Liako Kujulako, dated in the 78th year of the great King Moga, whom I identified with the Moas of the coins, a conclusion which is now generally accepted. I also published a partial translation of this inscription, in which I made known the values of the Arian compounds of the letter r in the words purvva, sarvva, and áchárya, which were at the same time independently made out in England by Professor Dowson.

In a note on the same inscription, published shortly afterwards in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, I gave the true values of the old Indian cyphers for 40, 50, 60, and 70, of which three had not previously been ascertained by Dr. Bhau Dâji in his paper published in the same journal.

In 1865 appeared my essay on the "Coins of the Nine Nâgas, and of two other dynasties of Narwar and Gwalior.” The coins of the Nâga Kings are of considerable importance as they are certainly as old as those of the Gupta dynasty, and comprise as many names. The coins of Pasupati are valuable, as their date is almost certain; Pasupati being the son of Toramâna, who ruled over the countries between the Jumna and the Narbada towards the end of the third century A. D. The latest series of coins are also interesting as they are dated and include one Hindu Prince Châhara Deva, who for a long time was the successful opponent of the early Muhammadan Kings of Delhi. In the same paper I successfully identified Narwar with the city of Padmavati of the poet Bhavabhuti, by the names of no less than four streams in its immediate vicinity which are mentioned in the drama of Mâlati and Madhava.

During my stay in England from 1866 to 1870, I published first an account of the "Coin of a Indian Prince Sophytes, a contemporary of Alexander," preparatory to a long-contemplated work on the "Coins of Alexander's successors in the East," of which the first part, relating to the Greeks of Bactrina, Ariana, and India, is now nearly complete, nine out of ten portions having already appeared in the Numismatic Chronicle. In this work I have added coins of the new Kings Artemidorus, Epander, Theophilus, Apollophanes, and Straton II. Altogether there are described the coins of no less than thirty Kings with pure Greek names, of

whom only seven are mentioned in history. As the coins of several of these princes are found in considerable numbers in the Panjab and North-Western India, there can be little doubt that their conquests extended far into India, as stated by several Greek writers, and as admitted in a few passages of Sanskrit writers, which have only lately been made accessible. The history of the Eastern Greeks is, therefore, intimately connected with that of India for more than a century after the time of Asoka, when their dominions passed to the Indo-Scythians, whose occupation of Northern India, though equally certain, is barely acknowledged by Hindu

writers.

Of my last work, "The Ancient Geography of India,' which appeared at the close of 1870, I will say no more than that it is chiefly devoted to the illustration of the campaigns of Alexander and of the pilgrimage of Hwen Thsang.

In closing this review of the progress of Indian archæology, in which the chief share has been achieved by men who were not professed scholars, I beg it to be distinctly understood that we field archæologists make no claim to more than ordinary scholarship, and that if we have been successful in many of our archæological researches, we can truly ascribe our success in great measure to the hitherto difficult path having been smoothed by the labours of our great Sanskrit scholars, whose translations have placed within our reach nearly all the chief works of Indian learning. If we have sometimes been able to perceive what had escaped the notice of our more learned contemporaries, it has been owing to the lift that we have got from them; for, as the old scholiast says, Pygmæi gigantum humeros, &c., "even pygmies on the shoulders of giants can see farther than the giants themselves."

ARCHEOLOGICAL REPORT.

Report of operations of the Archæological Surveyor to the Government of India, during Season 1861-62.

In the explorations which I have carried out during the past season, I have adhered strictly to the plan of proceedings sketched in the memorandum which I submitted to the Governor General in November 1861. I began work in December at Gaya; and after exploring all the places of antiquarian interest in Bihâr, Tirhut, and Champâran, I visited several ancient sites in Gorakhpur, Azimgarh, and Jonpur, on my way to Banâras, where, on the 3rd April, I closed work for the season. I will now give a brief sketch of my operations at the different places in the order in which I visited them:

I. GAYA.

There are two places of the name of Gaya, one of which is called Buddha-Gaya, or Buddhistical Gaya, to distinguish it from the city of Gaya, which is situated six miles to the northward.* In Gaya itself there are no ancient buildings now existing; but most of the present temples have been erected on former sites and with old materials. Statues, both Buddhistical and Brahmanical, are found in all parts of the old city, and more especially about the temples, where they are fixed in the walls, or in small recesses forming separate shrines in the court-yards of the larger temples. I have noted the names and localities of all these statues.

The inscriptions at Gaya are numerous; but, owing to the destruction of the ancient temples, there are but few of them in situ, or attached to the objects which they were originally designed to commemorate. I have taken copies of all the inscriptions, of which the most interesting is a long and perfect one, dated in the era of the Nirván, or death of Buddha. I read the date as follows:

Bhagavati parinirvritte samvat 1819 Karttike badi 1 Budhe, that is, "in the year 1819 of the emancipation of Bhagavata, on Wednesday, the first day of the waning moon of Kartik."

* See Plate III.

If the era here used is the same as that of the Buddhists of Ceylon and Burmah, which began in 543 B. C., the date of this inscription will be 1819-543 A. D. 1276. The style of the letters is in keeping with this date, but is quite incompatible with that derivable from the Chinese date of the era. The Chinese place the death of Buddha upwards of 1,000 years before Christ, so that, according to them, the date of this inscription would be about A. D. 800, a period much too early for the style of character used in the inscription. But as the day of the week is here fortunately added, the date can be verified by calculation. According to my calculation the date of the inscription corresponds with Wednesday, the 17th September, A. D. 1342. This would place the Nirvána of Buddha in 477 B. C., which is the very year that was first proposed by myself as the most probable date of that event. This corrected date has since been adopted by Professor Max Muller.*

Some of the inscriptions, though less interesting, are still valuable for the light which they will throw upon the mediæval period of Indian history. Several Rajas are mentioned in them; and in one of them the date is very minutely detailed in several different eras.

The most noteworthy places at Gaya are the temples of Vishnu-pad, or "Vishnu's feet;" of Gadadhar, or the "macebearer," a title of Vishnu, and of Gayeswari Devi. The figure in this last temple is, however, that of Durggâ slaying the Buffalo, or Maheshâsur; but as the destruction of the Asur Gaya is universally attributed to Vishnu, this temple must originally have contained a statue of that god as Gayeswara Deva, or the "lord of Gaya." Gaya was an Asur or demon. All the gods and goddesses sat upon him, but were unable to keep him down, when Vishnu put his foot upon him and prevailed; and the giant is said to be still lying there under the temple of Vishnu-pad. This, however, is the Brahmanical story, for the Buddhists say that the name is derived from Gaya Kasyapa, a fire-worshipper, who on this very spot was overcome by Buddha in argument.

* I have since submitted this date to the scrutiny of my learned friend Bâpu Deva Sastri, the well known astronomer; according to whose calculation the 1st of Kartik badi in A. D. 1276 was a Friday, and in A. D. 1342 a Monday; but in A. D. 1341 it fell on Wednesday the 7th of October N. S., which would place the beginning of the Buddhist era in B. C. 478.