Sankisa

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Sankisa

Village in the District and tahsil of Farrukhabad, United Provinces, situated in 27 20' N. and 79 16' E., near the East Kali Nadi. Population (1901), 951. The village is also called Sankisa Basantpur, and is chiefly celebrated for the ruins situated in it. These were identified by Cunningham with the site of the capital of the country called Sankasya by Fa Hian and Kapitha by Hiuen Tsiang.

This town was said to be the place at which Gautama Buddha de- scended from heaven, accompanied by Indra and Brahma. The iden- tification depends chiefly on measurements and directions which are not perfectly definite, and its correctness has been doubted 1 . The existing village is perched on a mound of ruins, locally known as ' the fort,' 41 feet high, with a superficial extent of 1,500 feet by 1,000. A quarter of a mile southward is another mound, composed of solid brickwork, and surmounted by a temple dedicated to Bisari Devi. Near the temple mound Cunningham found the capital of an ancient pillar, bearing an erect figure of an elephant, which he considered to belong to the pillar of Asoka mentioned by the Chinese pilgrims.

The latter describe the pillar as surmounted by a lion a discrepancy explained away by supposing that the trunk had been broken at an early date, and the animal could not be distinguished at a height of 50 feet. Other smaller mounds containing masses of brickwork sur- round those mentioned, and there are the remains of an earthen rampart upwaids of 3-^ miles in circumference. This place has been very imperfectly explored, but ancient coins and clay seals bearing the Buddhist confession of faith are frequently found here.

[Cunningham, Archaeological Survey Reports of Northern India^ vol. i, p. 271, and vol. xi, p. 22.]