^66 ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 



Thcfe ftatues were vifited, at lead ten or twelve dif- 

 ferent times, by a famous traveller, called Me'yan- 

 Asod-Shah, who is a man highly refpefted, both on 

 account of his dcfcent from Mohammed, and his per- 

 fonal charafter. He is well informed, in affluent cir- 

 cumllances, through the piety of the faithful, and keeps 

 company with the princes of the country and perfons of 

 the firfl; rank. He informed me lately, that thefe two 

 ftatues are in two different niches, and about forty paces 

 diftant from each other. That the drapery is covered 

 widi embroidery and figured work; which formerly was 

 painted of different colours; traces of which are ftill 

 vifible. That one feems to have been painted of a red 

 colour : and the other, either retains the original colour 

 of the flone, or was painted grey. That one certainly 

 reprefents a female, from the beauty and fmoothnefs of 

 her features, and the fwelling of her breads : the head 

 being fb much elevated is fccure from infult below, and 

 is allb protected from the weather by the projeBion 

 above. The ftatue of their fuppofed fon is nearly half 

 a mile diftant, and about twenty feet high. One of the 

 legs of the male figure is much broken : for the Mt^f- 

 ulmans never march that way with cannon without fir- 

 ing two or three fliots at them : but from their want of 

 ikill, they feldom do much mifchief. Aurangzebe, 

 it is faid, in his expedition to Bdhlac. in the year 1646, 

 paffed that way and ordered as ufual a few (hots to be 

 iired ; one of them took place, and almoll broke its leg, 

 which bled copioufly. This, and fome frightful dreams, 

 made him dcfitl, and the clotted blood it is faid adheres 

 to the wound, to this day. The miracle is equally be- 

 lieved by the Hindus^ and Mufuhnans : the former attri- 

 bute it to the fuperior power of the deity ; and the lat- 

 ter to witchcraft. According to Dr. Hyde, one of thefe 

 ftatues is called Surkh-But^ or the red idol; the other 

 Khink-Buti or the grey idol. As to their being hollow, 

 I believe, it is an idle tale : at leaft the travellers, I have 

 cotifulted, knc-w nothing of it. Between the legs of the 

 male figure, is a door leading into a moft fpacious tem- 

 ple. 



