DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0216
194 EARLY BUDDHIST CAVE-TEMPLES.
found in the western caves, where no figure sculpture anywhere
exists, and the ornamentation is rude and unartistic beyond any-
thing we find elsewhere belonging to the period. When we know
more of the ethnography of the province we may be able to explain
why, in this country, they adopted so puritanical a form of religious
architecture. At present we can only note the fact, and leave the
cause for investigation in the future. It may, however, be remarked
that when Buddhism disappeared from the province, it was suc-
ceeded not so much by the wild and extravagant forms of Hinduism
as by the soberer and more cognate religion of the Jains. It is not,
of course, intended to assert that the Saiva and Vaishnava religions
did not prevail at Somnath and Dwarka in the interval between
the decline of Buddhism and the Mahomedan conquest or subse-
quently. The most marked feature, however, in the religious history
of Kathiawar seems to have been a persistence in an ascetic atheism,
antagonistic to the wild polythism of the Hindu religion. It may
have been the prevalence of some such feeling among the early
inhabitants of the province that led to the puritanical simplicity
in the forms and the almost total absence of ornament that charac-
terise the early groups of caves in Kathiawar.
From indications still everywhere observable on the spot, it is
evident that at early times large monasteries existed both at
Junagarh and on Mount Girnar. Of those on the hill scarcely
a trace now remains, and even their site has been, built over
by the Jains. But at Junagarh, though many rock-excavations
had been quarried away since the Muhammadans took possession of
the place 400 years ago, there were still many chambers on the
outskirts of the fort, even in the first quarter of the present century,
in which Colonel Tod remarked inscriptions in the same character
as that used in the Asoka inscriptions. These have been almost
entirely quarried away since, except a few fragments just under tne
scrap of the TJparkot or fort, and at Naudurga close by. These
were probably the oldest caves in Kathiawar,—or perhaps m India-
with the exception of those at Barabar (ante, p. 37), which were ex-
cavated during the reign of Asoka himself, but with which, some o
these may be contemporary. Next to them, probably comes t e
upper range of caves on the east side of the town, but within
walls at Bawa Pyara's Math or Monastery. But here, as dsewner ■
the process of excavating fresh cells probably went on at mten^e
for a long period, and the lowest in the sloping rock are perhaps
found in the western caves, where no figure sculpture anywhere
exists, and the ornamentation is rude and unartistic beyond any-
thing we find elsewhere belonging to the period. When we know
more of the ethnography of the province we may be able to explain
why, in this country, they adopted so puritanical a form of religious
architecture. At present we can only note the fact, and leave the
cause for investigation in the future. It may, however, be remarked
that when Buddhism disappeared from the province, it was suc-
ceeded not so much by the wild and extravagant forms of Hinduism
as by the soberer and more cognate religion of the Jains. It is not,
of course, intended to assert that the Saiva and Vaishnava religions
did not prevail at Somnath and Dwarka in the interval between
the decline of Buddhism and the Mahomedan conquest or subse-
quently. The most marked feature, however, in the religious history
of Kathiawar seems to have been a persistence in an ascetic atheism,
antagonistic to the wild polythism of the Hindu religion. It may
have been the prevalence of some such feeling among the early
inhabitants of the province that led to the puritanical simplicity
in the forms and the almost total absence of ornament that charac-
terise the early groups of caves in Kathiawar.
From indications still everywhere observable on the spot, it is
evident that at early times large monasteries existed both at
Junagarh and on Mount Girnar. Of those on the hill scarcely
a trace now remains, and even their site has been, built over
by the Jains. But at Junagarh, though many rock-excavations
had been quarried away since the Muhammadans took possession of
the place 400 years ago, there were still many chambers on the
outskirts of the fort, even in the first quarter of the present century,
in which Colonel Tod remarked inscriptions in the same character
as that used in the Asoka inscriptions. These have been almost
entirely quarried away since, except a few fragments just under tne
scrap of the TJparkot or fort, and at Naudurga close by. These
were probably the oldest caves in Kathiawar,—or perhaps m India-
with the exception of those at Barabar (ante, p. 37), which were ex-
cavated during the reign of Asoka himself, but with which, some o
these may be contemporary. Next to them, probably comes t e
upper range of caves on the east side of the town, but within
walls at Bawa Pyara's Math or Monastery. But here, as dsewner ■
the process of excavating fresh cells probably went on at mten^e
for a long period, and the lowest in the sloping rock are perhaps