E870.] Notes on Sanskrit Inscriptions from Mathurd. 121 



collected are, however, not before nie, or if they be mentioned in 

 any portion of the inscriptions communicated to me by the General, 

 they are not legible to me. 



The plinths of the pillars are- squares of 23£ to 24 inches 

 each side, having on each corner the figure of a lion, half pro- 

 jecting from, the base moulding. Little can be said of the exe- 

 cution, of these figures, but their style is characteristic. From 

 above their body rise the shafts, which are not, as is usual among 

 purely Indian columns, polygonal and. cylindrical at intervals, 

 but cylindrical throughout, as is the case in some of the columns 

 in the temple of Martand and other, structures in Kashmir. The 

 diameter of the shafts may be roughly given at 1 8 inches . Ordinarily 

 the length of Indian pillars varies from 7 to 9 diameters, and 

 taking 8 at an average, the height of the veranda to which the 

 pillars were attached, may be assumed at 16 feet. The temples 

 themselves must have been considerably higher to make room 

 for statues, one of which was 24 feet in height. 



The inscriptions on the pillars are in. several instances repeated, 

 first inscribed on- the torus and then on. the plinth. But in more 

 than one instance, the two inscriptions appear to be different. 



The statues call for no remark. They are of the usual Sarnath 

 type, two being standing figures with one hand lifted as in lec- 

 turing, and the other holding the hem of a light drapery thrown 

 over the person ; the third is a seated figure : the head in all the 

 three instances is encircled by a halo. 



The stone ladder is peculiar. Mr. Bayley describes it to have " ori- 

 ginally formed part of a sculptured drain pipe, which, was subse- 

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

 hands which fitted it for the latter purpose, had unfortunately hacked 

 away a great portion of a very interesting inscription which it 

 originally bore." Possibly it was originally a drain pipe ; if so, it 

 could not have then borne any inscription, for the inscription ap- 

 pears to have been incised after its conversion into a ladder, be- 

 ginning at the bottom of the left hand bar and carried from above 

 downwards on tho right hand side, the feet of the letters on the 

 opposite sides being reversed. Had the inscription been cut be- 

 fore the making of the steps, the writing would have all run in the 

 16 



