some important excavations in an early Christian church. He
found that the altar was placed at the end opposite the apse on
a kind of platform or _béma_ attached to the wall. Several
inscriptions were found set into the mosaic pavement. One is
the epitaph of Alexander, a bishop of Tipasa, another the
dedication of the construction by him. To this bishop is
attributed the merit of grouping about the altar the tombs of
certain "righteous ancients," _justi priores_, by whom are
undoubtedly meant his predecessors in the Episcopacy.--_Chron.
des arts_, 1892, No. 14.
Page 118
Professor Gsell assisted in the excavations above described and
further details in a communication to the _Académie des
Inscriptions_. The building mentioned was a funerary chapel
built to the east of Tipasa by Bishop Alexander to contain the
tombs of his predecessors. Near by a Christian sarcophagus was
found with reliefs of Christ giving the law, Moses striking the
rock and other subjects.
In the same locality is the basilica of Saint Salsa erected
over her tomb. Built in the fourth century, it was decorated in
the middle of the fifth by Potentius, probably a bishop; and
enlarged in the second half of the sixth. It was still an
object of veneration in the seventh century.--_Chron. des
arts_, 1892, No. 28.
ASIA.
HINDUSTAN.
MUHAMMADAN COINS.--Mr. S. Lane-Poole has completed his
"Catalogue of the Coins of the Mogul Emperors of Hindustan in
the British Museum," dating from 1525, the invasion of Buber,
to the establishment of British currency in 1835.
It describes over 1400 coins, chiefly gold and silver, of this
splendid coinage. "In his introduction Mr. Lane-Poole deals
with various historical, geographical, and other problems
suggested by the coinage, and with difficulties of
classification presented by the early imitative issues of the
East India company and the French compagnie des Indes." This
volume, the fourteenth, completes the cataloguing of all the
Muhammadan coins in the museum.--_Journal Royal Asiatic
Society_ 1892, p. 425.
INDIAN NUMISMATICS.--Mr. Rodgers, Honorary Numismatist to the
government of India, has finished his "Catalogue of the Coins
with Persian or Arabic inscriptions in the Lahore museum," and
practically finished his "Catalogue of the Coins in the
Calcutta museum." His own immense collection has now been
purchased by the Punjãb government, and he has nearly completed
his catalogue of that.
These catalogues will be of very great importance alike for the
numismatic and for the modern history of India.--_Journ. Royal
Asiatic Society_, 1892, p. 425.
NEW VARIETY OF MAURYA INSCRIPTIONS.--Prof. Buhler has made a
very careful study of impressions of nine votive inscriptions
from the relic-caskets discovered by Mr. Rea in the ruined
stupa of Bhattiprolu in the Kistna District (Madras). He has
made out their contents, and has arrived at the conclusion that
they are written in a new variety of the Southern Maurya or Làt
Page 119 alphabet. Twenty-three letters of these inscriptions agree
exactly with those ordinarily used in the edicts of Asoka which
have long been held to belong to the first attempts of the
Hindus in the art of writing. Four letters are entirely
unusual, while the lingual l is introduced, which does not
occur in Asoka's inscriptions. Further peculiarities are
presented in the notation of the medial and final vowels. The
appearance of the letters would indicate that the Bhattiprolu
inscriptions probably belong to a period only a few decades
later than that of Asoka's edicts. By a comparison of these
incriptions with Asoka's edicts, and with the inscriptions of
Nâuâgleât, Hathegumplia, Bharhut and Triana, it becomes evident
that they hold an intermediate position between the two sets,
but are much more nearly related to those of the third century
B.C. than those of the second. If this be true, the date of the
Bhattiprolu inscription cannot be placed later than 200 B.C.,
and the inscriptions themselves prove that several distinct
varieties of the Southern Maurya alphabet existed during the
third century, B.C.
This fact would remove one of the strongest arguments in favor
of the theory that writing was introduced into India during the
rule of the Maurya dynasty--_i.e._, the absence of local sorts
of letters in which the edicts of Asoka were written in places
widely separated, for this may be explained by a desire to
imitate as closely as possible the character of the original
edict.
If then the Bhattiprolu inscriptions show a system of
characters radically different from those of Asoka's edicts and
at the same time in all probability coeval with them a strong
point is gained for the side of those who are of the opinion
that the introduction of writing into India took place
centuries before the accession of the Maurya Dynasty. It is a
curious fact that of all the anomalous letters in the
Bhattiprolu alphabet not one bears any trace to the later
alphabets of India, all the characters of which are derived
from those of Southern Maurya. The language of these
inscriptions is a Prakrit dialect and is closely connected with
the literary Pali.--_Journ. Royal Asiatic Society_, 1892, p.
602.
THE INDIAN HELL.--In a number of the _Journal Asiatique_
(Sept., Oct., '92), M. Léon Feer publishes an article entitled
"_L'Enfer Indien_," in which he confines himself to the
Buddhist hells, leaving the Brahmanic hells for another study.
He avails himself of all previously printed matter and adds new
material. His object is to group together and classify all the
ideas on infernal punishments, on the crimes for which they are
inflicted and their duration. There are separate chapters on:
Page 120 (1) the name and number of hells; (2) the eight large hot
hells; (3) the attribution of the hells to distinct crimes; (4)
the small hells. There are many questions in connection with
them which he leaves unsolved. Then come the cold hells: (1)
the Chinese hells; (2) Southern hells; (3) the number and names
of the cold hells (of both north and south); (4) the duration
of one's dwelling in the various hells; (5) on the
non-existence of the cold hells; (6) on the period of time
spent in all the hells, etc. The main conclusions are, that:
All Buddhists recognize eight burning hells, with ascending
intensity, surrounded by secondary hells of numbers varying
from four to sixteen. Beside those there are eight cold hells,
but only in the North, their names being considered in the
South as expressing merely the different periods of sojourn in
the eighth hell. The number of hells is at least 12, at most
32.
ARCHÆOLOGICAL SURVEY.--The second volume of the new series of
the Archaæological Survey of India is devoted to a catalogue of
the antiquities and inscriptions in the North-Western Provinces
and Oudh, compiled by Dr. A. Fuhrer. No part of India, not even
the Panjab, is so crowded with historic spots, associated not
only with the life and teaching of Buddha, and with the Hindu
theogony, but also with the Muhammadan conquest. Most of the
ground has already been worked over by Sir A. Cunningham and
his assistants; but there are square miles of ruined mounds
still almost untouched. We continually hear of finds of ancient
coins made by peasants during the rainy season; but the author
is careful to point out that what is now wanted is systematic
exploration, like that of Mr. Petrie in Egypt. The present
volume is based rather upon printed documents than upon
original research, though it shows everywhere the traces of
personal knowledge. Its object is to carry out the orders of
the Government, by placing on record a catalogue of the
existing monuments, classified according to their archæological
importance, their state of repair, and their custody. It is
arranged in the order of administrative divisions and
districts; but copious indices enable the student to bring
together any particular line of investigation.--_Academy_,
September.
A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT.--Dr. M. Aurel Stein, principal of the
Oriental College at Lahore, has now ready for publication the
first volume of his critical edition of the Rajatarangini, or
Chronicles of the Kings of Kashmir, upon which he has been
engaged for some years. This work, which was written by the
poet Kalhana in the middle of the twelfth century, is of
special interest as being almost the sole example of historical
literature in Sanskrit. Hitherto it has only been known
Page 121 (Missing in the source document.)
Page 122 (Missing in the source document.)
Page 123
Near the stûpa is the site of the ancient village and fort;
long ridges of earth, in form of a square, mark the position of
the walls; within these, various articles have been turned up,
large bricks, broken sepulchral urns and grain jars, together
with beads of various material and Buddhist lead coins, both
round and square; they bear the lion and the dugoba, emblems of
the Andhra dynasty. The inscriptions of some are preserved.
II. GHANTASALA.--At Ghantasala is a mound 112 feet in diameter
and 23 feet in height; the excavations here disclosed the
remains of a stûpa from which the complete plan was determined.
In the centre is a solid cube of brick work 10 feet square,
enclosed in a chamber 19 feet square with walls over 3 feet in
thickness; outside this is a circular wall 3 ft. 6 inches
thick, 55 feet 10 inches in diameter, this is enclosed in
another circular brick wall 18 feet 3 inches thick, with a
diameter of 111 feet; this was the main outer wall of the
structure, the exterior surface bore a _chunam_ facing. About
the base is a raised procession path 5 feet 7 in. broad, and 4
feet 6 in. high, a projection is found at each of the cardinal
points. The inmost squares are connected by walls 2 feet 4 in.
thick, running parallel to these sides from the centre and
corners, the cells formed by the intersections of these walls
are packed with mud.
The fact that the main walls, _i.e._, those of the squares and
circles, are thicker than the others may indicate that they
were carried up to form stories, or they may have been simply
to strengthen the dome, if the exterior wall was carried up in
that form. Further excavations in the mound discovered a marble
slab carved with the Supada, a piece of a carved top rail panel
and a number of carved slabs.
When the brick work was excavated a well 6 inches square filled
with earth was found under 3 feet of solid brick work. Among
the debris, at the top, were found pieces of a broken _chatti_,
and a number of small articles, beads and a coin, which it had
probably contained. Just below these was a _chatti_ of red
earthenware, 4-1/2 in. in diameter, with a semi-circular lid,
filled with black earth. Within this was a glazed _chatti_
2-1/4 in. in diameter, and 1-3/4 in. in height. It contained
numerous leads, bits of bone, small pearls, bits of gold leaf
and small pieces of mineral.
A number of marble sculptures have been removed from the stûpa
of Ghantasala, and are now in the village. Among them are
several pieces carved with lotus flowers, and other ornaments
and inscriptions, square and circular moulded vases, a circular
base carved with horses, elephants and other animals, an
umbrella, a panel with rail and figures, and two carved slabs.
Page 124 Other remains found in and near Ghantasala are an "ancient
brass _dipa_, with a Telugu inscription and a small brass image
of Siva" now in the temple, a "small _chakra_ and a _trisula_,
each with pillar base." Brick walls and brick debris are found
all about the neighborhood, but so demolished as to make it
impossible to determine what the buildings were.
III. BHATTIPROLU.--On the report in the stûpa of Bhattiprolu, a
former letter is referred to in which an account is given of
certain inscribed caskets, and other relics found in the centre
of the dome some time before. The reports continue with the
account of further excavations by means of trenches. Those
about the exterior discovered an unbroken procession path at
the small east quadrant, the face of the dome too at this point
is intact to a height of over 5 ft. In the trenches at the
north side there was found two pieces of a marble umbrella,
having a curve of a radius of 1 foot 6 in., a small piece of a
pilaster base from a slab, a pilaster capital with horses and
riders, and the half of what had been a large slab carved with
the lower portion of a draped figure.
At some distance from the basement, or procession path, the
remains of six marble bases of the rail were found standing in
position--they are 1 ft. 11., by 12 in., by 1 ft. 10 in., in
height, spaced by a distance of 1 ft. 7 in. in each, they are
sunk 1 ft. 6 in. below the brick floor, and rest on a broad
marble slab.
A large number of ancient sites and mounds were examined in the
neighborhood of Repalle. At _Anantaiarum, Buddhâní, Chandavôlu_
and _Puapuâ_. Considerable surface has been excavated for
various purposes; the earth, a kind of black mud, is found to
be thickly mixed with broken pottery and bones of animals;
occasionally a pillar or other building stone is turned up. At
Môrakûru, copper, lead and rarely gold and silver coins are
found mixed with the broken pottery.
At _Krudarnudi, Maudura, Mûlpûrn_ and _Periarli_, mounds were
examined, the earth was found to consist of black mud mixed
with pottery and ashes. The mounds differ only in extent, and
portions of several have been removed.
BHATTIPROLU.--A BUDDHIST STUPA.--Mr. Rea during last season
examined the remains of a stûpa at Bhattiprolu in the Kistna
district, the marble casing of which had been used by the Canal
engineers; and in it he has made discoveries of very
considerable interest.
He found the stûpa had been a solid brick building 132 feet in
diameter, surrounded by a procession path about eight feet
wide. It must thus have been of very nearly the dimensions of
the Amaravati stûpa. Fragments or chips only of the outer
Page 125 casing of marble were found in the area he excavated. When the
dome and portions of the drum had been previously demolished
for the materials, inside the dome there was found "a casket
made of six small slabs of stone dove-tailed into one another,
measuring about 2-1/2 feet by 1-1/2 by 1 foot; inside this was
a clay _chatti_ containing a neat soap-stone casket, which
enclosed a crystal phial. In this latter was a pearl, a few
little bits of gold leaf, and some ashes." Mr. Rea considered
that there might still be another deposit of relics; and having
discovered the centre of the original brickwork, he found there
a shaft or well 9-1/2 inches in diameter filled with earth,
which went down about 15 feet. Following this he found at one
side near the bottom a stone box about 11 inches by 8 and 5
inches deep, with an inscription round the upper lip. Inside
was a small globular blackstone relic casket, two small
hemipsherical metal cups a little over an inch in diameter,
with a gold bead on the apex of one, and the bead (fallen out)
of the other; another small bead, two double pearls, also four
gold lotus flowers 1.2 inch in diameter, two _trisulas_ in thin
plates 1.2 by 1 inch, seven triangular bits of gold, a single
and a double gold bead--the weight of these gold articles being
about 148 grains. There was also a hexagonal crystal 2.56
inches long by 0.88 inch in diameter, pierced along the axis,
and with an inscription lightly traced on the sides. The stone
relic casket measures 4-1/2 inches each way, the lid fitting on
with a groove, and it contained a cylindric crystal phial 2-1/2
inches in diameter and 1-1/4 inches high, moulded on the sides
and flat on top and bottom; the lid fitted in the same way as
that of the casket. Inside was a flattish piece of
bone--possibly of the skull--and under the phial were nine
small lotus flowers in gold leaf; six gold beads and eight
small ones; four small lotus flowers of thin copper; nineteen
small pierced pearls; one bluish crystal bead; and twenty-four
small coins in a light coloured metal, possibly brass, smooth
on one side and with lotus flowers, _trisulas_, feet, &c., on
the obverse. These had been arranged on the bottom and attached
in the form of a _svastika_.
Two and a half feet below this was a second deposit on the
opposite or north side of the shaft. The central area of the
cover, in this case, has an inscription in nineteen lines with
two lines round it--the letters being filled in with white. In
the lower stone was a receptacle 6-1/4 inches deep, by 7-1/2 in
diameter, having a raised rim 1-1/2 inches broad, bearing
another inscription of two lines on the upper surface--the
letters also filled in with lime. The cavity was nearly filled
with earth, and contained a phial 1-5/8 inches in diameter and
2-3/4 inches high, with a lid moulded like a _dagoba_. The
Page 126 phial and lid were lying separate, and there was no sign of a
relic. Mixed with the earth were 164 lotus leaves and buds, two
circular flowers, a trisula and a three-armed figure like a
_svastika_, all in gold leaf, two gold stems for lotus flowers,
six gold beads, and a small gold ring--weighing, collectively,
about 310 grains; also two pearls, a garnet, six coral beads, a
bluish, flat, oval bead, a white crystal bead, two greenish,
flat, six-sided crystal drops, a number of bits of corroded
copper leaf in the shape of lotus flowers, a minute umbrella,
and some folded pieces about 2 inches by 1-3/8, showing traces
of letters or symbols pricked upon them with a metal point, but
too corroded to permit of unfolding or decipherment.
Next, at a slightly lower level on the east side of the shaft,
he came upon a third black stone cover, with an inscription of
eight lines cut on the under surface in a sunk, circular area
in the centre. The lower stone again bears an inscription round
the rim of the cavity in one line--the letters being whitened.
The receptacle was 5-3/4 inches deep, 7-1/2 wide at the top,
and 5 at the bottom. It was also nearly filled with earth, and
contained a crystal phial similar to that in the second, the
lid lying apart; but close to it was the relic casket, perhaps
of chrysolite, less than half an inch each way by
three-eighths, in which is drilled a circular hole 0.28 inch in
diameter, closed by a small, white crystal stopper with
hexagonal top. The neck is covered with gold leaf, and a sheet
of the same was fixed outside to the bottom. This unique casket
contains three small pieces of bone. With it were found a
bluish bead 5/8 inch long, a smaller one, and one of yellow
crystal, a small hexagonal crystal drop, slightly yellowish in
colour, a flat one of white crystal, a bone bead, six pearls,
thirty-two seed pearls--all pierced, thirty lotus flowers, a
quatrefoil, and a small figure of gold leaf.
The alphabet of the inscriptions presents features of peculiar
interest, which I leave to be discussed by Prof. Bühler.--Jas.
Burgess in _Acad._ May 21.
N.B.--Further details are given under the headings "_New
variety of Maurya inscriptions_", and also under "_Buddhist
Stupas in the Kistna district._"
GAUHATI.--ASSAM.--Mr. Joseph Chunder Dutt has reprinted from
the _Indian Nation_ (Calcutta) an account of an archægeological
visit to Gauhati, the ancient capital of Assam. The temples,
&c., he describes mostly date only from the eighteenth century,
as is shown by the inscriptions which he is careful to quote.
There are, however, many ruins of older buildings and fragments
of sculpture, which would perhaps repay more detailed
examination. The destruction of some of these is due to the
misdirected activity of British engineers.--_Academy_, Feb. 6.
Page 127
PANJAB.--REMAINS OF ANCIENT BUDDHIST TEMPLES.--The _Journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society_ for October, 1892, contains a note
in "Ancient remains of Temples on the Bannu Frontier," an
unfrequented part of the Panjab. The ruins of two temples stand
on a hillock rising from the Indus. The tradition with regard
to them is that the Paridwas retired here to spend twelve years
of exile after being defeated by the Kerwá. A short distance
from these ruins is the site of a third temple now completely
demolished. This temple was completely demolished. This temple
was built of bricks of light pressed (?) clay about 12x9x3
inches in size. On breaking some of the bricks they were found
to bear distinctly the impression of tree leaves, and brought
under the influence of a petrifying spring which exists not far
from the spot.
The remains are undoubtedly of great antiquity, and appears to
have been Buddhist temples of the tall, conical kind. Their
Buddhistic origin is made certain by the eight-leafed lotus
ornaments which characterize the carvings.
THIBET.
Mr. Rockhill, who made himself so well-known by his first
expedition to Thibet, is at present engaged in a second
journey, in the hope of this time reaching the capital Lhassa.
The Duke of Orleans and his companion have already published
the results of their journey undertaken shortly after Mr.
Rockhill's first.
CHINA.
THE GAME OF WEI-CHI.--At a meeting in Shanghai of the Chinese
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, M. Volpicelli read a paper
on "The Game of Wei-Chi," the greatest game of the Chinese,
especially with the literary class and ranked by them superior
to chess. Like chess, this game is of a general military and
mathematical character, but is on a much more extensive scale,
the board containing 361 places and employing nearly 200 men on
a side. All of the men, however, have the same value and
powers.
The object is to command as many places on the board as
possible--this may be done by enclosing empty spaces or by
surrounding the enemy's men. Very close calculation is always
essential in order that a loss in one region may be met by
gains in another, thus employing skillful strategy when the
contestants are evenly matched. The game has come down from
great antiquity, being first mentioned in Chinese writings
Page 128 about B.C. 625. It was in all probability introduced by the
Babylonian astronomers who were at that time the instructors of
all the East.--_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1892, p.
421.
CENTRAL ASIA.
EXPEDITION OF M. DUTREUIL DE RHINS.--The _Académie des
Inscriptions_ sent M. Dutreuil de Rhins some time since on an
archæological expedition to Further Asia. Beside the income of
the Gamier fund previously accorded to him for the purpose, it
has accorded him a grant of 30,000 francs. The last news from
him was a report.--_Chron. des Arts_, 1892, No. 22.
THE ORKHON INSCRIPTIONS.--We quote from the _Times_ the
following report of two papers read before the Oriental
Congress, in the section of China and the Far East:
"A paper was contributed by Mr. E. Delmar Morgan on 'The
Results of the Russian Archæological Researches in the Basin of
the Orkhon in Mongolia.' Mr. Morgan drew attention to a
splendid atlas of plates presented to the Congress by Dr.
Radlof, of St. Petersburg, containing photographs and
facsimiles of inscriptions copied by the members of the
archæological expedition sent by the Imperial Academy of
Sciences to investigate the ruins on the Orkhon. These ruins
comprise (1) the remains of an ancient Uighur town west of the
Orkhon, (2) the ruins of a Mongol palace to the east of that
river, and a large granite monument shattered into pieces.
Excavations were also made of the burial places of the Khans of
the Tukiu or Turks inhabiting this part of Asia previously to
the Uighurs, who drove them out. The earliest inscription dates
from 732 A.D.., and refers to a brother of the Khan of the
Tukiu mentioned in Chinese history. Additional interest
attaches to these inscriptions owing to the fact that some of
the characters are identical with those discovered on the
Yenissei. The expedition to which the paper referred visited
the monastery of Erdenitsu, and found there a number of stones
with inscriptions in Mongol, Tibetan, and Persian, brought from
the ruins of a town not far off. These ruins have been
identified with Karakoram, the capital city of the first Khans
of the dynasty of Jenghiz Khan.