342 H. H. HAYDEN. 



The Munar-i-Surkh has already been described by Masson, and I only mention it 

 here in order to correct an obvious slip to be found on page 56 of Fergusson's History 

 of Indian and Eastern Architecture (1876) and which evidently escaped the author's 

 notice. In his description of the Munars near Kabul, Fergusson refers to them as 

 the Chakri Munar and the Surkh Munar, and publishes a woodcut purporting to illus- 

 trate the latter and said to be taken "from a drawing by Mr. Masson in Wilson's 

 ' Ariana Antiqua' ". Masson states in his description of the Munar-i-Surkh (op. cit., 

 p. 114), that " its upper parts have fallen beneath the injuries of time ' ' : when Mas- 

 son saw it, it was evidently in the same dilapidated state as at the time of my recent 

 visit ; only a portion — probably representing about two-thirds of the original struc- 

 ture — is still standing ; this consists of a plain cylindrical column capped by a pro- 

 jecting course similar to that seen at rather less than two- thirds of its height in the 

 illustration now published of the Munar-i-Chakri. On the other hand, Fergusson's 

 woodcut represents a pillar in a very good state of preservation, and also resembles 

 closely the Munar- i-Chakri. In his reference to his woodcut, "Munar-i-Surkh" is 

 evidently, therefore, merely a slip for " Munar-i-Chakri." Curiously enough, however, 

 his woodcut differs considerably from the illustration given by Masson on Plate ix of 

 Ariana Antiqua, from which it purports to be taken. 1 It is clearly not a copy of 

 Masson's figure, yet a comparison of both with the photograph now published shows 

 the Fergusson's woodcut is the more accurate of the two ! 



Buddhist Carvings at BAmiAn. 



The Bamian caves and carvings have been described by many writers, beginning 

 with Hiuen Tsiang, who visited the valley nearly thirteen hundred years ago (between 

 A.D. 629 and 645). Notes on them have also been published at various times in this 

 Society's journal ; viz., by Burnes in 1833 (vol. ii, 561), and by Masson in 1836 (vol. 

 v, 707). Subsequently in 1839, Bamian was visited by Dr. W. Griffith (Posthumous 

 Papers: Journals of Travels in Assam, &c, edited by J. McClelland (1847), P- 3 8 9)- 

 Both he and Burnes give illustrations of the principal figures ; these were drawn from 

 rough sketches and with the exception of a photograph of one of the figures taken by 

 Mr. A. Collins and reproduced in Dr. J. A. Gray's " My Residence at the Court of the 

 Amir" (1895), p. 144, no photographs have, I believe, been published. 



There are at present altogether five statues in Bamian, three of which are in the 

 main valley at Taibut. Plate xii gives a general view of the cliffs of Tertiary conglo- 

 merate on the left side of the valley and shows the two chief niches, one at either end, 

 and two smaller niches between them. Only one of the latter contains a statue and 

 that has suffered, like the two principal figures, from systematic mutilation as well 

 as from the effects of cannon-balls fired at it by Mahommedan invaders. 



A fourth statue (Plate xiii) is seen in the cliffs on the right bank of the Chapdara, 

 a stream which joins the Bamian river on its right bank about two miles below Taibut. 



l Only two copies of this work were accessible to me in Calcutta — one in the Imperial Library, and the other m 

 the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ; but the illustrations were probably the same throughout the edition. 



