DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0228
206 EARLY BUDDHIST CAVE-TEMPLES.
dagobas. In front it had a verandah 22 feet by 7, with two plain
octagonal pillars in front, now broken away; at the left end is a
cell, 7 feet square, with a bench bed in a recess in the right wall.
A door 7 feet wide leads from the verandah into the hall, which is
22 feet square, and had two octagonal pillars at the back standing
on a low bench, one of them now destroyed. These separate the
hall from an antechamber, 23 feet wide by 7 feet 3 inches deep,
having a bench at the ends and along the back wall up to the door
of the shrine. The shrine is about 15 feet wide by 14^ feet deep,
and is occupied by plain dagoba reaching to the roof.
In the end of the verandah is an inscription in late Maurjan
character, in two long lines, going across it, and continued along
the back wall to near the door. Though copied, this inscription has
not yet been translated ; from the form of the letters, however, it
may be inferred that it belongs to the second century before Christ.
The next three caves are small, plain chambers in no respect
worthy of especial notice.
No. V. is a large plain cave, having a verandah in front, with two
octagonal pillars, a bench or seat between the pillars and the end
pilasters, and two windows into the hall, which is 34J feet wide,
and nearly the same from front to back. It has no cells, only a
bench round the three inner sides. Three slight recesses have been
made in the back wall, but they seem to have been cut out, long
after the cave was finished, for what purpose is not apparent.
This cave has an inscription in six lines in the end of the veran-
dah, of which only a few letters are injured. The alphabet is that
of the Andhrabhritya age found at Nasik and elsewhere. It reads
" Hail! This cave and tank are the benefaction of the female
" ascetic Paduminika, daughter of the female ascetic Naganika, the
" sister's daughter of the Theras Bhadata Patamita and Bhadata
" Agimita, together with her disciple Bodhi and her disciple Asai-
" pamita."x This cave was evidently a Dharmasala.
Cave YI. is the principal one of the group ; like the two ahead}
described it may be called a Chaitya cave, that is, though flat-roofe i,
it has a dagoba in the shrine (Plate V., fig. 1). The roof in fron^
of the verandah projects nearly 8 feet, and is supported at each e
1 Translated by Prof. JacoM. Ind. Ant., vol. vii. p. 254. It would appear
this that female ascetics were sometimes mothers of families.
dagobas. In front it had a verandah 22 feet by 7, with two plain
octagonal pillars in front, now broken away; at the left end is a
cell, 7 feet square, with a bench bed in a recess in the right wall.
A door 7 feet wide leads from the verandah into the hall, which is
22 feet square, and had two octagonal pillars at the back standing
on a low bench, one of them now destroyed. These separate the
hall from an antechamber, 23 feet wide by 7 feet 3 inches deep,
having a bench at the ends and along the back wall up to the door
of the shrine. The shrine is about 15 feet wide by 14^ feet deep,
and is occupied by plain dagoba reaching to the roof.
In the end of the verandah is an inscription in late Maurjan
character, in two long lines, going across it, and continued along
the back wall to near the door. Though copied, this inscription has
not yet been translated ; from the form of the letters, however, it
may be inferred that it belongs to the second century before Christ.
The next three caves are small, plain chambers in no respect
worthy of especial notice.
No. V. is a large plain cave, having a verandah in front, with two
octagonal pillars, a bench or seat between the pillars and the end
pilasters, and two windows into the hall, which is 34J feet wide,
and nearly the same from front to back. It has no cells, only a
bench round the three inner sides. Three slight recesses have been
made in the back wall, but they seem to have been cut out, long
after the cave was finished, for what purpose is not apparent.
This cave has an inscription in six lines in the end of the veran-
dah, of which only a few letters are injured. The alphabet is that
of the Andhrabhritya age found at Nasik and elsewhere. It reads
" Hail! This cave and tank are the benefaction of the female
" ascetic Paduminika, daughter of the female ascetic Naganika, the
" sister's daughter of the Theras Bhadata Patamita and Bhadata
" Agimita, together with her disciple Bodhi and her disciple Asai-
" pamita."x This cave was evidently a Dharmasala.
Cave YI. is the principal one of the group ; like the two ahead}
described it may be called a Chaitya cave, that is, though flat-roofe i,
it has a dagoba in the shrine (Plate V., fig. 1). The roof in fron^
of the verandah projects nearly 8 feet, and is supported at each e
1 Translated by Prof. JacoM. Ind. Ant., vol. vii. p. 254. It would appear
this that female ascetics were sometimes mothers of families.