It having been my intention for some time to visit a few of the ruined cities whose decay has converted realms into desarts, and strewed the path of the shepherd with fragments of arches and pillars that once arose in majesty over heroic warriors, I set out in September 1826, for the purpose of examining the remains of the once celebrated city of Ahwuz, lying on the banks of the noble river Karun.

I have the honour to return you Sir James Mackintosh's interesting memoir. It possesses (like every thing which comes from the pen of that gifted and ingenious writer) the highest interest; and the ideas which are so luminously developed in it have the more merit, if we consider, that, at the period when this memoir was published, philosophical notions on the study and nature of languages were rarer and more novel than they are at present.

“Soon after my arrival in Nipál (now six years ago), I began to devise “means of procuring some accurate information relative to Buddhism: “for, though the regular investigation of such a subject was foreign “to my pursuits, my respect for sci ence in general led me cheerfully “to avail myself of the opportunity afforded, by my residence in a “Bauddha country, for collecting and transmitting to Calcutta the “materials for such investigation. There were, however, serious “obstacles in my way, arising out of the jealousy of the people in “regard to any profanation of their sacred things by an European, and “yet more, resulting from the Chinese notions of policy adopted by this “government. I nevertheless persevered; and time, patience, and “dexterous applications to the superior intelligence of the chief minister, “at length rewarded my toils.

The remains of ancient sculpture, called by Europeans the Seven Pagodas, on the Coromandel Coast, thirty-five miles south of Madras, have long attracted the attention of those who feel an interest in Hindu Archæology; and, so long ago as the year 1788, formed the subject of a paper in the first volume of the Asiatic Researches. The author, Mr. William Chambers, wrote from memory, after an interval of twelve years from the period at which he had visited the scene which he described, His account, unaccompanied as it was by drawings or fac similes of the inscriptions, could therefore scarcely be expected to be sufficiently minute to answer any further purpose than that avowed by himself, of exciting public attention, and “giving rise to more accurate observations, and more complete discoveries on the same subject.” In the fifth volume of the Asiatic Researches, published in 1798, there is a more descriptive account of these temples and excavations, written by Mr. Goldingham, a gentleman of well-known talent, on whose observations, as they were recorded on the spot, we may with confidence rely. Mrs. Graham is indeed a later writer on the subject: but her remarks are desultory, and her information imperfect, as might be expected from the opportunities presenting themselves to a casual and hasty visitor. In Bishop Heber's narrative three pages are devoted to a notice of Maha-Bali-poor. (Pages 216–218, vol. iii.) But the author merely follows the legends of the place, and evidently aims at nothing more than a record in his journal of his impressions on a cursory visit. The testimony, however, which this lamented prelate bears to the degree of skill displayed in these sculptures must, from his acknowledged taste, be looked upon as peculiarly valuable; and it is gratifying to one who has taken much interest in them to find, that he considered “some of the porticoes, temples and bas-reliefs as very beautifully executed,” and pronounced “the general merit of the work as superior to that of Elephanta.”

In all ages the ascendancy of the hierarchy is observable; it is a tribute paid to religion through her organs. Could the lavish endowments and extensive immunities of the various religious establishments in Rajast'han be assumed as criteria of the morality of the inhabitants, we should be authorized to assign them a high station in the scale of excellence. But they more frequently prove the reverse of this position; especially the territorial endowments, often the fruits of a death-bed repentance, which, prompted by superstition or fear, compounds for past crimes by posthumous profusion, although vanity not rarely lends her powerful aid. There is scarcely a state in Rajpootana in which at least one-fifth of the soil is not assigned for the support of temples, their ministers, the secular Brahmans, bards, and genealogists. But the evil was not always so extensive; the abuse is of modern growth.

The accompanying drawings of some of the sculptures in the cave temples of Ellora were made in the year 1813 ; since which time, until very recently, they have been in the possession of the Honourable Lady Hood (now Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie), for whom they were executed : and I have availed myself of that lady's permission to make them public through the medium of the Royal Asiatic Society.

It being deemed desirable that some explanation should accompany the interesting drawings, particularized in the preceding article on ancient Hindu sculptures from the Cave Temples of Ellora, made by Captain Grindlay, I hasten to fulfil the wishes of the council.

There are two modes by which they might receive illustration: one, supposing them to contain an astronomical allusion, as suggested by Dr. B. G. Babington; the other, from an allegory in the Hindu theogonies. A knowledge of the relative position of these sculptures in the Cave Temple would materially influence my decision on this point, as regards the two plates to which I shall chiefly confine my observations, viz. one, (No. 1) which I designate “The Fable of Dacsha Prajapáti, or Máhádéva, Dacsha, and Nanda;” the other (No. 2) Víra-Bhadra.” If these sculptures are contiguous to each other in the cave, then I have no doubt they represent the fable of the sacrifice of Sati, the consort of Máhádéva, and the formation of the giant Víra-Bhadra, to revenge her death by that of Dacsha: though even this allegory may possibly conceal an astronomical period.