Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/94

 84 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [March, 1873. PROGRESS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH IN 1870-71. [From the Annual Report of the Royal Asiatic -Society, June 1872.] In their Report to the Society read on the 30th of May 1870, the Council expressed some disap¬ pointment at the result of the expeditions sent at the expense of the Government of India to procure representations of objects of antiquarian interest in Orissa and at Bombay. They are now, however, happy to report that a second expedition, under the sole control of Mr. H. H. Locke, the Principal of the Government School of Art in Calcutta, was sent to Orissa in the spring of the present year, and has been attended with complete success. Mr. Locke has made and safely brought back to Calcutta casts of all the principal sculptures in the Udayagiri and Klmndagiri Caves, and photographs from these casts, made in January last, have already reached this country, and exhibit a series of sculptures as full of interest as any that have yet been brought to this country or are known to exist in India. In general character, some of these sculptures very much resemble those from the gateways of the Sanchi Tope, and may be as old, if not older. The principal subject, lithographed by Prinsep in 1838 from a drawing by Kittoe,0 is now found to be repeated twice over. The bas-relief of it in the Raj RAni Cave is ruder than the Sanchi sculptures, and the first impression consequently is that it may be more ancient. That in Ganes'a Cave—the one drawn by Kittoe—bears much more resemblance to Greek art. A curious question thus arises, whether we are to consider the latter as the direct production of Yavana or Baktrian artists, which afterwards degenerated into the ruder art of the Raj RAni sculptures, or whether the ruder were afterwards improved into the more perfect forms under foreign influence. At present the materials do not seem to exist for answering these questions, though they are of extreme interest to the history of ancient Indian art, and as bearing on the influence, more or less direct, which foreigners exerted on its first formation. It is also understood that Mr. Locke’s party has brought away fresh impressions of the celebrated “ Aira” inscription in the so-called Hasti cave, first noticed by Stirling, and afterwards so successfully deciphered by Prinsep.f As it seems to be the oldest of the inscriptions in the LAt character, if any ad¬ ditional information can be obtained regarding its contents, it will be a most interesting addition to our scanty stores of authentic documents for the elucidation of early Indian History. In the spring of the year 1871, a set of the casts obtained by the party sent down to Orissa in 1868-9 reached this country, and, owing to the delay of a month in opening the Indian Annexe, they were in time to be exhibited in the International Exhibition of that year. As, however, no description and no lists accompanied them, there existed no means of ascertaining from what temples they were taken, nor what parts of any temples they represented. All that could therefore be done was to build them up into what was called a trophy, mixed up with Mr. Terry’s casts from Bombay, and some from Dr. Hunter at Madras. When any descriptive lists or any further information reaches us with regard to these casts, we may be able to form an estimate of their value ; at present the materials do not exist in this country for any such appreciation. In like manner a set of drawings of details of architectural ornaments made by the pupils of the Schcol of Art were sent home and exhibited in 1871 ; but as only the name of the pupil who made it was inscribed on each drawing, we are still in ignorance of what these drawings are intended to represent. One set of the photographs made by the party who were sent down in 1868-9 reached this country about six weeks ago, and are in private hands. So far as can be ascertained, they are the only copies which have yet reached this country ; but, as only the names of the temples are attached to them, though they are very admirable as photographs, the information they convey is limited to those who were previously acquainted with the objects they represent. Mr. Terry’s casts from Bombay, as mentioned above, arrived simultaneously with those from Ben¬ gal, just in time for exhibition in June 1871. As they were accompanied by plans and sections of the building from which they were taken, as well as the photographs, there was no difficulty in understanding their position or appreciating their value. The result of this expedition does not, however, we are sorry to observe, seem to have encouraged the Go¬ vernment of Bombay to make any further attempts in that direction, and no further expenditure seems to have been made by them for archaeological purposes. Meanwhile, however, we are happy to be able to report that Mr. James Burgess continues successful¬ ly. his archaeological labours. In addition to the splendid work on PalitAnA, noticed in our report of 1870, he has since published a similar work on the Temples of SomnAth, GiruAr, and JunAgarh, illustrat¬ ed by 41 photographs by Sykes, and accompanied by descriptive letter-press ; and another work, of almost equal interest, on the Cave Temples of Elephanta, with elaborate descriptive texts and photographs of all the principal sculptures. He has also visited and procured photographs of the Caves of NAsik, KArla, BhAjA, and Bedt«A; the last
 * J. A. 3. 2?., vol. VII., part 2, pi. xliv. t J-A- 8. B., vol. VI. 1080 et seqq.