BY DR. BERNCASTLE. 187 



" It is not only the numerous caves," observes Lord Valentine, 

 " that give an idea of what the population of this barren rock 

 must once have been, but the tanks, the terraces, and the nights 

 of steps which lead from one part to another. Yet now, not a 

 human footstep is to be heard, except when the curiosity of a 

 traveller leads him to pay a hasty visit to the ruined habitations 

 of those whose very name has passed away, and whose cultivated 

 fields are become an almost impassable jungle, the haunt of 

 tigers, and the seat of pestilence and desolation." 



One thing that struck me as most singular, is the extraor- 

 dinary manner in which the inscriptions on these temples is 

 preserved, the characters being as distinct as if they were quite 

 recently engraved. 



The next inscription, over a water reservoir of one of the 

 small caves of Kanari, has been rendered thus by the savants in 

 Oriental antiquities : " This tank is the pious work of Sulisadata 

 (in obedience to) the word of the radical golden originator of all 

 things, the prophet of friendship." 



The inscriptions on these temples, they say, are in a language 

 neither pure Pali nor Sanscrit, though approaching sufficiently 

 near either to be intelligible through their medium. The charac- 

 ter in which it is written differs but little from that of inscriptions 

 on Asoka pillars, which was in use we know during the third 

 century B.C. ; to this class belong Karli, Kanari, Aurungabad, 

 Nassik, Junir, Ellora. 



About half way between Poona and Bombay, in the Ghaut 

 mountains, on the right-hand side of the valley as you proceed 

 towards the sea, -and a mile from the village of Karli, is situated 

 the great cave temple of Karli, without exception the largest and 

 finest Chaitya cave in India, and fortunately also the best pre- 

 served. It is the finest specimen of a Buddha cathedral which 

 can be met with. It is excavated in " Amygdaloid trap," and is 

 vaulted. As you ascend the hill by a steep tortuous path over 

 rocks and through jungle, the entrance to the temple (impossible 

 to find without a guide,) bursts suddenly upon the sight. Passing 

 under a gateway, over which is erected a square stone room con- 

 taining drums, trumpets, gongs, and bells, for the performance 

 of sacred music during festivals, a dozen men being paid by the 



