DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0300
278 EARLY BUDDHIST CAVE-TEMPLES.
of Buddha attended by Padmapani and Vajrapani such as we hare
only met with here in the two shrines high up on the scarp at
No. XL, but so like what is found at Aurangabad, Elura, and
Ajanta, that there can be no hesitation in ascribing it to a late age.
Among the many repetitions of Buddha and attendants is a small
figure on the wall that cuts off the third shrine from the larger
portion of the cave, of Buddha reclining on his right side as repre-
sented entering nirvana, much as he is found in Singhalese temples
at the present day, and of which larger representations are found at
Ajanta, Kholvi, and Aurangabad. All these, and the female figure's of
Tara, Lochana, and Mamukhi found in the shrines, clearly show that
this was a Mahayana temple. The pillars in front of the entrance
to the first, shrine are also of a much more modern type than in
any of the other caves here.
Farther on is a small rude chamber much ruined, and 45 yards
from it is a recess with an inscription over itl of Pulumai, the' son
of Vasishthi, twenty or 25 yards beyond, along a difficult scarp, was
a small Bhikshu's house, the lower part of which, as in Eos. IV.,
&c, has all been quarried away. It probably consisted of a
verandah with two small chambers at the back. The frieze is still
pretty entire, and whilst preserving the copies of wooden forms, it
is ornamented with a string of animal figures as in that of Cave I.;
the ends of the projecting beams represented as bearing it, are
carved with conventionalised forms of the Buddhist trisula or symbol
of dharma, the prongs in one case being changed into cats or some
such animals ; seated on the lower beam under the rock at the west
end is carved an owl, and at each end of the ornamented " rail
pattern " is a rider on a sort of female centaur,—probably a Greek
idea. The inscriptions speak of a cave and two (if not three) tanks,
but give no royal name.2
These Nasik caves, like those at Kanheri, belong principally to
the times of the Kshaharata and Andhrabhritya kings, the former
of Central India and the latter of the Dekhan. The silver coins of
the first-named dynasty have been found in abundance in Gujarat, ana
1 Trans. Cony, Orient,, p. 338, No. 3. Among the Andhrabhrityas there was »
Putmnayi, or Puhimavi, or Pulomavit, the successor of Gautamiputra.
2 Trans. Cong. Orient., 1874, pp. 342, 343, Nos, 1 and 2.
of Buddha attended by Padmapani and Vajrapani such as we hare
only met with here in the two shrines high up on the scarp at
No. XL, but so like what is found at Aurangabad, Elura, and
Ajanta, that there can be no hesitation in ascribing it to a late age.
Among the many repetitions of Buddha and attendants is a small
figure on the wall that cuts off the third shrine from the larger
portion of the cave, of Buddha reclining on his right side as repre-
sented entering nirvana, much as he is found in Singhalese temples
at the present day, and of which larger representations are found at
Ajanta, Kholvi, and Aurangabad. All these, and the female figure's of
Tara, Lochana, and Mamukhi found in the shrines, clearly show that
this was a Mahayana temple. The pillars in front of the entrance
to the first, shrine are also of a much more modern type than in
any of the other caves here.
Farther on is a small rude chamber much ruined, and 45 yards
from it is a recess with an inscription over itl of Pulumai, the' son
of Vasishthi, twenty or 25 yards beyond, along a difficult scarp, was
a small Bhikshu's house, the lower part of which, as in Eos. IV.,
&c, has all been quarried away. It probably consisted of a
verandah with two small chambers at the back. The frieze is still
pretty entire, and whilst preserving the copies of wooden forms, it
is ornamented with a string of animal figures as in that of Cave I.;
the ends of the projecting beams represented as bearing it, are
carved with conventionalised forms of the Buddhist trisula or symbol
of dharma, the prongs in one case being changed into cats or some
such animals ; seated on the lower beam under the rock at the west
end is carved an owl, and at each end of the ornamented " rail
pattern " is a rider on a sort of female centaur,—probably a Greek
idea. The inscriptions speak of a cave and two (if not three) tanks,
but give no royal name.2
These Nasik caves, like those at Kanheri, belong principally to
the times of the Kshaharata and Andhrabhritya kings, the former
of Central India and the latter of the Dekhan. The silver coins of
the first-named dynasty have been found in abundance in Gujarat, ana
1 Trans. Cony, Orient,, p. 338, No. 3. Among the Andhrabhrityas there was »
Putmnayi, or Puhimavi, or Pulomavit, the successor of Gautamiputra.
2 Trans. Cong. Orient., 1874, pp. 342, 343, Nos, 1 and 2.