DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0457
DASA AVATARA—ELTJRA. 435
The front of the shrine has two very tall male divdrpdlas and a
number of other figures, principally females and attendant dwarfs,
fat gandharvas with curly wigs and garlands, &c. Inside is an altar
against the back wall, and a broken image of Bhavani or Durga, to
whom the temple was doubtless dedicated. There are four holes, as
if for fire-pits (agnikundas), in the floor of the hall.
The Dasa Avatara Cave.
The second of the Elura, series, usuallv known as the Das Avatara
Cave, resembles, both in plan and in its style of architecture, the
Jogai Amba. Bhamburde, and the great cave at Karusa, and may
consequently be assumed to be of the same age, or nearly so. From
the pathway to the Buddhist caves and Bavana-ka Khai there is
a very considerable ascent by means of steps up the rock to it.
Like the last two Buddhist caves here, the whole court has been
hewn out of the solid rock, leaving a curtain wall across the front
of it, and a sacrificial hall in the middle, with a number of small
shrines and a cistern in the surrounding rocky-walls (Plate LXXIII.)
This central hall has had a porch to the west, supported by two
square pillars in front of a perforated window, over which is a long
Sanskrit inscription,—nearly obliterated however (ante, p. 402). The
entrance faces the cave on the east, and inside it has four pillars on a
raised platform in the floor—possibly for a Nandi. In the back is a
smgk round hole, perhaps a fire-pit. The outer walls have a good
eal of figure-carving, and the flat roof is surmounted outside by lions
Mthe corners, and fat human figures between, along the edges,—
resembling in this respect the cave at Undavilli.
J-he cave itself is of two storeys, the lower being a few feet above
e level of the court, supported by fourteen plain square pillars,
lntl measuring 95 feet in length, with two cells in the back wall
ar eacn end. In the north end of the front aisle the stair ascends,
is lighted by a window at the landing where it turns to the
0 • On the wall of this landing are eleven compartments, each
SttW°.feet kigk, with bas-reliefs of Granapati, Parvati, Surya or
Pa" ,'U W^ a ^oim in eacn nan(i and two attendants, Siva and
wf' Mallisnasuri—the head of the buffalo struck off, and the
0j g. coniing out of the neck; Arddhanari, the androgynous form
'1Va' four-armed, with insula and looking glass; Bhavani, four-
E E 2
The front of the shrine has two very tall male divdrpdlas and a
number of other figures, principally females and attendant dwarfs,
fat gandharvas with curly wigs and garlands, &c. Inside is an altar
against the back wall, and a broken image of Bhavani or Durga, to
whom the temple was doubtless dedicated. There are four holes, as
if for fire-pits (agnikundas), in the floor of the hall.
The Dasa Avatara Cave.
The second of the Elura, series, usuallv known as the Das Avatara
Cave, resembles, both in plan and in its style of architecture, the
Jogai Amba. Bhamburde, and the great cave at Karusa, and may
consequently be assumed to be of the same age, or nearly so. From
the pathway to the Buddhist caves and Bavana-ka Khai there is
a very considerable ascent by means of steps up the rock to it.
Like the last two Buddhist caves here, the whole court has been
hewn out of the solid rock, leaving a curtain wall across the front
of it, and a sacrificial hall in the middle, with a number of small
shrines and a cistern in the surrounding rocky-walls (Plate LXXIII.)
This central hall has had a porch to the west, supported by two
square pillars in front of a perforated window, over which is a long
Sanskrit inscription,—nearly obliterated however (ante, p. 402). The
entrance faces the cave on the east, and inside it has four pillars on a
raised platform in the floor—possibly for a Nandi. In the back is a
smgk round hole, perhaps a fire-pit. The outer walls have a good
eal of figure-carving, and the flat roof is surmounted outside by lions
Mthe corners, and fat human figures between, along the edges,—
resembling in this respect the cave at Undavilli.
J-he cave itself is of two storeys, the lower being a few feet above
e level of the court, supported by fourteen plain square pillars,
lntl measuring 95 feet in length, with two cells in the back wall
ar eacn end. In the north end of the front aisle the stair ascends,
is lighted by a window at the landing where it turns to the
0 • On the wall of this landing are eleven compartments, each
SttW°.feet kigk, with bas-reliefs of Granapati, Parvati, Surya or
Pa" ,'U W^ a ^oim in eacn nan(i and two attendants, Siva and
wf' Mallisnasuri—the head of the buffalo struck off, and the
0j g. coniing out of the neck; Arddhanari, the androgynous form
'1Va' four-armed, with insula and looking glass; Bhavani, four-
E E 2