CHAPTER III.

THE CAVE-TEMPLES

OF

ELEPHANTA.

Hindoo and Egyptian Antiquities-The Hindoo Faith-The Trinity-A Trip to Elephanta-Scenery of the Bay-Landing on the Island-Front View of the Cave. Temple-Portuguese Vandalism--The Colossal Trinity-The Head of BrahmaVishnu Shiva-Remarkable Individuality of the Heads-The Guardians of the Shrine-The Columns of Elephanta-Their Type in Nature-Intrinsic Dignity of all Religions-Respect for the Ancient Faiths-The Smaller Chambers of the Temple-The Shrine of the Sterilc--Tamarind Trees-Smaller Cave-Temples-Return to Bombay Island--Sunset in the Botanic Garden.

WHILE in Bombay, I took a step further back into the past, than ever in all my previous experience. In Egypt, you are brought face to face with periods so remote, that they lie more than half within the realm of Fable; yet there the groping antiquarian has pierced the mystery, and leads you down from dynasty to dynasty, on the crumbling steps of hieroglyphic lore. But in India, the cradle, as many believe, of the Human Race-we have no such helps, and while we gaze upon the tokens of a faith which was no doubt, pre-existent to that of the Pharaohs, science sits down baffled and leaves us to wander in the dark. No Wilkinson or Champollion writes on the altars of the gods: "B. C.—so and so much." The whole backward vista of Time is thrown open, and we are

free to retrace the ages, even to the days when there were giants. I no longer marvel at any of the ancient faiths; I only wonder that those vast, strange and gorgeous systems of mythology ever should have disappeared from the religions of the world, while such types of them remain in existence.

The Hindoo faith, in its original and pure form, was a consistent monotheism, and no doubt is still so understood by the more intellectual of its professors. The parent Deity, Brehm, was an invisible and Omnipotent God, the maker of Heaven and Earth, and like the Divinity of the Buddhists, too great for mortal comprehension. The three deities who sprang from him may be regarded rather as personifications of his attributes than as distinct personalities. These deities, who form the Trimurti, or IIindoo Trinity, are Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Shiva, the Destroyer. Among the emblems of the latter is a new-born infant, showing that Life is continually reproduced from Death. From these three spring a host of inferior deities, who, with their progeny, amount to the number of thirty-three millions, of whom three millions are evil, and the remainder good. Here the preponderance of Good over Evil in the government of the world, and consequently the beneficence of the ruling Deity, is strikingly acknowledged. The original faith has greatly degenerated, as all the old religions have, and among the ignorant millions exists only in the most extraordinary superstitions and the grossest forms of idolatry; but no one can deny the simple grandeur of its first conception.

However, as I am a travel'er, and not a theologian, let me return to the subject, which is my visit to the Cave-temples of Elephanta. These celebrated remains are upon the Is'and

SCENERY OF THE BAY.

47

of Elephanta, in the bay, and about seven miles distant from Bombay. I was accompanied by the captain of an American bark. We engaged a bunder-boat, a craft with a small cabin, something like the kangia of the Nile, embarked at the Apollo pier, and went up the bay with the flood tide. We passed the fort and floated along the shore as far as Mazagaun, where the wind favored us for a run out to the island. The scenery of the bay is beautiful, the different islands rising from the water in bold hills covered with vegetation, while the peaks of the Malabar Ghauts cut their sharp outlines against the sky, on the opposite side. Butcher's Island, which lies between Bombay and Elephanta, is comparatively low and flat, and has a barren appearance, but it contains a number of European bungalows, and seems to be a favorite place of residence. Elephanta, on the contrary, which is about a mile in length, is lofty, and covered with palm and tamarind trees. Its form is very beautiful, the summit being divided into two peaks of unequal height.

The water is shallow on the western side, and as we approached several natives appeared on the beach, who waded out two by two, and carried us ashore on their shoulders. A well-worn foot-path pointed out the way up the hill, and in a few minutes we stood on the little terrace between the two peaks, and in front of the temple. The house of the sergeant who keeps guard over it still intervened between us and the entrance, and before passing it I stood for some time looking across to Bombay and Salsette, enchanted with the beauty of the prospect before me. More than half the charm, I found, lay in the rich, tropical foliage of the foreground.

Turning, I passed around the screen of some banana trees

and under the boughs of a large tamarind.

The original entrace to the temple is destroyed, so that it is impossible to tell whether there was a solid front and doorway, as in the Egyptian rock-temples, or whether the whole interior stood open as now. The front view of Elephanta is very picturesque. The rock is draped with luxuriant foliage and wild vines, brilliant with many-colored blossoms, heightening the mysterious gloom of the pillared hall below, at the farthest extremity of which the eye dimly discerns the colossal outlines of the tri-formed god of the temple. The chambers on each side of the grand hall are open to the day, so that all its sculptures can be examined without the aid of torches. rows of rock-hewn pillars which support the roof, are surmounted by heavy architraves, from which hang the capitals and shattered fragments of some whose bases have been entirely broken away. The Portuguese, in their zeal for destroying heathen idols, planted cannon before the entrance of the cave, and destroyed many of the columns and sculptured panels, but the faces of the colossal Trinity have escaped mutilation.

The

This, the Trimurti, is a grand and imposing piece of sculpture, not unworthy of the best period of Egyptian art. It reminded me of the colossal figures at Aboo-Simbel, though with less of serene grace and beauty. It is a triple bust, and with the richly-adorned mitres that crown the heads, rises to the height of twelve feet. The central head, which fronts the entrance, is that of Brahma, the Creator, whose large, calm features, are settled in the repose of conscious power as if creation were to him merely an action of the will, and not an effort. On his right hand is Vishnu, the Preserver, re

THE COLOSSAL TRINITY.

49

presented in profile. His features are soft and feminine, full of mildness and benignity, and are almost Grecian in their outlines, except the under lip, which is remarkably thick and full. The hair falls in ordered ringlets from under a cap, something between a helmet and a mitre. The right arm,

which is much mutilated, is lifted to the shoulder, and from the half-closed hand droops a lotus-blossom. The third member of the Trinity, the terrible Shiva, the Destroyer, is on the left of Brahma, and, like Vishnu, his head is turned so as to present the profile. His features are totally different from the other two. His forehead is stern, ridged at the eyebrows; his nose strongly aquiline, and his lips slightly parted, so as to show his teeth set, with an expression of fierce cruelty and malignity. A cobra twists around his arm and hand, which grasps the snake by the neck and holds it on high, with hood expanded, ready to strike the deadly blow.

Nothing astonished me more, in this remarkable group, than the distinct individuality of each head With the exception

of the thick under lip, which is common to all three, the faces are those of different races. Brahma approaches the

Egyptian and Vishnu the Grecian type, while Shiva is not unlike the Mephistopheles of the modern German school. The group stands in an excavated recess, or shrine, at the entrance of which, on each side, are two colossal statues. They are more rudely executed, and the faces exhibit a grosser type, the nose being broad and slightly flattened, and the lips thick and projecting. The hand holds the lotus-flower, and the eyes are closed, but the expression of the face is that of happy reverie rather than sleep. Had the temple been Buddhist, I should have said that they were meditating their final