214 F. S. Growse — Supposed Greek Sculpture at Mathura. [No. 3, 



her ears. Before her stands sideways a small hoy, naked, with his right 

 hand resting on the thigh of the central figure. Before the male attendant 

 is another boy in a dancing posture with the right hand uplifted. In 

 front of the principal figure lies a flagon. 



During the cold weather of 1873-74, I discovered the companion block 

 to the one above described, of precisely the same shape and dimensions and 

 carved with two similar groups of figures. These are shewn in the accom- 

 panying illustrations ; and to distinguish them from the preceding are 

 numbered groups III and IV (vide Pis. XII and XIII). The mound, out 

 of which I dug the stone, is according to modern territorial divisions beyond 

 the boundaries of the Mathura township, and is included in the small village 

 of Pali-Khera. It is, however, only about two miles distant from the temple 

 of Kesava Deva, and all the intervening space is dotted with mounds, — the 

 ruins of the ancient Madhupuri, — in most of which Buddhist antiquities 

 have been discovered. 



Group No. III. — Here four of the figures are apparently the same as 

 in No. I. The grouping and action, however, are different ; and two addi- 

 tional figures are introduced, viz., the principal personage, the so-called 

 Silenus, who is seated with a cup in his hand, and the little boy at his knee, 

 as in No. II. The cup is noticeable for a peculiarity in the handle, the 

 lower end of which joins on, not to the bottom of the bowl, but to the foot 

 of the cup. 



GrEOUP No. IV. — The concluding scene of the drama, in which the 

 cup has been drained and has had its intoxicating effect, is almost 

 identically the same with No. II, already described. 



In my opinion the later discovery disposes of the tazza theoiy. The 

 two blocks of stone seem to be the bases of a pair of pillars forming the 

 entrance to a shrine, rather than pedestals for sacrificial vases. Such an 

 idea would probably never have been conceived but for the shallow basin 

 at the top of the stone first found ; but on comparison with the later discovery 

 this is clearly seen to be nothing more than a socket for the reception of a 

 slender upright shaft. 



As to the subject which the artist intended to represent — Silenus may 

 be dismissed at the same time as the tazza. Future research in Buddhist 

 literature may result in the discovery of some legend which the three scenes, 

 viz. the Plot, the Carouse, and the Effects of the Carouse, may be found to 

 illustrate ; but pending this, the principal figure may with great probability 

 be regarded as the wine-bibbing Balarama, one of the tutelary divinities 

 of Mathura, attended by his wife Revati and the other members of his 

 family. A confirmation of this view is afforded by an ancient and 

 mutilated statue at the village of Kukargama in the Sa'dabad Pargana of 

 this district, which is apparently intended for Balarama. He is stand- 



