450 



Proceedings of Societies. 



[Oct. 



{he highest authority for an accommodation such as that fox* which I plead. Though 

 the great truths proclaimed by the apostle Paul were the same in all circumstances, 

 they were introduced in very different ways to the Jewish Rabbis and people, and 

 to the members of the Athenian Areopagus. I must hold, that there is no little 

 unsuitableness in India, in addressing a Pantheist as a Polytheist, and vice versa : 

 in speaking to a Jaina as to a Brahman; in condemning that at random which the, 

 natives may suppose to be unknown, and in using theological terms, and general 

 phrases, without any very definite sense of their application by the natives them- 

 selves. The more a knowledge of Hinduism and of Hindu literature is possessed 

 by any teacher, the more patiently and uninterruptedly will he be listened to by 

 the people, and the more forcibly will he be enabled, and principally by contrast 

 and concession, to set forth the authority, and the excellence, of the doctrines of 

 Christianity. 



In connexion with the subject to which I have now adverted, I may allude to the 

 peculiar duty which devolves on us of collecting Sanskrita manuscripts. They 

 are to be found in a purer state in the Dakshan than in any other part of India, 

 and the poverty of the Brahmans leads them readily to part with them. Those 

 which were lately purchased by us are very valuable. 



The contributions of the members of our Society to the elucidation of Hindu 

 Antiquities, have done much to extend and support its credit. The proximity of 

 the ancient excavations, which may be classed among the wonders of the world, 

 could not fail to excite curiosity and inquiry. The descriptions and illustrations of 

 those of Gharipur (Elephanta), Sashti (Salsette), Karali (Carlee), Ferula 

 (Ellora), Bag and Ajanta*, though a few errors and oversights may be detected in 

 them, are highly interesting. Mr. Erskjne has satisfactorily shown the distin- 

 guishing characteristics of those of them which are respectively to be attributed to 

 the Baud'dhas and Jainas, and the Brahmans. It is to be hoped that the inscrip- 

 tions which are to be found on some of them, and which are in the Sanskrita 

 language, and in ancient characters very similar to those which have lately been 

 published in the ably conducted Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, will be 

 soon understood. The Rev. Mr. Stevenson has already been successful, to a great 

 extent, in decyphering, and translating those of the temples of Karali, and thus 

 leading to inferences by no means unimportant. Some of those of Kanadi, on 

 Salsette, I should think, from a partial trial, present no greater difficulties than 

 those which have been already overcome. The stone bearing the inscription of the 

 temples at Elephanta, we learn from Diego de Couto the Portuguese Annalist, 

 ■was sent to John the Third of Portugal about the year 1534, and is probably now 

 either in the Royal Museum of Lisbon, or in the University of Coimbra. The 

 Royal Asiatic Society may, without difficulty, procure a transcript. . There are 

 excavated temples in the country, such as those of Nasik, and Junar, and others 

 which have been erected, such as those of Abu, Palatina and Girnar, which have 

 not yet been particularly described. What we principally require in reference to 

 them all, is information as to the time at which, and the views with which, they 

 were constructed; an estimate of them as works of art, or as indicative of the 

 resources of those to whom they are to be ascribed; and an inquiry into the reli- 

 gious rites and services, for which they have been appropriated, and the moral 

 impressions which they seem fitted to make on those resorting to them. They are 

 worthy of attention only as they may illustrate the civil and religious history, or 

 practices, of the country. The grants of land, engraven on copper-plates, many 

 of which are still to be found in different parts of the country, are next to them in 

 importance in the advancement of antiquarian research. One of these was trans- 



5 Written by Messrs, Salt, Erskine, Colonel Syk.es, &c. 



