APRIL — sept. 1859.] The Cairns of Tinnevelly. 



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My first impression on inspecting these Cairns was, that they 

 are the sepulchres of the chiefs of the Aborigines ; for they closely 

 resemble the Cairns of the Aborigines of Ireland, wanting, how- 

 ever, that which would put the question beyond doubt, namely, any 

 primitive weapon, such as a flint spear head, weapons which are in- 

 variably found in the Irish Cairns. Yielding to the doubt which this 

 circumstance, and the apparently superior finish of the weapons 

 and pottery (superior to any thing Aborigines generally are found 

 to possess) gave rise to, I felt inclined to assign to them a Budhic 

 or Jainer origin, especially as the urns correspond exactly with 

 others discovered by me at a place about 40 miles N. W. of Tuti- 

 coreen, and of whose Budhic or Jainer origin there can be no 

 doubt, as they are found in a place, traditionally spoken of as 

 having once been a great Budhist town, but of which, the only ves- 

 tige now remaining is an image of Budh or the Jainer Maha Vera. 

 This image, I would remark here, is of enormous size ; in its sit- 

 ting posture it is above the height of an ordinary man, and is hewn 

 out of one solid block of mountain granite, it is in a field, exposed 

 to the ravages of man and of the weather, but is vi ell worthy a place 

 in any museum : there is not the slightest obstacle to its removal. 

 However, there is an objection to the theory that these Cairns are 

 Jainer, namely, the urns, of whose Jainer origin there can be 

 no doubt, are not surrounded with stone chambers, whereas the 

 Courtallum urns are, in this particular, resembling the Cairns of the 

 Irish Aborigines, and, per consequence, in claiming an early date ; 

 but the absence of primitive weapons, as well as the superior finish 

 of those which have been found some way destroying this claim to 

 antiquity. I should observe that at Courtallum I have not found 

 as yet any traces of the Budhic or Jain worship. Whereas in the 

 North of Tinnevelly, not far from the place where stands the cele- 

 brated image which I have alluded to there is a Sooprumanian 

 temple which abounds in Jainer figures cut in the solid rock in 

 alto-relievo, though at the present day there is not a Jainer to be 

 found in these parts. I would observe in conclusion, that the 

 Courtallum Cairns had no perpendicular stones about them; if 

 there ever had been any we should not wonder at their removal, as 

 they are just the thing which Natives would appropriate to them- 



