San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-03-15
BURIED IN THE DEBRIS.
Strange Story of the Indian Troy, Dea
CITY.


At last the ruins Of the Indian Troy,
deeply buried in the debris of over 2:
centuries, are likely soon to see the
light. Pataliputra, the Falibothra OF
the Greeks, the "city of sweet-scented
flowers" 80 famous in ancient Indian
legend and romance, is perhaps most
widely known as the capital of Asoka,
the greatest OF Indian emperors and the
most lavish devotee the world has ever
seen. He covered his mighty kingdom,
from Afghanistan to the Ocean, from
Nepal to Gujerat, with countless Bud
dhist monuments and buildings of vast
Fize- His stupendous stupas or mounds
of solid masonry to enshrine Buddha's
relics or to mark some sacred spot are
found oil over India and are almost like
Egyptian pyramids in size. His colos-
sal edict pillars, single shafts of stone
over 40 feet in length and beautifully
polished and sculptured, still excite the
admiration and wonder of all who see
them.
How magnificent, then, must have
been the capital of this great Hindoo
king, who was the ally of the Greek
kings, Antiochus, of Syria; Ptolemy, of
Egypt; Antigonos, of Macedon; Mag
mas, of Cyrene, and Alexander, of
Epirus! 1t was already splendid city
in the fourth century B. C. in the time
of his grandfather, Chandragupta, the
Greek sandracottus, as we learn from
the glowing descriptions of Megas-
themes, the ambassador of the successor
OF Alexander the Great. At that time
the buildings 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 it stone. But before
the dawn of our era this great city had
Gecayed with the fall of Asoka's dynas-
ties, and the smaller succeeding dynas-
ties, and the transfer of capital else
where. In 400 A. d. the Chinese pill
grim Fa Hian reported that it lay de-
serted and in ruins. Since the Mo-
hammedan invasion in the twelfth CEN
fury A. D. the very site of this city was
forgotten. 1t was known to be some
where near the modern town of Patna,
in Bengal, but most of the experts and
others who had deliberately searched
for it believed that it had been entire
Iy washed away by the Ganges. Then
it will be remembered that Surgeon
Mai. Waddell, who in 1892, made flying
visit to Patna, found that the leading
landmarks of Asoka's capital still ex-
listed.
He found several sculptured stones
and images of the Asoka epoch lying
on 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 ex-
cayations, without which. of course, no
detailed identifcations could be de-
Cfsively attained. Unfortunately, most |
Of the likely mounds now contain No |
hammedan graves, for the Mohamme- |
dan invaders were wont to seize the |
highest mounds for their residences and |
dllC (tnluIlco llCS
have used these ruins as a quarry for
their building material.
Still, a beginning has now been made,
and already at Patna, where five years
ago no stones Of the Asoka period were
suspected to be, there may now be
seen pieces Of the well-known stone
posts, the so-called Asoka ratings, with
their acknowledgement, medallion-like
bosses, by which Asoka perpetuated in
stone the original wooden fences which
surrounded the sacred Buddhist spots.
And close by one may see, about IL feet
below the present surface, parts Of
"the wooden walls" of Palibothra, with
their marvelously we'll preserved Sal
timber, over 20 centuries old.-Calcutta