~ i eeaacae “>t 

1865. ] Report of the Archeological Survey. 221 
Iléhdbds was founded on its site in the 21st year of Akbar’s reign 
that is in A. H. 982, or A. D. 1572. Indeed the way in which Abu 
Rihan speaks of the “ tree” instead of the city of Prag, leads me to 
believe that the city itself had already been deserted before his time. 
As far as I am aware, it is not once mentioned in any Muhammadan 
history, until it was refounded by Akbar. 
278. Asthe old city of Praydy has totally disappeared, we can scarcely 
expect to find any traces of the various Buddhist monuments which were 
seen and described by the Chinese pilgrim in the 7th century. Indeed 
from their position to the south-west of the city, it seems very probable 
that they may have been washed away by the Jumna even before the final 
abandonment of the city, as the course of that river for 3 miles above the 
confluence has been due west and east for many centuries past. At any rate, 
it is quite certain that no remains of these buildings are now to be seen ; 
the only existing Hindu monument being the well known stone pillar 
which bears the inscriptions of Asoka, Samudra Gupta aud J ahangir. 
As Hwen Thsang makes no mention of this pillar, it is probable that 
it was not standing in his day. Even its original position is not ex- 
actly known, but it was probably not far from its present site. It was 
first erected by King Asoka about B. C. 240 for the purpose of inscrib- 
ing his edicts regarding the propagation of Buddhism. It was next . 
made use of by Samudra Gupta, about the second century of the Chris- 
tian era, for the record of his extensive sovereignty over the various 
nations of India from Nepal to the Dakhan, and from Gujarat to 
Assam. Lastly, it was re-erected by the Mogal Emperor Jahangir to 
commemorate his accession to the throne in the year 1605 A. D. 
These are the three principal inscriptions on the Allahabad Pillar, but 
there are also a number of minor records of the names of travellers and 
pilgrims of various dates, from about the beginning of the Christian 
era down to the present century. Regarding these minor inscriptions, 
James Prinsep remarks that “it is a singular fact that the periods 
at which the pillar has been overthrown can be thus determined with 
nearly as much certainty from this desultory writing, as can the epochs 
of its being re-erected from the more formal inscriptions recording 
the latter event. Thus, that it was overthrown some time after its 
first erection by the great Asoka in the middle of the third century 
before Christ, is proved by the longitudinal or random insertion of 
several names in a character intermediate between No. 1 and No. 2, in 
