52 Buddhism and Odinism. [No. 1. 



idea and design," of the Celtic structures of Europe and the Bud- 

 dhist relics of India, are most curiously illustrated, and from their 

 study, the learned author was led to the inference " that races of 

 Asiatics proceeded westward at different ages and established them- 

 selves along the shores of the Baltic and the Mediterranean seas, 

 and part of the Atlantic ocean ; along which they have left character- 

 istic monuments which resemble those of their original country."* 



The next source of evidence of the identity of the Buddhists and 

 the Odinists are their tumuli or mounds, which, in their most 

 primitive form, were cairns or burrows — small heaps of earth marking 

 the spots where were deposited the dead or their ashes ; and in 

 their full development appeared as the Topes of India and the 

 haugs or tumuli of North Western Europe. In idea and design, 

 they bear even a greater similitude to each other, than do the 

 megaliths. They are generally, though not invariably, sepulchral, 

 and are always intended to record the memory or the acts of saints, 

 or men distinguished for their superior knowledge of religion. 



Professor Holmboe's object in the memoir under notice is to prove 

 this similitude. "With that view he has examined the topes with 

 reference to their size, their design, their grandeur, their symbolism, 

 their interior arrangements, and their accessories, and his work 

 attests the zeal, industry and success with which he has achieved 

 his purpose. 



The first section of the work is devoted to the examination of the 

 Topes as the memorials of saints or their actions. He says " accord- 

 ing to the lege] ids of the Buddhists, they had, several centuries before 

 the commencement of our era, adopted the custom of raising large 

 monuments for preserving the relics of Buddha and of his principal 

 disciples ; and sometimes for perpetuating the memory of some of 

 his actions on the spots where they had happened. 



" These edifices are generally of colossal proportions, and are con- 

 structed of stones or bricks on a basement which is sometimes 

 formed of a regular quadrangular wall ; and at other times of blocks 

 of rough stones thrown together without any order. These are 

 called in Sanskrit stupa, which strictly signifies " a heap," " a mound," 



* Vide passim the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, Vols. XIII. and 

 XIV. pp. 47 and 77 et seq. respectively, and Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes. 



