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ASIATIC SOCIETIES.
SEPTEMBER, 1874.]
out an arrow towards a male and female who stand before him-the latter being behind the other. These figures are labelled respectively R&ma (the rest lost, but most probably Chandra) Janaka Raja and Sitala Devi. I believe that this is by far the earliest notice that we possess of the great solar hero Râma and his wife.
I look upon the discovery of these curious sculptures as one of the most valuable acquisitions that has yet been made to our knowledge of ancient India. From them we can learn what was the dress of all classes of the people of India during the reign of Asoka, or about three quarters of a century after the death of Alexander the Great. We can see the Queen of India decked out in all her finery, with a flowered shawl or muslin sheet over her head, with massive earrings and elaborate necklaces, and a petticoat reaching to the mid-leg, which is secured round the waist by a zone of seven strings, as well as by a broad and highly ornamented belt.
Here we can see the soldier with short curly hair, clad in a lorg jacket, or tunic, which is tied at the waist, and a dhoti reaching below the knees, with long boots, ornamented with a tassel in front, just like Hessians, and armed with a straight broad sword, of which the scabbard is three inches wide.
Here also we may see the standard-bearer on horseback with a human-headed bird surmounting the pole. Here, too, we can see the king mounted on an elephant escorting a casket of relics.
The curious horse-trappings and elephant-housings of the time are given with full and elaborate detail.
Everywhere we may see the peculiar Buddhist symbol which crowns the great stupa at Sânchi used as a favourite ornament. It forms the drop of an earring, the clasp of a necklace, the support of a lamp, the crest of the royal standard, and the decoration of the lady's broad belt and of the soldier's scabbard.
There are also houses of many kinds, and sev eral temples, one of which is labelled Vijayata pásáde, or the " Temple of Victory." There
are animals of several kinds, as elephants, horses, deer, cows, and monkeys, and a single specimen of a real tapir. There are numerous crocodiles and fishes, and in one sculpture there is a very large fish, which is represented swallowing two boat-loads of men. There is also a great variety of flowers, and several kinds of fruits, amongst which the mango is very happily treated. But perhaps the most curious of the Bharahut
The practice of labelling sculptures is also observable on the old temple of Påpnåth at Pattadkal, on the Malprabha, S.E. of Badami, where the scenes are all
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sculptures are a few scenes of broad humour with elephants and monkeys as the only characters. In two of these an elephant has been captured by a band of monkeys, who have fastened a billet of wood along the inside of his trunk so as to prevent him from moving it. Ropes are fastened to his neck and body, the ends of which are pulled by monkeys who are walking and dancing in triumphal procession to the sound of shells and cymbals played by other monkeys. The spirit of these scenes is very droll. A third scene represents monkeys holding a giant by the nose with a pair of pincers, to which is fastened a rope dragged by an elephant. The action and attitudes of the monkeys are very good. The intention of all these designs is exceedingly spirited, but the execution is coarse and weak.
In the short inscriptions on the railing of the Bharahut stupa I find the names of the following places, Sugana, or Srughna; Vedisa, or Bhilsa; Påtaliputa, or Patna; Kosambi, or Kosam; Na ndinagarika, or Nander; and Nasika, or Nâsik; besides a number of unknown places, of which Asitamas & is most probably some town on the river Tamaså or Tamas, the Tons of our maps.
From these inscriptions also I have learned the names of several parts of the Buddhist gateways and railings, one of which is a new word, or at least a new form of word, not to be found in the dictionaries.
On the top of Lal Pahar, or the "Red Hill," which overhangs Bharahut, I obtained a rockinscription of one of the great Kalachuri Rajas, Nara Sinha Deva, dated in Samvat (Sake) 909. Altogether Mr. Beglar and I have collected about twenty inscriptions of the Kala. churis, who took the titles of Chedindra, and Chedinarendra, or "Lord of Chedi," and called the era whicoh they used the Chedi Samvat and the Kalachuri Samvat.
I have also got an inscription of the great Chalukya Raja Tribifuvana Malla,† who began to reign in A.D. 1076 and reigned 51 years. The inscription is dated in Sake 1008, or A.D. 1086, and the place of its discovery, Sita baldi, confirms the account of his having conducted an expedition across the Narmadâ.
After leaving Bharahut I visited Kosam, on the Jamuna, which I have formerly identified with the ancient Kosâmbi. I explored the place very minutely, and my three days' search was rewarded by the discovery of several very curious terracotta figures, which are certainly as old as the
from the Ramayana and are nearly all so labelled, in characters of about the 6th century A.D.-ED. I. A.
+ Vide ante, vol. I. pp. 81-83, 158; vol. II. pp. 297-8.-ED.
