The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-02-24
BURIED IN THE DEBRIS.
Strange Story of the Indian Troy. . Dee.
City.


City.
At last the ruins OF the Indian Troy.
deeply buried in the debris OF over -
centuries, are likely soon to see the
light. Pataliputra, the Falihorhra of
the Greeks, the city of sweet-scented
flowers" SO 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 Afghanlstan TO the Ocean, from
Nepal to Gujerat, with countless Bud
dhist monuments and buildings of vast
rize. His stupendous stupas or mounds
Of solid masonry TO enshrine Bud6has
relics or 20 mark some sacred spot are
found all over India and are almost like
Egyptian pyramids in size. His coios-
sal edlct pillars. single shafts of stone
over 30 feet in length and beautifully
polished and sculptured, still excite this
admiration and wonder of all who ses
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. %
Epirusl IL was already a spsendia city
IN the fourth century B. c. in tho 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 ths
palaces and temples of Burmsh In tho
present day. IL is a matter of history.
however, how AsoiSa 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 tho transfer OF capital else
where In 400 A. ID. the Chinese pill
grim Fa Han reported that IL lay de-
serted and in ruins. Since the Mo-
hammedan invasion In the twelfth CEN
tury A. ID. the very site of this city was
forgotten. IL was known TO be some
where near the modern town OF Patna
in Bengal, but most of tho experts and
others who had deliberately searched
for il believed that 1t had been entire
Iy washed away by the GaDges. Then
IL will be remembered that Surgeon
Mai Waddell, who in 1892. madea flying
visit 10 Patna, found that the leading
landmarks of ASoka's capital still ex-
isted.
He found several scrhptured 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 Asolca's citadel, and also to
indicate roughly the possible sites OF
particular buildings for exploratory ex-
cavations. without which. of course, no
detailed identIfcations could DO de-
tlsively attained Unfortunately. most
of tho likely mounds now contain Mo-
graves, for the Mohasnue-
dan invaders were wont to seize tho
highest mounds for thlr residences and
burial grounds. and for centuries they
have used tbeso ruins as a quarry foe
:heir building material.
Still. a beginning has now been nades
and already az Patna, where five years
ago no stones OF the Asoka period vera
suspected 10 be, there may now be
seen pieces 81 tho well-knorn stoos
posts, the s1-caIled Asoka railines. with
their quantity figured. medallion-liks
bosses, by wkich Asoka pcrPe<uatod m
stone the original wooden fences which
the sacred Buddhist speta.
.lnd close by one may zee. about Il feet
below the present Eurfaee, parts or
the wooden walls" Of Palibothra, with
their msrveloUsiy well presorved Sal
timber, over 20 centuries old---Caicut;s
Englkhman-