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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
period before Buddhism I have not found, either in the Godavari or Krishna Distriot, in the places I have visited; all the pieces among the ruins have grotesque and unhuman-shaped sculpture on them, which is not the case in the earlier temples, where some of the sculptures of human beings are almost equal to those of the Greeks.
Of the remains of Buddhist temples I have seen two in the Upper Godâvari. One has the appearance of having been one of the fortified Buddhist temples. The wall of the enclosure, some 600 feet square, had on two sides a rough stone wall faced with cut stone some eighteen feet high; on the other two sides the hill is a cliff. The entrance gate was built of immense blocks of stone; the top beam consisted of a square stone with Buddha and two elephants with pots in their trunks pouring water on him carved on it.* Subsequently this temple seems to have passed into Hindu hands. By the broken stone bulls in the enclosure, and by some Muhammadan coins found in the old well, now nearly filled up with rubbish, it seems to have been occupied by them, probably as a fortress, for which it is well situated, being close to the ruin at Davarapilli.
The next instance of Buddhism are two stones (built into a small temple at Lingala) with the sacred duck or dodo carved on them.
I have not seen any remains of Jain temples or idols in the Upper Godavari.
Ruins of Hindu temples are numerous both on the British and Nizam's side of the river. The temples have all been small, and the idols very roughly carved. Of the present temples in the Upper Godavari none exceed 400 years in age. One small temple at Purnashala is said to be built near the spot from which the wife of Rama was carried off to Ceylon, and on one stone in a ragu at the back of the temple is shown a
[OCTOBER, 1875.
footprint, said to be the spot the wife stood on when she was forcibly carried off. The footprint is thin; but I rather think it has been cut in the stone. In excavating among the ruins of a small temple at Nelimilli, some four miles northeast of Dumagudeni, I found a rough stone (hard) some two feet six inches long by one foot four inches broad and four inches thick; on it are carved some Telugu letters. The language is Sanskrit; the date is plain; the stone is 750 years old. 4. The Christian remains are on the Nizâm's side near Mungapețâ in the jungles, and consist of several stone crosses; † one some thirteen feet high, and also a structure which on first appearance looks like a tomb; it is seven feet above ground, about eight feet square, closed on three sides, open on one, and roofed in with an immense slab of stone. When I saw them I was pressed for time, and so did not examine them closely. I did not see any inscription, nor had I means to make any excavation. To fix the date of these crosses is rather a difficult matter. Christianity (the Syrian Church) was introduced into India in 400 A.D. These churches remained in peace till the arrival of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, when persecution began, and was brought to a climax in 1599 A.D., when Meneses, Archbishop of Goa, instituted the Inquisition, and ordered all the Syrian books to be destroyed and burnt. It is well known that many of the Syrian Christians sought refuge by flight inland,-they were favourably looked on by the Hindus; but whether these crosses were put up by them, or belong to an earlier period, is a question that can only be decided in case any inscriptions are found on or near them. T. VANSTAVERN, Executive Engineer, D.P.W. Ravelala, 4th Dec. 1874.
RESEARCH, 1874-75.
PROGRESS OF ORIENTAL (Abridged from the Annual Report of the Royal brought from Takht-i-Ba hiby Dr. Leitner, and Asiatic Society, May 1875.) now in the Lahor Museum. The document records the name and title of the king maharayasa Gunupharasa, whom both General Cunningham and Professor Dowson, independently of each other,
Professor John Dowson has contributed to Part 2, Vol. VII. of the Jour. R. As. Soc. a paper on a Bactrian-Pali inscription of considerable interest
Is this not Lakshmi the consort of Vishnu, rather than Buddha P-Archeological Report for Belgam and Kalagi, p. 13; Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, 2nd ed. pp. 108, 112, 113, 120, 242, 268.-ED.
These crosses belong to the same age as the neighbour. ing tombs: conf. Fergusson's Rude Stone Monuments, pp.
486-89.-ED.
I Had Syrian Christians existed in the Haidarâbâd territories so late as the seventeenth century, we should in all probability have had some mention of the fact. If Christian, these crosses can hardly be of later date than A.D. 1000.-ED.
