The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c18.24

c18.24

¹ See Lt.-Col. Waddell's treatise, *Discovery of the Exact Site of Asoka's Classic Capital of Pātaliputra* (Calcutta, 1892, and revised edition, 1903). Some fragments of the timber palisade have been found. The remains of one of the Maurya palaces are buried under the houses and fields of the village of Kumrāhār, on the south side of the railway between Bankipore and Patna. Excavations conducted at Kumrāhār by Dr. Spooner of the Archaeological Survey at the cost of the late Sir Ratan Tata, of Bombay, have revealed remains of a 'Hall of 100 Pillars', apparently copied from the prototype at Persepolis. The work, which is still in progress, has been partially described in *Ann. Rep. Arch. Survey of India, Eastern Circle*, 1912–13, pp. 55–61, and results of profound interest are expected. Sir J. Marshall has found a 'Mauryan *chaitya*-hall' at Sanchi. Another palace, that described by Hiuen Tsang, was in the city, probably in the neighbourhood of the Sadar Gali and Kallū Khan's Bāgh, where an Asoka pillar is hidden in a zenana (P. C. Mukharji, unpubl. report). The ruins at Kumrāhār represent the town of Ni-li, which Asoka built, as stated by Fa-hien. Cunningham was mistaken in believing that Pāṭaliputra had been mostly cut away by the rivers. Patna is in N. lat. 25° 37′, E. long. 85° 10′. Chānakya (*Arthaśāstra*, Bk. ii, ch. 3, revised English version by R. Shamasastry, Bangalore Government Press, 1915, pp. 56–60) lays down elaborate rules for the fortification of the capital.