The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c30.55

v1.c30.55

The importance of Vidiçā, the chief city of Ākara or Daçārṇa (E. Mālwa), was due to its central position on the lines of communication between the seaports of the western coast and Pāṭaliputra, and between Pratishṭhāna (Paithan), the western capital of the Andhras on the S.W., and Çrāvastī (Set Mahet) on the N.E. The ancient monuments in its neighbourhood are among the most remarkable and extensive to be found in India. At various villages within a radius of about twelve miles of the present town of Bhilsa there are groups of Buddhist *stūpas*, numbering some sixty in all, which are known collectively as the Bhilsa Topes, and of which the most celebrated are those of Sānchī. The inscriptions as well as the style of the architecture and sculpture of these monuments show that they belong to the three successive periods of Maurya, Çuṅga, and Andhra supremacy. But the importance of this region may be traced back to a still earlier date; for at the ancient site of Eran, about forty miles N.E. of Bhilsa, are found the finest specimens of the early punch-marked coinage, and here too was discovered the earliest known example of an Indian inscribed coin, which records the name of a king Dharmapāla (Pl. V, 1). Its Brāhmī legend runs, like Kharoshṭhī, from right to left, and was supposed by Bühler to represent an earlier stage in the history of this alphabet than that which appears in the edicts of Açoka¹.