whoev er drank of it, orbathed in it, was instantly purified from the stain of his sins.

”

Now the source of the I’atal Gangais still held in such esteemthat, according to Buchanan , from to peopleassemble annually in the middle of themonth of BhAdrapada

to bathe in its waters, and about 500 people bathe dailyduring the whole of that month .

Should this identification be correct, it would seem to

be almost certain that towards the middle of the sev enth cen

tury of our era, not only were these cav es occupied by theBrahmans, but the v ery memory of their Buddhist originhad either been forgotten or was carefully concealed .

X IV . D H A R AWA T .

The Dhard’

wat group of hills lies immediately to thenorthward of the Barabar hills, about mile distant. Thereare two distinct ridges running from west to east, that to the

Julien’

s Hwen Thsang, II 455.

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DHARAWAT BESARH . 55

corner of thismound there are two small eminences, whichmay be the remains of temples, but as the surface of themound now presents nothing but small fragments of bricks,all the larger bricks hav ing been remov ed to furnishmaterialsfor the present v il lage, it is quite impossible to say what kindof buildings may once hav e stood upon it. All that can be

inferred, I think, from the present remains is, that Dharawatmust at one time, probably about the 8th or 9th century,hav e been the seat of a considerable Buddhist community.

Major Kittoe paid a hurried v isit to DharAWat by moon-light.He notices the twelv e-armed figure, which he calls a Buddhistsculpture, as being v ery remarkable.

X V . B E S A RH .

The v illage of B escirh, or B esddh in Nagari characters, issituated 27 miles, a little to the east of north fromPatna, and20miles from Hal ur on the left bank of the Ganges. Boththe di stance and direction fromPatna point to thisplace as therepresentativ e of the ancient Vaisa

'

li . The name also is thesame, as it is written B esdrh by Abul Fazl in his Ain

Akbari .‘ Now , Hwen Thsang places the King’

s Palace in

Vaisfili at 120 li, or 20 miles, to the east of north from the

northern bank of the Ganges Opposite Petaliputra, that is,from the present HAJipur.t He also describes the King

’

s

Palace as being from 4 to 5 li (from to feet) incircuit, which agrees with the size of the ruined fort nowcalled R aj a B isa

'

l-Ica-garh, which is feet long and 750feet broad inside, or feet in circuit round the crest of themound . This almost perfect coincidence of name, position,and dimensions, seems quite sufficient to place the identification of Besarh with Vaisali beyond all reasonable doubt .I will, therefore, now proceed to describe the Objectsof interestthat still remain in Besfirh and the neighbouring v illage of

Bakhra, which will afford further proof Of the identity OfBesfirh and Vaisali .

These ruins were v isited by Mr. J . Stephenson in 1834,and described by him in Prinsep

'

s JournalJ: They consistof two distinct groups, one at Besfirh itself, and the other

Gladwin’s Translation, II. ,

198.

1“ Julien

’

s Hwen Thsang , H . ,399 . To Swetapura 90 plus 30 h

’

to the Ganges. In

Vol . I p . 137, the distance to Swetapnra is stated to be 100 Ii.

Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1835, p. 128.

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BESARH . 50

has an elev ation of four feet. The remains consist of— l st,a stone pillar surmounted by a lion ; 2nd, a ruined stupa of

solid brick ; 3rd, a tank ; 4th, four smal l eminences whichmark the sites of ancient buildings ; and 5th, a v ery finelife-size statue of Buddha the Ascetic, which was discov eredonly eight years ago. The pillar and the ruined stupa hav ealready been described by Mr. Stephenson, and the site has

already been identified by M . Viv ien de St. Martin, as well as

by myself, with the Vaisali of the Buddhists.

The lion pillar of Bakhra is situated in the middle of a

small court-yard with smal l rooms on three sides— the residence of a Sang/£813who has recently settled at this place.

The people call him Baba . He is about 30years of age, and

appeared to me v ery like a sepoy . He was obliging and

communicativ e, and gav e me both assistance and information .

If he had been surly and disobliging, he might easily hav eraised religious scruples, and thus hav e thwarted me frommaking an excav ation round the pillar, which I was particularly anxious to do, as it was ev ident to me that thecolumn had sunk considerably into the earth . The man hada few followers, and appeared to be v ery comfortable . Therewas plenty Of food stored in his house, and a fine Old well on

the east side of the court-yard .

The shaft of the pillar is a single block Of polishedsand-stone, 1 8 feet in height abov e the present ground lev elof the court-yard in whi ch it stands, and 27 feet 1 1 inchesabov e the surrounding fields. The difference between thesetwo measurements, or 9 feet 1 1 inches, represents the ac

cumulation of rubbish around the pillar abov e the generallev el of the country . I made an excav ation all roundthe shaft until I reached water at a depth of 14 feet belowthe lev el Of the court-yard, and of 4 feet 1 inch below thelev el of the fields. The water in the old well close by wasstanding at the same lev el . As the whole of the shaft exposed by the excav ation is polished, it appears to me certainthat the pillar must hav e sunk into the ground at least 4feet 1 inch in depth, and most probably sev eral feet more,as there was no appearance of any basement at the pointreached by my excav ation . The whole height of shaftabov e the water lev el is 32feet . I was informed by an old

man at Besarh that the Séheb who excav ated the Bakhra

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BESARE . 61

pillar. Some few are of Musalmans, sev eral Of Hindus, butthe most of Christians. The v isitors, I was told, wrote theirnames in charcoal , and a v illage black-smith afterwardstraced them roughly with a chisel The whole surface of the

pillar within reach is disfigured with these rude scrawls, Ofwhich the neat est and smallest is that Of Reuben Burrow,

Some of the Nagari inscriptions consist of two shortlines, but none of them, as far as I could judge, are morethan 200 or 300 years Old. The pil lar is known by thepeople as .Bhim-Sen-c hit and .BMm-Sen-c —danda .

Immediately to the south of the pillar there is a smalltank, 200 feet from east to west, and 1 50 feet from north tosouth . It has no name, but is simply called Kaind or

Pokhar. To the south, at a distance of 35 feet, there is alow mound of broken bricks, which must hav e been the siteof some ancient building . At short distances from the

south-west and north-west corners of the tank, there are two

similar mounds. The probable identification of the tank andmounds will be noticed hereafter.

Due north from the pillar, and just outside the courtyard, there is a ruined stupa of solid brick surmounted by afine old Pipal tree. This stupa is 25 feet 10 inches in heightabov e the fields, but only 15 feet 1 1 inches abov e the presentground lev el of the pillar. An excav ation has been maderight into the centre of the mound from the north-west. The

excav ation , I was informed by an old man, was superintendedby a Bengali serv ant of some Saheb more than 50 years ago,but no discov ery wasmade. This account agrees with that

giv en byMr. Stephenson, who relates that the excav ation wasmade by a Doctor, resident at Muzafarpur, 30 years ago, thatis, prev ious to 1 835, or about A . D . 1 805. As the centre Of

the mass had ev idently been reached by the Bengali, I did notthink it necessary to make any further excav ation.

To the north-east of the ruined stupa, at a distance of

250 feet, there is a low mound similar to those near the tank,and due north, at a distance of 500 feet, there is a smalltemple containing a life-size statue Of Buddha the Ascetic,which was discov ered only eight years ago in digging up somebrick walls immediately to the east of the temple. The

statue is perfect, not ev en the nose being broken . Thereis a small Buddha on each side Of the figure, and there are

62 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861 -62.

two lions on the pedestal, besides a long inscription, beginning with the usual Buddhist formula. There is no date,but the characters are those of the 8th or 9th century . The

spot on which the figure was found was most probably the

site of an ancient m'

ha'

r or Buddhist chapel monastery, inwhich the statue was enshrined . I saw sev eral of the brickswith bev elled edges similar to those that form part of the

mouldings of the Great Temple at Buddha Gaya, and of the

stupa at Giryek .

The lion pillar and the surrounding remains at BakhraI would identify with a group of holy buildingsdescribedby Hwen Thsang as being situated upwards of one mile tothe north-west Of the Palace of Vaisali . The exact distanceis not mentioned, but the existing remains correspond so

closely with his details regarding the situation and natureof the different Objects, that there can be no reasonabledoubt as to the identity of the whole group . The first worknoticed by Hwen Thsang as being upwards of one mile tothe north-west of the Palace of Vaisali is a stupa that wasbui lt by King Asoka, of which the purpose is not stated .

Beside the stupa there was a stone column from 50 to 60feet in height, surmounted by the statue of a lion . To thesouth of the pillar there was a tank which had been ex

cav ated by a flock of monkeys for the use of Buddha . At

a short distance to the west of the tank there was a stupaerected on the spot where the monkeys climbed a tree and

filled Buddha’

s begging pot with honey . On the southside of the tank there was another stupa erected on the

spot where the monkeys Offered the honey to Buddha, and

at the north-west angle of the tank there was a statue of

a monkey .

‘

The ruined stupa to the north of the pillar I wouldidentify with Asoka ’

s stupa, and the small tank to the southof the pillar with the celebrated Markata-hrada or Mon

keys’ Tank,”which, as we hav e already

'

seen, was in the sameposition with respect to the lion pillar. The two low moundsto the west and south of the tank correspond with the sitesof the two stupas built to commemorate the monkey’s offering of honey to Buddha ; and the low mound to the northwest agrees exactly with the site Of the monkey’s statue.

Jalien’

s Hwen Thsang , II., pp. 386-387.

BESARE . 63

The correspondence between the sev eral objects so minutelydetailed by Hwen Thsang and the existing remains is com

plete. The only point on which there is any seeming discrepancy is the height of the pillar, which was from 50 feet to60 feet, while the actual pillar may, perhaps, be less. The

height of the lion statue is 4 feet 6 inches, that of the capital is 3 feet 10 inches, and that of the polished shaft down tothe water lev el is35 feet 10inches,making altogether a heightOf only 44 feet 2 inches but as neither the basement of theillar nor the end of the polished portion of the shaft hav eon reached, it is quite certain that the pillar must hav ebeen higher than this measurement . I woul d, therefore, fixits probable original height at about 50 feet, which wouldthen agree with the measurement of Hwen Thsang .

Vaisfili, the Capital of the L ichchhav i family, was especially famous as the scene of the second Buddhist Synod in443 B . C . The assembly was held, according to HwenTheang, at a spot 27}miles to the south-east of the city

, but

I coul d find no remains in that direction . Vaisali was alsocelebrated as the place where Buddha had announced hisapproaching Nirvana . The actual spot was to the westwardof the town, but after the announcement, Buddha, with hiscousin disciple Ananda, repaired to the Kata

'

gdra hall, where

he addressed his followers for the last time. Kutagara, whichmeans the upper-storied hall,

”was a famous edifice situated

in the Mahav ano Vzha'

ro, in which Buddha had dwelt duringthe 5th year of his teaching .

‘ Maha'

v ano Viharo means

the Chapel Monastery of the Great Forest. Fa-Hianspeaks of a great forest and a chapel of two stories but

Hwen Thsang makes no allusion to the upper-storied hall,although, as we know from the Mdndhdtm

’

Sutra of the

D ivya A v adtina, translated by Burnouf, the Kutdga’

ra Hall

was situated on the bank of the Markata-hrada , or MonkeyTank .

”1L FromHwen Thsang

’

s silence I infer that this oncefamous hall, which Fa-Hian had seen about A . D . 410, musthav e become ruined before A . D . 640. A ltogether, the agreement of these details is so v ery close that I think there canbe li ttle, if any, doubt that the Bakhra ruins represent thesite of the group Of sacred objects described by Hwen Thsang .

Ev en the great forest can still be traced in the numerous fine0 Tumour in Benga l Asiatic Society

’

s Journal, 1883, pp. 790 and 1200.

1“ Introduction a l’Histoire (lu Buddhisme Indien, p. 7 b.

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KESAR IYA . 65

of opini on that the present stupa is of middle age, say fromA . D . 200 to 700, and that it was built upon the ruined massof a much Older and much larger stupa. That such a

practice was not uncommon, we learn from Hwen Thsang,who describes two stupas at Vaisali as hav ing been erectedon ancient foundations. I feel quite satisfied that such hasbeen the case with the Kesariya Monument, and as all the

early stupas are found to be hemispherical, I infer that thelower and earlier stupa must hav e been of that form. Its

great size may be deduced from the breadth of the base of

the upper stupa, namely, 68 feet 5 inches, at a height of 62

feet abov e the ground ; and as there must hav e been a clearterrace all round this stupa, for the perambulation of pil

grims, the actual thickness Of the early stupa at this heightcannot hav e been much less than 100 feet, which would giv ea diameter at base of 160 feet . The height of the hemis

phere would, of course, hav e been 80 feet, but with the usualsquare Buddhist capital surrounded by an umbrella, or otherpinnacle, the stupa could not hav e been less than 100 feet .

This ancient monument is known to the people as R aj a

Ben lea .Deora . The similar but smaller stupa at Kasiya isalso called a D eora , or, as it iswritten by Buchanan, .Dewhara .

In both cases the name belongs to the upper stupa, and not

to the whole mass, as all mounds, whether of earth or brick,in this part of the country, are named .Blzz

'

sa . DeOriya,which is a v ery common v illage name in the districts of

Tirhut, Champaran, and Gorakhpur, is applied, I believ e,only to such places as possess either a temple or some otherholy buildings. Of R aj a Ben the people hav e no tradition,

except that he was one of the fiv e Supreme Emperors of

India, and he is, therefore, called R aj a B en Chakrav artti .

The piece of water immediately to the south of the stupa isalso named after him, Raj a B en lea D ig lza , or Raja Ben’

s

Tank . I know only Of one Raja Vena , whom the R ishis aresaid to hav e inaugurated as Monarch Of the Earth,

”but

whom they afterwards slew , because hewou ld not allow themto worship Vishnu Who,

”exclaimed he, “ is this Hari

whom you style the lord of sacrifice ?” From Vena’

s rightarm, when rubbed by Brahmans, was produced a son namedPrithu , who, according to the Vishnu Purana, also become aChakra v artti R aj a . This Vena Chakrav artti is most probably the great Raja Ben to whom the tradition refers.

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KESARIYA LAURIYA ARA-RAJ. 67

made fromBakhra to Motihari v ia Kesarlya. The excav ationshav e disclosed the walls of a small temple, 10 feet squareinside, and the head and shoulders of colossal figure of Bud

dha, with the usual crisp curly hair. The mound , which isabout 200 feet square, is called R aniwds, and also Gorai, andthe buildings are attributed to some ancient Rani . It ap

pears to me to hav e been the site of a Vihara or TempleMonastery , as portions Of cells are still traceable on the

eastern side. At the south-west angle there is anothersmaller mound of brick ruin, 120 feet from north to southand 60 feet from west to east. It is probably the ruin of a

temple.

XVII . LAURIYA ARA-RAJ.

Between Kesariya and Bettiah, at a distance of 20 milesto the north-west Of the Kesariya stupa, and one mile to thesouth-west of the Hindu temple of Ara-Raj Mahadeo, therestands a lofty stone column which bears in well-preserv edand well-cut letters sev eral of the edictsof KingAsoka . The

pillar itself is simply called L aur, that is, the pha llus, and

the neighbouring v il lage, which lies notmore than 100yardstothe westward, is called L auriya . This is the pillarwhich, on

the authority Of Mr. Hodgson, has been ca lled the BadhiaPillar. Now, as the other pillar to the north of Bettiah is

also called L aw , and the large v illage close to it Lauriya ,

while Mr. Hodgson has named it Mat/dab, I presume thathis Munshi intentionally suppressed the phallic name of

L auriya , and named the two pillars at random after some of

the neighbouring v illages. Thus Bahariya (Burheea of

Indian A tlas Sheet No . which isMr. Hodgson’

s Radhia,lies 2% miles to the west north-west of the southern pillar,while Mathiah lies 3miles due south from the northern pil lar.

In describing these pillars I will preserv e the characteristicname of L a uriya , and for the sake of distinguishing the one

from the other, I will add to each the name Of the nearestv illage, thus the v illage near the southern pillar I shall cal lL auriya Ara-R aj , and that near the northern pillar L auriyaNacandgarh.

The Ara-Raj Pillar is a single b lock of polished sandstone, 365 feet in height abov e the ground, with a base diameter of 41 8 inches, and a top diameter of 37 6 inches.

The weight of this portion only is v ery nearly 34 tons, but

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LAURIYA NAVANDGARH . 69

fort of Nav andgarh is omitted, but it will be found in the

Calcutta Map, on the 8-mile scale, as Naonad-garh . The

mound is from 250 to 300 feet square at top, and 80 feet inheight . On account of its height it was chosen as one of the

stations of the Trigonometrical Surv ey, and for the samereason it commands a most extensiv e and beautiful v iew of

the well-wooded country around it . ’

The remains at Lauriya Nav andgarh are particularly interesting, as they are v ery extensiv e, and at the same timequite different in character from any others that I hav e exa

mined . These remains consist of three rows of earthembarrows or huge conical mounds of earth, of which two of therows lie from north to south, and the third from west to east .The stupas hitherto met with hav e been made either of stoneor of brick ; but the earliest stupas were mere mounds of

earth, of which these are the on ly specimens that I hav eseen . I believ e that they are the sepu lchral mounds Of the

early kings of the country, prior to the rise and spread ofBuddhism, and that their date may, therefore, be assumed asranging from about 600 to 1 500 B . C . The word stupameant originally only

“a mound of earth, and this is the

rendering giv en to the word by Colebrooke in his translation of the Amarakosha . In the time of Asoka all the

stupas were certainly built either Of stone or brick, as

recorded by Hwen Thsang ; and, although he is silent regarding the material of the earlier stupas of Ajtttasatra and othercontemporaries of Buddha, yet, as he makes no mention anywhere of earthen stupas, I presume that all the Buddhistmonuments were either of brick or stone . The earthenbarrows I would, therefore, refer to an earlier period, as the

stupas or sepulchral mounds raised ov er the ashes of the

rulers of the country, the larger mounds belonging, perhaps,to the greater or more famous monarchs who had assumedthe title of Chakrav artti Rfijas. Ev ery mound is calledsimply B li isa, and the whole are said to hav e been the fortified residences of the ministers and nobles of Raja Uttcinp at,while the Port Of Nav andgarh was the Raja

’

s own residence .

Utlcinap cida , King of Brahmav arta or Bharatkhand, that is,of the Gangetic Doab, was the son of the Mann Swag/ambhava, the first-created of Brahma, and the progenitor of

Sec Plate XXIII. for a plan of these ruins, and Plate XXV. for a v iew.

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LAURIYA NAVANDGARH .

as the wall was only 16 inches thick , the former would seemto be the more probable supposition . Mound B . is a simpleearthen barrow, 25 feet in height . Mound C . , which is 30feet in height, is thickly cov ered with broken brick . Thereare traces of foundation walls on the top, but a former exca

v ation shows that the whole mass is plain earth . There are

traces also of walls on the slopes of the mound ; and in an

excav ation amongst these superficial brick ruinsmade by Mr.

Ly nch, Deputy Magistrate of Motihari, there was found a seal

of black earthen-ware, bearing a short inscription in charactersof the Gupta period, that is, of the 2nd and 3rd century afterChrist . The inscription, which consists of four letters, readsA ta véjd. This is most probably only a name which maymean either Atav i j a , the forest born,

”or less probably

A ta eg’

ia ,“ the cause of motion . At the end of the

name there is the Swastika , or mystic cross, and ov er thename in the middle there is the symbol of .Dlzarmma, and

to the left, in a slanting direction, a trident, or trisdl . The

discov ery of this seal shows that Nav andgarh Lauriya was

certainly occupied by the Buddhists as late as the 2nd or 3rd

century A . D . Doubtless their occupation continued to a

later period ; for, although both Fa—H ian and Hwen Thsangmake no allusion to it, their silence is easily accounted forby the fact that the course of their trav els did not take eitherof them into the Bettiah District. The two remaining barrowsof this row are somewhat higher, mound D . being 35 feet,and E . 45 feet . Both of them are cov ered with broken brick .

The top of D . had already been opened, and I myself made anexcav ation on the top of mound E . Both had fiat tops, as ifterraces had once existed on their summits, and with thisimpression I began my excav ation . A t the depth of 4 feetall trace of brick disappeared, the mass of the mound beingplain earth . The bricks were large, 1 5

”x 9 x 2

None of the barrows of the middle line hav e any tracesof brick upon them, but seem to be made of plain earth .

They are all cov ered with low thorny jungle. The mostnortherly mound of this line, marked H is 25 feet in heightthe next mound, marked G . , is 20 feet ; the next F . is 50

feet ; and the next M . is 55 feet . The last two are the

highest of all the barrows at Nav andgarh Lauriya . The

next mound N. is only 1 5 feet high, and the next southerlymound, marked Q .

, is 25 feet in height. About one-half of

72 ARCHJEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1861 -62.

the massof the last mound has been excav ated and carriedaway to Bettiah on bullocks and donkeys. The whole heartof the mound is formed of an extremely hard whitish clay,which is used by the people as a light coloured clay-wash for

the walls of their houses. This clay is, indeed, so hard thatit turns the edges of common digging tools. When freshlycut, it glistens, and has a bluish tint. From whence was

this clay Obtained ? There is none now anywhere near the

place, the soil being generally light and sandy . Can it hav ebeen found here formerly, or was it brought from a distance

In the outer line there are only four large barrows, themost northerly, marked L . , being 20 feet in height, and theother three, marked K . , J and R . , being each 30feet . The lastmound R . , which is the most sou therly of this line, has alsobeen excav ated for the sake of its stifl

'

white clay, Which issimilar to that of mound Q . of the middle line. Between J .

and R . I traced sev en small mounds, of which the largest,marked O . ,

is only asfeet in height . I made an Opening inthis mound down to the ground lev el, but without any resul t,except that it prov ed the mound to be formed of common hardearth, and not of the indurated glistening white clay, whichforms the masses of the two barrows Q. and R .

There is another question regarding these barrows whichis, perhaps, quite as puzzling as that of their origin, namely,from whence was the earth for so many large mounds procured, for there is not a single hollow or excav ation of anykind in their neighbourhood ? On three sides of the huge

mound of Nav andgarh the tanks still exist to show fromwhence its material was obtained, but with respect to thematerial for the tumul i we are left entirely to conjecture.

Between the mounds and the v illage of Lauriya there is thedry bed of an annual flood stream called the Tarkdka Ndla ,but its soil is light and sandy, excepting only in the deeperpools, where the water lies for sev eral months. It seemsscarcely possible that the earth could hav e been taken fromthis sandy channel, and yet it is equally impossible to sayfrom what other place it could hav e been obtained .

The lion pillar of Lauriya Nav andgarh stands to thenorth of the mounds A . and B . , at a distance of less than 500feet from each . Its .shaft is formed of a single block of

polished stand-stone, 32 feet 91} inches in height, with a dia

LAURIYA NAVANDGAR'

R . 73

meter at base of 35 5 inches and of 26 2 inches at top . The

capital, which is 6 feet 10 inches in height, is bell-shaped,with a circular abacus supporting the statue of a lion facingthe north .

“ The abacus is ornamented with a row of

Brahmani geese pecking their food . The column has a lightand elegant appearance, and is altogether a much more pleasing monument than the stouter and shorter pillar of Bakhra.

The lion has been injured in the mouth, and the column itselfbears the round mark of a cannon shot just below the

capital, which has itself been slightly dislodged by the shock.

One has not far to seek for the name of the probable authorof this mischief. By the people the outrage is ascribedto the Musalmans, and on the pillar itself, in beautiful ly cut Persian characters, is inscribed the name of

Mahi-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzib Pddshcih A lamgir Gha‘

zi,

Sank, 1071 . This date corresponds with A . D . 1660-61 ,which was the fourth year of the reign of the bigotted Aurangzib, and the record may probably hav e been inscribed bysome zealous follower in Mir Jumla s Army, which was

then on its return from Bengal, after the death of the

Emperor’s brother Shuja . The Nav andgarh Pillar is muchthinner andmuch lighter than those of Ara-Raj and Bakhra .

The weight of the polished portion of its shaft is only 18 tons,or rather less than half that of the Bakhra Pillar, and somewhat more than half that of the Ara-Raj Pillar.

The pillar is inscribed with the edicts of Asoka ln the

same clear and beautifully cut characters as those of the

Ara-Raj Pillar. The two inscriptions, with only a few triflingv ariations, correspond letter for letter. I made a careful copyof the whole for comparison with the text made public byJames Prinsep . I made also a facsimile 1mpression in ink .

The Nav andgarh Pil lar has been v isited by numeroustrav ellers, as i t stands in the direct route from Bettiah toNepal . There are a few unimportant inscriptions in modernNagari , the oldest being dated in v at 1566, chait badi 10,equiv alent to A . D . 1509. One of them, without date, refersto some petty Royal Family, Nm

’

p a Narayana Suta, e’

p a

Amara Singha , that is,“ King Amara Singha, the son of

King Narayana The only English inscription is the nameof Rn. B urrow, 1 792.

See Plate XXII. for a v iew of this pillar.

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PADARAONA . 75

the building would almost certainly hav e been a stupa ; forwe know that the people of Pewa, after the cremation of

Buddha’

s body, obtained one-eighth of the relics, ov er whichthey erected a stupa . The entrance to the court-yard wouldappear to hav e been on the east side, where the mound isnew low and thickly cov ered with bricks.

In a small roofless brick building at a short distance tothe northward, there are a few old figures. This ttemple isdedi cated to Hathi Bhawani, or the Elephant Goddess, whois accordingly propitiated with rude v otiv e figures of ele

phants in baked clay, of whi ch numbers lie scattered aboutthe temple, both inside and outside. The statue calledHathi Bhawani represents a squatted male figure with a

triple umbrella ov er his head . The figure appears to benaked, and if so, it must belong to the Jains, and not to the

Buddhists. A drawing of it is giv en by Buchanan.

‘ There arealso two fragments with seated Buddhas, and a third with theupper half of a female figure . On referring to Buchanan Irecognized all three fragmentsas hav ing belonged to the statuesketched as fig . 2 in his plate. The principal figure 18 now

gone, but there are a few unimportant fragments not noticedby Buchanan, and in the v illage there 18 the pedestal of a

statue.

I made an excav ation on the highest part of the moundon the west side, and to the northward of the zemindar’sexcav ation . In this I found bricks with rounded edges suchas I had noticed in the mouldings of the Great Temple at

Buddha-Gya, and of the stupati

at Giryek . I found alsowedge

-shaped bricks of two si zes. The largest ones beingonlv fragments, I was unable to ascertain their length, butthei r b1 eadth was 203 at the end, and 1 9

1 inches at 6 inchesdistance . As the larger end was rounded, these bricksmusthav e formed part of some circular building and most probably of a solid stupa, which would hav e been just 30 feet 1ndiameter. The smaller bricks were 8; inches long 51 inchesbroad at the widest end, and 5 inches at the narrow end, witha thickness Of 27} inches. These may hav e belonged to a

small stupa about 9 feet in diameter. In my excav ation Ifound also the base of a pillar of coarse grey sandstone . Itwas 15 inches square and 61} inches high, with a few plain

Eastern India, II. , Plate I., Fig.

”

76 ABCIIE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

mouldings at the upper edge. The complete excav ation of

thismound would not be difficult, and the work might besuperintended by the civ il authorities of the place, who liv eclose by .

X X . KA S I A .

The v illage of Kasia is situated at the crossing of two

great thoroughfares, at a distance of 35miles due east fromGorakhpur. The name is written Kasia , with the short ain the first syllable ; but I hav e little doubt that it shouldbe written Kusia with the short a , for the place corresponds,both in position and in name, with the celebratedKusinagara

or Town of the Kusa-grass,”which, as the scene of

Buddha’s death, was famous throughout India. This sacredspot was v isited both by Fa-Hian and by Hwen Thsang ;and the latter has left a detailed account of the v ariousstup as which still existed in his time. Most of these hav enow disappeared, owing partly to the remov al of bricks bythe people, but chiefly, I believ e, to the inundations of theLittle Gandak R iv er, which at some former period must hav eflowed close by the sacred buildings of Kusinagara, as there

are sev eral old channels between the two principal massesof ruins, which are still occasionally filled during the rainyseason .

The existing remains hav e already been described byBuchanan“ and by Mr. Liston ;

‘

l' but their accounts are v ery

brief, and offer no attempt to identify the ruins with any of

the ancient cities which are known to hav e existed in thispart of the country . The remains consist of— l st, a loftymound of solid brick-work called D ev istha

‘

n and 1?d t

B hawdm? 2nd, an oblong mound called the Fort of Mdtlza

‘

Kuar, which is cov ered with broken brick and jungle,and on which stands a brick stupa much ruined ; 3rd, a largestatue of Buddha the Ascetic ; 4th, a low square moundcov ered with broken brick near the v illage of Anrudkwd

’

and 5th, a number of low earthern mounds, like barrows,

which are scattered ov er the plain to thenorth and east of thegreat mound. I

Eastern Indi a, II. , p . 357.

1' Bengal Asiatic Society

’

s Journal , 1837, p. 477.

I See Plate XXVI . for a Map of Kas'ia . I opened sev eral of these barrows, but m th

out any result. I believ e now that I d1d not dug deep enough . That they are tombs I feel

quite certain,asMegasthenes describes the Indian sepulchrcs as plain, and the tumulc of

earth low.

”Strabo.

,XV” I. 54.

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KASIA . 77

The mound called D ev isthdn and Rdmdbhar Tz’

la is the

ruin of a large ancient stupa of solid brick-work, which isstill 49 feet in height abov e the fields. It 13 situated somewhat less than one mile to the south-west of Kasia. On the

top, under a fine old Banian Tree, 18 the shrine of the goddess

Dev i . There IS neither statue nor building, but only somev otiv e figures in baked clay, the offerings of the poor peopleto their fav ourite Dev i . The goddess is also called R dmdbkdrB hawdni, because the mound is situated on the western bankof the Rdmdbhcir J7nl, a large natural sheet of water, whichformspart of the bed of the R oha Ndla , one of the old channelsof the Little Gandak . As the mound 18 also called RamabharTila, it is possible that this name may hav e originally belongedto the stupa. I attempted to make an excav ation at the topof the mound, but the large interlaced roots of the BanianTree soon forced me to giv e up the work . At the southeastern foot of the mound I discov ered a portion of a smallstupa formed of v ery large bricks, av eraging 5 inches in

thickness. These bricks were 1 7 1 inchesm length andwedgeshaped, being Bl inches broad at one end, and

b

only 7 inchesat the other end. These dimensions would giv e a diameterof only 16—1 feet to the stupa.

The large mound called Mdlhd-Kuar-ka-kot, !or the

Fort ofMatha-Kuar, is 600 feet in length from northwest to south-east, and from 200 to 300 feet in breadth . At

its highest point, which is 30 feet 3 inches in height abov ethe plain, the mound is formed entirely of solid brick-work,which I believ e to be the remains of a v ery ancient stupa .

On this point stands a solid tower of brick-work with sidesmuch ruined, and its top cov ered with longgrass. This isundoubtedly a stupa, and from its position it must be ofmuchlater date than the ancient mass of brick-work on whi ch itstands. I conclude that it 1s a work ofmiddle age, orbetweenA . D . 200 and 600. At present themass of the tower 1s only24 feet thick, but by clearing away the rubbish, I measureda circumference of 86 feet, which giv es a diameter of nearly271 feet . The present height of the lower portion is only 15feet, and that of the grass-cov ered top, 12 feet 9 inches, thewhole being 27 feet 9 inches abov e the ancient foundation,

and 58 feet abov e the plain . But as the original height ofthis later work was most probably equal to two diameters, or

55 feet, the whole height of the stupa abov e the plain wouldhav e been 85 feet. I drov e a horizontal gallery into the

78 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

centre of the building at its base without making any discov ery. I confess that I did not expect to find anything, as,I believ e, that whatev er relics may hav e been deposited on

this spot, they would hav e been placed in the more ancientstupa below, which forms the foundation of the presentmonument. There is a fine Pipal Tree close to this stupa .

‘

The mound called the Fort of Matha Kuar is situatednearly yards to the north north-west of the ruined stupacalled Ramabhar. Buchanan giv es the distance as4100yards,whi ch ismost probably a misprint for yards. My dis

tance was measured from centre to centre ; if taken from footto foot, the distance would be a little ov er yards. Thismound would seem to hav e been formed of the min of two

large buildings and of sev eral small ones. The site of one of

the larger ones has just been described ; that of the other isto the north-westward, the summit of the mound at thispoint, which is crowned by a large Pipal Tree, being 20 feet

in height abov e the plain . To the east of the stupa there isalso a small detached mound, 16 feet 3 inches in height . Imade an excav ation in the top of thismound, which I abandoued after reaching a depth of 4 feet 3 inches, as I foundonly broken bricksmixed with earth . Both to the north and

south of the stupa there are lowmounds, which are probablythe remains of small detached towers or otherbuildi ngs. The

top of the large mound is in most parts thickly cov ered withbricks, but towards the north-west end, where the elev ationis low, there are some rather large spaces quite clear ofbricks, whichmay be supposed to represent the court-yards,or v acant spots between the buildings. I noticed manywedge-shaped bricks, which must hav e belonged to stupas ofsmall size, besides sev eral bricks with one-half face bev elledlike those in the mouldings of the Great Temple at BuddhaGaya and of Jarasandha

’

s Tower at Giryek . I was unable totrace any straight lines of surrounding walls, and, from the

irregular outline of the mound, I incline to believ e that ithas been formed by the ruin of a considerable number of

independent buildings, such as a cluster of stupas of all sizes.

From the total absence of statues, I infer that there were

probably but few temples on this site .

The large statue known as that of Mdthd Em’

ir, or the

Dead Prince,”is now lying on the ground at a distance of

See Plate XXVII. for a v iew of these ruins.

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KASIA. 79

feet from the brick stupa abov e described . Quite closebeside it, to the eastward, there is a low squaremound whichI believ e to be the remains of a temple in which the imagewas formerly enshrined . The statue which ismade of the

dark blue stone of Gaya, is split into two pieces from topto bottom, and is otherwise much injured . The short inscription on its pedestal has been almost worn out by the v illagersin sharpening their tools, but the few letters which remain are

suflicient to show that the statue is not of older date than the1 l th or 1 2th century. The figure itself is colossal, andrepresents Buddha the Ascetic seated under the Bodhi Tree atBudha-Gaya . The whole sculpture is 10; feet in height byfeet in breadth . The height of the figure alone is 5 feet 4%

inches, the breadth across the shoulders being 3 feet 855inches, and across the knees 41 feet 5 inches. A sketch of

this sculpture is giv en by Buchanan .

‘

Between the Fort of Mdtha”. Kuar and the great stupa

on the R fmdbhdr Jki l, there is a low mound of brick ruinsabout 500 feet square, which is said to hav e been a loot or

fort, and to which no name is giv en ; but as it lies close tothe v illage of Anrudhwa on the north-west, it may be calledthe Anrudhwa mound . There is nothing now left to showthe nature of the bui ldings which once stood on this site ;but from the square shape of the ruins, it may be conjeetured with some probability that they must be the remains ofa monastery . There are three fine Pipal Trees now standingon themound .

To the north and east of the mound of MathaKuar theplain is cov ered with a number of low grassy mounds from3 to 6 feet in height, and from 12 to 25 feet in diameter.

Regarding these barrows the people hav e a tradition that

gypsys were formerly v ery numerous about Kasia, and thatthese mounds are the tumuli of their dead . I opened threeof them, but without making any discov ery . They were allformed of plain earth, without any trace of bones, or ashes,or broken bricks. The people call them simply mounds, butI was informed by an old man that he had heard them styledB himciwd

’

t, and that ghosts were sometimes seen fli ttingabout them. If the name of t

‘

mdwa'

t has any referenceto these ghosts, it might, perhaps, be translated as the fear

Eastern India, IL, Plate 11.

80 ancnmoLosrc REPORT, 1861-62.

some place ; but I cannot be certain of the spelling, and itis also possible that the old man may not hav e rememberedthe name correctly . I counted 21 of these mounds, but as

they are generally not more than 3 or 4 feet in height, it isprobable that their actual number ismuch greater.

‘

I hav e already stated that the site of Kasia corresponds both in position and in name with the ancient cityof Kusinagara, which was famous throughout India as thescene of Buddha’s death . According to Hwen Thsang,Kusinagara was situated at 700 Ii, or 1 16mi les to the northeast of Benares. Now Kassie is 1 12 miles to the northnorth-east of Benares in direct line. Fa-Hian also placesKusinagara at a distance of 23 yoj ans to the north-west of

a place which was situated only 8 or 10miles to the northof Vaisali, where the L ichchham

'

Nobles had taken a last farewell of Buddha. At 7miles to the yoj an Fa-Hain ’

smeasurement would place Kusinagara. at 148 or 1 50 miles to the

north-west of Vaisali . Now the di stance by the route whichI marched is exactly 1 40 miles in a north-west direction,

but as thismeasurement was taken along the straight linesof road which hav e been laid out by the British authorities,the actual distance by the old winding Nativ e roads must

certainly hav e been somewhat greater, or as nearly possible150miles.

The only name now associated with the ruins near

Kasia is that of Matha Kuar, or the D ead Prince.

”

Mr. Liston giv es the name asMata, but a Brahman of the

neighbouring v illage of Bishanpur, who wrote the nameforme, spelt it as I hav e giv en it, Mdthd. As this spellingpoints to the deriv ation of the word fromMdthci, or Mdthe

‘

i,

to kill ,” I hav e translated Mdthd Kudr as the “ Dead

Prince,”which I refer to Buddha himselfafter his death, or,

in the language of the Buddhists, after his obtainment of

Nirv ama . Hwen Thsang, when speaking of Sakya’

s as

sumption of the mendicant’s dress, calls him K umd’

ra R aj a”

,

or the Royal Prince but, although this title was nev er, Ibeliev e, applied to him by the learned after his assumption of

Buddhahood, it doesnot seem at all improbable that it mayhav e remained in common use amongst the people. We

f See a prev ious note at p . 76, quoting the description of Megasthenes, that theIndxan tumuli were low moundsof earth.

”

KASIA . 81

know fromHwen Theang that on the spot where Buddhadied there was a brick v ilidr or temple monastery in whichwas enshrined a recumbent statue of Buddha on his deathbed, with his head turned to the north. Now this statuewould naturally hav e been the principal Object of v enerationat Kusinagara ; and, although amongst the learned it mighthav e been called the statue of the Nirvcina ,

”

yet I can

readily believ e that itsmore popular name amongst all classeswould hav e been the statue Of the Dead Prince .

” I am,

therefore, of Opinion that the name Of Mi lka? Kuar, whi chstill clings to the ruins Of Kasia, has a direct reference to thedeath Of Buddha, whi ch, according to hisfollowers, took placeat Kusinagara on the full moon of Vaisakh, 543 B . 0.

Owing to the wanderings of the Little Gandak R iv er,it is somewhat diflicul t to follow Hwen Thsang

’

s account Ofthe sacred edifices at Kusinagara . The whole Of the existingremains are situated to the eastward Of the Khanua Ndla,which is only a branch or inundation channel of the LittleGandak R iv er. A ll the Old channels are called Chewarthe L ambuka Chawar, running between the two ancientstupas, and the R oha Ohawar, or Roha Nala, to the east ofthe Rdmfibhfir Tila . An intelligent man, whom I met at

Padraona, called the stream to the westward Of Kasia the

E irana , but the people in the v illages about the ruin knewonly the Xham

‘

i‘

a Na’

la , and had nev er heard Of the H irana .

Buchanan, howev er, calls the H irana a considerable riv uletwhich has a course of about 15 miles, andmakes it a feederof the Little Gandak but there is some confusion in his

description of this riv er. The changes of name would, howev er, appear to hav e been as numerous as the changes Of

channel for, in the time Of Hwen Thsang, this stream was

called the Ajitav ati, its more ancient name hav ing beenH iranyav ati, while the present name is Chota Gandak, andthe eastern inundation branch is called

.

Khomz'

ia . There isnow no trace of Hwen Thsang

’

s Aj itav ati , but the name of

H ira izya v ati is still preserv ed in the H irana of my Padraonainformant .

At the time of Hwen Thsang’

s v isit, the walls Of Ku

sinagara were in ruins, and the place was almost deserted ;but the brick foundations of the Old Capital occupied a

East ern 11111111, H ., p . 316.

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msm. 83

regard to the slight difference of name, I hav e already statedmy belief that the name of the present v illage should in all

probabili ty be written Kusia instead of Kasia, and in fav ourof this spelling I may add that the name is v ariously speltin the Buddhist Books as Kusigra

‘

maka, Kasina’

ra, Kasimi

yam, and Kusz’

magari .

After the death of Buddha, the assembled Bhikshus (ormendicants) were consoled by the oVenerable Aniruddha, who

assured them that he saw the Dev atas looking down fromthe skies upon earth, and weeping and bewailing withdishev elled hairand up-lifted arms.

‘ Aniruddha was the firstcousin of Buddha, being the second son of Amitodana, one

of the brothers of Suddhodana, the father Of Sakya Sinha .

He was one of the ten great disciples of his cousin, and was

renowned for his penetrating sight. Accordingly, on the

death Of Buddha, he took the lead of all the disciples present,and conducted their proceedings. By his directions Anandamade known the death of Buddha to the Mallian Nobles, whoat once proceeded to the spot with garlands of flowers, andnumerous cloths and music . For six days the body lay instate , attended by the people of Kusinara . On the sev enthday, when eight Of the Mallian Nobles, who had been selected to carry the corpse to the place Of cremation, attempted tolift it, they found themselv esunable to mov e it . The amazedNobles, on enquiring of the Venerable Aniruddha the

cause of this prodigy, were informed that their intention of

carrying the corpse through the southern gate to the south of

the city was contrary to the intention Of the Dev atas. Lord,”

said the Mallian Nobles, whatev er he the intention of the

Dev atas, be it acceded to . Accordingly, the corpsewasborneby the eightMallian Chieftains, on a bier formed of their lances,through the northern gate to the centre of the town , and thenthrough the eastern gate to the coronation hall of the Mallians,where the funeral pile had been prepared . FourNobleMallians

then adv anced and applied their torches to the funeral pile,but they were unable to ignite it. Again the baffled Noblesinquired of Aniruddha the cause of this second prodigy,who informed them that it was the intention Of the

Dev atas that the corpse shoul d not be burnt until the arriv alOf Maha Kai syapa, the chief disciple of Buddha . At that

0 Turnout in Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, 1838, p. 1009.

84 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

moment Kasyapa was on hisway fromP eirceto Kesindre . On

his arriv al he perambulated the pile three times, and thenOpening it at the end, he rev erentially bowed down his headat the feet of Buddha. As he rose, the pile spontaneouslyigni ted, and the corpse Of the great teacher was .consumed .

I hav e giv en this long‘

account of the Obsequies of

Buddha for the express purpose of showing the v ery prominent part that was taken by Aniruddha in all the proceedings. He first consoled the disciples on the death of Buddha ;he then explained the causes of the miracles why the Mal

lian Nobles were unable at first to lift the corpse Of Buddha,and afterwards to ignite the funeral pile ; and lastly, accordingto Hwen Thsang, he ascended to the heav ens to inform

MayaDev i, the mother of Buddha, of her son’

s death . As the

whole Of these acts were performed at Ensinara, we mightnot unreasonably suppose that some memorial monument of

Aniruddha would hav e been erected there. There is, howev er, no record Of such a monument in Hwen Thsang

’

s ac

count Of the sacred edifices at Kusinagara ; but I think itmore than probable that the v illage of Anrudhwa must hav ereceiv ed its name from some former memorial of the far

sighted Aniruddha, the cousin of Buddha . In Sheet 102 of

the Indian Atlas the name of this v illage is spelt Aniroodwa,which ismore correct than the name written down for meby a Brahman of the place. The existence Of this name inthe immediate v icinity of* the ancient monuments Of Keefe

must, I think, add considerable weight to all the other ev i

dence in fav our Of the identification of Kesie with the ancientKesimegere .

There is a discrepancy between the Ceylonese annals

and the accounts Of the Chinese pilgrim regarding the siteof Buddha’

s cremation . According to the Pali annal s abov equoted, the corpse must hav e been burnt somewhere to theeastward Of the city, and with this account Fa-H ian wouldseem to agree, for he places the scene Of Buddha’

s death tothe northward Of the town. Hwen Thsang, howev er, placesthe site of the cremation to the northward of the city, acrossthe R iv er Hiranyav ati . I think that these different accountsmay, perhaps, be reconciled by identifying the stupa Of the

cremation with the large brick mound called the R dmdblzcirT ile , which being situated opposite to the north-east cornerof the Anrudhwa mound (or ancient city as I suppose),might

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m m KHUKHUN’

DO. 85

hav e been loosely described by one party as lying to thenorth, and by the other as lying to the east.

But the RamabharTila, perhaps, correspondsmore exactly with the site of another stupa, which 1s described byHwenThsang as hav ing been buil t by Asoka near the ancientdwell ing of Chanda, to the north-east Of the city gates. Thisaccount, howev er, 18 somewhat v ague, as no particular gate 18specified . The existence also of a second stupa at the southeast foot of the E t e

'

r Ti le 18 against this identification,

as only one stupa 18 mentioned on this site by Hwen Thsang.

I am, therefore, strongly inclined to identify the .Remebher Tilewith the famous cremation stupa ; but if this position shouldbe considered too far to the eastward to agree with Hwen

T hsang’

s description, then the cremation tower‘

must hav eoccupied some positi on to the north of the Anrudhwamoundin the v erymidst Of the ancient channel of the little GandakR iv er. I confess, howev er, that my own Opinion is againstthis conclusion, and in fav or of the identification Of the

Ramabhar Tila with the cremation stupa.

XX I . KH U K H UND O .

On leav ing Kusinagara en Thsang directed his stepstowards Banaras, and, after hav ing trav elled about 200 li,or upwards Of 30miles, to the south-west, he reached a largetown, in which dwelt a v ery rich Brahman dev oted to

Buddhism.

“i If we adhere closely to the south-west bearing,we must identify this large town with Rudrapur, an ancient

place 30miles to the south-east Of Gorakhpur, and 28 milesin a direct line from Keme . But as Hwen Thsang speaksof the Brahman

’

s hospitality to trav ellers going and coming,it would appear certain that the town must hav e been on the

high road leading from Kasia to Banaras. Now the highroad can nev er hav e passed through Rudrapur, as it wouldhav e entailed the passage of the R ep li in addition to thatof the Gha

’

gra R iv er. I hav e had some experience in thelaying out of roads, and I feel quite satisfied that the Old

high road must hav e crossed the Ghagra somewhere belowits junction with the Rapti . According to the people, theold passage Of the Ghagra was atMeili, fourmiles to the southofKahaon, and threemiles to the north of Bhttgalpur. From

0 Juksa'

s HwenTheang, II., p. 349.

86 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861 -62.

Kasia to this ghat on the Ghfigra, the road would hav e

passed through the ancient town of Khukhundo, and the

large v illages Of Keheon and .t ige lp ur. Of these three,Khukhundo corresponds best with the description Of a large

town ; and as it is 27miles from Kasia by the present straightroad, it must hav e been about 30 miles by the windingNativ e tracks. I believ e, therefore, that it is the large towndescribed by Hwen Thsang in which a rich Brahman had

Spent his wealth in the magnificent decoration Of a Buddhistmonastery . Khukhundo is not now a place of any noteamongst the Brahmans, but it is Often v isited by AgarwalSrawaks from Gorakhpur and Patna, who hav e built a smal lJain temple amongst the ruins. By them its proper nameis said to be Kishhi/ndep ere , so called from K ishlcinde , a

mountain in the south of India, famous in the history of

Rama. Khukhundo must, therefore, hav e been a Brahmanicaltown.

The remains at Khukhundo consist of a few large tanks,and a number of low mounds cov ered with broken brick andthick jungle. The ruins which lie scattered about ov erthe plain, and amongst the fields to the south of Khukhundo,cov er nearly one square mile of ground . All the larger

mounds are square in form, and are beyond all doubt theruins of temples. There are a few low Oblong heaps whichmay possibly be the ru ins Of long ranges Of inferior buildings, but I think it more probable that they are only the col

lections of brick from the fields. Ev ery large mound hasat least one fine lofty tree growing on its summit, and to thedestructiv e power of the roots Of these trees I would attri

bute the ov erthrow of the Khukhundo temples. I v erifiedthis opinion in one instance, that of mound K . , by an excav ation which showed the floor of a temple completely brokenup by the wi de-spreading roots Of a fine Tamarind tree .

Another notable instance is that Of a temple at Kahaon ,

which was standing at the time Of Buchanan’

s v isit, butwhich 18 now only a low mound of brick ruin . Its ov erthrow 1s attributed by all the v illagers to a Pipal tree, whichstands close by the ruin.

The mounds of Khukhundo are about 30 in number, butnotmore than three Of them hav e any names, the rest beingcalled simply Deere, or mounds.

”In my surv ey of the

xnuxnunno. 87

ruins I hav e distinguished them by different letters of the al

phabet, and under these letters I will now describe them.

‘

Mound A . is 100 feet square atbase and 6 feet in height.There is a B el tree (E gle Marmelos) on the top, and a Pdher

(FicusVenosa) on the west side . Under the Bel tree thereis a good figure of the four-armed Vishnu in sandstone, witha pecul iar rayed halo, whi ch is boldly pierced through theslab.

Mound B . , which is 50 feet square at base and 10 feet

high, is called Siv e-Ice Ti le or Siv a’

s mound, because thereare the foundations Of a lingam temple on its summit ; thetemple was only 8 feet square, but the liege/m in blue stoneis still perfect. There is one good piece Of sculpture repre

senting two seated figures, male and female, the latter witha child in her arms. A tree rises behind them, and with itsbranches forms a canopy ov er their heads. The figures,which appear to be entirely naked with the exception Of

some ornaments, are, I believ e, Mahadev a and his wife Dev i,or Bhawani, represented as the goddess Of fecundity, with a

child in her arms. Another sculpture represents a fourarmed femal e standing in what appears to be the prow of a

boat . The subordinate figure Of Gansea, on the upper righthand, shows that the principal figure must be Parv ati, thewife Of Siv a .

Mound C. is 120 feet in length, by 1 10feet in breadth,and 1 5 feet in height . On the tOp there are the ruined wallsof a brick temple, from 4 to 5 feet in height, forming a roomof 9 feet square, with a lingam in the centre. To the southwest there is a wal led entrance built Of bricks of differentsizes, and containing one piece of moulded bricks with a

flower ornament . The smal l size Of the room, the mixture Oflarge and smal l bricks in the walls, and the unusual directionof the entrance, all lead me to conclude that this is an

insignificant modern structure, buil t Of bricks Of all kindsfound on the surface Of the mound .

On both sides Of the entrance there are sev eral sculpturesin sandstone, of which the principal is a statue Of Ganesa.

The other sculptures are a broken sta tue Of Ganesa with his

rat ; the pedestal of a statue with a foot resting on a bull ;

See Plate XXVIII. for a plan of these ruins.

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KHUKIIUNDO. 89

Mound J which is 75 feet square at base, and 15 feet inheight, has also been recently excav ated . I was able to tracethe straight walls of a temple, and in the excav ated holes Ifound large thick piecesof plaster, which had once cov ered thewal ls. There are no sculptures now lying about this mound,but immediately to the south Of it, and outside a small modernJain temple, there is a v ery fine standing figure of the fourarmed Vishnu in blue stone . The head and arms are gone,but the rest of the sculpture is in good order. On the left sidethere are the Fish, the Tortoise, and the Boar Av etdrs and

on the right the Buddha and the Kdlhi A v eta’

rs. The fiv e

missing incarnations must hav e been lost with the head Of thefigure. This fine statue was probably enshrined in a templenow represented by mound J .

The Jain temple is a small square flat-roofed brick building Of recent date . There are no Jains now liv ing at Khukhundo, but the temple is v isited by the Baniyas and Bankersof Gorakhpur and Patna . Inside the temple there is a largenaked figure in blue stone, sitting squatted with his hands inhis lap . Ov erhead there is a triple umbrella, and abov e thata D undubhi Musician flying with his drum. On the pedestalthere is a hull with a lion on each side. Now the bull is thecognizance of Adi Buddha, the first of the 24 Jain Pontiffs.

The people are, therefore,mistaken in calling the figure a statueof Pe

'

rswemith, whose well known symbol is a snake. Out

side the temple, howev er, there is another naked Jain statuewhich has two snakes twisted around itspedestal , and is, therefore, most probably a figure Of Prdswemith. It is possiblethat this may hav e been the original figure enshrined in

the temple . Another sculpture, in coarse sand-stone, repre

sents the same naked couple, male and female, whom Ihav e before described . A tree rises behind them, and withits boughs forms a canopy ov er their heads. Ov er all thereis a small squatted figure like a Buddha, but naked . The

male figure in this sculpture has a lotus in his right hand .

Mound K . , which is crowned with a fine Tamarind tree,is the largest mass of ruin at Khukhundo . It is 120 feetsquare at base and 16 feet in height . At 10 feet abov e theground lev el I made an excav ation at a point on the westernedge, where I Observ ed something like a piece Of terracedflooring. My excav ation uncov ered a portion of terraced

M

90 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861 -62.

floor 9 feet square, but completely broken up by the widespreading roots Of the Tamarind Tree, which hav e piercedthe mound in all directions. I found sev eral ornamentalbricks with boldly cut-flowers and leav es 15 inch in depth .

Two of these bricks, with opposite curv es forming an ogee,had ev idently belonged to a cornice. The outer faces of all

the bricks are ground smooth, and all the edges are so sharpand clean that the joints between the courses Of bricks musthav e been v ery fine indeed . As I saw no fragments of

figures about thismound, I think it is v ery probable that thestatue belonging to it may be one Of those now standingoutside the Jain temple.

Mound N. is low and clear Of jungle, hav ing been exca

v ated for bricks within the last few years. It is 45 feetsquare at base, but only 8 feet high . From its being bothlow and clear I thought it fav ourable for excav ation . I duga circular hole Of about 8 feet diameter in the top Of the

mound, and near the middle, at a depth of only 1 foot I cameupon a stone Yoni , or receptacle for a lingam, fixed in itsoriginal position, with the spout end turned towards thenorth . Further excav ation showed that the floor had beenbroken up, but the marks Of the original floor lev el werequite distinct on the centre stone. As there were no tracesOf any figures, I gav e up the excav ation, which had alreadybeen sufficient to determine that the mound N. is the ruin of

a liege temple, dedicated to the god Mahadev a.

Mound S . is 100 feet in length, by 60feet in breadth, and

1 2feet in height towards its western end. The top is crownedw ith two fine Siris Trees, under which there is a life-sizestanding figure in stand-stone. The nose and forehead hav ebeen lost by a split of the stone, which must hav e been as

Old as the figure itself, for there are two holes in the splitface which still retain bits Of the metal clamps that wereused in repairing the statue. The figure has apparently hadfour arms, and is called J’ug-bhira , orJug-v i

'

ra, the Champion

of the Age,”a title which might be applied appropriately to

Vim , or Mahav ira, the last of the 24th Jain hierarchs andthe pontifl

‘

of the present age.

Mound Z . is a long low mass of ruin to the south-west ofKhukhundo, half hidden admits bambus. I found a recentexcav ation at the western end Of the mound, from which the

KIIUKIIUNDO KAHAON. 91

bricks could not hav e been remov ed abov e a few days, as thesides of the excav ated hole still preserv ed the shape Of thewalls exactly . In form the building was an octagon Of 14

feet across, with projections on the four sides facing the

cardinal points. On the north-east side a portion Of solidbrick-work stil l remained, but not Of sufficient thickness toshow whether the building had been solid or hollow. As far

as my experience goes, the only buildings Of this shape areBuddhist stup as, as at D hamna

‘

r and Kholui in Malwa, or

B aragaon (or Ne’

lande) in Bihér, and throughoutPegu and

Burmah . In all instances the four projecting sides formniches for statues of the prev ious Buddhas. In the giganticShine-D agon stupa at Rangoon, these niches are expandedinto distinct temples enshrining colossal figures. I incline,therefore, to conclude that the building recently excav ated inmound Z . was a Buddhist stupa . But if Brahmanical templesof this form hav e ev er been built, I shoul d certainly preferto consider mound Z . as the ruin Of another orthodox temple,and to add one more to the long list Of Brahmanical remainsat Khukhundo.

With the exception Of B eregeon (the ancient Ne lende) ,I hav e seen no place where the ruins Offer such a promise of

v aluable discov ery as at Khukhundo. The mounds are all

low, and as they appear to be the ruins of temples, the workof excav ation would be comparativ ely easy . I think that itwould be sufficient to remov e the top Of each mound downto the lev el of the floor of the building, clearing away therubbish entirely, but leav ing the walls standing to show the

plan of the building . Amongst the rubbish wemight expectto find both statues and inscriptions, and perhaps other Objects,all Of which would help to throw light on the rise and pro

gress Of modern Brahmanism, more particularly during thelong period Of its struggles with expiring Buddhism.

“

XXII . K A H A ON .

The v illage Of Kahaon is situated eight mi les to thesouth of Khukhundo, and 46 miles to the south-east of

Gorakhpur in a direct line . To the north of the v illage there isa stone pillar, and also some other remains, which hav e been

As far as I am aware nothing has yet been done towards the excav ation of thesemounds .

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KAHAON. 93

rampant ; but whatev er the pinnacle may hav e been, its

height could not hav e exceeded 25or 3 feet. The total heighto f the column, therefore,must hav e been about 27 feet . The

lower part of the shaft, to a height of 4; feet, is a square Of

1 foot 10 inches ; abov e this, for a height of 6 feet 3 inches,it is octagonal ; then sixteen-sided for a height of 5 feet

1 012inches and then circular for a height of 2 feet 1 12 inch .

Abov e this, for a height of 9 inches, the pillar becomessquare with a side of 1 8 inches, and then circular again for

a height of inches, making the total height of the shaft

1 9 feet inches. The height of the capital , in its presentincomplete state, is 4 feet 45 inches. The lower portion,

which is feet high, is bell-shaped, with circular bands of

moulding both abov e and below . The bell itself is reeded,after the fashion of the A soka pillars. Abov e this the capitalis square, with a small niche on each side holdi ng a nakedstanding figure . The square top slopesbackward on all sides,and is surmounted by a low circular band, in which is fixedthe metal spike already described .

”

On the western face of the square base there is a nicheholding a naked standing figure, with v ery long arms reaching to his knees. Behind, there is a large snake folded inhorizontal coils, one abov e the other, andwith its sev en headsforming a canopy ov er the idol . Two small figures, male

and female, are kneeling at the feet, and looking up to theidol with offerings in their hands.

On the three northern faces of the octagonal portion of

the pillar, there is an inscription of 1 2 lines in the Guptacharacters of the A llahabad Pillars!’ There is a good copyof this inscription in Buchanan,$ and another and bettercopy in Prinsep

’

s Journal . § In the translation giv en'

byJames Prinsep, the date was read as being 1 33 years afterthe decease of Skanda Gup ta , instead of in the year 133,after the death of Skanda . The true number of the year is

141 , as pointed out by Professor FitzEdward Hall, but the

epoch or era in which the years are reckoned is doubtful .Professor Hall , on the authority of d u D ev a Scistri, the

See Plate XXIX.

1’ See Plate XXX .

1 Eastern India, IL,Plate V.

Bengal Asiatic Society'

s Journal, 1838, Plate I .

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KAIIAON HATHIYA-DAH . 95

Immediately to the north of the pillar, and on the highest point of the mound, there are traces of the brick walls of

some buildings ; and to the south-east, there is an old well

which has been lately filled up . Buchanan describes the pillaras hav ing originally stood in a small quadrangular area, surrounded by a brick wall, and probably by some small chambers. I presume that the pillar must hav e been placedopposite the entrance of the temple, inwhich the P anchendre

or fiv e images of Indra were enshrined . It is probable thatthere were sev eral temples and other buildings crowdedaround the pillar, otherwise it will be difficult to account forthe great size of the mound, which, though not more than 6feet in height abov e the fields, extends from west to east upwards of feet, with an av erage breadth of 400 feet .

X X I I I . K A T H I Y A -D A H .

Twelv e miles to the east of Deogong, and nearly midway between Azimgarh and Banaras, there is an old dry tank,called B a lbiya

-dah, or the Elephant ’s Tank,”with an in

scribed pillar standing in the middle of it. The pillar itselfis called H e thiye

-deh-ka-ldl . The name is deriv ed from a

large stone elephant, 5 feet 6 inches in length, and 4 feet

1 0 inches in height, which stands to the north-west of thepillar, at a distance of 138 feet . Both the pillar and theelephant are formed of a coarse grey sand-stone, and theyhav e accordingly suffered from exposure to the weather, and

are now much worn . The shaft of the pillar is a singleblock , 12feet 9 inches in height and 1 foot 5% inches in dia

meter, both at base and top . Originally it must hav e beensev eral feet higher, but the bed of the tank has graduallysilted up, and in the month of March bore a fine crop ofwheat . The capital is a flat circular slab, slightly roundedon the upper edge, and quite plain. In fact, the pillar is amere cylindrical block intended apparently for the sole purpose of exhibiting the inscription . To the west of the pillar there is a low mound of brick ruins, 1 70 feet in lengthfrom north to south, and 25 feet broad . It is called S iwariIce Tile , or Siwaris

’ Mound but the people hav e no tradi tion about it, and do not know what is the meaning of thenames. Most probably it has some reference to a templeof Siv a, which may hav e stood there in former days. The

v illages nearest to the pillar are Singhp ura to the north,

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BIIITARI . 97

turc. Some of the mounds appear to be more heaps of

broken stone and brick— the gatherings from the fields aftereach season’

s ploughing . The larger mounds, which run

parallel to each other from the bridge towards the v illage,seem to me to be only the ru ins of houses that once formedthe two sides of a street. The remaining mounds, whichare of square form and isolated, are at present cov ered withMusalman tombs ; but I hav e little doubt that all of themwere originally either temples or other Hindu buildings.

That one of these mounds belonged originally to the Hindus,we hav e an undoubted proof in the existence of the inscribedstone pillar, which stands partially buried in the rubbishof its eastern slope, and in the discov ery at the foot of thepillar of an old brick inscribed with the name of Sri KumdreGup ta . The early occupation of the place by the H indusis further prov ed by the discov ery of sev eral Hindu statuesand lingams in the rubbish about the mounds, and by thefinding of numerous bricks inscribed with Kumdre Gup ta

’

s

name in the fields.

‘ I obtained further roof of the sameby the purchase on the spot of three Indo ‘

assanian coins of

base sil v er, which probably date from the 8th or 9th'century,

and of one small round copper coin with an elephant on theobv erse, and a peculiar symbol , supposed to be a Chaitya,on the rev erse, which cannot, in my Opinion, be of laterdate than the inv asion of A lexander the Great .

The Bhitari Pillar is a single block of reddish sand-stone,apparently from one of the Chunar quarries. The shaft of

the pillar is circular, with a diameter of 2feet 4} inches, anda height of 1 5 feet 5 inches ? The base is square, but itsheight is rather uncertain . The upper portion, on which theinscription is out, has been smoothed, but the lower portion,

as far as my excav ation went, still bears the marks of thechisel, although not v ery deep . My excav ation was carrieddown to the lev el of the adjoining fields, a depth of 6 feet9 inches below the top of the base, without finding any traceof a pedestal ; and as it is most probable that the inscription was placed on a lev el with the eye, I would fix theheight of the original base at about 6 feet, thus giv ing it anelev ation of only 9 inches abov e the lev el of the country .

See Plate XXX. fo 1 sketches of these bricks

1' See Plate XXIX. for a n ew of this p1liar

98 ARcmEOLOGIcAL REPORT, 1861-62.

The capital is 3 feet 2 inches in height, bell-shaped, andreeded like the capitals of the Asoka Pillars. A large por

tion of the capital is broken of on the western side, thusexposing a deep narrow socket, which could only hav e helda metal spike . The upper portion of the shaft also is splitto a depth of about 2 feet . The people say that the pillarwas struck by lightning many years ago . It certainly wasin the same state when I first saw it in January 1 836, andI know of only one reason to make me doubt the accuracyof the people’s statements, namely, that both the iron pillarat Delhi, and the stone pillar at Nevwndgerh L auriya , hav e

been wantonly injured by cannon shot. If the capital of

the Bhitari Pillar had been surmounted by a statue of anykind, as itmost prOpably was when the Muhammadans firstsettled there, I think that the breaking of the capital maybe attributed to their destructiv e bigotry with quite asmuchprobability as to lightning. I found a portion of the brokencapital in my excav ation at the foot of the pillar.

The inscription, which is cut on the eastern side of the

base, consists of 1 9 lines of well shaped characters of theearly Gupta period . Unfortunately, this face is much weather-worn, and the stone has also peeled off in sev eral places,so that the inscription is now in ev en a worse condition thanwhen I first saw it in January 1836. The copy which Ithen made by eye I compared letter by letter with the original inscription on the spot, and, although I found sev eralerrors in difl

'

erent parts of the inscription, yet the only serious one is an omission of fiv e letters in the 1 5th line . Imade also an impression of the inscription ov er which Ipencilled all the letters as they appeared to the eye. This is,indeed, the only successful method of copying a weather-worninscription ; for the edges of the letters being v ery muchrounded, an impression giv es only a number of confused andshapeless spots, although many of the letters being deeplyout are distinctly legible, and may easily be copied by theeye. The v alue of an impression thus pencilled ov er is v erygreat, as it ensures accuracy in the number of letters, andthus most efl

'

ectually prev ents all errors, both of insertionand omission . The copy which I hav e thus made is, I believ e, as perfect as it is possible to obtain now,

consideringthe weather-worn state of the letters.

‘

See Plate XXX. for a copy of this inscnption.

BHITARI . 99

From the copy which I prepared in January 1836, atranslation wasmade by Dr. Mill, which was published inPrinsep

’

s Journal for January 1837. My re-examination of

the inscription has corrected some of Dr. Mill ’s proposedreadings, while it has confirmed many of them, a few beingstill doubtful owing to the abraded state of the letters. As

translated by Dr. Mill, the inscription refers chiefly to thereign of Skanda Gup ta, closing with his death, and the

accession of his infant son . The object of the inscriptionwas to record the erection of a sacred image, the name ofwhi ch Dr. Mill wasunable to read, butwhichmay possibly berecov ered when my new copy is re-translated by some competent scholar. In my remarks on the lower inscription on

the Bihar Pillar, I hav e already noticed that all the remaining part of the upper portion of it, which contains the

geneal ogy, is letter for letter identical with the first part ofBhitari record, and I repeat the notice here for the purposeof adding that, by a comparison of the two inscriptions, ev eryletter of

:3

the upper part of both, or about one-third of the

whole, may be restored without chance of error.

The sculptures now to be seen at Bhitari are v ery few,

but they are sufficient to show the former existence of sev erallarge stone temples. In the v illage there is a colossal figureof Ganesa , and a broken bas-relief of the Nev egrehe , or

Nine Planets. The colossal statue must almost certainlyhav e been the principal figure enshrined in a temple dedicated to Ganesa . There is also a large slab with a half-sizetwo-armed female figure, attended by another female figure

holding an umbrella ov er her, both in v ery high relief. The

figures in this sculpture are in the same style and in thesame attitudes as those of the similar group of the Raja and

his umbrella attendant on the gold coins of the GuptaPrinces. This sculpture, I believ e, represents a queen on

her way to worship at the temple . The group is a fav orite,one with Hindu artists, and, as far as my observ ation goes,it is nev er used singly, but alwaysm pairs— one on each sideof the door-

‘

way of a temple. The age of this sculpture Iam inclined to fix as early as the time of the Gupta Kings,partly on account of the similarity of style to that of theirgold coins, partly also because the pillar belongs to one of

The two inscriptions may now be compared in Plates XVII. and XXX — Sec myprev ious remarks 1n not e in page 38.

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BHITARI .

imposing edifice. The nature of the ground has been skilfully brought to bear ; and it would seem that the west facewas merely scarped towards the riv er, hav ing been originallyv ery high (perhaps thirty feet), whilst to the east a large

space has been lowered a few feet to prov ide earth to raise anembankment, in digging through which no traces o fmasonrycan be found . On the south face the line is by no meansstraight, the nature of the ground hav ing been followed . and

the high bank of a tank already formed hav ing been merelyadded to the north face ismore regular.

Each of these sideshad large mounds, upon which wereeither temples or forts. There is one of these at each corner,and one-half way on each side, whilst the spur before alludedto, which forms the south-west corner, has certainly been longago crowned with a large Buddhist temple, now re placedwith a shabby Idgah. Within this enclosure were ev identlymany large buildings, and their former presence is attestedby the Icheres ormounds of broken brick and earth scatteredin ev ery direction. At present there is a small windingbazar of insignificant shops, all, howev er, built of old bricks.

There is also a large suburb, if it may be so termed, of

ruinous brick houseswith but few inhabitants. The surroundingmounds and embankments are dotted ov er with Muhammadan tombs, mostly of v ery recent erection, and many ofwhich are built with the large nearly-square Buddhist bricks.

But to proceed to the Object of this notice, v ia , the

Buddhist rema ins at Bhitari— l st, there is a large monolithstanding, as nearly as possible, in the centre of the place.

This is feet in height, and stands upon a rough stone7 or 8 feet below the present lev el of the soil. For the first

10 feet 2 inches it is square, and stands, as nearly as possible,facing the cardinal points. At the top of the square partis an inscription which is stated by General Cunningham tocontain a record of Skanda Gupta ; this faces east. The

upper part, including the capital which takes up about threefeet, is circular, and where it joins the square part is 2feet3 inches in diameter, and apparently of ev en thickness in itswhole length. The capital is handsomely fluted, and has a

slice broken off it . There is also a flaw near the top in thepillar itself, which is one solid piece of sand-stone, resemblingthat found at Chunar, being of the hard kind.

102 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

The monolith is out of the perpendicular, and this dev iation, as well as the cracked capital , is said to hav e beenoccasioned by lightning long ago .

I laid bare the eastface of the foundation as the columnslopes to the north, and found that the base was displacedthree inches off the foundation-stone on the south side, and

that there were two iron wedges driv en under it, and thatat some remote period stone-work of a massiv e characterhad been placed around to prev ent further declension. I thencleared the mound away which abutted on the column,

hOping to find some traces of foundations at least of the

building to which themonolithmight hav e formed an adjunct .Thismound, from 12 to 16 feet in height, and extended somedistance, and, as far as I could ascertain by cutting a trenchand lev elling, consists entirely of broken bricks and earth .

I will now refer to the oldBuddhist temple, whichmustformerly hav e stood on the high spur to the south-west .Owing to the presence of the Idgah, the number of tombs,and my limited time, I made no excav ations on thisspot ; but I was easily enabled to trace the v arious partsof the temple scattered ov er the place and performingv arious functions. Firstly, there were the pillars of the

shrine, with their carv ed suns, and grotesque faces withfoliage flowing from their mouths and eyes, and the con

stantly recurring flat v ase, all used by the Muhammadansin their mosque. Then there were the plainer columnsof the cloister, square below, and octagonal abov e. Theselatter I found rounded off and set up as Muhammadanhead-stones to grav es, the light being burnt on the top ofthem ! Until I discov ered two of these in site , or at the

grav es, the Musalmans assured me they were H indu conv ersions of the Buddhist pil lars into emblems employed in theworship of Mahadeo . Secondly, there were the stone beamsused also in the mosque, both as beams, and as uprights atthe wells and in houses. And, lastly, there were the roofingstones used as pav ement and for putting ov er grav es.

In compliancewith the extractofGeneral Cunningham’

s

report, sev eral cross cuttings were made : The one throughthe surrounding mounds to see what kind of wall had beenerected, if any,— the result of this has been before alludedto ; Another cutting wasmade through an isolatedmound of

B IIITARI BANARAS, SARNATR . 103

some 9 feet in height, the result of which merely prov ed it tohav e an ancient dust heap ; A third, through a v ery high andlikelymound resulted in nothi ng but earth and broken bricksAnother has since beenmade, but the results were the sameas in the other cases. The reason for this is v ery plainEach of these mounds represents an ancient edifice not,perhaps, of the time of the Buddhists (for the bricks do not

bear that character), but the constant excav ation of foundetions for the past 200 years for the purpose of building hasproduced the results abov e alluded to . Each party has takenthe bricks he needed and filled in again the rubbish.

Just below the Idgah and exterior to the work is an old

Muhammadan bridge across the Gangi Nadi, which mightbe repaired with adv antage. This has been entirely con

structed with the cut-stones taken from the Buddhist strueture abov e. The date of its erection may hav e been from200 to 250 years, since or subsequent to the erection of thatof Jonpur, which it resembles in many points. The carv edwork is built inwards.

There are around Bhitari, at some little distance, saya quarter or half a mile, a number of detached mounds ev i

dently of Buddhist origin, and apparently of artificial con

struction. These might repay excav ation .

In conclusion, I woul d beg to suggest with all deference,and without access to books, my knowledge must be limitedthat Bhitari was of old a strongly fortified earthen camp, inwhich there was at least one large Buddhist temple and

sev eral edifices in connection with the same ; but nothingshort of a lengthened residence on the spot, together withcareful exploration, can ev er accurately determine the natureof the latter. It is diflicult to account for the base of themonolith being so far below the present lev el of the soil withwhich it does not appear to me ev er to hav e been ev en.

X XV . BAN A R A S, S A RN A T H .

Banalras is celebrated amongst the Buddhists as the

scene where their great teacher first expounded his doctrine,or, as they metaphorically express it, where he first began to“ turn the wheel of the law .

” This is one of the four greatev ents in the life of Buddha, and accordingly it forms one

of the most common subjects of Buddhist sculpture. In the

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BANARAS, SARNATH. 105

and accordingly temples hav e been erected both at .BarmzSangam below the city, and at Asi Sangam abov e the city .

From the joint names of these two streams, which bound thecity to the north and south, the Brahmans deriv e Varanasior Vdranasi, which is said to be the Sanskrit form of the

name of Banaras. But the more usual deriv ation amongstthe common people is from Raja .Bamir, who is said to hav ere-built the city about 800 years ago.

The Buddhist remains of Banaras are situated nearlydue north, and about 33

1

; miles distant from the outskirts of

the city, at a place popu larly known by the name of Sdrmith.

This name, which is usually applied to the great Buddhisttower, or stupa, belongs properly to a small Brahmanicaltemple on the western bank of the lake, while the greattower itself is called D hamak. An annual fair is held closeto the temple of Setrnath, and there is an indigo factoryonly 200 yards to the north of it . The name of Sftrnath was,accordingly, well known both to the Nativ es and to the English, and when the neighbouring ruins first attracted attention, they were always referred to by that name. The ear

liest mention of them is by Jonathan Duncan in 1 794, in hisaccount of the discov ery of two Urns by Babu Jagat Singh“ in the v icinity of a temple called Sfirnath .

“ It is possiblethat Duncan here refers to the Brahmanical temple but

in the subsequent notices by Wilford and JamesPrinsep, bothof whom had resided for many years at Banaras, the name of

Sarnath is always applied to the great tower. The samename is giv en to the tower in an engrav ing which was pub

lished in 1834: in Captain Elliot’s Views in India .

Scirna‘

th means supply the best Lord, which title ishere applied to the godMahadev a, whose symbol, the lingam,

is enshrined in the small temple on the bank of the lake .

I believ e, howev er, that the name is only an abbrev iation of

Saranggandtka , or the Lord of Deer,”which would also be

an appropriate epithet for Mahadev a, who is frequently represented as holding a deer ln his left hand . As the lake 111

front of the temple IS still occasionally called Scirang Ta l ,my conjecture that the true name was Surangga Nat/z seemsa v ery probably one ; but I would refer the epithet to Buddhahimself, who in a former existence was fabled to hav e roamed

Asiatic Researches, V., p . 131 .

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BANARAS, SARNATH . 107

the Nag/a Ta l , or New Tank, which is upwards of half

a mile in length, but little more than 300 feet in width .

’

At the north-eastern end of the mass of min is situatedthe v illage of B ard/xi, which, as I infer from the spelling,must hav e been named after Vaj ra Vardl n

’

, a goddess Of thelater Buddhists. To the west, beyond the bend of the NayaTal, lies Garonp ur, or the Village of Teachers, which inits day was probably inhabited by Buddhist Gurus. The

Mrigadd’

v a, or Deer Park,”is represented by a fine wood,

which still cov ers an area of about half a mi le, and extendsfrom the great tower of D ita/melt: on the north to theChaukandi mound on the south. To the south-west of thegreat tower the Jains hav e erected a modern temple of

Pdrswanath. The temple is white-washed and surroundedby a wall enclosing an area 1 67 feet square. Since I firstsurv eyed these ruins in 1835, a second or outer enclosure hasb een added on the east side, the walls of which run right upto the great tower and cause much inconv enience to v isitors,by obstructing their free passage round the building.

The most remarkable of the Sarnath Monuments is thegreat tower called Dhamek. Mr. Fergusson

'

l' has stated

that “ this building was Opened by Major Cunningham,

under Mr . Prinsep’

s ausp ices but this statement is incorrect, as the Operations were begun by myself before anycommunication was made to James Prinsep, and were afterwards continued entirely undermy own guidance. The costOf Opening the tower was shared between James Brinsop,Captain Thoresby, Major Grant, and myself, but the workhad been commenced under my own auspices, and was not

suggested to me by James Prinsep . The excav ation was

begun in December 1 834, and closed in January 1 836, at acost of Rupees 517-3-10. But, before detailing these operations, I will describe the tower itself.

The Buddhist stup a called Dhamelc is a solid round tower, 93 feet in diameter at base and 1 10 feet in height abov ethe surrounding ruins, but 128 feet abov e the general lev elof the country . The foundation or basement, which is madeOf v ery large bricks, has a depth of 28 feet below the lev el of

the ruins, but is sunk only 10 feet below the surface of the

See Plate XXXI.

‘l' Handbook of Architecture, I. , p . 15.

108 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

country . The lower part of the tower, to a height of feet,is built entirely of stone from one of the Chunar quarries,and with the exception of the upper fiv e courses, the wholeOf this part of the building is a solid mass of stone, and eachstone, ev en in the v ery heart of the mass, is secured to itsneighbours by iron cramps. The upper part Of the tower isbui lt entirely of large bricks, but as the outer facing has longago disappeared, there is nothing now left to show whetherit was formerly cased with stone, or only plastered ov er, andcoloured to imitate the stone-work Of the lower portion . Iinfer, howev er, that it was plastered, because the existingstone-work terminates with the same course all round thebuilding, a length of 292 feet. Had the upper part beencased with stone, it is scarcely possible that the wholeshould hav e disappeared so completely that not ev en a singleblock out of so many thousands should now remain in its

original position . In one part I observ ed some projectingbricks which appeared v ery like the remains of a moulding at

the base of the dome. On the top I found a small brick cap,8 feet in diameter and only 41 feet high . From its size I inferthat this was the ru in of the base of a small pinnacle, about10 feet square, which most probably once supported a stoneumbrella . I infer this because the figures of Buddha the

Teacher are usually represented as seated underan umbrella .

The lower part of the monument has eight projectingfaces, each 21 feet 6 inches in width, with interv als of 1 5 feetbetween them. In each of the faces, at a height of 241 feetabov e the ground, there is a semi-circular headed niche,feet inwidth, and the same in height. In each of the nichesthere is a pedestal, 1 foot in height, and slightly hollowed onthe top to receiv e the base of a statue ; but the statues themselv es hav e long ago disappeared, and I did not find ev en the

fragment of one in my excav ation at the base of the monument. There can be little doubt, howev er, that all the eightstatues represented Buddha the Teacher, in the usual form,

with his hands raised before his breast, and the thumb andfore-finger of the right hand placed on the little finger Of theleft hand for the purpose of enforcing his argument . Judging by the dimensions of the niches, the statuesmust hav ebeen of life-size.

’

I would suggest that one of the many sitting statues of Buddha the Teacher, which

hav e since been discov ered. and are now deposited at the Banal-as College, should be

placed 111 one of these niches.

BANARAS, SARNATII . 109

From the lev el of the base of the niches the eight pro.

jecting faces lessen in width to fiv e feet at the top ; but thediminution is not uniform, as it begins gradually at first, andincreases as it approaches the top . The outline of the l pe

may hav e been possibly‘ intended for a curv e, but it looks

much more like three sides of a large polygon. Around theniches sev en of the faces are more or less richly decoratedwith a profusion Of flowing foliage. The carv ing on some Of

the faces has been completed, but on others it is little morethan half finished, while the south face is altogether plain.

On the unfinished faces portions of the unexecuted ornamentatien may be seen traced in outline by the chisel , whichprov es that in ancient times the Hindus followed the samepractice as at present, of adding the carv ing after the wallwas built .

On the western face the same ornamentation of flowingfoliage is continued below the niche, and in the midst of itthere is a small plain tablet, which can only hav e been in

tended for a v ery short inscription, such, perhaps, as the name

of the building . A triple band of ornament, nearly 9 feet indepth below the niches, encircles all the rest of the building,both faces and recesses. The middle band, which is the

broadest, is formed entirely of v arious geometrical figures, themain lines being deeply cut, and the interv ening spaces beingfilled with v arious ornaments. On some of the faces wherethe spaces between the deeply cut lines of the ruling figures

are left plain, I infer that the work is unfinished. The

upper hand of ornamentation, which is the narrowest, isgenerally a scroll of the lotus plant with leav es and budsonly, while the lower band, which is also a lotus scroll, contains the full blown flowers as well as the buds. The lotusflower is represented full to the front on all the sides exceptthe south south-west, where it is shown in a side v iew withthe Chakwa orBrahmani Goose seated upon it . This, indeed,is the only side on which any animal representations are

giv en, which is the more remarkable, as it is one of the re

cesses and not one of the projecting faces. In the middleof the ornament there is a human figure seated on a lotusflower and holding two branches of the lotus in his hands.

On each side of him there are three lotus flowers, Of whichthe four nearer ones support pairs of Brahmani Geese, whi lethe two farther ones carry only single birds. Ov er thenearest

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BANARAS, SARNATH. 1 1 1

published by Mr. Thomas in the Bengal Asiatic Society’

s

Journal . This height was carefully measured by myself withan iron chain 1n January 1835, by means of the scaffoldingwhich I had put up for the purpose of opening the tower.

By a prev ious measurement with a theodolite I had foundthe height to be 109 feet 10 inches. The breadth of one

projecting face and of one recess is 36 feet 6 inches, whichmultiplied by 8 giv es 292 feet as the circumference, and a

trifle less than 93 feet as the diameter, or nearly double thethickness stated by any one of the authorities just quoted .

On the 1 8th January 1 835 my scaffolding was completed, and I stood on the top of the great tower. On cuttingthe long grass I found two iron spikes, each 8 inches long,and shaped like the head of a lance. On the following dayI remov ed the ruined brick pinnacle and began sinking a

shaft or well, about 5 feet ln diameter. At 3 feet from the

top I found a rough stone, 241 inches x 15 inches x 7 inches,and on the 25th January, at a depth of 10 feet, I found an

inscribed slab inches long, 13 inches broad, and inchesthick, which is now in the Museum of the Bengal AsiaticSociety . The inscription consists of the usual Buddhistformula or profession of faith beginning with the words Ye

D harmxma beta p rabhav a‘

, of which translations hav ebeen giv en by Mill, Hodgson, Wilson, and Burnouf. The

following is Hodgson’

s translation, which has receiv ed the

approv al of Burnouf : Of all things proceeding fromcause, their causes hath the Tathagata (Buddha) ex

plained . The Great Sramana (Buddha) hath likewise ex

plained the causes of the cessation of existence.

”The letters

of this inscription, which are all beautifully cut, appeartometo be of somewhat earlier date than the Tibetan alphabet,which is known to hav e been obtained from India in themiddle of the 7th century . I would, therefore, assign the

inscription, and consequently the completion of the monument, to the 6th century .

‘

On the 22nd January I began to excav ate a horizontalgallery on the lev el of the tOp of the stone-work, and on the

1 4th of February, at a distance of 414. feet, the gallery joinedthe shaft, which had been sunk from abov e. As I now foundthat the upper course of stone was only a facing, I sank the

See Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1835, p . 133, for different translations, and Plate

IX. for a copy of the inscription. The original stone is now in the Museum of the AsiaticSociety 1n Calcutta.

1 12 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

gallery itself down to the lev el of the stone-work, and con

tinned it right through to the Opposite site . I thus discov ered that the mass of the inner stone-work was only 33feet in height, while the outer stone-work was43 feet . In themiddle, howev er, there was a pillar of stone-work, rising 6

feet higher than the innermass. Thiswas, perhaps, used as apoint from which to describe the circlewith accuracy. Small

galleries were also made to reach the tops of the east and

west faces, but nothing was discov ered by these works.

The labor of sinking the shaft through the solid stonework was v ery great, as the stones which were large (from2 to 3 feet in length, 1 8 inches broad, and 12 inches thick)were all secured to each other by iron cramps. Each stonehad usually eight cramps, four abov e, and as many below, all

of which had to be cut out before it could be mov ed . Itherefore sent to Chunar for regular quarrymen to quarryout the stones, and the work occupied them for sev eral

months. At length, at a depth of 1 10 feet from the top of

the monument, the stone gav e place to brick-work, made of

v ery large bricks. Through this the shaft was continued fora further depth of 28 feet, when I reached the plain soilbeneath the foundation . Lastly, a gallery was run rightthrough the brick-work of the foundation, immediately belowthe stone-work, but without yielding any result .

Thus ended my Opening of the great tower after 1 4.

months’ labour, and at a cost of more than Rs. 500. WhenI began the work I was not aware that many of the mosthallowed of the Buddhist Monuments were only memorialstup as, raised ov er spots rendered famous by v arious acts of

Buddha, such as we know from Hwen Thsang’

s account wasthe great tower near Banaras, which was erected by Asokanear the spot where Buddha had began to turn the wheelof the law,

” that is, to preach his new doctrine. The towerof the Deer Park near Banaras” is likewise enumerated byanother Chinese author as one of the eight div ine towerserected on sites where Buddha had accomplished manyimportant acts of his terrestrial career,

”the particular act

which he had accomplished at Banaras being his preaching .

This tower was seen by Fa-Hian in the beginning of the 5th

century, who notices that Buddha, when he began to turnthe wheel of the law,

”sat down looking towards the west .

Now, on thewestern face of the great tower there is a small

BANARAS, SARNATH . 1 13

plain tablet, which, as I hav e said before, could only hav ebeen intended for some v ery short inscription, such as the

name either of the tower itself, or of the ev ent which it wasintended to commemorate. But, whatev er it may hav e beenintended for, its position was no doubt significant, and, as at

Buddha Gaya, where Sakya had been seated facing the cast,his statue was placed in the same position, so at Banaras,where, when he began to preach he had been seated facingthe west, his statue

o

must hav e been placed in the samedirection . I conclude that the western face of the monumenterected to commemorate that ev ent would hav e been the

principal side, and that any inscription would certainly hav ebeen placed on that side.

It now only remains to notice the name by which this

great tower is known amongst the people of the neighbouring v illages. This name is D lzamelc, of which no one knowsthe meaning . It 18 ev idently some compound of D harmma

,

and, bearing in mind that on this spot Buddha first began toturn the wheel of the law, I would suggest that D hamek

is only an abbrev iation of the Sanskrit D harmmop adesakaor Preacher of D harmma , which is, indeed, the commonterm now in use to designate any religious teacher. The

term is also used in the simpler form of .Dkarmma desaka,

which, in famil iar conv ersation, would naturally be shortenedto D hamadek and Dhamek. The special fitness of thisnamefo1 the great tower in the Deer Park at Banaras 18 so obv iousand striking, that I think it needless to offer any further

remarks on the subject .

At a distance of 520 feet to the westward of Dhamek,there is a large circular hole, upwards of 50 feet in diameter,surrounded by a v ery thick brick wall . This is the ruin of

the large brick stup a which was excav ated by Babu JagatSingh, the Dewfm of Reja Chait Singh, of Banaras, for thepurpose of obtaining bricks for the erection of JagatganjIn January 1794 hisworkmen found, at a depth of 27 feet,two v essels of stone and marble, one inside the other. The

inner v essel, according to Jonathan Duncan’

s account,’ con

tained a few human bones, some decayed pearls, gold leav es,and other jewels of no v alue . In the same place underground, and on the same occasion,

”with the discov ery of

the urns, there was found a statue of Buddha, bearing an

Asiatic Researches, V. , p. 131 .

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BANARAS, SARNATH. 1 15

was a boy, he had been employed in the excav ationsmade byJagat Singh, and that he knew all about the discov ery of thejewels, &c. According to his account the discov ery consistedof two boxes, the outer one being a large round box of

common stone, and the inner one a cylindrical box of greenmarble about 1 5 inches in height and 5 or 6 inches in diameter. The contents of the inner box were 40 to 46 pearls, 141rubies, 8 silv er and 9 gold earrings ( learn phnl) , and threepieces of human arm bone. The marble box was taken tothe Bard. Sdhib (Jonathun Duncan), but the stone box wasleft undisturbed in its original position. As the last statement ev idently afforded a ready means of testing the man

’

s

v eracity, I enquired if he could point out the Spot where thebox was left . To this question he replied without any hesitation in the affirmativ e, and I at once engaged him to digup the box . We proceeded together to the site of the pre

sent circular hole, which was then a low unev en mound inthe centre of a hollow, and, after marking out a small spaceabout 4. feet in diameter, he began to work . Before sunsethe had reached the stone box at a depth of 12feet, and at

less than 2 feet from the middle of the well which he hadsunk . The box was a large circularblock of common Chunarsand-stone, pierced with a rough cylindrical chamber in the

centre, and cov ered with a flat slab as a lid. I presented thisbox, along with about 60 statues, to the Bengal Asiatic Seciety, and it is now in their Museum, where I lately recognized it. In their catalogue, howev er, it is described as

9442B , a Sarcophagus found in the tOpe of Manikya la (l) ;Donor, Lieutenant A . Cunningham.

”

The discov ery of the stone box was the most completeand conv incing proof that I couldwish for of the man

’

s v era

city, and I at once felt satisfied that the relics and the inscribed figure of Buddha found by Jagat Singh

’

s workmen had

been discov ered on this spot, and consequently that theycould not possibly hav e any connexion with the great towerof Dhamak. My next object was to ascertain the nature of

the building in which the box was deposited . As I had foundthe box standing on solid brick-work, I began to clear awaythe rubbish, expecting to find a square chamber similar tothose which had been discov erd in the toms of Afghanistan .

My excav ations, howev er, v ery soon showed that, if anychamber had once existed, it must hav e been demolished by

1 16 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

Jagat Singh’

sworkmen . Sangkar then described that the boxwas found in a small square hole or chamber only just largeenough to hold it. I cleared out the whole of the rubbishuntil I reached the thick circular wall which still exists. Ithen found that the relic box had been deposited inside a

solid brick hemispherical stup a , 49 feet in diameter at the

lev el of the deposit, and that this had been cov ered by acasing wall of brick, feet in thickness ; the total diameterat this lev el was, therefore, 82feet . The solid brick-work of

the interior had only been partially excav ated by Jagat Singh’

s

workmen, nearly one-half of the mass, to a height of 6 feetabov e the stone box, being then untouched . I made someexcav ations round the outer wall to ascertain its thickness,but I left the brick-work undisturbed.

About 18 years afterwards, the excav ation of this stupawas continued by Major Kittoe and Mr. Thomas until thewhole of the innermasshad been remov ed, and the foundationof the outer casing exposed . The inner diameter is giv en byMr. Thomas as 49 feet 6 inches, the slight excess ov er mymeasurement being due to the thickness of a base mouldingof the original stupa . I hav e again carefully examined theremains of this monument, and I am quite satisfied that inits original state it was an ancient hemispherical stupa, 49 feetin diameter at base, and about 35 or 40 feet in height, including the usual pinnacle. Afterwards, when, as I suppose, theupper portion had become ruinous, it was repaired by theaddition of a casing wall feet in thickness. The diameter of the renewed edifice thus became 82 feet, while the

height, inclusiv e of a pinnacle, could not hav e been less than50feet .

On a rev iew of all the facts connected with this min, Iincline to the opinion that the inner hemi sphere was an

ancient relic stup a , and that this hav ing become ruinous, itwas repaired, and an outer casing added by the brothersSthira Pdla and Vasanta Pdla in A . D . 1026. In the Ma

kamanso we find the record of similar additions hav ing beenmade to some of the stup as in Ceylon, and I know from personal inspection that many of the great Dhagop as of Barmahhav e been increased in size by subsequent additions.

Due south from the great tower of Dhamek, and at a

distance of feet, there is a lofty ruined mound of solid

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BANARAS, SARNATH . 1 1 7

brickwork, surmounted by an octagonal building. When Ifirst liv ed at Banaras, this mound was always known by thename of Chaakandi, of which no one knew themeaning . But

during my late v isit I found that the old name was nearlyforgotten, hav ing been superseded by L nri-ka-kodan or

Luri’s leap .

”L ari was an A kir, who jumped from the top

of the octagonal building some years ago, and was killed .

The mound itself is 74 feet in height to the floor of the octagonal building which rises 23 feet 8 inches higher, making a

total height of 97 feet and 8 inches. An inscription ov er oneof the door-ways of the build ing records that it was built inthe reign of Hnma

‘

yan, as a memorial of the emperor’sascent of the mound .

In 1 835 I opened thismound by sinking a well from the

floor of the building right down to the plain earth beneaththe foundation . I also drov e a horizontal gallery to meet thewell about half way up the ascent . But as neither of theseexcav ations resulted in any discov ery, I then thought it possible that my well might not hav e been sunk in the axis ofthe building . I therefore began to widen the well from the

point of junction of the gallery until it was nearly 20 feet indiameter. This work was stopped at a depth of 27 feet bymy departure fromBanaras. I hav e again examined thismin,

and I am now quite satisfied thatmy first well was sunk inthe v ery centre Of the mound . The absence of any relicchamber shows that this was not a relic tower, a conclusionwhich is fu lly borne out by Hwen Thsang

’

s description of one

of the most remarkable of the sacred edifices near the Deer

Park at Banaras, which, I believ e, may be identified with theChankandi mound .

At 2 or 3 hi (or rather less than half a mile) to the

south-west of the DeerPark Monastery, Hwen Thsang placesa stup a which was no less than 300 feet in height .

‘ Thislofty monument sparkled with the rarest and most preciousmaterials. It was not ornamented with rows of niches,neither had it the usual bell-shaped cupola, but its summitwas crowned with a sort of religious v ase, turned upside down,

on the top of which was an arrow . This is the whole of

Hwen Thsang’

s account of this remarkable building, which,although too meagre to gratify curiosity, is still sufficient for

Julien’

s Hwen Thsang, H ., p. 368.

1 18 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1861-62.

the purpose of identification. In position it agrees almostexactly with that of the great brick mound of Chanlcandi,which I hav e just described . The distance of this last fromthe ruined mound on which the v illage of Barahipur stands,and which I hav e already identified with the position of

the Deer Park Monastery, is just half a mile, but thedirection is south south-west instead of south-west. Withregard to size, it is difficult to say what may hav e beenthe height of the Ckankandi edifice. My excav ations hav eprov ed that the centre of the present mound is all solidbrick-work ; but the subsequent explorations of MajorKittoe hav e brought to light three immense straight wallsabout mid-way up the eastern side, and two more on the

western side, which hav e all the appearance of gigantic buttresses. Now, as these walls could not possibly hav e beenrequired forthe stability of the greatsolidmassbelow, itseemsnot unreasonable to conclude that they must in some wayhav e been connected with the support of the upperportion ofthe building,which no longerexists. Hwen Thsang

’

saccountis somewhat v ague, but I believ e his intention was to describea dome or cupola narrowed at the base, like the neck of areligious v ase rev ersed . He distinctly states that it was nota bell-shaped cupola, that is, the dome did notspread outwardsin the form familiar to us in the great D hagop as of Rangoonand Pegu . An excellent illustration of the rev ersed v ase

formmay be seen in a rock-cut temple at Ajanta, giv en byFergusson

f

I will conclude this notice of the remains at ShmfithBanaras with a short account of the excav ations which hav ebeen made at different times during the last sev enty years inthe v icini ty of the great tower of Dhamek .

The earliest excav ations of which we possess any recordwere those made by Baba Jagat Singh in 1 793-94, for the

purpose of obtaining materials, both stones and bricks, forthe erection of a market-place, in the city, which was namedafter himself, Jagatganj . I hav e already noticed his discov ery, in January 1 794, of the two stone boxes containing a

few bones, with some decayed pearls and slips of gold . A

brief account of this discov ery was published by Jonathan

Hand-book of Architecture, I., p. 20.

BANARAS, SARNATH . 1 19

Duncan,

"land a more detailed notice by Wilford in a later

v olume of the same work . I can add little to their accounts,except that the original green stone v ase, which JonathanDuncan presented to the Asiatic Society in 1794, had dis

appeared before 1834, when I wrote to James Prinsep aboutit . I may mention also, on the authority of the work-people,that the dilapidated state of the lower part of the DhamekTower is due entirely to the meanness of Jagat Singh, who,to sav e a few rupees in the purchase of new stones, deliberately destroyed the beautiful facing of this ancient tower. As

each stone was slowly detached from the monument bycutting out all the iron cramps by which it was secured toits neighbours, the actual sav ing to the Babe could hav e beenbut little but the defacement to the towerwas v ery great, and,as the stones were remov ed at once, the damage done to thetower is quite irreparable .

Jagat Singh’

sdiscov ery would appear to hav e stimulatedthe curiosity of the British officers, for Miss Emma Roberts,writing in 1 834, relates that “

some 40 or 50 years ago”

(that is, about 1 794) the ruins near sarnath attracted theattention of sev eral scientific gentlemen, and they commencedan activ e research by digging in many places around . Theirlabours were rewarded by the discov ery of sev eral excav ations filled with an immense number of flat tiles, hav ingrepresentations of Buddha modelled upon them in wax. Itis said that there were actually cart loads of these imagesfound in the excav ations before mentioned . Many were

deposited in the Museums and collections of priv ate indiv iduals ; but whether they were ev er made the subject of a

descriptiv e account seems doubtful, there being at least nopublic document of the kind .

”1' I can add nothing to Miss

Roberts’ account, as all my enquiries hav e failed to discov erany of the wax seals of Buddha abov e mentioned . I maynote, howev er, that in the temples of Ladak I hav e seen

small chambers quite full of similar little figures of deceasedLAmas. In Burmah also I hav e seen small figures of Buddhain burnt clay accumulated in heaps equal to cart loads, bothin the cav esand in the temples. The figured seals di scov erednear Sarnath would appear to hav e been of a similar kind tothose which I extracted from the ruined building close to

Asiatxc Researches, V. , p. 181. 1 Views in India, &c.,II., p. 8.

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BANABAS, SABNATH. 121

each of the four sides of the building. In all the cells Ifound pieces of charred wood wi th nails still sticking in

some of them, and in the middle cell on the western side Ifound a small store of unhusked rice only partially burnt .In a few places I found what appeared to be pieces of terraced roofing, and in one place a large heap of charcoal . On

the south side the central room was lost by prev ious excav ation

, but on the north side I found a room entirely opentowards the v erandah, as if it was a hall , or place of general

meeting for the resident monks. Inside this room there was

the base or pedestal of what I believ e to hav e been a smallv otiv e stup a , the top of which probably reached to the roofand took the place of a pillar. A small drain led underground from the north-west corner of the central square tothe outside of the bui lding on the north, for the purpose, as

I conclude, of carrying off the rain-water) “

The building which I hav e just described would appearto hav e been a ”h im , of Chapel Monastery,

” that is, amonastery with a chapel or temple forming an integral partof the building . From the thickness of the outer wall Iinfer that this edifice was not less than three or four storiesin height , and that it may hav e accommodated about 50monks. The entrance was probably on the south side, and Ithink that there must hav e been a statue of Buddha in the

northern v erandah . The has-relief which I found in thecentral square almost certainly formed one of the middlearchitrav es of the court.

Continuing my excav ations in the high ground to thewestward, I came upon the remains of a building of a totallydifferent description . The walls of this edifice were 3 feetthick throughout, and I found the plaster still adhering tothe inner walls of what I will call the v erandahs, withborders of painted flowers, quite fresh and v iv id . The massof the building consisted of a square of 34 feet, with a small

perch on each of the four side. The building was div idedinto three parts from west to east, and the central part wasagain sub-div ided into three small rooms. I think it probable that these three rooms were the shrines of the BuddhistTriad D harmma , B uddha

, and Sangha, and that the walls of

See Plate XXXIII . for the plans of these buildings. The position is marked bythe letter P. m the sketch of the ruins in Plate XXXII.

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BANARAS, SARNATH . 123

Society. A sketch of the principal baa-relief,which representsthe four great ev ents in the career of Sakya Muni, has beenpublished by M . Foucaux .

‘ A second has-relief representsthe same fourscenes, buton a smaller scale. A third has-relief,which giv es only three scenes, omitting the Nirvdna, has a

short inscription below in two lines, which recordsthe sculptureto hav e been the gift of B ari Gupta . The characters of thisinscription, which are of the later Gupta type, shows thatthi s piece of sculpture is certainly as old as the 3rd or 4th

century. A fourth has-relief giv es fiv e scenes, the additional scene being the conception of Maya Dev i on the appearance of the Chhadanta Elephant . Some of the seatedfigures were in excellent preserv ation, and more particularlyone of Buddha the Teacher, which was in perfect condition,and coloured of a warm red hue. The remaining statues,upwards of 40 in number, together with most of the othercarv ed stones which I had collected, andwhich I left lyingon the ground, were afterwards carted away by the late Mr.

Dav idson and thrown into the Bama R iv er under the bridgeto check the cutting away of the bed between the arches.

As the room in which I found al l these sculptures wasonly a small detached building, and as it was qui te close tothe large temple which I hav e just described, I conclude thatthe whole of the sculptures must hav e belonged to thetemple, and that they were secreted in the place where Idiscov ered them,

during a time of persecution, when the

monks were obliged to abandon their monasteries and takerefuge in Nepal . This conclusion is partly borne out by thefact that I found no statues within the walls of the templeitself.

To the north of the temple, at a distance of 26 feet, myexcav ations uncov ered a large single block of stone, 6 feetin length, by 3 feet in height, and the same in thickness.

The stone had been carefully squared, and was hollowed outunderneath, forming a small chamber, 4 feet in length, by2 feet in breadth, and the same in height ? This large stonehas also disappeared, which is the more to be regretted as

I think it highly probable that it was the celebrated stone,

Translation o f the T ibetan History of Buddha, Plate 1 .

‘l‘

Sec sketch of the ruins in l’

lato XXXII., letter Q . This stone has now dis appeared.

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BANARAS, SARNATH. 125

three stupas which I had myself opened, and which I havealready described . In reply he wrote How do you makeout three towers at Sarnath P I make outfour, to saynothingof innumerable smaller affairs down to the size of a walnut,which I hav e laid bare.

”A ttached to this he gav e a rough

sketch of the ground, showing the position of the fourthtower to be immediately to the north of Jagat Singh

’s stupa, Y

where I hav e accordingly inserted it, on his authority, in mysurv ey of the ruins. Further on he writes I hav e laidbare cka ityas upon chaifyas, fourand fiv e deep, built one ov erthe other. In another place he describes the oblong courtyard which was excav ated by himself at a distance of 1 25

feet to the westward of the great tower, as a“ large quad

rangle, or hosp ita l, for I hav e found pestles and mortars(sills or flat stones formashing), loongas, &c. , &c. This isthe quadrangle marked Z . in my plan of the ruins. It is 60feet long from west to east, and 42feet broad, and is surrounded by a low wall 3 feet thick and 1 -1 foot high abov e the lev elof the terraced floor, parts of which still remain. Fixed mthis wall are the stumps of twelv e stone pillars, which are

split 1n all directions as if destroyed by fire . I agree withMajor Kittoe 1n thinking that this quadrangle IS probablythe ruin of a hospital .

In reply to a question about stone umbrellas, MajorKittoe wrote to me as follows : I hav e got hold of two, onein fragments (burnt), of say 6 feet diameter, mushroomshaped, and another, also burnt, but not broken, elegantlycarv ed ln scroll on the inside, but nearly defaced by the aotion of saltpetre.

”

Of the great tower itself, Major Ki ttoe’s Opinion was,that “ the arrangement was precisely the same as at Rangoon,

rowsand rows of small temples, umbrellas, pillars, &c. , aroundthe great tope. They all run north and south, and east andwest, large and small . To this account he added a smal lrough sketch showing the arrangement of the smaller stupasabout the great tower. This sketch I hav e inserted in mysurv ey in dotted lines. Judging from the arrangement of thesubsidiary buildings about the great stupas of Burmah and

Ladak, with which I am personally acquainted, I hav e ev ery

1“ Sec sketch of the mine in Plate XXXII.

126 ARCHE OLOGICAL nxronr, 1 861-62.

reason to accept Major Kittoe’s sketch as a correct outlineof what he had himself ascertained by excav ation ; but as

the sketch is not drawn to scale, the relativ e sizes and dis

tances may not, perhaps, be quite accurate.

Of his other discov eries he wrote as follows : I hav e

got fine specimens of carv ed bricks and tw o heads of Buddha,made of pounded brick and road-earth coated with fine shell

lime, in beautiful preserv ation . I hav e a fine head of a

female 1n white marble (partly calcined), and a portion of the

arm. It has been a nearly life-size figure of Parv atif’

It will hav e been observ ed that ev ery excav ation madenear Salrnath has rev ealed traces of fire. I myself foundcharred timber and half burnt grain . The same things wereal so found by Major Kittoe, besides the ev ident traces of fireon the stone pillars, umbrellas, and statues. So v iv idly wasthe impression of a great final catastrophe by fire fixed inMajor Kittoe’s mind, by the discov eriesmade during his excav ations that he thus summed up his conclusions to me in a

few words : a ll has been soaked and burnt, priests, temples,idols, all together. In some places, bones, 1ron, timber, idols,&c. , are all fused into huge heaps and this has happ ened

more than once. Majorb

Kittoe repeated this opini on inalmost the same words when I saw him at Gwalior in September 1 852. I will recur to this subject again before Iconclude my account of the discov eries at Sarnath.

On Major Kittoe’s departure from Banaras, the excav ations were continued at first under Mr. E . Thomas, and

afterwards under Professor EitzEdward Hall . To the formergentleman we are indebted for a general account of the stateof the excav ations at the time of his assuming charge, andmore especially for a v ery clear and interesting description of

the ancient monasterywhich was then being exhumed, and of

the v ariousarticles which were discov ered within its precincts.

This work was subsequently completed by Mr. Hall, and Ihav e made a plan of the building as it now appears.

‘ Mr.

Thomas calls it an old Buddhist monastery, and with thisidentification I fully agree. According to Hwen Thsang ,

there were no less than 30monasteries about the Deer Park

at Banaras, which together contained monks, or an

av erage of 100monks each . Now the building under rev iew

See l’l rte XXXII. , excav ations by MajorKi ttoe, which were afterwards completu l b)Mr. Thou1.1s and Dr. Hall.

BANARAS, SARNATH. 1 27

contains no less than 28 separate apartments, and if one of

these he set aside as a shrine for a statue of Buddha, and asecond as a hall for teaching, there will remain 26 cells for

the accommodation of monks. Again, judging from the

thickness of the walls, I am of opinion that the buildingcould not hav e been less than 3 or 4 storeys in height .Assuming the latter to hav e been the actual height, thebuilding would hav e contained 1 04 cells, and, therefore, maypossibly hav e been one of the 30 monasteries noted by HwenThsang .

The ground plan of the monastery shews a centralcourt 50 feet square, surrounded by pil lars which must hav esupported an open v erandah or cloister in front of the fourranges of cells. In the north-east corner of the court-yardthere is an old well , 4 feet 10 inches in diameter, and 37 feetdeep . As this well is placed on one side, I infer that themiddle of the court was occupied by a stupa or a statue, ormore probably, perhaps, by a holy tree, as I could not find

any traces of the foundation of a bui lding . On the outside, thebuilding is 1 07 feet square . In the centre room on the northside, which is 1 8 feet in length, there are two large stonesplaced against the walls as if intended for the reception of

statues. This also was Mr. Thomas’ opinion . This room,

I believ e, to hav e been the shrine of the monastery . In the

centre room on the south side there is a square, elaboratelycorniced block, which Mr. Thomas believ ed to hav e beenthe throne for a seated figure of Buddha . I incline, howev er,to the opini on that thiswas the seat of the teacher for thedaily reading and expounding of the Buddhist Scriptures.

The cells on each side of these two central rooms are somewhat larger than those on the eastern and western sides of thecourt, and were, therefore, probably assigned to the seniormonks. The common cells are feet by 8 feet, and eachhas a separate door.

The ground plan of this monastery is similar tothat ofthe large cav es at Bagh and Ajanta, sketches of which hav e

been giv en by Mr. Fergusson .

‘ The plan is in fact almostidentical with that of the Bagh Cav e, the only differencebeing the want of cells in the cav e monastery on the side

0 Handbook of Architecture, I.

, pp . 33, 34.

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Bananas sanuu n. 129

conclusions drawn by prev ious explorers, that themonasteryhad been destroyed by fire.

“

During my stay at Banaras, I examined the collectionof articles found by Professor Hall in the v arious excav ationswhich he conducted at Sarnath, and which are now depositedin the Museum of the College. The only article requiringspecial notice is No . 18, an impression in burnt clay, of a seal1 7} inch in diameter with two lines of Sanskrit, surmountedby a lozenge-shaped dev ice, with two recumbent deer as supporters. The dev ice of the two deer is significant, as it no

doubt shows that the seal must hav e belonged to someperson or establishment attached to the monastery of

'

the Deer Park . The end of the upper line and the wholeof the lower line of the inscription are too much injured tobe made out satisfactorily . The inscription begins with the

word Sri Saddkarnnna , the auspicious true Dharmma, and

the letters at the end of the first line look v ery like R akshita

the Preserv er.

” This would be a man’

s name Sri Sad

dbarmma R aksbita , the Cherisher of the true Dharmma,”

a title not uncommon amongst the Buddhists. Of the lowerline I am unable to suggest any probable rendering.

In the absence of any general plan of the ruins, showingthe extent of the explorations carried on by Major Ki ttoeand his successors, I do not think it woul d be adv isable toundertake any further excav ations at Sarnath, Banaras ; Ihav e already suggested that the ground immediately aroundthe great tower should be lev elled for the purpose of affordingeasy access to v isitors -t In carrying out this operation, ev eryfragment of sculpture should be carefully preserv ed, as Ithink it v ery probable that some portions of the statues,which once adorned the eight niches of the great tower, maybe discov ered in the masses of rubbish now lying in heaps atits foot . It might, perhaps, be worth while to make a few

tentativ e excav ations in the mass of ruins to the north and

north-west of the great tower, by digging long narrowtrenches from west to east, and from north to south . Shouldthese trenches uncov er the remains of any large buildings,

Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal

,1856, p. 396.

This clearance of the ruins around the great stupa has since been made byMr. Home

,to a 111 eadth of 25 feet.

ARCHE OLOGICAL m om, 1861-62.

the work might then be continued. But should nothingpromising be discov ered, I would recommend the immediatestoppage of the work .

Since this report was written, the Rev erendMr. Sherringhas published a v ery ful l and interesting account of Banaras,in which a whole chapter is dedicated to the Buddhist ruinsat Sdrntrth .

"E In Appendix B . be has also giv en a transla

tion of Hwen Thsang’

s description of the holy places at

Banaras, which is a most v aluable addition, as M. Julien’

s

French translation is not easily procurable.

See Chapter XVIII. , p . 230 of “ The Sacred City of the Hindus,

”an account of

Bandms in ancient and modern times,—by the Rev erend M. A. Short ing, with an introduction by Fitz Edward Hall, Esq.

Report of Operations of the Archaeological Surv eyor to the Gov ernment of

India during season 1862-63.

N O T E .

IN A . D . 6341 , when the Chinese pilgrim Hwen Thsangcrossed the Satlaj from the westward, the first place that hev isited was Po-li-ye-to-lo, or Pariyatra , whi ch has been identified by M . St. Martin with V aira

’

t, to the northward of

Jaypur. This place I hav e not yet v isited, as my explorations during the cold season of 1862-63 were confined toDelhi, Mathura, and Khalsi, on the line of the Jumna and

to the ancient cities lying north of that riv er in theGangeticDoab, Oudh, and Rohilkhand. In these prov inces, I hav efollowed Hwen Thsang

'

s route from Matlmra to Srdvastiand, with his aid, I hav e been successful in discov ering theonce famous cities of Abi-cbka tra, Koscimbi, Sluts/ti, and

Srriv asti . The sites of other celebrated places hav e likewisebeen determined with almost equal certainty, as Srngl ma ,

H a dip ur, Gov isana, P itosana, Kasup ura , and .Dlzop fip ap ura .

I begin the account of my explorations at Delhi, which is

the only place of note not v isited by the Chinese pilgrim,

whose route I take up atMathura, and follow throughoutRohilkhand, the Doab, and Oudh . The places v isited duringthis tour are accordingly described in the following order :

Delhi .

Mathura.

Khalsi .Maddwar, or bfadip ur.

d hipur, or Gov isana .

l iamnagar, or A ll i-clzbalra .

Soron, or Sulara/csbetra .

VIII . Atranj lkhcra, or P ilosana .

Sankisa, or Sangkasg/a .

Kanoj , or K anyaknbj a .

Kftkupur, or Ayn/o.

Daundiakhcra, or I layamulcba.

Allahabad, or Prof/dye .

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DELHI . 133

Capital from the south, for he states that on his ltj l hand hesaw the ruins of “

old D elhi , ca lle d the 7 castles and 52

g ates, a name by which these ruins are still known in thepresent day. WVith regard to the work of the EmperorGhz

’

a’

s-uddin-B a lban, who reigned from A . D . 1266 to 1 288,I think that too great importance has been attached to itsname of Kile or fort. The Kila Marzghan, which SyadAhmed places at Ghz

’

a’

spur, near the tomb of Niza’

m-uddinA ulia , was built as an asylum, marj a , or place of refuge fordebtors. Now, this asylum for debtors was still existing inA . D . 1 335 to 1340, when Ibn Batuta was one of the Ma

gistrates of Delhi . He describes it as the D d'

r-ul-aman, or

House of Safety, and states that he v isited the tomb of

Balban, which was inside this house. From this, as well asfrom its name of D dr-ul-aman, I infer that the building was

a walled enclosure of moderate size, perhaps notmuch largerthan that which now surrounds the tomb of Tughlak Shah .

This inference is rendered almost certain by Ibn Batuta’

s

description of Delhi,‘ which, he says, now consists of fourcities, which becoming contiguous, hav e formed one.

”Now

three of the four cities here alluded to are certainly those ofR o i P ilhora, Jahdn-p andh, and S irz

'

(of whi ch the continuouswalls can be easily traced ev en at the present day) , and the

fourth city must hav e been Tughlakabad . No particular datecan be assigned to Jahan-panah which was an open suburbuntil the time of Muhammad Tughlak, who first enclosed itwith walls ; but as Ibn Batuta was one of the Magistrates ofDelhi under thisEmperor, it is certain that Jahdn-panah musthav e been one of the four cities described by him. I feelquite satisfied, therefore, that the Kila-Marzg lmn, called also.Da

'

r-ul-aman, or“ House of Refuge,

”was not a fortress, or

large fortified city , but only a small walled enclosure sur

rounding his own tomb, and forming, at the same time,a place sufficiently large as an asylum for debtors and

criminals.

The city of Kai-Kubfid, called K iln-gharl, was certainlysituated on the bank of the Jumna,t where the name is still

Trav els, translated by Dr. Lee, p. 1 1 1 .

1‘

Gladu iu'

a Ain Akbari, II p . 863 and Briggs

'

s Fcrishta, I., p. 274.

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13131 111 . 135

under the name of D in-p andh, and after Shir Shah had

founded his fort of Ki la-Shz’

r-Shah on the site of Firuzabadand Indraprastha, the common people began to use the namesof old Delh i and new Delhi— the former being confined tothe cluster of cities about the H indu D illi, while the latterwas applied to those situated on the Jumna, on the siteof the ancient Indraprastha.

I ndrap raslha or Indrap at.— At the time of the Mahat

bha'

ra la , or Great War” between the Pandus and Kurus,

thiswas one of the well known fiv e p ats or p rasthas whichwere demanded from Duryodhan by Yudhisthira as the priceof peace. These fiv e p ats which still exist, were Pam

’

p at

Seup at, Indrp a l, Tilp at, and B dghp at, of which all but

the last were situated on the right or western bank of the

Jumna . The term p rastha, according to H . H . Wilson,

means anything spread out or extended, and 1s commonlyapplied to any lev el piece of ground, including also tableland on the top of a hil l . But itsmore literal and restrictedmeaning would appear to be that particular extent of landwhich would require a p rastha of seed, that 18, 48 doublehandfulls, or about 48 imperial pints, or two-thirds of a

bushel . This was, no doubt, its original meaning, but in thelapse of time itmust gradually hav e acquired the meaning,which it still has, of any good sized piece of open plain.

Indrap rastha would, therefore,mean the plain of Indra, whichwas, I presume, the name of the person who first settledthere. Popular tradition assigns the fiv e p ats to the fiv e

I’andu brothers.

The date of the occupation of Indraprastha as a capital by Judh1sth1ra, may, as I believ e, be attributed, withsome confidence, to the latter half of the 1 5th century beforeChrist. The grounds on which I base this belief are as

follows : 1 st, that certain positions of the planets, as recorded in the Mahdbhzirata, are shown by Bentley to hav e takenplace m 1824 25 B . C. , who adds that there is no otheryear, either before that period or since, in which they wereso situated ; 2nd, in the Vishnu Purdna it is stated that atthe birth of Peirlhshlta, the son of Aq una Pandava, the

sev en R ishis were in Maghci, and that when they are in.Purv a A sharha Nanda will begin to reign. Now, as the

sev en R ishis, or stars of theta

Great Bear, are supposed to

pass from one lunar asterism to another in 100 years, the

136 ARCIIZEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

interval between I’drikshita and Nanda will be years.

But in the Bhagav ata Purana this interv al is said to beyears, which added to 1 00 years, the duration of the reignsof the nine Nandas, will place the birth of Parikshita

years before the accession of Chandra Gupta in 315 B . C. ,

that is, in 1430B . 0. By this account the birth of Perih

shita, the son of Arj una, took place just six years before theGreatWar in B . C . 1424. These dates, which are deriv ed fromtwo independent sources, mutually support each other, andtherefore seem to me to be more worthy of credi t than anyother H indu dates of so remote a period .

Indraprastha, the city of Yudhisthira, was built alongthe bank of the R iv er Jumna between the Kotila of FiruzShah and the tomb of Humayun . At that time the riv erflowed upwards of one mile to the westward of its presentcourse, and the old bed is still easily traceable from FiruzShah

’

s Kotila, past Indrpat and Humayun’

s tomb to K ilnGhari. The last place was on the immediate bank of the

riv er, so late as the reign of Kaikubad in A . D . 1 290, as his

assassins are reported to hav e thrown his body out of the

palace window into the Jumna . The name of Indraprasthais still preserv ed in that of Indrpat, a small fort, which is

also known by the name of P arana K ilo or the old fort .”

This place was repaired by the Emperor Humayun, who

changed its name to D in-p dnah but none, sav e educatedMusalmans ev er make use of this name, as the commonpeople inv ariably call it either Indrpat or Purana Kila. In

its present form, this place is altogether a Muhammadanstructure ; and I do not believ e that there now exists ev ena single carv ed stone of the original city of Yudhisthira .

The only spot that has any claim to hav e belonged to theancient city is a place of pilgrimage on the Jumna calledNigamhbod Gha

’

t, which is immediately outside the northernwall of the city of Shahj ahd

'

ndbcifl . This ghat is celebratedas the place where Yudhisthira, after hi s performance of theAswamedha, or horse sacrifice,

” celebrated the R om. A fairis held at Nigambod whenev er the new moon falls on a

Monday. It is said to be held in honor of the Riv er Jumna .

According to the Bhagav ata Purana, Yudhisthira was

the first King of Indraprastha, and the throne was occupiedby the descendants of his brother Arjuna for 30 generationsdown to Kshemaka. This last prince was deposed, according

DELHI . 137

to all the copies of the Rajav ali, by his MinisterVisarwa, ofwhose family 14 persons are said to hav e held the throne for500years. They were succeeded by a dynasty of 15 Gauta

mas, or Gotama-elwees, who were followed by a fami ly ofnine Mayaras. R aj a-pale, the last of the Mayuras, is statedto hav e been attacked and kil led by the Raja of Kumaon,

named Sahdditya , or Lord of the Sakas. But this was

only the title, and not the name, of the conqueror ; forVikramaditya is said to hav e obtained his title of Sahdri bydefeating him.

At this point of the traditional histories, the name ofDillimakes its first appearance but nothing is recordedregarding the change of name, and we are left to conjecturewhether the city of D illi hadalready been founded, orwhetherthis name has been used instead of that of Indraprasthathrough simple inadv ertence. According to one tradition,

which is but little known, the city of Dilli was founded byRaja who was the ancestor in the fifth generation of

the fiv e Pandu brothers. But this story may be dismissed atonce as an ignorant inv ention, as Dilli is univ ersallyacknowledged to be of much later date than Indraprastha, thecity of Yudhisthira himself.

According to a popular and well known tradition , Dilli

or t’

lz’

, was built by Raja D ila , or t‘

la , whose date is quiteuncertain . This tradi tion was adopted by Ferishta, whoadds that Raja D ila , after a reign of either 4 or 40years,was attacked and killed by Raja Phar, or Porus, of Kumaon,who was the antagonist of Al exander the Great . If thisstatement could be depended upon, it might perhaps beentitled to some consideration, as giv ing the probable periodof the foundation of Dilli . But unfortunately Ferishta’

s

ancient chronology is a mere jumble of errors ; thus, forinstance, Phur

’

e nephew, Jana, who should hav e been a con

temporary of Seleukos Nikator, is said to be a contemporaryof Ardashir Babekan, the founder of the Sassanian dynastyin A . D . 226. But Ardashir himself is afterwardsmade acontemporary of Vikramaditya of Ujain in 57 B . C. The

most probable explanation of these different dates would seem

In Chand's Pfithi-RAj-Roisa, the name is inv ariablywritten D illi, with the first v owel

short, and the other long. In one place I hav e found 0 city called Dfllipur, whichmightas probably be deriv ed fromD ill i}:as fromDilu.

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DELHI . 139

In this account of Kharg Rai, I recognize another v er

sion of the former story of the Raja of Dil li being ov ercomeby the King of the Sakas, who was himself afterwards defeated by Vikramaditya . T he name of Sanhhdhwaj wouldappear to be only a misreading either of Schwant, or of Sakdat or SakAditya ; but Ni ldgh-p atz

’

is qui te unl ike Raja Pal,although it might be a mistake for Tilak pati , and wouldthus, perhaps, hav e some connection with the name of RajaDilu .

I think also that I can recognize another v ersion of

the same legend in the story of Rdsal, King of Hind, and

his sons Rawal and Barkamarys, as preserv ed in the Mojmalut-tawarikh of IRashiduddin .

"t In this v ersion King Basal,whom I would conjecturally identify with Raja Pet] of theRajav ali, is driv en from his throne by a rebel , who is after

wards conquered by .Barhama’

rys, a name in which, thoughslightly altered, I still recognize the famous B ikmmddit or

Vikramaditya.

The ov erthrow of the Sakas is univ ersally attributed tothe Vikramaditya who assumed the title of Saha

’

ri, and

established the era which still bears his name, beginning in57 B . C. But if the prince who founded this era was a con

temporary of Prav arasena, Raja of Kashmir, and of the

poet Kalidasa, as well as of the Astronomer Varaha Mihira,as there seems good reason to believ e, it is qui te certain thathe cannot be dated earlier than the beginning of the sixthcentury of the Christian era . This conclusion is supportedby the strong testimony of Abu R ihan, who states that the

great v ictory ov er the Sakas was gained at a place calledKoror, between Multan and Loni, by a prince named Vikramaditya, just 135 years after the prince of the same namewho founded the Vikrama Samv at . As the date of thisev ent corresponds exactly with the ini tial point of the

Sake-era which was established by Si lica’

ha’

aa , it results thatthe Vikramaditya of Abu R ihan is identical with thev ahana of the popular Indian traditions. This conclusionis further strengthened by the fact that in Colonel JamesAbbott’s list of the Rojas of Syalkot, a reign of 90yearsis assigned to sali v ahana, which is exactly the same as is

Reinaud,“ Fragments Arabes,

”&c. , p. 47.

140 ARCHE OLOGICAL nEron'r, 1862-63.

allotted to Vikramaditya, the conqueror of the Sakas, in all

the sev en copies of the Rajav ali that I hav e seen. On these

grounds, I v enture, with some confidence, to fix the date ofthe defeat of the Saka conqueror of Dilli in A . D . 78, which

is the initial point of the Sake-era of Silivfihana.

Accepting this date as tolerably well established for an

ev ent in ancient Indian history, the foundation of D illi mustbe placed at some earlier period, and perhaps the date of 57B. C . , or contemporary with Vikramaditya, as recorded byFerishta, may not be far from the truth . Regarding the

widely spread tradition that D illi was deserted for 792 years,from the conquest of Vikramaditya to the time of the first

Tomara Raja Anang Pal , I think that it may be fully explained by Supposing that during that period Dilli was nottheresidence of the King . It is almost certain that it wasnot thecapital of the powerful family of theGuptas,whomost probably reigned from A . D . 78 to 31 9 and it is quite certain thatitwasnot the capital ofthe great King Harsha Vardhhana andhis immediate predecessors, whose metropolis wasKanoj during the latter half of the sixth, and the first half of the sev enthcentury . That Dilli was most probably occupied duringthis period, we may infer from the erection of the Iron

Pillar by Raja .Dhcioa, the date of which is assigned to the

third or fourth century by James Prinsep.

’ Mr. Thomasconsiders that Prinsep has assigned too high an antiquity

to the style of writing employed on thismonument but

on this point I v enture to differ, as I find, after a carefulexamination of the inscription, that the whole of the lettersare the same as those of the records of the Gupta dynasty,whose downfall is assigned to A . D . 319 by Abu Rihan .

I think it probable that Raja Dhav a may hav e been one of

the princes who assisted in the ov erthrow of the once powerful Guptas, and I would, therefore, fix on A . D . 319 as an

easily remembered and useful approximation to his true

date.

A still earliermention of Dilli may possibly be found inPtolemy’s Daidala, which isplaced close to Indabara (perhapsIndrpat,) andmidway betweenMadam orMathura, andB aton

Kaisara , or Sthaneswara. For the last name I propose toread Sa lanaisara as its position between Mathura and

Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1838, p . 629.

DELHI . 141

Za lia drine or the Jrilandhar Doab renders it almost certainthat it must be Sthhneswara or Thanesar. The close proximity of D a lda la to Indabara , joined to the curious resemblance of their names to Dilli and Indrpat, seems to me to

offer v ery fair grounds for assuming their probable identitywith these two famous Indian cities.

The ancient city of D ill i may, with tolerable certainty,be considered to hav e occupied almost the same site as thefort of Ba i Pithora, as it is to be presumed that the IronPillarmust hav e been erected in some conspicuous position,either within the old city, or close to it. With the solitaryexception of the Iron Pillar, I am not aware that there areany existing remains that can be assigned with certainty tothe old H indu city of Dilli . A single pillar, amongst themany hundreds that now form the colonnades of the KuthMinar, may perhaps belong to the old city, as it bears afigure either of Buddha the Ascetic seated in contemplation,or of one of the Jain hierarchs. No doubt some, and per

haps ev en many, of the pillars of these colonnadesmay hav ebelonged to temples of the old H indu city ; but after a

minute examination on three successiv e days, of the sculptureson the pillars, and of all the letters and mason’

smarks onthe pillars and walls, I came to the unwill ing conclusion that(with the two exceptions just noted) there is nothing new

existing that is older than the tenth or elev enth century .

A ccording to the tradition which is univ ersally acceptedby all Hindus, the city of Dilli was re-built by Anang PM,

the first King of the Tomar dynasty . The manuscript ofKharg Ba i, which I obtained at Gwalior, names him .Bi lcm.De, and a second manuscript, receiv ed from Bikaner, callshim B i lan Deo or Anang Pal but Abul Fazl, Colonel Tod,and Syad Ahmad call him simply Anang Pal ; and he is sonamed in two inscriptionswhich are found on the Iron Pillar.

The date of Anang Pal, the founder of the Tomar dynasty,is v ariously giv en by the different authorities but ev en themost discrepant of these dates, when carefully examined,will be found to agree within a few years of the others. The

different dates giv en are as follows

18t. The Gwa lior manuscrip t of Kharg Bai — This datehas already been referred to . Kharg Rai statesthat Dilli was deserted for 792 years after

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DELHI . 143

which is most probably an error of the en

grav er for S. 846. The difference betweenthese dates is 427 years.

3rd.— In two manuscripts from Kumaon and Garhwal,

the date of the first Tomara Raja is giv en as

1 3th Bhadon S . 846, which is equiv alent to

A . D . 7 But as both of these manuscriptsomi t the first three names,which are found inall the othermanuscripts, I conclude that thedate therein giv en is that of the fourth princeof the other lists. Deducting, therefore, fromthe abov e date the sum of the three omittedreigns, which amount to 58 years, we obtainA . D . 731 as another period for the re-buildingof Dilli by Anang Pal .

It will be observ ed that the three manuscripts fromGwalior, Kumaon, and Garhwal, place the date of the re

founding of Dilli in the eighth century A . D . , whereas AbulFazl and the inscription on the Iron Pillar refer this ev entto the fourth century A . D . ; and so also does the author of

the Araish-i-Mahfil, who giv es S . 440. New, although AbulFazl specially notes that his date of 429 is of the era of

Vikramaditya, yet he is most undoubtedly wrong, as I willnow show from other statements of his own. According tothis account, the Tomar dynasty, which lasted 419 years,was succeeded by the Chohan dynasty, which ruled for 83years, and was then ov ercome by Sultan Mudz-addin same.

The period of thisev ent is stated to be A . H . 588, or A . D .

1 192. New, deducting 41 9 or 502 years, from A . D .

1 1 92, we obtain A . D . 690 as the true date of Anang Pd]according to Abul Fazl

’

s own figures, instead of S. 429— 57,or A . D . 372, as stated in his text . But as the rule of the

Chohans is limited to 4137 years in my two manuscripts fromKumaon and Garhwfil, and to 40 years in my Gwaliormanuscript, I think that the authority of these three recordsmay be taken as at least of equal weight with that of the

Ain Akbari . The true periods of the two dynasties will,therefore, be 41 9 41 460 years, which deducted fromA . D . 1 191 , the corrected date of Muaz-uddin

’

s conquest, will

0 A third MS. from Kedarnath agrees enemll with the two rev iously obtainedfromBhit and Srinagar.

g y p

144 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

giv e A . D . 731 for Anang Pel’

s re-bu ilding of DilliD, which

is within fiv e years of the traditional date of A .

already noticed .

The only explanation which I can propose of the great

discrepancy between the true date and that which 18 statedin the Ain Akbari 1s, that Abul Fazl simply mistook the era

in which he found the date recorded . Now, if we supposethat the era of his dates was that of B a labhi, which beganA . D . 319, we shall hav e S. 429 318 747 A . D . as the

corrected date for the re-building of Dilli by Anang Pdlaccording to Abul Fazl . But by using the date of S . 419 ,which is recorded on the Iron Pillar, we shall obtain A . D .

737, which is within one year of the date already fixed bythe traditional story of D illi hav ing lain waste for 792years,d whi ch agrees also with the date deriv ed from the lengths

of reigns by working backwards fromA . D . 1 193, the periodof Muaz-uddin

’

s conquest . I therefore look upon the dateof A . D . 736 for the re-building of Dilli under Anang Palas being established on grounds that are more than usuallyfirm for early Indian History . The famouspoetMirKhusru ,

of Delhi, who wrote both before and after A . D . 1300, giv esan amusing anecdote of Anang Pal a great Rai, who liv edfiv e or six hundred years ago. At the entrance of hi s

palace he had placed two lions, sculptured in stone. He fixeda bell by the side of the two lions, in order that those whosought justice might strike it, upon which the Bai woul dorder them to be summoned, would listen to their complaints,and render justice. One day a crow came and sat on the

bell, and struck it, when the Bai asked who the complainantwas. It is a fact, not unknown, that bold crows will pickmeat from between the teeth of lions. As stone lions cannothunt for their prey, where could the crow obtain its usual

sustenance P As the Rai was satisfied that the crow justlycomplained of hunger, hav ing come to sit by his stone lions,he gav e orders that some goats and sheep should be killed,on which the crow might feed himself for some days.

Sir H . M. Elliot’s Muhammadan Historians of India, edited by Dowson, III. , 565.

From this story we learn that so early asA. D . 1300Anang P61 was behav ed to hav e reigned

in Delhi between 700 and 800 A. D ., which agrees exactly with the statements of the

chroniclers.

DELHI . 145

Accepting this date of A . D . 736, we hav e to accountfor the period of 792years during which Dilli is said to hav elain waste when it is almost certain that the city must hav ebeen occupled at the time when Raja D lzdv a erected the IronPillar. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that which Ihav e al ready giv en, v iz. , that during this period Dilli wasnot the metropolis of the Kings of Upper India. The silenceof the Chinese pilgrimsFaHian and Hwen Thsang regardingDillimay, perhaps, be considered asa strong proof of the small

ness of the city from A . D . 400 to 640. Fa Hian, howev er,does not mention any place between Taxila and Mathura,and Hwen Thsang could only hav e passed through Dilli once,v ia , when he returned from Mathura to Thanesar. It isev en possible that he may hav e trav elled by Mirat, whichthen possessed one of Asoka’

s Pillars, for, if Dilli was not

a famous place amongst the Buddhists, as I believ e it wasnot, it is improbable that he would hav e v isited it.

D illi must, howev er, hav e been the Capital of AnangPa] , and most probably also of sev eral of his successors ; butI hav e a strong suspicion that the later Rajas of the Tomardynasty resided at Kanoj . M . Reinaud remarks that Otbi,the historian of Mahmud, makes no mention of the city of

D illi, and that only a single allusion to it is made by AbuR ihan in his Kdnzm-a l-mas udi . It is, indeed, a fact worthyof special notice that Dilli is not once mentioned in AbuB ihan

’

s geographical chapter, which giv es the routesbetweenall the principal places in Northern India . He noticesThanesar, and Mathura, and Kanoj , but Dilli is nev er mentioned, an omission which could hardly hav e happened hadDilli been the capital of the famous Tomar Rajas at thattime . I conclude, therefore, that Dilli was not their residence in the beginning of the elev enth century, and I thinkthat I can show with much probability that Kanoj was themetropolis of the Tomar Rajas for sev eral generations priorto the inv asion of Mahmud of Ghazni .

In A . H . 303, or A . D . 915, India was v isited by the

well known GeographerMasudi, who records that the Kingof Kanoj , who is one of the Kings of es-Sind , is B udak thisis a title general to all Kings of el-Kanoj .

“ The name

Sir H. M. Elliot— Historia ns of India, I , 57.

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DELHI . 147

is Jaypdl, whose death, according to the lengths of reigns

giv en in the Ain Akbari, occurred 287 years and 6 monthsafter the re-building of Dill i by Anang Pal . Adding thisnumber to A . D . 736-i , we obtain the year 10233 as thatof the death of Jaypél . By comparing the lists of AbulFazl and Syad Ahmad with those of my Gwalior, Kumaon,and Garhwal manuscripts, and taking the lengths of reignsaccording to the majority of these fiv e authorities, the periodelapsed from the accession of Anang Pal to the death of

Jaypal, amounts to 285 years and 6months. Adding thisnumber to A . D . we get 10212as the date of Jaypal

’

s

death, which is, I believ e, within a few months of the truedate. According to Ferishta,

‘ Mahmud first heard of the

alliance of the Hindu princes against his tributary the Kingof Kanoj , some time in the Hijra year 412, which began on

1 7th April 1021 . As sev eral other ev ents are prev iouslyrecorded, and asMahmud is said to hav e marched to his aid

at once, I conclude that he may hav e left Ghazni aboutOctober 1021 , and as Kanoj is three months

’ march distant“

from Ghaznigl' he must hav e reached that city in January

1022. On his arriv al, Mahmud found that theKing of Kanojhad already been attacked and killed . The death of Jaypal

must, therefore, hav e occurred about December 1021 , whichagreesalmost exactly with the date of his death, which I hav ealready deduced from the genealogical lists. Precisely thesame date also is obtained by working backwards by lengthsof reigns from the date of Muazuddin

’

s conquest of Dilli inA . D . 1 191 .

Since this account was written, the 2nd v olume of Pro

fesser Dowson’

s edition of Sir H . M . Elliot’sMuhammadanHistorians of India has appeared, which containsi

‘

a transla

tion of the M rdt-i-Asrdr, being a fabulous relation of the

acts of sen-a: sahu and his son Saléir Masaud . The latter issaid to hav e captured Delhi, and to hav e killed the Kingnamed Mahipal . But as Masaud was born in A . D . 1 014,and was 1 8 years of age when he reached Oudh, after passingDelhi and Kanoj , the capture of Delhi cannot hav e takenplace earlier than A . D . 1030, when he was 1 7 years of age .

Briggs, 1— 63.

‘l‘ Briggs’s Ferishta, I— 57.

Appendix, pp. 515—549.

148 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

But as the King of Kah oj is called Jaypal, whom we knowto hav e been killed in A . D . 1021 , I hav e no faith in thetruth of the narrativ e, which was compiled by a credulousauthor in the reign of Jahangir. There are two Mahipfils in

the lists, one of whom formed the lake and gav e his name tothe v illage of Mahipalpur, but neither of their datesfits with that of salar Masaud . The silence of the contemporary historian Otbi regarding Delhi, and its immunity fromattack during the long reign of Mahmud, when the neighbouring cities of Thanesar, Mirat, Mathura, and Kanoj , wereall captured, seem to me quite incredible on any other suppositiou than that which I hav e endeav oured to prov e, namely ,

that Delhi was then a comparativ ely unimportant town,

without any means of defence, as Lalkot had not then beenbuilt, and without the wealth of a capital , to attract thecupidity of an inv ader. The occurrence of the two names of

Jaypal and Kuwar Pal in the list of Tomar Princes of Delhia t the v ery time that the same namesare giv en by the Muhammadan historians as those of twoKings of Kanoj , seems tome

to admit of only one explanation— that theywere identical .

The following lists of the Tomar dynasty of Dilli containall the information which , up to this time, I hav e been ableto collect . The list of Abul ‘Fazl is giv en in the Ain Ak bari ;and Syad Ahmad’s list is printed in his Asdr-as-S zmnddid .

The Bikaner manuscript, which I obtained in 1 846, agreesexactly in the order of the names, and v ery closely also in thespelling of them, with those of the printed lists just noticed ;but it unfortunately wants the lengths of reigns. The

Gwalior manuscript, which I procured in 1849, agrees v eryclosely with the others as to the lengths of reigns, but itdiffers slightly in the order of the names. As this list isappended to Kharg Rai ’s History of Gwalior, which was

composed in the reign of Shahjahan, it is v aluable as an independent authority . The Kumaon and Garhwal manuscripts,which were obtained in 1 859 and 1862, respectiv ely, are

imperfect in the same places, which shows that they musthav e been deriv ed from a common source .

‘ They are v alu

able, howev er, for their agreement in omitting the last kingof the other lists, named .Pritlwi [tai or .Pritln

'

v i F dla who

A third MS since obtained fromc firnath, agrees v ery closely With these MSS fromBhim Ta] and Srinagar. A list pubhshed by Mangal Sen, in his Historn Bulandshahr

,

agreesw1th that of Syad Ahmad, except in No. 8, 11 Inch he g1v es as BlnmRaj .

DELHI .

would appear to be the same as the Chohan Prithiv i Raja,commonly called Bai Pithora . In proof of this, I may adducethe fact that the promised number of nineteen Tamara Rajasis complete without this name.

THE TOMARA, OR TOAR, DYNASTY OF DILLI.

1 Ananga Pun Bilan Do (caret) 18 0 0 786 8 0

Vasu Dev a (caret) (caret) 19 l 18 754 3 0

3 Gangya Ganggcv a (caret) 773 4 13

4 Prithi v i Mafia“ Mahi P. 794 8 16

Jadu P ”0 7 28 814 3 5

6 Kira , or 11111 1 P l ndraj ita 834 1 1 3

7 or Adcrch Nani P“ 6 7 1 1 849 3 12

8 Vijaya, or Vacha 875 10 23

9 I Blksha, or Anek Vacha Raja Bibasa P. 897 1 6

10 Riksha P.Sukla P.

”1 6 5 919 4 22

l l Sukh , or c P. Gopala c u P. 940 10 27

12 Gopala Ti llan De Mahi P 18 3 15 961 3 1

13 R i llakshana Suv ari 25 10 10 979 6 16

1 4 Jaya P 080. P Jmk I’ . 16 4 3 1005 4 26

15 Kunwar P. (caret) 29 9 18 1021 8 29

16 b uses ,or Anek Anck P 29 6 18 1051 6 17

Vi jaya or Pdl Teja P 24 1 6 1081 1 5

18 Mahatsal , MahrP 25 2 23 1 105 2 1 1

19 Akr PI11, Akhsal 21 2 15 1 130 5 4

Capture of 1 151 7 19mm.

20 Pn thxv i a a PrithwxP (caret)

Or Pdla.

In the abov e list I hav e adopted as a starting point theexact amount of 792years complete from the time of Vikra

maditya ; or 792 56-2 735-41 years complete, orApril A . D .

736. But it is obv ious that the period elapsed ismore likelyto hav e been 792years and some months ov er than the exactnumber of 792years. For instance, 7 years would placethe death of Jaya Pala in A . D . 1021 -1 1-29, that is, on the29th December A . D . 1021 ; but as the exact date of thisev ent is ncfl recorded by the MuhammadanHistorians, I hav e

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DELHI .

that Of his grandfather, Chandra Dev a, the founder of the

dynasty, m A . D . 1050. Now this i s the v ery date, as we

learn from other sources, at which Anang Pal II ., the

successor of Kumara Pfila, established himself at Dilli, and

built the fort of L dlkot. On the iron pillar there is a shortinscription in three lines, which appears to be a contemporaryrecord of Anang Pal himself, as the characters are similar tothose of the mason’

s marks on the pillars of the colonnadeOf the Great Mosque, but are quite different from those ofthe two modern Nagari inscriptions, which are close besideit . The following are the words of this short record .

Samv at B iha li 1 109 Any Pal baht, which may be translated thus In Samv at 1 109 , or A . D . 1052, Any (orAnang) Pa l peopled D illi . This statement is borne outby the testimony of the Kumaon and Garhwal manuscripts,in which, Opposite the name of Anek Pal, I find recordedthat m Samv at 1 1 17, or A . D . 1060, on the l0th of Margasiras Sndi he built the Fort of Dilli and called it Ldlhot

”

(D illi ha hot hara'

ya, Ldlhot This name was stillin use during the reign of the first Musalman King, Kutbuddin Aibeg, as I find in the manuscripts ofMails-fl , the

bard of the Khz'

chi Chohans, that Kutbuddin, soon after hisaccession, issued sev en orders to the Hindu Chiefs, of whichthe fifth is La

'

lkot ta i nagciro baj to a, or

“ kettle-drumsare not to be beaten in IAlkot.” This is a rule which is stillObserv ed, as none but the royal drums are beaten where thesov ereign is present . Kutbuddin must, therefore, hav e takenup his residence in Lalkot, or the fortified city Of AnangPal .

Now this date, recorded on the Iron Pillar, agrees so

exactly with the period of the Rahtor conquest of Kanoj ,that I think we may infer, with considerable probability,that the re building of Dilli by Anang P51 was owing to theloss of the territory of Kanoj along with its new Capital ofBari 1n Oudh . i The accession Of Anang Pa1 II . according

This is confirmed by the Muhammadan Historians, who state that the first two KingsKutb-ud-dm Aibeg and Shamsuddin Altamsh resided in the Fort of Bai Pithora. See Ain

Akbari by Gladwm,H . , p. 86.

The loss of power by the Tomar Princes of Delhi at this v ery time would seem to

be confirmed by the asserted supremacy of Chandra Dev a the Esther Raja of Kanoj, whois called the protecto r of the sacred places at Kesi, Kusika, Northern Kosala, and Indra:thdna

, of wh1c the last is only another name for Indraprastha, or Delhi— See Dr. Hall'

s

translation of a Phla’

s inscription in the Bengal Asiatic Society'

s Journal, 1858,

p . 224.

1 52 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

to the genealogical lists, took place in A . D . 1051 , and in

1052 we find a record of him on the Iron Pillar at Dilli .If, then, we suppose that he commenced re-building at once,there is ev ery probability in fav our of the accuracy of the

statement that he finished the Ldlkot, or R ed Fort,”

Of

Dilli in A . D . 1060. If the site Of the Red Fort may befixed by the position of the Anang l , as well as by thatOf the Iron Pillar which records the work, then the grandOld fortwhich now surrounds the Kuth Minar is in all pro

hability the v ery Lillkot that was built by Anang PM. But

there are also three other points in fav our of this identification , v iz . , l st, that all the 27 temples destroyed by the

Musalmans would appear to hav e stood inside the walls OfIAlkot ; 2ud, that one of these 27 temples was almost cer

tainly built in the reign of Anang P611 ; and 3rd, that thePort of Rai Pithora is only an extension of the Older fort,which now surrounds the Kuth Minar. For these rea

sons I believ e that this massiv e old fort, which is still inv ery good order in many places, is the identical mumof

Anang Pal . The circuit of its walls, according to my sur

v ey, is 2} miles.

To this Anang Pal I attribute the construction of a v erydeep tank situated one-quarter of a mile to the north-westof the KuthMinar, andwhich is still called Anang Tal . Thistank is 1 69 feet long from north to south, and 1 52 feet breadfrom east to west, with a depth of 40 feet . It is now quitedry, but Syad Ahmad quotes a statement that, in the time of

Sultan A la-uddin Khilj i (A . D . 1 296 the water usedfor the mortar of the great unfinished Minar was broughtfrom this tank . I refer also to this Anang Pal the foundingof a v illage in the Balamgarh D istrict, which is still calledAnehp nr. According to Syad Ahmad, the popular date of

this work is S . 733, or A . D . 676 ; and he attributes it toAnang Pal l st, the founder of the dynasty . But I think itmore probable that the date refers to the Balabbi era of

A . D . 319, which will place the building Of the v illage in733 318 A . D . 1051 , in which year Anang P511 2nd, thetrue founder of Dil li, succeeded to the throne. Anotherwork Of the same time is the Suraj Kund, a fine deep tanknear Anekpur, the building of which is attributed to SurajPM, one Of Anang Pal

’

s sons, in S . 743, which,' referred tothe Balabbi era, is eqiv alent to A . D . 1061 , a date whi ch

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DELHI . 153

corresponds most exactly with those which we hav e alreadyobtained .

To Anang Pal I attribute also the erection of at leastone of the 27 temples which once stood around the IronPillar. Many of the pillars and beams of this temple hav ebeen made use of by the Musulmans in the construction of

the south-east corner of the colonnade of the Great Mosque .

Most of them are inscribed with mason’

s marks, as will benoticed at length when I come to speak of the ruins in de

tail ; and one of them bears the date of 1 124, which, referred to the era of Vikramaditya, is equiv alent to A . D .

1067, in the v ery middle of the reign of Anang Pal II .

According to the traditions of the people, which Imanaged to pick up, the following were some of the numerous sons of Anang 1111

l st.— Tej .Pa‘

l, or Tej ran, who founded Tajara , be

tween Grurgaon and Alwar. In the BikanerMS . this prince is called Vijaya Sel l, or Pill .

2ncl .— Indra R aj , who founded Indragarh.

3rd.— R ang R aj , who founded two places namedTcirdgarh, of which one is said to be near

Ajmer.

4!h.— A cha l R

’

rl'

, who founded Achav a, or Aahncr,between Bharatpur and Agra .

51h.—

.Draup acla, who is said to hav e liv ed atAsi, orHansi .

Gila— S im P ail,who founded S irsa and Siswa l, said

to be same as S irsi P atan.

If these traditions are of any v alue, they will enableus to judge of the extent of Anang Pal

’

s dominions by thenames of the places which were founded or held by his sons.

According to this test his dominions extended from Hitnsion the north to Agra on the south, and on the western sidethey reached nearly as far as A lwar and Ajmer. To theeastward they were most probably bounded by the Ganges,beyond which the whole country was then held by the

Katehria Rajputs. I see nothing improbable in these traditions of the Tamar possessions, and I am, therefore, willingto accept them as v aluable additions to our present scantyknowledge of Hindu history

,

1 54 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

There are traditions of a similar kind regarding the sonsof another Tomar Raja, called Kama but his name isnot to be found in any of the lists. As, howev er, one of his

sons was called B ach D ea, a name which is giv en in three of

the lists as Vacha R aj a , in a fourth list as Vijaya R aj a, and

in two others as B ibasa .Pa’

la , I think that we hav e somegrounds for identifying Karna Pal with the father of Vaaha

D eva of the lists, more especially as the lists differ so muchamongst themselv es regarding the name of the father who iscalled both Nar Pill and Har Pal , either of which may be deriv ed from Karn . He is v ariously called Adereh, Udi—Ray ,Indraj it, and Chamra Pill , of which the first three names areev idently only v arious readings of one original name. The

sons of Karna Pal l, according to the popular tradition, werethe following

l st.— B ach D ea, who founded Baghar, near Narucl,and B achera or B aghera near Thoda Ajmer.

2nd.— NcZg Dea, who founded n ar and n da near

Ajmer.

3rd.— Krishn R ay, who founded Kishengarh, 10milesto north north-east of A lwar, and Khd

'

s Ganjbetween Soron and Etah .

4ih.

—Nihdl R ay, who founded Na’

rciyanpnr, 10 milesto west of Alwar.

5th.— Samasi , who founded Aj abgarh, between Alwar

and Jaypur.

a k.— E ar P 127 , who founded H arsara , 16 miles to

north north-west of Alwar, and H arsali, 23

miles to north of Alwar.

To this l ist I may add B ahadurgarh, 7 miles to northeast of Al war, which is said to hav e been founded by Karna

.Pdl himself.

The only other work of the Tomaras which has come tomy knowledge is the v illage of Mahipa

’

lp ur, situated two milesto the east north-east of the Kuth Minar, with its great embanked lake, three-quarters of a mile long and one-quarterbroad . Mahi Pal, the grand-father of Jay P111, is the 12th

DELIII . 1 55

in the list, and reigned from A . D . 961 to The embankment was the work of Firuz Tughlak t A second MahiPal reigned from A . D . 1 105 to 1 130.

If these traditions are true, the dominion of the Tomarasmust at one time hav e extended to the westward as far as

Sirsa and Nagor. To the south-west there is the di strict ofTaarv ati , or Tomarav ati, between Alwar and Shekhav ati ;and to the south-east there is the district of Toa

'

rghcir, or

Tamargha'

r, between Dholpur and Gwalior, both of which

still preserv e the name of this once powerful clan. The

Tomara dynasty of Gwalior, which held that strong fort fornearly a century and a half, traced its descent from AnangP511 of Dilli , and the present Chief of Toarv ati, as well as the

Tomar Zemindars of Toarghttr, still proudly lay claim to thesame origin.

Anang Pal II . was succeeded by three other Rajasof the Tomar family, of whom the last was a prince of

the same name, Anang Pd] III . During the reign of thislast King , D illi was captured by the Chohans under Visa laD ev a , but the date of this ev ent has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained . According to A bul Fazl it occurredin S . 848, which, referred to the Balabbi era, giv es A . D .

1 166 but as the date of Vise le’

s inscription on FiruzShah s Pillar is S . 1220 of Vikrama , or A . D . 1 1 63, it is cer

tain that the capture of Dilli must hav e preceded the con

queror’

s adv ance to the foot of the hills near Khizrabad,where this pil lar was then standing . This position at the

foot of the Himalaya Mountains is specially referred to inthe record where Visala speaks of hav ing made tributary al lthe regions between H imtlv at and Vindhya . 1 Male-fl , the

bard of the Khichi Chohans, giv es the date as S . 821 , which,compared with Abul Fazl ’s date, 1s probably too early . The

author of the A razlsh-i-mahfil says that it was rathermorethan 1200 Samv at, that is, somewhat later than A . D . 1 143.

The Hindu pillars of white marble and red sandstone which are found in the ga tewayand colonnade of Sult an Chm’

s tomb,were most probably the spo ils of a temple to

Siv a, built by Mahi on the bank of the MIlupalpur Lake, which 13 only half a 1ul le dis

tant from the tomb. I found .1 marble a rr/ha , or uom'

receptacle of the h'

uyam of Mahadev ain the pat ement of the co lonnade of the tomb betwecn two marble pillars.

1 Journal of Archaeo logical Society of Delhi September 1 850, p . 32

The actual “Capture of Delh1 by the Chebi na is mentioned in To d

’s Duo“ in

scription dated in S . or A. 1 169, H. , p. 743. It must, ther efore,hav e occurred some time earlier.

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DELHI . 157

beginning of 1 1 70. This will giv e a reign of 22years toPrithv i Raja, which is the v ery term assigned to him in all

the manuscripts, at the end of the Tomar dynasty . It willalso add about 18 years to the length of Anang Pal

’

s reign,

during which time I suppose him to hav e been tributary toVisale Dev a .

The subject of the Chohan dynasty has been so muchconfused by the confli cting accounts giv en by Colonel Tod,‘

that I hav e found it impossible to make any satisfactory arrangement, either of the names of the Princes, or of thelengths of their reigns. So far as our information goes, theonly Chohan Princes of Ajmer, who were at the same timeactual Kings of D illi , were Visale Dev a and Prithv i Raja.

During the latter half of Anang Pal’

s reign, I consider him to

hav e been only the titular King of Dilli, and tributary to theparamount sov ereign of Ajmer. On his death in A . D . 1 1 70,the throne of D illi would of course hav e fallen to Prithv iRaja by his adoption as the successor of the Tomar Prince.

On Visala’

s death, which could not hav e occurred earlier thanA . D . 1 163, I infer that Someswara succeeded to the throneof Ajmer. When he was killed in battle sev en years afterwards, or in A . D , 1 1 70, the throne of Ajmer would hav efallen to Prithv i Raja . But in the genealogical lists betweenSomeswara and his son Prithv i o Raja we find the names ofClzdhara D ev a and Na

‘

ga D ev a (or Jaga D ev a), and I canonly account for their insertion by supposing that they werethe tributary Rajas of D illi under Prithv i Raja as lordparamount . This seems highly probable if we may placeany dependence on the latter part of Colonel Tod

’

s genealo

gical list of the Chohans, in which Olzdhara D ev a ismadethe younger brother of Prithv i Raja . That Chdhara , or

Clzdkada D ev a , was a person of some consequence, we knowfrom his coins, which are less uncommon than those of

Prithv i Raja himself. Perhaps Nciga Deva may hav e beenanother brother or a near relativ c.1

'

Colonel Tod giv es the substance of an inscription discov ered at Bijoli, which is dated in S . 1226, or A . D . 1 169,

Compare Tod’s Rajasthan, II 451, with H.

, 743, and Royal Asiatic Society’s Transac

tions, I p. 1415.

1' In a fine MS. of Chand'

s Prithi RAj Raise. in my possession I find Prithv i Rajarecorded as the son of Someswara

,and the grandson of Visala Dev a, and the 7th in descent

from Vira-Visala. This clea rs up most of our d16icult1es, as we now hav e a Yisala Dev a.

contemporary with the record of the Delhi Pi llar, a name which is wanting in all theother l ists.

158 ARCILEOLOGICAL nnron'r, 1862-63.

during the life-time of Someswara .

‘ In this inscription itstated that Someswara was originally called Prithv i Rajbut hav ing obtained the regal dignity through Someswarhe was thence called Someswar. Now, if the date of th

inscription has been rightly read, it seemsmost probable ththe Hansi inscription, which mentions a Prithv i RajaS . 12241, or A . D . 1 167, or just two yearsearlier, must referthe father, who afterwards obtained the name of Someswarand not to the son, who is popularly known as B ai P ithora

This assignment of the Hansi inscription to the father is redered certain by another fact recorded in it, which h.

escaped the notice of Colebrooke, Fell, and Ted, name]that K irana , or K illmna of the Guhila or Grahilot me

was the maternal uncle of Prithv i Raja . Now, if thereone point undisputed in the history of Rai Pithora, it is thhismother was the daughter of the Tomar Raja Anang PtI conclude, therefore, that the Prithv i Raja, whose mothwas a Grahilot, must hav e been Someswara, whose originname, before hisaccession to the throne, was also Prithv i RajWith the abov e explanations, I now giv e all the lists 1

the Chohfin dynasty which I hav e been able to collec

excepting those of Tod and dh i/0:71, the Khichi bard, whi(disagree with the others in so many names that they wonbe of no use for comparison

THE CHO IIAN DYNASTY OF DILLI .

Abul Fazl, Syad Gwalior, Kumaon,

Ahmed.

Gmhwal Inscriptions

Y. M. D.

Bil Deo Visala Dev a 6 1 4 Viscla Dev a

Amara Gangu Gangcv a, orAmaraDev a

Kehar P111 Bahadi, or Pada

8 1 5

Sumcr Samas, or Sav eras 7 4 2 Someswara

Vehau Do, orBala

4 41 l

Nag Deo Jag Deo, or Ja

garmangur 3 1 5

Pithora, or Prith6 1 1 Prithv i Raja .

40 2 21

Rajasthan, IL, 743.

1' Sec Captain Fell in Asiatic Researches, XV.

, 443 and Tod in Royal Asiatic SocietTransactions, I., 154 and 461 .

DELHI . 1 59

On comparing these lists, I think that Bil Deo of Abul Fazlmay be identified with Visa la D ev a of the inscription on

Firuz Shah’

s Pillar, and that S amer or Samas are only cor

ruptions of Someswara . The other names require no re

marks.

The reign of Prithv i Raj has been rendered memorableby three ev ents which form separate parts of the ratherv oluminous work of the hard Chard, named Prithv i RajRasa . The work is div ided into sev eral K laaads, or books,which are generally known by the names of the subjects ofwhich they treat thus, the Kanaj Khand giv es the story ofthe forcible abduction of the not unwilling daughter of JayaChandra, the Rahtor Raja of Kanoj ; while the Mahoba .

Khand relates the v arious fortunes of the successful warwith Parmdlilc or Parama

’

rdi D eva, the Chzindel Raja of

Mahoba, and the last books are dev oted to the great strugglebetween the Hindus and Musulmans, which ended in the

final ov erthrow of Prithv i Rej , and the establishment of

Kuth-ud-din Aibeg on the throne of Dilli as a dependant ofthe paramount Sov ereign Muaz-ud-din Ghori .

The date of the abduction of the Kanoj Princess maybe assigned with great probabil ity to the year A . D . 1 1 75,as we know from inscriptions that Vij aya Chandra, the fatherof Jag/a Chandra , was still liv ing in 1 1 72, and that JayaChandra had succeeded to the throne before 1 1 77. Thisev ent cannot, therefore, be placed earlier than 1 1 75 and as

Prince B a insi, the issue of this union, was able to bear armsin the last fatal battle with the Musulmfms in 1 193, in whichhe was killed, it is not possible to place the date of the ah

duction later than 1 1 75.

The date of the great war with the Chandel Prince ofMahoba is giv en in the Mahoba Khand of Chand

’

s poem as

Samv at 12411 , or A . D . 1 1 81 . My copy of this portion of

the poem was obtained in Mahoba itself, and I hav e ev eryreason to believ e in the correctness of the year named, as itis borne outby two existing inscriptions of P arama

'

rddi D ev a,

the Chilndel Raja, which are dated, respectiv ely, in Samv at1 2241 or A . D . 1 167, and S . 121 1 or A . D . 1 1 841. The dateof the final conquest of Dilli by the Musulmans is v ariouslygiv en by the different authorities. Thus Ibn Batuta hasA . II. 581 , or A . D . 1 188 ; Abul Fazl has A . H . 588,

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DELHI . 161

both printed andmanuscript . The history of MuhammadanD ihli , or D elhi , according to our corrupt spelling, will be

found in ample detail in Ferishta and other Moslem authors.

I wil l now, therefore, confine my remarks to a description ofthe many noble remains of by

-gone days, which, either by

their grand size, their solid strength, or theirmajestic beauty,still proudly testify that this v ast waste of ruins was onceImperial Delhi, the Capital of all India .

HINDU REMAIN8.

The most ancient monuments of Delhi are the two StonePillars bearing the edicts of Asoka, both of which were

brought to the Capital by Firuz Shah Tughlak, aboutA . H . 757, or A . D . 1356. The account of the remov al ofthese pillars from their original sites is giv en in detail byShams-i-S iraj , who wasmost likely an eye

-witness of the re

erection in Fimzébdd, as he records that he was 12 years ofage at the time when they were set up .

’ This circumstantialaccount of a contemporary writer at once disposes of ColonelTod ’s storyt that Firuz Shah

’

s Pillar was originally standing“at Nigambod, a place of pilgrimage on the Jumna, a fewmiles below Delhi, whence it must hav e been remov ed to itspresent singu lar position .

”Nigambod still exists as a place

of pilgrimage, being a ghal immediately outside the northernwall of the city of Shahjahanabad . It is, therefore, abov e thecity of Delhi, instead of being a few miles below it, as de

scribed by Colonel Tod .

Firuz Shah’

s P illar, according to Shams-i-Siraj , wasbrought from a place which is v ariously called Topmt

, Topera,Tap arsak, Tohera , Tawera, and Naheraj The place is described as being on the bank of the Jumna, in the districtof Salera, not far from Khizrabad, which is at the foot of themountains, 90 koss from Delhi .” The distance from Delhiand the position at the foot of the mountains point out the

present Khizrabad on the Jumna, just below the spot wherethe riv er issues from the lower range of Hills, as the placeindicated by Shams-i-Siraj . Sa lora is, perhaps, Sidhora, a

Journal of Archmological Society of Delhi, I., 741.

f Rajasthan, IL, 452

Journal of the Archa o‘ogical Society of Delhi,I., pp. 29 and 75. See also Sir H. M.

Ellmt’

s Muhammadan Hwttmans,by Dowson, III. , p . 350, where the name of the v illage

is gi v en as Tobra .

162 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT,1862-63.

large place only a fewmiles to the west of Khizrabad . Fromthe v illage where it originally stood, the pil lar was conv eyedby land on a truck to Khizrabad, from whence it was floate ddown the Jumna to Firuzabad, or new Delhi . From the

abov e description of the original site of this pillar, I concludethat the v illage from whence it wasbroughtwas, perhaps, thepresent Paola , on the western bank of the Jumna, and 1 2miles in a direct line to the north-east of Khizrabad . Now,

in this immediate neighbourhood on the western bankof the Jumna, and at a distance of 66 miles from Thanesar,Hwen Thsang places the ancient Capital of Sraghna , whichwas ev en then (A . D . 630— 640) in ruins, although the

foundations were still solid . The Chinese pilgrim describesSraghna as possessing a large Vi lm

‘

r, and a grand stupa of

A soka’

s time containing relics of Buddha, besides manyother stupas of Sarip utra Maudga lyayana, and other holyBuddhists. The v illage of Tap er, which was the original siteof Firuz Shah’

s Pillar, was certainly within the limits of the

ancient kingdom of Srughna, and I think it probable thatin the work Sula, which is appended to one of the v ariousreadings of the name of the v illag e of Tap ar, we still hav ea fair approximation to Sughan, the popular form of the

Sanskrit Sraghna .

When the pillar was remov ed from its original site, alarge square stone was found beneath it, which was alsotransported to Delhi . "E This stone was again placed beneaththe pillar in its new situation on the top of the three-storiedbuilding called Firuz Shah

’

s Kotila, where it may now be

seen, as a gallery has been pierced through the solid masonryimmediately beneath the base of the pillar. According toShams-i-Siraj , the whole length of the shaft was 32 gaz, ofwhich 8 gaz were sunk in the bu ilding . As the pillar at

present stands, I found the total height to be42feet 7 inches,of which the sunken portion is only 4 feet 1 inch . But the

lower portion of the exposed shaft to a height of 5 feet isstill rough, and I hav e little doubt, therefore, that the wholeof the rough portion, 9 feet in length, must hav e been sunkin the ground on its original site. But according to Shamsi-Siraj , ev enmore than this, or one-fourth of its whole length,

that is, 10 feet 8 inches, was sunk in the masonry of Firuz

A similar large square stone was found under the Pahlaldpur Pi llar, when it wasremov ed to the grounds of Q ueen

’

s College at Banan a.

DELHI . 1 63

Shah’

s Kotila. This I believ e was actually the case, for onthe west side of the column there still remain in silu the

stumps of two short octagonal granite pillars that would appear to hav e formed part of a cloister or Open gallery arounda fourth story, which cannot hav e been less than or 7 feetin height . I conclude, therefore, that the statement of

Shams-i-Siraj is quite correct .

When the pillar was at last fixed, the top was ornamented with black and white stone-work surmounted by ag ill pinnacle, from which no doubt it receiv ed its name of

M iner Zart’

u, or‘Golden Pillar.

’ This gilt pinnacle was stillin its place in A . D . 161 1 , when Wil liam Finch enteredDelhi, as he describes the Stone Pillar of B imsa , which, afterpassing through three sev eral stories, rising 24 feet abov ethem all, hav ing on the top a g lobe surmounted by a crescent.

”

The 24 feet of this account are probably the same as the

24 gem of the other, the gaz being only a fraction less than1 6 inches.

The great inscription of Asoka, which is engrav ed on

this pillar, attracted the notice and stimulated the curiosityof Firuz Shah, who assembled a number of learned Brahmansto decypher it, but without success. Some, howev er, interpreted the writing to signify that no one would ev er succeed

remov ing the pillar from the spot on which it originallystood, until a King should be born, by name Firuz Shah .

This sort of unblushing mendacity is still but too commonin India . Almost ev erywhere I hav e found Brahmans readyto tell me the subject of long inscriptions, of which they couldnot possibly read a single letter. Equally untrue, althoughnot so shameless, are the accounts of this inscription giv enby Tom Coryat . In a letter to L .Whittaker} he says Ihav e been in a city of this country called Delee, where

A lexander the Great joined battle with Porus, King of India,and defeated him, and where, m memory of his v ictory, hecaused to be erected a brazen pillar, which remains there tothis day .

”The same story

, with additions, was repeated tothe unsuspecting Chaplain Edward Terryfir who says I wastold by Tom Coryat (who took special note of this place)that he, being in the city of Delee, observ ed a v ery great

Kerr’s Voyages and Travels, II , 423.

Journal, 15. 81 .

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DELHI . 165

pillar than any other, but it tapers much more rapidlytowards the top, and is, therefore, less graceful in its outline.

There are two principal inscriptions on Firuz Shah’

s

pillar, besides sev eral minor records of pilgrims and trav ellersfrom the first centuries of the Christian era down to thepresent time . The oldest inscriptions for which the pillarwas originally erected comprise the well known edicts of

Asoka, which were promulgated in the middle of the thirdcentury B . C. in the ancient Pali, or spoken language of

the day . The alphabetical characters, which are of the oldestform that has yet been found in India, are most clearly andbeautifully cut, and there are only a few letters of the wholerecord lost by the peeling off of the surface of the stone .

The inscription ends with a short sentence, in which KingA soka directs the setting up these monoliths in differentparts of India as follows z’“ “ Let this religious edict beengrav ed on stone pillars ( sila thambha) and stone tablets(sila p ha luka) that it may endure for ev er.

”In this

amended passage we hav e a distinct allusion to the rockinscriptions, as well as to the pillar inscriptions. As thisis the longest and most important Of all the pillar inscriptions of A soka, I made a careful impression of the wholefor comparison with James Prinsep

’

s published text . The

record consists of four distinct inscriptions on the foursides of the column facing the cardinal points, and of one

long inscription immediately. below, which goes completelyround the pillar. I may mention that the word Aj akdudm

‘

,

at the end of the 7th line south face, was not omittedaccidentally, as James Prinsep supposed, by the original

engrav er, but has been lost by the peeling away of the

stone for about 4 inches. The v owel i attached to thefinal letter is still quite distinct . The penul timate wordon the eastern face is not agm

'

m, as doubtq y read byPrinsep, but abbyum, and, as he rightly conjectured, it isthe same word that begins the 19th line . The last word inthe 1 1 th line, which puzzled Prinsep, is not atlka la, but

atikantam, the same as occurs near the beginning of the 15th

l ine. The few corrections which I hav e noticed here showthe accuracy of Bournouf

’

s opinion, that a new collation of

See James Prinsep in Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1837, p. 609. He reads titan

dlmlah ini, instead of phalabdni, which is quite distinct on the pillar.

166 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

the pillar inscriptions would be of the greatest v alue . I amhappy to say that I hav e now made new copies of the in

scriptionson the pillars atD elhi, A rardj , and Nav andgarh, for

collation by competent scholars.

The last 10 lines of the eastern face, as well as the wholeof the continuous inscription round the shaft, are peculiar tothe Delhi pillar. There is a marked difference also in theappearance of thispart of the inscription . The characters areall thinner and less boldly cut ; the v owel marks are generally sloping instead of being horizontal or perpendicular, andthe lettersj , t, s and Il are differently formed from those of

the preceding part of the inscription . These new forms areexactly the same as those of the rock inscription nearKhalsi,on the Jumma, which is only a few miles abov e Paola , the

probable site from whence the pillar was brought by FiruzShah .

The second inscription is that which records the v ic

tories of the Chohan Prince Visala Dev a, whose powerextended from H imadri to Vindhya .

” This record of the

fame of the Chohan consists of two separate portions, theshorter one being placed immediately abov e Asoka’

s edicts,and the longer one immediately below them. But as bothare dated in the same year, v ia , S . 1220, or A . D . 1 163, and

refer to the same Prince, they may be considered as formingonly one inscription . The upper portion, which is placedv ery high, is engrav ed in much larger characters than the

lower one . A translation of this inscription was publishedby Colebrooke, and his rendering of the text has been v erifiedby H . H . Wilson from a copy made by Mr. Thomas.

‘ The

reading of Sri Sa llakshaua proposed by Mr. Thomas is un

doubtedly correct, instead of Sri Mad Laksbaua , as formerlyread . I would suggest also that the rendering of Cbci

‘

kumdnatilaka , as

“ most eminent of the tribe which sprang fromthe arms

”

(of Brahma), seems to me much less forcible thanthe simple translation of Chief Of the ClzdhumdnsChohan tribe. I believ e also that there isan error in referringthe orgin of the Chohans to Brahma, as ZlIu

'

lc-j i , the Bardof the Khichi Chohans, distinctly deriv es them from the

Ana l kuud, or fount of fire on Mount Abu, an origin which

Colebrooke inAsiatic Researches, IIL, 130 and Thomas’

s Prinscp’

s Essays, l .

,325,

DELHI . 167

corresponds with that assigned to them by Colonel Tod . It

is Oha'

luh R ao, the founder Of the Chalukya , or Soldnlchi

tribe, that is fabled to hav e sprung from Brahma .

The minor inscriptions on Firuz Shah ’

s Pillar are of

l ittle interest or importance . They are, howev er, of differentages, and the more ancient records must hav e been inscribedwhile the pillar yet stood on its original site, under the hillsto the north of K hizrabad. One of the oldest is the nameof Sri B hadra M itra , or Subhadrami lra , in characters of the

Gupta era . Thi s is written in v ery small letters, as are alsotwo others of the same age. In larger letters of a somewhatlater date, there are sev eral short inscriptions, of which the

most legible is Surya Vishnu Subaruakakana . A secondbegins with H am Singha Subar uakakana, the remainderbeing illegible, with exception of the word Kumcira . A thirdreads C'harma Subana , the second letter being somewhatdoubtful . This record is extended in another place to CharmaSubana lcshdra . Of a much later date is the name of the

Sa iva mendicant S iddh B hag/auharudth Jogi , followed by atrisul . The name of this wandering mendicant is also re

corded in the v ery same characters, but simply as B hayan

Ivar Ndlh,”in one of the B arabar cav es in Bihfir.

‘ On the

northern face there are two still later inscriptions in modernNagari, both of which bear the same date of Wednesday,1 3th, waning moon of Chaitra ,

in Samv at 1 581 , or A . D .

1 524. The longer inscription contains the name of Surilan

I brdhz'

m, or Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, who reigned from A . D .

1 51 7 to 1525.

The second of Asoka’

s Delhi Pillars is now lying in fiv epieces near H indu Bao

’

s house on the top of the hill tothe north-west of Shahjahanabad . The whole length of thesepieces was 323 feet, but the upper end of the middle piece,which was inscribed with Asoka’

s edicts, was sawn off someyears ago, and sent to Calcutta, where it may now be seen

in the A siatic Society’s Museums!" The portion of the shaft

that was below the inscription still measures 1 8 feet, and thatwhich was abov e it, 12 feet . As the end of the shaft is stillrough, it seems probable that the polished portion could not

See p. 22, and Plate XX.

1? This has now been returned to Delhi, and the pillar has been restored but I thinkthatR ou

ght rather to hav e been set up atMirat

,from whence it was originally brought

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DELHI . 169

The inscriptions on this pillar are v ery imperfect, owingto the mutilated and worn surface of the stone. Such portions as remain hav e been carefully examined by JamesPrinsep, who found them to be so precisely the duplicaOf the other inscription that he did not think it worth whileto make them the subject of a separate note.

” The remainingportions, which correspond with parts of the inscriptionson the north, south, and west faces of the other pillar, hav ebeen lithographed by Prinsep in Plate XLII . , Vol. VI . of

his Journal .

The Iron P illar of Delhi, which is the next work inpoint of antiquity, is one of the most curious monuments inIndia. Many large works in metal were no doubt made inancient times, such, for instance, as the celebrated ColussusOf Rhodes, and the gigantic statues of the Buddhists, whichare described by Hwen Thsang . But al l of these were of

brass or copper, all of them were hollow, and they were allbuilt up of pieces riv etted together, whereas the Delhi Pil laris a solid shaft Of wrought iron upwards of 16 inches in dia

meter, and upwards of 40 feet in length . It is true that thereare flaws In many parts, which shew that thewelding 1s imperfeet ; but when we consider the extreme difficulty of manufacturing a pillar of such v ast dimensions, our wonder willnot be diminished by knowing that the welding of the bar is

defectiv e. The total height of the pillar abov e ground is 22feet, but the smooth shaft 18 only 15 feet, the capital being 3%feet, and the rough part of the shaft below also 35 feet .But its depth under ground is asserted to be considerably

greater than its height abov e ground, as a recent excav ationis said to hav e been carried down to 26 feet without reachingthe foundation on which the pillar rcsts. 1° The whole lengthOf the Iron Pillar is, therefore, upwards of 48 feet, but howmuch more is not known, although it must be considerable,as the pil lar 18 said not to hav e been loosened by the excav ation . I think, therefore, it Is highly probable that the wholelength 18 not less than 60 feet. The lower diameter of the

shaft is 16 4 inches, and the upper diameter is inches,the diminution being

°29 of an inch per foot . The pillarcontains about 80 cubic feet of metal, and weighs upwardsOf 1 7 tons.

Journal of Asiati c Society, Bengal, VI.

,794.

1' Mr Cooper told me 26 feet, but the man in charge assured me that the actual depthreached was 35 feet.

1 70 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

When I wrote this report in 1863 I described the pillaras formed of mixed metal .” This I did on the authority ofthe late Mr. Fred . COOper, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi .He was then preparing a hand-book for Delhi, in which Ifind the pillar is thus described The celebrated Loha-ha-lailor iron pil lar, which is, howev er, a misnomer, for it is a

compound metal resembling bronze.

”On thinking ov er

this question some months afterwards it struck me thata bronze pillar would nev er hav e escaped the rapacity of the

Muhammadan conquerors. I, therefore, obtained a smallbit from the rough lower part of the pillar, which 1 sub

mitted to Dr. Murray Thomson for analysis, who informedme that the metal was pure malleable iron of specific

grav ity . I hav e since referred to v arious books to see whataccount was giv en of this pillar by different tourists ; and Ifind that the opinion that the pillar was made of mixedmetal or bronze has certainl y prev ailed since the beginningOf the century .

‘ But it is most probably of ev en older date,as the notorious Tom Coryat speaks of the brazen pillarwhich he had seen at “ Delee.

” There can be little doubtthat this was also the Nativ e belief in former times, as it

certainly is at present ; for I presume that the early Englishresidents at Delhi adopted what they were told by the peoplewithout either question or examination, although the one con

tinned to call it the L ohi-hi-ldt, and the other the IronPillar. The belief, perhaps, arose from the curious yellowappearance of the upper part of the shaft, which I myselfobserv ed, and which induced me to accept Mr. Cooper’sstatement.

The Iron Pillar records its own history in a deeply cut

Sanskrit inscription of six lines on its western face . The

inscription has been translated by James Prinsep, who

remarks that the pillar is called the arm of fame”(K irtl i

bhaj a ) of Baja BMW , and the letters cut upon it are calledthe typical cuts inflicted on his enemies by his sword, writinghis immortal fame.

”1' It is stated that he subdued a people

In 1805 the pillarwas seen by a lady, Tour in theUpperProv inces by A . p . 165who describes it as the wonderful brazen pillar.

"Bishop Heber. Trav els

, II 291 , 307 ,calls it a. meta l pillar

”or a black pil lar of cast metal.

"

In 1834 Miss Emma Roberts,

Views in India , I. , speaks of it as a pillar of mixe d metal ; and in 1844 Co lone lSleeman, Rambles, II. , writes that the small pillar is of bronze, or a metal whichresembles bronze, and 1s softer than brass.

1' Bengal Asiatic Soc1ety’s Journal

,VII. , p . 630.

DELHI . 1 71

on the Sindhu, named Valzlileas, and obtained with his ownarm an undiv ided sov ereignty on the earth for a long period .

”

The abov e is the whole of the meagre information that can

be gathered from this inscription, sav e the bare fact that theRaja was a worshipper of Vishnu . The date of the inscription is referred by James Prinsep to the third or fourthcentury after Christ ; butMr. Thomas considers that this istoo high an antiquity for the style of writing employed on

the monument.” I agree, howev er, with Prinsep, as the

characters appear to me to be exactly the same as those of

the Gupta inscriptions. I hav e already suggested the yearA . D . 31 9, which is the initial point of the Balabhi or Gupta o

era, as an approximate date, as I think it not improbablethat the Raja may hav e assisted in the downfall of the

powerful Gupta dynasty . I read his name preferably as

B lzdv a , the letter bh hav ing got closed by the accidental slipof the punching chisel . The letter is different from ev eryother dk in the inscription .

According to univ ersal tradition, the Iron Pillar was

erected by B ilan D ee, or Anang Pal, the founder of the

Tomara dynasty, who was assured by a learned Brahmanthat, as the foot of the pillar had been driv en so deepinto the ground that it rested on the head of Vasulei ,King of the Serpents, who supports the earth ; it was now

immov eable, and that dominion would remain in his familyas long as the pillar stood . But the Raja, doubting the

truth of the Brahman ’

s statement, ordered the pillar to

be dug up, when the foot of it was found wet withthe blood of the serpent king, whose head it had pierced .

Regretting his unbelief, thea

Iron Pillar was again raised ;but, owing to the king

’

s former incredul ity , ev ery plan now

failed in fixing it firmly, and, in spite of all his efforts, it stillremained loose (dli i la ) in the ground , and this is said to hav ebeen the origin of the name of the ancient city of .Bizil i .

This tradition has been v ariously reported by differentauthorities, but the main points are the same in all . ColonelTod states that the Iron Pillar is said to be resting on the headof the SahesNa

’

g , who is the same as Vasulei , the SerpentKing .

A lady trav eller, who v isited Delhi between 1804 and 1814,heard the tradition in a somewhat different way.

‘ A Brahmantold the king that if he could place the seat of his gov ernment on the head of the snake that supports the world,

Tour in the l'

pper Prmmces, by A. D-r P~ 166

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DELHI . 173

Vyas had no sooner departed, than “ the incredulous Rajaboldly declared his disbelief in the sage

’

s announcement,when immediately

B i lan De lelmnti ulehdrh delelzi,Tab lolmse chuchdti nilea li .

He saw the spike thrown on the ground,Blood-dropping from the serpent’s wound.

The sage was recalled by the horrified king, who~was directedto driv e the stake into the ground a second time. Again he

struck, but the spike penetrated only nineteen fingers, and

remained loose in the ground. Once more then the sage

addressed the Raja prophetically, Like the spike ( leilli)which you hav e driv en, your dynasty will be unstable (dilli ) ,and after nineteen’

generations it will be supplanted by theChohans, and they by the Turkans.

”Bilan De then became

King of D illi , and with his descendants held the throne fornineteen generations, according to the number of fingers

’

lengths which the spike had been driv en into the ground.

What was the origin of this tradition, and at what timeit first obtained currency, may nev er, perhaps, be known ; butI think we are justified in hazarding a guess that the longreign of the Tomar dynasty must first hav e led to an Opinionof its durability which would then hav e been naturallycompared with the ev ident stability with which the IronPillar was fixed in the ground . We hav e an exactly parallel case in the well known saying about Rome and the

Coliseum Q uamdizi slabi i Colyseue, stabil etR oma quandocadit Calf/sens cadit R oma, whi ch the v erse of Byron hasrendered famous.

While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand,When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall .

Thi s, indeed, is the oldest form of the Indian tradition thatI hav e been able to trace. When the Muhammadan con

queror first to ok possession of Delhi, he was informed thatthe inscription on the Iron Pillar declared that the Hindurule would last as long as the pillar remained standing ;on hearing which, to show his contempt Of the prophecy, thepround v ictor allowed the pillar to stand. This same storymust hav e been told to Bishop Heber, but he has jumbled it

1 741 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

up with his account of Firuz Shah’

s Pillar.

’It That the storywhich he heard must hav e belonged to the Iron Pillar is

rendered certain by his referring it to the period of the

conquest of the country by the Musulmans.

”About the

same time also a similar story was heard by Major Archer,1who records that, “

as long as the pillar stood, so long wou ldHindustan flourish .

”At a later date, a similar story was

repeated to Mrs. Colin MackenzieJ who says that the IronPillar bears a Sanskrit inscription, the purport of whichis that, as long as this pillar stands, the R dj or kingdom has

not finally departed from the H indus. Lastly, Syad Ahmadrelates that the pillar was driv en into the head of Vasuki,King of the Snakes, to make hi s empire lasting .

If I am right in ascribing the origin of this tradi tion toa late period in the history of the Tomars, when the longduration of their rule had induced people to compare its

stability with that of the Iron Pil lar, I think that the sayingmay be referred with considerable probabil ity to the prosperons reign of Anang Pa l II . whose name is inscribed on

the shaft with the date of Samvat 1 109 or A . D . 1052.

The account giv en abov e was written in 1 863, shortlyafter which I found the original v ersion of the story in the

3rd book of my copy of Chand’

s Prithi Raj Rai sa, whi chis appropriately named Killi-dhilli-lea thd, or story of the

Loose Pillar.

”Chand, howev er, refers the ev ent to the time

of the last Anang Pal , who wished to ascertain the fortu

nate hour for holding a great festiv al in honour of the birthof his grandson, Prithi Raj . He enquired from Vyas, a

Jagjoti Brahman, who after a short consideration repliedNow is the lucky time

, your dynasty will become immov eable, and its root w ill strike into the head of Seshnag . §But the Raja was incredulous, when Vyas taking an ironSpike drov e it down 60 fingers deep until it reached theserpent’s headfil and drawing it out he showed it to the

Raja cov ered with blood . Then addressing Anang Pal , hesaid Your kingdom like the spike has became unstable .

”

l

Journal II. , 291 .

“l' Tour in Upper India, I ., 121 .

I 2nd ed ition, p. 47

Scshnag or Vfisuki is the King of the Serpents, on whose thousand heads the earthitself is sa1d to be supported .

‘ll Sattian arugula. lohalt hilliya, Sukar Scruffy/csir mil liya .

DELIII . 1 70

Thus saith the Seer Vyas,Things that must come to pass

Now the Tomars, next Oholaa’

ns,

And shortly after the Turletfns .

’it

The Raja in a rage expelled Vyas, who retired to Ajmer,where he was hospitably receiv ed by the Chohans on accountof his prophecy in fav our of their race.

The remaining inscriptions on the Iron Pillar are

numerous but unimportant . There are two records of the

Chohan Raja Ckatra Sinha , both dated in Samv at 1883, or

A . D . 1 826. They state that the Raja was descended fromP rithiv i R aj a in 29 generations, which is quite possible,although the period allowed for each generation is under 23years. The date of Prithiv i Raja is giv en as Samv at 1851 , or

A . D . 10941, which is just 99 years too early, an amount of

error which agrees with the false dates which hav e been is

serted in the text of the P rithi R dj R i se of the Bard Chand .

There is also anothermodern Nagari inscription of six lines,dated in Samv at 1 767, or A . D . 1 710, of the Bundela Rajas ofCha

’

nderi . Below this there are two Persian inscriptions,dated in A . H . 1060and 1061 , orA . D . 1651-52, which merelyrecord the names of v isitors.

The only other remains of H indu Delhi are the nu

morons pillars which form the colonnades of the Court of theGreat Masj id close to the Kuth Minar. The Arabic inscription ov er the eastern entrance of this Court-yard states thatthe materials were obtained from the demolition of 27 idolatrous temples, each of which had cost the sum of 20 lakhs of

D ilid’

ls. I agree with Mr. Thomast that the D ilia‘

l musthav e corresponded with the original billon currency of

Prithiv i Raja . Now the v alue of the Dilial was as nearly as

possible the same as that of the Jita l or Child of Ala-uddinKhilji, 50 of which, as we learn from Ferishta,1 were equalto one Rupee . The cost of each of these temples would not,therefore, hav e been more than Rs. and that of the

whole number, only Rs. or The costof these temples seems excessiv e when expressed in such

Kahe Vyde Jagjol i agamu dgamu hoyuno,Tama r

,tai Cha l mwdn lioi, p uni puni Turkdno.

1' I’xiusep

’

s Essays, I., 326.

Briggs, L, 360.

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DELHI .

in the north cloister there is a pillar made up of no less thanthree shafts of exactly the same pattern,

piled one ov er the

other. This may be seen in Beato ’s photograph of this cloister (see the 4th pillar on the lefthand). The general effectof these large rows of made-up columns is certainly rich and

pleasing ; but this efl'

ect is due to the kindly hand of time,which has almost entirely remov ed the coating of plasterwith which the whole of these beautiful ly sculptured pillarswere once barbarously cov ered by the idol-hatingMusalmans.

The same doubling up of the old H indu pillars has beenfollowed in the cloisters of the outer court of the Kutb Minar,the shaft of one plain pillar being placed ov eranother to obtainheight . A similar re-arrangement may be observ ed in theCourt of the Ja

’

ma i or DinaMasjid of Kanoj, commonly calledSita-lea—R asiéi, or Sita ’

s kitchen .

The number of decorated pillars now remaining in thecourt-yard of the Great Mosque around the Iron Pillar is,as nearly as I could reckon them, 340; but as the cloistersare incomplete, the original number must hav e been much

greater. My reckoning makes them 450. In the interiorof the Great Mosque itself there are 35 pillars now remaining, of a much larger size and of a somewhat different styleof decoration . When the Mosque was complete there must

hav e been not less than 76 of these pil lars. Of the plainerpillars in the court-yard of the Kuth Minar I counted 376,but the total number required to complete the cloisters wouldbe about

I hav e giv en these figures in detail for the purpose of

corroborating the statement of the Musalman conqueror,with regard to the number of temples that were standing inDil li at the close of the Hindu power. The usual number ofcolumns in a Hindu temple is from 20 to 30, although a few

of the larger temples may hav e from 50 to 60. But theseare exceptional cases, and they are more than balanced bythe greater number of smaller temples, which hav e notmorethan 12 or 16 pillars. The great temple of Vwbnup ad at

Gaya has 50 pillars, and Mr. Fergusson mentions that atemple of 56 pillars was the most extended arrangement thathe had met with under a single dome .

‘ The magnificent

Illustrations of Indian Archi tecture, Introd , p. 18.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63

temple at Chandrcioati , near Jhdlra Pdtcm, and ti l epillaredtemple of Ganthai , at Kaj rdko, hav e only 28 columns each .

The B aroli temple has 24 columns, the great temple at

B indréban has only 1 6, and the Chaori, in the Moleandras

P ass, has not more than 12. But there aremany templesthat hav e ev en fewer pillars than these ; as, for instance, thatof Meta D ev i , in Gwalior, which has only 6 pillars, and thatof Chatur B l uy

’

a, also in Gwalior, which has notmore than4 pillars. Taking these temples as fair specimens of manyv arious styles and ages, the av erage number of pillars in a

H indu fane is between 24 and 25, or, if the extremes beomitted, the av erage number is 21 . Accepting these numbers as a fair guide, we may set down the 76 pillars of theGreat Masjid as the Spoils of at least 2, butmore probablyof 3 temples, each equal in size to the magnificent fane at

Chandrav ati . Similarly the 453 pillars of the court of theMasjid wil l represent the spoils of not less than from 18 to

22 temples, of 20 and 25 columns each . These numbersadded together giv e a total of from 20 to 25 temples, whi chagrees so nearly with the number recorded in the Muhammadan inscription, as to leav e no doubt whatev er of the truthof the conqueror’s boast that the Masj id was built of the

spoils of 27 temples.

A curious confirmation of the av erage size of thosetemples has been afforded by a discov ery which I first madein 1 853, and which I completed during the present year 1 863.

In the south-east corner of the cloisters of the GreatMosque,the pillars, with bases and capitals complete, are nearly all ofone style and size, and quite different from the other columns.

Now, the bases, shafts, and capitals of these pillars are mombered, the highest number discov ered being 1 9 . I found 1 5numbered shafts, of whi ch No . 13 is in the north cloister, faraway from its fellows. I found also 13 numbered bases, and7 numbered capitals ; but only in one instance, that of No . 10,do the numbers of base, shaft, and capital, as they now stand,agree. Here, then , we hav e a direct and conv incing proof thatthese particular pillars hav e al l been re-arranged . The totalnumber of shafts discov ered was only 1 5, but they were all

numbcred. Of the bases I discov ered 1 9, of which 4 weresquare, and 1 5 had the angles recessed like all the shafts

.

Of the capitals, all of one uniform pattern,I found 20, of

which one was inscribed with the No. 19. From all these

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DELHI. 179

facts I conclude, with a probability amounting almost to cortainty, that the temple from which these pillars were Obtainedconsisted of 20 columns only . On No . 12shaft there is theword Kacka l in Nagari letters on one face, with the date of

1 124 on another face, which, referred to the VikramadityaSamv at

, is equiv alent to A . D . 1067, at which timeAnang Pal II., the founder of Lalkot, was reigning in

But the mason’s marks on the stones of this temple

were not confined to the pillars, as I discov ered them on no

less than 13 different portions of its entablature. Thesemarks are more than usually detailed ; but, unfortunately, inspite of their length and apparent clearness, I am still unabletomake them out completely) “

The marks are the followingA .—Okapa Vida 3

C . 4

D .— Pc /lu.ti 5 pacm

E . Vi Cfiaotkc

F. Vi p ane/lamaG .— Pratfiama Dee

’

s/ten

H .—Packcfi/l im Raki Dds/ten

K .— Pm’

a6Prat/lamaL .— Purab 3

M .— Pac/lcfi/limRd 3 A (ge

N .— Packcfi/¢ imRaki p as/wil lie

0 .— Pacfic/z/iimBal i 6p aella/Me

There is a peculiarity about the numbers of the pillarswhich isworthy of note. Each cypher is preceded by theinitial letter of the word for that number. Thus, 3 is precededby ti for tin, 10 by do for dos, and 16 by so for solah. The

same style of marking would appear to hav e been used fora second temple, as I found a pillar of another pattern withthe number da 2, and a pilaster of the same kind with

See Plate XXXVII. for copies of these mason’

s marks, and a drawing of one of the

pillars. During a v isit of a few hours in the present year, 1871 , [ found two numbered pillarsof a d1tl

’

erent kind, w ith the Nos. 2and 1 9,showing that a second temple, destroyed by the

Muhammadans, must hav e been supported on not less than 20pillars. I found also a masou’s

reco rd of fiv e lines on a third v ariety of pillar, but the letters are faint and difficult to read.

I can make out a notice of 7 6+ 5 8, or 26 pillars altogether, of which I discovered 6in the cloisters.

Upper Vida NO. 3

Ditto No. 4

Rear No . 4

Rear No. 5west.Vida fourth.

fifth.

First Architrav e.

West side Architrav e.

East first.

East No . 3.

West side No . front?West side back.

West side No. 6, back .

1 80 ABCIIZEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

i 19 .

"I Sixteen bases of the first pillar hav e recessedangles, and four are plain squares. In this case the templewould hav e had 4 pillars (probably an outer row) of one

pattern, and 16 of another kind, but all of the same height .

The dimensions of these inscribed pillars are as follows

Ft In Ft. In.

Upper member withCdp dd lLower ditto

Upper portion, ornamentedLower ditto plain

I I l l

Total height 8 3

The only other Hindu remains are the two forts of

L a'

lleot and R oi P ithora , which together formed the old

Dilli of the Musalmans, after the building of a new fortof S iri by A la-ud-din Khilj 1 . Of these two, the older fortof L dlleot has hitherto remained unknown, being alwaysdescribed by Musalmans as a part of the fort of Rai Pithora .

It is called Siri by Lieutenant Burgess, who made a surv eyof the ruins of Dilli in 1 849-50, and the same name is giv ento it by Messrs. Cope and Lewis in their interesting accountof Firuzabad, published in the Journal of the ArchaeologicalSociety of Delhi for 1850. The reasons which induce meto identify this fort with the L i lleot of Anang Pal hav e

already been giv en when speaking of the re-founding of D illi,and the reasons which compel me to reject its identificationwith Siri will be detailed when I come to speak of thatplace.

The Port of Ldlleot, which was built by Anang Pal inA . D . 1060, is of an irregular rounded oblong form, 2% milesin circumference. Its walls are as lofty and asmassiv e asthose of Tughlakd

'

ba'

d, although the blocks of stone are not

These two pillars are 4 feet 10} inches high, and 1 13} inches square. I found 13 pillars

of almost the same pattern, but Of somewhat large d1mensions, being 5 feet 3} inches high,and 13} inches square. The commonest pillar is of a sim1lar pattern,

but with the add itionof human fig ures on the lower faces of the shaft, and a deep recessed ornament at the topOf the shaft. Of this kind I counted 78 p1llars du1mg my last v isit in the present year1871 .

DELHI . 181

so colossal . By different measurements I found the ram

parts to be from 28 to 30 feet in thickness, of which the

parapet isjust one-half. The same thickness of parapet is alsoderiv ed from the measurement giv en by Ibn Batuta in A . D .

1340, who says that the walls were elev en cubits thick .

A ccepting thismeasure as the same that was in use in FiruzShah

’

s time, namely, of 16 inches, as deriv ed from the length

of Firuz Shah’

s pillar, the thickness of the walls of old

D illi was lag feet. These massiv e ramparts hav e a generalheight of 60 feet abov e the bottom of the ditch, which stillexists in v ery fair order all round the fort, except on the southside, where there is a deep and extensiv e hollow that wasmost probably once filled with water. About one-half of

the main walls are still standing as firm and as solid as whenthey were first built . At all the salient points there are

large bastions from 60 to 100 feet in diameter. Two of the

largest of these, which are on the north side, are called theFateh B z

’

izjj and the Sohan B drj . The long lines of wallbetween these bastions are broken by numbers of smallertowers well splayed out at the base, and 45 feet in diameterat top, with curtains of 80 feet between them. Al ong thebase of these towers, which are still 30 feet in height, thereis an outer line of wall forming a mom:or faussebraie, whichis also 30 feet in height . The parapet of this wall has en

tirely disappeared, and the wall itself is so much broken, as

to afford an easy descent into the ditch in many places. The

upper portion of the counterscrap walls has all nearly fallendown, excepting on the north-west side, where there is adouble line of works strengthened by detached bastions.

The positions of three of the gateways in the west halfof the fort are easily recognized, but the walls of the

eastern half are so much broken that it is now only possibleto guess at the probable position of one other gate. The

north gate is judiciously placed in the re-entering angleclose to the Fateh Bfirj , where it still forms a deep gap in

the lofty mass of rampart, by which the cowherds enterwith their cattle. The west gate is the only one of whichany portion of the walls now remains. It is said to hav ebeen called the R anj it gate. This gate-way was 17 feet wide,and there is stil l standing on the left hand side a large upright stone, with a grov e for guiding the assent and descentof a portcullis. This stone is 7 feet in height abov e the

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DELHI . 183

gate was called the Ghazni Gate for the simple reason onlythat Ghazni lies to the west of Delhi .

The Fort of Rai Pithora, which surrounds the citadelof Lalkot on three sides, would appear to hav e been builtto protect the H indu city of D illi from the attacks of the

Musalmans. As early as A . D . 1 100, the descendants ofM mud, retiring from Ghazni before the rising power of theS

'

s, had fixed their new capital at Lahor, althoughGhazni still belonged to their kingddm, and was occasionallythe seat of Gov ernment . But a new and more formidableenemy soon appeared, when the celebrated Muaz-uddin 8am,

commonly called Muhammad Ghori, after capturing the citiesof Multan and Parshawar, appeared before Labor in A . D .

1 180, and put an end to the Ghaznav ide dynasty by the

capture of their capital in A . D . 1 186. The danger was

now imminent, and only a few years later we find the

Ghori King in full march on Ajmer. But the Raja of

D illi was well prepared for this inv asion, and, with the aid

of his allies, he defeated the Musalmans with great slaughterat Tilcara

'

,midway between Karnal and Thanesar. As the

first appearance of the formidable Ghoris before Labor

corresponds so nearly with the accession of Prithiv i Raja,I think it v ery probable that the fortification of the city ofD illi was forced upon theRaja by a well-grounded apprehensionthat Dilli itself might soon be attacked ; and so it happened,for within two years after the battle of Tilaori the Raja was

a prisoner, and Dilli was in the possession of the Musalmans.

The circuit of Rai Pithora’

s Fort is 4 miles and 3

furlongs, or just three times asmuch as that of Ldlkot. But

the defences of the city are in ev ery way inferior to thoseof the citadel . The walls are only half the height, and the

towers are placed atmuch longer interv als. The wall of the

city is carried from the north bastion of Lalkot, called FatahB drj , to the north-east for three-quarters of a mile, whereit turns to the south-east forH:mile to the D amdama Bdrj .

From this bastion the direction of the wall for about onemileis south-west, and then north-west for a short distance to thesouth end of the hill on which Azim Khan ’

s tomb is situated.

Beyond this point the wall can be traced for some distanceto the north along the ridge which was most probablyconnected with the south-east corner of Lalkot, somewherein the neighbourhood of Sir T. Metcalfe’s house.

l 84g Ac zEOLOcmAL REPORT, 1862-63.

The Fort of Rai Pithora'

or Delhi Proper is said to hav ehad nine gates besides the Ghazni Gate,‘ most of which can

still be traced . Three are on the west side, of which twobelong to the citadel of Lalkot, and the third has a small outwork . There were fiv e on the north side, towards Jahanpanah ,

and one on the east side, towards Tughlakabad, which must

hav e been the Badaon Gate, that is so Oftenmentioned in earlyMuhammadan history . There must also hav e been one g mon the south side, which would hav e been close to Sir T .

Metcalfe’

s house . Such was the H indu City of Dilli when itwas captured by theMusalmans in January 1 191 . The circuitOf its walls was nearly 43

1

3 miles, and it cov ered a space of

ground equal to one-half of the modern Shahjahanabad, theCapital of the Mogul Sov ereigns of India . It possessed 27Hindu temples, of which sev eral hundreds of richly carv edpillars still remain to attest both the taste and the Wealth of

the last Hindu Rulers of Dill i,

MUHAMMADAN REMAINS .

The first Musalman Sov ereigns of Delhi are said to hav eremained content with the fortress of Rai Pithora, althoughit seems highly probable that they must hav e

“

added to thedefences of the west gate, by which they had entered Lalkot ,the citadel of the Hindu Kings. But though the first

Musalman Kings did not build huge forts or extensiv e citiesto perpetuate their names, yet in the Great Mosque and

magnificent column of Kuth-uddin Ai beg, as well as in the

richly carv ed tomb of A ltamsh, they hav e left behind thema few noble works, which are in ev ery way more worthy ofour admiration .

The Great Mosque of Kuth-uddin was called the JdmaMasj id, according to the inscription ov er the inner archwayOf the east entrance. But it is now more commonly knownas the Masj

‘

id-i-Kutb-ul Isla’m, or the Mosque of the PoleStar of Islamism, a name which appears to preserv e that ofits founder. It seems probable, howev er, that the KuthMosque, as well as the M iner, may hav e been named after

the contemporary Saint Kutb-uddin Ushi, whose tomb is

close by . Syad Ahmad adds that the Mosque was also called

Malfuzdt—i-Timuri, or Autobiography of Timur, in Dowson’s edition of Sir II. M. Elliot

’s

History 448.—So also Sharafuddin in the ZafarNaims, inDowson'

s Elhot, ML, 504.

DELHI . 185

the Adina Masj ld. This Great Mosque, which ev en in ruinis one of the most magnificent works i ii the world, was seen

by Ibn Batuta“ about 1 50 years after its erection, when he

describes it as hav ing no equal, either for beauty or extent .In the time of Timur, the people of Old Delhi prepared todefend the Great Mosque, but they were all, according to theMuhammadan H istorian Sharaf-uddin, despatched by the

sword to the deepest hell . The Mosque is not mentionedby Baber, although he notices the Minar and the tomb of

Khwaja Kuth-uddin, which he perambulatedxl' It is not

mentioned either by Abul Fazl ; but no inference can be

drawn from his silence, as he does not ev en allude to theKuth Minar. The Minar itself was repaired during the

reign of Sikandar Lodi ; but we hear nothing of the Great

Mosque , from which, perhaps, itmay be inferred either thatit was still in good order, or that it was too much ruined tobe easily repaired . I conclude that the latter was the case,as it seems probable that the permanent remov al of the

court from Delhi to Firfizabad must hav e led to the gradualabandonment of the Old city . We hav e a parallel case in theremov al of the Hindu court from Kanoj to the Bari in thetime of Mahmud of Ghazni . This remov al took place inA . D . 1022 and in A . D . 1031 , or within ten years, AbuRihan records that Kanoj hav ing been deserted by its ruler,fell to ruin .

”

The Great Mosque of Kutb-uddin was begun immediately after the capture of Delhi in A . H . 587, or A . D .

1 191 , as recorded by the King himself in the long inscription ov er the inner archway of the east entrance. This isthe reading of the date giv en by Syad Ahmad, andMr. Thomashas shown good grounds for its being the true date. My ownreading was 589, taking tisa or nine, where Syad Ahmadreads saba or sev en, but the two words are so much alike thatthey may be read differently by different people. Mr. Thomashas pointed out that Ibn Batuta read the unit as arba or four.

In this inscription, as well as in the shorter one ov er theouter archway of the same gate, Kuth-uddin refrains fromcalling himself by the title of Sultan, which he bestows on

his Suzerain Muaz-uddin in the inscription ov er the north

Trav els, p . 1 1 1 .

1' Memoirs

, p. 308.

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DELHI . 187

side of the court, one fixed in the inner wall in the north-eastangle just abov e the pillars, and the other in the outer wal lbetween the north gate and the north-east corner. The innersculpture represents sev eral well known Hindu gods,— 1 st,Vishnu, lying on a couch with a lotus rising from his

nav el , and cov ered by a canopy, with two attendants, one

standing at his head and one sitting at his feet ; 2md, a seatedfigure not recognized ; 3rd, Indra, on his elephant ; 4th,B rahma , with three heads seated on his goose 5th, Siv a, withhis trident seated on his bull Nandi 6th, a figure with lotusseated on some animal not recognized. The outer sculpture isof a different description . The scene shows two rooms with a

half-opened doorbetween them. In each room there isa femalelying on a couch with a child by her side, a canopy ov er herhead, and an attendant ather feet . In the left-hand room two

females are seen carrying children towards the door, and in

the right-hand room two others are doing the same. The

whole four of these females appear to be hastening towardsthe principal figure in the right-hand room. I am unableto offer any explanation of this v ery curious scene, but as itis v ery unlikely that these figures would hav e been exposedto the sight of the early Musalmans, I conclude that thesestones must also hav e been carefully plastered ov er.

D uring the reign Of A ltamsh, the son-in-law Of Kuthuddin, the Great Mosque was much enlarged by the additionof two wings to the north and south, and by the erection Of

a new cloistered court on the north, east, and south sides,

so as to include the Kuth Minar in the south-east cornerof the enclosure. The fronts of the two wing buildings are

pierced by three arches each, the middle arches being 24 feetspan, and the side arches 13 feet. The walls are of the samethickness, and their ornamental scrolls are of the samedelicate and elaborate tracery as those Of the originalMosque.

"E

The whole front of the Jama Masjid, with its new additions,is 381. feet in length, which is also the length of its cloisteredcourt, the breadth being 220 feet . The wall on the south sideof the court , as well as the south end of the east wall , are

fortunately in good preserv ation, and, as about three-fourthsof the columns are still standing, we are able to measure thesize of the enclosure with precision, and to reckon thenumber

0 See plate NO . XXXVII. for a plan of the original Bla nd and its additions.

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DELHI . 189

I confess, howev er, that my own opinion is strongly in fav ourof the contemporaneous engrav ing of the inscriptions, and of

the erection of the long line of noble arches by the earlierKings Aibeg and A ltamsh. I rest my opinion not only onthe positiv e statement of Hasan Nizami, a contemporary of

A ibeg, who records that Kuth-uddin built the Jfimi Masj idat Delhi,

”and cov ered it with inscriptions in Tughra con

ta ining the div ine commands,“ but also on the shape and

construction Of the arches, and the form Of the letters,

both of which correspond with those of the Altamsh Masjidat Ajmer, while they differ entirely from those of the A laiDarwaza andKhizriMasj id Of the time of Alauddin. I notefirst that the four remaining arches Of Kuth-uddin’

s Mosqueare ogee in shape like those of the Great Mosque at Ajmer,and quite different from the pointed and horse-shoe archesof Alauddin. I note next that the upright letters of the

Kutb Masj id are v ery nearly of uniform thickness, thusagreeing with those of the dated inscriptions on the gateways,while those of A lauddin’

s time are inv ariably much broaderat top than at bottom. Lastly, I note that the undulatedflower stem, which forms the ornament of the main line of

inscription on the central arch Of the Mosque, is exactly thesame as that of the inscription on the north gate which isdated in A . H .

During the present century, much speculation has beenwasted as to the origin of the Kuth Minar, whether it is a

purely Muhammadan building, or a H indu building alt eredand completed by the conquerors. The latter is undoutedlythe common belief of the people, who say that the pillar wasbuilt by Rai I’ithora for the purpose Of giv ing his daughtera v iew Of the R iv er Jumna. Some people ev en say that theintention was to obtain a v iew of the Gangcs, and that theKuthMinar hav ing failed to secure this a second pillar of doublethe size was commenced, but the work was interrupted by theconquest of the Musalmans. The first part of this tradi tionwas warmly adopted by Sir T . Metclafe, and it has since founda strong adv ocate in Syad Ahmad, whose remarks are quotedth approv al by Mr. COOpcr in his recent hand-book for

Sir H. M. Elliot’

s Historians, by Dawson, II.

, p . 222.

Compare this dated inscription NO. 7, plate XIII. of the As ir us Sunnddid, witha ny Lug e photograph of the Kutb arches.

ARCHZEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

Delhi . Syad Ahmad, howev er, refers only the basementstorey to Bai Pithora ; but this admission inv olv es the wholedesign of the column , which preserv es the same marked character throughout all the different storeys. The H indutheory has found a stout opponent in Colonel Sleeman, who

argues that the great slope of the building“ is the peculiar

characteristic of all architecture Of the Pathans,”and that

the arches of the Great Mosque close by it all correspondin design,

proportion, and execution to the

Mr. Cooper 1' recapitulates Syad Ahmad’s arguments,and finally states as his Opinion that it remains an open

question whether this magnificent pillar was commenced bythe H indus or Muhammadans.

”I must confess, howev er,

that I am myself quite satisfied that the building is entirely aMuhammadan one, both as to origin and to design ; although,

no doubt, many, perhaps all, of the beautiful details of

the richly decorated balconies may be Hindu . To me thesedecorations seem to be purely Hindu, and just such as maybe seen in the honey-comb enrichments of the domes ofmostof the Old H indu temples. The arguments brought forwardin support Of the Hindu origin of the column are the

followingl st. That there is only one Me

'

nar, which is contraryto the practice of the Muhammadans, who always giv e twoMinars to their Masj ids. I allow that this has been the

practice of the Muhammadans for the last three hundredyears at least, and I will ev en admit that the little cornerturrets or pinnacles of the Ka

'

la , or Ka la”, Masj id of FiruzShah, may be looked upon as Minars. This would extendthe period Of the use of two Minars to the middle Of the14th century ; but it must be remembered that these littleturrets of Firuz Shah’

s Masp d are not what the Musalmanscall .Mdz inahs, or lofty towers, from the top of which the

Muazzin calls the faithful to prayer. But the Kuth Mi naris a Mdz inah and that it was the practice of the earlyMuhammadans to build a single tower, we hav e the mostdistinct and satisfactory proofs in the two Minars Of Ghazni

,

which could not hav e belonged to one Masj id,as they are

half a mile apart, and of different sizes. These Minars were

Rambles of an Indian Official, II.

,254.

f Hand-book for Delhi, p. 73.

DELHI .

built by Mahmud in the early part Of the 1 l th century, orabout 1 80years prior to the erection of the Kuth Mi nar.

Another equally decisiv e proof Of this practice is the solitaryMinar at Koel, which was built in A . H . 652, or A . D . 1 254,

by Kntlngh Khan, during the reign Of Nasir-uddin Mahmud,the youngest son of Altamsh, in whose time the KutbMinaritself was completed . These still existing Minars of Ghazniand Koel show that it was the practice Of the early Muhammadans to hav e only one Minar ev en down to so late a dateas the middle Of the 13th century .

2nd,— It is objected that the slope of the Kuth Minar

ismuch greater than that Of any other known Minars. Thisobjection has already been satisfactorily answered by ColonelSleeman, who says truely that the slope is the peculiar characteristic Of the architecture Of the Pathans.

3rd — Syad Ahmad argues that, if the Minar had beenintended as a Mdzz

’

nah to the Great Mosque, it would hav ebeen erected at one end of it, instead Of being at some distancefrom it . In reply to this Objection I can point again to theKoel Minar, which occupies exactly the same detached position with regard to the Jama Masjid of Koel as the KuthMinar doeswith respect to the Great Mosque of Delhi . Bothof them are placed outside the south-east corner Of their respectiv e Masj ids. This coincidence of position seems to me

sufficient to settle the question in fav or Of the Kuth Minarhav ing been intended as a Mazinah of the Great Mosque.

4th.— Syad Ahmad further argues

“ that the entrancedoor faces the north, as the Hindus always hav e it,

”whereas

theMuhammadans inv ariably place it to the eastward, asmaybe seen in the unfinished Minar Of A lauddin to the northof the Kuth Minar.

” Once more I appeal to the KoelMinar, which, be it remembered, was erected by the son of

the Emperor who completed the building of the KuthMinar,and which may, therefore, be looked upon as an almost contemporary work . In the Koel Minar the entrance door is tothe north, exactly as in theKuthMi nar. In both instances,I believ e that it was so placed chiefly for the conv enience of

the Muazzin when going to call the faithful to prayer. It

think, also, that Syad Ahmad has ov erlooked the fact that theMinars Of modern days are engaged

” towers, that is, theyform the ends of the front wall Of theMosque, and, as the

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DELHI . 193

Muhammadans in India also erect their bui ldings on plinthsor raised terraces, I readily admit ; for, on the same principlethat a Cuckoo may be said to build a nest, the Musalmansusually placed their buildings on the sites of Hindu templeswhich they had prev iously destroyed . The Mosques atMa

thura, Kanoj , and Jonpur, are signal examplesof this practice.

The raised terrace is, therefore, only an accidental adjunct ofthe Muhammadan building, whereas it is a fundamental partof the H indu structure. But the early Musalmans did notplace their buildings on raised terraces or platforms, as maybe seen by a reference to the Drawings of Mosques in Syriaand Persia, which are giv en in Fergusson

’

s Hand-book .

"E The

Ghaznivides also, who were the more immediate predecessorsof the Indian Musalmans, built theirMinars at Ghazni without plinths. The contemporary tomb of Al tamsh is likewisewithout a plinth. From all these facts I infer that the earlyMusalman structures in India were usually built without

plinths, and therefore that the Kuth Minar isundoubtedly aMuhammadan building.

5th—The last argument brought forward by SyadAhmad is, that bells, which are used in Hindu worship, are

found sculptured on the lower part of the basement storey ofthe KuthMinar. It is true that bells are used in the dailyworship of the Hindus, and also that they are a commonornament of Hindu columns, asmay be seen On most of thepillars in the cloisters of the Great Mosque. But bells are

no more idolatrous than flowers, which are used in such profusion in the daily serv ice of the Hindu temples. The factis that, where Muhammadan mosques hav e been built of thematerials stolen from H indu temples, such portions of architectural ornament as were free from figures either of men or

of animals, were inv ariably made use of by the conquerors.

For this reason most of the ornamentation of the earlyMusalman buildings is purely Hindu . For instance, in theJama Masj ld of Kah oj , which is buil t entirely of Hindu materials, the whole of the concentric circles of ov erlappingstones in the central dome, with only one exception, stillpreserv e the original Hindu ornament unaltered . The ex

ception is the lowest circle, which is completely cov ered withArabic inscriptions. One of the Hindu circles ismade upsolely of the Swastika or mystic cross of the early Indians.

This symbol is essentially an idolatrous one, although it is

Vol. L, p. 415.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

most probable that the Musalmans were not aware of its

significance. But if the ornamental bells of the Kuth Minarare to be taken as a proof of its Hindu origin, ev en so mustthe ornamental Swastikas of the Kanoj Masj id be acceptedas ev idence to the same effect . It is admitted that thisMasjidis built up entirely of Hindu materials, but these hav e beenskilfully re-arranged by the Moslem Architect to suit therequirements of a mosque, so that the design of the buildingis strictlyMuhammadan , while its ornamentation is purelyHindu . I may add that one of the western pillars thatsupports the central dome of this mosque is made up Of two

old shafts, both of which are decorated with the Hindu belland suspending chain .

The strong ev idence which I hav e brought forward inreply to the arguments of Syad Ahmad and others, appearsto me to be qui te conclusiv e as to the origin of the KuthMinar, which is essentially a Muhammadan building . But

the strongest ev idence in fav or of this conclusion is the factthat the Musalmans of Ghazni had already buil t two separateMinars Of similar design with angular flutes, whereas theonly H indu pillar of an early date, namely, the smallercolumn at Chitor, is altogether dissimilar, both in plan and

in detail . The entrance to this Hindu tower is at someheight abov e the ground, while that of the Kuth Minar isabsolutely on the ground lev el . The summit of the H indutower is crowned by an open pillared temple of almost thesame width as the base of the building, whereas the cupolaOf the Kutb Minar is little more than one-sixth Of the

diameter of its base. But this small cupola of less than9 feet in diameter was peculiarly adapted for one specialpurpose connected with the performance of theMuhammadanreligion . From this narrow point the Muazzin could summen the faithful to prayer from all sides by simply turninground and repeating the Izafn, and on all sides he wouldbe v isible to the people . The small size of the cupola,which crowns the Kuth Minar, is a characteristic peculiarto Muhammadan towers for the special reason which Ihav e just mentioned . On this account, therefore, I con

clude that the KuthMinar is a Mdz inah or Muazzin’

s

tower.

That the Kuth Minar was actually used as a Mdzinah,we may infer from the records of Shamsi Siraj , who aboutA . D . 1380, records that the magnificent Mindr in the JamaMasjid Of old Delhi was built by Sul tan Shams-uddin

DELHI . 1 95

Altamsh . Butthe fact is placed beyond all doubt byAbulfeda,who wrote about A . D . 1 300. He describes the Mazinah Of

the JAma Masj id at Delhi asmade of red stone and v ery lofty ,

with many sides and 360 steps. Now this description can

be applied only to the Kuth Minar, which, as it atpresentstands, has actually 379 steps ; butwe know that theMinarwas struck by lightning in the reign of Firuz Shah, by whoseorders it was repaired in A . D . 1368. There is, therefore,nothing improbable in the account of Abulfeda that theMinar in his time had only 360 steps. On the contrary Iaccept the statement as a v aluable hint towards ascertaining the height of the original Minar as completed by the

Emperor Altamsh) “

The object of building this lofty column seems to me tobe clear enough . The first Musalman conquerors were anenergetic race, whose conceptions were as bold and daring as

their actions. When the zealous Muhammadan looked on

the great city of Delhi, the metropolis of the princely Tomarsand the haughty Chohans, his first wish would hav e beento humble the pride of the infidel ; his second, to exalt thereligion of his prophet Muhammad . To attain both of theseobjects, he built a lofty column, from whose summit theMuazzin

’

s call to morning and ev ening prayer could be heardon all sides by H indus as well as by Musalmans. The con

queror’

s pride was soothed by the daily insult and indignitythus offered to the infidel, while his religious feelings were

gratified by the erection of a noble monument which toweredmajestically ov er the loftiest houses in the city.

The KuthMinar, as it stands now,is 238 feet and 1 inch

in height, with a base diameter Of 47 feet 3 inches, and anupper diameter of nearly 9 feet. The base or plinth Of the

pillar is 2 feet in height, the shaft is 234 feet and 1 inch, andthe base or stump of the Old cupola is 2feet more ; thusmaking the whole height 238 feet 1 inch . The shaft is div idedinto fiv e storeys, of which the lower storey is 94 feet 1 1 inchesin height, and the upper storey is 22 feet 4 inches, the two

See Gildemeister Scriptorurn Araham de rebus Indicis. He descri bes it as built

of red stone.

Of the 379 steps 3 belong to Major Smith’

s cupola, and 37 to the upper storey of

22 feet 4 inches, whi ch lea v e 339 steps to the four lower storeys. In the time of Abulfeda,there must consequently hav e been 21 steps abov e the fourth storey to make up his to tal of

360 steps. These would be equal to 13 feet in height, making the total height in his time228 feet 9 inches, or 9 feet 4 inches less than at present. This agrees with the statementof Firuz Shah, who says

— “The Miudra of Sultan Muiz-uddin sam had been struck by

lightning, I repaired it, and mised it higher than it was before.— See Dawson'

s edition of

Sir H. M. Elliot’

s Historians, ML,383. Futuhzlt-i-Firuz Shuhi.

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DELHI . 197

The only way in which I can account for the greatdifference of 5 feet in the height of the lower storey betweenBlunt’s measurements taken in 1 794 and the actual heightas it now stands, is by supposing that there must hav e beenan accumulation of rubbish at the foot of the tower whichwould hav e diminished the actual height of the basementstorey . H is heights of the second and third storeys agreev ery closely with my measurements, but that of the fourthstorey 1s more than 2 feet short of the true height. The

height of the fifth storey 1s not giv en .

In recording Blunt’

s measurementsMr. Fergusson has,I think, made a mistake in excluding the cupola from the

ascertained height of 242 feet 6 inches. Blunt distinctlystates that the height of the third storey was 1 80 feet, which,deducted from 2427 , will giv e no less than feet for theheight of the two upper storeys. But this height, aswe knowfrom present measurements, i s only 25 feet 4 inches, plus 22feet 4 inches, or altogether 47 feet 8 inches, whi ch, deductedfrom 62} feet, leav es 14 feet 10 inches unaccounted for. Iconclude, therefore, that this must hav e been the height ofthe cupola as it stood in A . D . 1 794. Accepting this v iew as

correct, the true height of the Kuth Minar in 1 794musthav ebeen 236 feet 1 inch, plus 14 feet 10 inches, or 250 feet 1 1

inches.

The base or plinth of the Kuth Minar is a polygon of

24 sides, each side measuring 6 feet inches, or altogether1 47 feet. The basement storey has the same number of facesformed into conv ex flutes, which are alternately angular andsemi-circular. This last fact alone is sufficient to show theinaccuracy of Blunt’s description of the plan as a polygon of

27 sides,‘ as any unev en number of faces would hav e b1oughttwo flutes of the same kind together. In the second storeythe flutes are all semi-circular,

o'

and ln the third storey theyare all angular. The fourth storey IS circular and plain, and

the fiftht

storey is partially fluted with conv ex semi-circularflutes. Round the top of each storey runs a bold p1ojectingbalcony, which is richly and elaborately decorated . The three

lower storeys are also ornamented with belts of Arabic writing, bordered with richly decorated hands. These threestoreys are built entirely of red sand-stone, but there is a

Asiatic Researches O f Bengal, IV. , 321.

1 98 ancnmonoelcu napoa 'r, 1862-63.

difference in the coloursof the stone, that of the second storeybeing generally a pale pinkish buff, while that of the thirdstorey is a dark -red. The whole of the upper part of the

fourth storey is built of white marble, and there are also twoornamental bands of white marble in the fifth storey. Ac

cording to Ibn Batuta,‘ the pillar was said to hav e been built

of stones from sev en different quaries ; but I coul d nottrace more than three different kinds of stone, m

’

z . , the greyquartzose rock of Delhi, the white marble of Jaypur, and thered sand-stone of the bills to the south of Delhi . If, howev er,the different colours of the sand-stone be taken into account,there are certainly three distinct colours, or buff, pink, andred, whi chmay be considered as forming three distinct v arieties of sand-stone . The grey quartzose stone is used onlyin the interior of the building, and the white marble is con

fined to the two upper storeys. Inside the pill ar there is aspiral staircase of 376 steps from the ground lev el to the

balcony of the fifth storey . Abov e this, there are three stepsmore to the present t0p of the stone-work,which once formedthe floor of the paltry pav i lion which Major Robert Smi thwas allowed to stick on the top of this noble column .

In 1 794, when Ensign Blunt sketched the Kutb Minar,the old cupola of Firuz Shah was still standing, althoughmuch ruined . Blunt’s rude sketch, as giv en in the AsiaticResearches, conv eys no intelligible idea of the old cupola,and is sarcastically compared by Robert Smith to a largestone harp .

”A better idea of the old cupola will be formed

from an aqua-tint v iew of the pillar giv en in Blagden’

s Brief

H istory of India,”which was published about By

comparing this v iew with the statement of the Nativ es thatthe old cupola was a plain square top on four stone pillars,

”1 I think that it woul d be quite possible to restore the

upper part of the pillar in a style that would harmonize withthe rest of the building . It is difficul t, indeed, to concei v eanything more incongruous than the flimsy Mogul pav ilion,which Robert Smith fixed on the top of this grand andmassiv e specimen of Pathan architecture.

”In myNote-book

of 1 839, I find a remark that the balustrades of the

Trav els by Dr. Lee, p. 1 1 1 .

1“ Most of the v iews of this book are by Daniell . T he v alue of the letter press may bejudged by the name giv en to the p1l lar, Kuttull Minor of Delhi .

Robert Smith’sReport in Journal, Archaeological Society of Delhi.

DELHI . 199

balconies and the plain slight building on the top of the pillardo not harmonize with the massiv e and richly ornamentedPathan architecture.

” Major Smith’

s pav ilion was takendown in 1847 or 1 848 by order of Lord Hardinge. I presume that this was done at the suggestion of his eldest son,

the present Lord Hardinge, whose known artistic taste andskill would at once hav e detected the archi tectural unfitnessof such a flimsy pav ilion for the summit of this noblecolumn.

On the 1 st of August 1 803, the old cupola of the KutbMinar was thrown down, and the whole pillar seriously injured by an earthquake. A drawing of the pillar, while itwas in this state, was made by Captain Elli ot upwards oftwo years after the earthquake, but the engrav ing of thisdrawing is too small to show the nature of the balustradesof the balconies. About this time the dangerous state of

the pillar was brought to the notice of the Gov ernor General,who authorized the necessary repairs to be begun at once.

This difficul t work was entrusted to Major Robert Smith, of

the Engineers, and was completed by the beginning of theyear 1828, at a cost of Rs. with a further charge ofmore than Rs. for clearing the ruins around the pillar.

The intricate nature of some of these repairs can be bestseen and understood by an examination of Mallitte

’

s large

photograph of the lower balcony . All the forms of the

mouldings hav e been carefully preserv ed, butthe rich ornamentation hasbeen omitted as too costly, and the new stonework is, therefore, qui te plain throughout. This part of thework appears to hav e been done with much patience and

skill, and Major Smith deserv es credit for the conscientiouscare which he bestowed upon it. But this commendationmust be confined to the repa irs, for the restorations of the

entrance door-way, of the balustrades, and of the cupola,altogether out of keeping with the rest of the pillar.

It appears from Major Smith’

s report that the oldentrance doorway was still in existence at that time

, althoughmuch broken. This being the case, he should hav e adheredstrictly to the original design, instead of which, to use hisown words, the former rude and fractured entrance door of

the base of the column (was) repaired, and imp roved withnew mouldings, frieze, and repair of the inscription tablet .From this statement I infer that the whole of the entrance

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DELHI . 201

the reign of Sikander Shah, son of Bahlol, by Fateh Khan,

the son of Khawas Khan, in A . H . 909 or A . D . 1503.

.

In the second storey the inscription ov er the doorwayrecords that the Emperor Altamsh ordered the completion of

the Minar. The lowermost belt contains the v erses of the

Koran respecting the summons to prayers on Friday, and the

upper line contains the praises of the Emperor Altamsh.

Ov er the door of the third storey the praises of Altamsh are

repeated, and again in the belt of inscription round thecolumn . In the fourth storey the door inscription records thatthe Minar was ordered to be erected during the reign of

Altamsh . The inscription ov er the door of the fifth storeystates that the Minar hav ing been injured by lightning, was

repaired by the Emperor Firuz Shah in A . H . 770 or

A . D . 1368.

But besides these long inscriptions, which form part ofthe architectural ornament of the pillar, there are a few othershort records which are worth preserv ing . On the basementstorey is recorded the name of Fazzil, son of Abul Muali, theAl umzoa li or high priest ; and on one side of the third storey isfound the name of Jlfi ihammad Amircho, Architect . On the

same storey, al so, there is a short Nagari inscription in one

line with the name of Muhammad Sultan and the date of

Samv at 1382 or A . D . 1 325, which was the first year ofMuhammad Tughlak

’

s reign . On the wall of the fourthstorey there is another Nagari inscription, in two lines,whichis dated in the Samvat year 1425 or A . D . 1368, in the

reign of F ire} Scih, or Firuz Shah Tughlak . A third Nagariinscription is found on the south jamb of the doorway of thefourth storey, cut partly on thewhite marble and partly on thered sand-stone . This also giv es the name of Firuz Shah, butthe date is one year later than the last, or Samv at 1426.

This is the longest and most important of the Nagari inscriptions, but unfortunately it is not in such a state of preserv ation, more especially the upper portion on the whitemarble,as to be easily legible. I can make out the words Sr i

Viszcalm'ma p rasdcle rue/rim, and towards the end I find thetitle of S ilp i, or Architect,

”applied to the son of Cha

'

hada

D ev a I’dla

,named Nana sa lha , who repaired the Minar.

But in the middle of the inscription I find no less than fiv e

numbers giv en in fig ures, all of which are preceded by theword go] , as gnj 22, gaj 3, gnj 26, gaj 131 , and ya} 134. I

202 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

infer from thesemeasurements that the inscription may probably be of some importance in determining the nature and

extent of the repairs that were executed by Firuz Shah.

As I read one passage of this inscription, the Architect wasobliged to pull down , (nip atit) a considerable portion of the

pillar.

"i

It now only remains to ascertain who was the actualbuilder of the Kutb Minar. The learned Syad Ahmadassigns the original building of the basement storey to Ra iPithora, and its adaptation by the Musalmans to Kutb-uddinA ibeg. The name and titles of this King were, he thinks,engrav ed in the lowermost band of inscriptions, as the legiblewords of this band correspond with a portion of Ai beg

’

s

inscription ov er the inner arch of the eastern gateway of theGreat Mosque. The completion of the Minar he assigns toAl tamsh . The claim of the H indus has already been fullydiscussed and disposed of as altogether baseless. That of

Kutb-uddin Ai beg is founded chiefly on the fact that thepillar is called by his name, and partly on the fact that thename of Muhammad Bin Sam is twice recorded on the lowerstorey of the column . The occurrence of this name makesit highly probable that the name of Kuth-uddin Aibeg wasa lso engrav ed on this storey, as argued by Syad Ahmed.

With these two names engrav ed on the basement storey itseems only natural to conclude that the building of the pillarwas begun by A ibeg during the life-time of his Suzerain,Muhammad Bin sam, and in full accordance with this con

»elusion is the statement recorded ov er the doorway of thesecond storey, thatthe comp letion of the pillar was ordered byA ltamsh. Under this v iew the bui lding of the Minar mayhav e been begun by Aibeg in about A . D . 1200, and com

,pleted by Al tamsh in about 1220.

The other v iew which attributes the foundation of the

p illar to Altamsh is based chiefly, I believ e, on the statements of Abulfeda and Shams-i-S irfij , which are supportedby the inscription of Sikandar Lodi ov er the entrancedoor of the pillar. Syad Ahmad refers to the inscription

I may mention that the sum of the two numbers 22 26=48 gaj , taken at the v alueo f the gaj obtained from the length of Pb 112 Shah

’

s L.

’

it, namely, I6094 inches

, amounts to62 feet inches, which I would compare Wi th the height of the two upper storeys of 62 feet6 1nches as don v ed fromLieutenant Blunt

’

smeasurement,taken befo re the pillar was injured

by hghtning.

DELIII . 203

ov er the doorway of the second storey , which records thatA ltamsh ordered the comp letion of the Minar, as a proof thathe did not commence it . But another inscription ov er thedoorway of the fourth storey seems to be equally explicit inassigning the beginning of the Minar to Altamsh. BothSyad Ahmad and Name!) Z ia-nddin giv e the same translationof this inscription, namely, that the erection of this building was ordered during the reign of Shamsuddin Altamsh .

”

It is possible, howev er, that the order recorded in this inscription may refer to the fourth storey only, and as this limitedv iew of itsmeaning will bring the two otherwise confli ctinginscriptions into strict accord with each other, I think thatit may be accepted as the most probable intention of the

inscriber. The statements of Abulfeda, Shams-Siraj , and

Sikandar Lodi, all of which agree in calling this pillar theMinar of Al tamsh, may, perhaps, be explained as conv eyingonly the popular Opinion, and are certainly not entitled tothe same weight as the two inscriptions on the basementstorey which record the name and titles of Muhammad BinSam, the Suzerain of Kutb-uddin A ibeg, whose name is now

attached to the pillar. The absence of Altamsh ’

s name inthe inscription of the lower storey is, I think, a conclusiv eproof that he himself did not claim it as his own work .

‘

According to SyadAhmad, theEmperor Altamsh erectedfiv e storeys in addition to the basement storey, and anotherstorey was afterwards added by Firuz Shah ; thusmaking, altogether, sev en storeys, of which he says that two hav e fallen

down and fiv e remain to this day .

’

But’ both of these state

ments I believ e to be quite erroneous, for the mention of 360

steps by Abulfeda in about A . D . 1300, makes it certain thatthe Minar, as completed by A ltamsh, could not hav e beenhigher than the present one, which has 379 steps. The fiv e

stories of Altamshmust, therefore, hav e included thebasementstorey, which, although begun by Aibeg, was most probablycompleted by himself. In this state the Minar must hav e

remained until the reign of Firuz Tughlak, when, hav ing beenstruck by lightning , it was repaired by that Emperor in A . H .

770, or A . D . 1368. The nature and extent of his repairsmay, I think, he gathered from the insciptions ; thus, theinscription of the fifth storey is placed ov er the doorway, and

The Empero r Fi ru l . Shah, n be repaired the pillar, calls it the Mimira of Mluz-ud-din.

Sim.—Dowson

'

s edition of Sn H. M. Elhot’

s Histo rians, III 383.

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DELHI . 205

the A la i D arzcdza , or Gate of Ala-uddin but this appellation 18 not known to the people . The age of the building 1s

,

howev er, quite certain, as the name of Ala-uddin is sev eral

times repeated ln the Arabic inscriptions ov er three of theentrances, with the addition of his well known title ofS ikandar Sam

'

, and the date of A . H . 710 or A . D . 1310.

This date had already been anticipated, from the style of the

building, by Mr. Fergusson, who considered the gateway as

at least a century more modern than the tomb of AltamshThe building 18 a square of 3411 feet inside, and 56—1 feetoutside, the

”

walls being 1 1 feet thick . On each side there isa lofty doorway, with a pointed horse-shoe arch ; the outeredge of the arch being fretted, and the underside panelled .

The corners of the square are cut off by bold niches, thehead of each niche being formed by a series of fiv e pointedhorse-shoe arches, lessening 1n size as they retire towards theangle. The effect of this arrangement 18 massiv e and beautif

o

ul and justly merits the praise which Mr. Fergusson" had

bestowed upon it, as more simply elegant than any otherIndian example with which he was acquainted . The

interior walls are decorated with a chequered pattern of

singular beauty . In each corner there are two windows of

theo

same shape and style as the doorways, but only one-thirdof their size. These are closed by massi v e screens of marblelattice-work . The exterior walls are panelled and inlaidwith broad bands of white marble, the effect of which is

certainly pleasing . The walls are crowned by a battlementedparapet and surmounted by a hemispherical dome. For

the exterior v iew of the building this dome is, perhaps, toolow, but the interior v iew is perfect, and, taken altogether,I consider that the gateway of Ala-uddin is the most beautif ul specimen of Path-an archi tecture that I hav e seen.

The unfinished Minar of Al a-uddin stands due northf1 om the KutbMinar at a distance of 425 feet . Thi smassiv epillar as it stands at present is built wholly of the roughshapeless grey stone of the country, and the surface 1s so

unev en that there can be no doubt it was the Architect’sintention either to hav e faced it with red stone, or to hav ecov ered it with plaster. The Miner stands upon a plinth 4g

Hand-book of Architecure, I., 433.

206 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

feet in width, and the same in height, which is raised upon a

terrace 21 feet in breadth and 7-2; in height. The rough massof the superstructure is 257 feet in circumference, and 82 feetin diameter ; butwith a facing Of red stone, this diameterwoul d hav e been increased to at least 85 feet, or nearly doublethat Of the Kuth Minar, as is usually stated by the people.

‘

The entrance is on the east side, and on the north, at sameheight, there IS a window intended to light the spiral staircase. But the steps were nev er commenced, and there 18only a circular passage 9 feet 9 incheswide around the centralpillar, which is 26 feet in diameter. The thickness of theouter wall 1s 18 feet 3 inches, the whole pillar being 82 feetin diameter, as noted abov e. The total height Of the column,

as it now stands, is about 75 feet abov e the plinth, or 87feet about the ground lev el . The outer face of the wall is

div ided into 32 sides of 8 feet and inch each . The formof each face or flute is difficul t to describe, but it may belikened to the shape of a crown work 1n fortification, or to

that Of an old Roman M with shallow body and long widelysplayed limbs I think it probable that the central angleOf each face, as it now exists ln the rough stone, would hav ebeen modified in the red stone facing into a shallow curv edflute. The flutes would hav e been 41 feet wide and 41 feetapart, with a deep angle between them. The plinth is alsodiv ided into 32 straight faces, or projections, which are

separated by the same number Of depressions Of equalbreadth, the whole being exactly like a gigantic cogwheel .Syad Ahmad states that the building Of this Minar wascommenced in A . H . 71 1 or A . D . 131 1 ; but as Ala-uddindid not die until A . D . 1316, the work was probably stoppedsome time before the end of his reign . I suspect, indeed,that the work was actually stopped in the following year,as I find from Ferishta that mA . D . 1312the King becameso extremely ill that his wife and son entirely neglectedhim, while hisMinister exercised all the powers of the State,and ev en aspired to the throne. As the King nev er rallied,it seems not improbable that al l the expensiv e works of Alauddin then in progress may hav e been stopped by the

Minister, who wished to secure themoney for himself.

Amir Khusr u, 1n his Tarikhf -1-Aldi, distinctly states that he ordered the eii cnmference of the newMiner to be double that of the old one

,and to make it higher in the same

proportion.

DELHI . 207

SIRI, OR KILAH ALAI

The Fort of Siri, with Al a-uddin’

s celebrated palace of

The Thousand Pillars,”has been identified by Messrs. Cope

and Lewis, and also by Lieutenant Burgess, the Surv eyor Ofthe ruins of Delhi , with the citadel of Bai Pithora

’

s fort, inthe midst of which stands the Kutb Minar. But in describ

ing this fort I hav e already brought forward strong reasonsto show that it was the ancient L dlkot of Anang P911, and

I now propose to follow up the same argument by prov ingthat the true site of S iri was the old ruined fort to the northeast Of Bai Pithora’s fort, which is at present called Shahpur.

A glance at the Sketch Map of the ruins of Delbi,‘ whichaccompanies this account, is all that is necessary to makethe following argument quite clear.

Sharaf-uddin, the historian of Timur, describes Delhias consisting of three cities, and as quite distinct from Firuzabad, near which the conqueror’s camp was pitched . Thesethree cities were Siri, Jalada-pand

‘

h, and Old Delhi .‘

TO the

north-east was Siri, the walls Of which formed a circle, andto the south-west was Old Delhi, similar in form but larger

than S iri, and the space between the two forts, which wasmuch larger than Old Delhi, was Jakdn-p andh. The rela

tiv e sizes and positions Of the three cities are here so

accurately described that it is quite impossible tomistakethem. S iri answers exactly to Ska

‘

hpur, not only in sizeand position, but also in shape ; for, though not circular, itis certainly ov al . TO the south-west Of Shahpur lies the fortof Bai Pithora, which, therefore, corresponds exactly with theOld Delhi of Sharaf-uddin, both in its size and in its position ,

and somewhat also in its form, which may be describedas an Oblong square with the corners cut off. The name

of old Delhi was appropriately applied to the fort of Bai

Pithora as by far the most ancient of the three cities.

Between Siri and Old Delhi was Jakcin-p amih, a name whichis still applied to the old walled city between Shahpur andKai Pithora

’

s fort ; and as the size of this city ismore thandouble that of Rai Pithora’

s fort, there can be no doubt whatev er of its identity with the Jahan-panah of former days.

I now turn to Ferishta’

s account of Turghai Khan’

s

inv asion Of India during the reign of Ala—uddin, the founder

See Plate No. XXXV.

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DELRI . 209

built a new city. Syad Ahmad repeats the same story,adding that the materials of the Old fort and palace of Siri

were used in the construction of the new fort of Shir-ShahKot. From these accounts it is qui te certain that Sii'icannot be identified with. the citadel that surrounds the

Kuth Minar, for the walls Of S in} were pulled downand the materials remov ed by Shir Shah, while the walls

of the Kuth Minar Citadel are still standing. And, further,it seems almost certain that Shahpur must be Siri, becauseof its v icinity to the new site of Shir Shah

’

s fort, for it 18hardly possible to believ e that the King would hav e broughthis building stones from the Kutb Minar, a distance of sev en

miles, when he could hav e obtained them from Shahpur,which 18 only half the distance . That he did obtain his

materials from the latter place, and not from the former, maybe regarded as almost certain , for the v ery suflicient reasonthat the walls Of Shahpur hav e actually been remov ed, whilethose of the Kuth Citadel are still standing .

The only ev idence in fav our of the identification of

Siri with the Kuth Citadel is the fact which Ferishta records, .

that the citadel of old Delhi was re-built by A lan-uddin, and

the existence near the Kuth Minar of the remains of an

old Palace, which still bears this King’s name .

‘ As the

historian does not mention the new city of Siri, itwouldseem to hav e been inferred that the re-buikling of the citadelof old Delhi was only a perv erted account of the foundingof the new city of Siri . I see no reason, . howev er, whyFerishta

’

s statement should not be accepted exactly as itstands, for, on summing up the works of Ala-uddin , he

records? that, during his reign, Palaces, Mosques, Univ ersities, Baths, Mansolea, Forts, and all kinds of publicand priv ate buildings seemed to rise as if by magic . As

from this account it would appear that Al a-uddin builtmore than one fort, and founded more than one palace,I see no difficulty in assigning to him the building of the

palace near the Kutb Minar, and the re-building of the

citadel of Old Delhi, as well as the founding of the new

city of Siri and its celebrated Palace of Kasr-H azdr-ml lzln,

or The Thousand Pillars.

” Much stress has been laid uponanother statement made by Ferishta regarding the meeting

According to Lieutenant Burgess'

Map of the Ruins of Delhi.

1' Brigg

'

s translation, I., 355.

210 ABCHZEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

of Nusrat Shah and Mullu Khan in the Palace of Siri at thetomb Of Khwaja Kuth-uddin Bakhtiar Kaki. But this statement, and others connected with the confused history of thisperiod, only shows that Ferishta was not well acquaintedwith the topography of ancient Delhi. Thus he records thatMahmud Shah occupied old D elhi , and Nusrat Shah heldFiruzabad, while S iri was in the possession of MullnKhanand other Nobles who professed neutrality. He then relatesthat Mullfi made ov ertures to Nnerat, who came to Siri, whena mutual compact was sworn at the tomb Of Khwaja Kuthuddin in Siri . But as this tomb is close to the Kuth Miner,and within the walls of the citadel of old Delhi, which wasthen held by Mahmud, itwonld have been impossible forNusrat and Mullzt to hav e met there.

‘ I would suggest

that the place of meeting may hav e been the shrine of the

famous Saint called Chi/mph D elhi, or the Lamp of Delhi,”

which is just outside the south-east corner of Shahpur or

My identification of Siri with Shahpur has been con

tested by Mr. C . J . Campbell, 0. Est I hav e now gone ov erthe whole subject again v ery carefully, and I hav e found themost ample, complete, and satisfactory ev idence of the

absolute correctness of my identification . A brief abstractof the principal facts is all that need be giv en in this place,

l et—Whenev er Siri ismentioned before Ala-uddin builthis fort in A . H . 703, it is described asa p la in outside the ci tyof Delhi , on which armies encamp . Thus Amir Khusrustates that the left wing of the army of Kaikubad in A . H .

687 was encamped at Indrpat, the centre at Siri , and

the right wing at Tilpah i Siri was, therefore, just half waybetween Indrpat and Tilpat, which corresponds exactly withthe position of Shhhpur.

2nd.— In A . H . 695,when Ala-uddin, after themurder of

his uncle, adv anced against Delhi, he encamped on the p la inof Siri, while his cousin Rukn-uddin Ibrahim still heldDelhi . §

Note— I would suggest that Ferishta may hav e substituted the name of Bakhtiar

Kidd, who was commonly called Roahan Zamir for that of Roshan Chirdyh, whose fame was

more local .

1 Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1866, p. 206.

1 Elliot, III. , 525.

5Zia-uddin Berni in Elliot, III., 160.

DELHI. 21 1

3rd.— In A . H. 697, when Kutlugh Khwaja advanced

against Delhi, great anxiety prev ailed because the old fortifications had not been kept in repair. The people crowdedinto the city but the Sultan marched out of D elhi, withgreat display and pitched his tent 1n Siri .

4ih.-Oh a second inv asion of the Moguls the Sul tan

again left the city and encamped at Siri, where the superiornumbers and strength of the enemy compelled him to

entrench his ca.rnp.

”1L

5th.— After this, says Barni, he built a palace at

Siri . He took up his residence there, and made it hiscapital, so that it became a flourishing place. He orderedthe fort of D elhi to be repaired .

”Amir Khusrutalso men

tions the building Of the new fort of Delhi, and the repairsof the Old one. From Abul Fazl we learn that Sultan

A la-uddin built another city and a new fort which they calledSiri .

6th.— Ibn Batuta“says,

“

lDar ul Khilafat Siri was a totallyseparate and detached town, situated at such a distance fromOld Delhi as to necessitate the construction of the walls of

Jahan-panah, to bring them within a defensiv e circle ; andthat the Hauz-i-khas interv ened, in an indirect line, betweenthe two localities.

”Ibn Batuta was one of the Magistrates

Of Delhi about 30 years after Al au-ddin’

s death ; and theHauz-i-Khas still exists to the west Of the direct roadbetween Shahpur and Kila Rai Pithora, that is, between Siriand old Delhi .

7th.

— Barni1[ states that the fort of Siri was finishedduring the life-time of A la-uddin, and fromAmirKhusru" we

learn that Mubarak ordered the completion of the fort andcity of Delhi begun by. his father (Ala-uddin) , that is, Lelkot,and Kila Rai Pithora, which the father had ordered to berepaired .

”

Barni in Elliot, l II. , 166.

f Barni in Elliot, III., 190.

Elliot, III.

, 70.

g Thomas'

Chronicles of Pathfin Kings, p. 285, note .

NFrench translation, Tom., III 146, 155, quoted by Thoma .

'.rElliot, 111 , 200.

" 1 Elliot, 111 , 561 .

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DELHI . 213

by two feettwo inches and one foot ten inches inbreadth and

thickness, and must hav e weighed rathermore than six tons.

The short faces to the west, north, and east, are protected bya deep ditch, and the long face to the south by a large sheetof water, which is held up by an embankment at the southeast corner. On this side the rock is scarped, and abov e itthe main walls rise to a mean height of 40 feet, wi th a

parapet of sev en feet, behind which rises another wall of 1 5feet, the whole height abov e the low ground being upwards of90 feet. In the south-west angle is the citadel,which occupiesabout one-sixth of the area of the -fort, and contains theruins of an extensiv e palace. The ramparts are raised, as

usual, on a line of domed-rooms, which rarely communicatewith each other, and whi ch, no doubt, formed the quarters ofthe troops that garrisoned the fort. The walls slope rapidlyinwards, ev en asmuch as those of Egyptian buildings. The

rampart walls are pierced with loop-holes, which serv e also to

giv e light and air to the soldiers’ quarters. The parapets arepierced with low 810ping loop-holes, which command thefoot of the wall , and are crowned with a line of rude battlements of solid stone, which are also prov ided with loop-holes.

The walls are buil t of large plainly dressed stones, and thereis no ornament of any kind . But the v ast size, the greatstrength, and the v isible solidi ty of the whole giv e to

Tughlakabad an air of stem and massiv e grandeur that isboth striking and impressiv e.

The Fort of Tughlakabad has 13 gates, and there are

three inner gates to the citadel . It contains sev en tanks forwater, besides the ruins of sev eral large buildings, as the

Jama Masj id and the Birij Mandir. The upper part of thefort is full of ruined houses, but the lower part appears as

if it had nev er been fully inhabited. Syad Ahmad states thatthe fort was commenced in A . D . 1321 and finished in1 323, or in the short period of two years. It is admitted byall that the work was completed by Tughlak himself ; and ashis reign lasted for only four years, from 1321 to 1325, thebuilding of the fort must hav e been pushed forward withgreat v igour.

The fine Tomb of Tughlak Shah was built by his sonMuhammad, who is not without suspicion of hav ing causedhis father

’

s death. In A . D . 1 304, during the reign of

A la-uddin, a second army of Mogul horse burst into

214. ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

the Panjab and plundered the country as far as Amroha, inRohilkhand, but they were defeated with great slaughter byThi ghlak Khan, who, as a reward for his serv ices, was appointed Gov ernor Of the Panjah. In the following year athird Mogul Army of horse inv aded India and

rav aged Multan ; but this army was also defeated by Tughlakwith such tremendous slaughter that it is said only

prisoners surv iv ed the defeat . Towards the end of the same

year, a fourth inav sion Of Moguls was driv en back by thesame able commander, whose v ery name at last inspired suchterror amongst the Moguls that the women made use of it

to quiet their children ; and whenev er a man showed anyalarm, his companions would ask why do you start P Hav e

you seen Tughlak From A . D . 1305 to 1321 Ghazi BegTughlak was Gov ernor Of the Panjab, residing some times atLabor, and some times atDepalpur and Mul tan. In the Fortof Mul tan he built a magnificent tomb for himself; whichexists to this day under the title of Rokn-i-alam, a namederiv ed from Rukn-uddin, a v ery holy Saint of those days,the son Of Baha-uddin Zakaria, more commonly calledBahawal Hak . The people Of Multan say that Muhammad

presented the tomb to Rukn-uddin to secure his silence inthe matter of his father’s death ; but agreeably to anotherv ersion, Tughlak himself had incurred the displeasure of

Rukn-uddin by an attempt to carry off one of hiswomen . The

angry Saint prophesied that he would nev er reach Delhi,and accordingly he was killed near Tilpat just as he was

about to enter Delhi . There may, perhaps, be some truth inthis tradition, as we learn from Ibn Batuta"i that Ruknuddin was the most noted Saint in India, and that his famehad extended ev en to Alexandria . Under any circumstancesit was politic to conciliate the good-will of this influentialpersonage, and the worthy Saint himself was no doubthighly gratified with the magnificence of the gift. In Delhi

itself the death of Tughlak is attributed to another Saint,the famous Nizam-uddin Auliya, some Of whose labourershad been seized to work on the walls of Tughlakabad . The

holy man remonstrated angrily, and his words were conv eyedto Tughlak then absent in Bengal , who remarked that, onhis return to Delhi, he would humble the proud Saint. The

threat was told to Nizam-uddin, who merely remarked he

Trav els, pp. 7— 101.

DELHI . 215

will nev er return to Delhi . When the Emperor left Bengalon his return to the capital the Saint was reminded Of his

prophecy, to which he replied Delhi is far off (D ihli durast, or .Dihli dur hai) . As the Emperor approached nearer

and nearer, he made the same remark ; and ev en when he had

reached Afghanpur within four miles of Tughlakabad, herepeated his former words Delhi is far — Tughlak was

killed at Afghanpur, and thewords of the holyman becamea prov erb, which is still in common use. Nizam-uddin dieda few years afterwards, and his tomb was erected at the

expense of Muhammad, out Of gratitude, as the people say,for his assistance in placing him on the throne.

I hav e referred to this earlier tomb of Tughlak, whichstill exists in the fort of Multan, as it is the oldest buildingthat I hav e seen with the rapidly mping walls, which formthe most prominent feature of the Delhi tomb . The Rokni-alam, howev er, is octagonal, with small towers at the

angles, and is, besides, a much larger building, the insidediameter being 56 feet, and the outer diameter 76 feet. But

the Mult tomb is buil t entirely of brick, while the Delhi

tomb is built throughout of stone, and is ornamented withwhite marble.

The tomb Of Tughlak Shah is situated outside the

southern wall of Tughlakabad, in the midst Of the artificiallake already described, and is surrounded by a pentagonal outwork, whi ch is connected with the fortress by a causeway600 feet in length, supported on 27 arches. The stern beautyand massiv e strength of this tomb hav e justly elicited thefollowing warm praises of Mr. Fergusson The mpingwalls and almost Egyptian solidity of this Mausoleum, combined wi th the bold and massiv e towers of the fortificationthat surround it, form a picture Of a warrior’s tomb nu

riv alled anywhere.

”In this praise I heartily concur, with

only one reserv ation in fav our Of the situation of the Multantomb, whi ch, besides being both larger and loftier, is placedon the v ery top Of the fort close to the northern wall .

In plan the Delhi tomb is a square of 38-3; feet interiorand 61—5feet exterior dimensions. The outer walls are 38§feet in height to the top of the battlement, with a slope of

Hand-book of Architecture, L—434.

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DELHI .

son Juna-Kllan, who took the name Of Muhammad when heascended the throne . ThisPrince was themost accompl ishedof all the Pathftn Sov ereigns of India ; but he was also themost inhumanly cruel andmost madly tyrannical of them all .

Hi s crueltieswere witnessed by his cousin and successor FiruzTughlak, who adopted one of the most curious expedientswhich the mind of man has ev er conceiv ed for Obtaining thepardon of his tyrannical predecessor. I quote the words ofFiruz himself, as giv en by Ferishta from the inscriptions onthe Great Mosque of Firuzabad . I hav e also taken painsto discov er the surv iv ing relations of all persons who suffered

from the wrath of my late Lord and Master MuhammadTughlak, and, hav ing pensioned and prov ided for them,

hav e caused them to grant their full pardon and forgiv enessto that Prince in the presence of the holy and learned menof this age, whose signatures and seals, as witnesses, are

affixed to the documents, the whole of which, as far as layin my power, hav e been procured and put into a box, and

deposited in the v ault in which Muhammad Tughlak is eu

tombed . t This strange dev ice of placing the v ouchers inthe tomb ready for the dead man’

s hand to pick up at the lastday is as bold as it is original . Itwould be interesting to readsome of these documents, which are, in all probability, stillquite safe, as all the tombs appear to be in the most perfectorder.

Another work attributed to Muhammad Tughlak is thesmall detached fort Of Adi labad or Muhammadabad, near

the south-east corner of Tughlakabad, with which it wasonce connected by a double wall along the causeway whichcrosses the interv ening low ground . This fort is buil t in the

same style as Tughlakabad, but it is a v ery small place, as theexterior l ine Of works is notmore than half a mile in circui t.

But the greatest work of Muhammad Tughlak was the

fortification of the extensiv e suburbs of Delhi , lying between

Briggs, 1— 461.

f The same statement is ma de by Firuz in his autobiography Under the guidance

of the Almighty, I arranged that the heirs of those persons who had been executed in the

reign of my late lord and patron Sultan Muhammad Shah,.

and those who had been

depriv ed of a limb, nose,eye, hand, or foot, should be reconci led

.

to the late Sultan, and

be appeased with gifts,so that they executed deeds declaring thei r satisfaction, duly attested

by Wi tnesses. These deeds were put int o a chest, which was placed in the Ddr-ul-dmdn at

the head of the tomb of the late Sultan in the hope that God, 111 His great clemency, wouldshow mercy to my late 11 ieud and patron, and make those persons feel reconciled to him.

Sec Elliot’s Muhannnadan Historians l II., 385.

—Futahdt-i-Fir¢ z Siraki.

218 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1 862-63.

the Hindu fort Of R ai P ithora and the Musalman CitadelOf Siri . These suburbs had been plundered by the Mogulsin the early part Of the reign Of Ala-uddin,

and their nu

protected state fully justified the v ast outlay which the Kingmust hav e incurred upon their defences. The north-westwall is l a} mile in length, the east wall is 1} mile, and thesouth wall is 2miles ; the whole length of the walls beingjust 5miles, or somewhat more than the circuit Of the fortof Rai Pithora . A considerable portion of the south wallstill exists ; but the east and north-west walls hav e beenpulled down, and are now only traceable by their ruins.

Sharaf-uddin states that JaMn-p andh had 13 gates, 6 beingto the north-west and 7 to the south-west. v

Hav ing now described the sev en forts Of Old Delhi, I willcomplete the account with a detail of the number of gates

in each of the forts, which together make up the total of52 gates, as recorded by the Old English trav ellerWilliamFinch, and as preserv ed by the people down to the presentday in their pithy description of Sdi-kiia B dwan-D am dza

or sev en forts and 52gates.

”

Ld'

lkot of Anang Pal, towards Rai PithoraFort Of Rai Pit/com, and Lfilkot outside

Total of Hindu Dilli 14 gates.

Siri of Ala-uddin

Jahan-panah Of Muhammad

Total Of Musalman Delhi 20gates.

Total of Old Delhi 34 gates.

Tughlakabad

Citadel Of ditto

Adilabad

Total of Tughlakabad

Total number 52gates.

The next remains in point of antiquity are the bu ildingsOf F1ruz Tughlak, who dev oted the greater part of a longreign of nearly 40 years (A . D . 1351 to 1388) to the con

structlon of numerous works, of which all but 20 palaces,10monumental pillars, and 5 tombs, may be called works

DELHI . 219

of real public utility . Perhaps the most useful of theseworks was the canal which he drew from the west bank Ofthe Jumna to supply his new Capital Of Firuzabad withwater. This canal, hav ing become choked from neglect, wascleared out by A li Mardan Khan in the reign of Shahjahanto furnish the Mogul

’

s new Capital with water. Hav ingagain become choked, it was once more cleared out andimprov ed by the British Gov ernment, and it is still flowingthrough modern Delhi under the name of the WesternJumna Canal .

But the most extensiv e work of Firuz was the buildingof the new city of Firuzabad, with its two palaces of Kusha lc

Firuzabad and Kusha lc Shika’

r. Ma'

or Lewis has publishedmuch interesting information regarding this new city fromthe Persian of Shams-i t

‘

imj Aj if, who was contemporarywith the latter end Of this Emperor’s reign. The new citywas begun in the year A . H . 755, or A . D . 1354. It extended from the fort of Indrpat to the Kusha lc Shikdr, or

hunting palace, a length of fiv e Ices. Now the distancefrom old Delhi is said to be also fiv e loos, which fixes theposition Of the Kushak Shikdrapproximately on the low range

of hills to the north-west of the modern Shahjahdnabad.

But the exact position is absolutely determined by the men

tion that the second stone pillar from Mirat was erectedwithin the precincts of the palace, as the stone pil lar is now

lying in fiv e pieces on the top Of the hill close to HinduRao’s house. Shams-i Si

’

raj adds that the whole distancefrom Indrpat to the Kushak Shikar was occupied by stonehouses, mosques, and bazars, but as the limits noted abov einclude the whole of the modern Shahjahanabad, it is v eryimprobable that the entire space was actually occupied . Itis certain, howev er, that some considerable portion of the

site Of Shahjahanabad waswell populated as the Kaila Masj id,which was built in Firuz’ s reign, is situated at some distancewithin the Turkoman Gate of the present city. But ev en if

thinly inhabited, the population of F iruzabad could not hav ebeen less than that of Shahjahanabad, as it was more thandouble its size. The number of inhabitants would, therefore,hav e been about and if we add more for

the population Of Old Delhi, the total number Of inhabitantsin the Indian Metropolis during the reign of Firuz Shahmust hav e amounted to one quarter of a million .

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DELHI . 221

is cov ered by a small dome, the central dome being somewhathigher than the others. The walls are six feet thick, wi ththree Openings at each end, closed by massiv e red stonelattice-work . In front of the building there is a small openquadrangle, of the same dimensions as the interior of theMosque, and on three sides of the quadrangle there are cloisters which are continued round theMosque itself. The whole0s enclosed by an outer wall 5 feet thick, which forms an

Oblong block of building 140 feet in length by 120 feet inbreadth. On the outside the building consists of two storeys,the middle of the lower storey being a solidmass, which formsthe floor Of the Masj id . The four faces of the lower storeyhav e two rows of small rooms, which are now rented to pettyshop-keepers. This is the inv ariable practice at present, andwas, no doubt, the same in the time Of Firuz, as the moneythus Obta ined always formed the principal rev enue, and ev entually became the only income of the attendantsof aMosque.

The lower storey is 28 feet in height, and the upper storey tothe top Of the battlements is 38 feet, making a total heightOf 66 feet. The four angles are supported by small roundtowers with sloping walls as plain and bare as the rest ofthe bui lding . The entrance to the upper storey is reached bya steep flight of steps, at the head of which, but outside thegeneral mass of building,

is a domed ante-room of smalldimensions. The walls of the upper storey are pierced with a

row of arched Openings which correspond in number and sizewith the doorways of the lower storey . These were oncefilled with bold strong lattice-work, but many of them hav ebeen built up . The plain butmassiv e appearance Of the wallsis highly suggestiv e of strength and solidity, whi ch is fullyborne out by the excellent state of preserv ation of this oldbuilding after a lapse of nearly fiv e centuries.

The small fort Of Indrp at, or P arana K ilah, was repairedby the Emperor Humayun in A . H . 940, or A . D . 1533,and re named by himD in-p andh but the new name is nev er

used, except by pedantic or bigottedMuhammadans. Withina few years, or aboutA . D . 1 540theworksweremuch strengthened by Shir Shah, who made Indrp at the Citadel of his newcity under the name Of Shirgarh, by which it is now v ery

generally known,although Parana K ilah, or

“ the Old Fort,is perhaps the most common appellation . The lofty massiv etowers and solid walls of thisfortwere strengthened by a ditchwhich once communicated with the Jumna. Shirgarh is,

222 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

howev er, but a small place when compared with the mightyfortresses of R ai P ithora , Siri, and Tughlakabad, the wholecircui t of its walls being only one mile and one furlong . Inshape it is almost rectangular, being 3 furlongs in length by1 4} furlongs in breadth . The fort had four gates, one in themiddle of each face, of which the south-west gate alone isnow open. The interior is almost fil led with Nativ e hutsbut towering abov e these hov els are two fine remains of for‘mer days, a handsome massiv e Mosque, generally known as

the Ki la-Kona Masj id, and a lofty octagonal building, whichis still called Shir Mandir, or Shir’s Palace.

”The front of

the Mosque has fiv e horse-shoe arches, and is decoratedwith blue tiles and marble. The roof is formed of low flat

tened domes. It was built by Shir Shah in A . H . 948, or

A . D . 1 541 , and is the finest existing specimen of the

architecture of the Afghan period .

The new city of Shir Shah called D elhi Shirshah ex

tended from the neighbourhood of Humayun’

s tomb on the

south to Firuz Shah’s Kotila on the north, near which therestill exists a fine massiv e gateway, which was the d uli

D arwciza of the new city . It is now, howev er, always calledthe L cil D arwaza or red gate.

” William Finch, whoentered Delhi from the Agra side on 16th January 161 1 ,describes the city as being two has in length from gate togate, surrounded by a wall which has been strong, but isnow ruinous.

”The v alue of Finch’

s has is determined atrathermore than 1smile, by his mention that the huntingseat or male (that is, Maha l Of Firuz Shah) was two hasfrom the city. From the La

'

l D arwdza to '

the ruins of theKushak Shikar, the distance is 33; miles, and from the samepoint to Humayun’

s tomb the'

distance is exactly 3 miles.

But as Purchas, on the authority of other English trav ellers,states that Humayun’

s tomb was in the city of Shir ShahSa lim, the south gate of the city must hav e been somewherebeyond the tomb . The distance, howev er, could not hav e

been great, as Finch mentions that a short way from Delhiis a stone bridge of 1 1 arches,

”which is clearly the long

massiv e bridge of 1 1 arches, that is now called .Bara Pa l or

the “ Great The south gate Of Shir Shah ’

s city

Syad Ahmed writes the name Barah Pauli , or the 12 arches, and states that thebridge was built in A. H. 1021 , which began on 23rd February 1612. But there is probablya mistake of one year in this date, which, I think, should be A H. 1020, or A . D . 161 1 .

This would agree with Fi nch’s date of l6th January 161 1, orproperly 1612, according to our

present reckoning .

DELHI . 223

must therefore hav e been somewhere between the Bara Pa l

and Humayun’

s tomb . The cast wall of the city is determined by the line of the high bank of the Jumna, whichformerly ran due south from Firuz Shah’

s Kotila towardsHumayun ’

s tomb . On the west the boundary line of thecity can be traced along the bank of a torrent bed, whichruns southward from the Ajmer Gate of Shahjahanfibad, and

Q arallel to the Old course of the Jumna, at a distance of

rathermore than 1 mile. The whole circuit of the city wallswas therefore close upon 9 miles, or nearly double that of themodern ShahjahanabAd.

The small fort Of Salimgarh was buil t by Sa lim Shah,the son of Shir Shah, in A . H . 953, or A . D . 1 546. It issituated at the north end of Shahjahan

’

s Palace, after thebuilding of which it was used only as a state prison. It isnot quite one quarter of amile in length, and the whole circuitof its walls is only of three quarters of a mile. It standson an island close to the west bank of the riv er, and withits loftly towers andmassiv e walls, forms a most picturesqueobject from the opposite side of the Jumna. A bridge of

fiv e arches was built in front of the South Gate by Jahangir,after whom the name Of the place was changed to Nurgarh

according to Syad Ahmad . But the old name of Sa limgarh hasprev ailed, and is the only one that I hav e ev er heard usedby the people, either educated or uneducated .

The tomb of Humfiyun is too well known to need anydetailed description, unless illustrated by pictorial represen

tations, which will more appropriately accompany my proposed account of Mogul architecture. It was built afterthe Emperor’s death in A . H . 962, or A . D . 1554, by his

widow H aj l B egam. It is therefore the earliest specimen of

the architecture of the Mogul dynasty . The exterior formof the main body of the tomb is a square with the cornerscut off, on an octagon with four long and four short faces,and each of the short faces forms one side of the fouroctagonal corner towers. The dome is built entirely of whi temarble, the rest of the building being of red stand-stone,with inlaid ornaments of white marble. In this tomb we firstsee towers attached to the four angles of the main building . It is true that these towers are v ery stout and massiv e,but they form an important innov ation in the Muhammadanarchitecture of Northern India,whichwasgradually improv edand dev eloped, until it culminated in the graceful Mwate of

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DELHI . 225

of the fortress. These new works added considerably to thestrength of the fortifications, as we found, to our cost, in the

mutiny of 1857. The two principal streets, forming nearlya right angle, ran from the Labor and Delhi Gates of the

Citadel to the Labor and Delhi Gates of the city . The two

principal buildings in the city are the Jd/ma Mag'

id and the

Z ina tMasj id . The former was built by Shahjahan in A . D .

1648, and is one of the largest and finest Mosques in India.

The later was built by t at-un-nissa, the daughter of

Aurangzib, in A . D . 1710, and is a fav orable specimen of the

later style of Mogul architecture. Both of these buildingswill be described more fully hereafter in my proposed bistorical account of the Muhammadan architecture of NorthernIndia .

The Citadel of Sbahjahfinilbad, which contained the

Emperor’s palace, and the two celebrated open halls or courtscalled the D ewa

’

fn-i-dm and the D ewa’

n-i-Ichds, is too wellknown to require any description in this place ; but it willbe duly considered hereafter in my account of the architecture of ShahJahan

’

s reign . I will , therefore, confine myremarks at present to the short account of the two life-sizestatues of elephants and their riders that hav e lately beendiscov ered, and which, as we learn from Thev enot and

Bernier, once stood outside the Delhi Gate of the Citadel .

The earliest notice is that by Bernier in his descriptionof Delhi, written on l st July 1663 : I find nothing re

markable at the entry (of the palace) , but two great elephantsof stone, which are on the two sides of one of the gates.

Upon one of them is the statue of Jamel, the famous Rajaof Chitor, and upon the other that of Patta, his brother.

These are those two gallant men that, together with theirmother, who was yetbrav er than they, cut out so much workfor Eckbar, and who in the sieges of towns, which theymaintained aga inst him, gav e such extraordinary proofs of

their generosity, that at length theywould ratherbe killed inthe out-falls with their mother than submit : and for thisgallantry it is that ev en their enemies thought them worthyto hav e these statues erected for them. These two greatelephants, togetherwi th the two resolutemen sitting on them,

do, at the first entry into this fortress, make an impression

of I know not what greatness and awful terror.

”Thev enot,

who wasatDelhi in 1 667, corroborates Bemier’

s account of

226 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

these statues ; but as he knew that Bernier intended to publish a description of Delhi, he merely notices the principalobjects, of which the first are, the two elephants at the

entry which carry two warriors.

The next reference that I hav e been able to find is byLieutenant Frankl in, who v isited Delhi in 1 793. Stimulatedby Bernier’s account, hemade enquiries after the statues, andwas informed that they were remov ed by order of Aurangzibas sav oring too much of idolatry, and he enclosed the placewhere they stood wi th a screen of red stone, which has (115figured the entrance of the

The romantic account of Bernier did not escape the

notice of the enthusiastic historian of the Rajputs, who, afterquoting the passage giv en abov e, adds,

’

r that the conquerorof Chitor ev inced an exalted sense, not only of the v alue of hisconquest, but of the merits of his fees, in erecting statuesto the names of Jag/marl and Patta at the most conspicuousentrance of his palace atDelhi .” FromColonel Tod also welearn that Jaymal was aMertiya R d

'

tkor of Bedner, and thatP atta was the Chief of the Jaga

’

wat Sisodiyas of Salfimbra,both being feudatories of Udaypur. Their names, he says,are as household words inseparable in Mewar, and will behonoured whi le the Rajput retains a shred of his inheritance,or a spark of his ancient recollections.

”On Akbar

’

s

adv ance to Chitor, the spiritless Rana Uday Sing retired tothe western jungles, and the defence of the capital of theSisodyas was left to the Rather Gov ernor Jaymal . But the

warlike spirit of the Sisodiyas was roused by the mother ofthe young Chief of Salfimbra, who commanded him to puton the saffron robe and to die for Chi tor.

”Patta was then

only sixteen years old, and had lately married ; but to checkany compunctious reluctance which he might feel in leav inghis bride, the heroic mother armed the young wife as well asherself, and with her descended the rock, and the defendersof Chitor saw her fall, fighting by the side of her Amazonianmother.

”The siege still continued, butwithout making any

progress, when, through some unfortunate delay in the

springing of one of their mines, the assailants suffered a

sev ere loss, and fled in disorder to their camp . The operations

Asiatic Researches, IV.—446.

t Rajasthan, 1— 328.

DELHI . 227

of the siege had now to be re-commenced, when a luckyshot depriv ed the Rajputs of their leader. Other mines,says Ferishta} were directed to be constructed, and as

‘

the

works were in progress, the King while in the batteriesobserv ed

.

Jayma l, the Gov ernor of the place, superintendingthe repairs of the breaches, and giv ing hisorders by torchlight . Akbar, seizing a matchlock from one of his attendants, fired at him, and was so fortunate as to lodge the ballin Jaymal

’

s forehead . The spirit of the besieged fell withtheir Gov ernor, and, in their dispair, they performed theceremony of the Jokar, and putting their wiv es and childrento death, burned them with the corpse of their Chief on a

funeral pile.

’

Akbar then entered the fort, and after a

slight opposition, the capital of the Sisodiyas, for the thirdtime, was in the hands of the Musalmfins.

It remains now to consider the v alue of the ev idencerecorded in the abov e statements. In the first place, then,with respect to the statues, I feel qui te satisfied with the

testimony of Bernier. As the physician and companion of

Danishmand Khan, a highly respectable nobleman of

Aurangzib’

s Court, he was most 111 the fav orable position forobtaining accurate information regarding the history of Akbarand his successors. I accept, therefore, without anyhesitation, the account of Bernier that the statues were

those of Jag/ana l and P atta , the two Rajput heroes who

defended Chitor against Akbar. Both statues as I hav ealready pointed out, are those of H indus, as their dressesopen ov er the right breast . Admi tting this much, I am likew ise prepared to allow that the two statues must hav e beenmade by Akbar, as is also stated by Bernier. But, as the

building of Shahjahanabad was not begun un til sev entyyears after the siege of Chitor, it is absolutely certain thatAkbar could not hav e erected the statues in front of the gateof the Delhi Palace, where they were seen by Bernier and

Thev enot . What, then, was their original site ? This I believ e to hav e been the fort of Agra in front of the riv er gate.

In his account of the city of Agra, Abul Fazl,’r the

Minister of Akbar, states that “ HisMajesty has erected a fertof red stone, the like of which no trav ellerhas ev er behold .

1» Briggs, 114 131 .

f Ain Akbari, Il— 36.

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DELHI .

but as our trav ellers had no call to go there, they probablynev er went. Both of them came to Agra from Surat, and

approached the fort on the south side ; and Finch leftAgra bythe Delhi Road m

’

a Mathura, without crossing the riv er,whileHawkins returned to Surat . Had Finch seen the statues,I feel satisfied that he would hav e mentioned them,

as he

takes notice of the elephant statue in front of the Hdtki

Paar, or Elephant Gate,”of the Gwalior Fort .

With regard to Akbar’

s object in setting up thesestatues, I differ altogether from Bernier and Tod . Speakingof the heroes Jayma l and Patta , the former says that ev en

their enemies thought them worthy to hav e these statueserected to them. This is somewhat amplified by Ted, whosays that Akbar ev inced an exalted sense, not only of the

v alue of his conquest, but of the merits of his foes in

erecting statues to the names of Jaymal and Patta. Here

we see that both Bernier and Ted were of opinion that thesestatueswere erected by Akbar 1n hOnour of his enemies, thetwo Rajput heroes of Chitor. But when we remember thatAkbar prided himself on hav ing killed Jaymal with his ownhand ; that he gav e the name of D arust Anddz, or

“ true

shooter, to his matchlock, and that both hisMini ster AbulFazl and his son Jahangir make much boasting of the

Emperor’s lucky shot, themore natural conclusion is that thestatues were erected in honour of Akbar himself. Had theybeen set up in honour of his gallant foes, the fact wouldmost assuredly hav e been commemorated in their loudestv oice by the Rajput bards but so far was this from beingthe case, that Colonel Tod was entirely indebted to Bernierfor his knowledge of their existence.

Again , when I remember that the same Akbar assumedthe title of Ghazi (or warrior for the faith) after putting todeath with his own hand in cold blood his able, gallant, and

wounded antagonist H ima , I cannot believ e that he wouldafterwards erect statues in honour of any infidel Hindus,howev er noble in blood, or gallant in the field . When Irecollect, also, the position that the statues occupied, one on

each side of the eastern gateway of the Agra fort, I cannothelp feeling that they stood, like the two horsemen at the

gate of thea

Horse Guards 111 London, as sentinels at the gateof their iniperial foe, to do honour to their conqueror.

Admitting his v iew to be correct, I can understand why

230 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

Shahjahan remov ed them to Delhi. to occupy the same positionat the gate of his new citadel . Under the same v iew I can

also understand why theywere spared fora time by the bigottedAurangzib. On the other hand, if we suppose with Bernierand Tod that the statues were set up in honour of the two

Rajput warriors, their re-erection by Shahjahan is tome quiteincomprehensible.

But the question of Akbar’

s intention, whether it was todo honour to his fees or to himself, is one of comparativ elylittle moment . To us the statuesare simply v aluable asworksof art, as they are, perhaps, the only portrait statues thathav e been executed in India for many centuries. They aremade of red sand-stone, and are of life-size, while the hugeelephants on which they sit are of blackmarble, and the housings are decorated with white and yellow marbles. On thesegrounds I conclude that the dresses and turbans of the

Rajput Chiefs were coloured, whi le the faces and hands weremost probably left of the natural redish brown colour of thesand-stone . When set up again in theDelhi Garden,

I hav eno doubt that they will command asmuch attention and ad

miration from our own countrymen as they did two hundredyears ago from the enthusiastic Frenchman Bernier.

There are many other remains at Delhi that are bothbeautiful and interesting, but as their age and origin are well

known, they will naturally form a part of my proposedaccount of the Muhammadan architecture of Northern India .

Such are the Z inatMasj id, more commonly called the KudriMasj id, or Maiden’

sMosque,” because built by Z inat-un

a issa ,the v irgin daughter of Aurangzib the Kashmiri

Ill asyzd, and the B egamMasj id in the city, and the tombs of

Jahdndrci B egam and Z ib-un-m’

esa , the sister and daughter ofAurangzib, outside the city . I will only notice here a grav emistake made by Mrs. ColinMackenzie in heraccount of theepitaph on Jaha

'

na'

rd’

s tomb . The marginal inscriptionrecords the name of “ the perishable Fakir, Jahdndrci B egam,

the daughter of Shahjahan, and the disciple of the saints of

Chist A . H . 1094 (or A . D . The holy men here

mentioned are the Muhammadan saints of the well knownfamily of Chisti, of whom famous shrines exist at Ajmer

,

The people hav e a tradition that Z i11at» un-nissa demanc the amount of her dowry

fromher father, and spent it in budding thisMosque, instead of marrying.

DELHI MATHURA. 231

Fatehpur— Sikri, Thanesar, and Kasur. This notoriousMuhammadan name ischanged byMrs. Mackenzie as followsthe humble, the transitory Jahanara was a disciple of the

holy men of Christ, supposed to be Roman Priests.

“

Jabanara was the builder of the Jama Masjid at Agra, andhas always been considered a most dev out follower of

Muhammad. Her name is still held in much v enerationin Delhi for her numerous charities.

I I . MA T H U R A .

In the Brahmanical city of Mathura, in A . D . 6341, the

temples of the gods were reckoned by Hwen Thsang at fiv e

only, while the Buddhist monasteries amounted to 20, withresident monks. The number of Stup as and other

Buddhist monuments was also v ery great, there being no lessthan sev en towers, containing relics of the principal disciplesof Buddha . The King and his ministers were zealous Buddhists, and the three great fasts of the year were celebratedwith much pomp and ceremony, at which times the peopleflocked eagerly to make their offerings to the holy Stup ascontaining the relics of Buddha’

s disciples. Each of them,

says Hwen Thsang, paid a special v isit to the statue of the

B odhistawa whom he regarded as the founder of his ownschool . Thus the followers of the Abidharma, or transcen

dental doctrinesmade their offerings to Sarip utra they who

practised Sama'

dhi or medi tation, to JlIadgalap atra the

followers of the Saatrantihas, or aphorisms, to P arv a Ma i

tregani P atra they who adhered to the Vinaya, or disci

pline, to Upali the B hikshzmis or Nuns,to Ananta ; the

Amcpa'

samp annas, or nov ices, to Ra'

hula (the son of B uddha) ;and they who studied the Mahayana , or Greater means of

adv ancement,” to the great Bodhisatwa Marj a Sri or

A v a lokiteswara , who plays such a conspicuous part in laterBuddhism. But notwithstanding this apparently flourishingcondition of Buddhism, it is certain that the zeal of the

people of Mathura must hav e lessened considerably sinceA . D . 400, when Fa Hian reckoned the body of monks in

0 Delhi,the city of the Great Mogal, 2nd edition, 11 . 51 . I pm ume that this curious

mistake is due to the Enghsh printer’

s correction of Sn “7 . Sleeman’

s translation, Rambles,H . , 270, “ here Christ is an ev ident misprint for C hist, as Sleeman was a good scholar. It is

ca nions that the same insertion of the letter r is made in this name in the trav els of anotherLu ly , Tour in Upper Prov inces of Hindustan by A . D,

”where she speaks, or is made to

speak by the Enghsh compositor, of the Mausoleum of C hristie at Futtcypoor Sicera.

”

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MATIIURA. 233

east of the city . Cells were formed in the sides of the

mound, which was approached through a hollow, and in the

midst was a Siup a containing the nails of Buddha. Thismonastery is said to hav e been built by the holy Up agup ta ,

who, as we learn from one of the legends of Pdtali Patra ,was a contemporary of Asoka . The nails and heard of the

holy man were still preserv ed.

On anothermound to the north of thismonastery, therewas a cav e containing a stone chamber, 20 feet high and 30

feet long, which was ful l of bamboo spikes only four inchesin length. These spikes represented the number of husbandsand their wiv es who had been conv erted by Up agap ia .

At 241 or 25 ii, or just four miles to the south-east ofthe stone chamber, there was a large dry tank, with a Steamon its bank, which marked the spot where Buddha wassaid tohav e taken exercise. On this spot also, according to thelocal legends, a monkey had offered honey to Buddha, whichthe teacher graciously accepted and directed that it should bemixed with water and giv en to themonks. The gladmonkeymade a wild bound, and fell into the tank and died ; butowing to the powerful influence of his good act, he becamea man in hi s next birth.

In a forest at a short distance to the north of the tank

there was another holy spot, where the four prev ious Buddhaswere said to hav e taken exercise ; and all round it there werenumerous Stupas, which marked the places where no less

than a rhats, or holy men, including Sciriputra, Mudgu

lap atra , and others, used to sit in meditation. But besidesthese, there were sev eral other Stup as on the spots whereBuddha at different times had explained the law .

The two principal sites described by Hwen Thsang can,

I think, be fixed with tolerable certainty, namely, that ofthe famous Up agup ta monasta '

y, and that of the monkey’soffering . The first is said to be at 5 or 6 ii , or just one mile,to the cast of the city ; but as an eastern direction wouldtake us to the low ground, 011 the opposite bank of the

Jumna, where no ruins now exist, I feel quite satisfied thatwe should read west instead of east. This change isrenderedalmost certain by the discov ery of numerous Buddhistremains inside the great square of the Ka lra , which is just onemile to the westward of the old fort of Mathura But it is

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maruuRA. 235

Upa’

li (the Vindya lc or teacher of Vinaya) as described byHwen Thsang . Both of these mounds arc to the north of

the city . To the south there are sev enmounds known as the

Sai l Tila which are sev erally named as follows — 1 , .t i

ka-Tila ; 2, Sap t R ishi ; 3, B a i, or B ut, Tila ; 4, Narad ;

5, Kane ; 6, Kai-fag , 7, n shesha .

’ Now, it is remarkable that the number of great Stup as of the disciplesof Buddhawas also sev en ; but unfortunately as nothing is recordedregarding their relativ e positions, we are left entirely toconjecture whether these mounds may possibly representthe sev en famous Stup as of Buddha’

s principal disciples.

I think that it would be worth while to make some excav ations in all of these sev en mounds to the south, as well as

in the two northern mounds which still bear Buddhisticalnames.

The Katra mound has been successiv ely occupied byBuddhists, Brahmans, and Musalmans. The Katra

, or

market-place, is an oblong enclosure like a Sardi, 8041 feet inlength by 653 feet in breadth. In the midst of this squarestands the Ja

’

ma Masj id, on a large mound from 25 to 30 feetin height. The mosque is 172 feet long and 66 feet broad,with a raised terrace in front of the same length, but with a

breadth of 86 feet, the whole being 30 feet in height abov ethe ground . About 5 feet lower, there is another terrace286 feet in length by 268 feet in breadth, on the eastern edgeof which stands the mosque. There is no inscription on the

building, but the people ascribe it to Aurungzib, who is saidto hav e pulled down the great Hindu temple of Kcsa v a

Dev a, or Keso Ray, that formerly stood on this high mound,a most noble position, which commands a fine v iew of the

whole city. Curiously enough I hav e been able to v erifythis charge against Aurungzib by means of some inscriptions on the pav ement slabs which were recorded by Hindupilgrims to the shrine of Kcsav a Ray . In relaying the

pav ement, the Muhammadan architect was obliged to out

many of the slabs to make them fit into their new places.

This is prov ed by sev eral of the slabs bearing incompleteportions of Nagari inscriptions of a late date. One slab has

During a shunt v isit in the present year, 1871 , I could not find a single person whoknew the . l omw i T1111 . The h im-l a-Tila. is also an inv ention o f my intonnant as it ism al.-ul ly l l l tc lul l ‘t l fo r I)h121-l a-t11a ,

o 1 the mound of dust,”that is, the refuse of a brick-km) ,

”1 “ luck the mound in question is actually composed.

236 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

bat 1713, Pha’

igmi , the ini tial Sam of Sambat hav ing beencut off. Another slab has the name of Keso B ay, the restbeing wanting ; while a third bears the late date of S . 1 720.

These dates are equiv alent to A . D . 1656 and 1663 ; and as

the latter is five years subsequent to the accession of

Aurungzib, it is certain that the H indu temple was stillstanding at the beginning of his reign)

“

The greater part of the foundations of the Hindu templeof Kcsav a Ray may still be traced at the back of the Masj id.

Indeed, the back wall of the mosque itself is actually builtupon the plinth of the temple, one of the cyma reversa

mouldings being fil led up with brick andmortar. I tracedthe walls for a distance of 163 feet to the westward, butapparently this was not the whole length of the temple, as

the mouldings of the H indu plinth at the back of the Masj idare those of an exterior wall . I think it probable

"that the

temple must hav e extended at least as far as the front of the

mosque, which would giv e a total length of 250 feet, with an

extreme breadth of nearly 72 feet, the floor of the buildingbeing no less than 25 feet abov e the ground . Judging fromthese dimensions, the temple of Kesava Dev a must hav e beenone of the largest in India .

’r I was unable to obtain any

information as to the probable date of this magnificent fane.

It is usually called Keso Ray, and attributed to Raja JagaDev a, but some say that the enshrined image was that of

Jaga Dev a, and that the builder’s name was Bay or R aj aKcsav a D eva . It is possible that it may hav e been one of

the “ innumerable temples” described by Mahmud in his

letter to the Gov ernor of Ghazni written in A . D . 101 7, asweknow that the conqueror spared the temples either throughadmiration of their beauty, or on account of the difficulty ofdestroying them. Mahmud remained at Mathura only 20days, but during that time the city was pillaged and burned,and the temples were rifled of their statues. Amongst thesethere were “ fiv e golden idols whose eyes were of rubies,v alued at dinars,

”or A sixth golden image

‘fl' I hav e since found the most complete and satisfactory confirmation of my opinion inthe trav els of Ta v ernier, Part II B . l II.

, ch. 12, where he describes the Hindu temple asstill standing at the time of his v isit, apparently about A. D . 1659, and certainly after theaccession of Aurungzib .

1' This Opinion is fully confirmed by Tav ernier, who describes the temple as tresmagnifique,

”and states that it ranke dnext aft er the temples of Jagannath and Dandma

Scc Plat e No. XL. for a plan of the Masj id and Temple.

MATHURA. 237

weighed mishkals, or lbs. , and was decoratedwith a sapphire weighing 300 mishlca ls, or 3; lbs. But,besides these images, there were abov e one hundred idols of

silv er, which loaded asmany camels.

”Altogether the v alue

of the idols carried off by Mahmud cannot hav e been less

than three millions of rupees, or

The date of Mahmud’s inv asion was A . D . 1017, or

somewhat less than 400 years after the v isit of the Chinesepilgrim Hwen Thsang, who in A . D . 6341 found only fiv eBrahmanical temples in Mathura. It is during these fourcenturies, therefore, that we must place, not only the declineand fall of Buddhism, but its total disappearance from thisgreat city, in which it once possessed twenty large monastories, besidesmany splendid monuments of itsmost famousteachers. Of the circumstances which attended the downfallof Buddhism we know almost nothing ; but as in the presentcase we find the remains of amagnificent Brahmanical templeoccupying the v ery site of what must once hav e been a large

Buddhist establishment, we may inferwith tolerable certaintythat the v otaries of Sakya Mani were expelled by force, andthat their buildings were ov erthrown to furnish materials forthose of their Brahmanical riv als ; and now these in theirturn hav e been thrown down by the Musalmans.

I made the first discov ery of Buddhist remains at the

temple of Kesev e B ay in January 1853, when, after a longsearch, I found a broken pillar of a Buddhist railing sculptured with the figure of Mdya

‘

Dev i standing under the‘

av?

tree.

‘ At the same time I found the capitals of two largeround pillars of an early date, which are most probablyBuddhist, along with a fragment of an inscription of the

Gupta dynasty, containing the well known genealogy fromGupta, the founder, down to Samudra Gupta, where the stoneis broken off. During the present year I hav e discov ered thepeculiarly curv ed architrav e of a Buddhist gateway, which isrichly sculptured on both sides with buildings, figures, andtrees, including a representation of a gateway itself. I foundalso a v ery perfect standing figure of Buddha, the Teacher,which had lately been discov ered in clearing out a well at thenorth-west corner of the temple. The figure is 33

1

,feet high,

with the left hand grasping the drapery, and the right hand

Now in the LaborMuseum.

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MATHURA. 239

building of the monastery in the latter half of the centuryimmediately preceding the Christian era, at which periodthe three Indo-Scythian princes, Hashim and his brothers,

'

anishlca and Jashlca, ruled ov er Kabul , Kashmir, and thePunjab . The bases of about 30 pillars belonging to thismonastery hav e now been discov ered, of which no less than1 5 are inscribed with the names of the donors who presentedthe columns to the monastery . But as one Of these giftsconsisted Of six pillars, a second of 25, and a third Of 26

pillars, there stil l remains 40 columns to be discov ered, whichwill bring up the total number to 70. The diameter of thecircular shafts Of these pillars v aries from 1 7 to 18 inches,and the side of the square base to 244 inches. They are

all v ery coarsely worked, the rough marks of the chisel nev erhav ing been smoothed away .

The name of the second monastery, Kanda-Sulca , refers,I believ e, to the tank which lies immediately to the Westward Of themound. E v ade-Saka means the dry tank and

as the position Of the tank agrees with that assigned byHwen Thsang to the dry tank

’

in which the monkey waskilled, I think there can be no doubt of the accuracy of myidentification .

The discov eries already made in the Jailmound, amongstthe ruins of the H uv islzka and Kanda-S alra monasteries, hav ebeen v ery interesting on account of their v ariety, as theycomprise statues of all sizes, has-reliefs, pillars, Buddhistrailings, v otiv e Stup as, stone umbrellas, and many otherobjects peculiar to Buddhism, of a date as early as the firstcentury of the Christian era .

‘ Amongst the broken statuesthere is the left hand of a colossal figure of Buddha, theTeacher, which measures exactly one foot across the palm.

The statue itself, therefore, coul d not hav e been less thanfrom 20 to 2Lfeet in height, and with its pedestal, halo, and

umbrella canopy it must hav e been fully 30 feet in height .Stone statues of this great size are so extremely di fficult tomov e, that they can be v ery rarely made. It is true thatsome of the Jain statues of Gwalior are larger, such as the

standing colossus in the Urwdhi of the fort, which is 57 feet

Sev eral inscripticms hav e since been discov ered which belong to the first centurylwfnrc ( flni r~t. The c u bmt is of the Satrap Sauddsa, and the next of the Great KingKamshka, dated in the year 9 .

240 ARCIIJEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-03.

high, with a foot 9 feet in length, and the great seated figureon the east side of the fort, which is 29 feet high, wi th a

hand 7 feet in length . But these figures are hewn out of the

solid rock, to which they are still attached at the back .

There are larger statues also in Barma, but they are built upon the spot of brick and mortar, and cannot be mov ed . Ilook forward, therefore, with great interest to the discov eryof other portions of the Mathura Colossus, and moreespecially to that of the pedestal, on whi ch we may expectto find the name of the donor of this costly and difficultWork .

Most of the statues hitherto discov ered atMathura hav ebeen those of Buddha, the Teacher, who is represented eithersitting or standing, and with one or both hands raised in the

attitude of enforcing his argument. The prev ailing numberof these statues 1s satisfactorily illustrated by Hwen Thsang,who records that when Buddha was aliv e he frequentlyv isited Mathura, and that monuments hav e been erected ma ll thep laces where he exp lained the law.

”Accordingly, on

this one spot there hav e already been found two colossalstanding figures of the Teacher, each 7-2

1 feet 111 height, twolife size seated statues, and one three-quarter size seatedstatue, besides numerous smaller figures of inferior workmanship .

The most remarkable piece of sculpture is that of a

female of rather more than half life-size. The figure is

naked, sav e a girdle of heads round the waist, the same as is

seen in the Bhilsa sculptures and Ajanta paintings. The

attitude and the positions of the hands are similar to thoseof the famous statue of Venus of the Capitol . But in the

Mathura statue the left hand is brought across the rightbreast, while the right hand holds up a small portion of

drapery, The head is slightly inclined towards the rightshoulder, and the hair is dressed in a new and peculiarmanner, with long curls on each side of the face, which fall

from a large circular ornament on the tOp of the head . The

back of the figure is supported by a thick cluster of lotusstalks cov ered with buds and flowers, which are v ery gracefully arranged and boldly executed . The plump face withits b1oad smile 18 the least satisfactory pai t of this wo1k .

Altogether this statue is one of the best specimens of

unaided Indian art that I hav e met with. I presume

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MATHURA. 241

that it represents a dancing girl, and that it once adornedone of the gateways of the great Stup a near themonasteryof

Three statuesof lions hav e also been discov ered,but theyare inferior both in design and in execution to most of the

other sculptures. They are all of the same height, 3 feet,and are all in the same attitude, but two of them hav e the

left foot adv anced, while the third has the right foot broughtforward . The attitudes are stiff, and the workmanship,especially of the legs, is hard, wiry, and unnatural . It isthe fore-part only of the animal that is giv en, as if issuingout of the block of stone in rear, from which I infer thatthey must originally hav e occupied the two sides of somelarge gateway, such as we may suppose to hav e belonged tothe greatmonastery of H uv ishha .

The most numerous remains are the stone pillars of the

Buddhist railings, of which at least three different sizes hav ebeen found . Those of the largest size are 44} feet in height,with a section of by 6 inches. When complete wi thbase and cOping, this railing would hav e been about 7 feet inheight . The middle-sized pillars are 3 feet 8 inches high,with a section of 9 by 4a} inches. The railings formed of

these pillars would hav e been 5% feet in height . Those of

the smallest size are 242feet high, with a section of by 34}inches, which would hav e formed a railing of only 4 feet inheight. Of this last size no more than six specimens hav eyet been found, but two of them are numbered in the ancientGupta numerals as 1 18 and 129, so that many more of themstill remain to be discov ered . If we assume the number of

these pillars to hav e been no more than 129 the length of

railing which they formed would hav e been 144 feet, or withtwo entrances not less than 160 feet. Thismight hav e beendisposed either as a square enclosure of 40 feet side, or as acircular enclosure of upwards of 50 feet diameter. The last

would hav e been sufficient for the circular railing of a Stupa

40 feet in diameter.

No inscriptions or numbers hav e been found on any of

the large sized pillars, but there can be no doubt that theymust hav e formed parts of the surrounding railings either of

The pedestal of this statue, which has since been discov ered, shows that the figurewas origlnally placed on the top of a small column.

2L2 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

Stupas or of holy trees, such as are represented in the Sanchihas-reliefs, or as we see them in still existing examples at

Sanchi and Sonari . Of the middle-sized railing I found a

single broken rail, and also a single specimen of the architrav es or coping stones. In the Sanchi and Sonari examplesthe coping is quite plain, but this Mathura specimen is ornamented on both faces with semi-circular panels or niches

containing figures and flowers.

The sculptures on the Mathura pillars are of two kinds,namely, large single figures on the front, and on the hackeither small has-reliefs in compartments one abov e the other,or else full-blown flowers at regular intervals. Both in the

single figures and in the has-reliefs we find the same mixtureof religious and social subjects as in the sculptures of Sanchiand Buddha-Gaya . On one pillar we hav e a standing figureof Buddha, the Teacher, with a halo and umbrella canopy,and on the

'

back four small has-reliefs representing, l st, a

holy tree with suspended garlands, surrounded by a Buddhistrailing ; 2na, a pair of figures, male and female 3rd, 3

kneeling figure presenting an Ofl'

ering to a standing figure ;and 44th, an elephant with rider. One of the other single

figures is a female holding a water v essel to her lips, and noless than four of the others are representations of Maya. Dev istanding under the Sci l tree, and holding one of its branches,in which position she is described as hav ing giv en birth to

Buddha. A specimen of one of the large-sized Mathura

pillarsmay be seen in the Asiatic Society’s Museum in Cal

cutte, where it was deposited by Colonel Stacy.

But, perhaps, the most curious of all theMathura sculptures is that which was figured and described by JamesPrinsep in 1836 as a Statue of Silenus. The block is 3 feet10 inches in height, 3 feet broad, and 1 foot 4: inchesthick . On the top there is a circular bason 16 inches indiameter and 8 inches deep . On the front there is a groupof three figures about three-fourths of life-size with two

smaller figures, and on the back a group of four figuresof half life-size. In the front group the principal figureis a stout, half naked man resting on a low seat, withiv y or v ine-crowned brow , and outstretched arms, whichappear to be supported by the figures, male and female,standing one on each side. The dress of the female ismost certainly not Indian, and is almost as certainly

MATHURA. 243

Greek . The dress of the mal e figure also appears to be

Greek . Colonel Stacy describes it as a kerchief round theneck with a tie in front as worn by sailors but as it widensso it approaches the shoulders ; I presume that it must be theshort cloak of the Greeks which was fastened in front in the

v ery same manner as represented 111 this sculpture. Prinsepagrees with Stacy in considering the principal figure to beSilenus His portly carcass, drunken lassitude, and v inewreathed forehead, stamp the indiv idual, while the drapery ofhis attendantspronounces them at least to be foreign to India,whatev ermay be thought of Silenus

’

s own costume, which iscertainly highly orthodox and Brahmanical . If the sculptorwere a Greek, his taste had been somewhat tainted by theIndian beau-ideal of female beauty. In other respects hisproportions and attitudesare good ; nay, superior to any specimen of pure Hindu sculpture we possess ; and, consideringthe object of the group, to support a sacrificial v ase (probably of the j uice of the grape) , it isexcellent.

”Of the group

on the back I hav e. but little to say : the two female figuresand one of the men are dressed in the same Greek costumeas the figures of the other group, but the fourth figure, a

male, is dressed in a long tunic, which is certainly notGreek ,

and cannot well be Indian. The religious Buddhist wouldhav e his right shoulder here, and the layman would hav e theaholt

'

, or waist-016th . The Greek clad male figure may possibly be Silenus, but I am unable to offer ev en a conjectureas to the figure in

; the tunic .The question new arises, how is the presence of thispiece

of Greek sculpture to be accounted for P Perhaps the mostreasonable solution 18 to assume the presence of a small bodyof Bactrian Greek sculptors who would hav e found readyemployment for theirserv ices amongst thewealthy Buddhists,just 111 the same way as goldsmiths and artil lerymen afterwards. found serv ice with the Mogul Emperors. It must beremembered that Mathura is close to the great sand-stonequarries which for ages past hav e furnished materials for thesculptors and architects of Upper India . Al l the ancientstatues that I hav e met with in Rohilkhund and Oudh are

made of this stone, and there can be little doubt that theBuddhist custom of making gifts of statues and pillars to thev arious monasteriesmust hav e created such a steady demandfor the sculptor’s works as would hav e ensured the continuous employment of many skilled workmen. Many of the

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KHALSI .

Kap urdagim’

, Janaglri, R ohitds, and Ganj am.

* In speakingof Firuz Shah’

s Pillar at Delhi, whl ch we know was broughtfrom the foot of the hills on the western bank of the Jumnanear Khidrabad, I hav e already identified the district of

Khalsi with part of the ancient kingdom of Srughna, as

described by Hwen Thsang . As my reasons for coming tothis conclusion are based entirely upon the statements of theChinese pilgrim, it is necessary that they should be giv enin detail .

On leav ing S lha'

neswara or Thanesar, Hwen Thsangrecords that he went 400 ll , or 66miles, to the eastward, tothe kingdom of Su-ln-kin-na, or Sraghna, which he describesas being bounded by the Ganges on the east, and by highmountains on the north, and as being watered by the Jumna,which ran through the midst of it. The capital, which was

20 ll, or upwards of three miles, in circuit, was situated

immediately on the west bank of the Jumna ; and, althoughmuch ruined, its foundations were still standing. Amongstother monuments it possessed a Stup a of King Asoka . The

direction giv en by Hwen Thsang is undoubtedly wrong, asthe Jumna is notmore than 241miles distant from Thanesartowards the east. But the mention of the hills shows mostclearly that the bearing should be north-east ; and as the

recorded distance of the Jumna at the foot of the hills agreeswith the actual distance, the situation of the capital of

Srughna must be looked for along the western bank of the

Jumna, somewhere between Khalsi and Khidrabad . At firstI was inclined to fix the position of the capital in the immediate neighbourhood of the inscribed rock of Khalsi, but Icould neither find nor hear of any ruins in its v icinity, and

the distance is besides too great, being 71 miles in a directl ine, or about 80miles by themad. If Hwen Thsang

’

s dis

tances is correct, the most probable position of the capitalis Paola, on the right bank of the Jumna, which is 57 milesdistant from Thanesar in a direct line, or about 65miles bythe road . I believ e also that Paola is the v ery place fromwhence Firuz Shah remov ed the Delhi column, for the nameof its original site is v ariously written as Ta0p ar, or Tep ara ,or Taop arsuh, any one of which by the mere shifting of the

diacritical points might be read as Paotar. It is possible

See Plate He. II. for a map of North-Western India, showing the position of Khhlsi.

246 Ac zEOLOGIOAL REPORT, 1862-63.

also that the word Sah may still preserv e a trace of the

ancient name of Sughaa , which is the spoken form of the

Sanskrit Sraghna . I propose to explore this neighbourhood during the ensuing cold season . In the meantime Iam satisfied with hav ing shown that the inscribed rock of

Khalsi is situated within the territory of Srughna, in whose

great monastery the Chinese pilgrim spent upwards of fourmonths, because the monks discussed the most difl

‘icu lt ques

tions so ably that all doubts where cleared up. By the hands

of this learned fraternity were most probably engrav ed the

two great copies of the edicts of Asoka which are still ex

tent on the Khalsi rock and on the Delhi pillar of Firuz .

Shah.

Between Khalsi and the Jumna the land on the western

bank of the riv er is formed in two successiv e ledges or lev etsteppes, each about 100 feet in height . Near the foot of theupper steppe stands the large quartz boulder which has preserv ed the edicts of Asoka for upwards of years. The

block is 10 feet long and 10 feet high, and about 8 feet thickat bottom. The south-eastern face has been smoothed, butrather unev enly, as it follows the undulations of the originalsurface. The main inscription is engrav ed on this smoothedsurface, which measures 5 feet in heig ht wi th a breadth of 55.feet at top, which increases towards the bottom to 7 feet 10inches. The deeper hollows and cracks hav e been left uninscribed, and the lines of letters are undulating and unev en .

Towards the bottom the letters increase in size until they become about thrice as large as those of the upper part. Owing

;

either to this enlargement of the letters, or perhaps to thelatter part of the inscription being of later date, the preparedsurface was too small for the whole record, which was, therefore, completed on the left hand side of the rock .

On the right hand side an elephant is traced in outline,with the words Gaj a tame inscribed between his legs in thesame characters as those of the inscription. The exact mean

ing of these words I do not know ; but as the Junagiri rock

inscription closes with a paragraph stating that the place iscalled Swela Haste

“

,or the white elephant,” I think it pro

bable that Gaiatame maymean the dark orblack elephant,”

and may, therefore, be the name of the rock itself. Amongstthe people, howev er, the rock is known by the name Of

'

Chhalr Sila, or“ the canopy stone, which would seem to

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xnansr. 247

show that the inscribed block had formerly been cov ered ov erby some kind of canopy, or perhaps only by an umbrella, asthe name imports. There are a number of squared stoneslying about close to the rock, as well as sev eral fragmentsof octagonal pil lars and half pillars or pilasters, which are

hollowed out or fluted on the shorter faces, after the commonfashion of the pillars of Buddhist railings. There is also a

large carv ed stone, 7 feet long, 1 1 foot broad, and 1 foot inheight, which from its upper mouldings I judged to hav eformed the entrance step to somekind of

:

open porch 111 frontof the inscription stone.

When found by Mr. Forrest early in 1860 the letters Of’

the inscription were hardly v isible, the whole surface beingencrusted with the darkmess of ages but on remov ing thisblack film the surface becomes nearlyaswhite asmarble. At

first sight the inscription looks as if i t was imperfect111 manyplaces, but this 1s owing to the engrav er hav ing purposelyleft all the cracked and rougher portions uninscribed . On

comparing the different edicts with those of the Kap urdag iri,Janagiri , and Dhauli v ersions, I find the Khalsi text to be ma more perfect state than any one of them, andmore specially in that part of the 13th edict which contains the names of

the fiv eGreekKings,— Antioehus,Ptolemy, Antigonus,Magas,and A lexander.

"E The Khalsi text agrees with that Dhauliin rejecting the use of the letter r, for which I is ev erywheresubstituted . But the greatest v ariation is in the use of the

palatal sibilant s, which has not been found in any otherinscription of thisearly date. This letter occurs in the wordPasanda , which, curiously enough, is spelt sometimes withone s, and sometimes with the other, ev en in the same edict.As the preper spelling of this word is Paskanda , it seemsalmost certain that the people of India Properdid not possessthe letter shm the time of Asoka.

I made a complete impression of the whole of this important inscription . I also copied the whole of the inscription on the left side by eye, as well as most of the moreobscure parts in the front inscription. I hav e since compared the entire text with those of the other rock tablets,and I am now engaged in making a reduced copy of this v alnable record for early publication . I prepose, howev er, first,

0 See Plate No. XLI. for this portion of the Khdlsi inscn'

ption.

248 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

to compare it with the Kapurdagari v ersion in the Ariancharacters. With good copies of all the different texts beforethem, the scholars of Europe will be able to giv e a moresatisfactory interpretation of Asoka’s edicts than has hi thertobeen made, ev en with the aid of all the learning of BirnoufandWilson.

IV. MADAWAR, OR MADIPUR.

From Srughna the Chinese pilgrim proceeded to Mo-tipu

-lo, or Madipur, to the east of the Ganges, a distance of

800 ll, or 133miles. Madipur has been identified by M . St.

Martin with Mandawar, a large old town mWestern Rohilkhund near Bijnor. I had made the same identification myself before reading M . St. Martin’

s remarks, and I am now

able to confirm it by a personal examination of the locali ty .

The actual distance from P aola on the Jumna to Mandawar

v iaHaridwa'

r, 1s not more than 1 10 miles by the presentroads ; but as itwould hav e been considerablymore by the OldNativ e tracks leading from v illage to v illage, the distance recorded by Hwen Thsang ismost probably not far from the

truth, more especially when we remember that he paid a v isitto Ma-yu

-lo, or Mag/urapara , new Myap oor, near Hardwarat the head of the Ganges Canal . But the identity of the

site of Madawar with Madipur is not dependent on thisone distance alone, as will be seen from the subsequentcourse of the pilgrim, which most fully confirms the positionalready deriv ed fromhis prev ious route.

The name of the town is written with theMaddwar withthe cerebral d, and without the nasal . In ourmaps it is speltMundete and Mundhwar. According to Johari L a l, Chaodriand Kanungo of the place, Madawar was a deserted site inSamv at 1 1 71 , or A . D . 1 1 14, when his ancestor Dwarha D ds,an Agarwala Baniya, accompanied by KatarMall, came from.Morari in the Mirat District, and occupied the Old mound .

The present town of Mada'

war contains inhabitants,and is rathermore than three-quarters of a mile in length byhalf a mile in breadth . But the old mound whi ch representsthe former town IS notmore than half a mile square. It has

an av erage height of 10 feet abov e the rest of the town, andit abounds with large bricks, a certain sign of antiquity . In

the middle of the mound there IS a ruined fort, 300 feet

square, with an elev ation of 6 or 7 feet abov e the rest of the

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MADAWAR, on MADIPUR . 249

city . To the north-east, distant about one mile from the fort,there is a large v illage, on another mound, called Madiya

and between the two lies a large tank called Kzinda Td'

l,surrounded by numerous small mounds which are said to bethe remains of buildings. Originally these two places wouldappear to hav e formed one large town about 1 4

1 mile in lengthby half a mile in breadth, or 3% miles in circuit . The Ka

mmgo states that Al addwar formed part of the dominionsof Pithora Raja, and that it possessed a large H indu templeof stone, which was afterwards destroyed by one of the GhoriSultans, who bui lt the present Jfima Masj id on its site, andwith its materials. The stones of the mosque are squaredblocks of soft grey sandstone, and asmany of them exhibitcramp-holes on the outside, there can be no doubt that theymust originally hav e belonged to some other building .

To the south-east of the town there is a large, deep, irregularly shaped piece of water called P irwa

’

li l . It is nearly half a mile in length, but not more than 300 feet broad inits widest part. It is filled in the rains by a small channel carrying the drainage of the country from the north-east,and its ov erflow falls into the Mdlz

’

ni Riv er, about two milesdistant . This pool is only part of a natural channel of drainage which has been deepened by the excav ation of earth for

the bricks of the town. But in spite of this ev ident originof the Maddwar tank, it was grav ely asserted by the Buddhists to hav e been produced by an earthquake which aecom

panied the death of a celebrated saint, named 7mm Mitra .

According to Hwen Thsang, H adip ur was 20 li, or 331,

miles, in circuit, which agrees v ery closely with what wouldappear to be the most probable size of the old town . The

King was a Sudra , who cared nothing for Buddhism, but

worshipped the Dev as. There were 12Buddhist monasteriescontaining about 800monks, who were mostly attached tothe school of the Sarv dstivddas, and there were also about 50Brahmanical temples.

ali To the south of the town, at 4 or 5

li, or 2of a mile, there was a small monastery in whichGunap rabka was said to hav e composed 100 works ; and at

half a mile to the north of this there was a great monasterywhich was famous as the scene of Sazzgkabkadra

’

s sudden

Julien’s Hwen Thsang, II 219.

250 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

death from chagrin, when he was ov ercome in argument byVasubandhn. His relics were deposited in a Stupa in the

midst of a mangoe grov e only 200 paces to the north-west of

the monastery . These two chiefs of Buddhism liv ed aboutthe beginning of the Christian era, and the Stupa was stillstanding in A . D . 034 at the time of Hwen Thsang

’

s v isit.There is no trace now existing either of the monasteries orof the Stup a , but their sites can be fixed with tolerable certainty by the aid of Hwen Thsang

’

s descriptions. The v illageof Lalpur, which is situated on a mound about three-quartersof a mile to the south-south-east of the Jama Masj id, and

which is built partly of old bricks, represents the site of the

small monastery of Gunap rabha . To the north of Lalpur, andjust half a mile distant, is the shrine of Hidayat Shah, witha Masj id attached, both of which are built of old bricks.

This spot I believ e to be the site of the great monastery ofSanghabhadm . Lastly, to the west-north-west of Hidayat

’

s

shrine, at a distance of 200 paces, there is another shrine, orFakir

’

s tahia , standing in the midst of a mangoe grov e, likethe old Stup a of Sanghabhadra , the site of which it representsalmost exactly as described by Hwen Thsang.

"E

Besides the mangoe grov e there was a second Stupa

which contained the relics of Vima la Mitra, who, as a

disciple of Sanghabhadra , must hav e liv ed in the first cen

tury of the Christian era . The legend relates that, on passingthe Stup a of his master Sanghabhadra, he placed his handon his heart, and with a sigh expressed a wish that he mightliv e to compose a work which should lead all the studentsof India to renounce the Great Vehicle” (Mahd d a) ,and which should blot out the name of Vasubandhu for ev er.

No sooner had he spoken, than he was seized with frenzy,and fiv e spouts of burni ng hot blood gushed from hismouth.

Then feeling himself dying, he wrote a letter expressinghis repentance for hav ing maligned the Mahd Yd

'

na , and

hoping that his fate might serv e as an example to al l students.

”At thesewords the earth quaked, andhe expired in

stantly . Then the sp ot where he died suddenly sank and

formed a deep ditch, and a holy man who witnessed his end

exclaimed To-day this master of the scriptures, by giv ingway to his passions, and by persisting in erroneous opinions,

See Plate No . XLII. formap of Madawar.

MADAWAR , OR MADIPUR KASHIPUR, OR eov rsxm . 251

has calumniated theMahd d a, for which he has now fallen

into ev erlasting hell .”

But this opinion of the holy manwould appear to hav e been confined to the followers of theMahd Ya

‘

na, for the brethren of Vw a la Mitra, who wereSaredstivddas or students of the lesser v ehicle, burned hisbody and raised a Stup a ov er his relics. It must be remembered also that Hwen Thsang, who relates the legend, wasa zealous follower of the Mahd d a

, and this no doubt ledhim to ov erlook the manifest contradiction between the statement of the uncharitable arhat, and the fact that his brethrenhad burned hi s body in the usual manner. This legend, aswell as sev eral others, would seem to show that there was ahostile and ev en bitter feeling between these two great sectsof the Buddhist community .

The site of Vima la Mitm ’

s Stup a is described as beingat the edge Of the mango grov e, and from the details of thelegend it is clear that it could hav e been at no great distancefrom the Stup a of Sanghabhadra . It would appear also thatit must hav e stood close by the great ditch, or hollow, whichhis opponents looked upon as the rent in the earth by whichhe had sunk down to ev erlasting hell . Now the mangoegrov e which I hav e before mentioned extends only 120 pacesto the westward to the bank of the deep tank called theP irwdli Tai l . I conclude, therefore, that the Stup a of Vima laMitre must hav e stood close to the edge of this tank and on

the border of the mangoe grov ewhich still exists in the sameposition as described by Hwen Thsang .

It seems probable that the people of JIadatwar, as pointed out by M . St. Martin, may be the Mathce of Megasthenes

who dwelt on the banks of the Erinescs. If so, that riv ermust be the Malini . It is true that this isbut a small stream,

but it was in a sacred grov e on the bank of the llfdl iml thatSakunta la was brought up, and along its course lay her routeto the court Of B ushmanta at Hastinapm

'

. While the lotusfloats on its waters, and while the Chahww calls itsmate on

its bank, so long will the little Mdltni liv e in the v erse Of

Kdl idds.

v . KASHIPUR,OR GOVISANA.

On leav ing H adip ur the Chinese pilgrim trav elled400 It, or 66 miles to the south-east, and arriv ed in the kingdom of Kin-p i-shwang-na, which M . Julien renders by

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KASHIPUR, OR GOVISANA . 253

The old fort of Ujain is v ery peculiar in its form, whichmay be best compared to the body of a guitar. It is

feet in length from west to east, and feet inbreadth, the whole circuit being upwards of feet, or

rather less than 2miles. Hwen Thsang describes the circuitof Gov isana as about feet, or nearly 2 miles but in

this measurement he must hav e included the long mound ofruins on the south side, which is ev idently the remains of anancient suburb . By including thismound as an undoubtedpart of the Old city, the circuit of the ruins is upwards of

feet, or v ery nearly the same as that giv en by HwenThsang . Numerous grov es, tanks, and fish ponds stillsurround the place. Indeed, the trees are particularlyluxuriant, owing to the high lev el of the water which iswithin 5 or 6 feet of the surface. For the same reason the

tanks are numerous and always full of water. The largestof these is the D ron Sdgar, which, as well as the fort, is saidto hav e been constructed by the fiv e Pandu brothers for theuse of their teacher D rona . The tank is only 600 feetsquare, but it is esteemed v ery holy, and ismuch frequentedby pilgrims on their way to the source of the Ganges. Its

high banks are cov ered with sati monuments of recent date.

The walls of the fort are built of large massiv e bricks,1 5 inches by 10 inches by 23

1; inches, which are always a

certain sign of antiquity. The general height of the walls

is 30 feet abov e the fields , but the whole is now in completeruin, and cov ered with dense jungle. Shallow ditches stillexist on all sides except the east. The interior is v eryunev en, but the mass has a mean height of about 20feetabov e the country. There are two low openings in the

ramparts, one to the north-west and the other to the southwest, which now serv e as entrances to the jungle, and whichthe people say were the Old gates Of the fort)

“

There are some small temples on the western bank of

the D raw Sdgar but the great place of worship is the

modern temple of JwanDev i , 600feet to the eastward of thefort. This goddess is also cal led Ujaini Dev i, and a great fairis held in her honour on the 8th day of the waning moon of

Chaitra . Other smaller temples contain symbols of Mahadev aunder the titles of B hutesar, Muhtesar, Ndymith, and

See Plate No. XLII. for a map of Ujain orGov isana.

254 ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

Jdgesar. But all of these temples are of recent date ; thesites of the more ancient fanes being marked by mounds of

v arious dimensions from 10 to upwards of 30 feet in height.The most remarkable of these mounds is situated inside thenorthern wall of the fort, abov e which the ruins rise to aheight of 52feet abov e the country, and 22 feet abov e theramparts. Thismound is called .Bhimgaj a orBhimgada , thatis, Bhim

’

s club, by which I understand a large lingam of

Mahadev a. Were it not for this name, I should be inclinedto look upon this huge mound as the remains of a palace, asI succeeded in tracing the walls of what appeared to hav e

been a large room, 72 feet in length from north to south, by63 feet in width, the walls being 6 feet thi ck. About 500 feetbeyond the north-east angle of the fort there is another te

markable mound which is rathermore than 34 feet in height.It stands in the midst of a quadrangular terrace, 600 in

length by 500 feet in breadth, and, as well as I could ascertain from an excav ation at the top, it is the remains of alarge square temple. Close by on the east, and within thequadrangle, there are the ruins of two small temples. To theeastward of the Jwan Dev i temple, there is a curious circularfiat-topped mound of earth, 68 feet in diameter, surroundedby a brick wall from 7 to 1 1 feet in height . It is calledRdmgir Gosa in-ha-tila, or the mound of Rdmg ir Gosain,

”

from which I infer that it is the burial place of a modernGosain. To the south of the fort, near the temple of JagesarMahadev a, there is a third large mound, 22feet in height,which was once crowned by a temple of 20 feet square inside.

The bricks hav e only recently been remov ed, and the squarecore of earth still remains perfect. To the westward of thislast, there is a fourth mound, on which I traced the ruins ofa temple 30 feet square standing in the midst of a raisedquadrangle about 500 feet square. Besides these there are

ten smallermounds, which make up altogether 1 4, or justone-half the number of the Brahmanical temples which are

mentioned by Hwen Thsang .

The only ruin which appeared to me to be of undoubtedBuddhist origin was a solid brick mound 20 feet in height, tothe south-west of Jagesar Mahadev a, and close to the smal l

v illage of Khargpur. The base of the mound is upwards of

200 feet in diameter. The solid brick-work at the top is still60 feet thick ; but as it is broken all round, its original

RAMNAGAR , OR AHICIIHA'I‘RA . 255

diametermust hav e been much greater, probably not less than80 feet . But ev en thi s larger diameter is too small for aS tup a of 200 feet in height of the hemispherical form of

Asoka’

s time ; a Stupa of that early period, ev en when prov idedwith both plinth and cupola, would not hav e exceeded100 feet in height . Unless, therefore, we may suppose thatthere is a mistake of 100 feet in the text of Hwen Thsang, Ifeel quite unable to offer any identification whatev er of theBuddhist remains of Gov isana as described by the Chinesepilgrim.

VI. RAMNAGAR, OR AIIICHHATRA.

From Gov isana IIwen Thsang proceeded to the southeast 400 Ii, or 66miles, to A hi—chi—ta-lo, orA hichhatra . Thisonce famous place still preserv es its ancient name as

A hichha tr, al though it has been deserted for many centuries.

Its history reaches back to the time of the Mahdbharata , at

which date it was the capital of Northern P anchdla . The

name is written A hi-hshetra , as well as Ahi-chhatra, but thelocal legend of Adi Raja and the Naga, who formed a canopyov er his head when asleep, shows that the latter is the correctform. This grand old fort is said to hav e been built by R aj aAdi , an Ahir, whose future elev ation to sov ereignty was foretold by D rona when he found him sleeping under the

guardianship of a serpent with expanded hood . The place ismentioned by Ptolemy as Adisadra , which prov es that thelegend attached to the name of Adi is at least as old as thebeginning of the Christian era. The fort is also cal ledAdi/cot, but the more common name is Ahichhatr.

According to the Maha’

hbdrata the great kingdom of

P anchdla extended from the Himalaya Mountains to theChambal R iv er. The capital of North Panchdla , or Rohilkhand, was Ahi-chhatra, and that of South Pancha

'

la, or the

central Gangetic Doab, was Kdmp i lya, now Kamp il, on the

old Ganges between Budaon and Farokhabad.

"E Just beforethe great war, or about 1430B . C . , the King of Panchdla,named D rup ada, was conquered by D rona, the preceptor ofthe fiv e Pandus. D rona retained North P anchdla forhimself,but restored the southern half of the kingdom to D rup ada .

According to this account the name of Ahi-chhatra, and

See Plate No. 11. for the positions of the two Panchbl as in the map of the North\Vestern Prov inces.

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RAMNAGAR, OR AHICHHATRA.

the north and east the place is rendered almost inaccessibleby the P iria Nata , a difficult rav ine with steep broken banks,and numerous deep pools of water quite impassable bywheeled v ehicles. For this reason the cart road to Bareli,distant only 18 miles due east, isnot less than 23 miles. In

deed the only accessible side of the position is the northwest, from the direction of L ahhnor, the ancient capitalof the Katehria Rajputs. It, therefore, fully merits thedescription of Hwen Thsang as being defended bynatural obstacles.

” A hi-chhatra is only sev en mi les to thenorth of Aonla, but the latter half of the road is rendereddifficult by the rav ines of the Gdnghan R iver. It was inthis v ery position , in the jangals

'

to the north of Aonla, thatthe Katehria Rajputs wi thstood the Muhammadans underFiruz Tughlak .

The ruins of Ahi-chhatra were first v isited by CaptainHodgson, the Surv eyor, who describes the place as the

ruins of an ancient fortress sev eral miles in circumference,which appears to hav e had 34 bastions, and is known in the

neighbourhood by the name of tho Pandus Fort . ’ According to my surv ey there are only 32 towers, but it is quitepossible that one or two may hav e escaped my notice, as Ifound many parts so ov ergrown with thorny jungle as to beinaccessible . The towers are generally from 28 to 30 feet inheight, excepting on the west side, where they rise to 35 feet.A single tower near the south-west corner is 47 feet in heightabov e the road outside. The av erage height of the interiormass is from 1 5 to 20 feet . Many of the present towers,howev er, are not ancient, as an attempt wasmade by AliMuhammad Khan, about 200years ago, to restore the fortwith a v iew Of making it his stronghold in case he shouldbe pushed to extremities by the King of Delhi . The new

walls are said to hav e been 1} gaz thick, which agrees withmy measurements of the parapets on the south-eastern side,which v ary from 2feet 9 inches to 3 feet 3 inches in thickness at top. According to popular tradition, A li Muhammadexpended about a karor of rupees, or one million poundssterling, in this attempt, which he was finally obliged toabandon on account of its costliness. I estimate that hemay, perhaps, hav e spent about one lakh of rupees, or

Julien’

s Hwen Thsang, H ., 234.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

in repairing the ramparts and in re-building theparapets. There is an arched gateway on the south-eastside, whichmust hav e been built by the Musulmans, but asno new bricks were made by them, the cost of their workwould hav e been limited to the labour alone. The rampartsare 1 8 feet thick at the base in some places, and between 14and 15 feet in others.

"E

There are three great mounds inside the fort, and outside,both to the north and west, there are number of mounds of

all sizes, from 20 feet to feet in the diameter. To thenorth-west, distant one mile, there is a large tank called theGandka

‘

n Scigar, which has‘

an area of 125 bigahs, and aboutone-quarter of a mile beyond it there is another tank calledthe A di Sa

‘

gar, which has an area of 1 50bigahs. The latteris said to hav e been made by Adi Rafa at the same time asthe fort. The waters are collected by an earthen embankment faced on both sides with bricks of large size. The

Gandhdn Sdgar is also embanked both to the east and south .

The mounds to the south of the tanks are cov ered with largebricks, both plain and moulded ; but judging from theirshapes, they must all hav e belonged to temples, or otherstraight walled bui ldings, and not to Stup as . There is

nothing to show whether these are the remains of Buddhistor of Brahmanical bui ldings, but from their extent it is probablc that they were the former.

According to Hwen Thsang there were only nine Brahmanical temples at Ahi-chhatra in A . D . 634, all of whichwould appear to hav e been dedicated to Siv a . But as Bud

dhism declined this numbermust hav e been increased, for Idiscov ered the ruins of not less than twenty temples of v arioussizes, of which one is gigantic, four are large, fiv e are of

middle size, and twelv e of small dimensions. Three of theseare inside the fort, and the others are grouped together outside on the west road . I made excav ations in most of thesemounds, all of which yielded moulded bricks of v ariouspatterns, but only two of them afi

'

orded sculptures by whichtheir original purpose could be absolutely identified . Thesetwo temples are marked as Nos. 1 . and IV. in my surv ey ofthe ruins.

See Plate No. XLIII. for amap of Ahi-chhatra.

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RAMNAGAR, OR AHICHHATRA .

The remains of NO. I. temple form a mound 65 feet 9inches in height abov e the country, and upwards of 30 feet

abov e the walls of the fortress. This lofty mound stands inside the fort near the middle of the north wall, and formsthe most conspicious Object amongst the ruins of the mightyfortress of Ahi-ohhatra . The floor of the temple is 60 feetabov e the ground, and at this enormous height stood a

colossal lingam, 3 feet 6% inches in diameter, and upwards of 8feet in height, which must hav e been v isible from both eastand west through the open doors of the temple for a distanceof some miles. The interior of the temple is only 14 feet 4inches by feet . The north and south walls are 9 feet 5

inches thick, and the east andwest walls only 5 feet 9 inches;but on these

~two sides there are open porches outside the

two entrances which increase the thi ckness of the wall s to1 9 feet on the west side, and to 14 feet 1 1 inches on the

east. The exterior dimensions of the temple are 48 feet 3inches by 29 feet 4 inches. From these dimensionsI calculate that the temple must hav e been about 100 feet inheight abov e its own floor, or 165 feet abov e the country.

The base of the stone l ingam is square, the middle part octagonal, and the upper part hemispherical . A trisul, or

trident, is cut upon the base. The upper portion of the

lingam is broken. The people say that it was struck bylightning, but from the unshattered state of the large blockI ammore disposed to ascribe the fracture to the hammer ofthe Muhammadans.

Mound No. II . , which is also inside the fort to the westof the large mound, is 35 feet in height, and from 5 to 10feet abov e the general line of the ramparts. It shows theremains of a large square building with a long flight of stepson the west side. N0 . III . mound is only 30 feet in height,and is cov ered with scrub jungle. There are traces of wallson the surface, but the jungle prev ented their immediate ex

cav ation . I will take an early opportunity of exploring bothof these mounds, as I feel satisfied that they are the remainsof large Brahmanical temples.

N0. IV. mound stands about feet outside the westgate of the fort. It is 300 feet square at base, and 30 feetin height, and has two smallermounds attached to the northeast comer. On excav ating the surface I discov ered the

foundations of a temple, 1 1 feet square inside, with walls

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

feet thick, and a long pedestal or raised platform for the re

ception of statues. The entrance is on the east side towards

the town. Amongst the ruins I found a seated terracottafigure of Siv a, 12 inches in height, with four arms and threeeyes, and one hand holding a large lotus flower. I foundalso in red stone a small right hand grasping the hilt of asword, and a left hand of three-quarter life size, grasping alarge couch. As the last must hav e belonged to a figure of

Vishnu, it is possible that the temple was dedi cated to that

god ; but a projecting portion of the pedestal leadsme to believ e that it must hav e been occupied by a lingam, and if so,the principal figure would hav e been that of Mahadev a.

There was also a large quantity of ashes inside this temple,from which I infer that it wasmost probably destroyed bythe Musulmans in one Of their early expeditions against theKatehria Rajputs.

The Buddhist remains at A hi-chhatra are both moreextensiv e and more ancient than those Of the Brahmans. In

my surv ey I hav e marked them by the letters of the alphabet to distinguish them from the Brahmanical ruins, whichare numbered . Only three of the Buddhist mounds hav ebeen excav ated, but as most of the others hav e furnishedmaterials for the neighbouring v illages, it does not seemlikely that their excav ation would be attended with anysuccess.

The most important of the Buddhist ruins is an irregularshaped mound, about feet square, from the centre of

which rises a large Stup a of solid brick-work, which the

people call Chhatr . I hav e already identified this with thegreat Stup a which was built ov er the spot where Buddhaconv erted the Serpent King. It is surrounded by eightsmallermounds, of which four would appear to be the ruinsof Stup as, and three of temples, whilst one only is doubtful .Now, Hwen Thsang describes the great Stup a as having on

one side of it four small Stzip as, whi ch account agrees exactlywith the position of the four small mounds abov e-mentioned.I hav e no doubt, therefore, as to the identity of the C'hhatr

mound with the S tup a of Hwen Thsang, although I wasunable to discov er any certain trace of the tank called then a-hrada or serpent pond by the Chinese pilgrim. Itis quite possible, howev er, that a tank may once hav e existedon the south-west side, where the ground is still v ery low.

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ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

older hemisphere, I found a low pyramidal topped v essel ofcommon red unglazed earthenware, 8 inches in diameter.

Inside this v essel there was a small steatite box containingmany minute fragments of seed pearls, sev eral pieces of blue

glass, one large head of red amber, and about a tea spoonfulOf little bits of rock crystal . Mixed with these were ten

small cylindrical pierced beads of a dirty white colour likeold cha lk. They consist chiefly of carbonate of lime with a

trace of some other substance, and are most probably onlythe remains of some artificial beads. The little steatite boxis a sphere of 2 inches diameter, but rather pointed at the

top and bottom. Its general colour is white with a few

purple blotches. The whole is rudely ornamented, the topwi th flowers, and the bottom with animals of school-boydesign. The inside also is rudely ornamented, but withsimple lines only. There is no trace of any inscription.

At 6% feet below the deposit just described, or at 13%feet below the centre of the hemisphere, a second depositwas found, imbedded in the ground immediately under thelast course, of a globular-shaped mottled steatite v ase, 8}inches 111 diameter and 6 inches 111 height . This v ase has aneck 3 inches in diameter inside and

L3

23 inches 111 height,thusmaking the whole height of the v essel 8% iriches. Thisis div ided into two equal portions, the lower half hav ing aninner lip, which is ov erlapped by the upper half. The v essel

is qui te plain, excepting only a few belts of simple lineswhich encircle it . The open mouth was found closed by thelid of a small dark-colored steatite v ase exactly similar tosev eral that were discov ered in the Bhilsa Tap es. Insidethere was nothing but a hard cake of earth, 6 inches indiameter, mixed with small stones. A similar earthen cake,but only 2—5inches in diameter, was found in the earthenware

jar of the upper deposit . What this cake may be I cannotat present say, but it does not efferv esce with acids.

The second Buddhist moundwhich has yielded importantev idence of its former occupation is called Katdri Khera .

It 18 situated 1 ,200 feet to the north of the old fort, and

1 ,600 feet to the east of the small v illage of Nasratganj .The mound 18 about 400 feet square and 20 feet in height.Close by there is a small pond called the Maswase Tat;

t

hut

neither this name, nor that Of Katdri Khera , would seem to

hav e any reference to the Old Buddhist establishment which

RAMNAGAR , OR AHICHHATRA.

formerly stood there. Unfortunately this mound has furnished bricks to the neighbouring v illage formany generations,so that but little is now left to point out the nature of the

original buildings. A surface excav ation brought to light atemple 261» feet in length by 22feet in breadth outside, and

1 1 feet square inside. The plinth is still standing feet inheight, formed of blocks of hanhar, but the walls hav e alto

gether disappeared, excepting some portions of a few courses.

The doorway faces the east, from which I infer that the en

shrined statue wasmost probably that of the ascetic Buddha,who is always represented seated in a similar position underthe holy Pipal Tree of Buddha-Gaya . I am also led to thesame conclusion by the discov ery of a broken statue of Buddhawith two flying figures ov er the right shoulder, which are the

usual accompaniments of the ascetic figures of Buddha .

This statue is broken at the waist, and both arms are lostbut the fragment is still 2feet high and 2feet broad, fromwhich I infer that the size of the original statue was not lessthen 4 feet in height by 3 feet in breadth ; and this I believ eto hav e been the principal figure of the temple.

In the same place, fiv e other carv ed and sculpturedstones were discov ered, of which one is an inscribed pil lar of

a Buddhist railing of middle age. The pil lar is broken, but

the remaining portions of the socket holes are sufficient forthe restoration of the original dimensions. The fragment is1 foot 1 1 inches in length, with a section of 8—2

1 inches by 4inches. The socket holes are 8 inches long, and 44

5 inchesapart, which in a pillar Of two rails would giv e a height of 3feet inches, or Of 4 feet 3 inches in a pillar of three rails.

The face Of the pillar is sculptured with six rows of nakedstanding figures, there being 5 figures in the lowest row, and

only four figures in each of the others. On one of the sidesthere is the following short inscription in four lines of the ageof the Guptas

Acharya Indranandi Sishya Mahddari Pa’

rswamatisya

Kottari.

The lastword but onemight, perhaps, be read asp atisyabut the remainder of the inscription is quite clear. . I understand it to record the gift of Mahddari , the disciple of the

teacher Indranandi, to the temple (Kottari) of Pdrswamati .”

Perhaps the term Kottari may be preserv ed in the name ofKatdri Khera, by which themound is now known.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

The other sculptured stones are not of much interest .The largest is a broken statue of a standing figure, 3 feethigh by 2 feet broad, which appears to be naked. The

head, the feet, and the right arm are gene. A secondsmall stone, 1 foot long and 5 inches broad, b ears the figures

of the Nav agraha , or Nine Planets.

”On the back there

is a short inscription of only eight letters, of which two are

somewhat doubtful . I read the whole as Sakada , Bhima ,D ev indra , but the word B hima is v ery doubtful . A thirdstone, feet long and 1} feet square, is the fragment of alarge pillar, with a lion sculptured on each of its four faces.

The naked figures of these sculptures belong to a somewhatlate period of Buddhism, after the introduction of the Tan

triha doctrines, which, as we learn from Skanda Gupta’

s

inscription on the Bhitari Pillar, were prev alent during thetime of the later Guptas, in the 3rd and 4th centuries A . D .

‘

As the forms of the letters of these inscriptions are also thoseof the Gupta period, wemay conclude with some certaintythat the Kottari, or temple of P arswamati,waserected beforethe fall of the Gupta dynasty in A . D . 31 9 .

Four hundred feet to the south of the great bastion, and

close to the south-west angle of the fort, there is anotherextensiv e mound, marked D in the map, upwards of 300 feetsquare and 35 feet in height abov e the road . The principalmass of ruin, which is in the middle of the west side, is theremains of a large temple, 40 feet square outside. In the

middle of the south side there are the ruins of a small building which may, perhaps, hav e been the entrance gateway . Tothe right and left of the entrance there are the ruins of

two small temples, each 14 feet square outside, and 9 feet 4%inches inside, raised upon a plinth 24 feet square.

.The

centre of the square is open, and has ev idently nev er beenbuilt upon. My excav ations were too limited to ascertainmore than I hav e noted abov e, but I propose to continue theexploration hereafter. I believ e that this mound is the

remains of a v ery large monastery with its lofty enclosedtemple, whi ch could not hav e been less than 80 or ev en 100

feet in height .

Connected with Ahi-chhatra is an inscription of theGupta period on a square pillar found near the v illage of

I now (1871) believ e these naked figures to be Digambara Jain statues. I possess

sev eral as old as the first century before Christ.

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ARCIL‘

EOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

v isited Soron, which is undoubtedly a place of v ery greatantiquity, but which cannot, I think, he the place v isited bythe Chinese pilgrim. I will, howev er, first describe Soron

before I proceed to discuss the superior claims of the greatruined mound of A tranj i-Khera to be identified with the Pilo-shan-na of the Chinese pilgrim.

Soron is a large town on the right, or western, bank of

the Ganges, on the high road between Bareli and Mathura.

The place was originally called Uha la Kshctra but, after the

demon H iranya’

ksha had been killed by the Varaha A v ati r,or Boar Incarnation of Vishnu, the name was changed toSahara Kshctra, or the place of the good deed .

”The

ancient town is represented by a ruined mound called theK itah or fort,

”which is one-quarter of a mile in length

from north to south, and somewhat less in breadth . Itstands on the high bank of the Old bed of the Ganges, whichis said by some to hav e flowed immediately under it so lateas 200 years ago . The modern town stands at the foot of theold mound on the west and south sides, and probably con

tains about inhabitants. There are no dwellings onthe old mound, which is occupied only by the temple Of S ita3/5mj i and the tomb of Shehh Jawdi . But it is cov ered withbroken bricks of large size, and the foundations of walls

can be traced in all directions. The mound is said to be1110 ruins of a fort built by Raja Somadatta of Soron manyhundred years ago . But the original settlement of the

place is v ery much Older, being attributed to the fabulous R aj a Vena Chakrav artti, who plays such a con

.v

picuous part in all the legends of North Bihar, Oudh, andltohilkl land.

The temples of Soron are v ery numerous, and sev eral

of them are said to be old. But the only temples of

any consequence are those of S ita-Rdmyz, on the top of

the mound, and Vardhaj i to the north-west of the city.

A great annual fair is held near the latter temple on the

1 1 th of the waxing moon of Mdrgasirsha , in remembranceof the destruction of the demon by the Bear Incarnation of”

Vishnu . It contains a statue of Vard’

ha-Lalcshmi, and is

v isited by crowds of pilgrims. The temple of Sita-R dny’

i,

which is said to hav e been ruined by Aurang Shah (orAurangzib) was restored by a wealthy Baniya, only four yearsago , by building up the spaces between the pillarswith plain

SORON, OR SURARA-KSIIETBA .

white-washed walls. Internally the temple is a square of 27

feet supported on 16 stone pillars ; but the people say that theoriginal bui lding was much larger, and that it contained32pillars. This account is most probably correct, as the

foundations of the walls of the sanctum, or shrine, are stillstanding at the back, or west side, of the t emple . Thereare also 10 superfluous pillars inside the temple, of whichtwo support the broken architrav es, and eight are built intothe corner spaces of the walls. The style of these columnsis similar to that of the set of pillars in the south-east cornerof the quadrangle of the Great Kuth Mosque at Delhi,which bear the date of Samv at 1124, or A . D . 1067. Thatthis date is not too early for the Soron temple is prov ed bythe inscriptions of v arious pilgrims who hav e v isited theshrine. As the oldest legible record bears the date of Samv at1226, or A . D . 1 1 69 , the date of the erection of the templecannot, therefore, be placed later than A . D . 1000.

These pilgrims’

records are generally short md uninter

esting, but as there are no less than 38 of them, bearingdates which ra nge from A . D . 1 1 69 to 1 51 1 , they becomev aluable for tracing the history of the temple . The earliest dateafter the Muhammadan conquest is A . D . 1241 , and fromthat time down to A . D . 1 290 there are no less than 15 datedrecords, showing that Soron continued to be a much fro

quented place of pilgrimage during the whole period of theGhori dynasty, which ended in A . D . 1289 . But during the

rule of the next two dynasties, the Khily is and Tughlahs,there is only one inscription, dated in A . D . 1375, in the

reign of Firuz . Now, as nearly one-half of this period wasoccupied by the reigns of the cruel despot A la-ud-din Khilj iand the ferocious madman Muhammad Tughlak, it seemsonly reasonable to conclude that the people were deterredfrommaking their usual pilgrimages by the persecution of

their Muhammadan rulers. The next record is dated inA . D . 1429, and from that time down to 151 1 there are 16 datedinscriptions ; but as no less than 13 of this number belongto the reign of Bahlol Lodi , I infer that the rule of the Syaddynasty was not fav ourable to Hindu pilgrimages. I inferalso that the temple must hav e been destroyed during the

reign of the intolerant Sikandar Lodi, because the series of

inscriptions closes with A . D . 1 51 1 , or just six years beforethe end of his reign. Had the temple existed during the

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

happy century when the sceptre of India was swayed by thetolerant Akbar, the indifferent Jahangir, and the politic ShahJahan, it is almost certain that some records of the pilgrims

’

v isits would hav e been inscribed on the pillars of the temple.

For this reason I feel satisfied that the destruction of the

great temple of Soron must be assigned to an earlier periodthan that of the bigoted Aurang Shah.

VIII . ATRANJI-KHERA, OR PI-LO-SHAN-NA.

The greatmound of ruinscalled A tranj i-Khera is situatedon the right, or west bank , of the Kali Nadi

, four milesto the south of Karsa

'

na , and eight miles to the north of

Eg ia , on the Grand Trunk Road . It is also 1 5miles tothe south of Soron, and 43 miles to the north-west of Sankisain a direct line, the road distance being not less than 48 or

50miles. In the A in Ahbari Atranj 1 is recorded as one of

the Parganahs of Kanoj , under the name of Sikandarp ur

A trej i . Sih nda ip nr, which is now called Sikandrabad, isa v il lage on the left bank of the Kali Nadi oppositeAtranj i . From this it would appear that Atranji was stilloccupied in the reign of Akbar. The Parganah was after

wards called Karsdna , but it is now known by the name of

b‘

ahawar Karsa‘

xna , or of Sahdwar only . The name giv en bythe Chinese pilgrim is .Pi-lo-shan-na, for which M . Julienproposes to read Virasana .

"l So far back as 1848 I pointed outthat, as both p it and [car are Sanskrit names for an elephant,it was probable that P i losana might be the same as Karsa

'

na,

the large v illage which I hav e already mentioned as beingfour miles to the north of A tranj i Khera . The chief objection to this identification is the fact that Karsana is apparently not a v ery old place, although it is sometimes ca lledD eora Karsdna , a name which implies the possession of a

temple of note at some former period. It is, howev er,possible that the name of Karsana may once hav e been joinedto A tranj i, in the same way that we find Sikandarpur A trej iin the A in Akbari . As the identification of Karsdna wi th

P ilosana is purely conjectural, it is useless to hazard anymore speculations on this subject . The bearing and distancefrom Sanlcisa, as recorded by Hwen Thsang, point to theneighbourhood of Sirpnra , near which there is a small v illage called P il/cant or P i lohuni , which is the P i lnlchoni of

Jnhen'

e Hwen Thsang, I1 235.

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ARCHEEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

The mound is cov ered with broken bricks of large size and

fragments of statues, and old coins are said to be frequentlyfound . All the existing fragments of statues are said to beBrahmanical . There is a temple of Mahadeo on the mound,and there are fiv e lingams in different places, of which one

is 6 feet in height . The principal statue is that of a fourarmcd female called D ev i, but which, as she is representedtreading upon a prostrate figure, ismost probably

The only objection to the identification of A tranj i withPiloshanna is the difference between the distance of 200 ii,or 33miles, as stated by Hwen Thsang, and the actual distance of 43miles direct, or about 48 or 50miles by road . Ihav e already suggested the possibil i of there being somemistake in the recorded ‘

di stance of wen Thsang, but per

haps an equally probable explanation may be found in thedifference of the length of the yoj ana . Ilwcn Thsang statesthat he allowed 40Chinese li to the yoj ana but if the old

yoj ana of Rohilkhand differed from that of the Central D oabas much as the hos of these districts now differ, his distanceswould hav e v aried by half a mile in ev ery hos, or by twomiles in ev ery yoj ana , as the Rohilkhand has is only mile,while that of the Doab is two miles— the latter being one

third greater. Now, if we apply this difference to c u

Thsang’

smeasurement of 200 i i, or 33miles, we increase thedistance at once to 44 miles, which agrees with the directmeasured distance on the map . I confess, howev er, that Iam rather inclined to believ e in the possibility of there beinga mistake in Hwen Thsang

’

s recorded distance, as I findexactly the same measurement of 200 Ii giv en as the distancebetween Sankisa and Kanoj . Now, the two distances are

precisely the same, that is, Sanhisa is exactlymidway betweenA tranj i and Kanoj and as

'

the latter distance is just 50milesby my measurement along the high road, the former must

also be the same. I would, therefore, suggest the probabilitythat both of these distances should be 300 li, or 50miles

,

instead of 200 ii as recorded in the text. In fav or of thisproposed correction I may cite the testimony of the earlierChinese pilgrim Fa H ian, who makes the distance from San

At my request Atranj i was v isited in 1865 by my fri end Mr. C. Horne, then Judge ofManipuri, whose account of the ruined mound will be found in the Bengal Asi atic Society

'

s

Journal,1866, p . 165. The mound has been dug up in all di1 ections for many centu

ries in search of bricks, and it was with di fficulty that an eutrc brick was found formeasurement.

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ARCHEEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

to Fa Hian,

‘ Buddha descended by a staircase formedof the sev en precious things,

” that is, the precious meta lsand precious gems ; whilst Brahma accompanied him on his

right side by a silv er ladder, and Indra on his left by a goldenone . But Hwen Thsangf assigns the golden staircase to

Buddha himself, the silv er staircase on the right to Brahma,and the crystal staircase on the left to Indra. The descent wasaccompanied by a multitude of D ev as, who scattered showersof flowers on all sides as they sang the praises of Buddha .

Such are the main points of this curious legend, whichis believ ed as firmly in Barma at the present da as it was

by Asoka years ago, or by the Chinese pil g ims of the

5th, 6th, and 7th centuries of our era . According to

Fa IIian, the three staircasesdisappeared underground irnmediately after the descent, leav ing only sev en steps v isible.

Apparently these sev en steps must hav e existed in the timeof Asoka, as he is reported to hav e been anxious to beholdtheir foundations, and accordingly sent men to dig down totheir base . But the diggers

“reached a yel low spring

without being able to penetrate to the foundation .

”The

King, howev er, felt sensible of a great increase of his faithand v eneration, and therefore built a chapel ov er the thr e

e

staircases, and upon the middle one erected a full lengthstatue of Buddha 60 feet high . According to IIwen Thsang

’

s

account, the three staircases still existed in his time (A . D .

but were completely sunk in the earth . On theirfoundations, howev er, the pious Kings of different countrieshad erected three staircases, similar to the first, of bricksand stones, ornamented with many precious things. The

height of these staircases was about 70 feet . Ov er themthere was a Vilnir containing statues of Buddha, Brahma , and

Indra, who were represented leaning forward as if abou t todescend . The Barmese say that the descent took place at

the full moon of Tbadingkyut (October), and that thefeet of the steps were at the gate of the city of Thing-ka

tha-na-go, or S ingkasanagara . 1 Hwen Thsang adds that thethree staircases were placed in a line from north to south

,

with the descent facing the east, and that they stood withinthe walls of a great monastery .

Beal'

s translation, C. XVII.

Juhen’s translation, II 237.

1 Bishop Bigandet’

s Life of the Barmese Buddha, p. 1 110.

SANKISA .

Close to the staircases there was a stone pillar, 70 feetin height, which had been erected by King A soka . It wasformed of a hard, fine-grained reddish stone, and had a bril »liant polish . On its summitwas a lion, who was seated facingthe steps. There were figures also sculptured inside the p illarwith marv ellous art, which were v isible only to the v irtuous.

This 18 Hwen Thsang’

8 account, with which Fa Hian’

s agreesin almost ev ery particular , but he adds a curious legendabout a dispute between the Srdmanas and heretics If,said the former, this place ought to be the abode of the

Sramanas, let a supernatural testimony proclaim it. Theyhad no sooner finished this speech than the lien on the

summit uttered a loud roar.

”

There were sev eral Stup as at Sankisa, of which themostfamous were the following

l st.— On the spot where Buddha descended from the

Trayastrinsa heav en, accompanied by Indra and Brahma .

This Stup a. is not mentioned by Hwen Thsang, but it isnoticed by Fa Hian, and in the Barmese life of Buddha.

2nd.— Ou the spot where the four Buddhas had formerly

sat and taken exercise.

3rd— At the place where Buddha bathed .

4th and 5th — Two small Stup as of Indra and Brahma.

6th.— Ou the spot where the female mendicant P undari

Icavarnd obtained the first sight of Buddha on his descent .

7ih.— Ou the spot where Buddha cut his hair and nails.

The only other place of note at Sankz'

sa was the tank ofa n a

, or serpent, which was situated to the south-east ofthe great Stup a . Fa Hian says that this Nciga had whiteears ; that he liv ed in the dwelling-place of the ecclesi

astics, and that he conferred fertili ty and abundance on thecountry by causing gentle showers to fall upon the fields,

and securing them from all calamities.

”A chapel was

erected for his use, and he was said to make his appearanceonce a year.

“ When the ecclesiastics perceiv e him,they

present him with cream in a copper v essel .

Hwen Thsang’

8 account of Sankisa 1s unfortunately someagre that we hav e but little to guide us in our attempt toidentify the holy places of his time with any of the ruins

L 2

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

of the present day. The only spot that can be identifiedwith any certainty is the tank of the Nciga ,which still . existsto the south-east of the ruins, in the v ery position describedby Hwen Thsang. The name Of the Nziga is Kdrewar, and

that of the tank Kdndaiya Ta‘

l . Milk is offered to himduring ev ery day Of Vaisdlch, and on the n -p anchami OfSrdvcma , and at any other time when rain is wanted.

”In

a note on the word Chaurasi Sir Henry Elliot" has giv en an

account Of Sankisa , in whi ch he asserts that this n a is

the common Na‘

g Of the Hindu worship to whom the N49

p anchami is specially dedicated . But this Opinion is cer

tainly wrong, as the abov e account shows that the SankisaNa

‘

ga of the present day is propitiated with Offerings of mi lkwhenev er rain is wanted, just as he was in A . I) . 4100, when

Fa H ian v isited the place. This, therefore, is not the common n a Of H indu worship, but the local n a Of Sankisa,who is commonly inv oked as Kdrewar n Dev ata .

Before attempting to indentify the site of the great

monastery with its three famous staircases, its lion pillar and

attendant Stup as, it will be better to describe the place as it

is at present, although but little is now left Of the great cityof Sankisa with all itsmagnificent monuments. The smal lv illage whi ch still preserv es the name of Sankisa is perchedupon a lofty mound of ruins41 feet in height abov e the fields.

This mound, whi ch is called the K ilalz, or fort, is

feet in length from west to east, and feet in breadthsl'

On thenorth andwest facesthe sides are steep, but on the otherfaces the mpe is much more easy . Due south from the

centre Of the K ilah, at a distance Of feet, there is a

mound of solid brick-work whi ch is crowned by a moderntemple dedicated to B isdri D ev i, who is described as a goddessOf great power. At 400 feet to the north Of the templemound there is a capital Of an ancient pillar bearing the

figure Of an elephant, standing, but both his trunk and tailare wanting . The capital itself is of the well known bellshape, corded or reeded perpendicularly, with an abacus ofhoneysuckle similar to that Of the Allahabad pillar. The

figure Of the elephant is by far the best representation of thatanimal that I hav e seen in any Indian sculpture. The v einsOf the legs are carefully chiselled, and the toes Of the feet

Glossary, p. 154.

1’ See Plate XLV. for amap Of Sankisa.

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are well and faithfully represented, but the loss of the trunkprev ents us from forming a decided opinion as to its excel

lence as a work of art. If we may judge from the position

of the legs, the animal was most probably represented as

standing still with his trunk hanging down.

‘ The stone is a

fine-grained sandstone of reddish hue, and has been v eryhighly polished. The bell-capital is low, its breadth bein

greater than its height, in which particular it resembles theAsoka Pillar of Nav andgarh Lauriya, to the north of Bettiah .

Taking all these circumstances into consideration along with

the superior execution Of the work, I feel satisfied that thiscapital is of the same age as the well known Asoka Pil lars

of Allahabad and Nav andgarh.

Due south from the temple Of Bisttri Dev i, at a dis

tance Of 200 feet, there is a small mound Of ruins whichappears to be the remains Of a Stupa . Due east from the

temple 600 feet, there is an Oblong mound 600 feet in lengthby 500 feet in breadth, which is known by the name of

Niv i-ka-kot. Niv i I believ e to hav e been the name Of

the man who formerly brought this piece of ground intocul tiv ation ; and Kat, m the phraseology Of Sankisa , means

simply any mound of mine, and is applied to all the isolatedportions of the ramparts. Niv i-Ica-Icotwould, howev er, appearto be the remains of some large enclosed building, suchas a Buddhist monastery . It is cov ered with broken bricksof large size, and a few fragments of stone ; but I couldnot trace any remains Of walls on the surface. At the

south-east and north-east angles of Niv i-Ica-kot there are

large circular mounds which are probably the remains ofStup as from which all the av ailable bricks hav e beenremov ed ; and at a short distance to the north there is a thirdmound of the same character.

The Ki lah and the difl’

erentmounds of all sizes aroundthe temple form a mass of ruin feet in len h byfeet in breadth, or nearly 2miles in circuit . ut this wasonly the central portion of the ancient city of Sankisa , comprising the citadel and the religidus buildings that were clpsteredaround the three holy staircases. The city itself, whrchwould appear to hav e surrounded this central mound on allsides, was enclosed with an earthen rampart, feet, or

See Plate No . XLVI . for a side v iew of this capitalw-Seo also Fergum n

’a History of

Architecture, IL, 459, NO . 970, for a front v iew.

Ac mOLooreAL REPORT, 1862-63.

upwards Of miles in circuit . The greater part of thisrampart still remains, the shape being a tolerably regulardodecagon. On three sides, to the east, the north-east,and the south-east, there are breaks or openings in the line Of

rampart which are traditionally said to be the positions Ofthe three gates Of the city . In proof Of the tradi tion , the

people refer to the v illage of P aor-Kheria , or Gate-v i l lage,”

which is just outside the south-east gap in the ramparts.

But the name is pronounced Paar, and not Pa ar, and may,therefore refer to the staircases or steps ( Paori) , and not to

the gate. The Kali or Kdlindri Nadi flows past the southwest corner Of the ramparts from the R dj ghdt, which is halfa mile distant, to the Kakra Gha

’

t, which is rathermore thanone mile to the south Of the line of ramparts.

To the north-west, three-quarters Of amile distant, standsthe large mound of Ayahat, which is 40 feet in height, and

rathermore than half a mile in diameter at base. The nameOf the Old town is said to hav e been Against, but the place isnow cal led Ayahat Sara i (Agahat Of the maps) from a

modern Semi , which was built in A . H . 1080, orA . D . 1 669 ,on the north-east corner of the mound, by the ancestor ofthe present Pathfin Zamindar. The people say that beforethis the place had been deserted for sev eral centuries ; but asI Obtained a. tolerably complete series Of the copper coins Of

the Muhammadan Kings of Delhi and Jonpur, I presumethat it coul d not hav e been deserted for any v ery long time.

The mound is cov ered wtih broken bricks Of large size, whichalone is a sure test Of antiquity : and as it is of the sameheight as that of Sankisa , the people are most probably rightin their assertion that the two places are Of the same age .

In both mounds are found the same Old coins wi thout anyinscriptions, the more ancient being square pieces Of silv ercov ered wi th v arious punch marks, and the others squarepieces of copper that hav e been cast in a mould,— all ofwhich are, in my opinion, anterior to the inv asion of Al exander the Great .

In identifying Sanbiau with the Sangkasya of theR d/ntdyana and the Seng-Icia-she Of the Chinese, we are supported, not only by its absolute identity of name, but likewise by its relativ e pbsition with regard to three such wellknown places asMat/mm, Kanoj , and Ahichhatra. In size ,also, it agrees v ery closely with themeasurement given by

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Ac mOLOGIOAL REPORT, 1862-63.

easily hav e been mistaken at a height of 50 feet abov e the

ground . Indeed, supposing the pillar to be the same, thisis the only way in which I can account for the mistakeabout the animal . But, if the pillar is not the same, thesilence of both pilgrims regarding thismagnificent elephantpillar seems to me qui te unaccountable. On the whole,therefore, I am inclined to believ e that the elephant’s trunkhav ing been long lost, the nature of the animal wasmistaken when v iewed from a distance of 50 feet beneath.

This is confirmed by the discrepancy in the statements of

the two pilgrims regarding the capital of one of the Sra'

vasti

pillars, which Fa Hian calls an ox, and Hwen Thsang an

elephant .‘

Admitting, then, that this elephant capital is not improbably the same as the lion pillar described by the Chinesepilgrims, we hav e a clue to the site of the great monasterywhich would seem to hav e enclosed within its walls the greatstone pillar as well as the three holy staircases. I infer,therefore, that the temple of B isdri D ev i most probablyoccupies the site of the three staircases, and that the threemounds which stand to the east of the Niv i-ka-kotmay be

the remains of the three Stup as which were erected on the

three other holy spots of Sankisa , which hav e already beendescribed . I made sev eral excav ations about the differentmounds just noticed, but without any success.

I made also a careful but an unsuccessful search forsome trace of the base of the stone pillar. The people were

unanimous that the elephant capital had been in its presentposition beyond the memory of any one now liv ing, and mostof them added that it now stands in its original position .

But there were a few men who pointed to a spot on the west

of the v illage, or K i lah mound , as the original site of thecapital . Here, indeed, there is an octagonal hole in a smallmound, from which the bricks of a solid foundation hav ebeen remov ed . If any dependence could be placed uponthis statement, the mound on which the v illage now standswould almost certainly be the site of the great monasterywith its three holy staircases, and the three mounds to theeast of Niv i-ka-kot would still represent the three Stup as .

The main Objection to our accepting this statement as correctis the apparent want of all Object in the remov al of the

Beal'

s Fa Hian, C. XVII., p . 65 and Julien

’s Hwen Thsang, II. , p . 239.

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ARCHz‘

EOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

Kanoj isalso mentioned by Ptolemy, about A . D . 140, as

Kanogiza . But the earliest notice of the place is undoubtedly the old fami liar legend of the Puranas, which refers

the Sanskrit name of Kanya-Kabj a, or the hump-backed

maiden” to the curse of the sage Vaya on the hundreddaughters of Kusamibha .

At the time of Hwen Thsang’

s v isit, Kanoj was thecapital of Raja Harska Vardhana, the most powerful sov er

eign in Northern India. The Chinese pilgrim calls him a

Fei-she, or Vaisya, but it seems probable that he must hav e

mistaken the Vaise , or B ais, Rajput, for the Vaisya , or B ais,which is the name of the mercantile class of the Hindus ;otherwise Harsha Vardhana

’

s connexion by marriage withthe Rajput famil ies of Malwa and Balabhi would hav e beenquite impossible.

‘ Baiswara, the country of the Bais Rajputs, extends from the neighbourhood of Lucknow to KharaMllnikpur, and thus comprises nearly the whole of SouthernOudh . The Bais Rajputs claim descent from the famousstifled/tan, whose capital is said to hav e been D aundi hera,on the north bank Of the Ganges. Their close proximityto Kanoj is in fav our of the sov ereignty which they claimfor their ancestors ov er the whole Of the Gangetic Doab fromDelhi to Allahabad. But their genealogical lists are too

imperfect, and most probably also too incorrect, to enableus to identify any Of their recorded ancestors with the

Princes of Harsha Vardhana’

s family .

The v ast empire which Harsha Vardhana raised duringhis long reign Of 42years, between A . D . 607 and 648, is

described by Hwen Thsang as extending from the foot ofthe Kashmir IIills to Assam, and from Nepal to the NarbadaR iv er. IIe intimidated the Raja of Kashmir into surrendering the tooth Of Buddha, and his triumphal procession fromPittaliputra to Kanoj was attended by no less than 20tributary Rajas from Assam and Magadha on the east, to JAlandhar on the west. In the plenitude of his power, Harsha

Vardhana inv aded the countries to the south of the Narbada,where he was successfully opposed by Raja Pulalcesi, andaftermany repulses was obliged to retire to hi s own kingdom. This account of Hwen Thsang is most singularly

I hav e no doubt on this subject now as there is Indian Sanskrit authority for

the intermarriage with the Malwa family.

KANOJ.

corroborated in ev ery particular by sev eral ancient inscriptions of the Cka

'

lulcya Rajas Of Ka lya‘

n. According to theseinscriptions, Raja Vikramdditya, the grandson of Pulakesi

Va l labha , gained the title Of P arameswara , by the defeatof Sri Harsha Vardhana, famous in the north countries.

”

Now Vikramaditya’

s reign is known to hav e commenced inSake 514, or A . D . 592, as one of his inscriptions is datedin Sake 530, or A . D . 608, which iscalled the 16th year of

hisreign ;1 and as his grandson did not succeed to the throneuntil the Sake year 618, or A . D . 696, it is certain thatVikramaditya must hav e been a contemporary of Harsha

Vardhana throughout the greater part, if not the whole, ofhis reign . The unusually long reigns of the earlier Clza

'

lakya

Princes hav e led Mr. Walter Elliot to suspect the accuracyof the dates, although, as he points out, the succeedingdates tally with each other in a way that affords the strongestpresumption of their freedom from any material error.

”The

question Of the accuracy Of these dates is now most satisfac

torily confirmed by the unimpeachable testimony of the contemporary record of Hwen Thsang, which I hav e quotedabov e.

In determining the period of Harsha’

s reign, betweenthe years 607 and 648 A . D . , I hav e been guided by the

following ev idence : l st, the date of his death is fixedby the curious reported fulfilment of Hwen Thsang

’

s dream} .

and by the report of the Chinese embassy§ . 2nd, in speaking of Harsha

’

s career, the pilgrim records that from the

time of his accession Harsha was engaged in continual warfor years, and that afterwards for about 30 years he reign

ed in peace . This statement is repeated by Hwen Thsang,when on his return to China, on the authority of the Kinghimself, who informed him that he had then reigned forupwards of 30 years, and that the quinquennial assemblythen collected was the sixth which he had conv oked . Fromthese different statements it is certain that at the date of

Hwen Thsang’

s return to China, in A . D . 640, Harsha had

Bombay Asiatic Society'

s Journal , III. , 206.

1 Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal, IV.

, 10.

I See the discussion on this date in my Ancient Geography of India, Appendix,

p . 569 .

§ Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal , 1837, p. 69,— anonymous translation. See also

Journal Asiatique, 1839, p. 398, French translation by M. Pauthxer.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

reigned upwards of 30 years, and somewhat -less Hum 35

years. His accession must, therefore, be placed betweenA . D . 605 and 610. 3rd, now, in the middle of this v ery

period, in A . D . 607, as we learn from Abu Rihan, was

established the Sri Harsha era, which was still prev alentin Mathura and Kanoj in the beginning of the 1 1 th century.

Considering the exact agreement of the names and dates,it is impossible to av oid coming to the conclusion that theH arsha , who established an era in Kanaj in

‘

A . D . 607, was

the great King B arslza Vardhana who reigned at Kanojduring the first half of the sev enth century .

Hwen Thsang adds some particulars regarding the

family of Harsha Vardhana, which induce me to think itprobable that it may be identified with one of the dynastieswhose names hav e been preserv ed in the genealogies of the

Rajav ali. The names differ in the v arious copies, but they

agree generally in making Raj Sing, who reigned only nine

years, the predecessor Of Ham or H ari Sing , who is recordedto hav e reigned for 44 or 45 years. Now, according to HwenThsang, the predecessor and elder brother Of H arsha Var

dhana was R djya Vardhana , who was assassinated shortlyafter his accession. Here both the names of these two Kingsand the lengths Of their reigns agree so well together as tosuggest the probability of their identity . In most copiesof the Rajav ali, this dynasty Of sixKings, ofwhich R aj a and

Ham are the 3rd and 4th names, is made the immediatepredecessor Of the Great Tomar dynasty, whose accessionhas already been assigned in my account of the Kings ofDelhi to the year 736 A . D . The following lists giv e the

names of all the Kings Of this dynasty according to thev arious authorities in my possession :

Sayid Ahmad

“11i d (“ a

Hamha di tto.

TOTAL

According to Sayid Ahmad the accession Of Shir S ing , who is

the Hara or Il ari of the other lists, took place in A . D . 61 1 ,

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ARCHIEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

ev en one solitary site with any certainty ; so completely hasalmost ev ery trace of Hindu occupation been obl iterated bythe Musalmans. According to the traditions of the people,the ancient city extended from the shrine of Ha

‘

j i E ar-mega»

on the north near the Raj Ghat, to the neighbourhood of

M iranka-Sara on the south , a distance of exactly threemiles. Towardsthewest, it is said to hav e reached toK ap atya

and Makarandnagar, two v illages on the high read, aboutthree miles from Haj i B armayun. On the east the boundarywas the Old bed of the Ganges, or Chota Gangd as the

people call it, although it is recorded in our maps as theKaliNadi . Their account is, that the Kalli, or Kdlindri Nadi,

formerly joined the Ganges near Sangirdmpar or Sangrcim

p ar but that sev eral hundred years ago the great riv er tooka more northerly course from that point, while the waters

of the K ali Nadi continued to flow down the deserted chan

nel . As an open channel still exists between Sangrdmpm'

and the Kali Nadi, I am satisfied that the popular accountis correct, and that the stream

,which flowsunder Kanoj , from

Sangra‘mp ur to Mbendi Ghdt, although now chiefly filled

with the waters of the Ka'

li Nadi, was originally the mainchannel Of the Ganges. The accounts of Fa H ian and

Hwen Thsang, who place Kanoj on the Ganges, are therefore confirmed, not only by the tradi tions of the people, butalso by the fact that the old channel still exists under theriame of the Chota Gangel, or little Ganges.

‘

The modern town of Kanoj occupies only the north end

of the site of the Old city, including the whole of what isnow called the Ki lah or citadel . The boundaries are well

defined by the shrine of Rafi H armdg/an on the north, thetomb of T4} B ay on the south-west, and the Masj id and

tomb of Malckdz’

im Jaka‘

niya on the south-east . The housesare much scattered, especially inside the citadel, so that

though the city still cov ers nearly one square mile, yet thepopulation barely exceeds in number. The citadel,which occupies all the highest ground, is triangular in shape,its northern point being the shrine of B eij i H arma

‘

yan, its

sou th-west point the temple of Aj ay Pai l, and its south-eastpoint the large bastion called Kaliam Ka li .Bzirj . Each of

the faces is about feet in length, that to the north

See Plate No. II. for the situation of Kanoj in theMap of North-Western India.

KAHOJ

west being protected by the bed Of the nameless dry Nala ;that to the north-east by the Chota Gangd while that tothe south must hav e been cov ered by a di tch, which is now

one of the main roads of the city, running along the footof the mound from the bridge below Ajay Pal

’

s temple to

the KshemKali bastion. On the north-east face the moundrises to 60 or 70 feet in height abov e the low ground on thebank of the riv er ; and towards the Nala on the north-west,it still maintains a height of from 40 to 50feet . On the

southern side, howev er, it is not more than 30 feet immediately below the temple of Aj ay .Pdl, but it increases to40 feet below the tomb of .Ba

‘

la P ir. The situation is a

commanding one ; and before the use of cannon the heightalone must hav e made Kanoj a strong and important position . The people point out the sites of two gates,— the

first to the north, near the shrine of d i Harmdyan, andthe second to the south-east, close to the KekemKa li Bari .But as both of these gates lead to the riv er it is certain thatthere must hav e been a third gate on the land side towardsthe south-west, and themost probable position seems to beimmediately under the walls of the Rang Maha], and closeto the temple of Aj ay Pail.

According to tradition, the ancient city contained 84wards, or Maha las, of which 25 are still existing withinthe limits of the present town. If we take the area of these25wards at three-quarters of a square mile, the 84 wardsof the ancient city would hav e cov ered just 2% square mi les.

New,this is the v ery size that is assigned to the Old city by

Hwen Thsang, who makes its length 20 li, or 3% miles, andits breadth 4 or 5 li, or just three-quarters of a mile, whichmul tiplied together giv e just 2% square miles. Almost thesame limitsmay be determined from the sites of the existingruins, which are also the chieffind-spots of the old coinswith which Kanoj abounds. A ccording to the dealers, theOld coins are found at .Bdla P ir and R ang Maha l, insidethe Fort ; at Makhdzim Jahdnia, to the south-east of theFort ; atMakarandnagar on the high road ; and intermediately at the small v illages of Singh B hawcini and Kaitlzip ur.

The only other producti v e site is said to be Rdj gir, an

ancient mound cov ered with brick ruins on the bank of the

Clzota Ganga‘

, three mi les to the south-east of Kanoj .Taking all these ev idences into consideration, it appears to

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

me almost certain that the ancient city of Hwen Thsang’

s

time must hav e extended from Haj i E armdyan and the

KshemKa li .Bzi ij , on the bank Of the Ganges (now the Circle

Gang/a) , in a south-west direction, to Makarandnagar, on

the Grand Trunk Read, a length of just three miles, witha general breadth of about one mile or somewhat less.

lVithin these limits are found all the ruins that sti ll existto point out the position of the once famous city of Kanoj

The only remains of any interest are, 1 st, the ruins of

the old palace, now called the R ang Maha l 2ud, the H indupillars of the Jdma Masj id 3rd, the H indu pillars of the

MaSj ld Of Makhdzim Jaha’

niya and 4th, the Hindu statuesin the v illage of S ingh B hawa

’

ni . The other remains are

simple mounds of all sizes, cov ered with broken bricks,traces Of brick walls, and broken figures. These are foundin sev eral places inside the citadel , but more particularlyat the temple of Aj ay P a

‘

l, a modern building on an ancient

site. Outside the citadel they are found chiefly about the

shrine of Malchdzim Jahdniya on the south-east, and aboutMalcrandnayar on the south-west .

The ruins of the R ang Maha l, whi ch are situated mthe south-west angle Of the citadel, consist of a strongbrick wall faced with blocks of kanlcar, 240 feet m length,and 25 feetm height abov e the sloping ruins, but more than

40 feet abov e the lev el of the bazar. It i s strengthened 111

front by four towers or buttresses, 14 feet broad and 61 feet

apart. The wall itself is 7 feet thick at top, and behind it,at 10 feet distance, there is a second wall 5 feet thick, and

at 93; feet farther back a third wall 3% feet thi ck, and a

fourth wall at 21 feet . The distances between the walls

most probably represent the width of some of the rooms ofthe old Hindu palace, which would thus hav e a breadth of

56 feet . But the block Icanlcar walls can be traced for adistance of 180 feet back from the south-east buttress to a

wicket or small door which would appear to hav e formed aside entrance to the courtyard of the palace . As far as it

can be now traced, the palace cov ered an area of 240 feet

in length by 180feet in breadth. It is said to hav e been builtby Aj ay Pdl, to whom also is attributed a temple whichonce stood close by . Aj ay Pal and Mahi .Pcil are said to

See Plate No. XLVII. for a plan of the ruins of Kanoj.

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ARCRzEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

in Nov ember 1862. The cloisters which original ly extendedall round the square, are now confined to the Masj id itself,that is, to the west side only. This change is said to

hav e been made by a Muhammadan Tahsildar shortlybefore 1857. The same indiv idual is al so accused of hav ingdestroyed all the remains of figures that had been built intothe walls of the Jdma andMakhdzim Jahdniya Masj ids. It

is certain that there are none v isible now, although in

January 1 838, as recorded in my journal, I saw sev eral

Hindu figures placed sideways and upside down”in the walls

of the Jdma Masjid, and three broken figures lying outsidethe doorway of the Masj id of Makhdz

’

im Jahdniya . The

inscription ov er the doorway of the last, which I saw in its

place in 1838, is said to hav e been remov ed at the sametime for the purpose of cutting off a H indu figure on the

back of it. I recov ered this inscription by sending to the

present Tahsildar for it.

The Jama Mas] 1d, as it stands now, is a pillared room,

108 feet in length by 26 feet in width, supported on fourrows of columns. The roof is flat, excepting the centre andends, which are cov ered with domes formed by circles of

stones gradually lessening until they meet. In front of the

Masj id there is a court-yard 95 feet in width, the wholebeing surrounded by a stone wall 6 feet in thickness. The

exterior dimensions are 1 33 feet from west to east, by 120;feet. In 1838 there were still standing on the three

o

sides

of the court-yard portions of the original cloisters formedof two rows of pillars. The Masjid itself was then con

fined to the fiv e openings in the middle of the west side,the sev en openings on each flank of it being formed of

only two rows of pillars the same as on the other three sides.

The Masp d now consists of a single room supported on

60 pillars without any cloisters ; but originally the Masj iditself was supported on 20 pillars, with cloisters on

each flank, and also on the other three sides of the courtyard. The whole number of pillars was then 1 28. Tomake up this number we hav e the 60 pillars of the presentMasj id, and no less than 58 spare capitals still lying in thecourt-yard, which togethermake up 1 18, or within 10 of the

actual number required to complete the original design .

The pillars Of the Jdma Masj ld may, I think, be seen

in their original Hindu form at the sides Of the small door

KANOJ.

ways in the north and south walls of the court . Each pillaris formed of fiv e pieces, v ia , a base and capital , with amiddlepiece which div ides the shafts into two equal portions, and

may be called the upper and lower shafts. The shafts

are 10 inches square and 3 feet 9 inches in height . The baseis 1 foot high, and the middle piece and capital are each 3inches, thusmaking the whole height 9 feet 10 inches. But

the pillars, as re-arranged by the Muhammadans, are 14 feet2inches high, the extra height hav ing been gained by addinga piece to each portion Of the shaft . These shorter pieces,which are 2 feet 1 inch in height, are always placed abov ethe original shafts of 3 feet 8 inches. As there couldhav e been no difiiculty in purchasing a single shaft of therequired length of 5 feet 10 inches, it seems certain that thewhole Of these made-up pillars must hav e been obtainedafter the usual cheap Muhammadan manner— by the demolition of some Hindu buildings, either Buddhist or Brah

manical .

TheMasp d and tomb ofMalchdiimJahdniya are situatedon a lofty mound in the Sikhana Mahal la to the south-eastOf the citadel, ov erlooking the Ohota Ganyd. The moundis 40 feet in height abov e the fields, and is partly occupiedby weav ers’ houses. The tomb of the Malchdi

’

im is a common-looking bui lding, 35 feet square. Beside it there are

two other plain square tombs holding the remains of his descendants, bothmale and female. The tomb itself, as recordedin the mutilated inscription which formerly existed ov erthe doorway, was erected ov er Sayid Ja lr

‘

i l MalchdzimJaha

'

niya by his son Rdj u in the H lj ra year 881 , or A . D .

1 476. The Masj id was built in the same year, in the reignOf Husen Shah, of Jonpur, to whom Kanoj still belonged,although some writers place his final defeat by Bahlol Lodi,of Delhi , in this v ery year, A . H . 881 , and others inA . H . 883. The central dome of the Masj id has long ago

fallen in, and all the pointed arches are seriously cracked and

propped up by unsightly masses of masonry . There is

nothing peculiar about the building, save the decoration of

the panels Of the back wal l, which hav e the name of A llah

inscribed on a tablet suspended by a rope. The appearanceof the tablet and rope is so like that of the H indu bell and

chain that one is almost tempted to believ e that the Muhammadan architectmust hav e simply chiselled away the holder

N 2

ARCILEOLOGICA‘

L REPORT, 1862-63.

points Of the H indu ornament to suit his own design . But

whether thismay hav e been the case or not, it is impossibleto miss seeing that the Hindu bell and chain must hav ebeen directly suggestiv e of the Muhammadan tablet and

cord . The MaSj ld and tombs are surrounded by a wall withfour small towers at the corners, and an entrance gate on the.

south side. In the steps leading up to this entrance I foundin 1838 a broken figure of Shasti , the goddess of fecun

dity, and a pedestal with a short inscription, dated in Samv at1 193, or A . D . 1 136. The people also affirm that a large

statue formerly stood under a tree close by . Al l Of these arenow gone, but the fact that two of them were built into theentrance steps is sufficient to show that the mound on whichthe Masjid stands must once hav e been the site of someimportant Hindu building .

The two statues in the v illage of Singh B kawdni were

discov ered about 100years ago in a field close by the brickhov el in which they are now placed . The people callthem R dm and L akshman, and the attendant Brahmandoes so too, al though the figures hav e eight arms each, and

although the Fish, Tortoise, Bear and Lion Incarnations ofVishnu are represented round the head of one of them. Eachof the figures is 3 feet in height, but the whole sculptureis 6 feet . Vishnu is also known by the discus (shalom) , andclub ( yadd) , from which he deriv es his well-known titles Of

chalcradlmr and yadcidhar. Al ong with these sculpturesthere are some other figures, of which the most important isa statue Of the Tantrika Buddhist goddess, Vaj rd Vardhi.

The figure is 2 feet in height, and has three heads, of whichone is porcine, and the usual number of sev en hogs is repre

sented on the pedestal . Outside the building there are

figures of D aryd slaying the Ma lacshdsur, or bufl‘

alo demon,

and of Siv a and Psirbati sitting on the bull Nandi . In the

neighbouring v illage of Kutlupur I found the lintel of a

temple door-way with a figure of Vishnu in the middle,showing that the temple had been dedicated to that god. He

is represented sitting on the Gar/coda , or eagle, and holdingthe club and discus .

The only remaining place of any note is the Suraj -15Wor

“ Tank of the Sun,

” to the south-east Of Makarandnaya‘

a'

.

It is now nearly dried up, and at the time of my v isit its\

bed was planted with potatoes. But it is one of the oldest

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ARCHIEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

To the south of the town, and close to the Ganges, therewere three monasteries, with similar looking walls, but differing gateways. In one of these monasteries there was a

Vihdra or chapel which possessed a tooth of Buddha preserv edin a casket adorned with precious stones raised onpedestal . This tooth was shown daily to crowds of people,although the tax charged for its exhibition was a large

piece of gold . Perfumeswere burned before it by thousandsof v otaries, and the flowers which were strewn in pro

fusion ov er it were dev outly believ ed nev er to conceal thecasket . R ight and left in front of the monasteries therewere two Wha

'

ras, each about 100 feet in height . Theirfoundations were of stone, but their walls of brick . In

front of each Vilzdra there was a small monastery . The

most probable site of the three monasteries and the Vihdra

with the tooth of Buddha seems to me to be the large

mound immediately to the south of the Kshen Kali B ai ij ,to the south-east of the town, and on the the immediate bankof the riv er. This is now called the Maha lla of L eila. MiserTola . The mound is cov ered with broken bricks, but no

remains of any extensiv e buildings are now v isible.

At a short distance to the south-east of the three mo

nasteries there was a lofty Vihdra , 200 feet in height, whi chenshrined a statue of Buddha 30feet high. The foundationsof the building were of stone, but the walls of brick . On

the surrounding walls of the Vihdra , which were of stone,were sculptured all the acts of Buddha’s life until he became

a B odhisatwa . The position of this lofty Vihara was mostprobably on the large mound in the midst of the presentBhatpuri Maha lla, which stands about 800feet to the southeast of the mound in the Mahal la of Ldla Misr Tola . Thereare no remains now to be seen on thismound, but it is probable that excav ations would be attended with success, as ther e

can be little doubt that this was once the site of some important buildings. At a little distance from the Viha

'

ra towardsthe south there was a temple, and a little further to thesouth there was a second temple dedicated to Siv a . Bothof these temples were of the same form and size as the

Vi lzdras of Buddha . They were built of a blue stone whichwas highly polished, and adorned with admirable scul ptures.

The probable position of these Brahmanical temples was on

the high mound of Makhdzim Jahdniya, in the Sikha'

na

KANOJ A-YU-TO, OR AYODIIYA .

Mahalla, which is about 700 feet to the south of the lastmentioned mound in the Bhatpuri Mahalla. That thismound was the site of one or more Brahmanical templesseems almost certain frommy discov ery of a figure of Sliasl i,the goddess of fecundity, and of a pedestal bearing the dateof Samv at 1 193, or A . D . 1 136, which is posterior to theextinction of Buddhism in Kanoj . I think it probable thatexcav ations in thismound would be attended with success,as the two temples are said to hav e been built of stone, whichno doubt furnished the whole of the materials for the Mas] 1d

and tomb of Makhdflm Jahdniya .

XI. A-YU-TO, OR AYODHYA.

From Kanoj the two Chinese pilgrims followed differentroutes, Fa H ian hav ing proceeded direct to Ska-chi (themodern Ajudhya, near Fyzabad on the Ghaghra), whileHwenThsang followed the course of the Ganges to Prayag, or

A llahabad . The first stage of both pilgrimswould, howev er,appear to be the same. Fa Hian states that he crossed theGauges and proceeded 3 yoj ans, or 21 miles, to the forest ofB ali , where therewere sev eral Stupas erected on spots whereBuddha had passed, or walked, or Hwen Thsangrecords that he marched 100Ii, nearly 1 7miles, to the townof Nav a-dev a-kula , which was on the eastern bank of theGauges, and that at 5 li, or nearly 1 mile, to the south-eastof the town there was a S tup a of Asoka, which was still 100feet in height, besides some other monuments dedicated tothe four prev ious Buddhas t I think it probable that the twoplaces are the same, and that the site was somewhere nearNobatganj , just abov e the junction of the Isan R iv er and

opposite Nanamow Ghdt. But as there are no existingremains anywhere in that neighbourhood, the place has beenmost likely swept away by the riv er. This is rendered almostcertain by an examination of the Ganges below the junctionof the Isan. Formerly the riv er continued its course almostduo south fromNanamow formanymiles, but some centuriesago it changed its course first to the south-east for 4 or 5

miles, and then to the south-west for about the same distance,where it rejoined its old bed, leav ing an island, some 6 milesin length by 4 in breadth, between the two channels. As

Hwen Thsang’

s account places Nav a-dev a-Imla on the v ery

Beal’

s Fa Hian, c. xv 111.

1' Julien’

s Hwen Thsang, IL, 265.

ARCIIzEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

site of this island, I conclude that the town as well as the

Buddhist monumentsmust all hav e been swept away by thechange in the riv er

’

s course.

‘

On leav ing Nav a-deva-lcula , Hwen Thsang proceeded600ii , or 100 miles, to the south-east, and re-crossing the

Ganges he reached the capital city Of A-yu-to, which was

20 ll, or upwards of 3miles, in circuit. Both M . Julien and

M . St. Martin hav e identified this place with Ayodhya, theonce celebrated capital of Rama . But though I agree withthem as to the probable identification of the name as that ofthe country, I differ with them altogether in looking for thecapital along the line of the Gha

‘

ghra R iver, which is duecast from Kanoj , whereas Hwen Thsang states that his routewas to the south-east . It is, of course, qui te possible thatthe pilgrimmay occasionally use the generic name of Ganges

as the appellation Of any large riv er, such, for instance, as theGlzdyhra but in the present case, where the recorded bearingof south-east agrees with the course of the Ganges, I thinkit is almost certain that the Ganges itself was the riv erintended by the pilgrim. But by adopting the line of the

Ganges we encounter a difficulty Of a difl'

erent kind in the

great excess of the distance between two such well known

places as Kanoj and Prayilg . According to Hwen Thsang’

s

route, he first made 100 i i to Nav a-dev a-kula , then 600 l i to

Ayutko, then 300 ii by water to a amukha, and lastly 700llto P raydya . All these distances added togethermake a totalof li, or 283miles, which is just 100 miles, or 600 li,in excess of the true distance. But as a part of the journey,v ia , 300 li, or 50miles, was performed by water, the actualexcess may, perhaps, not be more than 85 or 90 miles ;although it is doubtful whether the distance of 300 ii maynot hav e been the road measurement and not the riv er distance. It is sufficient for our purpose to know that HwenThsang

’

s recorded measurement is somewhere about 100miles in excess of the truth. The only explanation of thiserror that suggests itself to me is, that there may hav e beenan accidental alteration of one set of figures, such as 600 li

for 60 ll, or 700 ll for 70 ll . Supposing that the former

If we might read 10 it”

instead of 100 Ii, this place might be identifie dwith Deola li,which is situated On the Chot a ( lung

-l about 2miles below Kanoj . The two names are

precisely the same, excepting that the moder none has droppe d the two initial syllables uam,

or“new,

which, howev er appropriate in the time of the Chinese pilgrim,would almost

certainly hav e been dropped in the course of a few ctnturiea— See Jalien’s Hwen Thsang,

II. 266.

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Ac zeomGwAL REPORT, 1862-63.

probably the sameplace astheAyutho of Hwen Thsang , whichwas also possessed of a Stup a containing some hairs and

nail-parings of Buddha. Kd’

lczipur is well-known to the

people of Kanoj , who affirm that it was once a large citywith a Raja of its own. The existing remains of d flp ur

consist of numerous foundations formed of large bricks, andmore particularly of a connected set of walls of some largebuilding which the people call the palace.

” I hav e notyet v isited this place, which lay out of my line of route, butI hope to hav e an opportunity of examining it hereafter.

XII . HAYAMUKHA OR AYOMUKHA.

From Ayutho the Chinese pilgrim proceeded a distanceof 300 li , or 50miles, down theGangesby boat to O-g/e-ma-Ichi,which was situated on the north bank of the riv er, M . Julienreads this name as H ayamukha, equiv alent to Horse

face,”or Iron face, which was the name of one of the

a aees or Titans.

‘ Neither of these names, howev er,giv es any clue to the site of the old city ; but if I am rightin my identification of Ayutko with Kdlcz

’

ipur, it is almostcertain that Ayomukha must be the same as Daundiakhera.

Hwen Thsang makes the circuit of the town 20 Ii, or upwards of 3miles, but Dazmdikhera presentsno appearance of

hav ing ev er been so large. There still exist the ruins of anold fort or citadel, 385 feet square, with the wal ls of two

buildings which are called the Raja’s and Rani’s palaces.

The foundation of this citadel is attributed to Raja Raghunath Sinh, but he was apparently some comparativ elymodernThékur, or petty Chief, as Daundiakhera is univ ersallyallowed to hav e been the capital of the B a is Rajputs, whoclaim descent from the famous salivahan . As there are no

remains of any buildings which can be identified with themomuments described by Hwen Thsang, the actual site of

Ayomukha must still remain doubtful .

XIII . PRAYAGA, OR ALLAHABAD .

From Ayomukha the pilgrim proceeded 700 ii, or 1 16

miles, to the south-east, to P rayfiga , the well known place ofpilgrimage at the junction of the Gauges and Jumna, where

Julien’s Hwen Theang, IL, p. 274.

— See my Ancient Geography of India, p . 387,Daundia means simply a drum-beater,

”and was probably applied to some mend icant,

who took up his abode on the khm ,or mound and as this name is not likely to hav e been

ixnposed on the place until it was in ruins, the (hut-l ence of name offers no i mpediment to

the identification of Daundiakhera with Hayamuk ha .

PRAYAGA, OB ALLAHABAD

Akbar some centuries later built his fort of I ldhabds, or

A llahabad , as it was afterwards called by Shahjahan. The dis

tance and bearing giv en by Hwen Thsang agree almostexactly with those of Prayaga from Daundiakhera. The

distance is 104 miles by the nearest road to the south of the

Ganges ; but as the pilgrim followed the north road, the distance must hav e been increased to about 1 15 or 120 miles.According to him the city was situated at the confluence ofthe two riv ers, but to the west of a large sandy plain. In

the midst of the city there was a Brahmanical temple, towhich the presentation of a single piece of money procuredas much merit as that of one thousand pieces elsewhere.

Before the principal room of the temple there was a large

tree with wide-spreading branches, whi ch was said to be thedwelling of an anthropophagous demon. The tree was surrounded with human bones, the remains of pilgrims who

had sacrificed their liv es before the temple—a customwhichhad been observ ed from time immemorial.

I think there can be little doubt that the famous treehere described by the Chinese pilgrim is the well knownA lcshay Bat, or undecaying Banian tree,

”which is still an

object of worship at Allahabad . This tree is now situatedunderground at one side of a pillared court, which wouldappear to hav e been open formerly, and which is, I believ e,the remains of the temple described b Hwen Theang. The

temple is situated inside the fort of i llahabad to the east ofthe Ellenborough Barracks, and due north from the stone

pillar of Asoka and Samudra Gupta . Original] both treeand temple must hav e been on the natural groun lev el ; butfrom the constant accumulation of rubbish they hav e beengradually earthed up until the whole of the lower portionof the temple has disappeared underground . The upperportion has long ago been remov ed, and the only access to theA kshay B at now av ailable is by a flight of ste which leadsdown to a square pillared court-yard. his court hasapparently once been open to the sky, but it is now closedin to secure darkness and mystery for the holy Fig tree.

The A lashay B at is next mentioned by Rashid-ud-dinin the Jdmiut-tawdrikh, in which he states that the treeof Prdg is situated at the confluence of the Jumna and

0 Julian'

s Hwen Thsang, II., p. 276.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

Ganges. Asmost of his information was deriv ed fromAbuR ikdn, the date of this notice may with great probabili ty bereferred to the time of Mahmud of Ghazni . In the 7th centurya great sandy plain, 2miles in circuit, lay between the cityand the confluence of the riv ers, and as the tree was in themidst of the city, it must hav e been at least one mi le fromthe confluence . But nine centuries later, in the beginningof Akbar

’

s reign, Abdul Kadir speaks of the tree fromwhich people cast themselv es into the riv er.

“ From thisstatement I infer that, during the long period that interv ened between the time of Hwen Thsang and that of Akbar,the two riv ers had gradually carried away the whole of thegreat sandy plain, and had so far encroached upon the cityas to place the holy tree on the v ery brink of the water.

Long before this time the old city had no doubt been deserted,for we know that the fort of I ldhdba

'

s was founded on its

site in the 2l st year of Akbar’s reign, that is, in A . H . 982,or A . D . 1572. Indeed, the way in which Abu R ihan speaksof the tree” instead of the city of Frag, leadsme to believ ethat the city itself had already been deserted before his time.

As far as I am aware, it is not once mentioned in anyMuhammadan history until it was refounded by Akbarxl'

As the old city of Praydg has totally disappeared, wecan scarcely expect to find any traces of the v arious Buddhistmonuments which were seen and described by the Chinesepilgrim in the 7th century . Indeed, from their position to

the south-west of the city, it seems v ery probable that theymay hav e been washed away by the Jumna ev en before thefinal abandonment of the city, as the course of that riv er forthree miles abov e the confluence has been due west and east

of many centuries past. At any rate, it is quite certain thatno remains of these buildings are now to be seen ; the onlyexisting Hindu monument being the well known stone pillarwhich bears the inscriptions of Asoka, Samudra Gupta , andJahangir. As Hwen Thsang makes no mention of this

pillar, it is probable that it was not standing in his day.

Ev en its original position is not exactly known, but it was

probably not far from its present site . It was first erectedby King Asoka about B . C. 240 for the purpose of inscribing

Elliot’s Muhammadan Historians of India, p. 243.

1' Reinaud, Fragments Arabs, etc., p. 103, and Dawson

’

s Elliot, I. , 55.

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ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

I believ e, made a mistake in the name of the Vandal En

gineerwho ov erthrew the stone pillar because it stood in the

way of his new line of rampart near the gateway . It wasGeneral Kyd, and not General Garstin, who was employedto stengthen the Fort of Allahabad, and his name is still

preserv ed in the suburb of Kydganj, on the Jumna, immediately below the city.

The pillar was again set up in 1838 by Captan EdwardSmith, of the Engineers, to whom the design of the presentcapital is entirely due. At first it was intended to hav e placeda fancy flower as an appr0priate finish to the pillar, but asthe people had a tradition that the column was originallysurmounted by the figure of a lion, it was suggested by acommittee of the Asiatic Society that the design of the new

capital should be made as nearly as possible the same as the

original, of which the Bakra and Lauriya pillars were citedas examples. The lion statues which crown the bell capitalsof these two pillars I hav e seen and admired, and I can

affirm that they are the figures of v eritable lions. Both of

them are represented half couchant, with the head raised andthemouth open. The bell capital swells out boldly towardsthe top to receiv e a massiv e abacus, which forms the plinthof the statue. In these examples the broad swelling capitalis in harmony with the stout and massiv e column. But the

new capital designed by Captain Smith is, inmy opinion, a

signal failure. The capital lessens towards the top, and is

surmounted by an abacus of less diameter than that of the

pillar itself. The animal on the top 19 small and recumbent,and altogether the design is insignificant. Indeed, it looksto me not unlike a stuffed poodle stuck on the top of an

inv erted flower pot.

According to the common tradition of the people, thename of Prayaga was deriv ed from a Brahman, who liv edduring the reign of Akbar. The story is that when the

Emperor was building the fort, the walls on the riv er facerepeatedly fell down 111 spite of all the precautions taken bythe architect . On consulting some wise men, Akbar was

informed that the foundations could only be secured by beinglai d 111 human blood . A proclamation was then made, whena Brahman, called Prayaga, v oluntarily offered his life on

the condi tion that the fort should hear his name. This idlestory, which is di ligently related to the pilgrimswho v isit

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ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

A. D . 500. In the Vrihat Katha, of Somadev a, the story of

Udayana is giv en at full length, but the author has madea mistake in the genealogy between the two Sata

’

nilcas.

Lastly, the kingdom of E osdmbi, or Kosd'

mba Manda la, is

mentioned in an inscription taken from the gateway of the

fort of Khard, whi ch is dated in Samv at 1092, or A . D . 1035,at which period it woul d appear to hav e been independent of

Kanoj Kosambi, the capital of Vatsa Raja, is the sceneof the pleasing drama of R atndv ali, or the necklace,

”

which was composed in the reign of King Harsha Dev a,who ismost probably the same as Harsha Vardhana of Kanojas the opening prelude describes amongst the assembledaudience princes from v arious realms recumbent at his

feet .”1' This we know from Hwen Thsang to hav e been trueof theKanoj prince, butwhich ev en a Brahman could scarcelyhav e asserted of Harsha Dev a of Kashmir. The date of

this notice will, therefore, lie between 607 and 6418 A . D .

But the name of Uddyana , King of Kosambi, was perhaps ev en more famous among the Buddhists. In theMaha

wanso, which was composed in the 5th century A . D . , the

v enerableYasa is said to hav e fled from Va iséli to Kosambi,just before the assembly of the second Buddhist Synod I.In the Lalita Vistara, which was translated into Chinese,between 70and 76 A . D . , and which must, therefore, hav ebeen composed not later than the beginning of the Christianera, Udayana Vatsa, son of Satanika, King of Kosambi, issaid to hav e been born on the same day as Buddha . In otherCeylonese books, Kosambi is named as one of the 1 9 capitalcities of ancient India. Udayana Vatsa, the son of Satanika,is also known to the Tibetans as the King of Kosambi . In

the Ratnavali he is called Vatsa Raja, or King of the Vatsas,and his capital Vatsa-p attana, which is, therefore, only anothername for Kosambi . In this celebrated city Buddha is saidhav e spent the 6th and 9th years of his Buddhahood . Lastly,Hwen Thsang relates that the famous statue of Buddhain red sandal wood, which was made by King Udayanaduring the life time of the teacher, still existed under a stonedome in the ancient palace of King Udayana.

Asiatic Researches, [K., 433, and Journal, Asiatic Society's, of Bengal,V.,

1' Wilson’s Hindu Theatre, Ratnav ali,

"

prelude, IL , 264.

1 Tumour’

s translation, p. 16.

KOSAM, on xosu mr.

The site of this great city, the capital of the later

Pandu Princes, and the shrine of the most sacred of all

the statues of Buddha, has long been sought in v ain. The

Brahmans generally asserted that it stood either on the

Ganges, or close to it, and the discov ery of the name ofKosdmbi manda la , or Kingdom of Kosambi,

”in an inscrip

tion ov er the gateway of the fort of Khara , seemed to confirmthe general belief, although the south-west bearing fromPrayaga orAllahabad, as recorded by Hwen Thsang, pointsunmistakably to the line of the Jumna . In January 1861

Mr. E . C. Bayley informed me that he believ ed the ancientKosfimbi would be found in the old v illage of Kosam, on

the Jumna, about 30 miles abov e Allahabad . In the fol

fowing month I met Babu Siv a Prasad, of the EducationalDepartment, who takes a deep and intelligent interest in all

archaeological subjects, and from him I learned that Kosam is

still known asKosdmbi-nagar, that it isev en now a great resortof the Jains, and that only one century ago it wasa large andflourishing town . This information was quite sufficient tosatisfy me that Kosam, was the actual site of the once famousKosambi . Still, howev er, there was no direct ev idence toshow that the city was situated on the Jumna ; but thismissing link in the chain of ev idence I shortly afterwardsfound in the curious legend of Bakkula .

” The infant Bakkulawas born at Kosambi and while his mother was bathingin the Jumna , he accidentally fell into the riv er, and beingswallowed by a fish was carried to Banaras. There the fishwas caught and sold to the wife of a nobleman, who, on

Opening it, found the young child still aliv e inside, and at

once adopted it as her own . The true mother hearing of

this wonderful escape of the infant, proceeded to Banaras,and demanded the return of the child, which was of courserefused. The matter was then referred to the King, whodecided that both of the claimants were mothers of the child— the one by maternity, the other by p urch ase. The childwas accordingly named B almla that is, of two ka las, or

races.

”He reached the age of 90 years without once hav

ing been ill, when he was conv erted by the preaching ofBuddha, who declared him to be the chief of that classof his disciples who were free from disease.

”After this

Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 501.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

he is said to hav e liv ed 90 yearsmore, when he became anarkat, or Buddhist saint.

But the negativ e kind of meritwhich Bakkula acquiredby his freedom from disease was not appreciated byAsoka, as we learn from a v ery curious legend which is preserv ed in the Divya Av adana.

‘ In the first ardour of his

conv ersion to Buddhism the zealous Asoka wished to do

honour to all the places which the life and teaching of

Buddha had rendered famous, by the erection of Stupas, andthe holy Upagupta v olunteered to point out the sacred spots.

Accordingly the goddess of the tree, who witnessed Buddha’

s birth, appeared to Asoka and v ouched for the authenti

city of the v enerated tree, which had giv en support tomm.

Dev i, at the birth of the infant sakya. Other holy sitesare al so indi cated, such as the B odhi-dram, or sacred Pipaltree at Buddha-Gays, underwhich Buddha sat for six yearsin meditation ; and the trees at Kusinagara., beneathwhich he obtained Nirvana, besides v arious spots renderedfamous by the acts of his principal disciples, Sfiriputra,Maudgalyayana, Kasyapa, and Ananda. To all these holyplaces the pious King allotted large sums of money for theerection of Steqaas. Upagupta then pointedout the holy placeof Bakkula at Kosdmbi And what was the merit of thissageP

”asked Asoka. He liv ed,

”answered Upagupta,

to a great age without once hav ing known disease.

”On

him,

”said the King, I bestow one farthing (Kalcamij . 1

In Burnouf’s v ersion of this story Bakkula is said to be the

disciple who had encountered the fewest obstacles, fromwhich Asoka rightly argued that the fewer the obstacles the

less the merit . The same idea is ev en more tersely expressedby the old author of the Land of Cockaigne

”in describing

the sinlessness of its inhabitantsVery v irtuous may they be

Who temptation nev er see.

”

As this legend of Bakkula is sufficient to prov e that thefamous city of Kausambi was situated on the Jumna, it nowonly remains to show that the distance of Kosam fromA llahabad corresponds with that between Prayaga and

Burnouf,“Buddhisme Indien, p . 39 1.

‘

l' The Kalxzm'

was the fourth part of the copper pana , and was, therefore, worth only20cowries. Its weight was 20raktikac, or ratic of copper, or 12x graina .

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Ancnzsonoercu . REPORT, 1862-63.

circuit of feet, or exactly 45miles and 3 furlongs.

‘

The ramparts hav e a general height of from 30 to 35 feetabov e the fields, but the bastions are considerably higher ;those on the north face risings to upwards of 50 feet, whi le

those at the south-west and south-east angles are more than60 feet. Original ly there were ditches all round the fortress,but at present there are only a few shallow hollows at the

foot of the rampart . The parapets were of brick and stone ;but, although the remains of these defences can be tracednearly all round, I could not find any portion of the o ld

wall wi th a facing sufficiently perfect to enable me to determine its thickness. The large size of the bricks, which are

1 9 inches long by 12321 by 215 , shows that these are the ruins

of v ery old walls . In shape the fortress maybe describedas an irregular rectangle, with its longer sides runningalmost due north and south. The length of the different

faces is as followsNorth front

South

Iflast

West

feet.

The difference in length between the north and southfronts is due to the original extension of the fortress on theriv er face ; but the difference between the east and westfronts is, I believ e, chiefly, if not wholly, due to the loss ofthe south-west angle of the ramparts by the gradual en

croachments of the Jumna . There are no traces now leftof the western half of the ramparts on the southern face,and the houses of the v illag e of Garhawd are standing on the

v ery edge of the cliff ov erhanging the riv er. The reach of

the riv er also from the Pakka B arj at the south-west angle

of the fortress up to the hill of Prabhdsa , a clear straightrun of four miles, bears 12 degrees to the north of east,whereas in the time of Hwen Thsang there were two Stup asand a cav e at a distance of 1 % miles to the south-west of

Kosa’

mbi . From all these concurring circumstances, I conclude that the west front of the fortress was originally as

See Plate XLVIII. for a map of the ruins of Kosam.

KOMM, on xosu mr.

nearly as possible of the same length as the east front. Thiswould add feet, or nearly half a mile to the length of

the west front, and would increase the whole circuit of theramparts to 4 miles and 7 furlongs, which is within one

furlong of the measurement of 5 miles, or 30 li recordedby Hwen Thsang . In three main points therefore of name,size, and position, the present Kosam corresponds mostexactly with the ancient Kosambi, as it is. described by theChinese pilgrim in the 7th century.

Viewed from the outside, the ruins of Kosambi presenta most striking appearance. My prev ious enquiries had ledme to except only a ruined mound some 20 or 30 feet in

height cov ered with broken‘

bricks. What wasmy surprise,therefore, when still at some distance from the place on the

north-east side, to behold extending for about 2miles a longline of lofty earthen mounds as high asmost of the trees.

I felt at once that this was the celebrated Kosambi, the

capital of the far-famed Raja Udayana. On reaching theplace I mounted one of the huge earthen bastions, fromwhence I had a clear v iew of the interior. This was v eryunev en but free from jangal , the whole surface being thicklycov ered with broken bricks. In many places the brickswere partially cleared away to form fields, but in others thebroken bricks were so thickly strewn that the earth beneathwas scarcely discernible. But I was disappointed to findthat there were no prominent masses of ruin,

-the onlyobject that caught the eye being a modern Jain temple.

I recognized the positions of six gates by the deep depressions in the lines of rampart. There are two of these Openings on each of the three land faces of the fortress.

The present v illage of Kosam consists of two distinctportions, named Kosam Intim and KosamKhira

'

j , or Rentfrec

”and Rent-paying

”Kosam, the former being on the

west, and the latter on the east side of the old fortress.

Inside the ramparts, and on the bank of the Jumna, thereare two small v illages called Garhawd B ard and Garkuwa

'

.

Chota, their names being no doubt deriv ed from their position within the fort or garb. Beyond Kosam InAm is thelarge v illage of PAH, containing 100 houses, and beyondKosam Khiraj on the bank of the Jumna stands the hamletof Gap

-Sahasa . To the north there is another hamletcalled Amba—Kua, because it possesses a large old well

ARCIIPEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-03.

surrounded by a grov e Of mango trees. All these v illagestogether do not contain more than 350 or 400 houses, withabout inhabitants.

The great Object of v eneration at Kosambi was the

celebrated statue Of Buddha in red sandal wood, which wasdev outly believ ed to hav e been made during the life timeOf Buddha by a sculptor whom King Udayana was permittedto send up to the Trayastri/nsa heav en, while the greatTeacher was explaining his law to hismotherMaya. The

statue was placed under a stone dome, within the precinctsof the palace of Udayana, which is described by Hwen

Thsang as being situated in the v ery middle of KOSAmbi .This description shows that the place must hav e occupiedthe position Of the great central mass Of ruin, which is

now cov ered by a small Jain temple. The temple is saidto hav e been built in 1834, and is dedicated to Pdrasmith.

By the people, howev er, it is generally called D eora or

the Temple, which was the Old name Of the mound, andwhich, therefore, points unmistakably to the position Of the

ancient temple that once held the famous statue of Buddha .

The foundations of a large building are still traceableboth to the east and west of the temple ; but there are

no remains either of sculpture or of architectural ornament .But in the v illage of Bara Garhawa, distant feet tothe south-west, I found two sculptured pil lars of a Buddhistrailing, and the pedestal Of a statue inscribed with the wellknown Buddhist profession Of faith, beginning with Yedharmma beta p rabkav ci , &c. , in characters of the 8th or

9th century . In the v illage of Chota Garhawa, distant halfa mile to the south-east, I found a small square pillarsculptured on three faces with representations Of Stup as.

The discov ery Of these undoubted Buddhist remains is alonesufficient to prov e that some large Buddhist establishmentmust once hav e existed inside the walls of Kosambi . Iwoul d, therefore, assign the two pillars Of the Buddhist railing and the inscribed statue to the great Vihar in the palace,which contained the famous sandal wood statue Of Buddha.

The third pillar I would assign to the Stup a which containedthe hair and nails Of Buddha, as it was situated inside thesouth-east corner of the city, on the v ery site Of ChotaGarhawa, where the pillar itself was found . The two railing pillars found atBardGarhewaare sculptured with figures

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ARCHPEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

certain, therefore, that the pillar was in its present leaningposition as early as the reign of Akbar ; and further, as thisinscription is within reach of the hand, and as there are also

others engrav ed beneath the present surface of the soil, Iconclude that the pillar must hav e been buried as we nowsee it for a long time prev ious to the reign of Akbar.

The inscriptions recorded on the Kosambi pillar rangefrom the age of the Guptas down to the present day. The

only record of the earliest period is the name of a pilgrimin six letters, which I hav e not succeeded in reading . At

the tOp Of the broken shaft there is an incomplete record

of three letters ending in p rabkdra, which I would ascribeto the 4th or 5th century. The letters, which are three

inches in length, are boldly cut, but the line which theyform is not parallel to the sides of the pillar. The nextinscription in point of time consists of six lines in charactersof the 6th or 7th century . As this record is placed on the

lower part of the shaft, from 3 to 4 feet beneath the present

ground lev el, and as the lines are perpendicular to the sidesof the shaft, I infer that at the time when it was inscribed,the pillar was still standing upright in its original position,

and that the surrounding buildings were still in perfectorder. This inference is fully borne out by Hwen Thsang

’

s

account Of the ancient palace of Udayana with its greatVihara, 60 feet in height, and its stone dome forming a

canopy ov er the statue of Buddha, all of which would seemto hav e been in good order at the date of his v isit, as becarefully mentions that the two different bath-houses of

Buddha, as well as the dwelling-house of Asanga Bodhisatwa

were in ruins. Just abov e this inscription there are sev eral

records in the peculiar shell-shaped letters which JamesBrinsop noticed on the Allahabad pillar, and which I hav efound on most of the other pillars throughout NorthernIndia . The remaining inscriptions, which are comparativ elymodern , are al l recorded on the upper part

'

of the shaft.

That Of Ak bar’s time, which has already been referred to,is in Nagari as follows

Mogal I’a'

tisa'

ll Akbar Patisa’

fi Gaj z ; for

Mogal Pads/tri ll Akbar Pads/lei]; Gila’

zi .

This is followed by a short record of a soni , or goldsmith, inthree lines, below which is a long inscription dated in Samv at

KOSAM, on KOSAMBI .

1621 , or A . D . 1564, in the early part of Akba1 ’s reign,detailing the genealogy of a whole family of goldsmiths.

t,

It

is in this inscription that the name of Kosdmbz’

p ura occurs,the founder of the family , named Anand RamDas, hav ingdied at Kosam. The monolith is called R am-ka-charm

’

,

Ram’

s walking stick,” by some, and by others B him-sen

Ica-G’

add, or Bhim-sen’

8 club .

” Inside the fort also, aboutmidway between the two v illages of Garhawd, I found alarge lingam, bearing four heads,

t,

with three eyes each, and

with the hair massed on the top of each head . The dis

cov ery of this costly symbol of Mahadev a shows that theworship of Siv a must hav e been firmly established at

Kosambi at some former period , and as Hwen Thsang mentions the existence of no less than 50 heretical (that isBrahmanical) temples at the time of his v isit, I think itprobable that the large lingammay hav e belonged to one of

those early temples.

To the south west of Kosdmbi, distant 8 or 9 li, or 1 4}miles, Hwen Thsang describes a lofty Stup a of Asoka,200 feet 111 height, and a stone cav ern of a v enomous dragon,in which it was dev outly believ ed that Buddha had left hisshadow . But the truthful pilgrim candidly says that thisshadow was not to be seen in his time. If Hwen Thsang

’

s

south-west bearing 18 correct, the holy cav e must hav e beencarried away long ago by the encroachment of the Jumna,as the clear reach of the riv er abov e Kosambi, as far as thehill of Prabhasa, a distance of 4: miles, now bears 282° fromthe south-west, of the old city, or 12

° to the north of west.The hill of Prabhasa, which is on the left bank of the

Jumna, is the only rock ln the Antarv ed or Doab of the

Ganges and Jumna In a hollow between its two peaksstands a modern Jain temple, but there is no cav ern, andno trace of any ancient buidings.

At a short distance to the south-east of Kosa’

mbi, therewas an ancient monastery containing a Stup a of Asoka, 200feet in height, which was built on the spot where Buddhahad explained the law for many years. Beside the monastery, a householder named Kia-shi-lo, formerly had a garden.

Fa Hian calls it the garden of Kin-sse-lo ; but by the Buddhists of Ceylon it is

l”

called the Ghosz’

ka garden . M . Jul 1enrenders the name doubtful ly by Goshirafbut it appears to

me that the true name was most probably the Sanskrit

ARCILEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-G3.

Gosirsha, and the Pali Gosisa, whi ch I believ e to be stillpreserv ed ln Gapsahsa, the name of a small v illage close toChota Gerkawa

'

. This name is now writteno

Gop shasa,but as the well known name of JanameJaya is written Jagmedau, and also Ja lmedar, by the half educated people of

Kosam, I do not think that the slight difference of spellingbetween the ancient Gosisa and the present Gopshasa, formsany v ery strong objection to their identification, more especial ly as the position of the Gosisa garden must hav e beenas nearly as possible on the site of the Gopshasa v illag e.

There are no ancient remains about this v illage ; nor, indeed,coul d we expect to find any traces of the garden . But in

the neighbouring v illage of Kosam Khiraj orH isa'

ma‘

bcid, the

v estiges of ancient occupation are found ev erywhere, and

this v illage I believ e to hav e been the site of the monasterywith its lofty Stup a of 200feet, built byAsoka , and its similarS tup a containing the hair and nails of Buddha . The positionof this v illage, within one-quarter of a mile of the sou theast corner of the ancient fort, agrees precisely with the siteof the monastery as described by Hwen Thsang, acme

p etite distance cm sud-est de la v ille. In this v illage squaredstones of all sizesmay be seen in the walls of most of the

houses, and after a little search I succeeded 1n finding fourplain pillars of two different sizes which had once belongedto two different Buddhist railings. Two of these pillars are

4 feet 9 inches 111 height, with a section of 12% by 7 inches,which are also the exact dimensions of the largest railingpillars that hav e been found at Mathura . The other two

pillars are 2 feet 9 inches in height with a section of 7 byinches, which are the exact dimensions of the smallest

sized railing pillars that hav e been found at Mathura .

The larger pillars I would assign to the Buddhist railing,which in all probability once surrounded the lofty S tup aof Asoka , and the smaller pillars I woul d assign to thesmaller Stup a , which contained the hair and

c

nails of

Buddha.

I found also the fragment of a corner pillar with the

mortice holes for the reception of the rails on two adjacentsides at right angles to each other. I conclude, therefore,that this pillar must hav e belonged to the entrance doorwayof one of the railings, although

o

its face of 9 inches does not

agree with the dimensions of either of the othe1 pillars.

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ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

immediately to the north of Al lahabad, the total distance toKasapura will be the same whichev er place of crossing betaken. From Papamau to Sul tanpur the direction is due

north, and the distance 66miles, the whole line from Kosamto Sultanpur being 109 miles, which is within 8 miles of

the round number of 700 i i, or 1 163; miles as giv en by HwenThsang, while both of the bearings are in exact accordance with his statements From Kasapura to Visélclza the

direction followed by the pilgrimwas to the north, and the

distance was from 1 70to 180 ii, or from 28 to 38 miles.

Now the present city of Aj udhya, the ancient Ayodhya or

saketa , is almost due north from Sultanpur, the distancebeing 30miles to the nearest point, or just six miles inexcess of the distance giv en by Hwen Thsang . As the

former of these distances is in default, while the latter is inexcess, I would suggest, as a possible alternativ e, that our

measurements should be taken from the v illage of Mahmadp ar, which would make the route from Kosam to the Buddhist establishment near Kasapura up to 1 141 mi les, or withinthree miles of the number stated by Hwen Thsang, and

lessen the subsequent route to Ayodhya from 36 to 31 miles,which is within onemile of the number giv en by the Chinesepilgrim. As all these hearings are in perfect accordance, andas the names of the two places agree almost exactly, I thinkthat there can be little hesitation in accepting the identi

fication of Sultanpur to Kusapura, with the Kasapura. of

Hwen Theang .

Kusepura or Kusa-bkav ana-para is said to hav e beennamed after Rama

’

s son Kusa. Shortly after the Muhammadan inv asion it belonged to a B har Raja Nand Kunwar,who was expelled by Sultan Alauddin Ghori (read Khilj 1).The defences of the town were strengthened by the con

querer, who built a mosque and changed the name of the

place to Sul tanpur. The si te of Kiwap ura was, no doubt,selected by its founder as a good military position on accountof its being surrounded on three sides by the R iv er Gomatior Gomti . The place is now utterly desolate ; the wholepopulation hav ing been remov ed to the new civ il station on

the opposite or south bank of the riv er. The ruined fortof Sultanpur new forms a large mound, 750 feet square,

Julicn’s Hwen Thsang, IL, 290.

KUSAPURA DHOPAPAPURA .

with brick towers at the four corners. On all sides it issurrounded by the huts of the mined town, the whole together cov ering a space of about half a mi le square, or abouttwo miles 111 circui t . This estimate of the size of Sultanpuragrees v ery closely with that of Kusapura giv en by HwenThsang, who describes the place as being 10 ii, or 1 ; miles,in chenit .

XVI . DHOPAPAPURA.

Before accompanying the pilgrim to the ancient city of

Stilceta or Ayodhya , I will take the opportunity of describ

ing the famous place of Hindu pilgrimage called Dhopdp ap ara , which is situated on the right or west bank of the

Gomati R iv er, 18 miles to' the south-east of Sul tanpur, and

immediately under the walls of the fort of Garhd, or ShirkaGarhi . The legend of the place is as follows —AfterRama Chandra had kill ed the giant Rav ana he wanderedabout trying to obtain purification for his gu ilt in hav ingthus extinguished a portion of the spirit of Brahma

( B rahma-Ica-ans) butall hiseffortswere ineffectual , until hemet with a white crow, when he was informed by the Muni

Vasishtha that the crow had become white from hav ingbathed in the Gomati R iv er at a particular spot. Ramaproceeded to bathe at the same spot, and was immediatelypurified, or cleansed” from his sin. The place was aocordingly named D im-pap a , or cleanser of sins” and the

town which soon sprang up beside it wascalled Dhop ap ap ura .

In sanskrit the form is .t’

itapdp a, which 13 giv en in the

list of the Vishnu Purana as the name of a riv er distinctfrom the Gomati ; but as the name immediately followsthat of the Gomati, I think it probable that the term mayhav e been intended only as an epithet of the Gomati, asthe .t itapdp a , or

“ Sin-cleanser,”in allusion to the

legend of Rama’

s purification . An annual fair is held hereon the l 0th day on the waning moon of JJesik at whichtime it 18 said that about fifty thousand people assemble to

bathe 1n the far-renowned pool of Dhopa'

pa .

The site of Dhopdp 1s ev idently one of v ery considerable antiquity, as the whole country for more than half a

mile around it is cov ered wiih broken bricks and pottery .

The place is said to hav e belonged to the BMW Rajas of

c abhavanap ara or Sultanpur, but the only name that I

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

could hear of as specially connected with Dhopdp , was that

of Raja Hel or B ela. The v illage of .DhOpdp -par is now a

v ery small one, containing less than 200 houses ; but theyare all built of burnt brick, and numerous foundations arev isible on all sides near the Gomati R iv er. Sev eral carv ed

stones hav e been collected by the people from the ruinedwalls of the fort of Garlzd. Amongst them I observ ed the

following z— l st, a broken pilaster with two human figures2nd, a stone bracket ; 3rd, a square capital of pillar ; dtb,a four-bracket capital of a pillar ; 5ih, two stones w ithsocket holes for iron cramps. All of these stones pointunmistakably to the existence at some former period of a

large temple at Dhopap, which was probably situated imme

diately abov e the bathing ghat. It seems almost certain,

howev er, that there must once hav e been a considerablenumber of temples at this place, for the whole of the easternwall or riv er front of the fort of Garha

'

i has been built orfaced with square stones, which, by their carv ings and

cramp-holes, show that they belonged to Hindu temples.

The fort of Garlia'

is situated to the north of the v illageon a lofty natural mound ov erhanging the R iv er Gomati onthe east . To the north and south the place isdefended by twodeep rav ines supplied with running water, and to the westby a deep dry rav ine. The position is, therefore, a strongone ; for, although the neighbouring mounds to the northand west rise to nearly the same height, yet they once formed part of the city, which can only be approached ov ermuchlow and broken ground . The strength of the position wou ldseem to hav e early attracted the notice of the MuhammadanKi ngs of Delhi, as the fort is stated to hav e been rep a ired

by Salim Shah, whilst a v ery old ruinous masj id stands on

the west mound . The fort itself is a small place, its northernface being only 550 feet long, its eastern and western

faces 550 feet each, whilst its south face is but 250 feet.The greater part of the stone work of the south-east tower hasfallen into the riv er, where many of the stones are now lying,and much of the eastern wall has also disappeared, the stonesbeing v ery v aluable in a stoneless country for the sharpeningof tools of all kinds. The entrance gate was on the southside, near the riv er bastion justmentioned . I obtained coinsof many of the early Muhammadan Kings, from Naseruddin Mahmud Ghori down to Akbar, but not a single

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DIIOPAPAPURA SAKETA, OR AJ‘

UDIIYA .

specimen of any Hindu coinage, although I was informedthat coins bearing figures are found ev ery year duung therainy season.

I may here mention that I heard of another place ofH indu pilgrimage on the north bank of the Gomati R iv er,at a spot called Set-B arma, that is Sweta Vardha, or the

white Bear,”1 5 Ices, or 30 miles, from Sultanpur towards

Lucknow . Two annual fairs are held there,— 1 8t, on the ninthday of the waxing moon of Chaitra, and the 2nd, on the

fifteenth day of the waxing moon of Kartik, when it is saidthat about fifty thousand people assemble to bathe. The

former period is connected with the history of Rama Chandra, as it is commonly known as the R dm-nav ami Tirath or

Bama’

s ninth (day) place of pilgrimage.

” I could not

learn anything regarding the O1 igin of the nameof SetB ardh.

xv n . SAKETA, OR AJUDHYA.

Much difficulty has been felt regarding the position ofFa-Hian’

s great kingdom of Ska-chi, and of Hwen Thsang’

s

Visa/aha”

, with its enormous number of heretics,”or Brah

manists ; but I hope to show in the most satisfactory mannerthat these two places are identical, and that they are also

the same as the Sdketa and Aj udhya of theH indus. The dithculty has arisen chiefly from an erroneous bearing recordedby Fa Hian, who places Shewei, or Srdv asti, to the south of

S/za chi, while Hwen Thsang locates it to the north east, and

partly from his erroneousc,

distance of 7 3+ yoj ans,instead of 30, from the well-known city of Sankisa. The

bearing is shown to be erroneous by the route of a Hindupilgrim from the banks of the Godav ery to Semet, or Sm

”

Oasti, as recorded in the Ceylonese Buddhist works.

‘ Thispilgrim, after passing through Mahissati and Ujani, or

Maheshmati and Ujain, reaches Kosambi, and from thencepasses through Sciketa to Semet, that is, along the v eryroute followed by Hwen Thsang . We hav e, therefore, twoauthorities in fav our of Sewet being to the north of sakct.WVith regard to the distance, I refer again to the Buddhistbooks of Ceylon, in which it is recorded that from Sakesp ura

(or Sangkcwyap ura , now Sankisa) to Sewetwas a journey of

Hardy,“ Manual of Buddhism, p. 334.

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

30 y/oj ans. Now, Fa H ian makes the distance from Sank isa

to Kanoj 7 yqicms, thence to the forest of Hal l, on the

Ganges, 3 yoj ans, and thence to Shachi 10 yoj ans, or a lto

gether only 20 yoj ans, or 10 less than the Ceylonese books.

’

That Fa Hian’

s statement is erroneous is quite clear fromthe fact that his distance would place Shachi in the neighbourhood of Lucknow ; whereas the other distance wouldplace it close to Ajudhya, or Faizabad, or in the v ery positionindicated by Hwen Thsang

’

s itinerary . Here, again, we

hav e two authorities in fav our of the longer distance. I hav e

no hesitation, therefore, in declaring that Fa Hian’

s recordedbearing of She-wei from Sha-chi is wrong, and that northshould be read instead of south.

”

I hav e now to show that Fa Hian’s She-chi is the same

as Hwen Thsang’

s Viscikha , and that both are identical withSriketa or Aj udhya . With respect to Ska-chi, Fa H ianrelates that, on

“ leav ing the town by the southern gate , you

find to the east of the road the place where Buddha bit off ap iece of his teeth brush, and planted it in the ground, whereit grew to the height of sev en feet, and nev er increased or

diminished in size . Now this is precisely the same legendthat is related of Visa/aha by Hwen Thsang, who says thatto the south of the capital , and to the left of the road(that is, to the east as stated byFa Hian), there was, amongstother holy objects, an extraordinary tree 6 or 7 feet high,which always remained the same, neither growing nor decreasiug .

‘r This is the celebrated tooth-brush tree of Buddha, to

which I shall hav e occasion to refer presently . Here Ineed only notice the v ery precise agreement in the two des

criptions of this famous tree, as to its origin, its height, andits position . The perfect correspondence of these details appears to me to leav e no doubt of the identity of Fa H ian’

s

Shachi with the Visakha of Hwen Thsang .

With respect to the identification of Visakha with the

Saketa of the H indus, I rest my proofs chiefly on the following points — 1st, that Viscikha, the most celebrated of all

females in Buddhist history, was a resident of saketa beforeher marriage with Parana Varddhana, son of Mriga

'

ra , the

Beal'

s Fa Hian, pp. 71-72 and Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 301.

f Beal'

s Fa Hian, e. XIX and Julien’

s Hwen Theang, II., 291 .

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The identity of Sal em and Ayodhya has, I bel iev e,always been admitted ; but I am not aware that any proof

has yet been offered to establish the fact . Csoma-de-koros,in speaking of the place, merely says Saketcma or Ayo

dhya,”and H . H . Wilson, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, calls

Saketa the city Ayodhya .

”But the questionwou ld appear

to be set at rest by sev eral passages of the Ramayana and

and Raghuv ansa, in which Sdketnagara is distinctly calledthe capital of Raja D asaratha and his sons. But the fol

lowing v erse of the Ramayana, which was pointed out to meby a Brahman of Lucknow, will be sufficient to establish theidentity . Aswaj ita , father of Ka ikeyi, Offers to giv e his

daughter to Dasaratha, Rajah of Sdketanagara

Sa’

hetamnagaramRaj a na’

mna Dasaratha ball,

Ta’

smai deya’

mag/ (i Kanya’

Ka il 'eyi na'

ma toj ana'

.

The ancient city of Ayodhya or saketa is described inthe Ramayana as situated on the bank of the Saraya or

Sarj zt R iv er. It is said to hav e been 12 yoj ans, or nearly100 miles in circumference, for which we should probablyread 12 Ices, or 21 miles— an extent which the old city, withall itsgardens, might once possibly hav e cov ered . The distancefrom the Gup tdr Ghat on the west, to the Ram Ghat on thecast, is just 6 miles in a direct line ; and if we suppose thatthe city with its suburbs and gardens formerly occupied thewhole interv ening space to a depth of two miles, its circui twould hav e agreed exactly with the smaller measurement of1 2 hos. At the present day the people point to Ram Ghatand Guptar Ghat as the eastern and western boundaries ofthe old city, and the southern boundary they extend to

B hara t-Kund near B hadarsd, a distance of 6 Ices. But as

these limits include all the places Of pilgrimage, it wouldseem that the people consider them to hav e been formerlyinside the city, which was certa inly not the case. In the

Ai n Akbari, the old city is said to hav e measured loos

in length by 36 has in breadth, or in other words it cov eredthe whole of the Prov ince of Oudh to the south of the

Ghaghra R iv er.

‘ The origin of the larger number is obv ious.

The 1 2 g/Oj ans of the Ramayana, which are equal tobeing considered too small for the great city of Rama, theBrahmans simply added 100 has to make the size tally with

Gladwin’

s translation, IL, 32.

SAKETA, OR AJUDIIYA.

their own extrav agant notions. The present city of Ajudhya,which is confined to the north-east corner of the Old site, isjust two miles in length by about three-quarters Of a mile inbreadth ; but not one-half of this extent is occupied bybuildings, and the whole place wears a look of decay . Thereare no high mounds of ruins, cov ered with broken statuesand sculptured pillars, such as mark the sites of otherancient cities, but only a low irregularmassof rubbish heaps,from which all the bricks hav e been excav ated for the housesof the neighbouring city of Faizabad . This Muhammadancity, which is two miles and-a-half in length, by one mile inbreadth, is built chiefly of materials extracted from the ruinsof Ajudhya. The two cities together occupy an area of

nearly six squaremiles, or just about one-half of the probablesize of the ancient Capital of Rama . In Faizabad the onlybuilding of any consequence is the stuccoed brick tomb ofthe old Bhao Begam, whose story was dragged before thepublic during the famous trial of Warren Hastings. Faizahad was the capital of the first Nawabs of Oudh, but it wasdeserted by A saf-ud-daolah in A . D . 1 775.

According to the Ramayana, the city of Ayodhya was

founded by Manu, the progenitor of all mankind . In the

time of Dasaratha, the father of Rama, itwas fortified withtowers and gates, and surrounded by a deep ditch . No tracesof these works now remain, nor is it likely, indeed, that anyportion of the Old city should still exist, as the Ayodhya of

Rama is said to hav e been destroyed after the death of

Vrihadba la in the great war about B . C . 1426, after which itlay deserted until the time of Vikramaditya . According topopular tradition this Vikramaditya was the famous sakariPrince of Ujain , but as the H indus of the present day attri

bute the acts of all Vikramas to this one only, their opinionon the subject is utterly worthless. We learn, howev er, fromHwen Thsang that a powerful Prince of this name was

reigning in the neighbouring city of Srav asti, just one hundred years after Kanishka, or close to 78 A . D . , which wasthe ini tial year of the Sake era of Salivahana . As thisVikramaditya is represented as hostile to the Buddhists, hemust hav e been a zealous Brahmanist, and to him thereforeI would ascribe the re-building of Ayodhya and the restera

tion of all the holy places referring to the history of Rama,Tradition says that when Vikramaditya came to Ayodhya, he

R 2

ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

found it utterly desolate and ov ergrown with j anga l , but hewas able to discov er all the famous spots of Rama

’

s historyby measurements made from Lakshman Ghat on the Sada,according to the statements of ancient records. H e is said

to hav e erected 360 temples, on as many different spots,sacred to R ama, and Sitahis wife, to hisbrothers L akshm an,

B harata, and Satrughua , and to the monkey god H ana/mafi a .

The number of 360 is also connected wi th Saliv dhaua , as his

clansman the B ais .Rajp uts assert that he had 360Wiv es.

There are sev eral v ery holy Brahmmical temples aboutAjudhya, but they are all of modern date , and without anyarchitectural pretensions whatev er. But there can be no

doubt that most of them occupy the sites of more ancienttemples that were destroyed by the Musulmans. Thus.Rtimkot, or H anuma

‘

u Garhi, on the east side of the city, isa small walled fort surrounding a modern temple on the topof an ancient mound . The name Ramkot is certainly old,as it is connected with the traditions of the Maui P arbat,which will be hereaftermentioned but the temple of Hanu

man is not older than the time of Aurangzib. Ram Ghat,at the north-east corner of the city, is said to be the spotwhere Rama bathed, and Sargdwa

'

ri or Swargadwc‘

iri, the

Gate of Paradise .

”On the north-west is believ ed to be the

place where his body was burned . Within a few years agothere was still standing a v ery holy Banyan tree cal led A sa]:

B at, or the Griefiess Banyan,

”a name which was probably

connected with that of Swargadwa'

ri, in the belief thatpeople who died or were burned at this spot were at oncereliev ed from the necessity of future births. Close by is theL akshman Ghat, where his brother Lakshman bathed, andabout one-quarter of a mile distant, in the v ery heart of thecity, stands the JauamAsthctu , or Birth-place temple

”of

Rama. A lmost due west, and upwards of fiv e miles distant,is the Gup ta

’

r Ghat, with its group of modern white-washedtemples. This is the place where Lakshman is said to hav e

disappeared, and hence its name of Gup tair from Gup ta ,

which means hidden or concealed .

”Some say that it was

Rama who disappeared at this place, but this is at v ariancewith the story of his cremation at Swargadwari .

The only remains at Ajudhya that appear to be of anyantiquity, are three earthen mounds to the south of the city,and about a quarter of a mile distant. These are called

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ARCHE OLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

first is 1 7 feet long and the other 12 feet . These tombs arementioned by Abul Fazl , who says Near this city are two

sepul chral monuments, one sev en and the other six cubits 1 11length . The v ulgar pretend that they are the tombs of Sethand Job, and they relate wonderful stories of them. This

account shows that since the time of Akbar, the tomb ofSeth must hav e increased in length from 7 cubits, or

feet, to 1 7 feet through the frequent repairs of piousMusulmans.

The mounds are surrounded by Musulman tombs, and asit 18 theMuhammadan practice to bury the dead along the l desof the high roads close to their ci ties, I infer that the roadwhich now runs close to the westward of the mounds, 13 oneof the ancient high ways of the district . This is confirmedby the existence

b

of an old masonry bridge of three archeso v er the Tilahi ua la, to the north-west of the Mani-Parbat,as well as by the direction of the road itself, which leads

from the south-end of the city straight to the Bharat-kund,and onwards to Sultz

'

tnpur or Kasup ura , and Allahabad or

Frayage . I notice this road thusminutely, because the ident1hcat10ns which I am about to propose are based partly onits position and direction, as 11 ell as on the general agreementof the existing remains with the holy places described by theChinese pilgrims.

According to Fa Hian the place where Buddha plantedthe holy trees

o

was to the east of the road, on issuing fromthe town by the southern gate. Hwen Thsang

’

8 accountagrees with this exactly 111 placing the extraordinary tree”

to the south of the capital and to the lefl of the rou te.

This tree was the celebrated tooth brush,”or twig used 111

cleaning the teeth, which hav ing been cast away by Buddha,took root and grew to between 6 and 7 feet in height . Now,

it will be observ ed that the ruined mounds that still exist,as well as the tombs of Seth and Job, are to the south of

the city and to the east or left of the road. The position,

therefore, 18 unmistakably the same as that described by theChinese pilgrims, and as the actual state of the ruins agreeswell with the details giv en by Hwen Thsang, I think thatthere can be no reasonable doubt Of their identity.

Hwen Thsang describesthe city of Visdkha as being 16 li,O1 miles 111 circuit . In his time, therefore, the capital of

enema “11mAkbari," H.

, 33.

SAKETA, OR smears .

Rama was notmore than half of its present size, although itprobably contained a greaterpopulation, asnotabov e one-third,or ev en perhaps less, of the present town is inhabited . The

Old city then possessed no less than twenty monasteries withthree thousand monks and about fifty Brahmanical temples,with a v ery large Brahmanical population . From thisaccountwe learn that so early as the sev enth centurymore thanthree hundred of the original temples of Vikramaditya hadalready disappeared, and we may therefore reasonably inferthat the city had been gradually declining for some timeprev iously . The Buddhist monuments, howev er, wouldappear to hav e been in good Order, and the monks were justas numerous as in the eminently Buddhist city of Banaras.

The first monument described by Hwen Thsang is agreat monastery without name, but as it wasthe only notablemonastery, it was most probably either the K alalcara’maof Saketa, or the I

’urv vardma, both of which are mentioned

in the Ceylonese Mahawanso. The monks were of the

school of the Samattiyas, and their monastery was famousfor hav ing produced three of the most eminent Buddhistcontrov ersialists. Thismonastery I would identify with the

Sugrib Parbat which I hav e already described asbeing about500 feet long by 300 feet broad . The great size and rectangular form of this ru in are sufficient to show that it musthav e been a monastery, but this is placed beyond all doubtby the existence of an interior well and by the remains ofcloistered rooms forming the four sides of the enclosure.

Its position to the south of the city, and to the east or leftof the road, has already been specially noticed as agreeingwith the recorded position of the monastery.

Beside the monastery there was a Stup a of Asoka, 200feet in height, built on the spot where Buddha preached thelaw during his six years

’

residence at Silketa. This menument I woul d identify with the Maui-Parbat

,which is still

65 feet in height, and which with itsmasonry facing mustonce hav e been at least as high again, and with the usual

lofty pinnacle of metal may easily hav e reached a height of200 feet. Hwen Thsang ascribes the erection of this menument to Asoka, and I see no reason to question the accuracyof his statement, as the mixed structure of half earth and

half masonry must undoubtedly be v ery ancient. The car

liest Stup as, or topes,were simple earthenmoundsor barrows,

perhaps, be of use hereafter in fixing the age of othe1Princes and their works.

‘

XIX. SABET-MAHET, OR SBAVASTI .

The position of the famous city of Sra'

vasti , one of the

most celebrated places in the annals of Buddhism, has longpuzzled our best scholars. This was owing partly to the con

tradictory statements of the Chinese pilgrims themselv es,and partly to the want of a good map of the Prov ince of

Oudh. In page 31 7 I hav e compared the bearings and

distances recorded by Fa Hian and Hwen Thsang with thosepreserv ed in the Buddhist annals of Ceylon, and I hav eshewn conclusiv ely that Fa Hian’

s distance from Sank isa

and his hearing from Shachi or Sci/set are both erroneous.

We know fromHwen Thsang and the Buddhist books inCeylon that Srdvasti was to the north of Sabet orAyodhya , or

in other words, that it was in the District of Gouda or Uttara

Kosa la, which is confirmed by the statements of no less thanfour of the Brahmanical Puranas. As Fa Hian also saysthat Shewei or Semet was in Kosala, there can be no doubtwhatev er that Srav asti must be looked for within a few days’

journey to the northward of Salset or Ayodhya . Accordingto Fa H ian the distance was 8 yoj anas, or 56 miles, whichis increased by Hwen Thsang to 500 ll, or 83 miles. B ut as

the latter pilgrim reduced the Indian yojana to Chinesemeasure at the rate of 40 ll per yoj ana , I would correct hisdistance by the nearest round number of 350 li or 58 milesto bring it into accordance with the other. Now, as this isthe exact distance from Ajudhya of the great ruined city on

Since this account was written, 1 hav e found the name of Mora-dhaj attached to sev eralother places, especially t o an old ru1ned fort in Rohilkhand

,which is still named Mora-dhaj ,

and which will be describe d111 Volume II. In SirHenry Elliot’sMuhammadan Histm'ians,Volume II. , p. 513, will be found a detailed account of the mad expedition of sumMusand ,

which, although a. late compilation of the traditions current in the reign of Jahangir, is pro

bably correct in its general outlines. According t o this account Shldr Musaud, after an

engagement with t he Hindus, reste d under the shade of a Mahwa tree, on the bank o f the

Suraj-kund, close t o the idol temple of Bel larukh. The place was sev eral marches distantfrom Bahraich

, as he returned to Bahraich from the Suraj-kund by reg ular stages.

”

As he had t aken a great fancy t o the spot, he oxdered a platform of masonry to be built

under the shade of the Mahwa tree to serv e 111111 for a seat. Apparently, this was the scene

of h1s death, as, during the battle. he d1reeted h1s fo llowers to throw the bodies of the dead

believ ers into the Suray-kund, wh1le the few troops that rema med stood round him in t he

garden . l l is chief opponent in this last battle wasRai Sahar Dec, who is clearly the

same as Sakri Da l or Soh1l Dco, of my informants. Musand’a tomb is at B ahraich, but this

was not built until two centuries later. The tomb at Asekpur, may, I think, he that of

has relativ e S.

’

11.1r Saifuddin, who was lu lled 111 the same battle.

7 Beal'

s Fa 0. XIX. XX. and Juhcn'

s Hwen Thsang, IL,292.

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sanEr-m nsr, on snav asrl .

the south bank of the Rapti, called Sa’

laet Mdbet, in whichI discov ered a colossal statue of Buddha with an inscriptionconta ining the name of Srav asti itself, I hav e no hesitationin correcting Hwen Thsang

’

s distance from 500 It? to 350 lias proposed abov e.

The ruined city of Sahet Mahet is situated betweenAkaoua and Balrz‘tmpur, at 5miles from the former and 12miles from the latter, and at nearly equi-distances fromBahraich and Gouda In shape it is an almost semi-circularcresent, with its diameter of one mile and a third in lengthcurv ed inwards and facing the north-east, along the old bankof the Rapti R iv er. The western front, which runs due

north and south, for three-quarters of a mile, is the onlystraight portion of the enclosure . The ramparts v ary con

siderably in height ; those to the west being from 35 to 410

feet in height, while those on the south and east are notmorethan 25 or 30 feet. The highest point is the great north-westbastion, which is 50 feet abov e the fields. The north-eastface, or shorter curv e of the cresent, was defended by theIlapti, which still flows down its old bed during the annual

floods. The land ramparts on the longer curv e of the cresentmust once hav e been defended by a ditch, the remains of

which yet exist as a swamp, nearly half amile in length, at

the south-west corner. Ev erywhere the ramparts are

cov ered with fragments of brick, of the large size peculiarto v ery ancient cities ; and, though I was unable to trace anyremains of walls except in one place, yet the v ery presenceof the bricks is quite sufficient to show that the earthenrampartsmust once hav e been crowned by brick parapetsand battlements. The portion of the parapet wall , which Idiscov ered still standing in the middle of the riv er face, was10 feet thick . The whole circuit of the old earthen ramparts,according to my surv ey, is feet, or upwards of 3}miles. Now, this is the exact size of 20 or 333 miles whichHwen Thsang giv es to the palace alone; but as the city wasthen derserted and in ruins, he must hav e mistaken the cityitself for the palace.

‘ It is certain at least that the

suburbs outside thewallsmust hav e been v ery limited, indeed— as the place is almost entirely surrounded with the remains

See plate No. L , for a map of the ruins of Sni v asti, and compare Julien s Hwen

Theang, Il ., 93.

anonmonoercu nnronr, 1862-63.

of large religious buildings, which would hav e left but littleroom for any priv ate dwellings. I am therefore qu ite satisfied

that the city has been mistaken for the palace ; and this

mistake is sufficient to show how utterly ruined this once

famous city must hav e been at so distant a period as the 7thcentury, when the placewas v isited by Hwen Thsang . As Fa

IIian describes the population as already v ery inconsiderablein A . D . 400, while the Ceylonese annals“ speak of Kfiird

dhara, Ki ng of Sawatthip ura, between A . D . 275 and 302,

the great decline of Srav asti must hav e taken place duringthe fourth century, and we may, perhaps, not be farwrong inconnecting it with the fall of the Gupta Dynasty in A . I) .

319 .

Srdv asti is said to hav e been built by Raja Srdv asta , theson of Yuv andewa of the Solar race, and the tenth in descentfrom Surya himself. Its foundation therefore reaches to thefabulous ages of Indian History, long anterior to Rama .

During this early period itmost probably formed part of thekingdom of Ayodhya, as theVayu Parana assigns it to Lav a,thc

o

son of Rama. When Srav asti next appears in history,in the time of Buddha it was the capital of King Prasenaj it,the son of Maha Kosela. The King became a conv ert to

the new fai th, and during the rest of his life he was the

firm friend and protector of Buddha. Buthis sonVirudhaka

hated the race of sakyas, and his inv asion of their countryand subsequent massacre of 500 sakya maidens, who had

been selected for his harem, brought forth the famous pre

diction of Buddha, that within sev en days the King wouldbe consumed by fire. As the story has been preserv ed byBuddhists, the prediction was of course fulfilled, and upwardsof eleven centuries afterwards the tank 111 which the Kinghad sought to av oid the flames was pointed out to the cre

dulous Hwen Thsang.

We hearnothing more of Srav asti until onecentury afte1Kanishka, or fiv e centuries after Buddha, when, accordingto Hwen Thsang, Vikramaditya, King of Srav asti, becamc

a persecutor of Buddhists, and the famous Manorhita

author of the Vibkdsha Sdstra , being worsted in argumcmby the Brahmans, put himself to deathxl

' During the reigr

Bengal Asiatic Society’

s Journal, 1838, p. 805.

7Jalien’s Hwen Theang, IL, 1 15.

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Anenmomereu . REPORT, 1862-63.

lengthened pronunciation of Set-met. One man alone, and

he, strange to say, was the Musalman 1n charge of the tombof Pir-Barana close to the ruined city, affirmed that the

true name was Savitri, which 18 so close to the correct Paliform of Sawatthi as to leav e but little doubt that it preserv esthe original name of the place.

The next point of difference is the distance of the cele

brated monastery of Jetav ana from the south gate of the

city . According to Fa H ian this was paces, or about

half a mile, which is increased by Hwen Thsang to 5 or 6 l i,or nearly one mile. But as the only mass of ruins whichcan possibly be identified with the Jetav ana is exactly half amile from the nearest opening in the south rampart of the old

city, there is clearly some mi stake in the distance giv en byHwen Thsang, unless we may suppose him to hav e approachedthe monastery by a somewhat longer route through the

multitude of holy places, of which the remains still exist tothe east of the Jetav ana ruins. By this route the distancewould be increased to three-quarters of a mile, or44 111, whichis sufficiently close to the number giv en by Hwen Thsang .

Both pilgrims begin their account of Srdv asti at the

old palace of King P rasenaj ita, and as both, after describingthe surrounding buildings leav e the city by the south gate, itis certain that the palace was inside the city . Its exact position I was unable to determine, as the greater part of the

interior is cov ered with dense jangal ; but as the east half 18

comparativ ely clear, and the jangal low, I was able to satisfymyself that no large building had ev er existed 111 this part,and consequently that the place must hav e been 111 the west

half of the city . This conclusion is confirmed by the position of the two stup as of Sudatta and the Anguli-malyas,which Hwen Thsang places to the east of the palace ; for asthe only existing mounds that can be identified with thesestup as are near the middle of the riv er face of the city, thepalace must hav e been to the west of them, and therefore inthe west half of the city .

The two principal places inside the city, which are men

tioned by both pilgrims as being to the east of the palace,were the dwelling-house and stup a of Sudatta, the builderof the Jetav ana, and the great stup a of the Anguli-ma

‘

lyas.

These stup as I hav e already identified with the two existing

SAHET-MAIIET, on snav as'rr.

mounds near the middle of the riv er face of the ramparts.

The smaller one,which is about 25 feet in height, correspondswith the stup a of Sudatta, and the larger one, which is 35feet in height, with the other stup a , which is particularlystated to hav e been a larger one. The Anguli-mdlyaa werethe followers of a particular sect which was established by aconv erted brigandwho had receiv ed the name of Anguli-mrilaor finger garland,

”from his practice of cutting off the

fingers of his v ictims to form a garland which he woreround his neck .

On leav ing the city by the south gate, both pilgrimswentatonce to the eastern gate of the greatmonastery of Jetav ana ,which was one of the eight most celebrated Buddhist builddings in India. It was erected during the life-time ofBuddha by Sudatta , the minister of King Prasenap ta, andit receiv ed its name of Jetavana , or Jeta’

s garden,

” becausethe garden in which it was built had been purchased fromPrince Jeta. The story of the building is giv en by Hardyfrom the Ceylonese annals.1

' According to them the Prince,who was unwilling to part with his garden, demanded as its

priceasmany gold masurens as would cov er it, which Sudattaat once promised. When the garden was cleared, andall thetrees, except Sandal and Mango, were cut down, themoneywas brought and spread out ov er the ground until the wholewas cov ered, when the sum was found to be 18 Icotz

'

s, or 180

millions of maszorans. The garden in said to hav e beencubits in length and the same in breadth, or cubits incircuit. Extrav agant as the sum may seem, it is still toosmall to hav e cov ered the garden, if we are to take Mr.

Hardy’s cubits at 18 inches, as each maauran would be one

inch and eight-tenths in length and breadth, which is aboutthree times the size of the old Indian silv er coins. Unfortunately the dimensions of the Jetav ana are not stated eitherby Fa Hian or Hwen Thsang ; but the ruined mound of the

monastery still exists, and its dimensions do not exceedfeet in length by 700 feet in breadth. Now,

it is curious

In Remusat’

s translationofT a Hian’s trav els, it is stated that the town has two gates,

one facing the east, and the other the north.

"As the south gate is mentioned by both

p i lgrims, it was certain that this statement was erroneous. Mr. Be al

'

s more accurate trans

lation shows that the two gates thus described belong to the Vihara and not to the city.

The position of the north gate is distmctly indicated by a depression in the centre of thatsale .

Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p . 216.

anonzsonoeron . nsroa'r, 1862-63.

that these numbers giv e an area which is only one-third of

the size of that recorded in the Ceylonese annals, and w hi chtherefore would be exactly cov ered by 180millions of old

Indian silv er coins, allowing rather more than half an inchfor the length and breadth of each coin. The amount saidto hav e been paid for the garden is of course only the u sual

extrav agant style of Indian exaggeration, for the sum of 18

Icotis, ev en if taken at the lowest v alue of gold as ten times

that of silv er, would be equal to 415 krors of rupees, or 45

millions sterling.

The Jetav ana is described in the Ceylonese annals as

consisting of a central m’

hd‘

r, or temple, with surroundinghouses for priests, rooms for day and night, an ambulatory,tanks, and gardens of fruit and flower trees, and around thewhole a wall 18 cubits in height. According to this description the Jetav ana must hav e included not only the greatruined mound now called Jogini-baria , but all the ru in s to

the east and north of it, unless it extended to the westward,where there are no remains at present existing. But as I can

show thatmost of the ruins to themat correspond with thedescriptions which Fa Hian and Hwen Thsang hav e giv en of

many of the holy places outside the Jetav ana, it is certainthat the original monastery must hav e been confined to theJogz

’

ni-baria only, and that the other buildings, with the

tanks and gardens, were outside the walls of the Jeta v ana

itself, although it ismost probable that many of them were

connected together by different enclosing walls. When theJetav ana was completed by Sudatta, the Prince Jeta expendedthe whole of his purchase-money in adding a palace, sev enstoreys in height, to each of the four sides of the garden.

It is probably to these palaces that Fa Hian refers when he

states that the temple of Shi-kwa/n” (read Skate-hman, or

Jetav ana) had originally sev en storeys. Canopies and

streamers were hung up, flowers were scattered, perfumes

burned, lanterns supplied the place of day, and ev en in daytime were nev er extinguished . A rat hav ing taken into itsmouth the wick of one of these lanterns, set fire to the

flags and to the drapery of the pav ilions, and the sev en

storeys of the temple were utterly consumed .

” This occurredsome time before A . D . 400, as Fa Hian adds that “ theyre-constructed the temple, and when they had completed thesecond storey, they installed the statue in its former place.

”

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monmomexcu . nsroar, 1862-63.

Near this temple there are three brick wells : the largesto the north is octagonal, abov e with a side of feet, antcircular below at a depth of 12feet. The second, to thc

south which is circular, is only 34} feet in diameter ; and thc

third, still farther to the south, is also circular, wi th a dia .

meter of 6% feet . It is curious that all these wells, whi cl:

are the only ones known to the people, are in the sou th-west

corner of the enclosure.

A third mound near the north end of the central line'

of the e nclosure gav e promise of a better result than the

others, as a prev ious excav ation had disclosed the head andshoulders of a colossal figure, which from its curly hair andlong split ears I knew to be that of Buddha . I was assured,howev er, that the Jains, who come annually to Sabet in

great numbers during the months of Magh and Baisakh,look upon the statue as belonging to themselv es. But myexperience hav ing taught me that Jains are nomore partionlar than Brahmans as to the figures that they worship , Ibegan to dig in the certain expectation of finding a v ery oldBuddhist statue, and with a strong hope of discov ering some

inscription on its pedestal that might, perhaps, be of v alue in

determining the name and probable date of these longdeserted ruins. After a few hours’ work the four walls ofthe temple were brought to light, and the figure was seen to

be leaning against the back wall . The interior was only 7a}feet square, but the walls were upwards of 41 feet thick, witha projection of 6 inches in the middle of each face. The

front wall to the east was thicker than the rest by one foot,which was the breadth of the jamb of the doorway. The

extreme outside dimensions were 1 9 feet by 18 feet, whichwould giv e a probable height of between 60 and 70 feet .As the excav ation proceeded it was seen that the statue wasa standing figure which had been broken off a few inchesabov e the ancles by the fall of the temple. After the figure

was remov ed with much difficulty on account of its greatweight, and the floor of the temple had been cleared, it wasseen that the pedestal of the statue was still standing erectin its original position. The floor was pav ed with large

stones, and immediately in front of the pedestal there was a

Beal’

s Fa Hian,c. XX, p. 79.

—As the “chap

el of the Jetav ana is said to hav e beer

placed in the exact centre of it,” I think that this temple must be the famous Vihara o

Sudatta. In the plan of the ruins the Jetavana ismarked with the letter F.

sansr-m ns'r, on smv asrr.

long flat slab 32feet by 1} foot, with a pair of hollow footmarks in the centre and two sunken panels on each side. At

the back of the incised feet towards the pedestal there was arough hollow, feet long by 41 inches broad, which, judgingfromwhat I hav e seen in Burma,must once hav e held a longstone or metal frame for the reception of lights

'

in front ofthe statue. But all this arrangement was certainly of laterdate than the statue itself, for on opening up the floor it wasfound that the B uddha-pad slab concealed the lower twohues of an inscription, which fortunately had been thus

preserv ed frommjury, while the third or uppermost line hadbeen almost entirely destroyed.

The statue is a colossal standing figure of Buddha theTeacher, 7 feet 41 inches in height . His left hand restson his hip, and his right hand is raised in the act of teaching . The right shoulder 1s bare as in all Buddhist figures,and there is the usual aureole or nimbus round the head ;close to the neck there are two small holes cut throughthe nimbuswhich, being larger in front than behind, wereev idently intended formetal cramps to fix the statue to thewall . Unfortunately the head is broken, as well as both

arms, but the body of the figure is uninjured. The attitudeis stiff and restrained, the two feet being exactly in the sameposition and somewhat too far apart. The statue 1s of spottedred sandstone, such as is found in the quarries near Mathuraand Fatehpur Sikri ; and aswe know from recent discov eriesthat the sculptor’3 art was in a v ery flourishing state at

Mathura during the first centuries of the Christian era, Ifeel satisfied that the Srdv asti colossus must hav e beenbrought from that city . The inscription 1s imperfect at thebeginning just where it must hav e contained the date. It

now opens with the figure 10and some unit of the Guptanumerals, which must be the day of the month, and thenfollow the words etaye p aw aya, whi ch Professor Dowsonthinksmust mean on this notable occasion,

”or some equi

v al ent expression.

’ Then come the names of the donorsof the statue, threemendi cantmonks, named Puskp a, Siddhg/aAl i/aim , and B ala Trep itaka next follow the title of

B oddhisatwa , the name of the place, Srdvasti, and the nameof Buddha as Bkagav ata . The inscription closes with the

Bengal Asiatic Society’s Journal, 1863, p. 427.

sacnzsow ercar. nsroa'r, 1862-63.

statement that the statue is the accepted gift of the Sa rcas

i idina teachers of the Kosamba hall .“ Judging from t he

old shapes of some of the letters in this record, the age of

the statue may be fixed with some certainty as not la terthan thefirst century of the Christian era. The characters areexactly the same as those of theMathura inscriptions, which,without doubt, belong to the v ery beginning of the Christianera, and as the Stav asti statue was in all probabili ty execu tedatMathura, thecorrespondence of the lapidarycharacters showsthat the inscriptionsmustbelong to the same period . A s th ere

is no mention of this statue in Fa Hian’

s narrativ e, I con

clude that the temple in which it stood must hav e fallendown in the great conflagration which destroyed the sev en

storyed av ilions. But the account of Fa H ian is not v eryintelligib e. He states that the original image of Buddha

was“ the head of an ex carv ed in sandal-wood ; that on

Buddha’s approach the statue rose and went to meet him,

”

and that when Buddha said return and be seated, the

statue returned and sat down .

”The origin of this rather

puzzling account must, I believ e, be traced to a mistake,either of Fa Hi an himself, or of his translator. In SanskritGosirsha or Bull

’

s head” is the name of the most fragrantkind of sandal-wood, and as we know that the famous earlystatue of Buddha at Kosambi wasmade of this v ery wood,it is natural to conclude that the earliest statue at Sri v asti

may hav e been made of the same material . As this is theonly figure of Buddha noticed by Fa Hian, I infer that thecolossal stone figure which I discov ered must hav e beenburied beneath the ruins of its own temple some time beforeA . D . 4100, and most probably, therefore, during the greatfire whi ch destroyed the whole monastery. It was concealedalso at the time of Hwen Thsang

’

s v isit in A . D . 632, as

he specially mentions that the only temple then standingamidst the ruins of the monastery was a small brick housecontaining a statue of Buddha in sandal-wood . The statuenow discov ered was therefore not v isible in his time.

Both pilgrims entered the garden of the monasteryby the east side, and al though I was unable to find any cer.

tain trace of anOpening, I am quite satisfied that there must

This inscription has been tmnslatcxl by Professor Dowson in the R oyal AsiaticSociety a Journ al for 1870.

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ARCHE OLOGICAL nnron'r, 1862-63.

To the east of the monastery, at a distance of 1 00 pacc

or 250 feet, there was a large deep trench, which was sa

to be the spot where the earth had Opened and engu lfi

D ev adatta, the cousin and implacable enemy of Buddh.

Fa Hian calls the distance only 70 paces, or less than 2(

feet, in a northerly direction from the east gate of themona

tery. But as the two pillars and the stupa, whi ch hav e ju:been described, stood in the v ery position here indicated hFa Hian, it is certain that wemust read southerly .

”Th

accuracy of this correction is confirmed by the existencea large deep tank within 200 feet of the south-east come

of the ruined monastery, called Bhula’

nan. This tank i

600 feet long and 250 feet broad, and is now filled wit]

water. Close by, on the south side, there was another grea

hollow, inwhich it was said that the mendicant monk Kukdla

a disciple of Dev adatta, had been swallowed up aliv e fo

calumniating Buddha. This is represented by the L atTttt, a long narrow tank only 200 feet to the south of thc

Dev adatta gulf. The third great fissure or hollow is described by Hwen Thsang as being at 800 paces, or feet

to the south of the second . According to the legend thi

was the Spot in which a Brahmani girl, named Chanchd

had been engulfed aliv e for falsely accusing Buddha of inoon

tinence. This Chanckci gulf is represented by a namelesdeep tank, 600 feet long by 400feet broad, whi ch liesfeet to the south of the Kukali gulf. The exact correspondence of position of these three tanks with the three

great fissures or gulfs of the Buddhist legends offers a v eqstrong confirmation of the correctness of identification 0

the Jogz'm-baria mound with the great Jetav ana monastery .

The pilgrims next describe a pair of temples of th(

same dimensions, of which one was situated to the camand the other to the west of the road, which should therefore he the main road that led from the city towards the

south. Hwen Thsang says that the first temple was only70paces to the east of the monastery, while Fa Hian placesit at the same distance from the eastern gate, but towardsthe north. The position of these temples is doubtful , as

I was unable to discov er any remains in the immediatev icinity of the monastery that corresponded with thc

Those tanks aremarked P, Q , and R in the plan.

SMIET-MAHET, on SRAVAS’I‘I .

description. There are, howev er, in another position theremains of two temples which answer the description so

accurately as to leav e but little doubt that they must be thebuildings in question. The first, or west temple is describedby both pilgrims as containing a seated figure of Buddha,while the second or cast temple belonged to the Brahmans.

Both were 60 feet in height, and the Brahminical temple wascal led the shadow-cov ered,

” because, as the credulous Buddhists asserted , it was cov ered by the shadow of the Buddhisttemple when the sun was in the west, while its own shadow,

when the sun was in the east, nev er cov ered the Buddhisttemple, but was always deflected to the north . Now, the

two ruins which I would identify with these temples aresituated to the east and west of the road leading from the

city, and due east and west from each other) “ They correspond, therefore, exactly as to the relativ e position with eachother ; but instead of being only 70 paces, or 1 75 feet, fromthe monastery, the nearest is nearly 700 feet from the greatmound of ruins. It is highly probable, howev er, that thesurrounding walls of the monastery may hav e extended as

far as the two stone pillars on the east, in which case thenearest temple mound would be within 250 feet of the walls,and the whole enclosure would then v ery nearly correspondin size with the dimensions recorded in the Ceylonese annals.

As this increased size would also bring two tanks withinthe limitsof the monastery, which, according to the Cinga lese,were actually included within the walls, I feel inclinedto adopt the larger measurement of cubits side, or

cubits circuit, as the true size of the Great Jetav anaMonastery.

To the north-west of the monastery Hwen Thsangplaces a well and a small stup a , which marked the spotwhere M mdgala-p utra tried in v ain to unloose the girdle ofS rirz

’

p utra . As the distance is not mentioned it may beinferred that the stup a was close by, and therefore I wouldidentify the site with that of the shrine of P ir-B ardna in

the small v illage of Husen Jot, which is within 700 feetof the north-west corner of the monastery. )

L Near the

same place there was also a stup a of Asoka , and a stone

These sites are marked S and T in the plan.

1' Marked K in the plan.

ARCH/EOLOGICAL nsronr, 1802-63.

pillar, which the King had raised to note the spot who]

Buddha and his right-hand disciple Sariputra had takeexercise and explained the law. I could find no trace c

any of these monuments, and I conclude that the stupa

as usual, must hav e furnished materials for the erection

P ir-B ardna’

s shrine .

The situation of the next holy place, whi ch both pi]

grims cal l the Wood of the Recov ered Eyes, is fixed a

4 172, or two-thirds of a mi le, to the north-west of the monas

tory .

‘ This position is now represented exactly by the v i l lagof R dj gark Gulariya , which is situated in the mi dst ofv ery large grov e of trees. The present grov e is said to hav .

been planted only two generations back, but the trees abouthe v illage itself are of great age, and the name of Gula riy¢points to some remarkable Gular tree as more ancient thatthe v i llage itself. The legend attached to this spot is sufii .

ciently marv ellous. Fiv e hundred brigands hav ing beer

blinded by order of King Prasenajita, attracted the com.

miseration of Buddha, Who restored their sight . The fiv e

hundred men who had thus recov ered their eye-sight, thre“

away their stav es, or, according to Fa Hian, planted thenin the ground, when they immediately took root, and grew

to be a large grov e, which was called the Wood of th(

Recov ered Eyes.

”The monks of Jetav ana were in th(

habit of repairing to this grov e for exercise and meditationand all the spots which holy Buddhists had made famou s

by their meditations were marked by inscriptions or bystup as. There is one small brick mound to the east of tlu

grov e, but I could find no trace of any inscriptions, althoughrewards were offered for ev en a single letter.

We now come to the second great monument of Sra v astithe celebrated P urv v a

’

rcima, or Eastern Monastery, wh ickwas built by the lady Visci lcka

’

, who has already been men

tioned in my account of Saket, orAyodhya . Fa Hi an placesthis monument at 6 or 7 li, or rather more than a mile, tethe north-east of the Jetav ana. But this hearing is certainlywrong, as it would carry us right into the middl e 01

the old city . I would therefore read south-east,”which

Beal’s Fa Hian, p. 78, and Julien’s Hwen Thsang, II 308.

—In this insta nce, tu.latter pilgrim has omitt ed to giv e his usual transl itera tion of the name in Chinese afl lal dt sM. Juhen proposes ciphmclmm iw but I prefer dphilshiran u, or dptciukha v ana , “ hielr 1

think may he the ori ginal name of the neighbouring town of ALimona or Ant/watt, whicL1s only three miles distamt.

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ancnazomeroAL nsron'r, 1862-63.

brick temple. Within the last century a Musalman faki

who had liv ed under the trees at the foot of the mound, w:

buried in a tomb on the v ery t0p of it, which was bui lt wit

the bricks of the ruin . Some years later his successor w:

buried beside him, and their two tombs at present precludall hope of making any excav ation from the top of th

mound . I cleared the north face completely, and the oth

three faces partially, until I reached the pav ed brick fl oorin

which surrounded the original Buddhist temple, at a heighof 55 feet abov e the ground . The wall of the temple on th

north face is only 20 feet long, and, although I failed to reac

the other two corners of the building, I was satisfied that i

must hav e been square. Its height, at 34} times its sidewould not therefore hav e been more than 70 feet, but as itfloor is 55 feet abov e the ground, the total height of tht

temple would hav e been 125 feet. The wall of the nort]

face is div ided into four panels by pilasters six inches thickThe bases of these pilasters, which are still v ery perfect, an

of the same style as those at Gaya and Baragaon in B iharand of Manikyz

'

tla and Shah Dheri in the Panjab . The stqwould therefore seem to be one that was peculiar to earl;Buddhism. The other faces of the temple I was unable t4

examine, as the foundations of the Muhammadan tombwhich are only 2} feet abov e the broken walls of the templeproject 16 feet beyond its cast and west faces, Unfortunataly the doorway of the temple must hav e been towardthe east, as there are traces of steps at sev eral places dowr

the slope of that side. There is an old well also amongsthe trees on the east side of the mound, but I could find mtraces of cloisters for the resident monkswho ministered athe temPIe. The mound, howev er, is still surrounded by finttrees, and there are two small tanks at the v ery foot of itwhich would of course hav e been included within the limit:of themonastery .

The stupa mentioned by Hwen Thsang as belonging tc

the Pum drdma may perhaps be represented by a smal

ruined mound close to the north-east corner of the Ora-;iha’

r

The mound is only 8 feet high, but an excav ation whichI made to the depth of 1 1 feet, showed it to be made 01

solid bricks of large size, 12by 9 by 3 inches. It is 440 feetin diameter, and when complete with its pinnacle it must

hav e been about 50 or 60 feet in height . From its v icia it3

exam-m am, on snav as'rr.

to the Purv varama I hav e little doubt that this is the stup a

which Viodkkd built on the spot where Buddha had ov ercomethe Brahmans in argument.

‘

The last place mentioned by the pilgrims is the spotwhere King Virudhaka halted with h1s army to conv ersewith Buddha, and out of respect for the teacher gav e up his

expedition against the Sdkg/as, and returned to his capital .Hwen Thsang states that this famous spot was close to themonastery of Visttkha on the south side,while Fa Hian saysthat it was 4 li, or two-thirds of a mile, to the south-west ofthe city. The former is the more probable position, as it isto the south-east and on the high road to Kapilanagara, the

capital of the SAkyas. Close by there was a stupa to markthe spot where 500Salkya maidenswere afterwardsmassacredby Virudhaka for refusing to enter his harem. Near the

stup a there was a dry tank, or gul f, in which Virudhaka hadbeen swallowed up ? According to the legend, Buddha hadpredicted that Virudhaka would be destroyed by fire withinsev en days after the massacre. When the sev enth {dayarriv ed, the King, accompanied by hiswomen, proceed gailyto a large tank where he entered a boat, andwas rowed to themiddle of the water. But flames burst forth from the watersand consumed the boat, and the earth opened beneath the

tank, and Virudhaka fell aliv e into hell .” The only largepiece of water that I could find is a nameless tank close tothe south side of Visékha

’

s temple, and therefore in the v eryposition indicated by Hwen Thsang ; but there are no existing remains near it that could be indentified with the stup a

of the 500Sakya maidens.

The monuments of Srdvasti hitherto described by thepilgrims are directly connected with the personal history ofBuddha. The places where he sat and walked, where he

taught his law, and where he worsted the Brahmans in argu

ment, were all specially holy in the eyes of dev out Buddhists.

But these sacred monuments formed only a small portion of

the Buddhist buildings of the great city of Sfl v asti , where,according to Hwen Thsang, the monuments were counted byhundreds. Fa H1an, howev er, quotes a tradition which

0 Marked X in the plan.

1“ Marked Yand Z in the plan.

anonmomercu REPORT, 1862-63.

limited theirnumber to ninety-eight, at a period not t ermfrom his own time, and as he v isited the place n early tlcenturies and a half earlier than Hwen Thsang , w hen mtof themonasteries were in ruins, we may be sat isfied th

their number nev er reached one hundred ev en a t the 1mflourishing period of Buddhism. I traced the ru ins of ui

monasteries in the immediate neighbourhood o f the c

city, and there are probably asmany more within a. range

two miles. I found also the foundations of at least ttemples of v arious sizes, but they were all in too rui nous

state to be of any interest. But when I remember that tJetav ana itself, as well as nearly the whole of the ni net

eight monasteries of Srz’

tv asti , were in complete ruin s upwax

of twelv e centuries ago, I think it is more wonderful thso much should still be left for the use of the archaeologthan that so li ttle should remain of all the magnificent builings of this one famous city . Sz

’

thet is said to hav e been tcapital of Raja Sahir-dal, whose ancestor Hausa t aj a w

reigning in the time of the Pandus, when the city was call

C'kandri/cd—p uri .

xx. TANDA, on TADWA.

From Srdv asli both pilgrims proceeded to v isit the birtplace of Kasyapa Buddha, at To-wa i, which Fa H ian placat 501i, or 83} miles to the west . Hwen Thsang does 11

name the town, but he states that it was about 60 ( i, ormiles, to the north-west of Srav asti .‘ The bearing an

distance point to the v illage of Tadwa, which is just 9 milto the west of Baikal-M ikel}. Some people refer this name

Tanda , because for the last hundred years the Banjaras ha

been in the habit of hal ting, or of making their Tanda ,

this place. But the people themselv es spell the name

their v illage Tadwa , and not Tanda , which properly men

the whole v enture of goods belonging to a party of Banjar:but which is also applied to the places at which they ha

I think, therefore, that the name of Tadwa maypossibly rel

to the old name of To-woz’

as it is written by Fa H isThere can , howev er, be no doubt as to the identity o f ttwo places, as Tadwa is a v ery old site, whi ch is stil l cov er

Beal’

s Fa Hi an, c. XX, p . 83 and Juhen’

s Hwen Thsang, IL, 309 .

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ARCHE OLOGICAL nsron'r, 1862-63.

The figure which the ignorant v illagers worship as 8i

is in reality a statue of Mdyd D ev i, the mother of k yd

B uddha . She is represented standing under the S ai l tree,

with her right hand raised and holding one of the bran ches,which is the well known position in which she is said to

giv en birth to Sakya . Her left hand is placed on her hip,

and there is a parrot perched on her shoulder. The statueis 3 feet 4: inches in height.

XXI. NIMSAR, OR NIMKAR.

Nimsar is a famous place of pilgrimage on the left bankof the Gumti (or Gomati ) R iv er, 45 miles to the north-westof Lucknow. The Brahmans deriv e the name fromNimisha, a twinkl ing of the eye ; hence Naimisha-saras orNimsar means the pool where in the twinkling of an eye the

sage Gaura-Mwlcha destroyed the Asuras. The place is also

called Nimlchdr, whi ch is formed from Naimisha, pronouncedNaimilclza , and aranya a forest, which becomes Naimikharanand Mmkhdr. The Vishnu Purana declares that he who

bathes in the Gomati at Naimislza expiates all his

Its popularity is therefore v ery great. It is noticed in the

A in Akbari as a famous large fort, with a great number of

idolatrous temples, and a reserv oir.

”t This reserv oir is called

the CI‘akra-tirtlza, and is said to be the place where the

Chakra, or discus,”of Vishun fell during the contest with

the Asuras. The shape of the pool is nearly hexagonal witha diameter of 120 feet . The water springs up from below and

flows out by the south side into a swampy rill about 20 feetbroad called the Godav eri Nala . The pool is surrounded w itha number of shabby brick temples and dharmsdlas, and

though the water is clear, yet the place looks dirty and uninv iting .

The fort of Nimsar is situated on a precipitousmound tothe north of the holy pool, about feet long, from east towest, between 300and 400 feet broad, and 50feet high . The

west end is a high clifl" called the Sim}; .Bzirj , or King

’

s

Tower, which ov erhangs the Gumti . The gate of the fort,which is at the east end, is arched and therefore of Muhammadan construction. But it is built of Hindu materials,

0 H . H. Wilson’

s Translation, p. 323.

1‘ Gladwin

’sTranslation, IL, 348:210.

NIMSAR, onxmxan BARIKIIAB , on v am rxnssa . 351

partly brick and partly lean/car blocks, which betray theirorigin by their carv ings and by the presence of the Swastikasymbol, ormystic cross. The walls were original ly of brick,but they hav e long ago disappeared, and the only parts of theold fort now standing are the gateway and the Shah Bdrj .

The foundation of the latter is, howev er, of Hindu construc

tion, and as there are many carv ed bricks lying about, I presume that it was a temple. The fort is prov ided wi th a well831

, feet broad and 51 1; feet deep to the water lev el .

The tradition of the place is, that the building of the

fort was finished on Friday, the 9th of the waxing moon of

Chaitra, in the Samv at year 1362, or A . D . 1305, by Hdkdj dl, a renegade Hindu , who is said to hav e been the Vazirof A la-ad-dinGhori . ForGhoriwe must read Khiiji to bringthe King

’

s name into agreement with the date, and as the

people are in the habit of styling all the Pathans as Ghoris,the alteration is perfectly al lowable. But who was Ha

’

lzafy'

dl .

7

As a renegade H indu and the Vazir of Al a-ud-din, he mightperhaps be the same person as Kafar, who in A . D . 1305 was

appointed as Malik Naib to the command of the army forthe conquest of the Dakhan. I procured sev eral of Ala

ud-din’

s coins at Nimsar, and in his reign I conclude thatthe fort passed from the hands of the Hindus into those ofthe Musulmans. The original fort is said to hav e be n as

old as the Pandus and if the deriv ation of the name of the

place has been truly handed down, it must hav e been occu

pied ev en earlier than the time of the Péndus.

‘

XXII. BARIKHAR, OR VAIRATKHERA.

B ari/char is the name of a v illage on the top of an

extensiv e old mound called Vairdtkhera , which is situated onthe high road between Nimsar and Pilibhit, at 42miles fromthe former, and 68miles from the latter place. B ari/char is

said to be a corruption of B ariyakhera , or Vairdt-Ichera , and

its foundation is attributed to Vaira‘

t RAja in the time of the

Pandus. The ruined mound is feet in length at tOpfrom east to west by 600 feet in breadth, and from 1 6 to 20feet in height . But the dimensions at the base are muchmore, as the slope is v ery gentle, being 200 feet in length on

On the Opposite bank of the Gumti there is an old mound called Ornj har, and

Oradih, as well as Bcnunaym'

, which is said to hav e been the residence of Bonn Raja.

ARCHE OLOGICAL nsron'r, 1862-63.

the north side, where I measured it. This would make t]base of the mound about feet by fee t, whic

agrees with the size of 50 bigahs, or square fee

which is popularly attributed to it by the v ill agers thenselv es. But the fields are strewn with broken bricks fi

upwards of feet to the northward, and for 500 or 6(

feet to the eastward, where there are the remains of sev er.

temples. The area actually covered by ruins is not less thefeet square or upwards of miles in circu it, whic

shows that Barikhar must once hav e been a good sized tow1but 1 strongly doubt the story of the Brahmans which attrbutes its foundation to Vairat Raja. The name is wri tten bthe people themselves B adislzar, although it is pronounceB arilclzar, and I believ e that similarity of sound alone heled to the identification of Barikhar with Bariyakhera an

Vairat Raj a.

XXIII. DEORYIA AND DEWAL .

I couple these two places together because they actual]

form parts of the old nameless capital of the B a’

chhc

Rajas, who ruled ov erEastern Rohilkhand andWestern Oudbefore the time of the Katehriyas. Dewal itself is a sma

v illage which has receiv ed its name from a temple in whicis demsited a v ery perfect inscription dated in Samv at 1 042or A . D . 992. The opposite v illage is called E dhdbds by thMuhammadans, but this name is scarcely known to th

people,who usually call it Garh Gaj ana . The inscriptiOn i

chiefly remarkable for the clean and beautiful manner I]

which the letters hav e been engrav ed ; and its perfect statmakes it the more v aluable, as it furnishes us with a com

plete specimen of the alphabet of the Kutila character llwhich it is said to be engrav ed. James Prinsep gav e a specimen of the characters along with a translation of the inscription in the Asiatic Society’s Journal for 1837 page 777But the copy from which be framed his alphabet wasmad'

by hand, and although it is wonderfully accurate as a mer.

transcript of the words, yet it is v ery faulty as a copy of th‘

indiv idual letters. This is the more to be regretted as tho

alphabet thus framed from an inaccurate copy has become th'

standard specimen of the Kati la characters. Now the ternKutila means bent,

”and as all the letters of the inscriptim

hav e a bottom stroke or tail, which is turned, or bent,”ta

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ARCIIJEOLOGICAL REPORT, 1862-03.

a natural ditch to the old stronghold of the Bitchhal Rajas,which is only approachable on the southern side . The fort

has been deserted for many centuries, and is cov ered withdense jungle, in which sev eral tigers hav e been kill ed w ithinthe last few years. A single cart tract leads to the nearestportions of the ruins which hav e afi

'

orded material s for all

the buildings in the large v illage of Deoriya. The exact extent of the fort is not known, but the position enclosed by theKatni Nala is about feet in length from north to southand feet in breadth, and the fort is said to be somewhatless than half a loos, or just about half amile in length . The

bricks are of large size, 13 by 9 by 2 inches, which showsconsiderable antiquity, butthe statues of kankar are all Brahmanical , such as the goddess D ev i, Siv a and his wife, as

Gauri-Sanlcar, and two d ryhus of lingam . These figures aresaid to be discov ered only in the foundations of the buildings,which, if true, would seem to show that the existing remai ns

are the ruins of Muhammadan works constructed of Hindumaterials.

The Katni Nala is an artificial canal drawn from the

Mi le R iv er near Salads, 10 miles to the south-east of Pilibhit, and 6 miles to the north of Dewal . Its general courseis from north to south , excepting where it winds round theold fort of Gar/m-Kkem ,

after which it resumes its southerlycourse and falls into the Kanhuat Nala, about 3mi les to thesouth of the ruins. Its whole course is just 20 miles inlength. All the maps are wrong in giv ing the name of

Katni Nala to the 11mmRiv er, instead of to the artificialcanal which joins the H é la and Kanhuat R iv ers. The canal

v aries in width from 30 and 40 feet to 100 feet, and ev en

more at the places where it is usually forded . Its v ery name

of Katni Nala, or the “cut stream, is sufficient to prov e

that it is artificial . But this fact is distinctly stated in the

inscription, which records that Raja Lal la made a beautifuland holy Katha-Nadi , That this was the Ifatm

'

Na la,which is drawn from the Mala R iv er, is ,

prov ed by the prev ious v erse, which records that the Raja presented to theBrahmans certain v illages shaded by pleasant trees, and

watered by the N irma la Nadi .” This name is correctly

translated by James Prinsep as pellucid stream,

”which,

though perfectly applicable to the limpid waters of the Ma’

la

R iv er, is ev idently the name of the stream itself, and not a

DEORYIA AND DEWAL . 355

more epithet descriptiv e of the clearness of its waters. And

as the canal was drawn from the Nirmala R iv er, so the

v illages on its banks are correctly described as being wateredby it.

The inscription goes on to say that Raja Lalla and'his

wife Lakshmi made many grov es, gardens, lakes, and

temples.

”Prinsep has giv en the last as many other exten

siv e works, but the term in the original is dev a layataneslm01m,

“and temples,

”dev alaya being one of the commonest

names for a temple of any kind. In the 27th v erse the greattemple to which the inscription was attached is said to hav ebeen dedicated to Siva by the Raja, while the queen builtanother fane to I’arv ati . In the next v erse they are describedas two div ine temples (aura-grim) ; and in the 32nd v erseit is stated that the god and goddess were worshipped together under the title of D ev apa lli . This then must be theorigin of the name of D ewa l, and the great temple moundto the south of Garh Gaj ana must be the remains of the

two temples dedicated to D evap a lli .

In the inscription Raja Lalla calls himself the nephewof Mans Chandra Pratdp a, and the grandson of Vira

Varmma , who is said to '

be of the race of Chkindu and

descended from the great R ishi Clzyavana . This holy sage

is mentioned in the Vishnu Puritna as hav ing marriedSukanya, the daughter of Saryfiti, the son of Manu . He is

also noticed in the Bhagav ata and Padma Puranas, as appro

priating a share of the marriage offerings to the Aswini

Kumaras, which entailed the quarrel with Indra, that isalluded to in v erse 4 of the inscription. The family thereforewas reputed to be of ancient descent ; but Vira Varmma, thegrandfather of Lalla was the first Raja, e establishment ofthe dynasty cannot be dated earlier than A . D . 900. Nowthe B dchha l Rajputs claim descent from Raja Vena, whoseson was Virat, the reputed founder of Barikhar or Virat

E lem, and whom I believ e to be the same as Vira Varmmaof the inscription. To Raja Vena , or Ben, is attributed theerection of the great forts of Garha-Iclwra , and Salzgarh, andto his queen, Kata loi R dm

’

, is assigned the excav ation of the

3 4115 1221 at the old town of Kdbar . Garb Gaziana and the

temples of Dewal were built by Raja Lal la. The town and

fort of Maraori are attributed to Moradlnoaj , and Bar/chem

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is a v ery strong place inhabited by the tribe of Bachhal .“

Of the origin of the name nothing is known, but it is probably connected with bachhna , to select or choose . The

title of Ckhindu, which is giv en in the inscription, is also

utterly unknown to the people, and I can only guess thatit may be the name of one of the early ancestors of the

race.

xx1v . IfARASUA-KOT.

Four miles to the westward of Balai-Khera there is along lofty mound lying east and west called Parasua-Icot,which is said to be the ruins Of a temple and otheredifices that Bali Raja built for his A hir serv ant, namedParasna . The mound is about feet long, and 300 feetbroad at base, with a height of 35 feet at its loftiest pointnear the eastern end. On this point there are the brickfoundations of a large temple, 42 feet square, with the

remains of steps on the east face, and a stone lintel or doorstep , on the west face . I conclude therefore that the templehad two doors,— one to the east and other to thewest,— and as

this is the common arrangement of lingam temples, it isalmost certain that the building must hav e been dedicated toSiv a . Towards the west, the mound gradually declines inheight until it is lost in the fields. Forty feet to the west of

the temple there are some remains of a thick wall whichwould seem to hav e formed part of the enclosure of the

temple, which must hav e been not less than 130 feet square.

Fiv e hundred feet further west there are the remains of

another enclosure, 100 feet square, which most prepably oncesurrounded a second temple, but the height of the ruins atthis point is more than 16 feet abov e the ound. A lthoughthe P arasua mound is well known to th people for manymiles around, yet there are no tradi tions attached to theplace sav e the story of Parasaa, the Ahir, which has

already been noticed . When we consider that a temple2L feet square could not hav e been less than 35 times itsbase, or 147 feet in height, and that its floor being 35 feetabov e the ground the whole height of the building wouldhav e been 182 feet, it is strange that no more detailed traditions should exist regarding the builders of so magnificent anedifice . I am of Opini on that the temple must hav e been

Gladwin’

s Translation, IL, 69.

358 Ac zEOLoeICAL REPORT, 1862-63.

the work of one of the earlier B dckha l Bajas, but unfortu

nately the records of this race are too imperfect to afford anyclue to the ancient history of the country.

XXV. BALAI-KHERA .

B a lig/a , or B a lai Khera , is a large ruined mound aboutfeet square, or nearly one mile in circuit, and not less

than 20 feet in height at the southern end. The mound issituated close to theMuhammadan town of Jaha

’

ndba‘

d , wh ichis just 6 miles to the westward of Pilibhit. It is cov eredwith broken bricks of large size, and from its square form Iinfer that itmust once hav e been fortified, or at least wa lledround . Near the south-east corner there is a v ery old Banyantree, and the ruins of a brick temple. To the west there are

two tanks and six ruined heaps which are said to be the

remains of temples. There is nothing new standing thatcan giv e any clue to the probable age of the town, as the

bricks are mov ed to Jahdndbdd assoon as they are discov ered .

But the large size of the bricks is a proof of antiquity wh ichis supported by the traditions of the people, who ascribe the

foundation of B a lp ur or B a liya to the well known Dai tyaor demon, named B a li .

XXVI . KABAR, OR SHIBGARH .

The old town,Ka

’

bar is situated on a lofty mound, -20

miles to the north of Bareli, and 26 miles to the west of

Pilibhit . The ruins consist of a circularmound, 900feet indiameter and 25 feet in height, which is still surrounded bya deep ditch from 50 to 100 feet in width . This was the O ld

fort of Ke in the time of the Hindus, and there are stil lsome remains of the walls Of a large oblong building on the

top Of the mound,t hich the people say was a temple. The

old city, which surrounded the fort on all sides, isnow div idedinto four separate v illages, called d ar, Islamp ur ,

D ongarp ur, and Shirgarh. A ll these are situated on o ld

mounds, which are nearly as lofty as the fort mound itself.

The place is usually called d ar by the Hindus, and

Skirgarh by the Musulmans. It is said to hav e been takenfrom the Hindu Rajas 550 years ago, or in A . D . 1 31 3,

during the reign of A la-ud-din Khiljii“ Falling again into the

Sir Henry Elliot in his Glossary, article Des, p. 1 15, states that Kahar was the

northern boundary of cultivation in the reignofJahduddin Firuz, who was the predecesso rof Ala-udd in.

KABAR , OR SIIIRGARII . 359

hands of the H indus after the death of Firuz Tughlak, it

was again captured by Shir Shah, who built the fort of

Shirgarh to the south of the old fort, for the purpose Of

keeping the townspeople in check . To the south of Shirgarh

there is a fine tank called Khawds Tril, which no doubt belongs to the same period, as Khawas Khan was the name of

Shir Shah’

s most trusted general . That portion of the towncalled Islampur is said to hav e been built by Islam Shah, the

son of Shir Shah, but it was more probably only re-namedby Khawas Khan in honour of hismaster’s son, during thelife time of Shir Shah himself. On the north side there is a

shallow sheet of water called the Ram Sagar, and on the

north-west there is an old tank called Rani Ta], which isattributed to Ketakhi Rai ni, the queen of Raja Ben, the

founder of the dynasty of B dckka l Rajputs. The extremelength of the whole mass of ruins from east to west isfeet, and the breadth feet, the complete circuit being

feet, or nearly 2miles. The long continued Muhammadan occupation of fiv e centuries has most effectuallyswept away all traces of Hinduism ; but Old coins are occasionally found, of which a few belong to the later Hindudynasties of the ninth and tenth centuries. From the great

size of the place, as well as from its ev ident antiquity, Ishould hav e expected that v ery old Hindu coins would occasionally be found ; but all my enquiries were fruitless, andthe only actual traces Of Hindu occupation that I could hearof were two small stone figures, of which one was a repre

scutation of Durga slaying the Mahcsasur, or BuffaloDemon,

”and the other a broken statue of some god which

was too much injured to be recognized .

END OF VOLUME I .

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INDEX .

ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA.

S U B JB C T .

A

Abu Rihan. Silence of as to Dilli

Zaid, on the authority of IbnWabab, calls Kadage a great cityin the Kingdom of Gazer

Account giv en in the Mirat-i-Asrar as to later Kings of Delhi

Accounts giv en by Shams-i-Siraz of the remov al of two stone pillarsfrom their original sites to Delhi

Acharya Sri Yoglgnanda, an inscription on the door of the great cav e

in the agarjuni Hill 49& 60

Actual builder of the KutbMiner

Adi Rajah. The legend of

Adilabad, orMohammadabad. The fort of

Adina Naaj 1d. The greatmosque of Kutbuddin called

Adisadra, the name giv en to Ahichhatra by Ptolemy

Abslya Bai . Temple on the Pretsila Hill atGaye erected by

Ahichhatra, or Ramnagar. An account of the city of

The name of written as Ahi-kshetra

mentioned by Ptolemy as Adisadra

the capital of North Panchals

Description of giv en by Hwen Theang

II INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Ahichhatra. Ruins of first v isited by Captain Hodgson

Brahmanical temples at

Buddhist remains at

Ahi-ksbetra. The name of Ahichhatra written as

Ain Akbari . Date of Anang Pal in the

Ajatasatru, the contemporary of Buddha

Ajaynpura, the ancient name of Bakror

Ajydhya. Fa Hian'

s route to

or Saketa. An account of the city of

identified with Saketa

Remains of antiquity at

Uttara Kosala, the Northern part of

Banaodha, the Southern part of

Akshay Bat, or undecaying Baman tree at Frayage

Alai Darwaza, or Gate of Alauddin

Alauddin Khilij i . Mosque of Kutbuddin enlarged by

Unfinishedminer of standsNorth from the KutbMiner

Alba, a Benafer

Allahabad, or Prayaga. An account of the city of

Al tamsh. Mosque of Kutbuddin enlarged in the reign of

An account of the tomb of

Amara Sinha. Temple near the Pi al tree at Buddha Gays supposedto hav e been bui t by

identified withAmara Dev a

Dev a identified with Amara Sinha

AmirKhasra’

s description of the work carried on by AlauddinKhilij iin the greatmosque of Kutbuddin

Anand Tila. A mound atMathura called

Anang Pal . Re-building of Dilli by

INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Anang Pal Date of in the Ain Akbari

Date of in the Kumaon and Garhwal manuscripts

Date of

An anecdote of giv en by Mir Khusru

Dilli re-built by owing to the loss of Kanoj

An account of the tank called to the North-West of

KuthMinar

An

gkpur, a v illage supposed to hav e been built

y

Erection of a certain temple close to the iron pillar ofDilli attributed to

Accounts of the sons of

Extent of the dominions of

(or Bilan Dco). Iron pillar of Delhi supposed to hav ebeen erected by

Anant Rikhi. A hot spring at Rajg ir called

Anecdote of Anang Pal giv en by Mir Khusru

Anekpur, a v illa e in the Balamgarh District supposed to hav e beenbu

'

t hy Anang Pal

Aniruddha, the cousin of Buddha

Anrudhwa. The v i llage called receiv ed its name from Aniruddha,the cousin of Buddha

Aphsar. An account of the v illage of

Ara Raj Pillar. The description of

Arguments in support of the Hindu origin ofKutb Minar

ArianaAntiqua, a work by Hom e Hayman Wilson

Arjuna Pandu. Ch

akra, eighth in descent from made Kosambi his

capit

Asanagar. A v illage near Ghosarawa called

Ashta Sakti . A sculpture representing in a temple at Besarh

Asiatic Society of Bengal founded by Sir William Jones

III

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INDEX .

S u n r s o r .

Bakhra. The lion pillar of

Bakror. An account of the v illage of

Baladitya. A v ihar atNalanda built by

Balai-khera. A ruined mound called close to the MuhammadanTown of Jahanabad

Balamgarh. Anekpur, a v illage builtbyAnang Pal in theDistrictof

Baien Tank atNalanda

Banafar Heroes, Alba and Udal

Banaodha. The Southern part of Ajudhya called

Pachham-rat, theWestern District of

Purab-rat, the Southern District of

Banaras Sarnath. An account of the city of

Jaya Chandra defeated by Muhammad Ghori at

Barabar Hills. An account of the

Cav es of

Basin. An account of the

Baragaon, orNalanda. An account of the v illage of

Bara Pul, a bridge near Delhi

Barikhar, or Vairatkhera. An account of the v illage of

said to be a corruption of Vairatkhera

The foundation of attributed to Vairat Rajah

Ben Chakrav artti (Rajah). Traditions regarding

Bernier’

s account of two life-size statues of elephants and theirriders at Shajahanabad

Besadh, or Besarh. An account of the v illage of

Besarh, or Besadh . An account of the v illage of

identified with Vaisali

Remains at

Bhairav . A status of asceticBuddha called at Titarawa

PAGE .

103 104

VI INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Bhan Daj l , Dr. A short account of his arche ological inv estigations

Bhatpuri Mahalla. Mound in the of Kanoj

Bharathand. Uttanapada, King of

Bhim-laur. An account of the v illage of

Bhim-sen-ka-lat. The lion pillar of Bakhra called

Bhitari. An account of the v illage of

An inscribed stone pillar at

Pillar described

Excav ations by Mr. C. Horn at

Bhuddhistical establishmentnearBanaras, asdescribedbyHwen Thsang

BhunMari (Rajah) . Erection of the Nav andgarh Pillar ascribed to

Bias-kund. A hot spring at Rajgir called

Bihar. An account of the city of

The fort of

Bij oli. Inscription discov ered at

Bilan Deo (or Anang Pal). Iron Pillar of Delhi supposed to hav e

been erected by

Bimbisara, otherwise called Srenika, said to hav e builtthe new town of

Baiasrflm

Bodhidrum. The celebrated Pipal tree at Buddha known by the

name of

Renewal of by Puma Varunas

Destruction of by Sasangka

Boulder (quartz) cov ered with inscriptions of Asoka at Khalsi

Brahmanical temples atAhichhatra

temdples on the mound of Makhdum Jshaniya in the

S'

hana Mahalla of Kanoj

Brahmav arta, or Bharatkhand. Uttanapada, King of

Brahmjuin. A holy bill at Gaya called

Brahm-kund. A hot spring atRajgir called

xxxiii

INDEX .

S u a r n c r .

Buchanan, Dr. Deputation of to make an agricultural surv ey ofMysore. His appointment as Statistical Surv eyor of theBengal Presidency. Publication of his work by Mr.

Montgomery. Remark on his archwological researches.

Buddha. Gays. An account of

the ascetic. A life-size statue of at Besarh

died on a spot at a little distance from theWestern bank ofthe Aj i tav ati Riv er

Maya, the mother of

Site of a Vihara with the tooth of nearKanoj

A status of at Kosambi

Buddha-kund. A sacred tank at Bakror called

Su posed to be identical with Marttand Pokhar,ujaj-kund

Buddha-pad. A temple at Buddha Gaya called

Buddhism. Decline and fall of

Buddhist railing at Buddha Gaya

Synod (second). Vaisali, the scene of the

Monasteries in Mathura amounted to 20

remains at Ahichhatra

Buddhistical inscription found at Ghosarawa

Budhokar Tal. A tank called to the South-East of the greatumpleat Buddha

Builder of the KutbMinar

Bukula. Legend of

Burmese inscription discov ered at Buddha Gaya

Capula of Firuz Shah on the KutbMinar

the KutbMinar thrown down by an earthquake

Cav e called Gidhadwar, near Giryek

VII

Pass .

iii iv

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INDEX. IX

S p a r s e -r . Pass .

Chohans. Date of capture of Dilli by the

Christian tomb found at

Citadel of Shajahanabad. An account of the

City of Shir Shah called Delhi-Shir-Shah

Close of the Tomar dynasty

Colebrooke, Henry . Scholarship inSansknt

Colonades of the Court of the GreatMusj id

Coryat, Tom. Accounts of an inscription giv en by

Cunningham, A .,Colonel . A list of his writings on Indian Anti

quitica, as follows xxxv

Description of some new Bactrian coins.

Second notice of some new Bactrian coins.

Account of the discov ery of the ruins of the Buddhist cityof Sankisa.

The ancient coinage of Kashmir.

Attempt to explain some of the monograms on the Greekcoins of Anisas and India.

Notice of some unpublished coins of the Indo-Scythians.

The Bhilsa Topes.

‘

Coins of Indian Buddhist satraps with Greek inscriptions.

Translation of the Bactro-Pali inscription fromTaxila .

Coins of the nine Nagas and of two other dynasties ofNarwar and Gwalior.

Coin of the Indian Prince Sophytes.

Coins of Alexander’

s successors in the East.

The Ancient Geography of India.

Daldala, the name giv en to Dilli by Ptolemy

Daniel, Thomas, gav e earliest illustrations of Southern India, andmadedrawings of the sev en Pagodas atMahamallaipur

INDEX .

S U B J E C T . Pass.

Banadia Khera, the capital of Saliv ahan

Dasaratha. Nagarjuni Cav es supposed to hav e been excav ated in the

reign of

Date of Sasanka

of occupation of Indraprastha by Yudhisthra

of foundation of Dilli

of te-founding of Dilli in the Gwalior manuscript of Kharg Rai

of Anang Pal in the Ain Akbari

of Anang Pal in the Kumaon and Garhwal manuscripts

of Anang Pal

of Vasala’

s inscription on the Firuz Shah'

s Pillar

of the capture of Dilli by the Chohans

of abduction of Kanoj Princess

of the great war with Mohaba

of the final conquest of Dilli by the Musulmans

of Iron Pillarof Delhi

of Hwen Thsang’

s return to China, A. D . 640

of Udayana, King of Kosambi

Daundiakhera. Town of Hayamukha identified with 295 296

Dav is, Samuel. A paper on Hindu Astronomy by

Death of Jaypal about December 1021

Decline and fall of Buddhism

Decorated pillars around the Iron Pillar of Delhi

Deduction from the silence of Abu Rihan as to Dilli

Defeat of Dilu by Thur, exactly the same as that of Rajah Pal bySukwanti

of Jaya Chandra at Banaras by MuhammadGhori

Delhi. An account of the city of

An accountof the sev en Forts of

INDEX. XI

S c a r a c r .

Delhi. Early Hindu dynasties of 136&137

H indu remains of

Description of the Iron Pillar of

Description of taken from the autobiographyTimur

Jahanpanah, a part of

Delhi-Shir-Shah. The city of Shirshah cal led

Deoriya, a common v il e name in the Districts of Tirhoot, Champaran, and Go pur, is applied to places possessing either atemple or other holy bui ldi

An account of the v illage of

Description of Delhi taken from the autobiography of Timur

of Satkila Bawan Darwaza, of Delhi

Dev isthan. A mound at Kasia called

Dewal. An account of the v illage of

Dewan-i-em, the name of a hall in the citadel of Shajahanabad

Dewan-i-khas, the name of a hall in the citadel of Shaiahanabad

Dhamek . The great tower at Sarnath called 106—107

An account of the Buddhist stupa called

an abbrev iation of Dharmmopadesaka

Dhaoli . A peak of the Dharawat Hills called

Dharawat Hills. An account of the

Dharmma A status of on the Ghosarawa mound

Dharmmopadesaka. Dhamek, an abbrev iation of

Dhopapapura. An account of the place called

situated on the right bank of the Gomati Riv er

Legend of

Dibli dur ast, or Dihli dur hai—pmphetic words of Nizam-uddinAuliya

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INDEX. XIII

S U B J E C T . PAGE .

Era of Vikramaditya

of Harsha Vardhana

Erection of a certain temple close to the Iron Pillar of Dilli attributedto Anang Pal

Erroneous Opinion regarding the inscription on Firuz Shah’

s Pillaradopted by the early English trav ellers

Erskine’s account of the Elephanta Cav es

Essay on the comparativ e geography of India, by F. Wilford

Excav ations at Bhitari, by Mr. C. Horn

at Sarnath in 1835-36

at Sarnath, by Major Kittoe, in 1853

Extent of Anang Pal'

s dominions

Fa Hian v isiting Buddha Gaya

v isiting the great‘

tower at Sarnath

at Mathura

makes the distance from Sankisa to Kanoj sev en yojanas 270 271

An account of Kanoj g iv en by

places a great stupa of Asoka to the West of Kanoj

Fa Hian’

s description of the old city of Rajgir

account of the Vaisali

route to Ajudhya

Facts in support of the identification of Siri with Shahpur

Fall of Buddhism

Fergusson, James, a foremost and successful archaeologist

Fergusson’

s account of the Rock-cut Temples of India"

dates of Kanhari Cav es

Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture inIndia

”xxu

XIV INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Fergusson’

s Handbook of Architecture”

Tree and SerpantWorship”

Ferishta’

s account of Turghai Khan'

s inv asion of India during thereign of Ala uddin, the founder of Siri

Figures on the Kanwa Dol Hill

Figure of elephant on an ancient pillar at Sankisa

Finch,Wm. An account of Delhi by

Firuz Shah'

s Pillar. Date of Vasala’

s inscription on the

Inscriptions on the

Firuz Shah. Kushak Shikar, a hunting place of

Old capula of on the KuthMinar

Firuzabad. An account of the city of

Forest ofHoli

Fort of Bihar. An account of the

of Bisarh. An account of the

of Maths-kuar atKasia 77 81. 78

of Lalkot. An account of the

of Rai Pithora. An account of the

of Tughlakabad described

ofh

Adilabad, or Mahammadabad. An account

t e

of Salimgarh. An account of the

(ruined) on a mound atMadawar

of Ujain to the East of Kashipur

of Garha, near Dhopapapura

ofNimsar. An account of the

Forts of old Delhi

Fortress (guined) at Buddha Gaya attributed to Rajah Amara Sinhauv rra

INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Foundation of Dilli

of Atranj ii-khers attributed to Rajah Vena

Eu-she, or Vaisya. Harsha Vardhsna called a by Hwen

G

Gadadhar. The temple of atGays

Ganda, a District of Uttara Kosala to the South of the Rapti

Genealogy of the Rajabs of

Ganeskund. A hot spring at Rajgir called

Gangs-Jumna. A hot spring at Rajgir called

Ganggam. A status of Buddha atNalanda said to be the gift of

Garha. The fort of near Dhopapapura

Gates of Shaishanabad. An account of the

Gays. An account of the city of

Gsyeswari Dev i. The temple of atGays

Ghosarswa. An account of the v illage of

Genealogy of the Rajahs of Ganda

Gidhadwar. A cav e near Giryeh called

Gidi Pokhar. A tank atNalanda called

Giri-v raja, the old name of the capital of Jarasandha

Giryek. An account of the v illage of

Goose’

sMczfin

tery, or Hausa Ssngharama. A monastery at Giryeh

Gopi Cav e. A cav e in the Nagarj uni Hills called

Gov isana, orKashipur. An account of the city of

identified with Kin-pi-shwangna by M. Julien

Ujain represents the ancient city of

Gozar. s uge, a great city in the kingdom of

GreatMasj id. Colonades of the Court of

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INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Hindu dynasties of Delhi . An account of the

remains of Delhi

Theatre, a work by Horace HaymanWilson

origin of KutbMinar supported by arguments

H istory of KutbMinar written on its inscriptions

Hodgson, Captain. The ruins of Ahichhatra first v isited by

Holi. The forest of

Horne, Mr. Excav ations at Bhitari by

Humayon. Description of the tomb of

Huv ishka Vihara. A monastery called atMathura

Hwen Thsang’

s account of renewal and destruction of the celebratedBodhi Tree at Buddha

description of a v ihar at Buddha Gays

description of a stupa to the South-West of the greattemple at Buddha Gays

description of the Vulture’

s Cav e at Giryek

description of Raj g ir

account of Sariputra

account of Maha Mogslana

account of a v ihar atNalanda

account of the grand v ihar built by Baladitya at

Nalanda

descri tion of four other buildings and statues at

Na ands

mention of a well atNalanda

silence regarding the cav es in the Barabar andNagar

juni Hills

description of a King'

s palace in Vaisali

description of six stupas at Vaisali

description of two stupas at Vaisali erected on ancient

foundations

XVII

136 81. 137

XVIII INDEX .

S U B J E C T . PAGE .

Hwen Thsang'

s account of a stupa atKesariya

account of Kusinagara

account of the spot where Buddha died

description of the great Buddhistical establishmentnear Banaras

story of Mrigadsv a, or Deer Park, at Sarnath

account of a stupa at Sarnath

account of Madipur

account of Ahichhatra

account of Harsha Vardhana corroborated by inscriptions of the Chalukya Rajahs of Kalyan 280 281

return to China, A . D . 640

description of ancientKanoj

route to Prsyaga, or Allahabad

description of a temple at Prayaga

Hwen Thsang describes Srughana, and places it at a distance of 66from Thanesar

Temples inMathura reckoned by at fiv e

allowed 40Chinese li to the yojana

Kanoj described by

calls Harsha Vardhans a Eu-she, or Vaisya

places a great stupa of Asoka to the South-Eastof Kanoj

v isiting Nav aodev a-kula

Ibu Batuta. Mosque of Kutb-uddin v isited by

Wahab. Abu Zaid, on the authority of calls Kaduga a

great city in the Kingdom of Gozar

Identification of Siri with Shahpur supported by facts

INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Indra Sils Guha. Hwen Thsang’

s account of the hill of atGiryek

Pokhar. A tank called atNalanda

Indrapat, a small fort at Delhi known by the name of Pursns Kila

or Faranah Kila, repaired by Humayon and re-namedDinpanah

Indraprastha. The site of

Date of occupation of by Yudhisthira

or Indrapat. An account of the ancient placecalled

Inscribed stone pillar at Bhitari

pedestal found at Banaras in 1794

rock atKhalsi

Inscriptions dated in the era of the Narv an

font

al in the temple dedicated to Surya, or the Sun, ataya

of Sri Mohendra Pala Dev a at Rama Gays

found at Buddha Ga a, ascribing the building of a

temple and image 0 Buddha to Amara Dev a

(Burmese) discov ered at Buddha Gays

found in the temple called Tara Dev i at Buddha Gays

at Buddha Gays

in the Son Bhandar Cav e

found in a temple at Kapatiys giv ing the date of thereign of Sri Gopala Dev a

of the Gupta dynasty on a pillar in the old fort of Bihar

obtained fromGhosarawa

in three lines of small letters at Titarawa

of the second Gupta dynasty, discov ered by Major KittoeatAphsar

of fiv e lines in the Karna GhoparCav e

of two lines in the Sudama Cav e

XIX

135 136

97 98

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INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Iron Pillar. Approximate date of

‘

Ppaqj

sed to hav e been erected. by Belan Deo (or Anang

Jsgadispur. Description of themound of

Jagat Singh. Discov ery of two urns at by in the year 1794

Jabanara Begum. The tomb of outside the city of Delhi

Jshanpansh. A part of Delhi called

Jama Masj id, of Kanoj. An account of the

Jarasandha-ks-baithsk. A tower atGiryek called

Jarasandha . Giri-v rajs, the capital of

Jays Chandra, the last of the Rahtors, celebrated Aswamedha

retired as far as Banaras

Defeat of by Muhammad Ghori at Banaras

drowned in attempting to cross the Ganges

Jaymal, the Rajput hero who defended Chitor

Jaypal. Death of about December 1021

Jetav ana. Monastery of near Srsv asti

identified with a mound of ruins near Srav asti

Jones, William, Sir, founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal and gav ethe first impulse to the study of Indian antiquities

Kabar, or Shirgarh. An account of the place called

situated on a lofty mound 20miles to theNorth of

Kabuli Durwaza. A gate of the city of Shir Shah called

called Lal Durwaza

Kaduge, mentioned by Abu Zaid, on the authority of Ibn Wahab. asa great city in the Kingdom of

XXI

PAGE.

XXII INDEX .

S U B J E C T . Pass .

Kabaca . An account of the v illage of

Remains at

92Jr. 93

Kakupur. Identification of Ayotho with

Kala Masj 1d of Delhi. An account of the

Kalapaiaka supposed by Hwen Thsang to be the birth-place of

Sariputra

Kalyan. Inscriptions of the Rajahs of corroborates the account

of Harsha Vardhans g iv en by Hwen Thsang 280 28 1

Ksmpilya (now Kampil), the capital of South Panchala

Kandaiya Tal. A tank at Sankisa called

Kanhari Cav es descri

bed and illustrated by Salt

Kanishka Monastery . Monastery called in the city of Nagarahara

Kanogiza. Kanoj mentioned by Ptolemy as

Kanoj . An account of giv en by Masudi

Name of the Rajah of at the time of Mahmud’

s inv a

sion

Tomar dynasty as Rajahs of

TheKingdom of conquered byChandra Dev a, thefounder ofthe Rahtor dynasty

Dilli re-built by Anang Pal owing to the loss of

Khand, a part of Prithv i-Raja-Rasa, giv ing an account

abduction of a Kanoj Princess

Princess. Date of abduction of

An account of the city of

mentioned by Masudi as the capital of one of the RajahsIndia in 915 A . D .

called Kaduge by Abu Zaid

described by Hwen Thsang

An account of giv en by Fa

mentioned by Ptolemy as Kanogiza

INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Kanoj . The earliestnotice of

the capital of Harsha Vardhaua

Mah

AamSiad Ghori marched against in January 1 191

(ancient). Hwen Thsang’

s description of

An account of the modern town of

Remains of interest at

Ruins of the Rang Mahal of

An account of the JamaMasj id of

Kanya Kubja, the Sanskrit name of Kanoj

Legend referring the name of to the curse of theSage Vayu on the daughters of Kussuabha

Kapstiya. Temple in the hamlet of

Karamsr Tal . A tank called atPuuawa

Karewar Nag Dev ata. Nags Sankisa commonly inv oked as

Karg idya Pokhar. A tank called atNalanda

Kama Ghopar Cav e. An account of the

Kamar Pal. Traditions regarding the sons of

Identification of with the father of Vacha Dev a

Kashipur, or Gov isana. An account of the city of

Kashmiri Masj id at Delhi

Kasia . An account of the v illage of

identified with Kusinagara

Kaswapa Rikhi. A hot spring called atRajgir

Katagora Hall, the famous edifice inMobure Viharo at Vaisali

Katani . A ruinedmound called atBakror

Katehria Rajputs. Lakhnor, the capital of the

Kesariya. An account of the v illage of

Themound of described

XXIII

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INDEX. XXV

S U B J E C T .

Kosambi . Vasta-pattana, another name for

identified‘

with Kosam

The ruins of 305 306

A status of Buddha at

Kuari Masj id, the name giv en to the ZinatMasj id at Delhi

Kuber Parbat. Amound atAjudhya called

the site of an ancient stupa

Kukkuta-pada-Vihara, or temple of the Cook’

s Foot connected withthe Kukkuts-pada-giri, near Kurkihar

Kukkuta-pada-giri, or Cook'

s Foot Hill, near Kurkihar 15 16

Kulika, stipp

osed by Hwen Thsang to be the birth-place of Mahaogalans

Kumaon and Garhwal manuscripts g iv ing the date of Anang Pal

Knmara Gupta. Inscription relating to on a pillar at Bihar

Kunds-Suka-Vihara. A monastery atMathura called

Kunda Tal. A tank atMadawar called

Kundilpur. An account of the ruins of

Kurak-Vihar, the true name of Kurkihar

believ ed to be the contracted form of KukkutapsdaVihara

Kurkihar. An account of the v illage of

Kurak Vih'i r, the true name of

Kusanagarapura. The old city of s agrihs called by HwenThsang

Kusapura. An account of the town of

identified with Sultanpur on the Gamati

said to hav e been named after Rama'

s son Kusa

Kushak Shikar, or hunting palace of Firuz Shah

Firuzabsd. A palace of Firq hah called

Kusinagsra, identified with Kasia

XXVI INDEX.

S U B J E C T . Pass .

Kusinagara. An account of the place called g iv en by Hw en

Thsang

Vihar at containing a statue of Buddha

Kutb-uddin. An account of the greatmosque of

Themosque of enlarged during the reign of Altamsh

Themosque of enlarged by Ala-uddin Khilij i

KutbMinar, whether a Muhammadan building, or a Hindu building ,altered by the conquerors

Arguments in support of the Hindu origin of

used asMazinah

The height of

Old capula of Firuz Shah on the

Old capula of the thrown down by an earthquake

Repairs of the entrusted toMajor Robert Smith

History of written in its inscriptions

Actual builder of the

L

Lake called Sarang Ta] at Sarnath

Lakhnor, the ancient capital of the Katehria Rajputs

Lalkot. An account of the Fort of

Lal Darwaza, the present name of Kabuli Darwaza of the city of

Shirabak

Lassen, Professor, deciphered many of the unknown characters ofIndia, and read the Pali legends on the Copper coins ofAgathokles

Lauriya-Ara-s . An account of the pillar of 67 68

Lauriya Nav andgarh. An account of the place called

Remains at

An account of the pillar of

Legend relating to Vimala Mittra

INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Legend of Adi Rajah

of Maya, the mother of Buddha

referring the name of Ksnya Kubja to the curse of the sageVayo on the hundred daughters of Kusanabha

of Bakuls

of Dhopapapura

Letters of James Prinsep

Lingam, called Pataleswara, in a temple on the Rsmfils Hill atGays

near the v illage of Gulariya

Lion Pillar of Bakhra described

Lists of the Tomar dynasty of Dilli

List of the Chohan dynasty

Lomss Rishi Cav e. An account of a cav e called

Luri-ka-kodau, the resent name of the ruined mound to the Southof hamek at Sarnath

Mackenzie, Colin, a successful collector of archaeological materials

Mrs. Colin. Mistake made by in her account of theepitaph on Jabanara

'

s tomb

Msdswsr, orMadipur. An account of the city of

People of supposed to be the Nathua of Megastheneswho dwelt on the banks of the Erineses

Medipur, orMadawar. An accountof the city of

identified with Mandawar

Description of giv en by Hwen Thsang

Monastery at famous as the scene of Sanghabhadra’

s

sudden death when ov ercome by Vasubandhu

Maha Mogala. Regarding the birth-place of

Mahalla of ma Misr Tols . A mound at Kanoj called

Mahammadabad, or Adilabad. The fort of

XXVII

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INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Mathura v isited by Fa Hian

A stupa built by Upagupta at

Mann Swayambhuv s. Uttar

japads, King of Bharatkhand, the son

0

Mausoleum containing tombs of Tughlak Shah and his queen

Maya, the mother of Buddha. The legend of

Mazinah. KutbMinar used as

Megasthenes. People ofMadawar called Mathuaby

Meghaduta, a work by Kali Dasa, refers to the story of Udayana,King of Kosambi

Mill, Dr. , translated certain important inscriptions

Minar (unfinished) of Ala-uddin stands North from the KuthMinar

Mir Khusru’

s anecdote of Anang Pal

Mistakemade by Mrs. Colin Mackenzie in her account of the epitaphon Jahanara

’

s tomb

Modern town of Kanoj . An account of the

Mohabakhand, a part of Prithv i-Baj-Rasa, describing the great warwith Mohabs

Monasteries (Buddhist) in Mathura amounted to 20

Monastery of Nalanda

called Kauishka Monastery in the city of Nagarah

called Huv ishks Vihara atMathura

called Kunda-Suka Vihara atMathura

at Madipur famous as the scene of Sanghabhsdra’

s suddenwhen ov ercome by Vssubsndhu

containing a stnpa of Asoka nearKosambi

of Jstev ana near Srav asti

identified with a mound of ruins nearSrav asti

called Purv v arama near Srav asti

Mosque of Kutb-uddin now known as Masj id Kutbul-Islam

XXII

PAGE.

XXX INDEX .

S U B J E C T . PAGE .

Mosque of Kutb-uddin An account of the

called Adina Masj id

v isited by Ibu Batuta

begun in A . H . 587, or A. D. 1191

enlarged during the reign of Altamsh

enlarged by Ala-uddin Khilj i

called Kilu-Kona-Masj id in the City of Shir Shah

Mosques called Zama Masj id and ZinatMasj id at Shajahanabad

Mound (ruined) calledKatani at Bakror

bearing a broken statue of the three-headed goddess VajraVirahi at Punawa

called Sugatgarh at Kurk ihar

of Jagadispur described

of Kesariya described

to the North-East of the Kesariya stupa called Rainwas

called Dev isthan and Rsmabhar Tila at Kasia

called Maths-kuar-ka-kot, or Fort of Maths-Kuar,Kasia

called Siv a-ka-tila at Khukhundo

called Suv ari-ka-tila to theWest of the Hathiyadsh Pillar

(ruined) to the South of Dhamek called Chaukandi

called Anand Tila atMathura

called Vinayak Tila atMathura

called Niv i-ka-kot at Sankisa

called Mahalla of Lala Misr Tols at Kanoj

in Bhatpuri Mahalla atKanoj

of Makhdum Jshaniya at Kanoj 292 293

called Mani Parv at at Ajudhya

called Kuher Parv at at Ajudhya

INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Mound called Sugrib Parv at at Ajudhya

of ruins near Srsv asti identified with the Jetav ana Monastery

called Ora-jhar near Srsv asti

called Vairatkhera

called Para-sus-kot

culle

t

d

falai-khera close to the Muhammadan town of Jaha

na a

Mounds of Khukhundo described

called Sat-Tila at Mathura

to the South-East of Makarsndnagar

Mrigadsv a, or Deer Park . The story of g iv en by Hwen Theang .

Muchalinda (Dragon). Tank of at Buddha Gays

Muhammad Ghori marched againstKanoj in 1 191 A. D.

Defeat of Jaya Chandra by st Banaras

Murali. A peak of the Barabar Hills called

Musulmans Date of the final conquest of Dilli by the

Nsga Nalanda. Tank of atNalanda

Dev a (or Jags Dev a), the tributary Rajah of Dilli underPrithv i Raj

Tank at Sankisa

of Sankian commonly inv oked as KarewarNag Dev ta

Nagarahara. The Kanishka Monastery in the city of

Nagaij uni Hills. An account of the

Cav es sup sed to hav e been excav ated in the reign ofBasarat a

Nalanda, or Baragaon. An account of the v illage of

supposed by Fa Hian to be the birth-place of Sariputra

said to be the city of Yaso Varmma

XXXI

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INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Pal (Rajah). The story of exactly the same as of Dilu

Panchala. An account of the Kingdomof

Panso Pokhar. A tank atNalanda called

Para-sua-kot. An account of a mound called

Pataleswara. A lingam called in a temple on the Ramsila HillatGays

Patal Gangs. A sacred spring called near Barabar

Pats demanded by Yudhisthira fromDuryodhan

Patta, the Rajput hero who defendedChitor

Paws supposed to be a corruption of Padarsv ana

Pedestal ( inscribed) found at Banaras in 1794

People of Madawar su posed to be the Mathw of Megasthenes, whodwelt on the nksof Erineses

Phur. Defeat of Dilu by exactly the same as that of Rajah Palby Sukwanti

Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in India"

work by James Fergusson

Pillar bearing two separate inscriptions of theGupta dynasty at Bihar

of Bakhra described

called Bhim-sen-ka-lst

of Lauriya A'

ra-Raj described

Nav andgarh described

Erection of the ascribed to RajahBhimMari

of Kahaon described

callegml

l

I

‘

sthiys-dah-ka-lat in the middle of the Hathiya-dah

of Bhitari described

(iron) of Dilli. Date of Anang Pal on the

of Delhi described

not formed of mixedmetal

XXXIII

142— 151

XXXIV INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Pil lar supposed to hav e been erected by Bilan Deo (or Anang Pal)

(ancient) bearing the figure of an elephant at Sankisa

(stone) bearing the inscriptions of Asoka, Samudra Gupta, andJahangir

at Kosambi bearing certain inscriptions

Pillars (stone) at Delhi bearing the edicts of Asoka

An account giv en by Shams-i-Siraz of the remov alof to Delhi

(decorated) around the Iron Pillar of Delhi

Piloshanna. The Kingdom of

identified with Atranj i-Khara

Pipal Tree known by the name of Bodhidrum at Buddha Gays

Pirwali Tal. A tank atMadawar called

Places v isited during tour

Papular traditions regarding Dilli

Prabhasa. Hill of near Kosambi

Prastha. Different significations of

Prayaga, or Allahabad. Hwen Thsang’

s route to

An account of the city of

Traditions as to the name of

Pretsila. A hill atGays called bearing a temple erected byAbslya Bai

Prinsep, James, brought to light the characters and languages of

the earliest Indian inscriptions

Letters of

His bold appeal to Lord Auckland

The successors of

Prithu, son of Rajah Vena Chakerv artti

Prithv i Raja, the last of the Tomar Kings

a Chohan Prince of Ajmere, as well as a King of

PAGE .

xv iii

INDEX . XXXV

S n n xn o r .

Prithv i Raja. Someswara, the name giv en to

An account of the reign of

Erection of the Fort of Rai Pethora attributed to

Raj-Rasa, a poemwritten by Chand

Mohaba Khand, a part of the

Kanojkhund, a part of the

Ptolemy. Dilli called Daidala by

Ahichhatramentioned as Adisadra by

Kanoj mentioned by as Kanogiza

Puadisi (or Asoka). Satghara Cav es in the Barabar Hills su‘pposed

to hav e been excav ated in the reign 0 45—51

Pulakesa. Hursha Vardhana successfully opposedby

Punwa Mound. A mound to the East of Punwa Tank called

Tank . Mound to the East of atNalanda called PunwaMound

Purab-rat. The Eastern District of Banaoda called

Pursna Kila. Indfrapat, a small fort at Delhi known by the name

0

PumaVarmma (King). Renewal of Bodhi Tree by

Purv v arama. A monastery at Srav asti called

identified with the Ora-jharmound

Babela Tank . Mound to the East of corresponds with the stupacontaining hair and nails of Buddha atNalanda

Eshtor dynasty ofKanoj . Chandra Den , the founder of the

Bailing (Buddhist) at Buddha Gaya

Bai Pithora. Erection of the fort of attributed to Prithv i Raja

An account of the fort of

Rajagriha called Kusanagara by Hwen Theang

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m ax. xxxv n

S tu nn e r . PAGE .

Remains at Kahaon

Sarnath

(Hindu) of Delhi

(Buddhist) atAhichhatra

of interest atKanoj

of antiquity at Ajudhya

Repairs

.

of the KutbMiner entrusted toMajor Robert Smith

Rock ( inscribed) atKhalsi

Ruined fortress atBuddha Gaya

fort on amound atMadawar

Ruins of Kundilpur

of Samanpur at the foot of the Konwa Dol Hill

to the North-East of Chandokhar Tal

of Ahichhatra first v isited by Captain Hodgson

of Kosambi 305 306

Baku-uddin. Traditions regarding

SahetMahet, or Srsv asti. An account of the city of

Saka Vikramaditya era

Sakas. Defeat of attributed to Vikramaditya

Saketa, or Ajudhya. An account of the city of

identified with Ajudhya

Sakti . Temple dedicated to on the Brahmjuin Hill atGays

Saleya. A peak of the DharawatHills called

Salimgarh. An account of the fort of

The name of changed to Nurgarh

XXXVIII INDEX.

S u s xa c r .

Saliv ahan. Bais Rajputs claim descent from

Salt described and illustrated the Kanhari Cav es in Salset

Samanpur. The ruins of at the foot of the Kanwa Dol Hill

Sanda Giri. A peak of the Barabar Hills called

Sanghabhadra. Monastery at Madipur famous as the scene of thedeath of when ov ercome by Vasubandhu 249 250

Sankasya, the Sanskritname of Sankisa

Sankisa. An account of the place called

called Seng-kia-she by the Chinese pilgrims

called Sankasya in Sanskrit

called Kie-pi-tha, orKapitha, by Hwen Theang

Tank of Nags at

Stupas at

Sanskrit inscription of six lines on the Iron Pillar of Delhi

Supt Rikhi. A hot spring at Rajgir called

Sarangganatha. Sarnath, an abbrev iation of

Sarang Tal. A lake at Sarnath called

Sarian. a name giv en to the eastern portion of theruins at the foot ofthe Kanwa Dol Hill

Sariputra. Nalanda, the birth-plu sof

Sarnath. An account of the place called

An abbrev iation of Sarangganatha

Remains at

Excav ations at in 1836-86

Excavation at by MajorKittoe in 1853

Basangka (King). Destruction of Bodhi Tree by

Date of

Sat Tila. Sev enmounds called atMathura

Satghara. The cav es in theBarabarHills called

INDEX.

S n s xa c r .

Satghara NJ

dto hav e been excav ated in the reign of Rajah

Piy°

si

Satkila Bawau Darwaza of Delhi. Description of the

Sattapanni Cav e. A cav e called at Rajgir

Scene of Sanghabhadra’

s sudden deathwhen overcome by VasuhandhuatMadipur

Sculpture representing Ashta Sakti in a temple at Besarh

Sculptures at Bhitari

Seng-kia-she. The name of Sahkisa written as by the Chinese

pilgrims

Bewet to the north of Saketa

Sha-chi of Fa Hian identified with Visakha of Hwen Theang

identified with Saketa, or Ajudhya

Shahpur. Site of Siri at

Shajahanabad. An account of the city of

Gates of

An account of the citadel of

Statues of two elephants and their riders discov eredat

Shampaka made King of Bagud, orVagud

Shamso i-Siraj . Account giv en by of the remov al of two stone pillars

Shir Shahmade Indrapat the citadel of his city under the name ofShirgarh

The city of called Delhi Shir Shah

Mandir. A lofty building called in the city of Shir Shah

Shirgarh. Shir Shah made Indrapat the citadel of his city underthe name of

or Kabar. An account of the place called

Sikhana Mahalla. Mound of Makhdum Jshaniya in the ofKanoj

Silence ofHwen Thsang regarding the cav es in the Barabar

Silenus. A status of found at Mathura

249 250

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INDEX . XLI

S u n r a c r .

Sri G0pda Dev a. Inscription on a temple atNalanda giv ing the dateof the reign of

Harsha era

Sringgi-Rikhi-kund. A hot spring atRajgir called

calledMakhdum~kund by theMusalmans

Srughana described by Hwen Thaung

placed by Hwen Thsang at a distance of 66miles fromThanesar

Statue ofAv alokiteswars atNalanda

of Tara Bodhisatwa in a v ihar atNalanda

of Dharmma on the Ghosarawamound

of ascetic Buddha at Titarawa

of ascetic Buddha at Besarh

of Matha Kuar atKasia 78 79

representing Buddha on his death bed in a v ihar atKasina

gara 81 82

of Silenus found atMathura

of Buddha atKosambiStatuesmentionedby HwenTheang atNalanda

of two elephants and their riders discov ered at Shajahanabad

discov ered in the v illage of Singh Bhawani

Stev enson, J Rev erend, translated numerous inscriptions discov eredin the cav es of Western India

Stone found in the temple of Vegeswari Dev i at Buddha Gaya

pillars at Delhi bearing the edicts of Asoka

Stay of Mrigadav a of Sarnath by Hwen Theangit»

.

of Dilu exactly the same as of Rajah Pal in Rajav ali

of Udayana, King of Kosambi, inMegl ' i luta

of Visakha

Stupa to the South-West of the great temple at Buddha Gays

XLII INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

Stupa containing hair and nails of Buddha at Nalanda

(ruined) of solid brick at Besarh

called Rajah Ben-ka-Deora atKesariya

described by Hwen Thsang

means a mound of earth”in Amara Kosha

on the Rsmabhar Jhil atKasia

calledDhamek at Sarnath

to theWest of Dhamek excav ated by Jaga'

t Singh

An account of the at Sarnath, by Hwen Thsang

built by Upagupta atMathura

of Vimala Mittra atMedipur

called Chhatr atAhichhatra

of Asoka, according to Fa Hian, situated to the West of

Kanoj

according to Hwen Thsang, to the South-East of

Kanoj

in a monastery near Kosambi

Stupas. Hwen Thsang’

s description of the atVaisali

at Sankisa

Sudama. A cav e in the Barabar Hills called

Sugatgarh (or house of Sugata). A mound atKurkihar called

Sugrib Parv at. A mound at Ajudhya called

the site of an ancientmonastery

Sukara-kshetra, or Soron. An account of the ancient town called

Ukula-kshetra, or Soron, receiv ed the name of

Sultanpur, on the Gomati, identified with Kusapur

Suraj-kund. A tank called at Gaya

orMarttand Pokhar. Tank called at Behror

indentified with Buddha-kund

INDEX. XLII I

S U B J B C T .

Suraj-kund A hot spring at Rajgir called

A tank called near Anekpur

A tank at Kanoj called

Surya, or San. Temple dedicated to at Gays

Tanda, or Tadwa. An account of the place called

identified with To-wai of Fa Hian

Tank called Suraj-kund atGaya

called Bodhokar Tal at Buddha Gaya

of the DragonMuchalinda at Buddha Gaya

called Buddha-kund at Bakror

called Bodhokar Tal at Punawa

called Karamar Tal at Punawa

of Naga Nalanda atNalanda

called Kargidya Pokhar at Nalanda

of Punwa. Mound to the East of the called Punwa MoundatNalanda

of Rahela. Mound to the East of the corresponds with thestupa containing hair and nails of Buddha at Nalanda

called Balen Tank atNalanda

called Gidi Pokhar at Nalanda

called Indra Pokhar atNalanda

called Panso Pokhar atNalanda

called Chandokhur Tal to theNorth of the Ratani Hill

calledMarkata-hrada to the South of the lion.

pillar of

called Rajah Ben-ka-Dighi at

called Hathiya-dah

called Anang Tal to theNorth-West of KutbMinar at Dilli

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INDEX.

S U B J E C T .

Temple built by Baladitya atNalanda

containing a statue of Buddha in the BarabarHills

close to the Iron Pillar of Dilli supposed to hav e been builtbyAnang Pal

of Kcsav a Dev a atMathura said to hav e been pulled down byAurungzib

of Sita Ramj r at Soron

at Prayaga described by Hwen Thaung

of Asoknath atAsokpur

bearing an inscription at Dewal

Temples reckoned by Hwen Theang at five inMathura

(Brahmanical) at Ahichhatra

on the mound of Makhdum Jahaniya in theSikhana Mahalla of Kanoj

Thomas, Edward, noted for his History of India, illustrative of itscoins, inscriptions, and othermonumen

A list of his writings as follows

Coins of the Hindu Kings of Cabul.

Coins of the Kings of Ghazni.

Coins of the Sah Kings of Saurashtra.

On the epoch of theGupta Dynasty.

On the coins of the Gupta Dynasty.

On ancient IndianNumerals.

On Prinsep'

s IndianAntiquities.

Supplementary Notice of the coins of theKings of Ghazni.

On ancient IndianWeights.

On the identity of Handrames and Krananda.

The initial coinage of Bengal.

Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi .

Titarawa. An account of the v illage of

XLV

XLVI INDEX .

S U B J E C T .

T iles discov ered in the'

ruins near Sarnath

Tomar Dynasty of Dilli. Lists of the

as Rajahs of Kanoj

Close of the

Tomarav ati between Alwar and Shekhav ati

Tomarghar between Dholpur and Gwalior

Tomb (Christian) found at Bihar

of the EmperorAltamsh. An account of the

of Tughlak Shah

and his Q ueen inside theMausoleum

of Humayon described

of Jabanara Begum

of Zihun-nisss, the daughter of Aurangzib

To-wai of Fa Hian identified with Tsuda, or Tadwa

Tower called Jarasandha-ka-baithak at Giryek

called Dhamek at Sarnath

v isited by Fa Hian

Traditions as to the name of Dilli

as to Dilli

regarding the sons of Karnar Pal

regarding Rukn-uddin

regarding Nizam-uddin Auliya

as to the name of Praysgs

Tradition regarding the erection of Iron Pillar by Bilan DecAnang

Tree and SerpentWorship”— a work by J. Fergusson

Triloknath. The temple of at Punawa

Tughlakabad. Fort of described

Tughlak Shah. An account of the tomb of

213— 215

213—215

INDEX. XLVI'

I

S U B J E C T . PAGE .

Udal, a Banafar hero

Udayana. Date of

Story of inMeghe-duta

Utsin. The old fort of to the East ofKashipur

represents the ancient city of Gov isana

Ukula-kshetra, the original name of Soron, receiv ed the name of

Sukara-kshetra

Upagupta. A stupa said to hav e been built by atMathura

Urns discov ered by Jagat Singh at Sarnath in 1794

Uttanapada, King of Brahmav arta, or Bhsratkhand

son ofMann Swayambhuv a

Uttara Kosala. The Northern part ofAj udhya called

Ganda, a District of to the South of the Rapti

Kosala, a District of to theNorth of the Rapti

Vaeha Dev a. The father of identifiedwith Karnar Pal

Vadathi-ka-kubha. A cav e in the Nagarjuni Hills called

Vageswari Dev i. Temple of atBuddha Gays

Vairatkhera. Barikhar, a v illage on the top of a mound called

Vaise, or Bais, Rajput, mistaken for Vaisya, or Bais, the name of themerchant class of the Hindus

Vsisali, supposed to be the ancient name of Besarh

An account of the stupas at

the scene of the second Buddhist synod

Buddha announced his Nirv ana at

Vajra Varahi. A broken statue of the three-headed goddess called

at Punawa

Vajrasan, or thediamond throne of Buddha, atBuddha Gays

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INDEX. XLIX

S U B J E C T .

Visakha. The story of

Vishnupad. Tw ple of atGays

Vulture'

s Cav e. A cav e at Giryeh described by Hwen Thsang as

Webharo Mountain supposed to be identical with Mcunt Baibhar at

Well atNalunda mentioned by Hwen Theang

Wepullo supposed to be identical with Mount Vipuls at Rajgir

Wilford, Francis, distinguished himself by his essay on the Comparativ e Geography of India

Wilkins, Charles, translated sev eral inscriptions

Wilson, Horace Hayman. A shortaccount of his literary career

Wilson’

s Ariana Antiqua

Hindu Theatre

Yojana considered by Hwen Thsang as 40 Chinese li

Yudhisthira. Pats demanded from Duryodbun by

Date of occupation of Indraprastha by

celebrated the B orn atNagambhotGhst

Z

Zama Masj id. An account of the

Ziban-nissa. The tomb of outside the city of Delhi

ZinatMasjid. An account of the

commonly called Kusri Masj id