DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0254
232 EARLY BUDDHIST CAVE-TEMPLES.
Karle.
The cares now to be described have received the name they go by
among Europeans from the neighbouring village of Karlen or Karla,
on the Poona road, where there used to be a staging hangld or rest-
house ; but they are much nearer and belong to the village of Vehar-
gaum to the north of Karle. They are in the west flank of the spur
just above the village, and consist of a large Ohaitya and several
Viharas—some of the latter much ruined.
This Chaitya is, without exception, the largest and finest, as well
as the best preserved, of its class. It has been so fully described
by Mr. Fergusson,1 that I shall here quote most of his account.
As he remarks, it " was excavated at a time when the style was
in its greatest purity. In it, all the architectural defects of the
previous examples are removed; the pillars of the nave are quite
perpendicular. The original screen is superseded by one in stone
ornamented with sculpture—its first appearance apparently in such
a position--and the architectural style had reached a position that
was never afterwards surpassed."
In and about the cave there are many inscriptions and fragments
of inscriptions, but they have not yet been investigated by competent
scholars so to enable us to arrive at any very definite conclusions
regarding their age. One, however, reads :—" Peace! By Usha-
bhadata, the son of Dinika, the son-in-law of RajaKshaharataKsha-
trapa Nahapana."2 And as Nahapana's and Ushabhadata's names also
occur at Nasik and Junnar, with dates ranging from 40 to 42. If we
may assume them to be in the same era as the Kshatrapa dynasty, ami
that they were dated according to the Saka reckoning, we have a.u-
120 as a limit, at least on one side. But from the position and cha-
racter of the letters used in this inscription we may fairly infer that
the Chaitya was executed some time previously. Two inscriptions,
one in very large letters, of an earlier form, immediately above tiie
elephants in the left side of the porch as we enter, and another on
the great pillar in front, mention the great king Bhutapala an
his son, Agnimitra, as establishing " this rock mansion, the most exce
lent in Jambudwlpa." In the Pauranik lists (ante p. 25), Agn>
1 Lid. and East Architect., p. llTff. See also Rock-cut Temples of lml'"'
J. R. A. S., vol. viii. p. 30, ct scqq.
2 Second Archceol. Report, p. 42.
Karle.
The cares now to be described have received the name they go by
among Europeans from the neighbouring village of Karlen or Karla,
on the Poona road, where there used to be a staging hangld or rest-
house ; but they are much nearer and belong to the village of Vehar-
gaum to the north of Karle. They are in the west flank of the spur
just above the village, and consist of a large Ohaitya and several
Viharas—some of the latter much ruined.
This Chaitya is, without exception, the largest and finest, as well
as the best preserved, of its class. It has been so fully described
by Mr. Fergusson,1 that I shall here quote most of his account.
As he remarks, it " was excavated at a time when the style was
in its greatest purity. In it, all the architectural defects of the
previous examples are removed; the pillars of the nave are quite
perpendicular. The original screen is superseded by one in stone
ornamented with sculpture—its first appearance apparently in such
a position--and the architectural style had reached a position that
was never afterwards surpassed."
In and about the cave there are many inscriptions and fragments
of inscriptions, but they have not yet been investigated by competent
scholars so to enable us to arrive at any very definite conclusions
regarding their age. One, however, reads :—" Peace! By Usha-
bhadata, the son of Dinika, the son-in-law of RajaKshaharataKsha-
trapa Nahapana."2 And as Nahapana's and Ushabhadata's names also
occur at Nasik and Junnar, with dates ranging from 40 to 42. If we
may assume them to be in the same era as the Kshatrapa dynasty, ami
that they were dated according to the Saka reckoning, we have a.u-
120 as a limit, at least on one side. But from the position and cha-
racter of the letters used in this inscription we may fairly infer that
the Chaitya was executed some time previously. Two inscriptions,
one in very large letters, of an earlier form, immediately above tiie
elephants in the left side of the porch as we enter, and another on
the great pillar in front, mention the great king Bhutapala an
his son, Agnimitra, as establishing " this rock mansion, the most exce
lent in Jambudwlpa." In the Pauranik lists (ante p. 25), Agn>
1 Lid. and East Architect., p. llTff. See also Rock-cut Temples of lml'"'
J. R. A. S., vol. viii. p. 30, ct scqq.
2 Second Archceol. Report, p. 42.