The music and songs employed before the Heathen temples form a part of the Indian legislation, so far as the object of them is to render the people obedient, and to inspire them with a love for their country and for religion. The case was the same, in ancient times, with the music of the Greeks[208]. When it became gradually lost; when it was employed only for private devotions; and when the whole host of poets began, by their lascivious compositions, to sap the foundations of morality, and to corrupt the morals, the Grecian governments fell to ruin. To guard against a like evil, the Indian legislators have established as a law, that, on public festivals, and other solemn occasions, the actions of their gods only, which are described in their sacred books, can be exhibited on the stage. These, however, are of such a nature that they give great offence to the newly-converted Christians, who are not sufficiently attached to the principles of their belief[209]. The gamut, the notes of which we distinguish by _Re_, _mi_, _fa_, _sol_, _la_, is by the Indians called _Shabdasvara_, and consists of eight notes. They are called _Sa_, _ri_, _ga_, _ma_, _pa_, _da_, _ni_, _sha_. From this it appears, that the Indians were by no means such rude barbarians as the Greeks pretended[210]. * * * * * Respecting the Indian architecture, I have already given a sufficient account in different places of this work, but particularly in the eighth chapter. I must, however, here add a few observations respecting the form of their pagodas. These temples, their external inclosure excepted, are built either in a conical and pyramidal form, or cylindric and round. Both these forms have a symbolic allusion to that of _Mahadèva_, the great god; or, what amounts to the same thing, the Sun. Reuben Burrow once saw a truncated cylinder standing on a cone, which represented the _Lingam_ of _Mahadèva_. It was sixty-four feet in diameter, and sixty-five in height. The cone, its pedestal, was ninety-three feet in height, and its diameter at the base was 363. The same form is observed in other Indian buildings, particularly the ancient pagodas, dedicated to _Mahadèva_, in _Carnada_, and on the coast of _Coromandel_. The pagodas at _Màbalipuram_, _Salsette_, and the island of _Elephanta_, together with a few others which are cut out in the solid rock, form however an exception. I consider the latter to have been temples dedicated in former times to _Mithra_, who was worshipped not only in Persia, but also in India. Some pyramidal temples, such as that at Pondicherry, form at the summit a blunt or obtuse angle, yet represent fire, or the _Lingam_ of _Shiva_, the oldest of all the gods of the Indians, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and the Persians.