18G2.] 
Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 453 
My reason for believing that the continuance of the excavations 
will well repay the cost of the work, is chiefly founded on the dis¬ 
covery of the colossal copper image of Buddha; and on the 
unmutilated state of the other images and inscriptions. From these 
discoveries, I conclude that the resident monks had only just time to 
bury the colossal copper statue of Buddha, before making their 
escape from the Vihdr , and consequently that numerous objects of 
interest must have been abandoned by them. Mr. Harris does not 
mention whether there are any traces of fire ; but I infer from the 
perfect state of the copper statue, that fire was not the means of 
destruction of the Sultanganj Vihdr . At Sarnath, Benares, all the 
metal objects discovered by Major Kittoe and myself had been wholly 
or partially fused, and the grain found in the cells was all charred. 
I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Harris for a copy of one of 
the inscriptions discovered by him on the back of a small stone figure. 
The inscription itself is of no value, it being only the usual Buddhist 
formula, beginning with Ye Dharmma hetu prabhava, &c., but it is 
otherwise of value, as the forms of the letters show that the figure is 
of early date, most probably of the second or third century. 
I have delayed answering your letter in the hope of being able to 
find some mention of this Vihdr either in Fa Ilian or in Hwen 
Tlisang ; but I have been disappointed. The latter pilgrim describes 
Champa , (the modern Bhagulpore) and it is probable that the Sultan¬ 
ganj Vihdr is one of the “ several dozens of monasteries” which were 
then mostly in ruins. This is rendered still more probable by the 
early date of the inscription noticed above. 
If I am right in my conjecture that the Sultanganj Vihdr is one 
of the many that were in ruins in the seventh century when visited 
by Hwen Thsang, it will only be the greater inducement to continue 
the excavations, as the objects which may be brought to light will 
belong to an early period of Buddhism, probably anterior to the 
introduction of the five Dliydn Buddhas and Bhodi Satwas, who were 
the principal objects of reverence at the time of Hwen Thsang's pil¬ 
grimage. 
The characters of the inscriptions sent to me by Mr. Harris are 
of the same age as those of the Gupta dynasty. The principal de¬ 
terminative letters are the Y and the sr , which in the inscriptions 
of later date, say of the 7th and 8th centuries, have changed to 
