Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-01-07

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alIv prepared the mind for appreciation
OF the most unique spectacle IN 1u9'a'
The morning had been full OF thunoer'
and lightning, aud deluge, but the al
mosDher!c agltations had ceased, ana
toe cloudy ruins Of tue storm were plIeu
10 in the heavens, huge enough anu
darkly purple enough 10 make tue SKIES
as crandly picturesque as the eGrtnly
scenery amid which we moved. AiIer
an hours cutting through the waters
we came 10 the long pier reaching from
the island called Elephanta. 1t IS an
/ island small of girth, but 600 feet hlgh-
/ 10 declines into the marshes or man
grove. But the whole island Is one
/ tapgis of foliage aud verdure; conVol-
vules creeping the ground; MOSES
climbing the rocks; vines sleeving
/ the long arms OF the trees;
red flowers here and there in the
/ woods, like incendiary's torch trying 10
set the groves on are; cactus aud aca-
ella wing as 20 which can most charm
/ the beholder; tropical bird meeting
Dart,-colOred butterfly In jungles plant
/ ed the same summer the world was
born. We stepped out Of the boat amid
enough natives TO afford all the help
we needed for landing aud guidance.
You can be carried by coolies In an
/ easy chair, or you can walk II YOU are
| blessed with two stout limos, Whlch
| the PsalmiSt evidently lacked, or he
would not have so deprecated them
when ne ssid: The Lord taketh no
pleasure 10 the legs Of man." we
/ passed 10 some stone steps, and be-
I tween the walls we saw awaiting US
cobra. one OF those snakes which greet
/ the traveller oft times in India. Two OF
the guides left the cobra dead oy the
ways.de. They must have been Mo-
| hammedans, for HindOos never XIII
Ihat sacred reptile.
AND NOW WE COME NEAR
the famous temple hewn from one rcss
OF porphyry 1T least eight hundred
years ago. On eisher side Of the cher
/ temple is q chapel, shese cut out OF the
same stone. SO vast was the undertake
/ ing aud 20 Jhe Hindo was so great the
| human impossibility that they say the
/ gods scOoDed out this structure from
4 the rock, and carved the pillars, and
| hewed its shape into gigantic idols, ana
/ dedicated II all to the graudeurs. We
/ climb many stone steps before we get
I 10 the gateways The entrance 10 this
| Temple has sculptured doorkeepers
Eeaning on Sculptured devils How
I strange! But l have seen doorkeepers
/ of churches and auditOriums who seem
/ ed 10 be leaning on the demons Of bad
ventilation and asphyxia Doorke ep-
ers ought 20 be leaning on the angels
| OF health, and comfort, and life. All
/ the sections aud janitors OF the earth
/ who have spoiled sermons and lectures,
| and poised the lungs OF audiences by
/ ineficiency ought To visit this Cave or
| Elephanta aud beware Of what these
| doorkeepers are doing, when instead OF
/ leaning on the angelic, they lean on the
demoniac.
10 these Elephanta Caves everything
/ is on the SamsOnisn and Titanian scale.
/ With chisels that were dropped from
neverless hands at least eight centuries
ago. the forms OF the gods Brahms, and
/ Vlshnu, and silva were cut into the
everlasting rock. silva is hero repre-
scented by a figure sixteen feet nine
/ inches high, one-half man and one
| half woman. Run line from the cen
/ ire of the forehead straight 70 the floor
/ of the rock, and you divide this idol in
10 masculine and feminine. Admired
/ as this idol IS by many, IL was TO me
/ about the worst thing that was ever
cut into pOrphyr7, perhaps because
| there Is hardly anything on eartn so
| Objectionable as being
HALF MAN AND HALF WOMAN.
Do be one or other, my nearer. Man
/ is admirable, and woman is admirable,
/ but either q flesh or trap rock COM
promise of the two is hideous. Save US
| from etfeminate men and masculine
women.
Yonder is the King Ravana worship
ping. Yonder is the Sculptured repre-
/ sentation OF the marriage OF SILVA and
Parhatl. Yonder is Daksha, the son OF
Rrahma, born from the thumb Of his
I right hand. He had sixty daughters.
/ Seventeen OF those daughters were
married TO Kasvana aud became the
mothers OF the human race. Yonder is
a god with three heads. The center
god has a crown wound with necklaces
of skulls. The right hand god is in a
paroxysm of rage, with forehead OF
snakes, and In its hand Is a cobra. The
left hand god has pleasure 10 all its fea-
lures and the hand has a flower But
there are gods and goddesses In all d.
rectiOns.
Yes, felt the chilly dRmpness Of the
place, and left this congress Of gods,
this pandemonium Of demons, this
pantheon of indifferent deities, aud
came to the steps and looked off upon
the waters which rolled and flashed
around the steam yacht, that was walt
ing TO return with US to Bombay. As
We stepped aboard, our minds filled
with the IDOLS OF the Elepbanta Caves,
l was Impressed as never before with
the thought that man must have q re-
Iigion OF some kind, even IL be has to
coptrlve one himself, and he must have
a god. even though he make 1t with his
own hand. rejoice to know the day
will come when the Que God or the uni
verse will be acknowledged throughout
India.
That evening OF our return to Bonn
bay I visited the Young Mems Chris
tian Association with the same appoint
ments that you find 10 the Young Mems
Christian Associations OF Europe and
America, and the night after that l Rd-
dressed a throng OF native children who
are in the schools of the Christian Mis-
sions. Christian universities gather I'M
der their wing Of benedictOn host Of
the young men Of this country.
Isdeed, the taking OF this world for
Christ Will be no holiday celebration,
but as tremendous as when in India
during the mutiuY OF 1857, fortress
manned by SeUoys was captured by Sir
Colin Campbell aud the army OF Britain.
The Sepoys hurled upon the attacking
columns burning missiles, and grenadeS,