History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c13.9

v1.c13.9

The Bharaut rail, according to an inscription on it, was erected by a Prince "Vâtsî-putra Dhanabhûti, son of Gauptî-putra Angâradyut, and grandson of Gârgîputra Visvadeva"—"in the time of the Sungas."² (This helps us only to a small extent, indicating, however, that this rail is of somewhat later date than the time of Asoka.) Some fragments of another rail of early date were also found at Patna—the ancient Pâtaliputra—in excavations conducted there by Dr. L. A. Waddell, in 1895, which are much of the same type as those of Bodh-Gayâ.³ As already mentioned, we have no complete set of photographs of the Bodh-Gayâ rail. It is true the drawings by Major Kittoe, in the India Office Library, are very much better than those published by General Cunningham in his report;⁴ but they do not suffice for this purpose. (In so far, however, as the evidence at present available enables us to judge, it seems nearly certain that the Bharaut sculptures are somewhere between those of the gateways at Sânchi and those at Bodh-Gayâ; and consequently we may, for the present at least, assume the latter rail to be B.C. 250, that at Bharaut B.C. 200, and the gateways at Sânchi to range from about B.C. 160 to say B.C. 100.)