BY DK. BERNCASTLE. 185 



able progress in the statuary's art. The whole of this portion of 

 the excavation is in a very ruinous condition, and the roof appears 

 to be fast sinking in. The rains being permitted to lodge within 

 the whole of the temples four months out of the twelve does much 

 to hasten the destruction of those interesting monuments. When 

 the Portuguese became masters of this part of India and visited 

 this island, they were so horrified by the character of .this heathen 

 temple that they ordered a piece of heavily loaded cannon to be 

 planted opposite the entrance, with the hope of destroying the 

 principal pillars that support the roof, and burying the cave in the 

 ruins of the mountain above it. 



Still further to the right, is the entrance to a subterraneous 

 passage, with deep clear water. A friend of mine, prompted 

 by curiosity, once swam some hundred feet up this passage 

 with a lighted candle, but could not see to the end of the 

 excavation. Snakes and other reptiles are often met with in 

 some of these dark recesses, and the cavern itself is not visitable 

 after the rains, until the ground has had time to dry into com- 

 plete hardness. Different writers, according to their general 

 notions on the subject of Indian antiquities, have adopted 

 very different opinions relative to the age of this magnificent 

 excavation ; some referring it to the most remote age ; others 

 attributing it to a much more recent period. Mr. Fergasson 

 alludes to the general similarity of these caves to those of Ellora, 

 with which he has no doubt they are contemporary ; indeed 

 there is a degree of similarity between the two series, which is 

 singular in structures so distant, and which can only be accounted 

 for by their being undertaken at the same time, and probably 

 under the same direction. 



Colonel Tod considers that the noblest remains of sacred 

 architecture, throughout Western India, are of Boodh or Jain 

 origin, and assigns to the first temple of Dwarka, now sacred to 

 Krishna, an antiquity of 1200 years before Christ. 



The cave temples of Kanari, in the island of Salsette, are 

 twenty- two miles from Bombay, and four beyond the village of 

 Vehar ; from which village, proceeding through a thick jungle, 

 along the edge of deep gullies, you reach the village of Tulsi, in 

 the immediate vicinity of the caves. 



