


































168 Report of the Archeological Survey. [No. 3, 
stands a huge quartz boulder covered with one of the well known 
inscriptions of Asoka. The inscribed rock is situated close to the 
little villages of By4s and Haripur, and about one mile and a half to the 
south of the large and well known village of Khalsi, by which name 
I propose to distinguish this copy of Asoka’s edicts from those of 
Kapurdagiri, Junagiri, Rohitds, and Ganjam. In speaking of Firuz 
Shah’s Pillar at Delhi, which we know was brought from the foot of 
the hills on the western bank of the Jumna near Khidrabad, I have 
already identified the district of Khalsi with part of the ancient kingdom 
of Srughna, as described by Hwen Thsang. As my reasons for com- 
ing to this conclusion are based entirely upon the statements of the 
Chinese pilgrim, it is necessary that they should be given in detail. 
186 On leaving Sthdneswara or Thinesar Hwen Thsang records 
that he went 400 l, or 66 miles, to the westward, to the kingdom of 
Su-lu-kin-na. or Surghna, which he describes as being bounded by the 
Ganges on the east, and by high mountains on the north, and as being 
watered by the Jumna, which ran through the midst of it. The Capital, 
which was 20 lz, or upwards of three miles, in circuit, was situated 
immediately on the west bank of the Jumna, and although much ruined, 
its foundations were still standing. Amongst other monuments it 
possessed a Stupa of King Asoka. The direction given by Hwen 
Thsang is undoubtedly wrong, asthe Jumna is not more than 24 
miles distant from Thanesar towards the east. But the mention of the 
hills shows most clearly that the bearing should be north-east, and as 
the recorded distance of the Jumna at the foot of the hills agrees with 
the actual distance, the situation of the Capital of Srughna must be 
looked for along the western bank of the Jumna, somewhere between 
Khalsi and Khidrabad. At first I was inclined to fix the position of 
the Capital in the immediate neighbourhood of the inscribed rock of 
Khalsi, but I could neither find nor hear of any ruins in its vicinity, 
and the distance is besides too great, being, 71 miles in a direct line, 
or about 80 miles by the road. If Hwen Thasng’s distance is correct, 
the most probable position of the Capital is Paota, on the right bank 
of the Jumna, which is 57 miles distant from Thdnesar in a direct line, 
or about 65 miles by the road. I believe also that Paota is the very place 
from whence Firuz Shah removed the Delhi column, for the name of its 
original site is variously written as Taopar, or Topara, or Taoparsuk, any 
