DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0119
UNDAVILLA CAVES ON THE KRISHNA RIVER NEAR BEJWARA.
97
The principal cave that has yet been discovered in this neighbour-
hood is situated in a small isolated hill about a mile from the town
of Bejwada, (the Bejwara or Bezwara of the maps), and is a four or
rather five storeyed Vaishnava temple, dedicated to Anantasena or
Narayana. It has been suspected of having been originally ex-
cavated as a Buddhist Yihara; but there is certainly no sufficient
evidence to justify such a supposition. It is entirely Brahmanical
in all its arrangements, and very similar to the contemporary caves
belonging to that religion at Badami and Blura, and can from the
character of its sculptures hardly date further back than the 7th or
8th century of our era. It probably should be attributed to some of the
Chalukya kings of Vengi, who like the elder branch of that family
ruling at Badami, and later at Kalyana, were worshippers of Vishnu.
No. 23. View of the ITnrtavilli Cave, fiom a Photograph
The great interest of this cave for our present purposes, lies in its
>ave no suggestion. Under these circumstances, and with the knowledge we now
possess of Buddhist cave architecture, it is probably safe to assert, that no such com-
unation as Mr. Sewell suggests, of rock cut with structural buildings exists in India,
»nd tdl some such are discovered I must be excused if I decline to register these
"platforms" among the "Cave temples of India," or to believe that Hiuen Thsang did
not mention the Amravati Tope under the designation of the Avarasila Sangharama.
Y 132.
97
The principal cave that has yet been discovered in this neighbour-
hood is situated in a small isolated hill about a mile from the town
of Bejwada, (the Bejwara or Bezwara of the maps), and is a four or
rather five storeyed Vaishnava temple, dedicated to Anantasena or
Narayana. It has been suspected of having been originally ex-
cavated as a Buddhist Yihara; but there is certainly no sufficient
evidence to justify such a supposition. It is entirely Brahmanical
in all its arrangements, and very similar to the contemporary caves
belonging to that religion at Badami and Blura, and can from the
character of its sculptures hardly date further back than the 7th or
8th century of our era. It probably should be attributed to some of the
Chalukya kings of Vengi, who like the elder branch of that family
ruling at Badami, and later at Kalyana, were worshippers of Vishnu.
No. 23. View of the ITnrtavilli Cave, fiom a Photograph
The great interest of this cave for our present purposes, lies in its
>ave no suggestion. Under these circumstances, and with the knowledge we now
possess of Buddhist cave architecture, it is probably safe to assert, that no such com-
unation as Mr. Sewell suggests, of rock cut with structural buildings exists in India,
»nd tdl some such are discovered I must be excused if I decline to register these
"platforms" among the "Cave temples of India," or to believe that Hiuen Thsang did
not mention the Amravati Tope under the designation of the Avarasila Sangharama.
Y 132.