From the Caves and Jungles of HindostanBlavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Religion
From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891; India -- Description and travel; India -- Religion
Like all the cave temples of India, the Bagh caverns are dug out in the
middle of a vertical rock--with the intention, as it seems to me, of
testing the limits of human patience. Taking into consideration that
such a height does not prevent either glamour or tigers reaching the
caves, I cannot help thinking that the sole aim of the ascetic
builders was to tempt weak mortals into the sin of irritation by the
inaccessibility of their airy abodes. Seventy-two steps, cut out in the
rock, and covered with thorny weeds and moss, are the beginning of the
ascent to the Bagh caves. Footmarks worn in the stone through centuries
spoke of the numberless pilgrims who had come here before us. The
roughness of the steps, with deep holes here and there, and thorns,
added attractions to this ascent; join to this a number of mountain
springs exuding through the pores of the stone, and no one will be
astonished if I say that we simply felt faint under the weight of
life and our archeological difficulties. The Babu, who, taking off his
slippers, scampered over the thorns as unconcernedly as if he had hoofs
instead of vulnerable human heels, laughed at the "helplessness of
Europeans," and only made us feel worse.
But on reaching the top of the mountain we stopped grumbling, realizing
at the first glance that we should receive our reward. We saw a whole
enfilade of dark caves, through regular square openings, six feet wide.
We felt awestruck with the gloomy majesty of this deserted temple. There
was a curious ceiling over the square platform that once served as a
verandah; there was also a portico with broken pillars hanging over
our heads; and two rooms on each side, one with a broken image of some
flat-nosed goddess, the other containing a Ganesha; but we did not
stop to examine all this in detail. Ordering the torches to be lit, we
stepped into the first hall.
A damp breath as of the tomb met us. At our first word we all shivered:
a hollow, prolonged echoing howl, dying away in the distance, shook
the ancient vaults and made us all lower our voices to a whisper. The
torch-bearers shrieked "Devi!... Devi!..." and, kneeling in the dust,
performed a fervent puja in honor of the voice of the invisible goddess
of the caves, in spite of the angry protestations of Narayan and of the
"God's warrior."
The only light of the temple came from the entrance, and so two-thirds
of it looked still gloomier by contrast. This hall, or the central
temple, is very spacious, eighty--four feet square, and sixteen feet
high. Twenty-four massive pillars form a square, six pillars at each
side, including the corner ones, and four in the middle to prop up the
centre of the ceiling; otherwise it could not be kept from falling,
as the mass of the mountain which presses on it from the top is much
greater than in Karli or Elephanta.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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