Page:Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1911-12.pdf/72



HE ancient remains at Bhita, near Allahabad, were first made known by Gen. Cunningham, who visited the site in 1872, and gave, in his report for that year, a descriptive account of its location and general features. Bhita was identified Gen. Cunningham with the old Bithhaya-pattana, a town mentioned in the ra Charitra as having flourished in the days of Mahavira, and, to suit this identi- in the name of the village was given in his reports as Biths. There can be no however, that the correct spelling, according to the local pronunciation, is --a name which the village has very naturally derived from its situation on an ancient mound and which is common to many another village of Northern India in similar situation; while, as to the original name of the place there is good reason stippose, as we shall presently see, that it was Vichhi or Vichhigrāma.

Besides some fragmentary sculptures belonging to a törana and railing of the Sanga perind, Gen. Cunningham collected several short inscriptions, said to have Been found at Bhità or the neighbouring Deoriya, and from these records he con- luded that Buddhism was the prevailing religion at Bhita "during the period mmediately following the Indo-Scythian rule in North-West India." This con- clusion was, no doubt, reasonable enough in the light of the limited evidence then wailable; it is not, however, borne out by the results of my recent excavations, which, so far as the period referred to is concerned, yielded cult objects mainly of a Bralimanical character.

Gen. Cunningham also made an effort to examine the defences of the old town, and for this purpose cut section through the rampart on the south-east side of the chief mound, or the garh, as it is now locally known, revealing there a small portion of the old city wall. To this discovery and to the conclusions to which it led Gen. Cunningham, I shall revert again when speaking of the fortifications at he end of the Bastion Street.

In the following description of my excavations, I shall start with the largest group of structures near the gate in the south-east wall of the town, and will proceed afterwards to deal with the smaller detached groups towards the north and north-west. 8. R. Vol. III, pp. 46-52. Lost, p. 47.