The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-10
AFTER TWENTY CENTURIES.
The City of Great Indian King to
BE Excavated.

Calcutta Englishman.
At last the ruin OF the Indian Troy. deeply
buried in the debris of over twenty-five centuries
are likely soon TO see the light. Patalputra. the
"Palibothra" OF the Greeks, the city of sweet
scented flowers" so famous in ancient Indian
legend and romance. is perhaps most widely
Indian Emperors and the most lavish devctee
the world has He covered his mighty
kingdom from Afghanistan to the Dekhan, from
Nepal to Guierat. with countless Buddhist mon
uments and buildings of vast size. His stipend
Gus stunas or mounds of solid masonry to en-
shrine Buddhas relics, or to mark some sacred
suot. are found all over India, and almost
eSict piilars single shafts Of Stone over for1x
feet in length and beautifully polished and sculp-
tured still excite tie admiration and wonder of
have been the capital of this great Hindoo king
who the ally OF the Greek Kingv Antiochus
don, Niagas OF Cyrene and Alexander of Epirus.
1t already a splendid city in the fourth
Chandra gupta the Greek sandracottus as we
learn from the glowing dissertations OF Megas-
the the ,a, the ,b OF
were all Of wood like the palaces and temples
Of Burmah in the present day. 1t is matter OF
history. however. how Asoka found this capital
Of wood and left II OF stone. But. before the
dawn Of our era this great city had decayed with
the fall OF Asoka's dynasty and the smaller
ceeding dynasties. and the transfer of capital
elsewhere In 400 A. d. the Chinese pilgrim ia
Han reported that IL lay deserted in ruins Since
the Mohammedan invasion in the twelfth century
a. ID. the very site of this city forgotten
IL was known TO be somewhere near the modern
perts and others who had deliberately searched
for it believed that II bad been entirely washed
away by the Gauges. Then Il will be remem-
bered that Surgeon Major Waddell. in 1892 dur
ing flying visit to Patna, found that the lead
ing landmarks OF Asoka's capital still existed
He found several sculptured stones and images
of the Asoka epoch lying the surface or built
into houses or walls. and these together with
the position OF the old mounds. many Of which
still retain their ancient names. enabled him to
fix with certainty the limits OF Asoka's citadel
and also to indicate roughly the possible sites of
particular buildings for exploratory excavations
without which, of course. no detailed Identified
tions could he decisively attempted.
Unfortunately. most of the likely mounds now
contain. Mohammedan graves. for the Moharme-
dan invaders wont to seize the highest
mounds for their residence and burial grounds.
and for centuries thew have used these ruins as
quarry for their building material. Still be-
ginning has now been made and already at Pat
M. where five wears ago stones of the Asola
period were SUSPECTED TO be. there may now be
seen nieces Of the well-known stone posts the
so-called Ass,a ratings. with their quantity
figured medallion-like bosses. bv which Asoka
rernetuated in stone the original wooden fences
which surrounded the sacred Buddhist sncts
And close nv. one NAV see. about twelve feet he
low the present surface. narts of 'the wooden
walls" Of Palihothra. with their marveIousiv
wen-preserved Sal timber. over twenty centuries