Oriental Scenery/Part 5/Plate 8
No. VIII.
PART OF THE INTERIOR OF THE ELEPHANTA.
This view is taken near the centre of the Temple, looking westward. The space between four of the pillars is formed into a small temple sacred to Mahadeva, and has an entrance on each side guarded by colossal figures. On the walls are several groups of figures in basso-relievo, evidently relative to the Hindoo mythology, and principally to Mahadeva: many of the figures are of colossal dimensions, and well executed. To the east and west are small apartments, decorated also in the same manner. This excavation is considerably elevated above the sea; the floor, nevertheless, is generally covered with water during the monsoon season; the rain being then driven in by the wind; a circumstance to which, possibly, its present state of decay is chiefly owing, although some have supposed it to have been produced by the violence of hostile superstition.
Part of the interior of the Elephanta.