VOL. XV. (2) RUDE STONE MONUMENTS OF INDIA 133 
Here comes in the question of the sculptures found on 
some of the slabs. These undoubtedly show an advance 
on the old rude stonework. The date of these carvings 
has not, I think, been ascertained with precision. Mr 
Walhouse is disposed to connect some of them with 
the Basava, or Lingayat sect, who worship the phallic 
emblem of Siva, the founder of which was born early 
in the twelfth century of our era. He thinks that fugitives 
of this sect, driven by persecution from the plain country, 
may have annexed the monuments and executed the 
carvings. We often find crosses carved on European 
‘dolmens with the object of christianizing the old pagan 
cult,‘ and there is no improbability in the theory that the 
Lingayats may have done likewise. 
Leaving the most interesting modern rude stone monu- 
ments—those of the Khasis—to be described later on, we 
have numerous examples of modern dolmen and cairns. 
Mr Breeks describes the Kurumbas of Madras as still 
burying their dead and using old dolmens for the purpose, 
while a later authority states that they still erect a dolmen 
on a small scale when one of their headmen dies.*_ Mr 
Walhouse describes temples in Mysore, consisting of back 
and side slabs laid on edge, with a covering slab over, con- 
taining an image of Hanuman, the monkey god, with 
flowers laid before it. “‘ Of course,” he remarks,? “these 
rustic shrines are not prehistoric, but then use and tradi- 
tion may have come down from prehistoric times.” 
Burial in the manner of the old kistvaen or cairn is 
common among the wilder tribes of the present day. The 
Murmis of Nepal, who preserve the Buddhist tradition, 
bury their dead, and raise a small enclosure roofed in with 
a big stone round the grave, over which a cairn is piled.* 
t Borlase, “ Dolmens of Ireland,” ii., 650, 666. 
2 Breeks, Of. czt., p. 54 f.: ‘ Journal Royal Asiatic Society,” 1887, p. 693. 
3 Op. cit., p. 26. 
4 Risley, Of. cit, ii., 112. 
