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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
ANANTA-GUMPHĀ INSCRIPTION
The following “inscription is incised,” says Mr. R. D. Banerji, “on the architrave outside, between the left antæ and the first pillar. The characters of this inscription are certainly later than those used in the inscription in Tatwa Cave, No. 2. No other notice of this inscription has been published except that which has appeared in Mr. Mon Mohan Chakravartti's Notes on the Remains in Dhauli and in the Caves of Udayagiri and Khandagiri.”
The following description of the cave with which the inscription is associated is an extract from Mr. Mano Mohon Ganguly's Orissa and Her Remains--Ancient and Mediæval, pp. 56-60 :
“The Ananta-Gumphā (which is the most important cave on the Khandagiri Hill) consists of an ante-chamber (24'*7') having a covered verandah 26' x 7' in front. The ceiling of the chamber at the rear is curved, the rise of the arch or curve being about a foot; originally there were four doors leading to the room ; these have been reduced to two doors, and one window. The doorways are surmounted by circular arches ending in borizontal bands at the springing. Two fillets of the circular band enclose ornamental figures. The horizontal friezes resemble those noticed in Rāni Nür and Ganesa Cave. The crown of the arches is formed by the interlaced tails of serpents." "A long line of Buddhist rails runs over the arches unlike those in Rāṇi Nür and Ganesa cave broken at intervals by battlemented pyramids, the like of which we notice in the Bharhut sculptures. On the back wall of the ante-chamber are carved the characteristic Bauddha symbols of Swastika, Trisula, etc., and also a standing figure of Buddha (?). The tympana of the arches are carved with representations of various scenes. The scene of Gaja-Lakşmi... is exquisitely beautiful...... The pilasters by the sides of the doorways have striking features characterised by animal capitals and a profusion of sculptures not noticed elsewhere in the locality."
“We agree with Drs. Fergusson and Burgess in detecting similarity between the sculptures of the Ananta-Gumphā and those of the Bharhut Stūpa, built sometime between the 2nd and 3rd cent. B.C.......the probable period of the excavation of the cave cannot be earlier than the third
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