1844. ) 



Account of Mamallaipur. 



£9 



the state or mode of being in which Vishnu here appears. 

 Hindu Mythology sometimes speaks of it as a mode of exis- 

 tence of Brahma, sometimes of Siva, and sometimes of Vishnu 

 in the act of willing the creation. Under this character 

 yishnu is represented lying on the lotus, as well as on the 

 thousand-headed serpent Sesha. 



The sculpture now spoken of is in bas-relief, and measures 

 13 feet in length, and 8 in height. The figure of Vish- 

 nu is 9 feet 6 inches long, recumbent on the snake Sesha, 

 which is ingeniously coiled for his support in several convo- 

 lutions, forming together a couch 3 feet high from the base ; 

 while five of its heads, (as many as could well be introduced,) 

 form a kind of canopy over the head of the supposed deity.* 

 Above the god are two small figures, male and female ; below 

 him in front in a kneeling posture, three ; and at his feet erect, 

 two. All these but the last are diminutive ; but the two 

 at his feet are seven feet high, and one of them grasps a club. 

 The village brahmans say that two of the figures in front re- 

 present cow keepers, who had been ill-used by Mahishasura. 

 These cow keepers (husband and wife) had come to complain 

 to Vishnu. Before they did so however they had inquired 

 of the third figure, said to be a " Shastrum Currah,"or sorcerer, 

 as to the precise time when they might have a propitious 

 opportunity. That while they were making the inquiry, one 

 of the attendants of Mahishasura, the figure bearing the club, 



* This representation of Vishnu must be very similar to the following. " Hari is one 

 «' of the titles of Vishnu, the deity in his preserving quality. Nearly opposite Sultan 

 «' Ganj, a considerable town in the province of Bahar, there stands a rock, of granite, 

 " forming a small island in the Ganges, known to Europeans by the name of the Rock 

 *» Jehangiri, which is highly worthy of the traveller's notice for a vast number of images, 

 " carved in relief upon every part of its surface. Amon» the rest there is Hari, of a 

 *' gigantic size, recumbent on a coiled serpent, whose heads, which are numerous, the 

 *• artist has contrived to sp ead into a canopy over the sleeping god : and from each of 

 " its mouths issues a forked tongue, seeming to threaten instant death to any whom 

 " rashness might prompt to disturb him. The whole lies almost clear of the block on 

 ♦ J which it is hewn. It i3 finely imagined and executed with great skill. The Hindoos 

 " are taught to belie . e, that at the end of every Calpa (creation), all things are absorbed 

 V into the deity, and that in the interval of another creation, he reposeth himself upon 

 " the Serpent Sesha {d^xd.tioxi)"—TVilkins , Hitopadesa. B, 



