1874.] A.Cunningham — The Archcdolo^ical Stirvei/ of lS7o-7 i. Ill 



plays a prominent part. The earrings are mostly of one curious massive 

 pattern which is common to both men and women. The ankds, or elephant 

 goad, was also a favourite ornament, which is placed at intervals in the long 

 necklaces of ladies. 



At each of the four entrances the corner pillars bore statues, each 4-| 

 feet in height, of YaksTias and Yakshinis and of Ndga Rajas, to whom the 

 guardianship of the gates was entrusted. Thus at the northern gate there 

 are two male figures and one female, which are respectively labelled Ajakd- 

 laka YahhOj Kuj^iro Yakho, and Chadd YakM, that 'Is, the Yakshas named 

 AJakdlaha and Kupira and the Yakshini Gliandd. Other Yakshas are 

 named Suviloma, Virudaha and Gangito, and a second Yakshini is labelled 

 Yalchini Sudasana, On two other pillars there are male figures, each with 

 a hood canopy of five snakes' heads and each labelled Nag a Raja. These 

 have their arms crossed upon their breasts in an attitude of devotion appro- 

 priate to their appearance on a Buddhist building. On two middle pillars 

 there are two female statues respectively labelled Chukaloha Devatd and 

 Sirimd Devatd whom I take to be goddesses. 



Amongst the scenes represented there are upwards of a dozen of 

 the Buddhist legends called Jdtakas, all of which relate to the former births 

 of Buddha. Luckily these also have their appropriate inscriptions, or 

 descriptive labels, without which I am afraid that their identification would 

 hardly have been possible. Amongst these Jdtakas are the following : 



(1.) — Hansa Jdtaha, or " Groose-birth," of which the only portion now- 

 remaining below the inscription is the expanded tail of a peacock, which 

 must therefore have played some part in the story. 



(2.) — Kinara Jdtaka. The Kinaras were a kind of demi-gods. Here 

 two of them, male and female, are represented, with human heads and clad 

 in leaves, standing before some human personage who is seated. The assign- 

 ment of horses' heads to the Kinaras must therefore belong to a later date. 



(3.)- — Miga Jdtaka, or the well known legend of the "Deer," in 

 Sanskrit Mriga, I call it a deer and not an antelope, as is generally 

 understood, because all the animals in this bas-relief are represented with 

 antlers. The king of Kasi is seen aiming an arrow at the King of the 

 Deer (Buddha). 



(4.) — 3IagM-Deviya Jdtakam, or " Magha Devi-birth," I know no- 

 thing of this story. 



(5.) — Yava MdjJiakigam Jdtakam. This title means literally the 

 " mean or average amount of food," which was attained by daily increasing 

 the quantity with the waxing moon and decreasing it with the waning 

 moon. I know nothing of the story, but the bas-relief shows a king seated 

 with baskets of grain (?) before him, each bearing a stamp or medallion of a 

 human head. To the left some men are bringing other baskets. Barley 

 (yava) would appear to have been the principal food in those days. 



