West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1880-03-06
Exploration. in Afrnnnl.rnn.

For period of forty years II has been
known that interesting Buddhist remains
existed in the Jollalabad Valley although
little or no attention has been givin TO their
investigation. Mr.. William Simpson, hav-
ing been quartered for some months i'm the
valley, with the force under General Sir
Samuel Browne, has been able 10 visit most
of the remains in that region and to make
sketches of them, and the results of his in
vestigations are given by him i'm paper
published.in "A recent numbero the JOuJudl
Of the Society Of ArtS. These Buddhist
remains, says Mr. Simpson, are little more
than mounds. Here and there the crumb-
ling remains of stupa may he seen, and
fragments of walls can be traced in the
heaps. The immense quantity of these
mounds is astonishing; and, as it is known
that these Buddhist establishments were
monasteries, the extent of the remains seems
To indicate in the past population of asce-
tics alone far greater than the population OF
the present day In the Buddhist period,
the country must have been under u high
state of civilization, where wealth abound
ed and art was cultivated. The vcstiges of
art still remaining show that the religious
structures of the time wore large and inn
portant. a style of architecture was fol-
lowed in which sculpture was largely prac-
ticed, and in which the effect was heghten-
ed by the use of color and gold. The struct-
ures connected with the practice of the
buddhist faith were 'viharas, or monas-
tcries, places in which each monk had his
cell, and with buildings Tor worship One
prominent forrI of the ritual was connected
with structures which are now known as
''topes" or stupas. ''Dagoba" and "chait-
va" are also terms used to designate the
same kind of structure. The Aighanlstan
topes, unlike those of Sanchi, Bharut, and
Amaravati, have "a square base. 1t is orna-
mented with cornice and plaster; large
and imposing stairs are made to ascend to
the platform formed by ii above on which
the circular part of the tope stood. Among
the TOPICS in the Jellalabad Valley which are
not quite reduced to the condition of
mounds, the Greek influence is very dis
tinctly marked in the architecture The
capitals are all Corinthian; and the more
ornamental structures have series of Corin-
THAN pilasters with base mouldings and
friezes. Regarding the monasterles little
can be SAID, for scarce vcstige of them
now remain. All throughout Afghanistan
there Is an immense number of caves At
Bamian, about "A hundred miles north of
'Cabul, there is what may be called a city of
groups of TOPICS. there are numerous caves
associated with them. Nearly all of these,
as rule, are about the same size. They
are merely arched recesscs in the rock.
about twelve feet high; of the same width,
and about twenty feet long. That they were
decorated with color is shown by the traces
still visible in the decorations in a small
group at Hada, Enough is left also to dis
tlnguish panels, in rows, with heads of
Buddba Oh buddhist saints with the nm-
bus. AT Darunta there is very large and
remarkable group OF caves. The rock above
had monasteries and TOPICS of an extensive
character upon it. The most interesting of
these caves are in perpendicular cliff over
hanging the Cabul river. Mr.. Simpson CON
cludes his paper with n short account of
the excavations made by him at the Amin
Posh tope, near Jellalabad OF this structure
nothing is left but the lower part of the
square base; and there is only small Dor
tion remaining of the first course Of the cir
cuar part of the tope, which is eighty
feet in diameter. The base is 100 feet
square, and ornamented with Corinthian
pllasters. There had been an inclosure all
round the tope, forming courtyard about
900 feet square. Through this the
principal gateway entered from the south.
In line with the original stairs on the south
ana north side of the tope This approach was
evidently an important construction. There
was further evidence of what it had been
lii the remains OF colossal figures, which
were brought to light. The SIZE of these
may be Judged Of by the size of the feet.
which were twenty-three inches long and
winch were all that remained of the statue
20 winch they belonged. On digging tun-
,F IL.
wall was found TO be composed of stones
and states, so arranged as to produce di-
aper or checkered pattern-a STYLE of mas
onry peculiar to all the remains of the
Buddhist period. In his excavations. Mr.
Simpson was fortunate enough to come upon
the cell, which was formed of LAYERS of
slate, and was a perfect cube of sixteen
inches. In this repository, which consttu-
tea the sanctum, in honor of which the
monument had been raised and TO which
the rltla tort 8 o. the Buddhs were direct,
ed, there were found two handsful Of dark
looking dust, which were probably part of
the ashes OF some noted holy man of the
Time, deposited after cremation-the rule
Oh the Buddhist priesthood. On TOP of the
ashes bay golden relic holder octagonal
In fern, about four inches long, and set
on each OF its faces with stones Among
the ashes were twenty gold coins seventeen
OF them Bactrian or Indo- Scythian and
three Roman. These coins, which were in
splendid condition, and the relic holder.
were no doubt deposited as offerings along
with the ashes at the conservation cerc-
mony of the shrine. The coins arc only a
negative evidence toward the date of the
tope; but from them it is certain that the
latter is not older than the second century.
How much later it may be is rather a diffi-
cult question as yet to determine.