"h^.*' : "^^r.yi^: "t>v »■> •Sj-V- SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA A PRIZE POEM, RECITED IN THE THEATHE. OXFORD; jrJNE 12, 1839. BY J O UN R U S K I N, (TiRisT riiT^Rorr. #XFORD : PRINTED AND PUHLISHP:D BY J. VINCEN'l" MDCCC XXXIX. SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. R,eligio pedibus subjecta vicissim Obteritur. Nos exsequat victoria coelo. Lucretius. 'Tis eve — and o'er the face of parting day Quick smiles of summer lightning flit and play, In pulses of broad light, less seen than felt, They mix in heaven, and on the mountains melt, Their silent transport fills th' exulting air — 'Tis eve, and where is evening half so fair ? Oh, deeply, softly, sobs the Indian sea O'er thy dark sands, majestic Dharavee,i When from each purple hill and polished lake The answering voices of the night awake, The fitful note of many a brilliant bird, The lizard's plunge, o'er distant waters heard, The thrill of forest leaves — how soft, how swift ! That floats and follows where the night-winds drift, 1 The southern promontory of the island of Salsette. 4 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. Or, piercing through the calmness of the sky, The jungle tiger's sharp and sudden cry. Yet all is peace, for these weak voices tell How deep the calm they break, but not dispel ; The twilight heaven rolls on, like some deep stream When breezes break not on its moving dream, Its trembling stars continual watches keep. And pause above * Canarah's haunted steep. Each in its path of first ascension hid Behind the height of that pale pyramid, ■^(The strength of nations hewed the basalt spire, And barbed its rocks like sacrificial fire.) Know they the hour's approach, whose fateful flight Was watched of yore from yonder cloudless height ? Lone on its utmost peak, the Prophet Priest Beheld the night unfolded from the East, In prescient awe perused its blazing scroll. And read the records stretched from Pole to Pole. '^ The central peak of Salsette. 3 M. Ariguetil du Perron, in his accounts of Canarah, says, that its peak appears to have been hewn to a point by luiman art, as an emblem of the solar rav. SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. And though their eyes are dark, their lips are still, Who watched and worshipped on Canarah's hill, Wild superstition's visionary power Still rules and fills the spirit of the hour. The Indian maiden, through the scented grove Seeks the dim shore, and lights the lamp of love. The pious peasant, awe-struck and alone. With radiant garland crowns the purple stone,^ And shrinks, returning through the starlit glade. When breezes stir the peepul's sacred shade, ^ For well his spirit knows the deep appeal That love must mourn to miss, yet fear to feel. Low sounds, faint rays, upon the senses shed — The voices of the lost, the dark eyes of the dead. How awful now, when night and silence brood O'er Earth's repose, and Ocean's solitude. * " A stone painted with red, and placed at the foot of their favourite tree, is sufficient to call forth the devotion of the poor, who bring to it flowers and simple offerings." — T. S. Buckingham. 5 The superstitious feeling of the Indian, with respect to the peepul tree, is well known. Its shade is supposed to be loved and haunted by the dead. 6 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. To trace the dim and devious paths, that guide Along Canarah's steep and craggy side, Where — girt with gloom — inhabited by fear, The mountain homes of India's gods appear. Range above range they rise, each hollow cave Darkling as death, and voiceless as the grave, Save that the waving weeds in each recess With rustling music mock its loneliness, And beasts of blood disturb with stealthy tread The chambers of the breathless and the dead. All else of life, of worship, past away. The ghastly idols fall not, nor decay. Retain the lip of scorn, the rugged frown. And grasp the blunted sword and useless crown, Their altars desecrate, their names untold, The hands that formed, the hearts thatfeared — how cold! Thou too — dark Isle, whose shadow on the sea Lies like the gloom that mocks our memory When one bright instant of our former lot Were grief, remembered, but were guilt, forgot. Rock of the lonely crest, how oft renewed Have beamed the summers of thy solitude, SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. Since first the myriad steps that shook thy shore Grew frail and few — then paused for evermore. Answer — ye long-lulled echoes ! Where are they Who clove your mountains with the shafts of day, Bade the swift life along their marble fly, And struck their darkness into Deity, Nor claimed from thee — pale temple of the wave — Record or rest, a glory or a grave ? Now all are cold — the Votary as his God, And by the shrine he feared, the courts he trod. The livid snake extends his glancing trail And lifeless murmurs mingle on the gale. Yet glorious still, though void, though desolate. Proud Dharapori,6 gleams thy mountain gate, AVhat time, emergent from the eastern wave, The keen moon's crescent lights thy sacred cave, And moving beams confuse with shadowy change, Thy column's massive might and endless range. Far, far beneath, where sable waters sleep. Those radiant pillars pierce the crystal dee}), C' The Indian name for Elephanta. 8 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. And mocking waves reflect with quivering smile Their long recession of refulgent aisle ;7 As, where Atlantis hath her lonely home, Her grave of guilt, beneath the ocean's foam, Above the lifeless hearth and guardless gate, The wildly-walking surges penetrate, And sapphire tints of phosphor lightning fall O'er the broad pillar, and the sculptured wall. So, Dharapori, through thy cold repose, The flooding lustre of the moonlight flows, New forms of fear,^ by every touch displayed. Gleam, pale and passioned, through the dreadful shade, In wreathed groups of dim, distorted life. In ghastly calmness, or tremendous strife, While glaring eye and grasping hand attest The mocked emotion of the marble breast. Thus, in the fevered dream of restless pain Incumbent horror broods upon the brain, "' The interior of Eleplianta is usually damp, and its floor covered with water two or three feet deep. By moonlight, its shallowness would be unperceived. 8 The sculptures of Elephanta have such " horrible and fearful formes that they make a man's hayre stande upright." — Lins- choten. SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. Tliroutj^h mists of blood colossal shapes arise, Stretch their stiff limbs, and roll their rayless eyes. Yet knew not here the chisel's touch to trace The finer lineaments of form and face, No studious art of delicate design Conceived the shape, or lingered on the line. The sculptor learned, on Indus' plains afar, The various pomp of worship and of war, Impetuous ardour in his bosom woke, And smote the animation from the rock. In close battalions kingly forms advance, 9 Wave the broad shield, and shake the soundless lance, With dreadful crest adorned, and orient gem, Lightens the helm, and gleams the diadem ; Loose o'er their shoulders falls their flowing hair, With wanton wave, and mocks th' unmoving air. 9 " Some of these figures have helmets of a pyramidal form, others wear crowns richly decorated with jewels, otheis disjday large bushy ringlets of curled or flowing hair. In their hands they grasp sceptres and shields, the symbols of justice and the ensigns of religion, the weapons of war and the trophies of peace." Maurice, Antiq. of India, vol. ii. i)age 145. 10 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. Broad o'er their breasts extend tlie guardian zones Broidered with flowers, and bright with mystic stones, Poised in astherial march they seem to swim, Majestic motion marked in every limb ; In changeful guise they pass — a lordly train, Mighty in passion, unsubdued in pain,i Revered as monarchs, or as gods adored. Alternately they rear the sceptre and the sword. Such were their forms, and such their martial mien. Who met, by Indus' shore, th' Assyrian queen, " When, with reverted force, the Indian dyed His javelin in the pulses of her pride. And cast, in death-heaps, by the purple flood, Her strength of Babylonian multitude. And mightier ones are there — apart — divine, Presiding genii of the mountain shrine, 1 Many of them have countenances expressive of mental suffering. 2 Semiramis. M. D'Ancarville supposes the cave to have been excavated by her army ; and insists on the similarity between the costume of the sculptured figures and that of her Indian adversa- ries. See D'Ancarville, vol. i. p. 121. SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. 11 Behold, the giant group, the united three. Faint symbol of an unknown Deity ! Here, frozen into everlasting trance. Stern Siva's quivering lip and hooded glance ; There, in eternal majesty serene Proud Brahma's painless brow, and constant mien ; There glows the light of Veeshnu's guardian smile, But on the crags that shade yon inmost aisle Shine not, ye stars. Annihilation's Lord^ There waves, with many an arm, th' unsatcd sword. Relentless holds the cup of mortal pain, And shakes the spectral links that wreathe his ghastly chain. Oh, could these lifeless lips be taught to tell (Touched by Chaldean art, or Arab spell) What votaries here have knelt, what victims died. In pangs, their gladness, or in crimes, their pride. How should we shun the awful solitude And deem th' intruding footstep dashed in blood, 3 Alluding to a sculpture representing the evil principle ot India: he seems engaged in human sacrifice, and wears a necklace of skulls. 12 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. How might the altar-hearths grow warm and red And the air shadowy with avenging dead ! Behold ! — he stirs — that cold, colossal king ! 'Tis but the uncertain shade the moonbeams fling ; Hark ! a stern voice awakes with sudden thrill ! 'Twas but the wandering wind's precarious will, The distant echo dies, and all the cave is still. Yet fancy, floating on the uncertain light, Fills with her crowded dreams the course of night, xAt her wild will getherial forms appear. And sounds, long silent, strike the startled ear : Behold the dread Mithratic rite reclaim* Its pride of ministers, its pomp of flame, Along the winding walls, in ordered row. Flash myriad fires — the fretted columns glow — Beamino; above, the imitative skv Extends the azure of its canopy, * Throughout the description of the rites of Mithra, I have followed Maurice, whose indefatigable research seems almost to have demonstrated the extreme antiquity, at least, of the Ele- phanta cavern, as well as its application to the worship of the solar orb, and of fire. For a detailed account of this worship, see Maurice, Indian Antiq, vol. iii sect. 7. SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. 13 Fairest where imaged star and airy sprite Move in swift beauty and entrancing light, A golden sun reflected lustre flings, And wandering Dewtahs^ wave their crimson wings ; Beneath, fed richly from the Arabian urn. Undying lamps before the altar burn. And sleepless eyes the sacred sign behold, The spiral orb of radiated gold ; On this the crowds of deep-voiced priests attend, To this they loudly cry, they lowly bend. O'er their wan brows the keen emotions rise. And pious phrenzy flashes from their eyes ; Phrenzy in mercy sent, in torture tried. Through paths of death their only guard and guide, When, in dread answer to their youth's appeal, Rose the red fire and waved the restless steel,^ And rushed the wintry billow's wildest wreck, Their God hath called them, and shall danger check ? 5 Inferior spirits of various power and disposition, holding in the Hindoo mythology the place of angels. They appear in multitudes on the roof of the Elephanta cavern. 6 Alluding to the dreadful ceremonies of initiation which the priests of Mithra were compelled to undergo, and which seem to have had a close correspondence with the Eleusinian mysteries. See Maurice, Antiq. of India, vol. v. p. 620. 14 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. On — on — for ever on, though roused in wrath Glare the grim lion on their lonely path, Though, starting from his coiled, malignant rest. The deadly dragon lift his crimson crest. Though corpse-like shadows round their footsteps flock, And shafts of lightning cleave the incumbent rock, On, for behold, enduring honours wait To grace their passage through the golden gate,^ Glorious estate, and more than mortal power, Succeed the dreadful expiating hour ; Impurpled robes their weary limbs enfold With stars en woven, and stiff with heavenly gold, The mitra^ veils their foreheads, rainbow-dyed. Their measured steps imperial sceptres guide, ■^ The sidereal metempsychosis was represented in the Mi- thratic rites by the ascent of a ladder, on which there were seven gates: the first of lead, representing Saturn; the second of tin, Venus ; the third brass, Jupiter ; the fourth iron, Mercury ; the fifth mixed, Mars ; the sixth silver, the Moon ; the seventh of gold, the sun. 8 The attire of Mithra's priests was splendid: the robes of purple, with the heavenly constellations embroidered on them in gold. They wore girdles representative of the zodiacal circle, and carried a golden sceptre in the form of a serpent. Ezekiel speaks of them as "exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads." Chap, xxiii. ver. 15. SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. 1 Glorious they move, and pour upon the air The cloud of incense and the voice of prayer, While through the hollow vault, around them rise Deep echoes from the conch of sacrifice, In passioned gusts of sound, now loud, now low, With billowy pause, the mystic murmurs flow Far dwindling on the breeze. Ere yet they die Canarah hears, and all his peaks reply. His crested chasms the vocal winds explore, Waste on the deep, and wander on the shore. Above, the starry gloom is thrilled with fear, The forests shake, the circling hamlets hear, And wake to worship. Many an isle around, Assembling votaries swell the sacred sound. And, troop by troop, along the woodland ways. In equal measures pour responsive praise : To Mithra first their kindling songs addressed Lull his long slumbers in the watery west. Next to the strength of each celestial sign They raise the choral chaunt, the breathing line ; Keen through the arch of heaven their hymns arise, Auspicious splendours deck the answering skies. 16 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. The sacred cohorts, maddening as tliey sing, Far through the air their flashing torches fling, From rock to rock the rushing glories leap, Climb the wide hills, and clothe the central steep. Till, through the endless night, a living line Of lustre opens on the bounding brine. Ocean rejoices, and his isles prolong With answering zeal, those bursts of flame and song, Till the strong vulture on Colombo's peak Awakes with ruffled plume and startled shriek. And the roused panther of Almorah's wood. Howls through his violated solitude. 'Tis past, the mingled dream, though slow and grey On mead and mountain break the dawning day. Though stormy wreaths of lingering cloud oppress. Long time the winds that breathe — the rays that bless. They come, they come. Night's fitful visions fly Like autumn leaves, and fade from fancy's eye ; So shall the God of might and mercy dart His daybeams through the caverns of the heart, SALSETTE AND ELEPUANTA. 17 Strike the weak idol from its ancient throne And vindicate the temple for his own. Nor will he long delay. A purer light Than Mithra cast, shall claim a holier rite, A mightier voice than Mithra's priests could pour Resistless soon shall sound along the shore, Its strength of thunder vanquished fiends shall own And idols tremble through their limbs of stone. Vain now the lofty light — the marble gleam — Of the keen shaft that rose by Gunga's stream. When round its base the hostile lightnings glowed And mortal insult mocked a God's abode, What power, Destroyer,^ seized with taming trance Thy serpent sceptre, and thy withering glance ? 9 Siva. This column was dedicated to him at Benares ; and a tradition prevailed among his worshippers, that as soon as it should fall, one universal religion would extend over India, and Bramah be no more worshipped. It was lately thrown down in a quarrel between the Hindoos and Mussulmans. See Heber's Journal. Siva is spoken of in the following lines as representative of Hindoo deities in general. His worship seems to have arisen in the fastnesses of the Himalaya, accompanied with all the gloomy features characteristic of the superstitions of hill countries. 18 SALSETTE AND ELEPHANTA. Low in the dust, its rocky sculptures rent, Thine own memorial proves thee impotent. Thy votaries mourn thy cold unheeding sleep, Chide where they praised, and where they worshipped, weep. Yes — he shall fall, though once his throne was set Where the high heaven and crested mountains met. Though distant shone with many an azure gem The glacier glory of his diadem, Though sheets of sulphurous cloud and wreathed storm Cast veil of terror round his shadowy form. All, all are vain ! It comes, the. hallowed da}' Whose dawn shall rend that robe of fear away ; Then shall the torturing spells that midnight knew Far in the cloven dells of Mount Meru, Then shall the moan of phrenzied hymns, that sighed Down the dark vale where Gunga's waters glide, Then shall the idol chariot's thunder cease Before the steps of them that publish peace. Already are they heard, how fair, how fleet, Along the mountains flash their bounding feet ! SALSETTK AND ELEPHANTA. 19 Disease and death before their presence fly, Truth calb, and