1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 223 
swelling capital is in harmony with the stout and massive column. 
But the new capital designed by Captain Smith, is, in my opinion, a 
signal failure. The capital lessens towards the top, and is surmounted 
by an abacus of less diameter than that of the pillar itself. The animal 
on the top is small and recumbent, and altogether the design is insig- 
nificant. Indeed it looks to me not unlike a stuffed poodle stuck on 
the top of an inverted flower pot. 
280. According to the common tradition of the people, the name of 
Pray4ga was derived from a Brahman, who lived during the reign of 
Akbar. The story is that when the Emperor was building the fort, 
the walls on the river face repeatedly fell down in spite of all the pre- 
cautions taken by the architect. On consulting some wise men, Akbar 
was informed that the foundations could only be seeured by being laid 
in human blood. A proclamation was then made, when a Brahman, 
called Prayiga, voluntarily offered his life, on the condition that the 
fort should bear hisname. This idle story, which is diligently related 
to the pilgrims who visit the Akshay Bat, may at least serve one useful 
purpose, in warning us not to place too much faith in these local tra- 
ditions. The name of Praydga is recorded by Hwen Thsang in the 
7th century, and is in all probability as old as the reign of Asoka, who 
set up the stone pillar about B. C. 240, while the fort was not built 
until the end of the 16th century. 
XIV.—KOSAM, OR KOSAMBI. 
281. The city of Kosdémbi was one of the most celebrated places in 
ancient India, and its name was famous amongst Brahmans as well as 
Buddhists. The city is said to have been founded by Kusamba, the tenth 
in descent from Pururavas; but its fame begins only with the reign of 
Chakra, the eighth in descent from Arjun Pandu, who made Kosambi 
his capital after Hastinapura had been swept away by the Ganges. If 
the date of the great war (Mahdbhdrata) be fixed at 1426 B. C., which, 
as I have already shown in my account of Dilli, is the most probable 
period, then the date of Chakra will be about 1200 or 1150 B. C. 
Twenty-two of his descendants are said to have reigned in the Kosimbi 
down to Kshemaka, the last of the dynasty, but it seems almost certain 
that some names must have been omitted, as the very longest period 
of 30 years which can be assigned to a generation of eastern Kings 
will place the close of the dynasty about B, C. 500, and make the 


