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one foot in that height. A berm or pathway of six feet is then left all round and form this basement springs the "Tope" itself with a diameter of 106 feet or thereabouts. Its height is 28 feet, or including the basement 42 feet; the hemisphere is not perfect if indeed any such geometrical figure was, ever intended, and the top forms a circular flat of 34 feet in diameter. The Tope is encircled by a stone colonnade, or rather railing or balustrade 10 feet high, at a distance also of 10 feet from the basement while at opposite sides, corresponding with the cardinal points, are four entrances into the passage formed round the monument by the railing in question. Within the passage, and opposite the entrances are images of Buddha with their backs to the basement. The image at the southern entrance is erect, i. e. it has been cut in an erect position; and opposite the southern entrance also are ramps or slopes leading up to the berm or pathway. The Tope was originally surmounted by a kind of cupola, or at least by a circular railing of stone supporting one large central ornament or "Kullus," but the exact description of the upper work cannot now be ascertained. It further seems certain from fallen remains that the pathway surmounting the basement had a balustrade of stone on its outer edge about two feet high. The Tope was apparently built solid, a thick column or shaft of brickwork being first raised, to serve probably as a foundation for the upper cupola, and then encompassed with stone work, the outer blocks having their faces dressed, although they were not jointed with lime. The whole building was then cased in mortar to a thickness of about four inches.

The smaller Tope corresponds in plan with the larger, but its lower base is only about 48 feet in diameter and its upper about 37 feet. The ramp also leading to the pathway above the basement is opposite the eastern entrance instead of the southern, and the lofty gateways in the encompassing stone railing which distinguish the larger Tope are wanting in the smaller. The accompanying plan and section of the larger Tope will however sufficiently illustrate the characteristics of both buildings.

Adjoining the northern and southern entrances stood two columns of stone, and perhaps more. One of these is about 24 feet in diameter at the base, and the other about 3 feet, with a shaft of a single block 33 feet in length. At the southern entrance there would indeed appear to

have been a second column close to the first, as the segmental fragment of one still protrudes two feet out of the ground. Adjoining the eastern entrance there is likewise a small pillar now standing with a base one foot in diameter and a shaft 13 feet long, and it seems probable that many similarly detached pillars formerly adorned the building. The capital of the southern column is formed of four lions, but a fallen capital on the northern side is of a kind which seems to have once been so much in use as to have formed the characteristic of a style. It consists of a bell shaped stone, fluted, and surmounted by an "abacus" so thick as to be almost cubical. The style of the capital will however be best understood from the accompanying drawing. On neither of the capitals do there appear any marks as if they had sustained images of men or representations of the sun. They may nevertheless have done so, as the cup-shaped top formed by the lions' heads in one instance, and the broad basis furnished by the square "abacus" in the other, would leave a heavy stone figure in little need of support from tenons. On a pillar still existing in the same tract of country and on the representations of others, men or animals or a circle, i. e. the sun, surmount the capitals.

In an architectural and perhaps in an antiquarian point of view the most remarkable portions of the monuments are the stone railings or inclosures, and the pillared gateways with triple architraves. The railling consists of stone uprights or columns, 2 feet by 1 foot 9 inches in base and 8 feet 8 inches in height, and only an inch or so more than two feet apart. A plain architrave, as wide or thick as the uprights, two feet four inches deep, and slightly rounded at top surmounts the columns. Between the columus again are three cross pieces likewise of stone, two feet one inch or so in length, besides the supporting ends or tenons, two feet four inches in depth, and 9 inches thick, but their section is elliptical or doubly sigmental, that is the perpendicular axis is 2 feet 4 inches and the vertical 9 inches. Between each bar or cross-piece there is a space of four inches only, so that the inclosure is almost in effect a dead wall. The railing however must have been felt to be characteristic or symbolical, and it occurs frequently as an ornament among the sculptured reliefs. The abacus also of the capital of the column at the northern entrance has been carved so as to represent this species of inclosure.

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The entrance gateways are formed of two pillars without bases, seven feet apart, two feet three inches square in section, and including the capitals, eighteen feet four inches in height. On the capitals rest an architrave nearly two feet square in section, and which projects about four feet three inches beyond the pillars on each side. The architrave rises slightly in the centre, and the ends are also somewhat turned up, and carved so as to represent volutes or scrolls. Over the capitals, the architraves somewhat thicken, so as to support continuations of the columns. A second architrave thus lies parallel to the first at a distance of about three feet. It is not quite so long or projecting as the lowest, and a third architrave is still shorter than the second. On the ends of the architraves are seated lions, and between the architraves are figures standing, or seated on elephants, or camels, or horses. The pillars, so to speak, terminate in tripods supporting globes, which again sustain a kind of crescent encircling an ornament. Upon the centre of the topmost architrave rests a large crescent, if indeed the circle was not originally complete. The crescent is five feet high, which gives a total height to the gateway of 33 feet 6 inches. The capitals of the columns are formed in one instance of lions, in another of human dwarfs, and in two instances, I think, of elephants. From the astragals, or from the necks of the capitals, stretch female figures to the ends of the architraves. The columns, except where they abut against the stone inclosure, are elaborately ornamented with flowers, or human or animal figures in relief, or with representations of trees and temples, of religious ceremonies, and occasionally of the practice of mechanic A detached gateway, which probably formed an entrance into the cleared area or platform, is similar in style and ornament, but not so large in size.

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These gateways are not displeasing to the taste, although the superstructure seems too heavy for the baseless columns. The bas-reliefs, which give the human figure a height of six or seven inches, show some fancy in design and some skill in execution. They surpass the ordinary productions of the present day, without being equal in accuracy of proportion or excellence of workmanship to what may be seen in some brahminical temples, or to the works at Ellora or Adjunta as given to us in drawings. Their value however consists in what they make known about a former people, and while it would be idle to attempt to describe

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