Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1897-03-21
BURIED in THE DEBRIS.
Strange Story of tho Iaal.n Troy. . D...

-. .H.aH MH.""
Strange Story of tho Indian Troy, . Dad
City.
AT last the ruins of the Indian Troy,
deeply buried in the debris of over 90
centuries, nre likely soon to see the
light. Pataliputra, the Palibothra of
the Greeks, the "city of sweet-scented
howers," 80 famous in ancient Indian
legend and romance, is perhaps most
widely known rs the capital of Asoka,
the greatest Of Indian emperors nnd the
most lavish devotce 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
lrize- His stupendous stupaso or mounds
OF solid masonry to enshrine Ruddha's
relics or to mark some sacred spot are
found all 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 sec
them.
How magnificent, then, must have
heen 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
nas, of Cyrere, and Alexander, of
Epirus! 1t was already n splendid city
in the fourth century b. C. in the time
Of his grandfather, Ch~andragupta, the
Greek sandracottus, as we learn from
the glowing descriptions of Mcgas-
themes, the ambassador of the successor
OF Alexander he Great. At that time
the buildings were all of wood, like the
palaces and temples of Burmah in the
present day. 1t is 4 matter of history.
however, how AsoEa found this capital
Of wood and left it stone. But before
the dawn of u era this great city had
t!ecayed with the fall of Asoka's dynas-
ties, and the smaller succeeding dynas-
ties, and the transfer OF capital else
where. In 400 a. ID. the Chinese nil
grim Fa Han reported that 1t Law de-
serted and in ruins. Since the Mo
bammedan invasion in the twelfth CEN
fury a. ID. the very site of this city was
forgotten. 1t was known to be somc-
where near thc modern town of Potna,
In Bengal, but most Of the experts and
otherS who had deliberately searched
for it believed that it had been entire
" washed away by the Gangcs. Then
1t will be remembered that Surgeon
Mai. Waddell, who in 1892, made n flying
visit to Patna, found that the leading
landmarks of Asoka's capital still ex-
listed. 81
He found several scuIptured stone
and images of the Asoka epoch living
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 Asokn's citadel, and also to
indicate roughly the possible sites of
particular buildings for exploratory en-
cavations, without which, of course, no
detailed identifications could be de-
cisively attained, Unfortunately, most
of the likely mounds now contain Mo-
hammedan graves, for the Mohamme-
dan invaders were wont to seize the
highest mounds for their residences and
burial grounds, and for centuries they
Have used these ruins as n quarry for
their building material.
Still, n beginning has now been made,
and already ut Patna, where five years
ago no stones Of the Asoka period were
suspected to be, there may now be
seen pieces q the well.known stone
posts, the sC-called Asoka ratings, with
their acknowledgement, m~cdallion-liks
bosses, by which Asoka pcrpctuated in
stone the original wooden fences which
surrounded the sacred buddhist spots.
And close by II may see, about l2 feet
below the present surface, parts of
the woodcn wallis of Palibothra, with
their mnrvelously we'll preserved Sal
timber, over 20 centuries old-Calcutta
Englishman.