CONTENTS.

rr @GQu—

No. I.

(Published 19th June, 1865.)

Page

Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund, Benares.—

By the Rev. M. A. Suzrrine, LL. B. and C. Hornn, Esq.

C. S., Judge of Benares. Illustrated by Plans and Mitho-

graphs, . : soe oes 1

Ancient Tee Whee ih E. ree cree else ence mnUCE

On some Siamese Inscriptions.—By Dr. A. Basrzay, 27

Notes on the Eran Inscription, being extracts from a letter to the

HKditor.—By Professor F. E. Hatt, oat TUE 38

Literary Intelligence, ... pee MW xe JC 45

No. II.

(Published 22nd July, 1865.)

Ancient Indian Weights, No. III.—By E. Tuomas, Esq., ... 51

Description of a Mystic Play, as performed in Ladak, Zaskar, &.

—By Captain H. H. Gopwin-Austen, Surveyor, Topogra-

phical Survey, F. R. G. S.,. Bos 71

Some Account of Ancient Rema at Saidptr and Bhitari. ae

the Rev. M. A. Suzrrine, LL. B., and C, Hornez, Esq. C.8., 80

Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language.—By the

Rev. H. A. Janscuxn,of Kyélang, 91

Notes on the Garjat States of Patna.—By Mick lel, 18, Meee

Depty. Commr. of Sumbulpore, SoC “55 e.. 10

Literary Intelligence, at he ee setiehegy Le

fv Contents.

No. III.

(Published 23rd September, 1865.)

Coins of the Nine Nagas, and of two other Dynasties of Narwar

and Gwalior.—By Major-General A. Cunninenam,

On the Sena Rajas of Bengal as commemorated in an Inscription

from Rajshahi, decyphered and translated by C. T. Mar-

caLre, Esq. C. §8.—By Babu RasenpratAta Mirra,

Report of the Proceedings of the Archeological Surveyor to the

Government of India for the Season of 1862-63, (Part IT.)

—By Major-General A. Cunnineuam, Archeological Sur-

veyor to the Govt. of India, ec its

No. IV.

(Published 1st December, 1865.)

Report of the Proceedings of the Archzological Surveyor to the

Government of India for the Season of 1862-63.—By Ma-

jor-General A. Cunninauam, Archeological Surveyor to

the Govt.. of India, bv ete

Notes on Boodh Gaya.—By C. Hosea, Hsq. 6, 8. ay ee

eee

128

155

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, &. IN PART I.

Plate.

VI.—II.— Ancient Buddhist Temples at Bakarya Kund

near Benares, ve ne to face page 12

~ I11.—Groups of stones oan sori Bakarya Kund, Hi ab.

¥IV.—Buddhist remains from Jounpore, ... 360 Fs ab.

~“V.—South end of the Tank in Kund, .... ie i ab.

NI—West Bank of Kund, aoe ce p aD.

¥ VIIL—VIII.— Ground plans of Bakarya Zend 506 5 1b.

_IX.—Hindu Punch coins, ann 566 rie 5 14

X.—Stone inscription from Cambodia, ... se 28

¥XI.—Symbols on early Indian coins, ae y 55

XII. to XVI.—Scenes in Mystic plays pauormone in

Ladak, .. See ; os acts HA 74

XVII.—Nabagrahas or nine hee es cae Bs 90

~XVII.—Coins from Gwalior and Narwar, ie sy AD)

\-XIX,.—Sketch of the Ruins of Delhi, ... ier iy cally)

——<—— PS OOOO See

"Plates 2, 5 and 6 to illustrate Rev. Mr. Sherring and Mr, Horne’s

ae will be issued with No, 2, of the Historical, &. Part,

A .

Hive

mESDaney Saas at

& df=.

JOURNAL

OF THE

Poe Tic SOCIETY.

—_>—

Part I—HISTORY, ARCH MOLOGY, NUMISMATIOS,

PHILOLOGY ann LITERATURE.

No. 1.—1865.

eee A

Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund, Benares—By

the Rev. M. A. Surrrine, LL. B:, and C. Horne, Hsq., C. S.,

Judge of Benares. Illustrated by Plans and Photographs.*

[Received 15th April, 1864.] [Read 4th May, 1864.]

The fact that Benares is the birth-place of Buddhism and that in it

Sakya Muni first “turned the wheel of the Law” or in other words

promulgated the peculiar dogmas of the Buddhist creed, is generally

believed to rest on good historic grounds. This circumstance alone,

independent of the concurrent testimony of Hindu writers, gives a

high antiquity to the city. If, as there is reason to believe, Sakya

Muni in the early part of the sixth century, B. C., in his own estima-

tion attained to the mysterious and mystical condition of Buddhahood

under the Bodhi tree at Gya, and thence proceeded to Benares, we

may fairly imagine that he did so because it was then a city of much

influence, if not also of great sanctity, among the Hindus, especially

the Brahmins. In this case the true epoch of ancient Benares must

date from an earlier period still.

Had the Hindus been imbued with the desire of recording the

memory of themselves in huge buildings of brick and stone, as the

* Copied in the lithographs issued herewith,

2 Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. [No. 1,

Buddhists confessedly were, they would not have left their most sacred

city, and one of their most ancient, without some irrefragable proofs in

column or cornice, of their residence there prior to the Buddhist reform-

ation. In the present state of ignorance respecting the archeological

remains in Benares, it would be hazarding too strong a conjecture that

no such proofs actually exist; but this much may be said, that the

probability of their existence is exceedingly small.

As the habits of the Buddhists on this point were, as just observed, so

contrary tothe practice of the Hindus, we are inclined to believe that a

strict investigation instituted in places where Buddhism was once famous

and powerful, would in most cases bring to light certain relics which

they have left behind them. New discoveries of Buddhist remains are

continually being made in various parts of Northern India, every

instance of which is a fresh illustration of our conviction that Bud-

dhism has preserved the footprints of itself in all places wheresoever it

eminently flourished. That it existed in Benares during many

centuries and was the dominant faith professed there, casting into the

shade the elder creed, and asserting proudly its triumph over it,

admits not of the smallest doubt. It is therefore highly interesting

to inquire, what Buddhist remains are yet traceable in the city,

whereby its historical position as one of the chief seats of Buddhism

may be tested. Strange to say, until very recently, few or no remains

in the city proper had been discovered, but the reason of this, we fully

believe, was, that they had never been sought after. It is true,

extensive ruins have been found at Sarnath, and have been frequently

described, but these are three miles distant from the present city,

although it is possible, and indeed probable, that they were once

situated in, or were adjacent to the ancient city itself.

Now while the hope of finding any buildings of the early Buddhist

period in Benares might be pronounced too sanguine, yet, on the

other hand, he would betray a singular ignorance of the massiveness

and durability of Buddhist architecture, who should venture to assert

that it was otherwise than exceedingly likely that portions of buildings

of the later Buddhist period were still existing, waiting to be discovered.

Even as late as the seventh century, A. D., when Hinduism had regain-

ed much of its ancient prestige and influence, at the time that Hwan

Thsang visited Benares, there were then in the city, according to the

1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. 3

testimony of that keen and accurate observer, upwards of thirty Ava

lan or sacred monasteries,—to most or all of which, temples were pro-

bably attached—and with them about three thousand priests and

disciples were associated. It cannot be for an instant supposed, that

these monasteries, which were unquestionably built of strong material,

have all been swept away with the lapse of ages, and have “left not

a wreck behind.’ Indeed the existence of the Sarnath ruins, which

are mostly of the later Buddhist period,—some of which were seen by

Fa Hian in the fifth century, and nearly all by Hwan Thsang in the

seventh, is a strong argument for believing that portions, more or less

considerable, of some, perhaps of most of these edifices, are still

discoverable. We must not imagine that in any instance they are

existing in their original integrity, but on the contrary, that where they

exist at all, they have been appropriated by Hindus and Mohammedans,

and principally by the latter, for their own purposes, and that therefore

they have become blended with other buildings from which they must

be disintegrated. The use of numerous pillars in the cloisters of

Buddhist monasteries, which were mostly on a uniform pattern, greatly

aids the identification of the remains of this ancient period.

A careful examination of Benares will reveal those portions of the

city which contain buildings, or parts of buildings, or sculptured

stones, or other objects of undeniable antiquity. Such ancient remains

are for the most part, we believe, only to be found in the northern

division of the city, and among the narrow streets on its eastern.

border, running parallel with the Ganges, in a thin band, as far as the

Man Mandil Observatory.

Under the conviction that Buddhist remains were to be met

with in Benares, a search was made for some of them in the course of

the year 1863. On the very first day of the search the ruins at

Bakariya Kund were discovered, which we shall now proceed to

describe.

These ruins are situated at the north-west corner of the city in the

Alaipore Mahalla, and are visible from the Raj Ghaut road leading

from the cantonments to the Ganges. The path conducting to the

tank or Kund leaves the main road a short distance to the west of the

‘420th mile-stone. The tank commonly known as Bakariya Kund, is

about 300 yards distant from this road, and upon the summit of its

By Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. [No. 1,

banks the ruins are for the most part to be found. In the hot season

very little water remains in the Kund, but in the rains it contains a

considerable body of water. It is about 550 feet in length and 275 in

breadth.

On approaching the tank you pass along the foot of a high mound

on its northern side, on the top of which lie several blocks of stone.

Proceeding to the western bank you perceive a massive breastwork

formed by large stones, bearing upon them various masonic signs, some

of which are similar to those inscribed on the stones at Sarnath, and

sustaining a solid platform or terrace, which runs by the side of the

Kund to a great distance. This terrace is 20 feet above the tank, and

supports two others of smaller dimensions, one above the ocher, each

of which is girded by a breastwork of huge stones. The lower terrace

is 130 feet broad, and 270 feet long on its western face, and 330 on its

eastern face overlooking the tank. It was originally held up by the

wall of heavy stones just alluded to, but this wall isin many

places much broken down, especially towards the Kund, the great

blocks lying in disorder at its ancient base. Nevertheless extensive

portions are still standing. On the northern face about 70 feet are

visible, while the western wall, which extends to 267 feet, is almost

continuous throughout. The height of the terrace is constant, but the

height of the wall varies greatly, owing partly to its being in a state

of ruin, and partly to the circumstance of its forming in one place the

flank of an old edifice, where it attains a height of at least 30 feet,

measured from the ground on the western side, which is on a higher

level than the tank. Two small windows or doorways open through

this part of the wall, and over each a single stone projects, forming its

eaves. The bare appearance which the wall would here have presented

to the eye, is obviated by a broad moulding half-way down, a foot in

width, and by a noble cornice parallel with it above.

Ascending the terrace, you come to the building itself, which is

occupied by Mussalmans, one portion being partitioned off and used as

azenana. The beams and slabs constituting the roof are in some

cases 9 feet in length, and the roof is supported by three rows of

immensely thick stone columns, the capitals of which are in the form

of across. The cornice decorating the walls is not of modern narrow-

ness, but is twelve inches deep, and is ornamented with carvings of

1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. 4)

various elegant devices. As the building is divided into two distinct

sections, and moreover as the spaces between the pillars are in several

instances filled up with a mud wall, it is impossible to gain a correct

idea of its original grandeur. The outer wall on the western side is

strengthened by a huge buttress of stone, 14 feet wide and 15 feet

high.

With pillars, breastwork, and buttress, of such prodigious strength,

it seems not improbable that formerly there were several stories above

this lower one, but this point is merely conjectural and is not easy to

be decided. Moreover it is not unlikely that other structures once

existed along the border of the terrace throughout a considerable

portion of its extent, not only on its western side, but also on its

northern and eastern sides.

Directly in front of the ancient building just described, are two

other extensive elevations of the ground or terraces, one over the

other, as already stated. The lower elevation is 86 feet long by 624

broad, and about 4 feet in heighth. The upper is 484 feet by 24,

and is crowned with an ornamental cornice, which runs in an unbroken

band throughout a large portion of the circuit of the terrace, but

this may possibly be of comparatively modern date, the Mohammedans

having selected this spot for a mausoleum, and in many cases adopted

the prevailing forms of ancient ornamentation. The breastworks of

the two terraces by which the enclosed soil is sustained, although they

have been evidently at times extensively repaired, nevertheless appear

as ancient as the neighbouring building.

Beyond the two upper terraces is another raised terrace, which in

all likelihood was originally connected with one of them, but is now

isolated from them. On this possibly stood a Buddhist shrine, con-

nected by a cloister with a building on the main terrace. A short

distance further on also, are remains of the foundations of probably

another, but the traces of this are almost obliterated.

On the eastern side of the Kund is a mound 220 feet long by 90

broad, running parallel with it, which might be taken fora mud

embankment thrown up from the tank, were it not for the circumstance

that layers of large Buddhist bricks, lying am setw, crop out from its side,

and that upon its summit and slopes are numerous blocks of sculptured

stones, symbols of bygone glory. One brick measured 20 inches in

6 Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. [No. 1,

length and the bricks of an entire layer were 3? inches in thickness.

Among the stones was an enormous ségment of a kalas or jagged

circular stone found on the pinnacles of temples. The original kalas

of which this segment is exactly the fourth part, was not less than 9 ieet

in diameter, and of proportionate thickness, and must have belonged

to a temple of vast strength and dimensions. Several small kalases

are lying not far from this segment. Hight of these were counted at

one time. Hxcavations into the mound would probably throw some

light on the buildings formerly standing here.

To the east of the mound is a small round structure called Jogi-bir,

on the site of which, we were informed, a devotee buried himself alive.

It is made of earth, but on the top is a hollow circular stone, the

exterior surface of which is divided into sixteen equal sections, each

of which exhibits the sculpture of a man, with one leg turned up, and

the hands apparently grasping a garland which encinctures and connects

together all the figures. The stone is in a reversed position. A

portion of one similar to it found at the foot of a tree, was afterwards

removed, and forms one of a group of sculptured stones taken from

Bakariya Kund and photographed. Both of these stones were pro-

bably capitals of highly enriched columns.

To the south of the tank is a ghaut, the stones of which are scat-

tered about in great disorder, so that looking at it from a distance, it

has the appearance of an utter ruin. And such it really is. But it is

nevertheless a comparatively modern structure, for the stones of which

it is composed, judging from the elaborate and finished carvings on

many of them, have been contributions from fallen edifices in the

neighbourhood.

At the south-west corner of the tank is a water-course, depressed

considerably below the ground on either.side. It is not improbable that

formerly this was the main source of water supply to the tank. To the

south of this water-course, overhanging the Kund, is a huge breast-

work of stone, on the top of which is a spacious courtyard and a

Mohammedan Dargah or place of prayer. It is difficult by reason of

the carved stones used in the foundations, the underlying mortar and

the evident frequent repairs, to say whether any portion of this breast-

work or of the buttress jutting out at its base, is really ancient, al-

though some portions seem to be so. The buttress is continuous with

the stone ghaut, and merges into it.

1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. 7

To the east of the Dargah is a small mosque, 37 feet long by 19

feet broad, open to the east, and supported by three rows of pillars,

five in each row. The pillars in the second row have deep scroll

carvings on their sides, with ornamented corners consisting of lotus

seed-pods, one on another. Hach pillar is 7 feet 9 inches high, includ-

ing the capital, and the latter is 2 feet 6 inches in length and 2 feet

4 inches in width. The capitals of the outer pillars are somewhat

larger than those of the inner, and are in the form of a cross, the

extremities being rounded off; while the upper surface of each limb

exhibits a convex curve, the line of which rises higher in proportion

as it recedes from the extremity. The architrave is about a foot in

thickness, and on it the flat stone roof rests. Seven niches are placed

at intervals round the three walls of the room. The entire building

is of stone. ‘The western wall, on its outer side, is strengthened by a

buttress, at the base of which runs a beautifully carved band, 11 inches

broad, which projects a couple of inches from the wall, and below it is a

cornice 10 inches in width and 7 in depth, bearing on its front a broad

band of exquisite carving. Some parts of this building are certainly

original ; and there can be no doubt of the antiquity of the pillars,

which belonged to some Buddhist cloister, or of the fact of the

modern character of the enclosing wall.

A few steps off, is an enclosure in the form of an irregular parallelo-

. gram, a wall being on either side, and two small Buddhist buildings

at its extremities. That situated at the northern extremity is in some

respects like the mosque just described. Its carvings, however, are not

_ all the same, and its ornamented band is of a very ancient type.

There is a small building used as a Ranza attached to its north-west

angle, and sustained by ancient pillars and modern walls. The building

is surmounted by a low cupola of primitive construction. It is not

unlikely that originally there were cloisters on this bank of the Kund,

and that the three small buildings just described were all at one time

connected together. |

The edifice at the southern extremity of the enclosure well displays

the old Hindu and Buddhist method of making a roof by the imposi-

tion of stone beams, one upon another, cross and corner-wise until they

met in the middle. The roof of this building exhibits a mass of such

beams piled upon each other, exactly like the roof of a house which

8 Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. [MNo. 1,

children build with their little wooden bricks. A second object of in-

terest here is a cut stone screen, which serves the place of a window.

Nearly a hundred and fifty feet to the east of the last mentioned

buildings, is another which has evidently been erected with old materials,

and is of doubtful antiquity. It has four pillars, two outer and two

inner, exclusive of others imbedded in the walls, and has five recesses

on its three sides. The carvings have been to some extent obliterated

by the whitewash with which the mosque is bedaubed.

Still further on eastwards, at a distance of 75 feet, is a terrace

walled round by a stone breastwork 48 feet long by 36 broad, on

which stand four exquisitely carved columns, sustaining an ancient

roof, the remains probably of a chaitya or Buddhist temple, or of its

innermost shrine. Its position is exactly opposite the Buddhist temple

to the west, yet to be described, from which it is distant 550 feet.

The columns are 7 feet 7 inches in height including the base, and

are elaborately ornamented; in which respect they differ from the

pillars of the other temple, which, for the most part, are destitute of

ornamentation. The four sides of the base display an elegant carving of

a vase with flowers drooping low over the brim—a device always found in

these partsin Buddhist shrine-pillars. The well-known representation of

a face with a floreated scroll streaming forth from the mouth, eyes and

moustache, is repeated four times on each column, and above it runs a

band of beads, each of which is nearly an inch in diameter. -An are

of the sun’s disk rests upon this band, and higher up, the column

becomes octagonal. It then becomes quadrilateral again, and on each

side is an exquisite design, exceedingly well executed, of an overflowing

vase. The pillar is crowned with a capital, beneath which is a broad

double moulding. The cornice above the architrave is also beautifully

cut. But the ceiling of this shrine, consisting of overlapping stones

built as before described, is perhaps its most striking feature. Hach

stone is richly carved, and was originally coloured, while representations

of suns and lotuses are depicted upon them in bold relief. Taking it

altogether, this little remnant of antiquity is a charming piece of art,

and is in itself a proof of the delicacy in taste and expertness in

chiselling of the architects of those times, and is also a proof of the

sad degeneracy of their posterity.

This Chaitya seems to have been the eastern extremity of the

1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. 9

range of ancient buildings under notice. Leaving it, the boundary

line took a southerly direction and probably included several buildings

similar to those on the northern side, very faint traces of the found-

ations of which, at the most, are visible. The boundary line, however,

on its southern side takes in a remarkable structure, consisting of a

massive stone breastwork, 130 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 5 feet 4

inches high, sustaining a terrace now used as a Mohammedan burial-

ground. The breastwork is in some places in decay, but to a great

extent is in good condition. Its stones, especially where exposed in

the foundations, have masonic marks upon them, and some have as

many as three symbols inarow. It is surmounted by a fine cornice

six inches deep. Ascending the terrace no buildings besides Moham-

medan tombs are visible, but it is probable that an extensive Buddhist

edifice stood on this spacious area. On the western side, exactly in

the centre, is a projecting buttress, originally the Singhasun, round

which the moulding also runs. On this spot may have stood a gigan-

tic figure of Buddha, visible to every one entering the court—for such

we hold it originally to have been. Indeed the large terraces which

have been described, may all have been cloistered courts, where dis-

ciples and devotees congregated for religious purposes. An inspection.

of the Atallah and Juma mosques at Jaunpore, formerly Buddhist

monasteries, confirms this view.

The most remarkable of these Buddhist ruins yet remains. This

is the temple, to which allusion has been already made, and of which

a separate Ground Plan has been drawn. The Mohammedans have

appropriated this temple and capped it with a dome, and now use it as

a mausoleum. It stands on forty-two pillars, all of which are in good.

order with the exception of one in the southern portico, which has

been twisted by the fall of a large tree upon it. Formerly, there were

evidently two pillars more than there are at present, sustaining the

heavy entablature of the southern portico, so that the whole number

of pillars originally, was forty-four. Of these, thirty-two supported

the temple proper, and four the roof of each of the northern, southern

and eastern porticos. To the west, there is no portico, but simply a.

sort-of projecting buttress or Singhasun, on which probably the chief

idol stood, and was at once seen by persons coming in through the

main entrance on the east. The northern and southern porticos are

10 Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. (No.1,

15 feet long by 10 wide, while the eastern is only 12 feet by 10.

The inner part of the temple is 18 feet square. Round the whole of

the exterior of the temple, above the capitals of the columns, and sup-

ported by their external limb, runs an eave-stone nearly 3 feet in

width, and, as at the Atallah, Juma Musjid, Pan Dareba at Juanpore,

this eaves-stone has been made to imitate wood, thus confirming

Fergusson when writing about this class of structures.

Each column is 84 feet in height, of which the quadrilateral shaft

between the capital and the plinth is 44 feet. The capital is in the

form of a cross, each limb consisting of two portions, the lower being

bell-shaped with an ornament in the corners. The columns in the

temple proper stand two or four together, and the abacus or square

stone upon them, between the capital and architrave, is 13 inches deep,

and is beautifully carved. The architrave has a rich double band

sculptured upon it, which passes all round the temple including the

porticos. Above this is a flat stone, and above it again a row of

niches which are probably of Mohammedan origin.

Viewing the temple from the outside, a practised eye soon distin-

guishes between the ancient portion and that added by the Moham-

medans. Above the portico, all below the octagonal breastwork is

undoubtedly of Buddhist workmanship, and the remainder of Moham-

medan ; but the Mohammedans, there is reason to suppose, availed

themselves of old materials. At the termination of the breastwork at

each corner, rests a small kalas, about two-thirds of the circular disk

of which is exposed, the remainder being inserted into the wall.

Although so many ages have elapsed since this temple was erected,

and although it has been exposed to the alternate ruthlessness of

Hindu and Mohammedan fanaticism, nevertheless with such wonder-

ful skill have its proportions been designed and its blocks of stone

been joined together—yet without cement of any kind—that at the

present moment, in spite of its aspect of hoary antiquity, it seems

almost if not quite as durable as on the day on which it was finished ;

and it is unquestionable that if it be not barbarously damaged by

uncivilized hands, it will continue to stand for centuries to come.

The simplicity combined with the great strength of its parts, and the

symmetrical arrangement of the whole, give to the building, notwith-

standing the general scantiness of its ornamentation, an appearance which

1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. 11

the most fastidious must pronounce to be of no mean order of beauty.

A small cloister was originally connected with the south-west corner

of the temple, as is shown by the continuation of the ancient basement

moulding, a moulding which surrounds indeed all Buddhist buildings

in these parts. This was probably the vestry or retiring room of the

officiating priests. Some of its walls are still visible.

It is greatly to be regretted that a large portion of the site of these

Tuins is in a disgustingly filthy state, so that none but the most ardent

investigator would care to visit a place so foul and abominable.

As to the date of the buildings which have been briefly described,

some of them at least must have been erected as early as the large

tower at Sarnath, which General Cunningham considers was in exist-

ence in the beginning of the fifth century of our era, and was then

seen by the traveller Fa Hian. They formed probably one of the

thirty monasteries referred to by Hwan Thsang, to which allusion has

already been made. When looking upon these extensive ruins, we

cannot fail to recall the time when they were frequented by crowds of

priests and disciples of the Buddhist faith. Then probably the tank

was surrounded on three sides by a lofty terrace of stone, while a large

ghaut or flight of steps was on its southern side. Around the edges

of this terrace, both to the south and west, ran cloisters, and to the east

there must have been massive temples capable of carrying such caps or

‘kalases,’ one of them nine feet in diameter, as have been referred to

in thisdescription. It is a matter of much interest to the archeologist,

to try and save from total oblivion these few traces of the past, when

the Buddhists, who long ages since were expelled from the country,

were still famous, if not powerful, and were already engaged in that

tremendous struggle with the Brahmins, which eventually terminated

in their own utter extinction in India.

We propose shortly submitting some notes relating to the numerous

symbols found on the stones at Bakariya Kund and_ elsewhere,

commonly known as mason’s marks, and would invite correspondence

with any parties interested in the subject. A comparison of symbols

found in various places would be curious, and would render our paper

more complete.

Tn illustration of the foregoing paper, there are herewith submitted

two Plans, one representing this entire locality, and the other the

12 Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. [No. 1,

Buddhist Temple still standing ; and in addition three Photographic

Plates, of which the description is as follows: —

Plate, No. 1, shews the Temple before alluded to, a full account of

which has already been given.

Plate, No, 2, exhibits the remains of a Buddhist shrine consisting

of four handsomely carved pillars, standing on an ancient platform, with

the usual Singhasun facing to the east. The ceiling, which has been

described in another place, is unfortunately concealed from view in the

photograph.

Plate, No. 3, represents a group of stones and pillars brought from

Bakariya Kund. To the right and left are two exquisitely chiselled

shrine pillars, which are in many respects alike, but the grotesque

faces on the four sides of the apex of each pillar, are in no two cases

the same. The two bases also are different, for on the pillar to the

right, one-half of the chakra is depicted, the symbol from which

Buddha derived his title of Chakravarti, while the left pillar displays

in this position a deeply compressed human face. Above these

portions of the base, the columns become octagonal, and at each angle

is a comical face, half on one side and half on the other, with flowing

scrolls proceeding from the same. Over the faces a beaded band

encompasses the columns, upon which rests the are of a dise on each

of the eight sides. Higher up, the columns again become quadrila-

teral, and exhibit flattened urns in bas-relief, overflowing with wreathed

scrolls, a device exceedingly common on pillars of this age, (about

500, A. D., as we imagine). The uppermost portion of the pillars, on

which the human faces are represented, is somewhat larger in circum-

ference than the base. The dimensions of the pillars are as follows.

Height 2 feet 8 inches, each face at apex 13 inches.

Between these pillars are two large blocks of stone, which, like the

topmost stone of the group, appear to have formed portions of a frieze

running round some sculptured chamber, but as they are of different

proportions, they probably belonged to different structures. The

figures appear very bacchanalian. In the top stone, the man rests his

left arm on a large wine jar of a Grecian pattern, whilst with his right

he lifts the wine-cup. The other two figures are in nearly the same

attitude. A narrow band, beaded or plain, ran round the figures, and

by drooping between them, connected together all the portions of the

Vol: XXXIV. Part 1

PLT.

On Stone from a Photograph ty HL

ARES.

ANCIENT BUDDHIST: TEMPLE AT BAKARYA KUND NEAR

i 5 Vol. XXXIV. Part.I. PL

Journal As: Soc: Ben

R ay th 5.6.0. Calcutta June 1865.

On Stone from a Phot

Journal As: Soc Bengal

Vol. XXXIV. Part. I Pl. I

areas

= Ree:

On Stone froma Photograph by H Tra . b

wenal As: Soc: Bengal Val: XXXV. PartL. PL: MM,

! | _

x Soc Bengal le

Journal As: Soc 5 Vol-XXXV° Part

PLM.

= ag ee oe

3 2 a

i ©. 2, Calcutta June 1865:

OnStone from a Photograph by H.L Fraze:

UP OF STONES

BROUGHT FROM BAKARYA WUWO ee

Journal As. Soc: Ben PLP a

Journal As Soc Bengal Vol XXXIV PL. PL. 4.

§.G, 0. CALCUTTA. MAY, 1865

ON STONE FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY HL. FRAZER OTH: BY HM SwITH,

BUDDIHST REMAINS FROM JOUNPORE

707

Tid Al

{eeu

20S

S$ sv Te

ONt 4 G ANVA IM

YA 7%q “1 id AIXXX TA (euag og sy yeusnor

’ ays

t y

“eye

; *

F F

‘) ~

7 5 ;

Daal

S™ iy

yi Ly iy

if wea j i

Journ: As~ Soo; Bengal . Vol XXX Rot. 1 Pl VE

South GROUND PLAN

5 of

eel BAKARYA KUND

[Pom aac and ruins adjacnt

trend ee Ts Ye

<a March 1864,

\ AN

“ oreat

ee Ze holla flliny

\ ith cubbah.

190 by wai? | ded Ti Meceiiv Buthswe

ho sterth om out) nearly dry Ut wide (BFE AGA o

« Duthigb eateries in side Sa |

ot | leer ernve | Sf || |

| Height above Tak a ||

Mounds wr | al |

[ ly a tk

ea) PY

Road #0 Mile Stone

Scale 400 fet te I Inch.

Tank 2 buildings

100 fice to] Inch Nerdy

Oe ae

ae. «

VOTE ORF Nir Heo

Donia}

Journ As. Soc Baxgal Vol: XXX. Fart: 1. Pl: Wap

Ancient stone werk

or aaa

[ Modern buildings in which

many old stones are used

West

Boundary wall

Gls eeecn See

ve . { IF € J] _

South =< = North

= lf t

ae |] “[if| Beene

| Thetwo pillars Z “ 1

| marked Hhave fallen +} |

! aS = ae

1 Swen imin |

{ Wi

| 2 i}

| : q

Ge 18

(ER Tel vs

< i |

! GROUND PLAN ls

1 1

! of the iz

) A 1S

H Buddhist Temple at Bakarya Kund. 1:

| |

BENARES if

t 15" March 1864, 18

i 13

1 188,

. 1 2 1

| 2 |

| |

ati :

| ale 8 I

bp a

Satan facile pillar as Scale 8 fet «1 Incli ‘

tus

alo of a fourfold one > fot $

1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. 13

original frieze. Beneath the loop of the drooping cord is the repre-

sentation of a gem carved in the stone. Many figures similar to those

now described, have been lately found among the ancient buildings in

Jaunpore. Plate, No. 4, which represents a group of stones taken

from these buildings, is added for the sake of comparison, as it

pourtrays strikingly this similitude. In the College grounds in

Benares, are some magnificent sculptures brought from Sarnath, one of

which is a long frieze, cut with great boldness, the figures of which

are connected by a narrow band or garland. A photograph of this

frieze may perhaps at some future time be sent to the Society. The

length of what remains of it is 264 feet.

The topmost stone shews the projecting position it occupied, by its

under-cutting, but it is hard to say in what part of the building this

found a place. The next stone beneath it consists of a circle, formed

by a narrow band, and surmounted by an elegant ornamentation indi-

cating the central position which it originally occupied, which was

probably the crowning decoration of a niche. In the circle itself a

very merry face is depicted, by no means that of an ascetic. The

large circular stone below this, represents eight human figures standing

in most uncomfortable postures and supporting a cord or garland.

This was probably the capital of an ornamental column; and there is

reason to think that it must be assigned to a later date, on the ground

that ancient Buddhist sculptures rarely if ever exhibit any distortion

of limbs, while the Jains and modern Brahmins twist and distort their

figures in every possible manner. The other half of this circular stone

lies at the College, and as Major Kittoe is stated to have taken stones

from Bakariya Kund until stopped by the people, may have been

brought from this place.

In addition to these Plates which have now been described,

Mr. Tresham has kindly taken two others, one representing the south

end of the Kund, No. 5, and the other a portion of the retaining wall

on the western bank, No. 6, copies of which are also forwarded.

PIOVILLPPPISISLAISIS IS LLLP PIL BEL IIL LE

14 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 1,

Ancient Indian Weights—By H. Tuomas, Esq.

(Continued from p, 266 of Vol, XXXIIL.)

[ Received 28th September, 1864, |

I concluded the first portion of this article with a suggestive recti-

fication of the reading of a passage in Manu, tending to prove that

coined money was in use at the period of the compilation of the text

of India’s earliest lawgiver. Any question that might have remained

on this subject may be satisfactorily set at rest by the testimony of the

published Sanskrit version of Yajnavalkya,* the commentary on which,

known as the Mitdkshard, defines the Kdrslika as “

measured by a

Karsha”’ (Karshenonmita) ; while the copper KArsua itself is described

as Tamrasya Vikdra, or “copper transformed,” 7. e., worked up from

its crude metallic state into some recognised shape.t This proves, in the

one case, that the interpretation of the term Kdrsha, as 4 coin, or

fabricated piece of whatever description, is fully authorised; and, in the

other, that the copper Kdrshapana, as Manu’s text would imply, con-

stituted the ready referee of weight, which its general currency as a

coin of the period was calculated to ensure. Indeed it is curious to

note how near an adherence to very primitive customs this state of things

discloses, in that the original idea of the use of definite and subdivided

weights of metal for commercial purposes, is still so closely identified

with the secondary function these fixed units had come to fulfil in the

guise of money, as circulating measures of value, while they retained

their hereditary acceptance as bases of the metric system. This

duality of function remained so essentially associated in the minds of

the people, that the revised scales of weights of the British Govern-

ment, in compliance with local predilections, were adapted and adjusted

under a similar system,—the current upee recommending itself as the

* Mitaékshara, i. 364.

+ Professor Wilson missed the full force of this explanation in adhering to

the old translation of Manu—where “ Kdarsha or Pana” are given.—“ Ariana

Antiqua,” p. 404; Prinsep’s “ Essays,” 1. 53, note.

+ An early example of the use of the Karsha as a weight is given in the

Buddhist Legends (Burnouf, Introd. Hist. Bud., p. 258), where one Karsha

weight of sandal wood is stated to have cost “6500 Karshapanas.” The custom

of employing current coins as measures of weight appears to have become

subsequently so much of a recognised system in Hindustan, that Sikandar bin

Bahlol extended their metric functions into tests of measures of lengeth—414

diameters of his copper coins being assigned to the Guz or local yard.—Num.

Chron,, xv. 164,

Preiwaoru PUINWwSe

Engraved by Shaik Munnecroddeen.N2M We terloo Street.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 15

initial datum and “foundation of the Ser and Man,”’* and as the

criterion and handy test of the higher weights.

To the most casual inquirer, perusing the precepts and enactments

embodied in the Statutes of Manu, the existence of some conventional

means of meeting the ordinary wants of commerce and exchange, in-

cident to the state of society therein typified, would be, so to say, self-

evident. Thescale of fines, the subdivisions of the assessments of tolls,

the elaboration of the rates of interest, and even the mere buyings and

sellings adverted to, so far in advance of any remnant of a system of

barter, would necessitate the employment of coved money, or some

introductory scheme of equable divisions of metal, authoritatively or

otherwise current by tale,f without the need of weighing and testing

each unit as it passed from hand to hand. We need not attempt to

settle the correct technical definition of coed money, or what amount

of mechanical contrivance is required to constitute a coin proper,—it is

sufficient to say that we have flat pieces of metal, some round, some

square or oblong, adjusted with considerable accuracy to a fixed weight,

and usually of an uniform purity, seemingly verified and stamped anew

with distinctive symbols by succeeding generations, which clearly

represented an effective currency long before the ultimate date of the

engrossment of the Laws of Manu. The silver pieces of this class, the

Purdnas, are found in unusual numbers, and over an almost unlimited

extent of the entire breadth of Hindustan: from the banks of the

sacred Saraswati; under eighteen feet of the soil which now covers

the buried city of Behat;{ down the Ganges to the sea; on the

eastern and western coasts; and in the “ Kistvaens” of the ancient

races of the Dakhin.§ That the silver coins should have been pre-

served to the present time, in larger numbers than their more perishable

and less esteemed copper equivalents, was to be expected, especially

looking to the reconversion of the latter into newer dynastic mintages,

* Prinsep’s Useful Tables, ii. 95, 104-6; “Jour, As. Soc., Bengal,” 1834,

Appendix, p. 61, &e. See also “ Jour. As. Soc., Bengal,” i. 445.

+ One example may suffice, “The toll at a ferry is one pana for an empty

cart; half a pana for a man with a load; a quarter for a beast used in agri-

culture, or for a woman; and an eighth for an unloaded man.’—Manu, viii.

404,

f “Jour. As. Soc., Bengal,” iii, 44. Prinsep’s “Essays,” i.73, For range

of localities, see also A. Cunningham, “ Bhilsa Topes,” p. 354.

§ Caldwell, “ Dravidian Grammar,” p. 526, Walter Elliot, “ Madras Journal

Lit. and Science,” 1858, p. 227,

16 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 1,

and their proverbial absorption for the construction of domestic utensils.

But with all this, the relative proportions of each, which reward modern

collectors,* would seem to indicate that, of the joint currencies, the

silver issues must have already constituted a large measure of the

circulating media of the day; and this evidence is by no means un-

important, as showing that while the standard of value was, from the

first, copper, the interchangeable rates of the two metals must have

been in a measure recognised, while these imperfect currencies were in

the course of formation and reception into the commerce of the

country.

The tenor of the entire text of Manu conclusively demonstrates that

the primitive standard of the currencies of the Indians, like that of the

geographically less isolated, though equally independent originators of

their own proper civilisation, the Egyptians, was based upon copper, a

lower metal, which, however it may astound our golden predilections

of modern times, was clearly in so far preferable in the early conception

of interchangeable metallic equivalents, that it necessarily constituted

the most widely distributed and diffused representative of value, brought

home to the simplest man’s comprehension, and obviously in its very

spread the least liable to sudden fluctuation from external causes, such

as would more readily affect the comparatively limited available amounts

of either of the higher metals. Hence, in remote ages, under an im-

perfect philosophy of exchange, copper may be said to have been the

safest and most equable basis for the determination of all relative

values; and so well did it seemingly fulfil its mission in India, that as

civilisation advanced with no laggard pace, and foreign conquest brought

repeated changes of dominant power, and whatever of superior intel-

ligence may have accompanied the intrusive dynasties, the copper

standard continued so much of a fixed institution in the land, that it

was only in Akbav’s reign (a. p. 1556—1605)+ that it even began to

* Col. Stacey’s collection contributes 373 silver coins of this class to 30

copper pieces (“ Jour. As. Soc. Bengal,” vol. xxvii. p 256; 1858). The British

Museum cabinets show 227 silver against 2 copper punch coins. Of the former

57 are round; the rest are square, oblong, or irregularly shaped.

+ The revenues of Akbar’s magnificent empire were all assessed in Dams; a

copper coin weighing about 324 grains [N. C., xv. pp- 163—172]. The total

demand of the state in A.D. 1596 is given as 3,62,97,55,246 dams, The payments

in kind, in the province of Kashmir, are consistently reduced into equivalents in

dams, and the single exception to the copper estimate occurs in the Trans-Indus.

Sirkar, of Kandahar, where the taxes were collected in Persian gold Tomans and

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 17

lose its position as the general arbiter of all fiscal and mercantile

transactions. With the accumulated increase of wealth, its cumbrous

volume made an opening for the silver Rupee, which established itself

permanently in its place, and as time went on, gold Muhars had an

exceptional and temporary acceptance ; but, like the rupees of that mon-

arch, they were leit to find their own level in the market, as certain

inexperienced servants of the Hast India Company discovered, to their

astonishment, to be still the ruling idea of the community at large,

when, in subsequent times, they incautiously declared gold a legal

tender.*

I have already extracted from the ancient Sanskrit code the contem-

poraneous definition of the weights of metal in use “for the purpose

of worldly business.” I will now examine how much of an approxi-

mation to the conventional notion of a money currency had been reach-

ed, at the period of the composition of the Vedas and other archaic

writings.

Professor Wilson was under the impression that he had discovered a

reference to coined money in the Vedas, where, in the enumeration of

the gifts bestowed upon the Azshi Garga, mention is made of “ten

purses” of gold ;; unfortunately, the contents of these “purses, bags,

or chests,” or whatever may have been the intentional meaning of

kosayth in this place, do not figure in the original text of the hymn,

but form part of the conjectural additions of the commentator

Sdyana.{ As such, it is useless to speculate further on the passage ;

but the words dasa hiranya pinddn, “ten lumps of gold,” in the suc-

ceeding verse, seem to have a much more direct bearing on the general

question, and would almost in themselves establish a reckoning by

tale. Had the text merely confined itself to the expression “ lumps

of gold” in the generic sense, crude and undefined fragments of metal

Dinars [Gladwin’s “ Ayin Akbari,” ii. pp. 3, 107,110. See also i. pp: 2, 3, 4,

35, 37,39]. Ido not lose sight of the fact of the long-continued use of an

intermediate mixed silver and copper currency, which filled in the divisions

between, and co-existed with higher and lower coinage of unalloyed metals [N.

C., xv. pp. 153, 163; Prinsep’s “ Essays,’ Useful Tables, p. 71]. Ddms, like

the old Karsha, were also occasionally used as weights (See Ayin-Akbari

, ee James Steuart, “The Principles of Money, &c., in Bengal.” Calcutta,

1772, p. 26; Prinsep’s “ Essays,’ Useful Tables, pp, 73, 76, 77.

+ “ Rig Veda Sanhita,” iii. pp. xvi. and 474,

t “Rig Veda,” text, vol. i, p.699; Max Miller. See also Wilson, “R. V,

S.,” i. p. xlix. and iii; and note 4, page 474,

18 Ancient Indian Weights. [Nope

might have been understood; but the deliberate enumeration of ten

horses and ten lumps of gold,* would seemingly enforce the conclusion

that those lumps were fixed and determined sections of the metal of

habitually recognised value, or precisely such divisional portions of

gold as we see in the parallel cases of the silver and copper of which

Manu speaks, and whose extant survivors find a place in our medal

cabinets.

In addition to this allusion to what I suppose to have been Swvarnas,

the Vedas, on two occasions, distinctly name the Nishka. The first

reference to this money-weight is to be found in a hymn by that most

mercenary Rashi, Kaxsuivat,; devoted to no deity, but to the glori-

fication of a mundane prince dwelling on the Indus, whose beneficence

is eulogised, in an extended play upon the number of his gifts, among

which the Rishi confesses to having “ unhesitatingly accepted 100

Nishkas, 100 vigorous steeds, and 100 bulls;” evidencing, as in the

previous instance, a numerical computation by pieces of recognised

value—much in advance of the primitive test of scales and weights.

Again, in a subsequent Suikta, Grirsamapa, a Rishi of some celebrity,t

in addressing the divinity Rupra, says, ‘‘ He shines with brilliant golden

ornaments.”* * “ Worthy thou bearest arrows and a bow; worthy

thou wearest an adorable omniform necklace.”’§

The medieval scholiast substitutes the word hara, a necklace, for

the Nishka of the original text,|| an interpretation which is followed

by the modern translator. It would seem that one of the derivative

meanings of the word Neshka, as in the parallel instance of Dindra,J

* “Rio Veda Sanhita,’ 4th Ashtaka, 7th Adhydya; “Stkta,” xlvii, verse

23—‘I have received ten horses, ten purses, clothes, and ample food, and ten

lumps of gold, from Divodasa.”

I should prefer the substitution of ‘cakes or balls’ of gold for the “ lumps”

of the translator. Mr. W. Elliot mentions that “the Canarese gulige (Sanskrit

gutika) was the ancient name of a class of small spherical coins.’ See figs. 3,

4, 5, pl. vii., vol. iii, “ Madras Journal’ (1858). Whence, also, the gold A’dal

Gutkah (Gutka) of the ‘“‘ Ayin-Akbari,” i. p. 32.

+ Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanhita,” ii, p.17. See also i. 312, 316, &c.

+ Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanhita,” ii. p, 207.

§ Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanhita,” 2nd ashtaka, 7th adhyaya. Sukta xxxiii. vol.

ii. p. 293-2.

I Vy ° I 5 ! ° o e I SS >

weraata areata waielaey aad feyed | wefad cad fawad a

Clee = Sn is TRA

al Sista CAMS TS ll Ye tl

|| Max Miiller, “ Rig Veda,” wi. p. 579.

§| Max Miller, ‘“‘ Sanskrit Literature,’ p. 247.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 19

came in process of time to apply to “an ornament of the neck,” the

component elements supplying the designation in either case. From

the passage in question we may reasonably infer that the Nishka of

the Vedas had, even then, attained so much of a definite and unvarying

form, and partial ornamental fashioning, as to be suitable for decorative

purposes in its current shape; a deduction which would further imply

that the piece itself was understood, or admitted to be of a constant

and uniform make, and that, in effect, it carried its description in its

name.

It is a question whether it is not also necessary to amend the trans-

lation of the adjective, Vis’wa rupa, from “omniform,” to the more

intelligible ‘“ pervaded,” or covered “with forms” or symbols,* a

rendering which would singularly accord with the state in which we

find the silver money of the period. Should any difficulty be felt at

the supposition of the adornment of a god with so obvious a work of

man’s hand, it may be said that bows and arrows are scarcely divine

weapons; but the inherent tendency of lightly-clad, imperfectly domi-

ciled races to wear on their persons their more valuable and easily

portable wealth, would naturally suggest the notion that the deities

followed a similar practice; and the expression instructs us that the

people among whom it was uttered were in the habit of hanging round

their necks sections of the precious metals, even as their successors in

the land for ninety generations have continued to do; having thereby,

* This rendering is in complete harmony with Burnouf’s “ Dinadras marqués

de signes” (lakshanahatam dinara dvayam), two dinars impressed with symbols.

A difficulty has been felt about the supposed Latin origin of the word Déindr ;

but, if the passage quoted by Burnouf truly represents the tabric of the earlier

mintages, it does not matter what term the original recorder or translator

applied to the piece itself; he may well have used the conventional word of his

age for gold coin, without damaging the authenticity or antiquity of the legend,

or losing sight of the character of the old type of money he was then describing,

and which must have been still abundant in the land. But apart from this,

Colebrooke, in his Algebra of the Hindus (p. exxxiii.), has affirmed that Dindr

“is a genuine Sanskrit word,” the derivation of which Professor Goldstiicker

explains by dé (preserved in didi, and kindred with div, dép), hence the participle

dina, “ shining,” with the affix dra, implying ‘‘ pre-eminence,” As regards the

term Nishka, Max Miller has thrown out a suggestion that it may be in some

way associated with the name of the Indo-Scythian king Kanishka (“* Sanskrit

Literature,” p. 332). Professor Goldstticker, on the other hand, thinks that the

word may be satisfactorily derived from nis, “ out,’ and ka, “splendour” (from

kam, “to shine”). Nishka occurs in Panini, v. 1, 20; v. 1, 30: v. 2, 119.

See “Introduction a VHistoire de Buddhisme,” p. 423; Max Miiller,

«Sanskrit Literature,” p. 245; Prinsep’s ‘“‘ Essays,” i. 246, note 3; and “ Jour.

As Soc. Bengal,” vi. 409.

20 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 1,

in many instances, undesignedly preserved to history the choicest and

most interesting numismatic memorials of olden time.

Dr. Weber has collected from the Sutras and later Vedic writings,

a number of references to money weights,* the most interesting of

which are the notice of the silver Satamina by Katyéyana (xx. 2, 6),

and the mention of a “ yellow-gold satamana” (hiranyam suvarnam

s atamdénam) in the Satapatha Brahmana (xii. 7, 2, &c.), showing that

the term s’atamdna, which is given by Manu exclusively as a weight

of silver, had come to be used indifferently with its coincident metric

denomination, the Nishka, which, in earlier times, specially implied a

measure of gold; The quotation of Suvarna S'aldkdni from the

Sruti,{ is also of importance, the S’aldka identifying the gold piece

directly with the parallel issue of silver, the residuary specimens of

which retain the name to this day in the South of India.§

Having obtained from the Vedas themselves so much of an indica-

tion of the use of circulating monetary weights at the very early period

to which those hymns are now admitted to belong, my task in proving

an obvious advance upon the rudimentary phase of the science of money,

under Manu, will be simple; especially as so much has already been

incidentally brought forward, tending to dissipate any remaining doubt

as to the existence of a comed copper currency, much anterior to the

epoch, when the customs and usages of preceding ages had to be

acknowledged as the practical basis of, and as far as might be, conciliated

in, the new code which was to make Brahmanism absolute.|| As I

have already stated, there is no direct evidence to show what technic

art had achieved in those days, or what form or finish was given to

the current money; but, as with the copper, so with the divisional

parts of gold and silver, in the table quoted from Manu (viii. 131—137);

their classification represents something more than a mere theoretical

* Zeitschrift,” 1864, p. 138-9.

+ See also the quotation from “ Yajnavalkya,” section i. sl. 364; Num. Chron.,

1864, note, p. 56.

{ Madhava in Kalanirnaya.

§ Walter Elliot, “ Madras Journal of Lit. and Science,” 1858, p. 224. Saldku

(Telugu), “ A dent or mark on a coin denoting its goodness.”—Wilson,

‘© Glossary.”” The leading meaning of the Sanskrit S’aldka is given as a dart, an

arrow: one of its derivative meanings is “an oblong quadrangular piece of

ivory or bone used in playing a particular game ; a domino.”—Wilson, “ Sanskrit

Dictionary.”

|| “No greater crime is known on earth than slaying a Brahman.’— Manu,

vill, 381.

1865.] * Ancient Indian Weights. 21

enunciation of weights and values, and demonstrates a practical

acceptance of a pre-existing order of things; precisely as the general

tenor of the text exhibits these weights of metal in full and free em-

ployment for the settlement of the ordinary dealings of men, in parallel

currency with the copper pieces; whose mention, however, is neces-

sarily more frequent, both as the standard and as the money of detail,

amid a poor community. Their use in the higher totals would seem

to refer to an earlier stage of civilisation, or to a time when the inter-

changeable values of the different metals were less understood and even

more imperfectly determined. There is no attempt to define these

relative values, and the omission may, perchance, have been intentional ;

though some such scale would soon settle itseli ky custom, and the

lawgivers may wisely, in their generation, have abstained from attempt-

ing, like our own modern statesmen, to fix the price of gold for all time,

to give permanency to an ephemeral balance, or otherwise to swerve

from the ancient simplicity of their own copper standard. Neither

need there be any distrust of the contrasted passages, as representing

different stages of national advancement. The collection of a code of

human laws would necessarily embrace the progress and practical

adaptations of many generations of men, the older formule being

retained in the one case, side by side with the more recent enactments

and their modified adjuncts. In a compilation of this kind, the retention

of such apparent anomalies would indeed be a negative sign of good

faith ; and as we have to admit considerable uncertainty as to the exact

epochs of the origin, application, and classification of these laws, and

a still greater margin of time to allow for their versification and ultimate

embodyment in writing, it would be as well not to lay too much stress

upon their internal evidence, when all the legitimate deductions we

seek can be established from external testimony.

The next contribution to the history of comage in India is derived

from the unexpected source of the Grammar of Pénini, in the text of

which pieces of money in a very complete form are adverted to.* That

* Professor Goldstiicker has been so obliging as to examine Panini for refer-

ences to coins, and to furnish me with the following note on the subject :—

“That Panini knew coined money is plainly borne out by his Sdtra, v. 2, 119,

rapad ahata. . . . where he says, ‘the word répya is in the sense of “ struck”

(ahata), derived from rtéipa, “form, shape,” with the taddhita affix ya, here

implying possession ; when répya would literally mean “ struck (money), havin,

22, Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 1,

nominal terms should appear in the grammar of a people would, at the

very least, imply that the object designated had attained extensive

local recognition. Without touching the higher ground, as to how

soon in a nation’s’ linguistic progress fixed grammatical definitions

may become a religious, intellectual, or material need, it cannot but be

conceded that if the name and description of a coin find a place among

rules for the formation of words, this should be evidence sufficient to

prove that such a product of mechanical art must long have passed

into the dealings and commercial life of the nation at large ere it could

have become incorporated in the conventional speech; and been sane-

tioned in the teachings of the schools.

Admitting these inferences, it remains to decide upon the date of

the grammarian himself. Professor Goldstiicker conceives that he has

lately obtained most important confirmatory testimony that Panini lived

before Buddha Sakya Muni (s.c. 543).* Accepting this period for the

record 7m writing of the passage in question, I am satisfied to leave the

limit of the anterior currency of the coins open to free discussion.

The allusions to money in the sacred literature of Sakya Muni are

so frequent, in comparison with their rare occurrence in the Vedic

writings, as to have led one of our modern inquirers to infer that the

Buddhists understood and employed the art of coming long before their

Brahman adversaries;+ a more simple and satisfactory reason may be

assigned for the apparent data, in the fact that the Vedas and their

supplemental rituals refer to an ideal polytheism, while the Buddhist

scriptures are based on the personal biography of a man living in the

flesh among the people of India, whose manners and customs are thus

a form.’ Katyaéyana and Patanjali make no observation on these words, but

the Kasika-vritti says that ‘form’ here means ‘the form or shape of a man

which was struck on it; and considering that riéipa, ‘form,’ is in this Sitra

used without any addition—or emphatically, the ellipsis of pwrusha, ‘ man’—is

perfectly natural and justified. As to the date of the Kasikavritti, nothing

positive is as yet known of it; it is certain, however, that it is much later than

the Mahabhashya; but even without its interpretation, I hold that no other

sense than that put by it on this Stitra could rationally be attributed to it.”

* While on the subject of dates, 1 may mention that since the publication of

the earlier portion of this article, a paper has been presented to the Royal Asiatic

Society, by Dr. Whitney, “On the Jyotisha Observation” (adverted to in Note

14, page 255, “Journal As. Soc. Bengal,’ 1864) questioning the accuracy of the

results of previous calculations. The utmost possible limit of error, however,

is admitted to lie between 1120 and 1187 B.c., instead of within the 1181 and

1186 B.c., already quoted.

+ Spence Hardy, ‘“‘ Hastern Monachism,”’ Lond., 1850, p. 66.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 23

incidentally portrayed. So that the Vedas proper, as might be antici-

pated, furnish but few references to money, and Manu confines his

notices to the formal letter of the law, though that brings within its

circle even the definition of the lowest rate of wages, which is fixed at

one pana a day, with an allowance of grain, &. (vii. 126). The

Buddhist legends, on the contrary, abound in illustrations of every-day

life, including ordinary commercial dealings, frequent mention of

charitable donations and distributions; and in one instance they have

preserved a record of the quaint item, that the Anonyma of her day,

in the ancient city of Mathura, estimated her favours at 500 puranas

(about £16). Burnouf, who cites this anecdote, has further collected

in his “ Introduction 4 l’Histoire de Buddhisme,”’ numerous passages

_ mnentioning swvarnas, purdnas, kakini (vatis), and kdrshdpanas,* and

among other things he reproduces a tale which exemplifies the curious

custom of the women of the period indulging in the habit of ornament-

ing the skirts of their garments with karshépanas. The notice of

Dindrsy+ has already been referred to, but the most important passage

under the numismatic aspect, in the Buddhist literature, is to be found

in the text of the “‘ Mahawanso,” where it is stated that the Brahman

Chanakya, the adviser of Chandra Gupta, ‘ with the view of raising

resources, converted (by recoining) each kaha pana into eight, and

amassed eighty kotis of kahdpanas.’’}

Tf the Buddhist legends are to be taken as in any way correct ex-

ponents of the state of civilisation existing at the period to which they

professedly refer, it is clear that the act of recoining, and by conversion

and depreciation making each karshdpana into eight, would imply

unconditionally, not only that the art of coining had reached its most

advanced stage, but that the ideas and customs of the country had been

already trained by long usage, to identify the regal stamp with the

supposed assurance of fixed intrinsic value—a fallacy that was very early

* Pp. 91, 102, 103, 145-7, 236, 238, 243, 245, 258, note 329, note 597.

+ Ibid, 423.

+ Turnour’s “ Mahawanso,” Ceylon, 1837, p. xl.: and M. Miiller, “ Sanskrit

Lit.” 289. The Ceylon writers wrote according to their own’ lights, as unlike

the people of India Proper, who seem to have reserved the term Karshapana

for the copper coinage. The inhabitants of Ceylon and the Western coasts

appear to have coined both gold and silver into Kdrshdpanas, Mdshas, and

other established weights ; though the generic term Kdrshdpana in books and

inscriptions usually indicates copper coin in the absence of any specification to

the contrary.

24 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 1,

taken advantage of by the ruling powers. For, while the primitive

currencies which bear no royal impress, were endued with, and retain to

the present, a remarkable uniformity of weight and fineness of metal, as

in the very nature of things it was necessary for them to be full measure,

that they might exchange against full measure in return; on the other

hand, from the moment true coins, in our modern sense, make their

appearance, irregularity accompanies them, so that in the Indian series,

in one of the first completely fashioned- mintages, that of the silver

Behat type, bearing the name of Kunanda,* the weights of fully-

stamped well-preserved specimens vary from 29 to 38-2 grains.

The Ceylon annals casually illustrate the subdivisions of the kdrshd-

pana, as they may be inferred to have existed under Manu (viii. 404),

in the descending scale as 1, 4, 4, 4. The Bhikkhus of “ Weséli”

(Bassahr, north of Patna) asking alms, in 445 B.c., say, “‘ Beloved!

bestow on the priesthood either a kdhdpan, or half, or a quarter of

one, or even the value of a mdsa.”+ Without insisting upon this last,

which would constitute =; of the kdrshdpana, I may notice once again

the permanency of Indian institutions, in the fact that Akbar’s copper}

coins were retained under the original and simple division of 1, $, 4,

z, in the presence of, and associated with, the most curious complica-

tions of the weights and values of the currency of the precious metals.

There is little else that will immediately serve our purpose in the

notices of Ceylon coins.§ Nor do the more promising inscriptions of

the Western Caves throw any particular light on the primitive coin-

ages of Northern India. They contain numerous records of donations

of kdhdpanas, and in one place notice a Kahdpan Sdla, or Hall for

the distribution of kdrshdpanas.|| HinsJ and Padikas are often cited

* Prinsep’s “ Essays,” i. p. 2038, pl. xi., fig. 16; vol. ii., pl. xliv., figs. 2, 3, 4;

« Ariana Antiqua,” p. 415, pl. xv., fig. 23.

+ Mahawanso, J. A. S., Bengal, vi. 729,

+ “ Ayin-Akbari,” i. 36.

§ Other references to money are to be found, “ Mahéwanso,” pp. xli., 10;

Spence Hardy, “‘ Manual of Buddhism,” pp, 119, 218, 219.

|| “Bombay Jour. Royal Asiatic Soc.,” 1853; Dr. Stevenson’s “ Kanheri

Caves, Inscrip.”’ No. x. p. 9, and the revision by Mr. EH. W. West in 1862, p. 1,

et seq. See also “ Nasik Cave Inscriptions,’ 1853, p. 3; and “ Sahyadri

Inscriptions,’ 1854, p. 1. -

@ The mention of Huns thus early is of some value in this inquiry, as showing

the age of the name, associated with the near coincidence of its authorised

weight with that of the old Purana. Mr. Hlliot derives the word from pon,

“ cold ;’ Canarese honna, The Varaha, or modern Pagoda, being merely a

double honna of 32 gunjas.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 25

and special respect seems to have been shown to a currency called by

‘the local name of Nedndigera.

In attempting to ascertain the relation of the weights of ancient

and modern days, and to follow the changes that time and local custom

may have introduced into the static laws of India, the capital point

to be determined is the true weight of the ratz, as it was understood

and accepted when the initiatory metric system was in course of form-

ation. Two different elements have hitherto obstructed any satisfac-

tory settlement of the intrinsic measure of this primary unit—the one,

the irregularity of the weight of the gwnja seeds themselves, which

vary with localities and other incidental circumstances of growth;*

the other, the importance of which has been rather overlooked, that

the modifications in the higher standards, introduced from time to

time by despotic authority, were never accompanied by any rise or

fallin the nominal total of ratvs which went to form the altered

integer. From these and other causes the rate of the rat has been

variously estimated ast 1°3125 grains, 1:875 grains, 1-953 grains, and

even as high as 2°25 grains.

We have Manu’s authority for the fact that 32 ratis went to the old

silver dharana or purdna, and we are instructed by his commentator,

in aneedlessly complicated sum, that the kdrsha was composed of 80

ratis of copper. We have likewise seen that this kdrsha constituted a

commercial static measure, its double character as a coin and as a

weight being well calculated to ensure its fixity and uniformity in

either capacity within the range of its circulation. I shall be able to

show that this exact weight retained so distinct a place in the fiscal

history of the metropolis of Hindustan, that in the revision and read-

justment of the coinage which took place under Muhammad bin

* Colebrooke, As. Res. v. 93.

+ Sir W. Jones, “ As. Res.,” ii. 154, “ Rati—1°, of a grain.” Prinsep, U. T.

(180+96) ; Jervis, ‘“ Weights of Konkan,” p, 40 ; Wilson, “‘ Glossary.” sub voce

Rati. Col. Anderson, working from Akbar’s coins, which were avowedly in-

ereased upon the old ratios, made the rati 1:94 (Prinsep’s “ Essays,” ii., U. T.,

p. 22). We need have no further difficulty about Shir Shah’s or Akbar’s coin

weights now that we know the bases upon which they were founded, Indeed,

the determination of the true value of the kdrsha enables us to explain many

enigmas in the numismatic history of India; why and whence Muhammed bin

Tughlak adopted his new 140 grain standard; why the unequally-alloyed billon

coins of Firoz and others were all kept at one determinate weight, &c , &c.; N. C.,

xv. 1386, and notes, pp. 153, 163.

26 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 1,

Tughlak, in a.v. 1325,* this integer was revived in the form of silver

coin, and was further retained as a mint standard by his successors,

till Shir Shah remodelled the currency about the middle of the

sixteenth century. In the same way I have already demonstrated

elsewhere, in illustration of an independent question, that a coin retain-

ing with singular fidelity the ponderable ratio of the ancient purdna,

was concurrent with the restored kadrsha under Féroz Shah (4.p. 1351—

1388) and other kings. And to complete the intermediate link, I

may cite the fact that when the effects of Greek and Scythian inter-

ference had passed away, the 32-rat1 Purdna reappeared in the Punjab

and Northern India, as the silver currency of the local dynasty of

Sya’na and Samanta Deva,{ and furnished in its style and devices the

prototype of the Dehli Cuona’n series of ‘‘ Bull and Horseman” coins,

the Dilliwdlas, which were retained, unaltered in wieght, by the

Muhammedans, in joint circulation with the silver double Dirhams of

174 grains, of their own system.§

Extant specimens of Sydla’s coins in the British Museum weigh

54°4 grains and upwards.

If this double series of weights, extending over an interval of time

represented by 24 or 25 centuries, and narrowed to an almost identical

locality, are found not only to accord with exactitude in themselves,

but to approach the only rational solution of the given quantities, the

case may be taken as proved.

The ancient purdna hall-marked silver pieces range as high as

55 grains; copper coins of Ramadatal| are extant of 137.5 grains; and

other early coins of about 70 grains ; while, in parallel exemplification,

the later standard weights, under the Muhammedans at Dehli, are

found to be 56 and 140 grains. Hence—

140+80 ratis = 1:75 grains.

DO oan —— Loe

* “ Coins of the Patan Sultans of Hindustan,’ Num. Chron., 1847, coin No

87, and vol. xv., No. 24, page 130..

+ Num. Chron., xv., notes, pp. 138, 153, &. In the minor subdivisions, the

345 and 17-4 of coins Nos. lix. and Ix., p. 155, singularly accord with the weight

required for the 4 and 3 kdrsha.

tJ. A. S. Bengal, iv. 674; J.R. A. S., ix. 177; Ariana Antiqua, p. 428;

Prinsep’s Essays, i. 313,

§ N. C., xv. 136; Prinsep’s Essays, U. T., p. 70.

|| Prinsep’s “ Essays,” i. p. 216, pl. xx., figs. 47, 48.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 27

and this is the weight I propose to assign to the original rate ; there

may be some doubt about the second decimal, as we are not bound to

demand an exact sum of even grains, but the 1:7 may be accepted with

full confidence, leaving the hundredth at discretion, though from pre-

ference, as well as for simplicity of conversion of figures, I adhere to

the 12. Under this system, then, the definition of each ancient weight

by modern grains will stand as follows :—

1 Masha ==!) 22) Watis or)’ ia.or eras:

Srver o4\1) Dhgrana, or Purana =) 32. ,,. ,, 56:0 1%

1 Sataména SOO I ha te OO: 4

(1 Masha = Oe ca: Sei oie

aie J 1 Suvarna SOON ee ot LAO: ”

"} 1 Pala, or Nishka eS AO A 1 W56Oh a

1 Dharana == S200) 5 5. 5000; ¥

Copper . 1 Karsha SSO hic LAO: Ne

(2 = 40 oP) 7) 70: oP)

Subdivisions ol Karsha: O08 4° Ew a 200) 2) Or Bb “

Manik 15, (ust UTBn hele

eee

On some Siamese Inscriptions—By Dr. A. Bastran.

[Received 12th May, 1864.—Read 1st June, 1864.]

Of the Indo-Chinese alphabets, the most interesting one is that of the

Siamese. The others, as those of the Cambodian, the Lao, the Shan,

the Talein, &., are all derived, more or less directly, from the Pali

characters, which connect them with the circular alphabets of South India

and the vernacular Singhalese. The Siamese flows more immediately

from the Sanscrit and has, for instance, preserved the three sibilants,

whereas there is only one in the Pali and its cognate languages. For

a great many of those terms, which all the Buddhistic literatures of

eastern India have purloined from the Pali, the Siamese possesses two

forms, one taken from the original Sanscrit, and the other modified by

its passage through the medium of the Pali. In writing the sacred

books of the Trai-Pidak, the Siamese do not employ their vernacular

letters, but have borrowed the Pali ones from the Cambodians, and

call them therefore Akson (Akkara) Khom or Khamen letters. The

Birmese use only one alphabet, (with the single exception of the square

characters), whereas the Laos and Cambodians have varied’a little the

28 On some Siamese Inscriptions. [No. 1,

forms of their Pali alphabet for profane uses, but have never employed

two distinct alphabets, as has been the case in Siam. The introduction

of the Pali alphabet in Ultra-India, is connected everywhere with the

arrival of Buddhaghosa, the Brahmin of Maghada, who visited Ceylon

to translate the Atthakatha, but the invention of their vernacular

alphabet is ascribed by the Siamese to their favourite king Phra-

Ruang, whose exact date is a great point of controversy amongst them.

In the Phongsavadan Muang nua, or the history of the northern towns,

it is said, that Phaya Ruang, (who was carried by fis kite to foreign

lands, like the Raja of Dewaju), invented for the nations, subjected to

his rule, the Xieng thai (Siamese strokes or letters), the Xieng mon

(Peguan letters), the Xieng khom (Cambodian letters), and the now

unusual employment of the word Xzeng (nclined or oblique) seems

to have reference to the straight and angular shape of the Siamese

letters, (recalling the ancient alphabets of the Bugis and Battas in the

Hastern Archipelago), in contradistinction to the circular one of the

Pali. But without going farther into the claims of Phaya Ruang to

the invention of the alphabet, a subject which would require a disser-

tation by itself, I shall lay before you the translation of an old stone-

inscription, found at Sukhothai, (the ancient capital of Siam during the

reign of Phaya Ruang and before him,) and placed at present in the

palace of Bangkok, by the order of the reigning king. You will see

that the king mentioned in it under the name of Ramkhamheng,

assigns to himself the honour of having invented the written character,

which he, (a very interesting circumstance, ) calls Laz-sé. The present word

for books in the Siamese language is Nangsd, pronounced by a fanciful

whim and against all rules of Siamese grammar, as Nong-sti. Nang-st

means verbally the writing on skins (nang), and thus illustrates in a strik-

ing way, the old traditions of the Lawa, Karen, &c., regarding the former

existence of parchment books, and it appears that the Siamese, a

people of quite recent growth, as they could not understand the reason

for the appellation, gave intentionally a different pronunciation, al-

though they retained the original spelling, a manner of proceeding,

which could be illustrated by many similar examples in the Siamese

language. The other term Lav-sw ‘

‘would, according to the same

analogy, mean writing in (various) colours, or writing in stripes.” A

Chinese officer who visited Cambodia in the year 1295, says of the

Journ: As: Soc: Bengal.

N21. STONE INSCRIPTION FROM CAMBODIA.

He SLAlns@ !

ne BP men

be k loph lam sat

Yol. XXXIV Ps:1, Pl: 10

N23 ANOTHER KIND.

ee td) On wd)

Thehatrena

N& 4 ANOTHER KIND.

F&M GOLF

N° 5 STONE INSCRIPTION, IN AN ANTIQUATED PALI CHARACTER FROM

THE PAGODA PATHOMMA-CHEDI IN SIAM CONTAINING THE BUDDHISTICAL CREED.

Ye dhammu hetuppw bhava

Yesarvhetum tathakhate aha

Te sonja’yo narodho wam

athy maha samanoti

N26 STONE INSCRIPTION FROM FIG ORS

ZALSVFTUONLID

OFT E LE BED OS We

Be ER?

1865.] On some Siamese Inscriptions. 29

literary sect, which, according to his accounts, then existed in the coun.

try, “Their books and public records are written on buck-skin dyed

black, and cut into the required dimensions. They work down a paste,

resembling the China white lime. Of this they form little sticks, and

taking one into the hand, like a pencil, form characters, which can

never be effaced.”’ He must mean the black books, still in use, amongst

the Birmese, Siamese and Cambodians, on which they write with a

soft chalk-stone. In the convents they employ wooden tablets, cover-

ed with a black varnish, on which the writing of the boys, who trace

the letters for exercise, can be easily blotted out, and the same material

is used afresh. For documents and memorials, these black books are

at present made of vegetable substances Jike the white paper books,

and afterwards covered over with a black varnish. The writing is,

however, far from being indelible, and can be effaced without difficulty.

If the book is written full and not required to be kept, the leaves

(iolded up in zigzag,) are rubbed over with a preparation of burnt peas

and charcoal, and then used again, as if new. In especially valuable

books, the letters, for appearance’ sake, are traced with a yellow dye,

a preparation from gamboge, on a smoothly varnished surface, but

gradually crumble off and become illegible, because the fluid does not

enter into chemical composition with the material of the substratum.

The white books are written on with Chinese ink. On the leaves of

the Talipoin-palm the letters are traced with an iron style. The

change from parchment to paper took place very likely in the rigorous

times of Buddhism, when the pious priests would not allow the killing

of animals to carry on its fabrication.

The inscription, translated here, is written in an ancient kind of

character, differing from the present one. The vowels are still written

in one line with the consonants, and the diacritical points of the mo-

dern alphabet are mostly dispensed with. The complicated system of

accentuation in the Siamese of to-day, has developed itself only gra-

dually, and can be traced back im old books to that simplicity, which

still reigns in the ruder dialects of the Laos, and makes them unintel-

ligible to the polished ear of the low-landers. I was enabled by the

help of some learned friends in Bangkok to extract the antiquated

alphabet of the inscription, but have not brought it yet to the state of

perfection, which would be desirable for publication. The first lines

30 On some Siamese Inscriptions. [No. 1,

in the commencement of the inscription, are to be found in the book

about Siam by Sir John Bowring, to whom the king hail sent it, and

as the form of the letters can be looked for there (Vol. I. p. 278), I

abstain from giving specimens.

Two other stone-inscriptions from the neighbourhood of Xiengmai,

which were obtained by me in Bangkok, are written likewise in an

ancient character, related to that of the inscription of Sukhothai,

although differing in many particulars. Both speak of royal offerings

and the deposition of relics to establish the sacred period of 5000 years,

in terms similar to those employed by the Birmese king Mentara, but

I have not yet advanced far enough in the explanation of the cha-

racters to translate the whole of them. Even the present translation,

which I offer here, is still a very imperfect one, but whenever I was at

a fault to make out a satisfactory explanation, I was sure to find the

best informed Siamese in the same predicament. The inscription of

Sukhothai covers the four sides of a conical stone, and in the same

court of Vat Keoh in the royal palace at Bangkok, is placed at its

side, another stone, which was brought from Kampheng-phet and bears

a Pali inscription. Besides these, stone inscriptions are found in the

Siamese province of Ligor, and at the old pagoda of Pathomma-chedi

at Nakhon-Xaisi, where also brick medallions are disinterred, resem-

bling those of Tagoung and other localities, and containing the con-

fessional formula of the Buddhists.

I have added for comparison, a few specimens of several inscriptions,

which I copied at length from the stone monuments in Cambodia.

The ancient characters, called Akson Mthng, abound chiefly at Nakhon

Tom, but are found also at Nakhon Vat, intermixed with inscriptions

of modern date. They are believed by the natives to be wholly unintel-

ligible, but seemingly without real foundation, as I have already suc-

ceeded, by consulting the more intelligent members of the priesthood,

in decyphering the names of gods, kings and towns, mentioned in them.

Some characters in ancient Devanagari, (resembling the Bengal

inscriptions of the 12th century,) I found at the side of Cochin Chi-

nese letters on a sepulchre in the plain of tombs at Saigon, a town

which belonged for some time to the kingdom of Chiampa. The

sepulchre was that of a priest and the Cochin Chinese Buddhists

on such occasions, sometimes mix their writings with fanciful letters of

their own invention, and intersperse them with Chinese characters.

1865. ] On some Siamese Inscriptions. 31

TRANSLATION oF THE SuKuoruHal Inscription.

““My father was called Sinitharatthija, my mother, lady (nang) Stang,

my elder brother, Ban-Ma@ang. I had of the same mother (womb),

five brothers and sisters, three being brothers and two sisters. Of my

elder brothers, the eldest died and departed at a time, when I was still

young. When I became large and grown up to about nineteen, the

chieftain (Khun) Samxon of the “myang” (town or country) Xot

came up to the place of “myang’’ Tak. My father went to attack

Khun Samxon and fight him on the outworks of his camp. Khun

Samxon does not delay, he comes forth from the camp. Khun Samxon

spread out his troops, covering the open plains of the fields and chased

my father, who fled hastily, being defeated. Ido not fly. I (ku)

mount the elephant, rushing onupon the army. I push on before my

father; I close with Khun Samxon; I myself throw down the elephant

of Khun Samxon, mounted on which he had come up to the town.

Khun Samxon is defeated; he is beaten and takes to flight, jumping

on a horse. My father then raised my title, I was called Phra Ram

Kamheng (the courageous Lord Rama), because I had thrown down

the elephant of the chieftam Samxon. All the time of my father’s

life, I gave support to my father; I gave support to my mother; I

procured the flesh of stags and fishes; I brought them up to my father.

I procured fresh areca, sweet areca, which I had tasted myself to be

savoury, tasted myself to be good; I bring this up to my father. I

set out against the savages, the tribes provided with elephants, to

obtain slaves for my father. I fall on their villages, on their towns.

I get elephants, get tusks; I get males and females; I get silver; I get

gold ; I bring it all up with me and deliver it over to my father. Then

my father dies. There is still an elder brother. I give support to my

elder brother, in the way, as | had supported my father. My elder

brother dies. Now the towns come to me, all the four towns. Of all

these towns of mine, of me, the father-benefactor (Pho-Khun) Ram-

khamheng, this town here, the town of Sukhotay excels. The waters

are full of fish, in the field grows rice. The Lord of the town does

not exact any duties, he does not tax the people. Undisturbed they

go along the roads, leading oxen to trade in them, mounting horses to

trade in them. If they wish and desire to trade in elephants, let them

do so. They may trade in them in the same way, as they are used to

32 On some Siamese Inscriptions. [No. 1,

trade in horses or in cattle. If they should like to trade in silver,

trade in gold, trade in slaves, they are free to do so. Let them fearlessly

transact their business before the face of the lords, before the host of

princes and young nobles. If death occurs, the property of the father

goes to his sons, of whatever it may consist. His children, his wives,

his servants, his slaves, the fruit-gardens of betel and areca, all and

every thing, what the father possessed, is inherited by his son. When-

ever disputes arise between the common people and members of the

nobility, they will be examined into and decided with justice, both

parties being equally regarded as subjects. The judge must not side

with the person who clandestinely steals and defrauds. He must not

harm the property of the litigants and take from it by his greediness.

Whenever traders to buy or sell come in companies to visit the town,

let them come. Such as wait for me at the northern frontier, requir-

ing my assistance, shall have it. If they are in want of elephants, or

of horses, or of slaves, or of money, it will be given to them. After

the goods have been stapled* up in the town and stored, there will be

made an election of slaves and a rejection of slaves. Such as are

clever in spearing, clever in fighting, shall not be killed, neither shall

they be beaten. There is under the portico a bell hung up for the use

of the people, the royal subjects, in the centre of each village, in the

centre of each town. If in quarrels or injuries of any kind, they wish

to speak their mind before the lord or complain to the nobleman, it is

not difficult. They go and ring the bell, which has been hung up

there for them. The father-benefactor Ramkhamheng, the father

(sovereign) of the country, takes it up, he has the matter enquired

into and the names of the parties searched out.

“Wurthermore in this city of Sukhotay there are planted orchards

of areca-palms and _ betel-vines, all over the town. On every place

there are groves of cocoanut trees in great abundance. In this town

are parks of the resin tree and plenty of them. In this town are mangoes

and plenty of them. In this town are tamarinds and plenty of them.

In this town there is liberty to build and plant for whosoever wishes.

In the middle of this town of Sukhotay there is a stone basin with

a bubbling fountain, the water is clean and clear and good to drink

without being distilled, clear like the water of the Ganges (khongka).

* Sic in MSS. Query [secured] ?—Ebs,

1865.] On some Siamese Inscriptions, 33

There is a river, which surrounds this town of Sukhotay in three

windings, even at the dry season, two thousand four hundred fathoms

in extent. The people in this town of Sukhotay are addicted to alms-

givings, are addicted to observe the precepts, are addicted to make

offermgs. The father-benefactor Ramkhamheng, the sovereign of this

town of Sukhotay, he with all his ladies, with the host of lords, all

men and women, the whole of the princely race, the sons of nobles, all

males and females, as many as there are, the whole multitude, all of

them, persevere piously in the religion of Phra-Phuth (Buddha).

They keep the precepts during the time of Lent, every one of them.

When the rainy season is concluded, they celebrate the processions to

throw presents to the priests during one month, and then it is finished.

To solemnize this festival, they contribute artificial fruits; they collect

the fruits of areca; they bring flowers; they bring cushions; they will

reap the fruits of meritorious rewards. Those who present cushions,

will sleep on costly canopy couches. The variety of the presents in

multifarious patterns, heaped up by royal command and by the com-

mon folks, are innumerable, glittering in such quantities that they

cannot be counted; they block up all places, filling every spot. The

lines of presents extend in piles beyond the precincts of the town till

to the outskirts of the jungle. If they have to be transported inside

the palace, there is one uninterrupted mass of goods stretching around,

before and behind, from the jungle outside. Then in praying and

ejaculating pious words, the air resounds with the clashing of voices,

with the echo of voices, in the passing and repassing of voices, with

singing voices. According to every one’s liking, he who feels inclined

and wishes to gamble, may gamble; who feels inclined to play, may

play ; who feels inclined to promenade, may walk about. In this town

of Sukhotay there are excellent singers with melodious voices. At

the height of the festival the people use to come in in crowds, jostling

each other and eager to look on, how they light up the fire-works and

let them off. This town of Sukhotay contains a gong, split in halves,

This town of Sukhotay possesses a temple; possesses a statue of Bud-

dha, 18 cubits high; possesses a large image of Buddha; possesses a

holy convent ; possesses aged teachers ; possesses a high priest. To thé

west of the town of Sukhotay there is a jungle-monastery (of hermits).

The father-benefactor Ramkhamheng bestows alms on the high priest

34 On some Siamese Inscriptions. [No. 1,

(Maha-thero or the great Thero). Amongst the aged teachers there is

a learned one, who has read through the Pidok in all its three parts.

He is the head of the tribe of savans, excelling above all others in this

town of Sukhotay, and there is none like him, from the town of

Srithammarat to here. In the midst of the jungle there is a monas-

tery. It is very large and roomy and exceedingly beautiful. At the

eastern side of this town of Sukhotay there is a monastery with vene-

rable professors; there is a royal lake; there is a forest of areca-palms

and betel-vines; there are fields aud cultivated tracts; there are home-

steads with gardens ; there are houses, large and small; there is a forest

of mangoe trees; a forest of tamarinds handsome to look at and care-

fully kept. At the south of the town of Sukhotay there is a market

and a school-room ; there is the palace; there is a forest of cocoa-palms,

a forest of thorny areca; there are fields and cultivated tracts; there

are homesteads and gardens; there are houses, large and small. To

the north of the town of Sukhotay, there is a convent with the cells

of venerable teachers, who live by alms; there is a pretty lake with

plenty of fish; there are plantations of cocoa-palms, plantations of

resin trees, plantations of mangoes and tamarinds; there is water in

a cistern. There is also the lord Khaphung, the demon-angel, who

is the mightiest in that mountain and above every other demon. In

this country every one of the nobles reverences the town of Sukhotay,

and observes the rules of adoration in his worship, paying homage.

This town is an upright one. This town stands well with the demons.

Tf mistakes are committed in the worship, if the sacrifice is not correct,

the demons in yonder mountain do not guard and protect the town;

they disappear,

When the era was dated 1214, in the year of the dragon, the father-

benefactor Ramkhamheng, the sovereign of this country (town) of

Sisatxanalai-Sukhotay planted a palm tree, and after nineteen rice

crops had gone by, he ordered the workmen to prepare the smooth

surface of a stone, which was fastened and secured on the middle of

the trunk of the palm tree. Inthe days of the dark moon, at the

beginning and at the end, for eight days, and on the days of the full

moon and the quarters, the assembly of the aged teachers and the

priests ascend the surface of the stone to rest; and the whole circle of

pious laymen accomplish the holy law in remembering and observing

1865. ] On some Siamese Inscriptions. 35

the victorious precepts. The father-benefactor Ramkhamheng, the

sovereign of the country of Sitxanalai-Sukhotay, ascending to the

surface of the stone, sat down; and the host of the lords and the sons

of the nobles, the whole multitude, paid homage to him for their vil-

lages, paid homage for their towns. On the first and the last day of

the dark moon, on the extinguished moon, and at the full moon, the

white elephant was adorned in its trappings of costly gold, as it has

always been the custom to do. Its name is Ruchasi. The father-

benefactor Ramkhamheng, having mounted on its back, proceeds to

worship the image of Phra-Phuth in the jungle. He has brought

forth the engravings from the town of Xolajong, to place them in the

foundation, together with the glorious relics, the jewels holy and

splendid from the cave on the source of the waters, the cave on the

river's bank, from the precious fountain in the middle of the palm

forest. Of the two halls, the one is called the golden, the other

the strength of the protecting Buddha. The flat stone, called

Manang-sila, in the form of an alms-bowl, is placed (as Dagob) above

the relics, to close the foundation formed by the stone. Then all men

saw and acknowledged, that the father-benefactor Ramkhamheng, son

of the father-benefactor Sinitharathiya, had become king in the coun-

try Sri Satxanalai-Sukhotay and over the Ma-kao, the Lao and the

Thay; over all towns, below and above, under the vault of heaven.

All the inhabitants of the mountain U, the dwellers on the banks

of the river, were called out in the year of the pig, when the era dated

1209. They were ordered to dig and take out the holy relics. Hav-

ing come upon them and seen them, they made offerings and worship-

ped the holy relics. At a favourable day of the sixth month, they

took them out and brought them, to be buried in the centre of the

town of Sisatxanalai. A pagoda was placed upon them and _ stone-

towers were erected in a circle around the holy relics.

Then three years went by. In former times there was no written

character of the Thai. When the era dated 1205, in the year of the

horse, the father-benefactor Ramkhamheng, having consulted with the

learned teachers, established the letters of the alphabet for the Thai,

which exist since that time, when the king arranged them for use.

Then it was, that the father-benefactor Ramkhamheng became verily

the king and royal lord to all the Thai, because then verily he became

36 On some Siamese Inscriptions. [ No. 1

their teacher and instructor, enlightening the Thai, that they might

know truly the merits and understand the law. But amongst the

people, living in this country of the Thai, there is nobody equal in

regard to firmness and boldness, in regard to courage, pre-eminence

and strength, equally powerful to overcome the host of enemies.

The country stretches far and wide, being enlarged by conquests.

On the side of sunrise, it extends to the royal lake, stretching in two

lines through the low grounds along the banks of the river Khong

(Mekhong), up to Viengchan and Viengkham, which two forts have

been placed there to form the boundary posts. On the south side it

comprises the people who inhabit the district Phrek in Suphanna-

phumiratburi, the boundary line being marked by Petchaburi and

Srithammarat on the shores, which are washed by the waters of the

sea. On the side of sunset, it extends to the countries of Xot and

Bangkapadi, and there are no frontiers along the waters of the ocean.

In a northerly direction it. comprises the town of Phleh (Pre), the

town of Nahn, the town Phlua, stretching to the banks of the

large river, where the country of the Xava (Xao) constitutes the

boundary. There are eatables cultivated in this territory, that the

multitude of villagers and citizens may be provided with food, as it

is right and just, according to the laws of line men.”

The discussion of the many important points, alluded to in this in-

teresting inscription, I must leave for another occasion. It has been

remarked above, that this truly enlightened king, under whom, the

people might with more propriety than now, have been styled “ the free”

(Thai), appears to be identical with the famous Phra Ruang, (at least

with one of the different representatives of this name). The Siamese

chronicles place his reign generally in the seventh century, but the

Peguan history confirms his having reigned at about the epoch here

mentioned, which has to be reckoned most probably in the Mahasak-

kharat : if not, as the era appears to be counted backwards, it begins

with the holy period of 5000 years. The first king of Siam makes

the date of the inscription 1193 of the Christian era. The town of

Sukhothay is one of the oldest capitals of Siam and continually cele-

brated in the Phongsavadan muang nua, where one of the Brahmini-

cal ancestors is called by the name of Satxanalai. The town of Tak

1865.] On some Siamese Inscriptions. 37

lies now in ruins, in the neighbourhood of the present Rahsin, and

belonged to the kingdom founded in Kampengpet. The mentioning

of the ocean, in defining the frontiers there, recalls the traditions of

the Taleins; and Sukhothai itself is said to have been formerly a sea-

port. According to the Siamese legends, Phra-Ruang sailed from it

to conquer China (Krung Chin), in the same year in which the Chinese

historians (616 P. D.) speak of a tribute brought from Siam. The

mythic traditions of the Damdukban place the residence of Phaya

Ruang in Nophburi or Lophburi, the ancient capital of the aboriginal

occupants of the soil, before the emigration of the Thai. The demon-

worship, mentioned in the inscription, continues still in various forms

in all Buddhistic countries, and the processions to make presents to the

priesthood may still be seen repeated every year at Bangkok, in the

way here described. The presents are called Kathin, on account of

their variegated components, in remembrance of the checkered gar-

ments of the monks, which, according to the founder’s institution, had

to be sown together in incongruous patchwork. The royal custom of

hanging up a bell, which might be rung by complainants seeking access,

occurs also in the history of Hongsavadi and is known all over the

orient. From the remark, that the stone placed over the relics had

the form of an alms-bowl (batr), one would have to conclude, that the

shape of the Dagoba is only indirectly connected with the lotus it is

supposed to represent. In Cambodia, one often sees pots with bones

and ashes of priest$, placed under the Pho-tree, the peepul. The town

of Xalang is perhaps Jonk-Ceylon (the shipping of Ceylon), a place

formerly in intimate connection with the island of Ceylon, where

relics were cheap as mushrooms. The places mentioned to define the

boundaries of the kingdom, are all stillin existence, and can be easily

traced by the directions given. The kidnapping of the mountaineers

to carry on the slave-trade is still continued at the present day by the

Laos. The northern trade, the inscription speaks of, may have been in

the hands of Chinese merchants, and the king promises them, (as pro-

tection for their valuable cargoes), a safe conduct through the territory

occupied by hostile and predatory tribes. The years are counted by

erops of rice, as it is often done by the present Siamese, who at other

times employ the enumeration of the yearly inundations in their

reckonings. The names given to the years are those of the Dodecade.

38 On some Siamese Inscriptions. [No. 1,

It is said in Siamese history, that Phra Ruang changed the succession

of the series, in which the two cycles intersected each other, and since

that time the Siamese haye continued to observe two festivals of the

new year.

Notes on the Eran Inscriptions, being extracts from a letter to the

Editor —By Professor F. KH. Hat.

[Received 4th January, 1864.]

In the volume of your Journal for 1861, pp. 14—22, is a paper

of mine, entitled “The Inscriptions of Erikaina, now Eran, rede-

ciphered and retranslated,” dated at Kran, Dec. 31, 1860.

Writing at Saugor, April 30, 1861, I recurred* to an expression in

one of the forementioned inscriptions, which I was inclined to read

sansurabhu, and not sanswratam, as Mr. Prinsep read it.

When a second time at Hran, Feb. 26, 1862, I observed: “ Four

months after my first visit to Kran, writing under the guidance of my

facsimile copy, I said of what looked to me like sanswrabhu,”’+ &c.

* Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1861, p. 150.

+ Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1862, p. 127. Ithen go on to say that my

old reading, sansurabhu, must, possibly, be exchanged for sansurdtri. To

bespeak trust in my decipherment of the Eran inscriptions, I had formerly

said : “ Standing before the originals, I compared my facsimiles, letter by

letter, with those that have been lithographed ; and every, the slightest dis-

similarity of the copies, was patiently tested by the perishing archetypes.”

Thus I wrote when first at Eran. Afterwards, at Saugor, April 30, 186], I

noted that my sanswrabhwu should have been described as “ doubtful in its

penultimate syllable, and very doubtful in its final.” With these words

before him, Baba Rajendralal Mitra declared himself “ disposed to think’

my lection “ the offspring of an illusion.” ater still, Jan. 1, 1862, I said :

« [ have far from intimated any confidence in the correctness of my read-

ing ; aud I have no partiality for it whatever. The fact is, simply, that the

original symbols looked to me, in the dilapidated condition in which I found

them, rather like the constituents of sansurabhu than like anything else.”

At last, Feb. 26, 1862, dating from Eran, I wrote: “For the second time

I have just read the old inscriptions here, on the column and on the gigantic

stone boar. It has caused me no surprise to find that my former decipher-

ments of them admit of a few corrections.’ On this the Baba ejaculates:

““ No surprise indeed after the ‘ letter by letter’ comparison!’ This surprise

at my absence of surprise I have no doubt is genuine; and it betrays, to

those concerned, a rather interesting piece of psychology.

The Baba speaks of “what was given with so much positivity as san-

surabhu.” Where have I been at all positive about itP It is true, that,

1865.] Notes on the Eran Inscriptions. 39

Referring to the passage just extracted, Babi Rajendralal Mitra has

asserted, that here ‘‘we have the learned gentleman * * * informing

his readers, that, when his paper on the Eran inscriptions was written,

he had only a facsimile before him, and not the original.”* The Italics

are the Babi’s.

It must be evident enough, I should think, that I am misrepre-

sented. Four months added to Dec. 31, 1860, bring us to April 30,

1861. At the former date I was at Eran; and it was then that I

wrote my paper on the inscriptions there, after minute examination of

them, as I stated at length. At the latter date I was at Saugor; and

at that time I had to trust, in drawing up my additional notes, to my

facsimiles of the inscriptions.

Having quoted my words, “Four months after my first visit to

Hran, writing under the guidance of my facsimile copy,” the Baba

inquires: ‘‘ And not the original?” Precisely : not the original. The

Hran inscriptions are engraved, the one on a monolith some fifty feet

high and thirty inches square, and the other ona stone boar about

twice as large as a full grown elephant, and hewn out of a rock pro-

jecting from the bowels of the earth. The monument and the effigy

I was compelled to leave behind me, even as I found them.

Again, the Babi expresses it as his opinion, that, ‘‘ when a critic,

professedly the most microscopically exact, comes forward with the

reminding the Babt of my deciaration “standing before the originals,” &c.,

I had said that it went, with him, for but little, “as contributing to induce

credit in the trustworthiness of my version of the Eran inscriptions.” But

that is all. As my several statements show, the first time I was at Eran,

my attention was not very particularly drawn to what I then read sanswra-

bhu. I made ashort note on it, and so let it pass. Perceiving, subsequently,

that my facsimile suggested doubts, I entered into further particulars, based

on that facsimile; and, eventually, on re-inspection of the inscription itself,

J found I must abandon my old position. A little way on, in this letter,

quoting myself, I speak of having used my best diligence, when first at

Eran, in weighing all the cases where I differed from Mr. Prinsep. These

cases are very numerous; and, of course, I gave more heed to those which

seemed of moment, than to such as appeared to be of only second-rate im-

ortance. That, on re-examination of the original words, I found it necessary

fully confront the jeopardy of such damage to my reputation as this

confession may entail. Change of opinion is not necessarily retrogression ;

and a man’s best diligence is likely to be better the second time than it was

the first.

* Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1862, p. 395.

40 Notes on the Eran Inscriptions. [No. 1,

avowed object of correcting the errors of such a scholar as Prinsep, it

is naturally expected that he should take some precaution to ensure

accuracy, and not blunder even in those places where the unfortunate

subject of his criticism happens to be correct.”* This is directed at

me ; and I reply to it.

Where have I come “ forward with the avowed object of correcting

the errors of such a scholar as Prinsep’”’ ? Are the words of such an

avowal producible? Or can it be inferred, from anything I have put

on paper, that my purpose was that here alleged? Adverting to the

Eran inscriptions, I have expressed myself as follows, concerning their

original decipherer : ‘‘ Had Mr. Prinsep inspected the documents in

discussion, with the advantage of the facilities I have been able to com-

mand, it is beyond question that his conclusions respecting them would

have differed, as on matters of moment, so as to points of unimport-

ance, from those he has recorded. Writing under obligation of the

reserve impressed by this consideration, I shall stay to expatiate on

but a few of the discrepancies, touching secondary details, which, on

collation of our results, the attentive reader will discover. At the

same time, I have weighed these cases, one and all, with my best

diligence.”’+ My chief aim, as to the Hran inscriptions, was to read

and to translate them anew. That, all along, I studiously aimed,

wherever it was practicable, not to provoke comparison of my own

work with that of my predecessor, will, I believe, strike most of my

readers.

The Baba, on the other hand, has thus delivered himself with

respect to “such a scholar as Prinsep,” “the unfortunate subject of”

my “criticism:” ‘ Prinsep, notwithstanding his untiring diligence

and splendid critical acumen, was obliged, owing to his own want of

familiarity with the Sanskrita, to depend upon his interpreters; and

they, blind to the importance of the work upon which he was so

ardently engaged, neglected their duty, and trifled with him in all

matters in which he could not readily detect the imposition they prac-

tised upon him. Hence it is, that his translation of the Hran re-

* Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1862, p. 394,

+ Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1861, p. 16.

Mr. Prinsep was guided solely by Captain Burt’s facsimiles; and I had

pored for two whole days on the incised originals.

1865.] Notes on the Eran Inscriptions. 4},

cords * * is sadly defective in many respects.”* To this I need not

add one word of comment.

Before passing to other things, I take occasion to say, that, contrary

to what has been intimated, not in a single instance that has been

pointed out, have I “ blundered” where Mr. Prinsep “ happens to be

correct.” And was “such a scholar” correct only by hap ?

At the end of my ‘“ Note on Budhagupta’” are these words: “ My

paper on the land-grants of Hastin, and that on the Kran inscriptions,

as I did not see the proof-sheets, abound in errors of the press, to say

nothing of other faults. The more important will here be rectified,

and a few comments interspersed.” Referring to me, the Baba says :

“T must, even at the risk of being tedious, adduce my premises for

the errors [s?c] in his reading of the Iran inscriptions, to which I take

exception. Dr. Hall has attributed most of them to the printers; but

it is difficult to conceive how those scape-goats are to be responsible

for the word sanswrata, which Dr. Hall altered into sanswrabhu with-

out any authority. ** Regarding the elegant simile of a king

electing his wife like a maiden her husband, the Doctor says,’ t dc. de.

My “bulky” list of corrigenda and addenda, as the Babi styles it,

takes up just twenty-one lines ; and within that space, I set sdnka

and Surdshtras, for s'anka and Surdshtra, to the account of the printer :

and this is the entire foundation for the charge that I have attempted

to disown my errors.

The Babi’s clause bearing on sanswratam certainly stands in need

of readjustment. The word was Mr. Prinsep’s, not mine.

And now for the “elegant simile,’ which is altogether the Babi’s

own property. I first printed: ‘ Who, by the will of the Ordainer,

acquired, like as a maiden sometvmes elects her husband, the splendour

of royalty.” This I corrected to: “ Providentially preferred by Royal

Prosperity, as it had been a maiden who elects her husband.’ No-

where have I spoken of “aking electing his wife like a maiden her

husband ;” and whence does it appear that I took “ the splendour of

royalty” for anything but an unfleshly personification ?

* Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1861, p. 268.

+ Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1861, p. 149.

£ Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1862, p. 394,

4g Notes on the Eran Inscriptions. [No. 1,

The Babi, animadverting on my rendering of the Eran inscriptions,

says: ‘‘ He translates waawngiezat: into the unmeaning* ‘ derived

prosperity to his race ;’ when he should have followed Prinsep and

given ‘ for the prosperity of his race.’ On turning to the version

of Mr. Prinsep, I am not at all startled to discover that he has not so

translated wawteaear:, an epithet of Harivishnu. He has not transs

lated the expression at all. It is lower down, in the column inscrip-

tion, that the words occur to which his “for the prosperity of his

race” are meant to correspond.+ Differing, there, from Mr. Prinsep,

in deciphering the original, I have given “with purpose to advance

the merit of his father and mother.”

When I called tracaasiag “a hoary solecism,” I should not

have done so,—as I wrote near two years ago,—t} if I had had access,

at the time I so characterized it, to a respectable Sanskrit Dictionary.

The Babu, with all the air of a discoverer, magnanimously taunts me

with this mistake, notwithstanding my voluntary and explicit admis-

sion that I had erred. Who shall say that, but for his ploughing with

my heifer, I might not here have eluded the Babu’s penetration ?

However, my translation of the aforesaid expression, ‘‘ the counterpart

of his sire,” is quite correct. The Babi, with intent to make me out

wrong, refers to Dr. Goldstiicker’s Sanskrit Dictionary. Dr. Gold-

stiicker authorizes me to say that my explanation is quite as good as

his own.

* More literal than my “ who derived prosperity to his race’ would have

been “ cause of the prosperity of his race.” Only I wished to make promi-

nent the devolution which is implied by the Sanskrit.

The verb “ derive,” as employed by me, has been in the English lan-

guage for several hundred years; and it is not yet obsolete. Within a

short time I have met with it, in the acceptation which the Babt pronounces

to be “ unmeaning,” in three living writers. ;

“The term, indeed, is derived to us from the Schoolmen ; and so far they

are chargeable with having perplexed theology with the disquisitions arising

out of it.” Bishop Hampden’s Bampton Lectures, third edition, p. 181.

Also see pp. 153, 184, 331. i

«The king’s power of assent is a power derived to him from the whole

body of the realm.” Gladstone ; The State inits Relations with the Church,

second edition, p. 9. Also see the same author’s Church Principles, Sc. p. 5.

«Tt is proper to state that I forego any advantage which could be derived

to my argument from the idea of abstract right, as a thing independent of

utility.” J.S. Mill: on Liberty, pp. 23, 24. Also see the same author's

Considerations on Representative Government.

+ Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1888, p. 634.

+ Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1861, p. 139.

1865.] Notes on the Eran Inscriptions, 43

Commenting on the Babt’s decipherment of an inscription, I said :

** The third line shows an upadhmdniya beforea y. In the teeth of

all grammar, this, as lately edited, had been turned into a repha.”’*

To this the Babu rejoins: “ The wpadhmdniya is a printer’s blunder.”

The Sanskrit scholar cannot fail to discern that there is, in this reply,

a blunder incomparably worse than a printer’s.

Again, I objected to the Baba’s aratfyqerat. The reply is: “ My

mitdpitustatha is quite as correct as the suggested mdtdpitrostathd ;

the one being an ttaretarasamdsa, and the other a samdhdra.”’

In passing, mdtdpitustatha would involve, not, as is here implied,

an ttaretarayoga compound, but a samdhdra. A compound of the

samdhdra description must be a neuter singular; and that ‘“ mother”

and ‘‘ father’ can be thus combined, the veriest tyro in Sanskrit

should know to be impossible.

These specimens of the Babi’s want of accuracy and scholarship

might be greatly extended. But I shall have said as much as I care

to say, after mentioning that he has credited Mr. Prinsep,} instead of

myself, with extracting a full date from the inscription of Budha-

gupta. This is a trifle; but it is characteristic.

I had written thus far in April last, but laid my letter aside, with

the intention of withholding it. Owing, however, to Baba Rajendra-

141 Mitra’s paper on Bhoja, in the second number of this year’s Jour-

nal, I have resolved to forbear no longer. It would make a long list,

if I were to resume the facts of my own finding out which the Baba

there appropriates as though he himself had first brought them to

light. Where, too, he assails me, in connexion with the name of

‘Colebrooke,t he knows full well that I was not professing to correct

that great scholar as to the meaning of the word dala. When tre-

translating a passage translated by another, it is no just conclusion

that I regard as wrong, whatever I do not think fit to copy from his

renderings. It was a matter of misreading and metre, in the instance

in question, where I showed that Colebrooke had slipped. For the

* Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1862, p. 128.

+ Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1862, p. 396.

+ Journal As. Soc. Beng , 1863, pp. 106 & 107.

§ Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. VII., pp. 31 and 46;

and Journal As. Soc. Beng., 1861, p. 210,

+4 Notes on the Eran Inscriptions. [No. 1,

rest, the word dala signifies “‘ petal’? as well as “leaf.” I am told

that “it is only on the leaf of the lotus that water is tremulous, and

not on its petals.” Indeed !

In preceding volumes of this Journal,* I have stated that Babi

Rajendralal Mitra has interpolated an inscription, and thereby created

anew king; and this myth, Mahendrapala II., has been adopted as a

reality, in Professor Lassen’s Indian Antiquities.+

Your obedient servant,

F. KE. Hatt.

King’s College, London, Nov. 9, 1863.

P.S. Colonel Cunningham, in his Archeological Survey Report,

published in your Journal for this year, writing of the year in which

the inscription naming Skandagupta is dated, says: ‘‘ Professor Hall,

on the authority of Bapti Deva Sastri, the learned astronomer of the

Benares College, prefers the era of Vikramaditya.” I have never

expressed any such preference ; and I have never appealed, on the

subject, to Pandit Bapi Deva. Colonel Cunningham was thinking of

the inscription of Budhagupta. I have explicitly said: “ Not to my

knowledge, is there one particle of proof that Kuméragupta preceded

Budhagupta, or that Skandagupta did, whether immediately, or after

an interval.” The year 141 in the inscription that speaks of Skanda-

gupta I have not suggested to place either before or after Budha-

gupta’s year 165.

By the by, the Udayagiri inscription is not dated in S’ravana, as

according to Colonel Cunningham’s decipherment, but in A’shadha,

and very distinctly, I read the word on the spot in the spring of last

year.

* 1861, p. 199; 1862, pp. 5 and 15.

t Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol. UTI., pp. 827 and 1169.

{ Journal As, Soc. Beng., 1861, p. 388.

1865. ] Literary Intelligence. 4S

Literary INTELLIGENCE.

The large bronze statue of Buddha which was exhumed at Sooltan-

gaunge by Mr. Harris and which has been figured in this Journal, has

reached England and been presented by Mr. T. Thornton to the town

of Birmingham.

Capt. Lees was under a misimpression when he announced at the

last August meeting that the Elliot MSS., now under publication in

England by Mr. H. B. Cowell and Dr. Reinhold Rost, were being

published by our Society. The offer of assistance, which, on the

recommendation of our Philological Committee, our Council sent to

Lady Elliot in June 1863, through our Honorary Agent in London,

Mr. EH. Thomas, was not at once accepted, and in the mean time,

Mr. Cowell’s return to England enabled her ladyship to make other

and to her more acceptablearrangements. The historical materials left by

Sir H. Hlliot, are to be published in 3 volumes, edited by Mr. Cowell,

under the title of ‘ The History of India as told by its own historians,’

while M. Rost is to bring out a complete edition of the Glossary

under that of ‘Memoirs on the history, philology and ethnic distri-

bution of the races of the N. W. Provinces of India.’ The History is

not to contain any oriental text.

M. Jules Mohl in announcing its projected publication in the Journ.

Asiatique, makes the following remarks.

““ Je ne suis pas, en général, grand partisan des ouvrages posthumes ;

mais je suis heureux de voir que l’on sauve de l’oubli tout ce qui peut

se publier des matériaux préparés et élaborés par un homme aussi

distingué par le cur, Vesprit et le savoir, que Sir H. Elliot, qui

était certainement un des hommes les plus remarquables parmi le

grand nombre des savants que le service de la Compagnie des Indes

a formés. On ne leur a jamais rendu en Angleterre la méme justice

que sur le continent, et je crois qu'il en sera de méme des ouvrageg

posthumes dont je parle ici.”

Mr. Cowell, we hear, has also undertaken the continuation of

Wilson’s translation of the Rig Veda.

Brockhaus has undertaken to publish M. Haug’s ‘ Religion of the

Zoroastrians,’ which is to be in two volumes, the first to contain the

46 Lnterary Intelligence. [No. 1,

history of Zend and Pehlevee literature, accompanied by translations

and grammars of these languages, the second to explain the

Zoroastrian dogmas, and to give an account of the origin and develop-

ment of this religion and of its relations with Vedism.

The Royal Asiatic Society have commenced a new series of their

Journal, the first part of which contains a paper by Dr. J. Muir on the

Vedic Theogony and Mythology. This is to be followed by others, -

the Author’s object being to examine the religious ideas of the

Rig Veda and ‘to compare them occasionally with the corresponding

conceptions of the early Greeks.’

The Oriental Translation Fund Committee are, we regret to see,

unable to proceed with any new publications for want of funds.

They propose, therefore, to complete, as soon as practicable, De Slane’s

translation of Ibn Khallikan and to close their labours.

The following is from General Cunningham, dated October last.

‘““The coins of Sophytes to which Captain Stubbs refers, have only

been found in the N. W. of India, as far as I am aware: and I am

therefore inclined to assign them to Sophites, or Sopeithes, or

Cuphites, the king of the Kathei, who was contemporary with

Alexander. The coins themselves appear to be of the same age as

those of Alexander and Seleukos.

‘“‘ Thomas’s article on Indian Weights promises to be interesting —

I have been collecting materials for the same subject for nearly

20 years, and I have made many curious discoveries—I see that he

quotes Sir William Jones as fixing the weight of the Krishnala, or

Rati seed, at 1,8, grain: but I am satisfied that this is a simple

misprint of Jones’s manuscript, for 1% or 1.833 grain, which is as

nearly as possible the average weight of thousands of seeds which I

have tested. The great unit of medieval and modern times is the

tdka of not less than 145 grains, of which 6 make the chha-taka, or

chhatak, equal to 870 grains, or nearly 2 ounces—and 100 make the

setaka or ser, the derivation being sat-tdka or 100 takas—For conve-

nience LI have taken, in all my calculations, the rat: seed at 1.8229

grain—Then 80 ratis, or 145.832 was the weight of the tangka of

copper, and algo of the golden swvarna, which multiplied by 6 gives

$74.99 grains, or exactly 2 ounces for the chhatdka or chhatak. One

1865. ] Literary Intellogence. AT

of the most curious facts connected with ancient oriental Numismatics

is that sém in Persian means both “ thirteen’? and “ silver,” which

confirms the statement of Herodotus that in the time of Darius gold

was 13 times the value of silver.”

Extract from Capt. Stubbs’ letter to Mr. Grote :-—

““T shewed the gold stater of Diodotus, which you may recollect my

having, to Messrs. Vaux and Poole at the British Museum, and they

held a Committee on it, the result being a clear verdict in its favour :

so Mr. Thomas writes me word. They were much pleased with a

Sophytus which I gave them,* and Mr. Vaux agrees with me in thinking

that General Cunningham’s attribution of the name w@vutos to the

Latin suffes and the Aramean— py is objectionable.”

Professor Holmboe of Christiania, in a letter to Babu Rajendralala

Mitra, gives the following summary of certain memoirs lately pub-

lished by him on the relation which formerly existed between Asia

and Scandinavia.

“““A présent je prends la liberté de vous envoyer trois petits mé-

moires archéologiques: 1. Om Eeds-Ringe c. & d. sur des

anneaux &serment. J’y ai prouvé, que les anneaux, dont se servaient

nos ancétres payens, pour y poser la main en prétant serment, ont eu:

la méme forme que les anneaux, qu’on voit entre les mains de quelques

personnes dans la procession sacrificale sculptée aux murs & cété

des escaliers du temple de Pesepolis. J’ai taché de prouver, que

Vusage de préter serment sur an anneau ait été en usage chez les

anciens Perses; particulitrement sous la dynastie der Sassanides,

dont les sculptures & Nakhchi Roustam et & Nakhchi Bostan ne

representent pas, comme ona cru, la remise solennelle du symbole

de la royauté au nouveau roi, mais le prétement de serment du

nouveau roi sur un anneau, qu’au nom de Dieu lui présente le

grand mobed (mobedi mobedan), ce qui démontre assez clairement la

tenure de la main du roi. Sur la pl. I, j’ai donné les dessins de deux

anciennes monnaies celtiques, dont l’obvers represente la juris-

diction par un homme tenant l’anneau & serment, et le revers de l'une

represente le sacrifice par [d’?] un quadrupéde, sur le dos duquel on

* It is considered a better one than Major Hay’s.

48 Literary Intelligence. [No. 1,

voit le mauteau sacrificial. Le résultat, que je tire de mes raisonne-

ments, c’est que le rite de préter serment sur un anneau, comme tant

d’ autres rites, a dt passer de 1’ Orient dans le Nord de 1’ Europe.

2. Kong Svegders Reise c. & d. le voyage du roi Svegder.

On lit dans Vhistoire de Norvége par Snorro Sturlason, chap. 15

de Vhistoire des Ynglings, qu’ un roi de Suéde, nommé Svegder,

jequel, vu la série des rois qui ont regnés jusqu’au temps ot nous

avous une chronologie certaine, a di vivre au 4me siécle de

Vére chrétienne, fit deux voyages pour aller & Godheim ou

Asaland, ot il espérait trouver Odin (Bouddha?) Le récit rap-

porte, que dans sen premier voyage il visita le pays des Tures, le

grand Svithjod c, 4d, la Russie actuelle, et Panaheim c, ad. le Ta

Ouan ou grand Quan sur les bord de Jaxartes (Lir devger,) dont

patle le Chinois Lee’mutsien dans le Laéki. Le voyage dura cing

ans. Aprés avoir resté quelque temps ala maison il fit un second

voyage dans le méme but. [I] traversa de nouveau Svithjod, et

ayant passé sa limite [?] de 1’Hst il arriva & un lieu, nommé Stein,

ou il y avait une pierre (stem en Norv. signifie pzerre,) grande

comme une grande maison. La, sortant le soir d’ une maison, ot

lui et sa suite s’étaient endormis, [?] il observa sous la pierre, un

dverg (petit étre mysterreux de la Mythologie des anciens, demeu-

rant sous terre, mais en sortant le soir et la nuit,) assis sous la

pierre. Alors le roi et sa suite se mirent 4 courir vers la pierre,

mais avant d’y arriver, il vit le dverg debout dans la porte, l’appel-

lant et l’invitant & entrer s'il desirait voir Odin. [1 entra, la porte

se ferma, et on ne le vit plus.

Voila le contenu du récit. Je suppose que la pierre ait été un

Stoupa au Tope, dont Vexterieur bien platré lui ait donné laspect

dune pierre, d’une masse solide. Le dverg assis a di étre une

statuette de Bouddha assis, telle qu’on les voit quelquefois dans

les niches de la base des monuments bouddhiques; et la porte

a pu étre la porte d’une chapelle réunie au tope, telle qu’on

voit par exemple au dagobah de Pollanarua 4 Ceylon (p. 11,

du mém.) Un des gardiens du monument a dai Jappeler ainsi,

pour s’emparer d’un homme, dont il craignait violence contre le

sanetuaire, et sachant qu il cherchait Odin (Bouddha,) il lui dit,

quil était la-dedans, oti, peut-étre, quelques reliques de Bouddha

1865.] Literary Intelligence. 49

étaient déposées. Le récit doit donc sortir de la classe des fables,

et étre reputé historique dans son fond.

3. Thoroli Begifcts Begravelse c. 4 d. Venterrement de Thorolf

Begifot. Dans une histoire d’une province de VIslande nommée

Hyrar, concernant les derniers temps du paganisme, on lit d’un

homme, nommé Thorolf Begifot, lequel, revenant un soir d’un voyage,

s’assit sur son siége d’honneur et y resta jusqu’au matin, lorsqt on l’y

trouva mort. Son fils étant appelé, enfonga le parois derriére le dos

du défunt, et emportale corps par l’ouverture. C’est, & ce que je

sais, le seul exemple en Scandinavie, d’une maniére si singuliére

de faire sortir un corps mort. Mais en Asie on en trouve plusieurs

exemples. Marco Paolo raconte, qu’en Tartarie, les astrologues

conseillaient vers quel point de l’univers les morts devaient étre

retirés et s'il n’y avait pas de porte dans la direction indiquée on

faisait une ouverture dans le parois, et retiraient par la le mort. Le

Rey. Pallagoix raconte, qu’é Siam, au lieu de faire passer le cer-

cueil par la porte, on le descend dans la rue par une ouverture pratiquée

au murail. Ht M. Pallas raconte, qu’un lama des Kalmuks étant

trouvé mort sur son siege d’honneur, on renversa sa demeure par

derriere [sic.| Ce exemples éveillent la supposition, que la maniére,

dont on retirait le corps de Th. B. était une trace de Bouddhisme.

Ayant été enterré dans une vallée, le méme Th. B. causait

comme revenant tant de malheurs, qu’on se crut forcé de transporter

son corps dans le désert, mais arrivé & la sortie de la valleé, le corps

devint si Jowrd; que 14 hommes ne pouvaient pas l’emporter plus loin.

J’ai comparé ce récit avec celui que rapporte Mr. Schmidt dans ses

notes au Scanavy Lectren, 4 propos de l’enterrement du conquérant

cdébre, Dchingis-Khaghan, Htant mort au Tohet, son corps fut trans-

porté & sa demeure. Arrivé la, le corps fut si lowrd, qwon s’efforca

en vain de descendre le cercueil de la voiture. On se vit obligé

de’éléver le tertre sépulcrale au dessus de la voiture. Voila un nouvel

exemple de Jinfluence de croyances orientales sur celles deg

Scandinaves.

ae cee te ech ete ee eee nena aa

The issue of Plates 5 and 6 is unavoidably delayed.

Plate XVII. to illustrate Rev. Mr. Sherring and Mr. Horne’s paper

on Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitari, will be issued with No. 3

of the Historical Part.

S0g ee,

Yoxar

wi6

ae.

of dfs 8

ob pA Ee Ea

CHP hee

| Ata ies

DhiaPanh ed iy wise a

Sa pos! J

AN) jaler le Sih OO LPR

Beal lays

Beil sidit

JOURNAL

OF THE

eel Acs S: OC EB Te

—}—

Parr 1—HISTORY, LITERATURE, Ge.

eee

No. II.—1865.

eee ee

Ancient Indian Weights, No. I1J.—By HK. Tuomas, Esq.

[Received 15th March, 1865. |

THE EARLIEST INDIAN COINAGE.

So many questions connected with the earliest form of Indian money

have been incidentally adverted to in the examination of the weights

upon which it was based, and from whose very elements as divisional

sections of metal, all Indian coinages took their origin, that but little re-

mains to be said in regard to the introductory phase of local numismatic

art, beyond a reference to the technic details, and a casual review of the

symbols impressed upon these normal measures of value. The con-

trast, however, between the mechanical adaptations of the east and

west may properly claim a momentary notice, with the view of testing

the validity of the assumption I have previously hazarded respecting

the complete independence of the invention of a metallic circulating

medium by the people of Hindustan.*

Many years ago the late Mr. Burgony+ correctly traced, from the then

comparatively limited data, the germ and initial development of the

art of coining money in Western Asia, describing the process as ema-

* Num. Chron., N. S., vol. iii. note, p. 226; and more in detail in my edition

of Prinsep’s “ Hssays” (Murray, London, 1858), vol. i. p. 217,

+ Numismatic Journal, 1887, vol. i, p, 118.

52 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

nating from the Eastern custom of attaching seals, as the pledge of

the owner’s faith in any given object. This theory satisfactorily pre-

dicated the exact order of the derivative fabrication of coins, which

may now, with more confidence, be deduced from the largely-increased

knowledge of the artisan’s craft and mechanical aptitude of the ancient

inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the relics of which the researches of

Layard, Loftus, and Botta have recovered in so near an approach to

their primal integrity. The universal employment of clay for al-

most every purpose of life, including official and private writings, with

the connecting seals that secured even leather or parchment documents,

extending down to the very coffins* in which men were buried, natu-

rally led up to marked improvements in the processes of stamping and

impressing the soft substance nature so readily hardened into durabi-

lity, and to which fire secured so much of indestructibility. If moist

clay was so amenable to treatment, and so suitable for the purpose of

receiving the signets of the people at large, we need scarcely be un-

prepared to find yielding metals speedily subjected to a similar process

—for the transition from the superficially-cut stone seal to the sunk

die of highly-tempered metal which produced the Darics, would occupy

but a single step in the development of mechanical appliances. In

effect, the first mint stamps, were nothing more than authoritative

seals, the attestation-mark being confined to one side of the lump of

silver or gold, the lower surface bearing traces only of the simple con-

trivance necessary to fix the crude coin, In opposition to this almost

natural course of invention, India, on the other hand, though possessed

of, and employing clay for obvious needs,+ had little cause to use it as a

vehicle of record or as the medium of seal attestations ; if the later

practice may be held to furnish any evidence of the past, her people

must be supposed to have written upon birch bark,} or other equally

suitable substances so common in the south from very remote ages,§

* Mr. J. EH. Taylor, “Jour. Roy, As. Soc,,” xv. 414. Loftus, “ Chaldza,” p.

204.

+ Wilson, ‘ Rig Veda.” vol. iii. p. xiv. ‘ Arrian,” lib, v. cap. xxiv., and lib.

viii. cap. x. Hiouen-Thsang, “Mémoires,” vol. i. p. 333, &c.

{ The primitive Persians of the north-east also wrote upon birch bark. Ham-

za Isfahani, under the eyents of a. H. 350 (a. D. 961), adverts to the discovery

at Jai (Isfahan), of the rituals of the Magi, all of which were written, im the

most ancient Persian language, on birch bark. See also Q. Curtius, viii. 9, §

15; Reinaud, * Mém. sur I Inde,” 305; “ Ariana Antiqua,’ pp. 60, 84; Pyrim-

sep's “ Essays,” i1. 46,

§ “ Arrian,” yiii. 7. “ La Vie de Hiouen-Thsang,” 158.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 53

while the practical advance from ever-recurring weighings towards fix-

ed metallic currencies was probably due to the introductory adop-

tion of lengths of uniformly-shaped bars of silver (Plate XI. Figs. 1,

2), which, when weight and value gradually came to require more

formal certificates, were adapted designedly to the new purpose by

change of form and a flattening and expansion of surface, in order to

receive and retain visibly the authoritative countermarks. One part

of the system was so far, by hazard, in accord with the custom of the

west, that the upper face alone was impressed with the authenticating

stamps, though the guiding motive was probably different, and the

object sought may well have been the desirable facility of reference to

the serial order of the obverse markings—each successive repetition of

which constituted a testimony to the equity of past ages.

The lower face of these domino-like pieces is ordinarily indented

with a single minor punch, occupying as a rule nearly the middle of

the reverse. The dies, though of lesser size, follow the usual symboli-

cal representations in vogue upon the superior face. There are scarce-

ly sufficient indications to show if the dies in question constituted a

projected portion of the anvil; but I should infer to the contrary : nor

does the isolation of these symbols, in the first instance, prevent repe-

titions of small punch-marks over or around their central position; in

some cases—though these form the exceptions—the clear field of the

reverse is ultimately devoted to the reception of the obverse or larger

devices: which anomaly recurs, of necessity, to a greater extent with

those pieces which have continued long in circulation, and more es-

pecially is this found to be the case among the residue of this descrip-

tion of currency in Central India and the Peninsula, where ancient

customs so firmly resisted the encroachments of foreign or extra-pro-

vincial civilisation.

As far as the typical designs in themselves, when compared with

later Indian symbolical adaptations, are concerned, they would seem

to refer to no particular religious or secular division, but, embodying

primitive ideas, with but little advanced artistic power of representa-

tion, to have been produced or adopted, from time to time, as regal

or possibly metropolitan authorities demanded distinctive devices. It

would be useless, at this stage of the inquiry, to attempt to decide

whether these discriminating re-attestations appertain primarily to

54 Ancient Indian Weights. [ No. 2,

succeeding dynasties, progressive generations of men, or whether they

were merely the equitable revisions of contemporary jurisdictions.

Though more probably, as a general rule, the simple fixed weights

of metal circulated from one end of the country to the other, in virtue

of previous marks, only arrested in their course when seeming wear or

dubious colour called for fresh attestation : or incidentally, when new

conquerors came on the scene and gratuitously added their hereditary

symbols. The devices, in the open sense, are all domestic or emble-

matic within the mundane range of simple people—the highest flight

heavenwards is the figure of the sun, but its orb is associated with no

other symptom of planetary influences, and no single purely Vedic

conception. So also, amid the numerous symbols or esoteric mono-

grams that have been claimed as specially Buddhist,* there is not one

that is absolutely and conclusively an origination of, or emanation from,

that creed. The Chaitya other Scythians had before them ; the Bodhi-

Tree is no more essentially Buddhist than the Assyrian Sacred Tree,

the Hebrew Grove,t or the popularly venerated trees of India at

large.$

Equally on the other part Vedic advocates will now scarcely claim

the figure of the objectionable Dog,|| or seek to appropriate to Aryan

Brahmanism ploughs, harrows, or serpents. In brief, these primitive

punch-dies seem to have been the produce of purely home fancies and

local thought, until we reach incomprehensible devices, composed of

lines, angles, and circles, which clearly depart from Nature’s forms ;

and while we put these aside as exceptional composite designs, we may

accept unhesitatingly as of foreign origin the panther and the vine,

engraved in a style of good Greek art, which overlays the mixed im-

pressions of earlier date and provincial imagery, and appears only to-

wards the end of the career of the punch-marked coins, in their north-

western spread, before they were finally absorbed im that quarter by

* Sykes, “Jour. R. A. 8.,” v. 451; Cunningham, “Bhilsa Topes,” p. 351,

plates xxxi., xxxu. B.H. Hodgson, ‘“‘ Jour. R. A. 8.,’ xviii. 393.

+ Gosse’s “ Assyria,” p. 94; Rawlinson’s ‘“‘ Ancient Monarchies,”’ ii. 235.

{ Smith’s “ Dictionary of the Bible,” article “ Grove,’—doubts are raised

regarding the correctness of the translation of the word Ashérah as a grove.

See also note in Gesenius, sub voce Ashérah.

§ Wilson, ‘‘ Megha Dita,’ ver. 157. Ward’s Hindus, iii. 204. So also Tul-

ast,—* Ocymum sanctum,” or “ Sacred Basil.”

|| Manu, iii. 92, iv. 208, x. 51, 91, 106, etc. Max Miiller, ‘Science of Lan-

guage,” ii. 481,

Jurnat As. oo0c. Bengal.

Tee

ees

bi NS 3

s WL S Wye PL. SOG

Se Se OS rant aaa ew Oe

o Oo as ot, BS 48 a

uw GF Sa Gel at aw oe

é: 1 TS oS ee ME NN ;

sul NO ANC Ce ~ant aol “RP Ts a

ate sae es : a) oe a es 2

Vine / ih Cue g 7 a, “pe :

Me Q why MM, os dg

hs oS ae 3 i id baa ano"

2 || fbf “ats re ae we gs

es) ay fy op ERY Re jen Amr | 7

i A, 3d * eye. (Os

tre CYS + |e GER Sys) > 8 ive] $2 5 ig

Cups

He we oore|.@ @ Ge wif

Als 4 a =

a aS AS | 2 2

N ] : On

Ab @ Ge Ge te om & aa ll

WZ to angh “yy aQ Aula, " Ni

&S55 BB I) Ee 1B be “a wy, Up alty q a

ap By | om G8. CO Da, ae

Ho dh S).@ a OP Sp Sail

it _

5 rs m) & a dye JA

0 Gla a (e3) RS aS we @& cS Y ee ES as 1”

L nf WS sss char wi iS hs

SYMBOLS ON EARLY INDIAN COINS.

On Stone by Dinonath Nauth. LITH: BY H.M. SMITH. SURV: GEML’S OFFICE, CALCUTTA, E 1865.

1865.] Anciert Indian Weights. 55

the nearly full-surface die-struck money with devices of an elephant

and a panther ;* which class in turn merge naturally into the similar

though advanced fabrics of the mints of Agathocles and Pantaleon, of

square or oblong form,+ a shape the Greeks had not previously made

use of, but which when once adopted they retained without scruple,

whatever their early prejudices might have been—possibly out of re-

spect for local associations, a motive which weighed sufficiently with

their successors and other Bactrian Hellenes to induce them to per-

petuate the square indifferently with the circular coins. The excep-

tional, or in this case indigenous form, found favour in later generations

with the Muhammadan conquerors, who sanctioned unreservedly square

pieces in common with the circular forms, up to the time of Shah

Jehan (4.d. 1628-58). But though these unshapely bits of metal ran

on in free circulation up to the advent of the Greeks, this by no means

implies that there were not other and more perfect currencies matured

in India. The use of the time-honoured punch survived in the Penin-

sula till very lately, but no one would infer from this fact that there

were not more advanced methods of coining known in the land. In

fact, like other nations of the Hast, the Hindus have uniformly evinc-

ed more regard for intrinsic value than criticism of the shape in which

money presented itself.

Many of these ancient symbols, more especially the four-fold Sun

(17, No. 1, Plate XI.) are found established in permanence on the

fully-struck coinage of Ujain,{ of a date not far removed from the

reign of Asoka, who once ruled as sub-king of that city; the pro-

bable period of issue is assumed from the forms of the Indian-Pali let-

ters embodying the name of U’suntnt, the local rendering of the later

classical Sanskrit Ujjayini. Associated in the same group as regards

* These coins are still mere compromises, being formed from an obverse

punch, with a full surface reverse. “Ariana Antiqua,’ pl. xv. figs. 26, 27;

Prinsep’s “ Essays,” i. pl. xx. figs. 50, 51, page 220; Cunningham’s pl. i., &e.

While upon this subject, | may notice the discovery of the name of Agathocles

in Bactrian characters ona coin of similar fabric. His name, it will be re-

membered, has hitherto only been found in the Indian-Pali transcript of the

Greek (Num. Chron. N.S. iv. 196), The piece in question has, on the obverse,

a Chaitya, with a seven-pointed star, and the name Akathakayasa (possibly

Ankathakrayasa). The reverse bears the conventional sacred tree, with the

title Maharaja strangely distorted into Hi,rajasa,me or He,ragasa,me.

+ A. A., pl. vi. figs. 7, 8, 9, 11; Prinsep’s “ Essays,” pl. xxviii, 8, 9; vol.

ii. pp. 179, 180; “ Jour. des Sav.,” 1835, pl. i. fig, 1.

tf “Jour. As, Soc. Bengal,” vol. vii., pl. Ixi., p. 1054,

56 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

general devices, and identified with the apparently cognate mintages

of similar time and locality, there appear other symbolical figures

which no predilection or prejudice can claim as exclusively Buddhist ;

indeed, whatever hostility and eventual persecution may ultimately

have arisen between the leading creeds of India, it is clear that at this

period, and for long after, the indigenous populations lived harmoni-

ously together ;* like all things Indian, old notions and pre-existing

customs retained too strong a hold upon the masses to be easily re-

volutionised ; and if at times a proselyting Buddhist or able and am-

bitious Brahman came to the front, and achieved even more than pro-

vincial renown, the Indian community at large was but little affected

by the momentary influence; and it is only towards the eighth or ninth

centuries A. D. that, without knowing the causes which led to the re-

sult or the means by which it was accomplished, we find Brahmanism

dominant and active in persecution.

T have now to advert to the symbols embodied in the Plate. (No. XT.)

T shall notice only those of more moment in the text of this paper,

leaving the engraving to explain itself under the subjoined synopsis.

A. Heavenly bodies ... bay AN a ae Ores

B. Man and his members... 2

Animals i soo) see OMemlenhants.

bs 5 4 Dogs

5) 3b Hey: we eee 9 Deer, Cows, &e.

a 500 we .-. 6 Leopards.

Fish i

Reptiles —.... 8

C. Home life ee 9 Ploughs.

. fit bel J, 7 Oe Cups,’ vases dre!

aah) aoe besid sain. yliO (clarnows:

As aan ae ... 11 Wheels.

sat) Beiaeks He .-. ..« 12 Bows and arrows.

D. Imaginary devices we veal oo iChaityas:

emere Ts fe AOE Ceres!

i fic fag ... 15 Ornamental circles.

Hane<es 16 Magic formule.

E.. Reverse dies ... aie Bea |7i

* Stevenson, “Journal Bombay Br, R. A, Soc.” Hiouen-Thsang, passim.

1865. ] Ancient Indian Weights. 57

Under class A appears the single representation of the Sun : no other

planet or denizen of an Eastern sky is reflected in early Indian mint-

symbolisation. In examining the general bearing of these designs,

the first point to determine is,—does the sun here, as the opening and

deepest-sunk emblem, stand for an object of worship? Savitri or Surya,

undoubtedly held a high position in the primitive Vedic theogony,*

and it is a coincidence singularly in accord with its typical isolation on

these pieces, that the Indo-Aryans, unlike their Persian brethren,

dissociated the Swn from all other planetary bodies. But with all this,

there is an under-current of evidence that the Scythians had already

introduced the leading idea of sun-worship into India, prior to any

Aryan immigration ; for even the Vedic devotion to the great lumin-

ary is mixed up with the obviously Scythic aswamedha, or sacrifice of

the horse.+ Then, again, arises the question as to whether this Sun-type,

which appears the earliest among all the mint dies, and is so frequently

repeated in slightly modified outlines, does not refer to the more direct-

ly Indian traditionary family of the Surya Vans’‘as,t who eventually

are made to come into such poetic hostility with the Chandra Vans‘as,

or Lunar branch. Neither one race nor the other is recognised or

alluded to in the text of the Vedas; but abundance of reasons

may be given for this abstinence, without implying a necessary non-

existence of children of the Sun before the date of the collection of

those ancient hymns. However, looking to the decidedly secular nature

of the large majority of the figures in subsequent use upon this class

of money, I am content for the present to adopt the popular rather

than the devotional solution ; or, if the latter alternative find favour,

it must be conceded that the Buddhists incorporated the symbolism of

the early worship of the Sun into their own system, which in itself

may fortuitously have carried them through many sacerdotal difficulties,

even as, if we are to credit resemblances, the Hindus successfully

appropriated the Buddhist adaptation of an older form in the out-

rageous idol of Jagannéth, or secured as a Brahmanic institution the

ancient Temple of the Sun at Multin.§ Whatever may have been

* Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanhita,” vol. i., pp. xxvii. xxxii,; vol. ii. p, vii.; vol.

ji. (Pp. x.

+ Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanbita,” vol. ii, p. xiv.

{ Prinsep’s “ Essays,” vol. ii. U. T., pp. 232, 236.

§ Reinaud, “ Mémoire sur V Inde” (Paris, 1849), p. 97,

58 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

the course in other lands, it is clear that, in India, it was primarily

needful for the success of any new creed, to humour the prejudices, and

consult the eye-training of the multitude, as identified and associated

with past superstitious observances.

Among other figures of very frequent occurrence and very varying

outlines, a leading place must be given in this series to the so-called

Chaityas. There is little doubt but that the normal tumulus originally

suggested the device, for even to the last, amid all the changes its

pictorial delineation was subjected to, there remains the clear ideal

trace of the central crypt, for the inhumation of ashes, or the deposit

of sacred objects, to which it was devoted in later times.

Much emphasis has been laid upon the peculiarly Buddhistie cha-

racter of this symbol. It is quite true that its form ultimately entered

largely into the exoteric elements of that creed, but it is doubtful if

Buddhism, as expounded by Sdkya Sinha, was even thought of when

these fanciful tumuli were first impressed upon the public money ; and

to show how little of an exclusive title the Buddhists had to the chaitya

as an object of religious import,* it may be sufficient to cite the fact

that, so far as India is concerned, its figured outline appears in con-

junction wtth unquestionable planetary devices on the coins of the Sah

kings of Surashtra,+ who clearly were not followers of Dharma. But,

as the Buddhist religion avowedly developed itself in the land, and

was no foreign importation, nothing would be more reasonable than

that its votaries should retain and incorporate into their own ritualism

many of the devices that had already acquired a quasi-reverence among

the vulgar, even as the Sun reasserted its pristine prominence so cer-

tainly and unobtrusively, that its traditional worshippers, at the last,

scarcely sought to know through what sectional division of composite

creeds their votive offerings were consigned to the divinity whose

“cultus’’ patriarchal sages, here and elsewhere, had intuitively in-

augurated.

Many of the singular linear combinations classed in the Plate under

D, as Nos. 15, 16, which it would be difficult otherwise to interpret,

* Prinsep, “Jour. A. S. B.,” iv. p. 687.

+ “Jour. Royal Asiatic Society,’ xii, p. 1. Prinsep’s “ Hssays,” i, p. 425;

ii. pl, xxxvii. p. 84. “Jour. As. Soc. Bengal,” vi. 377; vii. 347. Prinsep’s

reading of his coin (No. 11, p. 354, “ Jour, A. 8. B.”) as Jinaddmd, “votary of

Buddha,” was an error; the name is Jiwa Dama,

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 59

may reasonably be referred to the independent conceptions of primitive

magic; as, whatever may have been the religion of the various grades of

men in its higher sense, it is manifest that even the leading and more

intellectual rulers of the people retained a vague faith in the efficacy of

charms ; almost all the tales in Persian or Arabic authors bearing upon

Alexander’s intercourse with the unconquered nations of India, turn

upon their proficiency in the black art ;—traditions sufficiently war-

ranted by the probability that he, a Greek, would readily seek revela-

tions of this kind, even as he sought the knowledge of the art of the

Chaldees.

So also with their own home legends—-one half of the revolution

wrought by Chandra Gupta’s advisers is placed to the credit of magic,

and the Nandas, whom he superseded, appear to have been special

proficients in sorcery. If this was the state of things in India in

those semi-historical times, may not we adopt the parallel of other

nations, and assume that, as so many crude hierarchies grew out of

archaic divinings, these Indian symbols, in their degree, may well

have been emanations from a similar source, and have run an equal

race into the higher dignity of representing things held more sacred ?

—as such, their later reception into a series of the typical adjuncts of

a faith formed 7m situ, need excite no surprise.

In concluding these papers on Indian Weights, and completing

somewhat hastily the illustration of the introductory system of Indian

coinages, I am anxious, as the inquiry may end here, to furnish a final

and, I trust, a convincing argument against those who affirm that

Alexander taught India how to coin money—by meeting them on

their own ground, and producing a very perfect piece of an Indian

king, a manifest emanation from the gradational advances of indigen-

ous treatment, minted contemporaneously in a part of the country

Alexander did not reach. Additional interest will be felt in these

coins, when it is known that there are strong grounds for believing

that they bear the name and superscription of Xandrames, the king

of the Gangetic provinces, who was prepared to meet Alexander

should he have ventured to advance towards the Jumna.

The first suggestion for this identification only occurred to me a few

days ago, on reading the newly-published French translation of the

60 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

second volume of the Arabic text of Masaudi,* where mention is made

of Alexander’s having, after the conquest of Porus, entered into corre-

spondence with one of the most powerful kings of India, who is in-

cidentally stated to have been addicted to magic, named Kand (oS).

Masaudi is not very lucid as to the exact position of this potentate’s

dominions; but the Arabs of his day (830 a.u.) had but limited know-

ledge of the geography of India beyond their new home on the Indus.

This king, however, I believe to be no other than the Kananda (pro-

perly, it will be seen, Krananda), monarch of the sacred centre of

Brahmanism and the valley of the Ganges, whom I have already had

occasion to refer to, under the numismatic aspect, as having been un-

scrupulous in the measure of the value of his coins} (a reproach I shall

perhaps now be in a position to relieve him of). The same name of

Kananda, obscured under the three letters of Semitic alphabets, re-

appears in the Shah Namah as o35, Kaid, “the Indian ;” and long

stories are told of him and his mystic powers in connection with

similar traditions of Alexander.{ The triliteral designation is preserv-

ed in other original authors as o45, with the necessarily imperfect

transcription§ incident to the Semitic conversion of Indian words, and

the systematic ignoring of short vowels; but the name occurs, as a

nearer approach to the apparent original, ina work entitled “ The

Mujmal-al-Tawarikh,” compiled about 520 a.m., at the court of Sanjar,

wherein the letters appear as o485,|| a mistake probably for oi3, Kan-

anda, where the ear perhaps designed to do more in the first instance

to restore the true pronunciation, than the hands of succeeding copyists

knew how to follow.

Before proceeding to examine what the Indians say of themselves

on this subject, I will revert casually to the incidental references in the

Greek authors. The leading passage, which contributes the name of

* Macondi, ‘‘ Les Prairies d’Or,” par C. Barbier de Meynard et Pavet de

Courteille. Paris, 1863. ‘“‘ Aprés avoir tué Porus, Pun des rois de I’Inde,

. .- Alexandre... aprit alors que dans les extrémités les plus reculées de

VIn‘e il y avait un roi, plein de sagesse, trés-bon administrateur, practiquant la

p %té, équitable envers ses sujets. I] avait vécu plusieurs siécles, et il était

supérieur 4 tous les philosophes et a tous les sages de Inde. Son nom était

Kend.” Vol. i. p. 260

+ Num. Chron. N.S., iv. 128. See also Num. Chron., iii. p. 230, note 8. .

~ Macan’s “ Shah Namah,” iii. p. 1290—1296, &c.

§ Ibn Badran, quoted in Masaudi, French Hdit., iii. 452.

|| Reinand, “ Fragments Arabes,” p. 44, and ‘* Mémoire sur |’Inde,” p, 63.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 61

the king of the Gangetic provinces, occurs in Diodorus Siculus, to

the effect that Xandrames was prepared, with an overwhelming force,

to oppose Alexander in his progress beyond the Hyphasis.* Quintus

Curtius has preserved the designation in sufficient integrity as Aggrames,

and attests similarly the reputed power of the monarch in question.+

Arrian does not mention the names either of king or people; but after

alluding to the autonomous citiest to the west of the Hyphasis, goes

on to remark, that the country beyond that river was reported to be

highly productive and well cultivated, and to be governed equitably

by the Nobility.§ The earlier classical critics were inclined to think

that this testimony of Arrian’s conflicted with the assertions of Diodo-

rus, &e. ;|| but if I rightly interpret the evidence of the native authors

IT am about to notice, and its special bearing upon the coins, these

seemingly opposing statements are not only reconcilable in themselves,

but mutually aid and assist in the single solution that it would be

possible to draw from the independent data they are here cited to

illustrate.

The materials available from indigenous sources for the illustration

of this section of Indian history, though promising, in virtue of the

importance attached to the dynastic changes involved, are proportion-

ately meagre in detail and distorted in substance. So that, in pre-

ference to relying upon purely local chronicles, we draw our most

consistent testimony from the Ceylon annals, which, though they had,

in the first instance, to embody foreign events, and possibly to arrive

at much of the necessary knowledge through oral channels, have even-

tually remained intact, unassailed by hostile revision or reconversion

for sectarian purposes into simulated Pauranic prophecies, or equally

unscrupulous scriptural fabrications. Not to encumber the text of this

paper with quotations, it may be sufficient to state the general purport

* Diod. Sic. lib. xvii. 98. Mpaictwy kal Tavdapiddv Ovos, rourwy 5& BaoAcvew

Bavdpduny

+ Quintus Curtius, ix,, c. 2:—“ § 2. Percontatus igitur Phegelam quee noscenda

erant, ‘xi. dierum ultra flamen per vastas solitudines iter esse’ cognoscit: ‘ ex-

cipere deinde Gangen,’ maximum totius India flaminum. § 3, Ulteriorem ripam

eolere gentes Gangaridas et Pharrasios; eorumque regem esse Agerammem,

xx. millibus equitum ducentisque peditum obsidentem vias,” See also Plutarch

(Langhorne), iv. 405.

+ Arrian, Hist. v. cap, xxii. See also Diod. Sic. ii, cap. xxxix,

§ Arvian, v. c. 25, Tpbs yap Tay aplotay apxeoOar Tob’s moAAo’s, Tods SE

ovdev ew Tov emieikovs eényeiobat

|| Roorkes’s *f Arrian” (London, 1729), ii, p. 54.

62 Ancient Indian Weights. [ No. ay

of the information obtained from the Mahawanso and its subordinate

commentaries. It would seem that there were nine Nanpas, the pre-

decessors of Chandra Gupta, who ruled conjointly,* forming a co-equal

brotherhood similar to those of lower degree, so common amid the still

existing village communities of India; designated in the vernacular

dialect, Bhaiydchdrd, proprietary fraternities.f The Brahmanical chro-

nicles, though they do not directly confirm this statement of the

contemporaneous sovereignty of the Nanpas, incidentally support such

a conclusion, as in the expressions, | ‘“‘ the Brahman Kawtilya will root

out the nine Nandas;’} and in the southern legend, quoted in the

introduction to the Play of the Mudra Rakshasa, the king is represent-

ed as,consigning the kingdom to his nzne sons.§ LT advert to this point

the more prominently, as one of the great difficulties has hitherto been

to explain or reconcile the apparent anomaly of Krananda’s designating

himself in the coin legends as “‘ the King, the great King, Krananda,

the brother of Amogha ;”’ and the question naturally arose, if Amogha

had no title, and no apparent position in the government, what was

the object of his brother’s claiming relationship in so formal a manner

upon the state coinage ? The coincidence may now be satisfactorily

accounted for, by supposing Amogha to have been the eldest living

brother in the family oligarchy, a position recognised to this day,

while Krananda had already justified, by his talents and administrative

ability, the choice of the brotherhood, who had apparently elected him

* Mahawanso, p. 21. “ Kalasoko had ten sons; these brothers (conjointly)

ruled the empire, righteously, for twenty-two years. Subsequently there were

nine; they also, according to their seniority, reigned for twenty-two years.”

Mahawanso, p. xxxviil. [from the commentary, the Tika]. ‘ Kalasoko’s own

sons were ten brothers. Their names are specified in the Atthakatha. The

appellation of ‘the nine Nandos’ originates in nine of them bearing that pa-

tronymic title.. . . inaforetime, during the conjoint administration of the (nine)

sons of Kalasoko. . . . His brothers next succeeded to the empire in the order

of their seniority. They altogether reigned 22 years. It was on this account

that (in the Mahawanso) it is stated that there were nine Nandos.” See also

J. A. S. B. vi. 714, 726 (Buddhaghoso’s* Atthakatha) ‘“‘ the ten sons of Kalasoko

reigned 22 years. Subsequently to them, Nawanando reigned 22 years.”

+ Wilson derives the chara from the Sanskrit dchdra, ‘institute.’ I should

prefer the local chara, “ pasturage,”’ especially as the associate Bhaiya is in the

Indian form of the classic Aryan, Bhrdta.

{ Wilson’s “ Vishnu Purana,” p. 467. See also note, p. 468, for various read-

ings from Bhagavata, Vayu and Matsya Puranas.

§ The Mudra Rakshasa, in Wilson’s ‘ Hindu Theatre,” vol. ii. p. 144. For

other notices of the Nandas, see “* Asiatic Researches,” xx. 167; Rey. W. H. Mill,

J. A. S. B. iii. p. 348. Wilson’s ‘‘ Essays on Sanskrit Literature,’ i. 174, 178 ;

Burnouf, “1. 359 and Lotus de la bonne loi,” p. 452; Max Miller, “ Sanskrit

Literature,” 275.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 63

‘¢ Primus inter pares ;’’* but necessarily with much larger powers and

functions in dealing with kingdoms than the ordinary title would

carry with it in the mere management of village communities.

I now have to refér to the coins themselves, but as introductory to

further details, it is necessary to indicate the leading locality of their

discovery, and the epoch to which they should, on independent grounds,

be attributed. I have so lately, and so entirely without reference to

any present theory, reviewed the chief sites of the discovery of this

class of money, under comparatively careful systems of geographical

record, that I had better confine myself to a recapitulation of those

results, pure and simple. The conclusion [I arrived at was, that the

kingdom for the supply of whose currency these coins were designed,

had “its boundaries extending down the Doab of the Ganges and

Jumna below Hastinapura, and westwards beyond the latter river to

some extent along the foot of the Himalayas into the Punjab’ +—the

division of the entire country probably the most advanced, at that

* General Cunningham, many years ago, guessed, in virtue of a portion of

the name, that Kiwnanda was one of the nine Nandas, but as he has not ventured

to support his conjecture, I conclude that he has abandoned the identification,

(“ Bhilsa Topes,” p. 355.) Max Miller rightly divined that Xandrames might

be “the same as the last Nanda” (“ Sanskrit Literature,’ p. 279); though,

Wilford, in 1807, had already enunciated, to all intents and purposes, a similar

theory. (“ As. Res.,” ix. p. 94.) Notwithstanding that he had previously so far

compromised himself, as to advocate the interpretation of the Greek Xandrames

as a synonym of the Sanskrit Chandra Gupta (As. Res. V. 286).

[Referring to priorities of publication, I see that General Cunningham has

another grievance against me (J. A. 8S. B. 1864, p. 229). It seems that in ex-

amining General Abbott’s coins, in November, 1859, I noted a square piece of

Hpander, as that of a “ new king.” The Memoir in which this statement ultimately

appeared, had avowedly been laid aside, and after two years’ delay was inserted

in the Journal of the R. A.S. (vol xx. p. 99, July, 1862). In the mean time, as I

now learn, General Cunningham had announced to the world that he was the

owner of a bad coin of the same king (J. A. S. B. 1860, p. 396). But if I of-

fended the General’s susceptibility in this very open date of discovery, I must

have afflicted his sensitive and exclusive ideas of patent rights still more acutely,

when I again published Col. Abbott’s coin as ‘‘ unique” in the Numismatic Chro-

nicle of September, 1864 (p. 207, vol. iii. N. S.)

Though, in truth, I was, in either case, altogether innocent of intent, and to

bring this home to the General’s own peculiar feelings, I may state that had I

seen the notice he refers me to, I should not have given him credit, in the same

article, for a discovery he confesses to be due to Mr. Forrest. And, on the

other hand, I should have been most anxious to have been able to cite the con-

junction of the names of Antiochus Nikator and Agathocles on the same piece,

which so specially bore upon the subject matter of my paper. |

+ Prinsep’s “ Hssays,’ i. 204. General Cunningham says, ‘found chiefly

between the Indus and Jumna,’ Mr. Bayley’s experience coincides with

my own in placing their centre more to the eastward. These coins were first

brought to notice in 1834, on the occasion of Sir P. Cautley’s discovery and

excavation of the ancient city of Behat, on the Jumna, 17 feet below the pre-

sent general level of the surrounding country. See J. A. 5. B, ili, 48, 221. Prin-

sep’s ‘‘ Hssays,”’ i. p. 76,

64 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

period, in material wealth, as it was in intellectual development, claims

that it has upheld with singular tenacity, under many adverse influ-

ences, through more than twenty centuries, until European Calcutta,

at last, superseded the Imperialism of Moghul Delhi.

I have a more onerous duty to perform in satisfying my readers in

regard to the date internal evidence would assign to these issues. I

have previously confessed a difficulty, and admitted that the data for

testing the age of this coinage by the style of the letters on its surface

were somewhat uncertain, and in a very elaborate examination of every

single literalsymbol employed on the varying representatives of the class,

I came to the conclusion that if certain more archaic forms of letters

might take the whole series up in point of time, modifications, approach-

ing to modernisations, might equally reduce individual instances to a

comparatively late date.* I was prepared to disavow any adhesion to

the old theory that the fixed lapidary type of Asoka’s inscriptions was

to constitute the one test of all local time and progress, and the sole

referee ofall gradations in Paleography, though I was not in a condition

to cite what I now advance with more confidence——both the exception-

al and stiff form of a lapidary alphabet, per se, as opposed to the writ-

ing of everyday life, which last the numismatic letters would more

readily follow ; but I subordinated the fact that Asoka’s alphabet was

designed for all India, and although it condescended to admit modified

dialectic changes, all the inscriptions are supposed to have emanated

from one official copy, which, however perfect at Palibothra or impos-

ing at Ganjam, may well have been behind the age in that focus of

learning to the eastward of the Saraswati, where not only must Indian-

Pali have been brought to unusual caligraphic perfection, but from its

contact and association with the Semitic alphabet on the same ground

and in the same public documents, may be supposed to have achieved

suggestive progress of its own, and to have risen far above the limita-

tions of the writing of ordinary uninstructed communities in other

parts of India; so that, whatever doubts or hesitation I may have felt

in the once discouraged notion that any approach to perfection existed

in India prior to Alexander’s advent, I have been forced into, and now

willingly acknowledge, diametrically opposite convictions, and concur

in the surprise expressed by the Greeks themselves that the Indians

were already so far and so independently advanced in civilisation.

* Prinsep’s “ Essays,” i. p. 207.

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 695

Silver. Weight 29-0 grains, B. M., J. A.S. B. vii. pl. xxii. figs.

2, 3, 4, 3.

Obv.—A female figure, holding on high a large flower,* and appar-

ently in attendance on a fanciful representation of a sacred deer.t The

animal has curiously curved horns, and a bushy tail like a Himalayan

Yak. Monogram 4.}

Legend, in Indian-Péli [a similar flower to that in the field is’ re-

peated at the commencement of the legend] :-—

Rajnah Kranandasa Amogha-bhratasa Mahdrajasa. (Coin) of the

great King, the King Krananda, the, brother of Amogha.

Rev.—A Chaitya surmounted by a small umbrella, above which ap-

pears a curious symbol§—a serpent is seen at the foot of the Chaitya.

* This is probably intended to represent a lotus, a favourite object of rever-

ence with the Buddhists. One of the Nandas was named Mahd Padma, ‘* great

Lotus.” (Vishnu Purana, 467. The Padma-chenpo of Tibetan writers. J. A. S. B.

i 2.) “The distinctive mark” of one of the four principal classes of Bud-

dhists (the Ralula) was also “ an utpala-padinua (water-lily) jewel, and tree-leaf,

put together in the form of a nosegay.” I may as well take the opportunity of

noting that the symbols of the remaining three classes of Buddhists were the

“ shell, or conch” for the Kashyapa: a“ sortsika flower’ for the Upali : and “ the

fioure of a wheel” for the Kdtdyana. (Csoma Korési, “Jour. As. Soc. Bengal,”

vii. (1838), pp. 143—4.)

+ The deer was typical of the Pratyeka Buddhas. Deer were the authorised

devices for the signets of the priests (‘‘ Jour. A. 8. Bengal,” 1835, p. 625, As.

Res. xx. 86). and deer were from the first cherished and sacred animals among

the Buddhists—“ he Deer Park of the Immortal,” at Sarnath, near Benares,

was an important feature in connection with the celebrated Stupa and religious

establishments at that place. (‘“‘ Foe Koue Ki,’ chapter xxxiv. ‘ Mémoires,”

Hiouen-Thsang, i. p. 354.)

£ Iam unable to offer any solution of the meaning of this sign. It may

possibly be an older form of the Tree.

§ Chaityas, or more properly Stiipas (Sanskrit “ a pile of earth”), are also call-

ed Dagobas in the Mahawanso, a name stated to be derived from Dhdtu and

gabbhan, * Womb ofa relic.’ (Mah. p. 5.; see also Prinsep’s “ Essays,” i.

165.) The monogram which surmounts the Stipa on the coins eventually came

to be recognised as a symbol of Dhara; its outline has much in common with

the representations of the idol at Jagganath. (Stevenson, J. R. A. S. viii. 331.

Cunningham, “ Bhilsa Topes,” pl. xxxii.) The device in question recurs fre-

quently on the later Bactrian and Indo-Scythie coins. (Num. Chron, xix, pl.

p- 12, No, 166, “ Ariana Antiqua,” pl, xxii, 156, Burnout, ii, 627),

66 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

In the field are the Bédhi tree,* the Swastika cross,} and a later form

of one of the devices under No. 16 of the old series of emblems. Le-

gend, in Bactrian-Pali :—

Rajah Kranandasa Amogha-bhratisa Mahdérajasa. The concluding

title of Aiahdraja is separated from the rest of the legend, and placed

independently at the foot of the reverse.{

* This tree is another chosen emblem of later Buddhism; but, as I have

before remarked, it did not appertain exclusively to the Buddhists in early times,

as it is to be seen on a very ancient coin implying a directly opposing faith, in

the fact of its bearing the name of Vishnu-deva in old Indian-Pali characters.

(J. A. 8. B. iii. pl. xxv. fig. 1, and Prinsep’s “ Essays,” ii. 2, vol. i. pl. vii. fig. 1.)

So also Q. Curtius, in his notice “ Deos putant, quicquid colere coeperunt; arbores

maxime, quas violare capitale est’? (vill. 9, § 34), refers to Indians in general, and

not to Buddhists in particular). Another suggestive question is raised by the

accompanying devices on the surface of this piece, one of which represents a

half-moon—a totally exceptional sign, which in conjunction with the name of

Vishnu, may be taken to stand for a symbol of Brahmanism as opposed to

Buddhism, a coincidence which may be further extended to import the pre-exis-

tence of Chandravansas, in designed contrast to Surya Vansas ; and an eventual

typical acceptation of the name in combination as Chandra-Gupta Vishnu-Gupta

(Chanaky a)—all evidencing an intentional hostility to the “ Children of the Sun”

of AyYopHya, with whom Sakya was so immediately identified. I may as well

take the opportunity of adding that the remaining objects on the obverse of

this coin consist of the triple Caduceus-like symbol, under D 16 in the Plate,

together with a deer above the half-moon, and a reverse device of a horse.

+ Let the primary ideal which suggested the cross of the Swastika be what it

may, the resulting emblem seems to have been appropriated by the Buddhists

as one of their special devices in the initial stage of the belief of Sakya-Muni.

The Tao szu, or “ Sectaries of the mystical cross,’ are prominently noticed by

Fa Hian. (cap. xxii., xxiii.), and their doctrine is stated to have formed ‘ the

ancient religion of Tibet, which prevailed until the general introduction of

Buddhism in the ixth century.’ Mr, Caldwell has instituted an interesting in-

quiry into the ancient religion of the Dravidians, which bears so appositely on

the general question of the rise of subsequent sects in India, that | transcribe

the final conclusion he arives at :—‘‘ On comparing their Dravidian system of

demonolatry and sorcery with ‘ Shamanism’—the superstition which prevails

amonest the Ugrian races of Siberia and the hill tribes on the south-western

frontier of China, which is still mixed up with the Buddhism of the Mongols,

and which was the old religion of the whole Tartar race before Buddhism and

Muhammadanism were disseminated amongst them—we cannot avoid the con-

clusion that those two superstitions, though practised by races so widely sepa-

rated, are not only similar but identical.”—Dravidian Grammar, p. 519

See also Mahawanso, p. xlv.

“f Panini enumerates the Swastika among the ordinary marks for sheep in use

in his day (Goldstiicker, p 59). It eventually became a symbol common to

Buddhists, Jainas and Brahmans, The symbols of the 24 Jainas are enumerat-

ed by Colebrooke, (As. Rs. ix. 301) as follows, No.1, A Bull; 2, an Klephant ; 3 a

Horse; 4, an ape; 5, a Curlew; 6, a Lotus; 7,a Swastika; 8, the moon ; 9, Makara;

10, a [four-petalled | Sriratsa ; 11, a Rhinoceros ; 12, a Butfaloe; 13, a Boar; 14, a

Falcon; 15, a thunderbolt, 16, an Antelope ; 17, a Goat; 18, Nanda varta [an ara-

besque ficure, seemingly designed to repeat the Swastika as often as possible

in its component lines]; 19, a jar; 20, a Tortoise; 21, a blue water-lily ; 22, a

conch ; 23, a Serpent ; 24, a Lion.

Kuyera’s treasures or nine Gems, also illustrate the history of Indian symbols,

1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 67

It has been usual to read the name of this king as Kunanda, and

tested by the limitations of the Indian Pali alphabet proper, the initial

compound should stand for ku and nothing else; but as some of th

lately-acquired specimens have furnished, for the first time, an approx-

imate reading’ of the name in the counterpart Bactrian character on

the reverse, giving the indubitable foot-stroke to the right, which

constitutes the subjunct 7, appended to the k, there can be no reasonable

doubt but that Krananda is the correct transliteration. The apparent

anomaly of supposing that the Indian Péli borrowed this form of

suffixed r from its fellow alphabet is disposed of by its use a second

time in this legend, in the Pali Bhrata. With similar licence, the

Bactrian writing, to supply its own deficiencies, appropriated the Pali

gh in Rajha, corresponding with the Rajnah of the obverse.

The copper coins of this class follow.the typical devices of the silver

money, varying, however, in shape and weight to such an extent as to

indicate a very general. and comprehensive original currency. A

peculiarity in which they depart. from the parallel issues of silver, is

the total omission of the counterpart reverse legend in Bactrian Pali,

occasionally so imperfectly rendered even in the best designed mintages,

and the superscription is confined to what we must suppose to have

been the local Indian Pali character, in which mint artisans and the

public at large were probably much. better versed.

The ninth, or one of the nine Nandas, seems to have been popularly

designated Dhana Nanda, or the rich Nanda,* and certainly, if the

extant specimens of the money bearing the impress of the name of

Wilson (Megha Dita, verse 534) has the following note on the subject. “The

Padma, “ Mahapadma, Sankha, Makara, Kachhapa, Mukunda, Nanda, Nila,

and Kharva, are the nine Nidhis.”

“Some of the words bear the meanings of precious or aly things : thus Padma

is the Lotus; Sankha the shell or conch. Again some of them imply large

numbers; thus Padma is 10,000 millions, and Mahapadma is 100,000 millions,

&c. but all of them are not received in. either the one or the other acceptation,

We may translate NEO) all into things: thus, a lotus, a large lotus, a shell, a

certain fish, a tortoise, a crest, a mathematical figure used by the Jainas [No.

18, above? ] Nila refers “Orly to colour; [No’ 21 supra ?| but Kharva, the ninth,

means a dwarf.” See also As. Res. KX, p. 544.

There is a very full list of Buddhist symbols in Captain Low’s paper on

* Buddha and the Phrabat,’ in the Transactions of the R. A.S., vol. iii. p. 57,

which has been commented on, in detail, by M. H. Burnouf, in his “ Lotus de la

bonne loi’ (Paris, 1852), p. 626.

* Mahawanso (Tika), xxxix. “ Vishnu Purana,’ note, p. 468. Max Miller,

* Sanskrit Literature,” p. 281,

68 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

Krananda are any test of the activity of his mints and the amplitude

of his treasure, he must have truly deserved the title.

Whatever mythical conceptions may have first determined the out-

lines of these various coin devices, or whenever they were incorporated

into that religious system, it is clear that they one and all eventually

came to be regarded as typical emblems of the Buddhist creed.* As

such, there can be no hesitation im accepting their combined evidence

as conclusive, that the kings who set them forth in such prominence

two centuries after the Nirvana of Sakya-Muni, must have been votaries

of the faith he originated or reformed.

Ii the faintly preserved similarity of the names of Xandrames and

Kand fortuitously led to their association in the person of Krananda,

and an almost obvious sequence connected him with one of the nine

Nandas, and alike the issuer of the coins bearing this designation, it

was reserved for the coins themselves to contribute the most important

item in the entire combination to the effect that these Nandas were

Buddhists, and in this fact to explain much that the whole written his-

tory of India, foreign or domestic, had hitherto failed to convey—the

exact record of the State religion at the period, thus obscuring the

right interpretation of the then impending dynastic revolution, com-

menced and accomplished, as it would now seem, for the triumph of

the Brahmanical hierarchy over the representatives of the more purely

indigenous belief.

These considerations, however, open out a larger area of Oriental

national progress than the legitimate limits of the scope of the Numis-

matic Society may justify my entering upon, though history must once

again, in this case, admit a debt it owes to the archeology of money.

And as antiquaries, we ourselves may frankly recognise the aid confer-

red by the determination of the correct epoch of these coins, in justifying

* The association of these symbols with a somewhat advanced phase of

Buddhism is shown in the retention of the deer, the Bodhi-tree, the Chaitya and

the serpent (which is placed perpendicularly on some specimens) on the reverse

of acoin, the obverse of which displays the standing figure of Buddha himself,

having the lotus and the word Bhagavata, his special designation, in the margin-

allegend. (J. A. S. B. iii. pl. xxv. fig. 4., Prinsep’s “ Essays,” i. pl. vii. fig. 4.)

There seems to have been a current tradition in the land, regarding the real

faith of the Nandas, signs of which are apparent in Hiouen-Thsang’s notice,

“Les hommes de peu de foi raisonnaient entre eux 4 ce sujet: Jadis, disaient

ils, le roi Nan-tho (Nanda) a construit ces cinq dépdts pour y amasser les sept

mati¢res précieuses” (vol, ii. p. 427).

865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 69

the arrangement of so many prior and subsequent series of the subor-

dinate mintages of a country whose early annals were so largely per-

verted or sacrificed to sectarian hostility.

I have still two purely numismatic questions to advert to before

concluding this paper. Reference has already been made to the adop-

tion by the Greeks of the Indian or square form of money, but if the

period and personal identity of the Krananda of these coins are rightly

determined, the Greek Bactrians must have condescended to appropriate

further oriental mint developments. Alexander the Great, Seleucus,

and all those invaders who might have influenced Indian art, had their

nominal legends arranged in parallel lines, or at the utmost on three

sides of a square, on the inner field of the reverse.

Diodotus, Agathocles, Huthydemus, Demetrius, and other Bactrian

Hellenes, who came into closer contact with India to the westward,

retained the same practical arrangement of legends. So far as the

existing numismatic data authorise a conclusion, Eucratides was the

first to commence any marked modification of the practice, and to lean

towards the filling up the complete outer margin of the coin with royal

names and titles. Of course, if Krananda came after all these Bactrian

Greeks, he may have imitated their customs ; but if, as it would appear,

he was a contemporary of Alexander, ruling in a distant and unassailed

part of the country, it is clear that local art was thus far independent

and in advance of that of Greece, and that the Bactrian and Scythian

interlopers* borrowed circular legends from India.

In contrasting the equitable adjustment and full value of the early

punch-impressed pieces, with the irregularity in these respects, to be

detected in the mechanically improved and more advanced specimens

of Indian mintages, 1 was lately led to instance the identical coins of

Krananda as proofs of what unscrupulous kings might do, even in the

very introductory application of ideas of seigniorage, towards depre-

ciating their own currency. The results in question were cited to

exemplify the statement in the Mahawanso, where the Brahman

Chanakya is accused of so operating on the coin of the realm as to

* The mention of these later Scythians recalls the curious coincidence of

many of the subordinate members of the ruling families designating themselves,

somewhat after the manner of Krananda, “ Brothers” and even “ Nephews of

the King,” &c, See Num, Chron, yol. xix, Nos. xxvii. class B, and xxxiv,

70 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 2,

convert every one into eight.* When I quoted the tradition and the

numismatic fact in juxtaposition, I little surmised how much more

closely the two might be connected, or that instead ofthe latter afford-

ing a mere illustration of the former, that the surviving metallic

witnesses would suffice, with the slight introductory testimony, to put

a man’s memory on trial for forgery twenty centuries and more after

date. But so it would seem: the Brahman Chaénakyat confesses,

through his own advocates, that in his desire to subvert the rule of the

Nandas, he seduced sons from their father’s palaces, and ‘ with the

view of raising resources,’ to have had recourse to the more than

questionable expedient of depreciating, or properly speaking forging,

coins of the ruling monarch, which, however, under the ultimate test

of the old money changers, would soon have found their level. The

copper coinage of the day was probably beyond any very ready power

of transmutation, but ifthe silver currency is te afford a modern “ pix,”

the Brahman must have worked to advantage, as there may be seen in

the cabinets of the British Museum, at this present writing, a piece

purporting to be of Krananda, with fair legends and full spread of

surface, though of tenuity itself, which should in ordinary equity have

weighed somewhere over 40 grains, but which on trial barely balances

17:7 grains Troy.t

* Num. Chron. N.S., iv. pp. 127, 128.

+ Mahdéwanso, p. xl. “ Qpening the door [of Nanda’s palace at Palibothra]

with the utmost secrecy, and escaping with the prince out of that passage, they

fled into the wilderness of Winjjhé. While dwelling there, with the view of

raising resources, he converted (by recoining) each kahdpanan into eight, and

amassed eighty kétis of kahdpané. Having buried this treasure, he commenced

to search for a second individual entitled (by birth) to be raised to sovereign

power, and met with the aforesaid prince of the Mériyan dynasty called Chanda-

gutto.”

+ This of course is an extreme instance, but it is not a strained example; and

although the piece, which I refrained from quoting previously, is damaged, and

has lost its oxydised film, it is by no means worn, or anything like a coin which

we might legally refuse for want of the king’s emblems. The best coin of the

class still weighs 38-2 grains. (Num. Chron. N.S., iv. p. 128.)

1865.] Description of a Mystic Play. via)

Description of a Mystic Play, as performed in Ladak, Zaskar, de.—

By Captain H. H. Govwiy-Avstan, Surveyor, Topographical

Survey, F. Rk. G.S.

[Received 21st October, 1864]. [Read 2nd November, 1864].

These Mystic Plays of which Iam about to give an account, are

performed on certain feast days in all the principal monasteries of

Ladak, about twice in the year, in spring and autumn. They are also,

I have been informed, enacted at Lhassa and Bhootan, but I did not

see one when in the latter country. I can give no information as to

their origin, and must here state that not being a Tibetan scholar, I

eannot vouch for the true orthography of proper names written down

at the time viva voce, and which are very difficult to catch. The Play

hereafter described, I saw performed in the fine old Gonpa or Monastery

of Himis, which is situated in a lateral ravine that joins the river

Tndus a day’s journey above Leh on the left bank of that river. From

its secluded position, this was one of the few religious houses that

escaped destruction on the invasion of the country by the Dogra army

under Wazier Jerawur. At that time much curious and interesting

property and valuable religious writings were ruthlessly destroyed.

The theatrical property, consisting of silk dresses, masks, &c., are

therefore seen in greater perfection at Himis than at any other mon-

astery in the country. On entering the court-yard onthe day of

performance, we found the head Lhama with all the gylongs (monks)

of the establishment were assembled, the musical instruments were

arranged ready under the little verandah to the proper right of the

large Prayer Cylinder which stands under the centre of it, and every

thing betokened the coming scene.

Before commencing an account of the strange performance, it will

be as well to roughly describe that portion of the building where it is

enacted. The principal entrance to the monastery is through a mas-

sive door, from which runs a gently sloping and paved covered way

leading into a court-yard about 30 * 40 yards square, having on the

left hand a narrow verandah, in the centre of which stands the large

Prayer Cylinder above mentioned, The larger picturesque doorway

72 Description of a Mystic Play. [No. 2,

the entrance of one of the principal idol rooms, is in the extreme right

hand corner, massive brass rings affixed to large bosses of brass are

affixed on either door, the posts of which are of carved and coloured

wood work. The walls of the main building with its bay windows

of lattice work, enclose the court-yard along the right hand side, the

roof is adorned with curious cylindrical pendant devices made of cloth

ealled “ Thook ;” each surmounted with tke Trisool or trident, painted

black and red. On the side facing the main entrance, the court-yard is

open, leading away to the doorways of other idol rooms. In the centre

space stand two high poles ‘‘ Turpoche,”’ from which hang yaks’ tails and

white cotton streamers printed in the Thibetan character. Innumerable

small prayer wheels are fitted into a hitch that runs round the sides

of the court-yard. A few large trees throw their shade on the

building, and above them tower the rugged cliffs of the little valley,

topped here and there by Lhatos, small square built altars, surmount-

ed by bundles of brushwood and wild sheep horns, the thin sticks of

the brushweod being covered with offerings of coloured flags printed

with some muntra or other. All preliminaries over and the actors

ready inside the building, the musicians,* wearing curious head-dresses

and robes, red being the predominant color, took up their position in

the verandah facing the monastery. Their instruments consisted of

enormous long trumpets, that draw out like a telescope to 8 or 9 feet ;

these issue a low, mellow, bass sound, the mouth-piece is of peculiar

form being a large flat disc against which the lips are pressed ; a narrower

trumpet globe-shaped at lower end; flageolets, drums and cymbals

completed the set. The drums are peculiar, being fixed to a long handle,

the end resting on the ground, they are struck with a bent piece of

thin iron, the point of which is covered with a leather button. The

musicians commenced a wailing sort of air accompanied by a low chant,

to which the drums and cymbals beat a regular tune, but very subdued.

Then came, trooping out of the idol room, a set of maskers in the most

extraordinary dress it is possible to conceive ; they were called Tsam-

* See Captain Melville’s photographs, No, 10. This same costume is worn

by the musicians of the Deb and Dhurm Raja at Punakha in Bhootan, and it is

as well to mention here that the monks of Himis, as well as a few other monas-

teries in Ladakh, are of the same sect as the Buddhists of Bhootan, viz. the

«“ Dukpah” of whom the spiritual head is the Dhurm Raja,

1865. ] Description of a Mystic Play. 73

Cuut,* and in single file led round the flag-poles in the centre of the

yard, with a sort of quiet and most laughable dance, slowly turning

round and round themselves, and coming to a sudden halt at the end of

each bar of the music, which the drummers notified by a louder stroke.

Thus the circle moved round the poles while they tossed their arms about

and waved the coloured flags they held in their hands. The dresses

were all of China silk and Kimkab, the apron embroidered with the

face of a hideous demon, the head-dress was a large conical hat with a

very broad brim, edged with black wool; from the hat several wide

ribbons of different gay coloured silks hung down the back, extending

nearly to the heels, but the most extraordinary and striking part of their

costume, was the device of a death’s head, the eye-sockets, teeth, &c.

worked in silk on a white ground. This was suspended from the neck

and hung down to just below the breast.

In the left hand they held a sort of spoon having for the bowl a piece

of human skull, cut out of the forehead portion, and round the edge of

which were attached narrow streamers of silk and some plaited ends of

hair. This ghostly ladle is called ‘‘Bunpau.” In these spoons, the

portions into which the enemy is cut up, are carried away and thrown

up into the air as an offering to the gods: of this enemy I shall speak

further on. These maskers hold in the right hand a short little stick

with red and blue streamers of silk; these and the spoons majestically

waived about as they go round in their solemn dance, had the most

curious effect I ever saw. Pantomimes and extravaganzas floated

round one during the whole performance, yet this was a real mystical

religious pageant having some curious and bygone origin, which

none of the party knew or could get explained. This dance came to

an end at last, and as the troop ascended the steps to the large door-

way, the same number, but in a different disguise, came out. The tune

was now changed and seemed to be the repeating of a number of stanzas

of the same length, the maskers held in the right hand little drums

and in the left, bells. To the first, the drums were attached a short string

with a small ball at the end, so that when moved quickly backwards and

forwards it may strike both ends of the drum. At the end of each stanza

they gave arattle and aring at the same time, moving round in the same

way as did the first set, only stopping to make an obeisance to the

* See Photographs, No, 1,

74 Description of a Mystic Play. [No. 2,

centre when they used their drums at the end of the intonation.

These were also dressed in gaudy China silks, both wore gilt masks

with apertures for eyes and mouth, the top of the hat was conical

with silk streamers on the sides anda large loose scarf behind. These

masks were named ‘‘ Cuin-Bep” or from their copper coloured masks,

“« ZANG-BUKH, lit. copper mask.* These had no death-like insignia

as the first maskers wore. Aiter these had retired, a short delay, and

another more imposing group marched with great dignity out of the

monastery. These all wore very large masks of different forms and

colours, still all of the same type as the heads of deities, their great

peculiarity bemg the third eye in the centre of the forehead. The

principal of these deities was ‘‘ Tunogan Pupma Junenas” or “he

born of the lotus’ over whom was carried a large umbrella. Among

the other attendant maskers of consequence wast Since’ Dranprox,

Doris’ Trotone, Sanasea Kureo (Brahma), Zutn-Sxione or Hswara.

These are, I believe, intended to represent emblematically the six classes

of beings subject to transmigration, viz. 1, gods; 2, demi-gods; 3,

men; 4, animals; 5, ghosts; 6, the inhabitants of hell ; for although we

did not then see the mask of the bull’s head, it should have been among

the maskers,—perhaps the monks did not take the trouble, and thought

us none the wiser,—now this would well represent No. 4 of the above

classes; and in another monastery I afterwards saw masks made to

represent stags. Attending on this principal group were another set

of maskers, who carried the long handled drums and the bent striker.

Their dresses were of the same type, long petticoats of rich China

silk, but the head-dress a kind of crown with six points, gilt, rising

to a high point in the centre, while streamers of silk hung down from

the ears to the waist.{ On each of the six points were the following

a 2 3 4

syllables in the Lantsa character, viz. OM, AH, SHI, HUNG,

TRANG.§

* See fig. 2.

+ See Photographs, Nos. 4, 5 and 8.

~ See No 6 of Captain M.’s photographs.

§ Each of these syllables have some mystical connection with the centre and

cardinal points of the compass, thus—

1865.] Description of a Mystic Play. 75

The whole of these last named Maskers marched round the Flag

Poles in solemn procession, the band still playing; they then sat down

ina line on the ground; TxHtogan Pupma Junenas in the centre.

Then with shrill whistling, made by putting the fingers in the

mouth, several boys came rushing out of the monastery, and running

up made obeisance to the chief in the centre, and danced wildly about

round the Poles. They were called ‘‘ Spao,” warriors, and wore short

skirts, and streamers of silk hung from the waist, round which was

a belt carrying small round bells (Gungaroo, Hind.); the same were

also attached to the ancles. Their masks were green with a broad

face on them, and from the centre of the crown rose a stick with a

triangular red flag ; they held a bell in the left hand, and a large handled

drum in the right. With these also careered about two jesters, one

of whom had two small kettle-drums tied on his back, on which the

other would occasionally thump, and play other practical jokes for the

amusement of the crowd, salaming also in mock respect to Pudma

Jungnas and his attendants. There were also another set who made

up this court of Indra, of which it may be a representation; these

were called Katincuun,* wearing a red mitre-shaped hat, silk capes

ah (north)

(centre)

om ———— hung (Hast) and each of

these points is

again supposed

to be the dwell-

ing of a god.

trang This curious

(South) system is seen

drawn out on the walls of some of the monasteries, in a complicated sort of

labyrinth, called Miskyoprs DKYILKHAR, the circle of AKsHOBHYA in Sanscrit,

T once saw one in process of construction on a square with sides quite four feet

in length. The deities assigned to the different parts are numberless, but of

the principal I may name, —North, Tonytt thubba, West, Nam- wa-ta-yas, Hast,

Dorjé Sempspa, South, R. Zingsten J ungldau, Centre, Nang-per-nang-Tsat.

See Hodgson, on the Literature and Religion of the Bhuddists, note, foot of

page 117. “In niches at the base of the hemisphere are frequently enshrined

four of the five Dhiani Buddhas, one opposite to each cardinal point. AKSHOBHYA

occupies the Hastern nitch; RatNa SAMBHAVA, the Southern ; Amrra’BHa, the

Western and AmocuastppHa the Northern, Vartrocwana, the Ist Dhyani

Buddha, is supposed to occupy the centre invisibly. Sometimes, however, he

appears visibly, being placed at the right hand of AKSHOBHYA,

* See No. 3 of Capt, M.’s Photographs,

(west) Shi

76 Description of a Mystic Play. [No. 2,

and petticoats, and carried bells and small hand drums ; they sat in a

solemn row opposite the gods, and may have been intended to repre-

sent dewans of the court. After the jesters had danced about and

played various antics, both with the actors and the lookers-on, they

rose and marched back into the monastery. To these succeeded a

set of Numxrnes with red masks and Tsaxines* with brown, who both

carried the long handled drum, and from their head dress rose a tall

stick with a triangular flag, with a narrow brown silk border and a

device of three eyes painted on the centre. The two sides named

above, faced each other and with a kind of hop dance, advanced

towards each other and then retired, striking occasionally in time to the

music, not of their own drums, but of those of their vis a vis ; altogether

it was the oddest and most curious spectacle possible to imagine. What

this strange masque was intended to represent is more than I can say,

and the priests of the monastery seemed to know as little of the

matter, or perhaps could not explain it, mixed as the subject must be

with theological Buddhist mysteries, the ridiculous grafted upon it

for the amusement of the populace.

IT will wind up my account by a description of the masque

which last appeared upon the scene and ended the performance.

The reader must now bear in mind that these last characters

hold a place in another and different day’s festival, so that we

were merely shown the costume. I saw aiterwards, on my return

to Leh from the Chang Chenmo, this play acted throughout at

the monastery of Gawun, an account of which I will hereafter give.

But to return to the actors, those that we last saw, were got up

in the most wonderful way to represent skeletons, their clothes being

tight fitting and white, the fingers and toes, loose and long, the mask

being a really artistic model of the human skull, the lower jaw being

moveable. These men danced a slow weird pas, grinning at each

other, and knocking together their short staves, which at the top were

carved into death’s heads. The band played a subdued solemn chant

while this ghostly dance went on. These men take a part in the

festival, when the supposed enemy, an effigy of whom is modelled in

dough, is cut up and carried away by these ghostly bearers who are

imtended to represent the dwellers of the burial-grounds.

* See Photograph, No. 9.

1865.] Description of a Mystic Play. 77

Translation of a MS. obtained in Ladak regarding the Dancing on

the 10th day of the 5th month, a great holiday.—By the Rev.

H. A. Jauscuxs, of the Moravian Mission, Kyelang, Lahoul.

“Dance Boox or tue LOru.”

(After some preambulatry lines which I do not thoroughly understand,

it continues as follows) :—

The time for the first meeting on the 10th having arrived, the

performers put on their attire and a nether garment* folded in many

beautiful plaits. The leader in front, they enter running quicker and

quicker, according to the measure, and form a circle for the dancing

called.....f Mustard seed is distributed among the dancersa Then

making the sign of the Trident} the following steps are gone through

Se chepinee at the words§ ......the right hand, and at the words......... the

left is stretched out. (This motion I cannot clearly understand.)

Then the leaders turning to the right, and the last in the line to

the left, both advancing towards each other, the circle is again closed

or formed. (Steps and dancing). Again making the sign of the

Trident they retire.

Now enter the Libators of Chang.|| With bells and fans in their

hands, and slowly advancing form a circle (dancing ...... ) at the words

Bee eons they take the offering of Libation to all the beings of the six

classes] in the whole world. Hach one* prays for whatever wish he

desires to be fulfilled. Now, after a signal from the cymbals, the large

trumpets, (about 8 or 9 feet long), thin trumpets, globe trumpets,

kettle-drums, pipes, @&c., and the whistling with the mouth (that

extremely shrill kind, which is produced by putting two fingers in the

* Part of the clerical dress, very like a petticoat.

+ Here occurs a considerable number of names of different motions, paces,

and gestures, often repeated in this little paper, which cannot be translated

nor can I properly describe them, as I am not acquainted with the terms used

in dancing in the English language.

{ Viz., with the hands. ;

§ These refer to the words of the sone which accompanies the dance.

|| This word seems to comprehend all sorts of fermented liquors; thus in

Lahoul and Kulloo rice-chang is most common; in Ladak barley-chang, a kind of

malt liquor without hops ; in Koonawur they make a grape-chang or wine.

@ The six classes of beings subject to transmigration are cha deo (gods) ;

Chamyin (asura demigods) ; mi (manusha men) : dudro (animals) : yidags

(peeta ......... ) nyal wapa (or daitya the inhabitants of hell).

* Viz. of the Lhamas present,

78 Description of a Mystic Play. [No. 2,

mouth), all these instruments concurring to make one loud noise, the

performers one after the other sounding his bell, hand-drum, or other

instrument, and blowing the air thrice with his face, mentally* sum-

mons the noxious enemyt+ as nobody can do so in reality (dancing).

The time having arrived to put down the venomous (enemy),

with dancing, a circle is formed and each performer must successively

hit him with his instrument ;} then follow different steps and words of

incantation and exorcism.

Three signals with the cymbals having been made two atsaras,§

coming out of the large door of the monastery, post themselves on

either side of it, with one arm a kimbo, and blow their hautbois

twice gently, twice vehemently, and then two Gylongs|| and one terrible

person, holding a skull, having performed a series of steps, finally

make the sign of the Trident and retire again. After them appear the

persons of the burial-ground (ghouls), and after performing many

gestures with their arms, retire.

This concludes the 10th day’s act.

On the 11th day of the same month, in the first act,—here follows

what I am unable to explain; in the second act, adoration is paid to

the king ;§] in the third act, mustard seed is thrown on the enemy

alter some singing and dancing, andthe ceremony of fixing the nail is

performed,** and hitting the arms, legs and heart of the figure. Now

* Performing things mentally when circumstances will not allow of it in

reality, is permitted to a great extent in the Buddhist religion, e.g. when a

person dies without riches, the family may imagine themselves to offer gold,

precious stones, &e., to any extent to Buddha, who will condescend to take it,

as if it were really given. Living Lhamas do not let their flocks off quite so

easily.

+ Any being, man or demon, adversary to the religion or to the country, &c.

{ A small figure moulded in dough, representing that enemy, or venomous

or noxious person, lies on the ground in a triangular enclosure, and each of the

dancers has to hit it, with the sword dagger, or other arms or emblem he may

carry.

§ ArsaRA is derived from the Sanserit Acharya teacher, spiritual guide ;

but according to what I was told, it is now rather used like Yogi or holy

mendicant, a Hindoo faqir. Besides this, it must also denote a sort of demon

or spirit, as | have met with the word in this signification in books ; I am not

quite sure which it is here.

|| Gylong, a degree of the Lhama priesthood.

4 No name is given in the text, it was said to be some deity. (THLoGAN

PupMA JUNGNAS P) ;

** A nail or peg, in shape of a dagger and often beautifully ornamented,

is a magic instrument, occurring very frequently in books, as an emblem of

deities, as well as used in exorcisms, &c. often by a gesture of the hand

syinbolizing its use. By its use, demons are supposed to be bound and enemies

killed, .

1865.] Description of a Mystic Play. 79

the rulers of the burial-ground* proceeding with dancing, take up the

corpse,t making the gesture of the trident. Heruka, a god holding in

his right hand a lance with a flag, and in the left a man’s heart and a

snare,{ enters attended by the Lady mother (Hurvuxa’s wife) having in

‘her right hand aclub (Kuatomxa, Sanscrit KuatwAne@a) and in her left

hand, a skull.

Four incantations with bells and faces; four women, who carry a

snare, a little child’s corpse,§ a heart, and a cymitar; their dress a wide

human skin, a potka, and leopard skin petticoat. Dancing and music

continue, while the last that enter are four Tiger coats, (warriors with

bows and arrows).

In the 4th act, the dancers are four Libators of Chang, and eight

other performers ............ (some unintelligible words here follow.)

A mask named ‘Large mouth” with a censer, another with a drum

and Hashang with his children|| now come on the scene and the

MS. concludes with a number of cyphers indicating the number of

the steps in each dance.

* Viz. two male and two female demons.

+ Lying on the triangle-shaped framework.

~ A magic rope for catching noxious beings.

§ Such things as the little child’s corpse and the human skin are not real,

the former is a small figure, the latter a loose counterfeit made of silk or other

stuff.

|| HASHANG was originally a Chinese priest whom I find mentioned in Tibetan

historical books as a preacher of heretical doctrines. Here in this play, Hashang

seems represented as a sort of school-master masked asa very old man and

attended by a lot of masked children.

80 Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitart. [ No. 2,

Some Account of Ancient Remains at Saidptir and Bhitdri.—By the

Rev. M. A. Suerrine, LL. B., and C. Horne, Esgq., C. 8S.

[Received 4th January, 1865.—Read 1st February, 1865. |

Some account of the remains found at Bhitdri has been already

inserted at various times in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal. This refers for the most part to the stone pillar standing

there, and to the inscription upon it, dating from the epoch of Sri

Kumara Gupta. General Cunningham, in his interesting and valuable

Report, printed in a Supplementary Number of the Society’s Journal

for the year 1863, supplies important information respecting other

objects at Bhitéri. Yet there are several very remarkable relics of

the past which, so far as we have ascertained, neither this indefati-

gable investigator nor any other archeologist has hitherto described.

It is our purpose to give a succinct description of these relics.

It is necessary to draw attention to the circumstance that Bhitéri

is usually spoken of in the Society’s Journal as Saidpir-Bhitari,

whereas Bhitéri and Saidpur are distinct places, the one being about

44 miles distant from the other. The high road from Benares to

Ghazeepore passes close to the large town of Saidptr, while the

village of Bhittri lies several miles away from this road. Its

proximity, however, to Saidpir, is no doubt the reason why the two

have been associated together; besides which, there is good ground

for believing that in ancient times both contained large Buddhist

structures.

SAIDPUR.

This is a flourishing town of ten thousand inhabitants, chiefly

Hindu traders, many of whom, judging from the multitude of well-

made houses adorning the streets, are living in comfort, if not in

affluence. Two large Hindu temples have been recently erected in

the town, which, together with the Government Tahsili school, are

situated on the left bank of the Ganges. Passing down the main

street to its extremity and thence diverging to the right, you come

immediately upon the outer wall of an enclosure, on entering which

you observe three separate buildings appropriated by the Mahomedans

for sacred purposes. One of these is a modern structure ; the remain-

1865. ] Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitart. 81

ing two are of undoubted antiquity. These latter we shall proceed

to describe.

The first is a small domed building sustained by four stone pillars,

the bases of which rest on a platform twelve feet square, raised a few

inches above the ground. ‘The shafts of the pillars are square, and

the capitals are cruciform, each limb being one foot ten inches in

length, and having the usual Buddhist bell-ornamentation. The pillars

on the north and east quarters exhibit a groove about 15 inches in

height, which evidently once contained a pierced stone railing. The

eaves stones above are apparently original, and have a projection of

15 inches. These eaves are strikingly characteristic of the architec-

ture of the early period to which this building must be assigned, and

are often of great size and solidity. In ancient Buddhist structures

both in Benares and in Jaunpore, as well as in this instance, they are

cut on the upper surface to resemble woodwork. Some persons will

be reminded by this circumstance of Akber’s stone roof at Futteh-

pore Sikri, cut in imitation of tiles, and of the carved beams in the

caves at Hlephanta.

The second building is 26% feet long by 23 broad, and is upheld

by at least 34 columns disposed in the following remarkable order,

namely, 6 at each of the north-east and south-east corners, 9 couples

at intervals in the circumference, and 4 single pillars in the centre,

forming a square. The two clusters of six pillars have been united

by stone slabs into two thick ones, each 23 feet square. This curious

amalgamation is, in all probability, the work of the Mahomedans,

though from what motive, it is hard to conjecture. The building

was already strongly supported, and the alteration considerably de-

tracts from its native simplicity. The space between the side pillars

is 5 feet 9 inches, between the side and centre pillars 6 feet 4 inches,

and between the centre pillars themselves 5 feet 1 inch. The height

of each column is 6 feet 11 inches, of which the base is 9 inches,

the shaft 4 feet 8 inches, the stone upon it 10 inches, and the capital

1 foot 8 inches. The innermost line of columns is built into a wall

of solid masonry composed of ancient stones, and is of more recent date

than other parts of the edifice. The roof is of long stone slabs, but

in its centre there is a primitive Buddhist ceiling consisting of four

stones placed diagonally upon the architrayes and crowned by a flat

82 Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitari. [No. 2,

stone ornamented with a lotus blossom. Each corner stone also

exhibits this flower in relief. The existence of the original eaves

stone on portions of three sides of this structure, is sufficient proof

that it could not have been any larger than it is at present; but the

great strength of the supports above alluded to, would appear to

indicate that it once possessed a second or even a third story. Upon

the roof is a diminutive chamber of comparatively modern construc-

tion, sustained by four ancient pillars. The shafts are octagonal, and

the capitals and rounded bases are richly carved with the bell and

leaf pattern. These pillars have been doubtless taken from old build-

ings which were formerly situated in this neighbourhood.

We are of opinion that these two edifices were separate chaityas

attached to a vihar or monastery, traces of which, owing to the short

time at our disposal, we did not attempt to discover. The preservation

of these interesting remains is to be attributed to the circumstance

of a Mahomedan faqir named Sheikh Samman having taken up his

abode in one of them, and having been buried in it at his death.

The second chaitya contains the tomb of Makhdum Sah. It would

be worth the while for any one having time at his disposal to explore

thoroughly this locality, which abounds with Mahomedan tombs,

some of which, it may reasonably be supposed, have been constructed

with stone taken from the usual Mussalman quarries of Hindu and

Buddhist remains.

BHITARL.

This village is situated on the Gadngi river, an affluent of the

Ganges, and is called Saidpur-Bhitaéri, from which Rajah Deo

Narain Singh, late member of the Legislative Council of India,

derives his title. Its appearance in the distance is that of a long low

mound, which, on nearer approach, displays a reddish hue on account

of the large quantity of brick rubbish entering into its composition.

In form it is nearly rectangular, the measurement of its four sides

being as follows :—

Bast dilacennetwee ee tasers 500 yards.

South ditto, ...... sbAl.. Ww b28) ditto.

Wiest dit toligeinseauyt ss 685 ditto.

North ditto, ............ 700 ditto.

1865. | Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitér?. 83

A mound rises at each corner, and another half way along each

face, and many more are within the enclosure itself. There is also

a spur running from the south-west angle. The general aspect of the

site is that of a fort with projecting towers at the corners, connected

together by a low embankment or wall; whilst the debris scattered

about in every direction and the numerous mounds, would seem to

indicate that formerly extensive buildings existed upon it.

On the spur is a recently erected Imambara, under the foundations

of which a hole has been made into the mound on which it stands,

revealing the original foundations of a very ancient edifice lying in

siti. The bricks are of exceedingly large dimensions, some being 19

inches long, about 1 foot in width, and 3 inches in thickness. It

would be interesting to lay bare the whole of these remains, and to

trace as far as practicable, without injury to the Imambara, the extent

and nature of the earlier structure.

In the year 1863, Mr. Horne was requested by the Government

of the North-Western Provinces, at the suggestion of Major-General

Cunningham, to make excavations into some of the mounds at Bhitari.

_ Strange to say, although trenches were made into several mounds, yet

nothing of importance was discovered. It by no means follows, how-

ever, that because no ancient relics were brought to light in those

tumuli which were then laid open, that a further and more complete

investigation would be fruitless. It is only natural that the changes

which have taken place through many generations among the build-

ings which the successive inhabitants of Bhitari have erected, having

recourse to the ancient structures for their materials from century to

century, rather than to materials of their own manufacture, should

have occasioned the formation of some, perhaps of many, of the exist-

ing mounds ; and therefore it is no matter for astonishment that Mr.

Horne should have found only vast masses of earth, pottery, brick,

and other rubbish, especially as his excavations were mostly carried

on in the immediate neighbourhood of the inhabited portion of

Bhitari. His decided conviction is, that if excavations were conducted

on a more extensive scale, and embraced not only the larger tumuli

in the interior of the enclosure, but likewise those lying at various

distances in the outskirts, it is highly probable that discoveries of

great interest to the archeologist, shedding light on the antiquity of

84 Ancient Remains at Saadpur and Bhitari. [No. 2,

this entire region, might be made. It is the opinion of General

Cunningham that the Bhitari ruins date from the Gupta period, or

from A. D. 100 to A. D. 300, and that they are amongst the oldest

Brahmanical remains known to us. He is wrong, however, in the

implied supposition that they are altogether of Brahmanical origin,

as we shall presently show.

Judging from the relics of tombs and religious houses dispersed

over the village and its suburbs, Bhitari must have been a place of

some importance during the Mahomedan rule in India. The few

inhabitants still residing in it are, for the most part, followers of the

prophet. The bridge over the Gingi below the village, was erected

by the Mahomedans. It dates from at least two xras, and the origi-

nal structure, General Cunningham considers, ‘ consisted of only two

small arches,’ to which two others have been subsequently added.

The bridge has been altogether built with cut stones taken from other

buildings, and in one place the figure of an animal, such as supports

the brackets in the Atali Masjid in Jaunpur, is inserted into the

wall. A mason-mark found on one of the stones, is indisputably of

the age of the Guptas. Although in a dilapidated condition, the

bridge nevertheless possesses considerable strength ; and its thorough

repair, which is very desirable, might be effected at a comparatively

small cost.

In the enclosure itself, the most noticeable object is undoubtedly

the famous column with the Gupta inscription upon it. The column

rests upon a roughly hewn stone, and is 284 feet in height. This

includes the base which is 10 feet 2 inches high, of which, between

five and six are below the level of the adjacent soil. It is out of the

perpendicular, and the cause of this, as well as of the injury to the

capital, is attributed by the inhabitants to lightning with which, they

' say, the pillar was struck many years ago; but it is just as probable,

perhaps more so, that both results may have been effected by the

Mahomedans, who, failing in their attempt to throw down the column,

may have mutilated the capital, as is commonly reported they did, with

cannon-shot, and destroyed the figure of a lion, which, it is with good

reason conjectured, formerly crouched upon it. .

In his Report to Government, Mr. Horne says :—“ J laid bare the

east face of the foundation, as the column slopes to the north, and

1865.] Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitare. 85

found that the base was 3 inches off the foundation-stone on the south

side, (Vide woodcut in the morgin) ;

that there were two iron wedges

driven under as indicated ; and that

Ail LL at some remote period, stone-work

(Quay iW m )) ie of a massive character had been

placed around to prevent further

declension. I then cleared the mound away which abutted on the

column, hoping to find some traces of foundations at least, of the

building to which the monolith may have formed an adjunct. This

mound rose from 10 to 12 feet, and extended some distance, and, as

far as I could ascertain by cutting a trench and. levelling, consists

entirely of broken bricks and earth.”

There is no doubt that during the Buddhist period in India, several

temples and one or two monasteries flourished in Bhitari. In a mosque

in the village, of modern erection, are thirty stone pillars, seven of them

being elaborately carved. These must have been taken from buildings

situated here in ancient times, for they present similar characteristics

to the columns of Buddhist shrines and monasteries, of which remains

ave still found in Benares and elsewhere. In asmall uncovered brick

enclosure we discovered several old sculptures, among them a rude

statue of Buddha in excellent preservation, The entire stone is

5 feet in height, but the figure measures only 2 feet 4 inches.

Buddha is seated in contemplation, and is devoid of ornament ;

and on the palm of his hand the chakra symbol is engraved.

He is attended by two chauri-bearers and two kinnaras o cherubs,

and is seated on asemi-circle, below which are four diminutive figures,

two representing animals, and two Buddha. ‘The statue has the

sacred corona encompassing the head, embellished on the upper part

with Indian-corn and leaves, and must have been a prominent object

in one of the temples formerly standing here.

Of the other sculptured stones found at this spot, we will only

describe two. One of them exhibits the figure of a man seated on a

prancing ram, which may possibly be intended to illustrate one of the

signs of the Zodiac, The other is a small octagonal pillar in a niche,

and on either side of it is an erect human figure. In the middle of

the village is a well, by the mouth of which is a collection of old

86 Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitart. [No. 2,

stones picked up in the neighbourhood at various times. Some of

these are of Buddhist, while others may be of Hindu type. Amongst

them are two heads alluded to in the note, and also two very curious

stones, one representing the front portion of the human skull, and

the other a human hand clasping a shell. There is likewise rather a

large statue of the god Ganesh, referred to by General Cunningham

in his Bhitari Report. It is plainly of modern date, and is not worth

even an allusion. Portions of cloister pillars, square below and

octagonal above, may be here and there seen. These were manifestly

first cut down and rounded by the Hindus, to serve as lingams, and

when the Mahomedans became dominant, were then used by them as

head-stones for their graves, the chirdyh or lamp being placed on the

top instead of in a small niche which it is customary to make for the

same. Some of the massive stones of the mosque now used as archi-

traves and pillars were evidently taken from ancient edifices; and it

is not difficult to trace roofing stones of old cloisters in some of the

stones in the pavement and in the covering stones of the graves.

General Cunningham also partially describes a remarkable stone

found not far from the column, respecting which we would make a

few remarks in addition to his own. His account is as follows.

“ There is also a large slab,” he says, “with a half-size two-armed

female figure, attended by another female figure holding an umbrella

over her, both in very high relief. The figures in this sculpture are

in the same style and in the same attitudes as those of the similar

group of the Raja and his umbrella attendant on the gold coins of

the Gupta Princes. This sculpture, I believe, represents a queen on

her way to worship at the temple. The group is a favourite one

with Hindu artists, and, as far as my observation goes, it is never

used singly, but always in pairs, one on each side of the door-way of

a temple. The age of this sculpture I am inclined to fix as early as

the time of the Gupta kings, partly on account of the similarity of

style to that of their gold coins, partly also because the pillar belongs

to one of that family, but chiefly because some of the bricks found

in various parts of the ruins are stamped with the name of Sri

Kumara Gupta.” To this interesting information concerning this curious

stone, we would add, that seven human figures are sculptured upon it

in bas-relief. Of these the chief female figure or queen stands upon a

1865.] Anctont Remains at Sardpur and Bhitare. 87

lotus blossom, and another is remarkable for being seated on the head

of a non-descript animal, partly of human form and closely resembling

the figure carved upon a stone of the Gangi bridge before described.

The figure is decorated with a double necklace, from the centre of which

hangs a large pendant, and on its back and beneath its feet runs a

band of elaborate scroll-work forming the lowermost division of the

sculpture and springing originally from a cherub who has a wonderful

head of hair, and whose feet are like the talons of a bird. This

peculiar ornamentation is perhaps the most singular feature of the

entire sculpture, inasmuch as it fixes the xra of the slab, and also the

religious sect from which it proceeded. On the face of the large

Buddhist tower at Sarnath is a similar scroll-work connected with a

similarly carved cherub. As this tower was most probably erected

in the Gupta period, the conjecture of General Cunningham becomes

almost a demonstrated fact, that the slab must date from the same

epoch, but it is of Buddhist, and not, as he imagines, of Hindu origin,

unless it be that the Hindus and Buddhists of about the same period

adopted the same style of ornamentation, a supposition which although

possible, it would, in the absence of proof, be very hazardous to follow.

It seems evident therefore that the ancient remains at Bhitari are

both of Buddhist and of Hindu origin, though it is hard to say

precisely which preceded the other. The pillar was erected by Skanda

Gupta, of whom, the inscription says, ‘‘ in the spirit of his own dread-

ful deeds,” he ‘‘ danced in the fierce dance,” and was possessed of a

clear insight into the profound wisdom of the Tantras.” He was

consequently a worshipper of Shiva, and was an enthusiastic admirer

of the Tantric mysteries and abominations. But Kumara Gupta,

(whose name General Cunningham found stamped on bricks lying

about at Bhitari,) who preceded him, and was most probably his

father, was certainly not a Shaiva, for in the inscription reference is

made both to him and to his father, Chandra Gupta, the second, as

worshippers of the “ Supreme Bhagavat.”’ It is just possible that

this term may mean Vishnu; if so, they were both Vaishnavas. But

it is exceedingly probable that the allusion is to Buddha, inasmuch

as, one of the titles most usually ascribed to him is that of “ Bhaga-

vat.” Moreover, the inscription of Chundra Gupta on one of the

railings of the Great Tope at Sanchi, sets forth that a sum of money

88 Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitart. [No. 2,

was given by this monarch “ to the followers of Dharma in the great

monastery.” It is difficult to believe that he would have extended

his patronage to this Buddhist monastery, had he not cherished the

Buddhist faith. We are strongly inclined therefore with General

Cunningham to the opinion that Chandra Gupta and Kumara Gupta,

father and son, were Buddhists. The ninth king of this dynasty,

Buddha Gupta, corrected the rabid Hindu tendencies of his predeces-

sor Skanda Gupta, and in his turn became a zealous disciple of Buddha.

Respecting the remaining kings of this dynasty, it is not known of

what creed they were; but it is not a little remarkable that Siladitiya,

the great king of Malwa, who vanquished the Guptas and took pos-

session of their vast empire, was attached to the Buddhist religion.

The conclusion, therefore, at which we arrive, is, that ancient

Bhitari was alternately in the hands of Buddhist and Hindu monarchs

during the Gupta period, who severally embellished it, according to

their distinctive religious views. The twofold character of the dis-

covered remains tends to the corroboration of this opinion, and we

have no doubt that further research would only more fully confirm it.

It is remarkable that the sculptured fragments of a shell grasped by

a hand, and also of a skull, the former a symbol of Vaishnavism, and

the latter of the Tantric form of Shaivism, should both have been

found among the same ruims, showing that both these rival sects of

Hinduism were once prevailing there. We hope that excavations on

a more extended scale than has yet been attempted, may one day be

carried on both within the elevated Bhitari enclosure itself and amongst

the outlying mounds.

The iconoclastic zeal of the Mahomedans is too well known to need re-

mark; and as the value of the monolith at Bhitari on account of the

historical information it affords regarding the Gupta dynasty is indis-

putable, it is of considerable importance that the Government remove

it to another place, say the Queen’s College, Benares, for greater

security, to which it would be an interesting architectural ornament ;

the more so as we have laid out an archeological garden in the grounds

of that institution.

Note.—We subjoin a Lithograph, (Plate XVII.) of a very curious group found

at Bhitari and supposed by us, in consequence of other similar groups at the

Vishnupad at Gaya and there described as such, to be a portion of the “ Nau-

1865.] Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitart. 89

graha” or nine planets, This may perhaps be the stone alluded to by General

Cunningham in his Report.

We also found other very curious remains viz, 2 heads (alluded to before), a

bust with head, and a sitting figure. The nationality of the parties represented

we cannot determine. They are all females and the hair is drest in a very singular

style, being drawn up from the face and bound with a fillet, from which depend

elegant ornaments, and then gathered in a mob on the top of the head. The

hair over the centre of the forehead is carefully parted, and there is a fine

jewel in the centre; over the forehead and in the ears are very large heavy

earrings,

Might not these be representations of noble foreign ladies, who having visited

this noted spot, had vowed and erected temples, in or near to which in niches

were placed their statues in memory of the founders ?—Amonegst the articles

found by Major Kittoe at Sarnath and described by Dr. Butler, is a similar

representation made in burnt clay. ‘This head-dressing must not be confounded

with that as shewn in the Bhilsa figures of ascetics, who like many of the

fuqeers of the present day did not cut their hair, but gathererd it in large bunches

at the sides of their heads or plaited it,

(Received 20th January, 1865.)

Since the above paper was written, I have paid another visit to

Saidpur. On this occasion I examined the country to the west of

the town, which I had not done previously. About three quarters of |

a mile from Saidpur, on the high road, is the small village of Zuhar-

ganj, between which and the river is a mound regarded by the people

as the remains of an old fort. Bricks are cropping out of its sides,

and for some distance along the banks of the river round to the main

road beyond the village, the soil is strewn with broken brick, showing

that formerly buildings of this material were standing here. To the

north of the road, but almost close to it, is a mound called Rém

Tawakku, rising abruptly from the plain on which are also numerous

fragments of broken brick. To the north, about a mile from the

public road, is an immense terrace raised from 30 to 40 feet high

above the surrounding country. Its length is 420 paces, and its

breadth 190. The terrace is thickly covered with broken brick, and at

one corner there are likewise fragments of stone. This enormous

90 Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Bhitdri. [No. 2,

mound is of an irregular shape. There is little doubt that extensive

buildings lie buried here, which, judging from the quantity of brick

rubbish found above, are for the most part probably of this material.

The people say, that the habitations formerly situated on this spot,

fell in; hence, in their estimation, the origin of the mound. Close

by, are two other tumuli, and further off are apparently others. Were

these mounds, especially the largest, to be excavated, I feel satisfied

that the result would amply repay the labour and expense bestowed

_ on the undertaking.

About half a mile beyond Zuharganj, a few steps from the road,

is a stone chabutra or platform, on which are two figures, one repre-

senting the Boar Incarnation, and the other Krishna with his milk-

maids. Both are old and in excellent preservation. The ornamenta-

tion of the stone representing the former figure, is curious. The

carving exhibits a pilaster in bas-relief exceedingly similar in detail to

the shrine pillars of Bakariya Kund, Benares, which, strange to say,

are undoubtedly of Buddhist origin, while this pilaster belonging to

an incarnation of Vishnu is of Hindu origin. Around the base of a

tree standing a few steps off, is an assemblage of mutilated sculptures

of ancient date. They are not worshipped by the Hindus. I brought

away several heads, and a fragment of a seated figure with a short

inscription in front. M. A. §

RRAAADRAR RANA nn nnn

y Ag udead

TAX 781d Tid AIXXX TOA ‘00g ssy Teusnor

1865-] Note on the Pronunciation of tie Tibetan Language. 91

Note on.the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language:—By the Rev. H. A.

JAESCHEE of Kyélang.

[Received 1st February 1865. Read 1st February, 1865.]

The Tibetan. language is known to. possess a very rich literature,

though the smaller part of it is original, most of the Tibetan works

being translations from the Buddhistic part..of the Sanscrit literature,

The whole is not of an older date than the 7th. century, as that king

of Tibet who despatched one of his ministers to India, in order to

learn Sanscrit.and create an. alphabet. for the Tibetan language, was

a contemporary of Mohammad. It. is incredible, of course, that he

should have loaded his writings with a great. many superfluous signs,

especially when his only pattern was the Sanscrit, with its perfect

accommodation of the sign to the sound. On the contrary, he is

likely to have expressed in writing, with a few exceptions perhaps,

every sound of the language, as it was pronounced at his time. At

present, however, the Tibetan mode of spelling, differs nearly as much

from the actual pronunciation in. the greater part of the country as

in the English, or rather in the French language, for the discrepancy

mostly rests in the consonants, many, of which have changed in

certain cases their original sounds, or are dropped in speaking, though

they are,. considered etymologically, essential elements of a word,

and therefore appear in writing, in a.proportion similar to such French

words, as:. ils. parlent; qu’est cela d&e., e. g. bkrashis, pronounced

tashi. In French, the cause and history of this. discrepancy is clear,

as we know the Latin mother as well as the Gallic child, and possess

specimens from all ages, by which we can trace the gradual changes.

In Tibetan, nothing of the kind exists, or at least very little has yet

been discovered; nor is there much reason. for hoping that in their

own literature anything has been preserved. that might. throw light

on the history of the language, since the grammatical as well as the

historical: powers of the Tibetan mind seem to be developed to a

very small degree, and the ancient orthography has been, with few -

exceptions, scrupulously left unchanged, since its invention 1200 years

ago. Csoma de Kérés and other grammarians, especially Cunningham.

92 Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. [No. 2,

in his work on Ladak, mention some dialectical differences in the

pronunciation of various districts, which in some instances agree

more accurately with the way of spelling, and the latter states that

the more learned Lamas, but these only, pronounce distinctly, though

rapidly, the initial letters which are usually silent. But a closer

inquisition shows the interesting fact, that in the most western ex-

tremity of Tibet in the province of Purig and the northernmost

part of Ladak, nearly all the consonants and the ancient pronunciation

of the language, as it was at the period of the invention of the

alphabet, has been preserved by the illiterate, not by a few learned

Lamas only, in the case of whom we could not be sure whether their

accommodation to the ancient spelling were not merely artificial—a

capricious imitation of what they are trained to revere as the dialect

of their sacred writings. Let me mention some instances. The

letters here in question are more especially those compound consonants,

consisting of two or three elements, which are in Tibetan, as in many

cases in Sanscrit also, denoted in writing by putting the following

consonant below the preceding one. Nowe. g. the letter s as initial,

with a following k, t, &. is spoken distinctly in Ladak, as in skad,

language ; stan, mat; skarma, star; / in the same case is pronounced

even in Lahoul, e. g. ltawa, to look at; Ichangma, willow; r in the

same case, in no instance in Lahoul, but in many in Ladak, e. g.

rdowa, the stone, and in still more, perhaps in every word where it

appears in writing, in Purig, e. g. rgyalwa, victorious, or more com-

monly, good, excellent, which is pronounced by Ladakees, and IL

think everywhere else in Tibet: gyalla ; and so are words as: rdzogs,

rdza, rdzun, &e Ina similar way a villager of Purig will call a

knife, gri ; washing, khruwa ; rice, bras ; child, phrugu ; whereas even

in Ladak these four words are heard like di, thruwa, dras, thruqu,

in Lahoul and more to the Hast like dz, twwa, dai or de, tugu, with

little or nothing of the innate 7, and the p and & sounds changed into

t sounds with a more or less lingual pronunciation. Again: those

connected with what would be spelled y in English are pronounced

according to their spelling only in Purig and Balti im all cases, e. g.

byang, north; phyag, hand Gn respectful language); phywgpo, rich ;

these are spoken like yang, chhag, chhugpa already in the southeastern

part of Ladak, and in Lahoul; whereas in the case of the k sounds,

1865.] | Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. 93

in words like khy?, the dog, gyelwa, to fall down, Kye-lang, the name

of the village in Lahoul where the Moravian Mission is established,

the correct pronunciation has been preserved even in that province,

and chhi instead of khyi is only used by still more Hastern Tibetans.

Upon the whole, it may be said that, if not perfectly, still to a certain

degree, the different changes which the pronunciation of the language

has undergone in the course of upwards of one thousand years, may

be traceable even at the present day in the different districts of Tibet

from Purig and Balti in the west to the capital town of Lhasa near

the Chinese frontier, where the deviation, or we may justly say, the

degeneration has reached its highest pitch, in introducing assimilations,

dissolving certain consonants nearly into vowels, dropping others entire-

ly, confounding two or three cognate sounds into one intermediate, and

mingling the short vowels with one another. Assimilations as in the

Latin compono instead of con-pono, are unheard of in the written

Tibetan language, as also in the spoken dialect of the western pro-

vinces; the word gompa will in Purig mean nothing but a step;

a different idea, that of custom, practice, which the Lahoulee will

include, being connected with the spelling: gomspa or sgompa. In

the pronunciation of Lhasa two more, gonpa to dress, to put on, and

gonpa, monastery, are, mixed up with the two former, by means of

assimilation of the n. Again: s in the end of a syllable is pronounced

in Purig and Ladak, but dropped in most other districts, not with-

out a prolonging or changing influence on the preceding vowel. Thus

the word chhos, religion, law, (dharma in Sanscr.) is pronounced

chhos in Ladak, chhot in Lahoul, chhd in upper Kunawur, chho in Lhasa ;

d and g, in the end of a syllable, are melted into semivowels or nearly

liquid consonants in a similar way as in’ Danish (though not exactly

the same): skad, the language, loses its s even in Southern Ladak,

but in Lhasa it is mutilated into hé; smad, the nether part, into

mé; Bod, proper name of Tibet, the Bhota of Sans., into Bo’; Ichags,

iron, into chd’, scarcely different in pronunciation from ja, tea;

sringmo, sister, is pronounced shringmo in west Tibet, sengmo or

nearly simo in Lhasa; sa and za, shi and zhi (the latter like 77 when

pronounced as in French,) which are as accurately distinguished by

every Lahoulee or Ladakee, as s in seal and z in zeal, are confounded

in Lhasa.

94 Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. [No. 2,

But all this would leave the linguist hopeless as to the question of

the historical periods when these changes took place, as it only adds

the d@ posteriori proof, that the pronunciation has once agreed with

the spelling, to the @ priorz conclusion which everybody may infer from

the mere fact of the present discrepancy. A step towards the solution

of this question may perhaps be possible by the study of the languages

of some frontier districts. An instance of peculiar interest in this

respect is found in the Boo-nan language, spoken in a small district

of Lahoul, and in part of Kunawur, where it is called Tibar-skad,

Tibar-langnage. It is the familiar tongue of the Lahoul villages in the

Bhaga valley, just above the junction of the Bhaga and Chundra rivers,

over an extent of about 10 miles on both sides, whereas Tibetan is

understood and spoken fluently enough in intercourse with genuine

Tibetans by the adult men, but more or less imperfectly by women

and children, and many Tibetan words, very common in books, and

generally known in Ladak, are not understood by any one in this

district. The fact of this language existing in two different provinces,

like two islands separated from each other by the pure Tibetan

population of Spiti and the pure Hindu nationality of Kooloo, renders

the theory of a wider diffusion, of the Tibarskad language in former

times probable, and agrees with the assertion of the Lahoul people,

that even within the remembrance of the present generation, its dis-

trict was greater that it is now, and has been more and. more encroach-

ed upon by the Tibetan. Now in this language a great many Tibetan

words are to be met with, which may have induced General Cunningham

to class this Tibarskad under the head of dialects of the Tibetan ;

but I think the great difference of the grammatical structure of both

languages (the Boo-nan being at least as elaborate as the Hindi, the

Tibetan nearly devoid of inflections at all) and even a closer examina-

of the lexical stock of the language, must lead to a different opinion.

Nearly all the words of primary necessity (an inference against which

Latham objects, Ido not see exactly with how much reason), and

many others are not borrowed from the Tibetan, any more than from

Sanscrit, but have an original character. Here is a small list of words

all of which seem to be original, or at least I know not from what

other language they might be derived.

1865.] Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. 95

Kati, scissors.

Kirti, basket.

Kutulu, bag.

Kundrang, tub, basin.

Kumtsz, bow, for shooting.

Kurkutrig, ant.

Kyugs, ashes.

Koang gul kwang gul, neck (gul is

Tib.)

Koar, kwar, jug, jar.

Khu, smoke.

_ Khudrub, fist.

Khug, meal of roasted barley.

Khur, knife.

Khul, bag.

Khoartum, khwartem, egg.

Khoa, khwa, raven.

Gara, donkey.

Gogs, spittle.

Gyugs, dust.

Gyum, house.

Gyen, spring (as a season).

Gram, stone.

Gring, beam, timber.

Goanu, gwanu, fox.

Chatram, sickle.

Chi, grass.

Nyugtsi, monkey.*

Tigs, cover, lid, cork.

Thagadrang, spark.

Thigi, leather bag, purse.

Thopo, drinking cup.

Dan, belly.

Diptsi, top.

Diskar, thirst.

Debu, snake.

Deg, leather.

Deska, lie, falsehood.

Dompa, blacksmith.

Pug, roasted grains.

Pelisz, milk.

Phos, garment, dress.

Phyutst, hole.

Ba, wall.

Bang, foot, leg.

Bitang, door.

Bitsi, thread.

Bed, younger brother.

Betse, twin.

Botri, buttermilk.

Botsi, finger.

Byana, can, pot.

Byenmo, wite.

Byerbu, trowsers.

Byutsi, mouse, rat.

Mashung, wite.

Mir, fat (melted).

Mu, snow.

Mutsa, wustachio.

Me, labs, flame.

Me, lum, fire-place.

(Me, is Tib. and means fire.)

Tsitsr, child.

Tsemed, daughter ; girl.

Lsam, wool.

Tsog, thornbush.

Watsv, clue (of woolthread).

Wal, shovel.

Wampu, yellow bear (the only bear

occurring in Lahoul.)

* Monkies are not in Lahoul ; in the Koonawur Tibarskad, Cunningham men.

tions only the terms gonas and brandras: What may the origin of nyugtsi be ?

96 Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language.

Zad, barley.

Yushi, meal, flour.

Rangtsi, sleeve.

Rig, field.

Rindri, lead (plumbum).

féts1, ear.

Roang, rwang, hill, mountain.

La, goat ; rock, cliff.

Lama, sheep.

Lala, song.

Lang, dung.

Lan, wind.

Lab, leat.

Las, price.

Lis, ice.

Len, work, action.

Lo, carpet.

Lha, moon.

Lha Kham, month.

Lhe, tongue.

Lhegs, villager ; community.

Shag, birch-tree.

Sharpa, youth, boy.

Shirta, vain.

Shirped, broom.

Shu, blood.

Shugtsi, comb.

Shel, summer.

Shosha, heart.

Shrag, shame.

Shrangs, horse, pony.

Shrig, louse (Tib. shiq.)

Shrim, arrow.

Shoantsi, shwantsi, dove.

Sazha, bukka.

Sagsa, grasshopper.

Sampa, meat, eatables.

Sibi, flute, pipe.

Séshi, friend, acquaintance.

Soti, water.

Skyugtrong, breast.

Sta, vein ; artery.

Stagorwa, neck.

Smutig, flea.

Awa, father.

Ag, mouth.

Amphang, carrot.

Amtsi, road.

Kyui, long.

Khai, black.

Khyei, sweet. *

Khyoi, dry. :

Gadgad, rough.

Golwei, blind.

Grangi, grani.*

Ngai, straight.

Chung gor, deep.

Chuini, few.

Chhei, warm.

Chhoti, fat, well-fed.

Nyeme, nice (to the taste).

[No. 2,

Tai, being, having, possessing,

rich.

Ting, blue.

Tunig, short.

Thi, wet, thin (in case of liquids).

Damshi, pure, clean, fine.

Dez, great.

Nui, new.

Noi, much, many.

* Tt is not ng in sing, but the nasalised vowel as in the Hindustani men,

men,

1865.] Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language.

Pari, broad.

Punji, hot, pungent.

Pétsétsi, little, small.

Phrei, rough.

Byai, thin (of cloth, paper &e.).

* Mangi, red.

Wus, moist.

Zluli, bright (opp. dark).

Yui, old (as clothes and other

things).

Lai, thin, fine (as thread &e.).

Loi, easy.

Lhei, yellow.

Shangtre, old (as men Wc.).

Shi, white.

Shiri, rough.

Shuri, sour.

Sil sil, smooth.

Soi, cold.

Lbbo, good.

Gyi, I.

Han, thou.

Dal, he, she, it.

Hingtsore, we.

Hantsore, you.

Daltsore, they.

Tsore, all.

Thazu, this.

Thé, that.

Gyo, which

Kha, what

Tiki, one.

Bi, four.

Kachum, to turn.

inter].

Kunchum, to look at,

Kugchum, to arrest.

Kyichum, to wash,

Kyulchum, to rob.

Kyormen, to discharge (an arrow).

Khugchum, to find.

Khyuchum, to cover.

Galchum, to liberate.

Gyagsmen, to listen.

Gyarchum, to fear, be afraid of.

Grechum, to bite.

Goalchum gwalchum, to hang up.

Chachum, to smear, paint.

Chichum, to press, squeeze.

Chhingchum, to rob.

Chhilchum, to select.

Chhurchum, to squeeze out.

Chhwinchum, to bind, fasten.

Tigchum, to cover.

Tidmen, to irrigate.

Toamen, twamen,to mow, cut grass.

Toanchum, twanchwm, to borrow

(money).

Thugchum, to break.

Thichum, to melt.

Thirchum, to send (a man).

Thogchum, to put off (a coat).

De, is.

Dodmen, to meet.

INO, TE

Niza, was.

Panchum, to fly.

Pinchum, to fill.

Punchum, to grow.

Phanchum, to sew.

Phochum, to put on (clothes).

Phyamen, to speak.

Bruchum, to. wipe.

T'sagchum, to put in.

Tsabchum, to cleave.

Zhedmen, to sit. [istence.

Yagsmen, to arise, come into ex-

Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language.

[No. 2,

Alchum, to take away.

Lilmen, to go.

Yen, is. Tha, not (in prohibitive and nar-

tichum, to bring. rating sentences. )

Rochwm, to roast. Thazung, tharang, there.

Ligchum, to do, make. Thang, to-day.

Lochum, to say. Thing, thin, (nasal) here.

Shanchum, to rise. Thindzug, thus.

Smyadchum, to touch. Thong, therein, within.

Hirchum, to fall.

Helchum, to carry away.

Nung, there.

Hya, yesterday.

Hyugschum, to throw. Ire, again.

Hoangsmen, hwangsmen, to go out, Odchi, to-morrow.

come out, flow out, &e. Chi, from.

Hoanchum, hwanchum, to take out, Mang, in (-men Hind. ?)

bring out, draw out, &e.

The great multitude of Tibetan words, however, which are adopted

in the Boo-nan language can be divided into two classes: 1, those in

which the present Boo-nan pronunciation agrees with the Tibetan

spelling, 1. e. the ancient Tibetan pronunciation, though this pronun-

ciation is not preserved in the Tibetan of Lahoul itself, in many cases

not even in Ladak, perhaps in some instances not anywhere else.

The Boo-nan people themselves, whenever they speak Tibetan, use the

modern pronunciation according to the custom of Lahoul, which often

widely differs from the written letters.

2. Those words in which the Boo-nan pronunciation agrees with

the modern Tibetan.

To No. 1 belong:

Kres, hunger, in modern Lahoulee, Tibetan unknown.

Khamscappebite: 2c was .. 60min Macaroni kham.

TOURNEY enor cia see be ice OE: Cue. aan thal.

Khrutsi, arm (elbow,) ....... POUND te otocclells <a (vacat.)

Fires <oulbott| GS) s Been, se, SPAN alee eer CELL,

Khaspo,cwises skalliulapy 14. sPneueueee.: oalecteteeecee khaipa.

Gryogspo, auicks) .7ae ese gyogpa.

Gromiuporjchiecls Gay. sea ee DO REINS sat cre tia macreaee Beet dampa.

GiTOg[00, AVET; vanesretan ean Hi cisantetan te Miade <claceaaadeis dogpo.

1865.] Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. 99

Nogospo, truth (in Tib. thing, reality,) . ...........

Chespa, dear, cherished, ©.......... .6ve..+.

Snyingrus, industry, in Tib. courage, ... ...........

SMyemaiaeaD (OLCOMN,)) 4.2020. seele t= ween cernnnes

UE SEE OR Lek ce Wa e cnc shales des satis osakinedee ees

[SUG p, (GRRE NGI Cel ASO cae Se ava haan ne cee a , :

PSLOMG A INGU SAM Ct Soe), Leelee bbls cieick a ses wee witebleee

WSC ALTA te so8 15.2 sie REVS Ce MELE a

Wigsrabreaiinnh Tre jlo. sje cane Dhils doe tleoar a

Phyagphulchum, to make reverence, adore,.........

JP TOQTAIG YOO, Ta OA BRA Oia et 19 bo SM i are ba ;

Brawobrao, buckwheat,..........0cese.0-0s ese SIMD

EL GOO MOC ou Cliti i iM RA GEHON Genes towed dah f

Brangsa, dwelling-place, habitation, ...............

BRUCK ILO WEILCn We Lana vents cule seb sd <2)lels pteees ‘

Mhyangelh unr) tO Stabe) \o)inccioc. daletL> slp ste ees ccuden

ALY SMMOO CYR Akh: RAEN Bloc sttoiee ba dindte edalees setiee ‘

aster btn COL Melt pr Meh iacsltes seit. «Sa eisse sess sth

JES CON ROM GOVT. sos rdobeocenedde ceiaeuedosouen oso penance

URud STATOR SOTLY Lee hiclos ce see ea oeBslec ses « MPRA: ite

EYUS PO DONE) Aes cipesis cones. St Gk et aaa ong)

STIL A TTA AGING YEN arai sh ciatinis se Melclseld ohleighlogeidlecis ela ote

To No. 2.

Tam, cabbage, Tib. literally; kram.

Kad, language, lit. skad.

Karma, star, lit. skarma.

Thim, judgment jurisdiction, lit. khrims.

Du, corner ; ship, lit. gru.

Doi, counsel, advice, lit. gros.

Nyingzhe, compassion, benevolence, lit. snyingzhe,

Tontog, harvest, lit. stontog.

Jungwa, element, lit. byungwa.

Chodpa, behaviour, lit. spyodpa.

Digpa, sin, lit. sdigpa.

ngoipo.

chepa.

nyingru.

nyenia,

dui.

tan.

tong.

pu.

ug, U.

chhagpulwa.

chhugpa.

dawo.

dag.

dangsa.

diwa.

nyangwa,

zug.

yal.

ral,

rig.

ruipa.

man,

Lobma, pupil, lobpon teacher, lit. slobma and slobdpon.

This would seem to indicate two different influxes of Tibetan words

and ideas, one at a very early period, the other much later,—so many ”

100 Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. [No. 2,

centuries after the invention of the alphabet, that the pronunciation

was already altered to that of the present day. It is not impossible

that a more complete dictionary of this language in both its dialects,

that of Kunawar and that of Lahoul, and perhaps also of other un-

written Himalayan dialects and languages, situated as they are

between the great Tibetan and Indian families, might afford more

than one interesting result with regard to the history of the Tibetan

language and the histories of the people of these countries, in their

political situations as well in their civilisation. If such investigations

happened to be aided by the discovery of local records of such a

kind as formed the history of Sikkim, destroyed by the Nepalese

soldiery (v. Hooker’s Him. Journ. I. p. 331) it might be possible to

clear up parts of the history of these countries hitherto very obscure.

It would seem to me as if the collection of words given above,

might suggest the conjecture that the first of the two irruptions of

Tibetan power and influence into these valleys, inhabited by Boonan-

speaking mountaineers, was merely of a political nature, carrying

with it such institutions as tawes, very probably the first thing which

the small population of a secluded valley is likely to be taught by a

foreign invader,—some new articles of manufacture (cotton cloth, car-

pets, &c.), words for the higher numerals, and some others; whereas

the second,—perhaps going on in a more quiet and slow way,—brought

with it judicial and governmental institutions of a somewhat higher

order, and the religious and philosophical ideas as well as usages of

Buddhism,

1865. ] Notes on the Gurjut State of Patna. 101

Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna.—By Major H. B. Iveny, Deputy

Commissioner of Sumbulpore.

[Received 18th October, 1864. |

The following sketch of the history of the Gurjat state of Patna is

founded upon the records, genealogical trees, and traditions maintained

by successive Rajahs. Although there may be errors in the calculation

of periods, and mistakes in the incidence of events, yet, considering

how all. natives of pretension or position strive to keep up a remem-

brance of their ancestors through the services of Brahmins, and how

strictly they themselves cherish the links of private history (as for

instance, the custom of the Hindus to religiously pronounce the names

of their preceding generations, while engaged in their ablutions,) it may

be assumed that such records and links, when adjusted by their cir-

cumstantial data, as in this case, will generally form a pretty correct

chain of evidence in respect to main facts.

Origin of the Mahdrajéhs—The Maharajéhs of Patna claim

direct descent from a race of Rajpoot Rajahs of Gurh Sumbul, near

Mynpooree, and count back the individuals of this race for 32

generations.

Foundation of one state, Patna, from a cluster of exght Gurhs.—It is

narrated that these Rajahs used to be in constant attendance at the

Court of Delhi till the last named Hutumber Singh having intrigued.

and run off with one of the king’s daughters, was pursued and killed,

and his family forced to fly. Amongst the wives of this Rajah was

one who, escaping, arrived enciente, in Patna, and found refuge with

the chief of Khobagurh, being one of eight gurhs,* which at that

time, alone formed the territories of Patna, being comprised within

the three rivers Ung, Mahanuddy, and Sel, and bounded on the

west by Khurriar, (a possession then of Jaypoor), and Bindanawagurh

and the chiefs of which took it in turns, a day. at a time, to

* | Patna, 5 Sindeehala.

2 Salabhata, 6 Kolagurh.

3 Kongaon. 7 Gooragurh.

4 Jhorasinga, 8 Boomnagurh,

102 Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. [No. 2,

exercise full authority, as Rajah over the whole. She was placed in

charge of the said Chief's Brahmin at Ramoor, and there gave birth to

a boy named Raman Deo. The Chief adopted the boy, and subsequently,

on his coming of age, himself being sick and weary of rule, resigned

his position to him, Raman Deo soon after this succeeded in murdering

the other seven Chiefs, and usurping to himself the whole and perma-

nent authority in Patna. Finally he married a daughter of the

Ruler of Orissa, through whose influence and power, he was enabled

to maintain his usurped position.

Extension of territory and dominion to the right bank of the

Mahanuddy.—It would appear that during the time of Raman Deo

and the two succeeding Maharajahs the territories and dominion of

Patna became extended beyond the Ung river to the right bank of

the Mahanuddy : embracing—

1st. Patna Proper, as now, but with the addition to the west, of

three gurhs, viz. Kholagurh, Goorhagurh and Koomragurh at present

included in the Gurjat state of Khurriar and of 12 villages known

then as “ Baragam,”’ afterwards as “ Borasambeer,”’

and subsequently

detached as portion of the Gurjat State of that name, and to the

east in continuation between the rivers Ung and Sel to the Mahanuddy.

2nd. As annexed to Patna Proper, all the land embraced within

the Ung and Mahanuddy rivers, and bounded on the west by Phooljur

and Sarumgur, which now comprises the southern portion of Sumbul-

pore and part of Sonepore.

As Tributary dependencies the Gond Gurjat States of Brindanawa-

gurh,* Phooljhurt and Sarungurh.}

The lands and estates lying contiguous to the left bank of the

Mananuddy were, it is believed, at that time attached to Sirgooja,

with the exception of the North Western portion of the present

Sumbulpore district known as Chundurpore and Bhortia which belong-

ed to Ruttunpoor.

Subjugation of States and acquisition of territory on left bank of the

Mahanuddy.—The fourth Maharajah, Puthee Singh Deo, subjugated

and made tributary to Patna, the three dependencies of Sirgooja,

named Bamall, Gangpoor and Bamra, and annexed to Patna itself, by

dispossession from the Rajah of Bamra, the zemindaree of Rehracole,

* 3rd. $ 4th. { 5th.

1865. ] Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. 103

and so much of the lands (mow) of Sumbulpore on the left bank of the

Mahanuddy, as were contained between Rehracole and Bamra to the

east, Bamra and Gangpoor to the north, and to the west by the river

Hebe to its sudden bend westward, and from thence by a line running

south, to the spot at the extremity of the present city of Sumbulpore

where now the Jail Bridge stands.

Erection of a Fort in Phooljwr.—Maharajah Bikrumdit Deo, the

ninth Rajah of Patna, erected a Fort in Phooljur at Seespalgurh,

where its remains are said to be still traceable: a proof this of the

unflinching authority then exercised over the Gurjat states.

Acquisition of the “Gurh” of Chundurpoor.—It is probable that

the erection of this advanced post in a Tributary State had for its

aim, as much the extension of dominion, as the maintenance in

security of existing dominancy: for no sooner did the next. ruler,

Maharajah Baijul Deo 2nd, succeed to the Guddee, than he advanced

to Chundurpoor, and forcibly dispossessed the ruler of Ruttunpoor of

that ‘“ Gurh” with its surrounding lands.

There still remained, to complete the circle known afterwards as

the “28 Gurhs:”

Ist. The three Northern Gurjat states of Raigurh, Burgurh and

Suktee, (dependencies of Sirgooja) ; 2ndly, the centrical tract of land

(now an integral portion of the Sumbulpore district,) falling between

the Hebe and the line drawn therefrom, as before observed to the

present Sumbulpore Jail Bridge, and the Gurjat State of Sarungurh,

(also belonging to Sirgooja,) and lastly the two eastern Gurjat

States of Boad and Atmullrick.

It never fell to the lot of Patna itself to include these remaining

States and lands within the scope of its authority or possession.

The completion of the circle was not effected till Patna had retired

from the banks of the Mahanuddy, so far as the mouth of the Ung

river near Binka, and a new state had sprung up under its auspices

(on the north of the Ung,) afterwards known as Sumbulpore. It might

therefore seem foreign to the object of these ‘“‘ Notes” as touching

Patna, to speak of the rise and power of this second State. Never-

theless the advance of the latter was so intimately connected with,

and so immediately the result of, the dominion of the former, and

again the decline of the former so direct an issue of the rise of the

104 Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. [No. 2

latter, that it is necessary to trace the history of the extension of

power across the Mahanuddy in so far as the grouping of the once

known “18 Gurhs’’ shall be concerned.

Relinquishment by the Rajah of Patna of territory and dominion on

the left bank of the Ung River.—Nursing Deo, the 12th Maharajah of

Patna, and his brother Bulram Deo quarrelling, the former made over

absolutely to the latter, (probably on compulsion,) all such portions of

his territories as lay north of the river Ung: the engagement between

the two brothers being that each was to be perfectly independent of

the other. Bulram Deo, taking possession of his allotment, erected

a fort on the right bank of the Mahanuddy, exactly opposite the

present city of Sumbulpore at Chowunpore, (where to this day the

traces of his fort are visible,) and adopted the title of Rajah of

Chowunpore. Shortly after this, he dispossessed Sirgooja of the depen-

dencies of Suktee, Raigurh and Burgurh, and of the remaining por-

tion, as before noticed, of Sumbulpore, and finally imcluded Boad and

Atmullick, (mow Gurjat States of Cuttack,) among the number of

his territory mehals. After this, he abandoned the Fort of Chowun-

pore, and crossing the river, erected a mud fort on the opposite

bank. To this, be gave the name of Sumbulpore, from the number

of Seemul trees that existed there on its site. Then changing

his own title to that of Maharajah of Sumbulpore, he founded a

dominion which soon took the real ascendancy over the parent State

of Patna.

The two states of Patna and Sumbulpore were now distinct, and

the area of the ‘28 gurhs” was now fully embraced. But as yet

this number of Gurjat States with independent chiefs, tributary to

the two paramount rulers of Patna and Sumbulpore, were not fully

formed.

Enumeration of the 15 Gurhs of the Sumbulpore and Patna

group.—The then existing tributary Gurjat States attached to Sum-

bulpore were Phooljur, Sarungurh, Suktee, Raigurh, Burgurh, Bur-

marr, Gangpoor, Bamra, Boad, Atmullick, and, by admission of the

Sumbulpore Maharajah, Rehracole: to these may be added Chundur-

pore, retained by the Maharajah under his own immediate authority.

In Patna, the only dependency was Bindanawagurh. ‘The total there-

fore of the “18 gurhs” or Gurjat States, during the time of Nursing

1865. ] Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. 105

Deo and Bulram Deo, Maharajahs respectively, of Sumbulpore and

Patna, was 15, wanting to complete were Sonepore in the one case,

and Khurriar and Borasamber in the other.

Formation of the 8 remaining Gurjat States.—The necessity of

providing for younger sons, caused the alienation from the parent

states of Sonepore and Khurriar. Thus Sonepore, as far as the left

of the river Ung, (the land on the right to the Sel river, still, as

before noted, belonging to Patna,)its chief town being Binka, was

constituted an independent tributary Gurjat State by the 4th Rajah

of Sumbulpore, who made it over with the title of Rajah to his 2nd

son Muddun Gopaul. And again the 15th Maharajah of Patna giving

over three ‘

gurhs” of the original eight of Patna, viz., Kholagurh,

Goorhagurh, and Boomragurh, to his younger son Gopaul Roy, and

the latter obtaining Khurriar as a dowry on his marriage with a

daughter of the Rajah of Jaipore, those gurhs merged into Khurriar

and the whole was constituted one Gurjat state with the title of

Rajah.

The last created Gurjat was Borasambur the present chief of

which owes his position to the cunning and power of an ancestor.

Originally Borasambur consisted of eight villages, which went by the

name of ‘‘ Atgoan,” and formed a small zemindaree, part of the inte-

gral state of Patna. It is stated that one of the zemindars of

“ Atgoan” having saved the life of a Sambur deer by killing a “ bora”

or boa-constrictor which had attacked it, the name of the zemin-

daree was changed to Borasambur. Notwithstanding the smallness

originally of the area of the zemindaree, the proprietor was a man

of some importance, he was chief of his caste-men, Bhinjwals—and,

on the occasion of a new Maharajah being raised to the Guddee, it

was his especial duty to take the latter on his lap and fold over his

head the turban of state. Again, the zemindar held an important

position: his lands were situated alone on the north side of the range

of hills called Goondmardhum, which form part of the northern boun-

dary of Patna, and thus he could hold the approaches through those

hills to Patna for or against any hostile forees. It would appear that

during the first inroads of the Mahvattas, the zemindar of Bora-

sambur was successful in guarding these approaches. For this service

he was granted an extension of property on the Patna side. What

106 Notes on the Guryjat State of Patna. [No. 2,

the real grant was, it is impossible now to say : but when the Maharajah

of Patna in A. D. 1818 was released from the captivity, in which he

had been kept for 14 years by the Mahrattas, under orders of the

British Government, and replaced in possession of his estates by Major

Roughsedge, it was found that the zemindar had encroached upon a

large tract of Patna territory, and it is said, had possessed himself also

of some 84 villages of the Phooljur Gurjat. Complaint was made by

the restored Maharajah of Patna, and he was forced to retire to his

proper side of the hills: a gainer, however, so far that he retained

the 84 villages of Phooljur and was allowed to hold possession of

Borasambur with them in his own right from that time, as an indepen-

dent tributary chieftain.

Completion of the 18 “ Gurhs.”—Thus, then was completed the

cluster of the 18 ‘ Gurhs” as follows :—

1.— Patna. 10.—Burmarr.

2,—Sumbulpore. 11.— Raigurh.

3.—Sonepore. 12.—Burgurh.

4.—Bamra. 13.—Saktee.

5.—Rehracole. 14.—Chundurpore.

6.—Gangpore. 15.—Sarungurh.

7.—Boad. 16.—Bindanawagurh.

8.—Atmullick. 17.—Khurriar.

9.—Phooljur. 18.—Borasambur.

Loss to Patna of the land on the right bank of the Mahanuddy

between the Ung and Sel rivers——Before proceeding to notice the

ultimate severance and distribution of these states, it is necessary to

refer back briefly to the time of Raee Singh Deo, the 21st Maharajah

of Patna. This chieftain, having recovered possession of his Guddee

from an usurping uncle, after a reign of nearly 60 years, and at the

age of 80, was ultimately forced, on a general insurrection, to flee his

country. He sought refuge at Binka, the seat of the Rajah of

Sonepore: and fearful of pursuit or teachery, promised the latter a

grant of that portion of his estate which fell between the Ung and the

Sel, if he would protect and assist him. The Rajah of Sonepore was

not slow to take advantage of the offer. The son secured to himself

the possession of the promised land: but assistance was confined to

1865.] Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. 107

personal protection, the aged Maharajah three years after died a refugee

in Sonepore, without a blow being struck for his restoration. This

insurrection caused the loss to Patna of the last relic of its early

acquisitions.

Gurjat States brought wnder direct supervision of the British

Government.—The incursions and depredations of the Mahrattas had

now caused the intervention of the British Government for the pro-

tection of the Gurjat states. This ultimately resulted in 1821; after

that Boad and Atmullick had been transferred to Cuttuck, the rest

being separately disconnected and placed under the immediate control

and supervision of British agency.

In 1861 the states of Bamra and Gangpore were transferred

to Ranchee ; and thus the circle of Gurjat states became considerably

reduced.

Summary.—To sum up, reverting to Patna, it will be observed,

that between the time of its foundation by Raman Deo and the reign of

its 12th Maharajah, or say during a period of 840 years, Patna had grown

from a comparatively small state of eight united gurhs, held by chiefs

who, each in turn fora day, aped supreme authority over the rest,

to a powerful province extending in territory and dominion for miles

across the Mahanuddy to the confines of Sarungurh, and on the left

bank from the borders of Atmullick to a line drawn northward, from

the west end of the (present) city of Sumbulpore, falling in with the

river Hebe, to Gangpoor, and its authority embracing the Gurjat

states, surrounding the possessions of Brindanawagurh, Phooljur,

Sarungurh, Gangpoor, Bamaee and Bamra. That by the abandonment

of all its property and dominion on the north or left side of the Ung

river, it relapsed to the area of its original eight gurhs, including the

plain between the Sel and Ung rivers, and to the authority over the

one Gurjat state of Brindanawagurh ; that subsequently it first alienated

three of its original gurhs, and afterwards had to relinquish 12 of its

most important villages, in return for all which, with additional

lands from other quarters, it obtained control over two newly created

Gurjat states, viz. Khurriar and Borasambur; that previously to the

last noted relinquishment, it had lost the tract of land between

the Sel and Ung rivers, and that lastly, being brought under the

direct control of the British, it became deprived of the last vestige

108 Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. [No. 2,

of its power, the control of its three tributary states,* and thus finally

fell into a smaller circle of power and property than that which it

embraced when some 600 years before (dating from the usurpation of

Raman Deo) it had first sprung into powerful existence.

Such then is the history of the extension and contraction of the

territories and dominion of Patna. Like as at its first sacrifice of

ground, and of prospect of further advancement, was owing to family

dissension, so also was the final loss of the last tract of its former

acquisitions caused by family dissensions. Inthe one instance, how-

ever, it was left with the substance of conquest, and the opportunities

from arrested ambition of employing such to the development of its

own reserved dominions. But in the other, it was brought ultimately

to entire ruin. A glance at the present features of the country of Patna

and a brief review of the dissensions that occurred during the time of

Raee Singh Deo, and of their results, will serve to explain these last

assertions. ;

Description of the present area of Patna.—It is calculated that

the present territories of Patna contain 5,000 square miles. Although

they are dotted at distant intervals with a few small hills, yet

it may be stated that they compose a plateau of undulating surface

so peculiarly favourable for the cultivation of rice, the pulses, oil

seeds and sugar-cane. There are certainly besides the few scat-

tered hills, interruptions also of gravelly or rocky rises covered with

jungle and a few forest trees. But making allowance for the deduction

of these from the general area, there remains a vast expanse of cul-

turable land, the soil of which is of a good description.

Present condition of the area and indications of past prosperity.

—Tracts of scrubby jungle have usurped the sites of former fields,

and wild beasts now hold dominion where once stood the habitations

of men. The Gurh of Patna is now the centre of such a jungle,

radiating 10 coss or say 20 miles in every direction. Close around

the “ Gurh,” at distances varying from one or two miles, are about 100

tanks, and in the surrounding jungle beyond these, at intervals of four

or six miles, are said to be the remains of other tanks, with traces of

villages marked, not only by the general certain evidence of planted

* 1, Brindanawagurh,

2, Khurriar.

3. Borasambur.

1865.] Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. 109

trees, such as the mangoe, but also by the unmistakeable proof of

old broken tiles and brick foundations of houses and temples. Nor

is it alone immediately around the “ gurh” of Patna, that signs of

former welfare and former energetic rule are to be found. Turning to

the southern position of the state in the Kondhan zemindarees of

Lowa and Topa, at Jhoorwace in Lowa, at Titoola and Oodeypoor in

Topa, are numerous ruins of solid buildings, of from one to three

stories high, and generally through the Kondhan lands are the walls of

neglected temples at distances of two or four miles apart. Moreover

to prove in some measure the earnestness which formerly existed for

developing the country, and the respect which is still held for the race

of its once energetic rulers, it is to be remarked that the Khonds of

the oldest Khond settlement at Saintula claim to have been brought

to Patna from Jeypore by Raman Deo, and pride themselves in being

still loyal and Khalsa subjects of his descendants. Further indications

of decayed prosperity and past enterprise might be adduced and not

least, this, the minute respectability and intelligence of some of the

Zemindars and Gountiahs of old familes; but enough perhaps has

been noticed to prove that there is just ground for the boast of the

Patna people that their country was once thickly populated and

flourishing to such an extent, that even rich merchants were numbered

in it up to the time when anarchy at first, and the depredations of the

Mahrattas afterwards, compelled them to depart—till the occurrence of

these events, which now remain to be noticed, it is believed, then,

that the attention of the rulers of Patna, 20 in succession, was given

to the welfare and prosperity of their country and subjects.

Cause of decline of power and prosperity—Hindur Shah Deo,

the 20th Maharajah of Patna, died, leaving two young sons, the eldest

named Raee Singh Deo under the guardianship of his younger brother,

their uncle, Buckraj Singh. This uncle, in view to the usurpation of

the Guddee, murdered the mother of the two boys.and intended also to:

kill the latter, But he was frustrated in this intention. For the boys:

were carried off in security to Phooljur by their maternal uncle, and

there brought up. Raee Singh Deo, on coming to age, sought assistance:

from Nagpore, and, procuring a force of Mahrattas, proceeded to regain

his rights. He attacked and killed his uncle, and thus obtained

possession of his estate. But, however much this was beneficial to.

110 Notes on the Gurjat State of Patna. [No. 2,

himself, and pleasing perhaps to a portion of his subjects, still the

country paid heavily at the time for his restoration. While party

spirit and enmity having now been excited, it was to be expected that,

an occasion offering, conflicting interests might again stir them to a

blaze ; and again, the plains of Patna having now been opened out

to the view of the Mahrattas, it might be regarded as certain that their

greed would spend itself on the first opportunity of home dissensions

in depredatory incursions. And this prospect was indeed brought to

issue as follows. Raee Singh retained his position for many years, but

during this period the roused spirit of discontent and rebellion was

spreading through the land, till ultimately it was brought to burst

upon the unfortuuate Maharajah, then nearly 80 years old, by the

intrigues of his second wife. The story is, that he had three wives,

no offspring by the first, two boys by the second, and one son, the

eldest of all, by the third. The second wife was fearful that the

eldest son by the third Ranee would, as being his father’s favourite,

succeed to the Guddee, unless during the Maharajah’s life she should

take steps to prevent it. The measures she took for prevention were

the exciting a general rebellion which resulted as before noted, in the

flight of the Maharajah Raee Singh Deo to Sonepore. The Maharajah,

however, frustrated the design of his second wife; for he took her

with him to Patna, along with his grandson by his eldest born; and on

his death three years afterwards, appointed him his successor by putting

the regular Pugree on his head. During these three years, the whole

of Patna was in a state of perfect anarchy. The Ranees at Patna

were quarrelling for dominion, and their partizans were pillaging the

country indiscriminately around. Life and property were nowhere

secure. All respectable persons fled to Sonepore and were followed

by numbers of the general population. On the death of the old

Rajah the people acknowledged his appointed successor, who then

returned to Patna. He was, however, but a youth and found none to

advise or assist him, except such as had shared in the outrages of the

interregnum. Even his father, dismayed at the state of general

disturbance and disappointed at the preference given to his son, retired

on a pilgrimage to Allahabad and there died. The young Maharajah,

Prithee Singh Deo lived only three years after succeeding to the

Guddee. The next ruler was Ramchundur Deo, the captive of the

1865.] Interary Intelligence. 111

Mahrattas, who now had completely overrun and spoliated the country

already so unhappily ripe for spoliation.

It was scarcely to be expected that after an anarchy of three

years and a total disruption of order under the force of subse-

quent events that the Zemindars of the frontier, who had been

so long revelling in wild independency, would soon be brought back

into proper subjection, especially when the power by entire loss

of resources of the succeeding Maharajah (father to the present one)

was almost utterly paralyzed. Still less could it be supposed that within

the short space of the reign of that one Maharajah, the vacuum in the

population would be filled up. Yet it is satisfactory to be able to

state that a move towards a clearance of the jungle, and an extension

of cultivation is certainly being made, and that out of 22 Zemindars

four only are complained of, and of these four, only one is rebellious.

Lirerary INTELLIGENCE.

The following is an extract from a letter from Major Pearse, on

certain Buddhist antiquities of the Hazara valley.

“In reading the Proceedings of your Society, No. 4 of 1861, page

413, I was much interested by the description of a small crystal figure

of a duck found in one of the topes or Stupas near Shah ke Dehzri.

“Tt reminds me that there is one object I obtained from a tope of

Shah ke Dehri, of which I should have published the account in our

Journal long ago, but I never did so. It may be interesting still

at this distant date to do so.

“Tn January 1850, Major Jas. Abbott, Deputy Commissioner of

Hazara, was absent from that district on duty in which I had just

arrived. A zumeendar brought me for sale either an emerald, or a

green piece of glass or crystal about 2 inches in oblong length, 1}

inches broad, and # of an inch thick; the centre of this emerald

was scooped out and in it was inserted a small gold casket, and

in the casket I found a small piece of bone, which I believe, from

subsequent enquiries, to be the bone of the smallest joint of the smallest

finger. The goldsmiths of the country all pronounced the ornament

to be an emerald. If it was so, it was of a bad pale colour with a

112 Laterary Intelligence. [No. 2,

great quantity of flaws. I had intended it for presentation to the

British Museum. But the fame of the jewel was so hinted about,

that my own Sikh Guard coalesced and carried off the box in which

the relic was. The theft was proved, the culprits were all punished,

and everything was recovered, but the one great thing, notwithstand-

ing that Major Abbott and myself offered very large rewards for its

recovery.

“‘ You may be aware that whilst in Hazara, I greatly amused myself

in excavating topes, and only desisted by finding it not at all a paying

thing, and besides the natives of the country took to opening the topes

and selling any relics found to Major Abbott and myself. Thus

from living in the country, hearing the legends of the land, studying

coins and books, and from my own explorations, I formed my own

conclusions on these topes, which in the main, I believe all subsequent

theories and discoveries have proved to be pretty correct. The con-

clusion was that such large grand topes as Manykyala and Bulhur

were the Westminster Abbeys of bygone Buddhist cities, at once a

great religious building and the regal burial-place, answering to the

great Rangoon Pagoda, and to the Bodh Nath of Nepal, only that

these buildings are seen in the days of Buddhistic decadence, those

existed in the days of its glory. Around Bulhur and Manykyala are

the easily traceable remains of cities that must once have had 150,000

inhabitants each. Taking Bulhur and Shah ke Dehri, places on the

right and left banks of the Hurroo river and going up the stream ten

miles, you do not go over a yard of what was not, in olden times,

built over. I have gone over every inch of it and was astounded to

find every where building remains. Thus all the smaller topes, I

conclude from the facts already adduced and from what I see of

modern Buddhism, were at once both religious and burial buildings in

the enciente of old Buddhist cities. And further they belonged either

to noble families, good families, guilds, wards, parishes or priests.

*‘ T went to see the Stupa from which my emerald relic was excavated.

I conceived, judging from its foundation, that when it stood in its

integrity, it was from 50 to 80 feet high, or such a building as could

be afforded by a Chinese Mandarin or a Thibetan Lama of our time,

and such as still abound in Nepal. I therefore concluded that my

emerald relic had belonged to a noble Buddhist lady ; that it was in

1865.] Literary Intelligence. 113

her lifetime her drop pendant of her forehead ornament, for so all

the Hindoos of Hazara pronounced it to be, and that on her death

the little gold casket was set in it, and her relic bone placed in it

and buried.

“With reference to the duck crystal ornament mentioned at page

413 by Mr. Westropp, it is not a rare figure, but is on the contrary

a very common one.

“From all the topes we excavated there was a perfect similarity of

objects found in all. And all the objects quite similar to those found

by Masson ; the coins were of the same kings. A good deal of Greek,

nearly purely so, and Graeco-Buddhistic statuary was found. I ex-

cavated two or three small topes with all the figures of Buddha at the

different sides in perfect preservation, and similar in all respects to the

Buddhist temples of Nepal. From this I always concluded that these

cities did not perish by the hands of the Iconoclast Muhammadans of the

8th and 9th centuries, but had fallen into desuetude centuries before.

* * * * *

“ Steatite vases or boxes were plentiful enough. I found but one

inscription on a copper-plate, and that I presented the Society with.”

JOURNAL

OF THE

MoLATIC SOCLE TY,

—_}—

Part I—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &c.

No. IIf1.—1865.

Coins of the Nine Nagas, and of two other Dynasties of Narwar and

Gwalior—By Major-General A. Cunnineuam.

[Received 13th July, 1865. Read 2nd August, 1865. ]

The old Hindu coins which are engraved in the accompanying plate,

were nearly all obtained in the Gwalior territory, and chiefly in the

cities of Gwalior, Narwar, and Gobad. Most of them are now pub-

lished for the first time, as only five specimens out of the whole num-

ber will be found in James Prinsep’s plates. These are Nos. 7, 11,

and 12 of the first series, No. 15 of the second, and No. 25 of the third

series. Most of the coins now published are very rare, and several’ of

them are unique; but Nos. 27 and 29 are common, and No. 7 is so

exceedingly numerous that upwards of 3,000 specimens have passed

through my hands, and there are as many more in the Stacy cabinet,

of the Asiatic Society’s collection. Stacy’s specimens were obtained

at Gobad, and more than half of mine were found at the same place,

but the remainder were procured at Mathura and Delhi, as well as. at,

Gwalior and Narwar.

2. It is always difficult to feel any interest about ancient kings

whose names are known to us only from their coins, and whose king-

doms can only be guessed at by the find-spots of their money. But

in the present case I am fortunate in being able to illustrate each of

the three different series by references to inscriptions. The last, series

116 Coins of the Nine Nagas. [No. 3,

of coins give their own dates, which accord exactly with the dates of

the inscriptions and with a solitary notice in Ferishta.

3. The first series of coins, from No. 1 to No. 14, may be atiribut-

ed, I think with considerable probability, to a dynasty of kings whom

the Puranas call the “ Nine Nagas,” and who would appear to have

been contemporary with the Guptas. In the Vishnu Purdna, it is

stated that “the Nine Nagas will reign in Padmévati, Kantipuri and

“ Mathura, and the Guptas of Magadha along the Ganges to Prayaga

‘and Saketa, and Magadha.”’ Padmavati was at first identified by

H. H. Wilson with some unknown city in Berar, far to the south of

the Narbada, and afterwards with Bhagalpur on the Ganges, but the

mention of Mathura utterly precludes the possibility of either of those

places having belonged to the Nagas. Both cities should no doubt be

looked for within some moderate distance of Mathura. The scene of

Bhavabhuti’s Malati and Madhava is laid in the city of Padmavati m

the Vindhyan mountains. As his description of the locality is a

favourable specimen of Hindu poetry, I will not curtail it.

‘“‘ How wide the prospect spreads, mountain and rock,

“Towns, villages and woods, and glittering streams,—

“There where the Pardé and the Sindhu wind,

‘he towers and temples, pinnacles and gates,

* And spires of Padmdvaté, like a city

‘¢ Precipitated from the skies, appear

“Inverted in the pure translucent wave.”

The Sindhu is, 1 think the Sindh river on which the city of Narwar

is situated, and the Pdrd is the Pérbati or Pdrd river, which flows

only 5 miles to the north of the Sindh. Narwar also is in the midst

of the Vindhyan mountains, and at a moderate distance, about 160

miles, from Mathura, so that there are no geographical difficulties to

overthrow the proposed identification. On the contrary the subse-

quent mention of the Madhuvati and the Lavana as streams in the

neighbourhood of the city, renders this identification almost complete,

as the first may be identified with the Mohwar or Madhwwvar on

the south, and the other with the Nain or Lim to the north. With

regard to the third city named Kantipuri, I agree with Wilford in

identifying it with the ancient Kutwdl or Kutwar, on the Ahsin river,

20 miles to the north of Gwalior. The kingdom of the Nagas there-

1865. ] Coins of the Nine Nagas. 117

fore would have included the greater part of the present territories of

Bharatpur, Dholpur, Gwalior, and Bundelkhand, and perhaps also

some portions of Malwa, as Ujain, Bhilsa and Sagar. It would thus

have embraced nearly the whole of the country lying between the

Jumna and the upper course of the Narbada, from the Chambal on

the west to the Kaydn or Cane on the east, an extent of about 1,800

square miles, in which Narwar occupies a central and most command-

ing position.

4. The identification of Narwar with Padmavatt, the capital city of

the Nine Nagas, is strongly corroborated by the coins which I am

about to describe, as most of the earlier specimens were obtained at

Narwar, and the remainder at Gwalior. It is also supported by the

Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudra Gupta, in which the king

boasts of the extent of his dominions, and enumerates the different

princes and countries which had become subject to his power. In the

18th line he mentions Ganapati-Ndga as one of the nine tributary

princes of Aryavurtta. Now Ganapati or Ganendra is the name of the

Raja whose coins are the most common and the most widely diffused

of all these Narwar kings. The legends of his coins are also in the

very same character as those of the Gupta coins and inscriptions. I

think therefore that there is every probability in favour of the identity

of these two princes. My discovery of an inscription of Samudra

Gupta in Mathura itself is sufficient to show that the Nagas must

have lost that city at an early date. It may also be taken as corrobo-

rative of the decay of their power, and of the supremacy of Samudra,

Gupta, as stated in the Allahabad Pillar inscription. It may be

objected that the coins of Ganapati do not bear the additional name of

Naga, and that James Prinsep has rendered Ganapati Naga as two

separate names. To these objections I can reply at once that, so far as

I am aware, Naga is never used alone as a man’s name, but always in

conjunction with some other word, either preceding it as in Naga-sena,

Nagarjuna, Nagaditya, Nagadatta, d&c., or following it as in Skanda-

Naga, Brihaspati-Naga, and Deva-Naga of the coins now under review.

For this reason I conclude that the name of Samudra Gupta’s contem-

porary must almost certainly have been Ganapati-Naga. The omission

of the latter part of the name in the legends of the coins is sufficiently

explained by the minute size of the money, which did not afford room

118 Coins of the Nine Nagas. [No. 8

for along name. Thus on some of the coins of Brihaspati-Naga the

name is given at full length, while on others it is contracted to Bri-

haspati and Brihaspa, and even to Briha. Similarly, the name of

Deva Naga is contracted to Deva Na and Deva, while that of Gana-

pati himself is variously rendered as Ganapatya and Ganendra on the

larger coins, and as Gana and even Ga on the smaller coins. A simi-

lar omission of the family appellation may be observed on many of the

contemporary coins of the Guptas, on which the names of Chandra,

Samudra, Kumara, Skanda and Nara are found alone under the Raja’s

arm without the additional title of Gupta which, as we know from

other coins and inscriptions, certainly belonged to all of them. From

these instances I infer that the title of Naga belonged not only to

Ganapati himself but to every one of the early princes of Narwar,

whose coins form the first series of the accompanying plate.

5. The period to which these princes must be assigned depends

solely on the date of their contemporaries, the Guptas. In 1851,

when I wrote my account of the Bhilsa Topes, I referred the begin-

ning of the Gupta era to the year 319 A. D., but shortly afterwards on

comparing the Gupta gold coins with their Indo-Scythian prototypes,

and the Gupta silver coins with the Sah coins of Saurashtra, I saw

that the first Guptas must certainly have been contemporary with the

earlier princes of the Kushén Scythians, and consequently that their

date could not possibly be later than the first century of the Christian

era. In 1855 Mr. Thomas devoted a special essay to the determina-

tion of the date of the Guptas, in which the subject was most fully

and ably treated. In this article, and subsequently in his valuable

notes on Prinsep’s essays, he inclines to refer the dates of the Gupta

coins and inscriptions to the Saka era, an opinion in which [ fully

concur. But in assigning the Bhilsa inscription of Chandra Gupta,

which is dated in the year 93 to the first king of that name, he must

have overlooked the Udayagiri Cave inscription of the year 82, which,

according to H. H. Wilson, refers to Chandra Gupta’s great-grandson,

the Raja of Sanakaénika. The only scheme, as far as I can see, that

will suit all the known dates and other conditions of this dynasty, is

to make Chandra Gupta Ist, the founder of the era. By adopting this

scheme, his great-grandson the Raja of Sanakanika may be allowed to

have been reigning in the year 82, and his grandson Chandra Gupta

1865. ] Coins of the Nine Négas. 119

Qnd of Magadha in the year 93. But if we assign Chandra Gupta

Ist to the year 93, we must then allow that he continued to reign for

at least eleven years after the accession of his own great-grandson the

Raja of Sanakanika. According to Mr. Thomas’s arrangement of the

Gupta coins, with which I generally agree, the pieces that bear the

title of Vikramaditya are assigned to Chandra Gupta Ist, and those

that bear the simpler title of Vikrama to Chandra Gupta 2nd. We

know from Abu-Rihan that in his time the origin of the Saka era was

attributed to a prince named VikramAditya after his victory over the

Sakas. We learn also from the Allahabad pillar inscription that

Samudra Gupta, the son of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya, professed to

have received tribute from the Sakas. From all these concurring

testimonies, I am inclined to adopt the Saka era, which began in

A. D. 79, as the actual era of the Gupta dynasty, and to attribute its

establishment to Chandra Gupta Ist.

6. According to this view the date of Samudra Gupta, and there-

fore algo of his contemporary Ganapati Naga, would be the beginning

of the second century, or about A. D. 110. The dynasty of the Nine

Ndgas may accordingly be assigned to the first and second centuries of

the Christian era. In the following list I have arranged the names of

the Naga kings according to the devices on their coins, beginning

with those types which seem to me to be the earliest on account of the

more ancient appearance of their accompanying inscriptions. It is

worthy of note, as corroboratory of the date which I have assigned to

the Nagas that the whole of the devices on these copper coins are to

be found on the silver coins of the Guptas themselves, or on those of

their acknowledged contemporaries.

120 Coins of the Nine Nagas. [No. 3,

No. Kings’ names. Types. oe

a) Bhima Ne oars tee aan en eacockatonents 2

SALUT Sle A RA ig Nt PS ai Ditto right. i

DHT aA oils Sn See MOR At A al A Ditto ditto. iy

TVG | SkandatNaca: ca cee} ‘Ditto ditto. 3

Ditto ie os. ee. cceeeeeece ee bull, recumbent) tosrig ite |r

Ve Brihaspati Ni Nag, 3 Wiis olaesietee ole Ditto ditto. 5-6

VI. |Ganapati,..................--..-.|Bull walking to lett. 7,8,9

Dit TONER AS 6 bids, ther kor) an Wheel.

Wall |My ashray Nagacsssc. ..sepeeee | Dittos 11

WHS Was Naga tes eee eee Ditto: 12

IX. |Deva Naga, Begle A shal 5 ts ga Ditto. 13,14

Ditto, Lineeeed sess accesses ullere cumalbent, Lomein hanes

La Oly Poe es ae AS SAUTE Ce Trisul. is

7. I will now proceed to the more technical description of the

coins themselves for the benefit of the professed numismatist. The

pieces are all of small size, and many of them are so minute, that their

average weight is only 7 grains each. The whole of them, however,

may be readily divided into four distinct classes, which correspond

with the known divisions of the old Indian pana or copper coin of

145.833 grains. These divisions were,

Weight.

Phe S wana eo CARO A A ee OO Mometa Ins:

” t Pang, ory) Kain Ye. Baek. eee eee OOO me

Kealeuna SR eee Lee20 4;

Lor panaor Ly ialineil, se.) Sa eeeenn ay alee Mae.

As the whole of these coins, excepting only the smallest of 9 grains,

are mentioned in the Code of Manu, the antiquity of the names is

undoubted. In B. VIII, verse 404, the ferry tolls are fixed at the

following rates :

DUE, Ors

HIE bole

An empty cart, ...... rat edi eee aE in ss 1 pana.

Aloaded aniany 20 Re aeteee tne sat cs +. oe ae

JN YOM, Oe OE, | snoooe Bi cncadedeeOcoibe Naeem Sas

An unloaded man,. Brae oe Rie,

But the pana was also walled en ‘* copper ee aoe and under this

Coins from GWALIOR and

A Cunningham

1865: ] Ooins of the Nine Nagas. “121

name it. is mentioned by Hesychius, who lived about A. D.350 to

380, as Kepoa Aciavoy vouiopa

8. Of the $ pana, the few specimens that I possess belong to the

- Peacock type, but the heaviest weighs only 64 grains. Of the + pana

or kdkini, the specimens are common and of all the types. One

peacock coin of Maharaja Va * * weighs 36 grains, five specimens of

Bhima average 34 grains each, three illegible coins give 34.2 grains,

twelve peacock coins of Skanda give 34.1 grains, five Bull coins of

Skanda give 37.2 grains, nine Bull coins of Ganapati average 34.5

grains, and two of Deva Naga weigh respectively 39 and 35 grains.

Altogether these 37 specimens offer a mean weight of 34.87 grains,

' which, making allowance for wear, is sufficiently near the standard

which I have adopted for the quarter pana or Kadkin. Of the half

kdkinz, the specimens are very numerous, embracing three Bull coins

of Skanda, all the coins of Brihaspati, the greater number of those of

Ganapati, and two coins of Deva Naga. The three coins of Skanda

give a mean of 16 grains each, thirteen coins of Brihaspati give 18.3

grains, thirty-four coins of Ganapati give 17.55 grains each, and two

of Deva Naga give 18.5 each. The mean of these specimens gives a

weight of 17.76 grains for the half kakinz, which is within half a grain

of the standard. Of the quarter kdkini, which was the smallest

“coin” of the old Hindu mint, the only examples belong to Ganapati.

Twenty of my specimens weigh 140 grains or exactly,7 grains each,

the heaviest being 11} and the lightest 45 grains.. In the original

monetary scheme of the Hindus, the copper pana was equal in weight.

to 80 raktikas (or ratis), and in value toa handful of cowree shells.

The average handful was fixed at 80 cowrees a number, which I have

tested repeatedly with cowrees of all sizes as the handful always tang:

ed between 70 and 85 shells. To this circumstance the coin owed its

name of pana or the handful from pdm, the hand. Both the name

and the value are even now preserved in the Calcutta reckoning-of

cowrees in which 4 cowrees make 1 ganda and 20 ganddés make 1 pan,

that is 80 cowrees are still equal to 1 pan.

. I. Burma N&ea. x

Fig, 2.—5 specimens.

Obv.—Peacock standing to lefts

Rev.—A horizontal line like a spear-head.

Legend. Maharaja Bhima Naga.

122 Coins of the Nine Nagas. [No. 3,

II. Kaa (

Fig. 1.—Unique—d0 grains.

Obv.—Peacock standing to right.

ftev.—Two uncertain upright objects.

Legend. Mahdrdja Kha * * * *

This name must have ended in Ndga, as there is room for at least

- four more letters. The full name may have been Kharjjura Nadya, as

there is a trace of the vowel w at the foot of the second letter.

TAT VA )

Unique—36 grains.

Obv.—Peacock standing to right.

Rev.—Two uncertain upright objects.

Legend. Mahdrdja Va * * *

This name must also have ended in Ndga. Jt may have been Vatsa

Naga, but it was more probably of three syllables, as Varuna.

IV. Sxanpa Naga.

Fig. 3—12 specimens. Average weight 34.1 grains.

Obv.—Peacock standing to right.

Rev.—As on Fig. 1.

Legend. Mahdrdja Skanda Nagasya.

V. Brinaspatr Naga.

Figs. 5, 6.—31 specimens—all half kékinis, averaging 18.3 grains.

Obv.—Recumbent Bull to right in a dotted circle.

Rev.—Legend, Maharaja Brihaspati Naga.

Most of the legends are incomplete in the name, for want of space,

several of them reading Brihaspa as on No. 6, whilst a few have only

Briha. It is to be noted that the uncertain object which occupied the

field of the previous coins has now disappeared.

VI. Ganapati (Naga.)

Figs. 7, 8, 9.—Extremely common :—Kdkinis, } hdkinis, and $

kdkinas. ni

Obv.—Bull walking to left, in a dotted circle.

Rev.—Legend. Mahdrdja Sri Ganapatya.

The name varies on different coins both in its form and in its spell-

ing. On No. 7,1 read Ganapatya,’ and on No. 8, Ganendra, both

properly spelt with the central x. On No. 9 the name of, Ganendra.

1865. | Coins of the Nine Nagas. 123

incorrectly spelt with the dental n. These coins are extremely com-

mon. Mr. Thomas has noted that there are 3,479 specimens in the

Stacy collection, of which I know that by far the greater number were

obtained at Gobad. At the close of the Gwalior Campaign in 1844,

Col. Stacy’ showed me a bag full of these coins weighing about 4 seers

or 8 lbs. which his coin collector had just brought from Gobad; and as

he had not purchased the whole find, I managed to secure the remain-

der, which were about 2 seers or 4 lbs. in weight, and numbered about

1,750 specimens. Since then on different occasions I have procured

812 specimens at Mathura and 357 at Delhi, besides many more at

other places more especially at Gwalior and Narwar, which altogether

make my number considerably over 3,000.

Unique.—Kdkini of 35 grains.

Obv.—Wheel in a circle of dots.

Rev.—Legend. Mahdrdja Sri Gane (ndra.)

VII. Vya’eura Na’Ga.

Fig. 11.—Unique. Half kdkini of 18 grains, square.

Obv.—Wheel in a dotted circle.

Rev.—Legend. Vydyhra (Na) ga.

VIII. Vasu (Na’aa.)

Fug. 12.—Square. Half kdékini of 19 grains, duplicate in Dr,

Swiney’s collection, Thomas’s Prinsep, Plate 34, Fig. 30.

Obv.—Wheel in a dotted circle.

Rev.—Legend. Vasu Naga.

IX. Deva Na’ga.

Figs. 13, 14.—18 kdkinis and 2 half kékinis.

Obv.—Wheel in a dotted circle.

Rev.—lLegend. Mahérdja Sri Deva Ndgasya.

Xa. Six specimens—all hakinis.

Obv.—Recumbent Bull to right in a dotted circle.

fiev.—A Trisul, or trident, in the field.

Legend. As on Fig. 13.

IXd. Unique. Half kakinis of 17 grains.

Obv.—Trisul in a dotted circle,

Rev.—-Legend. As on Fig. 13,

124 Coins of the Nine Nagas. [No. 3,

9. On a general view of all the coins of the Naga series, it will be

observed that the unique specimens of both Vydghra and Vasu are of

square form, and that they also differ from the others in omitting the

title of Maharaja. It is possible therefore that they may not belong

to the dynasty of the Nine Nagas, although their type of the wheel is

also that of Deva Naga and Ganapati. It seems probable that a care-

ful scrutiny of the coins in the Stacy collection would increase con-

siderably the variety of types, and perhaps also might add to the

number of names of these Naga kings.

10. The second series of coins consists of five specimens, of which

no less than four belong to the same king, Pasupatc, whose name

occurs in the oldest of my Gwalior inscriptions. In that record he is

stated to be a mighty sovereign, the son of Toramana, who was him-

self first made known to us by the inscription on the great boar statue

at Eran. A single silver coin of Toramana has also been described by

Mr. Thomas, who reads the date as “‘ one hundred and eighty odd” of

the Gupta era, or about 20 years later than the Eran inscription of

Budha Gupta, that is about A. D. 263. If therefore we place Tora-

mana between the years 260 and 285 A. D., the date of his son Pasu-

pati will be 285 to 310, or about 300 A. D. The coins of Pasupati

consist exclusively of copper, and are so extremely rare, that, so far

as I am aware, three out of the four specimens now made known are

unique, and of the fourth specimen I have only two examples.

PAasuPAtI. ;

Fig. 15.—Copper coin weighing 92 grains.

Obv.—Figure of the king seated cross-legged in the Indian

fashion, his right hand holding a flower, and his left resting on his

hip ;—the whole surrounded by a circle of large dots.

Rev.—A vase surmounted by a crescent and star or perhaps a

flower, and enclosed in a circle of large dots. Legend in Gupta

characters in one straight line, Paswpatv.

Fig. 16.—Copper coin weighing 109 grains : duplicate 105 grains.

Obv.—Figure of the king seated im the Indian fashion, holding a

flower in his right hand and a vase of flowers in his left hand ;—the

whole surrounded by a circle of large dots.

Rev.—A vase of flowers, surrounded by the same dotted circle.

Legend in two lines, Paswpatz.

1865.] Coins of the Nine Ndgas. 125

Fig. 17.—Copper coin weighing 92 grains.

Obv.—A short trident or trisul, on a stand surrounded by a circle of

small dots.—Legend in two lines, Pasupatv.

Rev.—A globe surrounded by rays, enclosed in a dotted circle.

Legend disposed circularly, Pasupati.

Fig. 18.—Copper coin weighing 43 grains.

Obv.—Humped Bull to right with a crescent above, and surrounded

by a dotted circle.

Rev.—Type and legend the same as No. 17.

fig. 19.—Copper coin weighing 112 grains.

Obv.—Figure of the king seated in the Indian fashion on a high

backed throne, and surrounded by a circular line and an outer circle of

dots :—Legend over the head in Gupta characters which are not easily

legible. I read doubtfully Srz Guhila-pate.

fiev.—An elephant to right surrounded by a circular line and an

outer circle of dots.

11. I have added the last coin to this series because it corresponds

both in weight and in fabric with the specimens of Pasupati’s mintage,

The type of the obverse also agrees so closely with that of the first

example just described that I have little doubt that this coin belongs

to some member of the same family. The specimen is unique. [

have added two small coins of Chandra Gupta, Figs. 20 and 21, for

the purpose of shewing that similar vases of flowers were used as types

by the Gupta dynasty which immediately preceded the family of Tora-

mana. Fig. 22 is another small coin with the flower-vase type, but

bearing a different name, Swarga, regarding which I am unable to

offer any remarks save that its type and fabric range it with the con-

temporary coins of the Guptas.

12. The third series of coins belongs to a much later period of

Indian history, shortly after the capture of Delhi by the Muhammad-

ans. The coins themselves are utterly rude and barbarous imitations

of the horseman mintage of the Brahman kings of Kabul;—but they

are otherwise interesting and important, as they bear legible dates,

from which I have been able to verify two of the names as those of

actual Rajas of Narwar. Of the earliest of these coins belonging to

Malaya Varmma Deva, 1 have seen only 5 specimens. On one of

them, Fig, 26, the date is $, 1280, or it may be S. 1285 as the unit

126 Coins of the Nine Nagas. [No. 3,

figure is partly cut off. On a second coin the date is 8. 83, and on a

third S. 90 odd, the unit being cut off. Here we see that the last two

dates must undoubtedly refer to the same century as that of the first

coin, because the name of the prince and the fabric of the coins are

precisely the same. Of the second prince named Chahada Deva, I

have numerous specimens, bearing various dates from 1303 to 1311, of

which Figs. 27 and 28 give 8. 1305 and 8. 1311. Of the third

prince, named A’sala Deva, the specimens, though numerous, are always

small and much worn, and the dates are therefore generally imperfect.

Two of the more perfect coins, however, give the dates of 1311 and

1312, and a third has 1330 odd: see Figs. 29 and 30. In illustration

of these coins, I have engraved a curious specimen of the contemporary

coinage of Ala-ud-din Masadiid, Fig. 23, which bears on the obverse

the well known recumbent Bull with the Nagari legend Srz Ala-va-

dina and the date of 1300, inserted on the quarter of the Bull. This

date must certainly refer to the Vikramiditya Samvat as Masaiid

reigned from A. D. 1242 to 1246, and S. 1300 is equal to A. D-

1243.

13. The coins of this third series of Narwar princes are found

chiefly about Gwalior, Jhansi, and Narwar, but a few stray specimens

may be picked up at Agra and Mathura. The obverse bears the rude

figure of a horseman which is only traceable on the coins of Asala

Deva by comparing them with the earlier pieces of Malaya Varmma.

A brief description will therefore be sufficient for this barbarous

coinage.

IT. Maraya Varmua Deva.

figs. 25, 26.—Copper coins weighing from 50 to 56 grains.

Obv.—Rude horseman with no trace of the legend of Sri Hamir

which is found on all the contemporary Muhammadan mintages.

Rev.—legend in three lines FlwMBMaaMe|d F- YRe- Srv-man Ma-

laya Varmma Deva. 8. 128 and also S. 83.

II. Cuduapa Deva.

Figs. 27, 28.—Copper coins weighing from 50 to 59 grains.

Rev.—tLegend in three lines Blayeerd G- Voy, Sri-Mat Chéhada

Deva, S. 1305.

III. Asaua Deva.

Figs. 29, 30.—Copper coins weighing from 50 to 57 grains.

1865.] Ovins of the Nine Ndyas. vag

Rev.—Legend in three lines HlweeaMea G- (2°r- Sri-Mad Asala

Deva, §. 1311.

14. All my researches have failed to discover any trace of the first

of these princes, but I have found the name of Chahada Deva in two

different inscriptions, as well as in Ferishta’s history. In the year

A. H. 649, or 1251 A. D., the historian relates that Naser-ud-din

Mahmud, the king of Delhi “ proceeded to the siege of Narwar. The

Raja Jéhir Dew, having lately constructed the fort on the summit

of a rock, prepared to defend it to the last. He accordingly marched

out to oppose the Muhammadans, with 5,000 horse and 200,000 foot.

This immense host being defeated with great slaughter, the place was

invested and reduced to surrender after a few months’ siege.” In

Dow’s translation the Raja is called Téhir Deo, and under this name

he is entered in Prinsep’s tables, but with the date of A. D. 1251 trans-

posed as 1215, and the name of Narwar erroneously referred to

Nahrwara, or Analwéra-patan, in Gujarat. The inscriptions which

mention Chdhada Deva are dated in 8. 1348 and 1355 or A. D. 1291

and 1298, but the first refers apparently to a younger son and the

second to a grandson.

15. Ofthe third prince named A’sala Deva, I can find no trace in

history, but he is mentioned in the Narwar inscription of S. 1355 as

the son and successor of Chahada Deva, and I found his name on a

Sati pillar at Rai, with the date of S. 1327 or A. D. 1270, at which

time he was the reigning sovereign. The beginning of his reign is

fixed in the year 8S. 1311 by the agreement of the date of his father’s

latest coins with that of his own earliest coins. The following table

gives the chronology of these three princes as determined from various

sources :—

Accession,

Samvat. A. D,

1. Malaya Varmma Deva, 1267 1210 Coins S. 1280 odd, 82 & 1290 odd,

2. Chahada Deva, ......... 1292 1235 Coins S. 1303 to 1311. Ferishta

A. D. 1251.

3, Asala Deva, ........... 1311 1254 Coins S. 1311 to 1330 odd.

1336 1279 Inscription, S. 1327.

All the inscriptions referring to these Narwar princes, will be duly

transmitted to Babu Rajendraldla Mitra in the hope that he will

kindly undertake their translation.

een

128 On the Sena Rajas of Bengal. [No. 3,

On the Sena Rajas of Bengal as commemorated in an Inscription from

Rajshahi, decyphered and translated by C. T. Murcatrz, £sq.,

C. S.—By Babu R&ésenprausua Mitra.

[Received 5th July, 1865. Read 5th July, 1865.]

Subjoined are the text and translation of a Sanskrit inscription of

some interest lately found in a part of Rajsh4hi called the “ Burrin,”

close by the village of Deopdérah, Thannéh Godagari. Mr. C. T. Met-

calfe, to whom the Society is indebted for the original and the transla-

tion, gives the following account of the place where the monument

was found. ‘‘ The tank where I found it,’ he says, “is some 40

miles from Goa (Gour?); but it stands on the bank of a river which

was the old Pudda bed, and which river now flows 6 miles to the

south, before Rampur Bauleah. The locality is evidently the site of

some temple, and the stone records, I should say the inscription, the

praises of the founder. While making some further examinations

I came to the top of a series of black stone-steps leading underground ;

one monster stone was 1 yard in thickness. In the tank itself are

2 slabs which can be felt with a bamboo and which, a hoary-headed

old man says, were above ground when he was a chokra (boy) and kept

the village cattle, 7. e. some 60 years ago.” The place was of some

distinction, even during the Mahomedan period, for there still stands

a magnificent masjid about 650 years old. Mr. Metcalfe describes it

as “built entirely of stone without a bit of mortar, and put together

like a child’s toy-house, the stones fitting the one into the other.

The carving on it is beautiful.”

The stone slab upon which the inscription is recorded, was found in

a dense jungle apparently away from its original position, but amidst

a number of large blocks of stone half buried under the earth. It

measures 3 ft. 2 inches by 1 ft. 93. Its material is basalt carefully

polished on the upper surface.

The letters of the inscription are of the Tirhoot or Gour type, simi-

lar to that of the Bakerganj plate of Kesava Sena, decyphered by

James Prinsep. Bengali MSS. three centuries old, are written in

very much the same characters, and the facsimile of the Yaynadatta-

badha published by Chezy, bears some resemblance to it. It is in fact

1865.] On the Sena Rijas of Bengal. 129

the first transition stage of the Kutila in its passage to the modern

Bengali. Mr. Metcalfe found considerable difficulty in getting the

record decyphered, owing to modern pandits not being familiar with

its style of writing, but I have carefully compared his transcript with

the original and satisfied myself that his reading is perfectly correct.

The language of the inscription is pure Sanskrit, but its style is

highly inflated and hyperbolical. Umépati Mis’ra, the author of it, is

never satisfied with an ordinary comparison. If he has to describe a

high temple, he cannot stop without making its pinnacle stand as

an obstruction to the course of the sun. His kings must upbraid the

heroes of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as vain boasters and

insignificant upstarts, and his war-boats, even when stranded on a

sand-bank in the Ganges, must eclipse the glory of the moon. This

style, common enough in oriental writing, was particularly remarkable

in Northern India in the 9th, 10th and the 11th centuries of the

Christian era. Whether at Gour or Benares or Kanauj or Oujein or

Mathura, this straining after bombast was so universal, that no one

familiar with the monumental literature of the period, can mistake it

for a moment, and it may therefore be taken as characteristic of the

time. I have myself met with it so often, that had I no other guide to

ascertain the age of the record under notice, I would have taken its

style to be a conclusive proof of its being of the 10th or 11th century.

The subject of the record is, the dedication of a temple which is

described to have ‘‘extended to all directions in space, and vied in

loftiness with the Mount Meru round which the sun, moon and the

stars run their course.” Its pinnacle of gold, which was shaped like a

water-jar, was equal to the Meru in weight. Its locality was the.

margin of the tank where the inscription was found. Judging from the

insignificant remains now traceable in that locality, I believe the edifice

was by no means a very extraordinary one. Its presiding deity was

Pradyumnesvara or S’iva as the destroyer of Cupid, a form in which

he is not often worshipped by his votaries in Bengal. This divi-

nity, who is generally represented as a vagrant mendicant, is said to

have exchanged, by the favour of the dedicator of the temple, his tiger

skin toga for silken dresses, his serpent neck-chains for garlands of

jewels, his ashes for sandal wood powder, his rosary for pearls, and his

human bone ornaments for precious gems.

130 On the Sena Rijis of Bengal. [No. 3,

Of the dedicator of the temple, Vijaya, the record is, as usual in such

cases, the most lavish in its praise. According to it, he was the great-

est of kings that ever held sway on earth; the most valiant, the most

charitable, and the most virtuous. While describing the hero as a

devout follower of Mahadeva, it does not hesitate to make him even

superior to that dread manifestation of the divinity, for the one, says it,

destroys all alike, while the other, killed his enemies and cherished

his friends. There is, however, very little in the verses devoted to his

glorification which may be taken for facts. The time of his reign is not

given, nor the name of his caste, nor that of the place where he caused

the temple to be erected. He is related to have invaded Assam

(Kamartipa) and the Coromandel Coast between the Chilka Lake and

Madras (Kalifiga), and to have sent a fleet of war-boats up the Ganges

to conquer the Western kings; but nothing is said of the results of

these invasions : the last is, ina manner, acknowledged to have proved

a failure ; for the only thing noticeable in it, was the stranding of one

of the boats on a sand-bank, poetically described as “‘ the ashes on the

forehead of S’iva, changed to mud by contact with the water of the

Ganges.”

The genealogy of the king includes three names, those of Hemanta

Sena, Sumanta Sena, and Vira Sena. The last was evidently the

founder of the family, for he appears as a descendant of the moon,

without any reference to his immediate progenitors. All the three were

kings of Gour, but their names occur nowhere in history. Vijaya

the last of the series was, according to tradition, known by the name

of Sukha Sena, and under that name he occurs in the Ayin Akbary, as

the father of Ballala Sena. His name occurs in the Bakerganj plate

as the first of a series of four kings, the last of which was Kesava

Sena. Vijaya there appears as the father of Ballala Sena. Again, in

a manuscript of the Danasdgara, a treatise on gifts attributed to

Ballala Sena, the author describes himself as the son of Vijaya Sena

and the grandson of Hemanta Sena. These facts justify the assump-

tion that the three records allude to the same family, and that Sukha

Sena was an alias of Vijaya Sena. If this be admitted, the Sena

dynasty of Bengal will have to be extended by the addition of the

three names which occur in the inscription now under notice.

Of the descendants of Vijaya, the most distinguished was, no doubt,

1865.] On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. 131

his son Ballala. “‘ This prince,” to quote the words of an able writer

in the Calcutta Review, “ was held in such high estimation all over

Bengal, that the most extravagant fancies have been indulged and the

wildest tales invented in order to connect his memory with the mar-

vellous and the sublime.’”” The same writer continues; “ Poets have

invested him with the dignity of a divine original and described

his infantile precocity in the most glowing colours. He has been

represented as the son of the fluvial god Brahmaputra, who had

deceived his mother by assuming the form of her own hus-

band. His nativity is said to have taken place in the solitude of a

thick forest, where his mother had been banished a few months before

her parturition through the jealousy and treachery of his father’s two

ether wives. In these sylvan shades and under the especial protection

of heaven he passed his infantile days, undisturbed by the noise and

distractions of towns and cities, and uncontaminated by the pleasures

and irregularities of riotous-society. His divine parent, ‘‘ the uxorious

Amunis,” as Horace would perhaps call him, instructed him in the

different branches of a Hindu’s education, and in the tactics of war

and diplomatic policy. While yet a boy he is said to have exhibited

extraordinary proofs of heroism and strength. He had discomfited

unassisted and alone a whole host of disciplined troops commanded by

princes and veteran captains, and armed with all the weapons of native

warfare.’ The whole of this statement, however, is founded upon vague

traditions or modern records of doubtful authority. We may dismiss

it, therefore, without a remark. The Bakerganj inscription of Balldla’s

grandson does not allude to the facts noted in it with sufficient circum-

stantiality to give them any prominence. From what it says, we may take

for granted, however, that he was a great patron of learning and himself

an author of some pretension.—Vedartha smriti safigrahadi purusha.

The treatise on gifts alluded to above shews that his reading was

extensive and his knowledge of the s’astras respectable.* He is,

* The prominent mention madein the work of the author’s tutor, Anirndha,

would waken a suspicion that, like many other crowned heads in India and Europe,

Balléla had assumed to himself a credit which rightly belonged to another. How-

ever that be, the authenticity of the work is undoubted. It has been quoted by the

author of the Samaya Prakdsd who lived several hundred years ago, and Raghu-

nandana who flourished at the end of the 15th century, alludes to it in two places

in this Suddhitatwa: Qa SSI RHLAT AA Saas Vaal Ta Cine

Serampore edition, p, 194, Again : BqTHRCH argite, frqaara,srareatfeaa-

132 On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. [No. 3,

however, better known in this country by the system of hereditary

nobility which he established in his court than by his devotion to

letters. The main object of that system was to give preéminence to

Waly afta avqaract: | Ibd. 20—3. The work is divided into 70 Sections

and devoted to a description of 1875 gifts, the mode of consecrating them, the pro-

per persons to give them to, the time meet for making such oifts, &e. &c. The

author enumerates in his introduction the different authorities he had consulted

in compiling his work, and as his list gives an idea of the works which were

reckoned as standard authorities: in his time, 9 hundred years ago, I quote it

entire.

Purdnas. Vishnu-dharma. Yama.

Brahma, Gopatha Braéhmana. Yogayajnavalkya.

Varaha. Ramayana. Devala.

Agni, Mahabharata. Baudhayana.

Bhavishya, Manu. Angirasa.

Matsya. Vasishtha. Danavyasa,

Kurma. Samvarta. Vrihaspati ? 2

Kaya. Yajnavalkya. Sankha.

Upapuranda. Gotama. Likhita.

Adya, Katyayana. Apastamba.

Samba. Yavala. Satyayana.

Kalika, Sandana. Maha Vyasa.

Nandi. Vrihaspati. Laghu Vyasa.

Aditya. Vrihad Vasishtha. Laghu Harita.

Narasifiha. Harita. Chhandoga perisishta.

Markandeya. Pulasta.

Vishnudharmottara. Vishnu.

S’dstras. Satatapa,

S‘lokas are often repeated by panditas, which tradition ascribes to this

prince. Itis said that once when his son Lakshmana was long absent from

home, his daughter-in-law brought the circumstance to his notice by writing the

following s ‘loka on the wall before the place where he used to dine :—

uaaiata aft zaia fufeat Hat |

Bq Riad: Baie aT Var arcafa |

“The clouds are pouring without intermission and the peacocks are dancing

‘with joy ; on such a day death or my darling alone can remove my suffering.”

Touched by it he invited his son back to his home with the following stanza :—

SAM CwWaagqiiaa eafqat asia

aagieusa featzalragaienat |

Bl ust eqqgquq ufaat saaHtatsra

aT Hraease at TUW < au wala ug tl

“© thou who art disposed as the second (the Bull—listen).”” Alone and op-

pressed is she with the breasts like the eleventh (pitchers-globes) of the elephant,

by the approach of him who has the tenth (Makara on his flag Cupid), even as are

the twelfth (fishes) and the fourth (crabs), on the approach of the shark (maka-

ra), That sixth (virgo), with eyebrows without compare, (lit. devoid of the seventh

libra), who should belong to the royal fifth (lion-prince is suffering from the pangs

of the eighth (scorpio). O, first (aries—my son) hasten and be thou the third

1865.] On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. 133

the descendants of the five Brahmins and Kayasthas” who had been

brought to Bengal by Adis’tira. The particular qualities which were

to characterise his nobles were ‘‘ good manners, learning, humility,

reputation, pilgrimage, faith, fixed profession, austerity, and charity’’*

but as there was no standard measure for those qualities, and it

was difficult to secure them without attaching penalties to personal

delinquencies which could never be enforced, he had recourse. to other

and more definite means for their perpetuation. He availed himself of

the popular notion that children invariably inherit the moral qualities

of their parents, and hoped that by maintaining the blood of his newly

created nobles pure and undefiled, he would attain his end. He forbad all

imtermarriage between the original Brahmans and Kayasthas of the

country and the newcomers, and ordained various and complicated rules

for the gradual degradation of those families which should permit any

stain to fall on the gentility of their blood. Mis-alliances could not, how-

(gemini).” The play on the names of the twelve signs of the zodiac in this

s‘loka cannot be preserved in the English translation.

On another occasion he was himself absent from home for a lone time, having

been detained in a forest by the charms of a lowly born damsel. The scandal

was great, and his son, to stop it, requested his return with the following

verse :—

a. Ss

We AH AAs Yes Guitaal at

fa sa: Whaat vat Waa RT VEIT |

fase ayaa a aiard yalfrat ala

aaaraiaa asefa qa: acai frre wa: |

‘* Generally cool art thou, O river, and transparent by nature. Of thy purity

what can I say ? everything becomes pure by thy touch. What else need I tell in

thy praise ? thou art the life of all living things. And yet strange to relate, thou

flowest downwards and none can withhold thee.”

To it the king sent the following reply :—

ATA ATMA SA TT BA Val A Ve aa

St PUPVAAIC HAHIS: Hl ATH AM VAT I

Strataracy va aca war a at yfye

HCAS) AAGCHTCUAST WHITH SAT: I

“The elephant has not yet soothed its skin nor allayed its thirst; the dust on

its body still remains unwashed, and the tuberous roots of the lotus have hi-

therto not yielded it a mouthful of food, much less an entertainment; the lotus

remains untouched by his far projectile arm: verily the bees have raised an

unmeaning hue and cry by their murmurs.”

The muthenticity of these s'lokas is, however, not such as may be relied upon.

* Acharo vinayo vidya pratishtha tirtha davsana, nishtha yritti tapo danam

navadha kula-lakshanam,

134 On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. [No. 3,

ever, be altogether prevented, and the successors of Ballala somewhat

encouraged them, by raising the social status of those plebeans who

succeeded in securing the alliances of kulinas. Wealthy maulikas large-

ly availed themselves of the opportunity which was thus given them

of rising in social rank, and the cupidity of our nobility has of late

encouraged them by a system of polygamy which has made kulinism

in Bengal, a positive nuisance to society.

The son and successor of Ballala was Lakshmana Sena. The author

of the Bakerganj plate makes him erect altarsand pillars of victory at

Benares, Allahabad, and Jagannath, but “it may reasonably be doubt-

ed,” says Prinsep, “‘ whether these monuments of his greatness ever

existed elsewhere than in the poet’s imagination.” His prime minis-

ter and Lord Chancellor (Dharmadhikara,) was Haldyudha, son of

Dhananjaya, of the Vatsya race, a Brahmin of great learning and a

descendant of Bhattanaéréyana, the author of the Venisanhara. His

eldest brother, Pashupati, wrote atreatise on the srdddha and other

ceremonials under the title of Pashwpati Paddhatv. His next brother

was a great scholar and professor of Smriti and the Mimafisé ; he wrote

a treatise on the diurnal duties of Brahmins which still exists—

Aluka Paddhati. Walayudha himself is said to have written several

works on Smriti, of which the most important is the Brahmana Sarva-

sva. Init, he describes his patron in the usual grandiloquent terms

of his time, but there is nothing in it to shew that he was other than a

prince of mediocre merit. He is said by the Mahomedan historians to

have greatly embellished the city of Gour, and called it after his own

name Lakhnouty or Lakshmana-vati ; but the inscriptions are silent on

the subject, as they are as regards the popular belief of Ballila Sena’s

having built the town of Gour.

Lakshmana was followed successively by his two sons, Madhava Sena

and Kesava Sena. The Rajdvali brings in a Su or Stra Sena after

Kesava, and Mahomedan writers have a Nouwjib, a Narayan, a Lakh-

mana, and a Lakhmaniyé to follow him; but no monumental record

has yet been found to prove their ever having existed. An As’oka Sena

also occurs as one of the kings of Gour, but his position in the list is

nowhere defined. Of these therefore I have nothing to say. JI shall

make an exception, however, in favour of the last of the series. The

Tabkdt + Ndsirt of Minhajuddin Jowzjani says that the last king of

1865.] On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. 135

the Sena dynasty was Lakhmaniy4, andthis authority must be accepted

as correct, as the work was written within fifty-eight years after

the conquest of Bengal by Bakhtiar Khilijy, and its author had

ample opportunities, during his sojourn in Bengal, of conversing

with the contemporaries of Lakhmaniyé who had taken part in that

conquest, and of collecting the most authentic information available in

his time. The account given in that book is as follows :—

ecle* 35d woe OS Sy F Slay ehe SU Prey ray) (23

Slettyis 8S O20) bigest ly! SU dpmy ylais? desler gid y e}y Lio 9

ge) Sey lew glide wove y ag) Sy5 cyt ob af s a9? Strgined of

6 So] als yo awe] X gli} ¢ Lexhas| <_l) wT wile 5 Bum BE90 Utd! 9

eyo baie co'y vy! o95 UR bs jh ey WHO? Woe bS-omT WT y

WIA 9 Mimd sag! alo Crs Wied 9 Syke of po bo ps2 au oy pole

WIZ Noo ENV.) Kale wea Sy5oy <_ OALS] y S) > KD Ql) ly what

wes od ,ol6 Jom e~9 ht Ly CByslo 4 dd) Shy beg) wy iq

wl 51 8S OLAS GIL odty MGI fy OF PLU 955 Ga ly lio, y

aldol s OBL Lolys Ke 72 cree? OSL Wolly crslw O29 1) 3} 59

csrlBglh le gbhe woo db Woy Hele 9 OS Ey jf OF! 51g Owes

Ble 9570 tg G opopd oaidy la? 51 pS Ex! st yole we aif

diiwy GS ee PEG ssasliss 1) wles? y ist 57 ya yledyS 4 ating p53

oils S 59° ty 9! G yyy WoT ody rds AF Sigg GH OB O54 Wye 5g

wt ox bdo 51 Cpy glo ont OAH OS - O9 wods Ly ly Sarees (fla yy-

oS) psrloly Slew ghd 9 Hols we, sty Kaigs) wad OF 38 wath

Translation.—Contemporary historians, on whom be the blessings of

God, have thus related : ‘‘ That when the news of the valour and the wars

and subjugation of kingdoms by Mohammed Bakhtyar, may the mercy

of God be on him, reached Lakhmaniy4, the capital of his kingdom

was Nuddea. The Raya was very learned and had sat on the

throne for 80 years. It will not be amiss to mention here an anecdote

of the Raya which has come to my knowledge; it is this: When the

father of the Raya passed away from this world, Raya Lakhmaniya

was in his mother’s womb. The crown was therefore placed on the

womb, and the officers of State all girt themselves and stood round

and behind the mother. The family of this prince was known as the

Raya of Rayas of Hind by the wise men of the time, and reckoned as

136 On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. [No. 3,

the viceroys (khalifa) of India. When the time for the birth of Lakh-

maniydé approached near, and the mother felt the pains of delivery, the

astrologers and Brahmans were assembled together, so that they may

watch the auspicious moment of birth. They unanimously said that

should this boy be born immediately, it will be unfortunate in every

respect, and he will never attain to royalty. But should he be delivered

two hours hence, he will reign for 80 years. When the mother heard

this from the astrologers, she ordered that she may be hung up by

her two feet as long as the auspicious moment should not come, and

that the astrologers should be in attendance to watch that moment.

When the proper time arrived and the astrologers said that it was

at hand, she was taken down. Thus was Lakhmaniya born, but his

mother immediately died of the pains she had been subjected to.

Lakhmaniyd was immediately placed on the throne, where he reigned

for eighty years.”

Three things may be taken for granted in this statement; first that

the name of the last king of the Sena dynasty was Lakhmaniy4;

second, that he was a posthumous child; and third, that he reigned for

eighty years. It must be admitted, however, that the word Lakhmani-

ya is very unlike a Bengali proper name. The only Bengali or San-

skrit word to which it bears any resemblance is the patronymic* Ldksh-

maneya, ‘“a son, grandson or descendant of Lakshmana,”’ and if it be

admitted that the Lakhmaniyd of the Mahomedan historians is a cor-

ruption of the Sanskrit Ldkshmaneya, it would not be too much to

assume that the prince under notice was the grandson of Lakshamana

son of Ballala.

The reigns of Madhava and Kesava Sena were short and inconsequen-

tial, and it is very likely that the Lakhmaniya who succeeded Kesava,

and reigned in Bengal for 80 years, was taken by the Mahomedans

to be the immediate successor of Lakshmana, son of Ballala, who

hada long and prosperous reign of many years. I adopt this assump-

* The affix dhak is ordinarily used after feminine nouns, @iQ1 SA Panini

iv, I, 120, but under the especial rule s’‘ubhrd-dibhyas'cha (P. iv, I. 123.) Lakhsh-

mana of the Vasishtha gotra takes that affix. “ Lakshmana sydmayorvdsish-

the.” I know not whether the Senas were of the Vasishtha gotra, but such niceties

of grammar were so little attended to in the middle ages that I do not think that

anybody would have objection to its use in the case of persons not of the Vasish-

tha gotra, If such an objection be raised, we must take Lakshmaniya to be a

matronymic and assume the name of our prince’s mother to haye been Laksh-

mana,

1865.) On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. 137

tion owing as much to the names of Su Sena Noujib and a second

Lakshmana not occurring in any authentic early document, as to there

being no sufficient time available between the dates of Balléla Sena

and that of the Mahomedan conquest for the allocation of three reigns,

after making the necessary allowance for Lakshmana, Madhava and

Kesava Senas and Lakhmaniya. It is possible that those reigns were

only of a few months’ duration each, but there is nothing authentic to

support such a theory, and therefore, I feel fully justified in the assump-

tion I have made above.

The inscriptions are very unsatisfactory on the subject of dates.

The Bakergan] plate professes to have been recorded in the month of

Jaishta in the third year of the king’s reign, but does not name any cur-

rent era. The Rajashahi stone has no date whatever. But it is not

difficult to find the probable time when the different members of the

Sena dynasty flourished in Bengal. According to the author of the

Samaya Prakdas'a, the Danasdgara was written (or completed ?) in the

S’aka year 1019* — A. D.1097. Ballala must therefore have lived at

about the end of the eleventh century, and this accords well with the

statement of the Ayin Akbary which makes that prince commence his

reign in the year 1066. Lakshmana, according to Abul Fazel, assumed

the sovereignty of Bengal in 1116, which gives a period of 51 years to

Ballala. I doubt, however, the accuracy of the last date. The date

of Bakhtiar’s conquest of Bengal is well known (1203), and the

testimony of Minhajuddin regarding the eighty years’ reign of

Lakshmaniya cannot be easily set aside. This carries us back to 1123.

On the other side if we allow only three years to Ballala after the

completion of his Danasagara we come to the end of the 11th century,

leaving only 23 years between 1101 and 1123 for distribution among

Lakshamana, Madhava and Kesava. The exact period of Laksmana’s

reign is not known. Abul Fazel allots to him only 8 years, but Halay-

udha, his prime minister, suggests a much longer time. He says that

he was in his boyhood made a court pandit, by the king; that in his

early manhood, he attained to the rank of a minister; and that

* fafeweraafaaatsaeriesa | ye nitaa-enfae wate

alaawmerchaea: ll

138 On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. [No. 3,

subsequently he was raised to the office of the Lord Chancellor

Dharmédhikira.* This is not practicable within the space of eight

years, and I feel no hesitation in assigning to him two and a half times

that number of years ; the remaining three years being left for Madhava

and Kesava and possibly for Su or Sura Sena should a prince of that

name be hereafter verified. For the present I am disposed to throw out

a hint that Su Stra Noujeb and As’oka were probably the proper name

and aliases of the prince whose patronymic was Lakhmaniya. Prinsep,

following the Ayin Akbary, takes 1136 to be the date of the Bakerganj

plate, but as that authority makes Lakhmaniya begin his reign in the

year 1200 A.D. and fly to Orissa three years after, when Minhajuddin,

who had ample opportunities of conversing with the contemporaries of

Lakshmana, and was himself in Bengal a few years after his overthrow,

assures us that that prince reigned for 80 years, we may without com-

punction reject its evidence as unworthy of belief. The ancestors of

Ballaéla from Hemanta to Vira Sena were hitherto unknown to history,

and even now the inscription under notice does not name the time when

they flourished. The final settlement of their dates must, therefore, be

left for future research. If we assign to them the usual Indian average

of 18 years to a reign, the Sena dynasty may be arranged as follows :—

* For those who may be curious on the subject I quote a few stanzas from the

Brahmana Sarvasva.

qua aul yaaaeitad faa faararad SSTTE: |

aml acanfaeatwews refereed faut 1

UH nA VAHqIgIag Mewauagqa-

Crew Wear fay TIT Frat WRTITAAT |

NAT FUCTAIHIS WAT waima-

afe safgaqae ara fates utartca

qadigtad 4 frase araraarat Paar

FAA aaa araifad areaa |

ee | fanaTE “atear Rawr: wry fa-

Aa FU AALVTATATTCSICIACT GATE: II

ay Bliqatimyfware: antares TI

RCT TAAL CTG IS Zeal aa Baa |

aa Sramivamafera areca:

Raa MAIS aaylavaantt fat |

1865.] On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. 139

A.D

Vorname hs owe Ne ek oi chs oS ELE ees 994

BS AMMAN CEI OM UA ak ae) Wels lddoduabese bd tbardtte 1012

lleniambay Sema vite ias Hi. tececagicencessteeee . LOSO

Wajaya alzas Sukha Sena, 2... sc..ci.cscceieds' 1048

Ballade, Sema wae cosceci le isisesie sue wlsigeb enlaces 1066

MASMMAN AVON A: Vacensa cesorcskceevievaslild ese’ 1101

Mindnawan Sema fs ncckbeastibhle soda cdne wee’ 1121

HMesiva Seman csse is fcliitiecs ies heswgere 1) LL22

Lakhmaniya, ae As’ a Su or Sire Sena, 1123

The last overthrown by Bhakhtiar in ...... 1203

This arrangement brings the age of Vira Sena, probably the first of

the family who settled in Bengal, to very near the time which I have

assigned to Adis’ tira in my paper on Mahendrapdila,* and it would not be

too much to assume that Vira was the immediate successor of Adis’ tira.

There is, however, no monumental or any ancient authentic record to

prove the date of A’dis’tra. The authorities quoted in my paper agree

in bringing him down to the time of Ballala, and must therefore be

rejected as false. The author of the Kdyastha Kaustubha places the

advent of the Kanauj Brahmans in Bengal in the year 380 Bengali or

892 A. D., which would place A‘dis’ tra in the midst of the Palas and be

altogether inconsistent with the history of the five original Brahmans

and Kayashtas of Bengal. Pere Tieffenthaler’s authorities carry Adis’ tra

still further back, and place him twenty-two generations away from

Ballala. My date of Adis’ura is founded upon the genealogical tables of

the Kayasthas as now current in this country. Those tables give 27

generations from the time of Adis’tra, and at 3 generations to a century

the time of that prince is carried to 964 of the Christian era. If there

be any error in the tables, it would no doubt falsify my deduction, but

as long as that error is not detected, that deduction will, I expect,

command more attention than the authorities I have quoted. But be

that as it may, as far as we are at present informed, it must be admitted

that the two princes lived at times very close to each other. It is said

by some that Adis’tra was the father of Ballala ; while others maintain

that he was the progenitor of the Sena dynasty. The first statement

may at once be rejected as inconsistent with the inscriptions and the

* Ante Vol. XXX, p..11.

140 On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. [No. 3,

Dénasdgara ; but the second may be true, and if so, Vira Sena may

well be taken to be the same with Adis‘tira, The name Adis‘Gra does

not sort either with the Palas or with the Senas. The word s’aira

is a synonym of Véra a hero, and the ddz is indicative of the initial

position which Vira Sena occupies in the genealogy of the dynasty. It

is stated in the genealogical tables of the Kayasthas that when Ballala

established his system of Kula the original five Kéyasthas of Ka-

nauj had multiplied to 56 families. Assuming that each generation

of the original Kayasthas had multiplied two-fold, five generations from

Adis‘tra to Balléla would give eighty individuals, who may well repre-

sent the alleged number of families. Of the Brahmans the total number

of families that lived at the time of Balldla is not known. But it is

evident that it was not large, for we find that he included only ten

families in the ranks of his nobles, viz. two of the descendants of

Bhattanarayana, two of those of Daksha, one of those of S’ri Harsha,

three of those of Chhandada, and two of those of Vedagarbha. They do

not suggest a longer period than would be covered by five generations.

It should be noted that the editor of the Venisanhdra,* Muktarama

Vidyavagis’a, in his genealogical table of the Tagore family makes

Haléyudha minister of Lakshmana Sena, to be the 16th in descent

from Bhattanarayana; but masmuch as his statement has been con-

tradicted by the author of the Khités a-vaisdvali-charitay who would

have him to be the third in descent from Bhattanaraéyana, and both

have been contradicted by Haléyudha himself, who calls his father

Dhanafijaya, whereas the one makes him the son of Nipu and the

other that of Ramaripa, we may well reject his testimony as inad-

missible. It must, however, be admitted that the identity I suggest is

a mere conjecture, and I hope it will be taken as such and no more.

There is one more circumstance in connexion with the Senas to

which I wish to allude, before I conclude,—it is with reference

to their caste. The universal belief in Bengal is, that the Senas were

of the medical caste, and families of Vaidyas are not wanting in the

present day who trace their lineage from Balldéla Sena. There is,

however, nothing authentic to justify this belief. It is well known

that a great many of the pedigrees given in Burke’s Landed Gen-

try ave utterly worthless, and it is notorious that many families of

* Hd, Calcutta, 1855. + Pertche’s Hd. p. xvi.

1865.] On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. 141

obscure origin have their veins filled with the blue blood of genera-

tions of kings by the opportune help of popular genealogists, and

we feel strongly tempted te believe that the pedigree of the so-

called Ballala’s descendants is no better. The Kulapanjikdé of Kula-

charya Thakura describes Adis’tira as the “ sun of the Kshatriya race.”

(Kshatriya vansa haisa) ; the Bakerganj and the Rajshahi inscrip-

tions agree in calling the Senas, the descendants of the moon or

Kshatriyas of the lunar race (Somavansa) ; the latter describes Samanta

Sena as “a garland for the head of the race of noble Kshatriyas’’—

brahma kshatriydndém kulos’iro ddéma; and their testimony cannot

be rejected in favour of modern tradition. Nor is it difficult to

account for the mistake which has given rise to that tradition. There

lived in former days in the North-West a race of Kshatriyas of the name

of Ambastha. The Vishnu Purana alludes to them when enumerating

the several races of the North-West Provinces, (@31 XTHTAaleqsr: GT-

<inateaqaqat: ) and Panini quotes Ambastha as an example of the

same word meaning a Kshatriya race and a country where they live

(Pénini IV, 1,171.) The Mahabharata uses the word both as the

name of a race of Kshatriyas, and that of a Kshatriya king, and the

©)

Medini, the Viswaprakas’a and the Sabdaratnakara explain it as the

name of a country.* It is very likely that the Senas belonged to this

section of the military class, and in Bengal, in later days, was confounded

with the Ambasthas of Manu who were a mixed tribe of Brahmans and

Vaisyas, and therefore taken to be of the medical caste. Such con-

founding of names and their meanings has been so common in India,

that one need not be at all surprised at finding the Senas degraded from

a military to a mixed caste, from a misapprehension of the meaning of

their name. Abul Fazel in the Ayin Akbary and Pere Tieffenthaler

make the Senasto belong to the Kayastha caste, and this may beexplain-

ed by the fact that the Kayasthas in the North-West are even to this day

called by the name of Ambasthas. If this be not accepted, tradition shall

have to be opposed to authentic inscription. James Prinsep noticed in

the Bakerganj plate the title of S’ankara Gaudes'wara which, written as

the word s’ankara is with a palatal s, can only mean “ the excellent lord

of Gauda,” unless wt “ excellent” be taken as a euphuism of sankara, a

mixed race. There is a temple at Kashmir known by the name of San-

* Goldstiicker’s Sanskrit Dictionary, voce Ambastha,

142 On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. [No. 3,

kara* Gaureswara, owing probably to its having been erected by order

of one of the Sena Rajas. The epigraph of the Ddénasdgara assigns to

Balldla Sena the title of famsueet which, according as the s of

Sankara is taken to be a palatal or a dental, means “ undoubtedly the

most excellent,” or ‘‘ undoubtedly of a mixed race.” It is very unlikely

that anybody would assume the latter for a distinctive title. This

is, however, a question of so little consequence to the antiquarian, that

I need not dwell upon it any longer.

P.S. As Mr. Metcalfe’s translation does not profess to be literal I have

not thought proper to alter it in any way, except in the cases of verses

4,5 and 20, which are susceptible of very different interpretations,

one of which would make Vira Sena a king of Dekkan and his great

grandson the first who subjugated Bengal, and another take him to

be only a Southron by race, but a king of Bengal. (12th Sept. 1865.)

Transcript and Translation of an Inscription from Rdjashdhi.—By

C. T. Mercatrez, Hsq., C. S.

go aa: FLATS |

qaisals Ua aaATarfa-

ALA WSTSITA TAS TAS: |

sqweuagiad qafacuthe.

afaaata etaatia sata wait |) 2 |

Victory be to the mouths of Shambhu (Shiva), who laughed on

looking through the light of the moon at the shame-contracted face

of Debi who, for fear of the removal of her breast-cloth, turned

aside her head, the garland of which drowned the light of the candle in

the hymeneal chamber.

aga asi< faaaceataws

Uda ACURA AAS AHME |

garfagaungaiacaat aifearae ara at.

sata auaafaaaqateatsacta: wa: 1 2 |

We bow down before the idol of Harihara (Vishnu and Shiva),

known under the name of Pradyumneshwara, where the Debis, fearing

* Ante Vol. XVII. Pt. II, p. 283.

1865.] On the Sena Rijds of Bengal. 143

lest they should no longer enjoy the embrace of their husbands, went

inside (the idol); and became an obstacle to the amalgamation of the

two deities.

[When Hari and Hara intended to amalgamate themselves into one

form, their wives, being afraid of not recognising their husbands,

became an obstacle to executing their purpose, and the deities instead

of being able to assume a new form, retained half of each. ]

aq fieaqaaticy” FANT Hewaws

aeMiacage encase feat |

aamanarge: afc aaa carca-

FA TI AIAAGICALl Tist Faraiiufa: t 3

Victory be to the first king moon, who sits enthroned on the

matted hair (Jata) of Shiva, fanned by a chauri having drops

of Ganges water; the white expanded hood of the serpents which

adorn the head of Shiva, became the covering of his chatta

(umbrella), and the serpents, its handle.

[ Here the moon is represented as a king, who has the matted hair

of Shiva for his throne, and the hood of the serpent’s for his umbrella. |

qh awiaceifaaacaasiaifaat <faara-

ails afeaamefafuctan: aia |

aaitcsiafaraicaagua: etaarealaatew:

ulzimaa faqaqaufeacdiaara yatiat: || 8 |

In his race, who enjoyed the companionship of the celestial

maidens, and the virtuous deeds of which race were celebrated in

honied verses by Vyasa for the satisfaction of the universe, were born

king Vira Sena and others, who were Dakhinatyas* and famous

every where.

ated Gaaanas sfaquenataeanaaet

anmatamanfa qairetcta aaa: |

sqiaat ata: weaqefeaaarawtayg Gar:

AQAA AeNCGIAIUSAl FAA: |v |

* The word Dékshindtya kshawindra may mean “a king of the Southern

country” Dekkan, or ‘ a king of the Southern race,” in the same way in which

paschdtya, Sdraswat, Drabida, indicate races, lk, M,

id4 On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. [No. 3,

In that Sena family was born Samanta Sena, the destroyer of hundreds

of the enemy’s champions. He was a worshipper of Brahma and a

garland for the head of the race of the noblest Kshetriyas; and verses

celebrating his heroic deeds were sung by the celestial maidens on the

border of the dam cooled by the agitated waves of the ocean, in a manner

which might even excite the envy of Rama, the son of Dasharatha.

ata, aTiaqe yzteualugatea-

au a HUTMATIAATM: @atfaa: urfa@at |

iyatrragacactetgeaeTt

qaryracifentfencsard aeaanyza | <I

He did in the field of battle play with his hands his serpent-like

swords, where the noise of his battle-drums depressed the spirit of his

enemies, and the pearls which fell from the globe over the head of his

enemies’ elephants, unseamed by his sword, are still to be found scat-

tered in the shape of heavy kouries.

werqguquiad asta awa Gwar.

sat aaaaaa Bafa ured ar<uia_|

fatfifcafetsawefa trafearaa-

aejaafeeeclacavesaad TU || © |]

His fame mounting the backs of his enemies’ wives, did travel

from house to house, from city to city, from forest to forest, from

mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean.

qa uiaaqaequialaaye aa.

SUTRA REAAAAMSAAIFAE: |

qarcyufawaqeatae ghia

euauiceata a fest efaat saat | <I

He didextirpate the enemies who plundered the riches of the Carnatic,

and the marrow, flesh and bones, (of the dead bodies of his enemies’

troops) to be found in abundance there, has caused Yama not to leave

the southern quarters up to the present time, becoming himself gladly

an inhabitant of the place.

[Yama is lord of the Pretas, a kind of evil spirits or demons, who

live upon human flesh and blood. ]

1865. ] On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. 145

sqiianquaeafracfanfard sae.

waadicita acsacufefsasauicaaita |

Gade te gate wauaretefumanes:

qmiagiia aga fsa feaceuyesatia ic 4

In his old age he settled himself in the sacred groves of the hilly

forests situated on the bank of the Ganges, where the smoke of the

incense offerings reached to the skies, and young deer sucked the

milk of the wives of the moonies (Saints); where parrots have got by

rote the Vedas; and where the slopes of the mountains are filled up by

the saints who resort there on approach of death.

BaALauca aaa] FIeaTI-

fasryaacaaefaaragyate: |

suacaqaraitgafatamaa-

qutaqeateal sarees: | ee

From this king, in his manhood, when he had not devoted himself to

the contemplation of God, was born Hemanta Sena, who was famous

for killing his enemies proud of their strength, and who did acquire

from his birth all the pure and virtuous qualities possessed by his

ancestors.

asus susiafaaay: aaa aUShyat

Tia Sateaar: veyfaaana aca frag: |

ay ae sat waataalee caret Wiel

WIsy AT Cea aaa Sears ATT | Rr tl

He did bear on his head the dust of Shiva’s feet, had truth on his

throat (7. e. spoke truth), had the Vedas in his ear, (v. e. heard the

Vedas,) had the hairs of his enemies under his feet, (7. e. received ho-

mage from his enemies), and had the scars of bow-strings on his arms.

Such were his ornaments, while the pearl flowers, ear-rings and golden

bracelets formed the ornaments of his dancing girls,

[This sloke is so full of participles that it is difficult to translate it

clearly. |

atiafafasiaaaatafa: nafaciaicai

Mewi cudtauqanifer qaufaaara |

146 On the Sena Rajds of Bengal, [No. 3,

aqanacafanwaaareaeasaiisd

ay = ©

aa: ofaa avifasfaus: aragarsitad | 2 |

The breasts of the heroes, who on account of their fall in bat-

tle with him, being pierced by his spears, which were spiritedly

played by his arms, assumed celestial forms, and were embraced

by the celestial maidens, whose breasts were reddened by good-

smelling red powders, were looked with terror by the Shiddhas, a spe-

cies of celestial inhabitants, (for, on account of their breasts being

reddened by their embracing the celestial maidens, the Shiddhas were

reminded of the time when they fell in battle, their breasts being ae

besmeared with blood, pierced by his spear).

[It is represented in Hindu mythology, that heroes, after their

fall in battle, assume celestial forms and ascend to heaven. |

gafiquatsamfa yo ae ag fauat

LawAeS UUCTAYE ts TACHA |

MA HY SUAATAIe! HB FaTS YT.

Sal BILAUITSIE Bectay sere feate_| 22 |

Hisarms and his swords could both assume diverse aspects, the one in

acts of benevolence, and the other when killing his foes, both were ingen-

iously employed. One intended destruction to his enemies, and the other

blessing to his friends; one adorned his friends with garlands, and the

other his enemies with wounds.

agit ae wucfafesrdqeey-

frtrcasiificaactase mem ]

fafa: area areal aafaaafaaiaqaaat

attedt aa faaaadrsrafacua | 28 |

His queen was of the name of Yasho Debia, who possessed a

delightful figure, was a treasure to her husband, was famous for per-

forming ceremonial rites, and the path of her feet was adorned by the

rays of the pearls stuck on the crest of the diadem of her friends and

enemies’ Wives.

aafanadtacia wastes Sarat.

wmctaqIniaitsqaqgacataya: |

1865. ] On the Sena Rijds of Bengal. t47

agaist TetaaaAiTt

fafasaaaraa fanadazeiiuta: yeu i

From this king of the world and the queen, was born Vijaya Sena,

the emperor of the earth, who diverted his youthful days by destroying

* the strength of his enemies, and extended his conquests to the end of the

four oceans* which girdle the world like bracelets,

TUG WMT: A Budtarada

ufafeacaatst & fat at Sat aT |

ze sata faag az que Wa:

yay ata TRUE ICE craw rea

Who: can count the number of kings daily killed or conquered by

him? The moon, being his first progenitor could only retain the title

of Raja before him in this world.

[That is, he defeated or destroyed all the Rajas of this earth, and

acquired its possession. |

agidlaniteaafarat sentesiguat

fa Claw qeta Wa WAAT aa Wya AT |

Sat aq saradfaay stars aati

aqaiea feasqaa aaa TAA | Vo Il

As he, being armed only with a sword and with no other assistance,

obtained the undisputed dominion of the earth girdled by the seven

oceans, can- we compare him to Rama, the leader of innumerable monkey

forces? or to Partha (Arjuna) the generalissimo of the Pandava forces ?

[In conquering the earth, Rama and Partha had advantages of large

- armies, while he had none.

Partha the third son of Pandu was a famous warrior. In the war

of the Kurus and Pandavas, he was the general of the Pandavas. His

heroic deeds are celebrated in the Mahabharat.

“ Monkey forces.’ ‘This mention of monkey forces, appears to me

to agree curiously with the scenes in Homer I]. iii. 6. When speaking

of India, he writes—

Avépact Iuypatovor povov Kau knpa, pepovoau

and he goes on to say. (I forget the remaining lines,) that the king of

India kept an army of 3000 of them as guards. ]

* Ceylon doubtless,

148 On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. [No. 3,

AN ~ a Cia ° os ~

waa Waa g: ufeud aut feaaled

afearmuTy cata eIgay ace WTA |

An 6 = ~ > =~

Sala qua: wat setauEtare sara fear

saalaaaate @ fcqweca fear: Tat I es I

Of the (three) qualities of the Deity, which manifest themselves

singly, without discrimination, one destroys the universe, the other

preserves, and the third creates it. But this king resembled the

Deity, on account of his having these eminent qualities, and employing

them with discretion, for he destroyed his enemies, preserved the

virtuous, and made his subjects happy by destroying their foes.

awa feaya: ofs fafaoaataciqa at

ceases yfacaat WaT wate: |

qq ad ATAU Aad Vat feaeTySt

astazaumaifefa wat vy feat a-afa: | re I

He assigned heaven for the residence of his opponent kings, and took

upon himself the dominion of the earth; his sword decked with heroes’

blood, fulfilled this contract. Had it been otherwise, then why did the

descendants of his enemies, fly from the field of battle, where he chal-

lenged them with his sword ?

a araqdictasaiia fac: avatar

FASAU AAASCAACLTA: |

WiSssaRIcuiMaRaey-

ay afagata awcat faata | 2: I

“Thou hast no hero to conquer” said the bards. On hearing it,

through a misconception (the words being susceptible of the meaning

“thou hast conquered no hero,’”’) a deep anger rose and assailed the

king of Gauda who overcame the king of Kamrupa, and forthwith con-

quered him of Kalinga.*

* The latter part of the s‘loka may mean that the king (not the anger)

assailed the king of Gour, subjugated the king of Kamrupa and quickly conquered

him of Kalinga; or, he assailed the king of Gour who had subjugated the king of

Kamarupa, and quickly conquered him of Kalinga ; or he quickly conquered the

king of Kalinga who had overcome the king of Kamarupa without the interven-

tion of the king of Gour. R. M,

1865.] On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. 149

qiagq saa aay fafas © crag wa

wai aaa ay ate facar arate Cua |

raaiaasfanuufate: Fares: aayat

adalcueatataataat faxaateqa: | zr Il

O Raghava, O Aswineya, O Vardhana, do you boast, calling yourself

a hero? away with your boasting, stop your pride. The cries that arose

day and night among the captive kings prevented the guards of the

prison-house from sleeping’ (at any time).

UIsiaaaaaaray say aaz

mqtaa tea arata arfqara |

vig afsefccafs wary.

aufeada afefoeaat wari | 22 |

The fleet which he equipped for conquering the western countries,

went up the stream of the Ganges, and one of the ships became stuck

in the ashes which are on the forehead of Shiva, and which have been

changed into mud by constant mixture with the water of the Ganges,

and being left there, shines as the moon.

[The Hindu Shasters affirm that the Ganges proceeds from the

Jaté (matted hair of Shiva), and hence this sloka means, that this

king having resolved to conquer up to the source of this river, one

of his ships going up the stream became stuck on the forehead of

Shiva, where it shines like the moon. |

qa RUAA AMC HILAT WAV ATA.

yay waite ta ufcafafaee: qfataerfearara |

qywiaagcui faateaqaa: arya arch:

fused aq getctgstanasat aise: Bifaararaieal

Through his favour the wives of the rich Brahmins learned to make

diamonds from cotton seeds, black diamonds from grass leaves, silver

from the flower of long gourds, pearls from brittle cavities of pome-

granates, and gold from flowers of gourd-creepers and euphorbia.

aaratasifaaaa ag -

WAIN HIAIAAATA: |

150 On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. [ No. 3,

awrataig faaygate-

ATTARATS HUST BAA: | 2S Il

Though on account of this age, the praise of his virtue is one-legged,

yet, through his power, it has travelled over the world, holding the

sacrificial posts continuously erected by him (on the earth).

[The import of the sloka is, that he was constantly engaged in per-

forming sacrifices, on which occasion posts are erected on the spot

where the ceremony is performed.

Among the Hindus, there are four ages; Satya Yuga is the age of

purity, Treta, Dwapara and Kali. In the first, virtue is supposed to be

four-legged, in the second, three-legged, in the third two-legged, and in

the last one-legged ; thereby showing that the worldis gradually becom-

ing sinful. This is Kali Yuga, and is said to have commenced from

the latter part of the reign of Yudhisthir, king of Hastinapura, the

modern Delhi. |

AN EN

SUC SIafCVyFaAISa sa PHALTY

gard yaaa a: ay awe q |

EN a cN ay ~ e

SUG: Goataias fracas Lalaa

aA TT ULNCY waa aayfysra: || 2 |

Having invited the gods from Meru, which was infested by enemies,

this sacrificer made the inhabitants of the heaven and earth to change

their places ; and by digging deep ponds* and erecting lofty temples,

he made the heaven and the earth to resemble each other.

[It is supposed thatthe peaks of Meru are inhabited by the gods.

When any sacrifice is performed, they are suffered to come down to the

earth to partake of the offerings. |

TANIGIAIUW WTAITIA EAT AALS

war siagaafsfafafanecaay AEN aa |

ariamaan fyqauaawand frciat

~ EN ESS

angaacy aad asadiaiad: Gags |i Re |

* The Burrin or high land of Rajashahi is covered with the most enormous

tanks that astonish every body. I do not know of ever hearing of any other dis-

trict with the same number of tanks as this. It is no exaggeration to Say,

that there is a tank measuring 200 to 500 yards in the north of this district, and

Some most extensive and beautiful.

1865.] On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. 151

This king of the earth erected a temple to Pradyumneshwar, which

was girdled by the oceans and contained inside the whole ethereal

firmament. It extended to all directions in space, and vied in lofti-

ness with Meru, round which the sun, moon and the stars move. It

became the mid-day mountain of the sun who rises and sets in the

eastern and western mountains.

mated catasa efeataeat fewer qu

aatattia aarti efaafenm: rarest ata: |

sagaraaaeg fer fanaa asat

arasefa catty ate ueat Grae mbes | Ro |

0 sun! in vain have you obliged Agastya to remain in the southern

quarter ; look, this lofty temple has obstructed the passage of your

horses.* Let Agastya go in any direction he likes, and let Vindya

increase its heights as much as it can, but it shall never be able to

attain the loftiness of this temple.

[According to the Purans, the sun is represented as moving round

Sumeru, a mountain supposed to be situated in the middle of the

earth. This particular honour paid to it, excited the jealousy of Vin-

dhya, another mountain, (the mountains are supposed to possess animal

life), and he worshipped Shiva and obtained the power of increasing his

body as high as he wished. Vindhya did so, and obstructed the passage

of the sun which doomed the half of the earth to darkness. The gods,

having perceived this, were alarmed and prevailed upon Agastya, a

moonie and spiritual guide of Vindhya, to leave Kashi (Benares) and

to prevent his increase. Agastya acceded to their wishes, and went to

Vindhya who, seeing his guru, prostrated himself on the ground.

Agastya, thereupon in order to serve the purposes of the gods, ordered

him to remain in that posture till his return from the southern quarters,

where he is supposed still to reside. |

ez ute eats ufasa, gavefoufaaa aif: |

aclue: wieuaieafan wanquwy acfuasw IRs |

If Brahma, making the earth as a potter’s wheel builds a pot, taking

as much mud as the Sumeru is in weight, then that pot can bear

resemblance to the golden one placed by this king on the summit of

this temple.

* The mythological story of Phoebus and his horses,

152 On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. [No. 3,

fainafanifentageniecage

wcafacmagqeeicaatege qa: |

PCIE qzafea: SAVAAUIAIFAT

MAUACHILASTAA BAH AE: |] RE |

Before the temple of Shiva, he dug a pond in which reflected the

rays of the pearls stuck in the diadem of the crest of the female ser-

pent and to which the black bees are attracted by the sweet scent of

the musks applied to the breasts of the maidens who go to bathe there.

[The snakes are supposed to reside in Patal, a region below this

earth. He dug his pond to such a depth, to cause the rays of the dia-

monds over the heads of the female snakes to pierce, through its

waters. |

saat fence THAT ASFA aifaat

tasgatatantaray a Ara: Wa Faq: |

Teas Wet: maaqaa hia atearaat

awl agaiefesuca qa fe Gaga: |) se |

This descendant of the Sena family did wisely provide for the poor,

inasmuch as he clothed Digambar (naked) with coloured dresses,

adorned his body with golden ornaments, erected a palace for him, as

he used to live in Shashana (a place where dead bodies are burnt,) and

made him rich, as he maintained himself by begging. .

[In the Hindu mythology, Shiva is represented as naked, living in

Shashana, and maintaining himself by begging. He is ornamented,

with serpents. |

fasaiauaan eeafatafeagaeecis:

BWIA TNMACalAAA BAL TCATAATT: |

quae aa WASafMIat Tas: ATAAAL

aug, 4 fact aataacaa aaatafaae® || 32 II

This king dressed Shiva at his own choice in the shape of Kalpa

Kapdlika, replacing his (Shiva’s) tiger’s hide by coloured silken clothes,

his serpents by bulky garlands pendent over his breasts, his ashes by

sandal wood powders, his rosary by blue pearls, and his human _ bones

by gems.

1865. ] On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. 153

[A Kalpa is a period of 4,320,000,000 of years (constituting a day and

night of Brahma), after which period the universe is supposed to be

destroyed by Shiva, who assumes on the occasion the form of Kapalika,

having a tiger’s hide for his dress, serpents round his neck, ashes over

his body, and a rosary of human bones in his hand.

The carpenter in Marryat’s ‘ Midshipman Easy” was evidently ac-

quainted with the Kalpa theory. |

aITet HiMtuctedynaawe yfesiaa

qatdia a uate featy qaqa dateaa |

taae feng vaaqceiag carts: ue

e aasaaraufeacuTe Taerafa | a2 |

He acquired by his arms the government of the world, and gained

what was good for him in earth by his own powers. He has nothing

to ask for in this world ; but, O Shiva, who hast the half-moon on thy

crest, bless him and give him in the end final absorption into yourself,

yRiguya ufcasfed wa: SIL

WTaAal ule ULIMLA AT AT

aaifuqcacfeafaareaa

qa: ufaataqaa ¢ a yaa: 1.33 |

Jt is Valmika and Vyasa who are able awhile to do justice to hig

life ; we have tried this only to purify our words by emerging in the

holy river of his fame.

[Valmika, a saint, is the author of the Ramayana, a famous and

beautiful historical poem, containing a life of Rama.

I believe Rama to be Bacchus, or rather Bacchusto be Rama. I

have no authority for this idea beyond a curious similarity between the

fables of this country and the fables as told by the Greeks.

Rama conquered the Continent of India,

and —

nune quoque qui puer es, quantus tum, Bacche, fuiste

Cum timuit thyrsos India victa tuos !

Victa racemifero lyneas dedit India Baccho.

Ovid. Art. Amorum v. 189, 190. Metam. av. 413.]

154 On the Sena Rajds of Bengal. [No. 3;

ios 6 ox

aaaerafaqeaayys: @ Tata

5 ° £

qaarat Ista aaMaat Waa: |

a -™ ° ~N

qiasa waata watstaara faaet

aaUai CaIg Bel aaneare alfa: || ae |

As long as the Ganges will purify the heaven, the earth, and the

Patdla, (a region under the earth, Purgatory), as long as the moon wilt

become an ornament of Shiva, and as long as the three Vedas (Rig,

Yajus and Shama) impart true knowledge to the virtuous, so long may

his fame, becoming their friends, do similar duties which are done by

them !

fafwaaaqeautaartaatat.

antyanuaaaasaate: |

QU Ra: UU UfawIEgs-

qguataueyw afa: safes: | ay |

This garland of praises, consisting of the gems of the pure Sena family

kings, has been constructed by Oomapatidhar, a poet, whose under-

standing has been refined by study of words and their meanings, (7. e.

by the study of literature).

YPRMIUAU AACA

seud aafcai one

aaa qesafafaarat-

FSlaMcCaA Baath || a¢ |

This praise has been inscribed (dug) by humble Shulapani, the

head of the Barendra artists, son of Brihaspati, grandson of Manadasa

and great-grandson of Dharma.

AAADDARR ADA RAR ARA RADA AAA

Piss Val: XRXIV. Pare 1 Plate xr

Jowrnsl As, Soc “ DELHI

———— eee

se Es Bf ugha = SM1KAR

Sketch

ot the Ruins of

DELHI

wy,

INDRA- PRASTHA

een

“ ¢ ish Ds |

Ra lt aS Ne

q Las 3

URtKor | Pirnonn ie se

= highed Mara ee ae

eee

Be,

Beard ae. ;

Uitheg: at Whe Surv. General iPice, calcutta, Aug’ 1665,

Part [ Plate XTX.

cetch |

) Ruins of

YELHI

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 155

Report of the Proceedings of the Archeological Surveyor to the Govern-

ment of India for the Season of 1862-63.—By Major-General

A. Cunnineuam, Archeologicai Surveyor to the Govt. of India,

[ Received 3rd Feb., 1865. | [Read 1st March, 1865. ]

(Continued from Vol. XXXIII. page Ixxxvii.)

I1—MATHURA.

159. In the Brahmanical city of Mathura, in A. D. 634, the

temples of the gods were reckoned by Hwen Thsang at five only,

while the Buddhist monasteries amounted to 20, with 2,000 resident

monks. The number of Stwpas and other Buddhist monuments was

also very great, there being no less than seven towers, containing

relics of the principal disciples of Buddha. The king and his minis-

ters were zealous Buddhists, and the three great fasts of the year

were celebrated with much pomp and ceremony, at which times the

people flocked eagerly to make their offerings to the holy Stupas

containing the relics of Buddha’s disciples. Hach of them, says

Hwen Thsang, paid a special visit to the statue of the Bodhisatwa

whom he regarded as the founder of his own school. Thus the follow-

ers of the Abhidharma, or transcendental doctrines, made their offerings

to Sdriputra ; they who practised Samddhi or meditation, to Mudga-

laputra ; the followers of the Sautrdntikas, or aphorisms, to Purva

Maitreyani Putra ; they who adhered to the Vinaya or discipline, to

Upali ; the Bhikshunt or Nuns, to Ananta ; the Anupdsampannas, or

novices, to Rdhula (the son of Buddha) ; and they who studied the

“ Greater means of advancement,” to the great Bodhisatwa Manju

Sri or Avalokiteswara, who plays such a conspicuous part in later

Buddhism. But notwithstanding this apparently flourishing condition

of Buddhism, it is certain that the zeal of the people of Mathura

must have lessened considerably since A. D. 400, when Fa Hian

reckoned the body of monks in the 20 monasteries to be 3,000, or

just one-half more than their number at the time of Hwen Thsang’s

visit in A. D. 634.

160. Fa Hian and his companions halted at Mathura for a whole

month, during which time “the clergy held a great assembly and

discoursed upon the law.” After the meeting they proceeded to the

Stupa of Sdriputra, to which they made an offering of all sorts of

156 Report -of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

perfumes, and before which they kept lamps burning the whole night.

Hwen Thsang describes these processions as carrying flying streamers

and stately parasols, while the mists of perfumes and the showers of

flowers darkened the sun and moon! J can easily realize the pomp and

glittering show of these ceremonies from the similar scenes which

T have witnessed in Barma. I have seen streamers from 100 to 200

feet in length carried in processions, and afterwards suspended from

pillars or holy trees. I have beheld hundreds of gorgeous parasols of

gold and silver brocade flashing in the sun; and I have witnessed the

burning of thousands of candles day after day before the great Stupa

of Shwe-Dagon at Rangoon, which is devoutly believed to contain

eight hairs of Buddha. Before this sacred tower, I have seen flowers

and fruits offered by thousands of people, until they formed large

heaps around it, while thousands of votaries still came thronging in

with their offerings of candles, and gold leaf, and little flags, with

plantains and rice, and flowers of all kinds.

161. From these accounts of the Chinese pilgrims it would appear

that the Buddhist establishments at Mathura must have been of consi-

derable importance, and this conclusion is fully borne out by the

number and interest of the recent discoveries. Contrary to his usual

practice, Hwen Thsang has unfortunately given us but few details

regarding the monasteries and temples of Mathura. This is the more

to be regretted, as we now know that one of the monasteries was

established by the great Indo-Scythian King Huwishka, about the

beginning of the Christian era, and that one of the stone statues,

judging by the size of its hand, could not have been less than 20 feet

in height.

162. The first place described by Hwen Thsang is a monastery

situated on a mound, at 5 or 6 li, or about one mile, to the east of the

city. Cells were formed in the sides of the mound, which was ap-

proached through a hollow, and in the midst was a Stwpa containing

the nails of Buddha. This monastery is said to have been built by

the holy Upagupta, who, as we learn from one of the legends of Pdtalz

Putra, was a contemporary of Asoka. The nails and beard of the

holy man were still preserved.

163. On another mound to the north of this monastery, there was

a cave containing a stone chamber, 20 feet high and 30 feet long,

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 157

which was full of bamboo spikes only four inches in length. These

spikes represented the number of husbands and their wives who had

been converted by Upagupta.

164. At 24 or 25 li, or just four miles to the south-east of the

stone chamber, there was a large dry tank, with a Stwpa on its bank,

which marked the spot where Buddha was said to have taken exercise.

On this spot also, according to the local legends, a monkey had offered

honey to Buddha, which the teacher graciously accepted and directed

that it should be mixed with water and given to the monks. The

glad monkey made a wild bound, and fell into the tank and died; but

owing to the powerful influence of his good act, he became a man in

his next birth.

165. Ina forest at a short distance to the north of the tank there

was another holy spot, where the four previous Buddhas were said

to have taken exercise ; and all around it there were numerous Stupas,

which marked the places where no less than 1,250 arhats, or holy

men, including Sdriputra, Mudgalaputra, and others, used to sit in

meditation. But besides these, there were several other Stwpas on

the spots where Buddha at different times had explained the law.

166. The two principal sites described by Hwen Thsang can, I

think, be fixed with tolerable certainty ; namely, that of the famous

Upagupta monastery, and that of the monkey’s offering. The first

is said to be at 5 or 6 lv, or just one mile, to the east of the city ; but

as an eastern direction would take us to the low ground, on the oppo-

site bank of the Jumna, where no ruins now exist, I feel quite satisfied

that we should read west instead of east. This change is rendered

almost certain by the discovery of numerous Buddhist remains inside

the great square of the Katra, which is just one mile to the westward

of the old fort of Mathura. But it is rendered quite certain by the

more recent discovery of very important Buddhist remains and old

inscriptions in a mound beside a tank which is situated just three miles

to the south-east of the Katra mound. This tank mound [ take to

be the place where Buddha was said to have taken exercise, and where

the monkey made his offering of honey. The direction is precisely

the same, and the distance agrees also as well as can be made out from

Hwen Thsang’s statements. He gives the distance as four miles from

the stone chamber, which was at some unstated, but certainly: short,

158 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

distance to the north of the Upagupta monastery. The nearest

mounds are about half a mile to the north of the Katra, which will

make the whole distance 33 miles, if measured in a direct line by

the British road, which passes outside the city, but which will be fully

four miles if measured by the old road, which goes through the city.

Had the Chinese pilgrim given us the name of the monastery built

by Upagupta, we might perhaps have obtamed some absolute proof of

its identity with the site of the Katra ; but I believe that the very

strong reasons which I have just before given are amply sufficient to

fix the site of the Upagupta monastery at the present Katra.

167. There are a great number of lo‘ty earthen mounds around

Mathura which are covered with fragments of stone and brick. No-

thing, however, is known about them, although every one of them has

a separate name. The numerous fragments of stone which are found

upon them show that they are not old brick-kilns, as might have been

supposed from their vicinity to the city. Apparently, they are natural

mounds such as are found everywhere along the lower course of the

Jumna, and which have usually been taken advantage of for the sites

of forts or temples. Thus the old fort of Mathura is perched upon

a similar mound, and so also is the Jama Masjid in the middle of the

Katra Square. Most of the names of these mounds refer to the Brah-

manical divinities; but there are two of them, such as the Anand

Tila and the Vinayak Tila, that are unmistakably Buddhist, and

which may possibly refer to the two Stupas of Ananda and Updli

(the Vinayaka, or teacher of Vinaya) as described by Hwen Thsang.

Both of these mounds are to the north of the city. To the south

there are seven mounds known as the Sat Tila, which are severally

named as follows :—1, Dhu-ka-Tila ; 2, Sapt Rishi ; 3, Bal, or But,

Tila ; 4, Narad ; 5, Kans ; 6, Kal-jug ; 7, Nagshesha. Now, it is

remarkable that the number of great Stwpas of the disciples of Buddha

was also seven; but unfortunately as nothing is recorded regarding

their relative positions, we are left entirely to conjecture whether these

seven mounds may possibly represent the seven famous Stwpas of Bud-

dha’s principal disciples. I think that it would be worth while to

make some excavations in all of these seven mounds to the south, as

well asin the two northern mounds which still bear Buddhistical

names.

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 159

168. The Katra mound has been successively occupied by Bud-

dhists, Brahmans, and Musalmans. The Kasra, or market-place, is:

an oblong enclosure like a Sara, 804 feet in length by 653 feet in

breadth. In the midst of this square stands the Jdéma Masjid, on

a large mound from 25 to 80 feet in 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 above the ground. About 5 feet lower, there is another terrace

286 feet in length by 268 feet in breadth, on the eastern edge of

which stands the mosque. There is no inscription on the building,

but the people ascribe it to Aurungzib, who is said to have pulled

down the great Hindu temple of Kesava Deva, or Keso Ray, that

formerly stood on this high mound, a most noble position, which com-

mands a fine view of the whole city. Curiously enough, I have been

able to verify this charge against Aurungzib by means of some inscrip-

tions on the pavement slabs which were recorded by Hindu pilgrims

to the shrine of Kesava Ray. In relaying the pavement, the Muham-

madan architect was obliged to cut many of the slabs to make them

fit into their new places. This is proved by several of the slabs bear-

ing incomplete portions of Nagari inscriptions of a late date. One

slab has “ bat 1713, Phdlgun,” the initial Sam of Sambat having been

cut off. Another slab has the name of Keso Ray, the rest being

wanting ; while a third bears the late date of S. 1720. These dates

are equivalent to A. D. 1656 and 1663; and as the latter is five years

subsequent to the accession of Aurungzib, it is certain that the Hindu

temple was still standing at the beginning of his reign.

169. The greater part of the foundations of the Hindu temple of

Kesava Ray may still be traced at the back of the Masjid. Indeed

the back wall of the mosque itself is actually built upon the plinth

of the temple, one of the cyma reversa mouldings being filled up with

brick and mortar. I traced the walls for a distance of 163 feet to the

westward, but apparently this was not the whole length of the temple,

as the mouldings of the Hindu plinth at the back of the Masjid are

those of an exterior wall. I think it probable that the temple must

have extended at least as far as the front of the mosque, which would

give a total length of 250 feet, with an extreme breadth of nearly 72

feet, the floor of the building being no less than 25 feet above the

160 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

ground. Judging from these dimensions, the temple of Kesava Deva

must have been one of the largest in India. 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 Jaga Deva, but

some say that the enshrined image was that of Jaga Deva, and that

the builder’s name was Ray or Raja Kesava Deva. It is possible that

it may have been one of the ‘‘innumerable temples” described by

Mahmud in his letter to the Governor of Ghazni, writtenin A. D.

1017, as we know that the conqueror spared the temples either through

admiration of their beauty, or on account of the difficulty of destroy-

ing them. Mahmud remained at Mathura only 20 days, but during

that time the city was pillaged and burned, and the temples were rifled

of their statues. Amongst these there were “ five golden idols whose

eyes were of rubies, valued at 50,000 dinars,” or £25,000. <A sixth

golden image weighed 98,300 mishkals, or 1,120 ths., and was decor-

ated with a sapphire weighing 300 mishkals, or 34tbs. But “ besides

these images, there were above one hundred idols of silver, which

loaded as many camels.” Altogether the value of the idols carried of

by Mahmud cannot have been less than three millions of Rupees, or

£300,000.

170. The date of Mahmud’s invasion was A. D. 1017, or some-

what less than 400 years after the visit of the Chinese pilevim Hwen

Thsang, who in A. D. 634 found only five Brahmanical temples in

Mathura. It is during these four centuries, therefore, that we must

place, not only the decline and fall of Buddhism, but its total dis-

appearance from this great city, in which it once possessed twenty

large monasteries, besides many splendid monuments of its most famous

teachers. Of the circumstances which attended the downfall of Bud-

dhism we know almost nothing; but as in the present case we find

the remains of a magnificent Brahmanical temple occupying the very

site of what must once have been a large Buddhist establishment, we

may infer with tolerable certainty that the votaries of Sakya Muni

were expelled by force, and that their buildings were overthrown to

furnish materials for those of their Brahmanical rivals ; and now these

in their turn have been thrown down by the Musalmans.

171. I made the first discovery of Buddhist remains at the temple

of Kesava Ray in January 1853, when, after along search, I found

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 161

a broken pillar of a Buddhist railing sculptured with the figure of

Méyd Devi standing under the Sd/ tree. At the same time I found

the capitals of two large round pillars of an early date, which are most

probably Buddhist, along with a fragment of an inscription of the

Gupta dynasty, containing the well known genealogy from Gupta, the

founder, down to Samudra Gupta, where the stone is broken off.

During the present year I have discovered the peculiarly curved archi-

trave of a Buddhist gateway, which is richly sculptured on both sides

with buildings, figures, and trees, including a representation of a gate-

way itself. I found also a very perfect standing figure of Buddha,

the Teacher, which had lately been discovered in clearing out a well

at the north-west corner of the temple. The figure is 34 feet high,

with the left hand grasping the drapery, and the right hand raised in

the act of teaching. On the pedestal there is a dated inscription, in

two lines, in characters of an early period. The date is given in

figures and is uncertain, but the remainder of the inscription, which

is in perfect order, is easily legible. It records the gift of a statue of

Sakya Bhikshu to the Yasa Vihdra, or ‘‘ splendid monastery,” which

I take to have been the name of the Buddhist establishment that once

existed on this spot. I think also that there are good grounds for

believing that this was the famous monastery which was founded by

the holy Upagupta during the reign of Asoka.

172. In the same well there were found five other pieces of Bud-

dhist sculpture, of which the only specimens worth mentioning are

a colossal arm and hand, and a small figure of Buddha, the Ascetic,

with an imperfect inscription on its pedestal in characters of the Gupta

dynasty. All these discoveries are sufficient to show that the mound

of Kesava Ray must have been the site of a Buddhist establishment

of much wealth and of considerable size. The inscribed statue proves

that here stood the Yasa monastery, and the gateway architrave shows

that there must also have been a Stwpa surrounded with the stone

railing which is peculiar to Buddhist architecture, and which on that

account I have ventured to call the Buddhist railing. The site ig

a most promising one for a discovery, and as the Masjid has long been

disused, owing to many dangerous cracks in both roof and walls,

I believe that there would not be any objection whatever to a complete

exploration of the mound.

162 Report of the Archeological Survey. [ No. 3,

173. The most extensive discoveries at Mathura have been made

in a mound close to the Jail, which, according to the inscriptions,

would appear to have been the site of at least two different monas-

teries, named the Huvishka Vihdra and the Kundokhara Vihara.

The first of these names I deciphered in 1860 from a circular inscrip-

tion round the base of a column, and the second name I found early

in the present year, 1863, on a large flat slab of stone which had

apparently been used as a seat.

174. In my notice of the first discovery, which was published in

the Asiatic Society’s Journal for 1860, I identified this Huvishka with

his namesake of the Wardak inscription, and with the Hushka of the

Raja Tarangini ; and this identification has since been adopted by all

who have made any reference to either of these records. The ques-

tion is one of considerable importance, as it enables us to fix the date

of the building of the monastery in the latter half of the century

immediately preceding the Christian era, at which period the three

Indo-Scythian princes, Hushka and his brothers, Kanishka and Jushka,

ruled over Kabul, Kashmir, and the Punjab. The bases of about 30

pillars belonging to this monastery have now been discovered, of which

no less than 15 are inscribed with the names of the donors who pre-

sented the columns to the monastery. But as one of these giits

consisted of six pillars, a second of 25, and a third of 26 pillars, there

still remain 40 columns to be discovered, which will bring up the total

number to 70. The diameter of the circular shafts of these pillars

varies from 17 to 18 inches, and the side of the square base from 233

to 24 inches. They are all very coarsely worked, the rough marks of

the chisel never having been smoothed away.

175. The name of the second monastery, Kuwndokhara, refers, I

believe, to the tank which lies immediately to the westward of the

mound. At most of the old Buddhist sites I have found tanks named

in a similar manner, as the Buddhokhar at Buddha Gaya, the Panso-

khar at Nalanda, the Narokhar and Chandokhar at Sarnath, Benares,

the Buddhokhar at Pundwa, and the Chandokhar at Dharawat. All

of these I believe to be formed of Pushkhara, or Pokhar, the well

known term for a tank, added to the name of Buddha, or to that of

the person at whose expense it was excavated.

176. The discoveries already made in the Jail mound, amongst

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 168

the ruins of the Huvishka and Kundokhara monasteries, have been

very interesting on account of their variety, as they comprise statues

of all sizes, bas-reliefs, pillars, Buddhist railings, votive Stupas, stone

umbrellas, and many other objects peculiar to Buddhism, of a date as

early as the first century of the Christian era. Amongst the broken

statues there is the left hand of a colossal figure of Buddha, the

Teacher, which measures exactly one foot across the palm. The

statue itself, therefore, could not have been less than from 20 to 24

feet in height, and with its pedestal, halo, and umbrella canopy it

must have been fully 30 feet in height. Stone statues of this great

size are so extremely difficult to move, that they can be very rarely

made. It is true that some of the Jain statues of Gwalior are larger,

such as the standing colossus in the Urwdhi of the fort, which is 57

feet high, with a foot 9 feet in length, and the great seated figure on

the east side of the fort, which is 29 feet high, with 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 up on the spot of brick and mortar, and

cannot be moved. I look forward, therefore, with great interest to the

discovery of other portions of the Mathura Colossus, and more especi-

ally to that of the pedestal, on which we may expect to find the name

of the donor of this costly and difficult work.

177. Most of the statues hitherto discovered at Mathura have been

those of Buddha, the Teacher, who is represented either sitting or

standing, and with one or both hands raised in the attitude of enforcing

his argument. The prevailing number of these statues is satisfactorily

illustrated by Hwen Thsang, who records that when Buddha was alive

he frequently visited Mathura, and that monuments have been erected

“im all the places where he explained the law.” Accordingly, on this

one spot there have already been found two colossal standing figures

of the Teacher, each 74 feet in height, two life-size seated statues, and

one three-quarter size seated statue, besides numerous smaller figures

of inferior workmanship.

178. The most remarkable piece of sculpture is that of a female

of rather more than half life-size. The figure is naked, save a

girdle of beads round the waist, the same as is seen in the Bhilsa

sculptures and Ajanta paintings. The attitude and the positions of the

164 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

hands are similar to those of the famous statue of Venus of the Capitol.

But in the Mathura statue the left hand is brought across the right

breast, while the right hand holds up a small portion of drapery. The

head is slightly inclined towards the nght shoulder, and the hair is

dressed in a new and peculiar manner, 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 lotus

stalks covered with buds and flowers, which are very gracefully arranged

and boldly executed. The plump face with its broad smile is the least

satisfactory part of this work. Altogether this statue is one of the best

specimens of unaided Indian art that I have met with. I presume

that it represents a dancing girl, and that it once adorned one of the

gateways of the great Stupa near the monastery of Huvishka-

179. Three statues of lions have also been discovered, but they

are 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 have the left foot advanced, while the

third has the right foot brought forward. The attitudes are stiff, and

the workmanship especially of the legs, is hard, wiry and unnatural.

It is the fore part only of the animal that is given, as if issuing out of

the block of stone in rear, from which I infer that they must originally

have occupied the two sides of some large gateway, such as we may

suppose to have belonged to the great monastery of Huvishka.

180. The most numerous remains are the stone pillars of the Bud-

dhist railings, of which at least three different sizes have been found.

Those of the largest size are 45 feet in height, with a section of 124

by 6 inches. When complete with base and coping, this railing would

have been about 7 feet in height. The middle-sized pillars are 3 feet

8 inches high, with a section of 9 by 42 inches. The railings formed

of these pillars would have been 54 feet in height. Those of the

smallest size are 2# feet high, with a section of 61 by 32 inches,

which would have formed a railing of only 4 feet in height. Of this

last size no more than six specimens have yet been found, but two of

them are numbered in the ancient Gupta numerals as 118 and 129, so

that many more of them still remain to be discovered. If we assume

the number of these pillars to have been no more than 129, the length

of railing which they formed would have been 144 feet, or with two

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 165

entrances not less than 160 feet. This might have been disposed

either as a square enclosure of 40 feet side, or as a circular enclosure

of upwards of 50 feet diameter. The last would have been sufficient for

the circular railing of a Stwpa 40 feet in diameter.

181. No inscriptions or numbers have been found on any of the

large sized pillars, but there can be no doubt that they must have formed

parts of the surrounding railings either of Stwpas or of holy trees, such as

are represented in the Sanchi bas-reliefs, or as weseethem in still existing

examples at Sanchi and Sonari. Of the middle-sized railing I founda

single broken rail, and also a single specimen of the architraves or

coping stones. In the Sanchi and Sondri examples the coping is quite

plain, but this Mathura specimen is ornamented on both faces with

semi-circular panels or niches containing figures and flowers.

182. The sculptures on the Mathura pillars are of two kinds;

namely, large single figures on the front, and on the back either small

bas-reliefs in compartments one above the other, or else full-blown

flowers at regular intervals. Both in the single figures and in the

bas-reliefs we find the same mixture of religious and social subjects as

in the sculptures of Sanchiand Buddha Gaya. On one pillar we have

a standing figure of Buddha, the Teacher, with a halo and umbrella

canopy, and on the back four small bas-reliefs representing, Ist, a holy

tree with suspended garlands, surrounded by a Buddhist railing ; 2nd,

a pair of figures, male and female; 3rd, a kneeling figure presenting

an offering to astanding figure ; and 4th, an elephant with rider. One

of the other single figures is a female holding a water vessel to her

lips, and no less than four of the others are representations of May&

Devi standing under the Sd/ tree, and holding one of its branches, in

which position she is described as having given birth to Buddha. A

specimen one of the large sized Mathura pillars may be seen in the

Asiatic Society’s Museum in Calcutta, where it was deposited by

Colonel Stacy.

183. But perhaps the most curious of all the Mathura sculptures

is that which was figured and described by James Prinsep in 1836

as a Statue of Silenus. The block is 3 feet 10 inches in height, 3 feet

broad, and 1 foot 4 inches thick. On the top there is a circular

bason 16 inches in diameter and 8 inches deep. On the front there is

a group of three figures about three-fourths of life-size, with two

166 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

smaller figures, and on the back a group of four figures of half life-size.

In the front group the principal figure is a stout, half naked man

resting on a low seat, with ivy or vine-crowned brow, and outstretched

arms, which appear to be supported by the figures, male and female,

standing one on each side. The dress of the female is most certainly

not Indian, and is almost as certainly Greek. The dress of the male

figure also appears to be Greek. Colonel Stacy describes it as “a

kerchief round the neck with a tie in front as worn by sailors ;” but

as it widens as it approaches the shoulders, I presume that it must be

the short cloak of the Greeks which was fastened in front in the very

same manner as represented in this sculpture. Prinsep agrees with

Stacy in considering the principal figure to be Silenus: “his portly

carcass, drunken lassitude, and vine-wreathed forehead, stamp the

individual, while the drapery of his attendants pronounces them at

least to be foreign to India, whatever may be thought of Silenus’s

own costume, which is certainly highly orthodox and Brahmanical.

Tf the sculptor were a Greek, his taste had been somewhat tainted by

the Indian beau-ideal of female beauty. In other respects his

proportions and attitudes are good; nay, superior to any specimen

of pure Hindu sculpture we possess; and considering the object of

the group, to support a sacrificial vase (probably of the juice of

the grape), it is excellent.” Of the group on the back I have but

little to say: the two female figures and one of the men are dressed

in the same Greek costume as the figures of the other group,

but the fourth figure, male, is dressed in a long tuni+, which is

certainly not Greek, and cannot well be Indian. The religious

Buddhist would have his right shoulder bare, and the layman would

have the dhotz, or waist-cloth. The Greek-clad male figure may

possibly be Silenus, but Iam unable to offer even a conjecture as to

the figure in the tunic.

184. The question now arises, how is the presence of this piece of

Greek sculpture to be accounted for? Perhaps the most reasonable

solution is to assume the presence of a small body of Bactrian Greek

sculptors who would have found ready employment for their services

amongst the wealthy Buddhists, just in the same way as goldsmiths

and artillerymen afterwards found service with the Mogul Emperors.

It must be remembered that Mathura is close to the great sandstone

—-1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 167

quarries which for ages past have furnished materials for sculptors and

architects of Upper India. All the ancient statues that I have met

with in Rohilkhund and Oudh are made of this stone, and there can

be little doubt that the Buddhist custom of making gifts of statues

and pillars to the various monasteries must have created such a steady

demand for the sculptor’s works as would have ensured the continuous

employment of many skilled workmen. Many of the Bactrian Greeks

may thus havefound remunerative service amongst the Indian Buddhists.

Indeed, this is the only way in which I can account, not only for the

very superior execution of many of the earliest specimens of Indian

art, but also for many of their ornamental details, such as the fluting of

the pillars in the Western Punjab architecture and the honeysuckle and

astragal ornaments of Asoka’s monoliths, all of which are of undoubted

Greek origin. In the great fort of Narwar there still exists a Roman

Catholic chapel, with a burial-ground attached, containing fifty tombs

of all sizes, of which two only are inscribed. One records the death of

a German, named Cornelius Oliver, in A. D. 1747; the other of a

young girl named Margarita, the daughter of a Hakim or Doctor.

The first is recorded in Portuguese, the other in Persian. That the

fifty tombs are those of Christians is proved, not only by the presence

of the cross on several of the uninscribed head-stones, but by the occur-

rence of letters I. H. S. surmounted by a cross, on the wall imme-

diately above the altar. I presume that these Christians were gunners

who formed the artillery portion of the garrisons of the important

fortress of Narwar. Here, then, we have the clearest proof of the

existence of a small body of foreigners in the very heart of India, who

were permitted the open exercise of their religion by the most bigoted

of all mankind, the Indian Muhammadans. Such also I think may have

been the position of a small party of Bactrian Greeks amongst the

tolerant Buddhists of the great city of Mathura, about the beginning

of the Christian era, Their very names are unknown, and their occupa-

tions are uncertain, but their foreign religion is attested beyond all

doubt by the presence of a Bacchic altar, bearing the known figure of

the wine-bibbing Silenus.

IIL—KHALSI OR SRUGHNA.

185. About 15 miles to the westward of Masuri, and on the right

bank of the Jumna just above the junction of the Tons river, there

168 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

stands a huge quartz boulder covered with one of the well known

inscriptions of Asoka. The inscribed rock is situated close to the

little villages of Byds and Haripur, and about one mile and a half to the

south of the large and well known village of Khalsi, by which name

I propose to distinguish this copy of Asoka’s edicts from those of

Kapurdagiri, Junagiri, Rohités, and Ganjam. In speaking of Firuz

Shah’s Pillar at Delhi, which we know was brought from the foot of

the hills on the western bank of the Jumna near Khidrabad, I have

already identified the district of Khalsi with part of the ancient kingdom

of Srughna, as described by Hwen Thsang. As my reasons for com-

ing to this conclusion are based entirely upon the statements of the

Chinese pilgrim, it is necessary that they should be given in detail.

186 On leaving Sthdneswara or Thénesar Hwen Thsang records

that he went 400 lz, or 66 miles, to the westward, to the kingdom of

Su-lu-kin-na. or Surghna, which he describes as being bounded by the

Ganges on the east, and by high mountains on the north, and as being

watered by the Jumna, which ran through the midst of it. The Capital,

which was 20 /z, or upwards of three miles, in circuit, was situated

immediately on the west bank of the Jumna, and although much ruined,

its foundations were still standing. Amongst other monuments it

possessed a Stwpa of King Asoka. The direction given by Hwen

Thsang is undoubtedly wrong, asthe Jumna is not more than 24

miles distant from Thanesar towards the east. But the mention of the

hills shows most clearly that the bearing should be north-east, and as

the recorded distance of the Jumna at the foot of the hills agrees with

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 first I was inclined to fix the position of

the Capital in the immediate neighbourhood of the inscribed rock of

Khalsi, but I could neither find nor hear of any ruins in its vicinity,

and the distance is besides too great, being, 71 miles in a direct line,

or about 80 miles by the road. If Hwen Thasng’s distance is correct,

the most probable position of the Capital is Paota, on the right bank

of the Jumna, which is 57 miles distant from Thdnesar in a direct line,

or about 65 miles by the road. I believe also that Paota is the very place

from whence Firuz Shah removed the Delhi column, for the name of its

original site is variously written as Taopar, or Topara, or Taoparsuk, any

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 169

one of which by the mere shifting of the diacritical points might be read

as Paotar. It is possible also that the word Suk may still preserve a

trace of the ancient name of Sughan, which is the spoken form of the

Sanskrit Srughna. I propose to explore this neighbourhood during

the ensuing cold season. In the meantime I am satisfied with having

shown that the inscribed rock of Khalsi is situated within 18 or 20

miles of the site of the ancient Capital of Srughna, in whose great

monastery the Chinese pilgrim spent upwards of four months, because

the monks discussed the most difficult questions so ably that all doubts

were cleared up. By the hands of this learned fraternity were most

probably engraved the two copies of the edicts of Asoka which are still

extant, on the Khalsi rock and on the Delhi Pillar of Firuz Shah.

187. Between Khalsi and the Jumna the land on the western

bank of the river is formed in two successive ledges or level steppes,

each about 100 feet in height. Near the foot of the upper steppe

stands the large quartz boulder which has preserved the edicts of

Asoka for upwards of 2,000 years. The block is 10 feet high, and

about 8 feet thick at bottom. The south-eastern face has been smooth-

ed, but rather unevenly, as it follows the undulations of the originay

surface. The main inscription is engraved on this smoothed surface,

which measures 5 feet in height with a breadth of 54 feet at top, which

increases towards the bottom to 7 feet 103 inches. The deeper hollows

and cracks have been left uninscribed, and the lines of letters are un-

dulating and uneven. ‘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 the latter

part of the inscription being of later date, the prepared surface was

too small for the whole record, which was therefore compressed on the

left hand side of the rock.

188. On the right hand side an elephant is traced in outline, with

the words Gaja tame inscribed between his legs in the same characters

as those of the inscription. The exact meaning of these words I do

not know; but as the Junagiri rock inscription closes with a paragraph

stating that the place is called Sweta Hasti, or the “white elephant,”

I think it probable that Gaja tame may mean the “ dark or black

elephant,” and may therefore be the name of the rock itself. Amongst

the people, however, the rock is known by the name of Chhatr Stla,

170 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

or ‘‘ the canopy stone,”’ which would seem to show that the inscribed

block had formerly been covered over by some kind of canopy, or

perhaps only by an umbrella, as the name imports. There are a

number of squared stones lying about close to the rock, as well as se-

veral fragments of octagonal pillars and half pillars or pilasters, which

are hollowed out or fluted on the shorter faces, after the common

fashion of the pillars of Buddhist railings. There is also a large

carved stone, 7 feet long, 13 foot broad, and 1 foot in height, which

from its upper mouldings I judged to have formed the entrance step

to some kind of open porch in front of the inscription stone.

189. When found by Mr. Forrest early in 1860 the letters of the

inscription were hardly visible, the whole surface being encrusted with

the dark moss of ages; but on removing this black film the surface

became nearly as white as marble. At first sight the inscription looks

as if it was imperfect in many places, but this is owing to the engrav-

er having purposely left all the cracked and rougher portions uninscrib-

ed. On comparing the different edicts with those of the Kapurdagirz,

Junagivi and Dhouli versions, I find the Khalsi text to be in a more

perfect state than any one of them, and more especially in that part of

the 13th Hdict which contains the names of the five Greek Kings,

Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas, and Alexander. The Khialsi

text agrees with that of Dhouli in rejecting the use of the letter 7,

for which / is everywhere substituted. But the greatest variation is in

the use of the palatal sibilant s, w, which has not been found in any

other inscription of this early date. This letter occurs in the word

Pdsanda, which curiously enough is spelt sometimes with one s, and

sometimes with the other, even in the same edict. As the proper

spelling of this word is Pashanda, it seems almost certain that the

people of India Proper did not possess the letter sh in the time of Asoka.

190. 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 more obscure parts in the front inscrip-

tion. I have since compared the entire text with those of the other

rock tablets, and I am now engaged in making a reduced copy of this

valuable record for early publication. I propose, however, first to

compare it with the Kapwrdagirt version in the Arian characters.

With good copies of all the different texts before them, the scholars

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. Lil

of Europe will be able to give a more satisfactory interpretation of

Asoka’s edicts than has hitherto been made, even, with the aid of all

the learning of Burnouf and Wilson.

IV.—_MADAWAR, OR MADIPUR.

191. From Srughna the Chinese pilgrim proceeded to Mo-ti-pu-lo,

or Madipur, to the east of the Ganges, a distance of 800 I, or 158

miles. Madipur has been identified by M. St., Martin with Manddwar,

a large old town in Western Rohilkhand 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 locality.

The actual distance from Paota on the Jumnato Manddwar via Harid-

war, is not more than 110 miles by the present roads; but as it

would have been considerably more by the old native tracks leading

from village to village, the distance recorded by Hwen Thsang is most

probably not far from the truth, more especially when we remember

that he paid a visit to Ma-yu-lo, or Maywrapura, now Myapoor, near

Hardwaér at the head of the Ganges Canal. But the identity of the

site of Maddwar with Madipur is not dependent on this one distance

alone, as will be seen from the subsequent course of the pilgrim, which

most fully confirms the position already derived from his previous route.

192. The name of the town is written agrat, JMaddwar, the

Munddwur of the maps. According to Johari Lal, Chaodri and

Kanungo of the place, Maddwar was a deserted site in Samvat 1171,

or A. D. 1114, when his ancestor Dwdrka Dds, an Agarwala Baniya,

accompanied by Katdr Mall, came from Mordri in the Mirat District,

and occupied the old mound. The present town of Maddwar contains

7,000 inhabitants, and is rather more than three-quarters of a mile in

length by half a mile in breadth. But the old mound which represents

the former town is not more than half a mile square. It has an aver-

age height of 10 feet above the rest of the town, and it abounds with

large bricks, a certain sign of antiquity. Im the middle of the mound

there is a ruined fort, 300 feet square, with an elevation of 6 or 7 feet

above the rest of the city. To the north-east, distant about one mile

from the fort, there is a large village, on another mound, called

Madiya ; and between the two lies a large tank called Kinda Tal,

surrounded by numerous small mounds which are said to be the re-

172 Report -of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

mains of buildings. Originally these two places would appear to have

formed one large town about 14 mile in length by half a mile in

breadth, or 34 miles in circuit. The Kanungo states that Jladawar

formed part of the dominions of Pithora Raja, and that it possessed

a large Hindu temple of stone, which was afterwards destroyed by one

of the Ghori Sultans, who built the present Jama Masjid on its site,

and with its materials. The stones of the mosque are squared blocks

of soft grey sandstone, and as many of them exhibit cramp-holes on the

outside, there can be no doubt that they must originally have belong-

ed to some other building.

193. To the south-east of the town there is a large, deep, irregu-

larly shaped piece of water called Pirwali Tal. It is nearly half a

mile in length, but not more than 300 feet broad in its widest part.

Tt is filled in the rains by a small channel carrying the drainage of the

country from the north-east, and its overflow falls into the Malin

River, about two miles distant. This pool is only part of a natural

channel of drainage which has been deepened by the excavation of earth

for the bricks of the town. But in spite of this evident origin of the

Madéwar tank, it was gravely asserted by the Buddhists to have been

produced by an earthquake which accompanied the death of a celebrat-

ed saint named Vimala Mitra.

194. According to Hwen Thsang Madipur was 20 li, or 34 miles,

in circuit, which agrees very closely with what would appear to be

the most probable size of the old town. The King was a Sudra, who

cared nothing for Buddhism, but worshipped the Devas. ‘There were

12 Buddhist monasteries, containing about 800 monks, who were

mostly attached to the school of the Sarvdstivddas, and there were

also about 50 Brahmanical temples. To the south of the town, at 4

or 5 li, or 2 of a mile, there was a small monastery in which Gunapra-

bha was said to have composed 100 works ; and at half a mile to the

north of this there was a great monastery which was famous as the

scene of Sanghabhadra’s suiden death from chagrin, when he was over-

come in argument by Vasubandhw. His relics were deposited in a

Stupa in the midst of a mango grove only 200 paces to the north-west

of the monastery. These two chiefs of Buddhism lived about the

beginning of the Chirstian era, and the Sfwpa was still standing in

A. D. 634, at the time of Hwen Thsang’s visit. There is no trace

1865. ] | Report of the Archeological Survey. - 178

now existing either of the monasteries or of the Séwpa, but their sites

ean be fixed with tolerable certainty by the aid of Hwen Thsang’s

descriptions. The village of Lalpur, which is situated on a mound

about three quarters of a mile to the south-south-east of the Jama

Masjid, and which is built partly of old bricks, represents the site of

the small monastery of Gunaprabha. To the north of Lalpur, and

just half a mile distant, is the shrine of Hid&yat Shah, with a Masjid

attached, both of which are built of old bricks. This spot I believe

to be the site of the great monastery of Sanghabhadra. Lastly, to

the west-north-west of Hiddyat’s shrine, at a distance of 200 paces,

there is another shrine, or Makir’s takia, standing in the midst of a

mango grove, like the old Stupa of Sanghabhadra, the site of which

it represents almost exactly as described by Hwen Thsang.

195. Beside the mango grove, there was a second Stwpa which con-

tained the relies of Vimala Mitra, who, as a disciple of Sanghabhadra,

must have lived in the first century of the Christian era. The legend

relates that on passing the Stupa of his master Sanghabhadra, he

placed his hand on his heart, and with a sigh expressed a wish that he

might live to compose a work which should lead all the students of

India to renounce the “Great Vehicle’ (Mahé Yana), and which

should blot out the name of Vaswbandhu for ever. No sooner had he

spoken than he was seized with frenzy, and five spouts of burning hot

blood gushed from his mouth. Then feeling himself dying, he wrote

a letter “expressing his repentance for having maligned the Mahd

Ydna, and hoping that his fate might serve as an example to all

students.” At these words the earth quaked, and he expired instantly.

Then the spot 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 giving way to his passions, and by persisting in

erroneous opinions, has calumniated the Mahd Yéna, for which he

has now fallen into everlasting hell.” But this opinion of the holy

man would appear to have been confined to the followers of the Mahd

Yana, for the brethren of Vimala Mitra, who were Sarvastivddas, or

students.of the lesser Vehicle, burned his body and raised a Stupa

oyer his relics. It must be remembered, also, that Hwen Thsang, who

relates the legend, was a zealous follower of the Mahé Yana, and this

no doubt led him to overlook the manifest contradiction. between the

174 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

statement of the uncharitable arhat, and the fact that his brethren had

burned his body in the usual manner. This legend, as well as several

others, would seem to show that there was a hostile and even bitter

feeling between these two great sects of the Buddhist community.

196. The site of Vimala Mitra’s Stupa is described as being at

the edge of the mango grove, and from the details of the legend it is

clear that it could have been at no great distance from the Stwpa of

Sanghabhadra. It would appear also that it must have stood close by

the great ditch, or hollow, which his opponents looked upon as the

rent in the earth by which he had sunk down to “ everlasting hell.’’

Now, the mango grove which I have before mentioned, extends only

120 paces to the westward to the bank of the deep tank called the Pirwalz

Tal. conclude therefore that the Stupa of Vimala Mitra must have

stood close to the edge of this tank and on the border of the mango grove

which still exists in the same position as described by Hwen Thsang.

197. It seems probable that the people of Maddwar, as pointed out

by M. St. Martin, may be the Mathe of Megasthenes who dwelt on

the banks of the Erineses. If so, that river must be the Malini It

is true that this is but a small stream, but it was in a sacred grove

on the bank of the Malini that Sakuntala was brought up, and along

its course lay her route to the Court of Dushmanta at Hastinapur.

While the lotus floats on its waters, and while the Chakwa calls its

mate on its bank, so long will the little I/dlini live in the verse

of Kalidas.

V.—KASHIPUR, OR GOVISANA.

198. On leaving Madipur the Chinese pilgrim travelled 400 lx, or

66 miles to the south-east and arrived in the kingdom of Kuvw-pi-

shwang-na, which M. Julien renders by Govisana. The Capital

was 14 or 15 li, or 24 miles, incircuit. Its position was strong, being

elevated, and of difficult access, and it was surrounded by groves,

tanks, and fish ponds. There were two monasteries containing 100

monks, and 30 Brahmanical temples. In the middle of the larger

jnonastery, which was outside the city, there was a Stupa of Asoka, 200

feet in height, built over the the spot where Buddha was said to have

explained the law. There were also two small Stupas, only 12 feet

high, containing his hair and nails.

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 175

199. According to the bearing and distance from Madipur, as

given by Hwen Thsang, we must look for Govisana somewhere to the

north of Muradabad. In this direction the only place of any antiquity

is the old fort of Ujain, which is just one mile to the east of Kashipur.

According to the route which I marched the distance is 44 kos, or 66

miles. I estimate the value of the kos by the measured distance of

59 miles between the Post Offices of Bareli and Muradabad, which is

always called 40 kos by the natives. The true bearing of Kashipur

is east-south-east, instead of south-east, but the difference is not great ;

and as the position of Kashipur is equally clearly indicated by the

subsequent route to Ahichhatra, I feel quite satisfied that the old fort

of Ujaimn represents the ancient city of Govisana which was visited by

Hwen Thsang.

200. Bishop Heber describes Kashipur as a “famous place of

Hindu pilgrimage which was built by a divinity

named - Kashi 5,000 years ago.” But the

good Bishop was grossly deceived by his informant, as it is well known

Vol. IL., p. 246.

that the town is a modern one, it having been built about A. D.

1718 by Kashi Nath, a follower of Raja Devi Chandra, or Deb Chand,

of Champawat in Kumaon. The old fort is now called Ujain, but as

that is the name of the nearest village it seems probable that the true

name has been lost. The place itself had been deserted for several

hundred years before the occupation of Kashipur, but as the holy tank

of Dron Sdgar had never ceased to be visited by pilgrims, I presume

that the name of the tank must have gradually superseded that of the

fort. Even at the present day, the name of Dron Sagar is just as well

known as that of Kashipur.

201. The old fort of Ujain is very peculiar in its form, which may

be best compared to the body of a guitar. It is 3,000 feet in length

from west to east, and 1,500 feet in breadth, the whole circuit being

upwards of 9,000 feet, or rather less than 2 miles. Hwen Thsang

describes the circuit of Govisana as about 12,000 feet, or nearly 24

miles, but in this measurement he must have included the long mound

of ruins on the south side, which is evidently the remains of an ancient

suburb. By including this mound as an undoubted part of the old

city, the circuit of the ruins is upwards of 11,000 feet, or very nearly

the same as that given by Hwen Thsang. Numerous groves, tanks,

176 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

and fish ponds still surround the place. Indeed, the trees are parti-

cularly luxuriant, owing to the high level of the water which is within

5 or 6 feet of the surface. For the same reason the tanks are numer-

ous and always full of water. The largest of these is the Dron Sdgar,

which, as well as the fort, is said to have been constructed by the five

Pandu brothers for the use of their teacher Drona. The tank is only

600 feet square, but it is esteemed very holy, and is much frequented by

pilgims on their way to the source of the Ganges. Its high banks are

covered with Sate monuments of recent date. The walls of the fort are

built of large massive bricks, 15 inches by 10 inches by 24 inches, which

are always a certain sign ofantiquity. The general height of the walls

is 30 feet above the fields; but the whole is now in complete ruin, and

covered with dense jungle. Shallow ditches still exist on all sides

except the east. The interior is very uneven, but the mass has a mean

height of about 20 feet above the country. There are two low open-

ings in the ramparts, one to the north-west and the other to the south-

west, which now serve as entrances to the jungle, and which the people

say were the old gates of the fort.

202. There are some small temples on the western bank of the Dron

Sdgar; but the great place of worship is the modern temple of Jwala

Devi, 600 feet to the eastward of the fort. This goddess is also called

Ujaint Devi, and a great fair is held in her honour on the 8th day of

the waning moon of Chaitra. Other smaller temples contain symbols of

Mahadeva under the titles of Butesar, Muktesar, Ndgndth, and Jdgesar.

But all of these temples are of recent date; the sites of the more ancient

fanes being marked by mounds of various dimensions from 10 to upwards

of 30 feet in height. The most remarkable of these mounds is situated

inside the northern wall of the fort, above which the ruins rise to a height

of 52 feet above the country, and 22 feet above the ramparts. This

mound is called Bhimgaja, or Bhimgada, that is, Bhim’s club, by which

I understand a large lingam of Mahadeva. Were it not for this name,

I should be inclined to look upon this huge mound as the remains of

a palace, as I succeeded in tracing the walls of what appeared to have

been a large room, 72 feet in length from north to south, by 63 feet in

width, the walls being 6 feet thick. About 500 feet beyond the

north-east angle of the fort there is another remarkable mound which

is rather more than 34 feet in height. It stands in the midst of a

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 177

quadrangular terrace, 600 in length by 500 feet in breadth, and, as well

as I could ascertain from an excavation at the top, it is the remains of a

large square temple. Close by on the east, and within the quadrangle,

there are the ruins of two small temples. To the eastward ofthe Jwala

Devi temple, there is a curious circular, flat-topped mound of earth, 68

feet in diameter, surrounded by a brick wall from 7 to 11 feet in height.

It is called Rdmgir Gosain-ka-tila, or “the mound of Ramgir Gosain,”

from which I infer that it is the burial place of amodern Gosain. To

the south of the fort, near the temple of Jagesar Mahadeva, there is a

third large mound, 22 feet in height, which was once crowned by a

temple 20 feet square inside. The bricks have only recently been

removed, and the square core of earth still remains perfect. To the

westward of this last, there is a fourth mound, on which I traced the

ruins of a temple 30 feet square standing in the midst of a raised

quadrangle about 500 feet square. Besides these there are ten smaller

mounds, which make up altogether 14, or just one-half the number of

the Brahmanical temples which are mentioned by Hwen Thsang. ;

203. The only ruin which appeared to me to be of undoubted

Buddhist origin was a solid brick mound 20 feet in height, to the

south-west of Jagesar Mahadeva, and close to the small village of

Khargpur. The base of the mound is upwards of 200 feet in diameter.

The solid brick-work at the top is still 60 feet thick, but as it is

broken all round, its original diameter must have been much greater,

probably not less than 80 feet. But even this larger diameter is too small

for a Stwpa of 200 feet in height of the hemispherical form of Asoka’s

time; a Stupa of that early period, even when provided with both

plinth and cupola, would not have exceeded 100 feet in height. Unless

therefore we may suppose that there is a mistake of 100 feet in the text

of Hwen Thsang, I feel quite unable to offer any identification

whatever of the Buddhist remains of Govisana as described by the

Chinese pilgrim.

VI—RAMNAGAR, OR AHICHHATRA.

204. From Govisana Hwen Thsang proceeded to the south-east

400 lx, or 66 miles, to Ahi-chi-ta-lo, or Ahichhatra. This once famous

place still preserves its ancient name as Ahichhatr, although it has

been deserted for many centuries, Its history reaches back to B. C,

178 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

1430, at which time it was the Capital of Northern Pénchéla. The

name is written Ahi-kshetra, as well as Ahi-chhatra, but the local legend

of Adi Raja and the Naga, who formed a canopy over his head when

asleep, shows that the latter is the correct form. This grand old fort

is said to have been built by Raja Adi, an Ahir, whose future elevation

to sovereignty was foretold by Drona, when he found him sleeping

under the guardianship of a serpent with expanded hood. The place is

mentioned by Ptolemy as Aducddpa, which proves that the legend at-

tached to the name of Adz is at least as old as the beginning of the

Christian era. The fort is also called <Adikot, but the more conmon

named is Ahichhatr.

205. According to the Mahdbhdrat the great kingdom of Pdnchdla

extended from the Himalaya Mountains to the Chambal River. The

capital of North Pdnehdla, or Rohilkhand, was Ahi-chhatra, and that of

South Pdnchdla, or the Central Gangetic Doab, was Kampilya, now

Kampil, on the old Ganges between Budaon and Farokhabad. Just

before the great war, or about 1430 B. C., the King of Pdnchdla,

named Drupada, was conquered by Drona, the preceptor of the five

Pandus. Drona retained north Pdnchdla for himself, but restored the

southern half of the kingdom to Drupada, According to this account

the name of Ahz-chhatra, and consequently also the legend of Adz

Raja and the serpent, are many centuries anterior to the rise of

Buddhism.

206. It would appear, however, that the Buddhists must have

adopted and altered the legend to do honour to their great teacher, for

Hwen Thsang records that outside the town there was a Naga-hrada, or

“serpent tank,” near which Buddha had preached the law for seven days

in favour of the Serpent King, and that the spot was marked by a

Stupa of King Asoka. Now, as the only existing Stwpa at this place

is called Chattr, I infer that the Buddhist legend represented the Naga

King after his conversion as forming a canopy over Buddha with his

expanded hood. I think, also, that the Stwpa erected on the spot

where the conversion took place would naturally have been called Ahz-

chhatra, or the “serpent canopy.” A similar story is told at Buddha

Gya of the Naga King Muchalinda, who with his expanded hood

sheltered Buddha from the shower of rain produced by the malignant

demon Mara.

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 179

207. The account of Ahi-chhatra given by Hwen Thsang is

‘unfortunately very meagre, otherwise we might most probably have

identified many of the existing ruins with the Buddhist works of an

early age. The Capital was 17 or 18 i, or just three miles, in

circuit, and was defended by natural obstacles. It possessed 12

monasteries, containing about 1,000 monks, and nine Brahmanical

temples, with about 300 worshippers of Iswara Deva (Siva), who

smeared their bodies with ashes. The Stupa near the serpent tank,

outside the town, has already been mentioned. Close beside it there were

four small Stwpas built on the spots where the four previous Buddhas

had either sat or walked. Both the size and the peculiar position of

the ruined fortress of Ahz-chhatra agree so exactly with Hwen

Thsang’s description of the ancient Ahi-chhatra, that there can be no

doubt whatever of their identity. The circuit of the walls, as they

stand at present, is 19,400 feet, or upwards of 34 miles. The

shape may be described as an irregular right-angled triangle, the

west side being 5,600 feet in length, the north side 6,400 feet,

and the long side to the south-east 7,400 feet. The fort is

situated between the Rdm Ganga and Gdnghan Rivers, which are

both difficult to cross; the former on account of its broad sands, the

latter on account of its extensive ravines. Both on the north and

east the place is rendered almost inaccessible by the Piria Nala,

a difficult ravine with steep broken banks, and numerous deep pools

of water quite impassable by wheeled vehicles. For this reason the

cart road to Bareli, distant only 18 miles due east, is not less than 23

miles. Indeed the only accessible side of the position is the north-

west, from the direction of Lakhnor, the ancient capital of the Katehria

Rajputs. It therefore fully merits the description of Hwen Thsang

as being defended by ‘natural obstacles.” Ahe-chhatra is only seven

miles to the north of Aonla, but the latter half of the road is rendered

difficult by the ravines of the Gdnghan River. It was in this very

position, in the jungles to the north of Aonla, that the Katehria

Rajputs withstood the Muhammadans under Firuz Tughlak.

208. The ruins of <Ahi-chhatra were first visited by Captain

Hodgson, the Surveyor, who describes the place as “‘ the ruins of an

ancient fortress several miles in circumference, which appears to

have had 34 bastions, and is known in the neighbourhood by the

‘180 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

name of the‘ Pandus Fort.” According to my survey there are

only 32 towers, but it is quite possible that one or two may have

escaped my notice, as | found many parts so overgrown with thorny

jungle as to be inaccessible. The towers are generally from 28

to 380 feet in height, excepting on the west side, where they rise to

35 feet. A single tower near the south-west corner is 47 feet in

height above the road outside. The average height of the interior

mass is from 15 to 20 feet. Many of the present towers, however,

are not ancient, as an attempt was made by Ali Muhammad Khan,

about 200 years ago, to restore the fort with a view of making it his

stronghold in case he should be pushed to extremities by the King

of Delhi. The new walls are said to have been 13 guz thick, which,

agrees with my measurements of the parapets on the south-eastern

side, which vary from 2 feet 9 inches to 3 feet 3 inches in thickness

at top. According to popular tradition, Ali Muhammad expended

about a crore of rupees, or one million pounds sterling, in this

attempt, which he was finally obliged to abandon on account of its

costliness. I estimate that he may perhaps have spent about one

lakh of rupees, or £10,000, in repairing the ramparts and in rebuilding

the parapets. There is an arched gateway on the south-east side,

which must have been built by the Musalmans, but as no new

bricks were made by them, the cost of their work would have been

limited to the labour alone. The ramparts are 18 feet thick at

the base in some places, and between 14 and 15 feet in others.

209. There are three great mounds inside the fort, and outside,

both to the north and west, there are a number of mounds of all sizes,

from 20 feet to 1,000 feet inthe diameter. To the north-west, distant

one mile, there is a large tank called the Gandhdn Sdgar, which has

an area of 125 begahs, and about one quarter of a mile beyond it

there is another tank called the Adi Ségar, which has an area of

150 bigahs. The latter is said to have been made by Adi Raja at

the same time as the fort. The waters are collected by an earthen

embankment faced on both sides with bricks of large size. The Gandhdn

Sagar is also embanked both to the east and south. The mounds

to the south of the tanks are covered with large bricks, both plain

and moulded; but judging from their shapes, they must all have

belonged to temples, or other straight walled buildings, and not to

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 181

Stupas. There is nothing to show whether these are the remains

of Buddhist or of Brahmanical buildings, but from their extent it is

probable that they were the former.

210. According to Hwen Thsang there were only nine Brahmani-

cal temples at Ahi-chhatra in A. D. 634, all of which would appear

to have been dedicated to Siva. But as Buddhism declined, this

number must have been increased, for I discevered the ruins of not

less than 20 temples of various sizes, of which one is gigantic, four

are large, five are of middle size, and 12 ef small dimensions. Three

of these are inside the fort, and the others are grouped together

outside on the west road. [I made excavations in most of these

mounds, all of which yielded moulded bricks of various patterns,

but only two of them afforded sculptures by which their original

purpose could be absolutely identified. These two temples are

marked as Nos. I and IV in my survey of the ruins.

211. The remains of No. I temple form a mound, 65 feet 9 finer

in height above the country, and upwards of 30 feet above the walls

ef the fortress. This lofty mound stands inside the fort near the

middle of the north wall, and forms the most conspicuous object amongst

the ruins of the mighty fortress of Ahi-chhatra. The floor of the

temple is 60 feet above the ground, and at this enormous height

stood a colossal lingam, 3 feet 64 inches in diameter, and upwards

of 8 feet in height, which must have been visible from both east

and west through the open doors of the temple for a distance

of some miles. The interior of the temple is only 14 feet

4 inches by 105 feet. The north and south walls are 9 feet 5

inches thick, and the east and west walls only 5 feet 9 inches;

but on these two sides there are open porches outside the two

entrances which increase the thickness of the walls to 19 feet on

the west side, and to 14 feet 11 inches on the east, The exterior

dimensions of the temple are 48 feet 8 inches by 29 feet 4 inches.

From these dimensions I calculate that the temple must have been

about 100 feet in height above its own floor, or 165 feet above the

country. The base of the stone lingam 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 by lightning,

182 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

bat from the unshattered state of the large block I am more

disposed to ascribe the fracture to the hammer of the Muhammadans.

212. Mound No. II, which is also inside the fort to the west of

the large mound, is 35 feet in height, and from 5 to 10 feet above

the general line of the ramparts. It shows the remains of a large

square building with along flight of steps on the west side. No.

III mound is only 30 feet im height, and is covered with scrub

jungle. here are traces of walls on the surface, but the jungle

prevented their immediate excavation. I will take an early opportu-

nity of explormg both of these mounds, as I feel satisfied that

they are the remains of large Brahmanical temples.

213. No. IV mound stands about 1,000 feet outside the west

gate of the fort. Ht is 300 feet square at base, and 30 feet in

height, and has two smaller mounds attached to the north-east

corner. On excavating the surface I discovered the foundations of

a temple, 1f feet square inside, with walls 33 feet thick, and a

long pedestal or raised platform for the reception of statues. The

entrance is on the east side towards the town. Amongst the ruins

I found a seated terracotta figure of Siva, 12 inches in height, with

four arms and three eyes, and one hand holding a large lotus flower.

IT found also in red stone a small right hand graspmg the hilt ofa

sword, and a left hand of three-quarter life size, grasping a large

conch. As the last must have belonged to a figure of Vishnu, it

is possible that the temple was dedicated to that god, but a

projecting portion of the pedestal leads me to believe that it must

have been occupied by a lingam, and wf so, the principal figure

would have been that of Mahadeva. There was also a large

quantity of ashes inside this temple, from which I infer that it

was most probably destroyed by the Musalmans in one of their

early expeditions against the Katehria Rajputs.

214. The Buddhist remains at Ahi-chhatra are both more exten-

sive and more ancient than those of the Brahmans. In my survey I

have marked them by the letters of the Alphabet to distinguish them

from the Brahmanical ruins, which are numbered. Only three of the

Buddhist mounds have been excavated, but as most of the others have

furnished materials for the neighbouring villages, it does not seem

likely that their excavation would be attended with any success. I

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 183

will, however, manage to have them examined at the end of the

ensuing season.

. 215. The most important of the Buddhist ruins is an irregular

shaped mound, about 1,000 feet square, from the centre of which

rises a large Stwpa of solid brick-work, which the people call

chhatr, I have already identified this with the great Stwpa which

was built over the spot where Buddha converted the Serpent King.

It is surrounded by eight smaller mounds, of which four would

appear to be the ruins of Stwpas, and three of temples, whilst one

only is doubtful. Now, Hwen Thsang describes the great Stupa

as having on one side of it four small Stwpas, which account agrees

exactly with the position of the four small mounds above men-

tioned. Ihave no doubt, therefore, as to the identity of the chhatr

mound with the Stwpa of Hwen Thsang, although I was unable

to discover any certain trace of the tank called the Ndga-hrada,

or ‘“‘serpent pond” by the Chinese pilgrim. It is quite possible,

however, that a tank may once have existed on the south-west side,

where the ground is still very low.

916. The great ruins called Chhatr is a mass of solid brick-

work, 40 feet in height above the fields, and 30 feet in diameter

at top. The original building was a hemisphere of 50 feet diame-

ter, which was raised upon a base or plinth 15 feet in height. At

some later period an outer casing, 12} feet thick, was added,

which increased the diameter to 75 feet, and the height of the

erown of the hemisphere to 524 feet. Allowing two-sevenths of

the diameter for the height of the cupola or pinnacle, which is

the proportion observed in the Sanchi bas-reliefs, the total height

of the original Stwpa would have been 57 feet, and that of

the later Stwpa 77 feet. I made several superficial excavations

around the base in the hope of finding some portions of the stone

railings with which the Stwpa was most probably surrounded, but

without success. I still believe, however, that there must have been

the usual Buddhist railings around this Stwpa, and that a further

search would probably bring some of the pillars to light. I found,

however, a number of curved wedge-shaped bricks, that must have

belonged to a circle of between 15 and 16 feet in diameter, and which,

I presume, are the remains of the cupola.

184 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

217. If I am right in my identification of this Stwpa with

that which was built near the Serpent Tank, its original construc-

tion must be referred tothe reign of Asoka, or about 250B. C.

A strong argument in favour of this date is the similarity of its

shape to that of the Bhilsa Yopes, which are undoudtedly of Asoka’s

age. The date of the enlargement of the Stwpa can only be

fixed approximately by inferring from Hwen Thsang’s silence that

it must have been in good order at the time of his visit. Admitting

this to have been the case, the date of the enlargement cannot

be placed earlier than about A. D. 400 to 500.

218. The great Stwpa attracted the attention of some British

Officer, about 580 years ago, who dug a gallery into it, 21 feet in

length, and then sunk a well for some unknown depth, which I found

filled with rubbish. I made use of this old gallery, and continued it

to the centre of the Stwpa, where it met a shaft which I had sunk

fromthe top. From this point I carried the shaft downwards, making

use of the gallery for the removal of the bricks. At a depth of 27

feet from the present top, or at 7 feet below the centre of the older

hemisphere, I found a low pyramidal topped vessel of common red un-

glazed earthenware, 8 inches in diameter. Inside this vessel there was a

small steatite box, containing many minute fragments of seed pearls,

several pieces of blue glass, one large bead of red amber, and about a tea

spoonful of little bits of rock crystal. Mixed with these were ten small

cylindrical pierced beads of a dirty white colour like old chalk. They

consist chiefly of carbonate of lime with a trace of some other sub-

stance, and are most probably only the remains of some artificial beads.

The little steatite box is 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 isrudely ornamented, the top with flowers,

and the bottom with animals of school-boy design. The inside also

is rudely ornamented, but with simple lines only. There is no trace

of any inscription.

219. At 62 feet below the deposit just described, or at 133 feet

below the centre of the hemisphere, a second deposit was found

imbedded in the ground immediately under the last course of a globular

shaped mottled steatite vase, 84 inches in diameter and 6 inches in

height. This vase has a neck 3 inches in diameter inside and 22

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 185

inches in height, thus making the whole height of the vessel $2 inches.

This is divided into two equal portions, the lower half having an inner

lip, which is overlapped by the upper half. The vessel is quite plain,

excepting only a few belts of simple lines which encircle it. The open

mouth was found closed by the lid of a small dark-coloured steatite

vase exactly similar to several that were discovered in the Bhilsa Topes.

Inside there was nothing but a hard cake of earth, 6 inches in dia-

meter, mixed with small stones. A similar earthen cake, but only 25

inches in diameter, was found in the earthenware jar of the upper

deposit. What this cake may be I cannot at present say, but it does

not effervesce with acids.

220. ‘The second Buddhist mound which has yielded important

evidence of its former occupation, is called Katdri Khera. It is situa-

ted 1,200 feet -to the north of the old fort, and 1,600 feet to the east

of the small village of Nasratganj. The mound is about 400 feet

square and 20 feet in height. Close by there is a small pond called

the Maswdse Tal ; but neither this name, nor that of Katdri Khera,

would seem to have any reference to the old Buddhist establishment

which formerly stood there. Unfortunately this mound has furnished

bricks to the neighbouring village for many generations, so that but

little is now left to point out the nature of the original buildings. A

surface excavation brought to light a temple 26+ feet in length by 22

feet in breadth outside, and 11 feet square inside. The plinth is still

standing 4+ feet in height, formed of blocks of kankar, but the walls

have altogether disappeared, excepting some portions of a few courses.

The doorway faces the east, from which I infer that the enshrined

statue was most probably that of the ascetic Buddha, who is always

represented seated in a similar position under the holy Pipal Tree of

Buddha Gaya. I am also led to the same conclusion by the discovery

of a broken statue of Buddha with two flying figures over 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 lost;

but the fragment is still 2 feet high and 2 feet broad, from which I

infer that the size of the original statue was not less than 4 feet in

height by 3 feet in breadth ; and this I believe to have been the prin-

cipal figure of the temple.

221. Inthe same place five other carved and sculptured stones

186 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

were discovered, of which one is an inscribed pillar of a Buddhist railing

of middle age. The pillar is broken, but the remaining portions of the

socket holes are sufficient for the restoration of the original dimensions.

The fragment is 1 foot 11 inches in length, with a section of 84 inches

by 4 inches. The socket holes are 8 inches long, and 4? inches apart,

which in a pillar of two rails would give a height of 3 feet 24 inches,

or of 4 feet 3 inches in a pillar of three rails. The face of the pillar

is sculptured with six rows of naked standing figures, there being

five figures in the lowest row, and only four figures in each of the

others. On one of the sides there is the following short inscription

in four lines of the age of the Guptas :—

Acharya Indranandi Sishya Mahddart Pdrswamatisya Kottare.

The last word but one might perhaps be read as patisya ; but the

remainder of the inscription is quite clear. I understand it to record

the gift of “‘ Mahddarv, the disciple of the teacher Indranandi, to the

temple (Kottarz) of Parswamati.” Perhaps the term Kottarz may be

preserved in the name of Katdri Khera, by which the mound is now

known.

222. The other sculptured stones are not of much interest. The

largest is a broken statue of a standing figure, 3 feet high by 2 feet

broad, which appears to be naked. The head, the feet, and the right

arm are gone. A second small stone, 1 foot long and 5 inches broad,

bears the figures of the Navagraha, 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 Sahada, Bhima, Devindra,

but the word Bhima is very doubtful. A third stone, 24 feet long

and 1} feet square, is the fragment of a large pillar, with a lion sculp-

tured on each of its four faces. The naked figures of these sculptures

belong to a somewhat late period of Buddhism, aiter the introduction

of the Zantrika doctrines, which, as we learn from Skanda Gupta’s

inscription on the Bhitari Pillar, were prevalent during the time of the

later Guptas, in the 3rd and 4th centuries A. D. As the forms of the

letters of these inscriptions are also those of the Gupta period, we may

conclude with some certainty that the Kottarz, or temple, of Parswa-

mati was erected before the fall of the Gupta dynasty in A. D. 319.

223. Four hundred feet to the south of the great bastion, and

close to the south-west angle of the fort, there is another extensive

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 187

monnd, marked D in my map, tfpwards of 300 feet square, and 35

feet in height above the road. The principal mass of ruin, which is

in the middle of the west side, is the remains 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 have been the entrance gate-

oway. To the right and left of the entrance there are the ruins of two

small temples, each 14 feet square outside, and @ ‘eet 44 inches inside,

raised upon a plinth 24 feet square. The centre of the square is open,

and has evidently never been built upon. My excavations were too

limited to ascertain more than I have noted above, but I propose to

continue the exploration towards the end of the ensuing cold weather.

1 believe that this mound is the remains of a very large monastery

with its lofty enclesed temple, which could not have been less than 80

or even 100 feet in height.

224. Connected with Ahi-chhatra is an inscription of the Gupta

period on a square pillar found near the village of Dalwdrz, 3 kos, or 44

miles, to the south of the fort. The inscription consists of 14 lines

of five letters each, the letters of one line being placed exactly under

those of the line above, so as to form also five straight perpendicular

lines. The stone is 24 feet long, 1 foot broad, and 9 inches thick in

the middle, but the continual sharpening of tools has worn down the

edges to a breadth of from 7 to 74 inches. The inscription, which is

on one of the narrow faces, has accordingly suffered in the partial loss

of some of the initial and final letters of several lines. The other

three faces of the stone are quite plain, and there is nothing whatever

to show what the pillar may have been originally intended for.

925. My account of Ali-chhatra would not be complete without a

reference to the gigantic lingam near the village of Gulariya, 24 miles to

the north of the fort, and to the Priapian name of the village of Bhim-

Jawr, one wile to the east of the fort. Bhim-gaya and Bhim-lawr are

*common names for the ngam in all the districts to the north of the

Ganges. I have already quoted Hwen Thsang’s remark that the nine

Brahmanical temples of Ahi-chhatra in A. D. 634 were dedicated to

Siva, and I may now add in illustration, that only in one of the many

ruins above the old fort did I find a trace of the worship of any other

divinity.

188 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

‘VIL—SORON, OR SUKARA-KSHETRA.

226. From Ahi-chhatra the Chinese pilgrim proceeded in a south

direction a distance of from 260 to 270 li, from 23 to 25 miles, to

the Ganges, which he crossed, and then turning to the south-west he

arrived in the kingdom of Pz-lo-shan-na. His route to the south

would have taken him through Aonla and Budaon to the Budh Ganga

(or old Ganges) somewhere near Sahawar, a few miles below Soron, both

of which places stood on the main stream of the Ganges so late as 400

years ago. As his subsquent route is said to have been to the south-

west, I believe that he must have crossed the Ganges close to Sahawar,

which is 42 miles from Ahi-chhatra in a direct line. From all my

early enquiries I was led to believe that Seron was the only ancient

place in this vicinity ; and as Hwen Thsang does not give any distance

for his south-west march, I concluded that Sovon must have been the

place to which he gives the name of Pi-lo-shan-na. I accordingly

visited Soron, which is undoubtedly a place of very great antiquity,

but which cannot, I think, be the place visited by the Chinese pilgrim.

I will, however, first describe Soron before I proceed to discuss the

superior claims of the great ruimed mound of <Atranji-Khera to be

identified with the Pi-lo-shan-na of the Chinese pilgrim.

227. 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 Ukala Kshetra ; but after the demon Hiranyaksha

had been killed by the Vardha Avatar, or Boar incarnation of Vishnu,

the name was changed to Sukura Kshetra, or “the place of the good

deed.” ‘Fhe ancient town is represented by a ruimed mound called the

Kilah, or “ fort,” which is one quarter of a mile in length from north

to south, and somewhat less in breadth. It stands on the high banlk

of the old bed of the Ganges, which is said by some to have flowed

immediately under it so late as 200 years ago. The modern town

stands at the foot of the old mound on the west and south sides, ande

probably contains about 5,000 inhabitants. There are no dwellings

on the old mound, which is occupied only by the temple of Sita-Ramji

and the tomb of Shekh-Jamadl. But it is covered with broken bricks

of large size, and the foundations of walls can be traced in all direc-

tions. The mound is said to be the ruins of a fort built by Raja

Somadatta of Soron many hundred years ago. But the original

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 189

settlement of the place is very much older, being attributed to the

fabulous Raja Vena Chakravartti, who plays such a conspicuous part

in all the legends of North Bihar, Oudh, and Rohilkhand.

228. The temples of Soron are very numerous, and several of them

are said to be old. But the only temples of any consequence are those

of Sita-Ramji, on the top of the mound, and Varahaji to the north-

west of the city. A great annual fair is held near the latter temple

on the 11th of the waxing moon of Mérgasirsha, in remembrance of

the destruction of the demon by the Boar incarnation of Vishnu. It

contains a statue of Vardha Lakshmi, and is visited by crowds of pil-

erims. The temple of Sita-Rdmji, which is said to have been ruined

by Aurang Shah (or Aurangzib) was restored by a wealthy Baniya,

only four years ago, by building up the space between the pillars with

plain white-washed walls. Internally the temple is a square of 27

feet supported on 16 stone pillars; but the people say that the original

building was much larger, and that it contained 32 pillars. This ac-

count is most probably correct, as the foundations of the walls of the

sanctum, or shrine, are still standing at the back, or west side, of the

temple. There are also 10 superfluous pillars inside the temple, of

which two support the broken architraves, and eight are built into the

corner spaces of the walls. The style of these columns is similar to that

of the set of pillars in the south-east corner of the quadrangle of the

Great Kutb Mosque at Delhi, which bear the date of Samvat 1124, or

A. D.1067. That this date is not too early for the Soron temple is

proved by the inscriptions of various pilgrims who have visited the

shrine. As the oldest legible record bears the date of Samvat 1226,

or A. D. 1169, the date of the erection of the temple cannot therefore

be placed later than A. D. 1000.

229. These pilgrim’s records are generally short and uninteresting,

but as there are no less than 38 of them, bearing dates which range

from A. D. 1169 to 1511, they become valuable for tracing the

history of the temple. The earliest date after the Muhammadan con-

quest is A. D. 1241, and from that time down to A. D. 1290 there are

no less than 15 dated records, showing that Soron continued to be a

much frequented place of pilgrimage during the whole period of the

Ghori dynasty, which ended in A. D. 1289. But during the rule of

the next two dynasties, the Ahiljis and Tughluks, there is only one

196 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3,

inscription, dated in A. D. 1375, in the reign of Firuz. Now, as nearly

one-half of this period was occupied by the reigns of the cruel despot

Ala-ud-din Khilji and the ferocious madman Muhammad Tughlak, it

seems only reasonable to conclude that the people were deterred from

making their usual pilgrimages by the persecution of their Muham-

madan rulers. The next record is dated in A. D. 1429, and from that

time down to 1511 there are 16 dated inscriptions; but as no less

than 13 of this number belong to the reign of Bahlol Lodi, I infer that

the rule of the Syad dynasty was not favourable to Hindu pilgrimages.

I infer also that the temple must have been destroyed during the reign

of the intolerant Sikandar Lodi, because the series of inscriptions closes

with A. D. 1511, or just six years before the end of his reign. Had

the temple existed during the happy century when the sceptre of India

was swayed by the tolerant Akbar, the indifferent Jehangir, and the

politic Shah Jahan, it is almost certain that some records of the pilgrims’

visits would have 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 period than that of the bigoted

Aurang Shah.

VIIL—ATRANJI-KHERA, OR PI-LO-SHAN-NA.

230. The great mound of ruins called Atranji-Khera is situated on

the right, or west, bank of the Kalé Nadi, four miles to the south of

Karsdna, and eight miles to the north of Hyta, on the Grand Trunk

Road. It is also 15 miles to the south of Soron, and 43 miles to the

north-west of Sankzsa in a direct line, the road distance being not less

than 48 or 50 miles. In the Ayin Akbari Atranji is recorded as one

of the Parganahs of Kanoj, under the name of Stkandar-pur Atrejt.

Sikandarpur, which is now called Sikandrabad, is a village on the left

bank of the Kali Nadi opposite Atranji. From this it would appear

that Atranji was still oceupied in the reign of Akbar. . The Parganah

was afterwards called Karsdna, but it is known by the name of Sahd-

war Karsdéna, or of Sahdwar only. The name given by the Chinese

pilgrim is Pi-lo-shan-na, for which M. Julien proposes to read Virasa-

na. So far back as 1848 I pointed out that, as both p7l and kar are

Sanskrit names for an elephant, it was probable that Pilosana might

be the same as Karsdna, the large village which I have already men-

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 191

tioned as being four miles to the north of Atranje Khera. The chief

objection to this identification is the fact that Karsdna is apparently

not a very old place, although it is sometimes called Deora Karsdna,

a name which implies the possession of a temple of note at some for-

mer period. It is, however, possible that the name of Karsdna may

once have been joined to Atranjz in the same way that we find Srkan-

darpur Atreji in the Ayin Akbari. As the identification of Karsdna

with Pzlosana is purely conjectural, it is useless to hazard any more

speculations on this subject. The bearing and distance from Sankisa, as

recorded by Hwen Thsang, point to the neighbourhood of Sirpura, near

which there is a small village called Polkuni, or Pilokuni, which is the

Pilukhoni of our maps. It is, however, a very petty place ; and although

it boasts of a small khera, or mound of ruins, it cannot, I think, have

ever been more than one-fourth of the circuit of two miles which Hwen

.Thsang attributes to P7-lo-shan-na. But there are two strong points

in its favour—namely, Ist, its position, which agrees both in bearing

and distance with the Chinese pilgrim’s account; and 2nd, its name,

which is almost identical with the old name, sh being very commonly

pronounced as kh, so that Hwen Thsang’s Péloshana would usually

be pronounced Pilokhana.

231. In proposing Atranji-Khera as the site of the ancient Pilo-

shanna, I am influenced solely by the fact that this is the only large

place besides Soron of any antiquity in this part of the country. It is

true that the distance from Sankisa is somewhat greater than that

recorded by the Chinese pilgrim—namely, 45 miles, instead of 33

miles; but the bearing is exact; and as it is quite possible that there

may be some mistake in Hwen Thsang’s recorded distance, I think

that Atranji-Khera has a better claim than any other place to be

identified with the ancient Ploshana. I have not visited the place

myself, as I was not aware of its importance when I was in its neigh-

bourhood. Ipropose, however, to take an early opportunity of explor-

ing it in person. In the meantime I have had it inspected by a

trustworthy servant, whose report shows that Atranjc must once have

been a place of considerable extent and importance. According to him,

the great mound of Atranjt is 3,250 in length, and 2,550 in breadth at

the base. Now, these dimensions would give a circuit of about two

miles, which is the very size of Piloshana as recorded by Hwen Thsang.

192 Report of the A rchéological Survey. [ No. D,

Its highest point is 44 feet 9 inches, which, if my identification is

correct, should be the ruins of the great Stwpa of Asoka, upwards of

100 feet in height, as this lofty tower is said to have been situated

inside a monastery in the middle of the town. Outside the town there

were two other monasteries, inhabited by 300 monks. These may

perhaps be represented by two small mounds which still exist on the

east side of the Great Khera. To the south there is a third mound,

165 feet in length by 105 feet in breadth, which may possibly be the

remains of one or more of the five Brahmanical temples described by

Hwen Thsang.

232. Atranji-Khera had two gates, one to the east, towards the Kali

Nadi, and the other to the south. he foundation of the place is attri-

buted to Raja Vena Chakravartti. The mound is covered with broken

bricks of large size and fragments of statues, and old coins are said to

be frequently found. All the existing fragments of statues are said to

be Brahmanical. There is a temple of Mahadeo on the mound, and

there are five Jingams in different places, of which one is 6 feet in height.

The principal statue is that of a four-armed female called Debz, but

which, as she is represented treading upon a prostrate figure, is most

probably Durga.

233. The only objection to the identification of Atranjz with Pi-

loshanna is the difference between the distance of 200 li, or 33 miles,

as stated by Hwen Thsang, and the actual distance of 43 miles direct,

or about 48 or 50 miles by road. TI have already suggested the pos-

sibility of there being some mistake in the recorded distance of Hwen

Thsang, but perhaps an equally probable explanation may be found in

the difference of the length of the yojana. Hwen Thsang states that

he allowed 40 Chinese /i to the Yojana ; but if the old yojana of

Rohilkhand differed from that of the Central Doab as much as the kos

of these districts now differ, his distances would have varied by half a

mile in every kos, or by two miles in very yojana, as the Rohilkhand

kos is only 13 mile, while that of the Doab is two miles; the latter

being one-third greater. Now, if we apply this difference to Hwen

Thsang’s measurement of 200 (7, or 33 miles, we increase the distance

at once to 44 miles, which agrees with the direct measured distance on

the map. I confess, however, that I am rather inclined to believe in

the possibility of there being a mistake in Hwen Thsang’s recorded

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 193

distance, as I find exactly the same measurement of 200 lv given as the

distance between Sankisa and Kanoj. Now, the two distances are pre-

cisely the same—that is, Sankisa is exactly midway between Atranjz

and Kanoj ; and as the latter distance is just 50 miles by my measure-

ment along the high road, the former must also be the same. I would

therefore suggest the probability that both of these distances should

be 300 Jz, or 50 miles, instead of 200 li as recorded in the text. In

favour of this proposed correction I may cite the testimony of the ear-

lier Chinese pilgrim Fa Hian, who makes the distance from Sankisa

to Kanoj 7 yojanas, or 49 miles. At Hwen Thsang’s own valuation

of 40 lc to the yojana, this measurement would give 280 li ; and as Fa

Hian does not record half yojanas, we may increase the distance by half

a yojana, or 20 lv, which brings the total up to 300 lz, or exactly 50

miles.

234. But whatever may be the true explanation of the difference

between the actual distances and those recorded by Hwen Thsang, there

still remains the important fact that Sankisa was exactly midway be-

tween Kanoj and. Piloshanna, just as it now is midway between Kano

and Atranjv. If we couple this absolute identity of position with the

fact that Atranjz is the only old place in the part of the country indi-

cated by Hwen Thsang, we can scarcely arrive at any other conclusion

than that the great ruined mound of Atranj? is the site of the ancient

Piloshanna.

(To be concluded.)

JOURNAL

OF THE

metal iGC SOCTETY.

Part L—HISTORY, LITERATURE, Ge.

aaa oe

No. IV.—1865.

Fieport of the Proceedings of the Archeological Surveyor to the Glovern-

ment of India for the Season of 1862-63.—By Major-General

A. Counnineuam, Archeologicai Surveyor to the Govt. of India.

[ Received 3rd Feb., 1865. ] [Read 1st March, 1865. ]

(Continued from page 193.)

IX.—SANKISA.

235. The site of Sankisa was discovered by me in 1842; but it was

not until the end of 1862 that I got an opportunity of exploring the

ruins at leisure. The name of the place is written Seng-kia-she by the

Chinese pilgrims, a spelling which is well preserved in the Sankisa of

the present day, and which represents with considerable faithfulness

the Sangkdsya of Sanskrit. Hwen Thsang calls it also by the name of

Kie-pi-tha, or Kapitha, of which I was unable to discover any trace.

Sankisa was one of the most famous places of Buddhist pilgrimage, as

it was there that Buddha was believed to have descended from the

Trayastrinsa heaven by a ladder of gold or gems, accompanied by the

gods Indra and Brahma. According to this curious legend, Mdyd, the

mother of Buddha, died seven days after his birth, and ascended at once

to the Trayastrinsa heaven, the abode of the 33 gods, of whom Indra

was the chief. But as she had no opportunity in this abode of the gods

of hearing the law of Buddha, her pious son ascended to the Trayas-

trinsa heaven, and preached for three months in her behalf. He then

196 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

descended to the earth with the gods Brahma and Indra by three stair-

cases, one of which was formed either of crystal or precious stones,

another of gold, and the third of silver. According to Fa Hian, Buddha

descended by a staircase formed of the “seven precious things, ’—that

is, the precious metals and precious gems; whilst Brahma accompanied

him on his right side by a silver ladder, and Indra on his left by a gol-

den one. But Hwen Thsang assigns the golden staircase to Buddha

himself, and the silver staircase on the right to Brahma, and the crys-

tal staircase on the left to Indra. The descent was accompanied by a

multitude of Devas, who scattered showers of flowers on all sides as

they sang the praises of Buddha.

236. Such are the main points of this curious legend, which is

believed as firmly in Barma at the present day, as it was by Asoka

2,100 years ago, or by the Chinese pilgrims of the 5th, 6th, and 7th

centuries of our era. According to Fa Hian, the three staircases disappear-

ed underground immediately after the descent, leaving only seven steps

visible. Apparently these seven steps must have existed in the time

of Asoka, as he is reported to have been anxious to behold their

foundations, and accordingly sent men to dig down to their base. But

the diggers “‘ reached a yellow spring without being able to penetrate

to the foundation.” The King, however, “ felt sensible of a great in-

crease of his faith and veneration,” and therefore built a chapel over the

three staircases, and upon the middle one erected a full length statue

of Buddha 60 feet high. According to Hwen Thsang’s account, the

three staircases still existed in his time, (A. D. 634), but were com-

pletely sunk in the earth. On their foundations, however, the pious

Kings of different countries had erected three staircases, similar to the

first, of bricks and stones, ornamented with many precious things.

The height of these staircases was about 70 feet. Over them there

was a Vihar containing statues of Buddha, Brahma, and Indra, who were

represented leaning forward as if about to descend. The Barmese say

that the descent took place at the full moon of Thadingkyut, (October),

and that the feet of the steps were at the gate of the city of Thing-

ka-tha-na-go, or Singkasanagara. Hwen Thsang adds that the three

staircases were placed in a line from north to south, with the descent

facing the east, and that they stood within the walls of a great

monastery.

1865.] Report of the Archéological Survey. 197

237. Close to the staircase there was a stone pillar, 70 feet in

height, which had been erected by King Asoka. It was formed of a

hard, fine-grained reddish stone, and had a brilliant polish. On its

summit was a lion, who was seated facing the steps. There were figures

also sculptured inside the pillar with marvellous art, which were visible

only to the virtuous. This is Hwen Thsang’s account, with which Fa

-Hian’s agrees in almost every particular; but he adds a curious legend

about a dispute between the Sramanas and heretics. “Tf,” said the

former, “‘ this place ought to be the abode of the Sramanas, let a super-

natural testimony proclaimit. They had no sooner finished this speech

than the lion on the summit uttered a loud roar.”

238. There were several Stwpas at Sankisa, of which the most

famous were the following :—

1st.—On the spot where Buddha descended from the Trayastrinsa

heaven, accompanied by Indra and Brahma. This Stwpa is not men-

tioned by Hwen Thsang, but it is noticed by Fa Hian, and in the

Barmese life of Buddha.

2nd.—On the spot where the four Buddhas had formerly sat and

taken exercise.

3rd.—At the place where Buddha bathed.

Ath and 5th.—Two small Stwpas of Indra and Brahma,

6th.—On the spot where the female mendicant Pundarikavarné

obtained the first sight of Buddha on his descent.

7th.—On the spot where Buddha cut his hair and nails.

239. The only other place of note at Sankisa was the tank of a

Ndga, or serpent, which was situated to the south-east of the great Stupa.

Fa Hian says that this Naga had white ears; that he lived in the

dwelling-place of the “‘ ecclesiastics ;” and that he conferred fertility and

abundance on the ‘‘ country 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 appearance once a year.

“When the ecclesiastics perceive him, they present him with cream in.

a copper vessel.”

240. Hwen Thsang’s account of Sankisa is unfortunately so mea-

gre that we have but little to guide us in our attempt to identify the

holy places of his time with any of the ruins of the present day. The

only spot that can be identified with any certainty is the tank of the

198 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

Naga, which still exists to the south-east of the ruins, in the very

position described by Hwen Thsang. The name of the Naga is Kdre-

war, and that of the tank Kandaiya Tal. Milk is offered to him dur-

ing every day of Vaisakh, and on the Ndg-panchami of Sravana, and

“at any other time when rain is wanted.” In a note on the word

Chaurdst Sir Henry Elliot has given an account of Sankisa, in which

he asserts that this Ndga is the common Ndg of the Hindu worship, to

whom the Ndg-panchamz is specially dedicated. But this opinion is

certainly wrong, as the above account shows that the Sankisa Ndga of

the present day is propitiated with offerings of milk whenever rain is

wanted, just as he was in A. D. 400, when Fa Hian visited the place.

This therefore is not the common Ndga of Hindu worship, but the lo-

cal Ndga of Sankisa, who is commonly invoked as Kdrewar Nédg

Devata.

241. Before attempting to identify the site of the great monastery

with its three famous staircases, its lion pillar and attendant Stupas,

it will be better to describe the place as it is at present, although but

little is now left of the great city of Sankisa with all its magnificent

monuments. The little village which still preserves the name of San-

kisa is perched upon a lofty mound of ruins 41 feet in height above

the fields. This mound, which is called the Aalah, or “fort,” is 1,500

feet in length from west to east, and 1,000 feet in breadth. On the

north and west faces the sides are steep, but on the other faces the slope

is much more easy. Due south from the centre of the Kilah, at a

distance of 1,600 feet, there is a mound of solid brick-work which is

crowned by a modern temple dedicated to Bisdrv Devi, who is describ-

ed as a goddess of great power. At 400 feet to the north of the tem-

ple mound there is a capital of an ancient pillar bearing the figure of an

elephant, standing, but both his trunk and tail are wanting. The capital

itself is of the well known bell shape, corded or reeded perpendicularly,

with an abacus of honeysuckle similar to that of the Allahabad pillar.

The figure of the elephant is by far the best representation of that

animal that I have seen in any Indian sculpture. The veins of the

legs are carefully chiselled, and the toes of the feet are well and faith-

fully represented, but the loss of the trunk prevents us from forming a

decided opinion as to its excellence as a work of art. If we may judge

from the position of the legs, the animal was most probably represent-

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 199

ed as standing still with his trunk hanging down. The stone is a fine-

grained sandstone of reddish hue, and has been very highly polished.

The bell-capital is low, its breadth being greater than its height, in

which particular it resembles the Asoka Pillar of Navandgarh Lauriya,

to the north of Bettiah. Taking all these circumstances into consider-

ation along with the superior execution of the work, I feel satisfied

that this capital is of the same age as the well known Asoka Pillars of

Allahabad and Navandgarh.

242. Due south from the temple of Bisari Devi, at a distance of

200 feet, there is a small mound of ruins which appears to be the re-

mains of a Stupa. Due east from the temple 600 feet, there is an

oblong mound 600 feet in length by 500 feet in breadth, which is

known by the name of Nivi-ka-kot. Nivi would appear to have been

the name of the man who formerly brought this piece of ground ‘hto

cultivation ; and Kot, in the phraseology of Sankisa, means simply

any mound of ruins, and is applied to all the isolated portions of the

ramparts. Nivi-ka-kot would, however, appear to be the remains of

some large enclosed building, such as a Buddhist monastery. It is

covered with broken bricks of large size, and a few fragments of stone ;

but I could not trace any remains of walls on the surface. At the

south-east and north-east angles of Nvvi-ka-kot there are large circular

mounds which are probably the remains of Stwpas from which all the

available bricks have been removed ; and at a short distance to the north

there is a third mound of the same character.

243. The Kilah and the different mounds of all sizes around the

temple form a mass of ruin 3,000 feet in length by 2,000 feet in

breadth, or nearly 2 miles in circuit. But this was only the central por-

tion of the ancient city of Sankisa, comprising the citadel and the

religious buildings that were clustered around the three holy staircases.

The city itself, which would appear to have surrounded this central

mound on all sides, was enclosed with an earthen rampart, 18,900 feet,

or upwards of 34 miles, in circuit. The greater part of this rampart still

remains, the shape being a tolerably regular duodecagon. On threesides,

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, of

the three gates of the city. In proof of the tradition, the people refer to

the village of Paor-Kheria, or * Gate-village,” which is just outside

200 ~ « Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

the south-east gap in the ramparts. But the name is pronounced

Paor, FIX, and not Pauwr, Bx, and may therefore refer to the stair-

cases or steps (Paorz), and not to the gate. The Kali, or Kalindri

Nadi, flows past the south-west corner of the ramparts from the Rdaj_

ghat, which is half a mile distant, to the Kakra Ghat, which is rather

more than one mile to the south of the line of ramparts.

244, To the north-west, three-quarters of a mile distant, stands

the large mound of Agahat, which is 40 feet in height, and rather

more than half a mile in diameter at base. The name of the old town

is said to have been Agahat, but the place is now called Agahat Sarat

(Agahat of the maps) from a modern Sarai, which was built in

A. H. 1080, or A. D. 1670, on the north-east corner of the mound, by

the ancestor of the present Pathan Zamindar. The people say that

before this, the place had been deserted for several centuries; but as I

obtained a tolerably complete series of the copper coins of the Muham-

madan Kings of Delhi and Jounpur, I presume that it could not have

been deserted for any very long time. The mound is covered with

broken bricks of large size, which alone is a sure test of antiquity : and

as it is of the same height as that of Sankisa, the people are most

probably right in their assertion that the two places are of the same

age. In both mounds are found the same old coins without any in-

scriptions, the more ancient being square pieces of silver covered with

various punch marks, and the others, square pieces of copper that have

been cast in a mould,—all of which are, in my opinion, anterior to the

invasion of Alexander the Great.

245. In identifying Sankisa with the Sang Kasya of the Rama-

yana and the Seng-kia-she of the Chinese, we are supported, not only

by its absolute identity of name, but likewise by its relative position

with regard to three such well known places as Mathura, Kanoj, and

Ali-chhatra. In size, also, it agrees very closely with the measure-

ment given by Hwen Thsang ; his circuit of 20 7, or 34 miles, being

only a little less than my measurement of 18,900 feet, or 33 miles.

There can be no doubt, therefore, that the place is actually the same;

but in attempting to identify the sites of any of the holy spots

mentioned by Hweu Thsang, I find myself baffled at the outset by

the indefiniteness as well as the meagreness of the pilgrim’s descrip-

tions. It is his usual practice to state the relative bearings and

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 201

distances of most of the chief placesof Buddhist veneration, but in

describing Sankisa he has given only one bearing and not a single

distance. The tank of the Ndga is the one solitary spot that can be

identified with certainty, the sites of all the rest being only guesses

of more or less probability.

246. But the difficulty regarding the identification of the Asoka

Pillar is of a different kind. Both of the Chinese pilgrims make

mention of only one pillar at Sankisa, which was crowned with the

figure of a lion, and Fa Hian records a silly legend which refers to the

miraculous roar of this lion statue. Now, the only piece of an Asoka

Pillar at present existing is the elephant capital, which I have already

described, and which, however absurd it may seem, I think may possi-

bly be the lion pillar of the Chinese pilgrims. The reasons which

induce me to think so are the following :—Ist, the elephant capital is

undoubtedly much older than the date of either of the pilgrims, and

yet, if it is not the same as the lion capital, it has been left altogether

undescribed by them, although its great size could scarcely have allowed

it to remain unnoticed; 2nd, the height of the elephant pillar would

seem to correspond very closely with that of the lion pillar, as recorded

by Fa Hian, who calls it 30 cubits, or from 45 to 60 feet according to

the value of the Chinese chhzv. Now, the diameter of the neck of the ele-

phant pillar is 2 feet 9 inches, which, compared with the dimensions

of the Allahabad pillar, 2 feet 2 inches neck diameter, to 35 feet of

height, gives a total for the shaft of the Sankisa Pillar of 44 feet 3

inches. By adding to this the height of the capital, we obtain 525 feet

as the probable height of the Sankisa Pillar. 38rd, as the trunk of the

elephant has long been lost, it is possiblethat 1t was missing before the

time of the Chinese pilgrims, and if so, the nature of the animal might

easily have been mistaken at a height of 50 feet above the ground.

Indeed, supposing the pillar to be the same, this is the only way in which

I can account for the mistake about the animal. But, if the pillar is

not the same, the silence of both pilgrims regarding this magnificent ele-

phant pillar seems to me quite unaccountable. On the whole, therefore,

I am inclined to believe that the elephant’s trunk having been long lost,

the nature of the animal was mistaken when viewed 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 Srdvasti pillars,

202 Report of the Archeological Survey. [ No. 4,

which Fa Hian calls an ox, and Hwen Thsang an elephant. See para.

342 of this Report.

247. Admitting, then, that this elephant capital is not improbably

the same as the lion pillar described by the Chinese pilgrims, we have

a clue to the site of the great monastery which would seem to have en-

closed within its walls the great stone pillar as well as the three holy

staircases. I infer, therefore, that the temple of Bisdri Devi most pro-

bably occupies the site of the three staircases, and that the three mounds

which stand to the east of the Nizvi-ka-kot may be the remains of the

three Stwpas which were erected on the three other holy spots of Sankisa,

which have already been described. I made several excavations about

the different mounds just noticed, but without any success.

248. I made also a careful but an unsuccessful search for some trace

of the base of the stone pillar. ‘The people were unanimous that the

elephant capital had been in its present position beyond the memory

of any one now living, and most of 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 village, or Ki/ah mound, as the original site of the

capital. Here, indeed, there is an octagonal hole in a small mound,

from which the bricks ofa solid foundation have been removed. If any

dependence could be placed upon this statement, the mound on which ~

the village now stands would almost certainly be the site of the great

monastery with its three holy staircases, and the three mounds to the

east of Nivi-ka-kot would still represent the three Stupas. The main ob-

jection to our accepting this statement as correct is the apparent want of

all object in the removal of the elephant capital to any other site. It is,

however, quite possible that the capital may have been stopped on its

way to the temple of Mahadeva, near the Néga mound and tank.

Thetemple of Bisdri Devi would then be the site of one of the ten ancient

Brahmanical fanes which are described by Hwen Thsang. Altogether,

this is perhaps a more probable solution of the case than that first

described.

249. In his description of Sankisa, Hwen Thsang mentions a

curious fact, that the Brahmans who dwelt near the great monastery

were “‘ many tens-of-thousands” in number. As an illustration of this

statement I may mention that the people have a tradition that Sankisa

was deserted from 1800 to 1900 years ago, and that 1300 years ago,

1365. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 203 —

er about A. D. 560, it was given by a Kayath to a body of Brahmans.

They add also that the population of the village of Paor-Kheria is

known to have been wholly Brahman until a very recent period.

X.—KANOJ.

250. Of the great city of Kanoj, which for many hundred years

was the Hindu Capital of Northern India, the existing remains are few

and unimportant. In A. D. 1016, when Mahmud of Ghazni approach-

ed Kanoj, the historian relates that ‘he there saw a city which raised

its head to the skies, and which in strength and structure might justly

boast to have no equal.’’ Just one century earlier, or in A. D. 915,

Kanoj is mentioned by Masudi as the Capital of ene of the Kings of

India, and about A. D. 900 Abu Zaid, on the authority of Ibn

Wahab, calls “ Kaduge, a great city in the kingdom of Gozar.” At

a still earlier date, in A. D. 634, we have the account ef the Chinese

pilgrim Hwen Thsang, who describes Kanoj as being 20 lé or 84 miles,

in length, and 4 or 5 a or ? of amile, in breadth. The city was sur-

rounded by strong walls and deep ditches, and was washed by the

Ganges along its eastern face. The last fact is corroborated by Fa

Hian, who states that the city teuched the River Heng (Ganges) when

he visited it in A. D. 400. Kanoj is also mentioned by Ptolemy,

about A. D. 140, as KavoyiZa. But the earliest notice of the place is

undoubtedly the old familiar legend of the Puranas, which refers the

Sanskrit name of Kanya Kubja, or the “ hump-backed maiden,” to the

curse of the sage Vayu on the hundred daughters of Kusandba.

251. At the time of Hwen Thsang’s visit, Kanoj was the Capital

of Raja Harsha Vardhana, the most powerful Sovereign in Northern

India. The Chinese pilgrim calls him a Fev-she, Vaisya, but it seems

probable that he must have mistaken the Vaisa, or Bais, Rajput, for

the Vaisya, or Bors, which is the name of the mercantfle class of the

Hindus; otherwise Harsha Vardhana’s connexion by marriage with

the Rajput families of Malwa and Balabhi would have been quite

impossible. Baiswara, the country of the Bais Rajputs, extends from

the neighbourhood of Lucknow to Khara Manikpur, and thus com-

prizes nearly the whole of Southern Oudh. The Bais Rajputs claim

descent from the famous Sdlivdéhan, whose capital is said to have been

Daundia Khera, on the north bank of the Ganges. Their close

26°

204 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

proximity to Kanoj is in favour of the sovereignty which they claim

for their ancestors over the whole of the Gangetic Doab from Delhi to

Allahabad. But their genealogical lists are too imperfect, and most

probably also too incorrect, to enable us to identify any of their recorded

ancestors with the Princes of Harsha Vardhana’s family.

252. The vast empire which Harsha Vardhana raised during his

long reign of 44 years, between A. D. 607 and 650, is described by

Hwen Thsang as extending from the foot of the Kashmir hills to

Assam, and from Nepal to the Narbada River. He intimidated the

Raja of Kashmir into surrendering the tooth of Buddha, and his

triumphal procession from Pataliputra to Kanoj was attended by no

less than 20 tributary Rajas from Assam and Magadha on the east,

to Jalandhar on the west. In the plenitude of his power, Harsha

Vardhana invaded the countries to the south of the Narbada, where

he was successfully opposed by Raja Pulakesz, and after many repulses

was obliged to retire to his own kingdom. This account of Hwen

Thsang is most singularly corroborated in every particular by several

ancient inscriptions of the Chdélukya Rajas of Kalydn. According to

these inscriptions, Raja Vikramaditya, the grandson of Pulakesi Val-

labha, gained the title of Parameswara, “by the defeat of Sri Harsha

Vardhana, famous in the north countries.*‘* Now Vikramaditya’s

reign is known to have commenced in Sake 514, or A. D. 592, as one

of his inscriptions is dated in Sake 530, or A. D. 608, which is called

the 16th year of his reign ; + and as his grandson did not succeed to the

throne until the Sake year 618, or A. D. 696, it is certain-that Vikrama-

ditya must have been a contemporary of Harsha Vardhana throughout

the greater part, if not the whole, of his reign, The unusually long

reigns of the earlier Chdlukya Princes have led Mr. Walter Elliot to

suspect the accuracy of the dates, although, as he points out,‘ the

succeeding dates tally with each other in a way that affords the strongest

presumption of their freedom from any material error.” The question

of the accuracy of these dates is now most satisfactorily confirmed by

the unimpeachable testimony of the contemporary record of Hwen

Thsang which I have quoted above.

* Bombay Asiatic Society’s Journal, IIT. 206.

7 Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal IV. 10,

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 205

253. In determining the period of Harsha’s reign, between the

years 607 and 650 A. D., I have been guided by the following evi-

dence :—Ist. The date of his death is fixed by the positive statement

of Hwen Thsang in the year 650 A. D.—2nd. In speaking of Harsha’s

eareer, the pilgrim records that from the time of his accession Harsha

was engaged in continual war for 54 years, and that afterwards for

about 50 years he reigned in peace. This statement is repeated by

Hwen Thsang, when on his return to China, on the authority of the

King himself, who informed him that he had then reigned for upwards

of 30 years, and that the quinquennial assembly then collected was

the stxth which he bad convoked. From these different statements it

is certain that at the date of Hwen Thsang’s return to China, in

A. D. 640, Harsha had reigned upwards of 30 years, and somewhat

less than 35 years. His accession must, therefore, be placed between

A. D. 605 and 610.—3rd. Now, in the middle of this very period, in

A. D. 607, as we learn from Abu Rihan, was established the Sri

Harsha eva, which was still prevalent in Mathura and Kanoj in the

beginning of the 11th century. Considering the exact agreement of

the names and dates, it is impossible to avoid coming to the conclusion

that the Harsha who established an era in Kano) in A. D. 607 was the

great King Harsha Vardhana who reigned at Kanoj during the first

half of the seventh century.

254. UHwen Thsang adds some particulars regarding the family of

Harsha Vardhana which induce me to think it probable that it may be

identified with one of the dynasties whose names have been preserved

in the genealogies of the Rajavali. The names differ in the various

copies, but they agree generally in making Raj Sing, who reigned

only nine years, the predecessor of Hara or Hari Sing, who is recorded

to have reigned for 44 or 45 years, Now, according to Hwen Thsang,

the predecessor and elder brother of Harsha Vardhana was Rajya Var-

dhana, who was assassinated shortly after his accession. Here both the

names of these two Kings and the lengths of their reigns agree so well

together as to suggest the probability of their identity. In most

copies of the Rajavali this dynasty of six Kings, of which Raja and

Hara are the 3rd and 4th names, is made the immediate predecessor

of the Great Tomar dynasty, whose accession has already been assigned

in my account of the Kings of Delhi to the year 736 A. D,

206 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

The following lists give the names of all the Kings of this dynasty

according to the various authorities in my possession :—

MRiITUNSAYA PUNJAB CHANDERI HWweEn

AND WARD. M.S. 3 M.S. ; Sayip AHMAD. THSANG.

| Yrs. Yrs. Yrs Yrs. |

Dipa Sinha} 27 |Dip 8....| 17 |Dip S. ......| 17 |Dip Sing ...| 17

Rana 8. ...| 223/Ran S....| 149}Ran S, ..,,.| 144|Ran Sing...| 14 |Prak4ra Var-

dhana.

Raja S. ...) 93/Raj 8S...) 93)/Ram S. ..| 93)Raj Sing...) 9 |Rajya ditto.

Vara S. ...| 46 |Hari S. | 45 |Mitr S. ...| 45 |Shir Sing | 45 |Harsha ditto.

Jivana,.....| 203|Jiwan ...| 8 |Jiwan ...... 8 |Jiwan Sine} 7

Potal ...)151 | ...... Tle aes

According to Sayid Ahmad the accession of Shir Sing, who is the

Hara or Hari of the other lists, took place in A. D. 611, or within

four years of the date already obtained for Harsha Vardhana.

255. In my account of Delhi I have given my reasons for believing

that Kanoj was the Capital of the Tomars down to the imvasion of

Mahmud in A. D. 1021, immediately after the defeat and death of

Raja Fai Pét. Shortly after that date the small town of Bari to the

north of Lucknow became the Capital, until about A. D. 1050, when

the ZYomars retired to Delhi before the growing power of the Rdhtors.

Once more Kanoj became the Capital of a powerful kingdom, and the

rival of Delhi, both in extent and in magnificence. Here Jaya Chan-

dra, the last of the Rdhtors, celebrated the Aswamedha, or ‘ Horse-

sacrifice ;” and here in open day did Prithi Raja, the daring chief of

the Chohans, carry off the willing daughter of the Réhtor King, in

spite of the gallant resistance of the two Bandfar heroes Alha and

Udal. 'The fame of these two brothers, which is fully equal to that of

Prithi Raja himself, is still preserved in the songs and traditions of

the people amongst the Chandels of Mahoba and the Réhtors and

Chandels of the Doab. After the fall of Delhi in January, 1193, A.

D., Muhammad Ghori marched against Kanoj. Raja Jaya Chandra

retired before him as far as Benares, where he made his last stand, but

was defeated with great slaughter. The Raja escaped from the field,

but was drowned in attempting to cross the Ganges. When his body

was recovered by the conquerors it was found that he had false teeth

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 207

fixed with wires of gold. With Jaya Chandra ended the dynasty of

the Rahtors of the Doab and the wealth and importance of the far-

famed Capital of Kanoj. Only one hundred and fifty years later it is

descriped by Ibn Batuta as a “ small town,” and from that time down

to the present this ancient city has gradually lessened in consequence ;

but as it was close to the high road of the Doab, it still continued to

be visited by numerous travellers who were attracted by its ancient fame.

The final blow to its prosperity has now been given by the diversion

of the Railroad to Ktawa, which leaves Kanoj far away to the east,

to be visited for the future only by the curious antiquary and the Civil

Officials of the district.

256. In comparing Hwen Thsang’s description of ancient Kanoj

with the existing remains of the city, I am obliged to-confess with

regret that I have not been able to identify even one solitary site with

any certainty ; so completely has almost every trace of Hindu occupa-

tion been obliterated by the Musalmans. According to the traditions

of the people, the ancient city extended from the shrine of Haji Har-

mdyan on the north near.the Raj Ghat, to the neighbourhood of

Miranka-Sara on the south, a distance of exactly three miles. Towards

the west it is said to have reached to Kapatya and Makarandnagar,

two villages on the high road, about three miles from Hadj: Harmdyan.

On the east the boundary was the old bed of the Ganges, or Chota

Ganga as the people call it, although it is recorded in our maps as the

Kali Nadi. Their account is that the Kali, or Kalindri Nadi, former-

ly joined the Ganges near Sangiraémpur or Sangrdmpur ; but that

several hundred years ago the great river took a more northerly course

from that point, while the waters of the Kali Nadz continued to flow

down the deserted channel. As an open channel still exists between

Sangrdmpur and the Kali Nadi, I am satisfied that the popular account

is correct, and that the stream which flows under Kanoj, from San-

grampur to Mhendi Ghét, although now chiefly filled with the waters

of the Kali Nadi, was originally the main channel of the Ganges.

The accounts of Fa Hian and Hwen Thsang, who place Kanoj on the

Ganges, are therefore confirmed, not only by the traditions of the

people, but also by the fact that the old channel still exists under the

name of the Chota Ganga, or Little Ganges.

257. The modern town of Kanoj occupies only the north end of

208 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

the site of the old city, including the whole of what is now called the

Kilah or citadel. The boundaries are well defined by the shrine of

Hiji Harmdyan on the north, the tomb of 7@ Baj on the south-west,

and the Masjid and tomb of Makhdum Jahéniya on the south-east.

The houses are much scattered, especially inside the citadel, so that

though the city still covers nearly one square mile, yet the population

barely exceeds 16,000 in number. The citadel, which occupies all the

highest ground, is triangular in shape, its northern point being the

shrine of Haji Harmdyan, its south-west point the temple of Ajoy

Pél, and its south-east point the large bastion called Kshem Kali Bij.

Hach of the faces is about 4,000 feet in length, that to the north-west

being protected by the bed of the nameless dry Nala; that to the

north-east by the Chota Ganga ; while that to the south must have

been covered by a ditch, which is now one of the main roads of the

city, running along the foot of the mound from the bridge below Ajoy

Pal’s temple to the Kshem Kali bastion. On the north-east face the

mound rises to 60 and 70 feet in height above the low ground on the

bank of the river ; and towards the Nala on the north-west, it still main-

tains a height of from 40 to 50 feet. On the southern side, however,

it is not more than 30 feet immediately below the temple of Ajoy Pal,

but it increases to 40 feet below the tomb of Buld Pir. The situation

is a commanding one; and before the use of cannon the height alone

must have 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 Haji Harmadyan, and the second to the south-east, close to the

Kshem Kali Birj. But as both of these gates lead to the river it is

certain that there must have been a third gate on the land side towards

the south-west, and the most probable position seems to be immediate-

ly under the walls of the Rang Mahal, and close to the temple of Ajoy

Pal.

258. According to tradition, the ancient city contained 84 wards,

or Mahalas, of which 25 are still existing within the limits of the

present town. If we take the area of these 25 wards at three-quarters

of a square mile, the 84 wards of the ancient city would have covered

just 24 square miles. Now, this is the very size that is assigned to

the old city by Hwen’ Thsang, who makes its length 20 /z, or 34 miles,

and its breadth 4 or 5 (7, or just three-quarters of a mile, which mul-

1865. ] . Report of the Archeological Survey. 209

tiplied together give just 24 square miles. Almost the same limits

may be determined from the sites or the existing ruins, which are also

the chief jind-spots of the old coins with which Kanoj abounds. Accord-

ing to the dealers, the old coins are found at Bala Pir and Rang

Mahal, inside the Fort; at Makhdum Jahdniya, to the south-east of

the Fort; at Makarandnagar on the high road; and intermediately

at the small villages of Singh Bhawani and Kitlipur. The only other

productive site is said to be Rajgir, an ancient mound covered with

brick ruins on the bank of Chota Ganga, three miles to the south-east

of Kanoj. Taking all these evidences into consideration, it appears to

me almost certain that the ancient city of Hwen Thsang’s time must

have extended from Haji Hurmdyan and the Kshem Kali Bivy, on

the bank of the Ganges (now the Chota Ganga), in a south-west direc-

tion, to Makarandnagar, on the Grand Trunk Road, a length of just

three miles, with a general breadth of about one mile or somewhat

less. Within these limits are found all the ruins that still exist to

point out the position of the once famous city of Kano}.

259. The only remains of any interest are, Ist, the ruins of the

old palace, now called the Rang Mahal ; 2nd, the Hindu pillars of the

Jama Masjid ; 8rd, the Hindu pillars of the Masjid of Makhdum

Jahaniya ; and 4th, the Hindu statues in the village of Singh Bha-

want. 'The other remains are simple mounds of all sizes, covered with

broken bricks, traces of brick walls, and broken figures. These are

found in several places inside the citadel, but more particularly at the

temple of Ajoy Pal, a modern building on an ancient site. Outside

the citadel they are found chiefly about the shrine of Makhdum

Jahdniya on the south-east, and about Makrandnagar on the south-

west.

260. The ruins of the Rang Mahal, which are situated in the south-

west angle of the citadel, consist of a strong brick wall faced with

blocks of hankar, 240 feet in length, and 25 feet in height above the

sloping ruins, but more than 40 feet above the level of the bazar.

It is strengthened in 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 92 feet

farther back a third wall 33 feet thick, and a fourth wall at 21 feet.

The distances between the walls most probably represent the width of

210 Report of the Archeological Survey. . [No. 4,

some of the rooms of the old Hindu palace, which would thus have a

breadth of 56 feet. But the block kankar walls can be traced for a

distance of 180 feet back from the south-east buttress to a wicket or

small door which would appear to have formed a side entrance to the

courtyard of the palace. As far as it can be now traced, the palace

covered an area of 240 feet in length by 180 feet in breadth. It is

said to have been built by Ajoy Pal, to whom also is attributed a tem-

ple which once stood close by. Ayjoy "Pal, and Mahi Pdi are said to

have reigned a short time before Jay Chand ; but the names of the

intervening Princes are not known. I think it highly probable that

Ajoy Pdl is the Tomar Prince Joy Pdl, who was conquered by

Mahmud of Ghaznie, and afterwards defeated and killed, in A. D.

1021, by a confederate army under the leadership of the Chandal Raja

of Kajanjar. Just outside the south-east buttress of the palace, the

people point out a spot where they affirm that 29 golden ingots were

discovered in 1834, of which 9 were made over to Mr.. Wemyss, the

Collector of Cawnpoor, and the remainder were secreted by the finders.

Accounts differ as to the weight of the ingots, but the general belief

is that they weighed about 1 ser or 2 tbs each. The coin dealers,

however, affirm that the 9 ingots which were taken to the Cawnpoor

Treasury weighed Rs. 13,500, that is Rs 1,500, or 183 sers, each.

261. The Jdéma, or Dina, Masjid of Kanoj is cited by Mr.

Fergusson as a specimen of Hindu cloisters, which has been re-arranged

to suit the purposes of Muhammadan worship; and in this opinion I

most fully concur. The inscription over the entrance doorway is now

much decayed, and several portions are quite obliterated, but a copy

has been fortunately preserved by Rajab Ali, a teacher of children, in the

court of the Masjid. According to this copy, the Masjid was built in the

Hijira year 809, or A. D. 1406, in the reign of Ibrahim Shah (of Jon-

pur). It is situated on a lofty mound in the very middle of the old

fort, and this commanding position alone would be sufficient to show

that it must originally have been the site of some Hindu building of

considerable importance. This conclusion is partly confirmed by the

traditions of the people, who, however, most absurdly call the place

Sitaka Rasii, or “ Sita’s kitchen.” We know also that it was the usual

practice of the Muhammadan Kings of Jonpur to raise their Masjids on

the sites, and with the materials, of the Hindu temples which they

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey, 211

demolished. On comparing therefore this. cloistered Masjid with

those of Jonpur, which are acknowledged re-arrangements of Hindu

materials, we see at once that the pillars are all Hindu, and that the

domes formed of courses of overlapping stones, and decorated with

Hindu symbols, are certainly not Muhammadan. When I first visited

Kanoj in January, 1838, the arrangement of the pillars was somewhat

different from what I found it in November, 1862. The cloisters which

originally extended all round the square, are now confined to the

Masjid itself, that is, to the west side only. This change is said to

have been made by a Muhammadan Tahsildar shortly before 1857.

The same individual is also accused of having destroyed all the remains

of figures that had been built into the walls of the Jéma and Makh-

dum Jahéniya Masjids. It is certain that there are none visible now,

although in January 1838, as recorded in my Journal, I saw “ several

Hindu figures placed sideways and upside down” in the walls of the

Jdma Masjid and three broken figures lying outside the doorway of

the Masjid of Makhdum Jahéniya. The inscription over the doorway

of the last, which I saw in its place in 1838, is said to have been

removed at the same time for the purpose of cutting off a Hindu figure

on the back of it. I recoverd this inscription by sending to the present

Tahsildar for it.

262. The Jdma Masjid, as it stands now, is a pillared room, 108

feet in length by 26 feet in width, supported on four rows of columns.

The roof is flat, excepting the centre and ends, which are covered with

domes formed by circles of stones gradually lessening until they meet.

In front of the Masjid there is a courtyard 95 feet in width, the whole

being surrounded by a stone wall 6 feet in thickness. The exterior

dimensions are 133 feet from west to east, by 1204 feet, In 1838 there

were still standing on the three sides of the courtyard portions of the

original cloisters formed of two rows of pillars. The Masjid itself was

then confined to the five openings in the middle of the west side, the

seven openings on each flank of it being formed of only two rows of

pillars the same as on the other three sides. The Masjid now consists

of asingle room supported on 60 pillars without any cloisters; but

originally the Masjid itself 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 128. To make up this number we

212 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

have the 60 pillars of the present Masjid, and no less than 58 spare

capitals still lying in the courtyard, which together make up 118, or

within 10 of the actual number required to complete the original design.

263. The pillars of the Jdéma Masjid may, I think, be seen in

their original Hindu form at the sides of the small doorways in the

north and south walls of the court. Each pillar is formed of five

pieces, viz., a base and capital, with a middle piece which divides the

shaft 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 base is 1 foot high, and the middle piece and the capital are each

3 inches, thus making the whole height 9 feet 10 inches. But the

pillars, as re-arranged by the Muhammadans, are 14 feet 2 inches high,

the extra height having been gained by adding a piece to each portion

of the shaft. These shorter pieces, which are 2 feet 1 inch in height,

are always placed above the original shafts of 3 feet 8 inches. As there

could have been no difficulty in purchasing a single shaft of the required

length of 5 feet 10 inches, it seems certain that the whole of these

made-up pillars must have been obtained after the usual cheap Muham-

madan manner—by the demolition of some Hindu buildings, either

Buddhist or Brahmanical.

264. The Masjid and tomb of Makhdum Jahdniya are situated on

a lofty mound in the Sikhéna Mahalla to the south-east of the citadel,

overlooking the Chota Ganga. The mound is 40 feet in height above

the fields, andis partly occupied by weavers’ houses. The tomb of the

Makhdum is a common-looking building, 35 feet square. Beside it,

there are two other plain square tombs holding the remains of his

descendants, both male and female. The tomb itself, as recorded in

the mutilated inscription which formerly existed over the doorway,

was erected over Sayrd Jalal Makhdum Jahdniya by his son Radja in

the Hijira year 881, or A. D. 1476. The Masjid was built in the

same year, in the reign of Husen Shah of Jonpur, to whom Kanoj still

belonged, although some writers place his final defeat by Bahlol Lodi

of Delhi in this very year, A. H. 881, and others in A. H. 883. The

central dome of the Masjid 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 wall, which have the name of

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 213

Allah inscribed on a tablet suspended by a rope. The appearance of

the tablet and rope is so like that of the Hindu bell and chain that one

is almost tempted to believe that the Muhammadam architect must have

simply chiselled away the bolder points of the Hindu ornament to suit

his own design. But whether this may have been the case or not, it is

impossible to miss seeing that the Hindu bell and chain must have

been directly suggestive of the Muhammadan tablet and cord. The

Masjid and tombs are surrounded by a wall with four small towers at

the corners, and an entrance gate on the south side. In the steps

leading up to this entrance I found in 1838 a broken figure of Shastz,

the goddess of fecundity, and a pedestal with a short inscription, dated.

in Samvat 1193, or A. D. 1136. The people also affirm that a large

statue formerly stood under a tree close by. All of these are now gone,

but the fact that two of them were built into the entrance steps is

sufficient to show that the mound on which the Masjid stands must

once have been the site of some important Hindu building.

265. The two statues in the village of Singh Bhawéni were dis-

covered about 100 years ago in a field close by the brick hovel in

which they are now placed. The people call them Rém and Lakshman,

and the attendant Brahman does so too, although the figures have

eight arms each, and although the Fish, Tortoise, Boar and Lion

incarnations of Vishnu are represented round the head of one of them.

Hach of the figures is 3 feet in height, but the whole sculpture is

6 feet. Vishnu is also known by the discus (chakra), and club (gadé),

from which he derives his well known titles of chakradhar and gadddhar,

Along with these sculptures there are some other figures, of which the

most important is a statue of the Tantrika Buddhist goddess, Vajrd

Vardi. The figure is 2} feet in height and has three heads, of

which one is porcine, and the usual number of seven hogs is represented

on the pedestal. Outside the building there are figures of Durga slay-

ing the Maheshasur, or buffalo demon, and of Siva and Parbati sitting

on the bull Nandi. In the neighbouring village of Kutlupur I found

the lintel of a temple doorway with a figure of Vishnu in the middle,

showing that the temple had been dedicated to that god, He is represent-

ed sitting on the Garuda, or eagle, and holding the club and discus,

266. The remaining place of any note is the Swraj-kund, or

Tank of the Sun,” to the south-east of Makarandnagar, It is now

914 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

nearly dried up, and at the time of my visit its bed was planted with

potatoes. But it is one of the oldest places of worship in Kanoj, and an

annual fair is still held on its bank in the month of Bhadur, (August-

September). Close beside it there is a modern temple of Mahadeva,

which is said to have replaced a ruined one of some antiquity. To the

south-west of Makarandnagar there are three mounds covered with

broken bricks and pottery ; and under a tree, on the south mound, are —

collected a number of fragments of sculpture at a spot dedicated to

Maordri Devi.

267. Most of the ancient monuments of Kanoj that are noticed by

the Chinese pilgrims are of course Buddhist; but numerous as they

were, I am unable to do more than offer conjectures more or less pro-

bable regarding their sites, as Muhammadan spoliation has not left a

single place standing to give even a faint clue towards identification.

The position of one of the most remarkable of the monuments is

rendered more than usually doubtful by the conflicting evidence of the

two pilgrims. According to Fa Hian, the great Stupa of Asoka, 200 feet

in height, which was built on the spot where Buddha had preached on

the instability of human existence, was situated at 6 or 7 l to the

west of the town, and on the north bank of the Ganges. But accord-

ing to Hwen Thsang, this great Stwpa was situated at 6 or 7 li to the

south-east of the capital, and on the south bank of the Ganges. Now, as

the ground to the north of the Ganges, as it existed during the first

centuries of the Christian era, was very low and therefore liable to

inundation, it seems highly improbable that any monument would

‘have been erected in such an insecure position. I conclude therefore

that Hwen Thsang’s account is most likely right, but I failed in my

search for any remains of this vast monument in the position indicated,

that is, at rather more than one mile to the south-east of the capital,

and on the south bank of the Chota Ganga.

268. To the north-west of the town Hwen Thsang places another

Stupa of Asoka, but as he gives no distance, the mere bearing is too

vague to enable us to fix upon the site with any probability. Perhaps

the small village of Kapatya, or Kapteswarz, nearly opposite the burnt

dak bungalow, is the most probable site; but although there are

the remains of brick buildings in its vicinity, there is nothing to

mdicate the previous existence of any large Stwpa. A smaller Stwpa

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 215

containing the hair and nails of Buddha has also disappeared, as well

as the memorial monument to the four Buddhas.

269. To the south of the town, and close to the, Ganges, there

were three monasteries, with similar looking walls, but differmg gate-

ways. In one of these monasteries there was a Vihdra, or chapel,

which possessed a tooth of Buddha preserved in a casket adorned with

precious stones raised on a high pedestal. This tooth was shown

daily to crowds of people, although the tax charged for its exhibition

was “a large piece of gold.” Perfumes were burned before it by

thousands of votaries, and flowers which were strewn in profusion over

it were devoutly believed never to conceal the casket. Right and left in

front of the monasteries there were two Vihdras, each about 100 feet

in height. Their foundations were of stone, but their walls of brick.

Tn front of each Vihdra there was a small monastery. |The most pro-

bable site of the three monasteries and the Vehdra with the tooth of

Buddha, seems to me to be the large mound immediately to the south

of the Kshem Kali Bivj, to the south-east of the town, and on the

immediate bank of the river. This is now called the Mahalla of Ldla

Misr Tola. The mound is covered with broken bricks, but no remains

of any extensive buildings are now visible.

270. At a short distance to the south-east of the three monasteries

there was a lofty Vehdra, 200 feet in height, which enshrined a statue

of Buddha 30 feet high. The foundations of the building were of

stone, but the walls of brick. On the surrounding walls of the Vihara,

which were of stone, were sculptured all the acts of Buddha’s life until

he became a Bodhisatwa. The position of this lofty Vihdra was most pro-

bably on the large mound in the midst of the present Bhatpuri Mahalla,

which stands about 800 feet to the south-east of the mound in the Mahalla

of Lala Misr Tola. There are no remains now to be seen on this mound,

but it is probable that excavations would be attended with success, as

there can be little doubt that this was once the site of some important

buildings. Ata little distance from the Vihdra towards the south

there was a temple; and a little farther to the south there was a second

temple dedicated to Siva. Both of these temples were of the same

form and size as the Vihdras of Buddha. They were built of a blue stone

which was highly polished, and adorned with admirable sculptures.

The probable position of these Brahmanical temples was on the high

216 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

mound of Makhdum Jahdniya, in the Sikhdna Mahalla, which is about

700 feet to the south of the last mentioned mound in the Bhatpuri

Mahalla. That this mound was the site of one or more Brahmanical

temples seems almost certain from my discovery of a figure of Shastz,

the goddess of fecundity, and of a pedestal bearing the date of Samvat

1193, or A. D. 1136, which is posterior to the extinction of Buddhism

in Kanoj. I think it probable that excavations in this mound would be

attended with success, as the two temples are said to have been built of

stone, which no doubt furnished the whole of the materials for the

Masjid and tomb of Makhdum Jahaniya,

XI.—A-YU-TO, OR AYODHYA.

271. From Kanoj the two Chinese pilgrims followed different

routes, Fa Hian having proceeded direct to Sha-chi (the modern

Ajudhya, near Fyzabad on the Ghaghra), while Hwen Thsang follow-

ed the course of the Ganges to Praydg, or Allahabad. The first stage

of both pilgrims would, however, appear to be the same. Fa Hian

states that he crossed the Ganges and proceeded 3 yojans, or 21 miles,

to the forest of Holz, where there were several Stwpas erected on spots

where Buddda had “ passed, or walked, or sat.” Hwen Thsang re-

cords that he marched 100 l, nearly 17 miles, to the town of Nava-

deva-kula, which was on the eastern bank of the Ganges, and that at

5 li, or nearly 1 mile, to the south-east of the town there was a Stupa

of Asoka, which was still 100 feet in height, besides some other

monuments dedicated to the four previous Buddhas. I think it pro-

bable that the two places are the same, and that the site wss some-

where near Nobatganj, just above the junction of the Zsan River and

opposite Nanamow Ghat. But as there are no existing remains any-

where in that neighbourhood, the place has been most likely swept

away by the river. ‘This is rendered almost certain by an examination

of the Ganges below the junction of the Zsan. Formerly the river

continued its course almost due south from Nanamow for many miles,

but some centuries ago it changed its course first to the south-east for

A or 5 miles, and then to the south-west for about the same distance,

where it rejoined its old bed, leaving an island, some 6 miles in length

by 4 in breadth, between the two channels. As Hwen Thsang’s ac-

count places Nava-deva-kula on the very site of this island, I conclude

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 217

that the town as well as the Buddhist monuments must all have been

swept away by the change in the river’s course.

272. On leaving Nava-deva-kula, Hwen Thsang proceeded 600

lk, or 100 miles, to the south-east, and recrossing the Ganges he reach-

ed the capital city of A-yu-to, which was 20 I, or upwards of 3

miles, in circuit Both M. Julien and M. St. Martin have identi-

fied this place with Ayodhya, the once celebrated capital of Rama.

But though I agree with them as to the probable identification of the

name as that of the country, I differ with them altogether in looking

for the capital along the line of the Ghaghra River, which is due east

from Kanoj, whereas Hwen Thsang states that his route was to the

south-east. It is of course quite possible that the pilgrim may occa-

sionally use the generic name of Ganges as the appellation of any large

river, such for instance as the Ghaghra, but in the present case, where

the recorded bearing of south-east agrees with the course of the Ganges,

T think it is almost certain that the Ganges itself was the river intend-

ed by the pilgrim. But by adopting the line of the Ganges we

encounter a difficulty of a different kind in the great excess of the

distance between two such well-known places as Kanoj and Prayag.

According to Hwen Thsang’s route, he first made 100 lk to Nava-

deva-kula, then 600 lito Ayutho, then 300 lz by water to Hayamukha,

and lastly 700 to Praydga. All these distances added together

make a total of 1,700 i, or 283 miles, which is just 100 miles, or

600 iz, in excess of the true distance. But asa part of the jonrney,

viz., 300 i, or 50 miles, was performed by water, the actual excess

may perhaps not be more than 85 or 90 miles; although it is doubt-

ful whether the distance of 300 2 may not have been the road mea-

surement and not the river distance. It is sufficient for our purpose

to know that Hwen Thsang’s recorded measurement is somewhere about

100 miles in excess of the truth. The only explanation of this error

that suggests itself to me is, that there may have been an accidental

alteration of one set of figures, such as 60 ld for 600 Wl, or 700 li for

70 t. Supposing that the former was the case, the distance would

be shortened by 540 hi, or 90 miles, and if the latter, by 630 li, or

105 miles. This mode of correction brings the pilgrim’s account into

fair accordance with the actual distance of 180 miles between Kanoj

and Prayag.

218 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

273. By adopting the first supposition, Hwen Thsang’s distance

from Nava-deva-kula to the Capital of Ayutho will be only 60 i, or

10 miles, to the south-east, which would bring him to the site of an

ancient city named Kdkipur, just 1 mile to the north of Seorajpoor,

and 20 miles to the north-west of Cawnpoor. If we adopt the latter

correction, the pilgrim’s distance to Ayutho of 600 lz, or 100 miles,

will remain unchanged, and this would bring him vid Mdmkpur,

which is also an ancient place. By the first supposition the sub-

sequent route would have been from Kdkipur to Daundiakhera by

boat, a distance of exactly 50 miles, or 300 lx, and from thence to

Praydg, a distance of more than 100 miles, which agrees with the

700 l, or 116 miles, of the pilgrim. By the second supposition the

subsequent route would have been from Khara to Papamow by water,

about 50 miles, and thence to Praydg, about 8 miles of laud, which

agrees with the 70 lz of the proposed correction. In favour of this

last supposition is the fact that the bearing from Khara to Papamow

of east by south is more in accordance with Hwen Thsang’s recorded

east direction than the south-east bearing of Daundiakhera from

Kaktpur. I confess, however, that I am more inclined to adopt the

former correction, which places the chief city of Ayutho at Kakipur,

and the town of Hayamukha at Daundiakhera, as we know that the

last was the capital of the Bais Rajputs for a considerable period. I

am partly inclined to this opinion by a suspicion that the name of

Cdkapur may be connected with that of Bagud, or Vagud, of the Ti-

betan books. According to this authority a Sékya, named Shdmpaka,

on being banished from Kapila retired to Bagud, carrying with him

some of Buddha’s hairs and nail-parings, over which he built a chaztya.

He was made King of Bagud, and the monument was named after

himself (? Shémpaka Stupa). No clue is given as to the position of

Bagud, but as I know of no other name that resembles it, I am induc-

ed to think that it is probably the same place as the Ayutho of Hwen

Thsang, which was also possessed of a Stupa containing some hairs

and nail-parings of Buddha. Kdkdépur is well known to the people

of Kanoj, who affirm that it was once a large city with a Raja of its

own. ‘The existing remains of Kdkipur consist of numerous founda-

tions formed of large bricks, and more particularly of a connected set

of walls of some large building which the people call ‘the palace.”

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 219

T have not yet visited this place, which lay out of my line of route,

but I hope to have an opportunity of examining it hereafter.

XITL—HAYAMUKHA OR AYOMUKHA.

274. From Ayutho the Chinese pilgrim proceeded a distance of

300 lv, or 50 miles, down the Ganges by boat to O-ye-mu-khi, which

was situated on the north bank of the river, M. Julien reads this

name as Hayamukha, equivalent to ‘‘ Horse face,” or “ Iron face,”

which was the name of one of the Dénavas or Titans. Neither of

these names, however, gives any clue to the site of the old city; but

if [ am right in my identification of Ayutho with Kdkupur, it is almost

certain that Ayomukha must be the same as Daundiakhera. Hwen

Thsang makes the circuit of the town 20 72, or upwards of 3 miles,

but Daundiakhera presents no appearance of having ever been so

large. There still exist the ruins of an old fort or citadel, 385 feet

square, with the walls of two buildings which are called the Raja’s

and Rani’s palaces. The foundation of this citadel is attributed to

Raja Raghunath Singh, but he was apparently some comparatively

modern Thakur, or petty Chief, as Daundiakhera is universally allow-

ed to have been the capital of the Bais Rajputs, who claim descent

from the famous Salivahan. As there are no remains of any buildings

which can be identified with the monuments described by Hwen

Thsang, the actual site of Ayomukha must still remain doubtful.

XIIL—PRAYAGA, OR ALLAHABAD.

275. From Ayomukha the pilgrim proceeded 700 (7, or 116 miles,

to the south-east, to Praydga, the well-known place of pilgrimage at

the junction of the Ganges and Jumna, where Akbar some centuries

later built his fort of Ildhabds, or Allahabad, as it was afterwards call-

ed by Shahjahan. The distance and bearing given by Hwen Thsang

agree almost exactly with those of Praydéga 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 have

been increased to about 115 or 120 miles. According to him the city

was situated at the confluence of the two rivers, but to the west of a

large sandy plain. In the midst of the city there was a Brahmanical

temple, to which the presentation of a single piece of money procured

as much merit as that of one thousand pieces elsewhere. Before the

220 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

principal room of the temple there was a large tree with wide-spread-

ing branches, which was said to be the dwelling of an anthropopha-

gousdemon. The tree was surrounded with human bones, the remains

of pilgrims who had sacrificed their ives before the temple,—a custom

which had been observed from time immemorial.

276. Ithink there can be little doubt that the famous tree here

described by the Chinese pilgrim is the well-known Akshdy Bat, or

“‘ shadowless Banian tree,’ which is still an object of worship at

Allahabad. This tree is now situated underground at one side of a

pillared court, which would appear to have been open formerly, and

which is, I believe, the remains of the temple described by Hwen

Thsang. The temple is situated inside the fort of Allahabad, to the

east of the Ellenborough Barracks, and due north from the stone pillar

of Asoka and Samudra Gupta. Originally both tree and temple must

have been on the natural ground level, but from the constant accu-

mulation of rubbish they have bean gradually earthed up, until the

whole of the lower portion of the temple has disappeared underground.

The upper portion has long ago been removed, and the only access to

the Akshay Bat now available is by a flight of steps which leads down

to a square pillared court-yard. This court has apparently once been

open to the sky, but it is now closed in, to secure darkness and mystery

for the holy Fig tree.

277. The Akshay Bat is next mentioned by Rashid-ud-din mm the

Jamiut-tawdrikh, in which he states that the “ tree of Prdg’’ is situat-

ed at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges. As most of his

information was derived from Abu Rihdn, the date of this notice may

with great probability be referred to the time of Mahmud of Ghazni.

In the 7th century a great sandy plain, 2 miles in circuit, lay between

the city and the confluence of the rivers, and as the tree was in the

midst of the city, it must have been at least one mile from the con-

fluence. But nine centuries later, in the beginning of Akbar’s reign,

Abdul Kadir speaks of the ‘‘ tree from which people cast themselves

into the rivers.” From this statement, I infer that, during the long

period that intervened between the time of Hwen Thsang and that

of Akbar, the two rivers had gradually carried away the whole of the

great sandy plain, and had so far encroached upon the city as to place

the holy tree on the very brink of the water. Long before this time

the old city had no doubt been deserted, for we know that the fort of

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 221

Iléhdbdés was founded on its site in the 21st year of Akbar’s reign

that is in A. H. 982, or A. D. 1572. Indeed the way in which Abu

Rihan speaks of the “tree” instead of the city of Prag, leads me to

believe that the city itself had already been deserted before his time.

As far as I am aware, it is not once mentioned in any Muhammadan

history, until it was refounded by Akbar.

278. Asthe old city of Praydg has totally disappeared, we can scarcely

expect to find any traces of the various Buddhist monuments which were

seen and described by the Chinese pilgrim in the 7th century. Indeed

from their position to the south-west of the city, it seems very probable

that they may have been washed away bythe Jumna even before the final

abandonment of the city, as the course of that river for 3 miles above the

confluence has been due west and east for many centuries past. At any rate,

it is quite certain that no remains of these buildings are now to be seen;

the only existing Hindu monument being the well known stone pillar

which bears the inscriptions of Asoka, Samudra Gupta aud Jahangir.

As Hwen Thsang makes no mention of this pillar, it is probable that

it was not standing in his day. ven its original position is not ex-

actly known, but it was probably not far from its present site. It was

first erected by King Asoka about B. C. 240 for the purpose of inscrib-

ing his edicts regarding the propagation of Buddhism. It was next

made use of by Samudra Gupta, about the second century of the Chris-

tian era, for the record of his extensive sovereignty over the various

nations of India from Nepal to the Dakhan, and from Gujarat to

Assam. lastly, it was re-erected by the Mogal Emperor Jahangir to

commemorate his accession to the throne in the year 1605 A. D,

These are the three principal inscriptions on the Allahabad Pillar, but

there are also a number of minor records of the names of travellers and

pilgrims of various dates, from about the beginning of the Christian

era down to the present century. Regarding these minor inscriptions,

James Prinsep remarks that “it is a singular fact that the periods

at which the pillar has been overthrown can be thus determined with

nearly as much certainty from this desultory writing, as can the epochs

of its being re-erected from the more formal inscriptions recording

the latter event. Thus, that it was overthrown some time after its

first erection by the great Asoka in the middle of the third century

before Christ, is proved by the longitudinal or random insertion of

several names in achavacter intermediate between No. 1 and No. 2, in

999, Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

which the m, b, &c., retain the old form.” Of one of these names

he remarks ‘‘ Now it would have been exceedingly difficult, if not

impossible, to have cut the name No. 10 up and down at right angles

to the other writing, while the pillar was erect, to say nothing of the

place being out of reach, unless a scaffold were erected on purpose,

which would hardly be the case, since the object of an ambitious visitor

would be defeated by placing his name out of sight and in an unread-

able position.” The pillar “ was erected as Samudra Gupta’s arm,

and there it probably remained until overthrown again by the idol-

breaking zeal of the Musalmans ; for we find no writings on it of the

Pdla, or Sarnath type (7.e., of the tenth century), but a quantity

appears with plain legible dates from the Samvat year 1420, or A. D.

1363, down to 1660 odd, and it is remarkable that these occupy

one side of the shaft, or that which was uppermost when the pillar

was in a prostrate position. A few detached and ill executed Nagari

names with Samvat dates of 1800 odd, show that even since it was

laid on the ground again by General Garstin, the passion for recording

visits of piety or curiosity has been at work.” In this last passage

James Prinsep has made a mistake in the name of the Vandal Engineer

who overthrew the stone pillar, because it stood in the way of his new

line of rampart near the gateway. It was General Kyd, and not

General Garstin, who was employed to strengthen the Fort of Allaha-

bad, and his name is still preserved in the suburb of Kydganj, on the

Jumna, immediately below the city.

279. The pillar was again set up in 1838 by Captain Hdward

Smith, of the Engineers, to whom the design of the present capital is

entirely due. At first it was intended to have placed a fancy flower as

an appropriate finish to the pillar, but as the people had a tradition

that the column was originally surmounted by the figure of a lion, it

was suggested by a Committee 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 Navandgarh or (Mathiya) pillars,

were cited as examples. The lion statues which crown the bell capitals

of these two pillars I have seen and admired, and I can affirm that

they are the figures of veritable lions. Both of them are represented

half couchant, with the head raised and the mouth open. The bell

capital swells out boldly towards the top to receive a massive abacus,

which forms the plinth of the statue. In these examples the broad

1865. | Report of the Archeological Survey. 223

swelling capital is in harmony with the stout and massive column.

But the new capital designed by Captain Smith, is, in my 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 is small and recumbent, and altogether the design is insig-

nificant. Indeed it looks to me not unlike a stuffed poodle stuck on

the top of an inverted flower pot.

280. According to the common tradition of the people, the name of

Prayaga was derived from a Brahman, who lived during the reign of

Akbar. The story is that when the Emperor was building the fort,

the walls on the river face repeatedly fell down in spite of all the pre-

cautions taken by the architect. On consulting some wise men, Akbar

was informed that the foundations could only be secured by being laid

in human blood. A proclamation was then made, when a Brahman,

called Prayéga, voluntarily offered his life, on the condition that the

fort should bear hisname. ‘This idle story, which is diligently related

to the pilgrims who visit the Akshay Bat, may at least serve one useful

purpose, in warning us not to place too much faith in these local tra-

ditions. The name of Praydga is recorded by Hwen Thsang in the

7th century, and is in all probability as old as the reign of Asoka, who

set up the stone pillar about B. C. 240, while the fort was not built

until the end of the 16th century.

XIV.—KOSAM, OR KOSAMBL.

981. The city of Kosdémbi was one of the most celebrated places in

ancient India, and its name was famous amongst Brahmans as well as

Buddhists. The city is said to have been founded by Kusamba, the tenth

in descent from Pururavas; but its fame begins only with the reign of

Chakra, the eighth in descent from Arjun Pandu, who made Kos&mbi

his capital after Hastinapura had been swept away by the Ganges. If

the date of the great war (Mahdbhdrata) be fixed at 1426 B. C., which,

as I have already shown in my account of Dilli, is the most probable

period, then the date of Chakra will be about 1200 or 1150 B. C.

Twenty-two of his descendants are said to have reigned in the Kosambi

down to Kshemaka, the last of the dynasty, but it seems almost certain

that some names must have been omitted, as the very longest period

of 30 years which can be assigned to a generation of eastern Kings

will place the close of the dynasty about B. C. 500, and make the

294 Report of the Archeological Survey. [ No. 4,

period of Uddyana about 630 to 600 B. C. If we take all the recorded

names of the different authorities, then the number of generations will

be 24, which will place the close of the dynasty in B. C. 440, and

fix the reign of Uddyana in 570 to 540 B. C. As Udayana is repre-

sented by the Buddhists to have been a contemporary of Buddha, this

date may be accepted as wonderfully accurate for so remote a period

of Indian History.

282. Kosambi is mentioned in the Ramayana, the earliest of the

Hindu Poems, which is generally allowed to have been composed

before the Christian era. The story of Uddyana, King of Kosémbi, is

referred to by the poet Kali Dasa in his Megha-duta, or ‘‘ Cloud messen-

ger,” when he saysthat Avanti (or Ujain) is great with the number of

those versed in the tale of Udayana.”’ Now Kali Dasa flourished shortly

after A.D. 500. In the Vrihat Katha, of Somadeva, the story of Udéyana

is given at fulllength, but the author has made a mistake in the

genealogy between the two Satdnikas. Lastly, the kingdom of Kosdmbz,

or Kosémba Mandala, is mentioned in an inscription taken from the

gateway of the fort of Khara which is dated in Samvat 1092, or A. D.

1035, at which period it would appear to have been independent of

Kanoj. Kosambi, the capital of Vatsa Rajah, is the scene of the pleas-

ing drama of Ratndvali, or the ‘“ Necklace,’ which was composed in

the reign of King Harsha Deva, who is most probably the same as

Harsha Vardhana of Kanoj, as the opening prelude describes amongst

the assembled audience “ princes from various realms recumbent at his

feet.” This we know from Hwen Thsang to have been true of the

Kanoj Prince, but which even a Brahman could scarcely have asserted

of Harsha Deva of Kashmir. The date of this notice will therefore lie

between 607 and 650 A. D. '

283. But the name of Uddyana, King of Kosambi, was perhaps

even more famous amongst the Buddhists. In the Mah4wanso,

which was composed in the 5th century A. D., the venerable Yasa is

said to have fled from ‘‘ Vazsdélz to Kosimbi just before the assembly

of the second Buddhist Synod. In the Lalita Vistara, which was

translated into Chinese between 70 and 76 A. D., and which must

therefore have been composed not later than the beginning of the Chris-

tian era, Udayana Vatsa, son of Satanika, King of Kosaémbi, is said

to have been born on the same day as Buddha. In other Ceylonese

books, Kosémbi is named as one of the 19 capital cities of ancient

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey, 225

India. Udayana Vatsa, the son of Satanika, is also known to the

Tibetans as the King of Kosimbi. In the Ratnavali he is called Vatsa

Raja, or King of the Vatsas, and his capital Vatsa pattana, which is

therefore only another name for Kosambi. In this celebrated city,

Buddha is said to have spent the 6th and 9th years of his Buddha-

hood. Lastly, Hwen Thsang relates that the famous statue of Buddha

in red sandal wood, which was made by King Udayana during the

life time of the Teacher, still existed under a stone dome in the ancient

palace of King Udayana.

284. 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 vain. The Brahmans generally asserted that

it stood either on the Ganges, or close to it, and the discovery of the

name of Kosdmbi mandala, or “ Kingdom of Kosambi,” in an inscrip-

tion over the gateway of the fort of Khava, seems to confirm the general

belief, although the south-west bearing from Prayaga, or Allahabad,

as recorded by Hwen Thsang, points unmistakably to the line of the

Jumna, In January 1861, Mr. Bayley informed me that he believed

the ancient Kosambi would be found in the old village of Kosam, on

the Jumna, about 30 miles above Allahabad. In the following month

I met Babu Siva Prasad, of the Educational Department, who takes a

deep and intelligent interest in all archeological subjects, and from

him J learned that Kosam is still known as Kosdémbi-nagar, that it is

even now a great resort of the Jains, and that only one century ago

it was a large and flourishing town. This information was quite suffi-

cient to satisfy me that Kosam was the actual site of the once famous

Kosambi. Still, however, there was no direct evidence to show that

the city was situated on the Jumna; but this missing link in the chain

of evidence I shortly afterwards found in the curious legend of Bak-

kula, which is related at length in Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism.

The infant Bakkula was born at Kosambi, and while his mother was

bathing in the Jwmna, he accidentally fell into the river, and being

swallowed by a fish was carried to Benares. There the fish was caught

and sold to the wife of a nobleman, who on opening it found the young

child still alive inside, and at once adopted it as her own. The true

mother hearing of this wonderful escape of the infant, proceeded to

Benares, and demanded the return of the child, which was of course

refused, The matter was then referred to the King, who decided that

226 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

both of the claimants were mothers of the child—the one by maternity,

the other by purchase. The child was accordingly named Bakula ;

that is, of “two kulas, or races.” He reached the age of 90 years

without once having been ill, when he was converted by the preaching

of Buddha, who declared him to be “ the chief of that class of his

disciples who were free from disease.” After this he is said to have

lived 90 years more, when he became an arhat, or Buddhist saint.

285. But the negative kind of merit which Bakkula acquired, by

his freedom from disease, was not appreciated by Asoka, as we learn

from a very curious legend which is preserved in the Divya Avadana.

In the first ardour of his conversion to Buddhism the zealous Asoka

wished to do honour to all the places which the life and teaching of Bud-

dha had rendered famous, by the erection of stupas, and theholy Upagup-

ta volunteered to point out the sacred spots. Accordingly the goddess of

the Sal tree, who witnessed Buddha’s birth, appeared to Asokaand vouch-

ed for the authenticity of the venerated tree, which had given support

to Mayé-Devi, at the birth of the infant Sakya. Other holy sites are

also indicated, such as the Bodhi-drim, or sacred Pipal tree at Buddha

Gaya, under which Buddha sat for four years in meditation; and the

Sal trees at Kusinagara, beneath which he obtained Nirvdna,—besides

various spots rendered famous by the acts of his principal disciples,

Sariputra, Maudgalyayana, Kasyapa, Ananda. To all these holy

places the pious King allotted large sums of money for the erection of

Stupas. Upagupta then pointed out the holy place of Bakkula at

Kosambi. “ And what was the merit of this sage?’’ asked Asoka.

““He lived,” answered Upagupta, “to a great age without once

having known disease.” ‘On him,” said the King, “I bestow one

farthing (Kdkanz).”* In Burnout’s version of this story, Bakula is

said to be the disciple who had encountered the fewest obstacles, from

which Asoka rightly argued that the fewer the obstacles the less the

merit. The same idea is even more tersely expressed by the old

author of the ‘Land of Cockaigne” in describing the sinlessness of

its inhabitants :—

“Very virtuous may they be

‘‘ Who temptation never see.”

* The Kdkani was the fourth part of the copper pana, and was therefore

worth only 20 cowrees. Its weight was 20 raktikas, or ratis of copper, or

18229 x 20 = 37% grains nearly.

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 227

286. As this legend of Bakula is sufficient to prove that the fa-

mous city of Kausimbi was situated on the Jumna, it now only re-

mains to show that the distance of Kosam from Allahabad corresponds

with that between Pray4g and Kos4mbi, as recorded by Hwen Thsang.

Unfortunately this distance is differently stated in the life and in the

travels of the Chinese pilgrim. In the former, the distance is given

as 50 Wz, and in the latter as 500 , whilst in the return journey to

China, the pilgrim states that between Prayég and Kosdmbi he travel-

led for seven days through a vast forest and over bare plains. Now, as

the village of Kosam is only 31 miles from the fort of Allahabad, the

last statement would seem to preclude all possibility of its identifica-

tion with the ancient Kosimbi. But strange to say, it affords the

most satisfactory proof of their identity ; for the subsequent route of the

pilgrim to Sankissa is said to have occupied one month, and as the

whole distance from Praydég to Sankissa is only 200 miles, the average

length of the pilgrim’s daily march was not more than 5} miles. This

slow progress is most satisfactorily accounted for, by the fact that the

march from Praydg to Sankissa was a religious procession, headed by

the great King Harsha Vardhana of Kanoj, with a train of no less

than 18 tributary Kings, besides many thousands of Buddhist monks,

and all the crowd of an Indian camp. According to this reckoning,

the distance from Praydg to Kosimbi would be 38 miles, which cor-

responds very closely with the actual road distance as [found it. By

the return route 35 miles. The only probable explanation of Hwen

Thsang’s varying distances of 50 i and 500 lz that occurs to me is,

that as he converted the Indian Yojanas into Chinese 7 at the rate of

40 li per Yojana, or of 10 lz per kos, he must have written 150 W,

the equivalent to 15 kos, which is the actual distance across the fields

for foot passengers from Kosam to the fort of Allahabad, according to

the reckoning of the people of Kosam itself. But whether this expla-

nation be correct or not, it is quite certain that the present Kosam

stands on the actual site of the ancient Kosdmbz ; for not only do the

people themselves put forward this claim, but it is also distinctly

stated in an inscription of the time of Akbar, which is recorded on the

_ great stone pillar, still standing in the midst of the ruins, that this is

Kausdémbi pura.

287, The present ruins of Kosimbi consist of an immense fortress

228 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

formed of earthen ramparts and bastions, with a circuit of 23,100 feet,

or exactly 4 miles and 8 furlongs. The ramparts have a general

height of from 30 to 35 feet above the fields, but the bastions are con-

siderably higher; those on the north face rising to upwards of 50 feet,

while those at the south-west and south-east angles are more than 60

feet. Originally 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 traced nearly all round, I could not find any

portion of the old wall with a facing sufficiently perfect to enable me

to determine its thickness. The large size of the bricks, which are

19 inches long by 123 by 23, shows that these are the ruins of very

old walls. In shape the fortress may be described as an irregular rect-

angle, with its longer sides running almost due north and south. The

length of the different faces is as follows :—

North iront27b 2822e0esees EE MORO TRG « 4,500 feet

SOE Git): ele dabesecintecieeseakc eno seee lat tay a stan ONO

Hast: 0 ii. s522% WIAs BASSI Si) BCP AL SS TS, 7,500 ,,

Westinakas SER EG aad ord SR SO ES a 5,100 ,,

Total............ 23,100 feet

The difference in length between the north and south fronts is due

to the original extension of the fortress on the river face; but the

difference between the east and west fronts is, I believe, chiefly, if not

wholly, due to the loss of the south-west angle of the ramparts by the

gradual encroachments of the Jumna. There are no tracesnow left of the

western half of the ramparts on the southern face, and the houses of the

village of Garhawd are standing on the very edge of the cliff overhang-

ing the river. The reach of the river also from the Pakka Burj at

the south-west angle of the fortress up to the hill of Prabhdsa, a

clear straight run of 4 miles, bears 12 degrees to the north of east,

whereas in the time of Hwen Thsang there were two stwpas and a

cave at a distance of 14 miles to the south-west of Kosémbi. From

all these concurring circumstances, I conclude that the west front of

the fortress was originally as nearly as possible of the same lengthas |

the east front. This would add 2,400 feet, or nearly half a mile to

the length of the west front, and would increase the whole circuit

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 229

of the ramparts to 4 miles and 7 furlongs, which is within one furlong

of the measurement of 5 miles, or 30 li recorded by Hwen Thsang. In

the three main points therefore of name, size, and position, the present

Kosam corresponds most exactly with the ancient Kosimbi as it is

described by the Chinese pilgrim in the 7th century.

288. Viewed from the outside, the ruins of Kosémbi present a

most striking appearance. My previous enquiries had led me to ex-

pect only a ruined mound some 20 or 380 feet in height covered with

broken bricks. What was my surprise therefore, when still at some

distance from the place on the north-east side, to behold extending for

about 2 miles a long line of lofty earthen mounds as high as most of

the trees. I felt at once that this was the celebrated Kosdmbi, the

capital of the far-famed Raja Udayana. On reaching the place, I

mounted one of the huge earthen bastions, from whence I had a clear

view of the interior. This was very uneven, but free from jungle, the

whole surface being thickly covered with broken bricks. In many

places the bricks were partially cleared away to form fields, but in others

the broken bricks were so thickly strewn that the earth beneath was

scarcely discernable. But I was disappointed to find that there were

no prominent masses of ruin; the only object 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.

289. The present village of Kosam consists of two distinct portions,

named Kosam Indm and Kosam Khirdj, or “ Rent-free” and ‘“ Rent-

paying’’ Kosam, the former being on the west, andthe latter on the east

side of the old fortress. Inside the ramparts, and on the bank of the Jumna,

there are two small villages called Garhawd Bard and Garhawé Chota,

their names being no doubt derived from their position within the

fort or garh. Beyond Kosam Inam is the large village of Pali, contain-

ing 100 houses, and beyond Kosam Khiraj on the bank of the Jumna

stands the hamlet of Gop-Sahasa. To the north there is another

hamlet called Ambd-Kua, because it possesses a large old well sur-

rounded by a groveof Mangotrees. All these villages together do not

contain more than 350 or 400 houses, with about 2,000 inhabitants.

290. The great object of veneration at Kosimbi was the celebrated

statue of Buddha in red sandal wood, which was devoutly believed to

have been made during the lifetime of Buddha by a sculptor whom

230 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

King Udayana was permitted to send up to the Trayastrimsa heaven,

while the great Teacher was explaining his law to his mother Maya. The

statue was placed under a stone dome, within the precincts of the palace

of Udayana, which is described by Hwen Thsang as being situated in

the very middle of Kosambi. This description shows that the place

must have occupied the position of the great central mass of ruin,

which is now covered by a small Jain temple. ‘The temple is said to

have been built in 1834, and is dedicated to Pdrasndth. By the

people, however, it is generally called Deora, or the Temple, which

was the old name of the mound, and which, therefore, poimts unmis-

takably to the position of the ancient temple that once held the famous

statue of Buddha. The foundations of a large building are still

traceable both to the east and west of the temple; but there are no

remains either of sculpture or of architectural ornament. But in the

village of Bara Garhawa, distant 1,500 feet to the south-west, I found

two sculptured pillars of a Buddhist railing, and the pedestal of a

statue inscribed with the well-known Buddhist profession of faith,

beginning with Ye dharmma hetu prabhavd, &c., in characters of the

8th or 9th century. In the village of Chota Garhawa, distant half a

mile to the south-east, I found a small square pillar sculptured on three

faces with representations of stwpas. The discovery of these undoubted

Buddhist remains is alone sufficient to prove that some large Buddhist

establishment must once have existed inside the walls of Kosimbi.

I would therefore assign the two pillars of the Buddhist railing and

the inscribed statue to the great Vzhar in the palace, which contained

the famous sandal wood statue of Buddha. The third pillar I would .

assign to the stwpa which contained the hair and nails of Buddha,

as it was situated inside the south-east corner of the city, on the very

site of Chota Garhawa, where the pillar itself was found. The two

railing pillars found at Bard Garhawéa are sculptured with figures of a

male and female, and as both of these figures exhibit the very same

scanty clothing as is seen in those of the bas-reliefs of the Sanchi

Tope, near Bhilsa, I would refer the Kosimbi pillars to the same age,

or somewhere about the beginning of the Christian era.

291. The only other existing relic of Buddhism inside the fort is a

large stone monolith similar to those of Allahabad and Delhi, excepting

only that it bears ne ancient inscription. This column is now stand-

ing at an angle of 52°, about one-half of the shaft being buried in a

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 231

mound of brick ruins. The portion of the shaft above ground is 14

feet in length, and close by there are two broken pieces, measuring

respectively 4 feet 6 inches and 2 feet 3 inches. I made an excavation

completely round the pillar, to a depth of 7 feet 4 inches, without

reaching the end of the polished portion of theshaft. All these figures

added together give a total length of 28 feet; but the pillar was no

doubt several feet longer, as the shafts of all the five known monoliths

exceed 30 feet. The smallest diameter is 29} inches, or nearly the

same as that of the Lauriya-Ara-Ra pillar, and as the diameter

increases in nearly the same proportion, I presume that the Kosambi

pillar most probably had about the same height of 36 feet. According

to the villagers, this pillar was in one piece as late as 50 years ago ; but

it was leaning against a large Nimb tree. The tree was old and

hollow, and some cowherds having accidentally set fire to it, the top of

the pillar was broken by the heat. Several different persons affirmed

that the shaft was originally nearly double its present height. This

would make the height above ground somewhat less than twice 14

feet, or say about 27 feet; which added to the ascertained smooth

portion of 7 feet 4 inches under ground, would make the original

height of the smooth shaft upwards of 34 feet. I found numerous

roots of the old tree in my excavation round the pillar. The state-

ment of the people that the Kosdmbi pillar has been leaning in its

present position as long as they can remember, is curiously corroborated

by the fact that an inscription dated in the reign of Akbar is cut across

the face of the shaft at an angle of about 50° but parallel to the hori-

zon. It seems certain therefore that the pillar was in its present

leaning position as early as the reign of Akbar; and further, as this

inscription is within reach of the hand, and as there are also others

engraved beneath the present surface of the soil, I conclude that the

pillar must have been buried as we now see it for a long time previous

to the reign of Akbar.

292. The inscriptions recorded on the Kosambi pillar range from

the age of the Guptas down to the present day. The only record of the

earliest period is the name of a pilgrim in six letters which I have not

succeeded in reading. At the top of the broken shaft there is an

incomplete record of three letters ending in prabhdra, which I would -

ascribe to the 4th or 5th century. The letters, which are three inches

in length, are boldly cut, but the line which they form is not parallel

232 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

to the sides of the pillar. The next inscription in point of time con-

sists of six lines in characters of 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 level, and as the lines are perpendicular to the sides of

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 perfect order. This inference is fully borne out

by Hwen Thsang’s account of the ancient palace of Udayana with its

great Vihara, 60 feet in height, and its stone dome forming a canopy

over the statue of Buddha, all of which would seem to have been in

good order at the date of his visit, as he carefully mentions that the

two different bath-houses of Buddha, as well as the dwelling house of

Asanga Bodhisatwa were in ruins. Just above this inscription there

are several records in the peculiar shell-shaped letters which James

Prinsep noticed on the Allahabad pillar, and which I have found on

most of the other pillars throughout northern India. The remaining

inscriptions, which are comparatively modern, are all recorded on the

upper part of the shaft. That of Akbar’s time, which has already

been referred to, is in Nagari as follows :—

Mogal Pétiséh Akbar Patiséh Gaji; or

Mogal Padshah Akbar Padshéh Ghazi.

This is followed by a short record of a sont, or goldsmith, in three

lines, below which is a long inscription dated in Samvat 1621, or

A. D. 1564, in the early part of Akbar’s reign, detailing the genealogy

of a whole family of goldsmiths. It is in this inscription that the name

of Kosdmbipura occurs, the founder of the family named Anand Ram

Das, having died at Kosam. The monolith is called Rdm-ka-charri,

“Ram’s walking stick,” by some, and by others Bhim-sen-ka-Gada or

‘‘Bhim-sen’s club.” Inside the fort also, about midway between

the two villages of Garhawa, I found a large lingam, bearing four

heads, with three eyes each, and with the hair massed on the top of

each head. he discovery of this costly symbol of Mahadeva shows

that the worship of Siva must have been firmly established at Kosambi

at some former period; and as Hwen Thsang mentions the existence

of no less than 50 heretical (that is Brabmanical) temples at the time of

~ his visit, I think it probable that the large lingam may have belonged

to one of those early temples.

294. To the south-west of Kosambi, distant 8 or 9 I’, or 14 miles,

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey.

Hwen Thsang describes a lofty stwpa of Asoka, 200 feet in height,

and a stone cavern of a venomous dragon, in which it was devoutly

believed that Buddha had left his shadow. But the truthful pilgrim

candidly says that this shadow was not to be seen in his time. If

Hwen Thsang’s south-west bearing is correct, the holy cave must have

been carried away long ago by the encroachment of the Jumna, as the

clear reach of the river above Kosambi, as far as the hill of Prabhasa,

a distance of 4 miles, now bears 282° from the 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 in the Antarved or Doab

of the Ganges and Jumna. Ina hollow between its two peaks stands a

modern Jain temple, but there is no cavern, and no trace of any

ancient buildings.

295. At ashort distance to the south-east of Kosambi, there was

an ancient monastery containing a stwpa of Asoka, 200 feet in height,

which was built on the spot where Buddha had explained the law for

many years. Beside the monastery, a householder named Kvu-shi-lo,

formerly had a garden. Fa Hian calls it the garden of Kiu-sse-lo ; but

by the Buddhists of Ceylon it is called the Ghosika garden. M. Julien

renders the name doubtfully by Goshira, but it appears to me that the

true name was most probably the Sanskrit Gosirsha, and the Pali

Gosisa, which I believe to be still preserved in Gopsahsa, the name of a

small village close to Chota Garhawd. This name is now written w1q4-

wat Gop-sahasa, but as the well known name of Janamejaya is written

BIAEST Jag-medau, and_also weHet Jalmedar, by the half educated

people of Kosam, I do not think that the slight difference of spelling

between the ancient G'osisa and the present Gopsahasa, forms any very

strong objection to their identification, more especially as the position

of the Gosisa garden must have been as nearly as possible on the site of

the Gopsahasa village. There are no ancient remains about this village ;

nor indeed could we expect to find many traces of the garden. But in

the neighbouring village of Kosam Khirdy, or Histéimdbdd, the vestiges

of ancient occupation are found everywhere, and this village I believe

to have been the site of the monastery with its lofty stupa of 200 feet,

built by Asoka, and its smaller stwpa containing the hair and nails of

Buddha. The position of this village, within one quarter of a mile of

the south-east corner of the ancient fort, agrees precisely with the site

of the monastery as described by Hwen Thsang, “ d wne petite distance

234 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

au sud-est de la ville.’ In this village squared stones of all sizes

may be seen in the walls of most of the houses, and after a little search

I succeeded in finding four plain pillars of two different sizes which

had once belonged to two different Buddhist railings. Two of these

pillars are 4 feet 9 inches in height, with a section of 124 by 7 inches,

which are also the exact dimensions of the largest railing pillars that

have been found at Mathura. The other two pillars are 2 feet 9

inches in height, with a section of 7 by 34 inches, which are the exact

dimensions of the smallest sized railing pillars that have been found at

Mathura. The larger pillars I would assign to the Buddhist railing,

which in all probability once surrounded the lofty stwpa of Asoka, and

the smaller pillars I would assign to the smaller stupa, which contained

the hair and nails of Buddha.

296. I found also the fragment of a corner pillar with the mortice

holes for the reception of the rails on two adjacent sides at right angles

to each other. I conclude, therefore, that this pillar must have belong-

ed to the entrance doorway of one of the railings, although its face of

9 inches does not agree with the dimensions of either of the other

pillars.

XV.—KUSAPURA.

297. From Kosambi the Chinese pilgrim travelled to the north

east, through a vast forest as far as the Ganges, after crossing which

his route lay to the north for a distance of 700 lz, or 117 miles, to

the town of Kia-she-pu-lo, which M. Julien correctly renders by Kasa-

pura. In searching for the site of this place, the subsequent route of

the pilgrim to Visdkhd, a distance of 170 to 180 lz, or from 28 to 30

miles, to the north is of equal importance with the bearing and dis-

tance from Kosambi. For as the VisAkha, of Hwen Thsang, as I will

presently show, is the same place as the Sha-chi of Fa Hian, and the

Sdketa or Ayodhya of the Hindus, we thus obtain two such well fixed

points as Kosémbi and Ayodhya to guide us in our search. A single

glance at the map will be sufficient to show that the old town of

Sultanpur on the Gomati (or Gumti) River is as nearly as possible

in the position indicated. Now the Hindu name of this town was

Kusabhavanapura, or simply Kusapura, which is almost the same name

as that of Hwen Thsang. Remembering Mr. Bayley’s note of informa-

tion derived from Raja Man Sinh that there was “ a tope near Sultan-

pur,’ I pitched my tent on one side of the now utterly desolate city,

BSGDE | Report of the Archeological Survey. 235

and searched the whole place through most carefully, but all in vain:

I could neither find the trace of any tope, nor could I even hear of

ancient remains of any kind. On the following day, however, after

I had left Sulténpur, I heard that the village of Mahmudpur, about 5

miles to the north-west, was situated on an ancient mound of somewhat

larger size than that of Sultaénpur, and on my arrival at Faizabad, I

learned from Lieutenant Swetenham, of the Royal Engineers, that

there is an old tope to the north-west of Sultanpur, not far from this

village. I conclude, therefore, that Sultainpur, the ancient Kusapura,

is the same place as the Kasapura of Hwen Thsang ; and this identifi-

cation will be made even more certain on examination of the recorded

distances.

298. On leaving Kosimbi, the pilgrim proceeded first in a north-

east direction to the Ganges, after crossing which he turned to the

north to Kasapura, the whole distance being 117 miles. Now, the two

great ghats on the Ganges to the north-east of Kosam are at Mau-

Saraya and Pdpa-mau, the former being 40 miles, and the latter 43

miles distant. But as these two ghats are close together, and almost

immediately to the north of Allahabad, the total distance to Kasapura

will be the same, whichever place of crossing be taken. . From

Papamau to Sultanpur the direction is due north, and the distance 66

miles; the whole line from Kosam to Sulténpur being 109 miles,

which is within 8 miles of the round number of 700 lz, or 1162 miles,

as given by Hwen Thsang; while both of the bearings are in exact

accordance with his statements. From Kasapura to Visdkha the direction

followed by the pilgrim was to the north, and the distance was from

170 to 180 Ui, or from 28 to 38 miles. Now the present city of Ajyudhya,

the ancient Ayodhya or Saketa, is almost due north from Sultdnpur,

the distance being 30 miles to the nearest point, or just six miles in

excess of the distance given by Hwen Thsang. As the former of these

distances is in default, while the latter is in excess, I would suggest,

as a possible alternative, that our measurements should be taken from

the village of Mahmidpur, which would make the route from Kosam

to the Buddhist establishment near Kasapura up to 114 miles, or within

three miles of the number stated by Hwen Thsang, and lessen the sub-

sequent route to Ayodhya from 36 to 31 miles, which is within one

mile of the number given by the Chinese pilgrim. As all the bear-

936 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

ings are in perfect accordance, and as the names of the two places

agree almost exactly, I think that there can be little hesitation in

accepting the identification of Sultanpur or Kusapwra, with the Kasa-

pura of Hwen Thsang.

299. Kusapura or Kusa-bhavana-pura, is said to have been named

after Rama’s son, Kusa. Shortly after the Muhammadan invasion it

belonged to a Bhar Raja Nand Kunwar, who was expelled by Sultan

Alauddin Ghori (read Khilji). The defences of the town were strength-

ened by the conqueror, who built a mosque and changed the name of

the place to Sultanpur. The site of Kusapwra was, no doubt, selected

by its founder as a good military position, on account of its being sur-

rounded on three sides by the River Gomati or Gumti. The place is

now utterly desolate ; the whole population having been removed to

the new civil station on the opposite or south bank of the river. The

ruined fort of Sulténpur now forms a large mound, 750 feet square,

with brick towers at the four corners. On all sides it is surrounded by

the huts of the ruined town, the whole together covering a space of

about half a mile square, or about two miles in circuit. This estimate

of the size of Sultanpur agrees vey closely with that of Kusapura given

by Hwen Thsang, who describes the place as being 10 iz, or 12 miles,

in circuit.

XVI.—DHOPAPAPURA.

300. Before accompanying the pilgrim to the ancient city of Saketa

or Ayodhya, I will take the opportunity of describing the famous place

of Hindu pilgrimage called Dhopédpapura, which is situated on the

right or west bank of the Gomati River, 18 miles to the south-east of

Sultanpur, and immediately under the walls of the fort of Garhd, or

Shirka-Garht. The legend of the place is as follows :—After Rama

Chandra had killed the giant Ravana, he wandered about trying to

obtain purification for his guilt in having thus extinguished a portion of

the spirit of Brahma (Brahma-ka-ans ) ; but all his efforts were ineffec-

tual, until he met with a white crow, when he was informed by the

Muni Vasishtha that the crow had become white from having bathed in

the Gomati River at a particular spot. Rama proceeded to bathe at the

same spot, and was immediately purified or “‘ cleansed” from his sin.

The place was accordingly named Dho-pdpa, or “ cleanser of sins,” and

the town which soon sprang up beside it was called Dhopdpapura. In

Sanskrit the form is Dhitapapa, which is given in the list of the Vishnu

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 237

Purana as the name of a river distinct from the Gomati; but as the

name immediately follows that of the Gomati, I think it probable that

the term may have been intended only asin epithet of the Gomatz, as

the Dhutapdépa, or “ Sin-cleanser” in allusion to the legend of Rama’s

purification. An annual fair is held here on the 10th day on the wax-

ing moon of Jyesth, at which time it is said that about fiity thousand

people assemble to. bathe in the far-renowned pool of Dhopdpa.

301. The site of Dhopdp is evidently one of very considerable anti-

quity, as the whole country for more than half a mile around it is

covered with broken bricks and pottery. The place is said to have be-

longed to the Bhar Rajas of Kusabhavanapura or Sultanpur, but the

only name that I could hear of as specially connected with Dhopdp,

was that of Raja Hel or Hela. The village of Dhopép-pur is now a

very small one, containing less than 200 houses, but they are all built

of burnt brick, and numerous foundations are visible on all sides near

the Gomati River. Several carved stones have been collected by the

people from the ruined walls of the fort of Garhd. Amongst them I

observed the following :—1s¢, a broken pilaster with two human figures ;

2nd, a stone bracket ; 3rd, a square capital of pillar ; 4th, a four-bracket

capital of a pillar; 5th, two stones with socket holes for iron cramps.

All of these stones point unmistakably to the existence, at some

former period, of a large temple at Dhopap, which was probably situa-

ted immediately above the bathing ghat. It seems almost certain,

however, that there must once have been a considerable number of

temples at this place, for the whole of the eastern wall or river front of

the fort of Garhd has been built or faced with square stones, which,

by their carvings and cramp-holes, show that they belonged to Hindu

temples.

302. The fort of Garha is situated to the north of the village, on a

lofty natural mound overhanging the river Gomati on the east. To

the north and south the place is defended by two deep ravines supplied

with running water, and to the west by a deep dry ravine. The posi-

tion is, therefore, a strong one ; for, although the neighbouring mounds

to the north and west rise to nearly the same height, yet they once

formed part of the city, which can only be approached over much low

and broken ground. The strength of the position would seem to

have early attracted the notice of the Muhammadan Kings of Delhi,

238 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

as the fort is stated to have been repazred by Salim Shah, whilst a very

old ruinous masjid stands on the west mound. The fort itself is a

small place, its northern face 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 has fallen into

the river, where many of the stones are now lying, and much of the

eastern wall has also disappeared, the stones being very valuable, in a

stoneless country, for the sharpening of tools of all kinds. The en-

trance gate was on the south side, near the river bastion just mention-

ed. I obtained coins of many of the early Muhammadan Kings, from

Nasir-uddin Mahmud Ghori down to Akbar, but not a single specimen

of any Hindu coinage, although I was informed that coins bearing

figures are found every year during the rainy season.

303. I may here mention that I heard of another place of Hindu

pilgrimage on the north bank of the Gomati River, at a spot called

Set-Barah that is Sweta-Vardaha, or ‘ the white Boar,” 15 kos, or 30

miles, from Sultanpur towards Lucknow. Two annual fairs are held

there —the first on the 9th day of the waxing moon of Chaitra, and

the second on the 15th day of the waxing moon of Kartik, when it is

said that about fifty thousand people assemble to bathe. The former

period is connected with the history of Rama Chandra, as it is com-

monly known as the Rdém-navami Tirath or “ Rama’s ninth (day)

place of pilgrimage.” I could not learn anything regarding the origin

of the name of Set Barah.

XVITI—SAKETA, OR AJUDHYA.

304. Much difficulty has been felt regarding the position of Fa

Hian’s “ great kingdom of Sha-chz, and of Hwen Thsang’s Visdkhd,

with its enormous number of heretics,’ or Brahmanists; but I hope

to show in the most satisfactory manner that these two places are

identical, and that they are also the same as the Sdketa and Ajudhya

of the Hindus. The difficulty has arisen chiefly from an erroneous

bearing recorded by Fa Hian, who places Shewe7, or Srdvastz, to the

south of Sha-chi, while Hwen Thsang locates it to the north-east, and

partly from his erroneous distance of 7 + 3 + 10 = 20 Vojans, instead

of 30, from the well-known city of Sankisa. The bearing is shown

to be erroneous by the route of a Hindu pilgrim from the banks of

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 239

the Godavery to Sewet, or Srdvasti, as recorded in the Ceylonese Bud-

dhist works. This pilgrim, after passing through Mahissati and Ujani,

or Maheshmati and Ujain, reaches Kosimbi,’and from thence passes

through Sdketa to Sewet ; that is, along the very route followed by

Hwen Thsang. We have, therefore, two authorities in favour of Sewet

being to the north of Saket. With regard to the distance, I refer

again to the Buddhist books of Ceylon, in which it is recorded that

from Sakespura (or Sangkasyapura, now Sankisa) to Sewet was a jour-

ney of 30 Yojans. Now, Fa Hian makes the distance from Sankisa

to Kanoj 7 Yojans, thence to the forest of Holi, on the Ganges, 3

Yojans, and thence to Shachi 10 Yojans, or altogether only 20 Yojans,

or 10 less than the Ceylonese books. That Fa Hian’s statement is

erroneous, is quite clear from the fact that his distance would place

Shachi in the neighbourhood of Lucknow; whereas the other distance

would place it close to Ajudhya, or Faizabad, or in the very position

indicated by Hwen Thsang’s itinerary. Here, again, we have two

authorities in favour of the longer distance. I have no hesitation,

therefore, in declaring that Fa Hian’s recorded bearing of She-wer from

Sha-chi is wrong, and that “north” should be read instead of “ south.”

305. I have now to show that Fa Hian’s Sha-chi is the same as

Hwen Thsang’s Visdkha, and that both are identical with Séketa or

Ajudhya. With respect to Sha-chz, Fa Hian relates that “ on leaving

the town by the southern gate you find to the east of the road the

place where Buddha bit a branch of the nettle tree and planted it in

the ground, where it grew to the height of seven feet, and never in-

creased or diminished in size.” Now, this is precisely the same legend

that is related of Visékha by Hwen Thsang, who says that ‘‘ to the

south of the capital, and to the left of the road (that is to the east as

stated by Fa Hian), there was, amongst other holy objects, an extra-

ordinary tree 6 or 7 feet high, which always remained the same, neither

growing nor decreasing. This is the celebrated tooth-brush tree of Bud-

dha, to which I shall have occasion to refer presently. Here I need

only notice the very precise agreement in the two descriptions of this

famous tree, as to its origin, its height, and its position. The perfect

correspondence of these details appears to me to leave no doubt

of the identity of Fa Hian’s Sha-chi with the Visikha of Hwen

Thsang.

240 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

306. With respect to the identification of Visakha with the Saketa

of the Hindus, I rest my proofs chiefly on the following points: 1st,

that Visdkha, the most celebrated of all females in Buddhist history,

was a resident of Sdketa before her marriage with Puruna Varddhana,

son of Mrigara, the rich merchant of Srévasti ;—and 2nd, that Buddha

is recorded by Hwen Thsang to have spent 6 years at Visékha, while

by the Pali annals of Turnour he is stated to have lived 16 years at

Sdketa.

307. The story of the noble maiden Visdkha is related at great

length in the Ceylonese books. According to Hardy, she erected a

Purvodréma at Srévasti, which is also mentioned by Hwen Thsang.

Now, there was also a Purvvdrdma at Saketa, and it can hardly be

doubted that this monastery was likewise built by her. She was the

daughter of Dhananja, a rich merchant, who had emigrated from

Rajagriha to Sdketa. Now, amongst the oldest inscribed coins

which have been discovered only at Ajudhya, we find some bearing

the names of Dhana Deva and Visékha-Datta. I mention this because

it seems to me to show the probability that the family of Dhananja

and Visdékhd was of great eminence in Saketa or Ayodhya; and I

infer from the recurrence of their names, as well as from the great

celebrity of the lady, that the city may possibly have been called

Visdkhé after her name.

308. The other proof which I derive from the years of Buddha’s

residence is direct and convincing. According to the Ceylonese annals,

Buddha was 35 years of age when he attained Buddhahood; he then

led a houseless life for 20 years, preaching in various places in Northern

India, all of which are detailed ; and of the remaining 25 years of his

life he spent 9 in the Jetavana monastery at Sravasti, and 16 in the

Pubhdrdmo monastery at Saketapura. Now, in the Burmese annals

these numbers are given as 19 years and 6 years, and in the last figure

we have the exact number recorded by Hwen Thsang. Nothing can

be more complete than this proof. There were only two places at

which Buddha resided for any length of time, namely, Srdvastz, at

which he lived either 9 or 19 years, and Sdketa, at which he lived

either 6 or 16 years; and as according to Hwen Thsang he lived for 6

years at Visakha, which is described as being at some distance to the

south of Sravasti, it follows of necessity that Visikha and Siaketa were

one and the same place.

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 241

309. The identity of Sdketa and Ayodhya has, I believe, 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 ‘‘Saketana or Ayodhya,” and H. H. Wilson, in his Sanskrit Diction-

ary, calls Sdketa “the city Ayodhya.” But the question would appear

to be set at rest by several passages of the Ramayana and Raghuvansa,

in which Sdéketnagara is distinctly called the Capital of Raja Dasaratha

and his sons. But the following verse of the Ramayana, which was

pointed out tome by a Brahman of Lucknow, will be sufficient to

establish the identity. Aswajita, father of Kaikeyv, offers to give his

daughter to Dasaratha, Rajah of Sdketanagara :— -

Saketém Nagaram Raja Namna Dasaratho bali.

Tasmai deyé Kayé Manyé Kaikeyi Namato jana.

310. The ancient city of Ayodhya or Saketa is described in the

Ramayana as situated on the bank of the Sarayu or Sarju River. It

is said to have been 12 Yojans, or nearly 100 miles in circumference,

for which we should probably read 12 kos, or 24 miles—an extent

which the old city, with all its gardens, might once possibly have

covered. The distance from the Gupidr Ghat on the west, to the Ram

Ghat on the east, is just 6 miles in a direct line, and if we suppose

that the city with its suburbs and gardens formerly occupied the whole

intervening space to a depth of two miles, its circuit would have agreed

exactly with the smaller measurement of 12 kos. At the present

day the people point to Ram Ghat and Guptar Ghat as the eastern

and western boundaries of the old city, and the southern boundary

they extend to Bharat-Kund, near Bhadarsd, a distance of 6 kos. But

as these limits include all the places of pilgrimage, it would seem that

the people consider them to have been formerly inside the city, which

was certainly not the case. In the Ayin Akbari, the old city is said

to have measured 148 kos in length by 36 kos in breadth, or in other

words it covered the whole of the Province of Oudh to the south of the

Ghaghra River. The origin of the larger number is obvious. The 12

Yojans of the Ramayana, which are equal to 48 kos, being considered

too small for the great city of Rama, the Brahmans simply added 100

kos to make the size tally with their own extravagant notions. The

present city of Ajudhbya, which is confined to the north-east corner of

the old site, is just two miles in length by about three-quarters of a

242 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

mile in breadth ; but not one-half of this extent is occupied by build-

ings, and the whole place wears a look of decay. There are no high

mounds of ruins, covered with broken statues and sculptured pillars,

such as mark the sites of other ancient cities, but only a low irregular

mass of rubbish heaps, from which all the bricks have been excavated

for the houses of the neighbouring city of Faizabad. This Muhamma-

dan city, which is two miles and a half in length, by one mile in

breadth, is built chiefly of materials extracted from the ruins of Ajudhya.

The two cities together occupy an area of nearly six square miles, or

just about one-half of the probable size of the ancient Capital of Rama.

In Faizabad the only building of any consequence is the stuccoed brick

tomb of the old Bhao Begam, whose story was dragged before the

public during the famous trial of Warren Hastings. Faizabad was the

capital of the first Nawabs of Oudh, but it was deserted by Asaf-ud-

daolah in A. D. 1775.

311. According to the Ramayana, the city of Ayodhya was found-

ed by Manu, the progenitor of all mankind. In the time of Dasara-

tha, the father of Rama, it was fortified with towers and gates, and sur-

rounded by a deep ditch. No traces of these works now remain, nor is it

likely indeed that any portion of the old city should still exist, as the

Ayodhya of Rama is said to have been destroyed after the death of

Vrihadbala in the great war about B. C. 1426, after which it lay

deserted until the time of Vikramaditya. According to popular tra-

dition this Vikramaditya was the famous Sakari Prince of Ujain, but

as the Hindus of the present day attribute the acts of all Vikramas to

this one only, their opinion on the subject is utterly worthless. We

learn, however, from Hwen Thsang that a powerful Prince of this

name was reigning in the neighbouring city of Sravasti, just one hun-

dred years after Kanishka, or close to 79 A. D., which was the initial

year of the Saka era of Sdlivahana. As this Vikramaditya is represented

as hostile to the Buddhists, he must have been a zealous Brahmanist,

and to him therefore I would ascribe the rebuilding of Ayodhya and

the restoration of all the holy places referring to the history of Rama.

Tradition says that when Vikramaditya came to Ayodhya, he found

it utterly desolate and overgrown with jungle, but he was able to

discover all the famous spots of Rama’s history by measurements made

from Lakshman Ghat on the Sarju, according to the statements of

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 243

ancient records. He is said to have erected 360 temples, on as many

different spots, sacred to Réma and Sité his wife, to his brothers

Lakshmana, Bharata, and Satrughna, and to the monkey god Hanu-

man. The number of 360 is also connected with Sdiivdhana, as his

clansmen the Bais Rajputs assert that he had 360 wives.

312. There are several very holy Brahmanical temples about

Ajudhya, but they are all of modern date, and without any architec-

tural pretensions whatever. But there can be no doubt that most of

them occupy the sites of more ancient temples that were destroyed by

the Musalmans. Thus Rdmkot, or Hanwmdn Garhi, on the east side

of the city, is a small walled fort, surrounding a modern temple on the

top of an ancient mound. The name of Ramkot is certainly old, as

it is connected with the traditions of the Mani Parbat, which will be

hereafter mentioned ; but the temple of Hanuman is not older than

the time of Aurangzib. Ram Ghat, at the north-east corner of the

city, is said to be the spot where Rama bathed; and Sargdwari, or

Swargadwart, the ‘

‘gate of Paradise,’’ on the north-west, is believed

to be the place where his body was burned. Within a few years ago

there was still standing here a very holy Banyan tree called Asok Bat,

or the “ griefless Banyan,’ a name which was probably connected

with that 9f Swargadwarz, in the belief that people who died or were

burned at this spot were at once relieved from the necessity of future

births. Close by is the Lakshman Ghat, where his brother Lakshman

bathed, and about one-quarter of a mile distant, in the very heart of

the city, stands the Janam Asthdn, or “ Birth-place temple” of Rama.

Almost due west, and upwards of five miles distant is the Guptar Ghat,

with its group of modern white-washed temples. This is the place where

Lakshman is said to have disappeared, and hence its name of Guptdr

from Gupta, which means “ hidden or concealed.” Some say that it

was Rama who disappeared at this place, but this is at variance with

the story of his cremation at Swargadwarv.

313. The only remains at Ajudhya that appear to be of any anti-

quity, are three earthen mounds to the south of the city, and about a

quarter of a mile distant. These are called Wani-Parbat, Kuber-Parbat

and Sugrib-Parbat. The first, which is nearest to the city, is an artificial

mound, 65 feet in height, covered with broken bricks and blocks of

kankar, The old bricks are eleven inches square and three inches thick,

244 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

At 46 fect above the ground on the west side, there are the remains of

a curved wall faced with kankar blocks. The mass at this point is

about 40 feet thick, and this was probably somewhat less than the size

of the building which once crowned this lofty mound. According to

the Brahmans the Mani-Parbat is one of the hills which the monkeys

made use of when assisting Rama. It was dropped here by Sugriva,

the monkey-king of Kishkindhya. But the common people, whe

know nothing of this story, say that the mound was formed by the

labourers shaking their baskets on this spot every evening, on their

return home from the building of Ramkot. It is therefore best known

by the name of Jhowa-Jhdr or Ora Jhar, both of which mean “ basket-

shakings.”” A similar story is told of the large mounds near Benares,

Nimsar, and other places.

314. Five hundred feet due south from the large mound stands the

second mound called Kuber-Parbat, which is only 28 feet in height:

The surface is an irregular heap of brick rubbish, with numerous holes

made by the people in digging for bricks, which are of large size, 11

inches by 74 by 2. It is crowned by two old tamarind trees, and is

covered with jungle. Close by on the south-west there is a small

tank, called Ganes-Kund by the Hindus, and Husen Kund, or Imém

Talao, by the Musalmans, because their Yazias are annually deposited

in it. Still nearer on the south-east there is a large oblong mound

ealled Sugrib-Parbat, which is not more than 8 or 10 feet above the

ground level. It is divided into two distinct portions ; that to the north

being upwards of 300 feet square at top, and the other to the south

upwards of 200 feet. In the centre of the larger enclosure there is a

ruined mound containing bricks 84 inches square, and in the centre of

the smaller mound there is a well.

315. Between the Mam and Kuber mounds there is a small

Muhammadan enclosure, 64 feet long from east to west and 47 feet

broad, containing two brick tombs, which are attributed to Sis Par-

ghambar and Ayub Paighambar, or the “ prophets Seth and Job.”

The first is 17 feet long, and the other 12 feet. These tombs are

mentioned by Abul Fazl, who says, ‘ Near this city are two sepulchral

monuments, one 7 and the other 6 cubits in length. The vulgar

pretend that they are tlie tombs of Seth and Job, and they relate

wonderful stories of them.” This account shows that since the time

1865. ] : Report of the Archeological Survey. 245

of Akbar, the tomb of Seth must have increased in length from 7

cubits, or 104 feet, to 17 feet through the frequent repairs of pious

Musalmans.

316. The mounds are surrounded by Musalman tombs, and as it is

the Muhammadan practice to bury the dead along the sides of the

high roads close to their cities, I infer that the road which now runs

close to the westward of the mounds, is one of the ancient highways

of the district. This is confirmed by the existence of an old masonry

bridge of three arches over the Zilahi nala, 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 on-

wards to Sultanpur or Kusapura, and Allahabad or Prayaga. I notice

this road thus minutely, because the identifications which I am about

to propose are based partly on its position and direction, as well as on

the general agreement of the existing remains with the holy places

described by the Chinese pilgrims.

317. According to Fa Hian, the place where Buddha planted the

holy tree was to the east of the road, on issuing from the town by the

southern gate. Hwen Thsang’s account agrees with this exactly, in

placing the “ extraordinary tree” to the south of the Capital and to

the left of the route. This tree was the celebrated “ tooth-brush”’ or

twig used in cleaning the teeth, which having been cast away by

Buddha, took root and grew to between 6 and 7 feet in height. Now,

it will be observed that the ruined mounds that still exist, as well as

the tombs of Seth and Job, are tothe south of the city and to the east

or left of the road. The position therefore is unmistakably the same

as that described by the Chinese pilgrims, and as the actual state of

the ruins agrees well with the details given by Hwen Thsang, I think

that there can be no reasonable doubt of their identity.

318. Hwen Thsang describes the city of Visékha as being 16 h,

or 22 miles in circuit. In his time therefore the capital of Rama was

not more than half of its present size, although it probably contained

a greater population, as not above one-third, or even perhaps less, of

the present town is inhabited. The old city then possessed no less

than twenty monasteries, with three thousand monks, and about fifty

Brahmanical temples, with a very large Brahmanical population.

From this account we learn that, so early as the 7th century, more than

246 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

three hundred of the original temples of Vikramaditya had already

disappeared, and we may therefore reasonably infer that the city had

been gradually declining for some time previously. The Buddhist

monuments, however, would appear to have been in good order, and

the monks were just as numerous as in the eminently Buddhist city

of Benares.

319. The first monument described by Hwen Thsang is a great

monastery without name, but as it was the only notable monastery, it

was most probably either the Kdlakdréma of Saketa, or the Purvvd-

rama, both of which are mentioned in the Ceylonese Mahawanso.

The monks were of the school of the Sammateyas, and their monastery

was famous for having produced three of the most eminent Buddhist

controversialists. This monastery I would identify with the Sugrib

Parbat, which I have already described as being about 500 feet long by

300 feet broad. The great size and rectangular form of this ruin are

sufficient to show that it must have been a monastery, but this is

placed beyond all doubt by the existence of an interior well and by the

remains of cloistered rooms forming the four sides of the enclosure.

Its position to the south of the city, and to the east or left of the road,

has already been specially noticed as agreeing with the recorded posi-

tion of the monastery.

320. Beside the monastery there was a stupa of Asoka, 200 feet

in height, built on the spot where Buddha preached the law during

his six years’ residence at Saketa. This monument I would identity

with the Mani-Parbat, which is still 65 feet in height, and which

with its masonry facing must once have been at least as high again,

and with the usual lofty pinnacle of metal may easily have reached a

height of 200 feet. wen Thsang ascribes the erection of this monu-

ment to Asoka, and I see no reason to question the accuracy of his

statement, as the mixed structure of half earth and half masonry must

undoubtedly be very ancient. The earliest stwpas, or topes, were

simple earthen mounds or barrows, similar to those that still exist in

England. There are many of these barrows still standing at Lawriya-

Navandgarh to the north of Bettiya, but this is the only place where

I have yet seen them. They are undoubtedly the most ancient monu-

ments of the Indian population, and I firmly believe that even the

very latest of them cannot be assigned to a lower date than the filth

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 247

century before Christ. I base this belief on the known fact that all

the monuments of Asoka’s age, whether described by Hwen Thsang,

or actually opened by myself near Bhilsa, are either of stone or brick.

The earthen barrows are therefore of an earlier age; but such as are

Buddhist cannot possibly be earlier than the beginning of the fifth

century before Christ. In the case of the Mani-Parbat at Ajudhya I

infer that the earthen barrow, or lower portion, may belong to the

earlier ages of Buddhism, and that the masonry or upper portion was

added by Asoka. At the foot of the mound I picked up a broken

brick with the letter sh, of the oldest form, stamped upon it; but as

this is almost certainly of later date than Asoka, it most probably did

not belong to the Mani-Parbat building.

321. Hwen Thsang next describes the sites of the tooth-brush tree

and of the monument where the four previous Buddhas used to sit and

to take exercise, as being close to the great stupa. These places I

would identify with the court-yard containing the tombs of Seth and

Job, which touches the south side of the Mani-Parbat. The two

tombs I take to be the remains of the seats of the four previous Bud-

dhas, and the paved court-yard to be the scene of their daily walks,

although I was unable to trace their foot-marks, which were seen by

the Chinese pilgrim.

322. The last monument described by Hwen Thsang is a stupa

containing the hair and nails of Buddha. This was surrounded by a

number of smaller monuments which seemed to touch one another,

and by several tanks which reflected the sacred buildings in their

limpid waters. The stwpa I would identify with the Kuber-Parbat,

which touches the south side of the enclosure round the tombs of Seth

and Job, and is close to the west side of the ruined monastery. One

of the tanks described by the pilgrim may be the Ganes-Kund, which

has already been noticed; but all the smaller monuments have dis-

appeared long ago, as they afforded cheap and ready materials for the

construction of the numerous Muhammadan tombs, as well as of the

neighbouring bridge and mosque. If I am right in my identification

of this mound as the remains of the stwpa containing the hair and nails

of Buddha, I think that an excavation in the centre of the mound

might perhaps verify the accuracy of my conclusions.

323. The people are unanimous in their assertion that the old city

248 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

to the north of these mounds was called Bareta. Ayodhya, or Ajudhya,

they say, was the capital of Rama, but the later city was called Bureta.

As this name has no similarity either to Sdketa or Visikha, I can only

set it down as another appellation of the old town, for which we have

no authority but tradition. I was disappointed, when at Ajudhya, in

not hearing even the most distant allusion to the legend of the tooth-

brush tree of Buddha, but the tradition still exists, as I heard of it

quite unexpectedly at two different places immediately afterwards,

first at Hdtela, distant 15 miles, and next at Gonda, 29 miles to the

north of Ajudhya.

XIX.—HATILA, OR ASOKPUR.

324, The ancient territory of Ayodhya was divided by the Sarju

or Ghdghra River into two great provinces; that to the north being

called Uttara Kosala, and that to the south Banaodha. Hach of

these was again subdivided into two districts. In Banaodha these

are called Pachham-rdt and Purab-rdt, or the western and eastern

districts, with reference to their bearing from Ajudhya; and in Uttara

Kosala they are Gauda (vulgarly Gonda) to the south of the Rapti,

and Kosala to the north of the Rapti, or RAwati, as it is universally

called in Oudh. Some of these names are found in the Puranas; thus

in the Vayu Purana, Lava, the son of Rama, is said to have reigned

in Uttara Kosala; but in the Matsya, Singa, and Kurma Purans,

Srdvasti is stated to be in Gauda, These apparent discrepancies are

satisfactorily explained when we learn that Gauda is only a sub-divi-

sion of Uttara Kosala, and that the ruins of Sravasti have actually

been discovered in the district of Gawda, which is the Gonda of the

maps. The extent of Gauda is also proved by the old name of Bal-

rampur on the Rapti, which was formerly Ramyarh Gauda. I pre-

sume therefore that both the Gauda Brahmans and the Gauda Tagas

must have belonged to this district originally, and not to the medieval

city of Gauda in Bengal. Brahmans of this name are still numerous

in Ajudhya and Jahangirabad, on the right bank of the Ghaghra River

in Gonda, Pakhapur, and Jaisni of the Gonda district, and in many

parts of the neighbouring province of Gorakhpur.

325. The small village of Hdtcla derives its name from the sister’s

son of Sayid Salar. The old Hindu name was Asokpur, so called

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 249

from a large temple of Asoknath Mahadeo. WHatila was killed in an

assault on the temple, and his tomb, a low domed building only 20

feet square, is still much frequented as the shrine of a Ghazt, or martyr

for the faith. It is built entirely of large bricks from the ruins of the old

temple of Asokndth. The remains consist of a low mound, 700 feet long

by 500 feet broad, with three prominent masses of ruin on the north side.

IT made an excavation in the north-west ruin near the base of a large

Mahwa tree, but without any result, as a small Muhammadan tomb on

the top prevented me from digging in the centre. But the coolies

employed on the work voluntarily informed me that the Mahwa tree

had been the “‘tooth-brush”’ of a Raja who stuck it in the ground and

it grew to be a tree. From this tradition, which also exists at Gonda,

I infer that it was usual to make cuttings and to take seeds from-the

famous danta-dhdwan or ‘ tooth-brush tree” of Saketa for distribution

to religious establishments, just as cuttings from the Bodhi tree at

Gaya were made for the same purpose. Both Fa Hian and Hwen

Thsang agree in stating that the Danta-dhdwan of Saketa was only

seven feet high, and that it never grew any higher, which would seem

to show that it was only a small tree or shrub; and this indeed is

actually the case with the Datton, or ‘“ tooth-brush tree’’ of Gonda,

which is a Chalbil, or shrub eaten by goats, that never exceeds 8 or 10

feet. I conclude therefore that the original tooth-brush tree of Hatila

has disappeared, and that the name has been applied to the Mahwa,

which is the only tree now remaining on the mound.

326. The north-east mound is a mere undistinguishable mass of

broken bricks, but the central mound is still covered with the ruins of

the temple of Asoknéth Mahadeo, containing a large broken lingam.

Portions of the brick walls, which still remain, show that the temple

was only 12 feet square; but the whole hag been lifted up by the

roots of a gigantic Pipal tree, which still hold the bricks together by

their interlacings. These remains attracted the attention of Buchanan

Hamilton during his survey of Gorakhpur, who remarks that “a wild

fig tree having taken root on the linga will soon cover it.” This

actually took place, and the longa was almost completely hidden by

the matted roots of the Pipal, until the tree was cut down by the

Tahsildar of the neighbouring village of Vazirganj in A. D. 1862. As

the cut stem of the Pipal shows 849 annual rings, the tree must have

250 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

been planted in A. D. 1013, during the reign of Mahmud of Ghazni.

This indeed is about the date of the temple itself, which is said to

have been built by Suwhri-dal, Raja of Asokpur, and the antagonist

of Sayid Salar. The Raja is also called Suhal-dhar, Sohil-dal, and

Sohil Deo, andis variously said to have been a Thdru, a Bhar, a Kdla-

hansa, or a Bais Rajput. The majority, however, is in favour of his

having beena Thdru. The mound with the Mahwa tree is called

Raja Sohil-dal-ka-khalanga or “ Sohil-dal’s seat.” His city of Asok-

pur is said to have extended to Dumartya-Dih, 2 kos to the north,

and to Sareya-Dih, half a kos to the south of the temple. At both of

these places there are old brick-covered mounds, in which several

hundreds of coins have been lately found. Most of the coins belong

to the early Musalman Kings of Delhi, the Ghoris and Khiljis; but

there were also afew Hindoo coins, in base silver and copper, with

the Boar incarnation of Vishnu on one side, and the legend of Sri-mad-

Adi-Varéha on the reverse in medieval characters. As these coins

are referred to by name, in an inscription of A. D. 920, as Sri-mad-

Adi-Varaha drammas, or “ Boar incarnation drachmas,” the mounds

in which they have been discovered must be of still earlier date.

Tradition gives the genealogy of the Tharu Rajas of Gauda as

follows :—

A. D. 900 1 Mora-dhaj, or Mayura-dhwaja.

925 2 Hans-dhaj, or Hansa-dhwaja.

950 3 Makar-dhaj, or Makara-dhwaja.

975 4 Sudhanwa-dhaj.

1000 5 Suhridal-dhaj, contemporary of Mahmud.

I give this genealogy with the probable dates, as it may per-

haps be of use hereafter in fixing the age of other Princes and their

works.

XX.—SAHET-MAHET, OR SRAVASTI.

327. The position of the famous city of Srdvastz, one of the most

celebrated places in the annals of Buddhism, has long puzzled our best

scholars. This was owing partly to the contradictory statements of

the Chinese pilgrims themselves, and partly to the want of a good

map ofthe Province of Oudh. In para. 304 of this report I have

compared the bearings and distances recorded by Fa Hian and Hwen

1865.) Report of the Archeological Survey. 251

Thsang with those preserved in the Buddhist annals of Ceylon, and I

have shown conclusively that Fa Hian’s distance from Sankisa and

his bearing from Shachi or Sdket are both erroneous. We know from

Hwen Thsang and the Buddhist books of Ceylon, that Srdvasti was

to the north of Sahet or Ayodhya, or in other words that it was in the

district of Gauda, or Uttara Kosala, which is confirmed by the state-

ments of no less than four of the Brahmanical Puranas. As Fa Hian

also says that Shewet or Sewet was in Kosala, there can be no doubt

whatever that Sravasti must be looked for within a few days’ journey

to the northward of Sdket or Ayodhya. According to Fa Hian the dis-

tance was 8 Yojanas, or 56 miles, which is increased by Hwen Thsang

to 500 lz, or 83 miles. But as the latter pilgrim reduced the Indian

Yojana to Chinese measure at the rate of 40 ld per Yojana, we may

correct his distance by the nearest round number of 350 li or 58 miles,

to bring it into accordance with the other. Now, as this is the exact

distance from Ajudhya of the great ruined city on the south bank

of the Bapti, called Sdahet-Mahet, in which I discovered a colossal

statue of Buddha, with an inscription containing the name of Sravasti

itself, I have no hesitation in correcting Hwen Thsang’s distance from

500 lz to 350 li as proposed above.

328. Theruined city of Sahet-Mahetis situated between Akaona and

Balrampur, at 5 miles from the former and 12 miles from the latter, and

at nearly equi-distances from Bahraich and Gonda. In shape it is an

almost semi-circular crescent, with its diameter of one mile and a third

in length curved inwards and facing the north-east, along the old bank

of the Rapti River. The western front, which runs due north and

south for three-quarters of a mile, is the only straight portion of the

enclosure. The ramparts vary considerably in height; those to the

west being from 35 to 40 feet in height, while those on the south and

east are not more than 25 or 30 feet. The highest point is the great

north-west bastion, which is 50 feet above the fields. The north-east

face, or shorter curve of the crescent was defended by the Rapti, which

still flows down its old bed during the annual floods, The land ram-

parts on the longer curve of the crescent must once have been defended

by a ditch, the remains of which yet exist as a swamp, nearly half a

mile in length, at the south-west corner. Hverywhere the ramparts

are covered with fragments of brick, of the large size peculiar to very

252 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

ancient cities; and though I was unable to trace any remains of walls

except in one place, yet the very presence of the bricks is quite suffi-

cient to show that the earthen ramparts must once have been crowned

by brick parapets and battlements. The portion of the parapet wall,

which I discovered still standing in the middle of the river face, was

10 feet thick. The whole circuit of the old earthen ramparts, accord-

ing to my survey, is 17,300 feet, or upwards of 3} miles. Now this

is the exact size of 20 lz or 34 miles which Hwen 'hsang gives to the

palace alone; but, as the city was then deserted and in ruins, he must

have mistaken the city itself for the palace. It is certain at least

that the suburbs outside the walls must have been very limited indeed,

as the place is almost entirely surrounded with the remains of large

religious buildings, which would have leit but little room for any

private dwellings. I am therefore quite 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 have been at so distant

a period as the 7th century, when the place was visited by Hwen

Thsang. As Fa Hian describes the population as already very incon-

siderable in A. D. 400, while the Ceylonese annals speak of Khira-

dhara, King of Sawatthipura between A. D. 275 and 302, the great

decline of Sravasti must have taken place during the 4th century, and

we may perhaps not be far wrong in connecting it with the fall of the

Gupta Dynasty in A. D. 319.

329. Srdvasti is said to have been built by Raja Sravasta, the son

of Yuvanéswa of the Solar race, and the tenth in descent from Surya

himself, Its foundation therefore reaches to the fabulous ages of

Indian history, long anterior to Rama. During this early period it

most probably formed part of the kingdom of Ayodhya, as the Vayu

Purana assigns it to Lava, the son of Rama. When Sravasti next

appears in history, in the time of Buddha, it was the Capital of

King Prasenajit, the son of Maha Kosala. ‘The King became a con-

vert to the new faith, and during the rest of his hfe he was the frm

friend and protector of Buddha. But his son Virudhaka hated the

race of the Sakyas, and his invasion of their country and subsequent

massacre of 500 Sakya maidens, who had been selected for his harem,

brought forth the famous prediction of Buddha, that within seven days

the King would be consumed by fire. As the story has been preserved

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 253

by Buddhists, the prediction was of course fulfilled, and upwards of 11

centuries afterwards, the tank in which the King had sought to avoid

the flames was pointed out to the credulous Hwen Thsang.

330. We hear nothing more of Sravasti until one century after

Kanishka, or five centuries after Buddha, when, according to Hwen

Thsang, Vikramaditya, King of Sravasti, became a persecutor of Bud-

dhists, and the famous Manorhita, author of the Vibhdsha Sdstra, being

worsted in argument by the Brahmans, put himself to death. During

the reign of his successor, whose name is not given, the Brahmans

were overcome by Vasubandhu, the eminent disciple of Manorhita.

The probable date of these two Kings may. be set down as ranging

from A. D. 79 to 120. For the next two centuries Srévasti would

seem to have been under the rule of its own Kings, as we find Khira-

dhdra and his nephew mentioned as Rajas between A. D. 275 and 319.

But there can be little doubt that during the whole of this time Sra-

vasti was only a dependency of the powerful Gupta Dynasty of Ma-

gadha, asthe neighbouring city of Saketa is specially said to have

belonged to them. ‘Princes of the Gupta race,” says the Vayu

Purana, “ will possess all those countries; the banks of the Ganges to

Prayaga, and Saketa, and Magadha.” From this time Sravasti

gradually declined. In A. D. 400 it contained only 200 families; in

A. D. 632 it was completely deserted: and at the present day the

whole area of the city, excepting only a few clearances near the gate-

ways, 1s a mass of almost impenetrable jungle.

331. Before attempting to identify the existing remains of Sdhet-

Miéhet with the famous monuments of Sravasti, it will be as well to

compare and reconcile the few discrepant statements of the Chinese

pilgrims, so that the description of the holy places may not be inter-

rupted by discussion. Of these discrepancies perhaps the most notable

is the difference in the name of the city itself, which Fa Hian gives as

She-wei, while Hwen Thsang writes it, as correctly as it is possible to

do in Chinese syllables, She-lo-fa-sité, or Sravasti. But this difference

is more apparent than real, as there can be little doubt that She-wee

is only a slight alteration of the abbreviated Pali form of Sewet for

Sdwatthi, which is found in most of the Ceylonese books. Similarly

the modern name of Sdhet is evidently only a variation of the Pali Sdzwet.

The other name of Mdhet I am unable to explain, but it is perhaps

254 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4

only the usual rhyming addition of which the Hindus are so fond, as

in ulta pulta, or “topsy-turvy,”’ which many of the people say is the

true meaning of Séhet-Mdhet, in allusion to the utter ruin of the whole

place. But some say that the name was originally Set-met, and as

this form seems to be only a corruption of Sewet, it is probable that

Sahet-mahet or Sahet-mihet, is simply a lengthened pronunciation of

Set-met. One man alone, and he, strange to say, was the Musalman

in charge of the tomb of Pir-Barana close to the ruined city, affirmed

that the true name was Sdvitri, which is so close to the correct Pali

form of Sawatthi as to leave but little doubt that it preserves the

original name of the place.

832. The next point of difference is the distance of the celebrated

monastery of Jetavana from the south gate of the city. According to

Fa Hian this was 1,200 paces, or about half a mile, which is increased

by Hwen Thsang to 5 or 6 li, or nearly one mile. But as the only

mass of ruins which can possibly be identified with the Jetavana is

exactly half a mile from the nearest opening in the south rampart of

the old city, there is clearly some mistake in the distance given by

Hwen Thsang, unless we may suppose him to have approached the

monastery by a somewhat longer route through the multitude of holy

places, of which the remains still exist to the east of the Jetavane

ruins. By this route the distance would be increased to three-quarters

of a mile, or 44 lz, which is sufficiently close to the number given by

Hwen Thsang.

333. A third discrepancy is contained in the statement of Fa Hian

that ‘the town has two gates, one facing the east and the other the

north,”’ when we know that it had a south gate by which both himself

and Hwen Thsang had issued from the city, when on their way to the

Jetavana monastery. Perhaps Fa Hian intended to say that “ besides

the south gate, the city had two other gates, one to the east and one

to the south.” But as it is scarcely credible that a city which was 34

miles in circuit should have possessed only three gates, 1 think that

we may understand that the statements refer only to the principal

entrances, and that there were at least as many more smaller gates, or

wickets, corresponding with the present openings in the ramparts.

334. Both pilgrims begin their account of Srdvast7 at the old

palace of King Prasenajita, and as both, after describing the surround-

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 255

ing buildings, leave the city by the south gate, it is certain that the

palace was inside the city. Its exact position I was unable to deter-

mine, as the greater part of the interior is covered with dense jungle:

but as the east half is comparatively clear, and the jungle low, I was

able to satisfy myself that no large building had ever existed in this

part, and consequently that the palace must have been in the west half

of the city. This conclusion is confirmed by the position of the two

Stupas of Sudatta and the Anguli-mélyas, which Hwen Thsang places

to the east of the palace, for as the only existing mounds that can be

indentified with these Stwpas are near the middle of the river face of

the city, the palace must have been to the west of them, and therefore

in the west half of the city.

335. The two principal places inside the city which are mentioned

by both pilgrims as being to the east of the palace, were the dwelling-

house and Stwpa of Sudatta, the builder of the Jetavana, and the great

Stupa of the Anguli-mdlyas. These Stwpas I have already identified with

the two existing mounds near the middle of the river face of the ram-

parts. The smaller one, which is about 25 feet in height, corresponds

with the Stwpa of Sudatta, and the larger one, which is 35 feet in

height, with the other Stwpa, which is particularly stated to have been

alarge one. The Anguli-mdlyas were the followers of a particular

sect which was established by a converted brigand who had received

the name of Anguli-mdla or “finger garland,” from his practice of

cutting off the fingers of his victims to form a garland which he wore

round his neck.

336. On leaving the city by the south gate, both pilgrims went at

once to the great monastery of Jetavana, which was one of the eight

most celebrated Buddhist buildings in India. It was erected:during the

lifetime of Buddha by Sudatta, the minister of King Prasenajita, and

it received its name of Jetavana, or “ Jeta’s garden,” because the garden

in which it was built had been purchased from Prince Jeta. The story

of the building is given by Hardy from the Ceylonese annals. Accord-

ing to these, the prince, who was unwilling to part with his garden,

demanded as its price as many gold masurans as would cover it, which

Sudatta at once promised. When the garden was cleared, and all the trees,

except Sandal and Mango, were cut down, the money was brought and

spread out over the ground until the whole was covered, when the sum

256 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

was found to be 18 Kotis, or 180 millions of masurans. The garden

is said to have been 1,000 cubits in length and the same in breadth,

or 4,000 cubits in circuit. Hxtravagant as the sum may seem, it is

still too small to have covered the garden, if we are to take Mr. Hardy’s

cubits at 18 inches, as each maswran would be one inch and eight-

tenths in length and breadth, which is about three times the size of

the old Indian silver coins. Unfortunately the dimensions of the

Jetavana are not stated either by Fa Hian or Hwen Thsang; but the

ruined mound of the monastery still exists, and its dimensions do not

exceed 1,000 feet in length by 700 feet in breadth. Now, it is curious

that these numbers give an area which is only one-third of the size of

that recorded in the Ceylonese annals, and which therefore would be

exactly covered by 180 millions of old Indian silver coins, allowing

rather more than half an inch for the length and breadth of each coin.

The amount said to have been paid for the garden is of course only

the usual extravagant style of Indian exaggeration, for the sum of 18

kotis, even if taken at the lowest value of gold as ten times that

of silver, would be equal to 45 krors of Rupees or 45 millions

sterling.

337. The Jetavana is described in the Ceylonese annals as consist-

ing of a central vihdr, or temple, with surrounding houses for priests,

rooms for day and night, an ambulatory, tanks, and gardens of fruit

and flower trees, and around the whole a wall 18 cubits in height.

According to this description the Jetavana must’ have included not

only the great ruined mound now called Jogini-baria, but all the ruins

to the east and north of it, unless it extended to the westward, where

there are no remains at present existing. But as [ can show that most

of the ruins to the east correspond with the descriptions which Fa

Hian and Hwen Thsang have given of many of the holy places out-

side the Jetavana, it is certain that the original monastery must have

been confined to the Jogini-Baria only, and that the other buildings,

with the tanks and gardens, were outside the walls of the Jetavana

itself, although it is most probable that many of thom were connected

together by different enclosing walls. When the Jetavana was com-

pleted by Sudatta, the Prince Jeta expended the whole of his purchase

money in adding a palace, seven stories in height, to each of the four

sides of the garden, It is probably to these palaces that Fa Hian

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 2d

refers when he states that “the temple of Shi-hwan (read Shi-to hwan,”

or Jetavana) “had originally seven stories. Canopies and streamers

were hung up, flowers were scattered, perfumes burned, lanterns sup-

plied the place of day, and even in day time were never extinguished.

A rat having taken into its mouth the wick of one of these lanterns,

set fire to the flags and to the drapery of the pavilions, and the seven

stories of the temple were utterly consumed.” This occurred some

time before A. D. 400, as Fa Hian adds that “they reconstructed the

temple, and when they had completed the second story, they installed

the statue in its former place.” From this account I infer, though

somewhat doubtfully, that the new temple was not more than two

stories in height. I conclude also that the place was already on the

decline, as a little more than two centuries later, when visited by Hwen

Thsang, it was found utterly ruined and deserted.

338. The great mound of ruins, which I propose to identify with

the Jetavana, is situated just half a mile distant from the south-west

corner of the old city. It is rectangular in form, being 1,000 feet

long from north-east to south-west, and 700 feet broad. It is worth

noting, as it is most probably not accidental, that the central line of the

rectangle falls upon a lofty mound, inside the south-west angle of the

city, called Sobhndath, which, according to some, is a name of Mahadeva.

The shape of the monastery is defined by a gentle rise all round the

edge of the mound, which I take to represent the ruins of the monks’

cells that once formed the surrounding walls of the enclosure. The

highest part, which is the south side, is not more than 12 feet above

the neighbouring ground, while the other sides are not more than eight

or ten feet. But the whole area was so thickly covered with jungle,

that I found it difficult to take even a few measurements. During

my stay at Sahet I cut pathways to all the ruined eminences within

the enclosure, and after clearing the jungle around them, I began an

excavation in each to ascertain the nature of the original building.

With the largest mound, which was near the south end of the central

line of the enclosure, I was unsuccessful. It was 15 feet in height,

and looked the most promising of all, but I found nothing but earth

and broken bricks, although I was assured by the people that numbers

of large bricks had been carried away from it at different times. Both

from its size and position, I am. inclined to look upon this mound ag

258 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

the remains of the original temple of the Jetavana. Ina lower mound,

close by to the west, my excavations disclosed the walls of a small

temple, not quite 63 feet square inside, with a doorway to the north

and the remains of a semi-circular brick pedestal against the south

wall. The walls were upwards of three feet thick, but the whole

building was only a little more than 13 feet square, from which, taking

the altitude at three and a half times the side, I conclude that the

temple could not have exceeded 46 feet in height.

339. Near this temple there are three brick wells: the largest to

the north is octagonal above, with a side of 44 feet, and circular below

at a depth of 12 feet. The second, to the south, which is circular, is

only 334 feet in diameter; and the third, still farther to the south, is

also circular, with a diameter of 62 feet. It is curious that all these

wells, which are the only ones known to the people, are in the south-

west corner of the enclosure.

340. A third mound, near the north end of the central line of the

enclosure, gave promise of a better result than the others, as a previous

excavation had disclosed the head and shoulders of a colossal figure,

which from its curly hair and long split ears I knew to be that of

Buddha. I was assured, however, that the Jains, who come annually

to Sdhet in great nnmbers during the months of Magh and Baisakh

look upon the statue as belonging to themselves. But my experience

having taught me that Jains are no more particular than Brahmans as

to the figures that they worship, I began to dig in the certain expecta-

tion of finding a very old Buddhist statue, and with a strong hope of

discovering some inscription on its pedestal that might perhaps be of

value in determining the name and probable date of these long deserted

ruins. After a few hours’ work the four walls of the temple were

brought to light, and the figure was seen to be leaning against the

back wall. The interior was only 72 feet square, but the walls were

upwards of 4 feet thick, with a projection of 6 inches in the middle of

each face. The front wall to the east was thicker than the rest by on:

foot, which was the breadth of the jamb of the doorway. The extrem :

outside dimensions were 19 feet by 18 feet, which would give a pro

bable height of between 60 and 70 feet. As the excavation proceeded

it was seen that the statue was a standing figure which had been bro-

ken off a few inches above the ancles by the fall of the temple. Alter

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 259

the figure was removed with much difficulty, on account of its great

weight, and the floor of the temple had been cleared, it was seen that

the pedestal of the statue was still standing erect in its original posi-

tion. The floor was paved with large stones, and immediately in front

of the pedestal there was a long flat slab 33 feet by 14 foot, with a

pair of hollow foot-marks in the centre and two sunken panels on each

side. At the back of the incised feet towards the pedestal there was a

rough hollow, 34 feet long by 4 inches broad, which, judging from

what I have seen in Barma, must once have held a long stone or metal

frame for the reception of lights in front of the statue. But all this

arrangement was certainly of later date than the statue itself, for on

opening up the floor it was found that the Buddha-pad slab concealed

the lower two lines of an inscription, which fortunately had been thus

preserved from injury, while the third or uppermost line had been al-

most entirely destroyed.

341. The statue is a colossal standing figure of Buddha the

Teacher, 7 feet 4 inches in height. His left hand rests on his hip, and

his right hand is raised in the act of teaching. The right shoulder is

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 through

the nimbus which, being larger in front than behind, were evidently

intended for metal cramps to fix the statue to the wall. Unfortu-

nately the head is broken, as well as both arms, but the body of the

figure is uninjured. The attitude is stiff and restrained, the two feet

being exactly in the same position and somewhat too far apart. The

statue is of spotted red sandstone, such as isfound in the quarries near

Mathura and Fatehpur Sikri; and as we know from recent discoveries

that the sculptor’s art was in a very flourishing state at Mathura dur-

ing the first centuries of the Christian era, I feel satisfied that the

Srdvasti colossus must have been brought from that city. The inserip-

tion is imperfect at the beginning, just where it must have contained

the date. It now opens with the figure 10 and some unit of the

Gupta numerals, which must be the day of the month, and then fol-

low the words etaye pwrvvaye, which, as Professor Dowson has shown,

must mean “on this happy occasion,” or some equivalent expression.

Then come the names of the donors of the statue, three mendicant

monks named Pushpa, Siddhya-Mihira, and Bala-Trepitaka, Next

260 Report of the Archeological Survey. [ No. 4,

follow the title of Bodhisatwa, the name of the place, Sdvasti, and the

name of Buddha as Bhagavata. The inscription closes with the state-

ment that the statue is the “accepted gift of the Sarvastidina teachers

of the Kosamba hall.” Judging from the old shapes of some of the

letters in this record, the age of the statue may be fixed with some

certainty as not later than the first century of the Christian era. The

characters are exactly the same as those of the Mathura inscriptions,

which, without doubt, belong to the very beginning of the Christian era ;

and as the Sravasti statue was in all probability executed at Mathura,

the correspondence of the lapidary characters shows that the inscriptions

must belong to the same period. As there is no mention of this

statue in Fa Hian’s narrative, I conclude that the temple in which it

stood must have fallen down in the great conflagration which destroyed

the seven-storied pavilions. But the account of Fa Hian is not very

intelligible. He states that the original image of Buddha was “the

head of an ox carved 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 believe, be traced to a

mistake, either of Fa Hian himself, or of his translator. In Sanskrit,

Gosirsha or “ Bull’s head,” is the name of the most fragrant kind of

sandal-wood, and as we know that the famous early statue of Buddha

at Kosambi was made of this very wood, it is natural to conclude that

the earliest statue at Sravasti may have been made of the same mate-

rial. As this is the only figure of Buddha noticed by Fa Hian, I infer

that the colossal stone figure which I discovered must have been buried

beneath the ruins of its own temple some time before A. D. 400, and

most probably therefore during the great fire which destroyed the

whole monastery. It was concealed also at the time of Hwen Thsang’s

visit, in A. D. 632, as he specially mentions that the only temple then

standing amidst the ruins of the monastery was a small brick house

containing a statue of Buddha in sandal-wood. The statue now dis-

covered was therefore not visible in his time.

342. Both pilgrims agree in stating that the gate of the monastery

was on the east side, and although I was unable to find any certain

trace of an opening, I am quite satisfied that the gate must have been

on the east, as all the existing ruins are on that side. On issuing

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 261

from the gate the first monuments noticed by both pilgrims are two lofty

stone pillars, one on each side of the road. Hwen Thsang says that

they had been erected by Asoka, that they were 70 feet high, and that

the left celumn was crowned by a cupola er dome, and the other by an

elephant. But Ha Hian, on the contrary, describes these figures as a

wheel and an ox. I feel satisfied that Fa Hian is right as to the first,

as the wheel is frequently represented in the Sanchi sculptures as

crowning the capitals of columns, and we know that it was also used

as a type of Buddha himself as the Chakravarttid Raja, or King who

““turned the wheel”’ of the law, or in other words who made religion

advance. With regard to the animal that crowned the other pillar I

aim unable to offer any remark, except the obvious explanation that

the trunk of the elephant must have been broken off before the time

of Fa Hian, otherwise it is impossible to conceive how he could have

mistaken the figure for that of an ox. But this discrepancy in the

accounts of the two pilgrims is the best argument that I can offer for

the mistake which I believe them both to have made regarding the

animal that crowned the Sankisa pillar, as noticed in para. 247 of this

eport. There are no remains of these pillars, but there are two

slight eminences only 300 feet distant from the monastery which

may have been the basements on which the pillars stood, as the

pathway leading to the ruined mound on the east side runs between

them.

343. To the north-east of the monastery of Jetavana, and there-

fore to the north of the pillars, there was a Stupa, built, on the spot

where Buddha had washed the hands and feet of a sick monk and

had cured his sickness. The remains of this Stwpa still exist in a

mass of solid brick-work, to the north of the presumed pillar base-

ments, and at a distance of 550 feet from the Jetavana monastery.

This ruined mass, which is 245 feet in height, is built entirely of

large bricks, 24 by 10 by 35 inches, which is a sufficient proof of its

antiquity. I made an excavation from the top, to a depth of 20 feet,

without any result save the verification of the fact that the ruin was a

mass of solid brick-work.

344. To the east of the monastery, at a distance of 100 paces, or

250 feet, there was a large deep trench, which was said to be the spot

where the earth had opened and engulfed Devadatta, the cousin and

262 Report of the Archeological Survey. [ No. 4,

implacable enemy of Buddha. Fa Hian calls the distance only 70

paces, or less than 200 feet, in a northerly direction from the east gate

of the monastery. But as the two pillars and the Stwpa, which have

just been described, stood in the very position here indicated by Fa

Hian, it is certain that we must read “southerly.” The accuracy of

this correction is confirmed by the existence of a large deep tank with-

in 200 feet of the south-east corner of the ruined monastery, called

Bhulénan. This tank is 600 feet long and 250 feet broad, and is now

filled with water. Close by, on the south side, there was another

great hollow, in which it was said that the mendicant monk Kukdlz,

a disciple of Devadatta, had been swallowed up alive for calumniating

Buddha. This is represented by the Lambaha Tal, a long narrow

tank, only 200 feet to the south of the Devadatta gulf. The third great

fissure or hollow is described by Hwen Thsang as being at 800 paces,

or 2,000 feet, to the south of the second. According to the legend -

this was the spot in which a Brahmani girl, named Chanchd, had been

engulfed alive for falsely accusing Buddha of incontinence. This

Chanchd gulf is represented by a nameless deep tank, 600 feet long by

400 feet broad, which lies 2,200 feet 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 very

strong confirmation of the correctness of identification of the Jogini-

baria mound with the great Jetavana monastery.

345. The pilgrims next describe a pair of temples of the same

dimensions, of which one was situated to the east and the other to the

west of the road, which should therefore be the main road that led

from the city towards the south... Hwen Thsang says that the first

temple was only 70. paces to the east of the monastery, while Fa Hian

places it at the same distance from the eastern gate, but towards the

north. The position of these temples is doubtful, as I was unable to

discover any remains in the immediate vicinity of the monastery that

corresponded with the description. There are, however, in another

position the remains of two temples, which answer the description so

accurately as to leave but little doubt that they must be the buildings

in question. The first, or west temple is described by both pilgrims

as containing a seated figure of Buddha, while the second or east

temple belonged to the Brahmans. Both were 60 feet in height, and

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. : 263

the Brahmanical temple was called the “ shadow-covered,” because, as

the credulous Buddhists asserted, it was covered by the shadow of

the Buddhist temple when the sun was in the west, while its own

shadow, when the sun was in the east, never covered the Buddhist

temple, but was always ‘‘ deflected to the north.” Now, the two ruins

which I would identify with these temples are situated 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 relative

position with each other; but instead of being only 70 paces, or 175

feet, from the monastery, the nearest is nearly 700 feet from the great

mound of ruins. It is highly probable, however, that the surrounding

walls of the monastery may have extended as far as the two stone

pillars on the east, in which case the nearest temple mound would be

within 250 feet of the walls, and the whole enclosure would then cor-

respond in size with the dimensions recorded in the Ceylonese annals,

As this increased size would also bring two tanks within the limits

of the monastery, which according to the Cingalese were actually

included within the walls, I feel inclined to adopt the larger measure-

ment of 1,000 cubits side, or 4,000 cubits circuit, as the true size of

the Great Jetavana Monastery.

346. To the north-west of the monastery Hwen Thsang placed a

well and a small Stwpa, which marked the spot where Maudgala-putra

tried in vain to unloose the girdle of Sdriputra. As the distance is

not mentioned, it may be inferred that the Stwpa was close by, and

therefore I would identify the site with that of the shrine of Par-

Bardna in the small village of Husen Jot, which is within 700 feet

of the north-west corner of the monastery. Near the same place there

was also a Stupa of Asoka, and a stone pillar, which the King had

raised to note the spot where Buddha and his right-hand disciple

Sariputra had taken exercise and explained the law. I could find no

trace of any of these monuments, and I conclude that the Stwpas,

as usual, must have furnished materials for the erection of Pir-Bar-

dna’s shrine.

347. The situation of the next holy place, which Fa Hian calls

the “‘ Wood of the Recovered Hyes,” is fixed by both pilgrims at 4 iz,

or two-thirds of a mile, to the north-west of the monastery. This

position is now represented exactly by the village of Rajygarh Gulariya,

964 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

which is situated in the midst of a very large grove of trees. The

present grove is said to have been planted only two generations back,

but the trees about the village itself are of great age, and the name of

Gulariya points to some remarkable Gular tree as more ancient than

the village itself. The legend attached to this spot is sufficiently

marvellous. Five hundred brigands, having been blinded by order of

King Prasenajita, attracted the commiseration of Buddha, who re-

stored their sight. The five hundred men who had thus recovered

their eyesight, threw away their staves, or according to Fa Hian,

planted them in the ground, when they immediately took root, and

grew to be a large grove, which was called the ‘‘ Wood of the Recover-

ed Eyes.’ The monks of Jetavana were in the habit of repairing to

this grove for exercise and meditation, and all the spots which holy

Buddhists had made famous by their meditations were marked by

inscriptions or by Stupas. There is one small brick mound to the east

of the grove, but I could find no trace of any inscriptions, although

rewards were offered for even a single letter.

348. We now come to the second great monument of Srdvasti, the

which was built by

celebrated Purvvdrdma, or ‘ Hastern Monastery,”

the lady Visdkhd, who has already been mentioned in my account of

Sahet. Fa Hian places this monument at 6 or 7 lz, or rather more

than a mile, to the north-east of the Jetavana. But this bearing is cer-

tainly wrong, as it would carry us right into the middle of the old city,

I would therefore read ‘“‘ south-east,” which is the direction of a very

large mound, called Ora-jhar, cr “ Basket-shakings,” that is upwards

of a mile from the Jetavana. Hwen Thsang places the Vihéra and

Stupa of Visékhaé at more than 4 Jz, or upwards of 3,500 feet, to the

east of the “‘ shadow-covered temple” of the Brahmans. Now, the

Ora-jhidr mound is just 4,000 feet to the south-east of the ruined

mound, which I have already identified with the Brahmanical temple.

I am therefore quite satisfied that it is the remains of the great Vihdra

of the Purvvdrdma, or Hastern Monastery. Hwen Thsang’s account

of this famous monastery is meagre; his whole description being

limited to the fact that “in this place Buddha overcame the Brahmans,

and received an invitation from a lady named Visikha.” Fa Hian’s

notice is equally brief. We must therefore turn to the Ceylonese

annals for an account of the lady and her works. According to them

1865. | Report of the Archeological Survey. 265

Visikha was the daughter of Dhananja, a wealthy merchant of Saket.

At 15 years of age she was married to Purnna-Vardhana, the son of

Migdra, a vich merchant of Srdvasti, and from that time her whole

life was spent in the observance of the religious rites of Buddhism.

She was the means of converting her father-in-law Migdara, and “ she

was called in consequence” Migdra-Matdwi, and became the mother

or chief of the Updsekawas, or female -lay-disciples of Buddha. To-

wards the end of her career she determined to sell her wedding

ornaments to obtain funds for the erection of a Vihdra, “ but there

was no one in Sewet who had wealth enough to purchase them. She

therefore bought a garden at the east side of the city, and expend-

ed immense treasures in the erection of a Vihdra, which was called

Purvvdréma, or the Hastern Monastery, from the place in which it

stood.”

349. The great mound, now called Ora-jhdr, is a solid mass of

earth 70 feet in height, which was formerly crowned by a brick temple.

Within the last century a Musalman Fakir, who had lived under the

trees at the foot of the mound, was buried in a tomb on the very top

of it, which was built with the bricks of the ruin. Some years later

his successor was buried beside him, and their two tombs at present

preclude all hope of making any excavation from the top of the mound.

I cleared the north face completely, and the other three faces partially,

until I reached the paved brick flooring which surrounded the original

Buddhist temple, at a height of 55 feet above the ground. The wall

of the temple on the north face is only 20 feet long, and although I

failed to reach the other two corners of the building, I was satisfied

that it must have been square. Its height, at 35 times its side, would

not therefore have been more than 70 feet, but as its floor is 55 feet

above the ground, the total height of the temple would have been 125

feet. The wall ofthe noith face is divided into four panels by pilasters

six inches thick. The bases of these pilasters, which are still very

perfect, are of the same style as those at Gaya and Baragaon in Bihar,

and of Manikyala and Shah Dheri in the Punjab. The style would

therefore seem to be one that was peculiar to early Buddhism. The

other faces of the temple I was unable to examine, as the foundations

of the Muhammadan tomb, which are only 2} feet above the broken

walls of the temple, project 16 feet beyond its east and west faces.

266 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

Unfortunately the doorway of the temple must have been towards the

east, as there are traces of steps at several places down the slope of

that side. There is an old well also amongst the trees on the east side

of the mound, but I could find no traces of cloisters for the resident

monks who ministered at the temple. The mound, however, is still

surrounded by fine trees, and there are two small tanks at the very

foot of it which would of course have been included within the limits

of the monastery.

350. The Stwpa mentioned by Hwen Thsang as belonging to the

Purvvarama may perhaps be represented by a small ruined mound

close to the north-east corner of the Ora-jhér. The mound is only 8

feet high, but an excavation which I made to the depth of 11 feet,

showed it to be made of solid bricks of large size, 12 by 9 by 3 inches.

It is 40 feet in diameter, and when complete, with its pinnacle, it must

have been about 50 or 60 feet in height. From its vicinity to the

Purvvarama I have little doubt that this is the Stwpa which Visdkha

built on the spot where Buddha had overcome the Brahmans in

argument.

351. The last place mentioned by the pilgrims is the spot where

King Virudhaka halted with his army to converse with Buddha, and

out of respect for the teacher gave up his expedition against the Sakyas,

and returned to his Capital. Hwen Thsang states that this famous

spot was close to the monastery of Visdkhé on the south side, while

Fa Hian says that it was 4 lz, or two-thirds of a mile, to the south-

west of the city. The former is the more probable position, as it is

to the south-east and on the high road to Kapilanagara, the capital

of the Sakyas. Close by there was a Stwpa to mark the spot where

500 Sakya maidens were afterwards massacred by Virudhaka for refus-

ing to enter his harem. Near the Stwpa there was a dry tank, or

gulf, in which Virudhaka had been swallowed up. According to the

legend, Buddha had predicted that Virudhaka would be destroyed

by fire within seven days after the massacre. When the seventh day

arrived, the King, accompanied by his women, proceeded gaily to a

large tank, where he entered a boat, and was rowed to the middle of

the water. But flames burst forth from the waters and consumed the

boat, and the earth opened beneath the tank, and Virudhaka “ fell

alive into hell.” The only large piece of water that I could find is a

1865. | Report of the Archeological Survey. 267

nameless tank close to the south side of Visékha’s temple, and _ there-

fore in the very position indicated by Hwen Thsang; but there are

no existing remains near it that could be identified with the Stwpa of

the 500 Sakya maidens.

352. The monuments of Srdvasti hitherto described by the pilgrims

are directly connected with the personal history of Buddha. The

places where he sat and walked, where he taught his law, and where

he worsted the Brahmans in argument, were all specially holy in the

eyes of devout Buddhists. But these sacred monuments formed only

a small portion of the Buddhist buildings of the great city of Sravasti,

where, according to Hwen Thsang, the monuments were counted by

hundreds. Fa Hian, however, quotes a tradition which limited their

number to ninety-eight, at a period not remote from his own time, and

as he visited the place nearly two centuries and a half earlier than Hwen

Thsang, when most of the monasteries were in ruins, we may be satis-

fied that their number never reached one hundred even at the most

flourishing period of Buddhism. [I traced the ruins of nine monasteries

in the immediate neighbourhood of the old city, and there are pro-

bably as many more within a range of two miles, I found also the

foundations of at least ten temples of various sizes, but they were all

in too ruinous a state to be of any interest. But when I remember

that the Jetavana itself, as well as nearly the whole of the ninety-eight

monasteries of Sravasti were in complete ruin upwards of twelve

centuries ago, I think it is more wonderful that so much should still

be left for the use of the archeologist, than that so little should remain

of all the magnificent buildings of this once famous city.

XX.—TANDA, OR TADWA.

353. From Srdvastz both pilgrims proceeded to visit the birth-place

of Kasyapa Buddha, at Tu-wet, which Fa Hian places at 50 li, or 82

miles to the west. Hwen Thsang does not name the town, but he states

that it was about 60 lz, or 10 miles, to the north-west of Sravasti. The

bearing and distance point to the village of Tadwa, which is just 9

miles to the west of Sahet-mahet. Some people refer this name to

Tanda, because for the last hundred years the Banjaras have been in the

habit of halting, or of making their tanda, at this place. But the

people themselves spell the name of their village Zadwa, and not Tanda,

3B4

268 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4

which properly means the whole venture of goods belonging to a party

of Banjaras, but which is also applied to the places at which they halt.

I think therefore that the name of Tadwa may possibly refer to the old

name of Z’u-wei as it is written by Fa Hian. There can, however, be no

doubt as to the identity of the two places, as Tadwa is a very old site,

which is still covered with brick ruins. According to tradition, the town

belonged to Raja Suhir dal, after whose death it was destroyed by the

Muhammadans, and remained uninhabited until about one hundred

years ago, when a Bairagi, named Ajudhya Das, established himself

under the banyan tree, and discovered the female figure which is now

worshipped as Sita Mai. The present village is situated amongst brick

ruins one quarter of a mile to the north of the road leading from

Akaona to Bahraich. All the fields aroundare strewn with broken bricks

and within 1,000 feet of the village to the north-west there is a mound

of brick ruins 800 feet long from east to west, and 300 feet broad.

Beyond the mound, and to the north of the village, there is a large

irregular shaped sheet of water, nearly half a mile in length, called

Sita-Deva Tal. But this name cannot be older than the discovery of

the statue which is attributed to Sita.

354. The west end of the mass of ruins is very low, but it is

covered with broken walls and fine trees, and was therefore most pro-

bably the site of the monastic establishment. The general height of the

east end is 16 feet above the fields, but rises to 20 feet at the south-

west corner. At this point the mound is formed of solid brick-work,

which after close examination I discovered to be the remains of a large

Stupa. As two different measurements gave a diameter of not less

than 70 feet, this Stupa must have been one of the largest and most

important in the famous province of Uttara Kosala. Hwen Thsang

mentions only two Stupas at this place, one to the south of the town,

being built on the spot where Kasyapa Buddha had performed his

meditations under a banyan tree, and the other to the north of the

town, containing the complete body of Kasyapa. This is also con-

firmed by its size, as Fa Hian calls this Stwpa a great one. The Stwpa

on the mound must certainly represent the latter monument, because

the tank precludes the possibility of any other having existed to the

northward of it. I wished very much to have made an excavation in

this mound, but the presence of a lingam of Mahadeo on the top of it,

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 269

which with Sita-Maz shares the devotions of the villagers, was an

effectual check against any excavations. This is the more to be re-

gretted, as the Stwpa is said to have been built by Asoka, an at-

tribution which might have been verified by an exploration of its

interior.

399. The figure which the ignorant villagers worship as Sita is

in reality a statue of Maya Devi, the mother of Sakya Buddha. She

is represented standing under the Sdl tree, with her right hand raised

and holding one of the branches, which is the well known position in

which she is said to have given birth to Sakya. Her left hand is

placed on her hip, and there is a parrot perched on her shoulder. The

statue is 3 feet 4 inches in height.

XXI—NIMSAR, OR NIMKAR.

356. Nimsar is a famous place of pilgrimage on the left bank of

the Gumti (or Gomati) River, £5 miles to the north-west of Lucknow.

The Brahmans derive the name from Nimisha, a “twinkling of the

eye ;” hence Naimisha-saras, or Nimsar, means the pool where in the

twinkling of an eye the sage Gauwra-Mukha destroyed the Asuras,

The place is also called Nemkhdr, which is formed from Naimisha,

pronounced Nawnkha, and aranya a forest, which becomes Naimikha-

ran, and Nimkhar. The Vishnu Purana declares that ‘‘ he who bathes

in the Gomati at Naimisha expiates all his sins.’ Its popularity is

‘Co famous

therefore very great. It is noticed in the Ayin Akbari as

large fort, with a great number of idolatrous temples, and a reservoir.”

This reservoir is called the Chakra-tirtha, and is said to be the place

where the Chakra, or “ discus,” of Vishnu fell during the contest with

the Asuras. The shape of the pool is nearly hexagonal with a

diameter of 120 feet. The water springs up from below and flows out

by the south side into a swampy rill about 20 feet broad called the

Godaveri Nala. The pool is surrounded with a number of shabby

brick temples and Dharmsdlas, and though the water is clear, yet the

place looks dirty and uninviting.

357. The fort of Nimsar is situated on a precipitous mound to the

north of the holy pool, about 1,100 feet long, from east to west,

between 300 and 400 feet broad, and 50 feet high. The west end is

a high cliff called the Shah Birj, or King’s Tower, which overhangs

270 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

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, partly brick and partly kankar blocks, which betray their

origin by their carvings and by the presence of the Swastika symbol, or

mystic cross. ‘The walls were originally of brick, but they have long

ago disappeared, and the only parts of the old fort now standing are

the gateway and the Shah Bij. The foundation of the latter is,

however, of Hindu construction, and as there are many carved bricks

lying about, I presume that it was a temple. The fort is provided with

a well 84 broad and 514 feet deep to the water level.

358. 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

Samvat year 1362, or A: D. 1305, by Hdhajdl, a renegade Hindu,

who is said to have been the Vazir of Ala-ud-din Ghort. For Ghori

we must read hiljz to bring the 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 allowable. But who was Hahdjal ?

As a renegade Hindu and the Vazir of Ala-ud-din, he might perhaps

be the same person as Ka/tér, who in A. D. 13805 was appointed as

Malik Naib to the command of the army for the conquest of the

Dakhan. I procured several of Ala-ud-din’s coins at Nimsar, and in

his reign I conclude that the fort passed from the hands of the Hindus

into those of the Musalmans. The original fort is said to have been

as old as the Pandus; and if the derivation of the name of the place

has been truly handed down, it must have been oc cupred even earlier

than the time of the Pandus.

XXIIL—BARIKHAR, OR VAIRATKHERA.

359. Barikhar is the name of a village on the top of an extensive

old mound called Vawrdtkhera which is situated on the high road

between Nimsar and Pilibhit, at 42 miles from the former, and 68 miles

from the latter place. Barzkhar is said to be a corruption of Bariya-

khera or Vairdt-khera, and its foundation is attributed to Vazrdt Raja

in the time of the Pandus. The ruined mound is 1,000 feet in length

at top from east to west, by 600 feet in breadth, and from 16 to 20

feet in height. But the dimensions at the base are much more, as the

slope is very gentle, being 200 feet in length on the north side, where

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 271

I measured it. This would make the base of the mound about 1,400

feet, which agrees with the size of 50 bigahs, or 1,400,000 square feet,

which is popularly attributed to it by the villagers themselves. But

the fields are strewn with broken bricks for upwards of 1,000 feet to

the northward, and for 500 or 600 feet to the eastward, where there

are the remains of several temples. The area actually covered by

ruins is not less than 2,000 feet square, or upwards of 14 mile in

circuit, which shows that Barikhar must once have been a good sized

town, but I strongly doubt the story of the Brahmans which attributes

its foundation to Vairat Raja. The name is written by the people

themselves Badishar 4s{4x , although it is pronounced Barikhar, and

I believe that similarity of sound alone has led to the identification of

Barikhar with Bariyakhera and Vairat Raja. -

XXTL—DHORYIA AND DEWAL.

360. I couple these two places together, because they actually

form parts of the old nameless capital of the Bdchhal Rajas, who ruled

over Hastern Rohilkhand and Western Oudh before the time of the

Katehriyas. Dewal itself is a small village, which has received its

name from atemple in which is deposited a very perfect inscription

dated in Samvat 1049, or A. D. 992. The opposite village is called

Tléhdbds by the Muhammadans, but this name is scarcely known to

the people, who usually call it Garh-Gdjana. The inscription is chiefly

remarkable for the clean and beautiful manner in which the letters

have been engraved ; and its perfect state makes it the more valuable.

as it furnishes us with a complete specimen of the alphabet of the

Kutila character, in which it is said to be engraved. James Prinsep

gave aspecimen of the characters, along with a translation of the

inscription, in the Asiatie Society’s Journal for 1837, page 777. But

the copy from which he framed his alphabet was made by hand, and

although it is wonderfully accurate as a mere transcript of the words,

yet it is very faulty as a copy of the individual letters. This is the

more to be regretted, as the alphabet thus framed from an inaccurate

copy has become the standard specimen of the Kutzla characters:

Now, the term Kutila means “ bent,” and as all the letters of the

inscription have a bottom stroke or tail, which is turned, or “ bent,”

to the right, Linfer that the alphabet was named Awlilw from this

a2 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

peculiarity in the formation of its letters. But this peculiarity was

unnoticed by the original transcriber, and consequently the print types

of the Kutila characters, which have been prepared both in Germany

and in England, are entirely wanting in this special characteristic

which gives its name to the alphabet. The letter / and the attached

vowels are perhaps the most faulty.

361. The village of Dewal is situated 16 miles to the §. S. EH. of

Pilibhit, on the west bank of the Kau, or Katni Nala. There are two

or three plain brick rooms which are called temples, and in one of

these the inscription is deposited ; but it is said to have been found

amongst the ruins of Garh-Gdjana, or lahabas, on the opposite bank

of the stream. Garh-Gajana is a large ruined mound, about 800 feet

square, which includes two small tanks on the east side; but although

it is called a Garh, or fort, it was most probably only the country

residence of Raja Lalla, who founded it. The small modern village of

Tlahabas is situated close to the south-east corner of Garh-Gajana, and -

near it on the south side are the ruins of a very large temple, amongst

which the inscription is said to have been discovered. The figure of

the Varaha Avatar of Vishnu, which is now in the Dewal temple, was

found in the same place. The mound of ruins is 200 feet square at

base, but the walls of the temple are no longer traceable, as the bricks

and kankar blocks have been carried away by the villagers. I traced

the remains of at least six other temples around the principal mass °f

ruin, but there was nothing about them worth noting. To th®

south there are two larger mounds, which appear to be the remains of

an old village.

362. The Kaw or Katni Nala continues its course to the south for

three miles, until opposite the large village of Deoriya, when it turns

sharply to the east for two miles, to the south end of a large ruined

fort which is now called Garha-Khera, or the “fort mound.” The

Katni Nala here turns to the north, and, after running round the three

other sides of the ruined fort, returns to within a few hundred yards

of the point from whence it took its northerly course. It thus forms

a natural ditch to the old stronghold of the Bachhal Rajas, which is

only approachable on the southern side. The fort has been deserted

for many centuries, and is covered with dense jungle, in which several

tigers have been killed within the last few years. A single cart track

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 273

leads to the nearest portions of the ruins, which have afforded materials

for all the buildings in the large village of Deoriya. The exact extent

of the fort is not known, but the position enclosed by the Katni Nala

is about 6,000 feet in length from N. W.S., and 4,000 feet in breadth,

and the fort is said to be somewhat less than half a kos, or just

about half a mile in length. The bricks are of large size, 13 by 9 by

2 inches, which shows considerable antiquity, but the statues of kan-

kar are all Brahmanical, such as the goddess Devi, Siva and his wife,

as Gauri-Sankar, and two arghas of lingams. These figures are said

to be discovered only in the foundations of the buildings, which, if true

would seem to show that the existing remains are the ruins of Muham-

madan works constructed of Hindu materials.

363. The Katni Nala is an artificial canal drawn from the Mala

river near Sohds, 10 miles to the south-east of Pilibhit, and 6 miles

to the north of Dewal. Its general course is from north to south,

- excepting where it winds round the old fort of Garha-Khera, after

which it resumes its southerly course and falls into the Kanhaut Nala,

about 3 miles to the south of the ruins. Its whole course is just 20

miles in length. All the maps are wrong in giving the name of Katni

Nala to the Mdéla river, instead of to the artificial canal which joins

the Mala and Kanhaut rivers. The canal varies in width from 30 and

40 feet to 100 feet, and even more, at the places where it is usually

forded. Its very name of Katni Nala, or the “ cut stream,” is suffi-

cient to prove that it is artificial. But this fact is distinctly stated in

the inscription, which records that Raja Lalla “ made the beautiful

and holy Katha-Nadi.” That this was the Katnt Nala, which is

drawn from the Mala river, is proved by the previous verse, which

records that the Raja presented to the Brahmans certain villages

“‘ shaded by pleasant trees, and watered by the Nirmala Nadi.” This

name is correctly translated by James Prinsep as “ pellucid stream,”

which though perfectly applicable to the limpid waters of the Mala

river, is evidently the name of the stream itself, and not a mere epithet

descriptive of the clearness of its waters. And as the canal was drawn

from the Nirmala River, so that villages on its banks are correctly

described as being watered by it.

364. The inscription goes on to say that Raja Lalla and his wife

Lakshmi “ made many groves, gardens, lakes, and temples.”’ Prinsep

274 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

has given the last as “

many other extensive works,” but the term in

the original is devalayataneshu cha, “and temples,” devalaya being

one of the commonest names for a temple of any kind. Inthe 27th

verse the great temple to which the inscription was attached is said to

have been dedicated to Siva by the Raja, while the Queen built an-

other fane to Parvati. In the next verse they are described as “ two

divine temples” (swra-griha) ; and in the 32nd verse it is stated that

the god and goddess were worshipped together under the title of

Devapalli. This then must be the origin of the name of Dewal, and

the great temple mound to the south of Garh-Gdjana must be the re-

mains of the two temples dedicated to Devapallz.

365. In the inscription Raja Lalla calls himself the nephew of

Méns Chandra Pratépa, and the grandson of Vira Varmma, who is

said to be of the race of Chhindw and descended from the great Rishi

Chyavana. This holy sage is mentioned in the Vishnu Purana as

having married Sukanya, the daughter of Saryati, the son of Manu.

He is also noticed in the Bhagavata and Padma Puranas, as appro-

priating ashare of the marriage offerings to the Aswini Kumaras,

which entailed the quarrel with Indra, that is alluded to in verse 4 of

the inscription. The family therefore was reputed to be of ancient

descent ; but if Vira Varmma, the grandfather of Lalla, was the first

Raja, the establishment of the dynasty cannot be dated earlier than

A.D. 900. Now the Bachhal Rajputs claim descent from Raja Vena,

whose son was Virdt, the reputed founder of Barikhar or Virat Khera,

and whom I believe to be the same as Vira Varmma of the inscription.

To Raja Vena, or Ben, is attributed the erection of the great forts of

Garha-khera, and Sdhgarh ; and to his queen, Ketaki Rana, is assigned

the excavation of the Rdni Tél at the old town of Kdbar. Garh

Gdjana and the temples of Dewal were built by Raja Lalla. The

town and fort of Maraori are attributed to Moradhwaj, and Barkhera

to Harmal Raja; but neither of these names appears in the very

imperfect and scanty list of their family which the Bdchhals now

possess.

366. It is admitted by every one that the Katehriyas succeeded

the Bdchhals, but the Katehriyas themselves state that they did not

settle in Katehar until Samvat 1231, or A. D. 1174. Up to this date

therefore the Bdchhal Rajas may be supposed to have possessed the

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 275

dominant power in eastern Rohilkhand beyond the Ramganga, while

western Rohilkhand was held by the Bhidar, Gwdld, and other tribes,

from whom the Katehriyas profess to have wrested it. Gradually the

Bichhals must have retired before the Katehriyas, until they had lost

all their territory to the west of the Deoha or Pilibhit river. Here

they made a successful stand, and though frequently afterwards harried

by the Muhammadans, they still managed to hold their small territory

between the Deoha river and the primeval forests of Pilibhit. When

hard pressed, they escaped to the jungle, which still skirts their an-

cient possessions of Garh Gdjana and Garha Khera. But their resis-

tance was not always successful, as their descendants confess that about

300 or 400 years ago, when their capital Nigoht was taken by the King

of Delhi, the twelve sons of Raja Udarana, or Aorana, were all put to

death. The twelve cenotaphs of these princes are still shown at Nigohv.

Shortly after this catastrophe Chhavi Rana, the grandson of one of the

murdered Princes, fled to the Lakhi jungle, where he supported himself

by plundering ; but when orders were given to exterminate his band,

he presented himself before the King of Delhi, and obtained the district

of Nigoht as ajdghir. This place his descendant Tarsam Sing still

holds, but the gdghir is reduced to the town of Nigohi with a few of

the surrounding villages.

367. The Gotrdchdrya of the Bachhal Rajputs declares them to be

Chandravansis, and their high social position is attested by their

daughters being taken in marriage by Chohans, Rahtors, and Kach-

wahas. According to Sir H. Elliot; Bachhal Zemindars are found in the

districts of Aligurh and Mathura, as well as in Budaon and Shahjahan-

pur of Rohilkhand. But the race is even more widely spread than the

Gangetic Bachhals are aware of, as Abul Fazl records that “the port of

Aramray (in the Peninsula of Gujarat) is a very strong place inhabited

by the tribe of Bachhal.” Of the origin of the name nothing is known,

but it is probably connected with bdchhnd, to select or choose. The

title of Chhindu, which is given in the inscription, is also utterly

unknown to the people, and I can only guess that it may be the name

of one of the early ancestors of the race.

XXV.—BALAI KHERA.

368. Baliya, or Balai Khera, is a large ruined mound about 1,200

feet square, or nearly one mile in circuit, and not less than 20 feet in

276 Report of the Archoeological Survey. [ No. 4,

height at the southern end. The mound is situated close to the

Muhammadan town of Jahdndbdad, which is just 6 miles to the west-

ward of Pilibhit. It is covered with broken bricks of large size, and

from its square form I infer that it must once have been fortified, or

at least walled round. Near the south-east corner there is a very old

banyan tree, 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 now standing that can give any clue to the

probable age of the town, as the bricks are removed to Jahéndbdd as

soon as they are discovered. But the large size of the bricks is a proof

of antiquity, which is supported by the traditions of the people, who

ascribe the foundation of Balpur or Baliya to the well known Daitya,

or demon, named Balv.

XXVI.—PARASUA KOT.

369. Four miles to the westward of Balai-Khera there is a long

lofty mound lying east and west called Paraswa-kot, which is said to

be the ruins of a temple and other edifices that Bali Raja built for his

Ahir servant, named Parasua. The mound is about 1,400 feet long,

and 300 feet broad at base, with a height of 35 feet at its loftiest point

near the eastern end. On this point there are the brick foundations

of a large temple, 42 feet square, with the remains of steps on the east

face, and a stone lintel or door step, on the west face. I conclude

therefore that the temple had two doors, one to the east and the other

to the west, and as this is the common arrangement of lingam temples,

it is almost certain that the building must have been dedicated to Siva.

Towards the west, the mound gradually declines in height, until it is

lost in the fields. Forty feet to the west of the temple there are some

remains of a thick wall which would seem to have formed part of the

enclosure of the temple, which must have been not less than 150 feet

square. Five hundred feet further west there are the remains of

another enclosure, 100 feet square, which most probably once surrounded

a second temple, but the height of the ruins at this point is more than

16 feet above the ground. Although the Paraswa mound is well known

to the people for many miles around, yet there are no traditions

attached to the place save the story of Parasua, the Ahir, which has

already been noticed. When we consider that a temple 42 feet square

1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 277

could not have been less than 3} times its base, or 147 feet in height,

and that its floor being 35 feet above the ground the whole height of

the building would have been 182 feet, it is strange that no more

detailed traditions should exist regarding the builders of so magnificent

an edifice. Iam of opinion that the temple must have been the work

of one oi the earlier Bachhal Rajas, but unfortunately the records of this

race are too imperfect to afford any clue to the ancient history of the

country. .

XXVIL—KABAR, OR SHIRGARH.

370. The old town of Kdbar 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 circular mound, 900 feet in diameter and 25 feet in height,

which is still surrounded by a deep ditch from 50 to 100 feet in width.

This was the old fort of Adbar in the time of the Hindus, and there are

still some remains of the walls of a large oblong building on the top of

the mound, which the people say was a temple. ‘The old city, which

surrounded the fort on all sides, is now divided into four separate

villages, called Kabar, Islémpur, Dongarpur, and Shirgarh. All these

are situated on old mounds which are nearly as lofty as the fort mound

itself. The place is usually called Kdbar by the Hindus, and Shergarh

by the Musalmans. It is said to have been taken from the Hindu

Rajas 550 years ago, or in A. D. 1313, during the reign of Ala-ud-din

Khilji. Falling again into the hands of the Hindus after the death

of Firuz Tughlak, it was again captured by Shir Shah, who built the

fort of Shargarh 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-Tdl, 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 town, called Islampur, is said to have been built by

Islam Shah, the son of Shir Shah, but it was more probably only

re-named by Khawds Khan in honour of his master’s son, during the

lifetime 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 Tal, which is attributed to Ketaki Rani, the

queen of Raja Ben, the founder of the dynasty of Bdchhal Rajputs.

The extreme length of the whole mass of ruins from east to west is

8,500 feet, and the breadth 2,500 feet, the complete circuit being 9,800

278 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 4,

feet, or nearly 2 miles. The long continued Muhammadan occupation

of five centuries has most effectually swept away all traces of Hinduism ;

but old coins are occasionally found, of which a few belong to the later

Hindu dynasties of the ninth and tenth centuries. From the great

size of the place, as well as from its evident antiquity, [should have ex-

pected that very old Hindu coins would occasionally be found; but all

my enquiries were fruitless, and the only actual traces of Hindu occupa-

tion that I could hear of were two small stone figures, of which one

was a representation of Durga slaying the Mahisasur, or “ Buffalo-

demon,” and the other a broken statue of some god which was too

much injured to be recognized,

Notes on Boodh Gya.—By C. Horne, Lsq., C.S.

[Received 24th April, 1865. Read 7th June, 1865. ]

During the holidays, October and November, 1864, I had an opportu-

nity of carefully studying the great Tope at Boodh Gya, relative to which

interesting remains of the past there would seem to have been consi-

derable discussion between modern archeologists.

The subject of the said discussions, whilst referring to the age of

the tope itself, relates more particularly to that of the arches, both

pointed and semicircular, found in and near the said tope.

These arches are some of them built of stone, but the greater part

are of brick; and they are all constructed on the radiating principle

‘¢ voussoirs’—the bricks

with external faces of truncated wedges or

used in their construction being set on edge and of the description

commonly termed Buddhist, their dimensions being either 133" & 9°

x24" or 15k" & 102" & 8.

There are in all no less than nine (9) of these arches, of which 3 are

semicircular and 6 pointed.

But before proceeding farther with my account of them, it will be

well to describe as briefly as possible the interior construction of the

tope, offering at the same time a few remarks as to its antiquity, as

thereby we may be able to infer whether the art of arch-building

(radiating, not horizontal) was known to those who built the structure

1865] Notes on Boodh Gya. 279

in which the said arches occur, or whether they may not have been

subsequently inserted.

Genl. Cunningham, in his excellent Archeological Report for 1861-

62, assigns A. D. 500 as the date of the building of the present tope

or temple, and names Amara Sinha as the builder.

He also works out the same date from a certain inscription once

said to have been therein found, and which he holds to be authentic.

His arguments from the latter source appear to me to have been

fully met and set aside by Baboo MRajendraléla Mitra in his

paper on Boodh Gya in 1864, which was read before a meeting

of the Bengal Asiatic Society, and in which he shews that Sir

Charles Wilkin’s* inscription, in which the virtues of a shraddh

performed here are much extolled—cannot be historically true, and

also that the partial silence of Fa Hian, the great Chinese traveller

in A. D. 400, does not prove the non-existence of the said tope at that

time—the more so as Fa Hian speaks in Chap. XXXI of a great

tower having been erected at the place where Foe (Buddha) obtained

the law, i. e. under the Bo tree at Boodh Gya.

Fergusson (p. 109, Vol. I) states the earliest authentic Hindu

building to date A. D. 657, and in allusion to the great tope of Boodh

Gya, which it is doubtful whether he ever visited, says to the effect

that “the temple of Boodh Gya is certainly Buddhist—was built in

the 14th century A. D. —is a square Hindu Vimana and a true

‘stupa’ as it never possessed any relic.”’

Montgomery Martin, in his account of Eastern India, alludes to

Asoka as being the reputed founder of the temple, and doubts the

authenticity of Amara’s inscription, as does also Buchanan Hamilton.

It will thus be seen that the age of the building and of the arches

are both open questions.

And now, a few words as to the age of Hindu or Boodhist build-

ings :—

Fergusson says—pages 4-5, Introduction—‘“TIt is of more impor-

tance to our present purpose that with this king (Asoka) B. C. 250,

the architectural history of India commences; not one building, nor

one sculptured stone having yet been found in the length and

* That above alluded to,

280 Notes on Boodh Gya. [No. 4,

breadth of the land, which can prove to date before his accession.

From his time, however, the series of monuments, some monolithic,

some rock cut, and others built, are tolerably complete during the 10

or 12 centuries in which Boodhism continued to be a prevalent

religion in the country of its birth.”

Again p. 129, he says, “ Indian architecture began about 250 B. C.,

with a strong admixture of Grecian, or at least of Western art, as if

the Indian was then first learning from foreigners an art they had

not previously practised; but this extraneous element soon died out,

and is not again to be traced, except perhaps in Cashmere where it

seems to have long remained in force.”

The inscriptions in the sculptured pillars or rather the carving on

the Boodhist railing posts, which these pillars really are, remind one

of Bhilsa. They are in fact, identical.

Genl. Cunningham, in describing them, says—‘‘ A few of them

have an inscription in the ancient Pali character of Asoka’s pillars

HLL+tEe j ih Lit’, ‘Ayaya Kudrangiye danam’ ie. Gift of the

venerable Kudrangi.” This is 5 or 6 times repeated.

Now these pillars are of granite and placed in the quadrangle of the

Mohunt’s residence, whilst those at the tope itself, discovered by Capt.

Mead subsequently to Genl. Cunningham’s report, are all of the same

character, so that his remark to the effect that the first named “ can-

not be of much later date than Asoka’s” will apply equally to those

last spoken of. They, moreover, appear “in siti” and if so, argue the

existence of the tope and of a Bo tree when they were placed around

them.

It should also be borne in mind, that within a few miles we have

the rock cut temples of the Barabur, Nagarjuni Hills, relative to the

date of the excavation of which, the inscriptions borne by them leave

no doubt.

The dates of some of these vary from 250 to 230 B. C., or the time

of Asoka.

We might also argue from the bricks used, did I not hold this to be

a very uncertain test of age. Their bluish tinge remarked upon by

Hwen Thsang is very remarkable, as such a tinge is not common, and

the bricks used in the great tope decidedly possess it.

Tin vain sought for any mason marks; but their non-existence may

1865. | Notes on Boodh Gya. 281

be accounted for by the very small quantity of stone used in or about

the building.

From what has been before stated I am led to assign a far greater

antiquity to the great tope at Boodh Gya than has been -hitherto

generally done.

I am of opinion that the temple existed from before the Christian

era, when the railing stood around it—say from 200 B. C.; but that

it has often been repaired, and once thoroughly renewed by Amara

Sinha, most probably about 500 A. D.

I, however, hold that the shell of the building has remained as at

first constructed, with alterations to be hereafter pointed out. If

this be the case, it would, together with perhaps the remains of some

Boodhist Monasteries, be one of the oldest buildings we have in India.

The general external form differs considerably from ordinary Hindu

Vimanas, being much more perpendicular ; but the system under which

it was built allows of great variety of outline.

The tope is exteriorly about 50 feet square at the base, with an

original interior diameter of 20 ft. The walls are about 8 ft. thick to

a height of perhaps 60 feet, and the rest is made up by a masonry

terrace rising from 25 to 30 feet.

The thickness of the upper part, 1. e. from the springing of the

curve to the crown, varies from 7 feet to much less at the top.

There has been an opening left at the top* apparently about 6 ft.

square, which is at present covered in with beams of Saul wood, and

upon this is built a tope-like pinnacle which in its entirety probably

reached to 25 feet, including the thickness of the pucka roof over

the beams.

The square basement walls have been stated to

Ceilings. rise about 60 ft., whilst the interior height of the

curved part may also be from 60 to 70 feet. The

whole interior I believe to have been originally

without intermediate ceilings.

This curved part is built on the system called in

Bengal ‘‘Lehra” i. e. of over-lapping bricks. In,

13”

this instance I counted 52 of these laps, each pro-

jecting from 3 to 43 inches.

* Query, whether this was so originally ?

282 Notes on Boodh Gya. [No. 4,

The lowest 12 laps were made after the placing of 4 bricks perpen-

dicularly, making a height for each such set of bricks of 9 inches only.

Then there came 16 laps, over 5 inches similarly laid and measuring

13 inches in height, whilst again above them came 24 laps over courses

of 4 bricks as at first.

I had hoped to be able to calculate the height accurately in this

manner, having with me no means for measuring so great a height;

but I imagine the laps got less at the top and the height assigned has

therefore only been approximately ascertained. This system of

“Tehra” still exists in Orissa. Mr. Armstrong, the assistant to

Mr. Shore, Commissioner, has obligingly sent me a drawing of a long

draw-bridge of more modern construction at Jajipore near Balasore.

The openings thus covered are said to be

from 8 to 15 feet. The space at Boodh

Gya is about 20 feet. At the temple of

Kooch Behar, is an excellent example, and

it seems to have been universal through-

Part of an opening in Jajipur out Hastern B engal.

drawbridge. Capt. Austen informs me that in Cash-

mere this ‘ Lehra’” is very neatly tied with a 7 stone.

Cashmere Lehra.

The arrangement above described holds good as regards the north,

south and west sides of the temple; but on the east, the front wall is

pierced with two large openings, the one over the other, and above

these in the curved part are two “ Lehras” or horizontal arches run-

ning east and west in the thickness of the said wall.

The upper one, which is closed outwardly, was doubtless made to

lighten the weight of masonry over the entrance, and both shew plainly

that when they were constructed, i. e. at the same time as the original

building, the architects of the same, did not know how to build a true

arch. The temple at Kooch is similarly constructed.

The lower one which runs through was probably arranged so as to

throw the eastern sun-light, at a particular hour, on the figure of

1865. ] Notes on Boodh G ya. 283

Boodha, which was on the “ Singhasun” or throne to the west, and

thus lighted the building dimly from over the entrance door-way,

as I have observed to be the case in other ancient Buddhist edifices

and which has also been remarked upon by Fergusson.

We now approach the arches and arched chambers which have led

me to put pen to paper.

In what must have originally been the thickness of the terrace, or

what was a projecting porch ere the terrace was raised, we find a

ruined pointed arched chamber built with bricks set on edge, the said

bricks having been carefully dressed. Their size 153" & 103” x 38”,

This must evidently have been built round a

3/3 centering of some kind. The diameter of the

arch is 134 feet and the marginal sketch shews

one of the bricks taken from the haunch of the

74. 15 broken arch.

This porch is at present entered by a square

door-way built of odd stones, with a long stone

serving as an architrave.

Immediately on entering, there are to the right

and left small door-ways covered with semicircular arches in stone,

under which there is a flight of steps leading to the terrace above.

These arches are built radiating and of regular “ voussoirs” or trun-

cated wedges, and are manifestly of far more recent date than the rest

of the building. In fact they would appear to have been built at the

same time as the structure called by Genl. Cunningham Amara

Sinha’s archway.

This archway is evidently the entry to the modern courtyard

before the great tower, and runs east and west.

It is built of somewhat smaller bricks than are elsewhere used, set

on edge and without any special facing. Its depth, as far as my

memory serves, is about 12 feet, and it looks quite modern.

On the top of the flight of steps to the left (or south) is another

archway similar to the one below it, and

dating probably with the terrace to

———~_

which it leads.

Tn the base of the tower is an arched

room, approached from the ruined arched

984 Notes on Boodh Gya. [ No. 4,

portico before described, by an arched door-way only 5 feet wide.

This is faced, as shewn on the preceding page, with Boodhist bricks

regularly cut, and is probably built internally of bricks on edge, and has

been constructed on a centering, as has the inner room to which it leads.

This arched room is 164 feet wide; the difference between this and

20 feet, which I have stated to have been the original internal width,

being occupied with a lining of brick on which the arching rests.

For 12 feet in height the walls north and south are straight—at

this point there is a small cornice whence the arch springs, the said

arch being evidently built brick on edge.

The whole of the walls to the north and south, as well as the roof of

the arching, is plastered white with a chess board pattern, in each

square of which is painted in a reddish colour a sitting Boodh. There

must thus be many thousands of these figures, now however, much

obliterated by the hand of time.

The total height of this chamber may be 20 feet, and adding 4 or 5

feet for the thickness of the flooring of the upper room and of the arch,

the story may be allowed to count as 25 feet.

Before ascending to the terrace, I would observe that the ‘‘ Singha-

sun’’ or throne where the figure of Boodha was placed, is still left as

arranged at the last restoration (probably 500 A. D-.) and there are

still the holes in the stones, which

were formerly filled by the rivet

affixing gilt copper plates.

Over the doorway and above the

arch of this basement chamber is

inserted in the wall a huge beam

of Saul wood, evidently of great

antiquity and to which allusion will be made hereafter.

Ascending to the room above, we find

a repetition of the lower arched chamber

without the end of semicircular arched

recess, and with no less than three arches

at the entrance within one another, and all of

the same character. The marginal sketch

taken from a photograph shews these, and

it is difficult to understand their object.

1865.] Notes on Boodh Gya. 285

This chamber, the floor of which is at about the level of the terrace,

may probably have had before it an open porch; but all traces of this

would have disappeared with the falling in of the arched roof below.

I have before alluded to the extraordinary opening—or horizontal

arch on the overlapping or Lehra principle as existing in the story

above this.

By the aid of ladders and bamboos obligingly furnished me by the

Mohunt, I with considerable difficulty got within this, and found the

floor to be about 55 feet from the ground, and that within it, on all

sides, there was a space of about 5 feet of upright wall before the

Springing of the curve, and that this bit of wall was plastered !

This room might have been entered from the roof of the porch

above suggested; but -was evidently not used for

any purpose. }

The open arch extends just half way in the

height. Another similar arch, but closed externally,

stands upon it as shewn marginally, and it is very

curious that the open arch above mentioned should

have been left in its singularly unfinished condition.

The temple at Kooch, however, displays the same

peculiarity.

I have now at some length described the arches

at Boodh Gya, relative to which Babu Rajendra-

lila Mitra notes, (p. 4,) that when he brought the

fact of their existence to the notice of Capt. Mead,

Executive Engineer, who was shewing him through

the ruins—“‘ He readily acknowledged that the

builders of the temple, whoever they were,

certainly knew the art of constructing an arch,

and the one before them was a very good speci-

men of it.”

The first thing that strikes an observer, when

looking at the great tower from a little distance,

Rough plan shewing and it is clearly seen in the photographs of Boodh

general elevation. ; :

Gya kindly prepared for me by my companion,

Mr. Peppe of Grya, is, that the whole of the arch arrangements are a

subsequent insertion and formed no part of the original building,

286 Notes on Boodh Gya. [No. 4,

In fact, together with the arched, plastered and painted chamber,

they may and prokably were all erected by Amara Sinha, when he

thoroughly restored the temple.

The enormous thickness of the walls and the goodness of the mortar

would allow of large breaches being made with impunity; whilst the

insertion of the great beam over the lowest arch gives colour to this

theory. The two interior arched chambers, with the semicircular

recessed end of the lower, appear to me to have been subsequently

put in. The plaster of the upright wall on the inside above the flooring

of the upper room shews how the other work would seemingly have

been built on to it.

The outer plastering also, when removed from

the capitals of the little columns in relief, shews

CS ornamental work below of a very primitive type:

No whilst the original brick-work is substantial in the

extreme.

The entrance to the basement of the tower was

doubtless a somewhat narrow, but extremely lofty rectangular doorway

with stone jambs and a stone architrave. If this were the case, the

insertion of an arch were extremely easy, and this would correspond

with the—in many points similar—temple of Kooch.

The only difference is that the last named temple is smaller—hence

many inferences may be drawn therelrom as it was probably a copy of

the great tower.

I would, therefore in conclusion, with great deference suggest that

the arches are all of them of the date of Amara Sinha, or about 500

A. D., whilst the original building dates back perhaps to 200 B. C.

The country around Boodh Gya, as it is well known, is studded

with Boodhist remains of every age, which would well repay careful

study, and I shall be very glad if these notes provoke others, as those

of Babu Rajendraléla Mitra did me, to make a pilgrimage to this

very ancient and interesting district which has never yet been explored,

except in the most partial manner.

April 20th, 1865.

1865. ] Notes on Boodh Gya. 287

[Received 6th May, 1865.] [Read 7th June, 1865. ]

P. S.—The junction of the inserted work with the original is

clear every where. The floor of the upper chamber comes through

the wall of the building, i.e. the beaten pucka floor line shews

a white line, most plain in the photograph. At the sides too the

insertion is most plain. The use of different sized bricks in the

different: arches, whereas those in the body of the building are all the

same, would indicate their having been built at a different date, which

most probably was.long subsequent.

Nothing in the foregoing paper refers to other structures (excepting

to a few temples in Hastern India)—and I am well aware that, as it

has been clearly shewn that the radiating arch was known to the

builders of the Pyramids, Nineveh, and other very ancient structures,

the art of building such arches may have been acquired by travelled

Indians; still I am decidedly of opinion that the builders of the origin-

al tower of Boodh Gya were not acquainted with the art of construct-

ing a radiating arch, however well they may have constructed them

on the horizontal principle.”

Alhichhattra, or Rimnagar, ‘

Ajudhyd or Saketa, Antignities of,

- Ayuto,

Axear, Copper coins in the reign 1 of,

—, the standard coins ditto ditto,

Akshaya Bat Tree, (The)

ALEXANDER taught India how to coin money, refuted,

Allahabad or Praydga, Antiquities af, for

Anarchy and Confusion in Patna,

Ancient Indian Weights, Be

Ancient Remains at ‘Saidpar Bhitéri,

Asokapura or Hatila, Antiquities of,

Atalla and Juma mosques at Joanpur,

Atranji-Khera or Pi-lo-shan-na,

Ayomukha or Hayamukha, ;

Aytto or Ajudhya,... 200 see

Barsut Deo 2nd, Maharajah,

Bakerganj, Plate, Copper, from, Noticed,

Bakhariya Kund, Description of,

, Buddhist Ruins at,

Balai Khera, Antiquities ol, 005 nb

Bat.Ara Srna, : oe :

Baragam, an

Barikhar or Vairatkhera, Antiquities of,.

Bastian, Dr. A., On some Siamese Inscriptions,

Remarks on Sukhottai Inscription, ...

Baxatror, Burial of, ...

Benares, Buddhist Ruins at Balchariya Kund,

Bengal, ‘On the Sena Rajas of, . ale

Buaxutyar, Mohammed, ae AY:

Bhitari, Some Ancient Remains at,

, Description of, 54 sie

Biographical Dictonary, Ebn Khallikan’ S,

Breramoit Dro, Maharaj...

Bodhi tree of the Coins of Krananda, ‘On the,

Bodhi tree at Gaya, Lae ae

Boodh Gaya, Notes on, “ae

Borasambur, ; 500 cue

Bownine, Six Jouy, On Siam, “08 fie se

— an inscription on the Kosambi Pillar in the r Tele ny Olgiaes

li Index.

Buppua Saxva Mont, Date of,

, description of a statue of,

-, a rude statue of, in Bhitéri Remains,.

, his residence in "Ajudhya,

, his tooth-brush tree, :

Buddhists, Art of coining among the, a

Buddhist ruins at Bakhatiya Kund, Benares, Soni

antiquities from Hazara,

statue of Sultangunge sent to Burmingham, :

Bundah or ghostly ladle in Mystic Play, a

Bureon, Mr. On the development of the art of coining money

in Western DNGTEI | oho dite

Brocxuavs, On the ‘ Religion of the Zoroastrians,’

Burial of Begitfot, ae

Cambodia, Inscription from, es ee “35

Caste of the Sena Rajas of ‘Bengal,

Cause of the decline of power and prosperity of Patna,

CHAKRA, reign of, : BS

CHAnaxva, his for ging of coins,

conversion of ancient coins by,...

Coinage, The earliest Indian, eae

Coins of the Nine Nagas,

- of the kings of Gwalior,

——- of Pasupati, ... fore

——- of the kings of Narwér,

_. of the ancient Buddhists, 5

——- of the Chohan series, weight of the,

—- of the time of Manu, sae

-——- of Ceylon,

——- of a

- of Gobad,..

CsoMA DE Koros, ¢ on auietan dialect, am

CunnINGHAM, Major- General A., on ditto,

ee ‘his opinion on date of Bhitari

Ruins,

ene ee Coins of the Nine Naga as,

——_—___ — ——— Report of the Proceedings of

the Archelogical Surveyor to the Govt. of India for. the

Season of 1862 & 1863, wee Bee he) Poe

on Jumma Musjid,

——_—— — on Tower at Sarnath,

Chhatak, Indian Weight,

Dancing on holidays in Ladak,

Dates of the Sena Dynasty of Bengal,

Decline of power and prosperity of Patna, Cause of,

Delhi, aR

Deo NarAvan SING, Rajah, es BAe aa caters

Dron Sagar, Bie aoe Si abe nee

Index.

Deoryia, Antiquities of, :

Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakhariya Kund, _

— of a Mystic Play, Be

— of the Gonpa or Monastery of Himis,

= Oi Senolowar oe. ae ae cua, Ygeu

— of Bhitari, be S00

— of the present area of Patna,

Deva Darra, the Cousin and enemy of Buddha,

Dewal, Antiquities of, ‘

Dhopdpapura, Antiquities of, ee

—_— the derivation of the wor d,

Dictionary of the Tibetan Language, ,

Dinar, Discussion on the origin of ‘the word,

Dy nasty, of Narwar and Gwalior, bus 30d

Egyptians, Coins of the, :

Exxror MSS. publication of the, bbe

Eran Inscriptions, Notes on, by Prof. F. H. Tall,

Fa Hay, his visit to Benares, b

, to Mathura,

Sankisa, .

the Great Stupa of Asoka at Kano). ve

Sravasti,

_Frreusson, On Jumma Musjid of Kanoj,

Foundation of Patna, BOS

Garea Risut, village of, ete 409

Gobad, Coins Ol.

Gopwy- Austey, Captain 151, 18 Description of a Mystic Play,

GOLDSTUCKER, Prof, uhes Discussions on the origin of the word

Dinar,

——

ees +

Gond, Gurjat States of, oe oon

Gosisa (present Gopsahasa) village of Gar oa,

Govisana or Kashipur, Antiquities of, 260

Gurhs of Patna, List of,

Gurjat States brought under the direct supervision of the

British Government, sre eae ae

Gurh Sumbul, Rajput Rajahs of, 500

Gwalior dynasty, a ee

, Coins from,... pci ae

Gya, Bodhi tree at, se ae noo

FIswAsAL, a renegade Hindu, ee es

Hatdvupma, prime minister ‘of Lakshman Sena, ass

Hatt, Prof. E. K., Notes on the Kran Inscriptions and his criti-

cisms on Col. Gunningh: am’s Archeological Survey Report,

Have, Prof. M. On the ‘Teligion of the Zoroastrians,

Harsna Varpuana, Raja,...

Hatilé or Asokptir, Antiquities of,

Hayamukha or Ayomukha, “ic Sea ees

Hazdrd, Some Buddhist antiquities of, bag sae ee

iv Index.

Page

Heser, Bisnor, on Kashipur, 175

Hemanta SENA, 145

Himis, Monastery of, 5 71

Hopason, Captain, On Ahichhatra, 179

Horne, C., Esq. Buddhist Ruins at Bakhariya Kund, Benares, 1

—_——_ on Ancient Ruins at Saidptr and Bhitari, 80

excavations into some of the mounds of

Bhitari, Fe ee ae oo mee 83

—__ his Report to Government on Bhitari

Ruins, an as a saute 84

notes on Buddh Gaya; 278

Hurumeber Srvnu, - 101.

HovisuKa, the oreat Indo-Scythian king, 156

Hwan THsane, his visit to Benares,.. fe 2

——— on Mathura, , Be a) bp

——_————— on Khulsi or Srugna,... ets)

——-——_— 0n Madowar or Madipur, 171

-—————— on Kashipur or Govisana, 174

———————. on Ramnagar or Ahichhatra, 177

——-——— on Ahichhatra Temples, 181

———— ——— _ on Soron or Sukurakhetra,... 188

———-——— on Piloshana, 1d

———-——— on Sankisa, aa 195

——_—————— on the empire of Harsha Var dhana, hae 204

———— ——— on Ancient Kanoj, 207

Sess his visit to Ayuta, ... ay 217

a on Akshaya Bat of Prayaga, j 220

—— his description of the city of Visakha, 234

- on Sravasti, . son 253

Ten KnatirKan’s Biographical Dictionar y; bn 46

Invpry, Major H. B., on the Gurjat State of Patna, ... 101

Indian Weights, Ancient, fi are a 14, 51, 46

Inscriptions from Rajashahi, i 142

Siam, x00 27

— Cambodia, € 28

— Sukhothai, Translation of the, 31

—— on Allahabad Pillar, ioe 271

on Kosambi Pillar, 231

——-———— on a statue of Buddha, 260

JAESOHKE, Rev. H. A., Translation of a MS. on 1 Dancing o on the

10th and 15th day of the 5th month in Ladak, a 77

—_——_—_—_—_ N otes on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan

language, 91

JAvA CHANDRA, Raja, Se 206

JERAWUR Wazter; Dogra army under, 71

Jetavana, one of the most celebrated Buddhist Monasteries in

IGayshes a8 ae 255

Jogi- bir Mound... 6

Index.

Juanpur, Atali Musjid in,

—, Mosques at,

Jungnas, Thlogan Pudma, ‘the principal deity i in Mystic Play

of the Tibetans,

Kadbar or Shirgarh, Antiquities of,

Kaxksutvat Rishi,

Kazipds on Kosambi,

Kawnanpa or Krananda, ape

Kanoj, eae

Kiérsha, “ Copper transformed, ae

Kasapura (present Sultanpur) Antiquities aft

Katinchun, a set of maskers in Mystic Play ‘that make up the

court of ‘Indra,

Kashipur or Govisana,

Kathe, king of,.

Kesava Deva or Keso Roy, shrine of, pulled down

Aurungzib, ... 500

Kzusava Suna,

Khalsi or Srughna,

Khobagurh, chief of, ere

Kialan or Sacred Monasteries, Ba

Kosam, the village of,

Kosambi, Antiquities of,

KRANANDA, a coin of,

Kumara Gupra, epoch Ove

name of, stamped on 1 bricks,

Kusamba, founder of the city of Kosambi,

Kusapura,

Ladak, Mystic Play performed i in,

; , MS. obtained in, ‘

LAaksnMana SENA,

Laxumantya, the ‘story of his birth,

Language, Pronunciation of the Tibetan,

‘Lhatos, or, small square built altars,

Literary Intelligence, a4 sate

Madawar, ae ke of, ae 500

Madipur, poe

Mahanudy ly River,

Maharattas, inroads of the,.

‘their aid to Race Singh Dew.

ih oe on Copper Coins,

- on Gold Coins,

- on Ancient Indian Weights,

Masavp1, Arabic text of, quoted,

Mathura, legends of, .

; description of,

, invasion of, by Mahmud,.

; Bactrian Greeks i A se

“AB,

155

160

167

Vi Index.

Page

Mercatre, C. T. Esq., Translation of an inscription from

Rajshahi, Biss ee sa Nes MP pices er ik. bl.

Mitakshara, 53 14

MowamMap-Brn Toanak, Re- -adjustment of the Coinage j in the

reign of, ae a Bea 3 26

Multan, Temple of the Sun at, . aby set cae 57

Mynpore, Gurh Sumbul near, : Toi 12) eat

Murr, J., On Vedic Theogony and Mythology seek A 46

Nagas, Coins of the Nine, . 5 nae a on ee ee ne

Ndarwar, dynasties of, 500 aoe Be Perth bi L

- coins of, Me e: 2 condi seeyay gallate

= - or Padméavati, me ae ee Sa 7)

Nature and form of the Siamese ‘writing, vse tas 29

Nimsar, — . ian ste oon et iedaie74\65)

Nine Nagas, ‘List oe the, a Se sie weet ote alee

Oaths, On rings for taking, as a ae ‘ge AT

Panrnr’s Grammar, notice of coinage in, ve att aes AL

Pasupatt, coins of, ... on 555 ae pa lye brie

Patna, the Gurjat States of, ee sot sete eee tire ae

the Maharajas of, ae ea aes woe LOE

- extension of, : do vee) ee een

cause of the decline of power ae wie Spe A018)

Anarchy and confusion in, ... 0 See. tee ED

Parasua Kot, Antiquities of, 276

Pearsz, Major, Extract of a letter from, on Buddhist antiquities

of Hazara Valley, ... ate:

Puaya Ruane, Siamese king, inventor of Siamese alphabet) 28

Pi-lo-shanna or Atranji Khera, se y Wipe ced bs )()

Prayaga or Allahabad, Antiquities of, tA ves deci eedty

the derivation ‘of the word, Nac aie af oa eee

Prirar RAss, eM 2 (3) 21015

Pronunciationto: tie Tibetan language, } Note on 1 the, 33 on

Puranas (Silver Coins,) ... naG aN eign 15

Purvararém Vihira, ... 3 wee, eter

Raze Sineu Deo, the 21st Maharajah of Patna, ae 00

his attempts to regain the Guddee of Patna, Seu ah UUs)

RAsunpDRALALA Mirra, Babu, On the Sena Rajaés of Bengal, ... 128

Rdjmakal, the rivers of, A ie os ian 10S)

Rajshdéhi, an inscription from, ae Ae Psd pickles

Ram Cuunver Dzo, .., he Be see perio IIKU

Raman Deo, . Ss AG As Baa aol iy

Ramnagar or Ahichhatra, ne oe peasant Li

Remains, (ancient) at Saidpér and Bhitari, a 80

Reports of the Proceedings of the Archeological Surveyor to

the Government of Tndia, for the season of 1862- -63, Bpeisigs 15,5)

Ruins, Buddhist at Bakhariy akund, Benares, :

Rig Ve eda, Cowell’s Continuation of "Wilson’s Translation of the, 45

Rings for taking oaths, on, ee od SrtA eee AT

Index.

Sahet-Mahet or Sravasti,

Saidpur, Description of,

Bhitari, i aes

some smctene remains at,

Saka era, ...

Saketa or Ajodhya, Antiquities of,

SAKYA Mont, his reference to srnveiveant coinage,

SamMan, Shails, a Mahomedan faqir,

Sanchi, ‘Chant Tope at,

Sankisa,

Sarnath, near Benares, Buddhist imine at,

Sar enats river,

Sel, river,

“Sena Rajés of Bengal, : out

Shah Nameh, notice of ancient Indian Weights, in the,

Suan Deo, Hixpvr, the 2nd ree of Patna,

Suan Jenin,..

SHERRING, Rev. M. A. “L. L. B. On Buddhist reins Jat Bakha-

riyakund, Benares, ..

eee ooo aoa ooo veo

On ancient remains at Said-

pur and Bhitari,

Shirgarh or Kabar, a of,

Suer SuAn, ave

Siamese Inscriptions,

writings,

Sruapitrya, the great king of Malwa,

SIZENUS, statue of, described by James Prinsep,

SKANDA GUPTA, ... a

Sor on or Sukara- Kshetra, aA

“ Spao,” youthful dancers in He stic Play,

Sravasta Raja,

Srughna or Khalsi,

Suxa SENA,... “60

Sumanra Sen,

Sumbulpur, origin of, ...

Sukavra-kshetra, or Sorou, ...

Sat Tila or seven mounds, }

Synopsis of early Indian Coins, an

Sianu’s translation of Ibn Khallikan,

SopnyvEs, coins of,

Soprrrugs, coins of,

Svecpers, Travels of,

Travels of King Svegders, :

Tanda or Tadwa, Antiquities of,

Badwa,

Tharu Rajas of Gauda, ‘Genealogy of,

Tuomas, H., Esq., On "Ancient Indian Weights,

Tibetan ‘Language, Note on the Pronunciation of the,

6av

V1 Index.

Page

Transcript and Translation of an Inscription from ie Pe dda (27

Tsam Chut, or Maskers in Mystic Plays, Pa LA Es 72

TUGHLAK, Munamen- -BIN, Re-adjustment of coinage in the

reign of, a a SOURS 26

Types of coins of the Nine Nagas, aes wae sett 1 EG

Tomar Dynasty, fis of the, one es sie) eager OD

Theology and Mythology, Vedic, Sf Mee “iM 46

Ujain, coinage of, : Es ee Pb is 36 55

Umarpatt Misra, BEE bie cate jie 1S

Vairatkhera or Barikhar, Antiquities oe gas woe) aie

VicramApirya, king of Sravasti, BS 550 re 12s

his visit to Ajudhya, ar ih NS RE

——_ ‘““ Parameswara,”’ Bs ae wae) S204

Visava Sena, ... 55 Ee a soe!) EA te

~ Vira SENA, .. 466 ee ooo) he

Viskxui the noble maiden, story of, bet a Je.) DAS

Vishnu Purdna, sibie ber sac: ERG

Vedic Theology and Mythology, ee ate oe 46

Wazier Jerwar, Dogra army under, ies see tise 71

WEBER on money weights, ee 550 me 20

Weights, Ancient Indian, nee si 14, 51

Wizson, Prof., on coins of the Vedic age, os i 17

— Translation of the Rig Veda, ay PAE bic 45

Writing, Siamese, ... as Bs oe is 29

YASNAVALKYA, On Copper coins, ; wd UE 14

Zaug Bukha, or copper mask in Mystic Plays, fy 23 71

Zaskar , Mystic Play performed in, ... ee Jia Tes SO AE

Zoroastrians, Religion of the, ... ne sie’ Bes 45