The sandstone portion of the railing contains many inscriptions – seventeen of them referring to a noble lady Kurangi as the donor, three to Sirima (two of them jointly with Kurangi), another female donor, one to Nagadevi, wife of King Brahmamitra and three others referring to gifts of persons named Amogha, Bodharakshita, and an unknown person whose name is not legible.

Besides these there are other three inscriptions on the sandstone copings viz. a. of an unknown donor recording endowment to the temple and adorning it with painting and plaster (6th / 7th century), b. of Prakhyata-Kirtti, a monk belonging to the Royal family of Sri Lanka (6th /7th century), and c. of Jindasa, a Buddhist monk from Parvata, i.e. Multan in Punjab (now in Pakistan), in Devanagari characters (probably 15th/ 16th century AD).

On a closer examination the railing shows two stages in its erection, viz

  i.        the original one consisting of the sandstone portion only and enclosing a smaller quadrangle with the Bodhi Tree and the Diamond Throne inside, erected very probably by the noble lady Kurangi of the above mentioned inscriptions, who was wife of King Kaushikiputra Indragnimitra of about 1st century BC.

 ii.        Enclosing a larger quadrangle, with the Great Temple inside, in addition to the Bodhi Tree and the Diamond Throne, by the removal of the earlier railing posts and by the addition of the granite portion erected probably by the King Punarvarman of Magadha in the 7th century A.D.  The existing railing represents the second stage except for the missing parts and for certain minor additions and changes made by a Burmese mission in the course of later repairs. Of the missing parts, 3 pillars are in the Kensingston Museum, London, and 3 or 4 pillars in the Indian Museum, Kolkata.

To be continued...