5Q W. Hoey —Set Mahet. [Extra No. 
rival sects:, nay more, on a part of the very site which Sudatta had 
originally purchased. 
Round the base of the stupa were several small pagodas or memo¬ 
rial pillars, some square and some circular. On the west of it was a well. 
This probably was to supply with water the mendicants who lived in 
the cells around the stupa. 
No. 36 represents certain walls discovered just as operations were 
drawing to a close, which seem more like the outline of one side of a 
gateway than anything else 1 can think of ; but it would be wrong to do 
more than hazard this guess, as the counterpart has not yet been found, 
nor indeed looked for. 
The line rs represents a long trench in which I found, still in ex¬ 
cellent preservation, the greater part of a drain, or waterduct, made of 
tiles, probably used for conveying water for irrigating the garden of 
the monastery. The lines Im, no , and pq, are the trenches which 
revealed a very old building 37. 
The lines gh, and jh, are very deep trenches which enabled me to 
touch the walls which further excavations laid bare, now marked in the 
triangle ghk, but it is only shown in this—as in other instances—that 
there is great need for a full exploration. 
The lines of trenches jjll , ffgg, and ffhh, yielded more interest¬ 
ing discoveries : and here I believe I found the key to the whole excava¬ 
tion. As I stood one day looking at the octagonal well A, which stands 
in the middle of the present interior level of the whole ruins at Sahet, 
I reflected on General Cunningham’s specious remarks in his second 
report on Sravasti,* where he takes the part of the upper portion of the 
well being octagonal, with a slight inward inclination of the sides at the 
top, to be a mark of ingenuity on the part of the builders of the well. 
I saw that the inward inclination seemed to be in some of the sides 
only, and not to bear the marks of design, but of accident, owing to 
age or pressure, and I further questioned the probability of a well- 
builder varying -the shaft of his well, building circular below and 
octagonal above. It would be a source of weakness. I then noticed 
that where the circular shaft ended there were horizontal bricks and 
slabs, and I felt sure that the original well must have ceased here. I 
then laid out the trenches lljj, ffhh , ffgg, and, when I had gone to a 
depth near the well, I came across the base of the pillar at T. This is 
the remains of a magnificent pillar 13 ft. square at the base. When I had 
exposed it, I made a small hole horizontally at the level of its foundation 
into the earth near the well, and I found in a few minutes that I touch- 
# Archaeological Survey of India , vol. XI, p. 93 . 
