Archeological Survey Report. Ixi 
the base of the stupa to be 68 feet 5 inches in diameter. My mea- 
surement of the height was necessarily rough, as there was no defined 
edge at the top, the whole being thickly covered with long grass. 
After much trouble I made out a height of 38 feet 74 inches for the 
cylindrical portion, and of 12 feet 103 inches for the dome, or alto- 
gether of 51 feet 6 inches. But as the height of the dome cannot 
have been less than the half diameter of the building, or 34 feet 23 
inches, the original height of the solid brick-work of this stupa 
must have been 72 feet 10 inches, and the whole height of the stupa 
with its pinnacle not less than from 80 to 90 feet, or including the 
ruined basement on which it stands, not less than 150 feet above 
the ground, 
151. From the ruined state of the lower mound compared with 
the perfect state of the base of the upper stupa, I am of opinion 
that the present stupa is of middle age, say from A. D. 200 to 700, 
and that it was built upon the ruined mass of a much older and much 
larger stupa. That such a practice was not uncommon, we learn 
from Hwen Thsang, who describes two stupas at Vaisali as having 
been erected on ancient foundations. I feel quite satisfied that such 
has been the ease with the Kesariya Monument, and as all the early 
stupas are found to be hemispherical, I infer that the lower and 
earlier stupa musthave been of that form. Its great size may be 
deduced from the breadth of the base of the upper stupa, namely, 68 
feet 5 inches, at a height of 62 feet above the ground; and as there 
must have been a clear terrace all round this stupa, for the peram- 
bulation of pilgrims, the actual thickness of the early stupa at this 
height cannot have been much less than 100 feet, which would give 
a diameter at base of 160 feet. The height of the hemisphere would 
of course have been 80 feet, but with the usual square Buddhist 
eapital surrounded by an umbrella, or other pinnacle, the stupa could 
not have been less than 100 feet. 
152. ‘This ancient monument is known to the people as Raja Ben 
ka Deora. The similar but smaller stupa at Kastya is also called a 
Deéra, or, as it is written by Buchanan, Dewhara. In both cases 
the name belongs to the upper stupa, and not to the whole mass, as 
all mounds, whether of earth or brick, in this part of the country, 
are named Bhisa. Dedriya, which is a very common village name in 
the districts of Tirhtt, Champaran, and Gorakhpur, is applied, I 
