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________________ JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA Serpent caves. Except the Swargapuri cave none of these is of any great historical importance but for the fact that the Tiger cave has a Buddhist inscription, and that, according to Drs Fergusson and Burgess, both the Tiger and the Serpent caves are " the oldest of the sculptured caves in these hills" 1 By the by, it may be mentioned that the Sarpagumph, or the Serpent cave, which is to the west of the Hathigumpha, has its verandah so carved as to resemble the head of a serpent with three hoods, the symbol of Parsva. In the Swargapuri cave there are three inscriptions, one of which, the first one, speaks of the chief queen of the illustrious Kharavela, the overlord of Kalinga. It seems from this that in the noble task of serving the Jaina church he always associated himself with his chief queen. The memory of this noble and prous lady, who was the daughter of Lalaka, is associated, as we shall see later on, with a cave which bears a short inscription mentioning a Jaina temple and a cave built by her According to Mr Banerji in the plan printed with the Puri volume of the Bengal District Gazetteer tlus is called the Mancapuri cave, and some time ago it was known as Swargapura It was called Vaikunthagumpha by Prinsep, 4 Vaikunthapura by Mitra." Speaking on this variety of names Mr Banerji says: "I have found that the local names of these caves vary with each generation. As one name is forgotten a new one is immediately invented. This cave is in reality the upper storey of a cave with two storeys and a side wing, but the local people very often give different names to different parts," The first inscription is incised on the raised space between the second and the third doorways in front. It consists of three lines, and tells us that " a temple of Arbats and a cave for the Sramanas of Kalinga had been made by the chief queen of Kharavela, who was the daughter of King Lalaka, the grandson of Hastisahasa (or Hastisaha) "? The second and the third record merely mention two caves, 1 Fergusson and Burgess, Cauc Temples of India, p 08 : B.J GP, 260 SEI, XIN ,P 159 J.ASB,,p 1074 Mitma, Antiguities of Orissa, 11, pp 14-15 * C.I, n, op and joc cu Chacra atent per aiu. faf-archese r 156 eferat af Tond
| SR No. | 011067 |
| Book Title | Jainism in North India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Chimanlal J Shah |
| Publisher | Longmans Green and Compny London |
| Publication Year | 1932 |
| Total Pages | 66 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 3 MB |