DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0115
GANESA GUMPHA. 93
as residences to others cut in the rock. "Whether this was so
or not, it is clear that the eastern caves are not such direct
copies from structural Yiharas as those on the west, where the
central hall, surrounded with cells on three sides, with a portico or
porch on the fourth, was as nearly a direct copy as could well be
made in the rock. In the east they proceeded on a different system.
The hall was entirely omitted, and the cells open either directly
on the outer air or into the verandah, while, as explained in
describing the Rani ka Nur (ante, p. 78) all the other arrangements
of the structural Vihara were turned topsy turvey. The difference
probably arose from the fact the Udayagiri group of hills is literally
honey-combed with little cells, of about 6 or 7 feet square, just
sufficient for the residence of a single hermit. Most of them
probably had a verandah in wood or shelter of some sort over the
doorway to prevent the inmate being baked alive, which without
such protection he certainly would have been. Some of the earlier
carved caves, such as the Tiger cave, the Bhajana cave, and the
Ananta, are still only single cells, with verandahs of greater or less
magnificence. Some, like the Jaya Vijaya and Ganesa, are only two
cells with verandahs to protect both, and others, like the Vaikuntha
and Rani ka Nur, contain three or four cells arranged in two storeys.
Still these are only an assemblage of hermitages without any
common hall or refectory, or any of the monastic arrangements
which were so universally adopted in the western caves. At the
same time it may be remarked that there being no halls in the eastern
caves, accounts for the absence of any internal pillars at Udayagiri,
though they form a marked and important feature in all the western
caves of any pretension to magnificence.
The absence of a Dagoba either in or about these caves may
perhaps be acccounted for, as before hinted, by the Tooth relic
being probably the great object of worship m this province during
the Buddhist period, and it may have been preserved in a Dagoba
or shrine of some sort, on the top of the Udayagiri hill, if this was
Dantapuri. The local traditions, it must be confessed, tend rather
to show that Dantapuri was where the temp1e of Jugannath now
stands at Puri on the sea shore, but the evidence is conflicting on
this point. But be this as it may, it is quite certain, unless Kittoe
is right about the remains on the Udayagiri hill, that there is no
material evidence of a Dagoba, either structural or rock-cut, exist-
as residences to others cut in the rock. "Whether this was so
or not, it is clear that the eastern caves are not such direct
copies from structural Yiharas as those on the west, where the
central hall, surrounded with cells on three sides, with a portico or
porch on the fourth, was as nearly a direct copy as could well be
made in the rock. In the east they proceeded on a different system.
The hall was entirely omitted, and the cells open either directly
on the outer air or into the verandah, while, as explained in
describing the Rani ka Nur (ante, p. 78) all the other arrangements
of the structural Vihara were turned topsy turvey. The difference
probably arose from the fact the Udayagiri group of hills is literally
honey-combed with little cells, of about 6 or 7 feet square, just
sufficient for the residence of a single hermit. Most of them
probably had a verandah in wood or shelter of some sort over the
doorway to prevent the inmate being baked alive, which without
such protection he certainly would have been. Some of the earlier
carved caves, such as the Tiger cave, the Bhajana cave, and the
Ananta, are still only single cells, with verandahs of greater or less
magnificence. Some, like the Jaya Vijaya and Ganesa, are only two
cells with verandahs to protect both, and others, like the Vaikuntha
and Rani ka Nur, contain three or four cells arranged in two storeys.
Still these are only an assemblage of hermitages without any
common hall or refectory, or any of the monastic arrangements
which were so universally adopted in the western caves. At the
same time it may be remarked that there being no halls in the eastern
caves, accounts for the absence of any internal pillars at Udayagiri,
though they form a marked and important feature in all the western
caves of any pretension to magnificence.
The absence of a Dagoba either in or about these caves may
perhaps be acccounted for, as before hinted, by the Tooth relic
being probably the great object of worship m this province during
the Buddhist period, and it may have been preserved in a Dagoba
or shrine of some sort, on the top of the Udayagiri hill, if this was
Dantapuri. The local traditions, it must be confessed, tend rather
to show that Dantapuri was where the temp1e of Jugannath now
stands at Puri on the sea shore, but the evidence is conflicting on
this point. But be this as it may, it is quite certain, unless Kittoe
is right about the remains on the Udayagiri hill, that there is no
material evidence of a Dagoba, either structural or rock-cut, exist-