[420] Byron.
[421] Some say he belonged to the fifth century. All agree that it was not later than the ninth.
[422] See p. 61.
[423] July 1833.—This gentleman’s name was Pareira.
[424] Religious Rites and Ceremonies.
[425] The Gaurs themselves did not build those towers, but finding them to their hand, and knowing them to have been formerly reverenced, they converted them to this purpose.
[426] One called Jachen, that is, he shall establish; and the other Boaz, or, in it is strength. This was all emblematical, which, without giving Solomon any participation therein, may be accounted for on the principle that the building was conducted under the superintendence of Hiram, a Sidonian, who naturally had exercised the taste of his own country in the discretion here allowed him. Nor will the circumstance of those pillars having been made of metal oppose any barrier—the design is the thing to be considered, not the material. And besides, we find them of metal elsewhere also.
“An iron pillar,” says Archer, “stands in a sort of courtyard, having the remains of cloisters on the four sides. Its history is veiled in darkest night. There is an inscription on it, which nobody can decipher: nor is there any account, historical or traditional, except we may refer to the latter class, a prevalent idea of all people, that the pillar is on the most sacred spot of the old city, which spot was also its centre. It is also said that as long as the pillar stood, so long would Hindustan flourish. This was the united dictum of the Brahmins and astrologers of the day. The pillar is fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter.”
[427] ανθρωπος εστι των παντων μετρον (Protagoras).
[428] 1 Kings viii. 27.