Some Harinless Beasts. 145 



for wheels, but it is no longer the " castelle " whence war- 

 riors fight, though it carries the standards of princes in 

 front of their hosts, and is the rallying-point and centre for 

 the fiercest conflicts. 



•' From the dread front of ancient war 

 Less terror frowned ; her scythed car, 

 Her castled elephant and bati'ring beam, ! 



Stoop to those engines which deny 

 Superior terrors to the sky, 

 And boast their clouds, their thunder, and their flame." 



But of itself it takes no part in war, no longer 



" rages 'mid the mortal fray. 

 Astonished at the madness of mankind." 



In man's warfare against wild beasts it still, however, 

 retains all the importance of the olden time when the 

 Moguls went out against the striped terror of the jungles, 

 and 



" high upon his throne, ' 

 Borne on the back of his proud elephant, 

 Sale the great chief of Timur's glorious race." 



Of all animals it is the most majestic figure in Oriental 

 mythology. The gods loved the colossal brute, but bv- 

 and-by, when Vishnu had warred with Indra, it became 

 an object of fear to the Celestials. Then came forth the 

 vulture-god to fight with the elephant. It is the Atlas of 

 Hindostan, an elephant standing at each corner of the earth 

 — what a noble image ! As the symbol of strength it was 

 among the honorific titles of the greatest emperors, and the 

 supreme significance in their architecture. As the emblem 

 of intelligence the gods of India wear its head. The state- 

 liness of its walk gives the invariable simile of grace with 

 dignity to the poets of the East. In its gloomy bulk 

 mythology sees the steed of the pluvial god, the Rain-cloud. 

 So Keats nobly beheld it — 



K 



