AND RUINS AT MAVALIPURAM. 149 



The objects that Teem next to claim regard, are thofe 

 upon the hill itfelf, theafcentof which, on the north, is, 

 from its natural fhape, gradual and eafy at firft, and is in 

 other parts rendered more fo by very excellent fteps cut 

 out in feveral places, where the communication would 

 be difficult or impracticable without them. A winding 

 ftair of this fort leads to a kind of temple cut out ot the 

 folid rock, with fome figures of idols in high relief upon 

 its walls, very well finifhed, and perfectly frefh, as it 

 faces the weft, and is therefore fheltered from the fea air. 

 From this temple again there are flights of fteps, that 

 feem to have led to fome edifice, formerlyftanding upon 

 the hill ; nor does it feem abfurd to fuppofe, that this 

 may have been a palace, to which this temple, as a 

 place of worfhip, may have appertained. For, befides 

 the fraall detached ranges of ftairs that are here and 

 there cut in the rock, and feem as if they had once led 

 to different parts of one great building, there appear in 

 many places, fmall water channels cut alfo in the rock, 

 as if for drains to a houfe ; and the whole top of the 

 hill is ftrewed with fmall round pieces of brick, which 

 may be fuppofed, from their appearance, to have been 

 worn down to their prefent form during the lapfe of 

 many ages. On afcending the hill by its flope on the 

 north, a very fingular piece of fculpture prefents itfelf 

 to view. On a plain furface of the rock, which may 

 once have ferved as the floor of fome apartment, there 

 is a platform of ftone, about eight or nine feet long, by 

 three or four wide, in a fituation rather elevated, with 

 two or three fteps leading up to it, perfectly refembling 

 a couch or bed, and a lion very well executed at the 

 upper end of it by way of pillow, the whole of one piece, 

 being part of the hill itfelf. This the Brahmins, inhabi- 

 tants of the place, called the bed of Dhermardjah or Ju- 

 dijliter^ihe eldeft of the five brothers whofe fortunes and 

 exploits are the leading fubjeel in the Mahabhdrit. And 

 at a confiderable diftance from this, at fuch a diftance, 

 indeed, as the apartment of the women might be fup- 

 pofed 



