CHAPTER XXV. 



ANTIQUITIES, AND INTRODUCED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



OFHINDOOSTAN. 



The only monuments hitherto discovered in India that can be re- 

 garded as fairly ancient, are, the Caves, the hill-forts, and the Dowlu- 

 tabad fortification : situated, all of them, in the Western districts. 



My acquaintance with the Indian monuments, commenced at the 

 Caves of Elephanta. And I wondered at the presence of so much 

 architectural beauty, with nothing borrowed from Greece or Egypt; 

 and at the simplicity and grandeur of design, clearly, as in the last- 

 named instances, surpassing the conceptions of the present day. 



With regard, however, to the peculiar style of architecture, I have 

 thought to discover traces of the same, in drawings of the ancient 

 monuments of Cabul and Persepolis. 



a. The Budhist Caves. 



Two classes of caves, are recognised in India; the Budhist, being 

 the most ancient. And the principal Budhist caves hitherto disco- 

 vered, are, the two series at Karli, the series at Adjunta, and the 

 Kenneri Caves; all which, I visited. 



One of the caves at Karli, is of somewhat imposing dimensions : 

 and I could only compare it to a mould, formed in the rock, of a 

 fretted and vaulted palace. Among the columns, some are simple 

 and octagonal, like the proto-Doric columns of Egypt, (and in other 

 Budhist caves, I have even seen fluted columns); but this, was the 

 only semblance of a connexion in the architecture. 



Similar vaulted caves, but of smaller dimensions, occur in each 



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