South Indian Inscriptions

ARCHITECTURE SCULPTURE AND PAINTING

excavated by Varāhadēva, a minister of Harishēṇa. It gives his pedigree from the beginning, but as its lower part is sadly mutilated, all information about the purpose for which it was excavated and the Buddhist Saṅgha to which it was dedicated is now lost. Another inscription carved over the figure of the Buddha on one of the pillars of the cave contains the well-known Buddhist creed, Yē dharmmā hētu-prabhavāḥ, etc.

...The larger cave generally resembles Cave XVI at Ajaṇṭā, though there are some minor differences in its plan¹. At either end of the verandah there is a chapel, with two pillars between pilasters in front and a small cell at the back. The hall is entered by three doors, the central one being larger than the two side ones. Between the central and the side door there is a window on either side. The central door is decorated with two bands of scroll work and a third one containing seated and standing Buddhas, mithunas etc². At either end of the lintel there is a goddess standing on a boar, not a crocodile as in the caves at Ajaṇṭā, the change being introduced here probably with reference to the name Varāhadēva of the minister who got the caves excavated³. The side doors and windows are decorated with chaitya-vātāyanas containing figures of the seated Buddha, with globular forms on the finials⁴.

...The hall inside is supported on twenty pillars, disposed in four rows. The two middle pillars and those at the corners have square bases. changing into octagon, sixteen-sided and thirty-two-fluted and then returning through the sixteen and eight-sided forms to the square under plain bracket capitals⁵. The remaining pillars have octagonal shafts and square heads with brackets. There are pilasters in the side walls in line with the front and back rows of pillars, those behind being decorated with full or half medallions⁶. The front pilaster in the left side wall has a figure of the seated Buddha with an attendant on either side and the aforementioned Buddhist creed carved above.

...In the middle of the back wall of the hall there is an antarāla (antechamber) with two pillars in front, and the chaitya-mandira (sanctum) behind. On each side of it in the back wall and also in the middle of the left wall of the hall there is a chapel with two pillars in front and a cell behind, like that at each end of the verandah mentioned before. There are six other cells in the left wall and five on the right⁷. In the chaitya-mandira behind the antarāla there is large image of the Buddha, seated in the yōgāsana posture and the Dharmachakra-pravartana-mudrā, with a Bōdhisattva carrying a chauri on either side. The Bōdhisattva on his proper left is Vajrapāṇi as he has the vajra in his left hand; that on the right should be Padmapāṇi as in the caves at Ajaṇṭā, but his sign, viz., the lotus has not been carved. On the pedestal of the Buddha’s lion-seat there are the usual figures of the crouching deer with a wheel between them, symbolising the Buddha’s first sermon in the Deer Park at Sārnāth. Some devotees are also seen kneeling on either side of the wheel. The Buddha has a large round halo round his face, beyond which are seen some flying vidyādharas and vidyādharīs with garlands for the worship of the Buddha⁸.
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¹ See Plate O.
² G.C.I., pl. 4.
³ No. 26, v. 18.
⁴ G.C.I., pl. 5.
⁵ G.C.I., pl, 8.
⁶ Ibid., pl. 9.
⁷ The middle one on the right has the appearance of a chapel with two doors in front, but there is no cell behind it as in the case of the other chapels in this cave.
⁸ G.C.I., pl. 3.