ELEP~IAIV1"A
of Kolaba District, Bombay, situated in i8° 58' N. and q3° E., in
Bombay harbour, about 6 miles from Bombay City and 4 from the
shore of the mainland. The island measures from 4 to 41 miles in
circumference, and consists of two long hills separated by a narrow
valley; the superficial. area varies from 6 to 4 square miles according
as the tide is at ebb or flow. On the west side it furnishes building
stone of medium quality, which is at present being extensively quarried
by the contractors to the Bombay Port Trust for use in the new docks.
The island'was named Elephanta by the Portuguese, from a large stone -
elephant which stood near the old landing-place on the south side of
the island. This elephant was 13 feet. 2 inches in length, and about
7 feet 4 inches high ; but its head and neck dropped off in 1814, and
subsequently the body sank down into a shapeless mass of ' stones,
which were removed in 1864 to the Victoria Gardens in Bombay.
Near the point where ;the two hills approach each other, and not far
to the south-east of the Great Cave, once stood the stone statue of
a. horse, described by an early writer as being -° so lively, with. such s
colour and carriage, and the shape finisht with that Exactness that
many have rather fancyed it, at a distance, a living Animal, than only
a bare. Representation.' This statue has disappeared. Except on the
north-east and east the hill-sides are covered with brushwood; in the
hollows under the hill are clusters of mango, tamarind, and karanya:
trees. A broken line of palms stands out against the sky along the
crest of the hill. Below is a belt of rice land. The foreshore is of sand
and mud, bare and black, with a fringe of mangrove bushes: At one
period, from the third to perhaps the tenth centuryyi the island is supposed
to have been the site of a city, and a place of religious resort, Some
,archaeologists would ,place here the Maurya city of Puri. The caves a,re
the chief objects of interest; but in the rice-fields to the east of :the
northern or Shet landing-place brick and stone foundations, broken
pillars, fallen statues of Siva, and other traces of an ancient city.have ''
been found. The landing-place is now on the northwest of the island.
The famous rock-caves are the resort of many visitors. Of these
wonderful excavations, four are complete or nearly so; a fifth` is a large
cave now much filled up, with only rough masses of stone left to Support
the roof ; and a sixth is merely the beginning of the front of what seems
to have been intended for a very small excavation-possibly two or three
`cells for recluses. The most important and most frequently visited of
these Brahmanic rock-temples is the Great Cave, which is situated in
the western or larger of the two hills of the island at an elevation of
about 250 feet above high,water level: The entrance is reached by a ,
winding path about three-quarters- of a mile in length from the landing-
place. The cave faces the north, and is .entirely hewn out of a hard
`compact variety of trap rock. From' the front entrance to- the .bank it
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