858 Historical Geography of Hindustan^ &^c. [No. 104. 



by the Sadapramans,"* or followers of the Vedas : and this tradition is 

 attested by the sculpture in the caves of EUora, where the union of the 

 Buddhaist and Brahminical faiths declares them to be the works of the 

 Jainas, or some similar sect, labouring to accommodate a belief and reliance 

 on mortals of transcendent virtue to the worship of the gods that are 

 chiefly esteemed in the Hindu Pantheon. The Brahmans who have visited 

 the caves of Ellora and Ajunta, deny the possibility that any part of the 

 sculptures could have been executed by the orthodox sect.f 



These Buddhaist sectaries on having changed their original faith, were 

 designated by the name of Rajputs ; and executed the magnificent temples 

 of Abu, and other such stupendous works, on the banks of the Indus. 

 They have preserved no record of their origin excepting traditions ; which 

 their bard Chandra embodied in his work, the Prithvi Raya Biyasa. Prithvi 

 Raya, or Pithora, who is the hero of the tale, became, from his connexion 

 with the first Mohammedan conquerors, the subject of real history ; and the 

 poem, which celebrates his exploit, can claim no higher antiquity than 

 A. D. 1192; when this Lord Protector of the feudal barons of India, as 

 mentioned in my introduction to the Mirat Ahmedi, fell at the battle of 

 Tanessar. 



* See account of the Jainas, A. R. ix. p. 247. 



f Mr. Erskine's lucid observations on the Caves of the Dekhan, have shed much light 

 on a very obscure subject ; but I cannot agree with the learned gentleman in thinking 

 that any of them weve ever executed by Brahmans, except in connexion with the fol- 

 lowers of Buddha, whose guides they were in introducing Jaina innovations. 



Note. — The paper now communicated, was read at a meeting of the Bombay Branch 

 of the Royal Asiatic Society, so early as December 1835, but withdrawn, before the 

 brilliant discoveries of the late Mr. Prinsep had given currency to facts, that bear out - 

 generally the truth of opinions here maintained. The explanation of the several 

 series of coins found in the north-west of India, the interpretation of the Lath and 

 Cave Inscriptions, and the translation of the Mahawanso by Mr. Tumour, with other 

 collateral coincidence, have strengthened the writer's conviction of the justness of 

 opinions then formed. They have been kept unpublished, as some orientalists, whose 

 acquirements the writer respects were opposed to them ; though these had only been 

 accustomed to view the Hindu social state through the glass of Brahmanical representa- 

 tion, and distorted Sanscrit evidence. The president, however, in thanking Dr. Bird 

 for his paper, which had been listened to with much interest, observed, " that while he 

 was prepared to dispute some of its important positions, it was but fair that it should 

 be laid before the learned world, for candid criticism, in the state in which it had been 

 communicated to the Society." 



