"The mountain on this island which I said was opposite the Northern region, on the one side, which is a continuous cliff, is hard natural rock. Beneath the mountain a vast temple was cut and fashioned, hollowing out the living rock, a temple of such marvellous workmanship that it seems impossible for it to have been made by human hands. All the works, images, columns, reliefs, workrooms, which are there are carved in the massive stone of the mountain, all of which seems to pass beyond the bounds of nature; indeed, the proportions and the symmetry with which each figure and everything else is made would be well worth the while of any painter to study, even if he were Apelles. This temple is 35 bracas long, 25 wide and about 4 high. And what greater monument to pride could men fashion than to hollow out a very hard natural rock by means of iron and sheer tenacity, and thereby to enter into such vast spaces?"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
(b) One of the wonders of the world, Dom Joao de Castro, Viceroy of Goa [1545-1548] Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters, History of European Reactions to Indian Art, Oxford University Press, 1977, quoted from Jain, M. (editor) (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts. New Delhi: Ocean Books. Volume III Chapter 5
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elephanta_Caves
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Elephanta Caves
12 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Elephanta Caves →
Related Quotes
"Another pagoda, the best of all, is on an island called Pori, which we call the Isle of the Elephant. On it there is …"
"We shall never be able to do justice to Indian art, for ignorance and fanaticism have destroyed its greatest achievem…"
"Now, by all odds, the most ancient extant portrait anyways purporting to the whale's is to be found in the famous cav…"
"How do you ignore history? But the nationalist movement, independence movement ignored it. You read the Glimpses of W…"
"Another pagoda, the best of all, is on an island called Pori [Gharapuri], which we call the Isle of the Elephant…On t…"
"…not only the figures looked very beautiful, but the features and workmanship could be very distinctly perceived, so …"
"…and round about the wals are cut and formed, the shapes of Elephants, Lions, Tigers…Amazones and [many] other [defor…"
"Having in a Week’s time compleated my Business, returning the same way, we steered by the South side of the Bay, purp…"
"Here likewise are the just dimensions of a Horse Carved in Stone, so lively with such a Colour and Carriage and the s…"
"Universal art has succeeded in few materialization of the Divine as powerful and also as balanced. ... the greatest r…"