MANUAL OF THE NILAGIKI DISTRICT. 229 



CHAPTER X. 



ANTIQUITIES. 



Varieties of Monuments, by -whom described — Caves. — Cairns, position, contents, 

 size, probable age. — Barrows, size, contents, compared with European tumuli. — 

 KisTVAENS, size, contents. — Stone Circles. — Azarams. — Cromlechs or Dolmens, 

 groups, contents, origin. — Ruined Villages. — Forts. 



The antiquities of the Nilagiris, although numerous^ do not CHAP. x. 

 possess any great variety, neither do they differ materially from antiquities, 



similar remains to be found in almost every hill range in Southern 



India. ^ 



They consist of caves, cairns, barrows, kistvaens, cromlechs Varieties of 

 or dolmens, and stone circles, and also of sculptured stones, ™°^'^"^^" ^• 

 one inscription and some scratches on the rocks at Belliki, which 

 are most probably written characters too, but which have not 

 as yet been deciphered, and some ruins of forts and villages. 

 These may be roughly classed, for the sake of convenience, 

 under three heads, each representing approximately the relics 

 of a different period, though it is by no means intended to 

 lay down any strict rule, and it is possible that one class may 

 overlap the other more than at first appears. 



To the first and earliest ^ would seem to belong the only two 

 caves as yet discovered possessing any remarkable features in the 

 Hills. 



To the second, the cairns, barrows, kistvaens, unsculptured 

 cromlechs and stone circles, which seem to correspond with the 

 tumuli and rude stone monuments that have been described in the 

 Kistna, Salem, and other districts. 



To the third, the sculptured cromlechs, or at least the sculptures 

 found upon them, and the Tamil inscription at M^llir, the ruins 

 of villages,^ and the ruined forts. 



* No antiquities exist on the Pnlni Hills in Madura. See Mr. Nelson's Manual, 

 Part V, Chap. VIII, 



* " It cannot be too strongly insisted upon, or too often repeated, that stone 

 architectm-e in India commences with the age of Asoka (B.C. 250). Not only have 

 we as yet discovered no remains whatever of stone buildings anterior to his 

 ««ign, but all the earliest caves either in Behar or in the Western Ghats show 

 architecture in the first stage of transition from wood to stone." — Fergusson, 

 Tree and Serpent Worship. 



' As mentioned in a former chapter, some of these rains may be very much 

 more ancient than others. 



