16 



Account of Mamallaipur. 



[No. 30. 



sented to do so, but the severed head could not be found : 

 it was determined therefore to place on the headless 

 trunk, the cranium of the first animal they met with, which 

 proved to be an elephant. There is another story to this ef- 

 fect, that Mahadeva and Parvati quarrelled ; their quarrel 

 was followed by a reconciliation ; and their reconciliation by 

 the birth of Ganesa. On this joyful occasion all the gods 

 came to congratulate Parvati ; but one of them, whose name 



I have forgotten, kept his eyes cast down and forebore to look 

 up. The goddess observing this asked him the reason of it ; 

 when he told her that he was doomed to injure whomsoever 

 he looked upon, and therefore would not venture to look on 

 the child. Parvati would not believe that any injury could 

 be done, and urged him to admire her beautiful Ganesa. 

 But no sooner did he lift up his eyes, than the child's head 

 vanished. This unexpected result astounded Parvati, who had 

 ne sooner recovered from her first surprise, than she gave 

 such passionate vent to her feelings, that Vishnu, apprehen- 

 sive of the consequences, flew to the banks of the Ganges, 

 and brought thence the head of an elephant which he placed 

 on Ganesa's shoulders. < 



Passing the north western front of the temple just describ- 

 ed, and following the foot-path, which leads through a narrow 

 acclivity, formed by rocks and bushes on either side, we come 

 to an excavation with a very pretty frontage, on the left hand. 

 (No. 9.) It is hewn in the side of the hill, is %2 feet long, 



II feet deep, and 10 feet 6 inches high. Of this excavation 

 and of the imagery within it, plates are given in the 2nd 

 Vol. of the Royal Asiatic Society's Transactions. 



On the wall at the right hand, or south-west end, there is a 

 group of figures representing the Vaman-Avatara, or fifth 

 incarnation of Vishnu, undertaken by him to punish pride 

 and presumption. The story is this : 



Mahabali, a prince who lived in the Treta yuga, or the 



