288 T. Bloch — Buddhistic statue from Cravasti. [No. 4, 
which, by no means, all have been, found in Mathura itself, but some 
of them at a considerable distance away, together under the class-term 
of Mathura sculptures, just as we speak of Gandliara-sculptures, and 
such a term rests on much stronger grounds than many a similar one 
introduced by Indian Archaeologists. If, indeed, we find a statue with 
an Inscription, approximately 19 centuries old telling ns that the place 
where the statue was set up, was pravastl and their being no visible signs 
that the statue has been transported from some other place, such as 
Inscriptions in later characters, etc., we must primarily infer that the site 
where it stands is the same place as that mentioned in the Inscription, 
until by some independent reasons we have come to the conclusion that 
such an assumption cannot be upheld. Such independent reasons, in 
our case, would be the distance in miles and the direction according to 
the horizon, as recorded by the Chinese pilgrims between pravastl and 
other places visited by them. 
The next place to which both Fa-Hian and Hiuen Thsang travelled 
from QravastI, is Kapilavastu , the birth-place of Buddh,a. The latter 
place, by the discovery in 1896 of the famous Paderia Edict of A^oka, 
has been identified beyond doubt with a modern site in the Nepalese 
Terai to the north of Uska Bazar station. How far its distance from 
Set-Mahet in English miles is, I am unable to make out with certainty ; 
its direction according to the horizon from Set-Mahet is to the East. 
The distance recorded by Fa-Hiang between QravastI and Kapilavastu 
is about 14 yojanas in a south-easterly direction ; 1 Hiuen Thsang gives 
500 li in a south-eastern direction as the distance between the kingdom 
of pravastl and the kingdom of Kapilavastu. 2 Both accordingly record 
the direction as lying to the south-east, while the actual direction 
between Set-Mahet and Paderia seems to be to the east. The question 
accordingly is: are we, on account of this discrepancy, justified in 
assuming that the statue has been brought to the place where General 
Cunningham found it, from somewhere else, while the actual site of pra- 
vastl must be searched for somewhere to the north-east of Paderia P 
1 From Qravasti to Na-pi-ka, the birth-place of the Buddha Kraku chanda ; 
12 yojanas to the south ; from this place to Buddha Kanakamuni’s birth-place (viz., 
the modern Nigliva in Tahsil Taulehva, Nepal) : less than 1 ydjana to the north : 
from this place to Kapilavastu: less than one ydjana eastward; see Chapter XXI 
and XXII (p. 85-86) of Beal’s translation. 
2 St. Julien, Yol. I, p. 309 “ en partant de ce royaume ( i.e ., She-lo-fa-si-ti = 
Qravasti), il fit environ cinq cents li au sud-est, et arriva au royaume de Kie-pi-lo- 
fa-su-tu (Kapilavastu).” I expect that the distance in lis and yojanas agrees nearly 
with the actual distance in English miles between Set-Mahet and Paderia, but I 
have no means to work ont this question, and I refrain myself, for this reason, from 
taking it into consideration. 500 lis or 14 yojanas both come up approximately to 80 
English miles. 
