It Was Too Late To Visit The Temples Today, And I Therefore Waited Till The Next Morning.

The temples of Elora lie on that kind of table-land which is peculiar to India.

The principal temple, Kylas, is the most wonderful of all those which are hewn out of the rock. It surpasses, in magnitude and finish, the best specimens of Indian architecture; it is, indeed, affirmed to have claims to precedence over the marvellous buildings of the ancient Egyptians. The Kylas is of conical form, 120 feet in height and 600 in circumference. For the construction of this masterwork, a colossal block was separated from the solid rock by a passage 240 feet long and 100 broad. The interior of the temple consists of a principal hall (66 feet long by 100 broad), and several adjoining halls, which are all furnished with sculptures and gigantic idols; but the real magnificence consists in the rich and beautiful sculptures on the exterior, in the tastefully-executed arabesques, and in the fine pinnacles and niches, which are cut out on the tower. The temple rests on the backs of numerous elephants and tigers, which lie next to each other in peaceful attitudes. Before the principal entrance, to which several flights of steps lead, stand two figures of elephants above life-size. The whole is, as has been said before, hewn from a single mass of rock. The cliff from which this immense block was separated surrounds the temple, on three sides, at a distance of 100 feet, forming colossal perpendicular walls, in which, as at Adjunta, enormous colonnades, larger and smaller temples, from two to three stories high, are excavated. The principal temple is called Rameswur, and somewhat exceeds in size the largest vichara at Adjunta; its breadth is ninety-eight feet, it extends into the rock 102 feet, and the height of the ceiling is twenty-four feet; it is supported by twenty-two pilasters, and covered with the most beautiful sculptures, reliefs, and colossal gods, among which the principal group represents the marriage of the god Ram and the goddess Seeta. A second vichara, nearly as handsome as this last, is called Laoka; the principal figure in this is Shiva.

Not far distant, a number of similar temples are excavated in another rock. They are much more simple, with unattractive portals and plain columns; therefore, not to be compared with those at Adjunta. This task would have been impossible if the rock had been granite or a similar primitive foundation; unfortunately, I could not ascertain what the rock was, I only examined the pieces which were here and there chipped off, and which were very easily broken. It is not with the less astonishment that one contemplates these surprising works, which will always be considered as inimitable monuments of human ingenuity.

The temple of Kylas is, unfortunately, somewhat decayed from age and the destructive action of the weather. It is a sad pity that the only monument of this kind in the world will, by-and-bye, fall into ruins.

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Words from 119365 to 119874 of 187810