DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70300#0162
136 kirby’s wonderful museum.
meat worshipped in the Hindoo Mythology, yet no pilgrims
now visit them, nor are they in any manner, or to any one
(except a cursory traveller) an object of veneration. What-
ever may have been the cause of the erection of the stupen-
dous buildings in Egypt, or the religious feeling which
prompted their construction, I am not surprised that a satis-
factory account of their founder and era has been lost in ages
so remote, as to leave in existence no remains of that wor-
ship, except themselves and tradition, although the same re-
ligion still maintains its ground ; that these surprising monu-
ments should be held in such a degree of disrespect, cannot
well be explained, unless upon supposition, that the excesses
of the Mahometans, who entered the most sacred places,
may have rendered them impure, and thus have deprived
them of their former holiness.
“We descended the face of the hill, which is of red granite
and very steep, and enjoyed a fine view of the extensive
plain beneath us, with the village of Ellora, about a mile
from the foot, embosomed with trees. About two-thirds
down the hill, which Captain Sydenham informed me, was
hollowed for near two miles, into vast halls and chambers, we
came in front of the great excavation called in the Sanscrit,
Keylas, or Paradise. The first object which strikes the tra-
veller is a gateway, having apartments over it, connected
with the sides of the hill by two walls with coarse battle-
ments, and apparently built across an old stone quarry ; and
above, and on each side within the gateway are seen a con-
fused crowd of pagodas and obelisks, so that should a stranger
view it from the outside, not being aware of the peculiarity
of the work, he would wonder at the taste of thus burying so
many buildings in so obscure a situation. But on approach-
ing the wall and gate, you search in vain for the usual separa-
tion of stones in building, and the whole is found to be one
mass of rock, and all worked out by manual labour, and
without great exertion, for by entering the gateway, and pass-
ing into the immense area, 240 feet long, 150 broad, and
meat worshipped in the Hindoo Mythology, yet no pilgrims
now visit them, nor are they in any manner, or to any one
(except a cursory traveller) an object of veneration. What-
ever may have been the cause of the erection of the stupen-
dous buildings in Egypt, or the religious feeling which
prompted their construction, I am not surprised that a satis-
factory account of their founder and era has been lost in ages
so remote, as to leave in existence no remains of that wor-
ship, except themselves and tradition, although the same re-
ligion still maintains its ground ; that these surprising monu-
ments should be held in such a degree of disrespect, cannot
well be explained, unless upon supposition, that the excesses
of the Mahometans, who entered the most sacred places,
may have rendered them impure, and thus have deprived
them of their former holiness.
“We descended the face of the hill, which is of red granite
and very steep, and enjoyed a fine view of the extensive
plain beneath us, with the village of Ellora, about a mile
from the foot, embosomed with trees. About two-thirds
down the hill, which Captain Sydenham informed me, was
hollowed for near two miles, into vast halls and chambers, we
came in front of the great excavation called in the Sanscrit,
Keylas, or Paradise. The first object which strikes the tra-
veller is a gateway, having apartments over it, connected
with the sides of the hill by two walls with coarse battle-
ments, and apparently built across an old stone quarry ; and
above, and on each side within the gateway are seen a con-
fused crowd of pagodas and obelisks, so that should a stranger
view it from the outside, not being aware of the peculiarity
of the work, he would wonder at the taste of thus burying so
many buildings in so obscure a situation. But on approach-
ing the wall and gate, you search in vain for the usual separa-
tion of stones in building, and the whole is found to be one
mass of rock, and all worked out by manual labour, and
without great exertion, for by entering the gateway, and pass-
ing into the immense area, 240 feet long, 150 broad, and