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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
INSCRIPTION OF CULAKAMMA The following “inscription, consisting of one line, is incised,” says Mr. R. D. Banerji, "over the doorway of the Sarpagumphā, which is very close to the Badā-Hāthigumphā (No. 14 of the plan published in the Bengal District Gazetteer, Puri)."
Regarding the cave which is a notable excavation on Udayagiri, Rājä Rājendra Lāla Mitra in his Antiquities of Orissa, Vol. II, p. 30, says:
"Retracing our steps now to the west of the Hathi-Gumphā, the first cave worthy of notice occurs on the most protruding ledge of the fracture between the Udayagiri and the Khandagiri hills. It is remarkable for having in front, on the top of its entrance, a rude carving of the hood of a three-headed cobra, whence its name Ajāgara-Gumpha--ajāgara, a serpent able to swallow (gara) a goat (ajā). Under the hood of the serpent, the cave is cut in the form of a cube of 4 ft. with a door just large enough to admit a man crawling in, and framed in the usual style."
For a similar authentic description of Sarpa-Gumphā, see Mr. Mano Mohan Ganguly's Orissa and Her Remains-Ancient and Mediaval, p. 46, where one reads :
" It is a small cave consisting of a single cell and a verandah ;. the latter having in the front tympanum of the door, the carving of the hood of a three-beaded serpent, and hence the name. The level of the verandah is higher than the ground in front. Drs. Fergusson and Burgess (in their Cave Temples of India, p. 697), have taken the Tiger and the Serpent Caves to be the oldest sculptured caves in the hills. This cave is important for containing an inscription, which, however, does not throw any light on the probable date of its construction."
The text is based upon Major Kittoe's facsimile read and reproduced by James Prinsep in JASB, old series, Vol. VI, Pl. LVII, Cave No. 1 called Snake-Cave ; Rājendra Lāla Mitra's copy of Prinsep's transcript in his Antiquities of Orissa, Vol. II, p. 30; Alexander Cunningham's handcopy reproduced in Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, old series, Vol. I, Pl. XVII, Cave No. 2 called Snake-Cave; Lüders' List of Brāhmi Inscriptions in EI, Vol. X, Appendix, No. 1349: Hari Das Dutta's inked impression read and reproduced by R. D. Banerji in EI, Vol. XIII, Udayagiri and Khandagiri Inscriptions, Pl. I, Vol. IV, Cave called Sarpagumphā; and, above all, A. E. Caddy's cast preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.
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