Capt. GniNDLAY on the Sculptures in the Cave Te^nples ofEllora. 489 



glance from his central eye ; but the repentant wife having, under the dis- 

 guise of a wood nymph, won the affections of her lord, is reunited to him : 

 and Kama Deva, according to the fable, is restored, by transmigration, in the 

 form of a. son of Krishna. 



In this plate the attitudes of the two deities are remarkable for their ease, 

 correctly representing the Indian mode of sitting in the present day. The 

 dice appear to be just thrown ; and the hands of the divinities are held up 

 in the attitude of reproof and expostulation : whilst the demon of discord 

 sits in a common attitude of old men, with an expression evidently exulting 

 in the mischief he has occasioned. 



The three female attendants behind Parvati are occupied in their respec- 

 tive offices of dressing her hair and fanning her, and one has the fragment 

 of a chowrie, or bunch of feathers, to beat off the flies. The sturdy mas- 

 culine figure of the mace-bearer is finely contrasted with the slender and 

 graceful form of the young female attendant. Corresponding figures stand 

 behind Maha Deva and complete the group, which displays considerable 

 skill and harmony of composition, as well as individual beauty of form and 

 grace of attitude. 



The group below represents the Nunda, or Bull, sacred to Maha Deva, 

 surrounded by a gana, or troop of grotesque characters, which appear to 

 be the giiomes and sprites of Hindu poetical machinery, and are never 

 failing accompaniments in all the ancient cave sculptures.* The variety 

 and sportive character of their attitudes are as remarkable as the truth 

 and spirit displayed in the form and action of the Bull which they sur- 

 round. 



No. 6 appears to be a marriage procession of the same elf-like beings, 

 bearing some faint resemblance to that of Cupid and Psyche in the ancient 

 Grecian sculptures. 



No. 7 is supposed to represent the goddess Kali under her several attri- 

 butes of Maha, or the great, Bhadra, or the propitious, and Siva as pecu- 

 liarly the consort of Siva or Maha Deva. They are seated on a kind of 

 throne, on which there are still the remains of something like a damask or 

 flowered drapery ; their heads recline easily on cushions ; while their atti- 

 tudes are as graceful as their forms are beautiful, though with the exception 



* See Dr. Babington's account of the sculptures at Mahamalaipur, Vol. 11, Part I. of the 

 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. 



