ancient Buddhist Church. The punishment of "degradation" was awarded for indecent conversation, or for immoral behaviour, or for causing dissensions amongst the fraternity.* The Patito (Sanskrit Patitya) must therefore have been guilty of one of these three sins. The ceremony of degradation consisted in turning the offender's alms-dish upside down, in which position it was left until reconciliation had taken place, when the alms-dish was again set upright. In the present case we may suppose that the offending monk had died during his degradation, and that his alms-dish had been thus inscribed at his own request as a mark of his penitence and humility.

14. The smaller vase is of red earthenware, 4 inches in height and nearly 5 inches in width. On the upper surface of the bowl is the legend Upahitakasa, "Relics of UPAHITAKA," which was no doubt the name of one of the leading monks of the Bhojpur fraternity.

15. It is scarcely possible to determine the age of this Tope except conjecturally. The forms of the alphabetical characters in the two inscriptions show that its date cannot be much later than the end of the third century before our era; while the lowness of the plinth on which the dome stands shows that it was most probably erected in the beginning of Asoka's

Csoma de Koros-Analysis of the Dulva; in Asiatic Researches of Bengal, xx. 82.

† Ditto, ditto, p. 87.

reign. The date may therefore be stated approximately as the latter half of the third century before the Christian era.

No. 8 TOPE, b.-BHOJPUR.

16. This is the largest Tope on the second stage of the hill, the base of the dome being 38 feet in diameter. It stands to the south-west of the last Tope at a distance of 260 feet in the direction of No. 4 Tope. The plinth is raised 3 feet above the terrace, which is 5 feet 4 inches in breadth, and 6 feet in height, with a slope of 6 inches. As the height of the mound is now only 19 feet, or only twothirds of the original height of the Tope, it is not to be wondered at that the shaft which we sank down to the level of the terrace should have yielded no relics.

No. 9 TOPE, c.—BHOJPUR.

17. At 160 feet to the S.S.E. of the Tope, there is another of less size but equally ruinous. The base of the dome is 29 feet in diameter, and the height of the cylindrical plinth is 1 foot. The terrace is 2 feet broad, and 5 feet in height, with a slight slope outwards. The whole height is now only a little more than 14 feet. The usual shaft was sunk to a depth of nearly seven feet to the relic-chamber, in which

was a large box of red earthenware, Inside this was a double steatite vase of a mottled purple colour, containing an abundance of human bones amongst which the following are recognizable :

Portion of temporal bone.

Portion of parietal bone. The internal surface still retains the branching lines called sulci meningei. These portions of the skull are very much solidified, which proves that they belonged to an old person.

Three incisors, or front teeth.

One molar, or back tooth, not fully developed, and therefore the

backmost, or wisdom tooth.

Portions of ulna, forming the lower end of long arm bone.

Portions of tibia?

Portions of femur, or thigh bone, with the linea aspera still strongly marked.

Portions of phalanges unguium, or finger bones.

No. 10 TOPE, d.-BHOJPUR.

18. This ruinous Tope had a diameter of 19 feet, with a terrace 2 feet 8 inches broad and 3 feet in height. The whole height was only 7 feet. On removing a few stones we found a chamber, 1 foot square and 1 foot deep, filled with leaves and rubbish, and containing one complete earthenware box, and a part of a second. In the box there were a few small pieces of bone mixed with leaves and gravel. This

* See Plate XXVII., fig. 8. The lid of the large box is itself formed into a small box.

Tope had therefore certainly been opened before by the villagers.

No. 11. TOPE, 8.-BHOJPUR.

19. A tree was growing in the middle of this ruined Tope which is only 15 feet in diameter, with a terrace 3 feet broad, and 5 feet high. On the west a double flight of steps 3 feet broad meet at a landing 6 feet long by 4 feet broad. The removal of a few stones showed a chamber 18 inches square, and 13 inches deep, the bottom being on a level with the terrace. In the chamber we found a round earthen jar full of bits of bone, leaves, and rubbish. Like the last Tope, this had evidently been opened before.

20. The remaining Topes on the second stage of the hill may be described in a few words.

No. 12 Tope, f, and No. 13, g, have each a diameter of 17 feet. No. 14, h, has a diameter of 172, and No. 15, i, of 18 feet, the present height being only 4 feet. No. 16, j, has a diameter of 23 feet, with a terrace 3 feet broad.

No. 17, k, has a diameter of 19 feet, and a height of 6 feet. On removing a few stones we found two relic-chambers at a height of 5 feet above the ground. The chambers stood respectively to the N.E. and

west.

S.W. of each other, although the direction of their sides corresponded with the north, south, east, and See Plate XXX., fig. 5. One chamber was 9 inches square, and the other only 7 inches square. Inside we found the remains of earthenware pots and bits of bone mixed with leaves and rubbish. This Tope had also been opened by the villagers. No. 18, 1, has a diameter of 10 feet, and No. 19, m, of 13 feet; No. 20, n, is a mere circular foundation; No. 21, o, has a diameter of 18 feet; and No. 22, p, of 9 feet, with a terrace of 1 foot 1 inches.

THIRD STAGE OF TOPES.-BHOJPUR.

21. The third stage or platform of the hill is very narrow, and has only a few Topes, all of which are of small size.

No. 23, q, has a diameter of 19 feet, and a terrace of 1 foot. A chamber was found in this Tope at a height of only 3 feet above the ground. It was 14 foot long, 1 foot broad, and 9 inches deep; and it contained three earthenware jars filled with earth and leaves.

No. 24, r, is 6 feet in diameter, and is the smallest at Bhojpur; No. 25, s, is 9 feet in diameter, with a terrace of only 6 inches; No. 26, t, is 8 feet in diameter with a terrace of 14 inches; No. 27, u, is 7 feet in diameter; No. 28, v, is 10 feet; and No. 29, w, is 7 feet.