Set Mahet

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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.

Set Mahet

A vast collection of ruins lying partly in the Gonda and partly in the Bahraich District of Oudh, United Provinces, in 27 31' N. and 82 i' E., on the south bank of the Raptl. The ruins were examined by General Cunningham, and excavated more com- pletely by Dr. W. Hoey in 1884-5. They include two mounds, the larger of which is known as Mahet and the smaller as Set or Sahet. These cover the remains of an ancient city, with many temples and other buildings. In the course of the excavations a number of interest- ing sculptures and terra-cotta figures were found, specimens of which are now in the Provincial Museum at Lucknow. A noteworthy inscrip- tion, dated in 1176 or 1276 Sam vat (A.D. 1119 or 1219), records the survival of Buddhism to that date. For many years it was held that Set Mahet was the site of the ancient city of Sravasti. At the death of Rama, according to the Hindu sacred writings, the northern part of the kingdom of KOSALA was ruled by his son, Lava, from this city.

Throughout the Buddhist period references to Sravasti are frequent, and Gautama Buddha spent many periods of retreat in the Jetavana garden there. When Fa Hian visited the place in the fifth cen- tury A.D., it was inhabited by only 200 families; and Hiuen Tsiang, a couple of centuries later, found it completely deserted. The recent discoveries of the approximate site of KAPILAVASTU increased doubts which had been before felt as to the correctness of the identification, and it has now been suggested that Sravasti must be sought for on the upper course of the Raptl within Nepal territory. The word Sravasti occurs on the pedestal of an image dug up at Set Mahet ; but this fact is not conclusive.

[A. Cunningham, Archaeological Survey Reports, vol. i, p. 30, and vol. xi, p. 78; W. Hoey, Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal^ 1892, extra number ; V. A. Smith, Journal, Royal Asiatic Society, 1898, p. 520, and 1900, p. i ; J. Bloch, Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1898, p. 274; T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, passim.']