国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

7 inches wide and 10 feet high, passes through solid masonry of small tufa
blocks set in mortar. It was probably made in search of treasure, as was com-
monly done at almost all ruined Buddhist *stūpas* on the North-West Frontier
and in Central Asia. The south-eastern side of the pile has decayed too much
to permit the original facing to survive in more than patches. Here and
there it was possible to recognize faint traces of low relief decoration showing
trefoiled niches.

Fortunately the large and massive base on which this structure rested has
survived in much better condition on the south-east. Owing to a later wall
built against its eastern end, as will presently be mentioned, the eastern
corner of the base could be exactly determined. At the western end of this side
of the base not much appears to have been lost. Hence its length could be
determined as approximately 63 feet. The base is faced here throughout with
large carefully dressed slabs of tufa set in regular courses with mortar, and
rises 8 feet 5 inches above the ground level. Careful examination of the facing
showed that the base was decorated with short pilasters about 18 inches wide
placed at intervals of about 6 feet 9 inches and projecting 4 inches.

Five of these pilasters could actually be seen; one has disappeared owing to
a break in the facing, and two more are likely to be hidden behind the added
wall. Above the last exposed pilaster on the east it was possible to recognize
the right half of a voluted double bracket, and on a bold moulding above it a
double string formed by broad lotus petals. Higher up, the decoration of the
base appears to have finished with a square moulding surmounted by an incised
Greek fret. The continuation of this decoration on the top of the base could be
followed through to the eastern corner by clearing the slight fissure that had
opened between the base and the added wall. The whole of this decoration
appears to have been covered with thin hard stucco.

The decorative scheme of this base with its pilasters distinctly reminded me
of that seen on the bases of large *stūpas* examined by me in Swāt,⁴ and also on
the base of a Buddhist shrine at Mīrān in the far-off Lop region of Chinese
Turkistān.⁵ This resemblance, and still more the curious fact of the ruined
superstructure having contained a solid masonry core, have suggested to me the
possibility that this strange massive pile had originally consisted of the drum
and dome of a *stūpa* which much later additions had transformed into a kind of
tower crowned by some Hindu shrine, or else into a *takht*, an ornamental plat-
form built for occupation by a great personage, such as may be seen on the