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.