1835.] An ancient City in the Nipalese Tardi. 123 



when the jungle is at its barest state, the form and extent of the city 

 may be distinctly traced. From his communications, and from my 

 own observations, I gather that the form of the city is a parallelogram, 

 surrounded by an outer and an inner wall, the former of unburnt, the 

 latter of burnt, brick — the one having a compass of seven cos, and the 

 other, of about five cos. 



On the eastern side, six or seven wet ditches may still be traced, 

 outside the pakka wall, and three or four on the western side. The 

 Isra reservoir or tank is still perfect. It is 333 paces along each 

 greater, and 210 along each shorter, face ; and its containing walls or 

 sides consist of the finest burnt bricks, each of which is a cubit square, 

 and nearly a maund in weight. 50 to 60 yards of causeway, con- 

 structed of similar bricks or tiles, are yet entire in the neighbour- 

 hood of the palace ; and vestiges of the same causeway, traceable at 

 other points, indicate that all the streets of the city were of this careful 

 and expensive structure. The remains of the palace, of the citadel, and 

 of the temple of the tutelary goddess, exhibit finely carved stone 

 basements, with superstructures of the same beautifully moulded and 

 polished bricks for which the temples and palaces of the valley of Ne- 

 pal are so justly celebrated. I measured some of the basement stones, 

 and found them each 5 feet long by 1^ broad and deep : and yet these 

 blocks must have been brought from a distance of 25 miles at least, and 

 over the lesser range of hills ; for, till you come to the second or 

 mountainous and rocky range, no such material is to be had. 



Some twenty idols, extricated fron the ruins by the pious labour of 

 a Gosain, are made of stone, and are superior in sculpture to modern 

 specimens of the art. Many of them are much mutilated ; and of 

 those which are perfect, I had only time to observe that they bore 

 the ordinary attributes of Puranic Brahmanism. Not a single in- 

 scription has yet been discovered : but wherefore speak of discovery 

 where there has been no search ? I noticed four or five pakka wells 

 round, and each having a breast- work about three feet above the ground, 

 similar precisely to the wells of this valley. 



What I have called the citadel is styled on the spot the Kotwdli 

 Choutara, and my palace is the Rdni-bds. The latter has a very cen- 

 tral position. The Kotwali Choutara is in the northern quarter ; and 

 the great tank, called Isra Pokra, is about f of a mile from the north- 

 east corner of the city wall. As already mentioned, the last is still 

 complete : the two former exist only as tumuli, some 20 to 25 feet 

 high ; and more or less coated with earth and trees. 



Hindu tradition, eked out by a couple of Sanscrit slokas, copy of 

 which I subjoin, asserts that Simroun was founded by Nanyupa De'va, 



R 2 



