Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/92

 6o BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. mounted by four lions, which, judging from analogy, once bore a chakra or wheel, probably in metal. 1 (Woodcut No. 8.) A corresponding pillar probably once stood on the opposite side of the entrance bearing some similar emblem. Two such are represented in these positions in front of the great cave at Kan her i, which is a debased copy of the great Karle cave. 2 The lat at Eran and the iron pillar at Meharauli nearDelhi,thoughsimilarin many respects to those just described, seem certainly to belong to the era of the Guptas during the 5th century of our era the latter about 415, and the former in A.D. 484 and to be dedicated to the Vaishnava creed, and in consequence belong to a subsequent chapter. That at Pathari in Bhopal bears a much obliterated in- scription of a Rashtrakuta king, Parabala, dated in A.D. 86i. 3 This is a meagre ac- count, it must be confessed, of Buddhist lats, which probably at one time could be counted by hundreds in the important Buddhist localities in Bengal ; but it is feared we shall hardly be able to add many more to our list. They are so easily overthrown and so readily utilised in populous localities, that all trace of most of them has pro- bably been irrecoverably lost, though one or two more examples may possibly be found in remote, out-of-the-way places. There is no instance, so far as I am aware, of a built monumental pillar of ancient date now standing in India. This is sufficiently accounted for by the ease with which they Capital of the Lion pillar at Karl. (From a sketch by Mr. H. Cousens.) 1 'Tree and Serpent Worship,' plate 42. 1 In the description accompanying Daniell's view of this cave he says : " On the pillar to the right, above the capital, is a group of lions, from the centre of which a few years since arose the chakra . . . though not the least appearance of it at present remains." 3 ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 'vol. xvii. pp. 3O5f. ; Cunningham, ' Archaeological Reports, ' vol. x. p. 70 ; Kielhorn, in ' Nachrichten Gottingen Gesellschaft : Phil. Hist. Kl.,' 1901, pp.