Ixiv Archeological Survey Report. 
of the southern pillar, while Mathiah lies 5 miles due south from the 
northern pillar. In describing these pillars I will preserve the cha- 
racteristic name of Lauriya, and for the sake of distinguishing the 
one from the other, I will add to each the name of the nearest vil- 
lage, thus the village near the southern pillar I shall call Lawriya 
Ara-Raj, and that near the northern pillar Lauriya Navandgarh. 
157. The Ara-Raj Pillar is a single block of polished sand-stone, 
363 feet in height above the ground, with a base diameter of 41.8 
inches, and a top diameter of 37.6 inches. The weight of this por- 
tion only is very nearly 34 tons, but as there must be several feet of 
rough shaft sunk in the earth, the actual weight of the single block 
must be about 40 tons. This pillar has no capital, although there 
can be little, if any, doubt that it must once have been crowned with 
a statue of some animal. The people, however, know nothing of it, 
and not a fragment of any kind now exists to suggest what it may 
have been. The site of the village is a very secluded one, and there 
are no ruins or other remains to attract attention. It has accord- 
ingly escaped the notice of travellers, and the disfigurement of their 
names, the only record being that of “ Reuben Burrow, 1792,” 
besides a few flourished letters, or marks, of the kind which James 
Prinsep called shell-shaped characters. 
158. The edicts of Asoka are most clearly and neatly engraved, 
and are divided into two distinct portions, that to the north contain- 
ing 18 lines, and that to the south 23 Jines. I made a copy of the 
inscription by the eye, which I then compared with James Prinsep’s 
text, and afterwards I re-examined every letter in which our copies 
differed. I also made an inked impression of the whole inscription 
on paper, which I am now engaged in reducing for publication. But 
though the variations from Prinsep’s text are not many, yet, as no 
fac-simile has yet been made public, it is important, for the sake of 
comparison, to afford access to one which has been carefully copied 
in every letter. 
XVII.—Lavriva NavanpGarH. 
159. The lion pillar of Lauriya Navandgarh, which, after Mr. 
Hodgson, has hitherto been called the Mathiah Pillar, is situated at 
rather less than half a mile to the north-east of the large village of 
Lauriya, at 15 miles to the north north-west of Bettiah, and at 10 
miles from the nearest point of the Gandak River. As Mr, Hodg- 
