DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0227
CAVES AT KUDA. 205
Bombay. It lies in lat. 18° 17' N., and long. 73° 8' E., 6| miles
east from Rajapuri, 17| miles north-west from G-odegahw, the
principal town of the taluka in which it is now included, and 5 miles
west from Tale. In Maratha, and even in recent English times, the
taluka went by the name of Rajapuri,1 and extended from the
Kundalika river, at the mouth of which is the port of Chehwal
(vulgo 'Chaul'), to the Habshi of Jinjira's territory and the taluka
of Rayagadh on the south. This Rajapuri, it is not improbable,
may have been Puri,—the capital of the Silaharas of the Konkan
who claim the title of " rulers of the city of Tagara,"2 and of whom
we have the names of eleven princes from Kapardi I. in the ninth
century to Chhitaraja in a.d. 1024. If, in still earlier times, as is
probable, it was a place of note, it would help us to account for the
numerous Buddhist excavations in its neighbourhood. The next
town along the coast mentioned by Ptolemy from Simylla or Tiamula,
is Hippokura,3 and in the Periplus of the Mrythrecm Sea, (sec. 53), we
have Mandagora, which Ptolemy places further down the coast.
It seems almost certain, however, that from very early times the
beautiful creek which still has Murud, Jinjira, and Rajapuri at its
mouth, and villages like Tamane and Mhasla at its head, must have
attracted the population of a considerable town.
On the eastern shore of the northern arm of this creek, a low
hill, sloping down to the north, contains a group of caves, twenty-
two in number, large and small, which appear to have been first
brought to notice in 1848.4 They are all of a very plain type, only
one having any sculptures, the rest being so much alike, except in
size, that it does not seem worth while describing each in detail.
" will only be necessary to notice the principal ones. The lowest
"Own and furthest to the north, now used as a cattle shed, may
be designated No. I. It is one of four caves here that contain
This place must not be confounded with Bajapur, a little farther south, at the
mouth of the Savitri, where the East India Company early had a factory, of which they
were dispossessed before the French established themselves there in the time of Sivaji.
ellon's Voyage to the East Indies (Lond. 1698), p. 55 ff.
• Jour. R. As. Soc, vol. ii. p. 383; Ind. Ant., vol. v pp. 270-272.
Ptol. Geog., VII. i. 6, a different place from that mentioned in VII. i. 83 ; VIII.
X\U l5* LaSS<m places Mandagara at Eajapuri. See Ind. Alterth., III. 179, 181,
May not Hippokoura be Godabandar in the Thana creek ? Three sites near Kuda
» o be named Mandad or Mandar—a name suggestive of Manda(na)gara.
J°«r. Horn. B. R. As. Soc, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 44.
Bombay. It lies in lat. 18° 17' N., and long. 73° 8' E., 6| miles
east from Rajapuri, 17| miles north-west from G-odegahw, the
principal town of the taluka in which it is now included, and 5 miles
west from Tale. In Maratha, and even in recent English times, the
taluka went by the name of Rajapuri,1 and extended from the
Kundalika river, at the mouth of which is the port of Chehwal
(vulgo 'Chaul'), to the Habshi of Jinjira's territory and the taluka
of Rayagadh on the south. This Rajapuri, it is not improbable,
may have been Puri,—the capital of the Silaharas of the Konkan
who claim the title of " rulers of the city of Tagara,"2 and of whom
we have the names of eleven princes from Kapardi I. in the ninth
century to Chhitaraja in a.d. 1024. If, in still earlier times, as is
probable, it was a place of note, it would help us to account for the
numerous Buddhist excavations in its neighbourhood. The next
town along the coast mentioned by Ptolemy from Simylla or Tiamula,
is Hippokura,3 and in the Periplus of the Mrythrecm Sea, (sec. 53), we
have Mandagora, which Ptolemy places further down the coast.
It seems almost certain, however, that from very early times the
beautiful creek which still has Murud, Jinjira, and Rajapuri at its
mouth, and villages like Tamane and Mhasla at its head, must have
attracted the population of a considerable town.
On the eastern shore of the northern arm of this creek, a low
hill, sloping down to the north, contains a group of caves, twenty-
two in number, large and small, which appear to have been first
brought to notice in 1848.4 They are all of a very plain type, only
one having any sculptures, the rest being so much alike, except in
size, that it does not seem worth while describing each in detail.
" will only be necessary to notice the principal ones. The lowest
"Own and furthest to the north, now used as a cattle shed, may
be designated No. I. It is one of four caves here that contain
This place must not be confounded with Bajapur, a little farther south, at the
mouth of the Savitri, where the East India Company early had a factory, of which they
were dispossessed before the French established themselves there in the time of Sivaji.
ellon's Voyage to the East Indies (Lond. 1698), p. 55 ff.
• Jour. R. As. Soc, vol. ii. p. 383; Ind. Ant., vol. v pp. 270-272.
Ptol. Geog., VII. i. 6, a different place from that mentioned in VII. i. 83 ; VIII.
X\U l5* LaSS<m places Mandagara at Eajapuri. See Ind. Alterth., III. 179, 181,
May not Hippokoura be Godabandar in the Thana creek ? Three sites near Kuda
» o be named Mandad or Mandar—a name suggestive of Manda(na)gara.
J°«r. Horn. B. R. As. Soc, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 44.