

1848.] Proposed Archceological Investigation. 535 



Proposed Archceological Investigation. 



The discovery and publication of all the existing remains of archi- 

 tecture and sculpture, with coins and inscriptions, would throw more 

 light on the ancient history of India, both public and domestic, than 

 the printing of all the rubbish contained in the 18 Puranas. 



The fact that Buddhism continued to flourish throughout India for 

 many centuries, is to be ascertained from monuments almost alone. 

 Buildings, coins, and inscriptions all point to Buddhistical ascendancy 

 until the attacks of the Musalmans under Mahomed Ghaznavi. In 

 corroboration of this view we have the direct testimony of several 

 Chinese pilgrims and the explicit statements of the Kashmerian History. 

 But in none of the Hindu books is there any allusion to Buddhism. 

 The institutes of Menu, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the fabu- 

 lous Puranas are all silent regarding Buddhism, as if that religion had 

 never flourished in India. The publication of all the existing remains 

 of Buddhism in the shape of architecture, sculpture, coins and inscrip- 

 tions would I conceive be equally valuable for the illustration of the 

 history of India, both religious and political, with the printing of the 

 Vedas and Puranas. It is a duty which the Government owe to the 

 country. The remains of architecture and sculpture are daily deterio- 

 rating, and inscriptions are broken or defaced; the sooner therefore that 

 steps are taken for their preservation, the more numerous and conse- 

 quently the more valuable these remains will be. 



As Pliny in his Eastern Geography follows the route of Alexander, 

 so an enquirer into Indian archaeology, should tread in the footsteps of 

 the Chinese pilgrims Hwan Thsang and Fa hian. Guided by them he 

 would visit Thanesar and Delhi — Behat and Sadhora, Mathura and 

 Samkassa, Kanoj and Ajudhya, Kapila and Kusinagara, Kasi and 

 Pataliputra, Gay a and Rajagriha. All these places were esteemed holy 

 by the Buddhists, and possessed topes built over relics of Sakya or of 

 other Buddhas. But there are other places in Central India that 

 should be carefully examined, of which Kasurata, the capital of the 

 ancient kingdom of Chichavati, together with Kalinjar, which is men- 

 tioned in the Vedas, and Ujain the Ozene of the Greeks, are the prin- 

 cipal. The whole of Malwa, however, is full of ruins, both Brahmanical 

 and Buddhistical. In fact Hwan Thsang remarks that there were two 



