32 CUP-SHAPED AND OTHER LAPIDARIAN SOCrLPTURES. 



lees or Shepherd Kings, regarding whose rule in Central India, at a period 

 prior to the Aryan invasion, a deep-rooted tradition exists. That the circles 

 are very old, the condition in which they are now found distinctly shows, 

 and the remains discovered therein leave no doubt that they were once the 

 burial-places of a people of whom these circles are now the only trace that 

 remains to us." * 



The tumuli forming these groups are all of the same type, consisting 

 of circular mounds of eartli, at present not exceeding four feet in height, 

 and the circles surrounding them, from twenty to fifty-six feet in diameter, 

 are constructed of trap boulders, such as occur abundantly in the neighbor- 

 hood. A map of the locality, accompanying Mr. Rivett-Carnac's descrip- 

 tion, shows no less than sixty-four tumuli, distributed in several groups, 

 the largest of which comprises fifty-four. Each circle contains a few stones 

 larger than the rest and comparatively regular in shape, perhaps in conse- 

 quence of artificial modification ; and such stones are distinguished by the 

 peculiarity that their upper surfaces or sides exhibit cup-cuttings, difi'ering 

 in size, and mostly arranged in regular groups formed by parallel lines or 

 other nearly symmetrical dispositions, as shown on one of the plates illus- 

 trating Mr. Rivett-Carnac's report. Thus far ring-sculptures have not been 

 discovered by him on stones belonging to circles; but he thinks "they may 

 be yet brought to light, together with perhaps other and more striking 

 particulars, linking these tumuli still more closely to the remains found at 

 home."f 



The few of the mounds under notice which have been opened inclosed 

 no cists, the objects found in them being covered, without any special pro- 

 tection, with the now much-hardened earth composing the mound. The 

 contents dug out from the centres of the bari'ows were fragments of urns, 

 accompanied by a whitish earth, probably produced by the decomposition 

 of bones, and articles of iron, thickly covered with rust and of antique 

 forms (celts, daggers, spear-heads, a snaffle-bit in good preservation, stir- 

 rups (?), etc ). Ornamented bangles or bracelets of copper, supposed to be 

 alloyed with gold or silver, but containing neither tin nor zinc, are also 



* Eivett-Carnac : Prehistoric Eemaius in Central India; reprinted from the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal ; Calcutta, 1879, p. 2. 

 t Ibid., pp. 3, 4, 15. 



