1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bcikariya Kund. 9 



range of ancient buildings under notice. Leaving it, the boundary 

 line took a southerly direction and probably included several buildings 

 similar to those on the northern side, very faint traces of the found- 

 ations of which, at the most, are visible. The boundary line, however, 

 on its southern side takes in a remarkable structure, consisting of a 

 massive stone breastAvork, 130 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 5 feet 4 

 inches high, sustaining a terrace now used as a Mohammedan burial- 

 ground. The breastwork is in some places in decay, but to a great 

 extent is in good condition. Its stones, especially where exposed in 

 the foundations, have masonic marks upon them, and some have as 

 many as three symbols in a row. It is surmounted by a fine cornice 

 six inches deep. Ascending the terrace no buildings besides Moham- 

 medan tombs are visible, but it is probable that an extensive Buddhist 

 edifice stood on this spacious area. On the western side, exactly in 

 the centre, is a projecting buttress, originally the Singhasun, round 

 which the moulding also runs. On this spot may have stood a gigan- 

 tic figure of Buddha, visible to every one entering the court — for such 

 we hold it originally to have been. Indeed the large terraces which 

 have been described, may all have been cloistered courts, where dis- 

 ciples and devotees congregated for religious purposes. An inspection 

 of the Atallah and Juma mosques at Jaunpore, formerly Buddhist 

 monasteries, confirms this view. 



The most remarkable of these Buddhist ruins yet remains. This 

 is the temple, to which allusion has been already made, and of which 

 a separate Ground Plan has been drawn. The Mohammedans have 

 appropriated this temple and capped it with a dome, and now use it as 

 a mausoleum. It stands on forty-two pillars, all of which are in good 

 order with the exception of one in the southern portico, which has 

 been twisted by the fall of a large tree upon it. Formerly, there were 

 evidently two pillars more than there are at present, sustaining the 

 heavy entablature of the southern portico, so that the whole number 

 of pillars originally, was forty-four. Of these, thirty-two supported 

 the temple proper, and four the roof of each of the northern, southern 

 and eastern porticos. To the west, there is no portico, but simply a 

 sort -of projecting buttress or Singhasun, on which probably the chief 

 idol stood, and was at once seen by persons coming in through the 

 main entrance on the east. The northern and southern porticos are 



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