Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/120

118 style, and is surmounted by an oblong abacus 12 inches high, which serves as a pedestal for a lion seated on its haunehes, and $4 1⁄2$ feet in height. Two or three mouldings are inserted between the shaft and the bell capital, and one intervenes between the latter and the abacus. The total height above the level of the Water is 44 feet 2 inches. Including the submerged portion the length of the monument cannot be less than 50 feet, and its weight is estimated to be 50 tons.

The inscribed Lauyâ-Tandangarh or Mathiah pillar in the Champâran District, N. Bihâr, resembles that at Bakhirâ in general design, but is lighter and less massive, and consequently very graceful (Frontspiece). The polished shaft, 32 feet $9 1⁄2$ inches in height, diminishes from a base diameter of $35 1⁄2$ inches to a diameter of only $22 1⁄4$ inches at the top. The abacus, which is circular instead of oblong, is decorated on the edge with an artistic bas—relief representing a row of geeso pecking their food. The height of the capital including the lion, which faces the rising sun, is 6 feet 10 inches, and consequently the entire monument is nearly 40 feet high. The cable-string courses and 'egg and dart' ovolo which serve as mouldings are admirably executed, and the design and workmanship of the whole are rightly praised as displaying both knowledge and power.