1835.] Asiatic Society. 181 



them. To the greater number I could give names, but one insignificant head, 

 much injured, struck me as having the composed sleep-like appearance of the 

 Buddhist sculptures. This induced me to make some inquiries, and I soon 

 heard that in a hill two miles off there was a cavern, and on reaching it 

 I found an excavation consisting of three parts, the principal of which 

 penetrated 20 paces into the rock, but was narrow in proportion to its 

 length. In a small apartment at its extremity was a sitting Bauddha 

 figure, six feet high. The passage was arched with several recesses on 

 each side, and near the entrance, the two other portions of the temple 

 extended 10 paces into the rock, like the arms of a cross, and were in 

 every respect similar. A rude outline of Buddha could he traced on the 

 rock, where it was smoothed away on each side of the mouth of the cavern. 

 There was a figure of Durga inside the temple, and one at the door, on 

 separate pieces of stone, and of modern appearance. The small head 

 which first attracted my attention was found amongst the rubbish of a 

 ruined temple, which some Jain Banians in the town were engaged in 

 removing in search of their images, and amongst these I found several of the 

 naked figures, (four or five feet high,) with curly hair, and differing amongst 

 themselves, usually found in Jain temples, and also representations of 

 Buddha in the sitting posture, with the hands laid over each other, the 

 palms uppermost, the hair curly, the forehead wide, with little figures 

 kneeling before him, and others fanning him ; amongst them was a figure 

 of Durga. The Jains have also a modern temple there." 



Adverting also to the same subject, Dr. R. Tytler mentioned to the 

 meeting, that he had remarked while in Scotland, the close resemblance of 

 " the little steeple at Brechin" to a Buddhist monument. The same remark 

 has frequently been made of the Round Towers of Ireland. He had written 

 a note on the subject in the Freemason's Review, for October, 1834, which 

 he presented. 



" The little steeple of Brechin consists of a beautiful slender cylinder or hol- 

 low pillar, about 80 feet high, with 60 rows of smooth stones, cemented by mortar, 

 and is surmounted with a cone of masonry of a subsequent period of architecture. 

 On the western front are sculptured figures of an elephant, having the feet of a 

 lion, and a horse: each 11 inches long and 8 broad. The combination of the 

 elephant and lion is observable on the temples of Java, and in many statues of 

 Buddha elsewhere." 



A note from B. H. Hodgson, Esq. Resident at Nepal, forwarded draw- 

 ings of the Laths or columns at Bakra in Tirhut, at Arahraj in Saran, and 

 of the mound at Kesriah, in the former district ; with exact facsimiles of 

 the inscribed characters on the two pillars. 



Lieutenant A. Cunningham, Engineers, forwarded the facsimile of an 

 inscription on a stone slab extracted by him from the Buddhist monument 

 at Sarnath near Benares. 



A note by the Secretary on the same subject, and on the inscribed 

 pedestal of the Bauddha image, presented at the last meeting, was read. 

 [See the foregoing pages of the present number.] 



Upon the close of the regular business of the evening, Dr. R. Tytler 

 exhibited to the meeting several interesting experiments in Electro-mag- 



