________________
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 account 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 Narayanappâ, took up his abode here, and improved the passage leading to the spring, and revived its celebrity. Brahmanism found it desirable to give it a sacred tradition which runs to the following effect:-Machukandudu was a royal saint who belonged to the Solar race in the age before Râma. Wearied out with his exertions in carrying on a war with the Rakshasas-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 Rakshasas continued, and, in course of time, the Rakshasas beset Krishna, who took refuge in the depths of this cave and disappeared. The Rakshasas entering the cave in pursuit of Krishna, disturbed the rest of Machukundudu, who arose like a giant refreshed and extirpated the descendants of his old foes.
The cave at Sanagallu I have not visited, but it is said to be entered by descending a sort of well. The galleries are said to run an immense length into the rock, but the passage is over-grown and has not been entered for many years.
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. I saw several in the banks of the Krishna, on the Haidarânâd side, as I came down the river in a boat.
In other parts of the district the only other natural 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 infested 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
[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-affording 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 temple, 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 worship. 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 probably 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.
the top of the kist-vaen, which is formed with careIn every instance there is a large flat stone upon 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. Sometimes there is a hole in one of the side slabs, communicating with an adjacent chamber in which pottery, etc., is found. The kist-vaen is entirely ble. On removing this slab it is necessary to exunder-ground, the upper slab being all that is visicavate about four or five feet through sand and stones. Then, if the kist-vaen be a large one, it will Usually be found divided into two or four cells or compartments. In each of these is found a quantity of burnt human bone, and beside them-but not holding them-a collection of cinerary urns and vessels of baked clay of various shapes and sizespottery resembling the common chatties of the present day, as well as vases, basins, and cups of antique 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 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
