Page:Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India Vol 1.pdf/11

 “ All that has hitherto been done towards the illustration of ancient Indian history has been due to the unaided efforts of private individuals. These researches consequently have always been desultory and unconnected and frequently in­ complete, owing partly to the short stay which individual officers usually make at any particular place, and partly to the limited leisure which could be devoted to such pursuits.

"Hitherto the Government has been chiefly occupied with the extension and consolidation of empire, hut the establishment of the Trigonometrical Survey shews that it has not been unmindful of the claims of science. It would redound equally to the honor of the British Government to institute a careful and systematic investigation of all the existing monuments of ancient India.

“In describing the ancient geography of India, the elder Pliny, for the sake of clearness, follows the footsteps of Alexander the Great. Eor a similar reason, in the present proposed investigation, I would follow the footsteps of the Chinese pilgrim IIwen Thsang, who, in the seventh century of our era, traversed India from west to cast and back again for the purpose of visiting all the famous sites of Buddhist history and tradition. In the account of his travels, although the Buddhist remains are described in most detail with all their attendant legends and traditions, yet the numbers and appearance of the Brahmanical temples are also noted, and the travels of the Chinese pilgrim thus hold the same place in the history of India, which those of Pausanias hold in the history of Greece.

“In the North-Western Provinces and Bihar the princi­ pal places to he visited and examined are the following, which are also shown in the accompanying sketch map :

“ I. Khdlsi, on the Jumna, where the river leaves tho hills.— At this place there still exists a large boulder stone, covered with one of Asoka’ s inscriptions, in which the names of Antioehus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas, and Alexander arc all recorded. This portion of the inscription, which on the rock of Kapurdigiri (in the Yusufzai plain), and of Dhauli (in Cuttack) is much mutilated and abraded, is here in perfect preservation. A copy of this^inscription and an account of the ruins would therefore he valuable.