1865.] Report of the Archeological Survey. 231 
mound of brick ruins. The portion of the shaft above ground is 14 
feet in length, and close by there are two broken pieces, measuring 
respectively 4 feet 6 inches and 2 feet 3 inches. I made an excavation 
completely round the pillar, to adepth of 7 feet 4 inches, without 
reaching the end ofthe polished portion of the shaft. All these figures 
added together give a total length of 28 feet; but the pillar was no 
doubt several feet longer, as the shafts of all the five known monoliths 
exceed 30 feet. The smallest diameter is 29} inches, or nearly the 
same as that of the Lawriya-Ara-Raj pillar, and as the diameter 
increases in nearly the same proportion, I presume that the Kosambi 
pillar most probably had about the same height of 36 feet. According 
to the villagers, this pillar was in one piece as late as 50 years ago; but 
ib was leaning against a large Nimb tree. The tree was old and 
hollow, and some cowherds having accidentally set fire to it, the top of 
the pillar was broken by the heat. Several different persons affirmed 
that the shaft was originally nearly double its present height. This 
would make the height above ground somewhat less than twice 14 
feet, or Say about 27 feet; which added to the ascertained smooth 
portion of 7 feet 4 inches under ground, would make the original 
height of the smooth shaft upwards of 34 feet. I found numerous 
roots of the old tree in my excavation round the pillar. The state- 
ment of the people that the Kosimbi pillar has been leaning in its 
present position as long as they can remember, is curiously corroborated 
by the fact that an inscription dated in the reign of Akbar is cut across 
the face of the shaft at an angle of about 50° but parallel to the hori- 
zon. It seems certain therefore that the pillar was in its present 
leaning position as early as the reign of Akbar; and further, as this 
inscription is within reach of the hand, and as there are also others 
engraved beneath the present surface of the soil, I conclude that the 
pillar must have been buried as we now see it for a long time previous 
to the reign of Akbar. 
292. The inscriptions recorded on the Kosimbi pillar range from 
the age of the Guptas down to the present day. The only record of the 
earliest period is the name of a pilgrim in six letters which I have not 
succeeded in reading. At the top of the broken shaft there is an 
incomplete record of three letters ending in prabhdra, which I would 
ascribe to the 4th or 5th century. The letters, which are three inches 
in length, are boldly cut, but the line which they form is not parallel 

