An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v2.c42.243

v2.c42.243

In 1912 and the following years D.B. Spooner of the ASI re-excavated Kumrahar (*ASI—AR 1912-3*, p. 53; *Progress Rep. ASI E. Circle, 1912-3*, p. 15; *1913-4*, p. 45; *1914-5*, p. 45; *1915-6*, p. 27) and found all over the main site ruined brick walls which he ascribed to the Gupta period or the 8th century. Below was a layer of charcoal and ashes, about 30 cm thick, strewn amongst which were innumerable fragments of polished sandstone pillars occurring at a distance of 4·57 m (15 ft) from each other. As at least eight rows with ten heaps in each of such fragments were found he surmised that there had existed here a Mauryan pillared hall resting on 80 or more pillars which in turn had been placed on a wooden support. The belt of ashes, according to him, indicated that before the date of the later brick structures the wooden superstructure of the building had been destroyed by fire which was also responsible for the rending asunder of the exposed parts of the pillars. The main problem of interest to Spooner was the 80 or more pillars and what had happened to them. He concluded that with the decay of the wooden platforms on which they had rested the pillars sank deep into the soft soil. As the pillared hall could not be compared with any other structure of India Spooner turned to Persia for analogies and found its prototype in the Achaeminid hall of Persepolis. With the inconclusive evidence of the excavation he tried to establish an exact parallelism between the architecture of Pātaliputra and Persepolis and to explain whatever he had found in that light, postulating a Zoroastric period of Indian history (Spooner, 1915).