Jaina Monuments Of Orissa

Author(s): R P Mohapatra
Publisher: D K Publications

Page 87

Survey of Jaina Monuments of Orissa
Rotu
Between the two arches of the door-ways is a short one line inscription indicating the cave to that of Kusuma, the Padamulika. A small scooping is noticed in the
left.
Cave No. 2 Tätowā-Gumphā No. 2. (Fig. 7)
The Tätowa-Gumphā No. 2 located at a higher level is more spacious and its decoration more elaborate. It has only one cell formed by a benched verandah. The ceiling of the cell is convex in shape and floor raised at the back. The back wall of the cell contains random writing of some Brāhmi letters and symbolical representation of the sun and the moon. Entry to the chamber is made through the provision of three doors flanked by side pilasters resting on ghata bases. The crowning animals of these pillars consist of pairs of lions, bulls, and elephants. Each of the door way is surmounted by an arch connecting the side pilasters. The pointed portion of these arches contain the symbols of Nandipada and ribs under side indicating rafters of wooden prototype. The tympana are filled with garlands of lotus flowers, buds and honeysuckles and flanked by pairs of deer, parrots and doves. The facade of the cell is relieved with barrel-shaped roof with pinacles at intervals and flanked, however, by a lion on the left and an elephant at the right.
A bench covers the three sides of the verandah. A major portion of the two pillars in front and the verandah floor are of modern restoration. The inner brackets of the pillar carved with honey-suckles alternating with lotuses in the two outer most ones, a danseuse in the company of a musician and a female devotee holding tray of flowers in the two middle ones.
Cave No. 3 Ananta-Gumpha
The cave comprises of a narrow long room with four door-ways and a verandah in front. The verandah has its roof lower than the ceiling of the chamber. A bench once ran round three sides of the verandah but now the floor has been raised to the level of the benches by cut stones laid on the original rock floor. The verandah roof is supported by three massive pillars and two side pilasters, the brackets of which contain a dwarf supporting an elephant on a full blown lotus, women with folded hands, honey-suckles, pot bellied Ganas supporting the super structure and cavaliers on lotuses. The partition wall between the first and second door-way is destroyed along with a portion of the tympanum and its depiction. The ceiling of the room is slightly arched whereas that of the verandah is flat. The floor of the chamber is raised at the back.
On the back wall of the chamber is carved a nandipada on a stepped pedestal flanked by a set of three symbols, a triangle headed and Srivatsa both on separate pedestals and a svastika. A standing Tirthankara figure along with chauri bearers and flying Vidyadharas in an unfinished stage is also noticed near this group of symbols.
But the most interesting aspect of the cave lies in the relief sculptures and decorative designs within the tympana, the arches over door-ways and the spaces