An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s8.9

v1.c17.s8.9

A singular deposit has been encountered within the main *stūpa* of PIPRAHWA identified with a part of Kapilavastu. In 1898 W.C. Peppé sank a shaft through the centre of the *stūpa* (Peppé, 1898). At a depth of 3·05 m from the top was found a small broken soapstone vase containing some beads, crystal pieces, gold ornaments, cut stars, etc. At a lower depth, nearly 60 cm above the base of the bottom brick course, was found a sandstone coffer, 1·34 m long at the base, 8·45 cm wide at the base and 66 cm high together with the fitting lid. Inside the coffer were, besides pieces of wooden vessels, (1) a steatite casket of two component parts with a prominent base, a globular body, a pronounced flange and a vase-shaped top member having a conical pinnacle, 19 cm high and 11·5 cm in maximum diameter; (2) a similar but inscribed casket of the same material, 15·2 cm high and 10·8 cm in maximum diameter; (3) a roughly *loṭā*-shaped steatite vessel, 13·3 cm high and 14·5 cm in maximum diameter; (4) a low somewhat cylindrical steatite casket of two component parts with a conical knob at the top and a depression around the body, 9·5 cm in maximum diameter and 5·7 cm high; and (5) an exquisitely polished crystal casket with a globular body, 10·8 cm in maximum diameter and 11·4 cm high. The handle of the last is in the shape of a hollow fish stuffed with seven gold bands having gold granulated flowers and gold circular frames attached to them and several tiny beads in paste. Numbering several hundreds, the contents of these caskets included, apart from pieces of bone, gold leaves impressed with various symbols like *svastika*, *tri-ratna*, triangle-headed standard, etc., impressions of two female figures on gold leaf, figures of animals like lion and elephant in gold leaf, gold and silver flowers and stars, a tiny amulet like gold box, gold *tri-ratnas*, a gold disc impressed with connected spirals, plain gold bars, rolls of gold leaves, pearls, a carnelian bird, a malachite bird, delicately fashioned leaves, seed vessels, *tri-ratnas* and flowers in semiprecious minerals, fragments of coral, beads of various shapes in gold, silver, semiprecious minerals and coral, cut semiprecious stones, pieces of mica and a spirally rolled copper wire. The inscription, in characters of the 3rd century B.C., on one of these caskets mentions the name of Buddha. The excavation by the ASI in 1971-2 led to the discovery of two more steatite caskets similar in shape to the inscribed one found earlier within brick containers, about 5 cm below the bottom brick course of the *stūpa*. These caskets contained pieces of half-burnt bone.