DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0521
INDBA SABHA—ELURA. 499
and the most powerful at Elura at least, and their caves consequently
the most numerous and most magnificent.
Colossal figures of Indra and Ambika, with their usual attendants,
the one under a banyan, the other under a mango-tree, occupy the
ends of the verandah, Plate XCL, fig. 1, which is 14| feet high. The
walls of the side and back aisles are divided into compartments filled
with Jinas or Tirthahkaras. The centre space on each end has a
large Jina on a sinhdsana; one on each side the shrine door is
devoted to Parswanatha and Grotama; and the others have two
Mahaviras each, under different 5o-trees, as with the Buddhas, but
between the trees is a figure holding up a garland, and above him
another blowing a conch, while at the outer sides are gandharvas.
On the pilasters on each side the shrine door is a tall nude guardian
and on the next pilaster a squat Mahavira. The door, which is
richly ornamented, has two slender advanced pillars, beaten by the
Brahman guides to show the reverberation, and called by them the
(Icmmi or drum of the idol. Over and around this door is a mass
of carving, represented in Plate LXXXIX. The shrine, 12 feet
3 inches high, is, as usual, occupied by Mahavira.
In the centre of the great hall in a sort of sdluhkhd has stood
a quadruple image (chaumukha), now destroyed; and over it on
the roof is an immense lotus-flower on a square slab with holes in
the four corners and centre, as if for pendent lamps.
A door in the south-east corner leads through a cell with a sort
of trough in the corner of it, and a natural hole in the roof, into a
small cave on the east side of the court. The few steps leading
«own to it occupy a small lobby carved all round with Jinas, &c.
His hall has a verandah in front, and inside are four square
Pulars with round capitals. Grotama occupies a recess on the right,
and Parswanatha another on the left. Indra, with a bag in his left
and a cocoanut in his right hand, occupies the south end of the
Verandah, while Ambika faces him in the entrance,—in fact they
occupy much the same places as the supposed patrons occupy in
uddhist caves. Nude Jaina dwdrpdlas guard the entrance of the
lne> which contains the usual image. Some scraps of painting
stlU remain on the roof of this apartment.
returning through the great hall, a door in the north-west corner
s trough a small room into the temple on the west side corre-
^ouding to the last described. It has a carefully carved facade, the
i i 2
and the most powerful at Elura at least, and their caves consequently
the most numerous and most magnificent.
Colossal figures of Indra and Ambika, with their usual attendants,
the one under a banyan, the other under a mango-tree, occupy the
ends of the verandah, Plate XCL, fig. 1, which is 14| feet high. The
walls of the side and back aisles are divided into compartments filled
with Jinas or Tirthahkaras. The centre space on each end has a
large Jina on a sinhdsana; one on each side the shrine door is
devoted to Parswanatha and Grotama; and the others have two
Mahaviras each, under different 5o-trees, as with the Buddhas, but
between the trees is a figure holding up a garland, and above him
another blowing a conch, while at the outer sides are gandharvas.
On the pilasters on each side the shrine door is a tall nude guardian
and on the next pilaster a squat Mahavira. The door, which is
richly ornamented, has two slender advanced pillars, beaten by the
Brahman guides to show the reverberation, and called by them the
(Icmmi or drum of the idol. Over and around this door is a mass
of carving, represented in Plate LXXXIX. The shrine, 12 feet
3 inches high, is, as usual, occupied by Mahavira.
In the centre of the great hall in a sort of sdluhkhd has stood
a quadruple image (chaumukha), now destroyed; and over it on
the roof is an immense lotus-flower on a square slab with holes in
the four corners and centre, as if for pendent lamps.
A door in the south-east corner leads through a cell with a sort
of trough in the corner of it, and a natural hole in the roof, into a
small cave on the east side of the court. The few steps leading
«own to it occupy a small lobby carved all round with Jinas, &c.
His hall has a verandah in front, and inside are four square
Pulars with round capitals. Grotama occupies a recess on the right,
and Parswanatha another on the left. Indra, with a bag in his left
and a cocoanut in his right hand, occupies the south end of the
Verandah, while Ambika faces him in the entrance,—in fact they
occupy much the same places as the supposed patrons occupy in
uddhist caves. Nude Jaina dwdrpdlas guard the entrance of the
lne> which contains the usual image. Some scraps of painting
stlU remain on the roof of this apartment.
returning through the great hall, a door in the north-west corner
s trough a small room into the temple on the west side corre-
^ouding to the last described. It has a carefully carved facade, the
i i 2