Indian Antiquary Vol 06

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 57

FEBRUARY, 1877.]
THE BUDDHIST CAVES AT JUNNAR.
end, and two windows, and measures 31 ft. 3 in. wide by 23 ft. 2 in. deep. The next is diffi- cult of access, and of the plan of the most easterly cave, which is a very common type here.
Passing along a ledge of rock and over a small water-cistern, we come to the next, also a small Vihara about 25 ft. wide, the front entirely gone, and with a cell at the left end and stone bed in it. Close to it is another sinilar to the most easterly one,-that is, a cell in the corner of a large one. Lower in the rock the next is like the last, and has a verandah with two pillars and a low screen in front, with 1 cistern outside at the east end.
The next is a rectangular flat-roofed Chaitya 21 ft. 10 in. deep by 12 ft. 9 in. wide and 13 ft. 8in. high, with a Dahgoba 6 ft. 11 in. in diameter standing 3 ft. from the back wall. The cylinder is 5 ft. 7 in. high, including a base of 7 in. formed of three projecting annuli, and a cornice 12} in. deep, of the Buddhist-rail pattern. The dome rises about 3 ft. 4 in., and the torana 2 ft. 4 in., and is 4 ft. 4 in. square at the top. This is connected with the roof by the stone shaft of the umbrella, for here, as in the case of several at Bhâjâ, the canopy of the umbrella is carved on the roof. To this cave there is & verandah 2 ft. 7 in. wide and 19 ft. 5 in. in length, which has had two pillars in front. On the left of the door outside is an inscription in two lines. (No. 3.)T
Above this are(1) a cell with a stone bed at the right side; (2) a small room enclosing a cell, after the common plan here; (3) another similar, but a horizontal flaw in the rock has opened the top of the inner cell and of the whole of the next cave; (4) a Vihara, with two cells at the back, and a bench seat along each side, but the front wall is gone. Under the left front corner is a cistern, and outside is another; and (5) farther along are three more cisterns. Over the first of these is an inscription in two lines (No. 4),* and over the second is one in three
lines (No. 5), but the letters have a slant, and are not so neatly cut as most of the inscriptions here.
We now come to a Vihara 29 ft. 5 in. deep by 24 ft. 3 in. wide, the front wall much destroyed, but which was perforated by a door, and probably two windows. It has no cells, but has a stone bench round the three inner sides, and may have been a refectory or a school. Under the left corner is a well with abundance of cool water. Still westwards is a cell and cistern, then a small hall,--the front wall gone and without any cells ; next, one or two more cisterng, beyond which the advance becomes more difficult, and leads to, or through, three more small caves, on the wall outside the last of which is an inscription in three lines (No. 6) measuring about 2 ft. by 8 in., with the Sustika to the right of it, and a curious trisular symbol at the commencement, which appears also in a modified form at the beginning of No. 2, and sometimes on other caves and on coins.
To the left of this is a recess, then two cells, and still further west are two or three others, which aro almost inaccessible. An avenue of trees said to have been planted by Amritrão, the adopted son of Raghoba, runs from the Kukadi river to the foot of the hill in which these caves are, and which is said to be mentioned in the Ganesa Purana under the name of the Lehan å dri: locally it is known as the Ganesa Pahâr or Sulaiman Pahâr.
The Manmodi Hill lies to the southsouth-west of Junnar, about a mile west of the main road. Proceeding to the east face of the hill, I went up to the level of the most southerly group of caves. The first reached was a recess over a cell or cistern, the front fallen away ; on the left side of the recess is an inscription (No. 7) 8 in one line. A little to the north of this, on the left side of a larger recess over the side of a cistern, is another inscription (No. 8),|| in three lines, of which, however, the
No. 3 in Lieat. Brett's copies, Jour. Bo. Br. R. AS. Soc. vol. V. p. 161.
This is No. 12 among Colonel Sykes's copies; No. 5 in Jour. As. Soc. Beng. vol. VI. p. 1046; and No. 4 of Lient. Brett's, Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. V. p. 161.
+ This is given by Colonel Sykes se No. 11 among his, and No. 5 among Lieut. Brett's copies.
I This is No. 6 of Brett and Stevenson, Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. V. p. 162; No. 13 in Colonel Sykes's copies; and No. 6 of those sent by him to Prinsep, who read it
samadapasakasa putasa,
Sivakukhisa daya dhama danam,
Kapavibhasa yase niyutakam. 8Amada pasaka putrasya sivakukshikasya ( dayadhar madanan krip dvibhasyd yasase niyukta kam-The pious and charitable endowment of Siva Kukhi), the son of Amarapa saka (7), redounding to the glory of this most compassionate person. Jour. As. Soc. Beng. vol. VI. p. 1047.
No. 36 of Brett's, Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. IV. p. 169. * No. 28 of Brett and Stevenson, Jour. Bo. Br. R.As. Soc. vol. V. p. 169.