VOL. XV. (2) RUDE STONE MONUMENTS OF INDIA 139 
mound, or to indicate that it was a place under tabu, or to 
act as a “ghost-hedge,” to enclose and restrain the angry 
ghosts of the dead. Those who look at primitive con- 
structions of this kind from the point of view of the 
psychology of modern savages will be inclined to believe 
that superstitious motives are usually antecedent to merely 
practical considerations, and that the original idea of the 
stone circle was probably either to prevent intrusion on 
a sacrosanct place, or to bar in the ghost occupying the 
site; or rather, perhaps, both considerations may have 
combined to establish the practice. 
Again, we can trace the gradual evolution by which the 
circle becomes detached from the tumulus until it occupies 
the position of an independent monument. But probably 
in most cases it preserves the original idea in its construc- 
tion when it was erected to secure a place of interment. 
Further, the circle is very closely connected with the 
avenue such as we see at Carnac. Gigantic erections of © 
this kind are not found in India. But we see the embryo 
from which they grew in the long stone passage of the 
underground tomb, like that in the long barrow at Uley, in 
this county. The gateway of this passage, again, develops 
into the trilithic monuments of the Khasis of Assam, 
which we see in its highest form in the outer circle 
of Stonehenge. 
In the case of the Indian circles, the same difficulty 
presents itself as in the case of the dolmens—the con- 
tinuity of construction of such monuments from the 
earliest to the most recent times. Thus writing of the 
Todas, Mr Breeks™ says:—“I could not ascertain with 
any certainty whether these stone circles which are always 
to be found near the funeral mand [hut] had been con- 
structed in recent years, or were of considerable antiquity. 
Their appearance, however, did not suggest any great age. 
I Op. cit., p. 24. 
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