[ 383 ] 



visit, will at once engage and satisfy the expectations 

 of the learned and the curious, 



Under these circumstances, I no longer hesitate to 

 suhinit the drawings, with all their errors and inaccu- 

 racies, to your notice and disposal, thinking it neces- 

 sary, at the same time, to acquaint you, that as my 

 draftsman will attend Mr. Wales in his intended jour- 

 ney to Ellora, he will be enabled, by the liberal in- 

 structions of that gentleman, to correct his errors of 

 delineation and perspective ; and as it is rea.sonable to 

 suppose that most of JMr. Wales's own views will be 

 from different points, I hope this prospect of being 

 furnished with ane\y set of those now sent will regu- 

 late you as to any present public use of them, unless 

 for the purpose above mentioned, of awakening curi- 

 osity to the produce of Mr. \Vales"s skill and in- 

 dustry. 



My enquiries, as to the origin or date of these won- 

 derful works, have not hitherto been satisfactory. 

 Doubtless, however, it is, that they are the works of 

 people, whose religion and, mythology were purely 

 Hindu., and most of the excavations carry strong- 

 marks of dedication to Mahdkw, as the presiding 

 deity. The fanciful analogies of some travellers (par- 

 ticularly that attributed to the eight handed figure of 

 Veer Buddur, holding up raja Dutz in one hand, 

 and a drawn sword in another, with the famous judg- 

 ment of Sof.OMON) now vanish; and we seek no 

 longer for colonies of Jinvs, Egyptians, Ethiopians, or 

 Phenecians, to supercede the more rational mode of 

 accounting for such works in the enthusiastic labour 

 and ingenuity of the natives of the country ; by 

 which means, the wonder is at least simplified, no 

 trifling point to minds in quest of, and in love with 

 truth. 



The difference of the inscriptions, in some of the 

 caves, from the present known characters oi Hindustan, 



may 



