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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
NOTES
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It may be presumed, therefore, that the upper storey is the earlier of the two. The rail pattern which once adorned the broad band of rock between the two storeys is now all obliterated, but in the ground-floor verandah is a well-preserved frieze which confirms by its style what the inscriptions might otherwise lead us to suppose, namely, that next to the Hāti-Gumphā, this was the most ancient cave in the two groups. Compared with some of the reliefs of the sculptures in the locality, they are of poor, coarse workmanship, but in the depth of the relief and plastic treatment of the figures, they evince a decided advance on the work of Bhārhut, and unless it be that sculptures in this part of India had undergone an earlier and independent development (a supposition for which there is no foundation) it is safe to affirm that they are considerably posterior to the sculptures of Bhārhut.
Next in chronological sequence comes the Ananta-Gumpbā—a singlestoreyed cave planned in much the same way as the Mañchapuri, which seems to have been the prototype of all the more important caves excavated on this site. Over the door-ways of this cave are ornamental arches enclosing various reliefs; in one standing figure of Lakşmı supported by the usual elephants on lotus flowers; in another is the fourhorsed chariot of the sun god (?) depicted en face, with the crescent moon and stars in the field; in a third are elephants; in a fourth, a railed-in tree, and figures to right and left of it bearing offerings in their hands or posed in an attitude of prayer. The arch-fronts themselves are relieved by bands of birds or of animals and Amorini at play or of garlands intertwined, and over each is a pair of triple-headed snakes, while in the intermediate spaces are flying Gandharvas disposed in separate panels. The last-mentioned are more stiff and schematic than the similar figures in the Mañchapuri cave. And this, taken in conjunction with other features such as the Chubby Amorini and the treatment of the sun-god's chariot. seems to indicate for these sculptures a date not much earlier than the middle of the first century B.C.
A further stage in the development of this architecture is reached in the Räni-Gumphā, which is at once the most spacious and elaborately decorated of all the Orissan caves. It consists of two storeys, each originally provided with a verandah—the lower 43 ft. in length with 3 cells behind, the upper 20 ft. longer with 4 cells behind; in addition to which there are chambers of irregular plan in the wings to right and left of the verandahs. In both storeys the façades of the cells are enriched with pilasters and highly ornate friezes illustrating episodes
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