1865.] Description of the Buddhist Ruins at Bakariya Kund. 3 
testimony of that keen and accurate observer, upwards of thirty Kia 
lan or sacred monasteries,—to most or all of which, temples were pro- 
bably attached—and with them about three thousand priests and 
disciples were associated. It cannot be for an instant supposed, that 
these monasteries, which were unquestionably built of strong material, 
have all been swept away with the lapse of ages, and have “ left not 
a wreck behind.” Indeed the existence of the Sarnath ruins, which 
are mostly of the later Buddhist period,—some of which were seen by 
Fa Hian in the fifth century, and nearly all by Hwan Thsang in the 
seventh, is a strong argument for believing that portions, more or less 
considerable, of some, perhaps of most of these edifices, are still 
discoverable. We must not imagine that in any instance they are 
existing in their original integrity, but on the contrary, that where they 
exist at all, they have been appropriated by Hindus and Mohammedans, 
and principally by the latter, for their own purposes, and that therefore 
they have become blended with other buildings from which they must 
be disintegrated. The use of numerous pillars: in the cloisters of 
Buddhist monasteries, which were mostly on a uniform pattern, greatly 
aids the identification of the remains of this ancient period. 
A careful examination of Benares will reveal those portions of the 
city which contain buildings, or parts of buildings, or sculptured 
stones, or other objects of undeniable antiquity. Such ancient remains 
are for the most part, we believe, only to be found in the northern 
division of the city, and among the narrow streets on its eastern 
border, running parallel with the Ganges, in a thin band, as far as the 
Man Mandil Observatory. 
Under the conviction that Buddhist remains were to be met 
with in Benares, a search was made for some of them in the course of 
the year 1863. On the very first day of the search the ruins at 
Bakariya Kund were discovered, which we shall now proceed to 
describe. 
These ruins are situated at the north-west corner of the city in the 
Alaipore Mahalla, and are visible from the Raj Ghaut road leading 
from the cantonments to the Ganges. The path conducting to the 
tank or Kund leaves the main road a short distance to the west of the 
420th mile-stone. The tank commonly known as Bakariya Kund, is 
about 300 yards distant from this road, and upon the summit of its 


