+ meter at base of 35.5 inches and of 26.2 inches at top. The capital, which is 6 feet 10 inches in height, is bell-shaped, with a circular abacus supporting the statue of a lion facing the north.* The abacus is ornamented with a row of Brahmani geese pecking their food. The column has a light and elegant appearance, and is altogether a much more pleasing monument than the stouter and shorter pillar of Bakhra. The lion has been injured in the mouth, and the column itself bears the round mark of a cannon shot just below the capital, which has itself been slightly dislodged by the shock. One has not far to seek for the name of the probable author of this mischief. By the people the outrage is ascribed to the Musalmâns, and on the pillar itself, in beautifully cut Persian characters, is inscribed the name of Mahi-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzib Pâdshah Alamgir Gházi, Sanh, 1071. This date corresponds with A. D. 1660-61, which was the fourth year of the reign of the bigotted Aurangzib, and the record may probably have been inscribed by some zealous follower in Mir Jumla's Army, which was then on its return from Bengal, after the death of the Emperor's brother Shuja. The Navandgarh Pillar is much thinner and much lighter than those of Ara-Raj and Bakhra. The weight of the polished portion of its shaft is only 18 tons, or rather less than half that of the Bakhra Pillar, and somewhat more than half that of the Ara-Râj Pillar. The pillar is inscribed with the edicts of Asoka in the same clear and beautifully cut characters as those of the Ara-Râj Pillar. The two inscriptions, with only a few trifling variations, correspond letter for letter. I made a careful copy of the whole for comparison with the text made public by James Prinsep. I made also a facsimile impression in ink. The Navandgarh Pillar has been visited by numerous travellers, as it stands in the direct route from Bettiah to Nepal. There are a few unimportant inscriptions in modern Nâgari, the oldest being dated in Samvat 1566, chait badi 10, equivalent to A. D. 1509. One of them, without date, refers to some petty Royal Family, Nripa Narayana Suta, Nripa Amara Singha, that is, "King Amara Singha, the son of King Narayana." The only English inscription is the name of Rn. Burrow, 1792. * See Plate XXII. for a view of this pillar. K The pillar itself has now become an object of worship as a phallus or lingam. Whilst I was copying the inscription, a man with two women and a child set up a small flag before the pillar, and placed offerings of sweetmeats around it. They then all knelt before it, bowing down their heads to the ground with their hands behind their backs, and repeating some prayer. The erection of the pillar is ascribed to Raja Bhim Mári, one of the five Pandava brothers to whom most of the pillars in India are now ascribed. I could not learn anything regarding the title of Mâri. There are two fine Banian trees close to the pillar,—one to the north, and the other to the south;-but there are no traces of buildings of any kind near it. XIX. PADARAONA. The large village of Padaraona, or Padaravana, is situated 12 miles to the west of the River Gandak, 27 miles in a direct line to the north north-west of Navandgarh Lauriya, and 40 miles to the north north-east of Gorakhpur. I believe that it is the ancient Pâwâ, as it is situated just 12 miles from Kasia, which agrees with the position assigned to Pawâ in the Pali Annals with respect to Kusinagara. The very name of Pawâ also seems to be only a corruption of Padara-vana, or Padar-ban, which might easily be shortened to Parban, Pawan, and Páwá. The remains at Padaraona consist of a large mound covered with broken brick and a few statues. The mound is 220 feet in length from west to east, 120 feet in breadth from north to south, and 14 feet in height at the western end above the fields. The long trench mentioned by Buchanan still exists on the west side, and looks as if a wall had been dug out for the sake of the bricks. About eight years ago a large hole was excavated to the east of the trench by a zemindar for the sake of bricks. Two houses were built of the materials then obtained, but sufficient trace of the walls still remains to show that they were in straight lines, one of them being paralled to Buchanan's trench. From this I infer that there was a court-yard about 100 feet square, with cells on each side for the accommodation of monks. In the centre there was probably either a stupa or a temple. But if I am right in my identification of Padaraona with Pâwá, the building would almost certainly have been a stupa; for we know that the people of Pâwâ, after the cremation of Buddha's body, obtained one-eighth of the relics, over which they erected a stupa. The entrance to the court-yard would appear to have been on the east side, where the mound is now low and thickly covered with bricks. In a small roofless brick building at a short distance to the northward, there are a few old figures. This temple is dedicated to Hâthi Bhawâni, or the Elephant Goddess, who is accordingly propitiated with rude votive figures of elephants in baked clay, of which numbers lie scattered about the temple, both inside and outside. The statue called Hâthi Bhawâni represents a squatted male figure with a triple umbrella over his head. The figure appears to be naked, and if so, it must belong to the Jains, and not to the Buddhists. A drawing of it is given by Buchanan.* There are also two fragments with seated Buddhas, and a third with the upper half of a female figure. On referring to Buchanan I recognized all three fragments as having belonged to the statue sketched as fig. 2 in his plate. The principal figure is now gone, but there are a few unimportant fragments not noticed by Buchanan, and in the village there is the pedestal of a statue. I made an excavation on the highest part of the mound on the west side, and to the northward of the zemindar's excavation. In this I found bricks with rounded edges such as I had noticed in the mouldings of the Great Temple at Buddha-Gya, and of the stupa at Giryek. I found also wedge-shaped bricks of two sizes. The largest ones being only fragments, I was unable to ascertain their length, but their breadth was 203 at the end, and 19 inches at 6 inches distance. As the larger end was rounded, these bricks must have formed part of some circular building and most probably of a solid stupa, which would have been just 30 feet in diameter. The smaller bricks were 8 inches long 5 inches broad at the widest end, and 5 inches at the narrow end, with a thickness of 21 inches. These may have belonged to a small stupa about 9 feet in diameter. In my excavation I found also the base of a pillar of coarse grey sandstone. It was 15 inches square and 6 inches high, with a few plain * Eastern India, II., Plate I., Fig. 2. mouldings at the upper edge. The complete excavation of this mound would not be difficult, and the work might be superintended by the civil authorities of the place, who live close by. XX. KASIA. The village of Kasia is situated at the crossing of two great thoroughfares, at a distance of 35 miles due east from Gorakhpur. The name is written Kasia, with the short a in the first syllable; but I have little doubt that it should be written Kusia with the short u, for the place corresponds, both in position and in name, with the celebrated Kusinagara or "Town of the Kusa-grass, which, as the scene of Buddha's death, was famous throughout India. This sacred spot was visited both by Fa-Hian and by Hwen Thsang; and the latter has left a detailed account of the various stupas which still existed in his time. Most of these have now disappeared, owing partly to the removal of bricks by the people, but chiefly, I believe, to the inundations of the Little Gandak River, which at some former period must have flowed close by the sacred buildings of Kusinagara, as there are several old channels between the two principal masses of ruins, which are still occasionally filled during the rainy season. The existing remains have already been described by Buchanan* and by Mr. Liston;† but their accounts are very brief, and offer no attempt to identify the ruins with any of the ancient cities which are known to have existed in this part of the country. The remains consist of-1st, a lofty mound of solid brick-work called Devisthan and Rámábhár Bhawâni; 2nd, an oblong mound called the Fort of Mâthá Kuär, which is covered with broken brick and jungle, and on which stands a brick stupa much ruined; 3rd, a large statue of Buddha the Ascetic; 4th, a low square mound covered with broken brick near the village of Anrudhwá; and 5th, a number of low earthern mounds, like barrows, which are scattered over the plain to the north and east of the great mound.‡ Eastern India, II., p. 357. Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, 1837, p. 477. See Plate XXVI. for a Map of Kasia. I opened several of these barrows, but without any result. I believe now that I did not dig deep enough. That they are tombs I feel quite certain, as Megasthenes describes the Indian "sepulchres as plain, and the tumuli of earth low." Strabo., XV., I. 54. |