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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India century. At the same site and also at Ankai-Tankai elephants are added in the parikara top also. However, caves belonging to still later period revert back to simple parikara with minimum pratiharyas as seen at Mohida and Mangi-Tungi upper caves. A noticeable feature is that lañchhana, though present in some cases, is not a very regular occurrence. Among the Jinas provided with lañchhanas are Rşabhanatha, Padmaprabha, Sumatinatha, Pushpadanta, Supārsvanātha, Chandraprabha, Santinatha, Mallinatha Neminatha, Parsvanatha, and Mahāvira at Chambhar, Chandor, Ankai, Mohida and Tungi peak. Of these, last two sites are the only sites, which depict lanchhanas for a number of Jinas. Since both the sites are latest, it can be presumed that the use of lañchhanas, in this region, became popular from the 13th century CE, though it is not depicted in all cases. In the early caves Jina figures are seated in ardhapadmāsana, while from the cave at Patne, in the period post-dating 10th century CE, Jina figures are shown seated in padmāsana. Similarly, śrivatsa is absent in early caves, but starts appearing from Patne and almost invariably occurs in all the caves post-dating Patne. Thus, it appears that the caves till about the 10th century CE do not show srivatsa, have simple throne and parikara and ardhapadmāsana for Jinas. On the other hand, the later caves have Jinas in padmasana, elephants on the thrones as well as in parikara tops and śrivatsa on the chest of Jinas.
Dikpalas are represented in J10 at Ellora and on the ceiling of Cave III at AnkaiTankai, while Bhairava, Gaņeśa and Hanuman occur in later caves. Hanuman is depicted at Anjaneri, mainly because of the traditional association of the hill with Anjani, mother of Hanuman, who is said to have performed penance here. The Anjaneri hill is still famous for the shrine of Anjani Devi and is worshipped regularly. A large icon of Ganesa is depicted at Chandor, probably due to local significance of the deity. Similarly, a few small male-female figures, holding objects like ghata or plantain, kamandalu, danda and some indistinct things in the panels of Sarvānubhüti-Ambikā in Cave III at Ankai-Tankai appear to have been local deities. Thus, an attempt to incorporate locally significant deities into the fold of Jainism can be noticed.
The general stylistic and iconographic trends of the contemporary times are followed in these caves. The occurrence of colossal icons of Parsvanātha at Chambhar and Ellora and depiction of many non-Rsabha icons with hair on the shoulders at AnkaiTankai and Mohida are in keeping with the general contemporary trends, popular in central India and also north Karnataka. However, the figure of “Brāhmaṇa' holding chhatra above his head in most of the Ambika panels is unique to this region. The type of yakşa-yaksi couple or parents of Jina figure, which occurs at some of the sites, is also very unusual. While most of such representations from other parts of the country depict one or two children with the standing or seated couple, the absence of any child and the depiction of the couple more as a mithuna couple with hands around each other in these caves is unparalleled. The monk or acharya figure represented in large number at MangiTungi is found in many parts of the country, mainly central India. While in the other regions, the achārya figure is usually depicted preaching; here it is depicted as meditating and almost raised to the status of a Jina with resemblance to the Jina figure. Two dancing figures of Indras, probably of Saudharmendra, flanking the main verandah of Chhota Kailasa at Ellora are very unique and unusual representations, found rarely in the entire range of Jaina art. There are a few more regional variations and innovations, both in general iconographic development and the execution of particular icons. But overall,
