256 



DR THOMAS A. WISE ON THE 



the slabs were dressed. In one found near Rodroog (fig. 2), by the late Col. Mac- 

 kenzie, Surveyor-General of India, there was an attempt at sculpture ; proving a 

 certain advance in ornamental art. Sometimes they were surrounded by circles 

 of stones. 



3. Obelisks, or as they are frequently called, Standing Stones. Such large 

 tapering, erect stones, or obelisks, are found in all Celtic countries, and resemble 

 topes or solid cairns in Buddhist countries ; one kind being funereal, erected over 

 the grave of an individual ; another, memorial, to commemorate some event ; and 

 a third being dedicated to the Deity. In general, such stones are placed over the 

 dead in the Celtic countries of Europe, and are likewise found in Central India, as 

 well as in Bengal and its neighbourhood. The 

 drawing (fig. 3) represents such stones, as 

 found in Central India by Col. Mackenzie. 

 What renders this monument interesting is, 

 that it appears to have formed part of a 

 cairn similar to that mentioned above, which 

 was surrounded by a circle of stones. In 

 many parts of India, however, such large 

 blocks of stone are not to be procured ; and py- 

 ramidal structures, spires, or " muts" (fig. 4), 

 evidently modifications, under the pressure of circumstances, of the original mono- 

 lithal erection, were had recourse to. These are still erected by Hindus. They 

 are sometimes cenotaphs, at other times mausoleums. In the former case, the 

 wealthy erect these buildings as memorials of the dead ; and in the latter, over 

 the ashes of their relations, or over a bone of their body, after it has been purified 

 by fire, on the banks of a sacred river. In this way each of the Maha-rajahs of 

 Tipperah has a spire (fig. 4), erected over a bone of his predecessor, on the banks 

 of the sacred Teeta River. A favourite wife, particularly if she had become a Suttee, 

 had often a mut erected over some of the ashes of the body. In these cases the 

 spires were usually smaller than those over the husband. These muts often con- 

 tain an image of Siva or Kalee ; others contain a linga (priapus), or a flat stone 

 supporting a central pillar, representing the regenerator Siva, or Nature under 

 the male and female symbols. These buildings are varied according to the means 

 and the taste of the individual. In general, they consist of one, but in other cases, 

 of many spires. 



4. Circles of Stones. The circles of stones appear to have formed sacred spots, 

 intended for other purposes besides that of being depositories for the remains of the 

 dead. Of these, examples were found in the same retired places as the cromlechs in 

 Central India. They are often of the same size as in this country, and, like them, 

 are formed of boulders. One, of which a drawing is now before me, forms a circle of 

 32 feet ; another of 26 feet ; and a third is 30 by 27| feet. As the arts improved in 



