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RELIGION and Learning have always selected for their seats the most romantic positions in every country in the world; and their professors seem to have been possessed of every acquirement that could render the combination of art and nature beautiful and impressive. There is not a conspicuous or picturesque hill, or rock, or cape, of ancient Greece, that is not still adorned with the classic remnants either of a temple to the gods or a school of philosophy; and, the extraordinary resemblance between the temple and promontory of Sunium and those of Somnauth, suggested our adaptation of Byron's memorable apostrophe to fallen and

* Called also Someswar and Somanatha, from Soma Natha, Lord of the Moon, one of the twelve images of Siva, which, like the Palladium of Troy, or Ancile of the Romans, was said to have fallen from Heaven.

VOL. I.-NO. I.

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neglected Greece. It cannot, however, escape the observation of any one, the least acquainted with the history of the kingdoms of Europe, how presumptuously forward the pagan temple and the hall of a false philosophy invariably stand-Juno, Diana, and Minerva, generally fixing their thrones upon the rocky capitol that overhangs the city, while the noblest temples of Christianity are modestly placed in the most sequestered and secluded glens, remote from every idle gaze, and imposing a species of penance and pilgrimage on their votaries, from the difficulty of discovering and approaching them. How different the haughty height at which the temple of Capitoline Jove is elevated, from those abodes of reflection, and solitude, and sadness, where the lone aisles of Valle-Crucis, and of Tintern, and of Furness, hide their mouldering friezes! Are not these temples of worship in some degree emblematical of their respective faiths? Is not ignorance always presumptuous-truth and intelligence always modest?

In the vicinity of the ancient city of Pattan or Puttun, on a bold headland projecting into the Indian Ocean, are the stately ruins of the famous temple and shrine of Somnauth.* The city having been rebuilt after the Mahomedan conquest, partakes of the architectural style of the spoilers; but the Hindoo columns, and sculptures, and tablets, that everywhere appear incorporated with the walls of Moorish mosques, proclaim how much of their magnificence is traceable to the primitive founders. The venerable shrine of Somnauth, the noblest remains in the peninsula of Saraustra, occupies the summit of the promontory at the south-west angle of the city, looking down upon the waters and upon the embattled walls. Although much dilapidated, enough survives to indicate the original design, as well as the gorgeous style that pervaded it. The principal front, which is of black marble, and originally adorned with magnificent sculptures, has a grand porch, or Subha, on each side of which rise tapering minarets of Moorish origin, terminating in pine-shaped capitals, called Kullus, in Hindoo architecture. From their disproportioned height and excessive delicacy, they have been compared not inaptly to the horns of a beetle; and, owing to a lapse in the foundation, or some sudden shock, one of them is now so much bent as to threaten a speedy fall. Two rich side-doors were approached by flights of steps, the remains of which may still be distinctly traced. The famous entrance, the valves or gates of which are said to have been carried away eight centuries ago by the victorious Mahmood of Ghuznee, and recently recovered by an Anglo-Indian

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Nothing can surpass the beauty of the site chosen for the temple, which stands on a projecting rock, whose base is washed by the ocean. Here, resting on the skirt of the mighty waters, the vision is lost in their boundless expanse: the votary would be lulled to a blissful state of repose by the monotonous roar of the waves. Before him is the bay extending to Billawul, its golden sands kept in perpetual agitation by the surf, in bold and graceful curvature: It is unrivalled in India, and although I have since seen many noble bays from that of Penzance to Salernum, perhaps the finest in the world, with all its accessories of back-ground, and in all the glory of a closing day, none ever struck my imagination more forcibly than that of Puttun."-Travels in Western India.

army, is perfectly Egyptian, narrow at the top and widening towards the base; and the broad lintels, richly carved with leaves and flowers, that constitute the principal ornaments around it, are obviously of the same date, design, and origin as the re-edification. Five domes once rose majestically above these sculptured walls, only two of which now remain: and the roof is supposed to have sustained considerable injury from the conduct of a Nuwaub, who converted it into a battery of heavy ordnance, for the protection of the harbour of Verawul against piratical intrusion. All approach to the smaller subhas is completely interrupted by fragments of pillars, broken cornices, mutilated sculptures, and rude blocks of stone, whose former positions it would be now impossible to point out; but the emblems graven on them obviously belong to the worship of Siva, which succeeded that of the Sun, the earliest object of adoration at this long-known scene of sanctity. "I found the temple," says a European traveller, "deserted, desecrated, a receptacle for kine, the pinnacle to its spring from the cella demolished, and the fragments strewing the ground." The exterior circumference of the whole building is 336 feet, its extreme length 117, and its greatest breadth 74.

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The interior consists of an entrance vestibule, a hall or munduff, a second vestibule, and a sanctuary-the whole surrounded by a colonnade, beneath which was a spacious ambulatory. The great hall extends ninety-six feet in length, having a width of seventy, and includes an octagon, formed of pillars and architraves, collected from the fragments of the more ancient edifice; and above this area rises a splendid dome thirty-two feet in diameter, and having a height of thirty feet from the floor to the spring of the concave. The sustaining pillars, which are all richly sculptured, and formerly adorned the lesser subhas and encircling

colonnade, proving unequal to the weight of the incumbent dome and roof, would have sunk under the load, had not vousoirs been introduced to strengthen them. The stylobate is divided into compartments, filled with sculptured heads of horses, elephants, griffins, Bacchantes, belonging to the worship of Siva, and groups of nymphs engaged in the mystic dance, typical of the movements of the spheres. The floor was paved with black marble, but the flags are much broken and injured, not by the action of human feet in so many centuries of time, but from the falling of large fragments from the roof and dome. The second vestibule, which was an interruption of the grand colonnade, is now choked up with rubbish and large masses of masonry that have fallen into it, so that the cella, or sanctum, a square chamber, twenty-three feet in length by twenty in breadth, is entered with much inconvenience. This vestibule was formerly vaulted, and on one of the supporting columns is an inscription recording the visit of a Hindoo architect, some few centuries ago. recess appropriated to the idol, or image, a symbolic lingam, or Phallus, is not now distinguished; but a niche in the western wall, looking towards Mecca, indicates the site of the Moslem rostrum which Mahmoud "The Destroyer" had set up. The remaining parts of the ponderous roof are supported by rows of pilasters of various shapes, flat with brackets, and plain architraves; some of them are sculptured, others plain; and the latter are believed to have been cased with gilded copper, and adorned with precious stones, in the age of Mahmoud Ghuznavi.

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From the admixture of Moorish with Hindoo architecture observable here, the transmutation which the fabric has undergone is clearly indicated the "Faithful" not having taken much pains to obliterate the former features of idolatrous worship. The first appropriation of this very ancient temple was most probably in honour of the great luminary of our system-"Somnauth" signifying "Lord of the Moon;" it was afterwards a Bhuddist temple; but a close examination of its ground plan, or ichnographic section, clearly identifies it with the worship of Siva, being precisely similar to those of Lakhna Rana at Cheetore, and many other temples of that sect. There is no doubt that the space now covered by the Moorish dome, rising from an octagonal pedestal, was once the multangular base of a gigantic conical tower, like those of Karnaruc, Juggernauth, Bhobaneswur, and elsewhere on the Indian continent, a shape common to all Brahminical temples in the present day. Upon the conquest of India the famous temple of Somnauth was converted into a Musjid the faithful were in their turn expelled, and, the idolatry of the natives, with British sanction, may be again revived, on a spot that has been consecrated to divine worship since the first records of historyperhaps of time.

It was soon after the year 1000 that Mahmoud, Sultan of Ghuzni, or Ghazni, after the manner of Hercules, commenced his twelve expeditions into Hindostan, and it was in 1024 that he made that memorable attack on Somnauth, which Oriental writers have commemorated in such glowing language. His public pretext was the acceptance of a

challenge contained in an ancient prediction, "that if ever a Moslem, however powerful, should profane the shrine of Somnauth with his presence, he would instantly become the victim of his presumption"-his private and real inducement was, probably, the report of boundless treasures which were to be found there. Setting out with a native army 50,000 strong, with 30,000 Turkestan volunteers, and 1900 elephants, he soon appeared before the walls of Puttun, and summoned its inhabitants to surrender. The city herald, however, quickly answered "that their idol had brought the Moslems there for the purpose of confounding and delivering them into the hands of their enemies." Perceiving that surrender was not probable, Mahmoud caused a general assault to be made, which had the effect of thinning the walls of their defenders, and producing much consternation amongst the inhabitants. The latter had recourse to their idol, and, during the time of their prostration before it, the enemy made a second attack, more vigorous than the first, and attempted to scale the walls. Disturbed and dismayed by loud shouts of Allah! Allah! Allah!

-city, stream, and shore

Resounded Allah! and the clouds which close,
With thickening canopy, the conflict o'er,
Vibrate to the Eternal name. Hark! through

All sounds it pierceth, "Allah! Allah! Hu!"

they hastened from the temple to the ramparts, and by the most determined efforts succeeded in repelling the besiegers. In all momentous events the number three appears to be associated with the success of one party or ruin of the other; and it was on the third day, and when Mahmoud was about to make a third assault, that an army coming to relieve the city appeared in sight. The Sultan boldly advanced and gave them battle; but perceiving a crisis, when victory seemed for an instant doubtful, he sprang from his horse, prostrated himself on the earth, and implored the favour of his prophet. The effect of this imposing spectacle upon his troops was immediate, and such as he anticipated : returning to the fight with loud shouts and renewed courage, they fell with fury on the Hindoos, nor desisted before they laid 10,000 dead upon the field, and put the remainder to shameful flight. A defeat so complete destroyed the hopes of the besieged, who now abandoned their homes, and sought safety by retreat, some escaping overland, others taking to their boats; both parties, however, being pursued, and unsparingly butchered by the victors.

The conqueror entered the city in triumph, and advancing to the object rather of his cupidity than his glory, beheld a superb structure, sustained by fifty-six rich pillars, each the pious offering of a rajah. Approaching the great stone idol, he aimed a blow with his iron mace at its head, but, missing the precise spot, struck off a piece of the nose. The fragment, by his order, was separated into two parts, and carried to Ghuzni, where one of them was placed in the threshold of the great mosque, the other at the entrance to his own palace. Two more fragments, subsequently knocked off, were forwarded to Medina and to Mecca. Hindoo writers deny these state

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