DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0165
THE CAVES, MAHAVALLIPUR. 143
monoliths at Mahavallipur, if, for instance, we had been able to
point out that one was more wooden than another, or more lithic,
and exhibited the same progress from wooden to stone forms, as we
find in the northern caves, this would have been detected long ago.
But it is another of the marked characteristics of the place, that
everything is of the same age. No one who either examines them
on the spot, or compares the photographs that are to be had, can
doubt that the Raths and the caves are of the same age, their
details are so absolutely identical. The caves, it is true, do exhibit
some slight difference in style, in parts at least, but nothing that
can make out a distinct sequence. They may overlap the Raths
by a few years either way, but there are no data from which a
reliable sequence can be established, and the differences in parts
are generally so slight that they may be owing to some individual
or local caprice.
Under these circumstances it is fortunate that the sculptures
with which the Mahavallipur caves are so profusely adorned afford
data from which their relative age can be ascertained with a pre-
cision sufficient at least for our present purposes. The fortunate
discovery by Mr. Burgess in 1876 of a cave with a dated inscription
in it, a.d. 579, at Badami, has given a precision to our knowledge
of the subject not before attained, and his report on these caves
has rendered us familiar with the architecture and sculpture of
the sixth century of our era. By a singular piece of good fortune
one of the great sculptures of the Cave No. III. at Badami1 is
practically identical with one in the Yaishnava cave (Carr's 25) at
Mahavallipur.2 They both represent Vishnu as Trivikrama, or the
" three stepper " in the dwarf Avatar; practically they are the same,
hut with such difference that when compared with similar sculp-
tures at Elura and elsewhere, we are enabled to say with tolerable
certainty that the Badami sculpture is the more ancient of the two.
On the other hand, we have at Elephanta and Elura many examples
representing the same subjects of Hindu mythology as are found
at Mahavallipur, but with such differences of mythology and exe-
cution as indicate with equal certainty that the southern examples
are more ancient than the northern. As these latter may all be
1 Bepm-t on Belpdm. Ac„ Plate XXXI.
2 Trans. R. A. S. yo!. ii. Plate VI. of Mr. Bahington's paper.
monoliths at Mahavallipur, if, for instance, we had been able to
point out that one was more wooden than another, or more lithic,
and exhibited the same progress from wooden to stone forms, as we
find in the northern caves, this would have been detected long ago.
But it is another of the marked characteristics of the place, that
everything is of the same age. No one who either examines them
on the spot, or compares the photographs that are to be had, can
doubt that the Raths and the caves are of the same age, their
details are so absolutely identical. The caves, it is true, do exhibit
some slight difference in style, in parts at least, but nothing that
can make out a distinct sequence. They may overlap the Raths
by a few years either way, but there are no data from which a
reliable sequence can be established, and the differences in parts
are generally so slight that they may be owing to some individual
or local caprice.
Under these circumstances it is fortunate that the sculptures
with which the Mahavallipur caves are so profusely adorned afford
data from which their relative age can be ascertained with a pre-
cision sufficient at least for our present purposes. The fortunate
discovery by Mr. Burgess in 1876 of a cave with a dated inscription
in it, a.d. 579, at Badami, has given a precision to our knowledge
of the subject not before attained, and his report on these caves
has rendered us familiar with the architecture and sculpture of
the sixth century of our era. By a singular piece of good fortune
one of the great sculptures of the Cave No. III. at Badami1 is
practically identical with one in the Yaishnava cave (Carr's 25) at
Mahavallipur.2 They both represent Vishnu as Trivikrama, or the
" three stepper " in the dwarf Avatar; practically they are the same,
hut with such difference that when compared with similar sculp-
tures at Elura and elsewhere, we are enabled to say with tolerable
certainty that the Badami sculpture is the more ancient of the two.
On the other hand, we have at Elephanta and Elura many examples
representing the same subjects of Hindu mythology as are found
at Mahavallipur, but with such differences of mythology and exe-
cution as indicate with equal certainty that the southern examples
are more ancient than the northern. As these latter may all be
1 Bepm-t on Belpdm. Ac„ Plate XXXI.
2 Trans. R. A. S. yo!. ii. Plate VI. of Mr. Bahington's paper.