ORIENTAL SCENERY.
Sixth Series.
HINDOO EXCAVATIONS IN THE MOUNTAIN OF ELLORA,
NEAR AURUNGABAD IN THE DECCAN, EAST INDIES.
Ellora is an ancient town of the Hindoos, distant from Aurungabad in a north-west direction about eighteen miles, and from Bombay nearly east about two hundred and thirty. The mountain, in which are these extraordinary efforts of human labour, accompanied by a very considerable degree of skill, is about a mile westward of the town of Ellora, of a semicircular form. The antiquity of these excavations, which unquestionably must be very great, is quite out of the reach of inquiry; the use of the greater number of them has evidently been for religious purposes. Many of the statues, basso-relievos, capitals of the pillars, and other decorative parts are executed in a very good style. The rock in which they are wrought is hard red granite; much of the sculpture is by time decayed, and many parts have designedly been mutilated, some of which have been repaired, though very clumsily. Several of the temples have been painted of various colours; and their ceilings, which have had suitable decorations, are now generally become so black with the smoke from fires which of late years have been made in them, that scarcely any design can, but in a few places, be traced. The drawings from which this series of views is engraved were presented to the publisher by Sir Charles Warre Malet, Bart. many years resident at the Durbar, or court of Poonah, who, on the death of Mr. Wales, became possessed of all his drawings. Sir Charles has given a full account of these excavations in the sixth volume of the Asiatic Researches, from which are extracted many parts of these descriptions; but as the plates accompanying it were etched from the sketches of an Indian artist, they will be found to differ in many respects from the drawings of Mr. Wales's collection; to make which as correct as possible, no labour or expense has been spared.
These views were taken in the years 1792 and 1793.
Nos. I. II. and III.
In these three plates, which together comprise a general view of the Mountain of Ellora, will be found, in their respective situations, and progressively numbered in the margin, the whole of the views contained in this work, excepting the three most northern, viz. Jagannatha Sabha, Paraswa Rama Sabha, and Indra Sabha, which are connected by excavated passages, are situated to the left of the rock in the title-page, and are figured in the margin, 1, 2, 3. A part of Doomar Leyna is seen to the right, No. 4.
No. IV. Plans A.
JAGANNATHA SABHA[1]
This view, which is one of the first shewn to a stranger, must strike him with astonishment, whether he considers the vast labour which must have been bestowed on it in mere excavation, the rock being of red granite; or whether he considers the infinite pains which it must have taken to form the pillars and finish the numerous sculptural decorations: but when he is informed that the whole mountain is full of excavations, and that many are larger and still more elaborate, he is quite at a loss how to credit what he hears. The lower apartment of Jagannatha Sabha is too much choked up with earth, &c. to admit of any accurate description. On the left side of the area is an excavation rudely finished, and on the right, other small excavations alike choked up. The ascent to the upper story is by the flight of steps, No. 1,1. No. 2,2,2,2, The verandah. No. 3, The principal apartment. No. 4, Sud. No. 5, Budh, standing figures. No. 6, A large figure of Jagannatha, an idol sitting cross-legged, with his hands in his lap one over the other. No. 7 and 8, His two attendants, Jaya and Vijaya, doorkeepers of Vishnu. There are many small figures of Jagannatha on the walls; they all appear to be naked, and to have no other covering on the head than curled hair. The height of this excavation from the floor to the ceiling, is thirteen feet four inches.
- ↑
Or the temple of Jagannatha, Lord of the Universe.
Note.—This temple seems to have been the work of Bawdha, or followers of Budha, to whom they apply many of the epithets used by the Brahmins in speaking of Vishnu, of whom they say Budha was an incarnation.
