DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0040
16 JAINA ARCHITECTURE. Book V.
so far as I know, is the earliest instance of honour paid to god or
man in Indian sculptures. The third to the left is partly broken
away by the fall of the wall between the next two doors ; but
enough is left to show that it represented Surya, the sun-god, in
his chariot drawn by four horses, with his two wives, much as in
the small early vihara at Bhaja ;1 and the fourth had been filled
by a large elephant facing outwards, with one on each side
holding up flowers. The arches over these sculptures and the
frieze connecting them are also carved with figures in quaint
positions or flying, and each arch is covered by two triple-
headed serpents whose hoods are raised at the sides of the
arches.
The pilasters by the sides of the doorways are of a curious,
if not exceptional class, and more like some of those found
in early caves in the West than any others on
this side of India (Woodcut No 271). They are
evidently copied from some form of wooden
posts stuck into stone bases, as is usual at
Karle, Nasik, and other Western caves. Here,
however, the surface is carved to an extent not
found elsewhere, and betrays a wooden origin
indicative of the early age to which the excava-
tion of this cave must be assigned. The animal
figures on the capitals and on other caves here
is also a feature generally marking an early date,
271. Pilaster from
Ananta-gumpha. 272. Tiger Cave, Udayagiri.
as is also the inward slope of the door jambs. The pillars of
the verandah are gone, and a new support has been inserted
by the Public Works engineers.
1 A sketch of this sculpture was pub-
lished in Fergusson’s ‘ Archaeology in
India’ (1884), p. 34. The small figure
in front of the chariot with a jar is
perhaps meant for Rahu carrying off the
Amrita.
so far as I know, is the earliest instance of honour paid to god or
man in Indian sculptures. The third to the left is partly broken
away by the fall of the wall between the next two doors ; but
enough is left to show that it represented Surya, the sun-god, in
his chariot drawn by four horses, with his two wives, much as in
the small early vihara at Bhaja ;1 and the fourth had been filled
by a large elephant facing outwards, with one on each side
holding up flowers. The arches over these sculptures and the
frieze connecting them are also carved with figures in quaint
positions or flying, and each arch is covered by two triple-
headed serpents whose hoods are raised at the sides of the
arches.
The pilasters by the sides of the doorways are of a curious,
if not exceptional class, and more like some of those found
in early caves in the West than any others on
this side of India (Woodcut No 271). They are
evidently copied from some form of wooden
posts stuck into stone bases, as is usual at
Karle, Nasik, and other Western caves. Here,
however, the surface is carved to an extent not
found elsewhere, and betrays a wooden origin
indicative of the early age to which the excava-
tion of this cave must be assigned. The animal
figures on the capitals and on other caves here
is also a feature generally marking an early date,
271. Pilaster from
Ananta-gumpha. 272. Tiger Cave, Udayagiri.
as is also the inward slope of the door jambs. The pillars of
the verandah are gone, and a new support has been inserted
by the Public Works engineers.
1 A sketch of this sculpture was pub-
lished in Fergusson’s ‘ Archaeology in
India’ (1884), p. 34. The small figure
in front of the chariot with a jar is
perhaps meant for Rahu carrying off the
Amrita.