ELEPHANTA—THE SYNTHESIS OF HINDUISM
At a great moment in the history of India the caves of Elephanta were carved out of the hving rock. A moment of synthesis it was that ages had prepared; a moment of promise that would take milleniums to fulfil. The idea that we now call Hinduism had just arrived at theological maturity. The process of re-differentiation had not yet begun. The caves of Elephanta mark perhaps its greatest historic moment. In all religious sects the conflict of opinion is determined more by the facts of history and geography than by opposing convictions. What then were the sources, geographic and historic, of the elements that make up Elephanta?
The caves themselves were meant to be a cathedral. So much is apparent on the face of things. Traces of palace, fortifications, and capital city must certainly be discoverable in their immediate neighbourhood. On another island several miles away is the Abbey of Kenheri with its chaitya hall and its 108 monastic cells, each two of which have their own water-supply; its bathing tanks, and refectory or chapter floors on the mountain-164
