Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/121

Rh The circular abacus of the Allahabad pillar is decorated, instead of the geese, with a graceful scroll of alternate lotus and honeysuckle, resting on a beaded astragalus moulding, seemingly of Greek origin. According to tradition the monument was originally surmounted by a. lion, and in 1838 a Captain Smith of the Royal Engineers was commissioned to design a. new capital in the style of the Bakhirâ and Lau1iyâ.-Nandangarh pillars. But his attempt was a lamentable failure and resulted in a monstrosity which Cunningham considered to be 'not unlike a stuffed poodle stuck on the top of an inverted ﬂower-pot.' Many years have passed since I saw the thing, but I suppose it is still there.

Two mutilated pillars exist at Rampurwa in the Champâran District. The one which bears a copy of the first six Pillar Edicts was surmounted by a ﬁnely designed lion, discovered in 1907-8 buried close by. Mr. Marshall notes that the 'muscles and thews of the beast are vigorously modelled, and though conventionalized in certain particulars, it is endowed with a vitality and strength which rank it among the finest sculptures of the Maurya period.' The companion uninscribed pillar had a bull capital, also discovered by research, but unfortunately much injured. The