Photo-engraved & printed at the offices of the Survey of India, Calcutta, 1923.

square chaitya in the centre of the court, these occurring between the third and fourth levels apparent in the courtyard walls while evidence of a later brick-facing added to the previous structure is also to be seen in the exterior walls of the monastery.

Thus no fewer than eight different levels and distinct periods occur at the single monastery site No. I ; and it will be the aim in conserving these fragmentary remains to preserve a definite portion of each stratum. The circumstance that each succeeding monastery adheres to an identical plan necessarily restricts the area of each stratum that can be maintained as such, and at once adds many difficulties in the carrying out of requisite measures of repair. However, by dealing with the different periods systematically it is hoped to make them intelligible to the interested visitor, and to preserve intact the internal evidence they each contribute to the history of the Nalanda site.

With this consideration in view, it is proposed to preserve as far as possible the stratigraphic evidence afforded by the earth through which the excavations have been sunk; and to this end a substantial mound of earth left undisturbed in the south-west corner of the courtyard of Monastery No. I has been cut back cleanly to a slight batter and rendered watertight on top.

The stratigraphic evidence contained in this feature is of unusual interest, as it discloses with extraordinary clearness the vicissitudes through which the various successive structures have passed from the period of the original foundation of the monastery. Layers of ashes, potsherds, heavy brick debris, more ashes, and, finally, natural earth accumulation are most clearly defined, and serve at once as an indisputable record of fire and destruction, and of the abandonment and subsequent reoccupation of the site.

The multiplicity of levels and strata revealed in the shattered remains of this monastery No. I are not a little confusing, and necessitate very careful observation and study to separate them into contemporary periods. In the absence of adequate survey drawings co-relating the remains in plan, elevation and section,

little can be done in this direction; but it is hoped to obtain a necessary dumpy-level and to train the office draughtsmen in its use, with a view to the preparation of such architectural drawings in the near future.

The value of such systematic survey in bringing to light items of evidence hidden from the most careful visual examination of the old remains in an ordinary way cannot be overestimated, as has been manifest in similar survey work undertaken among the Muhammadan monuments at Delhi; and the internal evidence already disclosed at the Nalanda site encourages the hope that it will be eventually possible to reconstruct on paper, with some assurance as to its probable authenticity, a restoration illustrating the sequence of monastic structures built on this site between the sixth and twelfth centuries.

Monastery

No. IA.

Overlapped at its north-east corner by monastery No. I, which it adjoins, is the monastery designated IA. It is entered on the north through a pillared portico, of which only the bases of the columns now remain, and a vestibule. The plan of the monastery is a rectangle containing the usual monks' chambers on each side, with the addition of what might possibly have been a shrine in the centre of the south side, though nothing specially indicative of its purpose was found there. An open pillared verandah ran originally around the quadrangle, which is paved with bricks set out in a number of rectangular panels. In the centre are two parallel rows of hearths, seven in number, connected by a common duct of corbel construction about 2 feet high. This feature occurs again in the eastern verandah. Its purpose seems, at present, to defy explanation, but Pandit Hirananda Sastri, who excavated it, thinks it might have been used for preparing rasas, or drugs, in which case the building would have been a medical seminary or Bhishak-sala. In the north-east corner of the court is an octagonal well, The which on clearance yielded a number of earthen vases. present water level is about 15 feet below the court. It is remarkable that heaps of decayed rice and oats were found in

two chambers on the east, suggestive of their possible use as storerooms. Again, in other rooms on the north, several copper and stone images of Tara, Avalokitesvara, Maitreya, and Buddha were discovered, perhaps an indication of the saints favoured by the individual monks residing here. A flight of steps rises between two of the rooms on the north, probably to afford access to the verandah roof. An important item of evidence for the chronology of this monastery is furnished by the circumstance of its walls, and those of the structure to the west of it, intersecting at two points. From this fact and from the existence of the drain passing through its south-west corner and entering the stupa court of site No 3, it is apparent that the monastery had fallen to ruins and was deserted before the stupa came into existence.

The conservation work necessitated on the structure included the repair of a low concrete parapet around the inner edge of the verandah enclosing the courtyard. This feature was reconstructed between the rough base stones still in situ which formerly supported the pillars of an open colonnade. By carefully recording in plan the precise position of such few of these rough stone bases as still remain, it has been possible to work out the intervals originally separating the columns, thus enabling the positions of the missing pillars to be indicated on the site.

Conservation work has up to the present been impeded by the necessity of utilizing such of the larger fragments of the old bricks as could be recovered from the excavated debris, which have necessarily to be dressed to an even face to conform with the old work in situ. This operation of cutting and dressing old bricks has been a very slow process, owing to the scarcity of suitable labour in the locality.

It is, however, hoped to experiment in the manufacture and burning of new bricks locally, with a view to obtaining the large sizes, averaging 15′′ by 9" by 3", used by the Gupta builders, and so necessary for the appropriate repair of the old walls.