337
Identification of the Asoka Pillar N. E. of Benares
City described by Hiuen Tsang.
By Tincent A. Smith.
Hiuen Tsang (Yuan Chwang), who visited Benai'es about 636 or
637 A. D. saw to the north-east of the city one of ASoka's pillars which
does not seem to have been identified by archaeologists. But the
identification of the monument is easy and certain, and there is little
difficulty in proving that a fragment of it is still in position either 5
on or close to the spot where Hiuen Tsang saw it. The pilgrim's
account is translated as follows by Beal: — "To the north-east of
the capital on the western side of the river Varana is a stüpa
built by ASoka-räja (Wu-yau). It is about 100 feet high; in front
of it is a stone pillar; it is bright and shining as a mirror; its lo
surface is glistening and smooth as ice, and on it can be constantly seen the figure of Buddha as shadow"').
In Watters' condensed version the same passage reads thus:
— "To the north-east of the capital, and on the west side of the
Po-lo-na (Barna) river, was an ASoka tope about 100 feet high, is
In front of this was a pillar of polished gi-een stone, clear and
lustrous as a mirror in which the reflection of the Buddha was
constantly visible" '■^).
Both versions agree that a stüpa and highly polished pillar
ascribed to Asoka stood to the north-east of the city and to the 20
west of the Varana or Barnä river.
That river has a general direction fi-om west to east on the
north of the city, but at a distance of about one mile and a third
1) Buddhist Records of the Western World, l\, 45. I follow M. M.
Chavannes and de Lacouperie in preferring the spelling Hiuen Tsang to the Pekinese Yuan Chwang.
2) Watters, On Yuan (Jhvjang's Travels, II, 48. The words "of green stone" in Walters' version give the impression produced on the traveller's mind by the burnished surface. One of the Delhi pillars was described as "brazen"
by Coryat, as 'cast metal" by Heber, and as 'of marble" by Terry (Cunningham, Reports, I, 164). But the material, as of all the Asoka pillars, is Canär sandstone.
22*
from the Ganges it makes a sharp bend to the south, running east¬
ward of the city almost due south for a mile , and then , after
another bend, joins the Ganges. It is clear, therefore, that tbe
stüpa and pillar should be sought in the space between the north-
5 eastern corner of Benares and the mile-long section of the Barna's
course which runs nearly due north and south. In no other locality
could the monuments be said to stand to the west of the Barnä river.
Now a broken pillar, apparently one of Aäoka's, exists in the
space thus indicated, and has been described as follows by Mr. Sherring
10 in his well-known work : —
"To the north of the road leading from the Räjghät Fort to
the cantonments , at a distance of from three quarters of a mile
to a mile from the former place, is the Kapilraochan Tank. It is
also called Bhairo kä Täläo, or the tank of Bhairo. This is a
16 strong and well-built structure, the stairs and foundations being of
solid stone.
On the high ground to the north of this tank stands a pillar
from seven to eight feet in height und three in thickness, situated
in the midst of a slightly elevated stone chabütra or platform.
20 This is the Lät or pillar of Siva. It is representative of an an¬
cient pillar, which formerly stood on this spot and was thrown
down by the Muhammedans in a struggle between them and the
Hindus some sixty years ago'). The original Lot was famous
among the Hindu population both for its antiquity and for its
25 sanctity. There is some ground for supposing that the present
pillar is a fragment of the ancient one-); and that it very likely
bears a portion of the carving known to have been on the original
column. The probability is increased by the circumstance that it
is encased in copper and is carefully watched over by the Brahman
1) Tlie preface is dated July 2, 18G8. The riot occurred in 1809. An interesting nccount of the event compiled from the local official records by Mr. Phil. Robinson appeared in the Calcutta Review (No. CXXIX, pp. 92—119).
The Lät was destroyed on the 21 October by a mob of Muhammadan weaver
and others who heaped up inflammable materials round the monument, which was rubbed from top to bottom with spirits and gunpowder and sprinkled with water to make the stone crack. Mr. Robinson held that there are 'grounds for believing tliat the remainder of the Lät was buried close by", and tliat the existing stump, set up in June, 1810, does not occupy exactly tlie original site.
At the time of the riot the pillar stood within the courtyard of the Muhammadan 'idgah. When the ceremonies of purification were performed in June, "the stump was set up on its present site [? apparently outside the 'idgäh], and tho veneration paid to the original pillar transferred to the mutilated relict". 1 doubt the supposed removal of the base portion of the pillar, and am inclined to believe tliat it occupies its original position. The Muhammadans professed to regard tho pillar, like the pillars at Delhi and AllähSbäd, as having been sot up by Firöz Shäh in the fourteenth century, but the testimony of Hiuen Tsang permits of no doubt that up to the time of its destruction it occupied the position in which it bad been placed by Asoka.
2) The fact is quite certain.
V. Smith, Identification of the Agoka Pillar N. E. of Benares City. 339
priests. It would be interesting to examine it and to determine
the age of its carvings or of any inscription which may be upon
it" In a later passage Mr. Sherring goes into more
detail, and writes : — "Lät Bhairo. — At the junction of the Ghazee-
pore road with the Raj Ghät road, to the north of the latter and 5
about a short mile from the fort is a large square tank'), on the
left bank of which, as on a terrace, stands the lät or pillar of
which some mention has been made in a preceding chapter. It is
only a few feet high and it is covered with copper sheeting. We
endeavoured to prevail on the faqlr residing here to permit us to 10
lift up the copper cap by removing the plaster which connects it
with the flooring below, in order to gain a view of the stone
pillar which it now conceals ; but so great is the reputed sanctity
of this object that our efforts were entirely fruitless, and had we
persisted in them a disturbance might have been occasioned. The i5
original column, of which the concealed pillar is doubtless a small
fragment, was about forty feet high, and, it is reported, was co¬
vered with ancient carvings, which were most probably inscriptions.
It was stated before that this was thrown down by the Muham¬
madans during a terrible conflict with the Hindu population in 20
the early part of the present [seil, nineteenth] century. The natives say that the pillar was thrown into the Ganges ; but, as that streatn
is half a mile off or more, this must have been done piecemeal^).
In all likelihood it was destroyed by fire, the action of which on
sandstone causes it to crumble to pieces'^). 25
As there is strong reason for believing that this was one of
1) Tlie true distance is about 2/3 of a mile.
2) The fragment now lying near Corghät (Havell , Benares , the Sacred City (1908), p. 149) most likely is a piece of LäJ Bhairo. Mr. Robinson, as we have seen, believed that the fragments were buried close by 5 and it is likely that many were.
3) The details above quoted from the Benares records prove that the pillar, as a matter of fact, was destroyed by the help of fire. Another Asoka pillar is known to have been shattered by the same process. Tbe late Bäbü
Puma Chandra Mukharji, when excavating at and near Patna on the site of
Pätaliputra in the cold season of 1896—7, found numerous fragments of a
polished Asoka pillar, about three feet in diameter, among the remains of later buildings at a depth of ten or twelve feet below the present surface of the ground in the space between the Kallü and CSman tanks, to the north-west of Kum- rShär village, the site of the ancient palace. Innumerable fragments, large and small, were found in "a layer of blackish soil, composed of ashes, embers, and bits of lime, between one and two feet in depth". The pillar, as the Bäbü observes, must have been shattered by massing fuel around it, and then setting it on fire. That monument seems to have been the "hell" pillar described by Hiuen Tsang. The BSbü traced no loss than six great pillars of the Maurya period at Pä^Sliputra. These details are taken from a "Report on the Excavations on the Ancient Sites of Pätaliputra", printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press in
1898, but never published. It was to be illustrated by 58 plates and four photographs. In spite of its defects this still-born work contains much valuable matter.
Asoka's pillars, it would be exceedingly interesting to inspect tbe
remaining fragment, which we may reasonably suppose to belong
to the original column, and in that case to possess an inscription
sufficient to certify its connexion with ASoka or with the Guptas,
5 or with some other monarch by whom the column was erected.
It is important in our present investigation to know that
the pillar once stood in proximity to a temple, or in its courtyard.
The temple was destroyed by Aurangzeb, and on its site a mosque
was erected, the courtyard of which enclosed the pillar. On exa-
10 mining the terraces where the lat stands we see quite distinctly
that the upper portion has been thrown up in modern times , and
that the ancient level of the ground was some six or eight feet
lower than what it now is, and indeed was flush with the soil of
the Muhammadan cemetery close by, in the midst of which are a
15 few Buddhist remains in the shape of pillars and architraves made
up into a Muhammadan sepulchre".
Mr. Sherring proceeds to notice a considerable variety of
ancient carved remains indicating that "formerly a large structure
stood on this site, covering probably the whole extent of the ground
so above the tank on its northern side .... Below the upper terrace
on which the lot stands is , as already observed , a Muhammadan
cemetery, with a Rauza or tomb in the middle. This building
rests upon sixteen pillars . . moreover there are five pillars in the
verandah to the south. Some of the pillars are ornamented with
S5 scroll-work and the lotus-plant, while their four corners are deeply
indented with representations of the lotus seed-pod. One pillar
has eight sides in its lowest division and sixteen in its upper;
and has also a band of four grinning faces connected together,
and under them a row of beaded garlands. The pillar is crovraed
30 with a round stone projecting two inches. A curious assemblage
of thirty-two grotesque faces, with beaded garlands and tassels
issuing from their mouths, runs round the edge of the stone"').
'The ASoka pillar, then perfect, is described by Tavernier, as
in December, 1665, in the following passage: — "About 500 paces
35 from the town, in a north-western [sic'] direction, there is a mosque
where you see several Muhammadan tombs, of which some are of
a very beautiful design .... The most considerable of all is like
a great square pedestal , each face of which is about forty feet
long. In the middle of this platform you see a column of 32 to
40 35 feet in height, all of a piece, and which three men could with
difficulty embrace. It is of sandstone, so hard that I could not
scratch it with my knife. It terminates in a pyramid, and has a
great ball on the point, and below the ball it is encircled by large
beads'^). All the sides of this tomb are covered with figures of
1) The Sacred City of the Hindus, pp. 190, 305.
2) This terminal clearly was not original. Flröz Shäh placed a globe and
V. Smith, Identification of the Aioka Pillar N. E. of Benares City. 341
animals cut in relief in the stone , and it has been higher above
the ground than it novir appeai-s; several of the old men who guard
these tombs having assured me that since fifty years it has sub¬
sided more than 30 feet. They add that it is the tomb of one
of the kings of Bhutan, who was interred there after he had left 5
his country to conquer this kingdom, from which he was sub¬
sequently driven by the descendants of Tamerlane"').
The north-western direction from the town may be an error,
either of the text or of the translation, for north-eastern. But
Lät Bhairo actually stands to the north-west of Räjghät, and Ta- lo
vernier may have taken his bearing from that point. The distinct
statements that the monolithic pillar stood 32 to 35 feet above
ground and was made of sandstone confirm the belief that it was
a monument of Aäoka. The alleged sinking and the supposed
connexion with Bhutän are, of course, mere idle gossip. No doubt is
the ground level really has risen slowly, as at all ancient sites.
Mr. Sherring calculated that the existing fragment of the
A§oka pillar may be about from fourteen to sixteen feet in length.
Evidently it must be the lower portion of the column, and as the
inscriptions on Aäoka's pillars are always placed a few feet from 20
the ground level where they could be easily read , it foUows that
if the pillar was inscribed it must almost certainly still bear its
record. The tradition quoted by Mr. Sherring makes it probable
that such a record exists, but the religious veneration in which
the monument is held interposes great difficulties in the way of 25
inspection. However, a sufficient number of rupees might over¬
come the scruples of the guardian, and a few hundred rupees
would be well spent for that purpose.
The diameter and recorded height of the pillar agree well
with those of other A^oka pillars , which are invariably made of so
fine sandstone from Canär in the Mirzäpur District polished to
the utmost perfection, as described by the Chinese pilgrim. The
art of imparting such a high polish to sandstone has been lost.
The tank beside which the stump of the pillar stands is called
the Kapilmocan or Bhairo tank by Mr. Sherring , but on the S6
Cantonment Survey map of 1869 neither of these names is given.
The square tank in the position indicated by Mr. Sherring is labelled crescent on the Delhi 'golden pillar" (Cunningham, Reports, I, 163, quoting Finch, who wrote in 1611). The local Muhammadans who called the Benares pillar the Lät of Flröz Shah, probably were right in connecting it with that sovereign to whom the terminal ornament seen by Tavernier may be safely ascribed.
1) Tavernier, Travels in India, transl. V. Ball (London, 1889), vol. I, p. 118. Aurangzeb's general orders for the destruction of Hindu temples were not issued until 1669. Bishop Heber, who visited Benares in 1824, and heard accounts of the riot from eyewitnesses, says that the pillar had been 'a very beautiful shaft of one stone, forty feet high, and covered with exquisite carving"
{Narrative, ch. XIII).
on the map as "Lat Saha", a name plainly referring to the pillar,
which is not marked, although the mosque is shown. One side of
the tank is parallel to the Räjghät road, which runs in a north¬
westerly direction, and the mosque is indicated at the north-western
5 corner. The Ghäzipur (Ghazeepore) road mentioned is not the
modern metalled main road from the cantonment to Ghäzipur, but
an old unmetalled minor road which runs nearly due north and
joins the metalled road to the north of the Barnä river.
The description by Mr. Sherring of the sculptured stones and
10 remains of buildings near the pillar, although for from satisfactory, suffices to show that the sculpture is of early age and good quality.
The evidence that a large structure formerly extended along the
whole of the northern, probably meaning north-eastern, side of the
tank is clear, and it is reasonable to infer that the remains mark
15 the site of the stüpa mentioned by Hiuen Tsang, which, of course,
would have had subsidiary buildings near it.
The pillar and stüpa discussed do not form part of the Sar¬
nath group of remains,- which is distinct, and lies to the north of
the Barnä river at a distance of about three miles. Hiuen Tsang,
20 having described the stüpa and pillar to the west of the Barnä,
goes on to say: — "To the north-east of the river Barnä (Varanä)
about 10 li or so, we come to the sarhghäräma [i.e. monastery]
of Lu-ye ("Stag Desert")", according to Mr. Beal's version, or as
Mr. Watters puts it, "at a distance of ten li north-east from the
25 Barnä river was the Deer-Park Monastery". That monastery was
the one situated in the Rshipatana Mrgadäva (Isipatana Migadäya
of the Päli scriptures) which dated from the time of Buddha, and
the remains of it and the associated buildings still exist at Särnätb,
where important discoveries have been made recently. Those dis-
30 coveries include another Aäoka pillar with a magnificent lion capital and an • inscription , which records a new edict of much interest').
That pillar also is mentioned by Hiuen Tsang, but his description
exaggerates the height. The shaft was highly polished like that
of the pillar to the west of the river.
35 Considering the fame of Benares and the attention attracted
for many years past, in fact for more than a century, by the
Buddhist remains at Särnätb, it is very odd that nobody should
have thought of trying to identify the pillar mentioned by Hiuen
Tsang as standing to the west of the Barnä. The so-called Bhairo
40 Lät, as the particulars given above prove, undoubtedly is the frag¬
ment of an A6oka pillar, and occupies precisely the position indi-
1) References are: — Archaeol. S. of India, Annual Report, 1904—5, with plates; Ep. Ind.. VIII, 166, with facs.; JRAS., 1908, p. 1088, with plates;
Boyer, J. As., tome X (1907), p. 119; Venis, JASB., N. S., vol. Ill (1907), reprint; Senart, Acad. des Inscr., Comptes Rendus (1901), p. 25. I hope to publish shortly a revised translation based on all the above materials. [Published in 2'>d ed. of Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India, June, 1909.]
V. Smith, Identification of the Ai'oka Pillar N. E. of Benares City. 343
cated by the pilgrim , that is to say, it is on the north-eastern
outskirts of the city, and to the west of the river Barnä, from
which it is distant about two-thirds of a mile'). I do not think
it is possible to doubt the identity of the Bhairo Lät with the
pillar to the west of the river described by Hiuen Tsang. Cunning- 5
ham marked the approximate position of the Lat on the small map in
Plate XXXI of volumne I of his Reports, but took no further
notice of the monument and apparently did not think it deserving
of careful examination. The thought of comparing the description
of tbe pillar given by Hiuen Tsang with that of Mr. Sherring has not 10
occurred to any body, so far as I can ascertain. The moment the
two documents are brought together the inference that the Bhairo
Lät must be the pillar to the west of the river described by Hiuen
Tsang is inevitable. Mr. SheiTing, who took the trouble to trans¬
late into English Stanislas Julien's French version of Hiuen Tsang's 15
account of Benares and Särnätb, was content to affirm vaguely
that the Lät must be one of Asol^a's pillars, but does not seem
to have realized its identity with the monument described by the
pilgrim in the seventh century.
Mr. Oertel , in his Report describing his brilliant discoveries 20
at the Särnätb site in 1905, states that "Särnätb is situated some
four miles north of Benares, not far from the high road to Ghäzi¬
pur. A more direct route, of which traces are still extant, seems
to have connected the city with Särnätb. Starting from the centre
of Benares near the Pänchgangäghät , where Aurangzeb's mosque 25
now rises on the ruins of an ancient temple, this road led due
north past Lät Bhairo and crossed the Barnä river at Puränä Pul
[Old Bridge] by a bridge some remains of which can still be seen
a little distance above the viaduct of the metre gange railway to
Ghäzipur. At the end of the eighteenth century a ruined Mughal 30
bridge of three spans occupied this site" -).
But Mr. Oertel , like Cunningham , took no further notice of
the Bhairo Lät and never suspected its identity with one of the
two A^oka pillars described by Hiuen Tsang. The Lät stands
where the roads from the Pärichgangä Ghät and Räjghät meet, and, 35
inasmuch as those roads are continued, the first in a northerly and
the second in a westerly direction , the Lät is actually placed at
cross-roads , in the most favourable possible position for publicity.
I have no doubt that it bore , and suspect that it still beai-s an
edict or edicts intended to be widely read. Hiuen Tsang does not 40
mention any particular incident in connexion with the stüpa and
pillar to the west of the river , so that there is nothing to indi¬
cate the nature of the supposed inscription. It may be only another
copy of the first Six Pillar Edicts, which are known to occur at
1) See sketch map annexed.
2) Archaeol. S. of India, Annual Rep. 1904—5, p. 59.
six localities. The important seventh edict is found on the Delhi -
Topra pillar only, and possibly another copy of it may be on the
Bhairo Lä^. Thus it is plain that the recognition now made of
the identity of the Bhairo Lät with the pillar to the west of the
5 river described by Hiuen Tsang suggests tempting possibilities of
an important epigraphic discovery. I understand , of course , the
difficulty there would be iu obtaining permission to examine the
Lät, hut by means gf tact and the services of infiuential Hindus,
helped by rupees, I believe it to be possible to obtain such per-
10 mission.
The site well deserves the attention of the officers of the
Archaeological Survey, as being the only demonstrably Buddhist
site practically situated in the city of Benares. The remains of
ancient buildings are said to extend almost continuously between
15 Benares and Särnätb, and also for some five miles along and beyond
the Barnä river, and, no doubt, many of these must be of Buddhist
origin. But nothing distinctively Buddhist has been found in the
city itself, so far as I know. The ancient pillars and sculptures
built into Muhammadan stnictures at Bakariyä Kund and other locaL
to ities on the northern edge of the city, although called Buddhist
by Mr. Sherring, might just as well belong to Jain or Brahmanical
buildings.
It is clear that in Hiuen Tsang's time (637 A. D.) the city
occupied substantially the same position as it now does. It then
V. Smith, Identification of the Aioka Pillar N. E. of Benares City. 345
extended for about eighteen li along the river-bank and had a
breadth of five or six li. The modern city is described as being about
31/j miles long, and a little more than a mile wide at its broadest
part, which comes to much the same thing. The fact that the
Aäoka pillar now called Bhairo Lät stood on the north-eastern 6
boundary of the city in the seventh century as it now does proves
that in that direction the boundary was the same as it is at present,
and that the great collection of sacred monuments at Särnätb was
quite distinct from VäränasI in Hiuen Tsang's day as it is now.
The pilgrim says that the country of VäränasT contained more 10
then thirty Buddhist monasteries of the Sammitiyä school with
more than 3000 (2000 in Life) monks, as well as more than a
hundred Hindu (Deva) temples with over 10,000 adherents of
various sects, chiefly Saiva, while in the capital itself he mentions
only about twenty Hindu temples and no Buddhist buildings, is
Watters suspected a corruption of the text, but if it be assumed
to be correct, it would seem that all the Buddhist edifices at that
time lay outside the city proper, which was then as now a seat
of Brahmanical Hinduism. The Aioka pillar and stüpa, to the
west of the Barnä, now represented by the Bhairo Lät and surround- 20
ing fragments of desecrated structures, are the only Buddhist monu¬
ments which can be affirmed positively ever to have existed close
to the city as it is now and was in the days of Hiuen Tsang.
But the city of the seventh and twentieth centuries is not the
most ancient one, which should be described as built on the banks 25
of the Barnä rather than on the Granges. Numerous mounds and
traces of brick buildings are found on both sides of the smaller
river , and are said by Mr. Sherring to extend five miles to the
north-east. It is therefore possible that in Aäoka's time, nine
centuries earlier than Hiuen Tsang, the cross-roads where he erected so
his pillar may have been within the limits of the city, which, no
doubt, extended to the Ganges at least as far as the Panchgangä
Ghät below the temple of Bisheshar (VisveSvara) on the site of
which Aurangzeb built his mosque.
Mr. Sherring was inclined to think that the early city extended ss
to the Daiäävamedha Ghät. It is quite possible that objects of
great interest may lie buried under the debris of the forgotten
city on the Barnä, the existence of which is known only from
Mr. Sherring's scanty notes.
P. S. In Did. Ant., October, 1908, Mr. F. 0. Oertel, the discoverer 40
of the Särnätb Pillar, has published independently his belief that
the Lät Bhairo is identical with the Asoka pillar described by
Hiuen Tsang, and has suggested, as I have done, that permission
should be obtained to examine the shaft.
Participles as Finite Verbs.
By A. Berriedale Keith.
The use of any participle save that in ta as equivalent to a
finite verb is rare indeed in the Vedic language , but it is re¬
cognised by Delbrück as occasionally found, and the instances there¬
fore deserve some attention.
The most characteristic case of the present part, in this sense
is Bgveda, I, 171, 4:
asmcid ahdm tavissd isamana Indräd hhiyä maruto rdjamänak \
yu^mdbhyarn Jiavyä nfsitäny äsan täny äri cak]rmä mrldtä nah \\
This can hardly be taken as a real case of an indicative use. The
writer begins in one form and breaks off into another, resuming
in the plural, instead of the singular, and the participles are attri¬
butive, not predicative. In X, l31, 3, the second half verse is a
mere repitition of IV, 17, 16, where the participles are attributive,
and a finite verb precedes. In VIII, 74, 1, väjaydntah followed by
stuse presents us again with an alteration of plural to singular.
In I, 30, 1, väjaydntah-since gives exactly the same construction.
On the other hand, II, 11, 4, is a clear case of anacoluthon: the
vardhdyantah of the first half line is taken up by asmS, the con¬
struction being changed.
None of these passages seem to me to compel belief in a real
finite form any more than cases like Satapatha Brähmana, III, 4, 2, 1:
ätithyena vdi devä istvä tänt sdmad avindat, which is not con¬
ceivably a case of two finite verbs. Speyer-), however, cites them
as really finite in effect and adds Rgveda, X, 18, 9:
dhdnur hdstäd ädddäno mrtdsyäsmi hsaträya vdrcase bdläya \
dtraivd tvam ihd vaydrn suvlrä vidvä spfdho abhimätir jayetna ||
But to say that ädddänah = ädade is to lose all precision of
analysis. The sentence is one of simple and natural irregularity.
The performer acts by himself in taking the bow, but he naturally
1) Synt. Forsch., V, ,S93.
2) Vedische und Sanskrit-Syntax, p. 92.
