Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/41

CHAP. II. ELURA JAINA CAVES. 21 they cannot possibly be very distant in date. May we, therefore, assume from this that the Chalukyan kingdom of Badami, in the 7th century of our era, and the Rashtrakuta of Malkhed, which follow in the 8th to loth century, extended from Elura on the north to the Tungabhadra and Krishna on the south, and that all these rock-cut examples, with the temple at Aihole (Woodcut No. 181), were excavated or erected under the auspices of these two dynasties ! Both the caves named above are of two storeys with a number of smaller halls attached, and belonged to the Digambara division. From this circumstance and the appearance of Gommata along with Parcwanath in a number of the shrines as we find these at Badami and that the only inscriptions are in Kanarese, we are led to infer that the excavators were from the south and brought the Dravidian style with them. In the right of the court is a large statue of an elephant, and on the left was a fine mono- lithic stambha 31 ft. 6 in. in height in- cluding the Chaumukh figure crowning it. (Woodcut No. 275). It fell over about thirty-two years ago. Near the ridge above these caves is a colossal image of Panrwanath, inscribed as having been carved so late as A.D. 1235. And to the east of the other caves is a curious unfinished temple an imitation on a small scale of the Brahmanical Kailas. The .rikhara is low and unfinished, and the work was probably suddenly left in this state. 1 During a partial excavation thirty 275> years ago some loose images were found dated in 1247. Reverting to the remark as to the origin of these caves, it may be assumed that the theory represents the facts of the case more nearly than any hitherto brought forward. The Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas were situated on the border-line, half-way between the north and the south, and they, or their subjects, seemed to have practised the styles of architecture belonging to those two divisions indiscriminately it might almost be said alternately and we consequently find them mixed up here and at Dhamnar in a manner that is most puzzling. indra SabM. Scale 10 ft. to z in. Cave Temples,' pp. 495*". and plates 86-92.