8

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

[JANUARY, 1873.

KIstv AEN.—Any stone structure found under

on the annual day of worship he has the right

the present surface of the soil in barrows, tu muli, or circles. MENHIRs.—Standing monoliths whether plain

of presenting his offering of fruit and flowers before every one in the village—taking prece

or ornamented. All the above different kinds of remains are to be found in the Hassan district.

Polliam on the Bangalor-Mangalor road ; two

“pujāriship” is jealously asserted and often gives rise to disputes among relatives. I have seldom seen a village temple without the tree known in Canarese as “Kanigalu” growing close by. This tree has a large white flower with yellowish centre, the leaves do not come forth

near Arsikerri in the Harnhalli taluka.

I have

until after the tree has flowered. The flowers

not had time to examine them thoroughly, but sufficiently so to justify my saying they are bond ſide mounds of made earth, the work of men's hands. A peculiarity with regard to those

which have a strong scent are sacred to the village deities alone, and are never to be seen

now under notice is that we have two barrows

mens which are used as temples is a peculiarity

close together, not three yards apart, and where one is round the other long. The proximity of the one to the other, and there being no others in the immediate neighbourhood, would justify our thinking them both the work of the same

it is difficult to account for.

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BARRows.-I have as yet only come across four : two close together, about 4 miles from

race.

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The barrows near Polliam were, it is said, made in order that a Polygar, who belonged to the left hand caste, might from the top make his daily salām to the Rāja who lived close by. Near

dence even of the Brahmans.

The right to the

adorning the altars of the more orthodox Brah manical gods. The very small size of these dol -

TUMUL1.—There is a fine specimen of this class close to the ford over the Kāveri near

Gunni on the Chenraipatam-Nursipur road. From its size, the trouble expended on its con struction, and its position it is evidently the last resting-place of some chief who fell in de fending or forcing the passage over the ford. He was not the only one over whose remains a

mound was erected : close by are smaller

those at Arsikerri is a menhir where, according

mounds sacred to the memory of minor chiefs

to the natives of the place, the Polygar's ele phant was tied while he and the principal per sons of his Court from the top of the barrows watched the public games held in the fields

whose names and deeds are buried in the long forgotten past. The large tumulus is surround ed by three circles of upright stones. One

around.

feet apart, are half-way up the slope. The whole

DolmENS.–Throughout the district, no mat ter how mean its appearance or few its inhabi tants, every village has its temple or temples

of the surface of the sides is covered with large

sacred to the “village” god or, more correctly,

med the lustre with which the quartz once sparkled. But at night in its pristine state, when each facet of quartz helped to reflect the

goddess. None of these temples are large, and many are rude attempts at copies of the temples

Śiva,

round the bottom; the other two, about four

pieces of white quartz. Time, and “flowers of the stone,” as the natives call lichen, have dim

showing clearly that Brah

moon's pale but silvery light, the effect must

manical influence has been at work in that par ticular village. Still, however strong this in fluence may be, close to the more modern vil lage temple is always found its prototype, the dolmen, under the protecting slab of which the rude stone representing the goddess Mariamma

have been striking, and this monument appeared worthy of him to whom it had been consecrated.

dedicated to

finds shelter.

These dolmens are

formed of

three side slabs with one or two slabs for a top. One side is always open, and there appears to be no particular direction for this opening since in different dolmens it faces all the points of the compass. Very few of these true village temples exceed three feet in height; some are only one foot. The best specimens, as is to be expected, are to be found in out-of-the-way villages. The

pujäri or priest is of the low Holyar caste, and

The principal tumulus rises 15 feet above the

crest of the ridge on which it is built. It is almost circular, and the diameter at the top about 75 feet. It is made entirely of black clay, with here and there a thin layer of sand. We dug a pit down through the centre until

we came to the original surface of the ground, but found nothing, not even a kistvaen.

The

villagers afterwards told us that years and years ago, so their fathers had told them, this tumulus had been examined and a horn and bangle found.

CRoMLECHs.—I have come across none in this

district, but since the neighbouring district of