18G7.] On tlie Antiquities of MdmpUri. 165 



is composed, as before stated, of surface (here " saltpetre") earth. 

 Hence the mass of mud is gradually disappearing, being dug out and 

 taken away by the villagers to manure their poppy crops, and thus 

 in the course of time the whole of the upper mound will be levelled. 

 But, although there are no remains " in situ," there are plenty 

 around the large well-mouths and scattered throughout the village, 

 and I subjoin a small sheet of illustrations (Plate VII.) to shew that 

 there must have been in later Buddhist or early Hindu times, a 

 building of some pretensions on this spot. Here too I observed for 

 the first time, kankar blocks, with the main lines of the carving sunk 

 deeply in them, and the whole face of the stone covered with fine lime 

 plaister which was admirably moulded. 



The patterns thus produced abounded in curved lines, an illustra- 

 tion of which is given in Fig. 3 ; they resemble those used in the 

 temple at Malaun (distant perhaps twelve miles) and in the " chaitya" 

 at Anjani, two or three miles distant. 



The whole country appears covered with kheras, upon which many 

 of the villages are built, and my own house here stands on one. So 

 that I hope to discover many more sites of ancient buildings, the 

 remains of a very thickly populated Buddhist state. 



Thdkurd. Leaving Karimganj to the west and proceeding clue 

 Cast over the large " jh.il" or marsh and some barren sand hills for 

 about If- miles, one comes to Thakura village, on the farther side 

 of which, under some noble trees are the remains of an early Hindu 

 temple. 



These remains, some illustrations of which accompany, (Plate VI.) 

 are curious principally as shewing how the Hindus adopted the 

 Buddhist forms of ornament, and gradually changed them until the 

 ancient style was lost or blended with the more corrupt modern 

 One. 



The material used throughout appears to have been block kankar, 

 which is a most intractable stone, being much like a solid sponge, and 

 the people deserve great credit for the way in which they have worked 

 it. It is I believe softer when first dug than it afterwards becomes. 

 The people of this village were very ignorant, and as they had a 

 lurking reverence for the stones I brought none away. 



The drawings on the plate may be thus described. 



