418 THE MADURA PAGODA. Chap. XXV. 



Ill an angle of one of the corridors all the jewels of the 

 temple were spread out on a table for our inspection, and we 

 sat down before them, by the side of the old warden. It was 

 a truly magnificent display of wealth ; and it was impossible 

 not to feel that there must be deep faith and conviction in a 

 religion which induces men to go about naked and in ashes, 

 and to devote tens of thousands of rupees to ornament the 

 mystic emblems of their Gods. I particularly noticed some 

 sapphii-es of extraordinary size and brilliancy ; the cover of 

 the lingam, a cylinder of pure gold, four feet high, encrusted 

 with pearls and rubies ; the golden sceptre of Siva, three 

 feet long, and one mass of rubies ; the golden shoes and 

 gauntlets of Siva and Minakshi, inlaid with rubies, emeralds, 

 and pearls ; the head-dress of Minakshi of gold Trichinopoly- 

 work, adorned with pearls and rubies, with enormous emeralds 

 hanging from it ; her playthings, consisting of golden birds 

 overlaid with rubies and emeralds ; and necklaces and brace- 

 lets covered with jewels of priceless value. There was also 

 a costly gold chain presented by Mr. Peters, a former Col- 

 lector, and another which had lately arrived from Agra, in 

 an anonymous letter addressed to the pagoda. 



From this corridor I was able to peep down a dark passage 

 at the end of which there were some dim lights surrounding 

 the sacred Soha-linga, but I could not distinguish anything. 

 The warden told us that it was a piece of solid rock cropping 

 out of the ground, and cut into the shape of a cylinder, with 

 a rounded top, as the mysterious emblem of Siva, the God of 

 reproduction. Its roots are said to be in the centre of the 

 earth, and to have been there since the creation. The 

 Pandyan kings, when they were dying, Avere taken into the 



the Oeimnm sanctum or toolsu, a labiate I the Chrisanthemum Indicum, a yellow 

 plant with a wliite flower, specially flower, sacred to Vishnu and Siva, 

 sacred to Vishnu and Krishna: and i 



