Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/131

 CHAP. III. MANIKYALA. 97 (as at Chakpat) must have been an early form, and that the rail was a feature confined to purely Indian stupas, whilst among those of the Gandhara region it never appeared. The outward appearance of the Manikyala tope, in its half- ruined state, may be judged of from the view (Woodcut No. 25). All that it really requires to complete its outline is the tee, which was an invariable adjunct to these buildings : no other 26. Restored Elevation of the Tope at Manikyala. Scale 50 ft. to i in. feature has wholly disappeared. The restored elevation, half- section, half- elevation (Woodcut No. 26), to the usual scale, 50 ft. to i in., will afford the means of comparison with other monuments ; l and the section and elevation of the base. Woodcut No. 27, on the next page, will explain its architectural details in so far as they can be made out. On digging into this monument, General Ventura found three separate deposits of relics, arranged at apparently equal distances of 25 ft. from the surface of the finished monument and from each other, and each apparently increasing in value or importance as it descended. The first was at the base of a solid cubical mass of squared masonry, and contained, inter a/z'a, some Sassanian coins and one of Yajovarman (about A.D. 720), and one of Abdullah bin Hazim, struck at Merv A.H. 66, or A.D. 685. 2 The second, at a depth of 50 ft., contained no coins. The principal deposit, at a depth of 75 ft, was on the exact level of the procession-path outside. It consisted of a copper vessel, in which was a relic casket in brass, represented in the 1 The restored elevation here, omits the stairs (sapana) in front and at the sides, as also the umbrellas that crowned the whole. See Cunningham, 'Archceo- VOL. I. logical Survey Reports,' vol. v. plates 21 and 22. 2 Thomas's ' Prinsep,' vol. i. p. 94. G