Indian Antiquary Vol 26

SR No.: 032518
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1897.
No remains are now visible overground except traces of rough walls on the sides of this hillock and stone-heaps at various places. As the whole ridge has been used for a long time. back as a burial ground, many of the large stones placed over the tombs may have originally been carried away from the site of the Killa. A large treasure is believed to be buried there. The ridge itself is accessible only by a narrow neck which connects it on the north with the hill-side behind. The approach to this point appears to have been guarded by two smaller forts which the tradition of the Lohtrin people places on spurs projecting from the mountain, one to the west and the other to the north of the commencement of the ridge. Quite close to the latter point is a fine spring.
§ 16. Though the traditions and scanty remains here indicated do not by themselves admit of any certain conclusion, it may be safely asserted that the ridge described would have afforded an excellent position for a hill castle designed for barring the route up the valley. The actual road leading to the Tosamaidân Pass winds round the foot of the ridge on the S. and E. On account of the proximity of the deeply cut river-bed the road could never have followed a different direction. On the left side of the valley and opposite to the ridge, a high mountain spur descends with rugged cliffs to the river-bed. The difficult path which leads along this bank towards the Nûrpûr Pass, is unfit for laden animals and could have been easily defended in case of any attempt to turn the ridge.
In view of the topographical facts here indicated I am inclined to look upon the ridge in the centre of Loh'rin as the most likely site of Loharakotta. The absence of more conspicuous remains over-ground can scarcely be considered an argument against this assumption, if we keep in view the time-honored fashion in which forts are constructed in and about Kasmir. The walls are built of rough unhewn stones set in a framework of wooden beams and are liable to rapid decay, if once neglected.49 This fact is sufficiently illustrated by the wholly ruinous condition of many of the forts which the Sikhs erected on the routes to Kasmir in the early part of this century.
Adding to this fact the destructive action of the heavy monsoon rains and the equally heavy snowfall to which the southern slopes of the Pir Pantsûl are exposed, we cannot well feel surprised if a once famous stronghold can now, after seven centuries, be traced only in shapeless heaps of stones and a lingering tradition.
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE.
BY R. C. TEMPLE. (Continued from p. 212.) 7.
Age of Bullion Currency in Burma,
As to the age of metal currency in Burma, the oldest reference I can find is from the Han History, Chapter on the T'an (Barma) State, kindly supplied by Mr. E. H. Parker:"In the year A. D. 97, the king of T'an by name Yung Yu (unidentified as yet in Burmese) selected and sent interpreters to offer precious things from his country. The Emperor Ho rewarded him with a golden seal and a purple vest, adding money and clothes for the smaller chieftains."
49 For the description of a fort built on the above system see e. g. the accounts of the recent siege of the Chitral Fort (1895).
SammudarAja, the reputed founder of the Sakkaraj Era, in Burma, lived traditionally at this time in Tagaang, or old Pagan. Crawfurd, Ava, Appx., p. 82: Phayre, Hist. of Burma, pp. 19, 278: B. B. Gazetteer, Vol. I. p. 239 f. 1 Parker, Burma, p. 9 f.