446 



more, he is represented as trodden under foot by Maha Cal, or 

 Eternity." 



In these extracts many things bear a resemblance to prominent 

 features in the history of the Old Testament. They must be ob- 

 vious to a common observer, and, like similar passages in the 

 Egyptian and Grecian mythology, might no doubt be satisfacto- 

 rily traced to that primeval source ; but I shall close these remarks 

 with an account of that singular composition, formerly most ab- 

 surdly called the Judgment of Solomon, which contains the figure 

 and appropriate emblems of Siva. This compartment, from being 

 in a strong light, is very conspicuous in the Elephanta temple, 

 and seems more than any other to have engaged the attention of 

 travellers. Major Moor thus happily illustrates it, with an appa- 

 rent truth and precision which seems to leave no further room for 

 conjecture. 



The compartment containing the group, in which Siva, in the 

 character of Maha Cala, or Eternity, makes the principal figure, 

 is on the right of the entrance in' the Elephanta temple. " It is of 

 Siva Vindex, fourteen feet high, but his lower extremities broken 

 off. His attention is, from his attitude, turned to his left. His 

 aspect is terrific, indicating the immediate execution of some 

 avenging act. He had eight arms ; the superior right and left 

 stretched up, and either supporting a cloth or curtain, or puilino- 

 it over the terrible event he threatens; the fingers grasp the cloth ; 

 the left upstretched arm is finely executed, the right broken at the 

 elbow ; his next right hand is broken at the wrist ; the correspond- 

 ing left holds a bell, in good preservation, over a cup in the palm 



