āṣīva mudrā, 4' 6" high, and a circular halo behind the head, 1 foot 9 inches in diameter, with a broad richly scalloped border. The feet of the statue are unfortunately broken off. This differs from the preceding figures in having no slablike background.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 15. A fine almost perfect sculpture of Buddha in alto-relievo against an elongated somewhat oval background, as in S. 6, 9, and 12, rounded above and narrower below, terminating in a flat pedestal. The figure itself is four feet two inches in height. It represents Buddha in the āṣiva mudra.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 16.-An erect figure of Buddha, 3′ 9′′ 50 in height, with a glory only behind the head, springing, as usual, from the shoulders, and with a somewhat similar floral device to that of the previous statue S. 14. The attitude and details are the same as in the foregoing figure, but the front of the pedestal bears an inscription in two lines.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 17.-A Tantric 1 form of Tārā, in alto-relievo, with a slab as a background, the sculpture measuring 3′ 4′′ × 1' 4". The head is bound with a broad beaded fillet, and the hair is brushed back and done up in a kind of coronet held by a pin, a long lock falling down behind. The lobes of the ear are distended with large cylinders, while round the neck hang a double torque and a long chain that meets

The Tantric system was the creation of a Buddhist priest of Peshawar called Asanga, who lived about 600 A.D., and embodied his creed in his work the Yoga-chara Bhumi Sastra. It was a mixture of Siva worship and magic.

between the breasts, and then passes downwards and backwards. The arms below the shoulder are bound with armlets, and there is a thick ring round each ankle. The draping consists of a thin garment fixed round the loins with a waist chain, and a chaddar hangs loosely over the arms. Both hands are lost, but the figure appears to have held a lily in the right hand. No attendant figures occur.

1

Tārā was the female counterpart or S'aktī of the Bodhisatwa Padmapani, and a creation of the Great Vehicle or Mahāyāna sect of Buddhists founded by Nagarjuna 1 a native of Berar, about 400 to 500 years after the death of Buddha. Prior to the time of Nagarjuna, Buddha Gotama was the principal figure in this wonderful system of religion, and its doctrines were few and simple, but, with the growth of the new sect, a mythology of the most complicated character was evolved, and Buddha was relegated almost to obscurity, his place being taken by other Buddhas, Bodhisatwas, S'āktī and female personifications of Dharma. The puritan Buddhists are known as the Lesser Vehicle or Hināyāna.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 18.—The crossed legs of a female Buddhist figure doubtfully referred to this locality. It is seated on a padmasana. The legs have not only beaded bangles, but a little above the ankles they are bound with six heavy rings, united together by a rosette-like ornament, and on the soles is the chakra. There is also a heavy waist chain, below which, in relief in front, are three small figures of women seated cross-legged on lotus thrones. Each holds apparently a lotus in her left, and

The most distinguished disciple of Nagarjuna was Arya-Deva, whose relic receptacle has been described under the Gāndbāra sculptures, G. 170. By his instrumentality, Kanishka, who reigned over north-western India about the beginning of the Christian era, was converted to Buddhism.

some indefinable object in her right hand. External to them, on each side, and in a different plane is a small seated human figure in the attitude of worship, and below there is an inscription.

The history of this specimen is unknown.

S. 19.-An erect figure of Buddha, 3′ 11′′ high, in altorelievo, with a flat background of the ordinary character, the figure in the āṣīva mudrā. The pedestal bears an inscription in two lines, but much effaced.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 20.-A small seated figure of Buddha as the Teacher, 9" 75 x 6" high, in relief, with a slab bearing a nimbus.

The back of the statuette is inscribed in five lines; this seems to be the inscription figured in the Archæological Survey Reports, Vol. I, p. 123, Pl. xxxiv, fig. 7, but if so, the plate is inaccurate in many of the letters. It is the Buddhist verse that runs thus, according to Spence Hardy :"Yē dhamma hētuppabhawā,

Yesan hētun Tathāgatō,

Aha yesan cha yo nirōdhō

Ewan wadi Maha Samano."

Which has been rendered as follows:

"All things proceed from some cause;

this cause has been declared by Tathāgata;

all things will cease to exist: this is that which is declared by the Maha Sramana (Buddha).”

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 2nd December 1835.

S. 21.-An erect figure of Buddha about 3′ 11′′-25 high, with a halo behind the head, the figure in the attitude of blessing.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 22.-A fragment of a slab of a large Buddhist figure. It consists of an erect figure of Padmapāņi standing on a lotus, with the long stalk of a lotus flower in his left hand, but the figure is very much weathered. It measures l' 2"-50 long.

The history of this specimen is unknown, but it is probably from Sarnath.

S. 23.-Another human figure against a slab, and about the same height, and in the same attitude as S. 19 and 21. Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 24.-The feet of a Buddhist figure like the preceding, with a much effaced inscription.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham, 5th October 1836.

S. 25.-A Tantric form of Tārā, 2′ 4′′ high, seated on a padmasana, with an open back. The left leg is drawn up crosswise in front, and the right leg hangs down and rests on a footstool. This figure has an elaborate head-dress in two tiers, with the front hair arranged in numerous little wavy lines, and two short cork-screw curls nearly above the outer angle of the eyes. There is an outwardly projecting ornament above the ears and another falling over them, their lobes being greatly distended by large discs. The eyes are long and lozenge-shaped. The neck is embraced by a richly jewelled necklace which has a pendant falling down between the breasts on which hangs another broad chain. The arms are adorned with ornate armlets, and the other ornaments appear to have been the same as in S. 18. She has apparently held a lotus in each hand. There is a double nimbus on the back of the throne, the

outer one

resembling the leaf of Ficus religiosa, while the inner one is round. On each side of the throne is a kneeling figure rudely sculptured.

In the Catalogue of Antiquities of the Asiatic Society, this sculpture is entered 766 as "Lakshmi, the spouse of Vishnu," but no history is given of the specimen.

Captain (now Major-General) A. Cunningham presented three seated female figures from Sarnath, one bearing an inscription, and I am disposed to regard this as one of them.

S. 26. An erect figure, probably Vägīsvari, a form of Manjusri, the Buddhist God of Learning, and patron of the Mahāyāna sect, 2′ 10′′ high, standing on a lotus pedestal, 7"-50 high. The head-dress is a high jewelled crown or mukuta. The statuette is in alto-relievo against a slab on which there are the remains of four boldly sculptured chaityas, two on either side, and at each foot of the statuette is a small human figure, the one on the right corpulent, reclining in a seated posture, and wearing a pagoda-like hat, while the opposite figure is kneeling and holding a garland. There is a fragment remaining of a small lotus halo behind the head.

On the front of the pedestal, there are the remains of an inscription.

Manjusri is composed of two words only, manju which means 'charming, lovely,' and ṣrī signifying 'good luck, prosperity, glory.' He is chiefly distinguished for his merciful character, and is the Bodhisatwa to whom is entrusted the propagation of the doctrines of Buddhism, and, in view of this, Rhys Davids1 suggests that his name may be derived from that of the Indian mendicant missionary who, according to tradition, introduced Buddhism with its civilization 1 Op. cit., p. 202.