CHAPTER III. 
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SECTION. 
After the completion of the first block of Museum 
buildings, the authorities of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 
made over their entire collection of antiquities to the Trus¬ 
tees of the Museum, with the exception of inscribed copper 
plates and coins. The collection, as it stood in 1876, although 
important, was not a very complete one. The remains of the 
Bharhut stupa were not included in it; there were not more 
than a dozen Indo-Greek sculptures from Gandhara, and there 
were but few mediseval sculptures from Bihar. The most 
important groups in this collection were:— 
I. Sculptures from Mathura. These included the Silenus 
group discovered by Colonel Stacy, the unique image of 
Hercules fighting with the Lion, a number of inscribed pillar 
bases of the Indo-Scythian period, and one or two fine Buddhist 
images of the Gupta period. With the exception of the 
Silenus group, all Mathura sculptures in the Society’s collection 
were presented to it in 1862 by the Hon. G. F. Edmonstone, 
then Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces. 
II. Sculptures from Sarnath. This series contained four 
elaborately carved stelae and a number of very fine Buddhist 
images of the Gupta period. The larger portion of this 
collection was received as a donation from Sir Alexander 
Cunningham in 1835-36. 
III. A collection of Brahmanical and Buddhist images 
from Java. These were received by the Asiatic Society of 
Bengal as presents from its members at various times, but as 
no record of their arrival or presentation can be traced, 
neither the actual dates of presentations, nor the names of 
the donors, except in one or two cases, can be ascertained. 
IV. A number of inscriptions on stones. 
The archaeological specimens received from the Asiatic 
Society were placed in four rooms in the ground floor of the 
building. 
