1865.] Report of the Archceohykal Survey, 221 



Ildhdbds was founded on its site in the 21st year of Akbar's reign 

 that is in A. H. 982, or A. D. 1572. Indeed the way in which Abu 

 Rihan speaks of the " tree" instead of the city of Prag, leads me to 

 believe that the city itself had already been deserted before his time. 

 As far as I am aware, it is not once mentioned in any Muhammadan 

 history, until it was refounded by Akbar. 



278. As the old city of Praydg has totally disappeared, we can scarcely 

 expect to find any traces of the various Buddhist monuments which were 

 seen and described by the Chinese pilgrim in the 7th century. Indeed 

 from their position to the south-west of the city, it seems very probable 

 that they may have been washed away by the Jumna even before the final 

 abandonment of the city, as the course of that river for 3 miles above the 

 confluence has been due west and east for many centuries past. At any rate, 

 it is quite certain that no remains of these buildings are now to be seen ; 

 the only existing Hindu monument being the well known stone pillar 

 which bears the inscriptions of Asoka, Samudra Grupta aucl Jahangir. 

 As Hwen Thsang makes no mention of this pillar, it is probable that 

 it was not standing in his day. Even its original position is not ex- 

 actly known, but it was probably not far from its present site. It was 

 first erected by King Asoka about B. C. 240 for the purpose of inscrib- 

 ing his edicts regarding the propagation of Buddhism. It was next 

 made use of by Samudra Grupta, about the second century of the Chris- 

 tian era, for the record of his extensive sovereignty over the various 

 nations of India from Nepal to the Dakhan, and from Gujarat to 

 Assam. Lastly, it was re-erected by the Mogal Emperor Jahangir to 

 commemorate his accession to the throne in the year 1605 A. D. 

 These are the three principal inscriptions on the Allahabad Pillar, but 

 there are also a number of minor records of the names of travellers and 

 pilgrims of various dates, from about the beginning of the Christian 

 era down to the present century. Regarding these minor inscriptions, 

 James Prinsep remarks that " it is a singular fact that the periods 

 at which the pillar has been overthrown can be thus determined with 

 nearly as much certainty from this desultory writing, as can the epochs 

 of its being re-erected from the more formal inscriptions recording 

 the latter event. Thus, that it was overthrown some time after its 

 first erection by the great Asoka in the middle of the third century 

 before Christ, is proved by the longitudinal or random insertion of 

 several names in a character intermediate between No. 1 and No. 2, in, 



