Page:Report of a Tour in Bihar and Bengal in 1879-80, from Patna to Sunargaon.djvu/13

 ARChhEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA.

REPORT OF A TOUR IN BIHAR AND BENGAL IN 1879-80, FROM PATNA TO SUNARGAON.

I.—PATNA.

IN a former report I gave a long account of the existing remains at Panch Pahâri on the south side of the city of Patna, all of which are Buddhist. I can now add the discovery of two colossal Buddhist statues in the grounds of the Asiatic Society’s Museum at Calcutta, where they had been hidden amongst the foliage for the last forty years. Three statues were discovered by Dr. Tytler outside the city of Patna, of which two only were sent to Calcutta by the Doctor’s brother. When I saw the two statues in the new Indian Museum in Calcutta, I then remembered that a broken statue of a similar kind was still standing at Agam Küa, just outside the city of Patna, adorned with a new head and a pair of roughly marked breasts,.so as to do duty for the great goddess Mdia-Mdi. As I luckily had a rough sketch of this figure in my note-book, I was able to compare it on the spot with the two tall figures in the museum, and this comparison at once showed that the broken figure at Agam Küa corresponded in attitude, in the position of hands and in every particular of dress, with the two colossi which had been sent from Patna by Dr. Tytler’s brother. The Agam Küa is a very large and very old brick well, just outside the city of Patna, and to the north of the Buddhist ruins of Panch Pahâri. The broken figure is said to have been found in this well, and it seems probable therefore that the two statues were also found either at or near the same place. VOL. XV. A