Xclv Archeological Survey Report. 
The figures in this sculpture are in the same style and in the same 
attitudes as those of the similar group of the Raja and his umbrella 
attendant on the gold coins of the Gupta Princes. This sculpture, 
I believe, represents a queen on her way to worship at the temple. 
The group is a favourite one with Hindu artists, and as far as my 
observation goes, it is never used singly, but always in pairs, one on 
each side of the door-way of a temple. The age of this sculpture 
I am inclined to fix as early as the time of the Gupta kings, partly 
on account of the similarity of style to that of their gold coins, 
partly also because the pillar belongs to one of that family, but 
chiefly because the bricks found in various parts of the ruins are 
stamped with the name of Siz Kumdra Gupta. 
224. If Lam right in attributing the sculptures to the time of 
the Gupta dynasty, or from A. D. 100 to 300, then the Bhitari 
ruins will be amongst the oldest Brahmanical remains now known 
to us. For this reason alone I would strongly advocate the excava- 
tion of all the isolated mounds, and more particularly of the pillar 
mound, in which we might expect to find not only all the fragments 
of the original capital, but also many sculptures and other objects 
belonging to the temple in front of which the pillar was erected. I 
have already stated that the bridge over the Gangi river is built 
entirely of stones taken from the ancient buildings of Bhitari. Many 
of these stones are squared, and ornamented with flowers and various 
mouldings, and on one of them I observed the syllable yz. This is a 
mere mason’s mark, but as the shape of the letter is the same as that 
of the Gupta alphabet, the discovery of this single character tends 
strongly to confirm the accuracy of the date which I have already 
assigned to the Bhitari ruins on other grounds. As Bhitari is in the 
_Jdghir of the enlightened Raja Deo Narayan Singh, every facility 
for excavation would of course be obtained on application to him. 
XXIV.—-Brenares, SARNATH. 
225. Benares is celebrated amongst the Buddhists as the scene 
where their great teacher first expounded his doctrine, or, as they 
metaphorically express it, where he first began to “turn the wheel of 
the law.” This is one of the four great events in the life of Buddha, 
and accordingly it forms one of the most common subjects of Buddhist 
sculpture. In the great Buddhist establishment near Benares, 
which is described by Hwen Thsang, the principal statue enshrined 
