[557] It ought in fairness to be added that, since they have been in our possession, considerable sums have been expended on the repair of these fragments.

[558] The excuse for this deliberate act of Vandalism was, of course, the military one, that it was necessary to place the garrison of Delhi in security in the event of any sudden emergency. Had it been correct it would have been a valid one, but this is not the case. Without touching a single building of Shah Jehan’s there was ample space within the walls for all the stores and matériel of the garrison of Delhi, and in the palace and Selim Ghur ample space for a garrison, more than doubly ample to man their walls in the event of an émeute. There was ample space for larger and better ventilated barracks just outside the palace walls, where the Sepoy lines now are, for the rest of the garrison, who could easily have gained the shelter of the palace walls in the event of any sudden rising of the citizens. It is, however, ridiculous to fancy that the diminished and unarmed population of the city could ever dream of such an attempt, while any foreign enemy with artillery strong enough to force the bastioned enceinte that surrounds the town would in a very few hours knock the palace walls about the ears of any garrison that might be caught in such a trap.

The truth of the matter appears to be this: the engineers perceived that by gutting the palace they could provide at no trouble or expense a wall round their barrack-yard, and one that no drunken soldier could scale without detection, and for this or some such wretched motive of economy the palace was sacrificed!

The only modern act to be compared with this is the destruction of the summer palace at Pekin. That, however, was an act of red-handed war, and may have been a political necessity. This was a deliberate act of unnecessary Vandalism—most discreditable to all concerned in it.

[559] A plan of this garden, with the Taje and all the surrounding buildings, will be found in the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. vii. p. 42.

[560] From its design I cannot help fancying that this screen was erected after Shah Jehan’s death. It certainly looks more modern.

[561] There are eight photographs of it in Capt. Lyon’s collection, and many also by others.

[562] Page 478, et seqq.

[563] If Lieut. Cole, instead of repeating plans and details of buildings which had already been published by Gen. Cunningham, had given us a plan and details of this unknown building, he might have rendered a service all would have been grateful for. What I know of it is principally derived from verbal communication with Col. Montgomerie, R.E.

[564] ‘Embassy to Ava in 1795.’ London, 1800, 4to., 27 plates.

[565] ‘Journal of Embassy to Court of Ava,’ 1827. 4to., plates.

[566] ‘Mission to Court of Ava in 1855.’ 4to., numerous illustrations.

[567] If any of our 1001 idle young men who do not know what to do with themselves or their money would only qualify themselves for, and carry out such a mission, it is wonderful how easily and how pleasantly they might add to our stores of knowledge. I am afraid it is not in the nature of the Anglo-Saxon to think of such a thing. Fox-hunting and pheasant-shooting are more congenial pursuits.

[568] ‘Mahawanso,’ p. 71.

[569] R. F. St. John, in the ‘Phœnix,’ vol. ii. p. 204, et seqq. Sir Arthur Phayre, in ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. xlii. p. 23, et seqq.

[570] Sir A. Phayre, loc. cit.

[571] Crawfurd’s ‘Embassy to Ava,’ vol. ii. p. 277.

[572] It has recently become the fashion to doubt the holding of this convocation 100 years after the death of Buddha; but this very pointed allusion to it, in the early Burmese annals, so completely confirms what is said in the ‘Mahawanso,’ that the fact of its being held does not appear to me doubtful.

[573] Yule, ‘Mission to Ava,’ p. 30.

[574] Loc. cit., p. 32.

[575] Yule’s ‘Marco Polo,’ vol. ii. p. 84, et seqq.

[576] Yule, ‘Mission to Ava,’ p. 36. As almost all the particulars here mentioned are taken from this work as the latest and best, it will not be necessary to repeat references on every page.

[577] I of course except the arches in the tower at Buddh Gaya, which, I believe, were introduced by these very Burmese in 1305. See ante, p. 69.

[578] ‘Mission to Ava,’ p. 65.

[579] Literally “Golden great god.” Madu is the Burmese for Maha Deva.

[580] See p. 58.

[581] See account of the Great Bell at Rangûn, by the Rev. G. H. Hough, ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xiv. p. 270.

[582] The above particulars are abstracted from a paper by Col. Sladen in the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iv. (N.S.) p. 406, with remarks by Col. Yule and others. It is curious that there is a discrepancy between the native and the European authorities as to the number of storeys—not mechanical, of course, but symbolical; whether, in fact, the basement should be counted as a storey, or not. The above I believe to be the correct enumeration. We shall presently meet with the same difficulty in describing Boro Buddor in Java.

[583] ‘Mission to the Court of Ava,’ p. 169.

[584] A view of this ruin will be found in Yule’s ‘Mission to Ava,’ plate 23.

[585] Yule’s ‘Mission to Ava,’ p. 163.

[586] The Siamese invariably change the Indian d into th.

[587] For the particulars of this desiccation of the Valley of the Ganges, see the ‘Journal of the Geological Society,’ April, 1863.

[588] This form is interesting to us as it is that adopted for the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, the style of decoration of which is also much more like that employed in Siam than anything yet attempted out of doors in Europe.

[589] “As for the Indian kings none of them ever led an army out of India to attempt the conquest of any other country, lest they should be deemed guilty of injustice.”—Arrian, ‘Indica,’ ch. ix.

[590] ‘Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen.’ They have done me the honour of electing me an honorary member of their Society—an honour I feel all the more as it was quite unsolicited and unexpected.

[591] There are twelve plates illustrating the same monument in Sir Stamford Raffles’ ‘History of Java.’

[592] Sir S. Raffles’ ‘History of Java,’ pl. 24; text, vol. i. p. 465, 8vo. edition.

[593] ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. xvii. pp. 86, 87.

[594] Bastian, ‘Die Völker der Oestlichen Asien,’ vol. i. p. 393.

[595] Sir S. Raffles, vol. ii. p. 73.

[596] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society’ (N.S.), vol. iii. p. 153.

[597] There is little doubt that if the South Sea Islanders had at some distant epoch become civilized without European assistance, Captain Cook and the early explorers would have figured in their annals as English or French princes.

[598] Sir S. Raffles’ ‘History of Java,’ vol. ii., 8vo. edition, p. 87, et seqq.

[599] I am perfectly aware that this is not borne out by the translation of this inscription given by Dr. Friederich in vol. xxvi. of the ‘Verhandelingen;’ but being dissatisfied with its unmeaningness, I took it to my friend, Professor Eggeling, who is perhaps a better Sanscrit scholar than Friederich, and he fully confirms my view as above expressed.

[600] Yule’s ‘Marco Polo,’ vol. ii. p. 264, et seqq.

[601] Beal’s translation, p. 169.

[602] Raffles, vol. ii. p. 77, et seqq.

[603] About half of the photographs of the Batavian Society are filled with representations of these rude deities, which resemble more the images of Easter Island than anything Indian.

[604] Raffles, ‘History of Java,’ vol. ii. p. 93.

[605] The compilers of the catalogue of the photographs of the Batavian Society use 53 instead of 78 or 79 as the factor for converting Saka dates into those of the Christian Era. As, however, they give no reason for this, and Brumund, Leemans and all the best modern authors use the Indian index, it is here adhered to throughout.

[606] These latter dates are taken from Raffles and Crawfurd, but as they are perfectly well ascertained, no reference seems needful.

[607] ‘History of Java,’ vol. ii. p. 85.

[608] ‘Dictionary of Indian Archipelago,’ p. 66.

[609] ‘Boro Boudour,’ par Dr. C. Leemans. Leyden, 1874, p. 536. I quote from the French translation, having lent my original Dutch copy to Dr. Mayo of New College, Oxford. It was inadvertently packed among his baggage when he went to Fiji.

[610] Ante, p. 641. Also ‘Verhandelingen,’ &c., vol. xxvi. p. 31, et seqq. One of his inscriptions—the fourth—was found in Java proper.

[611] All these, or nearly all, have been identified by Dr. Leemans in the text that accompanies the plates.

[612] If Brian Hodgson would attempt it, he perhaps alone could explain all this vast and bewildering mythology. At present our means of identification is almost wholly confined to his representation in the second volume of the ‘Transactions’ of the Royal Asiatic Society, plates 1-4, and to the very inferior work of Schlagintweit, ‘Buddhismus in Thibet.’

[613] ‘Indische Alterthumskunde,’ vol. iv. p. 467.

[614] General Cunningham’s drawings, though nearly sufficient for anyone as familiar with all the styles as I have become, are not enough for anyone who is a stranger to the subject. I do not, indeed, know any Englishman who has the knowledge, combined with the powers of drawing, to be entrusted with this task. A Frenchman might be found who could do it, if he would be content to restrain his imagination.

[615] Col. Yule, from whose account most of these particulars are taken (‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ 1862), calls it “nearly naked;” but a drawing by Wilsen (‘Verhandelingen,’ vol. xix. p. 166) I think settles the question, that he is intended to be represented as clothed.

[616] An imperfect representation of this sculpture will be found in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vi. plate 53.

[617] Sir S. Raffles’ ‘History of Java,’ vol. ii. plate 32.

[618] The information here given is taken from Sir Stamford Raffles’ ‘History of Java,’ second edition, vol. ii. p. 17, et seqq. His plans, however, do not quite agree with the measurements in the text, a mistake arising, I believe, from the scales in the original drawings—now before me—being in Rheinland roods, which are not always converted into English feet.

[619] ‘History of Java,’ vol. ii. p. 85. Crawfurd makes it 1266 to 1296; but no confidence can be placed on his dates for buildings.

[620] ‘Boro Boeddoer,’ p. 433.

[621] ‘Verhandelingen,’ &c., vol. xxxiii. p. 222.

[622] ‘Boro Boeddoer,’ p. 439. ‘Verhandelingen,’ vol. xxxiii. p. 222.

[623] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. xiii. p. 166.

[624] ‘Boro Boeddoer,’ pp. 433-439.

[625] This is by no means so certain; but till some one capable of observing visits the place, we must assume it.

[626] Not however, of the more modern class of temples, inasmuch as when John Crawfurd visited Ava in 1826, he describes (p. 162, 2nd ed.) his visit to a temple just finished by the reigning monarch, which was adorned with a series of paintings on plaster representing scenes from the life of Buddha. Each of these had a legend in the modern Burmese character written over it; and it is curious to observe how nearly identical the descriptions are with those which might be written over any Buddhist series. All the scenes there depicted are not perhaps to be found at Bharhut or Sanchi, but all are at Amravati, and in the Gandhara monasteries, or are to be found among the sculptures at Boro Buddor.

[627] ‘Boro Boeddoer,’ p. 433.

[628] Col. Yule’s visit to Java, ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ 1861-1862, p. 3.

[629] Sir S. Raffles’ ‘History of Java,’ plates 31 and 61, vol. ii. p. 49, et seqq.

[630] Crawfurd, ‘Dict. Indian Archipelago,’ sub voce.

[631] Both Sir S. Raffles and Crawfurd seem to be mistaken in ascribing them to the Saivites; they seem to have been misled by the appearance of a Phallus, but there is no lingam.

[632] In the first three volumes of the photographs published by the Batavian Society are numerous examples of rude sculptures, which are indistinguishable from those of Easter Island. Crawfurd and other ethnologists do not seem to feel the least difficulty in extending the Malay race from Easter Island to Madagascar; and if this is so, it diminishes the improbabilities of another nearly allied family, extending through the Pacific Islands from Java to the American continent.

[633] ‘Travels in Indo-China, Cambodia, and Laos,’ by Henri Mouhot. 2 vols. 8vo. Murray, 1864.

[634] ‘Die Völker der Oestlichen Asien,’ von Dr. A. Bastian. Leipzig, 1866.

[635] ‘Voyage d’Exploration en Indo-Chine,’ 2 vols. quarto and folio, Atlas of plates. Paris, 1873.

[636] Few things are more humiliating to an Englishman than to compare the intelligent interest and liberality the French display in these researches, contrasted with the stolid indifference and parsimony of the English in like matters. Had we exercised a tithe of the energy and intelligence in the investigation of Indian antiquities or history, during the 100 years we have possessed the country, that the French displayed in Egypt during their short occupation of the valley of the Nile, or now in Cambodia, which they do not possess at all, we should long ago have known all that can be known regarding that country. Something, it is true, has been done of late years to make up for past neglect. General Cunningham’s appointment to the post of Archæological Surveyor of India, and that of Mr. Burgess to a similar office in the Bombay Presidency, are steps in the right direction, which, if persevered in, may lead to most satisfactory results. Many years must, however, elapse before the good work can be brought up to the position in which it ought to have been long ago, and meanwhile much that was most important for the purpose has perished, and no record of it now remains.

[637] The work is translated in extenso in Abel Rémusat’s ‘Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques,’ vol. i. p. 78, et seqq.

[638] Bastian, loc cit., vol. i. p. 393.

[639] Bastian, vol. i. p. 429.

[640] Nakhon is only the Siamese pronunciation of the Indian Nagara, Nuggur. Thom means “great.”

[641] The French have navigated the lake in a large steamer, and published detailed charts of the river. Maps are also found in Mouhot’s ‘Travels;’ but the best are those which are found in the Atlas of Lieut. Garnier’s work above referred to.

[642] Bastian, vol. i. p. 402.

[643] Mr. Thomson was informed that during the rains the whole was flooded, and the temple could be reached in boats.

[644] Outside the temple the sides of the causeways are in places ornamented with dwarf columns of circular form. They seem to simulate a bundle of eight reeds, and have tall capitals.

[645] Garnier, loc. cit., vol. i. p. 120. Bastian, vol. i. pp. 400, 415, 438, &c.

[646] In the extracts from the ‘Chinese Annals,’ translated by Abel Rémusat, in the first volume of the ‘Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques,’ he finds the earliest mention of the Cambodian kingdom in A.D. 616. From that period the accounts are tolerably consecutive to A.D. 1295, but before that nothing.

[647] ‘Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques,’ vol. i. p. 103.

[648] Bastian, vol. i. p. 404.

[649] Garnier, ‘Voyage,’ &c., vol. i. p. 74.

[650] ‘L’Art Khmer,’ p. 38.

[651] It would be interesting if among these we could identify that one of which the Chinese traveller gives the following description:—“A l’est de la ville est un autre temple de l’esprit nommé Pho-to-li, auquel on sacrifie des hommes. Chaque année le roi va dans ce temple faire lui-même un sacrifice humain pendant la nuit.”—‘Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques,’ vol. i. p. 83.

[652] At Buribun, on the other side of the lake, Dr. Bastian informs me there is a complete copy of the Nakhon Wat sculptures, carved in wood in the 16th century. The place was the residence of the kings of Cambodia after the fall of the capital, and as original art had then perished, they took this mode of adorning their palace. What a prize for any European museum!

[653] ‘Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques,’ vol. i. p. 103. Garnier, woodcuts pp. 61 and 62.

[654] ‘Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,’ vol. xxxv. p. 75.

[655] The population of China is generally estimated at 400 millions of souls. This I believe to be a gross exaggeration, and would feel very much more inclined to put it at 300 millions, and of that number to estimate the Buddhists at 100 millions of souls. This, however, in the present state of our knowledge, is, and must be, mere guess-work. If we put down 50 millions for the Buddhist population of Thibet, Manchuria, Burmah, Siam, Cambodia, and Ceylon, we shall probably not err on the side of underestimating them, making 150 millions the total number of followers of this religion in the whole world, or one-eighth or one-tenth of the human race—not one-third or one-fourth, at which they are usually estimated.

[656] The following description is abridged from that by Mr. A. Michie in his work entitled ‘The Siberian Overland Route,’ Murray, 1864. It is by far the most distinct I have met with. The larger woodcuts in this chapter are generally borrowed from his work. It must, however, be observed that his descriptions differ sometimes essentially from those hitherto current in European books, which were generally derived from the accounts of the Jesuits, who probably obtained their information from Chinese sources. It is generally safer to trust to the account of an educated gentleman describing what he saw, than to the essay of a mere scholar compiling from information conveyed in a foreign tongue.

[657] ‘Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques,’ vol. i. p. 110.

[658] The tower was destroyed in the recent Taeping rebellion.

[659] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. vii. p. 331 (N.S.), vol. v. p. 14, et. seqq.

[660] In the year 1870 I published in the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society’ (N.S.), vol. iv. p. 81, et seqq., an article on Indian chronology, in which my views on the subject were stated at greater length and more detail than it is proposed to do here. Being addressed to those who were supposed to be more or less familiar with the subject, the paper took the form of an argument, rather than of a statement, and is, consequently, difficult to follow by those to whom the subject is new. The following is an abstract of that paper, with such corrections as have occurred to me in the meanwhile, and stated in a consecutive form, and with only those details that seem necessary to render it intelligible. For further particulars on special points the reader is referred to the article itself.

[661] The lists used for this statement of pre-Buddhist chronology are those compiled by James Prinsep, and published in his ‘Useful Tables’ in 1836. They were afterwards revised and republished by Ed. Thomas, in his edition of Prinsep’s works, in 1858. In a regular treatise on chronology it would be indispensable to refer to the Puranas themselves; in a mere statement of results these tables are amply sufficient.

[662] Crawfurd’s ‘Embassy to Ava,’ vol. ii. p. 274.

[663] Bigandet’s ‘Life of Gaudama,’ p. 323.

[664] ‘Embassy to Ava,’ loc. cit.

[665] ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vi. p. 715.

[666] Unfortunately the Chinese annals, to which we generally look for assistance in our difficulties, are not likely to afford us any in this. Confucius was born 551 B.C., and died 478; he was consequently only eight years old when Buddha died, and in order to give Buddha the necessary precedence in date, the Buddhists boldly added five centuries to this, placing him about 1000 B.C. This struggle between truth and falsehood led to such confusion that in the 7th century Hiouen Thsang wrote: “Depuis le Nirvana jusqu’aujourd’hui les uns comptent 1200 ans, les autres 1500 ans: il y en a qui affirment qu’il s’est écoulé plus de 900, mais que le nombre de 1000 n’est pas encore complet.” (‘Histoire,’ p. 131. ‘Vie et Voyages,’ i. 335.) The first is the nearest, according to our ideas. He was writing apparently in 1190 A.B. It may be 1200, if it was written after his return to China; but from this confusion it is evident no reliance can be placed on any dates he may quote from the Nirvana.

[667] ‘Embassy to Ava.’ Appendix.

[668] Vishnu Purana, p. 463.

[669] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iv. (N.S.) p. 85.

[670] Crawfurd’s ‘Embassy to Ava,’ vol. ii. p. 277.

[671] ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vii. p. 261; ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. xii. p. 232; Cunningham’s ‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. v. p. 20, &c., &c.

[672] ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vi. p. 714.

[673] Wilson’s ‘Vishnu Purana,’ Second Edition, vol. iv. p. 200; see also p. 232.

[674] ‘Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. v. p. 42 and 47.

[675] As the commencement of this era is not coincident with the years we employ, but about half-way between 78 and 79, either of these figures may be employed in converting years of the Christian Era into those of the Saka or Ballabhi, or Gupta Samvats. Throughout this work I have used the latter figure as that more generally in use.

[676] This list is abstracted principally from one in vol. viii. p. 27, ‘Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ quoting only such dates as appear certain. The earlier names are taken from a paper by Bhau Daji, vol. ix. p. 243 of the same journal.