1844.J Account of Mamallaipur. £5 



in front. The ground at the entrance is partly overgrown 

 with bushes, and the cave now affords shelter to the village 

 cattle. 



A few yards south of this excavation, opposite to a street 

 \>f the village is an open building, which from the sculptures 

 it contains may very properly be denominated Krishna's 

 Choultry (No. 13). These sculptures are executed on the back 

 wall of the building, or rather that part of the solid hill which 

 forms the back wall. They represent the exploit of Krishna 

 supporting the mountain Goverdhana in order to shelter his 

 followers from the wrath of Indra, — the god that darts the 

 " swift blue bolt," the 



" Sprinkler of genial dews, and fruitful rains 

 " Over hills and thirsty plains." 



This action is fabled to have been performed by Krishna 

 with one of his little fingers at the age of seven. 



" With erne finger raised the vast Goverdhen ; 

 " Beneath whose rocky burden, 

 " On pastures dry, the maids and herdmen trod : 

 " The Lord of thunder felt a mightier God." 



? Sir W. Jones. 



, In the present sculpture the attitude of the God corres- 

 ponds sufficiently with the story. He appears however to 

 sustain the mountain with the palm of his left hand, instead 

 of the little finger as in the poetical version. The only re- 

 presentation of the supported mountain consists of a rough 

 line running above the whole of the figures. This line has 

 been formed by cutting away as much of the rock as would 

 answer the purpose of giving the requisite degree of relief 

 for typifying, in the above manner, the rugged bottom of the 

 mountain, torn up from its foundations, and sustained aloft 

 in the air. The whole group looks clumsy ; the proportions are 

 bad ; the countenances are destitute of expression ; and little 

 praise is due to it either as a work of art or imagination. So 

 singular a deliverance from sudden destruction ought to have 



