F. S. Growse —Mathura Notes. 
[No. 2, 
114 
foundations of the new screen-walls (the old walls had been simply set on 
the ground without any foundation at all) I came upon a number of re¬ 
mains of the true Hindu temple, dating apparently from about the year 
1500 A. D. The Iconoclast would not use these - sculptures in the con¬ 
struction of his mosque, since they had too recently formed part of an idol¬ 
atrous shrine, but had them buried out of sight; while he had no scruple 
about utilizing the old Jaini pillars. Whatever I dug up, I either let into 
the wall or brought over to Mathura for the local Museum, which in all 
probability will now never be instituted. 
On a drum of one of the pillars is an inscription, which I read Rdm- 
dasa has iknavi team, meaning, it would seem, £ Column No. 91, the gift of 
Ilam Das.’ This is now upside down and from this fact as also from what 
has been said above, it may clearly be seen that my statement in the 
1 Memoir’ that ‘ the pillars, as they now stand, occupy their original posi¬ 
tion’ cannot be maintained. I still think, however, that in the main they 
represent the original design and that height was gained, from the first, by 
the simple expedient of placing one pillar on the top of another. For some 
of the inner columns are so carved, that they seem to be broken in two in 
the middle, though they are really each a single shaft. 
3. The Hindu sikhara ; its origin and development. 
If Mr. Fergusson had ever been able to visit Brindaban or to procure 
photographs of the temples there, it is possible that he would not have 
found the origin of the Hindu sikhara such an inscrutable mystery as he 
declares it to be. He conjectures that the external form may have been 
simply a constructural necessity resulting from the employment internally 
of a very tall pointed horizontal arch, like that of the Treasury at Myceme. 
But so far as my experience extends, no such arch was ever used in a 
Hindu temple. On the contrary the cella , over which the sikhara is built, 
is separated from the more public part of the building by a solid wall 
pierced only by a doorway small enough to be easily closed ; while the 
chamber itself is of no great height and is covered in with a vaulted cieling, 
as to the shape of which nothing could be learnt from a view of the sikhara 
outside. And vice versa. Thus at the great temple of Gobind Deva the 
central dome of the nave (or porch as Mr. Fergusson very inappropriately 
calls it) is perfect; but it is impossible to determine from thence with any 
certainty what would have been the outline and proportions of the tower 
that the architect proposed to raise over it. I have no question in my own 
mind that the origin of the sikhara is to be found in the Buddhist stupa 
of which a representative example may be seen in Plate XIII sculptured at 
the back of a small pillar. Nor do I detect any violent breal in the 
