Which of the following archaeological sites was identified by archaeologist T.H. Handley as a Buddhist town ?

Correct — option (4), Naliasar.

Col. T.H. Hendley, assisted by Mr. Lyon, made trial excavations at an ancient mound near Sambhar in the cold weather of 1884. D.R. Sahni's report on that mound records Hendley's conclusion, in his article "Buddhist remains near Sambhur", that it "was the site of an important Buddhist town".

The Rajasthan Tourism Department names the archaeological site about 4 km south of Sambhar town as Naliasar. It describes the terracotta figurines, coins and seals excavated there as evidence of Kushan and Gupta period settlements, and the sculpture as influenced by Buddhism.

Sahni did not accept Hendley's reading. After his own excavations of 1936–37 and 1937–38, he wrote that the evidence showed the site "being a Brahmanical one". ASI's Jaipur Circle records 45 small dwellings there at six levels, from the third–second century BC to the tenth century AD.

The idea to remember: Hendley (1884) called the mound near Sambhar a Buddhist town; D.R. Sahni (1936–38) called it Brahmanical.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  Bhandarej — Bhandarej, near Dausa, is a different site from the one in this question. Sahni's report records Hendley's Buddhist-town conclusion for the mound near Sambhar.

  The Hendley excavation described in D.R. Sahni's report was on a mound beside a dried-up lake near Sambhar, not at Bhandarej.

• (2)
  Budha Pushkar — Budha Pushkar lies near Pushkar, a different place from the mound Hendley dug in 1884. His Buddhist-town conclusion, as Sahni records it, was about the mound near Sambhar.

  The site to connect with Hendley is the mound near Sambhar, which D.R. Sahni excavated again in 1936–38.

• (3)
  Bairath — Bairath, ancient Viratnagar, is a Buddhist site in its own right. ASI's Jaipur Circle notes its two Asokan inscriptions and, on Bijak-ki-Pahari, a Mauryan circular stupa-shrine with monastic remains.

  That Buddhist identity comes from those finds; ASI's references for the site include Cunningham's survey reports and D.R. Sahni. Hendley's Buddhist-town conclusion, as Sahni records it, was about the mound near Sambhar, not Bairath.

An ancient site can be identified differently by different excavators. At the mound near Sambhar, Col. T.H. Hendley dug four trenches in 1884. His finds included bone spikes, ornamental pottery jars, terracotta figurines, copper coins, beads and a pottery seal.

D.R. Sahni, Director of Archaeology and Historical Research of Jaipur State, excavated the same mound for two seasons, 1936–37 and 1937–38.

Sahni disagreed with Hendley's Buddhist-town view. He wrote that his excavations gave "incontrovertible evidence of the site being a Brahmanical one". The Rajasthan Tourism Department, for its part, notes Buddhist influence in Naliasar's sculpture.

Key facts

• Col. T.H. Hendley, assisted by Mr. Lyon, made a trial excavation of the mound near Sambhar in the cold weather of 1884, digging four trenches.
• D.R. Sahni excavated the Sambhar mound in 1936–37 and 1937–38; ASI records 45 dwellings on six levels, from the 3rd–2nd century BC to the 10th century AD.
• Hendley's article "Buddhist remains near Sambhur" concluded the mound was the site of an important Buddhist town; Sahni judged the site Brahmanical.
• Naliasar lies about 4 km south of Sambhar; Rajasthan Tourism describes its sculpture as influenced by Buddhism.
• ASI's Jaipur Circle records a Mauryan circular stupa-shrine and monastic remains on Bijak-ki-Pahari at Bairath.

Common traps

• Choosing the better-known Buddhist site: Bairath has Buddhist remains, but Hendley's Buddhist-town conclusion was about the mound near Sambhar.
• Crediting the Buddhist-town view to D.R. Sahni: Sahni re-excavated the mound in 1936–37 and 1937–38 and judged it Brahmanical.
• Treating Sambhar and Naliasar as unrelated places: the excavated mound lies a few kilometres from Sambhar town.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2023 and 2018 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Who carried out a trial excavation at the ancient mound near Sambhar in 1884?

  • (a)T.H. Hendley
  • (b)D.R. Sahni
  • (c)Alexander Cunningham
  • (d)B.R. Meena
  Answer(1) — Col. T.H. Hendley, assisted by Mr. Lyon, dug four trenches there in 1884. Option (2) excavated the mound later, in 1936–37 and 1937–38; option (3) is cited by ASI for his survey reports of 1862–65, which it lists for Bairath; option (4) co-directed ASI's excavation at Ojiyana in 2000–01.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  The remains of a Mauryan circular stupa-shrine on Bijak-ki-Pahari are found at which site?

  • (a)Bairath
  • (b)Naliasar
  • (c)Rairh
  • (d)Nagari
  Answer(1) — ASI's Jaipur Circle records the stupa-shrine and monastic remains at Bairath (Viratnagar). Option (2) is the mound near Sambhar; option (3) is the site RPSC's 2023 key links to iron objects of the Malava republic; option (4) is Madhyamika, which RPSC's 2016 key links to the Mahabharata and Mahabhashya.