Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/178

 150

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

spring, filling a large basin in the rock, about 14 yards across. The place is now resorted to for sacred ablutions. The water is clear and limped, but there floats on the surface a white powder or formation of lime, which, when collected in a cloth

and dried, resembles white sand. Beyond this point the cave has not been penetrated in the memory of man, but there are galleries running further on into the rock, and local traditions tell of under-ground

passages to Banares and Rameshwaram. The rock through which the cave extends is disintegrated, and readily crumbles away, which will probably ac count for the natural formation of the cave by the action of water. It may be surmised that it was used

as a place of habitation by the aboriginal races, whose descendants we probably see in the Yanadis and Yerakalas.

There is also a tradition that it

was at one time inhabited by a band of recluses,

probably during the Buddhist era. About twenty years ago a Saniyasi, by name Lakshmi Nārāyan appā, took up his abode here, and improved the passage leading to the spring, and revived its cele brity. Brahmanism found it desirable to give it a sacred tradition which runs to the following effect :—Machukandudu was a royal saint who be

longed to the Solar race in the age before Rāma. Wearied out with his exertions in carrying on a war with the Rákshasas—a term always used here as designating the Buddhists—he retired to this cave, and, like Rip van Winkle, indulged himself in a sleep for some centuries. Meantime, the war between the Devatas and Rákshasas continued, and, in course of time, the Rákshasas beset Krishna, who took refuge in the depths of this cave and disap

peared. The Rákshasas entering the cave in pursuit of Krishna, disturbed the rest of Machukundudu, who arose like a giant refreshed and extirpated the

[May 3, 1872.

the Scythic or Turanian immigration. Of their great antiquity I believe there can be no doubt. They may be found in the enclosures of many temples. A number of them are either collected around a tree—very often the Ficus religiosa—af fording corroborative evidence of the antiquity of tree and serpent-worship in this part of the country, •r they are ranged along the outer wall of the ten ple, and are regarded with peculiar veneration by the lower classes of the people. In some villages I have seen an old serpent-stone which has probably been turned up in cultivating the ground, installed in a shrine of its own as the popular object of wor ship. These sculptures are of the roughest and

rudest description ; the forms of the snakes are very varied, and an interesting collection of photographs might be made from these stones, which are proba bly the earliest representations of native art existing in the country.

III. Scythic remains of Sepulture.—These consist

of cromlechs, sepulchral tumuli, and stone circles, and are found in several parts of the Palnad, etc. My researches were made in the neighbourhood of

Karunpudi. I found the cairns much resembling those in the Koimbatur district and on the Nilgiris. There is a large field covered with these cairns, many of which have been opened and examined. It may be desirable to issue some orders for the

preservation of those that remain, as they are very interesting relics.

In every instance there is a large flat stone upon the top of the kist-vaen, which is formed with care

fully selected flat stones placed on edge, so as to form a square or oblong chamber.

In one of the

sides there is often a sort of entrance left.

Some

slabs, com municating with an adjacent chamber in which times there is a hole in one of the side

descendants of his old foes.

pottery, etc., is found. The kist-caen is entirely

The cave at Sanagallu I have not visited, but it is said to be entered by descending a sort of well.

under-ground, the upper slab being all that is visi

The galleries are said to run an immense length

cavate about four or five feet through sand and

into the rock, but the passage is over-grown and has not been entered for many years.

usually be found divided into two or four cells or

At Stirugurata there is a rock-spring which never runs dry, and a natural reservoir. It is much resorted to on sacred days for bathing. There are also other caves in the Palnad.

ble. On removing this slab it is necessary to ex stones. Then, if the kist-vaen be a large one, it will compartments. In each of these is found a quan tity of burnt human bone, and beside them—but not

holding them—a collection of cinerary urns and

I saw

vessels of baked clay of various shapes and sizes—

several in the banks of the Krishna, on the Haidarā bād side, as I came down the river in a boat.

pottery resembling the common chatties of the pre sent day, as well as vases, basins, and cups of antique

In other parts of the district the only other na

and graceful forms now quite out of use. In some cases the pottery is burnt red throughout ; in some burnt black throughout ; in some half burnt : in some red outside and black within ; and sometimes

tural caves I have come across are at Mangalagiri and Undavalli in the Guntur Taluqa. These two places, seven miles apart, are said to be connected by an under-ground passage. All that is to be seen is a passage going into the rock, but it has not been explored in the memory of man, and is said to be it fested with snakes.

II. Very ancient sculptures of Snakes, belonging probably to the Takshakas or Dasyus, or whoever may have been the races that inhabited the country before

it is hand-glazed. These vessels were probably used to contain offerings or provisions for the dead. They are generally found in an inverted position.

In one

tomb I opened there was a portion of an ivory or bone bracelet, but I came across no iron implements, such as I have found in the Koimbatur cairns. The

size of the bones, teeth, etc., show the race of men