1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 149 



will be little difficulty in giving the same people credit for the ability 

 that was required to quarry stones 15 tons in weight, and to place 

 them in their present position. 



If the Cromlechs could be shown to be in any way connected with 

 the Himarpanti temples in their neighbourhood, the question of 

 origin might be readily settled. That the Bhuddists are exceedingly 

 particular in preserving memorials of their dead, will be admitted by 

 all who have seen the extraordinary number of slabs collected in 

 some of the valleys of the snowy range, and the care evinced in 

 covering each of these slabs with characters expressive of the virtues 

 and hopes of the departed. Occasionally these collections of stone 

 memorials are 120 feet and upwards in length, 6J broad, and from 

 4| to 5 feet in height, or nearly 4,000 cubic feet in extent. In the 

 slabs so collected — and I examined a great number — I did not find 

 a single one upon which the characters cut were not clearly traceable. 

 Several were 2 feet in superficial area, and entirely covered with 

 writing. The people assured me that the whole of these piles of 

 slabs consisted of written memorials of the dead, and that they were 

 brought from all parts of the country. In none of the Cromlechs that 

 I have seen, have I been able to discover traces of any writing, however 

 faint. What, however, struck me as peculiar both in the Cromlechs 

 of the Godavery, and in the collections of the snowy range, was the 

 extraordinary care taken by the people in massing these memorials 

 in particular places. 



The stone temples south, west, and north of the Cromlechs at Hydrabad 

 and on the ridges adjoining the Godavery, are unmistakeably Bhuddist, 

 as are also the Ellora and Adjanta Caves. The enclosed* photographs 

 of the great Dragon of the modern Jain temple at Karinjah, is similar 

 in form to those noticeable in the caves and Himarpanti temples of 

 the Nizam's country. The peculiar feature in all is the eye, which is 

 represented as capable of elongation. I may add that I have seen pain- 

 tings on silk (native offerings for temples) brought from Llasa in several 

 of which I noticed the same Dragon, but with longer horns. The 

 Bhuddist figures, with the palms resting upon the turned-up soles of 

 the feet, are unmistakeable and are sufficient in the absence of all 

 other signs to indicate the source of most of the old stone structures 

 * (Not enclosed, nor yet received ; J. T. W.) 



