________________
174
Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India front. His hands are destroyed, but seem to be in añjali. Above him is a female figure seated in vamalalitasana on a moulded pedestal with hands in añjali mudra and turned towards Ambikā. It is difficult to identify the aforementioned two figures, as they do not usually occur in Ambikā panels. But most probably they are some important devotees. To Ambika's left is the usual figure of Brahmana with chhatra in the left hand and a bun behind the head. He is pot-bellied, has a moustache and a beard.
Like Sarvānubhūti, this panel is also within a similar niche formed by pilasters and a makara törana. Above the right pilaster is a seated figure of a female with the right hand on the lap and the left hand, though broken, on the breast. Her hair is open. Above the left pilaster is a seated Jina.
To the right of the panel, there is a figure of female standing in abhanga holding a ghata in the right hand and the left hand, though broken, hanging down.
In front of Ambika, there are footprints on a pedestal.
At present, this image is worshipped as the goddess Kalika. She is covered with the vermilion and wrapped in a saree.
Cave III
It is a single storied cave with a verandah, a hall, an antechamber and a shrine (Fig. 53a, Plate 115.
The verandah is 7m by 2.75m and the ceiling is 3.07m high. It is entered by a flight of six steps with low parapet walls. The front of the verandah is treated as the moulded plinth with the mouldings of bhitta, bhitta, jadyakumbha, gajathara, antarpatta, narathara, antarpatta and kapota (Fig. 53b). There is a pillarette in the corner of these plinths. It has a square shaft surmounted by square band carved with lozenges, few mouldings and a cushion capital. On the left end of the cave is a bench, about 2.9m by 0.77m and 0.86m high.
Like Cave II, here too, the verandah is enclosed with a perforated screen with a pilaster in the centre. It has a square base, square shaft rising in square block surmounted by the band of two antarapatta mouldings, khura moulding with a triangular plate, square portion, square block carved with three kirtimukhas, square portion, few square mouldings and a square capital (Fig. 54a). The pilaster to the right of the doorway is damaged. As in Cave II, the screens are not carved of uniform designs, but some have flower motifs, while some have bull and elephant. At places, the unperforated portion of the square is carved with human figures engaged in various activities.
The door leading to the verandah is plain. Inside the verandah, along the front wall is a bench. The bench to the right of the door is damaged, but is approximately 2.9m by 0.73m and 0.57m high, while the left bench is 2.6m by 0.79m and 0.68m high. On the back wall, to the left of the hall doorway, there is a niche with two plain sākhas, about 0.97m by 0.53m, 0.15m deep and 0.43m high from the floor. It has a lintel, which carries a horizontal lozenge. It must have been used to keep a loose icon.
Like Cave II, there are icons of Sarvānubhuti-Ambika in the verandah ends. The part of the ceiling in the right end corner, near the front wall and above the panel of Sarvānubhuti, is broken through and now is open to the sky.
