aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

248 ABOUND THE WOELD.
THE ELEPHANTA CAVES.
Shri Crunesha-aya-Namaha !— To glorious Gunesha, salutation
! Gunesha, the elephant-god of India, is connected
with literature as well as worship. When first reading that
unrivaled work, Godfrey Higgins's Anacalypsis, I was
peculiarly struck with his reference to the " Elephanta
Caves of India." They are situated upon the island of
Garipurix, only a few hours' saU from Bombay.
Landing, a long, winding stone stairway leads to this
mountain of sculptured marvels. A stroll through these
churchal-looking caverns, old
Buddhistic temples, cut into a
yielding, yet solid mountain rock, was a sight truly impressive,
a day long to be remembered. The ceiling to the first
we entered was about twenty feet high, the depth back to
the rock-carved gods, Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu at the
rear, something like one hundred and fifty feet by perhaps
one hundred and twenty in width. The divisions, compartments,
pillars, aisles, alcoves, and niches, filled with exquisitely-cut
gods, and panoramic festival scenes, grim as grand,
kindling the wonder of travelers, a?Miterally charmed me :
it was tradition in earnest, a feast to my love of antiquity.
In one compartment is symbolized the Trinity, — Brahma,
Siva, Vishnu, — the Christian " Three in One." In another
division is Christna, with emblems referring to his incarnation.
Behind the left thigh of this god is carved — what ?
the (TToss, or a heavy-hilted sword^ which? No matter
whether cross or sword, it can not fail to remind one of
Abraham's position when taking an oath.
Every thing connected with these caverns inspires one with
the grand and the reverential. Scores of lifelike figures,
from twelve inches to fifteen feet in height, elegantly carved
in and forming a part of the original rock, with corridors and
tapering columns, all exhibit a high order of architectural
talent, considering that it antedated the Christian era by
several hundred years. These Buddhistic monasteries, theugh