110 M. A. Stein — Archseoiogical tour with the Buner Field Force. [March, 



like the Afridis or Waziris would manifestly have been out of question. 

 I was thus able, at the expense of a good deal of hard marching and 

 climbing, to visit most of the places on either side of the main valley of 

 Buner where the information previously collected or ocular observation 

 led me to expect ancient remains. The independence I thus enjoyed 

 did yet, of course, not enable me to make up in the point of thoroughness 

 for the disadvantages arising from want of time. 



Among the objects examined in the side valleys to the north were 

 rock-cut sculptures representing f iva and other Hindu deities. They 

 were found in two places at the foot of spurs descending from Mount 

 Jim which rises on the watershed between Swat and Buner, and forms 

 a very striking feature in the landscape of both territories. 



These sculptures show that Buddhism which we know to have 

 been prevalent in these regions for so long a time, was here as elsewhere 

 in India closely associated with all popular features of the Hindu religious 

 system. In connection herewith it is a matter of interest that my 

 enquiries have shown Mount Ilm to be still a place of pilgrimage for the 

 scanty Hindu population (chiefly Khattri traders) scattered through 

 Buner and Swat. The Tlrthas visited by the pilgrims are situated close 

 to the now snow-capped summit of Mount lira. Owing to the great height 

 of the latter they could unfortunately not be reached from the nearest 

 camps at Juwar and Padshah. Curiously enough the most sacred 

 Muhammadan shrine of Buner, the Ziarat of Pir Baba Sahib, lies at. the 

 latter place, close to the foot of Ilm. Does the position of this shrine 

 presuppose — as it certainly would were it found in Kashmir, — the 

 previous existence of a popular Hindu or Buddhist place of pilgrimage 

 in the neighbourhood ? 



Bemains of stupas I found at Bhai close to Padshah and at Oirarai 

 further to the west. But the more numerous and important ruins of 

 this kind are situated in the main valley of Buner, that of the Barandti 

 river. From Bampokha down to Bajkatha in the east I traced a series 

 of such ruins, some of them having monasteries of considerable size 

 attached. Conspicuous among these remains are the great Stupa and 

 Sangharama, about Ij miles below Tursah, the largest place of modern 

 Buner. A trial excavation conducted here during the few available 

 hours with the assistance of a small party of sappers brought to light a 

 corner of the stucco-ornamented stupa-base, and showed the great depth 

 to which the original level of the several courts has been filled up with 

 masses of debris. Weeks of work would be required for the proper 

 clearing of this and similar sites. 



That Tursak was an important place also in old times is mad^ 

 evident by the numerous ruins of fortified dwelling-places on the neigh- 

 bouring heights. 



