They have all the female form, and are about the size of ordinary women, and extremely well cut out of fine white and green sandstone; but their heads are those of the animals in which their respective husbands became incarnate, such as the lion, the elephant, &c., or those of the '_vahans_', or animals on which they rode, such as the bull, the swan, the eagle, &c.

But these, I presume, are mere _capricios_ of the founder of the temple.
The figures are sixty-four in number, all mounted upon their respective '_vahans_', but have been sadly mutilated by the pious Muhammadans.[16] The old 'Mahant', or high priest, told us that Mahadeo and his wife were in reality our Adam and Eve; 'they came here together', said he, 'on a visit to the mountain Kailas,[17] and being earnestly solicited to leave some memorial of their visit, got themselves turned into stone'.

The popular belief is that some very holy man, who had been occupied on the top of this little conical hill, where the temple now stands, in austere devotions for some few thousand years, was at last honoured with a visit from Siva and his consort, who asked him what they could do for him.

He begged them to wait till he should bring some flowers from the woods to make them a suitable offering.

They promised to do so, and he ran down, plunged into the Nerbudda and drowned himself, in order that these august persons might for ever remain and do honour to his residence and his name.