Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-01-18

an anthem IN oIerndl 1hJ ~ hoconna
elegles In marble. Sculpture9 nG NT;ohtv
Masonry as OF supernatural nauus. ,hInS n
sonai il I'M see the great white tnrone,
and on it Him from whose race 'no 0''' '
heavens fee away. ,,o md esneci-
ollv If Mohammedanism. An Engls9 On
car Of the fortress told us that wnen uullns
the general mutiny In 1857 the MoauIno
dams nrcposed instruction at Agra inc Ens .
Ish Government aimed the guns OF tue ioI'
et the Tai and said, "You make insurrection,
and that same day we will blow your la! ~
atoms, and that threat ended the dispos"'on
for mutlny at Agra. o,ooo
But thought while looking at thar palace
for the dead all this constructed TO cover q
handful of dust, but ev5n that nandlui Ia.
probably gone from the mausoleum. how
much better it would hav9 been 70 expent
sec, 900, 900, which the Tai Mahal COST, TOT lIo no
living. What asylums it might nave pun
for the sick, what houses for the homeless
What Improvement our century has made
upon other centuries In lifting in honor OF
the departed memorial churches, memorial
HOSPITALS, memorial reading rooms, me-
mortal OF ssrvatories. By all possible means
let us keep the memory OF departed loVeu
ones fresh in mind. and let there be an APP
propriate headstone or monument III .ne
cemetery, but there is a dividing line De,
tween reasonable commenoration ana
wicked extravaganza. The Tai Mahal has
its uses as an architectural achievement
eclipsing all other architecture, but rs q me-
mortal of departed wife and mother II ex-
presses no more than the plainest slab IN
many country graveyard. Toe best monu-
ment we can any OF us have built Tor US
when we are gone is in the memory OF those
whose sorrows we have alleviated, In the
wounds we have healed, in the kindnesses
We have done, in the ignorance we have on
lightened, in The recreant we have reclaimed,
In the souls we have saved. Such monu-
ment Ia built out of material more lasting
than marble or bronze and will stand aml1
the eternal splendors long after the TAI Ma
ha! of India shall have gone down in the
ruins of a world of which it was the costllest
adornment. But l promised to show you
not only tomb OF Inlia, but unique
heathen temple, and it Is temple under
groun1
With miners candle we had seen some
thing OF he underside OF Australia, as at Gtm-
pie. as with guides torch we had seen at
different times something OF the underslde
of America, rs In Mammoth cave, but we are
now TO enter one Of the sacred cellars OF
III
We had it all 10 ourselves, the steam yacht
that was TO take us about fifteen miles over
the harbor OF Bombay AMI between encAant-
ell islands, anil along shores whose curVts
and guches and pictured rocks gradually
prepared the mind for appreciation OF the
most unique spectacle in India. The morn
ing had been full of thunder ana lightning
and deluge, but the atmospheric agltations
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.
After an hours cutting through the wlter
We came to the long pier reaching from the
island Gale Elppaanta. 1t is an islam small
of Crib, but 900 leet high. 1t declines into
the marshes of mangrove. But the Wnole
island is one tangIe of foliage and venture
co2yoivulus creeping the ground; moses
climbing the rocks vines sleeving the long
arms of the trees ;red flowers here andthere
in the woods. like incen tiary's torch trying
! to set the groves on fre--cactus and acacia
wing as TO which can most charm the be-
| holder; tropical bird meeting particoiored
| butterfly in jungles planted the same sum-
mer the world was born. We stepped out OF
| the boat amid enough natives to afford all
the help we needed for landing and guild
anca. You can be carried by coolies IN an
easy chair. or YOU can walk, If you are
blessed with two stout Limos, which the
psalmist evidently lacked, or he would not
| have so Deprecated them when be said
"The Lord taketh no peasuoe In the legs OF
man." We passed up some stone steps,
and between the walls we saw awaiting Us
cobra, one of those snakes which greet the
traveller oittimes in India, Two oftne guides
left the cobra dead by the wayside. They
| ~o,,,+ h,va haan Moha mmedans for HindOOS
| never kill that sacred reptile.
And now we come near the famous temple
hewn from one rock of porphyry at least 800
wears ago. On either side OF the chief tenn
| Die is a chapel, these cut out OF the same
stone. So vast was the undertaking and to
the Hindoo was so great the human impossi-
billty 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 1t to all the grandeurs.
| We climb many stone steps before we get to
| The gateways. The entrance to this temple
has scuptured doorkeepers leaning on
sculptured devils. How stranger But L
have seen doorkeepers of churches and audi
| forums who seemed to be leaning on the
demons of bad ventilation AMI asphyxia.
Doorkeepers ought to be leaning on the
angels oil health and comfort and life. All
the sections and janitors OF the earth VINO
have spoiled sermons and lectures and pois-
oned the lungs OF audiences by lnethclency
ought TO visit this cave OF Elephanta and be-
ware of what these doorkeepers are doing,
when instead Of leaning on the angelic they
Tenn on the demoniac.
In these Elephanta caves everything Is on
aSamsonian and Titanian scale. With CHS
els that were dropped from neryeless hands
at least eight centuries ago, the forms of the
Gods BrahIna and Vishnu and silva were cut
into the everlasting rock. silva is here rep
resented by a figure sixteen feet nine inches
high. one-half man and one-half woman.
Run a line from the center OF the forehead
straight to the hoor Of the rock, and you di-
vide This idol into masculine and feminine
Admired as this idol is by many, 1t was to mt
about the worst thing that was ever cut into
porphyry. perhaps because there Is hardly
ANYTHING on earth so Objectionable as be
ing half man and half woman. Do be one
other. nv nearer. Man is admirable and NO
man is admirable, but either in flesh or trap
rock compromise OF the two is hldeous
Save US from effeminate men and masculine
wonen!
Yonder Is the King Ravana worshiping
Yonder is the scultured representation o
the marriage OF silva and Parhati. Yonder
Daksha, the son OF Brahma, born from tn
thumb OF his right hand He had sixt.
daughters. Seventeen OF those daughter
were married to Kasyapa and became tn
mothers of the human race. Yonder Is
god with three heads. The center God ha
a crown wound with necklaces OF skulls
The right hand god is in paroxysm OF rage
with forehead of SNAKES, and in its hand IS
cobra, The left hand god has pleasure in al
its features, and the hand has flower. Blu
there are gods and goddesses In all direc
lions. The chief temple of this rock Is lS
teet square and has twenty-six pillars rislnl
TO the roof. After the conquerors