The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-06-21
CAVES ABANDONED
BY HINDU HFRMITS
Pillars Stripped of Carving to
Furnish Idols for Devout but
ChiIdIess Brahmins
Temples Found in Weird Forest
Where Wind and Leaves
Make Perpetual Noise

Describing a scene in the Chat,
writer in the Times Of India says: Five
miles south OF Vaishakhare is the
village Of Sonavle. From the main
street Of Sonavle II the eye be turned
20 the south. right upon the face Of
The precipioe and about third of the
way up. viii be seen row OF caves
with square cut mouths. looking for
all the world like the stopping holes in
some titanic instrument Thither let
Us wen6- At first the path leads
through rice lands aad pastures. But
at last cultivation ends. and we are
on the edge Of one OF the weirdest for
ests that the mind can conceive. All
along the foot Of this seven league
precipice runs a belt OF wood.
From little way of strange
sound is heard. like a wild continuous
sigh. one can almost ina CINE that he
IS on the floor OF the primeval sea,
and that the sigh is the beating of the
breakers on the cliff But as he enters
the wood the cause becomes apparent.
BIG LEAVES NEVER STILL
III this mysterious wood there is no
peace. on the sunlit plains which we
have just quilted the air is cool and
stiIE But in this wood. although
Swallowed from the sun by the preci-
pice. a close hot. htful wind is always
blowing. or rather Whirling. up and
down the deep carven holiows, and
into rugged ridges little whirlwinds
such the fallen leaves. They never
rest these leaves. In the west we are
used TO think OF falren leaf as some-
thing small. fallen from something
large. But in the east. where every
thing is upside down, a fallen leaf is
2 teak leaf. two feet long, fallen from
a .=Fa
Beyond the wood IS the cliff. The
last few hundred yards are real
climb. up steps worn IN the hard baked
CLAW bv the feet Of Worshipers. And so
20 the ledge IN front of the caves
Beneath is the wood. and above the
rock tt is not natural ledge, but
carved out OF the precipice, so that
The doors Of the caves are a little
way withdrawn. Besides this the pree-
iplce is in the form Of semicircle.
that no ray Of sun. even in the torrid
days OF May. can ever have fallen on
the ledge. And in the wild monsoon
weather the sheet Of water running
of the face OF the cliff above forms a
natural veil. shutting of the caves from
the outer world.
CAVES MADE BY HINDUS
on each side are rows Of cells. and
the central cave is a temple, with
shrine, and carved pillars. The carving
has been partially torn from the pillars,
leaving the rough core. Who has done
this thing2 Not the Musselmans. Oh,
a tree YOU suggest2 No You forget:
trees do not grow IN caves. Who then?
DeVOut Hindus Time and again has
some cultivator come thither, whose
heir perhaps has been too long expect
ed in vain. Hacking of a figure and
figure from the pillar, and toiling
down the slope again, he returns to
his hut. Covering the figure with red
lead he stands IL in a corner After
some days the heir is born. And the
figure becomes the household god, the
'-dev" Some of the carving is already
stripped from these pillars And il all
viii go unless the scions Of the houses
of "Sonavle" appear in the world when
desired.
HERMITS LIVED IN CELLS
The cells on each side of the main
cave once held hermits. They drank
the water that gathered in these els
terms and ate the grain that was
brought to them by the temple visitors
When they had, no grain they tasted
of smoked themselves into insensibility.
All the liveIong day they sat and looked
ont. a we are looking. on the stretches
OF rice fields far below. blotted from
view here and there this February
morning by smoke from the rab fires;
and listened, as we are listening, to the
dolorous churnfng Of the wind in the
wood below Thus they sat on, without
bodily comforts. and without passions.
meditating themselves into oneness
with the all pervading Brahma.
The minister went, and the mer-
chants went and still they meditated
on But with the departure Of the
worldly ones the visitors to the cliff
temple became less frequent. There was
no grain 10 eat One by one they rose
and Nvent TO another place. They are
gone and the carving on the pillars is
going. only the all pervading Brahma
remains and the dolorous churning of
the wind in the wood, and the dripping
ven Of monsoon water from the cliff.
WILLS THAT MEALS SHALL