DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0268
246 EARLY BUDDHIST CAVE-TEMPLES.
On the whole it seems probable that the whole belong to the first
century of the Christian era. But for the slight inclination of the
columns of the Chaitya this would seem quite certain, but even that
peculiarity may have lingered longer in one place than in another.
Sailabwadi Caves.
About two miles south of the small town of Talegafiw-Dabara, near
the railway and twenty miles north-west from Poona, is the G-arodi
hill, in which are a few early Buddhist excavations. They are at a
height of about 450 to 500 feet above the plain, and the first, which
is high up in the scarp and now almost inaccessible, consisted appa-
rently of a single cell, of which the front has fallen away. The next
is a little lower, and, like the first, faces S.W. by W. (PI. V., fig. 3).
It consists of a vestibule, 29 feet by 9f, and 8 feet 8 inches high,
opening into four cells at the back. Between each pair of doors are
two pillars attached to the wall—half octagons (Fig. 1, PI. XXIII.)
with the lota or water-vessel bases and capitals, and with three
animals—elephants, lions, or tigers, over each, supporting a pro-
jecting frieze of " the rail-pattern." Along the ends and back,
under the pillars, runs a stone bench. The cells within are per-
fectly plain. The cave, however, has been appropriated by the
modern Brahmans, and in the third cell from the left is installed
the Saiva linga, with a small Nandi or bull in the vestibule and a
dipamdld or lamp-pillar and Tulsi altar built outside. On the jamb
of the cell door is a short, roughly-cut inscription recording the
visit of a devotee and dated "1361 Sidharthi Samvatsare, Srdvam
Sudha."
North-west from this last and at some distance is a cistern, now
dry; and still further along is a small cave that has apparently had
a wooden front, with four upright posts going into sockets in the
rock above. In the left end is a recess, and in the back is a eel.
A few yards beyond this is another rock well, near which is t e
fourth cave. PI. V., fig. 5. The front is entirely gone, and a thick
wall has been built, to form a new front, a few feet farther i
than the original, with two circular arched doors. The hall »
four cells on the right, two in the back, besides a large shrine, an
three on the left,—a fourth being entirely ruined. In the s "
recess has stood a dagoba, the capital attached to the roof as »
On the whole it seems probable that the whole belong to the first
century of the Christian era. But for the slight inclination of the
columns of the Chaitya this would seem quite certain, but even that
peculiarity may have lingered longer in one place than in another.
Sailabwadi Caves.
About two miles south of the small town of Talegafiw-Dabara, near
the railway and twenty miles north-west from Poona, is the G-arodi
hill, in which are a few early Buddhist excavations. They are at a
height of about 450 to 500 feet above the plain, and the first, which
is high up in the scarp and now almost inaccessible, consisted appa-
rently of a single cell, of which the front has fallen away. The next
is a little lower, and, like the first, faces S.W. by W. (PI. V., fig. 3).
It consists of a vestibule, 29 feet by 9f, and 8 feet 8 inches high,
opening into four cells at the back. Between each pair of doors are
two pillars attached to the wall—half octagons (Fig. 1, PI. XXIII.)
with the lota or water-vessel bases and capitals, and with three
animals—elephants, lions, or tigers, over each, supporting a pro-
jecting frieze of " the rail-pattern." Along the ends and back,
under the pillars, runs a stone bench. The cells within are per-
fectly plain. The cave, however, has been appropriated by the
modern Brahmans, and in the third cell from the left is installed
the Saiva linga, with a small Nandi or bull in the vestibule and a
dipamdld or lamp-pillar and Tulsi altar built outside. On the jamb
of the cell door is a short, roughly-cut inscription recording the
visit of a devotee and dated "1361 Sidharthi Samvatsare, Srdvam
Sudha."
North-west from this last and at some distance is a cistern, now
dry; and still further along is a small cave that has apparently had
a wooden front, with four upright posts going into sockets in the
rock above. In the left end is a recess, and in the back is a eel.
A few yards beyond this is another rock well, near which is t e
fourth cave. PI. V., fig. 5. The front is entirely gone, and a thick
wall has been built, to form a new front, a few feet farther i
than the original, with two circular arched doors. The hall »
four cells on the right, two in the back, besides a large shrine, an
three on the left,—a fourth being entirely ruined. In the s "
recess has stood a dagoba, the capital attached to the roof as »