52 EASTERN H I N D O O S T A N. 



The furface of multitudes of the rocks are covered with 

 fculptnres of varieties of kinds; numbers exprefs the human> 

 form, defcribing the actions of the heroes celebrated in the Ma-- 

 babarat. 

 Antient Other figures defcribe the Hindoo mythology, fuch as Kir- 



JJjen attending the herds of Kunda^hofe. In another place is a 

 gigantic Vifonou afleep on a couch, with a vaft fnal<.e, in num- 

 bers of coils, ferving as for the head of the great deity; all cut 

 out of the body of the rock. There are belides numbers of 

 figures of animals ; Among them' an elephant as big as life; 

 and a lion larger than the natural fize, well executed, and each 

 hewn out of the fame ftone. The name given to the laft ani- 

 mal is Singy which always means in the Hindoo tongue a lioit. 

 The fame name is alfo beftowed to the monftrous figures fre- 

 quent in Hindoo fculpture, from the dillorted figures which 

 feem originally copied from the lion, but either by fancy or 

 want of fl<.ill turned into real monfters. 



Most of the fculptures upon the temple-rocks of this city 

 are well explained by a number oi Brahmins^ who refide in an 

 adjacent village, ftill retaining its antient name : and thefe holy 

 men feem perfccftly acquainted with the hillory of the orna.- 

 ments of the place. 



The antient name of this place is Mavaliparam in the I'u^ 

 midic tongue, but in that of the more northern Hindoos, Ma- 

 bdbalipur, or the city of the great Bali, a hero famed in Hindoo 

 romance *. It had been a city of vaft extent, built, or perhaps 

 in part formed, by excavating the numerous rocks which rofe 



* Afiatic Reftarches, i. p. 146. 



out 



