Page:Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India Vol 18.pdf/8

iv of his teaching; and 4, the city of Kusinagara, where he died, and obtained Nirvana, or final emancipation.

By his patient and methodical explorations at Kasia, Mr. Carlleyle has fixed its identification beyond all doubt. On the west side of the great Stupa he discovered the famous Nirvana statue of Buddha, just as it was described by the Chinese pilgrijm Hwen Thsang. It is quite certain that this statue is the same that was seen by the pilgrim, as there is an inscription on the pedestal of the mourning figure, beside the couch, of two lines in characters of the Gupta period. The figure is colossal, 20 feet in length, and is represented lying on the right side with the right hand under the head, and facing to the west precisely as described by Hwen Thsang. The statue was enshrined in a vaulted temple, the vault being constructed in the old Hindu fashion, such as is found in the great temple of Mahabodhi at Buddha Gaya. In this construction the radiating voussoirs are placed edge to edge, instead of face to face.

Altogether the identifications made in this report mutually support each other, and their positions are well sustained by the two fixed points of Kapilavastu on the west and Kusinagara on the east.

A. CUNNINGHAM.