Spccidatio7is as to a Submerged City. 473 



far, the inscriptions have been ascertained to be in threefold 

 characters, of which two are as yet undecipherable. Babington 

 was the first to attempt to decipher them, or at all events to 

 find -the key by which to decipher them. The most important 

 has been copied and interpreted. But neither the inscriptions 

 nor the various representations give the slightest historical 

 clue as to the object of these monuments. Taylor's researches 

 seem to establish the fact, that in the 1 7th century this 

 district was inhabited by the Corumbas, a half-civilized race 

 of the Dschaina religion. About this period, or a little 

 later, in the reign of Abondai, one of the princes, whose 

 capitals were Conjeveran and Tripetty, the Brahmins were 

 introduced to this neighbourhood. The extent of these works, 

 however, their nature, and the immense expense incurred, 

 all point to a long-continued influence of the Brahmins. Most 

 of these temples seem to have been first erected in the 17th 

 century, under Prince Sinhamanayadu, and Elliot assigns to 

 several even a much later date. 



As for the report of a smaller pagoda, of which only an old 

 pyramidal pagoda-stone is visible on the very edge of the sea, 

 peering up from amid the furious foaming surf, it seems to be 

 altogether a myth, so that such enquirers as Ellis, Mackenzie, 

 and Heber, making allowance for w^hat Hindoo traditions are 

 known to be, will no longer take the trouble of searching for 

 any traces of the sunk pagoda, or of seeking to recover the 

 ruins of the submerged city. Several writers, indeed, are of 

 opinion, that the sea on the Cormandel coast is retiring ; but 



