Gadyarāja: a fourteenth century Marathi version of the Kṛṣṇa legend . Translated from the Marathi with annotations by Ian Raeside. pp. xxxv, 312. Bombay, Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd; London, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1989. £20.00.

Abstract

been defined, but it needs to be reconsidered in view of the sectarian and stylistic factors. The dating of Elephanta in light of the stylistic and political uncertainties has differed by hundreds of years among scholars" (p. 1). Collins sets out to redress this situation. His study is divided into six major chapters. The first chapter (pp. 4-15) looks at the historical background in order to justify the establishment of a firm date for the construction of the rock temple. It re-examines both the political situation in the Deccan between the fifth and the seventh centuries and the position of the Kalacuris, members of the Pasupatu sect of Saivism, who are the most likely patrons of Elephanta. The following chapter (pp. 16-30) chronicles the visitors and their descriptions of the cave temple, the sculptures and their surroundings. The first traveller who wrote about the area after the completion of the temple seems to have been Xuan Zang who visited India between 633 and 641 (p. 16). European references date from the sixteenth century onward; the earliest record of a visit to Elephanta can be found in Gracia da Orta's Coloquios dos Simples e Drogas da India which was published in Goa in 1563. Da Orta, a Portuguese physician and scientist, visited the rock-temple in 1534 and thought it a " sight well worth seeing" though he felt that both the devil and the Chinese might have had a hand in its construction (p. 17). In the nineteenth century "a new and more consistent approach by individuals trained in the scientific methods and sensitive to Indian culture brought penetrating insight to the study of Elephanta" (p. 23). At the beginning of the twentieth century the island was placed under the Indian Archaeological Department and, in addition to scholarly accounts, guide books began to appear for the assistance of the ever increasing number of tourists. Chapters three ("Mythological sources for the Elephanta sculptures" pp. 31-40) and four ("Iconographical analysis of the Elephanta sculptures" pp. 41-94) assess and analyse literary sources, both religious and secular, to define more clearly the "iconography of the sculptural program at Elephanta, and also to explore the contextual significance or iconology of the reliefs" (p. 3). No precise chronology exists for these writings but Collins successfully establishes a relative sequence in relation to the construction of the temple. Chapter five ("Artistic sources and parallels of the Elephanta sculptures" pp. 95-120) represents the first systematic attempt to "relate literary sources in the chronological framework to Elephanta's relief-panels" (p. 41). The next chapter (pp. 121-48) looks at artistic sources and stylistic parallels to determine the direction of influence on the sculptors. The final chapter examines two important, rediscovered, ritual texts of the Saivite Lakullsa Pasupati cult, the Pasupata sulra and the Ganakarika, in the context of Elephanta. The Kalacuri rulers were followers of the Pasupati sect and Collins ventures a new theory about how LakullsaPasupata rituals may have been performed inside the temple. In his opinion the major reliefsculptures relate to a sectarian programme in which the cave temple itself was conceived as a unit, fostered by royal donation. The date he finally arrives at is either that of Sankaragana (reigned c. 575-600) or Krsnaraja (reigned c. 550-575) (p. 149). This is an original, carefully documented study, supported by an extensive bibliography (pp. 217-36) and some useful appendices.