DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0126
104 EASTERN CAVES.
at the time when these caves were excavated, and it is as nearly
as may be identical with what we find here. Everything about
this cave is Hindu, and belongs to that religion, and is compara-
tively modern—almost certainly after Hiuen Thsang's time. It is,
in fact, like the Kailasa at Elura, only another instance of the manner
in which the Hindus about the eighth century appropriated Buddhist
sites, and superseded their rock-cut temples by others belonging to
their own form of faith. They, however, differ so essentially in
many important particulars, that with a little familiarity, it seems
impossible to mistake the one for the other. If this is so, it is clear
that this Undavilli cave never could have belonged to the Buddhists.
It is as essentially Brahmanical as any of the caves belonging to
that sect at Badaml or Elura, of about the same age, though by a
curious inversion of the usual routine, its forms are as certainly
copied from those of Buddhist viharas, like the raths at Mahavallipur,
to be described in the next chapter. Proving as clearly as can well
be done, that at the age when they were excavated, the Brahmins
in the south of India had no original style of their own, and were
consequently forced to borrow one from their rivals.
at the time when these caves were excavated, and it is as nearly
as may be identical with what we find here. Everything about
this cave is Hindu, and belongs to that religion, and is compara-
tively modern—almost certainly after Hiuen Thsang's time. It is,
in fact, like the Kailasa at Elura, only another instance of the manner
in which the Hindus about the eighth century appropriated Buddhist
sites, and superseded their rock-cut temples by others belonging to
their own form of faith. They, however, differ so essentially in
many important particulars, that with a little familiarity, it seems
impossible to mistake the one for the other. If this is so, it is clear
that this Undavilli cave never could have belonged to the Buddhists.
It is as essentially Brahmanical as any of the caves belonging to
that sect at Badaml or Elura, of about the same age, though by a
curious inversion of the usual routine, its forms are as certainly
copied from those of Buddhist viharas, like the raths at Mahavallipur,
to be described in the next chapter. Proving as clearly as can well
be done, that at the age when they were excavated, the Brahmins
in the south of India had no original style of their own, and were
consequently forced to borrow one from their rivals.