Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
whole literature according to Jaina writers, and afterwards the contents of the principal libraries.
The Sanskrit collection at Tanjor has now been thoroughly examined by Mr. A. Burnell, who is about to communicate the result of his labours in a Catalogue raisonné, to be printed in England.
The process of cataloguing Oriental MSS. has been carried on not less vigorously in this country. The catalogue of Arabic MSS. at the India
CROMLECHS IN MAISUR.
(From a Memorandum by Capt. R. Cole.)
WHEN on duty as Officiating Inam Commissioner of Maisur at Perisandra, which is situated in the Kolár district, about 48 miles on the road from Bangalor to Haidarabad, I happened to be riding across country, and found a monolith of which a rough outline is given (figure 1) in the accompanying sketches of the various specimens of ancient pottery found by me on the occasion. This monolith stood 11 feet 4 inches above the surface, and was 3 feet broad, with a thickness varying from 8 inches to 1 foot 3 inches. In the centre was marked (a and b) the forms of "Surya" (sun) and "Chandra" (moon), and below, as shewn in the sketch, were faint outlines of four lines with a few bars at right angles, which looked as if they had formed some inscription. Knowing that such monoliths were coeval and co-existent with those strange stone-cists, the origin and use of which have been matters of mere conjecture, I looked around for those magic circles of stone which generally surround the cromlechs. I soon found them in the vicinity, and, on making further enquiries, I found 54 cromlechs near the adjoining village of Máshalli.
[MARCH, 1873.
Office Library-including the hitherto entirely unknown Bijapur collection-which is in course of compilation by Dr. O. Loth, is all but complete. The catalogue of the magnificent collection of Sanskrit MSS., from both Northern and Southern India, is also progressing rapidly, though, on account of the large number of works to be examined and described, several years must elapse before it will become accessible to students.
I found them all exactly similar to those I had discovered in Kurg. They consisted of stone-cists, formed by single slabs of granite on the sides, and flagged at the bottom by similar slabs, with a large superincumbent block of granite, which was rough and unhewn. On digging away the earth in front of the east face, I found the same circular, or semicircular orifice, which formed the opening to the cist. These stone chambers were completely filled with earth, well rammed in by the action of time and floods, as of the deluge; and the curious specimens of antique pottery were found, as usual, piled up in the corners to the west, or opposite the entrance. The same small round vessels, vases on tripods, curiously but elegantly shaped vases of an egg-like form, impossible to stand by themselves, and larger round chatties, with smaller basins and plates, were also found in these cromlechs, as delineated in the sketch. Some of these vessels, which were of the usual red or black clay, well burnt and highly polished, were ornamented with circular lines round the neck and top. One (figure 10) had
round it an elegant beading, consisting of successive arrow-headed lines between two rings. In one of these cromlechs I found the only specimen of a handle (figure 7) I have yet come across. There.. was also a curiously shaped article (figure 5) in the shape of an elephant's tusk, which was made of a more whitish clay and not polished. It was partly hollow, and had an orifice at the centre (a). Figure 12 represents the exact size and form of three teeth, which were found close to the vessels; and figures 13 and 14 are evidently remnants of stone implements. Figure 15 represents a strange article, which I have never found before. It is half of a round hollow ball of burnt and polished clay, with a short handle, and a small round opening into the ball at the junction of the handle and ball. The finest vessel, however, I have yet discovered is delineated in figure 2. It is perfect with the exception of a small portion of the rim of the month, and has not a crack or flaw in it. It stands 2 feet 9 inches high, and is 5 feet 11 inches in circumference at the centre. It is elegantly shaped, and has a beading of oval rings between two lines, which do not join, but terminate in two knobs 4 inches apart, from which five oval rings are carried in a curve as noted in the sketch. The mouth is 3 feet 6 inches in circumference, and the neck of the vase is 2 feet 10 inches round. I am not aware that a finer specimen of such antique pottery has been found hitherto. Figure 3 is a fine vessel of the same size, but not of such an elegant form, and was made of unburnt clay. I have never before come across any that were not well baked. I regret to say that it has already fallen to pieces.
The following were the dimensions of the interior of the cromlechs excavated by me :
No. Length.
Breadth. Depth. Feet. inches. Feet. inches. Feet. inches. 1... 11 5 2... 8 4 3... 6
0 8 2
The dimensions of some of the superincumbent slabs were noted as follows:
No. Length.
Feet. inches.
8
1... 12
2... 8 3... 11
8
4
Breadth.
Feet.
8
6
10
9 0
0
8 2
Thickness.
inches. Feet. inches.
0
#1...
10
4 to 8 inches..