Sir Benjamin Simpson
1875
Photographic copy of a drawing of various sculptures from the Broadley Collection, Bihar Museum

Albumen print
British Library
Shelfmark: Photo 1003/(209), Item number: 1003209
 
Photograph of a drawing of various sculptures from Bihar Sharif, in the Broadley Collection, taken by Sir Benjamin Simpson in the 1870s. This collection includes sculptures of 'Aditya, Vishnu, Vamanavatara, Kalkiavatara, and fragments' and are now in the Bihar museum. An abstract for A. M. Broadley's paper: The Buddhistic Remains of Bihar in Patna in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1872, states, "The Bihar Sub-division presents perhaps the richest field for archaeological research in Eastern India. Within its comparatively small limits are situated Rajgir, Nalanda, Bihar, and the Indra-Saila peak, besides a hundred places of less importance, but abounding in the relics of the past. Over the whole surface of the country, neglected, and in many cases mutilated, lie the remains of sculptures, which once adorned the temples of Buddhism, still often bearing the inscriptions, which record the names of their donors and the date of their dedication…The whole of the sculptures collected have been removed to Bihar, and arranged in an appropriate building, which Mr. Broadley designates the 'Bihar Museum'. They number upwards of a thousand and comprise every variety of object." Broadley's paper published in The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. XLI, part I, 1872, pp.209-311, describes his travels and discoveries in the region in detail.
 
LL/95424