10 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XV, 
State in Rajputana in respect to archaeological monuments, 
and this chiefly on account of scarcity of stone, the results of 
the exploration have so far been encouraging and remunerative. 
The most important discovery was made in the northern part 
of the State where, along the dry bed of the Ghagghar, a very 
interesting archaeological field was traced and Buddhist relics 
were found referable to the period of the celebrated Gandhara 
school. But this find falls within the sphere of archaeology 
proper, and I cannot deal with it-here. With reference to the 
history of Rajputana and of Bikaner, the most noteworthy re- 
sults of the exploration were obtained from the devalis. The 
the name of the Chiefs who ruled over the country and the dates 
of their death. Unfortunately, many of the oldest inscriptions, 
instead of lasting as long as the sun and the moon, have b 
completely cancelled by the secular action of the sand blown 
against them by the winds of the desert, and other important 
devalis have been lost or utilized for building purposes, and 
therefore a great part of the information contained in the 
devali inscriptions is lost for us to-day. : 
oe 
Naturally, the oldest devalis are also the most interesting. 
gw 
dated in the year Samvat 1191. The information supplied 
by the inscriptions on these devalis is new and very interest- 
ing. They all refer to Chikanas, a Rajput tribe now gener- 
ally considered to be a subdivision of the Bhatis, and contain 
sufficient evidence to show that between the later half of the 
Samvat century 1100 and the earlier half of the Samvat 
century 1200, a family of Chikanas ruled over Bhadalé and the 
adjoining villages with the hereditary title of ranas. 
Next to the above-mentioned find in importance comes the 
discovery of a group of Mohila devalis at Chapara, a village 
about 70 miles east south-east of Bikaner. These are dated in 
