high, with a foot 9 feet in length, and the great seated figure on the cast 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 especially to that of the pedestal, on which we may expect to find the name of the donor of this costly and difficult work. 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 "in 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 7 feet in height, two life-size seated statues, and one three-quarter size seated statue, besides numerous smaller figures of inferior workmanship. 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 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 right 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.* 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, The most numerous remains are the stone pillars of the Buddhist railings, of which at least three different sizes have been found. Those of the largest size are 42 feet in height, with a section of 12 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 43 inches. The railings formed of these pillars would have been 5 feet in height. Those of the smallest size are 23 feet high, with a section of 6 by 33 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 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 Stupa 40 feet in diameter. 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 * The pedestal of this statue, which has since been discovered, shows that the figure was originally placed on the top of a small column. Stupas or of holy trees, such as are represented in the Sanchi bas-reliefs, or as we see them in still existing examples at Sanchi and Sonâri. Of the middle-sized railing I found a single broken rail, and also a single specimen of the architraves or coping stones. In the Sanchi and Sonâri 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. 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 Sanchi and 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, 1st, 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 a standing 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 Mâyâ Devi standing under the Sál tree, and holding one of its branches, in which position she is described as having given birth to Buddha. A specimen of 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. 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 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 |