mote times did not universally follow the mode of sepulture now in use by their descendants, the followers of Zertûsht; but that, after the birds or dogs had torn part of their bodies, the remains were wrapped up and consigned to the earth. Herodotus and Strabo mention the fact of their being waxed, and Sextus Empiricus that of their being inclosed in bitumen. It seems not improbable that the urns found at Bushire contain the remains of two ancient Persian fire-worshippers; the bones were probably those of poor people, who used an urn of baked clay as a cheap and effectual method of excluding the elements; and the bones were not probably deposited in them till they had been blanched and purified by the exposure of the corpse to the air, and to birds and beasts of prey.

At what time the Persians first abandoned all bodies, those of the people as well as of the Magi, indiscriminately to the birds and beasts, does not appear: several changes did certainly take place at different periods in the religion of Zoroaster; and though the dokhmahs or general tombs are mentioned in writings of great antiquity, I know no evidence of their universality till the final triumph of the religion of Zoroaster.

"De

In the Desâtêr, a work which exists as a riddle in Persian antiquities, the body is allowed to be disposed of in various ways after death. posit the corpse in a vase of aquafortis, or in fire, or in the earth; and after a death read the Desatêr and give an alms to the true believers, that the soul of the departed may attain beatitude; for in the sight of Mizdam* nothing is more pleasing than charity +." The ancient commentator remarks; "Those of the true faith act, regarding the dead, in the following manner. After the soul has left the body, they wash it in pure water, and dress it in clean and perfumed vestments; they then put the corpse into a vase of aquafortis, and when the body is dissolved, carry the liquid to

* The great Yezdan or god.

+ ناستار را دم هوکار با در آب یا ادورد یا اونچان پانترید فیز ما ستار دساتیر نایند و چمیز فر شمیران مهید داهورا فركنوني رسمد بمیار مزدام پیرالماس فرکنونتر بز فلاب لاد

some place far from the city, and pour it out, or otherwise they burn it attired as it is, in the fire; or they construct a dome and make a deep pit within it, strengthen and whiten it with stone, brick, and mud; on the edges of it they form places and platforms on which they range the dead: or they bury a vase in the earth and inclose the corpse in it, or bury a coffin* in the ground;-but the best of all these means in the estimation of the Fersendajians was to use the vase of aquafortis." Leaving the question regarding the age and authenticity of that singular work for examination at a future time, I shall at present only assume that a Parsee wishing to forge sacred writings would avail himself of whatever historical knowledge remained regarding the ages in which the holy book was supposed to be communicated. In this point of view, the mode of disposing of the dead described both in the text and commentary, while they differ extremely from that now in use, which probably has always been practised while the religion of Zertusht was in force, reflects considerable light on the facts given us by Herodotus, as well as on the epigram of Dioscorides. It is plain from the narrative of Herodotus, that a religion new to a great part of the Persian empire was then forcing its way. The + True believers of the ancient religion of Mah-Abad.

* Tabûd.

پس از آنچه فرسند اجیان در باره مرده کرده اند آنست که پر جداي روان تن را باب پاک شونید و جا مهاي نیکو و بو یا درد پوشانند پس نیکو نه تن او را در خم تند آب اندازند چون گداخته شود آن ابر آبجاي دور از شهر برده ریزند در نه بدین ارایش باش توز انهز يا كنبدي سازند دردن آن جابي بمین کنند و انرا ترابنگ و حشت و ریشت استوار و متغیر سازند و در کند از پاي آن جایها باشد و تختها گذاشت مرده را بر افر از تخت خـدا بانند یا خم در خاک فرو برند و در آن مرده را جا دهند یا تا بود نرمین نهان سازند را بیشتر بدان فرسند اجیان کار کردندي خم تند آب بود

Magi seem to have been an object of terror in some provinces; it was not probably till their power was firmly established, that the common and promiscuous tomb became universal, as from the testimony of Procopius and Agathias it appears to have done. In the instance of Euphrates, a Persian slave in a foreign country, who could not secure the ceremonies of his own religion to his dead body, requests that at least no more defilement of the elements should take place than was absolutely necessary: that the fire, the great object of reverence, should not be violated; that the water, which if it flows communicates pollution, or if restrained corrupts and diffuses it to the air also, might not be defiled; but that his body might be wrapped up and deposited in the earth, whereby the elements would suffer the least defilement.

It is from comparing these texts, therefore, that I am of opinion that the urns in question contained the bones of Persians, whose bodies were de posited in them while the usages described by Herodotus and the commentator on the Desâtêr were in force, before the whole of Persia was reduced to a strict observance of the religion of Zertûsht. In such inquiries, however, there is always considerable uncertainty, particularly when the inquiry relates to a country in which there were so many obscure heresies as there appear to have been in Persia at various æras of its history.

XV.

ACCOUNT OF THE CAVE-TEMPLE OF ELEPHANTA,

WITH A PLAN AND DRAWINGS OF THE PRINCIPAL FIGURES.

By WILLIAM ERSKINE, Esq.

Read November 2, 1813.

Few remains of antiquity in the East have excited greater curiosity than the cave-temples of the Hindûs. History does not record any fact that can guide us in fixing the period of their excavation, and many opposite opinions have been formed regarding the religion of the people by whom they were made. As nothing directly elucidating their origin or object can be gathered from history or tradition, it only remains practicable to form some probable conjectures on the subject, by a comparison of their present appearance, with such circumstances as we have been able to ascertain regarding the modern or more ancient religions of the Hindûs. And as some of these excavations have evidently been formed by men differing from each other in their mythological opinions, if we would examine them with any degree of success, for the purpose of discovering to which particular sect any one of them belongs, it is previously necessary to comprehend something of the various religions which have prevailed in this country.

It is well known that all India from the earliest times has been divided among three grand sects; the Brahminical, Bouddhist, and Jaina, all of them differing in their tenets and ceremonies.

The question regarding the relative antiquity of these different sects is one chiefly of curiosity. The Brahminical seems to establish the best claim to be considered as the most ancient. All of these sects, with many tenets in common, have also opinions that separate them widely from each other. The Brahminical religion, in its secret and esoteric doctrines, ap