HINDUSTAN.
MUHAMMADAN COINS.--Mr. S. Lane-Poole has completed his "Catalogue of the Coins of the Mogul Emperors of Hindustan in the British Museum," dating from 1525, the invasion of Buber, to the establishment of British currency in 1835.
It describes over 1400 coins, chiefly gold and silver, of this splendid coinage. "In his introduction Mr. Lane-Poole deals with various historical, geographical, and other problems suggested by the coinage, and with difficulties of classification presented by the early imitative issues of the East India company and the French compagnie des Indes." This volume, the fourteenth, completes the cataloguing of all the Muhammadan coins in the museum.--Journal Royal Asiatic Society 1892, p. 425.
INDIAN NUMISMATICS.--Mr. Rodgers, Honorary Numismatist to the government of India, has finished his "Catalogue of the Coins with Persian or Arabic inscriptions in the Lahore museum," and practically finished his "Catalogue of the Coins in the Calcutta museum." His own immense collection has now been purchased by the Punjãb government, and he has nearly completed his catalogue of that.
These catalogues will be of very great importance alike for the numismatic and for the modern history of India.--Journ. Royal Asiatic Society, 1892, p. 425.
NEW VARIETY OF MAURYA INSCRIPTIONS.--Prof. Buhler has made a very careful study of impressions of nine votive inscriptions from the relic-caskets discovered by Mr. Rea in the ruined stupa of Bhattiprolu in the Kistna District (Madras). He has made out their contents, and has arrived at the conclusion that they are written in a new variety of the Southern Maurya or Làt alphabet. Twenty-three letters of these inscriptions agree exactly with those ordinarily used in the edicts of Asoka which have long been held to belong to the first attempts of the Hindus in the art of writing. Four letters are entirely unusual, while the lingual l is introduced, which does not occur in Asoka's inscriptions. Further peculiarities are presented in the notation of the medial and final vowels. The appearance of the letters would indicate that the Bhattiprolu inscriptions probably belong to a period only a few decades later than that of Asoka's edicts. By a comparison of these incriptions with Asoka's edicts, and with the inscriptions of Nâuâgleât, Hathegumplia, Bharhut and Triana, it becomes evident that they hold an intermediate position between the two sets, but are much more nearly related to those of the third century B.C. than those of the second. If this be true, the date of the Bhattiprolu inscription cannot be placed later than 200 B.C., and the inscriptions themselves prove that several distinct varieties of the Southern Maurya alphabet existed during the third century, B.C.
This fact would remove one of the strongest arguments in favor of the theory that writing was introduced into India during the rule of the Maurya dynasty--i.e., the absence of local sorts of letters in which the edicts of Asoka were written in places widely separated, for this may be explained by a desire to imitate as closely as possible the character of the original edict.
If then the Bhattiprolu inscriptions show a system of characters radically different from those of Asoka's edicts and at the same time in all probability coeval with them a strong point is gained for the side of those who are of the opinion that the introduction of writing into India took place centuries before the accession of the Maurya Dynasty. It is a curious fact that of all the anomalous letters in the Bhattiprolu alphabet not one bears any trace to the later alphabets of India, all the characters of which are derived from those of Southern Maurya. The language of these inscriptions is a Prakrit dialect and is closely connected with the literary Pali.--Journ. Royal Asiatic Society, 1892, p. 602.
THE INDIAN HELL.--In a number of the Journal Asiatique (Sept., Oct., '92), M. Léon Feer publishes an article entitled "L'Enfer Indien," in which he confines himself to the Buddhist hells, leaving the Brahmanic hells for another study. He avails himself of all previously printed matter and adds new material. His object is to group together and classify all the ideas on infernal punishments, on the crimes for which they are inflicted and their duration. There are separate chapters on: (1) the name and number of hells; (2) the eight large hot hells; (3) the attribution of the hells to distinct crimes; (4) the small hells. There are many questions in connection with them which he leaves unsolved. Then come the cold hells: (1) the Chinese hells; (2) Southern hells; (3) the number and names of the cold hells (of both north and south); (4) the duration of one's dwelling in the various hells; (5) on the non-existence of the cold hells; (6) on the period of time spent in all the hells, etc. The main conclusions are, that: All Buddhists recognize eight burning hells, with ascending intensity, surrounded by secondary hells of numbers varying from four to sixteen. Beside those there are eight cold hells, but only in the North, their names being considered in the South as expressing merely the different periods of sojourn in the eighth hell. The number of hells is at least 12, at most 32.
ARCHÆOLOGICAL SURVEY.--The second volume of the new series of the Archaæological Survey of India is devoted to a catalogue of the antiquities and inscriptions in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, compiled by Dr. A. Fuhrer. No part of India, not even the Panjab, is so crowded with historic spots, associated not only with the life and teaching of Buddha, and with the Hindu theogony, but also with the Muhammadan conquest. Most of the ground has already been worked over by Sir A. Cunningham and his assistants; but there are square miles of ruined mounds still almost untouched. We continually hear of finds of ancient coins made by peasants during the rainy season; but the author is careful to point out that what is now wanted is systematic exploration, like that of Mr. Petrie in Egypt. The present volume is based rather upon printed documents than upon original research, though it shows everywhere the traces of personal knowledge. Its object is to carry out the orders of the Government, by placing on record a catalogue of the existing monuments, classified according to their archæological importance, their state of repair, and their custody. It is arranged in the order of administrative divisions and districts; but copious indices enable the student to bring together any particular line of investigation.--Academy, September.
A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT.--Dr. M. Aurel Stein, principal of the Oriental College at Lahore, has now ready for publication the first volume of his critical edition of the Rajatarangini, or Chronicles of the Kings of Kashmir, upon which he has been engaged for some years. This work, which was written by the poet Kalhana in the middle of the twelfth century, is of special interest as being almost the sole example of historical literature in Sanskrit. Hitherto it has only been known
[Pages 121 and 122 are missing.]
Near the stûpa is the site of the ancient village and fort; long ridges of earth, in form of a square, mark the position of the walls; within these, various articles have been turned up, large bricks, broken sepulchral urns and grain jars, together with beads of various material and Buddhist lead coins, both round and square; they bear the lion and the dugoba, emblems of the Andhra dynasty. The inscriptions of some are preserved.
II. GHANTASALA.--At Ghantasala is a mound 112 feet in diameter and 23 feet in height; the excavations here disclosed the remains of a stûpa from which the complete plan was determined. In the centre is a solid cube of brick work 10 feet square, enclosed in a chamber 19 feet square with walls over 3 feet in thickness; outside this is a circular wall 3 ft. 6 inches thick, 55 feet 10 inches in diameter, this is enclosed in another circular brick wall 18 feet 3 inches thick, with a diameter of 111 feet; this was the main outer wall of the structure, the exterior surface bore a chunam facing. About the base is a raised procession path 5 feet 7 in. broad, and 4 feet 6 in. high, a projection is found at each of the cardinal points. The inmost squares are connected by walls 2 feet 4 in. thick, running parallel to these sides from the centre and corners, the cells formed by the intersections of these walls are packed with mud.
The fact that the main walls, i.e., those of the squares and circles, are thicker than the others may indicate that they were carried up to form stories, or they may have been simply to strengthen the dome, if the exterior wall was carried up in that form. Further excavations in the mound discovered a marble slab carved with the Supada, a piece of a carved top rail panel and a number of carved slabs.
When the brick work was excavated a well 6 inches square filled with earth was found under 3 feet of solid brick work. Among the debris, at the top, were found pieces of a broken chatti, and a number of small articles, beads and a coin, which it had probably contained. Just below these was a chatti of red earthenware, 4-1/2 in. in diameter, with a semi-circular lid, filled with black earth. Within this was a glazed chatti 2-1/4 in. in diameter, and 1-3/4 in. in height. It contained numerous leads, bits of bone, small pearls, bits of gold leaf and small pieces of mineral.
A number of marble sculptures have been removed from the stûpa of Ghantasala, and are now in the village. Among them are several pieces carved with lotus flowers, and other ornaments and inscriptions, square and circular moulded vases, a circular base carved with horses, elephants and other animals, an umbrella, a panel with rail and figures, and two carved slabs. Other remains found in and near Ghantasala are an "ancient brass dipa, with a Telugu inscription and a small brass image of Siva" now in the temple, a "small chakra and a trisula, each with pillar base." Brick walls and brick debris are found all about the neighborhood, but so demolished as to make it impossible to determine what the buildings were.
III. BHATTIPROLU.--On the report in the stûpa of Bhattiprolu, a former letter is referred to in which an account is given of certain inscribed caskets, and other relics found in the centre of the dome some time before. The reports continue with the account of further excavations by means of trenches. Those about the exterior discovered an unbroken procession path at the small east quadrant, the face of the dome too at this point is intact to a height of over 5 ft. In the trenches at the north side there was found "two pieces of a marble umbrella, having a curve of a radius of 1 foot 6 in., a small piece of a pilaster base from a slab, a pilaster capital with horses and riders, and the half of what had been a large slab carved with the lower portion of a draped figure.
At some distance from the basement, or procession path, the remains of six marble bases of the rail were found standing in position--they are 1 ft. 11., by 12 in., by 1 ft. 10 in., in height, spaced by a distance of 1 ft. 7 in. in each, they are sunk 1 ft. 6 in. below the brick floor, and rest on a broad marble slab.
A large number of ancient sites and mounds were examined in the neighborhood of Repalle. At Anantaiarum, Buddhâní, Chandavôlu and Puapuâ. Considerable surface has been excavated for various purposes; the earth, a kind of black mud, is found to be thickly mixed with broken pottery and bones of animals; occasionally a pillar or other building stone is turned up. At Môrakûru, copper, lead and rarely gold and silver coins are found mixed with the broken pottery.
At Krudarnudi, Maudura, Mûlpûrn and Periarli, mounds were examined, the earth was found to consist of black mud mixed with pottery and ashes. The mounds differ only in extent, and portions of several have been removed.
BHATTIPROLU.--A BUDDHIST STUPA.--Mr. Rea during last season examined the remains of a stûpa at Bhattiprolu in the Kistna district, the marble casing of which had been used by the Canal engineers; and in it he has made discoveries of very considerable interest.
He found the stûpa had been a solid brick building 132 feet in diameter, surrounded by a procession path about eight feet wide. It must thus have been of very nearly the dimensions of the Amarāvati stûpa. Fragments or chips only of the outer casing of marble were found in the area he excavated. When the dome and portions of the drum had been previously demolished for the materials, inside the dome there was found "a casket made of six small slabs of stone dove-tailed into one another, measuring about 2-1/2 feet by 1-1/2 by 1 foot; inside this was a clay chatti containing a neat soap-stone casket, which enclosed a crystal phial. In this latter was a pearl, a few little bits of gold leaf, and some ashes." Mr. Rea considered that there might still be another deposit of relics; and having discovered the centre of the original brickwork, he found there a shaft or well 9-1/2 inches in diameter filled with earth, which went down about 15 feet. Following this he found at one side near the bottom a stone box about 11 inches by 8 and 5 inches deep, with an inscription round the upper lip. Inside was a small globular blackstone relic casket, two small hemipsherical metal cups a little over an inch in diameter, with a gold bead on the apex of one, and the bead (fallen out) of the other; another small bead, two double pearls, also four gold lotus flowers 1.2 inch in diameter, two trisulas in thin plates 1.2 by 1 inch, seven triangular bits of gold, a single and a double gold bead--the weight of these gold articles being about 148 grains. There was also a hexagonal crystal 2.56 inches long by 0.88 inch in diameter, pierced along the axis, and with an inscription lightly traced on the sides. The stone relic casket measures 4-1/2 inches each way, the lid fitting on with a groove, and it contained a cylindric crystal phial 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 1-1/4 inches high, moulded on the sides and flat on top and bottom; the lid fitted in the same way as that of the casket. Inside was a flattish piece of bone--possibly of the skull--and under the phial were nine small lotus flowers in gold leaf; six gold beads and eight small ones; four small lotus flowers of thin copper; nineteen small pierced pearls; one bluish crystal bead; and twenty-four small coins in a light coloured metal, possibly brass, smooth on one side and with lotus flowers, trisulas, feet, etc., on the obverse. These had been arranged on the bottom and attached in the form of a svastika.
Two and a half feet below this was a second deposit on the opposite or north side of the shaft. The central area of the cover, in this case, has an inscription in nineteen lines with two lines round it--the letters being filled in with white. In the lower stone was a receptacle 6-1/4 inches deep, by 7-1/2 in diameter, having a raised rim 1-1/2 inches broad, bearing another inscription of two lines on the upper surface--the letters also filled in with lime. The cavity was nearly filled with earth, and contained a phial 1-5/8 inches in diameter and 2-3/4 inches high, with a lid moulded like a dagoba. The phial and lid were lying separate, and there was no sign of a relic. Mixed with the earth were 164 lotus leaves and buds, two circular flowers, a trisula and a three-armed figure like a svastika, all in gold leaf, two gold stems for lotus flowers, six gold beads, and a small gold ring--weighing, collectively, about 310 grains; also two pearls, a garnet, six coral beads, a bluish, flat, oval bead, a white crystal bead, two greenish, flat, six-sided crystal drops, a number of bits of corroded copper leaf in the shape of lotus flowers, a minute umbrella, and some folded pieces about 2 inches by 1-3/8, showing traces of letters or symbols pricked upon them with a metal point, but too corroded to permit of unfolding or decipherment.
Next, at a slightly lower level on the east side of the shaft, he came upon a third black stone cover, with an inscription of eight lines cut on the under surface in a sunk, circular area in the centre. The lower stone again bears an inscription round the rim of the cavity in one line--the letters being whitened. The receptacle was 5-3/4 inches deep, 7-1/2 wide at the top, and 5 at the bottom. It was also nearly filled with earth, and contained a crystal phial similar to that in the second, the lid lying apart; but close to it was the relic casket, perhaps of chrysolite, less than half an inch each way by three-eighths, in which is drilled a circular hole 0.28 inch in diameter, closed by a small, white crystal stopper with hexagonal top. The neck is covered with gold leaf, and a sheet of the same was fixed outside to the bottom. This unique casket contains three small pieces of bone. With it were found a bluish bead 5/8 inch long, a smaller one, and one of yellow crystal, a small hexagonal crystal drop, slightly yellowish in colour, a flat one of white crystal, a bone bead, six pearls, thirty-two seed pearls--all pierced, thirty lotus flowers, a quatrefoil, and a small figure of gold leaf.
The alphabet of the inscriptions presents features of peculiar interest, which I leave to be discussed by Prof. Bühler.--Jas. Burgess in Acad. May 21.
Ν.Β.--Further details are given under the headings "New variety of Maurya inscriptions", and also under "Buddhist Stupas in the Kistna district."
GAUΗATI.--ASSAM.--Mr. Joseph Chunder Dutt has reprinted from the Indian Nation (Calcutta) an account of an archægeological visit to Gauhati, the ancient capital of Assam. The temples, etc., he describes mostly date only from the eighteenth century, as is shown by the inscriptions which he is careful to quote. There are, however, many ruins of older buildings and fragments of sculpture, which would perhaps repay more detailed examination. The destruction of some of these is due to the misdirected activity of British engineers.--Academy, Feb. 6.
PANJAB.--REMAINS OF ANCIENT BUDDHIST TEMPLES.--The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for October, 1892, contains a note in "Ancient remains of Temples on the Bannu Frontier," an unfrequented part of the Panjab. The ruins of two temples stand on a hillock rising from the Indus. The tradition with regard to them is that the Paridwas retired here to spend twelve years of exile after being defeated by the Kerwá. A short distance from these ruins is the site of a third temple now completely demolished. This temple was completely demolished. This temple was built of bricks of light pressed (?) clay about 12x9x3 inches in size. On breaking some of the bricks they were found to bear distinctly the impression of tree leaves, and brought under the influence of a petrifying spring which exists not far from the spot.
The remains are undoubtedly of great antiquity, and appears to have been Buddhist temples of the tall, conical kind. Their Buddhistic origin is made certain by the eight-leafed lotus ornaments which characterize the carvings.