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कहाऊँ स्तम्भ एवं क्षेत्रीय पुरातत्व की खोज
Appendix. 6 Archaeological survey of India, Report of Tours in North and south Bihar in 1880-81; Vol.XVI, 1880-83, republished in Delhi in 1994, pages 129-30.. Note: The preface of this book gives this information-Mr. H.B.W Garricke joined General Cunningham on 4th December 1880. In his way from Kasia, Khukhundo to Bhagalpur he visited Kahaon to photograph the well-known pillar of Skanda Gupta. The account given by Mr. Garricke is added in the report of General Cunnimgham which is enclosed.
KAHAON, OR KAHONG
A little to the north of the village of kahaon, which is situated about one march south of khukhundo, and 46 miles south-east of Gorakhpur, there stands a stone pillar about three-fourths the size of those of Laurya Navandgarh and rampürwa. In a previous report of General Cunningham's full particulars with measurements of the kahaon pillar are given. The shaft is of rough grey standstone, and shaped into no less than six different forms from base to top; the lower portion being square, a little higher up it is octagonal, then sixteensided; the next member assumes a circular form; above this the pillar is square, and finishes with a circular band; that is to say, the shafi finishes, as the upper portion of the capital is missing, though the metal spike by which it was fastened is still in situ, and lends to the pillar a most odd appearance. The usual bell-shapen capital crowns this column, and the metal spike most probably held the image of some animal, perhaps a lion, after the fashion of most Asoka monuments. On the west face of the pillar, in a niche formed to receive it, stands a perfectly nude figure, about 32 feet high, with disproportionally long arms; there are also two attendant
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