76 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



female, stand on pilasters on the outside of the last row of 

 columns, comprising every variety of the Hindoo mythology, 

 and at the upper end of the chamber is a vast representation 

 in polished granite of the god " Maha Deo" (Siva), the pre- 

 siding deity of the temple. Leaving this hall by a small 

 flight of steps, a chamber is entered, in which is placed the 

 " Lingham," thus described by a celebrated writer on 

 India : " This symbol, which is placed in the centre of the 

 sanctum sanctorum, is a stone of cylindrical shape, bedaubed 

 with red ochre and sweet-scented oil, and strewed with 

 odoriferous flowers. The worship of this stone, with the 

 ceremonies observed, need not be detailed; they are of an 

 impure kind. It is an emblem of the generative power. 

 These apartments are profusely and richly adorned with 

 sculptured figures of the Hindoo mythology, some of them 

 of very obscene delineation, a thing but too common in the 

 writings and conversation of the Hindoos. The following 

 observation of an Oriental writer sufficiently elucidates the 

 subject to preclude the necessity of going further into the 

 disgusting detail : ' It seems never to have entered into the 

 heads of Indian legislators and people that anything natural 

 could be grossly obscene.' " 



Many of the statues, figures, and reliefs are emblematical 

 of the Buddhist creed, which was prior to that of Brahmah ; 

 but the history and date of these wonderful excavations are 

 totally unknown; indeed, the Hindoos invariably ascribe 

 their formation to superhuman agency, and relate a wild 

 traditional story of a being named " Pandoo," who had seven 

 sons, and who, wishing to please the god Crislnia, excavated 

 caverns for religious purposes, and in order to do something 

 very extraordinary, prayed to the god to grant them a night 

 which might last for the space of a whole year. When these ex- 

 cavations were finished, the day broke forth, and revealed these 

 wonderful caves and temples to the astonished sight of the 



