From the caves and jungles of Hindostan

FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN.

...they remain now as they did then, and still remain unanswered. In a few days we shall see each other again. Once more I shall gaze upon your stern image, upon your three huge granite faces, and I shall feel as hopeless as ever of piercing the mystery of your being. This secret fell into safe hands three centuries before ours. It is not in vain that the old Portuguese historian Don Diego de Cuta boasts that "the big square stone fastened over the arch of the pagoda Temple with a distinct inscription, having been torn out and sent as a present to King John III, disappeared mysteriously in the course of time..." and adds further, "Close to this big temple there stood another, and farther on even a third one, the most wonderful of all in beauty, incredible size, and richness of material. All those temples and caves were built by the Kings of Kanara (?), the most important of whom was Bonazur, and these buildings of Satan our (Portuguese) soldiers attacked with such intensity that in a few years not one stone was left upon another..." And, worst of all, they left no inscriptions that might have given a clue to so much. Thanks to the fanaticism of Portuguese soldiers, the chronology of the Indian cave temples must remain forever an enigma to the archaeological world, beginning with the Brahmins, who say Elephanta is 374,000 years old, and ending with Fergusson, who tries to prove that it was carved only in the twelfth century of our era. Whenever one turns one's eyes to history, there is nothing to be found but theories and darkness. And yet Gharipuri The local name for Elephanta Island is mentioned in the epic Mahabharata, which was written, according to Colebrooke and Wilson, a good while before the reign of Cyrus. In another ancient legend, it is said that the temple of Trimurti The Hindu Trinity was built on Elephanta by the sons of Pandu, who took part in the

IN BOMBAY.

...war between the dynasties of the Sun and the Moon and, belonging to the latter, were expelled at the end of the war. The Rajputs, who are the descendants of the first group, still sing of this victory; but even in their popular songs there is nothing certain. Centuries have passed and will pass, and the ancient secret will die in the rocky heart of the cave, still unrecorded.

On the left side of the bay, exactly opposite Elephanta, and as if in contrast with all its antiquity and greatness, spreads Malabar Hill, the residence of modern Europeans and wealthy locals. Their brightly painted bungalows are surrounded by the greenery of banyan, Indian fig, and various other trees, and the tall, straight trunks of coconut palms cover the whole ridge of the hilly headland with their leafy fringe. There, on the south-western end of the rock, you see the almost transparent, lace-like Government House surrounded on three sides by the ocean. This is the coolest and most comfortable part of Bombay, cooled by three different sea breezes.

The island of Bombay, called "Mumbai" by the locals, received its name from the goddess Mamba—known as Mahima in Marathi, or Amba, Mama, and Amma, depending on the dialect—a word meaning, literally, the Great Mother. Hardly one hundred years ago, on the site of the modern esplanade, there stood a temple dedicated to Mamba-Devi. With great difficulty and expense, they moved it nearer to the shore, close to the fort, and built it in front of Baleshwar, the "Lord of the Innocent"—one of the names of the god Shiva. Bombay is part of a significant group of islands, the most remarkable of which are Salsette (connected to Bombay by a causeway), Elephanta (so named by the Portuguese because of a huge rock carved in the shape of an elephant thirty-five feet