DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0230
208 EARLY BUDDHIST CAVE-TEMPLES.
great Chaitya cave at Karle (Plate XIV., fig. 1); indeed, the figures
are so alike, even in minute details, that "there seems little reason
to doubt that they all belong to about the same age, and that not
much later than the time when these Kuda caves were first excavated,
within the first century before Christ.
On the right wall of the cave, and on the left side of the front of
the verandah, are several figures of Buddha seated on the lotus,
some with the legs down, and others with them doubled under him
in the ascetic attitude, in one instance with the wheel below the
lotus, three deer on each side, and under them two ISTaga figures
holding a pillar on which the wheel rests, with their wives and a
number of female worshippers behind them. In another sculpture
the wheel and deer are wanting, and the worshipping figures are
rudely sculptured below the Nagas and over a lotus plant, the
Buddhist emblem of creation. These sculptures are of far later
date than the first described; indeed they may be of the fifth or
sixth century a.d., and resemble in every essential particular a
similar composition inserted between the older figures on the front
of the Karle cave, as shown in the plate last referred to.
Under part of the sculpture on this right wall, and on one of the
pillars in the verandah, are short inscriptions in a character ap-
proaching the Hala Kanada, but having been but lightly incised are
illegible except a few letters.
On the left or north end wall of the verandah is an inscription of
seven lines in well-cut letters, each fully 3 inches in height, and in
an old square character. It has not yet been translated, but the
names Sivadata, Sivapalita, Skandapalita, Sivabhiiti occurring m
it, all testify to the prevalence of the worship of Siva alongside
Buddhism.
On the south side of this is cave VII., entered by a few steps at
the north end, and having two octagonal pillars in front, on a lov
bench, the raised back of which being to the outside is carved in the
" rail pattern." But except for inscriptions this and the remaining
caves are very much like those alreadv described. Nos. Vffl- ant
V"VrT to
XV., like I. and VI., have dagobas in their shrines. Nos. AVJ-
XXII., in the upper terrace, stretch to the north, and are all pla"1
Vihara caves, or verandahs with cells at the back, and some wa e
cisterns among them.
The whole series of the Kuda caves are so plain and so sin" al
great Chaitya cave at Karle (Plate XIV., fig. 1); indeed, the figures
are so alike, even in minute details, that "there seems little reason
to doubt that they all belong to about the same age, and that not
much later than the time when these Kuda caves were first excavated,
within the first century before Christ.
On the right wall of the cave, and on the left side of the front of
the verandah, are several figures of Buddha seated on the lotus,
some with the legs down, and others with them doubled under him
in the ascetic attitude, in one instance with the wheel below the
lotus, three deer on each side, and under them two ISTaga figures
holding a pillar on which the wheel rests, with their wives and a
number of female worshippers behind them. In another sculpture
the wheel and deer are wanting, and the worshipping figures are
rudely sculptured below the Nagas and over a lotus plant, the
Buddhist emblem of creation. These sculptures are of far later
date than the first described; indeed they may be of the fifth or
sixth century a.d., and resemble in every essential particular a
similar composition inserted between the older figures on the front
of the Karle cave, as shown in the plate last referred to.
Under part of the sculpture on this right wall, and on one of the
pillars in the verandah, are short inscriptions in a character ap-
proaching the Hala Kanada, but having been but lightly incised are
illegible except a few letters.
On the left or north end wall of the verandah is an inscription of
seven lines in well-cut letters, each fully 3 inches in height, and in
an old square character. It has not yet been translated, but the
names Sivadata, Sivapalita, Skandapalita, Sivabhiiti occurring m
it, all testify to the prevalence of the worship of Siva alongside
Buddhism.
On the south side of this is cave VII., entered by a few steps at
the north end, and having two octagonal pillars in front, on a lov
bench, the raised back of which being to the outside is carved in the
" rail pattern." But except for inscriptions this and the remaining
caves are very much like those alreadv described. Nos. Vffl- ant
V"VrT to
XV., like I. and VI., have dagobas in their shrines. Nos. AVJ-
XXII., in the upper terrace, stretch to the north, and are all pla"1
Vihara caves, or verandahs with cells at the back, and some wa e
cisterns among them.
The whole series of the Kuda caves are so plain and so sin" al