Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/93

 CHAP. II. STAMBHAS OR LATS. 61 could be thrown down and their materials removed, when they had lost the sanctity which alone protected them. There are, however, two such pillars among the topes of Kabul, and evidently coeval with them, now called the Surkh Min^r and the Minar Chakri (Woodcut No. 9). These are ascribed by the traditions of the place to Alexander the Great, though they are evidently Buddhist monuments, meant to mark some sacred spot, or to commemorate some event, the memory of which has passed away. There can be little doubt that their upper members are meant to be copies of the tall capitals of the Persepolitan pillars, which were probably common throughout this part of Asia, but their shape and outline exhibit great degeneracy from the purer forms with which that architecture commenced in India, and which were there retained in their purity to a much later period than in this remote province. No reliable data seem to exist for ascertaining what the age of these monuments may be. It probably was the 3rd or 4th century of our era, or it may be even earlier. 9. Min&r Chakri, Kabul. (From a Drawing by Mr. Masson, in Wilson's ' Ariana Antiqua. ')