Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-01-23


silver trowel of the moon, and the golden
trowel OF the sunlight, and the leaden
irowel OF tho storm build and rebuild the
glory, so that it never seems twice alike.
1t has all moods, all compilations, all gran.
deurs. From the top OF tho Taj. which i.
higher, and that Is enameled gold. Wha'
an anthem in eternal rhythm! Lyrics and
elegies in marble. Sculptursd hosanna.
Masonry as OF supernatural hands. Mighty
doxolosy in stone. I shall see nothing to
equal 1t till I SEQ the great white throns
and on 1t Him from whose face the earth and
heavens nee away.
The Tai is the pride Of India, and espeoi
ally of Mohammsdanism. An English ON
Ger At the fortress told US that whan during
the general mutiny in 1887 the Nohamms
dams proposed insurrection at Agra tho Eng.
lsh Government aimed tho guns OF the fori
81 this Tai .nA .sid- 'Xeu make insurrec.ion,
AMI TIA. sene day We viii blow your Tai to
| atoms, and that threat ended the disposition
| sor mutiny at Agra
But thought while looking at that palace
| FOR the dead all this constructed to cover .
handful OF dust. but evan that handful has
| probably gone from the mausoleum. How
| much better il would havs been to expsnd
| 6O,00O, 900, which the Tai Mahal cost, for the
| living. What asyluns ii might have built
{ 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 otservatories. By all possible means
let US keep the memory OF departed loved
ones fresh In mind. and lot there be an ap-
propriate heafstone or monument In the
cemetery but there is dividing line be-
tween reasonable commenoratfon ana
wicked extravaganza. The Tai Mahal has
Its uses an architectural achievement,
eclipsing all other architecture, but as a mo
81 ,xx,f1
presses no more than the plainest slab in
many country graveyard. The best monu-
ment we can any OF us have built for
when We are gone IS in the memory OF those
whose sorrows we have alleviated, in the
wounds We have healed, in the kindneees
we have done, In the ignorance We have n
lfghtened, in :he recreant we have reclaimed,
in the soul. We havs saved. Such a mona
ment is built out of msterial more lasting
than marble or bronze and will stand amid
the eternal spleldors long after the Tai Ma
hal OF In liza shall have gone down in the
ruins OF a world OF which II was the co.tliest
adornment. But 1 promised to show you
not only a tomb OF India, but unique
heather temple, and it is a temple under
grount
With miners candle we had seen some
thing ofthe underside OF Australia, as at Gin-
pie. as with guides torch We had seen At
different times something OF tho undersids
OF America, as In Mammoth cave, but We are
now to enter one OF the sacred cellars OF
India, commonly called the Elephanta cavea.
We had it all to ourselves, the steam yacht
that WAS TO take US about fifteen miles over
the harbor OF Bombay and between enchant-
ell islands, and along shores whose curves
and gulches and pictured rocks gradually
prepared the mind for appreciation OF the
most unique spectacle in India. The morn
ing had been full of thunder and lightning
and deluge, but the atmospheric aSitations |
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 the |
earthly scenery amid which We moved. |
After an hours cutting through the water |
We came to the long pier reaching from the j
island called Elephlnta. 1t is an island small |
Of girrh, but 600 feet high. 1t declines into |
the marshes of mangrove. But the whole |
island is one tangle of foliage and veriure:
convolvulus creeping the ground; MOSES
climbing the rocks vines sleeving the long
arms OF the trees red flowers hers and there |
in the woods. like incendiary's torch trying |
to set the groves on fre-cactus and acacia /
vyinS as to which can most charm the be-
holder; f; tropical bird meeting particolored |
utterly in junSles plantei 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
ance. You can be carried by coolies in an
easy chair, or you can walk, if you are |
blessed with two stout limbs, which the
psalmist evidently lacked. or he would not |
have SO deprecated them when he said: |
The Lord taketh 10 pleasuoe in the legs Of
a man." We passed up some stone steps,
and between the walls we saw awaiting US
cobra, one OF those snakes waich greet the
traveller o'ttimes in India. Two Of the guides
left the cobra dead by the wayside. They
must have been Mohammeians, for Hindoos
never kill that sacred reptile.
And now We come near the famous ternpie |
%
years ago. On either side OF the chief tenn |
pie is a chapel, these cut ont OF the same |
stone. So vast was the Undertaking and to |
the Hindoo was SO great the human impossi-
btlity 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 tho grandeurs.
We climb many stone steps before We get to
the gateways. The entrance to this temple |
has sculptured doorkeeper5 leaning on
,culptured devils. How strange! But
have seen doorkeepers of churches and au IL |
forums who seemed to be leaning on ths
demons of bad ventilation AMI asphyxia.
Doorkeepers ought 10 be leaning on the
angels OF health and comfort and life All |
he sections and ianitors of the earth who
have spoiled sermons and lectures and poi.-
,ned the lungs OF audiences by Inefficiency |
ought 10 visit this cave OF Elephanta and be-
ware of what these doorkeepers are doing.
ghen instead OF leaning on the angelic theT |
can on the demoniac.
In these E.ephanta caves everything is on
Samsonian and Titanian scale. With CHS |
is thar were dropped from nerveless hands |
It least eight centuries ago, the forms Of the |
,ods Brahma and Vishnu and silva were cut |
nto the everlasting rock. silva is here rep |
esentei by figure sixteen feet nine inchea |
ligh, one-half man and one-half woman. |
Jun a line from the center OF the forehead |
traight to the ioor of the rock, and you di- |
1de this idol into masculine and feminine |
admired as this idol Is by many, it was to me |
bout the worst thiLg that was ever cut into |
orphyry, perhaps because there is hardly |
nything on earth so Objectionable as a be- |
AZ half man and half woman. Do be- one or
tner. my hearer. Man is admirable and wo-
nan IS admirable, but either in flesh or trap |
Crk a compromise of the two i. hideous
ave us from efreminate men aud masculine
'ompn,
Yonder is the King Ravana worshipina
ON Ter is the scultured representation Of
he marriage of silva and Parhati. Yonder ia |
,aksha, the son of Brahma, born from the
numb of mis- right hand. He had sixty |
auglters. Seventeen of those daughteru ]
'ere married to Kasyapa and became the
lothers OF the human race. Yonder Is |
od with three heads. The center God has |
crown wound with necklaces of skulls
he right hand god is in paroxysm OF rage.
1ith forehead of snakes, and in its hand is a
obra. The left hand god has pleasure in all
IL
: ere are gois and goddesses in all direc-
ions The chief temple Of this rock is 1876 |
eet square and has twenty-si1 pillars rising ,
o the roof. After the conquerors Of /
ther lends and the tourists from all :
snds have Geaced and chipped and blast.
d and carried away curios and mementos |
or museums and homes. rnere /
IRA enou yh entraRcements left to detain one &
lnless he is cautious until he Is down with )
ONE OF the malaras which encompass this :
sand or get bitten with some OF its snakes. | !
'es, felt the chilly dampness OF the place 8
md left this congress of gods this p,ade- n
nonium OF demons, this pantheon OF indif- !,
erent deities, and came to the steps and |
ooked Off upon the waters which rolled and 4
lashed around the steam yacht that was c
Waiting to return with US TO Bombay. Az I
We stepped aboard, our minds filed with the ! I.
dolls OF the Elephanta caves, I was i'm
pressed as never before with the thought J
hat man mnst have a r.lipIOn of sOme kind | ,