AND RUINS AT MAVALIPURAM. 165 



i: which is the temple, and himfelf becomes priejl thereof. 

 " This houfe is feldom called God's Houfe, but moll 

 * s ufaally jfacco, the Devil's."' But of the prevailing 

 religion, he fpeaksinvery different terms, and defcribes 

 it as carried on with much parade and fplendor, and 

 attended with marks of great antiquity. " The Pagodas 

 84 or temples of their Gods (fays he) are fo many that I 

 " cannot number them. Many of them are of rare and 

 " exquifite work, built of hewn ftone, engraven with 

 " images and figures; but by whom, and when, I could 

 " not attain to know, the inhabitants themfelves being 

 " ignorant therein. But fure I am, they were built by 

 " far more ingenious artificers than the Chingelays that 

 M now are on the land. For the Portuguefe, in their 

 *' invafions, have defaced fome of them, which there is 

 " none found that hath fkiil enough to repair to this 

 li day." In another place he fays, '' Here are fome 

 6t ancient writings, engraven upon rocks, which puzzle 

 " all that fee them. There are divers great rocks in 

 "divers parts in Cande Uda, and in the northern parts. 

 " Thefe rocks are cut deep with great letters for the 

 " fpace of fome yards, fo deep that they may lafl to the 

 " world's end. Nobody can read them, or make any 

 " thing of them. I have afked Malabars and Gentoos, 

 " as well as Chingelays and Moors, but none of them 

 " underftood them. There is an ancient temple, God- 

 " diladenni in Yattanour, ftands by a place where there 

 " are of thefe letters." From all which the antiquity 

 of the nation and their religion is fufficiently evident: 

 and from other paffages it is plain, that the worlhip of 

 Buddou, in particular, has been from remote times a 

 very eminent part of that religion : for the fame author, 

 fpeaking of the tree at Anutodgburrc, in the northern 

 part of the ifland, which is facred to Buddou, fays, 

 " The due performance of this worlhip they reckon not 

 " a little meritorious ; infomu ;h that, as they report, 

 " ninety kings have reigned the re fuccefiively, where, 

 " by the ruins that ftill remain, it appears, they fpared 

 " not for pains and labour to build temples and high 

 1 " monuments 



