126 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1905 
Kistna; and all along the Eastern and Western Ghats, the 
hills which flank on both sides the Central plateau, right 
down to Cape Comorin, the most southerly point of the 
Peninsula. 
The most natural inference to be drawn from the facts 
of the distribution of these monuments, so far as our 
present knowledge goes, is that not being found in the 
distinctively Aryan country, they can have no connexion 
with that people. Whether they were the work of the 
tribes now represented by the Dravidians of South India, 
we are not in a position to decide with confidence. But 
such evidence as we possess points to the conclusion that 
this was the case. 
The first problem in dealing with this class of monu- 
ments is to consider what may be their age. Fergusson, 
you may remember, used all his great scientific knowledge 
and acumen in endeavouring to bring down their construc- 
tion within quite historical times. Whether we accept or 
do not accept the conclusions at which he arrived, no one 
who has worked at this branch of archeology can refrain 
from expressing admiration for his excellent book. His 
argument mainly rested on the fact that within the 
northern or Aryan country building in stone did not begin 
till about the middle of the 3rd century B.C.: and that 
therefore the Rude Stone Monuments could not be fixed 
at a date earlier than this. Most of them, he thought, 
must be five, or perhaps ten centuries after that date." 
The assertion that the earliest stone buildings in North 
India date from about the time of the Buddhist Emperor 
Asoka (ciyca 250 B.C.) may be accepted as well estab- 
lished. Up to that time the material used by the Aryan 
builders was probably wood. For this an obvious reason 
_may be assigned. The Aryan land in the valleys of the 
Indus, Ganges, and their tributaries is a vast alluvial plain. 
1 “Rude Stone Monuments,” p. 493. 
