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AUGUST, 1910.)
GAZETTEER GLEANINGS IN CENTRAL INDIA.
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Though Bägh is not mentioned in the Ain Akbart, it must have been included in the Kotrah mahal of the Māndu Sarkār and was no doubt an out-post on the Gujarāt route. Another similar out-post existed at Tända,
On the road to the caves, which lies east of the Baghēsvari shrine, are some carved stones representing females, one carrying a child. They have been mutilated, but were originally good pieces of work cut in a different sandstone to that of the hill in which the caves lie.
Tradition assigns the old wall and settlement generally to a Bājā Mardhaj. Later on it fell to one Bājā Bāgh Singh, whose descendants, still locally termed rājā, live at Girwani, a village close by. The place fell to Sindhis in the eighteenth century and hence its present inclusion in the Gwalior State.
The Caves at Bāgh. The caves lie in the face of a sandstone hill which rises above the Wagh or Bāgh and Girni rivers, and are known locally by the generic term applied to all such excavations as the Panch Pandu kā Guphā, the Buddhist figures in the second cave (of which there are, however, eight) being supposed to represent the five Pandava brothers.
The hill in its general aspect is given in Plate I, figs. 1 and 2. It is notable as being the only outcrop of sedimentary rock in this basaltic region, and consists geologically of Nimār sandstone, a softer rock than most of the Vindhyan series. It is often highly ferraginous and was used for smelting iron, until competition with imported metal killed the industry. Superimposed on the sandstone is a band of claystone, often as much as 20 feet in thickness. The destruction which has overtaken all but one of the caves is due to the weight of this moisture absorbing band. The cliff has an average elevation of about 150 feet above the river bed and lies approximately north-east by south-west, the caves facing about north-west. This aspect must have made them dark even when in good repair, as they never received full sunlight, and it is difficult to explain how all the elaborate frescoes, with which the caves are ornamented, were carried out,
The caves, of which there were once eight, occupy a frontage of 700 yards. They are not all contiguous and were undoubtedly excavated at different times as necessity dictated. (See general folding plan of the Bagh Caves attached.) Generally speaking, the caves consist of a vihara or central ball with a daghoba in a chamber in rear, forming & small chaitya hall or chapel, while the sides are occupied by cells for the monks, a colonnade running before the larger excavations.
Bagh 'Group. Cave No. 1.
The Griha Cave.
Cave No. 1 lies to the extreme north-east end of the cliff, but presents no features of special interest. The excavation is 23 feet by 14 feet. It was supported on four pillars, each formed of an octagon standing on a square plinth terminating in a spirally Aluted column. The pillars are much eroded and the roof must soon fall. A portico, which formerly stood before the door, has already gone.
Not far off, to the sonth-west of this cave, are apparently traces of an excavation, but the collapse of the hill-side makes identification impossible. It may have been only a commencement.
