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DRUNKEN DANCE OF THE GOD SIVA,
ELEPHANTA TEMPLE INDIA
This cavern in which we stand is on a rocky island in the bay east of Bombay, about six miles off shore. It was probably named Elephanta Island because the Portuguese settlers of the 16th Century discovered a life-size stone figure of an elephant. There are several of these great artificial caves on the island but no one seems to know when they were made. There is no exact native tradition about them and archaeologists seem to differ. It is supposed to have been from eight hundred to thirteen hundred years ago.
Here we are looking across only the entrance of this pillared temple. Its full length is one hundred and thirty feet and every part is decorated with colossal and finely sculptured divinities. There are in all twenty-six of these finely formed column and sixteen pilasters, and the wall panels in every part are decorated with allegorical carving. The most wonderful thing about this cave is that it has been chiseled from the solid trap rock mountain without modern appliances. The sculptures are beautiful and the amount of labor required is incomprehensible. 
Most of the cave temples in India are either Buddhist or Brahmanic. The shrines on Elephanta Island are Brahmanic and mostly in honor of Siva, third in the order of the Hindu triad. The others are Brahma and Vishnu. Siva is the destroyer though his attributes seem to have been variously understood at various times and by peoples of different districts in India. Here we see Siva engaged in a mad dance, a rite he is said to perform at eventide, attended by a retinue of demons. 
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