Part 14
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
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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.
"Prof. Donner wished to present to the Congress a publication by the Société Finno-Ougrienne at Helsingfors, containing inscriptions from the valley of the Orkhon, brought home by the Finnish Expedition in 1890. There are three large monuments, the first erected 732 A.D.., by the order of the Chinese Emperor in honour of Kiuèh-Jeghin, younger brother of the Khan Page 129 of the Tukiu (Turks). On the west side it has an inscription in Chinese, speaking of the relations between the Tukiu and Chinese. The Tartar historian, Ye-lu-chi, of the thirteenth century, saw it and gave some phrases from the front of it. On all the other sides is a long inscription of 70 lines in runic characters, which cannot be a mere translation of the Chinese because it numbers about 1400 words, while the Chinese inscription contains only about 800. The other monument has also a Chinese inscription on one side, but greatly effaced. On the other sides are runic inscriptions in 77 lines at least. This monument was erected, by order of the Chinese Emperor, in honour of Mekilikn (Moguilen), Khan of the Tukiu, who died 733 A.D.. About two-thirds of its runic inscription nearly line for line contains the same as the first monument, a circumstance of importance for the true reading of the text. The third monument, which has been the largest one, was destroyed by lightning and shattered into about fifty fragments. It is trilingual--viz., Chinese, Uighur, and runic or Yenissei characters. On comparing the texts they are found to contain many identical words and forms, proving that the languages were nearly identical. M. Devéria thinks that this is the memorial stone which the Uighur Khan, 784 A.D.., placed at the gateway of his palace to record the benefits the Uighurs had done to the Chinese Empire. Concerning the characters of these inscriptions they show small modifications. The tomb inscriptions at Yenissei seem to be the more original; some characters have been altered in the Tukiu alphabet and also in the third monument, representing in that way the three several nations--the Tukiu, the Uighurs, who followed them, and the Hakas, or Khirgiz, at Yenissei. A comparison of the characters themselves with the alphabets in Asia Minor shows that about three-fourths of them are identical with the characters of the Ionian, Phrygian, and Syrian [?]. The other part has resemblances with the graphic systems of India and Central Asia. We can now expect that the deciphering of these interesting inscriptions will soon give us reliable specimens of the oldest Turk dialects."--_Academy_, Sept. 17.
SIMFEROPOL.--At Simferopol Prof. Messelowski has made the most interesting discovery of a Scythian warrior's grave, dating probably from about the second or third century. The skeleton lay on its back facing the east, on the head was a cap with gold ornaments, and little gold plates were also fixed to portions of the dress. Near the head stood two amphoræ and a leathern quiver containing copper-headed arrows. At the feet were the bones of an ox, an iron knife, four amphoraæ and some lances--these were in a very rusty condition. The quiver had a Page 130 fine gold-chased ornament upon it representing a flying eagle gripping in its talons a small animal. It is admirably worked. The skeleton itself fell to pieces immediately.--_Biblia_, Oct., 1892.