202 Report of the Jrchceologiccd Survey. [No. 4, 



which Fa Hian calls an ox, and Hwen Thsang an elephant. See para. 

 342 of this Report. 



247. Admitting, then, that this elephant capital is not improhahly 

 the same as the lion pillar described by the Chinese pilgrims, we have 

 a clue to the site of the great monastery which would seem to have en- 

 closed within its walls the great stone pillar as well as the three holy 

 staircases. I infer, therefore, that the temple of Bisdri Devi most pro- 

 bably occupies the site of the three staircases, and that the three mounds 

 which stand to the east of the Nivi-ha-hot may be the remains of the 

 three Stupas which were erected on the three other holy spots of Sankisa, 

 which have already been described. I made several excavations about 

 the different mounds just noticed, but without any success. 



248. I made also a careful but an unsuccessful search for some trace 

 of the base of the stone pillar. The people were unanimous that the 

 elephant capital had been in its present position beyond the memory 

 of any one now living, and most of them added that it now stands in 

 its original position. But there were a few men who pointed to a spot 

 on the west of the village, or Kilah mound, as the original site of the 

 capital. Here, indeed, there is an octagonal hole in a small mound, 

 from which the bricks of a solid foundation have been removed. If any 

 dependence could be placed upon this statement, the mound on which 

 the village noAv stands would almost certainly be the site of the great 

 monastery with its three holy staircases, and the three mounds to the 

 east of Nivi~Jca-Jcot would still represent the three Stupas. The main ob- 

 jection to our accepting this statement as correct is the apparent want of 

 all object in the removal of the elephant capital to any other site. It is, 

 however, quite possible that the capital may have been stopped on its 

 way to the temple of 3£ahadeva, near the Ndga mound and tank. 

 The temple of BisdriDevi would then be the site of one of the ten ancient 

 Brahmanical fanes which are described by Hwen Thsang. Altogether, 

 this is perhaps a more probable solution of the case than that first 

 described. 



249. In his description of Sanhisa, Hwen Thsang mentions a 

 curious fact, that the Brahmans who dwelt near the great monastery 

 were " many tens-of-thousands" in number. As an illustration of this 

 statement I may mention that the people have a tradition th&t Sankisa 

 was deserted from 1800 to 1900 years ago, and that 1300 years ago, 



