vergrown with secular cactus, and right under it, at the foot of the
rock, are hollowed out the chief temple and the two lateral ones. Like
the serpent of our Russian fairy tales, it seems to be opening its
fierce black mouth to swallow the daring mortal who comes to take
possession of the secret mystery of Titan. Its two remaining teeth, dark
with time, are formed by two huge pillars t the entrance, sustaining the
palate of the monster.

How many generations of Hindus, how many races, have knelt in the
dust before the Trimurti, your threefold deity, O Elephanta? How many
centuries were spent by weak man in digging out in your stone bosom this
town of temples and carving your gigantic idols? Who can say? Many years
have elapsed since I saw you last, ancient, mysterious temple, and still
the same restless thoughts, the same recurrent questions vex me snow 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 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 with a distinct inscription, having been
torn out and sent as a present to the King Dom Juan III, disappeared
mysteriously in the course of time....," and adds, further, "Close to
this big pagoda 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 pagodas and caves have been built by the Kings of
Kanada, (?) the most important of whom was Bonazur, and these buildings
of Satan our (Portuguese) soldiers attacked with such vehemence that in
a few years one stone was not 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 for ever an enigma to the archaeological
world, beginning with the Brah-mans, 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 hypotheses and darkness. And
yet Gharipuri is mentioned in the epic Maha