Duncan,* and a more detailed notice by Wilford in a later volume of the same work. I can add little to their accounts, except that the original green stone vase, which Jonathan Duncan presented to the Asiatic Society in 1794, had disappeared before 1834, when I wrote to James Prinsep about it. I may mention also, on the authority of the work-people, that the dilapidated state of the lower part of the Dhamek Tower is due entirely to the meanness of Jagat Singh, who, to save a few rupees in the purchase of new stones, deliberately destroyed the beautiful facing of this ancient tower. As each stone was slowly detached from the monument by cutting out all the iron cramps by which it was secured to its neighbours, the actual saving to the Bâbû could have been but little; but the defacement to the tower was very great, and, as the stones were removed at once, the damage done to the tower is quite irreparable.

It

Jagat Singh's discovery would appear to have stimulated the curiosity of the British officers, for Miss Emma Roberts, writing in 1834, relates that "some 40 or 50 years ago' (that is, about 1794) "the ruins near Sârnâth attracted the attention of several scientific gentlemen, and they commenced an active research by digging in many places around. Their labours were rewarded by the discovery of several excavations filled with an immense number of flat tiles, having representations of Buddha modelled upon them in wax. is said that there were actually cart loads of these images found in the excavations before mentioned. Many were deposited in the Museums and collections of private individuals; but whether they were ever made the subject of a descriptive account seems doubtful, there being at least no public document of the kind."+ I can add nothing to Miss Roberts' account, as all my enquiries have failed to discover any of the wax seals of Buddha above mentioned. I may note, however, that in the temples of Ladâk I have seen small chambers quite full of similar little figures of deceased Lâmas. In Burmah also I have seen small figures of Buddha in burnt clay accumulated in heaps equal to cart loads, both in the caves and in the temples. The figured seals discovered near Sârnâth would appear to have been of a similar kind to those which I extracted from the ruined building close to

Asiatic Researches, V., p. 131.

+ Views in India, &c., II., p. 8.

Jarasandha's Tower at Giryek, and also to those which I have described as having been found in the ruins at Bakror, opposite to Buddha Gaya.

The next excavations, as far as I am aware, were those undertaken by myself in 1835-36. These excavations, as well as the drawings of the elaborate ornament of the great tower, were made entirely at my own expense, the cost during 18 months having been Rs. 1,200. I made several desultory excavations wherever I saw traces of walls, but they all proved to belong to temporary habitations of a late period. At last, after a heavy fall of rain, I observed a piece of terraced floor which I ordered to be cleared for the purpose of pitching my tent upon it. After a few hours' labour, however, the flooring terminated on what appeared to be the edge of a small tank, which was only 13 feet 9 inches square. Continuing the work, I found the bases of pillars in pairs surrounding the square. Amongst the rubbish inside the square, I found an elaborately sculptured basrelief, in grey standstone, representing the Nirvana of Buddha. The stone had been broken into four pieces, of which one was missing, but the remaining three pieces are now in the Calcutta Museum. This sculpture, I consider, particularly interesting, as the subject is treated in a novel and striking manner. In the ordinary representations of the death-bed scene, the spectators are confined to a few attendants, who hold umbrellas over the body or reverentially touch the feet. But in the present sculpture, besides the usual attendants, there are the Navagraha or "Nine Planets" in one line, and in a lower line, the Ashta Sakte or eight female energies," a series of goddesses apparently belonging to one of the later forms of Buddhism. This sculpture is well worthy of being photographed.

66

Further excavation showed that the small pillared tank, or court-yard, was the centre of a large building, 68 feet square, of which the outer walls were 4 feet thick. My exploration was not completed to the eastward, as the walls of the building in that direction had been entirely removed by some previous excavation, with the exception of detached portions of the foundation, sufficient to show that it corresponded exactly with the western half of the building. The central square was apparently surrounded by an open verandah, which gave access to ranges of five small rooms or cells

each of the four sides of the building. In all the cells I found pieces of charred wood, with nails still sticking in some of them, and in the middle cell on the western side I found a small store of unhusked rice only partially burnt. In a few places I found what appeared to be pieces of terraced roofing, and in one place a large heap of charcoal. On the south side the central room was lost by previous excavation, but on the north side I found a room entirely open towards the verandah, as if it was a hall, or place of general meeting for the resident monks. Inside this room there was the base or pedestal of what I believe to have been a small votive stupa, the top of which probably reached to the roof and took the place of a pillar. A small drain led underground from the north-west corner of the central square to the outside of the building on the north, for the purpose, as I conclude, of carrying off the rain-water.*

The building which I have just described would appear to have been a Vihara, of " Chapel Monastery," that is, a monastery with a chapel or temple forming an integral part of the building. From the thickness of the outer wall I infer that this edifice was not less than three or four stories in height, and that it may have accommodated about 50 monks. The entrance was probably on the south side, and I think that there must have been a statue of Buddha in the northern verandah. The bas-relief which I found in the central square almost certainly formed one of the middle architraves of the court.

Continuing my excavations in the high ground to the westward, I came upon the remains of a building of a totally different description. The walls of this edifice were 3 feet thick throughout, and I found the plaster still adhering to the inner walls of what I will call the verandahs, with borders of painted flowers, quite fresh and vivid. The mass of the building consisted of a square of 34 feet, with a small porch on each of the four side. The building was divided into three parts from west to east, and the central part was again sub-divided into three small rooms. I think it probable that these three rooms were the shrines of the Buddhist Triad Dharmma, Buddha, and Sangha, and that the walls of

See Plate XXXIII. for the plans of these buildings. The position is marked by the letter P. in the sketch of the ruins in Plate XXXII.

Q