Indian Antiquary Vol 28

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 41

FEBRUARY, 1899.) ARCHÆOLOGICAL TOUR WITH THE BUNER FIELD FORCE. 89
And there they weep because they part. Thus hath the Maker shown his lack of love. Ah, evil is the world ! See that thou do Good deeds, bringers of pleasure to the world,
Comp. Nâl. 23. If the friendships of Orestes and Pylades are worthy of remembrance these friends of 1,000 years ago should not be forgotten. They stand out of the shadows of the past like kindly-hearted Epicureans, loving and beloved ; and their deaths even were not gloomy, but wise and philosophical, as they understood wisdom and philosophy.
DETAILED REPORT OF AN ARCHÆOLOGICAL TOUR WITH THE BUNER
FIELD FORCE BY M. A. STEIN, C.I.E., Ph.D.
(Continued from p. 28.) Stūps of Sunigrām. - About one mile to the north of Rēga where the valley leading down from the Malandri Pass in the south-west debouches into the Panjpão plain, I had already on the previous evening when on my way from Karapa to Rēga, noticed a large mound suggestive of the remains of a Stupa. This assumption soon proved correct on closer inspection. The mound rises to a beight of about 25 feet above the flat level of the plain. Wherever the débris covering its sides had been removed by the action of rain or other causes, it showed the same courses of rough masonry which had been noticed in the Stupas previously described. Judging from the dimensions of the present base of the mound which measures cire. 240 feet from east to west and 200 feet from north to south, this Stūpa must have been by far the largest of all those examined in Banēr. If a conclusion can be drawn from the state of utter dilapidation in which it is now, it may also be looked upon as one of the oldest. At about half. its height kind of terrace can be traced all around the mound: this probably indicates the olevation from which the Stūpa proper rose above the basement.
The top of the mound now forms a slightly sloped oval measuring circ. 120 feet from east to west and 75 foet from north to south. I am inclined to explain this peculiar shape by the assumption that the basement which shows a similarly elongated form was broader to the east and west than on the other two sides. The decay of the originally hemispherical mound most thns have been more rapid on the north and south sidea where there was no broad terrace to retain the loose masonry brought down by the rains, etc., than on the east and west where the masses of débris accumulated over the original basement. In support of this explanation I may mention that the slopes of the mondd to the north and south appeared steeper. It is just on these sides that the courses of masonry eomposing the mound are traced most clearly on the surface.
For some distance from the foot of the mound to the south the ground is covered with low heaps of débris which seem to indicate the site of rained buildings once attached to the Stupa, These remains were, however, too indistinct and too much overgrown by jungle to permit of a plan being taken in the short time available.
Well near Sunigrām. At a distance of about 60 yards to the south-east of the Stupa there is an ancient stone-lined well which has remained on the whole in a remarkably good state of preservation. The well proper is 8 feet in diameter and is enclosed by a circular wall, 5 feet thick, of carefully set masonry. Adjoining to the west is a stnirense which leads between equally well-built walls down to the level of the water. This is now 18 feet below the ground level, and is reached by 23 steps. The accompanying plan and section (V) shows the construction of the well. Some of the stairs have crumbled away, and also the side-walls have soffered in parts notwithstanding the repairs which are indicated in several places by coarse masonry of later date,