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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1877.
ing, and music : for, curiously enough, physical enjoyment is the only employment ever pictured in the Hindu Svarga; intellectual or moral happiness is undreamt of. The corners are filled up with other varieties of the usual figures.
The fifth panel from the east end, or that on the west side of the central one, has Brahma as its chief occupant, seated upon his hansa, three-faced and four-armed, with a very high çap, holding a sort of bottle-his kumandalu, or drinking vessel-in his upraised left hand, and a piece of samid), or sacrificial wood, in the corresponding right. In the small oval to his right is probably Varuņa, and, according to some, the son of Brahma, seated on a sort of shark or makara, and on the opposite side Indra, with his attendant, on his elephant; above is T sâna or Siva on a bull, with some sort of sceptre in his hand, and an attendant running after him at full speed with au umbrella ; and below, Y a ma as lord of the South, or fourth cardinal point. In each of the four alternate spaces, which in this division are somewbat smaller, is a pair of figuressimilar to those in the third panel describedprobably Vid ya dharas, several of them apparently with small bags, perhaps of money or other precious offerings, or possibly vessels containing something strong. The corners of the outer square are filled up in the usual way, none of them being exact copies from any of the previous ones.
The sixth panel contains in the centre per baps Kama, Kandar pa (Makaradvaja), the Hindu Cupid, or-as in the third-Pradyum- na, on a makara, with a high cap and earrings of very different shapes and sizes, holding in his right hand a bud with a long stalk. The eight little circular compartments surrounding this have been somewhat irregularly arranged, and the spaces between but indifferently filled up by water-lilies, sunflower, human figures, &c. The compartments themselves are occupied by Gandharvas and their mates the Apsarasas in nearly the same positions as in the last-doubtless regarded as one of love and dalliance. The two upper corners are filled with birds, and the other two with mukaras treated in the usual conventional way.
These by no means exhaust the sculptures of the first cave. The roof of the front aisle of the cave is likewise divided into compartments, in the central one of which are a male and female figure floating on clouds, much in the position of the pairs in the two last described panels of the verandah roof, but the male carrying a sword and shield. The panels right and left of this are occupied by expanded lotusflowers.
The roof of the hall is divided into nine compartments, by divisions very slightly raised from the level of the ceiling. In the central one of the front row is a man or deva--perhaps Agni riding on a ram, with other figures, one before and another behind. In the compartment to the right or west of this is a pair of flying figures the male with a sword, but the group is defaced. In the left is a male with a sword, holding a shield overhead, and with him & small female. In the next row we have, in the centre, Brahmå on a swan, which apparently pecks at a figure which touches Brahma's hand with his. In one of his left hands Brahma holds what appears to be a bag or bottle, and in the other a mild or rosary; and a male touches his cheek with his hand. In the compartment to the right of this again is a deva, on a makuru, holding up a circle or large ring. In the corresponding one on the left are three figures on an elephant, the second holding an umbrella over the first (Indra ?). In the back row in the centre is a deva, three-faced, like Brahina, on a swan, and holding a trisula in his right hand, his left resting on his knee. Chauri. bearers accompany him before and behind. In the square to the left or east are two flying figures, the male with an offering, and the female with a round fan or mirror; in that to the right are a pair of flying figures, the male with a sword; but the group is damaged. The roofs of the side aisles are plain.
On two of the pillars of the hall are inscriptions in Kanarese characters, the full meaning of which, however, has not been made out. In one of them occur the words-Salivdhana Saka varsharibulu 1476 gunadi pramáthisamvatsara áshadhaba, 11. Hence it was inscribed in A.D. 1555, in the time of Sadasivad ê va ma
5 By misreading the commencement of this inscription, Dr. Bird nesumed that it was dated in an era be read • Halo Hal, and which he asumed to commence from the
Nirvans of Buddha, and taking this as 543 B.C., he made the date of the cave 1476 - 543 or 933 A.D.! See his His. torical Researches (Bombay, 1897), pp. 60, bl.
