1847.] 



Neilgherry Hills, 8^c. 



99 



India, at a period subsequent to its population by the Hindoo race, and 

 established themselves on the Neilgherries, where their descendants 

 are known as Thautawars ; in the same manner as the Massagetan 

 Scythians settled in the mountains in the North of India, where, ac- 

 cording to Sir William Jones, their posterity still continues. 



On the other hand, is the general belief of the Thautawars being 

 the aborigines of the hills. Were this theory established I should be 

 disposed to regard them as the aborigines of the plains as well, a 

 view that would account not only for the existence of the antiquities of 

 Scythicism or Druidism, I have observed in the plains of India, but 

 likewise for their presence on the hills. Scythicism I believe was the 

 religion prevailing among the aborigines of India prior to the Hindoo 

 invasion from Upper Egypt, which aborigines were of Scythian 

 origin. 



There was but one point wanting to confirm the identity of the 

 Thautawar and Scythian religions, and that has been furnished by 

 the Rev. Mr. Muzzy, whose personal observation of the religion of 

 the Thautawars entitles his opinion to the utmost respect. This 

 gentleman testifies to the existence of Sabeism amongst the Thau- 

 tawars. He states in his account of the Neilgherry tribes, publish- 

 ed in the Madras Christian Observer, that the Thautawars salute the 

 sun and a burning lamp when first seen. This superstition belonged 

 to the Scythians. Herodotus informs us that of the Scythian 

 Divinities, Vesta the goddess of fire was without competition the 

 first. He also enumerates Apollo (the sun.) The sun is said to 

 have been one of the great gods of the Asiatics under the name of 

 Mithra. We have already seen from Diodorus of Sicily that the 

 ancient Britons (Celtic Scythians) worshipped that luminary under the 

 name of Apollo, and it is supposed by some that the Cromlechs found 

 in Western Europe, which belonged to the Celts, were altars upon 

 which the sacred fire was constantly kept burning. Herodotus also 

 mentions in Clio that the Massagetoe sacrificed horses to the sun, their 

 only deity, thinking it right to offbr the swiftest of mortal animals to 

 the swiftest of immortal beings. 



Let me now compare the sacrifices of the Thautawars to their deity, 

 with those of the ancient Druids, (Celtic Scythians). My authority 

 for the ceremonies practised at the former is Mr. Muzzy, who says : 



" On some occasions the victim is a calf, in the selection of which 

 great pains are taken. It must be of a certain age and free from all 

 blemishes : numbers are often rejected before a proper one is found. 



