CUP-MARKINGS. 99 



To me there is a difficulty in accepting the conclusions at 

 which our author arrives. If the cup-markings were made by 

 modern Hindoos, or by a race practising Lingam or Mahadeo 

 worship, this explanation would be sufficient, but this same 

 writer distinctly tells us, and all authorities agree, " That the 

 customs and religion of the ancient tribes who are believed to 

 have erected these stone monuments, and to have made the 

 cup-marks, disappeared before the combined influence of 

 Brahminism, Buddhism and Jainism," how could the ancient 

 tribes have adopted from modern Hindoos this devise to 

 represent a deity or altar. 



With regard to the cup-marks at Bidranath, I consider 

 that the place was for some reason considered sacred by the 

 aboriginal inhabitants who made the cup-marks, and who 

 continued to practice their religious ceremonies on the spot 

 after their conquest by the Aryan tribes, who were thus led 

 to erect a temple to their Gods on the spot which already had 

 strong claims to sanctity, just as in Western Europe Christian 

 churches were often erected on the sites of Druidical temples. 



I think most of us will agree : — 



1st, That the ancient stone monuments of India are very 

 similar to those found in Western Europe, and there generally 

 called Druidical monuments. 



2nd, That they were erected by similar tribes, or by 

 people who had received their knowledge of such structures 

 from a common source. 



3rd, That one race of people spread in ancient times over 

 Western Asia, North Africa and all Europe, who in all these 

 parts had many customs and manners in common. 



4th, That these monuments (except the larger stone 

 circles), were sepulchral and probably marked the burial place 

 of some mighty chief. 



5th, That the cup-marks had some meaning, in some 

 cases they may be a kind of writing. 



6th, It is suggested that these monuments were not 

 erected in any of these countries until the aboriginal races, 

 who erected them, had been driven out of the level and more 

 fertile districts by a more powerful and more civilized people, 

 the Aryan races. 



The opposite theory has been advanced to account for 

 those in Western Europe, viz. : That they were erected 

 by a people newly arriving in those countries, invading it 

 from the sea, so that they mark the burial places of the 

 warriors of an invading race seeking to establish itself in a 

 new country. 



c 



