The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s2.t4.12

c5.s2.t4.12

The people are unanimous in their statements that the city was destroyed by fire; and this belief, whether based on tradition or conviction, is corroborated by the quantities of charcoal and ashes which are found amongst all the ruined buildings. It was also amply confirmed by the excavations which I made in the great monastery to the north of General Court's Tope. I found the plaster of the walls blackened by fire, and the wrought blocks of kankar limestone turned into quicklime. The pine timbers of the roofs also were easily recognized by their charred fragments and ashes. Unfortunately, I discovered nothing during my researches that offered any clue to the probable period of the destruction of these buildings, but as this part of the country had fallen into the power of the Kashmirian kings, even before the time of Hwen Thsang, I am inclined to attribute their destruction rather to Brahmanical malignity than to Muhammadan intolerance.