The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-06-20

The Strange Story sf the Indian Troy. =
Dead City.

OF over y eeuIurleS, are llkelF rtJn
to sec the light. Pataliputra, the
Palibothra of the Greeks, the city
of sweet scented flowers, . 20 famous
in ancient Indian legend and ro-
nance, 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
Deccan. from Nepal TO Gujerat, with
countless Buddhist monuments and
buildings Of vast size His stupen-
dOus stupas or mounds Of solid ma
Z sonry to enshrine Buddha's 6 relics or
to mark some sacred spot are found
all over India and are almost like
Egyptian pyramids in size. His CO
lOssal edict pillars, single shafts of
stone over 20 feet in length and
beautifully polished and sculptured,
still excite the admiration and won
der Of all who see them.
y 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,
Magnas Of Cyrene and Alexander Of
Epirus. 1t was already splendid
city in the fourth century B. C., in
the time of his grandfather, Chan
dragupta, the Greek sandracottus,
as we learn from the glowing de-
scriptions of Megasthenes, the en-
bassador of the successor of Alexan-
der the Great.
\ At that time the buildings were
all Of wood. like the palaces and
temples Of Burma in the present
day. 1t is matter of history, how
ever, how Asoka found this capital
of wood and left it stone. But before
the dawn of our era this great city
had decayed with the fall Of Asoka 5
dynasty and the smaller succeeding
dynasties and the transfer Of capital
elsewhere. In 400 A. d. the Chinese
pilgrim Fa HAN reported that it lay
deserted and in ruins Since the
Mohammedan invasion, in the
twelfth century A. D.. the very site
of this city was forgotten. 1t was
known to be somewhere 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 entirely
washed away by the Ganges. Then
it will be remembered that Surgeon
Major Waddell. in 1892, during a fly
ing visit to Patna, found that the
leading landmarks Of Asoka 5 CAPT
tai still existed.
! He found several sculptlred 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 GER
tainty the limits of Asoka's citadel,
and also to indicate roughly the pos
sible sites of particular buildings for
exploratory excavations, without
which, of course, no detailed identi-
fications could be decisively attend
ed. Unfortunately most of the like
ly mounds now contain Mohamme-
dan graves, for the Mohammedan
invaders were wont to seize the
highest mounds for their residences
and burial grounds, and for centuries
they 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 railings, with their quantity
figured medallionlike bosses, by
which Asoka perpetuated in stone
the original wooden fences which
surrounded the sacred Buddhist
spots. And close by one may see,
about II feet below the present sur
face. parts of the wooden walls of
Palibothra, with their marvelously
well preserved Sal timber, over 20
centuries old. - Calcutta English
man.