172' Description of the Antiquities at Kalinjar. [March, 



mere repairs of the wall ; moreover, it is very probable that the Fort was 

 not built until the disturbance of the Hindu dynasties consequent on 

 the Mahomedan invasion, when amid the constant wars and feuds, such 

 an impregnable site would of course offer many advantages. (2) A date 

 of the erection of the Fort is given in note 40 ; mention is made in 

 " Dow" of a king of Kalinjar as early as A. D. 978, or Samvat 1035, 

 but the earliest mention of a Fort is in the year 593 of the Higera, or 

 A. D. 1205, Samvat 1262. As there are several objects of interest in the 

 ascent it will perhaps be better to commence at the lowest gate and 

 particularize each in succession. 



The only ascent now(3) is on the northern face of the hill ; it is 

 defended by a loopholed wall and seven gateways, which, in accord- 

 ance with the sacred character of the place, have been supposed typical 

 of the seven planetary mansions through which the soul has to pass 

 before its absorption into Brahm.(4) In Colonel Pogson's work on the 

 Bundelas, an analogy is inferred between the seven gates of Kalinjar 

 and the ladders erected in the caves devoted to the Mithratic rites, 

 which ladders had seven portals, one above the other, either metalled 

 or coloured to represent Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, the 



(2) The hill, which is between 700 and 80frfeet high, is isolated, with the exception 

 of a small offshoot at the eastern extremity, called Kalinjari (from whence the walls 

 were battered by our artillery in 1804). The crest of the hill is perpendicular rock for 

 an average of 50 feet, principally a natural precipice, but in some parts increased by 

 scarping. The walls occupy the whole crest of the hill and in some parts the terrepleine 

 of the rampart actually overhangs the precipiee, as in PI. IX. fig. 6. Wherever a shoulder 

 or spur of the Hill might afford a lodgment to an assailant, a lower rampart or Faussc 

 Braie is carried round, and encloses it, as seen at R. a. u. PL VI. fig. 1. 



(3) There is another approach to the S. E. called thePannah orBansakas gate (q. v.) 

 but it is now blocked up. 



(4) It is supposed that the Hindu worship had its origin in that of the Sun, which 

 seems to have been almost universally adored as the emblem of the Creator ; to which the 

 moon was joined, in order to meet the human ideas of generative power. These celestial 

 bodies were impersonated and other planets added as objects of worship. The common 

 origin of the Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, &c. idolatry is at once 

 apparent in the identity of the deities worshipped by different nations on the 7 days of the 

 week, to which they give these names :— 



Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are the Surya, Soma, Mangola, 

 Budh,Vrihaspati, Sukra and Shani or Sanichar of the Hindus, and the Sun, Moon, 

 Tuisco Woden or Odin, Thor, FreyaorFriga and Seaterofour own ancestors. The 

 Hindus make some of them of a different gender from the classical, but they appear to 

 worship some both as male and female, as the ancient Egyptians did the moon, &c. 



