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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
THE EARLY SILAHARAS
of Kanakāmara (11 th cen. A.D.)[1] give the following story about Karakaṇḍa, a prince of the Aṅga country. .. After consolidating his kingdom in the north, Karakaṇḍa undertook an expedition for the conquest of southern countries. In the course of his digvijaya he came to Tērapura or Tērāpura, where he came to know about a wonderful cave on the adjoining hill. He visited the cave and found an image of Pārśvanātha therein. He found another image of the same Tīrthaṅkara in an ant-hill on the top the same hill. He got the latter removed to the old cave.[2] On inquiry he learned that the cave had been excavated by two Vidyādhara princes Nīla and Mahānīla, who originally belonged to the Himālayas but had leave their country, being pressed by their enemies. They came to Tērapura, where they built a large kingdom. They were converted to Jainism by a Jaina Muni. They had excavated that cave and installed the image of Pārśvanātha therein. Later, Karakaṇḍa himself got two[3] (or three)[4] caves excavated in the name of himself, his son on the same hill. .. This account seems to have a historical basis. The caves described by Harishēṇa and Kanakāmara are evidently those near Dhārāśiva (now called Osmānābād), twelve miles south-west of Ter. There are now six Jaina caves on the slope of the hill near Osmānābād, four on one side, and two on the opposite. Of them, Cave No. 2 is a big one with its hall measuring 95 ft. at the back and 79 ft. in front, with a depth of 80 ft. The hall has eight cells in each side wall, and six more at the back, three being on each side of the shrine. The latter has a large image of Pārśvanātha in the padmāsana posture, with a serpent spreading its seven hoods on his head. On his throne there appear two deer on each side with an indistinct object between them, which appears to be a dharmachakra. There is a distinct dharmachakra on the seat of a similar image of Pārśvanātha in Cave No. 3.[5] Burgess identified these as Jaina caves and assigned them to the middle of the seventh century A.D.[6] They are evidently the caves described by the aforementioned Jaina authors in their works.
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Though one may not accept the legendary account of these caves given in the two Jaina
works in full, the statement that the large Pārśvanātha cave (Cave No. 2) was excavated by the
Vidyādharas may have had a basis in fact. As the Śilāhāras trace their descent from the Vidyādhara Jīmūtavāhana, it is not unlikely that they got the cave excavated when they were ruling
at Tagara in the seventh cen. A.D., probably as feudatories of the Early Chālukyas. It may,
again, be noted that Chāmuḍarāja, a feudatory of the Śilāhāras of North Koṅkaṇ who took
pride in having hailed from Tagara, assumed the birudas Tribhuvana-Nīla, and that his father
Vijjarāṇaka had the biruda of Āhava-Nīla.[7] These birudas evidently reflect the tradition about the
caves near Dhārāśiva having been excavated by the Vidyādhara princes Nīla and Mahānila.
[1] Karakaṇḍachariu, parichhēdas IV and V.
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