To the west is Mahadeo (Siva) under another form,—a beautiful and animated statue, the expression mild, as when he went forth to entice the mountain nymph Isfera to his embrace. His tiara is a blaze of finely-executed ornaments, and his snake-wreath, which hangs round him as a garland, has a clasp of two heads of Sehesnag (the serpent king), while Nandi below is listening with placidity to the sound of the dumroo. His hpra and kharg, or skull-cap and sword, which he is in the attitude of using, are the only accompani ments denoting the god of blood.
In the northern compartment is a picture dis gustingly talon ul of death and its attributes, known to the people as Bbookha Mata, or the personi fication of famine, lank and bare, her necklace, like her lord's, of skulls. Close by are two mortals in the last stage of existence, so correctly r r as to excite an unpleasant surprise.
e outline is anatomically correct, The mouth is half open and distorted ; and although the eye is closed in death, an expression of mental anguish seems still to linger upon the features. A beast of prey is approaching the dead body ; while, by way of contrast, a male figure, in all the vigour of youth and health, lies prostrate at her feet.
Dhumnar, famed for its Buddhist caves, has also been at one time a seat of the Vaishnava sect, and at another a seat of the Saiva religion ists. There is a gallery 100 yards in length, terminating in a quadrangular court, rneasuring 100 feet by 70, and about 35 feet in height, hollowed out of the cellular iron-clay rock, in the centre of which is the temple of the four-armed divinity, Chatur-bhuja or Vishnu, the ground plan of the temple being the usual mindia and munduf and portico. Vishnu, who is here adored as the four-armed, is placed upon an altar clad robes of his favourite colour (pandu or yellow ochre), whence one of his titles, Pandurang. The prin cipal shrine is surrounded by the inferior divinities in the following order :—First on entering are the Polea or porters, Ganesa is upon the right, close to whom is Saraswati, whose tbrone is on the tongue, and on the left are the twin sous of Kali, the Bhairu, distinguished as Kala, black, and Gora, fair ; a little in advance of these is a shrine containing five of the ten Mahabedia or minister ing agents of Kali, each known by his symbol or vahan, as the bull, elephant, buffalo, and peacock. The Mahabedia are the evil genii, invoked in jup,' or incantations against an enemy, and phylacteries containing formulas addressed to them are bound round the arms of warriors in battle. At the back
of the chief temple are three shrines ; the central one contains a statue of Vishnu as Narayana upon his hydra couch, with Lakshmi at his feet. Two Dyta or evil spirits appear in conflict close to her, and a second figure represents her in a running posture, looking back in great alarm at the combatants. Smaller figures about Narayana, represent the heavenly choristers administering to his repose, playing on various instruments, the murali or flute, the vina or lyre, the muyoora or tabor, and the mudhung and thal or cymbals, at the sound of which a serpent appears rearing his crest with delight. From the south side the eye has an unlimited range over the plains beyond the Chambal, even to Mundisore and Sondwarra. Descending some rude steps from that place of view, there opens a cavern, the roof of which is suppOrted by one of those singularly shaped columns named after the sacred mounts of the Jains. Here everything on one side is Buddhist or Jaina, on the other all is Saivite or Vaishnava. At the entrance t,o an adjoining cave are variotts colossal figures, standing or sitting, characteristic of the Buddhists or Jains. There are representa tions of the deified pontiffs of the Jains, and a group of five arc the most celebrated of the twenty-four, and distinctively called the Panch Teerat'h, viz. Rishubdeva, the first ; Suntnath, the sixteenth ; Neninath, the twenty-second ; Par swanath, the twenty-third ; and Mahavira, the twenty-fourth. Each has his sacred mount or place of pilgrimage (teerat'h), and each is recog nised by his symbol, viz. the bull, black antelope, conch shell, hooded serpent, and tiger ; and it is quite sufficient to find one of these symbols upon the plinth to ascertain the particular pontiff to which it belongs. At the farther end of the cave known as Bhim's Bazar is a dagoba supporting the roof. Two columns, called Sumeru, support the roof, and as Sumeru mount is sacred to Adinath, the first pontiff, it is likely that he was here worshipped. There is an extensive piazza, supported by rows of massive square columns, all cut out of the solid rock, evidently a dharm sala for pilgrims, and on the exterior are numerous square cells, the apartments of • the Srawak or Jain laity. There are also many Pausid-sala or halls of the Yati, or initiated disciples, who stand in the same upright meditative posture as the pontiffs.