44 
W. Ho ej—Set Mahet. 
[Extra No. 
of the platform of the mound with tolerable accuracy, 350 ft. sq., and 
the exact measurement of the enclosing wall of the building now exposed, 
nearest the surface of the mound, can be ascertained by scale appended 
to my map. But into this I need not go. I shall satisfy myself with 
pointing out that there has been a misconception as to the age and 
character of the building which crowns the mound. 
Cunningham states that there were three platforms and “ on the 
uppermost terrace, which was about 80 ft. square stood the temple with its 
doorway facing the east. The building consisted of two parts : a large 
ball, or assembly room, for reading Ihe Buddhist Scriptures, and a 
smaller room, or cell, with a pedestal for the enshrined image.”* He 
then goes on to describe the cell and the assembly hall, as he calls 
them. 
The first point I have to note is, that the cell, as it is termed, is 
quite a new building, in fact a modern addition to a modern building. 
This is apparent at a glance by observing that there are floral bricks 
thrust in here and there at random in the walls, having been clearly 
taken from the remains of an older building. In the next place the 
four pillars, as Cunningham calls them, small brick pedestals in the large 
room, are placed as bedis or Hindu altars, and raise the suspicion that 
this was a later Hindu building. I opened the floor and I found the 
pilasters of a larger building and four other bedis below. They extend¬ 
ed to a depth of about 4 feet below and rose out of a concrete floor. 
On opening this concrete to dig deeper, I came upon the mouth of a 
well which had been closed up. I opened it and found it to be only an 
additional piece of masonry continuing the shaft of the original well, 
the platform of which was clearly marked by a line of upright bricks a 
few feet lower down. I cleared this well to water level, and found it 
had been choked with bricks, bones, and weapons. I found human 
skulls and bones, and the skull of a camel. One human skull still held 
an arrow head by which it had been pierced. Thus we have marked 
periods : (1) original well, (2) well repaired and added to and choked up 
with bones etc., after a fight, (3) the first building of which I found 
bedis and pilasters, (4) the building of which the remains were seen 
by General Cunningham. The surface of the floor of this latest build¬ 
ing is 20 ft. 6 in. above water level. 
To the west of this mound I opened trenches in a large level space 
adjoining, and I here found very old buildings deep buried under earth, 
ten to twelve feet below the surface and made of bricks of very large 
dimensions. I could discern chambers which seem to have surrounded a 
# Archaeological Survey of India , vol. I, %>. 83. 
