cut away, or the portion that is wanting was carved on an adjoining stone.

One of the ornaments is a snake in feeble irregular undulations and internal to it is a rich arabesque with human figures.

The human group at the base of the jamb consists of a female figure l′ 5′′-50 high, standing on a cushion tied on to the back of a fresh-water turtle, Trionyx, with an attendant female figure carrying a betel-box over the left shoulder and a conical object in the right hand. Still further to the left a boy with long curly locks is carrying an umbrella over the head of the principal figure. The head-dress of the latter, and that of the attendant, are exactly alike, and different from any other head-dress represented in this Museum.

The chief figure wears the necklace, lalantika or dallier, and a waist girdle, bracelets and anklets. The sari reaches to the ankles and a du-paṭṭa is thrown over both shoulders. The attendant figure has a simple necklace or kantha-būshā, and the clothing consists of a short-sleeved tight-fitting jacket divided at the sides below the waist, and the sari is represented in folds. The chhatra walla wears a dhoti and a du-paṭṭa. A vidyadhara is in the background carrying a garland, and two birds are also holding up a similar offering, and the turtle has also a garland in its mouth.

On the left jamb the principal female figure is standing on a cushion on the back of a monster with the head of au elephant.

The figure on the mythical animal according to Mr. Beglar represents the river Ganges standing on a crocodile, and the figure on the turtle the river Jumna.

The lintel consists of three anteriorly projecting portions representing the upper portion of a temple with lateral amla

sila ornaments, and a chaitya window in the centre of each. Two chaitya windows also occur between each of these projections. The lower margin of the lintel is a double receding cornice of oblongs and triangles. Found in the fort of Baxar.

Presented by J. P. Scotland, Esq., c.E., 2nd November

1883.

Kurkihar.

In recess No. 3.

Kr. 1.-A seated figure of Ganesa, but wanting the head. The sculpture measures 33" in height, and on the back of the figure the number 14 is carved, which enables me to identify the sculpture as No. 14 of Kittoe's list,' where it is described as "a remarkable fragment of a figure of a fat man seated on a lotus stool. 3."

This figure of the God of Wisdom sits on a cushioned lotus throne, and is represented as a short fat man, each of his hands resting on a knee, the right hand holding a rat. The presence of this animal is sufficient evidence that Ganesa is the god represented, as it is one of his cognizances, and from which he receives the appellation of Akhu-ratha.

Ganesa is the son of Siva and Parvati, and a variety of legends are narrated in the Brahma Vaivartta Purana regarding the loss of his human head, and the replacing of it by a one-tusked elephant's head, but one of them relates that Pārvati formed him with an elephant's head to suit her own fancy.

Presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by the Government of India, 1st November 1848.

1 Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. XVII, Pt. II, 1848, p. 698.

Kr. 2.-A bas-relief of Siva and Parvati 34" x 14", in the attitude in which they are frequently represented, viz., the latter sitting on the left thigh of her husband, with her arm round his shoulder. In this figure Siva has three heads, and four arms, and he is seated on a lotus throne. In one of his left hands he has his bow Ajagava, and a lotus. The one right hand remains and rests over the right leg, showing the palm, which bears a symbol too obscure to determine. To the right of the group is his trisūla, or trident pināka, standing erect on a lotus bracket with a snake coiled round it, while on the left is a lotus flower on which rests another object which cannot be made out. On the front of the throne there is a trisular-looking figure, the lateral members of which form a kind of arch under which is a kneeling human figure on a lotus pedestal, probably the donor of the sculpture. This is marked No. 18 of Kittoe's list, where it is wrongly described, as Siva has not six, but only four arms.2 It is stated to have been obtained from a chaitya at Punaha.

Bihar.

Br. 1.-A corner stone or pilaster, 28" x 7", and sculptured on two faces. It has all the characters of the pilaster B. G. 48. It is No. 36 of Kittoe's list.3

Br. 2-3.-Two halves, 9" x 6"50, of an elephant gar

1 Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. XVII, Pt. II, p. 698.

In Dr. Mitra's Catalogue, p. 44, Kittoe's sculpture is also described as having six arms, and the figure of Siva is said to be erect. No sculpture corresponding to this description has been found in the Museum. The sculpture described above has Kittoe's No. 18 cut into the back with a chisel.

3 Op. cit., p. 698.

goyle in sandstone, and resembling Gr. 3 and Gr. 4. They are No. 20 of Kittoe's list.1

2

Br. 4.-A slab 13" 50 x 8" 50, having the figure of an animal sculptured on it in bold relief, with five of its young ones below it, rearing on their hind legs to be suckled, with two others in front of its fore limbs, and in a similar attitude. This specimen is No. 19 of Kittoe's list, where it is described as a "sow with seven pigs in relief," a description adopted by Dr. Mitra in his catalogue. The figure represented has a head resembling that of an animal belonging to the genus Canis, and the attitude in which the young are jumping up to reach the teats of their mother, is characteristic of canine pups, and not of a litter of pigs. Very little appears to be known regarding the number of pups brought forth by the Indian wolf, and in Jerdon's work on the Mammals of India, there is no reliable information on the subject, but the Zoological Garden of Calcutta has received a litter of seven very young wolf pups from Gya, and from enquiries I have made in different directions, it would appear that four or five is the usual number produced, but that as many as seven are not unfrequently born, but in such instances the pups are not strong, and many of them die off. The wolf of Europe, Canis lupus, which is closely allied to the Indian wolf, is well known to have occasionally as many as nine pups at a time, although the ordinary number is four or five. Sir John Richardson also states that Canis occidentalis, the American wolf, has occasionally as many as nine pups at once. The circumstance, therefore, that this canine animal is repre1 Op. cit., p. 698.

2 Op. cit., Vol. XVI, Pt. I, p. 602.

3 Cat. of Cur., p. 49.

4

4 Blasius Fauna der Wirbelthiere Deutsch, Vol. I. Säugetiere, p. 183: Brehm's Thierleben, 2nd ed., Säugethiere, Vol. I, p. 534.

5 Fauna Borealis Americana, Pt. 1. Mammalia, p. 64.

sented with seven pups, in no way militates against the supposition that a wolf is depicted in this sculpture, or it may be a jackal, as the latter has a strong resemblance to a wolf, and is occasionally equally prolific. The general form of the figure in its other details, besides its head, is that of a wolf and not that of a pig, and the sculptor has carefully depicted a long bushy tail and indicated a similar caudal member in the pups, which is conclusive evidence, that the pig was not intended. Along the centre of the back, the hair is carved as if to represent a list, and this circumstance led Babu P. C. Ghosha, to whom I had shown the sculpture, to regard it probably as representing a hyæna, and on asking him if he could account for this animal being portrayed on a sculpture evidently of a religious nature, he favoured me with the following note: "Siva, the female energy of Mahadeva, is also the name of a hyæna, and that is why Bengali pandits offer cakes to the jackals of the village-Vrika =a hyæna, and Vrikamukhi, hyæna-mouthed Durgā."

=

As the offerings, however, are made to jackals, there is nothing in the sculpture itself to negative the supposition that a wolf or a jackal was the animal which the sculptor had in view, and Dr. Mitra informs me that vrika is a wolf and not a hyæna.

It is not stated in Kittoe's list whence the specimen was obtained, but it is probably from Buddha Gayā.

Br. 5.-A bull, measuring 19" x 16"-50. The head is broken off. The figure has a string of beads, and a garland of leaves round the neck, and from the front of the hump to the hind-quarters, the body is encircled by another string of beads, from which hang bells and representations of pipal leaves. There is an inscription on the back which has been translated by Dr. Mitra. It is in the Kutila character,

1 Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. XXVII, p. 74, Plate I.