443 



Maha-maha-deva-devy may, therefore, be interpreted the island of 

 Mahadeva, or the Great-great God, or Siva; that deity being 

 principally honoured in its chief temple, now on the little island 

 of Elephanta, where monstrous lingas, evidently and necessarily 

 coeval with the excavation, and gigantic statues of him and his 

 consort, indicate his paramount adoration." Gharipuri, or the 

 city of caves, is the name by which the natives identify the Ele- 

 phanta. 



Not to enter into any new detail of the Hindoo mythology, it 

 must strike every common observer, that the representation of 

 Siva under different forms is the most striking feature in the tem- 

 ples of the Elephanta, and so far confirms Major Moor's idea 

 beforementioned. " Siva and Jove," he observes, " have been 

 compared by Sir William Jones and other mythologists ; but no 

 where is Jove seen combined with his spouse, or any female, as 

 Siva is, in pictures and sculptures, with Parvati. Jove is however 

 sometimes called mother as well as father. The following verse 

 might warrant such a combination in the creative eye of a painter: 



" Jupiter omnipotens, rerum, regumque, deumque, 

 " Progenitor, genetrixque." 



" Almighty Jove ; father and mother, both 

 " Of gods, and men, and things." Lettehs on Mythology. 



And in some of their multifarious characters most of the Hindoo 

 deities might be identified with Jove or Jupiter; where, in the 

 poetical language of the world, he is called Saturn's youngest 

 child ; that is, the latest production of Time. 



" The comparison between Siva and Jove runs parallel in many 

 instances. In the capacity of avenger and destroyer, Jove over- 



