1854.] Excavations at Sdrndth, 475 



sibly went so far as to make the site above indicated a location for 

 sale and delivery at an opportune pitch of devotional excitement 

 on the part of the confiding votary ! Besides the three varieties of 

 inclusive chaityas there were found specimens of a more primitive 

 form of the same manufacture in which the entire mould of clay 

 seemed to have been prepared at one and the same operation, and 

 after the external outline had been received. The impression was 

 made by forcing the engraved seal into the soft clay from the base 

 of the chaitya : in this case the inscription remained comparatively 

 unprotected, but the manipulative process was more simple and 

 possibly more assuring to the mass, who were then enabled to see 

 the writing that was to aid their act of worship. 



The inscription itself conveys the sacred formula of the Bud- 

 dhists : the Indian specimens of the legend are usually faulty in 

 their orthography. I annex a literal transcript of the favourite version 

 at Sarnath, merely giving Professor Wilson's authoritative declar- 

 ation of its meaning, and referring the reader to the Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. IV. p. 132 and p. 51, Ariana Antiqua.* 



The flat clay cake No. 4, afforded the purchaser an opportunity 

 of making at a single offering a display of twenty figured chaityas 

 and possibly in this strange religion, where water wheels now say 

 prayers for a village community, the one expressed formula may 

 have been supposed in its association to have twenty vehicles for 

 its enunciation ! 



Figure 5 offers a more humble variety of the same species of 

 impression, having five chaityas only and no inscription. 



These last were found promiscuously mingled with the debris in 

 the open court, generally at the level of the original surface, showing 

 that their date is not later than that of the destruction of the build- 

 ing itself. 



The Lithographed plan indicates the various places where food was 



* Sanskrit version. Wilson's Translation, 



ij ^Tl%g ^*T The Tathagata (Buddha) has declared the 



"3"T %<T ^^T ?T?TT JTTfT causes which are the origin of moral merit: 



_ .g.—^—- _ ^.Tfjj. what is its obstruction ulso the great ascetic 



-v . ~ has explained ! 



3 R 2 



