Buddhism (Leoshko 2004). The research on Buddhism was undertaken by
scholars such as Alexander Cunningham (1814–93) and L. Austine Waddell
(1854–1938), the latter a member of the Indian Medical Service. On the basis
of the descriptions made by sixth to eighth-century Chinese pilgrims, Cun-
ningham was concerned above all to locate sites associated with the historic
Buddha. He undertook fundamental work at the Buddhist stupas of, among
others, Sanchi (in 1851), Kushinagar (identiWed in 1861–2) and Bharhut
(discovered by him in 1873). For his part, Waddell focused his interest on
medieval India and the modern variety of Buddhism found in the Himalayas
and Tibet. Their studies set the model for scholarly Buddhism, and India
became the focal reference for studies on neighbouring countries (Leoshko
2004). The scholarly relevance of Buddhism, however, had the eVect of under-
mining the Brahmins through their representation of foreigners to India.
Parallel to the transformation of emphasis from Hinduism to Buddhism
there was a change in the institution receiving the antiquities in the metro-
polis. The British Museum only started to show a positive interest in these
antiquities from the 1870s (Willis 1997; Wilson 2002: 171–5). Prior to that, a
museum had been formed in India itself with the collections amassed by
members of the Asiatic Society. As one of the means through which the
colonizers could learn about the customs of their dominions, the initial
collection formed in 1796 became oYcial in 1814 (Kejariwal 1988; Skelton
1978: 297). An Indian Museum was also opened in Calcutta (Nair 2006), with
an Archaeological Gallery created in 1878, and the excavated remains of the
stupa of Bharhut were sent to the museum for display (Guha-Thakurta 2004:
ch. 2). In London the creation of museums to display the Indian past also
started at the end of the eighteenth century with the India Museum (Willis
1997: 255–8). Eventually dissolved in 1879, its collections were divided
between the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum (Knox
1992: 18). The scarcity of non-classical antiquities in the British Museum
before the 1870s was in stark contrast to the eagerness the museum had shown
during the same period in acquiring works of art from Turkey, Egypt, and
eventually also from Mesopotamia (Chapters 5 and 6).
Surveillance as a strategy for imperial dominance also had an inXuence on
archaeology. In contrast to the previous belief in the European creation of the
modern administrative machine and its ulterior use in overseas territories,
some recent studies have highlighted the role of the colonies in the develop-
ment of the modern state. This was indeed the case in archaeology. Even
before oYces for the administration of archaeology were organized in Britain,
archaeological activities in India became controlled by the Archaeological
Survey of India (ASI), created as early as 1861. From 1861 to 1866 Cunning-
ham was appointed as archaeological surveyor. After four years in England he
226 Colonial Archaeology