Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 142

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1931
ANNUAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF INDIAN ARCHEOLOGY 1876, when what is now known as Mangles' Tank
FOR THE YEAR 1928, published by the Kern was being re-excavated. McCrindle tells us that the Institute, Leyden. 124 x 97 in.; pp. xi +141 ; workmen discovered "at a depth of some twelve with 12 plates and 11 illustrations in the text. or fifteen feet below the swampy surface the remains Leyden, E. J. Brill, Ltd., 1930.
of a long brick wall with a line of palisades of strong
timber running near and almost parallel to it, and This is the third annual issue of this valuable
slightly inclined towards it." Waddell's inquiries publication, and we need only add that it maintains
in 1892 showed that similar old timbers had been in all respects the high standard to which the first
found 10 to 15 feet below the surface at three other two issues have accustomed us, creditable alike to
sites, one of which wag near Bulandi Bagh, where the editors and to the publishers. A special word of
Spooner in 1916 found two slanting beams, one 9 or praise is due to the excellence of the plates. It is
10 feet north of the other, and in 1916 the remains gratifying to learn that the Institute has received
of what he described as "& curious wooden house," additional financial aid, which, we trust, will ensure
with a slanting wall of timber on the west side, its publication annually.
and at 22 feet below surface level, a flooring of In addition to the bibliography proper, which is squared beams. Ho found that the width of the remarkably full and accurate, the editorial board, double line of uprights, inside which lay the flooring, following the plan announced in the initial volume, was about 14 feet,' measuring from the outside prefix an introductory chapter dealing with faces, and that the upright timbers went down some of the most notable works of archæologi some 5 feet below the flooring. He also found cal research carried out. They are particularly remnants of planking that had been laid upon the fortunate in being able to publish & most interesting uprights on their outer face. It was thought possible account contributed by Dr. J. Barthoux of the at the time that at this particular spot he had struck salient features of the excavations conducted by him the remains of one of the 'towers' mentioned by at the Buddhist sito of Hadda, the Hilo of Hauan Megasthenes. The flooring was then roughly Tsang, about 5 miles south of Jalalabad in Afgh- traced for a distance of 360 feet eastwards. More nistan, a site to which Honigberger and Masson recent excavations have since traced the double had drawn attention nearly a century ago. Here row of upright timbers for a distance of some 700 during the years 1927-28 some hundreds of stúpas feet; and it now appears that, besides the flooring and many thousands of statues and statuettes have there had been a roofing of heavy beams laid across, been unearthed, disclosing the site of "a vast as indeed Spooner, to my knowledge, had been ancient city surpassing even the capital of Gandhara inclined to suspect. Plate VI reproduces two clear in archaeological interest." Many of the smaller photographs of the remains of these old "wooden stúpas, which had become buried under debris, were walls," which afford such striking testimony to the found in excellent preservation up to the springing accuracy of the Greek ambassador's account. The of the dome. "After having drawn and measured remarkable state of preservation of these old sál the details of two hundred such buildings, we beams, after the lapse of more than 22 centuries have come to the conclusion," Dr. Barthoux writes, will at once strike the observer; yet the seven "that, apart from the Greek orders, the artists massive platforma, or "foundation piers," formed of have employed practically every architectural odl logs some 30 feet in length uncovered at the element known to thom : their pilntors preserve KumrAhar site in 1913, on the south side of the Achaemenian rominiscences, whereas the bas- "pillarod hall," were even in more perfect condition, reliefs sometimes remind one of Sasanian art. having been deeply buried at a uniform level, and
.... It may, indeed, be maintained that the art of 80 less exposed to variations of temperature and Hadda constitutes a real synthesis of all our artistic
moisture. conceptions and a meeting-place of all known schools........ Yet, it must be admitted that this
We are, further, supplied with a preliminary note azt is indubitably Hollenistic." The plastic art
on the resulte of Professor Ernst Herzfeld's recent more ospecially reveals masterly execution, testi
investigations on the Koh-i-Khwaja rock island in fying to the mathetic and technical abilities of the
the Hamun, described by Sir Aurel Stein in vol. artists. Many of the stucco heads (some of which
II of Innermost Asia. More thorough excavation are beautifully reproduced on plateg IV and V)
has, we are informed, enabled the professor to assign are in a wonderful state of preservation. Scholar
the remains to two definite periode, viz. (1) the will eagerly await a detailed report, with map and
epoch of the Bakes, and (2) the third century A... plans, of these remarkable excavations.
All the mural paintings, of which more specimeng
have been secured, belong to the first period, and Another interesting note is devoted to "The
contain Achaemenian, Græco-Bactrian and preWooden Walls of P&taliputra." According to
Sasanian elements. Furthermore, we are told, Megarthenes, as quoted by Strabo and Arrian, the Mauryan city of Pataliputra was surrounded by
Professor Herzfold connects the epical personality wooden walls crowned by 570 towers. Traces of
of Rustam with the great Saka ruler Gondopharos, thosowoodon walls, or palisado, were first discovered in
C. E. A. W. o.