668 Notes on the Ruins at Mahdbalipuram. [No. 7. 



great Bali," is only known at the present day to the Brahmins, and 

 to Europeans who derived all their information either directly or 

 indirectly from the Brahmins : and as there is no reason to believe 

 that Sanscrit or Hindee was at any epoch the vernacular of that 

 part of the country, we can hardly suppose that such a purely San- 

 scrit name ever was in common use thereabouts. Had the current 

 name among the people been one that might possibly be considered 

 a Tamul version of this significant epithet, we might certainly give 

 some weight to the fact of such a name lingering about these re- 

 markable antiquities : but on the contrary the common names of 

 Mallapoor or Mavellipooram are* said to have no such meaning ; 

 and the similarity of sound would rather favour the idea that the 

 Brahmins finding these remains with a name firmly annexed, adapted 

 both to their own purposes ; by fixing upon that one of their fabu- 

 lous heroes, to whose title the foreign word could most easily be 

 converted. Their own books do not afford much support to their 

 present claims. The Mahabharata describes the city as being 



" South of the Ganges 200 Yojanas, 5 Yojanas westward from the 

 eastern sea/' It must be admitted that we do not know the exact 

 equivalent of the Indian Tojana :t but it has generally been considered 

 between nine and twelve miles, either of which would carry us far 

 south of Ceylon ! If therefore this quotation refers to any city on 

 the present continent of India we must greatly reduce the length of 

 the Yojana : say to five or even four miles which would about bring 

 us to the latitude of Mavellipuram. But we must suppose that the 

 proportion of two hundred to five was somewhat near the truth : 

 and this would oblige us to look for Bali's capital not on the sea- 

 shore but twenty miles inland, where to the best of my information 

 no vestige of a city remains. If we assume the Yojana five miles 



* I cannot speak positively nor of my own knowledge, not being sufficient of a 

 Tamul scholar. 



f A Pundit in this neighbourhood (Rohilcund) called it " four kos:" which 

 would be from five to six English miles ; as the local kos is seldom as much as 

 one-half miles : and from a note to Chap. 22, of Fa Hian's pilgrimage it would 

 seem that farther south the Yojana was only four miles. 



