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 Nirvana 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 Sâstri, 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.