________________
206
Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India In the hill to the west of village has been excavated the Jaina cave, locally known as Thakur deva'. It is cut at the height of around 60m. It is about half a kilometer from the village. The ascent to the cave is very steep. There is no proper path to climb the ascent. The rock has weathered and crumbled away, so the climb to the cave is difficult (Plate 142).
The caves in the fort were first described by Sinclair, though it is not clear whether the Jaina cave is mentioned or not. The caves in the fort were considered Buddhist excavations (1873: 128-129). In the later account, he briefly mentions the caves without any reference to the sect to which they belong (1877: 11-13). Fergusson and Burgess provide brief description and tentative date of the cave (1880: 494). In later reports the cave, along with the caves in the fort are just noticed (Burgess and Cousens 1897: 55). Naik does not mention this cave.
Description
This east-facing cave has a verandah and a hall, which serves as the shrine (Fig. 67a, Plate 143). Architecturally, it is very crude and irregular excavation. The verandah is 5.65m wide at the back and 4.65m wide in the front. It is about 2m deep and the ceiling is 2.11m high. A plain door, measuring 1.55 m by 0.75 m leads to the hall with a figure of seated Jina in the lintel. The door fittings are in the form of a round groove on each side in the ceiling and a rectangular groove in the centre of each sidewall of the door. Flanking this door is a pilaster, while in each corner of the back wall is a half pilaster. It has a plain shaft with plain square bracket. The back wall is carved with figures of small, seated devotees and standing and seated Jinas.
The hall or shrine is very irregular. It is 3.76m wide at the front. It narrows down at the distance of around 2.55m on the right and 2.75 on the left, from the door. This narrowed portion is 2.67m wide. Thus, the hall is 3.76m wide in the front and 2.67m wide at the back. The depth of the hall is 4m to 4.5m. The wider portion of the hall has a high bench along sidewalls. The bench along the right extends to the front wall also. These benches are very irregular. The right bench is around 0.6 to 0.62m wide and 1.2m high. The left bench is around 0.6m wide and 1.114m high. The hall ceiling is 2.1 lm high. The walls of the hall are covered with icons, of seated and standing Jinas.
The hall remains filled with the water throughout the year, except in summer.
Sculptures
The back wall of the verandah is covered with small sculptures, mainly of seated male and female devotees. There are a few icons of seated Jinas, standing Jinas, yakşa Dharanendra and yakşi Padmāvati (Plate 144). These are not arranged very systematically.
There are traces of two standing Jina figures to the right of the door. On the pilaster, to the right of the door, is a figure of a seated Jina. Below him are four devotees, two in each row. The one on the left, in the lower row seems to be a female. The rest are male figures. To the right of the pilaster are four seated male devotees, in a vertical row. On the right sākhā of the door are carved five devotees, in a vertical row. The upper three are definitely females, while the lower two are very unclear. Above the door, is a seated
