Report On Elura Cave Temples and Bramhanical and Jaina Caves in Western India

SR No.: 011091
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Trubner and Company London
Publication Year: 1883
Total Pages: 209
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 14 MB

Page 63

ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF WESTERN INDIA.
A very similar group of the Matris is found in the south side of the next cave No. XXII, and is represented also on plate xxxiv, fig. 2. Here Chamunda is represented in a ghastly skeleton form, while Varahi, like her husband, has a boar's head, and Sarasvati or Brahmi has three heads and holds a bottle. On the right end wall are Kâla and Gaṇeśa, and on the left Śiva.
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The high pedestal in front of the cave, on which a headless Nandi still couches, is carved on the sides with goddesses also and attendants.
CAVES XXII-XXVII.
Close to Râmèsvara, and somewhat advanced in front of it, is Cave XXII., known as Nilakantha ("blue-throated "), a name of Siva. The plan of this cave is given plate xxxii, fig. 4. It has a somewhat irregular court in front, about 42 feet each way, in the centre of which, on a high base, stands the Nandi mandapa, now somewhat ruined. The plan somewhat resembles that of Cave XVIII., but with pillars introduced into the hall and in front of the side chapels. On the south side of the court is a low chapel containing the sculpture of the Matris referred to above, with a skeleton Bhringi or Kâla with two arms and outspread hair; Ganapati and the seven mothers-the last, Brahmi, with three faces and holding a bottle; and, lastly, Siva. All the Matris and Siva have four arms each. Among other sculptures in the vestibule to the shrine is the figure of Gangå represented in plate xxv, fig. 5.
The next two caves (Nos. XXIII. and XXIV.) are close to the last, and are rather a series of small shrines than cave temples. They are probably of later date than any of the larger ones. The ground-plan is given on plate ii, drawn to the same scale as the others, from which it will be observed that they are huddled together and contain six round rédis, and in one of the shrines in No. XXIII. is a trimurti on the back wall (figured in Cave Temples, plate lxxv, fig. 2). In Care XXIV. is an injured figure of a River goddess represented on plate xxv, fig. 4.
From these last to Cave XXV., which is known by the names of Kumbârwâdâ and Súrésvara, is about 70 yards. The plan is given on plate xxxv, fig. 3, which shows that, behind a hall about 90 feet long, of which the front has fallen away, is a smaller one, 57 feet wide by 23 feet deep and 13 feet 10 inches high, with four square free-standing pillars in front and two in antia. Inside are two others, with corresponding pilasters on the side. walls; and in the back, separating it from the antechamber to the shrine, are two more free-standing pillars, with two in antis. These pillars have brackets, and on the front of each bracket a male and female flying figure. On plate xxxv, fig. 2, is a drawing of the side of one of these pillars, showing how the bracket is separated from the capital of the shaft by a neck narrower than the shaft itself, and illustrating at the same time the deterioration in style and taste which the proportions and details indicate.
On the roof of the antechamber is the figure of Surya, the sun-god, in his chariot (Care Temples, pl. lxxxiii, fig. 2), from which the temple derives the name of Suréévara. The shrine door has a Dravidian moulding on the frieze, and by the jambs are tall dwârapalas standing on lotuses with very bushy locks and long swords.
The next cave, No. XXVI., is very like the Râmêsvara in plan (pl. xxxii, fig. 5). The hall is 74 feet wide by 25 feet deep and 16 feet high, with four pillars in front. At each end is a large irregular-shaped room at a somewhat higher level, with two square pillars and pilasters in front, and at the back is a still larger one, about 40 feet square, also with two square pillars and pilasters in front. In the middle of this stands the shrine, about