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Cunningham tried to identify the lion pillar and the surrounding remains with the group of holy buildings described by Hieun Tsang as being situated upwards of one mile to the north-west of the Palace of Vaishali. The nature of the existing remains tallied with the descriptions of Hieun Tsang. The first work noticed by Hieun Tsang as being upwards of a mile to the north west of the Palace of Vaishali was a Stupa built by Asoka, of which the purpose was not stated. Besides the stupa was a stone column from 50 to 100 feet in height, surmounted by a lion. To the south of the pillar was a tank which had been excavated by a group of monkeys for the use of the Buddha. At a short distance to the west of the tank was a stupa erected on the spot where the monkeys climbed a tree and filled Buddha’s begging pot with honey. On the south side of the tank there was another stupa erected on the spot where the monkeys offered the honey to Buddha, and at the north west angle of the tank there was a statue of a monkey.
Cunningham identified the ruined stupa to the north of the pillar as Asokan stupa, and the small tank to the south of the pillar as Markata-hrada or “Monkeys’ tank”. The two mounds to the west and the south of the tank were identified with the sites of the two stupas built to commemorate the monkey’s offering of honey to Buddha; and the low mound to the north west was identified with the site of the monkey’s statue. Cunningham fixed the original height of the pillar to about 50 feet, much of which had actually sunk, as described above.
Cunningham conjectured that the name Bakhra may have been derived from Vak or Vach meaning “to speak”, and may have been derived from the fact that in the Kutagra Hall, the Buddha had addressed his disciples for the last time.