Page:Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India Vol 14.pdf/22

10 to the size of the temple, which was large, spacious, and surrounded with pillars. The remains which I have now discovered I would identify with the temple of the sun, as described by the same author. This temple was clearly inside the city, and is described as possessing statues of Alexander and Porus, the former of gold, the latter of bronze. The walls of the temple were of porphyry enriched with ornaments of gold, and the image of the sun was adorned with pearls arrayed in a symbolical order.

The position of this Ionic temple was in the very heart of the city, towards the southern end, on the spot where I have placed a pillar in the map which accompanied my report of 1863-64. Here Nûr, the great treasure-seeker, had dug up a large column, which was pointed out to me by the people, who stated that he had secretly broken it up into small pieces in the hope of discovering gold inside. When first discovered it was said to have consisted of one square piece, and of five or six cylindrical pieces, all broken. The largest piece that I saw had a diameter of 2 feet 8½ inches, with a mortice hole 6 inches square and 4 deep. The smallest had a diameter of 2 feet 6½ inches. During my last visit in 1878 I was informed that the remains of a large pillar had been found underground inside the city. On visiting the spot it seemed to me to be the very spot marked in my map as the place where I had seen the fragments left by Nûr. The people, however, said that Nûr's pillar had been found about 25 feet to the westward, and there on digging I discovered two fragments left by Nûr. The base of the new pillar I found in situ, the lower part being just 6 feet under ground. When first discovered there was one portion of the drum still standing on the base. Other similar stones had been found previously, but all had been cut into pieces and carried off to build the masjid in Mohra Maliâr. The remains of Nûr's pillar had in the same way been taken for the masjid at Dibiya. I found only three pieces of the bottom drum, which had been found in situ. It had been cut into four pieces for easy removal. The largest piece gave a diameter of 2 feet 8 inches, and the next larger gave a diameter of 2 feet 8 inches. As this is the exact diameter of the column found by Nûr close by, I think that there can be no doubt that the two pillars must have belonged to the same temple. These pillars are just 4 inches greater in