Lieut.-Coloml Tod on Sculptures in the Temples ofEllora. 329 



of Bamian, of Jalindia, of Gaya, of Gwalior, of Dhumrar, of Ellora, and 

 of Elephanta. " Zoroaster" (says Volney* quoting Eusebius) " was 

 the first who, having fixed upon a cavern pleasantly situated in the moun- 

 tains adjacent to Persia, formed the idea of consecrating it to Mithra 

 (the Sun), the creator and father of all things ; and having made in this 

 cavern several geometrical divisions representing the seasons and the elements, 

 he imitated on a small scale the order and disposition of the universe by 

 MiTHRA. In these caves they celebrated mysteries, which consisted in 

 imitating the motion of the stars, the planets, and tlie heavens. The 

 initiated took the names of constellations and assumed the figures of animals. 

 One was a lion, another a raven, and a third a ram. Hence the use of 

 masks in the first representation of the drama ; of this nature were the 

 mysteries of Ceres." But Volney will not allow Zoroaster the honour of 

 the invention, which he says is due to the Egyptians, of which the caverns 

 of Thebes, full of similar pictures, afford proof. 



There is a powerful analogy, both architectural and mythological, between 

 the cave temples of Ellora and Elephanta, and Elephantine in Egypt, where 

 certain emblematic figures appear to have the same character as those under 

 discussion. " At Elephantine (says Volney, still quoting Eusebius) they 

 worshipped the figure of a man in a sitting posture, painted blue, having the 

 head of a ram and the horns of a goat which encompassed a disc : all of 

 which represented tlie sun's and moon's conjunction in the sign of the ram : 

 the blue colour denoting the power of the moon at the period of junction to 

 raise water into clouds." 



I have little doubt that the central figure is Mahadeva, the creative 

 power : and that he sometimes represents the solar deity, we have the best 

 proof in seeing his monolithic emblem in tlie sun-temples of tlie ancient 

 sun-worshippers (Sauras, the Supo'y of Strabo) of Saurashtra, where he is 

 called Bal-nath, Bal-cesar,! Bal-pura, Mahadeva. As emblematic 

 of the sun, and placed between the celestial signs Aries and Taurus, which 

 these ram-headed and bull-headed figures represent, Mahadeva may designate 

 the position of the sun in the Zoiliac when these sculptures were executed. 

 I shall leave to others the taskof calculating the precession of the equinoxes. 



• Vide " Ruing of Empires." 



\ In tliisword we should find the origin of the Persian crest, the Lion and Sun; Bui being 

 the type of the sun, as in Balbec (the sun-idol) of Syria, and Cesar a lion. 



Vol. II. 2 U 



