________________
294
Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India the temple by Govana, son of Indraraja (Buhler 1879). The latter inscription was on a stone tablet in the Bhavani temple. The inscription, which is dated to 1207 CE, records the founding of a college by Changadeva, the chief astrologer of the Yadava king Simghana and grandson of the well-known astrologer Bhaskaracharya. The college was founded for the study of Siddhantasiromani and other works of Bhaskaracharya and his relatives. The college was endowed with land and other sources of income by the brothers, Soideva and Hemadideva, members of Nikumbha family, who ruled 'the country of 1600 villages' as feudatories of the Yadavas (Kielhorn 1892).
There are no literary references to the site.
Other architectural remains
A number of architectural remains can be seen scattered around the village. However, the earliest are the famous caves of Pitalkhora, a little away from the site. These Hinayāna Buddhist caves are situated in a ravine in the upper end of the valley, above the temple of Ai Bhavani. These are approached through the present site, though it can also be accessed from the other side, through the town of Kannad.
Among the medieval remains are a Mahadeva temple at the foot of the hill, mentioned in the inscription referred to above, a small, ruined temple with an inscription over its doorway to its south and two more small shrines, one being Brahmanical and the other being Jaina, to its east and northeast. About a kilometre south of this group of temples, high up in the valley, is a triple-shrined temple, popularly known as Ai Bhavani temple (Cousens 1931: 27-29). The present temple is comparatively recent structure, rebuilt from the material of the older temple (Cousens, 1931: 29). Of all these temples, only the shrine, containing the icon of goddess in the Ai Bhavani temple is still worshipped. It is a famous Brahmanical place of pilgrimage as it is visited twice a year, when pilgrims present iron tridents to the goddess (Sinclair 1872: 296). The Mahadeva temple is well preserved and is worshipped occasionally, while the other temples are in complete ruins.
The other remains are in the form of mud walls with lofty bastions enclosing the village. The temples, mentioned above, are within fortified enclosures. These probably belong to the Muslim-Maratha period. The hill fort of Kanher overhanging the eastern side of Patne village is on the same hill as the caves, which are on the western side of the fort.
The above account makes it clear that the site was an important centre. After the Buddhists at Pitalkhora, the Jainas excavated the caves in question. The site rose to prominence during the Yadavas when it became the seat of the Nikumbhas, who ruled the region as the feudatories of the Yadavas. During this period at least four temples, including one Jaina, were built. Apart from this, a college for astrological studies was also founded here. Of these, the college received patronage of the Nikumbha family and the Mahadeva temple was initiated by the king of the family.
The extant limit of the mud enclosures with a number of mounds within indicate that the town covered a much larger area than it does today during Muslim period (Sinclair 1872: 296).
