I04                        ALBERUNTS INDIA.

make a cover, which is cdXle^pinda, quadrangular from
without, but so as to fit also on the quadrangular
third in the earth. The octagonal form of the inner
side is to fit on to the middle third, which projects out
Page 253- of the earth. The round third alone remains without
cover."

Further he says :—

V. 55.—"If you make the round part too small or
too thin, it will hurt the country and bring about evil
among the inhabitants of the regions who have con¬
structed it. If it does not go deep enough down into
the earth, or if it projects too little out of the earth.
Chapter ix. this causes people to fall ill. When it is in the course
of construction, and is struck by a peg, the ruler and
his family will perish. If on the transport it is hit,
and the blow leaves a trace on it, the artist will
perish, and destruction and diseases will spread in that
country.''
The worship In the south-wcst of the Sindh country this idol is
Somanath. frequently met with in the houses destined for the
worship of the Hindus, but Somanath was the most
famous of these places. Every day they brought there
a jug of Ganges water and a basket of flowers from
Kashmir. They believed that the liiigct of Somanath
would cure persons of every inveterate illness and heal
every desperate and incurable disease.

The reason why in particular Somanath has become

so famous is that it was a harbour for seafaring people,

and a station for those who went to and fro between

Sufala in the country of the Zanj and China.

Popular be-       Now as regards ebb and flow in the Indian Ocean,

the cause of ^^ which the former is called bharna (?), the latter

the tides.     vuhctra (?), wc state that, according to the notions of the

common Hindus, there is a fire called Vadavdnala in

the ocean, which is always blazing.    The flow is caused

by the fire's drawing breath and its being blown up by

the wind, and the ebb is caused by the fire's exhaling