Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

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The early Jains in Andhra made caves out of the living rock by means of the pick and finished off by the application of the chisel. After a few years, these rock-cut chambers eventually were developed into a much grandeur and more ambitious scale. The fashioning of architectural forms out of the living rock, therefore, occupies a prominent place in the development of Jain architecture in India. 11 Whenever these examples of rock architecture became a subject of study, it has been the custom of the scholars to refer to them as “caves” implying that they were natural grottoes in the mountain side.
Caves and Characteristics
The Jain monuments of Andhra consist of two main types, rock-shelters/natural caverns and structural shrines. As this paper is focused on early Jain caves, other caves with Jina images are omitted from the study. The early Jains being mostly forest recluses and wandering ascetics, the rock-shelters might have been served as sojourns, or temporary refuges. Moreover, theses resorts are generally situated away from human habitation, and their settlements were modest.12
The rock-shelters are generally ascribable not only to Jains but also to the Buddhists, therefore it becomes a Herculean task to give names of their dwellers. At this juncture, the Jain records, as well as the rock-beds tradition, will come to our rescue in making this decision. From the fact that the Jain monks sought a place of solitude to perform their rigourous religious austerities established their modest habitats in the isolated mountain caverns, which are known as śramaņa pallis. These "holy residences” were commissioned by lay-votaries during a period spanning from the second century B.C.E to the fourth century C.E., and it must be said that these caverns in Andhra also must have been used by the Jain monks. 13
Another point of interest is the characteristic ritual observance of the Jain monks and sallēkhana-dīksa ( a term employed to indicate the ending of the life with severe fasting, meditation and a singularly focused spiritual path in their final days). 14 These are the most genuine distinguishing factors that could be ascribed to the Jaina "holy residences” from the early beginnings of the caverns. The early Jain caves in Andhra are free from any carvings and are simple in their construction.
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