DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0385
•M'S
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAVES OF BAGH.
In the south of Malwa, about twenty-five miles south-west of Dhar,
and thirty miles west of Mandu, is the village of Bagh, three miles to
the south of which is a group of Viharas, now much ruined, from the
rock in which they are cut being stratified and having given way
in many places; indeed, one, if not more, of the caves have fallen
in altogether. Some of them are so entirely in possession of wild bees
that it is difficult getting access to them.
They were first described by Lieutenant Dangerfield in the Trans-
actions of the Bombay Literary Society,1 1818, and more in detail by
Dr. E. Impey in the Journal of the Bombay Branch Asiatic Society,2
in 1854.
The first cave from the east is a large Vihara, about 82 feet by 80,
with twenty pillars in the square, or six in each face counting both
the corner pillars, and four additional pillars in the centre introduced
to support the rock, which is too much stratified to sustain a bearing
of any considerable length. The pillars have bases consisting of
a plinth and two toruses ; the four in the middle have round shafts
ffith spiral ridges, and taper to the necks, changing throiigh 16 and
o-sided hands to square under the brackets. Of the others, two
m front and back are square to about a third of their height, then
change through 8 to 12 sides and to circular with spiral ridges,
then by hands of 24 and 12 sides to the square; the rest have sections
°* 8, 16, and 8 sides only, between the lower square portion of the
shaft and its head. There are seventeen cells in the hall, four of them
m ^e back. The antechamber has two twelve-sided pillars in front,
he "walls of this room are adorned with sculpture ; on each end is a
standing image of Buddha between two attendants, one of whom
8eems to be Padmapani, but not of so late and fully-developed a
yPe as we find at Ajanta, Elura, and Aurangabad. On the back
1 Vol. ii. pp. 194-201, with three Plates.
3 Vol. v. pp. 543-573 ; sec also vol. iii. pt ii. pp. 72, 73.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAVES OF BAGH.
In the south of Malwa, about twenty-five miles south-west of Dhar,
and thirty miles west of Mandu, is the village of Bagh, three miles to
the south of which is a group of Viharas, now much ruined, from the
rock in which they are cut being stratified and having given way
in many places; indeed, one, if not more, of the caves have fallen
in altogether. Some of them are so entirely in possession of wild bees
that it is difficult getting access to them.
They were first described by Lieutenant Dangerfield in the Trans-
actions of the Bombay Literary Society,1 1818, and more in detail by
Dr. E. Impey in the Journal of the Bombay Branch Asiatic Society,2
in 1854.
The first cave from the east is a large Vihara, about 82 feet by 80,
with twenty pillars in the square, or six in each face counting both
the corner pillars, and four additional pillars in the centre introduced
to support the rock, which is too much stratified to sustain a bearing
of any considerable length. The pillars have bases consisting of
a plinth and two toruses ; the four in the middle have round shafts
ffith spiral ridges, and taper to the necks, changing throiigh 16 and
o-sided hands to square under the brackets. Of the others, two
m front and back are square to about a third of their height, then
change through 8 to 12 sides and to circular with spiral ridges,
then by hands of 24 and 12 sides to the square; the rest have sections
°* 8, 16, and 8 sides only, between the lower square portion of the
shaft and its head. There are seventeen cells in the hall, four of them
m ^e back. The antechamber has two twelve-sided pillars in front,
he "walls of this room are adorned with sculpture ; on each end is a
standing image of Buddha between two attendants, one of whom
8eems to be Padmapani, but not of so late and fully-developed a
yPe as we find at Ajanta, Elura, and Aurangabad. On the back
1 Vol. ii. pp. 194-201, with three Plates.
3 Vol. v. pp. 543-573 ; sec also vol. iii. pt ii. pp. 72, 73.