Elephanta is situated near Bombay, in an island so named from the figure of an elephant being cut upon the rocks on the south shore. The grand temple is 120 feet square, and supported by four rows of pillars ; along the side of the cavern are loin forty to fifty colossal statues. from 12 to 15 feet 104, of good mmetry, and, though not quite detached from the rod:, bold y redeved ; some have a h...linct of pyra midal 60111,14 hers a crown, decorated w th jewels and devices, and others have only bushy ringlets of flowing hair; many of them have thug hands, some six, holding sceptres, shields, symbols ill justice and religion. warlike weal outs and trophies of rave, some inspire hum or, others have aspects tut' henignitw. The thee of the great bust is 5 feet long, and the breadth across the shoulders 20 feet. At the west end of this great pagoda is a dark recess, 20 feet square, totally destitute of ornament ; the altar is in the centre, and there are two gigantic statues at each of the four doors by which it is entered. Niebuhr represents these statutes as naked. 131 feet high, and the sculpture good ; their heads are dressed like the other statues, and they have each rich collars round their necks, and jewels in their ears. Hunter states, that. on entering Elephanta, there is a veranda or p azza, which extends from east to west 60 feet, that its breadth is 16 feet, and that the body of the cavern is on every side surrounded by similar vol. vii. p. 287.
Canara, in the island of Salsette. whidi is also situated near Bombay, is represented by Linshotten, who visited it in 1759, as being like a town. He describes the fiont as hewn out of the rock, in four stories or galleries, in which there are 300 apartments : these apartments have generally an interior recess, or sanetuary, and a small tank Cur ablution. In these recesses, as at Elephanta. are representations of the Lingan deity. The grand pagoda is 40 feet high to the soffit or the arch or dome ; it is S4 feet long, and •6 broad. The pie tictu has tine columns, decorated with bases and capitals: immediately betbre the entrance to the grand temple are two colossal statues,27 feet have mitre caps and ear rings. Thirty-five pillars, of an octagonal form, about 5 feet diameter, support the arched roof of the temple ; their bases and capitals are composed of elephants, horses, and tigers, carved with great exactness. Bound the walls, two rows of eavities are placed with great regular ity, fin• reeek rug lamps. At the farther end is an altar of a convex shape, 27 feet high, and 20 in diameter; round this are also recesses for lamps, and directly over it is a large concave dome cut out of the rock. Immediately about this grand pagoda, there are said to be 90 figures of idols, and not less than 600 within the precincts Of the excavations.
\1r. Grose. who v 'sited India in 1750, seems to he of opinion, that the labour required to eonstruc• Elephanta and Salsette, must have been equal o that of erecting the pyra mids of ; and though it is not mentioned which of the many py ramids he refers to, the remark sufficiently expresses his admiration of the greatness of these Indian works. He observes (p. 92) that the roof of Elephanta was flat ; that of Salsette of an art h-form, supported by rows of pillars, of great thickness, arrangad with much regularity ; that the walls are crowded with figures of men and women, engaged in various actions, in different attitudes; that along the cornice there are figures of elephants, horses, and lions, in bold relit f; and above, as in a sky, genii and dewtah are seen floating in multitudes.
Butt ma!rnitieent :Is the excavations at Elephanta and Salsette must appear, they are still surpassed by those near Vellore. Ellore, Eldora, which is situated 18 miles from Aurungabad.capital oldie province of Balagate, N. lat.19° 20', E. long. 75° 30'.
Sir C. :Mallet in a paper he transmitted to the president of the Asiatic Society, and published in the sixth volume of their Researches, gives a detailed account of sixteen of them Jagnath Sabha. 10. Famish Wur.
2. Adnaut Subba. 11. Nylas, or Paradise.
3, Wm. Subba. 12, pus Outar.
4. Pu suram Subba. 13. Tee Tal.
5. Dooinar Lw na. 1-1. Pilitirt ChinttirgInin.
(1. Jun Wassa, t5. Biskurma,or Carpenter's 7. Comar ‘Cana. I lox 16. Dehr Witnar. or S. Chaim, or Oil Shop, 9. Neelkunt llandeww. core's quarters.
Of these we must, of course, confine ourselves to such parts as are calculated to convey a general idea of their architecture; with this view, we have selected for ellgraving'; Mutes I. and II.) the ground-plan of lip las, the entrance and section of 13iskurma, the elegant entrance to the cave of Jugnaili :Sublet, the temple of balm. Subba. and a singularly- beautiful piece of sculpture at the door ofJuti Wassa. We shall also give the description and dimensions of the Kylas and the 11iskurnia.
liglas, al as Paradise, (aspect, west.)—This wonderful ill e is approached more handsomely than any of the fore going. and exhibits a very line Brent in an area cut through Ns :N the lock. On the right•hand side of the entrance is a cistern of very line water. On each side of the gateway there is a pro'eetion reaching to the first story, with much sculpture and handsome battlements, which, however, have suffered much front the corroding hand of dine. The gateway is very spacious and fine, furnished with apaxtments on each side, that are now usually added to the dew ries of the eastern palaces. Over the gate is a balcony, which seems intended iiir the Nobut Khanneh. Uil the outside of the upper story of the gateway, are pillars that have much the appearance of a Grecian order. The passage the gateway below is richly adorned with sculpture, in which appear Ibinannee Uslithooza on the right, and Gunnes on the left. Front the gateway you enter a vast area. cut down through the solid rock of the mountain, to make roinn for an immense temple of the complex pyramidal form, whose wonderful structure, variety, profusion, and minuteness of ornament, are too elabo rate for description. This temple, which is excavated from the upper region of the rocks. and appears like a grand building. is connected with a gateway by a bridge left out of the rod; as the mass of the mountain was excavated. Beneath this bridge, at the end opposite the entrance, there is a figure of Bonatinee sitting on a lotus, and two elephants with their trunks joined as though fighting. over her head. ( In each side of the passage under the bridge, is an elephant marked (a) in the plan, one of which has lost its head, the other its trunk, and both are touch .shortened of their height by earth. There are likewise ranges of apartments on each side behind the elephants, of which those on the left are touch the finest, being handsomely decorated with figures. Ad vanced in the area, beyond the elephants, are two obelisks (h) of a square form, handsomely graduated to the commence ment of the capitals, which seem to have been crowned with ornaments, but they are not extant, though, from the remains of the left-hand one, I judge them to have been a single lion on each.