1862.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 301 



ant-Governor of the N. W. Provinces has placed at the disposal of 

 the Society : — 



At the close of 1860, Mr. Best, the then Collector of Muttra, in 

 levelling a site for the new cuteherry at that station, cleared away a 

 portion of a large earthen mound. It soon appeared that this mound 

 covered the ruins of a large building which had, at a very early 

 period, been levelled, and above which had been built a Musjid of 

 some antiquity which in its turn had been blown up for Military 

 reasons during the mutiny. The mound, which is pretty extensive, 

 is situated at the entrance of the station, from the main road lead- 

 ing from the city of Muttra to Agra. 



Mr. Best had not the means at his command to complete the in- 

 vestigation of the ruins. Nor has any attempt been made to ascer- 

 tain the ground plan of the original building, but the mound was 

 trenched throughout, and a number of statues, cornices, bas-relievos 

 and pillars have been discovered. 



These are all more or less mutilated, and appear to be of varying 

 antiquity. It is probable, therefore, that the building passed through 

 stages of decay, repair and additions before its final destruction. 

 One piece of stone indeed, which originally appears to have formed 

 part of a sculptured drain pipe, has evidently been subsequently 

 made to do duty as part of a stone-ladder, and the ruthless hands 

 which fitted it for the latter purpose, have unfortunately hacked 

 away a great portion of a very interesting inscription which it origin- 

 ally bore. 



It is indeed on account of "the numerous inscriptions which these 

 sculptures bear that they are chiefly valuable. Their execution is 

 not of a very high order, and the coarse material of which they are 

 composed, the common red sand-stone of the neighbouring quarries, 

 is not favourable to any great degree of perfection in plastic art. 

 They are all, however, of a Buddhist character, and the inscriptions 

 add their testimony to this effect. 



Colonel Cunningham, who visited Muttra shortly after their dis- 

 covery, in company with the Lieutenant-Governor, immediately re- 

 cognised the value of the discovery, and at his recommendation 

 measures were taken to preserve what was discovered. He copied 

 the inscriptions, and on a subsequent visit to the place, I also did so 

 somewhat more leisurely. Our copies for the most part agree pretty 



