Nature's "Hindu Temples" On View at Grand Canyon

 
Clarence Edward Dutton (1841-1912) a captain of ordinance in the U.S. army, geologist-poet and a Yale man, Dutton was deeply influenced by the philosophies of India.

It was Dutton who likened the snow-covered peaks of the canyon walls to the Hindu gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There is even a Hindu amphitheatre which Dutton likened to the "profusion and richness which suggests an Oriental character.

It would certainly not be inaccurate to suggest that Dutton must have been drawn by the Himalayan symbolism of Vedic philosophy to have named the finest butte of the Kaibab division the Vishnu Temple and the grandest of all buttes as the Shiva Temple. For in Hindu philosophy Vishnu is attributed the aspects of preserving the world and to Shiva the aspect also of the destroyer.

On the 7,650-foot Shiva Temple he wrote:

"The Shiva Temple the grandest of all, and most majestic in aspect....All round it are side gorges sunk to a depth nearly as profound as that of the main channel...In such a stupendous scene of wreck, it seemed as if the fabled 'destroyer' might find an abode not wholly uncongenial." he observed.

Dutton describes the magnificence of what he sees of the Eastern Cloisters and Shiva's Temple as follows:

"As we contemplate these objects we find it quite impossible to realize their magnitude. Not only are we deceived, but we are conscious that we are deceived, and yet we can not conquer the deception.....The eastern Cloister’s is nearer than the western, its distance being about a mile and a half. It seems incredible that it can be so much as one-third that distance. Its altitude is from 3500 to 4000 feet, but any attempt to estimate the altitude by means of usual impressions is felt at once to be hopeless. There is not stadium. Dimensions mean nothing to the senses, and all that we are conscious of in this respect is a troubled scene of immensity."

"Beyond the eastern Cloisters, five or six miles distant, rises a gigantic mass which we named ‘Shiva’s Temple ’. It is the grandest of all the buttes, and the most majestic in aspect, though not the most ornate. Its mass is as great as the mountainous part of Mount Washington . That summit looks down 6,000 feet into the dark depths of the inner abyss, over a succession of ledges as impracticable as the face of Bunker Hill Monument . All around it are side gorges sunk to a depth nearly as profound as that of the main channel. It stands in the midst of a great throng of cloister-like buttes, with the same noble profiles and strong lineaments as those immediately before us, with a plixus of awful chasms between them. In such a stupendous scene of wreck it seemed as if the fabled ‘Destroyer’ might find an abode not wholly uncongenial."

He was particularly in awe of a 7,529-foot butte. 'It is a gigantic butte,' he wrote in 1860. 'So admirably designed and so exquisitely decorated that the sight of it must call forth an expression of wonder and delight from the most apathetic beholder. Such a magnificent nature-made spire needed a timeless name."

He called it the Vishnu Temple.

In describing the panorama from Point Sublime he writes:

"The finest butte of the chasm is situated near the upper end of the Kaibab division; but it is not visible from Point Sublime. It is more than 5,000 feet high, and has a surprising resemblance to an Oriental pagoda. We named it Vishnu’s Temple ."

Dutton went on to name other buttes with such names as Brahma Temple, (7,553 feet), Deva Temple (7,339). "Vishnu Schist" is the oldest geological formation exposed at the Canyon's bottom. "Hindu Amphitheatre" is seen by hiking into the gorge. It reminded Dutton of a "profusion and richness which suggests an oriental character."

He records that the Hindoo Amphitheatre is eroded back from the river a distance of about ten miles.

Dutton seems to be familiar with the great carvings and sculptures of Ellora or Ellore, in India and so must be the intellectuals of his time for him to draw confident analogies in describing The Transept. . The details of their sculpture are very beautiful and thoroughly systematic, and every characteristic is sustained throughout their whole extent. The entire length of the chamber is seen perspective. Beyond its opening we see the grandeur of the central canyon with butte beyond butte, and the vast southern wall of the main chasm in the background fifteen miles away. To many spectators the dominant thought here might be that this stupendous work has been accomplished by some intelligence akin to the human rather than by the blind forces of nature. Everything is apparently planned and cut with as much definiteness of design as a rock-temple of Petraea or Ellore."

According to Professor Stephen J. Payne, professor of history at the Arizona State University and author of the book - How the Canyon Became Grand - there is " no explicit explanation for naming the peaks after Hindu gods, only implicit." He likens the naming the peaks to the historical fact of the time. "When there was a growing awareness and respect in the West, particularly Europe, towards Indian philosophies, not economies of the past."

(source: A Journey of Discovery and Nature's "Hindu Temples" On View at Grand Canyon - Hinduism Today).