1865.] Report of the ArcJiceological Survey. 231 



mound of brick rains. The portion of the shaft above ground is 14 

 feet in length, and close by there are two broken pieces, measuring 

 respectively 4 feet 6 inches and 2 feet 3 inches. I made an excavation 

 completely round the pillar, to a depth of 7 feet 4 inches, without 

 reaching the end of the polished portion of the shaft. All these figures 

 added together give a total length of 28 feet ; but the pillar was no 

 doubt several feet longer, as the shafts of all the five known monoliths 

 exceed 30 feet. The smallest diameter is 29J inches, or nearly the 

 same as that of the Lauriya-Ara-Raj pillar, and as the diameter 

 increases in nearly the same proportion, I presume that the Kosambi 

 pillar most probably had about the same height of 36 feet. According 

 to the villagers, this pillar was in one piece as la be as 50 years ago ; but 

 it was leaning against a large Nimb tree. The tree was old and 

 hollow, and some cowherds having accidentally set fire to it, the top of 

 the pillar was broken by the heat. Several different persons affirmed 

 that the shaft was originally nearly double its present height. This 

 would make the height above ground somewhat less than twice 14 

 feet, or say about 27 feet ; which added to the ascertained smooth 

 portion of 7 feet 4 inches under ground, would make the original 

 height of the smooth shaft upwards of 34 feet. I found numerous 

 roots of the old tree in my excavation round the pillar. The state- 

 ment of the people that the Kosambi pillar has been leaning in its 

 present position as long as they can remember, is curiously corroborated 

 by the fact that an inscription dated in the reign of Akbar is cut across 

 the face of the shaft at an angle of about 50° but parallel to the hori- 

 zon. It seems certain therefore that the pillar was in its present 

 leaning position as early as the reign of Akbar ; and further, as this 

 inscription is within reach of the hand, and as there are also others 

 engraved beneath the present surface of the soil, I conclude that the 

 pillar must have been buried as we now see it for a long time previous 

 to the reign of Akbar. 



292. The inscriptions recorded on the Kosambi pillar range from 

 the age of the Guptas down to the present day. The only record of the 

 earliest period is the name of a pilgrim in six letters which I have not 

 succeeded in reading. At the top of the broken shaft there is an 

 incomplete record of three letters ending in prabhdra, which I would 

 ascribe to the 4th or 5th century. The letters, which are three inches 

 in length, are boldly cut, but the line which they form is not parallel 



