154 
Alexander E. Caddy— Asolca Inscriptions in India. [Nov. 
6. Taking tlie mail train at Howrali on the night of the 15th, I 
reached Mokameh Chat the next morning. The railway ferry took ns 
on to the Bengal and North-Western Railway line at Semaria Ghat, 
and a day’s run brought us into Betti ah. 
7. In Champaran there are two pillars hearing identical edicts 
with those on the Allahabad and Delhi columns, one 20 miles north, 
and the other 21 miles south of Bettiali. The villages in which they 
stand are both called Lauriya , and a second local name is necessary to 
distinguish them. Near the northern pillar there is the old ruin of the 
fort of Navandgarh; near the southern column are the large market 
village and the Maliadeo temple of Araraj. The two Lauriyas are 
distinguished by these names respectively. 
The simple term Lauriya would imply the Navandgarh Lauriya by 
reason of its being a larger village, its having a post-office and a police 
outpost, and of the main road to Nepal passing through it. The Araraj 
Lauriya stood first in the order in which I should take the inscriptions, 
and there I first went. 
The two Lauriyas are reached from Bettiali. I rode to Barliarwa 
on an elephant; hence to the column at Lauriya Araraj in a bullock 
coach. 
8. The Sub-Deputy Opium Agent, Mr. Bean, asked me down to 
Barharwa , a village four miles west of Araraj and the head-quarters of 
his agency. I found every convenience for my work of preparation here, 
and I have reason to thank Mr. Bean for the facilities he afforded me. 
The rains and floods had just before breaking made traffic difficul¬ 
ties at Mokameh Glint somewhat serious. My gypsum had not reached 
Bettiali, nor my tents. The latter I had determined to leave at Bettiali 
till I went north, as tent equipage was already at my disposal. 
The work of grinding and sifting gypsum got on apace. An oven 
had been built in deference to the wishes of my modellers, who were 
not acquainted with the boiling method (as the Madras process is 
termed), and which was finally adopted. 
A few canisters of plaster being ready, and the weather permitting 
we went into camp at Lauriya Araraj. 
9. The Araraj column stands just by the threshing-floor of the 
village. It is a sandstone monolith 36J feet high and 120 inches in 
girth at the inscription. The southern side still retains its beautifullv 
polished surface; on the other side a lichen has slightly abraded it. 
The inscription is intact. 
The work before us was much heavier than we had imagined, and 
it took proportionately longer doing. 
On the 21st November I had the satisfaction of seeing the inscribed 
