INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYS. 666 



way places which, lie had not previously visited, so as to complete 

 as far as possible, a general exploration of the province. The 

 temples at Baghanvala, Malot, and Ketas, were visited by Mr. 

 Beglar, who then proceeded to Ali Masjicl to excavate the various 

 Buddhist remains, which had been discovered on the occupation of 

 the place by the British army at the time of the Afghan Campaign. 

 General Cunningham examined all the sites to the south of Manik- 

 yala, which had been visited by General Court, and then proceeded 

 to Skahdheri, the supposed ancient Taxila, to explore some spots 

 that had been left untouched by General Ventura. Besides mis- 

 cellaneous objects, such as figures and ornaments, thousands upon 

 thousands of old Indian coins are found among the ruins of Taxila, 

 which seem to indicate that the Hindus were in possession of a real 

 coinage at the time of Alexander's expedition. After visiting 

 Kafirkot. the General inspected the site of Rohri, where the floods of 

 the Indus had cut away part of the bank, and revealed the remains 

 of an old stupa with numerous Buddhist figures and heads in 

 stucco. The fort of Amb, within the Salt Bange, which was visited, 

 still possesses some Hindu temples. The great mound at Jehlam 

 had been described by both Generals Court and Abbott; recent 

 diggings for the railway had brought to light relics dating from the 

 time of the Greeks, and also from the most flourishing period of 

 Kashmirian rule. Passing through Lahore, the General visited the 

 lofty mound of China, 11 miles from Amritsar, "which he identifies 

 with the Chinapati of Hwen Thsang, and crossing the Beas Biver, 

 explored various old sites in the * Jalandhar Doab and east of the 

 Sutlej. South-east of Ambala, General Cunningham discovered 

 the village of Topra or Tobra, from which Piroz Shah removed 

 the great monolith of Asoka ; and his tour was brought to a conclu- 

 sion with the examination of the old battle fields famous in Hindu 

 history Avhich are grouped round Thaneswar.* 



The folloAving season was devoted by General Cunningham to a 

 tour in Behar and Bengal from Patna to Sunargaon. He first 

 visited Budclha Gaya where he had the good fortune to pick up two 

 dated inscriptions, one fixing the accession of Dharmapala, the 

 second Prince of the Pala dynasty of Bengal in 831 A.D. At 

 Jahngria, the rock sculptures and rock-cut temple of Ivahalgaon are 



* Vol. XIV., Archaeological Survey of India. — Report of a tour in the Punjab in 

 1878-79. By Alex. Cunningham, Major-General, C.S.I. , CLE. Calcutta, 1882. 



