BUDDHIST OPINIONS AND MONUMENTS OF ASIA. 257 
Europe, the light of Christianity was also introduced, and the erection of these struc- 
tures was abandoned. But in India, where idolatry held its ground, the arts, as 
they advanced, were employed in their enlargement and embellishment. The ob- 
jects and edifices of superstitious veneration were increased in size, until they at- 
tained the scale which we see exemplified in the remains of the vast structure of 
Depaldinna, the Hill, or Mound of Light, near Amrawatty, in Central India. There 
we see immense excavations, surrounded by concentric circles, formed of vast num- 
bers of stones, beautifully sculptured with mythological figures, and inscriptions 
in two or three different idioms of the Sanscrit language. The outer circle of this 
gigantic structure is 160 feet in diameter. In the neighbourhood are numerous 
remains of kist-vaens, circles, barrows, &c. 
Some years ago I examined two interesting structures or temples, which had 
all the essential features of the stone circle, and of the ancient temples of Central 
India. They are situated near the banks of the sacred Bargaretta, or Hooghly 
River, at Culna, and belong to the Maha-Rajah of Burdwan. In this temple there 
are two concentric circles of stones in marble, formed into 108 lingas, or repre- 
sentations of the male and female energy of the world, with a temple over each. 
The external circle is formed of alternate white and black marble pillars; the in- 
ternal circle entirely of white marble. The outer circle had its entrances north 
and south, and the inner east and west, much in the same manner as in the large 
temple of Depaldinna, in Central India; and while in the centre of this there was 
a tank, the temple in Bengal, where worship is regularly celebrated, has a well 
of water, the yoni, or symbol of Parvati, the female energy. A second circle of 
temples in the neighbourhood appeared to be merely a modification of the other. 
This general identity of the ancient monuments of southern and western 
Europe with those of Hindostan, is further proved by the physical conformation 
of the races who inhabit these distant countries, by the similarity of many of 
their manners, customs,* and observances;+ and by the decided and extensive 
affinities of the Celtic and other languages of western Europe with the San- 
scrit,t which afford as strong evidence as we can be expected to obtain, of a 
connection so remote between races so widely separated. Indeed, the names of 
mountains, rivers, and other great natural features of the south and west of 
Europe, bear evidence of its having been in possession of a Celtic race anterior to 
the earliest date of authentic history; and this early connection indicates a line 
of inquiry, by following which much of the obscurity resting over the earliest 
monuments and history of western Europe may be cleared away. 
As these Asiatic races emerged from their oriental seat, and settled on 
the shores of Europe at different stages of advancement in civilisation, 
we must expect differences in the idioms of their language, in their monuments, 
* Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, p. 132 et seq. 
{ Pury, Nat. Hist., xxv. 1. ¢ Pricwarp’s Celtic Nations, pp. 20-22. 
