lions on the monolithic pillars are better. The newly discovered capital at Sârnâth is described by Mr. Marshall in the following somewhat bold language, which is, however, justified by the photographs: 'Lying near the column were the broken portions of the upper part of the shaft and a magnificent capital of the well-known Persepolitan bell-shaped type with four lions above, supporting in their midst a stone wheel or dharmacḥakra, the symbol of the law first promulgated at Sârnâth. Both bell and lions are in an excellent state of preservation and masterpieces in point of both style and technique—the finest carvings, indeed, that India has yet produced, and unsurpassed, I venture to think, by anything of their kind in the ancient world[1].'
The skill of the stone—cutter may be said to have attained perfection, and to have accomplished tasks which would, perhaps, be found beyond the powers of the twentieth century. Gigantic shafts of hard sandstone, thirty or forty feet in length, were dressed and proportioned with the utmost nicety, receiving a polish which no modern mason knows how to impart to the material. Enormous surfaces of the hardest gneiss were burnished like mirrors, bricks of huge dimensions were successfully fired, and the joints of masonry were fitted with extreme accuracy. White ants and other destructive agencies have prevented the preservation of any specimens of woodwork, save a few posts and beams buried in the silt of the rivers at Patna, but
- ↑ Annual Rep. A. S. 1904-5, p. 36.
