until a Shivaite mendicant wandered there in the first years of the eighteenth century, as the mendicant Gautama had come in his yellow robe so long before. He lived a hermit among the ruins, attracting other wanderers until he had a sufficient following to build a monastery by the river bank. Little heed was paid these pious squatters, but as their numbers increased the chief mahant obtained a firman from the emperor Shah Alum, confirming them in their ownership of the ground they had built upon. The sacred courtyard was the quarry for these builders, and they chose the most accessible stones—frequently those that were carved and inscribed.
The King of Burma sent missions to rebuild and restore the temple in 1805 and in 1831, and one of the Shivaite priests, who later guided Buchanan Hamilton around the ruins, claimed to have been converted by the Burmese visitors, and from their books to have been taught the history of each monument within the sacred court. The Archæological Survey made examinations and excavations at Buddha-Gaya in 1861 and 1863, found the true level of the old court, and brought to light the Diamond Throne and the greater part of Asoka's rail.
In 1877 another mission from the King of Burma obtained the consent of the Bengal government and of the mahant at Buddha-Gaya to restore the temple. Word reached Calcutta of the zeal with which these Burmese were razing and obliterating old structures and monuments, and Dr. Mitra was sent to investigate; but the wreck and transformation of
