Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/127

CHAP. III. MANIKYALA. 93 each side with quasi-Corinthian capitals ; and three of the interspaces have recesses as if for images of the Buddha, whilst on the lower member of the base was a continuous row of Buddhist figures about 18 in. high and placed close together. The stair leading to the top of the base was on the east side, and both the base and south side of the dome were still fairly entire in iS?g. 1 Of the Ahin-posh stupa mentioned above, only the base remained and was 100 ft. square with extensions on the sides for the stairs, of which the principal appear to have been on the north and south sides those on the other two sides having been added afterwards. Parts of the lowest course of the drum or dome showed that its diameter had been 80 ft., and the base seems to have been about 23 ft. high, with fourteen pilasters on the east and west faces. Under this base is a plinth 5^ ft. high and projecting 6 ft. In the relic chamber were found three Roman coins of Domitian (A.D. 81-96), Trajan, and the empress of Hadrian (117-138), and seventeen of Kanishka, Huvishka and Kadphises : hence this stupa can hardly be ascribed to an earlier date than the end of the 2nd century, but probably considerably later. 2 The most imposing ruin of a stupa noticed in Swat is one between the passes of Cherat and Guniyar, to the south of Chakdarra, of which the circumference of the drum is about 140 ft, or 45 ft. in diameter. Like the Ishpola stupa, its dome rises on a double drum, by which the vertical lines in the outline seem to gain in importance at the cost of the downward curve. The case is similar with the Barikot tope, about 9 miles up the valley from Chakdarra, which, as M. Foucher points out, is very probably the Uttarasena stupa mentioned by Hiuen Tsiang. 3 It has lost its square base or platform, of which the stones have been used to build modern walls in the vicinity, but it has preserved the belt of arches which divides the cylindrical portion into two sections, one above the other ; and the dome is pretty entire. About a mile south-east from Haibatgram, in the same locality, is another stupa, hid away in a valley that takes from it the name of Top-darra. It has a circular base about 31 ft. in diameter and 7 ft. in height, introduced above the square base. This latter is some 12 ft. high and 58 ft. square, has nine pilasters on each face, and remains almost intact 1 Simpson, ' Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects,' 1879-80, pp. 40, 41 ; Foucher, ' L'Art Greco- Bouddhique,' tome i. p. 74 and fig. 14. 2 Simpson, ut sup. p. 49. 3 Beal's 'Buddhist Records,' vol. i. pp. 126-127, and 132-133; Julien, ' Memoires,' tome ii. pp. 139, 146-149. A view is given in Foucher, ' L'Art Greco-Bouddhique,' tome i. p. 67.