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Description and Chronology of Caves
J21 was the next excavation. Though a cave is excavated from top to bottom and by that logic the upper cave should be earlier than the lower. But in a scarp, it is very easy to excavate a cave above an existing one. J21 is placed behind J24 and J23. The reason for doing so was to carve the elephants on the mattaväraņa and accommodate large dvarapala figures on each side of the rock face, outside the cave. These dvārapala figures, though unfinished, are marked out. They could not have been accommodated if the cave was not placed behind, as the Jina figures on the facade of J25 would have come in the way. The stair leading to the cave is placed on the eastern face of the rock, cornering with J23. The doorway of the stair has a pilaster on the left or southern side, while the corresponding pilaster on the right is absent. It could not be carved, as there is no space left on account of the already existing J23. Another entrance is provided from J20, where the corner pilaster on the back wall of the hall is broken through a small room leading one to this cave. The other reason for believing that this cave is later is the iconographic programme of the cave, which is different from all the caves. The large panels of Parsvanātha-Bahubali are missing altogether. There is only one small panel depicting Kamatha's attack on Parsvanātha on one of the pilaster. The figures of Sarvānubhuti-Ambikā are placed clumsily on a mass of rock, on the back wall of the hall. Instead, there is multiplicity in the number of Jina icons. The emphasis here seems to be only on Jina figures. The reason for carving the icons of Sarvānubhūti-Ambikä on a mass of rock in front of the back wall of the hall is the greater emphasis laid on the depiction of Jina figures. The cave is unique in many ways such as the arrangement of Jina figures in two tiers, throne with wheel placed on a corpulent figure and occurrence of a vak sa in place of the wheel in the case of the shrine image. Other marked differences are in the theme, style and the arrangement of the paintings. The painting of Samvasarana on the central aisle ceiling, a number of narrative panels on side aisle ceiling and a number of iconic panels on the sidewalls, above the sculptures, are a major shift from the uniform arrangement of the other caves. The style of some of the painted panels in this cave is definitely later. The figures with bun and beard, slight projection of the farther eye, eyeballs on the corners and sharp angularity foresee the style of miniature paintings (Plate 76).
J22 is excavated next to the stair leading to J21. Perhaps it was begun soon after J2l was started. Its location is most unfavourable as the rock here is of poor quality. The cave is insignificant architecturally. The sculptures are also very crude. As J21, the iconographic programme is different from the other caves.
Though it would be natural to assume that Chhota Kailasa closely followed the Kailasa, the iconographic programme of the cave suggests that it may be later than the other Jaina caves of the site. In fact it is alınost contemporary with J21. Both these caves have a different iconographic programme. The icons of Sarvānubhuti-Ambikā are absent here. In the gopura as well as on the sidewall of the shrine are the icons of Chakresvari, of which, that in the gopura is quite large and imposing. As J2l, there is multiplicity of Jina icons. Similarly in J3, though Sarvānubhūti-Ambikā and also Parávanātha-Bahubali are carved, there is a trend of depicting a large number of Jina icons. J2 has some unique icons, such as the two images of dancing Indra. All these indicate a different iconographic concept where goddesses start appearing independently and the number of Jina figures increase compared to the size of the cave. Although independent goddesses
