Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-01-07


heather temple, and it is temple un
foreground.
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 the underside Of America, as III Mann
moth cave, but we are now to enter one
Of the sacred cellars of India, common
" called the Elephanta caves We had
it all to ourselves, the steam yacht that
was to take us about l miles over the
harbor of Bombay and between enchant-
ed islands, and along shoTss whSse curves
and gulches and pictured rocks gradual
" prepared the mind for appreciation
of the most unique spectacle in 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
I'D 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. It declines into the marshes of
mangrove But the whole island is one
tangle of foliage and verdure; convolv-
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 in 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 50 deprecated them when he
said, '"TAe Lord taketh no pleasure in
the legs of a man. " We passed up some
stone steps, and between the walls we
saw Awaiting rs a cobra, one of those
snaies which greet the traveller ofttimes
ipIndia. Two of the guides left the CO.
ma dead by the wayside. They must
have been Mohammedans, for Hindoos
never kill that sacred reptile.
And now we come near the famous
temple hewn from one rock of porphyry
at least 500 years ago On either side of |
the chief temple is a chapel, these cut |
out of the same stone. So vast was the |
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
his temple has sculptured doorkeepers
leaning on sculptured devils. How
strange! But have seen doorkeepers of
churches and auditoriums who seemed
10 be leaning on the demons of bad ven
llatlon and asphyXia. Doorkeepers
ought to be leaning on the angels of
health and comfort and life. All the
sections and janitors of the earth who
nave spoiled sermons and lectures and
poisoned the lungs of audiences by inef-
iciency ought to visit this cave CT Ele-
ohanta and beware of what these door
keepers are doing, when instead of lean
ng on the angelic they lean ON the de-
nOniac.
In these Elephanta caves everything
S on Samsonian and Titanian scale.
With chiseis that were dropped from
erveless hands at least eight centuries
go, the forms of the gods Brahma and
7ishnu and silva were cut into the ever
asting rock. silva is here represented by
figure 6 feet 8 inches high, one-half
nan and one-half woman. Run. a line
rom the center of the forehead straight
D the foo. of the rock, and you divide
his idol into masculine and feminine
admired as this idol is by many, it was
} me about the worst thing that was
yer cut into porphyry, perhaps because
here is hardly anything on earth so OBJ
ectionable as being half man and half
roman. Do be one or other, my hearer
Ian is admirable, and woman is admi-
able, but either in flesh or traprock
of the two is hideous. Save
S from etfeminate men and masculine
omen!
Sculptured Gods. ,
Yonder is the King havana worship
lg. Yonder is the sculptured repre-.
of the marriage of silva
Id Parhati Yonder is Daksha, the
N of Brahma, born from the thumb
his right hand. He had 60 daugh- {
RS. Seventeen of those daughters were
arried to Kasyapa and became the E
others Of the human race. Yonder is
god with three heads. The center god 6
rs crown wound with necklaces of z
,ulls. The right hand god is in par G
lysm Of rage, with forehead of snakes, t
I'd in it's hand is cobra. The left
md god has pleasure in all it's fea-
res, and the hand has flower. But q
ere are gods and goddesses in all di- &
ctions. The chief temple of this rock @