DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0489
ELEPHANT A.
4C7
many others that have been re-
moved from their original sites by
officious or dishonest pedantry, has
long been lost. Diogo de Couto,
the Portuguese annalist, says:—
" When the Portuguese took Bacaim
and its dependencies they went to
this pagoda and removed a famous
stone over the entrance that had
an inscription of large and well
written characters, which was sent
to the king, after the Governor of
India had in vain endeavoured to
find out any Hindu or Moor in
the East who could decipher them.
And the king D. lotto III. also
used all his endeavours to the same
purpose, but without any effect,
and the stone thus remained there,
and now there is no trace of it." * Architecturally we may regard
it as probably belonging to the latter part of the eighth or begin-
ning of the ninth century of our era.2
The most striking of the sculptures is the famous colossal three-
raced bust, at the back of the cave facing the entrance, called a
1 mnurti, or tri-form figure. It occupies a recess 10| feet deep, and
»21 feet 6 inches in Avidth, rising from a base about 2 feet 9 inches
"height. In the corners of the opening, both in the floor and
'Wei, are holes as if to receive door posts, and in the floor is a
-'Wove, as if a screen had been used for occasionally concealing the
'"I'ture, or perhaps there was a railing here to keep back the
No. 6"). Pillar in Cave at Elephanta, from
a photograph.
I0W(
e central face has a mild and tranquil appearance;3 the lower
, ?* Couto> Da Asia (ed. Lisboa, 1778), Dec. VII. liv. iii. cap. 11. in torn. vii. p. 259.
«*Ker*°hW ^ 'nclined t0 Place il slightly earlier. The Dumar Lena I take to be
betw ■» ' Kailasa at Elura, and consequently was most probably excavated
' and 723 a.d. This cave seems to have followed almost immediately after-
« may therefore have been we'll advanced if not completed before 750 a.d.—
m
i
'The i
'1|,:'K-irlv "f'al arranSrinc»t and appearance of this sculpture maybe gathered from
5 contemporary one at Elm-a, Plate LXXV., fig. 2.
GG 2
4C7
many others that have been re-
moved from their original sites by
officious or dishonest pedantry, has
long been lost. Diogo de Couto,
the Portuguese annalist, says:—
" When the Portuguese took Bacaim
and its dependencies they went to
this pagoda and removed a famous
stone over the entrance that had
an inscription of large and well
written characters, which was sent
to the king, after the Governor of
India had in vain endeavoured to
find out any Hindu or Moor in
the East who could decipher them.
And the king D. lotto III. also
used all his endeavours to the same
purpose, but without any effect,
and the stone thus remained there,
and now there is no trace of it." * Architecturally we may regard
it as probably belonging to the latter part of the eighth or begin-
ning of the ninth century of our era.2
The most striking of the sculptures is the famous colossal three-
raced bust, at the back of the cave facing the entrance, called a
1 mnurti, or tri-form figure. It occupies a recess 10| feet deep, and
»21 feet 6 inches in Avidth, rising from a base about 2 feet 9 inches
"height. In the corners of the opening, both in the floor and
'Wei, are holes as if to receive door posts, and in the floor is a
-'Wove, as if a screen had been used for occasionally concealing the
'"I'ture, or perhaps there was a railing here to keep back the
No. 6"). Pillar in Cave at Elephanta, from
a photograph.
I0W(
e central face has a mild and tranquil appearance;3 the lower
, ?* Couto> Da Asia (ed. Lisboa, 1778), Dec. VII. liv. iii. cap. 11. in torn. vii. p. 259.
«*Ker*°hW ^ 'nclined t0 Place il slightly earlier. The Dumar Lena I take to be
betw ■» ' Kailasa at Elura, and consequently was most probably excavated
' and 723 a.d. This cave seems to have followed almost immediately after-
« may therefore have been we'll advanced if not completed before 750 a.d.—
m
i
'The i
'1|,:'K-irlv "f'al arranSrinc»t and appearance of this sculpture maybe gathered from
5 contemporary one at Elm-a, Plate LXXV., fig. 2.
GG 2