320 



XV. 



INDIAN ARCH^OLOGTCAL SURVEYS. 



The archpeological remains of India, apart from their artistic 

 interest, are invaluable to the student of history, but it is only 

 within comparatively recent years that their conservation has been 

 undertaken by Government. This is regrettable, for, as has been 

 truly remarked, delay iu such matters is irreparable. " Paintings 

 fade from walls, sculptured edifices are destroyed by the vigorous 

 growth of trees and by ruthless modern builders in want of 

 material, coins and inscriptions are mislaid or effaced, and all the 

 works of man suffer more or less under the hand of time."* The 

 earlier notices of Indian antiquities were those of passing travellers, 

 in whose time the knowledge of the languages, literature, and' 

 history of the country was too scanty and undeveloped to enable 

 them to appreciate the true significance of the monuments and ruins 

 which they beheld. It was not till the foundation of the Asiatic 

 Society at Calcutta in 1784. under the auspices of Sir William 

 Jones, that any real attempt was made to critically examine Indian 

 archajological remains. Since then the proceedings and journal of 

 that body and of kindred societies at Bombay and Madras have 



* Markham's Memoir on the Indian Survey?, p. 236. 1 must remark, however, that 

 the practice of carting away and utilizing the fragments of old temples of high antiquarian 

 intercsl for ordinary modern building purposes has by no means been confined to native 

 builders. So far back as ITS 1 Mr. Charles Graut, a resident at Malda, wrote as follows : — 

 " I imagine a number of stones sufficient for the pavement of the New Church, may be 

 " collected from the ruins of Gour . . . all the remains of Gour are unquestionably 

 " the property of Government, which we may dispose of at pleasure as was the custom of 

 '■ the Souhahdars." (Historical and Ecclesiastical Sketches of Bengal. Calcutta, 1831, 

 p. 188.) Fergusson in his " Indian Architecture " makes mention of an inscribed Asoka 

 pillar converted by some utilitarian officer into a roller for the station roads at Alla- 

 habad. {See page 53.) Again, in 1885, a French archaeologist drew attention in the 

 columns of the " Temps " to a gross act of vandalism, whereby no fewer than 40,000 

 cubic feet of stone, the ruins of decayed temples and palaces forming the ancient city 

 of Chandravati, the early capital of Gujrat, were carted away by railway contractors. 

 This is corroborated in Mr. H. Cousens' progress reports on his tour in 1889-90 in 

 North Gujrat. The general subject was brought to the notice of the Government of 

 India, Home Department (June 10, 1886), and a Circular (No. 4, P.W. of September 8, 

 1886) was issued for the better protection of remains from destruction by railway 

 contractors, t vc. A:c. 



