98 WESTERN H I N D O O S T A N. 



and often the Cobra de Capeilo, that dresdful fnake, which is 

 attendant on feveral of the incarnationa of Viflchenou. A lifli 

 is one, which affiiTS to explain the oI)je»ft of the fculptures and 

 iifes of the excavations. 



TiiEeE caverns are the haunts of monftrous ferpents. Hamil- 

 toii, i. 239, tehs us, that on firing his fufil, to enjoy the thunder- 

 ing echo of the report, he difturbed a Boa, fifteen feet in length, 

 and two feet in girth, from its antient feat, which pvit the tra- 

 veller to fpeedy flight, and an end to his curiolity. 



Most of the figures are colofl^d, from twelve to twenty-three 

 feet high. Some of them, with all their extravagancies, are faid 

 to be finely executed : many are crofs leg'd, in their attitude of 

 prayer; many have rofaries, which prove that thefe places were 

 ohjecSts of devotion. 



The woman v/ith three faces and four arms is engraven in 

 Mr. Pyke's account. I beg leave to make a few remarks on that 

 figure : round her neck are five necklaces, rich in pearls and gems, 

 with pendent jewels; her hair is long, and hangs in beautiful 

 ringlets ; her ears (not her ear-rings as they are called) hang to 

 a vaft length, exactly in the Malabar mode; and her head- 

 drefs is conic, in the Chinefe fafliion, which might have been 

 in ufe in early times. The lait is dropt; the ftrange deformity 

 of long ears are Itill retained : fo far is certainly of eaflern 

 fculpture. 



But what can he faid to the figures found in another cave, 



in the neighborhood of Bombay., not exprefled by name : they 



are engraven in volume vii. of the Archaelogia ; fome have the 



faufage curl, others the cochkar twirl, in the hair, and others 



7 the 



