66 H. Rivett-Carnac —On preservation of Antiquarian .'Remains. [Feb. 
« laths" are not used now-a-days as rollers on metalled roads ; that there 
is a prejudice against carved and inscribed stones being utilised as founda¬ 
tions for bridges and other building purposes ; and that the Hon’ble Sir 
J. Strachey has recorded a very effective protest against the demolition of 
architectural remains for the manufacture of temporary triumphal arches. 
In the Central Provinces, of which I have some knowledge, the object 
has received much attention, and doubtless in many other parts of India of 
which I have no knowledge, the same good work is going on. The inter¬ 
esting archaeological reports of General Cunningham shew that the examin¬ 
ation of the antiquarian remains is progressing slowly but surely on a well- 
considered plan. And in the North-West Provinces, the action of Sir J. 
Strachey and the department created under his rule is doing much to 
ensure the preservation of interesting monuments, which another ten years 
of neglect might have placed beyond repair. 
Still, with all this, it is desirable, I submit, that something more 
should be done to protect antiquarian treasures from demolition and 
spoliation. If it be held that heretofore the want of special measures has 
not been felt, it may fairly be answered that they are necessitated by the 
changes which India has undergone and is rapidly undergoing. The India 
of to-day is widely different from the India of Tod and of Prinsep. Those 
who are now employed in the country have less leisure for antiquarian en¬ 
quiry than their predecessors. The official of 1879 has much of his time 
taken up with returns and reports, of which Tod knew nothing. The daily 
telegrams from Europe, the weekly mails from home loaded with cheap 
literature, enabling all who care to do so to keep pace with European 
thought, distract the attention from, and restrict the leisure available for, 
subjects of purely Indian interest. In old days, whatever of antiquarian 
value was discovered, was beyond the reach of the many, and either re¬ 
mained undistributed or was worked up for local publication. With rapid 
and cheap steam communication and the aid of guide-books, a new element 
has recently been introduced into the country. Now-a-days many of the 
most important places of antiquarian interest, are, comparatively speaking, 
easy of access, are marked on the maps and noticed in the guide-books, 
with which every tourist is provided. And there is now hardly a traveller 
with any pretensions to intelligence or culture, who does not consider it 
necessary, before returning home, to master roughly, the difference between 
“ Buddha ” and “ Siva," and to carry back with him some proof of the re¬ 
sults of his studies. The rich vein of Indian antiquarian interest once 
opened, the brass trays of Benares hardly satisfy the cultivated mind, and 
a brisk demand springs up for genuine fragments from Sanchi or old sculp- 
turings from Sarnath. The danger is perhaps not so much from the tra- 
