1877.] Ancient Sculpturings on roclcs in Kamaon. 5 
ted for their large number by saying that the yard was the burial-place of men 
of great sanctity, some of whom bad been brought from great distances for 
interment there, and that Mahadeos of an elaborate or poor class were 
placed over the tombs according to the means of the deceased’s friends. I 
have at this moment no means of verifying whether any particular class 
of Hindus are buried in the bills, or whether my informant intended to 
convey that ashes only were deposited beneath the shrines, but on this 
point there will be no difficulty in obtaining information. 
14. A few days later I visited, in company with Mr. William Craw, 
the proprietor of the beautiful Diinagiri estate, the summit of the Panda- 
koli (Col du Geant ?) mountain, which rises to a height of nearly 8,000 
feet above the sea, to the north-east of the Dunagiri Tea Factory. Here 
we found a small open place of worship, composed of two stone circles of 
the shape and dimensions shewn in pi. IV, Fig. B, sketch VI. The outer 
circle was of rough stones piled one on the other, with large stones at the 
entrance. The inner circle was partly of large stones about 3|- feet measur¬ 
ing above the ground, partly of smaller ones—very large stones not being 
available on the summit. The entrance was to the south. The inner circle 
was 8 feet, the outer 16 feet in diameter. In the centre of the inner 
circle were several Mahadeos, stones split off from the neighbouring rocks and 
roughly shaped. The shrine was open to the elements on all sides, save 
where it was partially sheltered by a wild guelder rose to the branches of 
which some rags had recently been attached as votive offerings by visitors 
to this place of pilgrimage. A small iron lamp, an old hell, and three small 
tridents, or ‘ trisuls ’, (from the summit of the hill, by the way, a grand 
view of the three snow peaks of the Trisul mountain and of Nanda Devi 
may be obtained) completed the furniture of this rustic temple. No 
priest lives on the hill, which is too cold, jungly, and inaccessible for length¬ 
ened sojourn, but a fair is, I learn, held there in the spring, when many 
pilgrims, chiefly barren women, visit the shrine. 
15. The construction of the temple, as shewn in pi. IV, sketch VI, fig. 
B., appears of some interest when considered in connection with the rock 
cuttings and shrines at Chandeshwar, some 15 miles distant. Here, as the 
sketch will shew, are two circles, complete save where the “ gutter” forms 
the entrance. The Mahadeos are in the centre of the inner circle. 
16. Another circumstance perhaps deserving of notice is the position 
of a monolith Mahadeo, 5£ feet above the ground, situated 8 feet south¬ 
west of the shrine, a second monolith of almost the same size was 80 feet 
due west of the first. If I remember right, the shape of the temple is the 
same, or nearly the same, as that of Stonehenge, and Avebury, and the 
outer monolith is in the same position to the Pandakoli shrine, as the 
“ Friar's Heel ” is to Stonehenge. 
