EASTERN HINDOOSTAN, 51 



Sadras ftands the feven pagodas, a mofl wonderful affemblage Seven Pagodas. 



of temples, and other places of Hindoo worfliip, fecond only 



in antiquity to thofe of Elepbanta and at Ellora, which are 



fubterraneous, cut out of the folid rock. Thefe are elevated 



high above the furface, excavated out of folid rocks rifmg to 



different heights, and by the wondrous fkill of the antient ar- 



tifts hollowed into various forms ; the natural roof is often 



felf-fupported, foraetiraes it is as if held up by pillars left in fit 



places, poffibly more for ornament than neceflity, cut out of the 



fame rock. Where the fizes of the rocks will admit, there are 



inilances of two pagodas, one cut out of the fame rock above the 



other, with the communication of a ftaircafe formed out of the 



live Hone. Staircafes frequently occur, as if once leading to 



edifices now deftroyed. Excavations fuppofed to have been de- 



figned for Choultries, or the fame charitable purpofes as the 



Mahometan caravanferas, are not infrequent. 



That this was a place of commerce I little doubt, and pro- Roman Coi-.s. 

 bably frequented by the Romans. The grounds of my conjec- 

 ture is, that a pot of gold and fdver coins * has been found 

 here by a Ryot^ or hufbandman, with charadlers which neither 

 Hindoos nor Mahometans could explain ; they probably muft be ' 

 Roman. We know that their trade extended even farther than 

 the Coromandel coafl, and I have alfo been informed that Roman 

 coins have been feen in the pofleflion of BrahniinSy the only 

 people of curiofity in all thefe extenfive regions, and fuch coins 

 muft have been found within their neighborhood. 



* Afiatic Refearches, i. 158. 



\\ 2 The 



