76 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
group of three female figures following each other : 
the execution of the work was indifferent, and not 
superior to the pictures which the Chinese make in 
imitation of an European artist. 
tf The traditions of the people regarding the idols of 
Bameean are vague and unsatisfactory. It is stated 
that they were excavated about the Christian era by 
a tribe of Kaffirs, infidels, to represent a king named 
Silsal and his wife, who ruled in a distant country, 
and was worshipped for his greatness. The Hindoos 
assert that they were excavated by the Pandoos, and 
that they are mentioned in the great epic poem of the 
Mahaburat. Certain it is that the Hindoos on passing 
these idols, at this day, hold up their hands in adora- 
tion : they do not make offerings, and the custom may 
have fallen into disuse since the rise of Islam. I am 
aware that a conjecture attributes these images to the 
Buddhists, and the long ears of the great figure render 
the surmise probable. I did not trace any resem- 
blance to the colossal figures in the caves of Salsette, 
near Bombay ; but the shape of the head is not un- 
like that of the great tri-faced idol of Elephanta. At 
Manikyala, in the Punjab, near the celebrated f tope/ 
I found a glass or cornelian antique which exactly re- 
sembles this head. In the paintings over the idols I 
observed a close resemblance to the images of the Jain 
temples in Western India, on Mount Aboo, Girnar, and 
Politana, in Kattywar. I judge the figures to be female ,* 
but they are very rude, though the colours in which 
they are sketched are bright and beautiful. There is 
nothing in the images of Bameean to evince any great 
advancement in the arts, or what the most common 
