Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/89

 CHAP. II. STAMBHAS OR LATS. 57 Shah, in his hunting lodge ; and was re-erected in 1867.* Two others exist in Champaran district at Radhia, and Mathia, 2 and a fragment of another was recognised utilised as a roller for the station roads by an utilitarian member of the Civil Service. The most complete shaft, however, is that which, in 1837, was found lying on the ground in the fort at Allahabad, and then re-erected with a pedestal, from a design by Captain Smith. 3 This pillar is more than usually interesting, as in addition to the A-yoka inscriptions it contains one by Samu- dragupta (A.D. 380 to 400), detailing the glories of his reign, and the great deeds of his ancestors. 4 It seems again to have been thrown down, and was re-erected, as a Persian inscription tells us, by Jahangir (A.D. 1605), to commemorate his accession. It is represented without the pedestal (Woodcut No. 4). The shaft, it will be observed, is more than 3 ft. wide at the base, diminishing to f 2 ft. 2 in. at the summit, which in a length of 33 ft. 5 looks more like the tapering of the stem of a

tree a deodar pine, for instance than anything designed in stone. Like all the others of this class, this lat has lost its crowning ornament, which 1 ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. vi. p. 794. had been brought from Mirath in 1356. 2 The first of these is known as the Lauriya-Araraj or Bakhira pillar, being at the village of Lauriya about a mile from the temple of Mahadeva Araraj, the shaft of which rises nearly 40 ft. above the water level ; and the second is the Lauriya Navandgarh lat, 3 miles north of Mathia. Cunningham, 'Archaeological Survey Reports,' vol. i. pp. 67 and 73; xvi. plate 17; ' Epigraphia I Indica,' vol. ii. pp. 2450*". 3 ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. vi. plate 40, at P- 798. Fleet's 'Gupta Inscriptions,' pp. 1-17. 5 These dimensions are taken from Capt. Burt's drawings pub- lished in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. iii. pp. 105-123 and plate 3. 4 . L4t at Allahabad.