1864.] 



On the Buddhist Hemains of Sultdnganj. 



3G5 



Idea of the era when they were most in use. The largest bricks 

 known are met with in the ruins of Hastinapur, which, according 

 to Mauluvi Syad Ahmad, # measure 20 inches long, 10 broad and 2£ thick. 

 If they be, as has been supposed, synchronous with the heroes of the 

 Mahabharata they are the oldest as well as the largest known. The 

 next in size are those from the walls of Babylon, for which the 

 clay thrown out of the trenches surrounding the city supplied the 

 material ; they measure sixteen inches square, with a thickness of three 

 inches. The next are those from the pyramid of Howara in Egypt . They 

 measure l7i inches by 8f inches; the thickness being 5| inches- 

 Next to them are those of Buddhagaya, Sarnath, Sultanganj and other 

 Buddhist localities ; they vary from 13" to 14" by 8" to 10 inches, the 

 thickness ranging from 2| to 3|. This kind of brick, was in use for 

 upwards of seven hundred years down to the fifth or sixth century of the 

 Christian era. The bricks of the Hindu Bajas of Lilput, Avangpur, 

 Luckerpoor are much of the same size, but of very different 

 appearance. The early Pathans also used very large bricks, and in 

 old Delhi they are very common. The later Pathans reduced the 

 size of their bricks to 12 inches, and in the days of the Moguls 

 they were further reduced to 10", hence it is that in the many palatial 

 buildings of Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jehan, the greatest builders 

 of the race, we find no trace of a single large brick. 



Beyond the western wall of the chambers there is the foundation 

 of another and a broad one, which formed the boundary wall of the 

 quadrangle. It runs due north and south and is joined by one which 

 runs along the ridge on the southern side. Similar boundary walls, 

 no doubt, once existed on the north and the east, but their traces have 

 long since been effaced. 



In front of the chambers there are to be seen the remains of a hall 

 or verandah which formerly formed the most important part of the 

 building on this side of the quadrangle. Its floor is on a level with 

 the highest floor of the chambers, and seems to have been made of con- 

 crete and stucco, and painted over in fresco of a light ocherous colour. 

 How it was enclosed in front has not been made out. Probably there 

 was a range of square pillars, forming a verandah or pillared hall re- 

 sembling a modern Bengal dalan or the choultry of Southern India. 

 The floor of the courtyard has not yet been laid bare, but judging from 

 # Journal of the Archaeological Society of Delhi, p. 50. 



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