Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-01-12
j. II. MILLER & SONS.

adornment But promised to show you
not only tomb of India, but unique
heather temple, and it is temple I'M
| derground
With miners candle we had seen
! something of the underside Of Australia
as at Gimpie, as with guides torch we
had seen at different times something
of tho underside of America, as in Nam
moth cave, but we are now to enter one
| of the sacred cellars of India, common
| ly called the Elephanta caves. We bad
1t all TO ourselves, the steam yacht that
was to take us about 5 miles over the
/ harbor of Bombay and between oncbant-
| ed islands, and along shores whose curves
| and gulches and pictured rocks gradual
| ly prepared the mind for appreciation
| of the most unique spectacle i'll India
| The morning had been full of thunder
and lightning and deluge. but the at
mospheric agitations had ceased, and
| the cloudy ruins of the storm were piled
up in the heavens, huge enough and
darkly purple enough to make the skies
as grandly picturesque as the earthly
scenery amid which we moved
The Idols of Elephanta-
After an hours cutting through the
water we came to the long pier reach
ing from the island called Elephanta. 1t
| is an island small of girth, but 600 feet
| high 1t declines into the marshes of
mangrove But the whole island is one
tanglc Of foliage and verdure; conyolv-
illus creeping the ground; MOSES climb
ing the rocks; vines sleeving the long
arms of the trees; red flowers here and
there in the woods like incendiary' s
torch trying to set the groves on fire
cactus and acacia vying as TO which can
most charm the beholder; tropical bird
meeting particolored butterfly in jungles
| planted 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 and guidance You
| can be carried by coolies i'll an easy
chair, or you can walk, if you are bless
ed with two stout limbs, which the
| psalmist evidently lacked, or he would
not have so deprecated them when he
\ ttSlNAJ ilS Lulu lahCtH III pltdsuIb Ill
the legs of man" We passed up some
stone steps, and between the walls we
saw awaiting rs cobra, ono of those
snakes which greet the traveller Outlines
in India Two of the guides left the CO.
bra dead hy the wayside. They must
have been Mohammedans, for Hindoos
never kill that sacred reptile.
And ROW we come near the famous
temple hewn from one rock of porphyry
at least 800 years ago On either side of
the chief temple is a chapel, these cut
ont of the same stone. So vast was the
undertaking and to the Hindoo was SO
great the human impossibility that they
say the gods scooped out this structure
from the rock and carved the pillars
and hewed its shape into gigantic idols
and dedicated it to all the grandeurs.
We climb many stone steps before we
get to the gateways. The entrance to
this temple has sculptured doorkeepers
leaning on sculptured devils How
strange! But have seen doorkeepers of
churches and auditoriums who seemed
to be leaning on the demons of bad ven
tilation and asphyxia Doorkeepers
ought to be leaning ON the angels Ct
health and comfort and life All the
sections and janitors of the earth who
have spoiled sermons and lectures and
poisoned the lungs of audiences by inef-
ficiency ought to visit this cave CT Ele-
phalta and beware Of what these door
keepers are doing, when instead of lean
ing on the angelic they lean on the de-
moniac.
In these Elephanta caves everything
is Oh Samsonian and Titanian scale.
With chisels that were dropped from
nerveless hands at least eight centuries
! ago, the forms of the gods Brahma and
Vishnu and silva were cut into the ever
lasting rock. silva is here represented by
a figure 16 feet inches high, one4half
man and one-half woman Run a line
from the center of the forehead straight
to the floor of the rock, and you divide
this idol into masculine and feminine.
| Admired as this idol is by many, itlvas
to me about the worst thing that was
ever cut into porphyry, perhaps because
there is hardly anything on earth SO OBJ
jectionable as a being half man and half
woman. Do be one or other, my hearer
Man is admirable, and woman is admi-
rable, but either in flesh or traprock a
compromise of the two is hideous. Save
! us from effeminate men and masculine
womenl
ScuIptured Gods.
Yonder is the King Ravana worship
ing Yonder is tho sculptured repre-.
sentatation of tho marriage of silva
and Parhati. Yonder is .Daksha the
son of Brahma, born from the thumb
of his right hand. He had. 60 daugh-
tiers. Seventeen of those daughters were
married to Kasyapa and became the
mothers of the human race. Yonder is
god with three heads, Tho center god
has crown wound with necklaces of
skulls. The right hand god is in par
oxysm of rage, with forehead of snakes,
and in its hand is a cobra. The left
hand god has pleasure in all its fea-
lures, and the hand has flower. But
there are gods and goddesses in all di-
rections The chief temple of this rock
is 1870 feet square and has 20 pillars
rising to the roof. After the conquerors
of other lands and the tourists from all
lands have Clipped and defaced and
blasted and carried away curios and me-
mentos for museums and homes there
are enough entrarcements left to detain
one unless he is cautious until he is
down with some of the malarias which
encompass this island or get bitten with
some of its snakes, Yes, felt the chilly
danIpness of the place and left this
congress of gods, this pandemonium of
demons, this pantheon of indifferent
deities. and came to the steps and look.
ed off upon the waters which rolled and
flashed around the steam yacht that
was waiting to return with us to Bom-
bay. As We stepped aboard, our minds
filled with the idols of tthe Elephanta
caves. | was impressed as never before
with the thought that man must have
a religion of some kind even if he has
to contriye ono himself, and he must
have god even though he make it
with his own hand. rejoice to know
tls-day will come when the one God of