30 J. H. Hi vett- Carnac — The Snake Symbol in India. [.No. 1, 



May not this represent the serpent encircling the Mahadeo as now seen 

 in India and in the form which during many centuries has perhaps not 

 undergone any great change ? 



A further detailed consideration of this view must be deferred until I 

 can submit to the Society the result of the enquiries of M. M. Piette and 

 Sacaze, many of the points of which, in connection with the remains dis. 

 covered in India, cannot, I believe, be considered other than most remarkable. 



And I may add in conclusion that no one who has been in this country 

 and who has noticed the monolith Mahadeos of the Western Ghats of the 

 Himalayas and other parts of India, can fail to be struck with the resem- 

 blance that the menhirs of Carnac* in Brittany and its neighbourhood 

 bear to the Siva emblems of India. I visited these remarkable remains 

 when at home last year, and was quite taken aback by their resemblance 

 to well-known Indian types. The monoliths of Scotland covered with 

 what I believe to be " Mahadeo" symbols are of the same class. Added 

 to this, in the recesses of the Pyrennees, the people whose language sug- 

 gests their descent from the Tribes who erected the tumuli and men- 

 hirs, not only in this neighbourhood but also in other parts of Europe, 

 still preserve traditions connected with these monoliths and have actually 

 retained some traces of what I will call Siva worship. With this evidence, 

 added to the points noticed in my paper on the Junapani Barrows and the 

 Kumaon markings, the connection between the marks in India and Europe 

 may then, I hope, be considered tolerably complete. 



Appendix. 



Note on tlie articles exhibited by Mr. Rivett- Carnac. — By Babtt Pea- 



TAPA ChANDEA GHOSHA, B. A. 



It is interesting to observe how the ornamental and the artistic help 

 in complicating the myths of the Hindu religion. The occurrence of the 

 snake on several of the articles exhibited is ornamental in some and in- 

 consistent with the Sastras in a few. The snake on the spoon or ladle is 

 for ornamental purposes, and that on the bell is altogether out of place. 

 The Sastras make no mention of the necessity of any such figures on the 

 handles of spoons, sacrificial ladles or water-pots. In the case of the bell 

 the only figure directed to be represented on a religious bell is that of 

 Garuda, the bird-god. The Padma Purana has the following — " He is not 



* I may be permitted to be egotistical enough to note, that Carnac, the surname 

 -which my grandfather added to his own, by sign-manual on succeeding to General 

 Carnac's property, is the Celtic " Carnej, 5 ' " Cairn" or collection of monoliths, for 

 which the village whence General Carnac took his name is celebrated. The family 

 crest, a crescent and dagger, bears an extraordinary resemblance to the markings on 

 some of the menhirs. 



