Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/129

 CHAP. III. MAN IKY ALA. 95 B.C. 43, 1 it is certain the monument was erected after that date. The gold coins were all those of Kanishka. This tope, therefore, could hardly have been erected earlier than thirty years before Christ. To the antiquary the enquiry is of con- siderable interest, but less so to the architect, as the tope is so completely ruined that neither its form nor its dimensions can now be distinguished. Another was opened in 1863 by General Cunningham, in the relic chamber of which he found a copper coin, belonging to the Satrap Zeionises, who is supposed to have governed this part of the country about the be- ginning of the Christian Era, and we may therefore assume that the tope was erected by him or in his time. This and other relics were enclosed in a glass-stoppered vessel, placed in a miniature representa- tion of the tope itself, 4^ in. wide at base, and 8|- in. high (Woodcut No. 24), which may.be considered as a fair representation of what a tope was or was intended to be, in that day. It is, perhaps, taller, however, than a structural example would have been ; and the tee, with its four umbrellas, is, possibly, exaggerated. 2 The principal tope of the group is, perhaps, the most remarkable of its class in India, though inferior in size to several in Ceylon. It was first noticed by Mountstuart Elphinstone, and a very correct view of it published by him, with the narrative of his mission to Kabul in iSoQ. 3 It was afterwards thoroughly explored by General Ventura, in 1830, and a complete account of his investi- gations published by Prinsep in the third volume of his 'Journal.' Since then its basement has been cleared of the rubbish that hid it to a depth of 12 ft. to 15 ft. all round, by the officers 24. Relic Casket from Tope at Manikyala. (Found and drawn by Gen. Cunningham.) 1 Thomas in ' Prinsep,' vol. i. p. 150; and 'Journal R. Asiatic Soc. ,' vol. ix. (N.S.), pp. 217-218. 2 ' Archaeological Reports,' vol. ii. p. 167, plate 65. A similar reliquary, with five umbrellas or chattras, was found by Gerard in the Burj-i-yak-dereh tope to the east of Kabul; Jacquet, in 'Jour. Asiatique,' III 6 serie, tome vii. pp. 394- 395 ; Foucher, 'L'Art Greco-Bouddhique du Gandhara,' tome i. pp. iqf. and 75. 3 Elphinstone's 'Account of Caubul,' pp. 78, and 376, ist ed.