described by Dr. Buchanan* and by Mr. Liston.† Dr. Buchanan calls the village Kangho, but the name is written Kahaon, or Kahawan, by the people of the place, and I can only surmise that Buchanan's Kangho may have been originally written Kanghon, and that the final nasal has been omitted by mistake, either in copying or in printing. In the inscription on the pillar the village would seem to be called Kakubharati; and from some compound of Kakubha, such as Kakubhawan, the name of Kahawan would be naturally derived.

The remains at Kahaon consist of an inscribed stone pillar, an old well, two ruined temples, and several tanks. The whole of these, together with the village itself, are situated on a low but extensive mound of brick ruin. Although the mound is of rather irregular outline on the east side, it may be best described as a square of nearly 500 yards. The village occupies the south-western quarter of the square, and contains some fine old wells built of very large bricks, which are a sure sign of antiquity. The tanks, which would seem to have been connected with the old buildings, are all called gar, the meaning of which I was unable to ascertain, but which, as applied to water, must certainly be derived from the Sanskrit gri, to wet. These tanks are, 1st, the Purena-gar, a dirty pond immediately to the north of the village; 2nd, the Karhahi-gar, a small deep pond at the north-west angle of the ruins; 3rd, the Jhakrahi-gar, another small pond at the north-east angle, which is also called Sopha-gar; and 4th, a large sheet of water to the east of the village called Askámini, or Akáskámini-gar. This is the tank which Buchanan calls Karhahi, a misprint probably for Kámini. From the size and appearance of the Askámini Tank, I conclude that from it must have been excavated all the bricks and earth for the construction of the temples and village of Kahaon.

The Kahaon Pillar is a single block of coarse grey sandstone, 24 feet 3 inches in height from the ground to the metal spike on the top. The existence of this spike shows that the pillar has once been crowned by a pinnacle of some kind, perhaps by a statue of a lion, or of some other animal

Eastern India, II., p. 366.

+ Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, 1838, p. 33.
See Plate XXVIII,

rampant; but whatever the pinnacle may have been, its height could not have exceeded 2 or 3 feet. The total height of the column, therefore, must have been about 27 feet. The lower part of the shaft, to a height of 4 feet, is a square of 1 foot 10 inches; above this, for a height of 6 feet 3 inches, it is octagonal; then sixteen-sided for a height of 5 feet 10 inches; and then circular for a height of 2 feet 1 inch. Above this, for a height of 9 inches, the pillar becomes square with a side of 18 inches, and then circular again for a height of 4 inches, making the total height of the shaft 19 feet 10 inches. The height of the capital, in its present incomplete state, is 4 feet 4 inches. The lower portion, which is 2 feet high, is bell-shaped, with circular bands of moulding both above and below. The bell itself is reeded, after the fashion of the Asoka pillars. Above this the capital is square, with a small niche on each side holding a naked standing figure. The square top slopes backward on all sides, and is surmounted by a low circular band, in which is fixed the metal spike already described.*

On the western face of the square base there is a niche holding a naked standing figure, with very long arms reaching to his knees. Behind, there is a large snake folded in horizontal coils, one above the other, and with its seven heads forming a canopy over the idol. Two small figures, male and female, are kneeling at the feet, and looking up to the idol with offerings in their hands.

On the three northern faces of the octagonal portion of the pillar, there is an inscription of 12 lines in the Gupta characters of the Allahabad Pillar.† There is a good copy of this inscription in Buchanan,‡ and another and better copy in Prinsep's Journal. § In the translation given by James Prinsep, the date was read as being 133 years after the decease of Skanda Gupta, instead of in the year 133, after the death of Skanda. The true number of the year is 141, as pointed out by Professor FitzEdward Hall, but the epoch or era in which the years are reckoned is doubtful. Professor Hall, on the authority of Bapu Deva Sâstri, the

learned Astronomer of the Banâras College prefers the era of Vikramaditya, but I am inclined to adopt that of Sake; and this era, I believe, is also preferred by Mr. Thomas. The difference between the two is 135 years. If dated in the Vikrama era, the pillar must have been erected in 141-57 = 84 A. D.; but if dated in the Sake era, the period of its erection will be 141+78=219 A. D. The latter date, I think, accords best with the now generally admitted epoch of the overthrow of the Gupta Dynasty in A. D. 319.

The purport of the inscription, as translated by Prinsep, is simply to record the dedication of five images of Indra by one Madra, who calls himself "the constant and friendly patron of Brahmans, Gurus, and Yatis," or Brahmans, religious teachers, and sages," or Ascetics who have subdued their passions. In the present day the term Yati is, I believe, applied only to a Jain Priest; and, although at first the mention of Brahmans would seem to preclude any reference to the Jain religion, yet the Yatis themselves are usually, if not always, Brahmans, and the naked figures with crisp curled hair, on the base and capital of the pillar, must belong either to the Jains, or to the latter Tantrika Buddhists. I found a similar naked standing figure, canopied by a sevenheaded snake, inside the great mound of old Râjagriha.

Both of the temples described by Buchanan* are now in ruins; and as they are not mentioned by Mr. Liston in 1837, they must have fallen before his visit. Buchanan describes them as pyramidal in form, with two apartments, one over the other, as in the great temple at Buddha-Gaya. Inside he found only two fragments of images, of which one showed the feet of a standing figure with a female votary seated at one side. I made an excavation in the northern ruin, and found that the temple had consisted of a room 9 feet square with walls only 1 foot 9 inches in thickness. The building, therefore, was only 12 feet 6 inches square on the outside. In the slight sketch of this temple given by Buchanan, no dimensions are noted, but the height of the building is twice and a half its width, or about 30 feet, according to the measurement obtained by my excavation. On the ruin of the southern temple, I found a naked standing figure of life-size, similar to that on the base of the pillar.