EXCAVATIONS AT BHITA.
THE ancient remains at Bhita, near Allahabad, were first made known by Gen. Cunningham, who visited the site in 1872, and gave, in his report for that year, a descriptive account of its location and general features. Bhita was identified Gen. Cunningham with the old Bithhaya-pattana, a town mentioned in the ra Charitra as having flourished in the days of Mahavira, and, to suit this identi- in the name of the village was given in his reports as Biths. There can be no however, that the correct spelling, according to the local pronunciation, is --a name which the village has very naturally derived from its situation on an ancient mound and which is common to many another village of Northern India in similar situation; while, as to the original name of the place there is good reason stippose, as we shall presently see, that it was Vichhi or Vichhigrāma.
Besides some fragmentary sculptures belonging to a törana and railing of the Sanga perind, Gen. Cunningham collected several short inscriptions, said to have Been found at Bhità or the neighbouring Deoriya, and from these records he con- luded that Buddhism was the prevailing religion at Bhita "during the period mmediately following the Indo-Scythian rule in North-West India." This con- clusion was, no doubt, reasonable enough in the light of the limited evidence then wailable; it is not, however, borne out by the results of my recent excavations, which, so far as the period referred to is concerned, yielded cult objects mainly of a Bralimanical character.
Gen. Cunningham also made an effort to examine the defences of the old town, and for this purpose cut section through the rampart on the south-east side of the chief mound, or the garh, as it is now locally known, revealing there a small portion of the old city wall. To this discovery and to the conclusions to which it led Gen. Cunningham, I shall revert again when speaking of the fortifications at he end of the Bastion Street.
In the following description of my excavations, I shall start with the largest group of structures near the gate in the south-east wall of the town, and will proceed afterwards to deal with the smaller detached groups towards the north and north-west. 8. R. Vol. III, pp. 46-52. Lost, p. 47.
