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BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.
of great quantities of the coins of the Sassanian princes of Persia, down to Kobad, who died A.D. 531. These coins are found in the Topes of the Panjab and Afghánistán, and establish beyond dispute that the practice of constructing monuments of this class prevailed in the north-west of India from some time after the beginning of the Christian era until the sixth century. The most remarkable monument of this class in Central India is that of Bhilsa or Sánchi, in its neighbourbood. This was first brought to notice by Captain Fell, who published a description of it in the Calcutta Journal in 1819; this description, with additions, was reprinted by Mr. J. Prinsep *, in the third volume of the J. B. Asiatic Society, and at his suggestion sketches of the most remarkable objects and facsimiles of inscriptions abounding on the spot, were sent him by Captains Smith and Murray, and published by him, with translations and important comments, in the sixth volume of the Journal. More recently, Lieutenant Maisey has been employed by the government of Bengal to make careful drawings of these remains; and some of his sketches which have been sent home evince his great merit as an artist as well as an antiquarian. The publication of these documents has been anticipated by Major Cunningham, who had associated himself with Lieutenant Maisey in the investigation, and who has published the results of his own labours in a work entitled The Bhilsa Topes, in which he has
** [See also J. Prinsep's Essays on Indian Antiquities, ed. E. Thomas. 1, 171 ff.]
