J. F. Campbell Collection > Memorandum on clay discs called "Spindle Whorls" and Votive Seals found at Sankisa, Behar, and other Buddhist ruins in the North Western provinces of India

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On one, No. 5 of my sketch, will be seen the broad arrow noticeable on
Schliemann's No. 458. On another, No. 6, is what looks like the sign of
Saturn or what Dr. Schliemann calls the " mystic rose," well known on
Buddhist coins and in Buddhist art. They all have more or less orna-
mentation at the edges, resembling the spokes of a wheel or possibly the
rays of the sun.
I also obtained at Sankisa several stone discs of nearly the same
shape as the Terra Cottas. They are all highly polished. One is of black
marble, another of crystal. Several are of red marble, and the material must
have been brought from a distance, as no stone save kunkur is to be found
within many miles of Sankisa. It will be noticed that all these stone speci-
mens are grooved at the edges, see the section in sketch No. 8, whereas
but few of the clay specimens have received such treatment.
Type B, sketch No. 9, on Plate XIV consists of clay discs similar in
most respects to the foregoing, save that a hole has been drilled through
the centre of each. I did not pay any particular attention to the propor-
tion in which these different classes were brought to me in camp. But I
find that I have many more of the plain discs than of those which have
been pierced. There can be little doubt, however, that many hundreds of
the pierced ones might have been obtained on the spot, and I am sending
to ascertain whether any more ornamented specimens are procurable.
The specimen marked and figured in sketch No. 10 is of grey granite. It
bears the same relation to the pierced clay discs as the stone and crystal
discs mentioned above bear to the clay whorls of type A. In the centre is
a hole, round which are six concentric circles.
The specimen figured in sketch No. 11, is of a somewhat different
type from the foregoing, as a section of the sketch will explain. The
impressions of the spokes of a wheel with dots between each spoke appear
to have been made in a stamp or mould. I find I have only two of this
class in my collection. But doubtless hundreds more might have been
obtained had I not been afraid of burdening myself during the march with,
too large a collection of such specimens.
Of type C, Sketches Nos. 12 and 13, on Plate XIV, which may be
described in Dr. Schliemann's words as being in the form of a " top or
crater of a volcano" I have, I find, but 4 or 5 specimens ; I have little
doubt that large numbers were offered to me, but at the time they did not
appear to possess any particular significance. It was only in tumbling out
a large number of discs from the box, in which they had long been kept,
that I recognised this tyi:)e of the illustrations of Dr. Schliemann's book,
just consulted with reference to the Discs A and B mentioned above. The
specimens I have with me do not bear any marks of ornamentation.
Further search may perhaps bring better specimens to light. (Since this
was written some ornamented ones have been found.)