Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/124

 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. had concealed and helped to preserve the original. A circular stone disc, of quite 1 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter, which had formed one of the chhattras or umbrellas crowning the larger stupa, 23- Stupa at Chakpat. (From a Photograph.) and had slid down from the higher dome when first ruined, is seen in the illustration. 1 Half a mile below 'Alt Masjid in the Khaibar Pass, on a small hill, are the remains of a religious establishment sur- rounded by a group of ruined stupas of a very interesting character. They were excavated in 1879 by General Cunning- ham's assistant, and are said to have yielded important materials, never published. Little more than the bases of these stupas remained, but they were very rich in stucco figure decoration ; the accompanying reproduction of a photograph of No. 5 of the series (Plate i) will convey some idea of their form. 2 Beyond 'Ali Masjid and near Lalabeg is the Ishpola tope M. Court's Pishbulak 3 placed on the summit of a rock projecting into, and dominating the valley. It appears about nearly as large as the Manikyala stupa, and, like it, the hemispherical dome that crowns it, is only slightly raised on a short cylindrical neck resting on a square base which is further supported by walls forming a second and lower quadrangular terrace. The base had fourteen pilasters on 1 Foucher, ' L'Art Greco-Bouddhique,' tome i. pp. 56-59, 67, and 74. 2 Burgess, ' Monuments of Ancient India,' plate 106. Three coins of Vasu- deva, the third Kushan King, were found here, but the stupas can hardly be ascribed to an earlier date than the 3rd century A.D. 3 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. v. p. 393.