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As alluded to above, several attempts had been made to dig round the base of the pillar for treasure or for inscriptions but without success. Cunningham made another attempt and dug down to 14’, where the water level was reached, still finding the shaft with the polish all around “but no appearance of any basement” upto the point of his excavation.
He was however told by the local people that in some earlier excavation, by the Bengali gentleman, at the instance of some ‘saheb’, just at the water level “a square pedestal in three steps” was found. Cunningham did not dig down further; but since the pillar was still polished upto water level, he thought that it must have gone down at least 4’1” below, if not more.
If this is treated as the correct height of the pillar with the lion capital would come to be 43’5” or more from its bottom to the top of the capital. The diameter of the shaft at the water level is 49.8” and it tapers up to the top where it is 38.7”.
The pillar is leaning a little to the west, 4 to 5 inches out of plumb, due to perhaps the weakness of its foundation and its very heavy weight of about 50 tons, as calculated by Cunningham, who noticed it to be “the heaviest of the Lion-monoliths” seen by him. The lion figure of the capital is rather stiff, it being seated on its hind legs, with mouth half open, as if snarling and with the tongue slightly protruding. On the shaft itself there are found rudely carved human and animal figures and symbols such as scales, wheels, mandipadas etc.
To be continued...