DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5831#0051
84
SCENES IN INDIA.
the least staggered my belief in the oral tradition of
the Bramins, respecting the former existence of a city
on the spot where this pagoda now stands.
At some little distance above the sculptured rock
there is a remarkable mass of unfractured granite,
which has been so nicely poised by nature upon a
pointed base, forming an obtuse inverted cone, that it
may be easily rocked by a single arm, though a hun-
dred would not dislodge it from its ancient bed. If it
were squared, judging of course from a very imperfect
admeasurement, I should imagine that it would form
a cube of at least twenty feet. It resembles the crom-
lechs to be found in Cornwall and other parts of
Great Britain. During our stay at this extraordinary
place, a very melancholy circumstance occurred. The
man who was charged with the tappal or post-bag,
while on his way from a neighbouring town, had been
assailed by an alligator, as he was crossing a sheet
of water which intersected his route. The creature
attacked him in the middle of the stream, and though
he escaped being devoured by the successful energy
of his struggles, he was nevertheless so severely bitten,
that he died a few minutes after he gained the land,
which he managed to do with extreme difficulty. His
body was dreadfully lacerated. The tappal was after-
wards found in the water.
We spent several days at Mahabalipuram, examin-
ing all the extraordinary monuments of art in its
neighbourhood, which abounds with objects of natural
as well as of artificial interest. Mr. William Daniell
took the opportunity, during our stay, of making
several very accurate and finished drawings; and
SCENES IN INDIA.
the least staggered my belief in the oral tradition of
the Bramins, respecting the former existence of a city
on the spot where this pagoda now stands.
At some little distance above the sculptured rock
there is a remarkable mass of unfractured granite,
which has been so nicely poised by nature upon a
pointed base, forming an obtuse inverted cone, that it
may be easily rocked by a single arm, though a hun-
dred would not dislodge it from its ancient bed. If it
were squared, judging of course from a very imperfect
admeasurement, I should imagine that it would form
a cube of at least twenty feet. It resembles the crom-
lechs to be found in Cornwall and other parts of
Great Britain. During our stay at this extraordinary
place, a very melancholy circumstance occurred. The
man who was charged with the tappal or post-bag,
while on his way from a neighbouring town, had been
assailed by an alligator, as he was crossing a sheet
of water which intersected his route. The creature
attacked him in the middle of the stream, and though
he escaped being devoured by the successful energy
of his struggles, he was nevertheless so severely bitten,
that he died a few minutes after he gained the land,
which he managed to do with extreme difficulty. His
body was dreadfully lacerated. The tappal was after-
wards found in the water.
We spent several days at Mahabalipuram, examin-
ing all the extraordinary monuments of art in its
neighbourhood, which abounds with objects of natural
as well as of artificial interest. Mr. William Daniell
took the opportunity, during our stay, of making
several very accurate and finished drawings; and