10 1 Correspondence of the Commissioners [Feb. 



4. Regarding the antiquity of Rani-gat, which is the only point now 

 wanting to complete the proof of identity of the two places, I cannot 

 speak so positively ; but some valuable light has been thrown upon this 

 subject, by two pieces of sculpture which I luckily found amongst many 

 Buddhist fragments in the ruined citadel. These are the naked body of 

 a man with the Macedonian chlamys, or short cloak, thrown over the 

 shoulders and fastened in front, and a human breast adorned with a 

 necklace of which the clasps are formed of two centaurs, boldly design- 

 ed and gracefully executed. As these sculptures undoubtedly owe their 

 origin to the influence of Grecian art, they show that the antiquity of 

 Rani-gat certainly reaches as high a date as the second century before 

 Christ, at which time the successors of Alexander, who ruled over the 

 Kabul valley, still preserved some of the arts and arms of Greece. A 

 higher antiquity of two or three, hundred years, or even more, may 

 therefore safely be granted to the massive granite walls of this Cyclope- 

 an mountain fortress, which must always have been the strongest and 

 largest fortified place in the country. Even now the natives draw a dis- 

 tinction between it and other ruins ; for they call Rani-gat a Killah, or 

 fortress ; whilst all others are designated garhis, or forts. If Rani-gat 

 was not the Aornos of Alexander, it was certainly the Aornos of the 

 times in which it flourished. 



5, I have also secured some very perfect specimens of Buddhist 

 sculpture, including a full length figure of Maya, the mother of Buddha, 

 from the ruins of a small hill-fort near Jumal-garhi, about 28 miles to 

 the westward of the Indus, But the most valuable acquisition which I 

 have made has been the discovery of two short Ariano-Pali inscriptions 

 in the same character, as that which is found upon the reverses of the 

 Indo-Grecian coins. As both of these inscriptions bear dates, and as 

 they are the oldest dated inscriptions hitherto found in India, I consi- 

 der that the possession of them will be very cheaply purchased at the 

 hire of a single camel for their carriage. I am therefore now bringing 

 them, as well as the sculptures, along with me towards Lahore, from 

 whence I will forward them to Government through the Ordnance Com- 

 missariat Officer at that station. The more ancient of the two inscrip- 

 tions is dated in " Samvat 37, or the first day of the bright half of the 

 month of Sravand, in the reign of Mahadaya, king of the Gushang 

 (tribe)." The other inscription is dated in Samvat 333. The Gushang 



