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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India
Cave II
This cave has a verandah and a hall (Fig. 46b).
The verandah is about 8m wide and 4m deep. It has two pillars with two corresponding pilasters. It was not specified by the earlier scholars whether the verandah was open or not. But it seems that it was originally open and now is closed by a wall running between the pillar and the pilaster. Like Cave I, the space between two pillars is left open as an entrance that is enclosed with an iron gate. On the back wall of the verandah, flanking the door to the hall is a standing Jina as in Cave I. On both the sidewalls of the verandah are recesses with sculptural panels, formed by two pilasters.
The door leading to the hall was reported to have an ornamental pilaster on each side with a raised sill having two lions' heads in front and the cornice with a standing figure of Jina above each pilaster and also in the centre (Nasik District Gazetteer 1975: 877). According to Naik, the doorway was fashioned after the pattern of the structural temples (1947 371-372). Now the lion's heads on the sill have disappeared. The pilaster has a square base with some mouldings. The shaft is square at the base with two mouldings having a triangular plate on top, which is followed by octagonal section of the shaft topped by a pūrņaghata and followed by round shaft. The capital has a few mouldings. The cornice or the uttaranga is projecting, on which are three Jinas, one above each pilaster and one in the centre, as reported earlier. The lintel carries a seated figure of a Jina. All these Jinas are placed in the pilasterd niches.
The hall is around 4 sq.m. The ceiling is very low. Along the sidewalls and back wall runs a bench, now paved with marble slabs. Only the bench in front of the back wall was reported. But it appears that the benches along the sidewalls are also original. The walls are covered with icons, mainly of Jinas.
Sculptures
1. Goddess:
This figure is carved on the right sidewall of the verandah. A 0.6m high figure seated on an animal with a canopy above was reported in this end of the verandah. It was not specified whether it was a male or female figure (Nasik District Gazetteer 1975: 877). At present, it is a female figure seated in savyalalitasana on an elephant. The elephant is turned towards the front wall of the verandah. Both her hands are kept on the lap, with a lotus bud in the right hand and a fruit in the left. She has a seven-hooded snake above her head. She is dressed in saree-blouse and is fully decked. Above the snake-hood is a figure of a Jina seated in padmasana with a five-hooded snake above the head within a niche, which has a curved arch above. This figure is painted in bright colours.
This icon can be identified with Kanti, the yakși of Supārsvanātha, the seventh tirthankara as no other yaksi has an elephant as a vahana. In that case the Jina with fivehooded snake above her head, should be Supārsvanātha. However it is only Padmāvati, the yaksi of Parsvanatha, who is represented with a snake-hood above the head. Thus, the exact identification of this figure is difficult to establish. In fact, so many changes have been recently inade that it is difficult to say whether this figure is original or not. It is
