62 Description of Ancient Remains of [No. 2, 



as used in this paper, will therefore not be applied to buildings erected 

 500 or even 800 years ago, but to those of a previous period. 



That wonderful mass of lofty houses separated by narrow lanes and 

 packed together in such wild disorder, appearing in fact like one 

 immense structure of gigantic proportions, which extends along the 

 banks of the Ganges for more than two miles, and has a circumference 

 of at least six, although built for the most part of solid stone, and 

 presenting largely the aspect of hoary age, has no right to the epithet 

 of ' ancient.' Some of the buildings of which it is composed, have been 

 standing fully five hundred years, yet there are very few indeed which 

 have not been erected since the commencement of the Mohammedan 

 period in India. But speaking generally, this, together with a part 

 of the northern boundary of Benares, is the oldest portion of the 

 present city, while that large extent of buildings lying south and 

 west beyond it, and occupying four or five times its area, is chiefly 

 of recent date. 



The question which we have attempted to investigate, is, what 

 is there in Benares more ancient than, say, the epoch of Mahmud 

 of Gazni, who invaded India in the year of our Lord 1001 ? Are 

 there any remains of the preceding Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist 

 periods ? And is there any remnant whatever of the first Hindu 

 period before the rise of Buddhism in the sixth century B. C, or 

 even before it became paramount in the reign of Asoka, B. C. 250 ? 



When, after diligent search and careful scrutiny, we endeavoured to 

 find proofs of the existence of Benares during these earlier periods, 

 we soon ascertained that they were scanty, and with a few exceptions 

 unimposing. The debris of ancient Benares may be traced in the 

 multitude of carved stones, portions of capitals, shafts, bases, friezes, 

 architraves, and so forth — inserted into modern buildings in the nor- 

 thern and north-western quarters of the city. These fragments exhibit 

 a great diversity of style, from the severely simple to the exceedingly 

 ornate, and are in themselves a sufficient proof of the former exist- 

 ence of buildings, of styles of architecture corresponding to themselves, 

 yet differing in many important respects from the styles of modern 

 Hindu and Mohammedan structures, and coinciding with those of 

 ancient temples and monasteries of the Gupta and pre- Gupta periods, 

 the ruins of which are still existing in various parts of India. Were 



