70 A Note on Boodhism and the Cave 



plains of Shinar, and during the clear and translucent nights of 

 Chaldea, had little else to do than con the stars ; their's was the 

 belief in the seven planets, seven being to them a sacred number ; 

 these were the Sun, and Moon, (then considered as stars moving 

 round the earth,) Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn ; to 

 each in his turn was given the presidency of the several days of the 

 week. To these seven the family of Ham seem to have added an 

 eighth, whose influence according to the Indian astronomical system, 

 was equally diffused over the whole week, to this eighth planet 

 Cicero alludes in his tract De Natura Deorum. But it is more than 

 probable that as our researches advance we may find that they did, 

 as do the modern Boodhists, give a double influence to the Moon in 

 order to make up the number 9, which is a sacred and holy number ; 

 thus identifying their peculiar reverence for the number " nine," 

 with the reverence incidental to all savage minds, paid to the 

 Wandering Star, 



The next point to which attention must be paid is to color, 

 wherever found, whether of the drapery or parts of the drapery, 

 of the whole or parts of the figure. K Some most important con- 

 clusions might be arrived at by means of such colorings. 



To bring my subject to a close. As it is not probable that the 

 Government of India — (the master of twice as many subjects as any 

 other on the face of the globe, with the exception of China) will 

 undertake the investigation of the antient remains of their own land, 

 in the spirit, and on the scale that did the Government of France, 

 and the little one of Turin, those of a foreign country in the case of 

 Egypt ; I need not enter upon what probably would be the best way 

 to set about it. But there is one small portion, one mite which calls 

 for their immediate attention ; and that is the sending proper persons 

 to copy the painted caves of Ajunta. Upwards of a month of the 

 favorable season has elapsed; the jungles will soon be impassable 

 from malaria ; then will succeed the rains, which will add sadly to 

 the work of destruction, whole pieces of fresco being loosened from 

 the damp. It is difficult for words to describe the curious splendor 

 of these remains ; here may be seen painted in vivid colors, represen- 

 ations of the public, and social life of Antient India. In one com- 

 partment the public procession and the moving throng, in another 



