240 CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. CHAPTER XV. SKETCHES IN HINDOOSTAN. November, 1835. If I were permitted to offer a word of friendly advice to my reader, I would say, "should your fortunes ever lead you to this part of India, never leave it without visiting the islands of Elephanta and Salsette. You will be paid for your pains by the sight of what may be looked upon as remains of a by-gone world, beheld in the statuary, contained in the monolithic excavations found upon the abovenamed islands." The island, called by the native Garipora, and Elephanta by the Portuguese (the first Europeans who visited it), from the great sculptured elephant near the place of landing, lies about six miles east-north-east from Bombay castle. It is one mile square; its surface is mountainous and a long valley crosses its centre. CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. 241 One morning, at half-past six o'clock, our party, under the guidance of Captain Roberts, embarked in two bunder boats, for the far-famed island of Elephanta. The bunder boat is a large launch, with snug stern-sheets, roofed over, shut in with blinds, and furnished with comfortable lounges. Our boat was manned by nine Mussulmans, in white turbans, blue frocks, and striped pantaloons. The oars were straight poles with pieces of round plank at their extremities. After a pleasant sail of an hour, we landed and walked up the valley which was partly covered with rice-fields. About halfway across the island, on the left, are two minor caves, now half choked up with earth and rubbish. One presents a mass of rock, projecting from the hill-side, with an open space between it and the level ground, about six feet high and fifty or more long. On making our way to it, through the thick-growing shrubbery which conceals it from the by-passer who follows the beaten track, we were satisfied that this projecting rock had been supported by columns, forming a portico, from which a door opened into a large square room. On each side of the doorway is the statue of a "dorpal" or warder, and over it are sculptured a number of minor Hindoo deities, all more or less mutilated. At either end of the portico is a small chamber or excavation. 242 CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. After walking nearly a mile we found ourselves in front of the celebrated monolithic temple, but were disappointed as well as surprised to find, that instead of descent, there is a gentle ascent to its entrance. The side of a hill, about one hundred feet high, has been cut through its dark rocky structure, into a perpendicular wall or face of sufficient width, leaving on either hand a spur of rock, or jamb, now covered with green sward and clambering plants, forming a kind of area in front of the cave. Between these spurs, is the opening, fifty-five feet from east to west, and about seventeen feet high. The entablature of naked rock, originally supported by two pilasters and two columns, of which one only is standing, rises many feet perpendicularly; its summit, which is also the verge of the hill, is crowned by grass and shrubbery, and several vines hang down over its face, to the opening. Before the cave lie several broken pillars, and rubbish, from behind which, to our right, eddied upwards a column of smoke, proceeding from the temporary kitchen of our servants, who had been despatched hither the evening previous, with the implements and essentials of breakfast. We stood for some minutes in admiration of the view before us. The rows of pillars, dimly seen in the interior of the cave, lead one to fancy he CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. 243 is viewing an extensive hall or saloon. The first impression is of wonder, accompanied by a sort of mental effort to conceive the labour and time which an excavation so vast, into the solid rock, must have cost; and on further examination, one is struck with the proportion preserved in its relative parts, and with the modern form of the door-frames. The terraplan of the temple is nearly in the form of a cross. The floor has been cut in medallion figures. The roof, or ceiling, which is flat, varying in different places, from fifteen to seventeen and a half feet in height, had been once white, but is now covered with dust. The distance from the front entrance to the opposite wall is one hundred and thirty and a half feet; and from the east to the west entrance, both now closed by a modern wall, is one hundred and thirty-three feet. The roof was supported by sixteen pilasters and twenty-six pillars, planted in rows, but not equidistant, of which fifteen are still standing, the rest having been thrown down and mutilated. The bases, or lower third of the pillars, are square; the corners are surmounted by small figures of Garrish and Hartik, gods of the Hindoo mythology. All the pillars are written over, more or less, by English visiters, who have left their names to record their presence. The back wall, which is parallel with the front, 244 CAVES OF ELEPHANTA. is divided into three square compartments, the centre one of which is a deep chapel, or square niche, almost filled by a colossal bust. The figure has three heads, one facing front and the others to opposite sides, together with the neck and shoulders, leaving one to imagine that the lower part of the statue is buried beneath the floor of the temple. The right hand and part of the arm are seen, as if pushed up through the earth, grasping a cobra di capello, which, with spread hood, appears to be gazing in the face which looks eastward. The height of the bust is seventeen feet ten inches, and is the best piece of statuary in the cave; its elaborate workmanship and fine proportions have been eulogized by all visiters, while they have found fault with the other figures, which are wanting in anatomical correctness. Such is the celebrated trimûrti, or triformis, which the Portuguese spared, under the idea that it was a representation of the Holy Trinity, when, in their zeal to destroy the idols and worship of heretics, they mutilated the temple, by firing great guns into it. In the lintel of the door-frame of this chapel are two mortices, in which the pintals of a great door might have turned. On each side of the doorway is the statue of a warder of gigantic size. |