1889.] 



on the Civilization of Ancient India. 



refer readers who may care for further information on the subject to 

 the discussion of it by Mr. Fergusson and Sir A. Cunningham, and to 

 the fine series of plates prepared under the supervision of Major Cole.* 



But, whether the pillars of the Kashmir temples be really derived 

 from Doric prototypes or not, there is no doubt whatever tbat pillars, 

 the designs of which are modifications of the Ionic and Corinthian types, 

 were common on the north-west frontier of India during the early cen- 

 turies of the Christian era. 



These Greek architectural forms have as yet been found only in a 

 very limited area, which may be conveniently referred to under the 

 name of Gandhara.f 



The boundaries of the kingdom of Gandhara, as it existed in ancient 

 times, are known with approximate accuracy. Hiuen Tsiang, who 

 travelled between A. D. 629 and 645, describes the kingdom as extending 

 about 166 miles (1000 li) from east to west, and 133 miles (800 li) from 

 north to south, with the Indus as its eastern boundary: The great city 

 of Purushapura, now known as Peshawar, was then the capital.f The 

 earlier Chinese traveller, Pa Hian (A. D. 400 — 405), assigns the same 

 position to the kingdom of Gandhara, though he describes its boundaries 

 with less particularity^ 



The region referred to by both Chinese pilgrims may be described 

 in general terms as the lower valley of the Kabul river. It is very 

 nearly identical with the territory to the north-east of Peshawar, now 

 inhabited by the Af gh an clan, known as the Yiisufzai or Sons of Joseph, 

 which comprises the independent hilly districts of Swat and Buhner, as 

 well as the plain bounded on the east by the Indus, on the north by the 

 hills, and on the south and west respectively by the Kabul and Swat 

 rivers. This plain, which is attached to the Peshawar District, and ad- 

 ministered by British officers, corresponds to the tract known to the 

 Greeks as Peukeloaitis (Sanskrit PushJcal&wati), the capital of which 

 occupied the site of the modern Hashtnagar, eighteen miles north of 

 Peshawar. || 



* Major Cole's book is entitled Illustration:; of Ancient Buildings in Kashmir, 

 (London, India Museum, 1869). His j)lates aro good, but his remarks on the dates 

 of the buildings illustrated would have been better omitted. Mr. Fergusson discuss- 

 es the stylo in his History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. Sir A. Cunningham 

 described it in the Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal, for 1848, and recurs to the subject 

 in Archceol. Reps., Vol. V, pp. 84-90, Plates XXVI, XXVII ; Vol. XIV, p. 35, PI. XV. 



t Sanskrit authority warrants oithor a long or short vowel in the first syllable 

 of the name. 



t Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. I, p. 97. 

 § Fa Hian, Travels, Chapter X, in either Deal's or Legge's translation. 

 || Cunningham, Archceol. Rep., Vol. V, p. 1. Hashtnagar is described ibid., 

 Vol. II, p. 90, and Vol. XIX, pp. 96—110. 



