288 EXCAVATION OF BUDDHIST SHRINES [CHAP. XVIII.
long ago, but the curls indicating the manes falling over the fore part of the bodies were still clearly recognisable.
In the top layer of the sand which covered the south-eastern corner of the cella (shown by the photograph reproduced on p. 289), were found numerous small relievos in stucco,. from 5 to 8 in. high,. representing Buddhas or Bodhisattvas with the right hand raised in the attitude of teaching. The robes of these figures are painted reddish brown, the orthodox colour for the garb of Indian monks, while their heads are surrounded by halos in a light green shade. Some specimens were still attached to portions of a hard stucco ground, decorated in relievo with elaborate wreaths and rosettes and gaily coloured. It was evident that all these pieces once belonged to plaques which, perhaps in the form of large halos, had adorned the uppermost part of the walls in this corner. The fact of these fragments being found in loose sand, several feet above the platform already referred to, is a clear indication that the interior of the little shrine had been invaded by the drift-sand while its walls were still intact to a considerable height..
Comparatively well protected as this south-eastern portion of the cella was, the stucco image which once occupied the corner had decayed, just as in the case of the other three corners, down to the feet. These, however, as well as the elegantly moulded lotus-pedestal of circular shape, can still be made out in the photograph. Luckily this corner had afforded better protection for some other adornments of the shrine. On clearing the platform between the corner pedestal and the base of the principal statue, I found a small detached statue in stucco about 1 ft. high and well preserved but for the head and arms. The photograph shows it placed subsequently on the main base. The seated figure represented in it must, by evidence of the carefully indicated dress, have been intended for a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The colour of the robe, a reddish brown, has survived very well. The small wooden board on which the image had been set up, evidently for the purpose of convenient transport, was still intact, and as the stucco too had kept comparatively hard I was able to risk its . removal., Care-
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