'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎219] (290/748)

FEOM SHIR A Z TO BUSHIEE
219
ance. We then find ourselves in the mouth of a great black orifice
in the rock, 50 feet high, and 140 feet broad. In the middle of-the
entrance, at a short distance inside, stands a huge pedestal, four to five
feet high and ten feet in diameter, shaped from the solid mother-rock.
Upon it are still standing the sandalled feet, thirty-nine inches in length,
and the stumps of the legs of the fallen image. The latter, violently
hurled from its site, 1 has tumbled sideways; its left arm is broken
short, its right arm has been fractured at the shoulder, but the hand
still rests upon the thigh, the face is terribly mutilated, and the upper
part of the head and crown are buried in the soil. Nevertheless, enough
remains to enable us to identify the effigy with the likeness of the first
Shapur. The founder of the city and the designer of the sculptures
below, it is highly likely that he would have set up his own effigy in
the same place, while the claim of divinity which is invariably made
for him and his successors in the inscriptions, tends to fortify the
hypothesis, which tradition (as quoted by Kinneir) confirms, that the
image was subsequently worshipped as that of a god. It would appear
from the evidence of the vaulted roof over the spot where the statue
once stood, that it was originally attached to the rock above as well as
below, and was, in fact, carved out of a solid stone monolith or pillar,
so as to present the semblance of the king. The height of the statue
would appear to have been over twenty feet, that of the surviving
portion being about fifteen feet. Flandin gives the length of the head
as three feet three inches, and breadth of shoulders as eight feet two
inches. Texier has published a restoration of the entire figure, 2 but I
confess I prefer to his too idealistic drawing the illustrations that
have appeared elsewhere of the figure in its existing condition, and
which, though differing from each other in details, give a better idea of
the reality. 3 The dress worn by the monarch does not vary much from
that delineated in the bas-reliefs. He wears the mural crown, above
and below which his hair stood out in abundant curls ; his moustache
and beard are trimly curled ; a necklet is suspended round his throat;
on the upper part of his body he wears a kind of jersey, on the lower
the shulwars, or loose trousers ; his sword, hung at his left side,
1 By what agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. has been discussed, but cannot be determined. The in
filtration of water has been suggested, but is a wholly inadequate explanation.
The local tradition is said to favour the theory of earthquake. I should be dis
posed myself—looking to the character of the statue, which was hewn out of the
virgin rock, and was, therefore, part of the cavern itself, and to the mutilation
which the head has suffered, to attribute the overthrow to intentional violence on
the part of the Mussulman invaders in the seventh century.
2 Yol. ii. pis. 149, 150.
3 Vide Ouseley, Travels, vol. i. p. 292 ; Colonel Johnson, Journey from India,
p. 43 ; Flandin and Coste, vol. i. pi. 54.