ecorated the tiara of the priest; they were nterwoven in the purple robe of the judge, nd sparkled on the rubied fceptre of the prince. Let us now, then, turn our eye eastvard, to that country which is afferted, by Tome enraptured admirers of the religion, poicy, and manners, of the Indians, to have been the cradle of mankind and the nurse of -ising science.

the three allegorical Perfonages, BRAHMA, VEESHNU, and SEEVA. - Immemorially reprefented by a triple sculptured Image, having one Body but three Heads. Each Figure bearing

in its Hands Symbols peculiarly defcriptive of its feparate Function and Attributes, as the CREATOR, the PRESERVER, and REGENERATOR, of Mankind. Thus defignated in the Cavern of ELEPHANTA, the Era of whose Fabrication runs back to the patriarchal Ages: Most probably, therefore, the Idea originated in a Corruption of the patriarchal Doctrine on this Point. The triliteral Word AUM allufive to this mystical Union of the three principal Deities.-Illuftrations and Proofs from various Oriental Writers and Trawellers.

F exquifite workmanship, and of ftu-pendous antiquity; antiquity to which neither the page of hiftory nor human tradi

tions can afcend; that magnificent piece of fculpture, so often alluded to, in the cavern of Elephanta, decidedly establishes the folemn fact, that, from the remoteft æras, the Indian nations have adored a TRIUNE DEITY. There the traveller with awe and aftonishment be holds, carved out of the folid rock, in the moft confpicuous part of the most ancient and venerable temple of the world, a bust, expanding in breadth near twenty feet, and no lefs than eighteen feet in altitude, by which amazing proportions, as well as by its gor geous decorations, it is known to be the image of the grand prefiding Deity of that hallowed retreat he beholds, I say, a bust composed of three heads united to one body, adorned with the oldeft fymbols of the Indian theology, and thus exprefsly fabricated, according to the unanimous confeffion of the facred facerdotal tribe of India, to indicate the CREATOR, the PRESERVER, and the REGENERATOR, of mankind. I confider the fuperior antiquity of the Elephanta temple to that of Salfette, as eftablished by the circumftance of its flat roof, proving it to have been excavated before mankind had difcovered the art of turning the majeftic arch, and giving the lofty roof that concave form which adds fo greatly to the

grandeur

grandeur of the Salfette temple. The very fame circumstance, I may repeat, is an irrefragable argument in favour of the high antiquity of the ftructures of the Thebais, through the whole extent of which no arch, nor vaulted dome, meets the eye, perpetually difgufted with the unvaried uniformity of the flat roof, and the incumbent mafs of ponderous marble, never deviating from the horizontal to a circular termination. M. Sonnerat thinks the pyramids of Egypt very feeble monuments of art and labour, if compared with the excavations of Salfette and Elora; the innumerable ftatues, bas-reliefs, and columns, he is of opinion, indicate a thousand years of continued labour; and, he adds, that the depradations of time mark at leaft an existence of three thousand years*. To what æra, then, will he refer the ftill more ancient temple of Elephanta? To afcertain, indeed, precifely that æra, is impoflible; but, from various circumstances, recapitulated in many preceding pages, we are justified in fixing it as near the deluge as the progress of fcience will allow us with propriety to fix it; and the remarkable fimilitude which its sculptures bear, both in their style of defignation and ornaments, to those of

A a 3

• Sønnerat's Voyagés, vol. i. p. 109. Calcutta printed.

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