Ir. K. 74.-A nearly perfect finger-ring and five fragments. Ir. K. 75 (a)-(b.)—The upper portion of two brass toe-rings; (a) 1"-80 lung, and 0.72 broad; (b) 1′′-68 long and 0" 60 at the middle. These toe-rings exactly resemble those of the present day. Ir. K. 76.—A concave disc with serrated border, probably portion of an ear ornament; diameter 0.90. Ir. K. 77.—A brass bracelet or ring gradually dilating to its ends which are close together. In its form it approaches some of the ancient torques and bracelets found in Britain. Greatest diameter 3", lesser diameter across opposed ends 2" 50, thickness of ring 0"-45 × 0"-30. Diameter of dilated ends 0"-70 × 0" 60. Ir. K. 78 (a)-(c).—Two fragments of a brass bangle, with a beaded ornament like many bangles of the present day. Ir. K. 79.—A fragment of another brass bangle. The ornamentations consist of oval cup-shaped depressions placed side by side and separated transversely by intervening ridges. Ir. K. 80.-A portion of a plain brass bangle. Ir. K. 81.-Three small copper fragments of personal orna ments. Ir. K. 82.-A small lead drop, and three small copper fragments of personal ornaments. Ir. K. 83.-A small horse-shoe shaped piece of lead, length 0.50, thickness 0".17. Ir. K. 84.-A piece of a small brass ring. Ir. K. 85 (a.)-(c).—An iron fragment and two copper fragments, one of the latter with a flat semi-circular dilatation, 0.75 in diameter. Ir, K. 86.—A small brass object ornamented similarly to the last, 85, c, but smaller and longer; and an imperfect brass disc 0"-70 in diameter. Ir. K. 87 a-c.-A small pendant, shaped like a clay lamp and two brass fragments of ornaments, one perforated. Ir. K. 88 a-d.-Two fragments of buttons, one copper, the other brass; a copper compressed cone 0"45 high, and a small copper ornament. Ir. K. 89.-A brass buckle, very recent. Length 1" 65, breadth 0.87. Ir. K. 90.-Portion of a small copper cylinder for containing a charm, either worn round the neck or on the arm. Ir. K. 91.-A brass bead 0"-30, and two others smaller. Ir. K. 92.-A disc 1" 35 in diameter having a raised centre, with a conventional floral device and a beaded margin, the margin, however, is imperfect. Ir. K. 93.-Some fragments of a small copper vessel. Ir. K. 95.-An iron disc, perforated in the centre and concave, probably the ornament of the handle of a sword. Ir. K. 96.—An iron ring with a knob on one side and a projecting rod on the other, with its free end split. Ir. K. 97.-Two copper fragments, one probably a portion of a lock. Ir. K. 98.-A piece of iron, probably the handle of a knife. Ir. K. 99.-Two small iron fragments. Ir. K. 100.-A piece of iron with two lateral projections on each side. Ir. K. 101.-Four iron fragments of an implement of some kind, curved and rounded. Ir. K. 102.-Some copper and iron fragments. Ir. K. 103. Some fragments, probably of a bracelet made of layers or ribbons of lead pressed together. The lead has been converted into carbonate and red oxide, and has been tested by Mr. F. R. Mallet of the Geological Survey. Bulandshahr. In Cabinet No. 3. This district of the North-West Provinces lies between the Jumna and Ganges, and is bounded on the north by the Mirath district, and on the south by the Aligarh district. According to the local traditions of the inhabitants, it formed part of the Great Pandava kingdom of Hastinapura. The capital of the district is also known as Bulandshahr, but its ancient Hindu name is Baran. It is situated on the west bank of the Kāli Nadi, a tributary of the Jumna, and consists of an upper and lower town. The latter was founded in 1824, but the former occupies a very ancient site that has yielded coins of Alexander the Great and the Indo-Bactrian kings of Upper India, bearing Greek and Pali inscriptions. Baran would seem to be a corruption of the Sanskrit barana, a hill fort or enclosure,1 and, according to the legends of the natives, it derived its name from a Raja Ahibaran, whose name Mr. Growse supposes means 'snake fort' or 'Naga fort,' in the same way that Ahi-chhatra means snake canopy. Outside the town of Bulandshahr, there is a plateau of high ground known as Moti Bazar, and Mr. Growse, in the course of having it levelled, in 1881, for a public garden to be called the Moti Bagh, laid bare great masses of brickwork walls and pavement, and numerous objects which he at first described as vases, but afterwards identified, in all probability correctly, as finials or pinnacles of miniature Buddhist stūpas.3 He also discovered a Buddhist baked clay seal which he supposes to be as old as the 5th or 6th century A.D., and a 1 Growse, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. XLVIII, Pt. 1, p. 271. Pls. VIII to X. Proc. As. Soc. Beng., 1881, p. 113. Op. cit., p. 120. Buddhist sculpture with an inscription in characters of the 8th century A.D. On the opposite side of the Kali Nadi, and 900 yards from the town, is the site of the tomb of Khwaja Lāl Ali who is revered as a martyr and popularly known as Lal Barani, and from it Mr. Growse obtained two much effaced and imperfect inscriptions, one of which dates from A.D. 1224.1 Gold, silver and copper coins have been obtained by the Archæological Survey, and of these one gold coin, ten silver, and forty-four copper coins have been received by this Museum from the Archæological Survey of India. Br. 1.-A well-baked brick, measuring 19′′ × 11′′ × 3′′-25. Mr. Growse remarks in describing this brick, "most of them are marked on one side with two lines drawn by the workman's fingers in the damp clay, and they are, I should say, of great antiquity." From excavations in the Moti Bazar, now Moti Bagh, Bulandshahr. Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1st June 1881, by F. S. Growse, Esq., C.I.E. Br. 2. a.f.-Six finials or pinnacles of miniature stūpas made of a hard-burned clay, three of black, one of grey, and two of reddish clay. The largest (a) is of black clay, 9"-30 in height x 5" 25 in diameter. It resembles the cone of a coniferous tree in its oval form, and in the scaly-like brackets covering 1 Journ. As. Soc. Beng, Vol. XLVIII, pt. 1, p. 273. 2 I met with the accompanying interesting note, bearing on the sacred char acter of the fir-cone, in "Nasmyth's Autobiography," recently published, and I cannot refrain from introducing it here, as it seems probable, in view of the facts mentioned by Nasmyth, that these coniferous finials were borrowed from the Greeks. "In connection with the worship of the Sun and other heavenly bodies as practised in ancient times by Eastern nations, it may be mentioned that their want of knowledge of the vast distances that separate them from the earth it, and there is a short round stem, as in all, perforated below, the cone itself being hollow as is the case in all other finials; (b) is also black and cone-shaped, and with the characteristic markings, but they are restricted to areas around the base and middle, and do not extend to the apex, from which four narrow raised bands radiate downwards, and between each of them there is a band of arrow-like lines in concentric series, a similar band being prolonged downwards from the end of each raised band; (c) is also black, and its ornaments consist of parallel raised lines running towards the apex with an intervening line of lozenge-shaped figures produced by zigzag lines led them to the belief that these bodies were so near as to exert a direct influence upon man and his affairs. Hence the origin of Astrology, with all its accompanying mystifications; this was practised under the impression that the Sun, Moon, and Planets, were near to the earth. The summits of mountains and High Places' became Sacred,' and were for this reason resorted to for the performance of the most important religious ceremonies. ་ "As the High Places' could not be transported to the Temples, the cone-bearing trees, which were naturally associated with these elevated places, in a manner partook of their sacred character, and the fruit of the trees became in like manner sacred. Hence the fir-cone became a portable emblem of their sacredness; and accordingly, in the Assyrian worship, so clearly represented to us in the Assyrian Sculptures in our Museums, we find the fir-cone being presented by the priests towards the head of their Kings as a function of beatification. So sacred was the fir-cone, as the fruit of the sacred tree, that the priest who presents it has a reticuleshaped bag, in which, no doubt, the sacred emblem was reverently deposited when not in use for the performance of these high religious ceremonies. " The same emblem survived' in the Greek worship. I annex a tracing from a wood-engraving in Fellow's Researches in Asia Minor, 1852 (p. 175), showing the fir-cone as the finial to the staff of office of the Wine-god Bacchus. To this day it is employed to stir the juice of the grape previous to fermentation, and so sanctifying it by contact with the fruit of the Sacred Tree. This is still practised by the Greeks in Asia Minor and in Greece, though introduced in times of remote antiquity. The fir-cone communicates to most of the Greek wines that peculiar turpentine or resinous flavour which is found in them. Although the sanctification motive has departed, the resinous flavour is all that survives of a once most sacred ceremony, as having so close a relation to the worship of the Sun and the heavenly bodies.”—Op. cit., pp. 442-3. |