“ pillars, feveral of which are fingle ftones thirty-five feet long
“ and nearly five in diameter; and thofe which form the roof
“ are ftill la rg e r ; in the inmoft inclofures are the chapels.
“ About half a mile to the eaft o f Seringham, and nearer to the
“ Caveri than the Coleroon, is another large pagoda called Jurrt-
“ hakijlna, but this has only one inclofure. The extreme ve-
f* neration in which Seringham is held, arifes from a belief
“ that it contains the identical image of the god Wiflcbnu,.
“ which ufed to be worihipped by the god Brabma. Pilgrims
“ from all parts o f the peninfula come here to obtain abfolu-
“ tion, and none come without an offering of money; and a
* large part o f the revenue of the ifland is allotted for the
** maintenance o f the Brahmins, who inhabit the pagoda j and
“ thefe, with their families, formerly compofed a multitude not
“ lefs than forty thoufand fouls, maintained without labour by
“ the liberality o f fuperftition. Here, as in aH the other great
“ pagodas of India, the Brahmins live in a fubordination which
IS knows no refiftance, and ilumber in a voluptuoufnefs which
“ knows no wants ; and fenfible of the happinefs o f their COn-
“ dition, they quit not the filence o f their retreats to mingle in
“ the tumults of the ftate, nor point the brand flaming from
“ the altar againft the authority o f the fovereign, or the tran-
ff. quillity of the government.”
In the year 1751, our army, and that of the Nabob o f Arcot,
then defpoiled o f his territories by the French, who fupported
his rival Chunda-faheb, found it neceflary to poffefs themfelves of
this pagoda-, they entered as far as the third inclofure, but at the
earneft intreaties o f the Brahmins, defifted from going nearer to
6 the
the center, the place of the facred image. It is faid that at their
entrance into the firft, a Brahmin from the top of the gate, by
the moft pathetic fupplications endeavoured to avert this inundation
of pollution. When he found them to be in vain, he
fprung from the height, and dallied out his brains on the ftones
beneath *.
T he Fnglijh, not thinking their poft tenable, quitted the
pagoda. The French, under M. Law., took poffeffion both of
that of Seringham and JambakiJlna. In the following year
Major Laurence entered the ifland, and fent the. commandant
fummons to furrender at difcretion, which, after a vain refu-
fal, he thought proper to do. The unfortunate Chunda-faheb
was found in one of the Pagodas, and the aged prifoner immediately
put to death by order of a Panjorean general, to whofe
lot he had fallen t. A thoufand Raipoots were found among
the garrifon o f Seringham. Such was. their regard for the
fandlity of the place, that after the reft of the garrifon had retired,
they refufed to quit the temple, and threatened the
viiiors to cut them to pieces, i f they offered to'come within
the third wall. The Englijh, in admiration of their enthufiaf-
tic valour, engaged to give them no caufe of offence J.
In Lat. 11*. Long. 78° 20", E. the Cavery begins to be the C o im b e t o r e .
boundary between Barra-mahal and Coimbetore. Caroor, the
ftrongeft frontier town of the latter, was befieged and taken by
our fouthern army in April 1783, and the works in a little time
after totally demoliihed. Coimbetore was one of the ufurpations
* Sketches of the Hindoos, i. 209. t Orme, i. 241. X drme, 1. 240.
of