301 
1862.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 
ant-Governor of the N. W. Provinces has placed at the disposal of 
the Society:— 
At the close of 1860, Mr. Best, the then Collector of Muttra, in 
levelling a site for the new cutcherry at that station, cleared away a 
portion of a large earthen mound. It soon appeared that this mound 
covered the ruins of a large building which had, at a very early 
period, been levelled, and above which had been built a Musjid of 
some antiquity which in its turn had been blown up for Military 
reasons during the mutiny. The mound, which is pretty extensive, 
is situated at the entrance of the station, from the main road lead¬ 
ing from the city of Muttra to Agra. 
Mr. Best had not the means at his command to complete the in¬ 
vestigation of the ruins. Nor has any attempt been made to ascer¬ 
tain the ground plan of the original building, but the mound was 
trenched throughout, and a number of statues, cornices, bas-relievos 
and pillars have been discovered. 
These are all more or less mutilated, and appear to be of varying 
antiquity. It is probable, therefore, that the building passed through 
stages of decay, repair and additions before its final destruction. 
One piece of stone indeed, which originally appears to have formed 
part of a sculptured drain pipe, has evidently been subsequently 
made to do duty as part of a stone-ladder, and the ruthless hands 
which fitted it for the latter purpose, have unfortunately hacked 
away a great portion of a very interesting inscription which it origin¬ 
ally bore. 
It is indeed on account of the numerous inscriptions which these 
sculptures bear that they are chiefly valuable. Their execution is 
not of a very high order, and the coarse material of which they are 
composed, the common red sand-stone of the neighbouring quarries, 
is not favourable to any great degree of perfection in plastic art. 
They are all, however, of a Buddhist character, and the inscriptions 
add their testimony to this effect. 
Colonel Cunningham, who visited Muttra shortly after their dis¬ 
covery, in company with the Lieutenant-Governor, immediately re¬ 
cognised the value of the discovery, and at his recommendation 
measures were taken to preserve what was discovered. He copied 
the inscriptions, and on a subsequent visit to the place, I also did so 
somewhat more leisurely. Our copies for the most part agree pretty 
