224 HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 



tering with gold and gems, enlivened by the song, the 

 dance, and the society of beautiful damsels. Some ardent 

 devotees aspire to a still loftier destiny : they hope to be 

 absorbed into the essence of Brain, or the Supreme Mind, 

 where they shall repose for ever on an unruffled sea of 

 bliss. Hell is in like manner composed of many compart- 

 ments, corresponding to the various iniquities on account 

 of which erring mortals may be doomed to enter its dismal 

 precincts. The unmerciful are to be tormented by snakes ; 

 the drunkard is to be thrown into pans of liquid fire ; the 

 despiser of a Bramin is to stick fast in the mud with bis 

 head downwards ; the inhospitable to have his eyes torn 

 out by vultures : the seducer to be embraced by an image 

 of red-hot iron. Some of these abodes are covered with 

 darkness, others filled with boiling oil or burning copper ; 

 one is crowded with animals and reptiles, another planted 

 thick with thorns. The ground is here composed of deep 

 mire, there it bristles with needles. Thus it is manifest 

 the Hindoo system, though in a somewhat fanciful manner, 

 affords a certain sanction to all the various branches of 

 moral duty. Still, the bestowing of gifts upon Bramins, 

 the observance of certain ceremonies, the performance of a 

 long and difficult penance, are believed to constitute the 

 higher degrees of merit ; atoning even of themselves for 

 the most enormous sins, and ensuring an endless enjoy- 

 ment of felicity. 



The temples erected for the celebration of Hindoo wor- 

 ship appear to have been in ancient times of the most costly 

 and magnificent description. Their early structures bear 

 also a peculiar form, so dissimilar to those of modern date 

 that they would seem to be the monuments of some mighty 

 people who no longer exist. The most remarkable are 

 those found in different parts of the Deccan, not consisting 

 of masonry, but excavated in the sides of mountains, 

 which, in many instances, have been entirely cut out into 

 columns, temples, and images. The most celebrated, per- 

 haps from having first attracted observation, is Elephanta, 

 termed by Mr. Maurice " the wonder of Asia." It is situ- 

 ated about half-way up the declivity of a hill, in a small 

 wooded island near Bombay. Three entrances are afforded 

 between four rows of massive columns, and the principal 

 one i? 220 feet long by 150 broad. The inost conspicuous 



