Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/250

SOS AI^ClfeNT RELIGION OP tHE The material is the same basaltic stone of which the temples are constructed. The execution of the images of brass is far less skilful, yet often re- spectable, and sometimes evenbeautiful. By far the most frequent images of this class are those of the destroying power of the Hindu triad and his family. We have images of Siwa himself in a great variety of forms, of Durga his consort, and of Ganesa the god of wisdom, of Surya the deity of the sun, of the bull of Maha- dewa, and of the Linga and Yoni, all of them, a hundred to one, more frequent than any other de- scription of images, except representations of Budd- ha. Wherever the original appropriation of such ima- ges can be distinctly traced, they will be found to have been the principal objects of worship in the tem- ples, always occupying in the groups the great cen- tral temple. Thus the temples of Brambanan are dis- covered to have been consecrated to the worship of Siwa, by the discovery in one of the great central temples of an image of the god himself, of his Sakti Durga, and, of his son Ganesa, not to say that the neighbouring country is strewed with images of the same description. The same observation applies to the groups at Singhasari, the most considerable remains of this class of buildings after Brambanan. Prom the principal temple, there were removed, a few years ago, the fine image of Siwa, in the form of a devotee, with a trident , and the more su-