Peport of the Archaeological Survey. xxvii 



Hindu Bemains. 



50. The most ancient monuments of Delhi are the two Stone Pillars 

 bearing the edicts of Asoka, both of which were brought to the Capital 

 by Firuz Shah Tughlak, about A, H. 757, or A. B. J 356. The ac- 

 count of the removal of these pillars from their original sites is given 

 in detail by Shams4-Siraj\ who was most likely an eye-witness of 

 their re-erection in Firuzabad, as he records that he was 12 years of 

 age at the time when they were set up.* This circumstantial account 

 of a contemporary writer at once disposes of Colonel Tod's storyf 

 that Firuz Shah's Pillar was originally standing " at Nigambod, 

 a place of pilgrimage on the Jumna, a few miles below Delhi, whence 

 it must have been removed to its present singular position." Nigambod 

 still exists as a place of pilgrimage, being a ghat immediately outside 

 the northern wall of the city of Shahjahanabad. It is therefore above 

 the city of Delhi, instead of being a few miles below it, as described 

 by Colonel Tod. 



51. Firuz Shall s Pillar, according to Shams-i-Siraj , was brought 

 from a place which is variously called Topur i Top era, Toparsu7c, 

 Tohera, Tawera, and JSfahera.% The place is described as being " on 

 the bank of the Jumna, in the district of Salora, not far from 

 Khizrabad, which is at the foot of the mountains, 90 koss from 

 Delhi." The distance from Delhi and the position at the foot of the 

 mountains point out the present Khizrabad on the Jumna, just below 

 the spot where the river issues from the lower range of hills, as the 

 place indicated by Shams-i-Siraj. Salora is perhaps Sidhora, a large 

 place only a few miles to the west of Khizrabad. Prom the village 

 where it originally stood, the pillar was conveyed by land on a truck 

 to Khizrabad, from whence it was floated down the Jumna to Piruza- 

 bad, or new Delhi. Prom the above description of the original site 

 of this pillar, I conclude that the village from whence it was brought 

 was perhaps- the present Paota, on the western bank of the Jumna, 

 and 12 miles in a direct line to the north-east of Khizrabad. Now, 

 jii this immediate neighbourhood, on the western bank of the Jumna, 

 and at a distance of 66 miles from Thanesar, Hwen Thsang places the 

 ancient Capital of Srughna, which was even then (A. D* 630— 640) 



* Journal of Arenas ological Society of Delhi, 1—74. 



t Rajasthan, II — 452. 



% Journal of Archaeological Society of Delhi, pp. 29-75. 



D 2 



