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I have also generally retained the spelling of the map, though it certamnly is not in all instances correct, 152 THE TOPE AT AMRAVATI. here, but, so far as I can ascertain, ‘all over the south of India as far as Uape Comorin. ¢ We are still very far indeed from any such knowledge of the modes of sepul- ture among the aborigines, as to be able to. speak regarding them with anything like certainty. Ample materials, however, exist in India, and so soon as anyone will take. tlie trouble to. collect and classify them, we shall from their graves be able to dis- criminate between the different races, and assign to each its proper locality with a precision now entirely wanting to such tesearches. Nothing of the sort can of course be attempted here, but one curious feature may be alluded to, as it has not yet been suspected by European antiquaries; it is, that these rude megalithic monuments are of all ages; some no doubt of extreme antiquity, but many others of quite recent date; many, in fact, have been erected within the limits of this century, and it is not possible, either from their design or their form, to distinguish between those which are really old and those which are quite modern. In the meanwhile, how- _ ever, I may be allowed to state that, to my mind, it does not appear doubtful but that the great Rail of the Amravati Tope is a Hindu sublimation of these Dasyu models, though we are still unable to trace the various steps by which so wonderful a transformation took place. Besides these antiquities in the immediate vicinity of the town, there is a very extensive excavation near Datchapully, forty miles westward, covered with sculpture in a most masterly style, and another on the road leading from the river to ‘the - pagoda of Srichallum, ten miles further on. There seems also to be a four-storied cavern at Oondavully in Guntur, and another series in the’ Ellore districts, at a place called Jilkaragoodum. All these, however, are quite unknown to Europeans, though, if carefully examined, they would probably prove as interesting | as the better known Cawves of Western India.* * The following curious memorandum, in a clerk’s handwriting, is pasted into one of Colonel Mackenzie’s volumes with some pencil marks of his own. I fancy it belongs to 1798, though that date on it is erased. Speaking of the Amravati sculptures, he says, “ The most curious and most complete is to be found further on “ (from the Dipaldinna), close to the outside walls of the Pagoda enclosure, on the south, and going towards - “the river. Here is a small Pagoda of the Lingam, formed by three rough stones or slabs set on end and © “ covered on the top by another placed transversely” (exactly like Kits Coty House, as shown by a little sketch on the margin). “On this stone is represented the escalade of a fort, a figure ascending a ladder, another * from a turret on the walls shooting an arrow. Before the gate of the place a figure with a round shield “ prostrating himself before a chief seated on an elephant, and followed by others on horses, bullocks, &c., “ The whole forms a group in a very different style from anything observed anywhere else in this country ; “ and as the attitudes, pr ofiles, &c., differ from the common Hindu style, a correct drawing would be desirable.” This apparently was never made, andthe slab is not in the Museum collection. The description reads — almost as if intended for the Sanchi (Plate XXX VIII.), but the scaling ladder is an addition to the siege materiel there represented, CHAPTER II. History oF MonvuMENTS. So much of the interest and the value.of the sculptures at Amravati depends on the age that may be assigned to them, that it is very desirable, in so far as it is possible, to fix the date to which they belong. In the present state of our know- ledge this cannot be done with absolute certainty; first, because none of the inscrip- tions bear dates, nor, with one doubtful exception,* do any contain names that can be recognized as those of historical personages; next, no history or reliable tradition mentions the place by name, with either a date or the founder’s name attached to it. A considerable degree of vagueness also prevails, and always must, because the buildings are not all of one age, but certainly extended through one, it may be through two or even three centuries. Notwithstanding all this, their date may, I believe, be fixed with fair approximate certainty, quite sufficient for our present purposes. . Taking, in the first instance, the architecture of the Sanchi Tope as the base of our argument, no one I think can examine the two without seeing that considerable | progress had been achieved between the erection of the two monuments. According | to the Indian chronometric scale, I would value the interval as at least two or three centuries, taking the sculptures of the great outer Rail at Amravati as the base for comparison with those of the Gateways at Sanchi. On the’ other hand, if we turn to the temples at BhuvaneSvar in Cuttack, which dates from 657 a.D., we feel that we have passed into a new and much more modern architectural world. The question is, to determine where between these two poles lies the epoch of the execution of the principal parts of the Amravati monument. There seems, however, no difficulty with regard to a final date before which it must have been erected. When Hiouen Thsang visited “ Dhanakacheka,” about the year 640, he describes the principal monument in the following terms, from which I quote at length because of the many interesting points the description contains :— Un ancien roi de ce royaume Vavait construit en ’honneur du Bouddha et y avait * déployé toute la magnificence des palais de Ta-hia (de la Bactriane). Les bois “ touffus dont il était entouré, et une multitude des fontaines jaillissantes, en faisaient “ un séjour enchanteur, Ce couvent était protégé par les esprits du ciel, et les sages -* et les saints aimaient.& s’y promener et & y habiter. Pendant lespace des mille * This is the name of the Andhra king Yajnagri, read doubtfully on a fragment of an inscription copied by Colonel Mackenzie and reproduced, Plate XCIX. No. IX. This king was most probably the Yue-gnai of the Chinese, who we learn from Des Guignes was a zealous Buddhist, and is stated to have sent ambassadors to China in the year 408, If it really is this king who is mentioned in the inscription, his date would perfectly accord with all we learn from other circumstances. His coins and those of Gotamiputra are said to have been found in quantities in and about Amravati. (4799.) U 154 | THE TOPE AT AMRAVATI. a n ans qui ont suivi le Nirvana du Bouddha, on voyait constamment un millier de laiques et de religieux qui venaient ensemble y passer le temps de la retraite pen- * dant la saison des pluies. Mille ans aprés (le ‘ Nirvana’) les hommes du siécle et les sages vinrent y demeurer ensemble. Mais- depuis une centaine d’années les esprits des montagnes ont changé ‘de sentiments et font -éclater sans cesse leur violence et leur colére. Les voyageurs justement effrayés n’osent plus aller dans ce couvent. C’est pour cela qu’aujourd’hui il est i ea désert, et lon n’ “y “ voit plus ni religieux ni novices.”* Before applying this. description, the first point necessary to establish is, that Amravati is: really the place of which Hiouen Thsang was speaking. The name he gives is of some value for this purpose, for Dhanakacheka is as like the modern Durnacotta or Dharanikotta as we can well expect a name to be after the corruptions of twelve centuries, and Avarasilé for the name of the monastery may also be considered aszindicating Msmaresvara. Such nominal similarities are hardly sufficient in such a case as this; but if General Cunningham’s reading of the inscription, No. XX. Appendix E., is correct, which I see no reason whatever for doubting, this alone would suffice to settle the question. The slab on which it is found formed part. of the inner Rail, and is stated to be a gift to the Mahé Chaitya of Dhankakata. Another proof is found in his route, as described by the traveller himself, which even taken alone would suffice for the purpose. After leaving Orissa he reaches Kalinga,— the Kalinga-pattana of the present day,—a well- known spot on the coast. From: this he diverges 1,800 li in a north-west direction, say .260 miles, to Koéala, the southern country of. that name. This must have brought him either to Wyraghur or Chanda, or more: probably to Bhuddrack, between Chanda and Hinghenghat, where there are extensive ruins; all these were important places in ancient times in the Nagpore territories. The distance quoted would not take him so far as Nagpore, but it might to Nirmul, which offers many points that render it probable it may be the place indicated.+' In his next stage he retraces his steps to the south-east, and reaches a place which it can hardly be doubted was Warangal, the capital of Venga or Ping-ki-lo. Thence he journeys 41,000 li in a southern direction (143 miles) to Dhanakacheka.t The distance and direction both agree as closely as any of those given in his travels with what we find in our faodenn: maps. The coincidence is indeed so close as to _leave it hardly open to doubt but that this is the place indicated, ‘even if the nominal similarity were not in itself sufficient. a n“ n n an n a n ”“ n With regard to the date, I am afraid that very little reliance can be placed on the 1,000 years twice mentioned in the passage quoted above from Hiouen Thsang. First, because he is evidently speaking loosely and in round, numbers; but more because we cannot feel sure when he placed the Nirvana. If we assume the Ceylonese date try * Histoire de Hicuck Thsang, 188.