I i Notes on the Antiquities of Bhopal. [Aug. 



only Monotheists ? perhaps endeavoured to purify the faith of the 

 learned by insisting on the existence of a God, and to sublime or exalt 

 the superstition of the multitude by substituting a simple sign or mark 

 for the representations of men and beasts, or by teaching the mere 

 " Fetichists," that their plain black stone or block of wood, should 

 lead them to think of the invisible ruler of the universe. I would thus 

 regard " Vedantism" as the philosophical, and " Saivism" as the poli- 

 tical or social, the theologic or theogonic, aspect of the genius of Brah- 

 minism. The worship of Kalee, or "Saktism" in general, similarly 

 marks the superstitious phase of the old Hindoo mind, for the rude 

 still every where propitiate the dread Goddess of famine, pestilence, 

 and death, while I would regard the Vaishnuvee sect as representing 

 the compromise of Brahmanism with Buddhism of the unity of God 

 with the multiplicity of his powers and the variety of his aspects. This 

 view admits of a civilization of the Southern and Western Coasts of 

 India, and of the existence of a consanguineous race from the Ghats to 

 the Himalayas, before the rise of the Brahmins, who with their warlike 

 Kshutrees may have originally emigrated from Central Asia, but who 

 during a long sojourn on the banks of the Ganges, had a form and 

 direction given to their latent energies which made them the Greeks of 

 the East, the Achseans of the wide spread Pelasgians of India, and 

 which also rendered their civilization eminently national and character- 

 istic. Buddhism may have been imported or adopted from Egypt and 

 Babylon, but Vedantism is the native product of the mind of the 

 dwellers on the Ganges with some intermixture of Mithraic traditions. 



Raeesen. — Raeesen is a double-walled fort standing on a hill nearly 

 isolated, and situated between Bhojpoor and Bhilsa. It was formerly 

 the possession of a Tooer Rajpoot family of some local repute. Baber 

 proposed marching against it, Akber made it the head-quarters of a 

 " Sircar" or Zillah, but Aurungzeb afterwards removed the establish- 

 ments to Bhilsa. Neither the Hindoo nor the Mahometan buildings 

 arc of great extent or merit, neither does the inscription appear to 

 establish any thing of moment, although the date 1582 Sumbut serves 

 to show the degree to which power had there been recovered by the 

 Hindoos of Malwa. 



Bhilsa. — Bhilsa is situated about half a mile from the right bank of 

 (he Betwah or Behtervvantee River. Its ancient name is stated to have 



