W.5903

Imprint: London: Wm. H. Allen and Co., 13, Waterloo Place, S.W.; Trübner and Co., 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill; Edward Stanford, Charing Cross; W. S. Whittingham and Co., 91, Gracechurch Street; Thacker and Co., 87, Newgate Street. 1879.

Quarto, modern green cloth binding with original decorative gilt upper board and spine piece laid down on endpapers, measuring 342 x 260 mm; pp. vii, 143, 57 leaves of plates. The plate section of the work consists of lithographed plans of the site and line drawings of excavated material made by Cunningham, interspersed and sometimes integrated with Beglar's photographs of selected pieces. Additional copies of these photographs are also included in the India Office Series (Photo 1000/20) and Indian Museum Series (see APAC Photo 1002/29) of the Archaeological Survey of India Collections.In his preface, Cunningham describes some of the circumstances surrounding the discovery and excavation of the second century B.C. stupa at Bharhut, in present-day Madhya Pradesh: 'The remains of the Great Stupa of Bharhut were first discovered by me in the end of November 1873; but as the whole of my camp was then on its way to Nagpur, I was not able then to do more than ascertain the fact that portions of two gateways, with the included quarter of the circular railing, were still in situ, although nearly all thrown down and buried under a mound of rubbish from 5 to 7 feet in height. On my return from the Chanda district in February 1874, I spent 10 days at Bharhut, when I succeeded in uncovering the whole quadrant of the buried railing. The curious sculptures were a source of much wonder to the people who visited the place by hundreds every day. But the inscriptions excited even greater curiosity when it was known that I was able to read them. At every fresh discovery I was importuned to say what was the subject of the writing, and great was the disappointment when I made known the simple records of gifts to the Stupa, or of the names of the guardian Yakshas, Devatas, and Nagas ... In the beginning of March [1874] the work of excavation was taken up by my zealous assistant Mr J. D. Beglar, who continued the excavation round the whole circle of the railing. To him we owe the discovery of the valuable Prasenajit Pillar, of the famous Jetavana scene, and many of the most interesting coping stones. He made photographs of the sculptures as they were found; but as each day's discoveries only showed how much was still to be explored, the work was closed in the beginning of April. In the middle of that month I forwarded to the Government a statement of the discoveries that had been made up to that time. This statement was published in the London papers, and I was much gratified to find that my discovery was eveywhere received with much interest ... In November 1874 I again returned to Bharhut with Mr Beglar to make a complete exploration of the mound, and to photograph all the sculptures systematically on the fixed scale of one-sixth of the original size for all basreliefs, and of one-twelfth for all statues and larger objects. It was during these excavations that all the smaller pieces of the East Gateway were found; from which I was able to make the restoration shown in Plate VI. The exploration was carried on until the end of December, by which time the whole extent of ground covered by the railing to a breadth of 10 and 12 feet, both inside and outside, was completely excavated ... In the summer of 1876 I completed the present account of Bharhut, but as I had reason to believe that some further discoveries might still be made, Mr Beglar and myself visited the place a third time, and once more thoroughly explored the whole neighbourhood. The remains of the corner pillar of one of the missing gateways were then discovered with several fragments. These are not included in the plates...' To prevent the dispersal of the finds, Cunningham had them removed to Calcutta, 'where the fine large view of the Jetavana monastery, given in Plate LVII, was kindly taken for me by Captain Waterhouse.' Despite the objections of the great orientalist scholar Robert Childers, who had expressed the hope that 'the sculptures may find their way to the India Office instead of being consigned to the peaceful oblivion of an Indian Museum,' the pieces continue to be displayed in the Indian Museum in Calcutta.