Jaina Rock Cut Caves In Western India Part 01

Author(s): Viraj Shah
Publisher: Agam Kala Prakashan

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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India caves at both the sites were excavated at the same tine, a vey few Muchilinda Buddha icons have been found, the Jina icons on the facade are of the same age as the cave and a lot of description in the aforementioned text is in fact exaggerated or legendary (1971). A few more evidence can be provided in support of the Jaina authorship of the caves. On the bracket capital of one of the pillars in Cave II is a fragment of a painting depicting a seated figure of Jina. The placement and the style of the painting suggest that it is original and belongs to the same age as the cave. There is no trace of garment on the body. On the other hand, at Ajanta, the robe on the body of all the painted figures of Buddha is shown very distinctly by using a different colour (Yazdani 1942 Vol. II Plates: XXVIIIa, XXIX; Vol. III Plate: LXIX, LXX). In case of the sculptures too, the robe is shown clearly on the body of the Buddha and also on the throne, where the end of the robe is carved in front of the feet (Spink 1991: Plates 102, 104, 108, 111). But none of the shrine images at Dharashiva have any trace of garment either on the body or on the throne. Secondly, though, as pointed out by Dhavalikar, Buddha was depicted with snake hoods above the head, not a single shrine at Ajanta houses Muchilinda Buddha icon. In fact, there is only one such icon at the site. It is to the right side above the shrine door of Cave 7 (Pathy 1968: Fig. 2). None of the Buddhist caves at any site has image of Muchilinda Buddha in the shrine. A large number of such icons are found from Nagarjunakonda (Stone 1994: Figs. 64, 98, 111, 118, 148, 149, 229). Few such icons are also found at Bodhagaya (Asher 1980: Plates 60, 61) and one such icon is also carved on the verandah wall of Cave 92 at Kinheri. The Muchilinda Buddha is invariably shown seated on the coils of the snake. It is true that the Parsvanatha image on the door of the courtyard in Cave Il is seated on snake coils. But a number of such Parsvanatha images are known. Three of the Parśvanātha figures in the Jaina cave at Udayagiri, near Vidisha, are seated on snake coils (Pereira 1977: 12-13). The Parsvanātha figure on the southern wall of the Sonbhandar cave at Rajgir is also seated on snake coils (Tiwari 1983: Plate 17). A Parsvanatha figure from Nachna is also shown seated on the snake coils. (Bajpai 1975a: Plate 2) A 7th century sarvatobhadraka from Vidisha, now housed in the Vidisha museum, shows Parsvanatha seated on serpent coils (Singh 1993-94: 127-128). A9th century image from Deogarh also depicts Parśvanātha in similar fashion (Singh 1993-94: 129). Two 10th 11th century images from Karitalai in Jodhpur district, now housed in the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum at Raipur, show Parsvanātha seated on the coils of the serpent (Singh 1993-94: 130). But none of the Muchilinda Buddha figures are known to be seated directly on the throne as the shrine images at Dhārashiva. Thirdly, all the Buddha figures at Ajanta are seated in padmāsana, while the figures at Dharashiva are in ardhapadmāsana. A number of Jina figures in Maharashtra are shown in ardhapadmasana. All the Jinu figures in Ellora are in ardhapadmāsana. But none of the Budhha figures, at least from the caves of Maharashtra, are shown in ardhapadmāsana. Thus, we can safely conclude that these caves originally belonged to the Jaina faith.
Rock-cut structure in the courtyard
Another unique feature of these caves, apart from the enclosed courtyards, is the existence of a rock cut structure in the courtyard of Cave II. It is very difficult to determine the nature of this structure as the rock has crumbled away. It looks closest to a