Page:Rabindranath Tagore - A Biographical Study.djvu/134

 gods eternally at battle, that seem to threaten the explorers at every moment. Their way is now blocked with obelisks, gigantic carved elephants, pylons and minor temples,—forms suggesting every passion of terror and cruelty. And Siva, the terrible Siva, the procreator, the slayer with many hands to slay, is everywhere. In the heart of all lies the ultimate temple—a great monolith supported upon caryatid elephants, unexpectedly simple and restful in design. The monolith contains three chambers, the last of which is the impenetrable Brahmin shrine. Within its simple walls, deep in the soot of a thousand incense-flames, is revealed the final symbol of the faith of that Siva who creates only to destroy.

For a companion cartoon to that of the grottoes of Ellora, very different in effect, take that of Amritsa painted for us in the autobiography of Devendranath Tagore: