EASTERN HINDOOSTAN. 



« pillars, feveral of which are fingle ftones thirty-five feet long 

 " and nearly five in diameter ; and thofe which form the roof 

 " are ftill larger ; in the inmoft inclofures are the chapels. 

 «' About half a mile to the eaft of Seringham, and nearer to the 

 « Caveri than the Coleroon^ is another large pagoda called Jum- 

 « bakijina, but this has only one inclofure. The extreme ve- 

 " neration in which Seringham is held, arifes from a belief 

 <• that it contains the identical image of the god JViJlchnu^ 

 " which ufed to be worfliipped by the god Brahma. Pilgrims 

 <* from all parts of the peninfula come here to obtain abfolu- 

 " tion, and none come without an offering of money ; and a 

 " large part of the revenue of the ifland is allotted for the 

 " maintenance of the Brafmiins, who inhabit the pagoda ; and 

 <* thefe, with their families, formerly compofed a multitude not 

 *< lefs than forty thoufand fouls, maintained without labour by 

 *< the liberality of fuperftition. Here, as in all the other great 

 " pagodas of India-) the Brahmins live in a fubordination wdiich 

 " knows no refiftance, and flumber in a voluptuoufnefs which 

 " knows no wants ; and fenfible of the happinefs of their con- 

 " dition, they quit not the filence of their retreats to mingle in 

 " the tumults of the ftate, nor point the brand flaming from 

 " the altar againft the authority of the fovereign, or the tran- 

 <* quillity of the government." 



In the year 1751, our army, and that of the Nabob of Arcot^ 

 then defpoiled of his territories by the French^ who fupported 

 his rival Chtinda-faheb, found it necefiary to polTefs themfelves of 

 this pagoda', they entered as far as the third inclofure, but at the 

 earnefl: intreaties of the Brabmim^ defifted from going nearer to 

 6 the 



