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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India Chakresvari and Ambikā indicate a late date. The most important and unique feature of these caves is the representation of lañchhanas for a number of Jinas. As many as seven Jinas can be identified. No other site in Maharashtra, except a solitary example on the Tungi peak, displays the lañchhanas for these Jinas. Usually, Rsabhanatha, Santinatha and Chandraprabha are given lañchhanas, while Parsvanatha can be identified by the snake hood on the head.
The noticeable features of the Jina figures are plain head, long ears, hair on the shoulders, squarish face, protruding srivatsa and peculiar way of showing the hands. The middle finger of all the standing Jina figures is pushed inwards, while the rock between the first and the middle fingers is not removed. The other fingers are not shown. In the case of standing Jinas, the chauri bearers are very small figures, carved below the hands. Some of these features such as the protruding srivatsa, the way of showing the fingers as well as the chauri bearers and the depiction of hair on the shoulder have parallel in the icons of Santinatha-Parsvanatha on the back wall of the hall in Cave III at Ankai-Tankai. A tritirthikā, now kept in the Rajwade Samsodhan Mandala (RSM S/41), also shares some of the features with the icons at Mohida. The icon in question not only displays the typical way of showing the fingers as well as the chauri bearers and the srivatsa, but also similar type of head and facial features. But the major differences are in the physiognomy of the figures. The tritirthika has sloping shoulders and very slender limbs, while the Mohida figures have broad, squarish shoulders and comparatively less slender limbs. However, still both the types display a common art idiom. The exact provenance of this icon is not known, but it is approximately dated to the 13th-14th century CE (Mate and Ranade 1979).
Another peculiar feature is the way of depicting the ears. Though most of the Jina icons have long ears, which generally touch the shoulders, the type of depiction of ears in these sculptures is not met with very often. The ears are not only long at the lobes, but also at the top and so it looks as if the ears are "fixed on the sides of the head.
Another iconographic peculiarity is the depiction of hair on the shoulders of all the Jinas. As mentioned earlier, this feature is found at Ankai-Tankai, and in some of the icons at Chandor. In Jaina iconography only Rsabhanatha, the first tirthankara and Bahubali are depicted with hair falling on the shoulder. But at Chandor, Ankai-Tankai and the present site, all the Jina figures, including the main icon of Chandraprabha at Chandor, Santinatha-Parávanātha at Ankai III and Chandraprabha, Pushpadanta, Mallinatha, Supārsvanātha, Padmaprabha and Sumatinatha here have hair shown on the shoulders.
Considering all these evidences, the site can be safely dated in late 12th or early 13th century CE. Both the caves are very similar architectually, iconographically and stylistically. The iconographic programme of both the caves is more or less similar. The parikara of the Jina is also very similar, though in Cave II, only Rşabhanātha is shown with the lanchhana. Stylistically also there is great uniformity in the details of the Jina figures and the execution of all the icons so also other attendant figures. Thus, both the caves are very close in time, possibly contemporary. The excavation near Cave I is also contemporary, perhaps an appendage to the main cave.
