Page:Report of a Tour in Bihar and Bengal in 1879-80, from Patna to Sunargaon.djvu/15

 have not yet been read satisfactorily, as some of the letters are doubtful owing to the deeply cut parallel folds of the scarves on which they are engraved. Both inscriptions are given in the accompanying plate; that of the headless statue marked A may be read as Yakhe Sanatananda, or perhaps Bharata. The other marked B may be read as Yakhe Achusatzrika, or perhaps San zgika. The parallel lines of the scarf, like the lines of music, render the reading of several letters very doubtful, as they interfere with both head- strokes and foot-strokes, so that I and v and the attached vowels a and e cannot always be distinguished. In the word Yakhe the vowel e is fortunately placed in a sloping direction upwards. On the third statue, at Agam Küa, outside Patna, the scarf at the back has peeled off, and the inscription is therefore lost. All these figures were complete statues cut in the round.1

The only other remains that require notice are the stone seats or stools which are found at all ancient Buddhist sites. There are a considerable number of these scattered about Panch Pahári, and in a field to the west of the village there is a small pile of them. They are here worshipped as Goreya, or spirits—a name derived from the Persian goristdn, or burial- ground. I have selected a few specimens in the accompanying plate to show the shape and style of these curious articles. From their numbers I am inclined to think that they must have been the seats of the monks. They are eminently Buddhistical, as they are found only at Buddhist sites, and are ornamented with Buddhist symbols. They vary from 5 to 61 inches in height and breadth, and from 12 to i6 inches in length. All the Patna specimens are flat-topped; but many others that I have seen are slightly hollowed on the top, as if to make the seat easier. But wherever they are found, from Taxila to Palibothra, they are of the same general pattern, and are ornamented with the same symbols.

1 See Plate II for sketches of these two statues made by my Assistant, Mr. H. B. W. Garrick. The statues themselves were first brought to notice by Mr. J. D. Beglar, who recognized their importance.