Now it is remarkable that, according to the account of Hwen Thsang, this stupa was also referred to a Chakravartti Raja by the Buddhists of the 7th century. He states that at somewhat less than 200 li (that is, less than 33 miles, or say about 30 miles) to the north-west of Vaisâli, which is the exact position of the Kesariya stupa, there was an ancient town which had been deserted for many ages. It possessed a stupa built over the spot where Buddha had announced that in one of his former existences he had been a Bodhisatwa, and had reigned over that town as a Chakravartti Raja, named Mahadeva.* It can hardly, I think, be doubted that the tradition of Raja Ben preserves the very same story which is recorded by Hwen Thsang. That the stupa was intended to commemorate a Chakravartti Raja might also have been inferred from its position at the meeting of four principal roads. "For a Chakravartti Raja," said Buddha addressing Ananda, "they build the thupo at a spot where four principal roads meet." Now to the south of Kesariya, within one-quarter of a mile of the stupa, the two great thoroughfares of the district cross each other, namely, that from Patna northward to Bettiah, and that from Chapra across the Gandak, north-eastwards to Nepâl.

On the east side of the Kesarîya stupa a gallery has been excavated right to the centre of the building. This is said to have been done upwards of 40 years ago by one Kâsi Nâth Babu, the servant of a Colonel Sâheb. As the name of "Lieutenant-Colonel Mackenzie, Madras Engineers, 1814," is inscribed on the Bakhra Pillar, I think it probable that the excavation was made by his orders. No discovery was made, and, if I am right in my identification of this stupa with that which was erected on the spot where Buddha announced his previous existence as a Chakravartti Raja, it is almost certain that it would not have been the depository of relics or of other objects. The monument was, in fact, only a memorial stupa, erected to perpetuate the fame of one of Buddha's acts, and not a sepulchral stupa for the reception of relics.

To the north north-east of the stupa, and rather less than half a mile distant, there is a small mound which has been partially excavated to furnish materials for the bridges on the high road, which, within the last few years, have been

* Julien's Hwen Thsang, II., 396.

made from Bakhra to Motihari vid Kesariya. The excavations have disclosed the walls of a small temple, 10 feet square inside, and the head and shoulders of colossal figure of Buddha, with the usual crisp curly hair. The mound, which is about 200 feet square, is called Raniwas, and also Gorai, and the buildings are attributed to some ancient Râni. It appears to me to have been the site of a Vihâra or Temple Monastery, as portions of cells are still traceable on the eastern side. At the south-west angle there is another smaller mound of brick ruin, 120 feet from north to south and 60 feet from west to east. It is probably the ruin of a temple.

XVII. LAURIYA ARA-RAJ.

Between Kesariya and Bettiah, at a distance of 20 miles to the north-west of the Kesarîya stupa, and one mile to the south-west of the Hindu temple of Ara-Raj Mahâdeo, there stands a lofty stone column which bears in well-preserved and well-cut letters several of the edicts of King Asoka. The pillar itself is simply called Laur, that is, "the phallus," and the neighbouring village, which lies not more than 100 yards to the westward, is called Lauriya. This is the pillar which, on the authority of Mr. Hodgson, has been called the Radhia Pillar. Now, as the other pillar to the north of Bettiah is also called Laur, and the large village close to it Lauriya, while Mr. Hodgson has named it Mathiah, I presume that his Munshi intentionally suppressed the phallic name of Lauriya, and named the two pillars at random after some of the neighbouring villages. Thus Rahariya (Rurheea of Indian Atlas Sheet No. 102), which is Mr. Hodgson's Radhia, lies 2 miles to the west north-west of the southern pillar, while Mathiah lies 3 miles due south from the northern pillar. In describing these pillars I will preserve the characteristic name of Lauriya, and for the sake of distinguishing the one from the other, I will add to each the name of the nearest village, thus the village near the southern pillar I shall call Lauriya Ara-Raj, and that near the northern pillar Lauriya Navandgarh.

The Ara-Raj Pillar is a single block of polished sandstone, 36 feet in height above the ground, with a base diameter of 41.8 inches, and a top diameter of 376 inches. The weight of this portion only is very nearly 31 tons, but

as there must be several feet of rough shaft sunk in the earth, the actual weight of the single block must be about 40 tons. This pillar has no capital, although there can be little, if any, doubt that it must once have been crowned with a statue of some animal. The people, however, know nothing of it, and not a fragment of any kind now exists to suggest what it may have been. The site of the village is a very secluded one, and there are no ruins or other remains to attract attention. It has accordingly escaped the notice of travellers, and the disfigurement of their names-the only record being that of "Reuben Burrow, 1792," besides a few flourished letters, or marks, of the kind which James Prinsep called shell-shaped characters.

The edicts of Asoka are most clearly and neatly engraved, and are divided into two distinct portions,-that to the north containing 18 lines, and that to the south 23 lines. I made a copy of the inscription by the eye, which I then compared with James Prinsep's text, and afterwards I reexamined every letter in which our copies differed. I also made an inked impression of the whole inscription on paper. But, though the variations from Prinsep's text are not many, yet, as no facsimile has yet been made public, it is important, for the sake of comparison, to afford access to one which has been carefully copied in every letter.

XVIII. LAURIYA NAVANDGARH.

The lion pillar of Lauriya Navandgarh, which after Mr. Hodgson has hitherto been called the Mathiah Pillar, is situated at rather less than half a mile to the north-east of the large village of Lauriya, at 15 miles to the north northwest of Bettiah, and at 10 miles from the nearest point of the Gandak River. As Mr. Hodgson's name of Mathiah serves only to mislead, I propose to call the site of this pillar Lauriya Navandgarh, by adding the name of a very remarkable deserted fort which stands just half a mile to the southwest of Lauriya. The village of Mathiah lies no less than 3 miles to the south of the pillar, and is besides both smaller and of less consequence than Lauriya. The name of this Lauriya is printed in Roman letters in the Indian Atlas Sheet No. 102, and even the "stone pillar" itself is inserted in its proper place to the north-cast of the village. The deserted