Report of a Tour through the Bengal Provinces/Baragaon 2
BARAGAON.
I cannot take leave of Baragaon and its vicinity without alluding to Mr. Broadley's excavations at, and his account of, Nâlanda. While giving him credit for zeal and exertion, I cannot but feel that the excavation of this temple, which General Cunningham assigns to the 1st century A. D., was not a work which Mr. Broadley should have undertaken without professional assistance. From a perusal of his account, it is impossible to make out with any degree of certainty, or even lucidity, the details of the temple which he has excavated and destroyed, for the pillars, doorway, &c., have long ago been by him removed to Bihár. He has indeed ventured to give a restored elevation of the great temple; but though this makes a very effective plate, and his description is good enough for a "popular account," they are next to worthless for all scientific purposes; and in the interest of true archæology, I venture to enter a strong protest against acts which destroy such interesting ruins without preserving detailed and minute measurements of what is thus destroyed. In exposing ancient ruins buried under ground, destruction of parts, and often wholesale destruction, is sometimes inevitable; but there is no reason why careful and detailed measurements should not be preserved before the work of destruction is proceeded with. These measurements should in fact be made with even more than ordinary care and in most minute detail, for the simple reason that future reference and verification is impossible. I trust my feeble voice will have some effect in adding that discretion to the laudable zeal of explorers, without which they risk destroying for ever that which is of solid and enduring interest.