232 Report of the Archaeological Survey. [No. 4, 



to the sides of the pillar. The next inscription in point of time con- 

 sists of six lines in characters of the 6th or 7th century. As this record 

 is placed on the lower part of the shaft, from 3 to 4 feet beneath the 

 present ground level, and as the lines are perpendicular to the sides of 

 the shaft, I infer that at the time when it was inscribed, the pillar was 

 still standing upright in its original position, and that the surrounding 

 buildings were still in perfect order. This inference is fully borne out 

 by Hwen Thsang's account of the ancient palace of Udayana with its 

 great Vihara, 60 feet in height, and its stone dome forming a canopy 

 over the statue of Buddha, all of which would seem to have been in 

 good order at the date of his visit, as he carefully mentions that the 

 two different bath-houses of Buddha, as well as the dwelling house of 

 Asanga Bodhisatwa were in rains. Just above this inscription there 

 are several records in the peculiar shell-shaped letters which James 

 Prinsep noticed on the Allahabad pillar, and which I have found on 

 most of the other pillars throughout northern India. The remaining 

 inscriptions, which are comparatively modern, are all recorded on the 

 upper part of the shaft. That of Akbar's time, which has already 

 been referred to, is in Nagari as follows : — 



Mogal Pdtisdh Akbar Patisdh Gaji ; or 

 Mogal Padshah Akbar Padshah Ghazi. 

 This is followed by a short record of a soni, or goldsmith, in three 

 lines, below which is a long inscription dated in Samvat 1621, or 

 A. D. 1564, in the early part of Akbar's reign, detailing the genealogy 

 of a whole family of goldsmiths. It is in this inscription that the name 

 of Kosdmbipura occurs, the founder of the family named Anand Ram 

 Das, having died at Kosam. The monolith is called Rdm-ha-charri, 

 u Ram's walking stick," by some, and by others Bhim-sen-Jca-Gada or 

 "Bhim-sen's club." Inside the fort also, about midway between 

 the two villages of Garhawa, I found a large lingam, bearing four 

 heads, with three eyes each, and with the hair massed on the top of 

 each head. The discovery of this costly symbol of Mahadeva shows 

 that the worship of Siva must have been firmly established at Kosambi 

 at some former period ; and as Hwen Thsang mentions the existence 

 of no less than 50 heretical (that is Brahmanical) temples at the time of 

 his visit, I think it probable that the large lingam may have belonged 

 to one of those early temples. 



294. To the south-west of Kosambi, distant 8 or 9 li, or 1J miles, 



