106 Description of the Ancient [March, 



Sen was the second brother of Raja Yudhisthira, or Judisthir, 

 (Shakespear's Hindoo Dictionary, page 149, of the year 1817,) whom 

 Kishn or Bishn protected ; now Krishna, the Apollo of the Hindoos, 

 appears from page 599 to have lived, according to Colonel Wilford, 

 about 1300 years before Christ. 



It is said to be the staff, with which he ground his bhang, and 

 that the bundi or vessel in which the bhang was ground, was thrown 

 into the Jumna on our taking possession of the fort. It is reported that 

 this pillar was formerly standing near to its present position inthe circular 

 ring facing the gateway on the inside of this fort, and that it was taken 

 down on the Fort undergoing alterations, which appears to have occur- 

 red in the 44th year of the reign of Shah Aulum, when the plan 

 of the fort is stated to have been altered by the English ; [see page 

 34 of Shakespear's Hindustani Selections from the Kheldsat-ul-taiva- 

 rikh, or Abridgment of History ;] Shah Aulum the second, came to the 

 throne in A. D. 1761 (Hamilton's India, volume I. p. 410) so that by 

 adding 43 years we shall bring the date of the transfer up to 1804, r 

 which was then the period of alteration of the Fort, and as is reported, 

 of pulling down the pillar, but I have lately heard that this took place 

 in 1798 or 99. 



The capital of the column (shewn in the accompanying drawings) appears 

 to have formerly borne a four-footed animal sitting upon it, and the slight 

 traces remaining have the appearance of the Bull which is generally at- 

 tendant upon Mahadeva. The animal mast have been evidently " cou- 

 chant," for the remains of the body as well as of the legs are connected 

 to the stone itself. 



The capital has a circular hole in it, probably to allow of the entrance 

 of a point bar for fixing it on the top of the shaft, in the centre of which 

 a similar hole is cut for that purpose. 



The base of the shaft has a couple of projections similar to the trun- 

 nions of a piece of ordnance, intended probably as a place of fixture for 

 the ropes which might be used in erecting it, or otherwise as a hold 

 when built into its bed of masonry. 



Taking the specific gravity of the block at less than that of marble 

 and hard stone, 2.650, the weight of it will be found on calculation to be 

 about 17 tons, 12 cwt. or 493 mans. 



It is to be regretted that so handsome a column should be allowed to 

 lie as it now does " unnoticed and unknown," when the outlay of about 

 two thousand rupees would place it upon a neat pedestal in a more ap- 

 propriate position, as it is represented to have stood formerly in the sketch 

 in the Asiatic Researches. The pedestal should of course be constructed 

 entirely after the native method of architecture, and have nothing Eu- 



