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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India
The verandah is 9.9m by 2.55m. The floor of the verandah is in very bad shape as the rock has eroded away. The ceiling is around 2.7m high. The verandah is enclosed with low wall and has kakṣasanas with backrests. These walls are damaged, but are around 1.1m high. The front of this wall is treated as a moulded plinth. From the base it has a frieze of lozenges, each in a compartment, surmounted by antarpatti, jadyakumbha, antarpatta, tripaṭṭa kumuda and kapota. The upper part is fashioned as the backrest, decorated with the pilasters divided by lozenges. Each pilaster has a moulded base, a square shaft with mouldings at the upper portion, a kumbha and rounded brackets. On the base and the upper part of the shaft is a triangular plate, each. The lozenges between the pilasters are carved with a flower (Fig. 61c). This plinth on the left is buried under the earth (Plate 126), while the backrest is present only on this side.
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There were dwarf pillars on the kakṣāsanas, but now only the brackets are left. The shaft of one pillar is lying on the floor. It had a shaft rising in a square block and surmounted by an octagonal portion and a staggered square block, carved with two lozenges, each in a compartment. The shaft was probably surmounted by a kalaśa, but is now destroyed. Above are a tați with a median band and a phalaka supporting four-armed brackets with a single roll and a snake-hood on each arm. There are corresponding pilasters on the back and sidewalls. The corners also have half pilaster. The pilasters are staggered. They have a base with jagati, padma, antarapatta, vritta kumuda, antarapatta and kumuda and a triangular plate. The shaft rises in a square block, surmounted by a recession, square block carved with a geometrical design, two round mouldings, a purnaghata and a square portion. Above the shaft are two round mouldings with a triangular plate, another moulding like a kumuda, recession and tați. Above the tați are three-armed brackets. The side arms have single roll and snake-hood, while the front arm has a kichaka figure.
There is a window flanking the hall doorway, each measuring around 0.8m by 0.8m. It has a plain sakha and a perforated screen made of two vertical and two horizontal bars decorated with floral design. On the śakha, in the centre, is a plain square on each side (Fig. 61d). Along the sidewalls are benchs, each measuring 2.54m by 1m. The bench along the right wall is 1.08m high, while that on the left wall is 1.12m high. It is made of a long slab supported by four slabs.
The ceiling of the verandah is quite decorative and is beautifully carved. There runs a stone beam between all pillars and pilasters. Thus, the ceiling is divided into three aisles. On the each side aisle is carved a lotus with four layers (Fig. 62a). On the central aisle, there is a roundel with five figures of a male surrounded by females. In the centre, there is a larger male figure flanked by females, while other two females are below him. All are in the attitude of flying as shown by the postures of legs. Their heads are towards the shrine inside. The central male figure has his hands around the female on the sides, while other figures have their outer hands raised up and the inner hands entwined around other figures. All the figures are fully decked (Plate 127). The theme of this sculpture is difficult to determine. It is possible that it is the depiction of some important person with attendants or some celestial being. It could be of purely secular nature also and could have been depicted solely for decorative purpose. Each of these aisles also carries a flying figure, depicted facing the shrine inside. This figure in the central aisle is of at garland bearer, holding a beautiful garland above his head. While the figure in the right
