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Nov. 1, 1872.]
AMRAVATI, &c.
347
From this theory I feel compelled, with the great- est diffidence, to dissent. The character and position of the sculptures discovered in 1845 impress me strongly with the conviction that my conjecture will prove correct; and this point will, I trust, be satisfactorily cleared up if the Government shall be pleased to sanction a thorough investigation of the locality.
The edifice which occupied the site of the mound still known as the Dipal-dinna, or "hill of lights" was probably one of the most magnificent dahgopas ever constructed. It seems to have suffered serious damages at an early period, probably during the great Buddhist persecutions in the sixth and twelfth centuries. When the mound was first seen by Captain (afterwards Colonel) Mackenzie in 1797, it was much in the condition in which I found it. He states that, in the year preceding his visit, Venkatadra Naidu, the Vasareddi Zamindar, in removing a large stone from it for a pagoda be was then building, came on the brick-work of the original edifice, and dug a circular trench, 10 feet wide by 12 feet deep, in hopes of finding additional building material. The central area was still untouched and a mass of rubbish thrown out of the trench prevented any observation of its original state ; but he "conjectured that the whole had, previous to its opening, formed a solid circular mound." The sculptures then visible were few and insignificant. The most remarkable, representing a siege, had been removed to some distance, where it served as a covering or roof to one of the small temples frequent on the outskirts of Hindu villages, and appears to have been the same referred to by Mr. Fergusson.t
After Captain Mackenzie's visit the zamindar, seized with the idea that the mound contained treasure, bank a shaft down the centre, but only found the covered stone vessel containing a crystal casket with the relic of Buddha. Disappointed in this expectation, he determined to enlarge the excavation, and convert it into a tank or bauri ; and in doing so, covered the walls still deeper with the earth thrown out. Of Colonel Mackenzie's operations in 1816 no record remains : but I could not learn that any extensive explorations had been made by his orders. His surveyor probably ascertained the lines represented in his plan by running shafts into the mound at various points. A few stones only were sent by him to Calcutta; I did not see more than four or five in the Asiatic Society's Museum in
• They are described in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX. pages 275-8.
Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 162, note.
There is an account of the 'Ruins of Amravati, Depaldina aud Danakota' in the Asiatic Journal, Vol. XV. (1823) PP. 464-478, taken from # Calcutta Journal. And as it appears from internal evidence (see p. 470) to have been written in 1819, when Col. Mackenzie was in Bengal, and two years before his death, it is probable that it was from his pen. It contains no details of explorations however.-ED.
1841. A few more that remained exposed were taken to Magulipatam, by direction of Sir Frederick Adam, in 1855-56, for the purpose of ornamenting & proposed choultry or town well, but it. tiever was built, and the sculptures were appropriated by Mr. Alexander, the Master Attendant, after whose death the Collector was ordered to claim them 'as public property, and they were sent, I believe, to the Central Museum in 1855-56. I observed some more built into walls in Amravati, but not many. These should be examined and reported upon. . . . .
It is probable that the other three entrances will be found in a more or less perfect state and that much of the outer wall or "rail" will also be discovered to be erect and in situ, especially on the west half of the circle ; whilst the sculptures of the "inner rail," or what I should term the base of the dah gop proper, are probably buried deeply under the sides of the excavated tank. Most of the upright slabs laid open by me had never been disturbed, but, as I explained to Mr. Fergusson, a few only had been re-arranged to form a small chamber or shrine in the gate-way ; perhaps after the injuries done to the building in the sixth century, and may be due to a later local family, professing Buddhist tenets which is referred to in inscriptions extant in the neighbouring temples, as flourishing in the eleventh or twelfth century.
Some of the stones transported to Madras in 1846 should still remain in the Government Museum, and ought to be carefully preserved as illustrative of the original architecture. Among these I may mention the other lion (regardant), the shafts of the columns immediately under it in the entrance wingwall, its ribbed melon-shaped base and capital, the ininiature dahgop of sand-stone that had surmounted the monolithic pillar, etc. The stone vase and the crystal reliquary, which I recovered from the zamindar's sequestrated property in 1863, should also be figured in any future description of the ruins. . . . .
The Krishna division contains many other Buddhist remains which ought to be explored. About 1840 the Collector, to obtain material for repairing the high road between Bejwada and Bandar, demolished a mound of brick-work, in which were found four stone-vases, each containing a crystal reliquary, not deposited in the centre of the mound as at Dipal-dinna, but in the four sides. The country people called the place Langa-dibba, and ascribed it to a courtezan (langa), the favourite mistress of
See Captain Tripe's photographs of the Elliot Marbles, p. 29, No. 72.
I No.74 in the same photographs represents the pillar, and plate 89 in Tree and Serpent Worship.
TA similar deposit was found some years ago by the zamindar of Pittapur in the Rajahmandri district.
The four stone-vases, each containing.crystal box, were seen by Sir Henry Montgomery in 1848, who induced the Raja to send them to the Government Museum where they now are. They were figured in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. XV. and Piate 2, but without any description, Madras Journal, Vol. XIX. p. 225.
at hud Daraket from
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