1856.] Exploration of the ruins of Sarnath. 397 



heap of ruins. This idea derives some countenance from Major 

 Cunningham's statement (Preface to " Bhilsa Topes") of his belief 

 that the principal object of his search, the relic-casket of the great 

 tope of Sarnath, must have been discovered and destroyed by his 

 workmen, during his absence on engineer-duty at Mirzapore. 



This circumstance appears to show the necessity of constant 

 personal supervision on the part of the officer charged with the 

 explorations when any object of importance is expected to turn up. 

 There is now no methodical searching for the axial deposit of an 

 unexplored tope, as in Major Cunningham's Bhilsa undertakings. 

 All that can be looked for, is an occasional deposit of interesting 

 objects hid away at the time of the great political catastrophe, 

 which stayed the sculptor's hand as he traced out and chiseled his 

 designs on the smooth stone surface of the great tope, and which 

 burnt down the monastery. Such a deposit may be lighted upon 

 suddenly; and if including, as it probably may, some articles of 

 intrinsic value, will be apt to disappear quickly, if discovered in the 

 responsible officer's absence. It appears to me therefore, that the 

 search can be prosecuted, with reasonable hope of success, in the 

 cold weather only. 



During the past cold season, I delayed from month to month 

 the commencement of my own search, in the expectation that the 

 improving health of the prisoners might enable the magistrate to 

 afford me the aid of a small number of them in the work, which I 

 hesitated to commence with hired labour only ; and thus the favorable 

 season passed away. At an early period of the ensuing cold weather 

 it will be necessary to determine whether the Magistrate's aid is 

 to be trusted to or not. 



In the mean time, I beg strongly to recommend that measures 

 be taken to avert the impending destruction of the tope itself. 

 Large portions of the beautifully sculptured plinth, which rises to 

 about three-fifths of the whole height of the building, have already 

 shed their ornamented coating, which has been carried away and 

 built, with dozens of statues, into the decaying foundations of the 

 stone-bridge on the Burna. More of it now bulges out, detached 

 from the central mass of the building, and ready to separate at the 

 first shock of lightning or earthquake. If this be occasioned by 



