562 On the Colossal Idols of Bamidn. [Nov. 
Bamian is subject to Cabul, and would appear to be a place of high 
antiquity ; itis perhaps the city which ALexaNnpzER founded at the base of 
Paropamisus before entering Bactria. The country indeed from Ca- 
bul to Balkh is yet styled ‘ Bakhtar-zamin,’ or the Bakhtar coun- 
try. The name of Bamidin is said to be derived from its elevation, 
‘ Bam,’ signifying balcony, and the affix ‘ian,’ country. It may be 
so called from the caves rising over one another in the rock. 
There are no reliques of Asiatic antiquity which have more roused the 
curiosity of the learned than the colossal idols of Bamian. Itis fortunately 
in my power to present a drawing of these images. They consist of two 
figures, a male and a female; the one named Sarsat, the other Suaw 
Mama. The figures are cut in alto relievo in the face of the hill, 
and represent two colossal images. The male is the largest of the two, 
and about 120 feet high. It occupies a front of 70 feet, and the niche 
in which it is excavated extends about that depth into the hill. This 
idol is mutilated, both legs having been fractured by cannon, and the 
countenance above the mouth is destroyed. The lips are very large, 
the ears long and pendent, and there appears to have been a tiara on 
the head. The figure is covered by a mantle, which hangs over it in 
all parts, and seems to have been formed of a kind of plaster, and the 
image has been studded in various places with wooden pins to assist in 
fixing it. The figure itself is without symmetry, and there is no ele- 
gance in the drapery. The hands which held out the mantle have been 
both broken. 
The female figure is more perfect than the male, and has been 
dressed in the same manner. It is cut out of the same hill, at the 
distance of 200 yards, but is not half the size. One couldnot discover 
that her ladyship was not a brother or a son of the twin colossus, but 
for the information of the natives. The drawing which is attached 
will convey better notions of these idols than a more elaborate de- 
scription. The square and arched apertures which appear in the 
plate represent the entrance of the different caves or excavations, and 
through these there is a road which leads up to the summit of both 
the images. In the lower caves the caravans to and from Cabul 
generally halt, and the upper ones are used as granaries by the com- 
munity. 
Ihave now to note the most remarkable curiosity in the idols of 
Bamiin. The niches of both have been at one time plastered and or- 
namented with paintings of human figures, which have now disappeared 
from all parts but that immediately over the heads of the idols. Here 
the colours are as vivid and the paintings as distinct as in the Egyp- 
