DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0527
ANKAI TANKAI CAVES. 505
The other cares in the neighbourhood are all Brahmanical, much
ruined, and never seem to have been of much importance, being
small and almost devoid of carving. They are probably older than
the Jaina ones, and may belong to the sixth century.1
Ankai-Tankai Jaina Caves.
At Ankai, already mentioned, there is a group of some seven
Jaina caves, small, but very rich in sculptures, though unfortunately
much defaced. They face the south looking down upon the village
of Ankai, from which they are hardly a hundred yards distant.
The first is a two-storeyed cave; the front of the lower storey is
supported by two pillars, with a figure at the base of each and facing
one another, and occupying the place of small dxvdrpdlas. Low
parapets, ornamented on the outside, join each pillar to the end walls.
The door leading from the verandah into the hall is very richly
sculptured, overloaded indeed with minute details and far too mas-
sive and rich for the small apartments it connects. {See Plate XCV..
k-1.)
The hall inside is square, its roof supported by four columns,
much in the style in vogue from the tenth to the twelfth century,
the capitals surmounted by four brackets, each carved with fat little
four-armed figures supporting a thin flat architrave. The enclosed
square is carved as a lotus with three concentric rings of petals.
The shrine door is ornamented similarly to the entrance one, the
lower portion of the jambs being carved with five human figiires on
each. There is nothing inside the cella.
The upper storey has also two pillars in the front of the verandah
Similar to those below, but not so richly carved. The hall inside is
Perfectly plain {see plan and section, Plate XCIV.).
"he second cave is very similar to the first, being also two-storeyed,
on'y the verandahs are shut in, and form outer rooms or vestibules
0 tfle halls. On the lower floor the verandah measures 26 feet by 12,
an(' has a large figure at either end ; that at the west or left end is the
ale figure usually known as Indra seated on a couched elephant, but
«ead of being reliefs in this case, the elephant and Indra are each
rved out of a separate block, and set into a niche cut out to receive
• Opposite him is Indrani or Amba, which the villagers have
or a fuller account of these caves, see Archmul. Survey W. India, vol. iii.
The other cares in the neighbourhood are all Brahmanical, much
ruined, and never seem to have been of much importance, being
small and almost devoid of carving. They are probably older than
the Jaina ones, and may belong to the sixth century.1
Ankai-Tankai Jaina Caves.
At Ankai, already mentioned, there is a group of some seven
Jaina caves, small, but very rich in sculptures, though unfortunately
much defaced. They face the south looking down upon the village
of Ankai, from which they are hardly a hundred yards distant.
The first is a two-storeyed cave; the front of the lower storey is
supported by two pillars, with a figure at the base of each and facing
one another, and occupying the place of small dxvdrpdlas. Low
parapets, ornamented on the outside, join each pillar to the end walls.
The door leading from the verandah into the hall is very richly
sculptured, overloaded indeed with minute details and far too mas-
sive and rich for the small apartments it connects. {See Plate XCV..
k-1.)
The hall inside is square, its roof supported by four columns,
much in the style in vogue from the tenth to the twelfth century,
the capitals surmounted by four brackets, each carved with fat little
four-armed figures supporting a thin flat architrave. The enclosed
square is carved as a lotus with three concentric rings of petals.
The shrine door is ornamented similarly to the entrance one, the
lower portion of the jambs being carved with five human figiires on
each. There is nothing inside the cella.
The upper storey has also two pillars in the front of the verandah
Similar to those below, but not so richly carved. The hall inside is
Perfectly plain {see plan and section, Plate XCIV.).
"he second cave is very similar to the first, being also two-storeyed,
on'y the verandahs are shut in, and form outer rooms or vestibules
0 tfle halls. On the lower floor the verandah measures 26 feet by 12,
an(' has a large figure at either end ; that at the west or left end is the
ale figure usually known as Indra seated on a couched elephant, but
«ead of being reliefs in this case, the elephant and Indra are each
rved out of a separate block, and set into a niche cut out to receive
• Opposite him is Indrani or Amba, which the villagers have
or a fuller account of these caves, see Archmul. Survey W. India, vol. iii.