Whether this exposition prove eccentrical or otherwise, and, by inspection, it can be readily ascertained, I cannot presume to determine; nor indeed does it value much.[205] With one thing, however, I am gratified, that in Archer’s Travels in Upper India, published, as before observed, within the last few weeks, I find that distinguished soldier and shrewd observer, delineate a piece of architecture similar in all particulars to this Syrian Priap—the allusion to which has recalled me to ring this second chime upon the bells—and as the notice is of value, I shall give it in his express words: “A curious structure,” says he, “is at the bottom of the hill (Dutteah). It consists of five conical pillars, with green painted tops, in a line from east to west; the two larger ones in the centre: the pillars have tiles stuck in them resembling steps. We could not learn what was its meaning or use. The village is wholly Jain, and is named Serrowlee.”
It is not difficult to understand why no information could be obtained, from the present inhabitants, as to the object of those edifices. Their remote antiquity is a sufficient reply. But I flatter myself that the reader, who has accompanied me from the outset of this antiquarian voyage, can now supply the defect, and explain that they were a series of Round Towers, or Phalli, erected by the aboriginal Buddhists, of whom the Jaina are only the wretched remains; and that those “tiles” which are “stuck in them, resembling steps,” were for the purpose of ascending by the aid of a hoop, such as we have shown at Hieropolis. The projecting stones in our Priaps, or the cavities that appear after their removal, are thus also accounted for.
CHAPTER XIV.
The universal ignorance which prevails throughout the East as to the origin of those antiquities which excite the wonder of every traveller makes it necessary that we should again direct our course towards that hemisphere, to redeem, if possible, its venerable remains from that moral night which successive ages have accumulated around them.
Persia[206] was the source which poured its vivifying light into the mental obnubilation of our European ancestors. By a reverse of those casualties from which no condition can be exempt, Persia has, in her turn, been made the theatre of darkness; and though, under the fostering auspices of British institutions, the mist has, to a large amount, been dispelled, yet is the proudest era of her splendour left still unexplored, and that is the epoch which called forth into life those monuments of literature and philosophical eminence, which, resisting the corrosion of time and the assaults of war, still proudly elevate their heads towards those orbs, with whose pompous ceremonial they were essentially connected, and whose generative properties they typically symbolised—I mean the Round Towers.
This was the moment of Persia’s halcyon pride: this the period of her earthly coruscation: to this have all the faculties of my ardent mind with vigour been addressed; and while, in the humble consciousness of successful investigation, I announce its issue to have far exceeded my hopes, I shall avail myself of the industry of preceding inquirers to throw light upon the intervals of value which intervene; but, lest I should intrude upon the province of their well-earned honours, I shall, in every such case of borrowed assistance, allow the writers themselves to speak; by which it will additionally appear that, with much good taste, and with historical honesty, they have left a vacuum in their researches, for which the public mind has been long athirst, and which my exclusive resources could alone supply.
“The Persian empire,”[207] says Heeren, “owed its origin to one of those great political revolutions which are of such frequent occurrence in Asia, and the rise and progress of which we have already considered in general. A rude mountain tribe of nomad habits rushed with impetuous rapidity from its fastnesses, and overwhelmed all the nations of Southern Asia, (the Arabians excepted), from the Mediterranean to the Indus and Iaxartes. The mighty empires which arose in Asia were not founded in the same manner with the kingdoms of Europe. They were generally erected by mighty conquering nations, and these, for the most part, nomad nations. This important consideration we must never lose sight of, when engaged in the study of their history and institutions.”
“Not only is Persia[208] Proper memorable on account of its historical associations, but also for the architectural remains which it continues to present. The ruins of Persepolis are the noblest monuments of the most flourishing era of this empire, which have survived the lapse of ages. As solitary in their situation as peculiar in their character, they rise above the deluge of years, which for centuries has overwhelmed all the records of human grandeur, around them, or near them, and buried all traces of Susa and of Babylon. Their venerable antiquity and majestic proportions do not more command our reverence, than the mystery which involves their construction awakens the curiosity of the most unobservant spectator. Pillars which belong to no known order of architecture; inscriptions in an alphabet which continues an enigma; fabulous animals which stand as guards at the entrance; the multiplicity of allegorical figures which decorate the walls,—all conspire to carry us back to ages of the most remote antiquity, over which the traditions of the East shed a doubtful and wandering light.”