1834.] the Topes or Tumuli of Manikydla. 557 



not seen what had already appeared on the subject, as it would necessarily have 

 altered his views of the antiquity of the monument, if not of its origin. We hope 

 to obtain a copy of the inscriptions, which will probably be in the same dialect of 

 the Pehlevi as occurs on the cylinders. — Ed.] 



Manikydla is the name of a small village situated on the route leading 

 from Attok to Lahor. It is huilt on the ruins of a very ancient town 

 of unknown origin. The geographical position of these ruins, and 

 particularly the abundance of coins found among them, afford the 

 presumption that this city must have been the capital of all the country 

 between the Indus and the Hydaspes, a country which the ancients 

 knew by the name of Taxila, and of which frequent mention is made 

 in the history of Alexander. 



There is at Manikydla a vast and massive cupola of great antiquity. 

 It is visible at a considerable distance, having a height of about 80 feet, 

 with 310 or 320 of circumference. It is solidly built of quarried stones 

 with lime cement. The outer layer is of sandstone. In the 

 interior, the masonry is of freestone (pierre de taille), mixed with sand- 

 stone (gres) and granite ; but principally, with a shelly limestone 

 (pierre de concretions), which by its porosity resembles stalactite. Age 

 and exposure have so worn away the northern face of the edifice, that 

 it is now easy to ascend to the summit, which could not have been 

 done formerly, because there were no regular steps constructed on the 

 exterior. Its architecture is simple, and offers nothing worthy of much 

 remark. Round the circumference, near the base, is seen, in bas-relief, 

 a range of small columns, the capitals of which appear to have been 

 ornamented with ram's heads (tetes de beliers). These ornaments are 

 now scarcely perceptible on account of the wearing away of the sand- 

 stone by time. I have remarked similar ornaments at a tank situated 

 between Bimber and Serai- saiddbdd, on the road to Cashmir, and I re- 

 member observing the same kind of thing on the columns of the towns 

 at Persepolis. 



This monument is in my opinion nothing more than a tomb of some 

 ancient king of the country, or it may be the work of some conqueror 

 from Persia or Bactria, who may have raised it in memory of some 

 battle fought on the spot, intended to cover the remains of the warriors 

 who fell in the combat. This last conjecture appears the more proba- 

 ble, seeing that similar cupolas are equally remarked in the district of 

 Ravel Pindi, in the country of the Hazdris, which joins the former, 

 at Phhdvar, in the Khaiber hills, at Jeldldbdd, at Laqmdn, at Kabul, 

 and even, they say, at Bdmian : — all of them places situated on the 

 road leading from Persia, or Bactriana, into Hindustan. I have more- 

 over remarked, that the greater part of these cupolas are situated in 



