In 1851, archaeologists Alexander Cunningham and Lieutenant Fred. C. Maisey discovered a pair of sandstone boxes with encased bone fragments inside during an excavation of one of the "stupas" in the city of Sanchi, with Śāriputra's and Maudgalyāyana's names inscribed on them in Brāhmī text. Śāriputra's casket contained pieces of sandalwood, which Cunningham believed was part of Śāriputra's funeral pyre. Śāriputra's box was positioned at the south, while Maudgalyāyana's was positioned at the north. According to Cunningham, people in ancient India sat facing the east during religious ceremonies and even used the word east ("para") for "front", as well as the word south ("dakshina") for "right" and the word north ("vami") for "left", meaning the positioning of the caskets symbolized each disciple's relative positions as right and left hand disciple respectively. This positioning has also been explained by the fact that the Buddha traditionally sat facing the east, which would make the south his right hand side, and the north his left hand side. Another excavation by Cunningham and Maisey at "stupas" in the nearby town of Satdhāra found another pair of caskets with encased bone fragments with the two chief disciples' names inscribed. Cunningham concluded that the relics were enshrined in "stupas" near Rajagaha after the disciples' deaths until the time of King Asoka, who then redistributed them in "stupas" throughout India. Scholars have also theorized that a Sunga king may have also have done a similar redistribution of the relics of the Buddha and his leading disciples and built "stupas" such as the one in Sanchi to enshrine them.