1865.] Report of the Archaeological Survey, 259 



the figure was removed with much difficulty, on account of its great 

 weight, and the floor of the temple had been cleared, it was seen that 

 the pedestal of the statue was still standing erect in its original posi- 

 tion. The floor was paved with large stones, and immediately in front 

 of the pedestal there was a long flat slab 3|- feet by 1J foot, with a 

 pair of hollow foot-marks in the centre and two sunken panels on each 

 side. At the back of the incised feet towards the pedestal there was a 

 rough hollow, 3J feet long by 4 inches broad, which, judging from 

 what I have seen in Banna, must once have held a long stone or metal 

 frame for the reception of lights in front of the statue. But all this 

 arrangement was certainly of later date than the statue itself, for on 

 opening up the floor it was found that the Buddha-pad slab concealed 

 the lower two lines of an inscription, which fortunately had been thus 

 preserved from injury, while the third or uppermost line had been al- 

 most entirely destroyed. 



341. The statue is a colossal standing figure of Buddha the 

 Teacher, 7 feet 4 inches in height. His left hand rests on his hip, and 

 his right hand is raised in the act of teaching. The right shoulder is 

 bare as in all Buddhist figures, and there is the usual aureole or nimbus 

 round the head ; close to the neck there are two small holes cut through 

 the nimbus which, being larger in front than behind, were evidently 

 intended for metal cramps to fix the statue to the wall. Unfortu- 

 nately the head is broken, as well as both arms, but the body of the 

 figure is uninjured. The attitude is stiff and restrained, the two feet 

 being exactly in the same position and somewhat too far apart. The 

 statue is of spotted red sandstone, such as is found in the quarries near 

 Mathura and Fatehpur Sikri ; and as we know from recent discoveries 

 that the sculptor's art was in a very flourishing state at Mathura dur- 

 ing the first centuries of the Christian era, I feel satisfied that the 

 Srdvasti colossus must have been brought from that city. The inscrip- 

 tion is imperfect at the beginning, just where it must have contained 

 the date. It now opens with the figure 10 and some unit of the 

 G-upta numerals, which must be the day of the month, and then fol- 

 low the words etaye purvvaye, which, as Professor Dowson has shown, 

 must mean " on this happy occasion," or some equivalent expression. 

 Then come the names of the donors of the statue, three mendicant 

 monks named Push/pa, Siddhya-MiMra, and Bala-Trepitaka. Next 



33 



