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been engraven on rocks and stones by Vedum and Yyasa, the 
friends of the Pandoos, communicating to them, by their means, 
such intelligence as was necessary to their safety; consoling them 
in their misfortunes, and warning them against the arts of Door- 
gad un. 
These transactions are supposed to have happened in the com- 
mencement of Kalee Youg, a period between four thousand eight 
hundred, and five thousand years ago: and some of the most respect- 
able Hindoos of the present day, entertain a firm conviction that these 
inscriptions are the authentic works ofVedum and Vyasa. It may 
be interesting to the lovers of Hindoo literature to be informed 
that this Vyasa is the reputed author of the Puranas. 
Such is the recent account of those inscriptions, and certainly 
there are many corroborating circumstances in the sculpture, espe- 
cially in the caves at the Elephanta, to strengthen this opinion; 
and particularly so at Mont-pesser, or Mundip Ishwur, on Salsette: 
at a little distance from whence there still remain six obelisks, in 
tolerable preservation. On some of them is a representation, in 
basso-relievo, of sea and land battles; the vessels engaged in a 
furious combat are extremely well represented: on others are 
carved the emblems of peace, and similar subjects, which may 
perhaps relate to the {era just mentioned. 
Before I conclude my account of these excavations, I must 
not omit the striking resemblance which has been observed between 
them and the sculptured grottos in Egypt; a circumstance which 
seems to imply that either the Egyptians copied from the Hindoos, 
or the Hindoos from them; the former is now generally allowed. 
Not far from the city of Assuan, the ancient Syen described by 
