Archeological Survey Report. CX1L 
have been the gift of Hari Gupta. The characters of this inscription 
which are of the later Gupta type, show that this piece of sculpture is 
certainly as old as the 3rd or 4th century. ‘Some of the seated figures 
were in excellent preservation, and more particularly one of Buddha 
the teacher, which was in perfect condition, and coloured of a warm 
red hue. ‘The remaining statues, upwards of 40 in number, together 
with most of the other carved stones which I had collected, and 
which I left lying on the ground, were afterwards carted away by the 
late Mr. Davidson, and thrown into the Barna river under the bridge, 
tu check the cutting away of the bed between the arches. 
261. As the room in which I found all these sculptures was only 
a small detached building, and as it was quite close to the large 
temple which I have just described, I conclude that the whole of the 
sculptures must have belonged to the temple, and that they were 
secreted in the place where I discovered them, during a time of 
persecution, when the monks were obliged to abandon their monas- 
teries and take refuge in Nepal. This conclusion is partly borne 
out by the fact that I found no statues within the walls of the 
temple itself. 
262. To the north of the temple, at a distance of 26 feet, my 
excavations uncovered a large single block of stone, 6 feet in length, 
by 3 feet in height, and the same in thickness. The stone had been 
earefully squared, and was hollowed out underneath, forming a small 
chamber, 4 feet in length, by two feet in breadth, and the same in 
height. This large stone has also disappeared, which is the more 
to be regretted, as I think it highly probable that it was the cele- 
brated stone, described by Hwen Thsang, on which Buddha had 
spread out his kashdya to dry, after washing it in the neighbouring 
tank. Certain marks on the stone appeared to the Buddhists to 
represent the thread lines of the web of Buddha’s cloth, as “ dis- 
tinctly as if they had been chiselled.” Devout Buddhists offered 
their homage before the stone daily ; but whenever heretics, or wicked 
men, crowded round the stone in a contemptuous manner, then the 
dragon (Ndga) of the neighbouring tank let loose upon them a storm 
of wind and vain. 
263. My excavations at Sarnath were brought to a close suddenly 
by my removal to Calcutta. Luckily I had prepared plans of the 
buildings while the exhumation was going on, for nothing whatever 
qQ 
