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CAVE ARCHITECTURE IN ORISSA
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and one amazon, riding on an elephant followed by four kilted warriors are sure to strike the attention of an observer.
The tops of the doorways are seen in many cases provided with semi-circular arch-bands. These are connected together by horizontal friezes starting from the springing points where are usually noticed the figures of elephants, lions and deer from whose mouth issue the scroll works (cf. the Queen's cave) decorating the semicircular arch-bands.
The monkey was a very favourite subject with the sculptors. We come across representations of him in the Queen's cave. Two monkeys have been represented as looking at a snake pursuing them. The monkey scenes sculptured in the Stūpa of Bharhut are more numerous than those noticed here. The representations at Bharhut, according to Cunningham, are in various aspects both serious as well as humorous, and in this connection, the capture of elephants by monkeys leading them in triumphal procession and the turning of a monkey into an ascetic are worth noticing.
The horse has not been lost sight of by the sculptors. A well caprisoned horse provided with a saddle is noticed over the horizontal band and the interval between the semi-circular arch band of the lower storey of the central wing in the Queen's cave. The horse is without stirrup. It has been very faithfully sculptured. The horse accompanying the hunter (or a king) in the well-known hunt scene too is worth noticing. The animal has also been represented as an emblem of Lord Sambhavanātha in the cave of Satagharā.
1. Stupas of Bharhut.
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