DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0519
INDKA SABHA—ELUEA. 497
Mahavira, the last of the Jaina Tirthankaras. These figures are re-
markably like the figures of Buddha in the meditative attitude with
his hands in his lap, only they are usually represented as nude, and
have a drummer and other musicians over their heads. On the back
is a figure, generally known as Indra, under a tree with parrots in it
seated on an elephant and with two attendants; on the right side is
a female divinity locally known as Indrani, the wife of Indra, but
properly it is Amba or Ambika, a favourite female divinity of the
Jainas.
Entering the court; on the|right side is a large elephant on a pedes-
tal, and on the left stood a fine monolithic column 27 feet 4 inches high,
with a quadruple or chavrnmkha image on the top (see Plate LXXX.,
fig. 2), but it fell over against the rock the day after Lord North-
brook visited the caves. In the centre of the court is a pavilion or
mcmda/pa over a quadruple image,—either of Bishabanatha, the first
of the twenty-four Tirthahkaras, or of Mahavira, the last;1 the
throne is supported by a wheel and lions, as in Buddhist temples.
The style of the pavilion and of the gateway leading into the court
is nearly as essentially Dravidian as the Kailasa itself, and so very
unlike anything else of the kind in the north of India that it pro-
bably was excavated during the supremacy of the Bathors, and is
of about the same age as the Jaina cave at Badami. The details,
too, of that cave have so marked a similarity to those of the Indra
kabha, that the probability is they all belong to the eighth century.
On the west side of the court is a cave or hall with two pillars in
front and four inside. In the central compartment of the south
wall is Parswanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara ; and opposite, with deer
and a dog at his feet, is Gomata or Gautama. In this cave these
"gures are larger than those in the shrine outside the gate, and they
recur again and again in these caves with only slight variations in the
surrounding figures. On the back wall are Indra and Ambika, and
*u &£ shrine is Mahavira on a sinMsmia, with a triple umbrella over
*s bead. Between this and the main cave, but lower, is a small
c aPel long partially filled up, in which the Indra and Ambika are
Peculiarly -well cut, though recently the face of the latter seems to
Te been wilfully damaged. Over this chapel is another similarly
Wished, and directly opposite is still another like it.
1 A 7 ' ~ ' '
n, r J'6W °^ t*lls pavilion, with the entrance doorway or miniature gopura, is given in
»<*. and East Arch,, p. 262, woodcut 147.
Y 133.
I I
Mahavira, the last of the Jaina Tirthankaras. These figures are re-
markably like the figures of Buddha in the meditative attitude with
his hands in his lap, only they are usually represented as nude, and
have a drummer and other musicians over their heads. On the back
is a figure, generally known as Indra, under a tree with parrots in it
seated on an elephant and with two attendants; on the right side is
a female divinity locally known as Indrani, the wife of Indra, but
properly it is Amba or Ambika, a favourite female divinity of the
Jainas.
Entering the court; on the|right side is a large elephant on a pedes-
tal, and on the left stood a fine monolithic column 27 feet 4 inches high,
with a quadruple or chavrnmkha image on the top (see Plate LXXX.,
fig. 2), but it fell over against the rock the day after Lord North-
brook visited the caves. In the centre of the court is a pavilion or
mcmda/pa over a quadruple image,—either of Bishabanatha, the first
of the twenty-four Tirthahkaras, or of Mahavira, the last;1 the
throne is supported by a wheel and lions, as in Buddhist temples.
The style of the pavilion and of the gateway leading into the court
is nearly as essentially Dravidian as the Kailasa itself, and so very
unlike anything else of the kind in the north of India that it pro-
bably was excavated during the supremacy of the Bathors, and is
of about the same age as the Jaina cave at Badami. The details,
too, of that cave have so marked a similarity to those of the Indra
kabha, that the probability is they all belong to the eighth century.
On the west side of the court is a cave or hall with two pillars in
front and four inside. In the central compartment of the south
wall is Parswanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara ; and opposite, with deer
and a dog at his feet, is Gomata or Gautama. In this cave these
"gures are larger than those in the shrine outside the gate, and they
recur again and again in these caves with only slight variations in the
surrounding figures. On the back wall are Indra and Ambika, and
*u &£ shrine is Mahavira on a sinMsmia, with a triple umbrella over
*s bead. Between this and the main cave, but lower, is a small
c aPel long partially filled up, in which the Indra and Ambika are
Peculiarly -well cut, though recently the face of the latter seems to
Te been wilfully damaged. Over this chapel is another similarly
Wished, and directly opposite is still another like it.
1 A 7 ' ~ ' '
n, r J'6W °^ t*lls pavilion, with the entrance doorway or miniature gopura, is given in
»<*. and East Arch,, p. 262, woodcut 147.
Y 133.
I I