58 Address. [Feb. 



Journals of the Asiatic .Society of Bengal, the Royal Asiatic Society of 

 Qreat Britain, bhe Indian Antiquary, &c, It serves the useful object not 

 only of putting on record a complete list, so far as they are known, of the 

 antiquities and epigraphs of each district, but also of furnishing general 

 information for the guidance of those who may have the wish and the 

 leisure to interest themselves in the character and history of the places 

 in which they live. 



Transfer of the Behar Collection of Buddhist remains to the Indian 

 If urn. — A very important collection of Buddhist and other Indian 

 remains was made some years ago by Mr. Broadley, then subdivisional 

 officer of Behar in the district of Patna. This is the country, formerly 

 knows as Magadha, in which the Buddha lived and preached, and which 

 is associated in the closest way with the origines of Buddhism. A 

 suggestion having been made that the collection should be transferred 

 to Bodh Graya, the Trustees of the Indian Museum appointed a Com- 

 mittee to consider the question. The Committee in the first instance 

 deputed Babu Purna Chandra Mukharjea, an archaeologist who had been 

 recommended to their notice, to proceed to Behar and make a catalogue 

 and descriptive list of the objects forming the collection. From his 

 report it was abundantly manifest, in the first place, that the collection, 

 the Buddhistic portion of which Dr. Burgess had described as the 

 largest in India, was of rare interest and value to the historical student; 

 and in the second, that it was exposed to serious risk from neglect and 

 mischief, from the action of the weather, and from depredations, which 

 had already wrought deplorable havoc. The Committee therefore strong- 

 ly recommended that the collection should be preserved from further 

 injury by being transferred to the Indian Museum. On a representa- 

 tion being made to him, Sir Charles Elliott, the Lieutenant-Governor of 

 Bengal, generously promised a grant of Rs. 5,000, partly to defray the 

 cost of transporting the collection to Calcutta, and setting it up in the 

 Museum, and partly to provide for the prosecution of further researches 

 by Babu P, C. Mukharjea at Rajgir and Barragaon, two places in the 

 neighbourhood, which are no other, if Genl. Cunningham's identification 

 lie accepted, than Rajagriha and Nalanda, so well-known in connexion 

 with the history of Gautama Buddha. The Balm's report showed 

 how full these places were of remains of the highest interest, what 

 damage had been done to them by the action of the climate and of men, 

 and how desirable it was both to preserve permanent records of them, 

 and to keep them from further decay. It is a matter of congratulation 

 that, thanks to the Liberality of the Lieutenant-Governor, this valuable 

 collection of over 600 sculptures, Buddhistic and Brahmanioal, is now 

 housed in the Indian Museum, where if is not only secure from 



