1865.] Report of the Archceological Survey . 265 



Visakha was the daughter of Dhananja, a wealthy merchant of Sdlcet. 

 At 15 years of age she was married to Purnna-Vardhana, the son of 

 Mtgdra, a rich merchant of Srdvasti, and from that time her whole 

 life was spent in the observance of the religious rites of Buddhism. 

 She was the means of converting her father-in-law Migara, and " she 

 was called in consequence" Migdra-Mdtdwi, and became the mother 

 or chief of the Updsekawas, or female lay-disciples of Buddha. To- 

 wards the end of her career she determined to sell her wedding 

 ornaments to obtain funds for the erection of a Vihdra, " but there 

 was no one in Seivet who had wealth enough to purchase them. She 

 therefore bought a garden at the east side of the city, and expend- 

 ed immense treasures in the erection of a Vihdra, which was called 

 Purvvdrdma, or the Eastern Monastery, from the place in which it 

 stood." 



349. The great mound, now called Ora-jJidr, is a solid mass of 

 earth 70 feet in height, which was formerly crowned by a brick temple. 

 Within the last century a Musalman Fakir, who had lived under the 

 trees at the foot of the mound, was buried in a tomb on the very top 

 of it, which was built with the bricks of the ruin. Some years later 

 his successor was buried beside him, and their two tombs at present 

 preclude all hope of making any excavation from the top of the mound. 

 I cleared the north face completely, and the other three faces partially, 

 until I reached the paved brick flooring which surrounded the original 

 Buddhist temple, at a height of 55 feet above the ground. The wall 

 of the temple on the north face is only 20 feet long, and although I 

 failed to reach the other two corners of the building, I was satisfied 

 that it must have been square. Its height, at 3 J times its side, would 

 not therefore have been more than 70 feet, but as its floor is 55 feet 

 above the ground, the total height of the temple would have been 125 

 feet. The wall of the north face is divided into four panels by pilasters 

 six inches thick. The bases of these pilasters, which are still very 

 perfect, are of the same style as those at Graya and Baragaon in Bihar 

 and of Manikyala and Shah Dheri in the Punjab. The style would 

 therefore seem to be one that was peculiar to early Buddhism. The 

 other faces of the temple I was unable to examine, as the foundations 

 of the Muhammadan tomb, which are only 2| feet above the broken 

 walls of the temple, project 16 feet beyond its east and west faces. 



