The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t11.32

c5.s1.t11.32

The castle itself is thus described by Mr. Loewenthal‡:—“The summit of the hill offers a flat plateau of some size, which had been very strongly fortified by buildings all round the brow. These buildings are constructed of large blocks of stone (conglomerate found on the spot) neatly hewn, and carefully fitted, disposed with very great regularity, and laid in a cement of extraordinary excellence. Unavoidable interstices between the large blocks are filled up by layers of thin small stone tablets, this latter practice being an invariable feature in all the so-called Kafir buildings which I have seen in the Trans-Indus country.” To this description I may add that all the stone blocks are laid most carefully as headers and stretchers, that is alternately lengthwise and breadthwise, which gives a very pleasing and varied appearance to the massive walls. All the buildings are now much ruined, but the external walls are traceable nearly all round, and on the south and west sides are still standing to a considerable height, and in very good order. The main entrance, which is at the south-west corner, is formed in the usual ancient manner by overlapping stones. The passage is not perpendicular to the face of the wall, but considerably inclined to the right for a short distance. It then turns to the left to a small chamber, and then again to the right till it reaches what must have been an open courtyard. The whole of this passage was originally roofed in by courses of stone with chamfered ends overlapping each other so as to form the two sides of a pointed arch, but the ends of the upper course of stones being left straight, the apex of the arch has the appearance of a rectangular cusp. This peculiarity was also noticed by Mr. Loewenthal, who says that “the arch would be pointed, but the centre line is taken up by a narrow rectangular groove.” On the west face I observed a smaller passage of a similar kind, but it was so blocked up with rubbish that I was quite unable to trace its course.