76 Description of Ancient Remains of [No. 2, 



for Buddhist relics, as there can be no doubt that constant commu- 

 nication was kept up by the monks of Sarnath with Bakarya Kund, 

 in both which places there were vast monastic edifices and numerous 

 temples.' 



Near this Ghaitya and between it and Bakarya Kund is a small 

 building standing by the road side, in which are several pillars of the 

 most ancient type inserted into the containing walls. They have been 

 very probably brought from Bakarya Kund. The building has an 

 unpretending appearance, and is kept whitewashed by the Moham- 

 medans, its proprietors. 



Buddhist Vihar — No. IV. 



Arhai Kangura Mosque. 



It is not our purpose thoroughly to describe this handsome struc- 

 ture, which is one of the finest mosques in the whole city, and is 

 situated in the Mahalla bearing its own name. Its magnificent and 

 lofty dome, as well as various parts of the mosque itself, unquestion- 

 ably exhibit a Mohammedan style of architecture, but we have no 

 hesitation in saying that by far the greater portion of the building, 

 and certainly five-sixths of its materials, belong to an epoch far more 

 distant than the Mahommedan invasion. The numerous square 

 columns with their cruciform capitals, and also the screens between 

 some of them in the upper story, are of Buddhist workmanship ; but 

 we are inclined to think that both Buddhists and Hindus have made 

 use of the same materials in different eras, and that in fact the mosque 

 is a mixture of three styles, namely Buddhist, Hindu, and Moham- 

 medan. The first edifice was, we believe, a monastery, with (most 

 probably) one or more temples attached ; but it is hard to say whether 

 any portion of the original building exists in situ, and we have not 

 sufficiently examined it to be able to pronounce a decided opinion on 

 the point. Our conviction, however, is that certain leading character- 

 istics of the first structure were perpetuated by the Hindus in that 

 which they raised on the departure, or rather expulsion, of the Bud- 

 dhists from Benares. It is not easy to determine accurately what 

 this Hindu building was, but perhaps it is more likely to have been 

 a math or a sort of monastery or religious house for Hindu ascetics, 

 such as exist in the land at the present day, than a temple. In the 



