1853.] Notes on the Ruins at Mahal alipur am. 659 



figure, the usual attributes of Khrishna ; neither can I recal any 

 tale or legend, that represents Arjoon and his father Pandu as sup- 

 pliants to that divinity, in a state of starvation. 



When I visited the caves of Ellora in 1841, Lieut. Howarth, then 

 engaged in making drawings of the bas-reliefs, informed me that the 

 group was generally considered to pourtray a miser, holding a bag 

 of money, while his wife and son, reduced to skeletons, are vainly 

 supplicating for food ; but on minute inspection, I was not satisfied 

 with this interpretation, and find my notes on the subject as follows. 



What is assumed to be a purse tied round the waist of the miser, 

 has not the appearance of a sack containing money ; but might ra- 

 ther represent a girdle, drawn tight round the body to ease the 

 sensation of hunger, as is the custom with most semi-civilised na- 

 tions : neither can it be a bag of coins that he holds in his hand, 

 because the thick part is above the hand, and terminates in a point 

 at top ; but it might be an instrument for cutting the rock, which 

 he is holding out to the half-starved figures at his feet, The little 

 fat cherub may as well be supposed to be bringing him a bag of 

 treasure, as to be taking it away ; and then the entire group may be 

 imagined to pourtray the cause and mode of construction of these 

 caves, as a work undertaken by some prince or wealthy chief, during 

 a time of famine, to relieve the wants of his starving people. Ad- 

 mitting this supposition, we shall have no difficulty in accounting 

 for a continuation of the bas-relief which appears appended, not 

 only to this group, but also to a similar one in less perfect preserva- 

 tion in another cave : and we shall recognize Granesh, at the head of 

 a row of females, each carrying a child in her arms, as exhibiting 

 the eventual results of the judicious disbursement. 



This interpretation is merely a conjecture ; but it seems to derive 

 great support from the existence of the same group on the rocks of 

 Mahabalipuram, We can hardly imagine sculptors at such very 

 different parts of India, happening to invent precisely the same 

 story : though it might easily occur that both had to relate to pos- 

 terity the same events. It is no very great stretch of credulity, to 

 suppose that in both places, the works were undertaken by some 

 prince, to employ his famishing subjects during a time of great 

 scarcity ; and to furnish them with food without supporting them 



4 Q 



