JReport of the ArcTiceological Survey. 



fj - 



this monument ;" but on this point I differ from Mr. Thomas, as I 

 find, after a careful examination of the inscription, that the whole of 

 the letters are the same as those of the records of the Ghipta dynasty, 

 whose downfall Mr. Thomas assigns to A. D. 319. I think it pro- 

 bable that Raja Dhava had been one of the princes who assisted in the 

 overthrow of the once powerful Guptas, and I would therefore fix on 

 A. D. 319 as an easily remembered and useful approximation to his 

 true date. 



16. A still earlier mention of Dilli may possibly be found in Pto- 

 lemy's Daidala, which is placed close to Indabara (perhaps Indrpat,) 

 and midway between Modura or Mathura, and Batan Kaisara, or 

 Sthaneswara. For the last name I propose to read ^avavdiorapa, as its 

 position between Mathura and ZvXtvSpivrj, or the Jdlandhar Doab 

 renders it almost certain that it must be Sthaneswara or Thanesar. 

 The close proximity of Daidala to Indabara, joined to the curious 

 resemblance of their names to Dilli and Indrpat, seems to me to offer 

 very fair grounds for assuming their probable identity with these two 

 famous Indian cities. 



17. The ancient city of Dilli may, with tolerable certainty, be 

 considered to have occupied almost the same site as the fort of Pai 

 Pithora, as it is to be presumed that the Iron Pillar must have been 

 erected in some conspicuous position, either within the old city, or 

 close to it. With the solitary exception of the Iron Pillar, I am not; 

 aware that there are any existing remains that can be assigned with 

 certainty to the old Hindu city of Dilli. A single pillar, amongst the 

 many hundreds that now form the colonnades of the Kutb Minar, 

 may perhaps belong to the old city, as it bears a figure either of 

 Buddha the Ascetic seated in contemplation, or of one of the Jain 

 hierarchs. No doubt some, and perhaps even many, of the pillars of 

 these colonnades may have belonged to temples of the old Hindu 

 city ; but after a minute examination on three successive days, of the 

 sculptures on the pillars, and of all the letters and mason's marks on, 

 the pillars and walls, I came to the unwilling conclusion that (with 

 the two exceptions just noted,) there is nothing now existing that is 

 older than the tenth or eleventh century. 



18. According to the tradition which is universally accepted by all 

 Hindus, the city of Dilli was re-built by Anang Pal, the first king of 

 the Tomar dynasty, The manuscript of Kharg Eai, which I obtained 



