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Description and Chronology of Caves
193 much decoration. The number of door śākhas is reduced, while the figure sculptures on the uttaranga are replaced by a row of rhomboidal rosettes. The pillars also become simpler and the kichaka figures on the pillar brackets disappear (Deglurkar 1974: 94-95). All these features are found in Caves VII to X.
Thus, the first three caves can be dated to latter half of the 12th century CE. The other caves closely follow the first three caves, in the late 12th and early 13th century. They definitely post date Anjaneri, mainly on account of occurrence of Gomukha yakşa in Cave V and their relative placements.
Here for the first time, yakṣa figure is differentiated as seen in Cave V, although different yakṣis were provided from slightly earlier period, as seen in the case of an intrusive icon at Ellora and also at Anjaneri. The appearance of Bahubali in Cave V is very significant as it shows that the cult of Bahubali, which grew in 9th century CE as evident at Ellora, still lingered, though dwindling in prestige as the size and the number of Bahubali icons suggests. The Parsvanatha-Bahubali pattern of Ellora is discarded. The scene of attack on Parsvanatha is reduced to repetitive depiction of stone throwers as attackers. It lacks the innovation and force of Ellora.
TRINGALWADI, IGATPURI TALUKA, NĀSIK DISTRICT (19°40'N; 73°30'E)
The village of Tringalwadi lies 9.65 km northwest of Igatpuri and 6.43 km north of Thal pass. To the west of the village is the hill with the fort of Tringalwadi. At the base of the hill, facing the village is excavated the cave. It is locally known as 'Pandav Leni'. There are two routes to reach the cave. One route is from the town of Igatpuri, climbing the hill to reach the fort and climbing down from it to reach the cave. The other route is from the village of Tringalwadi. As there is no metal road, one has to walk around 10 km, from Igatpuri through Thal pass and the village, to the cave.
The cave, along with the inscription, was mentioned by Burgess (1877: 20). It was briefly described by Burgess and Cousens (1897: 48-49). Similar description was reproduced by Cousens, along with the ground plan and photographs of cave as well as the pillar (1931: 48-49, Plates LXII, LXIV). Naik repeated the description, but undertook a critical comparison of the cave with some structural temples and proposed a date (1947: 376-378). This cave has not been mentioned by Fergusson and Burgess (1880).
Description
This east-facing cave has a verandah, a hall, an antechamber and a shrine (Fig. 6la). Though in very bad shape at present, due to trickling of water through ceiling, it was a fine cave. It is perfectly cornered at right angles with straight, perpendicular walls, smooth ceiling, decorative hall doorway and elaborate pillars. It copies structural architecture in terms of plan, doorways, pillars and the plinth.
The facade of the cave is carved with a frieze of lozenges flanked by a plain band. Each lozenge is in a compartment and is carved with a flower. Below this frieze is an overhanging carved with thin stone rafters and two friezes at the base. The upper one is carved with petals, while the lower frieze has circles formed by creeper and filled in with flowers (Fig. 61b). It is in ruins at present. Only the left portion is extant. There are remains of façade slabs lying in front of the cave.
