cvi Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Oct. 1844. 



valent subsequent to the Christian era. On the exterior face of the Cave, however, 

 but very high up, is an inscription of some length in the pure Nath character, which 

 would at once give an antiquity to the excavation of about 100 or 200 b. c. as far as 

 such evidence can be relied on. 



" No. 17, generally called the Zodiac Cave, very much resembles the last de- 

 scribed in almost every respect. Its dimensions are 64 feet by 63, and it has 20 pil- 

 lars disposed as in the other. It is not, however, so lofty ; and the details of the pillars 

 are by no means so graceful or elegant as in No. 16. The paintings, however, are 

 much more entire, and though the colours in some places are a good deal faded, the 

 subjects can generally be made out. 



" On the right hand wall as you enter, a procession is painted: three elephants 

 issuing from a portal, one black, one red or rather brown ; and the third a white 

 one, which seems the principal one of the group, shewing how early arose the pre- 

 dilection for these animals, which still exist among the Burmese aud Siamese of the 

 present day. Chattahs and flags are borne before them ; and a large retinue of men 

 armed with spears, swords and shields follow them. 



" On the back wall is a hunting scene, in which a lion powerfully and well drawn, 

 forms the principal object of attraction. There are also deer and dogs, and men on 

 horseback and on foot without number. 



" In the verandah to this Cave are some singularly interesting paintings ; at one 

 end a circular one which I at first took for a Zodiac, though on further examination I 

 gave up the idea. Its centre is divided in eight compartments, and the outer circle 

 into eixteen or seventeen. Each of these compartments is crowded with small 

 figures ; but what the subject is, I could not make out. 



" Over the door are eight Buddhist figures sitting cross-legged, the first four are 

 black, the fifth fairer ; the next is still more so ; the last fair and wearing a crown. 

 It is remarkable that there are more black people painted in this Cave than in any 

 of the others. The women, however, are generally fair"; and the men all shades, 

 from black to a European complexion. The roof is painted in various patterns, not 

 at all unlike those still existing in the baths of Titus, though in an inferior style of 

 art. I had not time, even if I had had the ability to copy these interesting paint- 

 ings, and I fear any one who now visits them, will find, that much that I saw has 

 since disappeared. 



" The style of these paintings cannot of course bear comparison with European 

 painting of the present day, but they are certainly superior to the style of Europe 

 during the age in which they are executed. The perspective, grouping and details 

 are better, and the story better told than any paintings I know of, anterior to Orgagna 

 and Fiesole. The style, however, is not European, but more resembles Chinese art, 

 particulaily in the flatness and want of shadow. I never, however, even in China, 

 saw any thing approaching its perfection. 



" I looked very attentively at these paintings to try and discover if they were 

 fresco paintings, or merely water colors laid on a dry surface, but was unable to de- 

 cide the point ; the color certainly is in cases absorbed into the plaster; and 1 am 



