Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/29

CHAP. II. ORISSA CAVES. CHAPTER II. JAIN A CAVES. CONTENTS. Orissa Caves Badami and Aihole Dharasinva Ankai Elura. The Jains, like the other sects, excavated cave-dwellings or bhikshugrihas for their recluses ; but the nature of their religion did not require large assembly halls like the chaityas of the Buddhists. They naturally followed the fashion of the other contemporary sects, to which indeed all India was accustomed. We find them, consequently, excavating caves in Orissa and at Junagadh or Girnar in Gujarat, as early as the 2nd century B.C., and at later dates at Badami, at Patna in Khandesh, at Elura, Ankai, and elsewhere. 1 And before entering upon the character- istic examples of the later Jaina Architecture, it may be as well, at this stage, to give some account of the cave architecture of the sect. ORISSA CAVES, The Orissa caves have already been referred to, as they were long mistaken as a group of Buddhist excavations. 2 They are probably as old as anything of the kind in India and, unless some of the Bihar excavations were Jaina, they are the earliest caves of the sect. The oldest and most numerous are in the hill on the east called Udayagiri ; the more modern in the western portion designated Khandagiri. The picturesqueness of their forms, the character of their sculptures and architectural details, combined with their great antiquity, render them one of the most important groups of caves in India, and one that is most deserving of a careful scientific survey. The accompanying plan (Woodcut No. 265) will help the reader to understand their arrangement. What we know of the age of the older caves here is principally derived from a long inscription on the front of one of the oldest, 1 Buddhist and Jaina caves are known all over India as lenas. 2 Ante, vol. i. p. 177.