DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0285
263
CHAPTER VII.
NASIK CAVES.
About fifty miles north from Junnar, but across some of the spurs
of the Sahyadri hills, is JNasik in the upper valley of the Godavari
river, and only four miles from the railway leading from Bombay to
Calcutta. The town is a place of great antiquity and sanctity, being
associated with the legend of Rama, who is said to have spent part
of his exile at Panchavati, a suburb of Nasik on the north side of
the Godavari or Ganga river. It is to a large extent a Brahmanical
town, and may be regarded as the Banaras of Western India. It is
mentioned under its present name by Ptolemy, and situated as it is
just above one of the few easily accessible passes up the Ghats, and
in the middle of a fertile plain interspersed with isolated hills, it
must always have been a place of note. One of the oldest inscrip-
tions in the neighbouring caves speaks of " Krishnaraja of the
Satavahana race [residing'] in Nasik,"1 which would almost seem to
indicate that it was the capital of the dynasty; but it is possible
this Krishnaraja was only a member of the royal family.
The Buddhist caves, locally known as the Pandu Lena, are in one
of three isolated hills called in the inscriptions Trirasmi, close to the
Bombay road, and about five miles S.S.W. from the town. They
were first described by Captain James Delamaine, who visited them
m 1823,2 and afterwards by Dr. J. Wilson and the Messrs. West,
the latter with special reference to the inscriptions, of which they
Made copies, and which have since been translated by Professor
ohandarkar.3 These inscriptions contain the names of several kings,
as—
Krishnaraja of the Satavahana race;
Maha-Hakusiri, who reigned certainly before the Christian
era;
1 Trans. Orient. Cong., 1874, p. 338.
2 Asiat. Jour. N. S., vol. iii. (1830), pp. 275-288 ; Eitter, Erdk. iv. i. 652.
pr- Wilson visited them in 1831 and 1840. Jour. Bom. B. R. A. S., vol. iii.
P*- «• pp. 65-69; and the Wests between 1861 and 1865, ib., vol. vii. pp. 37-52;
J<mt. Cong. Orient., pp. 306-354 ; Fergusson's Ind. and East. Arch., pp. 94, 115,
ioO,
CHAPTER VII.
NASIK CAVES.
About fifty miles north from Junnar, but across some of the spurs
of the Sahyadri hills, is JNasik in the upper valley of the Godavari
river, and only four miles from the railway leading from Bombay to
Calcutta. The town is a place of great antiquity and sanctity, being
associated with the legend of Rama, who is said to have spent part
of his exile at Panchavati, a suburb of Nasik on the north side of
the Godavari or Ganga river. It is to a large extent a Brahmanical
town, and may be regarded as the Banaras of Western India. It is
mentioned under its present name by Ptolemy, and situated as it is
just above one of the few easily accessible passes up the Ghats, and
in the middle of a fertile plain interspersed with isolated hills, it
must always have been a place of note. One of the oldest inscrip-
tions in the neighbouring caves speaks of " Krishnaraja of the
Satavahana race [residing'] in Nasik,"1 which would almost seem to
indicate that it was the capital of the dynasty; but it is possible
this Krishnaraja was only a member of the royal family.
The Buddhist caves, locally known as the Pandu Lena, are in one
of three isolated hills called in the inscriptions Trirasmi, close to the
Bombay road, and about five miles S.S.W. from the town. They
were first described by Captain James Delamaine, who visited them
m 1823,2 and afterwards by Dr. J. Wilson and the Messrs. West,
the latter with special reference to the inscriptions, of which they
Made copies, and which have since been translated by Professor
ohandarkar.3 These inscriptions contain the names of several kings,
as—
Krishnaraja of the Satavahana race;
Maha-Hakusiri, who reigned certainly before the Christian
era;
1 Trans. Orient. Cong., 1874, p. 338.
2 Asiat. Jour. N. S., vol. iii. (1830), pp. 275-288 ; Eitter, Erdk. iv. i. 652.
pr- Wilson visited them in 1831 and 1840. Jour. Bom. B. R. A. S., vol. iii.
P*- «• pp. 65-69; and the Wests between 1861 and 1865, ib., vol. vii. pp. 37-52;
J<mt. Cong. Orient., pp. 306-354 ; Fergusson's Ind. and East. Arch., pp. 94, 115,
ioO,