88 Ancient Remains at Saidpur and Blutari. [No. 2, 
was given by this monarch “ to the followers of Dharma in the great — 
monastery.” It is difficult to believe that he would have extended — 
his patronage to this Buddhist monastery, had he not cherished the — 
Buddhist faith. We are strongly inclined therefore with General ‘ 
Cunningham to the opinion that Chandra Gupta and Kumira Gupta, — 
father and son, were Buddhists. The ninth king of this dynasty, — 
Buddha Gupta, corrected the rabid Hindu tendencies of his predeces- — 
sor Skanda Gupta, and in histurn became a zealous disciple of Buddha. — 
Respecting the remaining kings of this dynasty, it is not known of 9 
what creed they were; but it is not a little remarkable that Siladitiya, J, 
the great king of Malwa, who vanquished the Guptas and took pos- — 
session of their vast empire, was attached to the Buddhist religion. 
The conclusion, therefore, at which we arrive, is, that ancient 
Bhitari was alternately in the hands of Buddhist and Hindu monarchs 
during the Gupta period, who severally embellished it, according to 



their distinctive religious views. The twofold character of the dis- — 
covered remains tends to the corroboration of this opinion, and we | 
have no doubt that further research would only more fully confirm it, | 
It is remarkable that the sculptured fragments of a shell grasped by | 
a hand, and also of a skull, the former a symbol of Vaishnavism, and 
the latter of the Tantric form of Shaivism, should both have been — 
found among the same ruins, showing that both these rival sects of ‘ 
Hinduism were once prevailing there. We hope that excavations on a | 
a more extended scale than has yet been attempted, may one day be 
carried on both within the elevated Bhitari enclosure itself and amongst _ 
the outlying mounds. f 
The iconoclastic zeal of the Mahomedans is too well known to need re- — 
mark; and as the value of the monolith at Bhitari on account of the 
historical information it affords regarding the Gupta dynasty is indis- 
putable, it is of considerable importance that the Government remove 
it to another place, say the Queen’s College, Benares, for greater 
security, to which it would be an interesting architectural ornament; 
the more so as we have laid out an archeological garden in the grounds 
of that institution. 
Note.—We subjoin a Lithograph, (Plate XVII.) of avery curious group found 
at Bhitari and supposed by us, in consequence of other similar groups at the 
Vishnupad at Gaya and there described as such, to be a portion of the “Nau- 
