1842.] Asiatic Society. 575 



All of them refer to Shiva, and eight of them have a special allusion to the wor- 

 shipping of the Lingam in different forms, generally Shiva, or Parvati, or both of 

 them adoring this symbol. I must not omit mentioning, that one of them, a Shiva 

 Lingam, worshipped by Gonesha, Nandi, Kartika, and Sesha Naga, has the crescent 

 and the sun added, as so many more symbols of this worship. 



That it is Shiva, however, who is represented in those images, and not another 

 deity, as some at first would suppose, is evident from the trident and crescent being in 

 all the images, though sometimes in a shape and in places which are not apparent at 

 the first glance. These representations are singular for the number of their attributes 

 and the rudeness of the style of the workmanship. No others in the collection exhibit 

 the same rudeness of figure ; for the different parts of the body can hardly be distin- 

 guished. From this, some would suppose them to be of great antiquity ; but all these 

 figures may be regarded as symbols which are formed not in a barbarous, but in a 

 civilised age, and their vagueness and rudeness are designed to suggest to the mind of 

 the worshipper, something indefinite and mysterious in the image which he adores. 



V. Nos. 31—67. 1. There are mentioned in the Asiatic Journal, Vol. XVII, p. 368, 

 three brass Images, Lokanatha, Durga-Singhbahni, and Goutamah from Nepaul, 

 presented by S. Bramley, Esq. Two of them bear the name of the donor, and the 

 third, Lokanatha, though the name is wanting, has such a striking resemblance to the 

 Goutamah, that we may safely declare it to be the one mentioned in the Journal. 

 The second Goutamah whom I have put together with them, has also so many charac- 

 teristics in common, that had there been more than three mentioned in the Journal, I 

 should have felt myself justified in assigning it to the same donor. 



2. Nos. 48, 49, 50. Three ivory idols. I found no references to them in any periodi- 

 cal of the Society. They are evidently made by the same artist. On one of them 

 " Nepal" is written with a pencil, and they are moreover so like those just mentioned, 

 that no doubt of their coming from the same country, can arise. 



3. The fourteen images under numbers 53-66, representations of Hindoo deities, 

 workmanship, ornaments, &c. being of the same style, are evidently all from the same 

 place, which supposition is confirmed by the labels annexed to them, which are 

 written by the same hand : but neither the name of the donor nor the locality is 

 written. There are seven other Images without labels; but they so strikingly re- 

 semble in every particular those just mentioned, that we may assign to them the same 

 country. 



This, I think, is Nepal, for the following reasons : — 



a. All of them exhibit a very extraordinary similarity with those presented by Mr. 

 Bramley. The Durga Singhbahni, above mentioned, for instance, corresponds in the 

 principal characteristics with a Durga of this group in the form of Durga Mohish- 

 mordini ; we observe the same dress, the same ornaments, the same kind of pedestal. 

 Though the head-dress in both is somewhat different, yet again the shape of the 

 crowns, with all their particularities, is nearly the same, and in many of the images 

 this similarity is still more striking. To this conclusion we are also led by the 

 similarity which is seen in the formation of the head and expression of the coun- 

 tenance, which is seldom found but among people of the same nation, nay, I should 

 almost say, of the same tribe. 



6. The strongest confirmation, however, is derived from the workmanship. It is 

 true, this may be under certain circumstances identic, and the artists still belong to 



