Excavations at Piprahwa and Ganwaria

Contents: Preface. I. Excavation at Piprahwa: 1. The site and its environs. 2. Climate and rainfall. 3. Historical background. 4. Objective of the excavation. 5. Earlier attempts. 6. Chronology. 7. Summary of results. 8. Acknowledgement. 9. Cuttings. 10. Structures. 11. Interpretation of the Piprahwa vase inscription. 12. Salargarh. II. Excavation at Ganwaria--the town complex: 1. Introduction. 2. Aim of the excavation. 3. Summary of results. 4. Chronology. 5. Cuttings. 6. Stratigraphy. 7. Structures. A. Residential structures: 1. Larger structural complex. 2. Smaller structural complex. 3. House complex adjacent to the larger structural complex. 4. House complex in between the larger and smaller complex. 5. Small house complex on the northern side of larger structure. 6. House complex on the northern side of smaller structural complex. 7. Room and a verandah. 8. House complex with three rooms and a gallery. 9. Cistern-like structure. 10. Huge eroded house complex on the eastern side. 11. Well. 12. House complex on the western side of the well. 13. Another house complex further west. 14. Rickety wall. 15. House complex on the north. 16. House complex below shrine 2. B. Ecclesiastical structures: 1. Shrine 1. 2. Shrine 2. 3. Shrine 3. 4. Shrine 4. 5. Unidentified massive structure. III. Seals and sealings. IV. Coins. V. Beads. VI. Glass bangles. VII. A head in red sandstone. VIII. Terracotta human and animal figurines: 1. Human figurines. 2. Animal figurines. IX. Miscellaneous terracotta objects. X. Stone objects. XI. Metal objects: 1. Copper objects. 2. Iron objects. XII. Bone objects. XIII. Pottery. XIV. Animal remains from Piprahwa Ganwaria.

From the preface: "The excavations at Piprahwa-Ganwaria had behind them the cherished ambition of transforming a dream into reality. The lost town of Kapilavastu, where Lord Buddha spent the first twenty-nine years of his life before renouncing the world in quest of emancipation of humanity at large had to be located. For the archaeologists it was a subject of avid concern on account of being the native place of Buddha, where his father Suddhodana ruled as the chief of the Sakyas. The religion of Buddhism preached by Buddha flourished in India for about five hundred years and got extinct from the land of its birth sometime in the twelfth century A.D. with such a sweeping impact that even the names of the most important towns associated with it went into oblivion. Kapilavastu happened to be one amongst them."