Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c10.6

c10.6

Of the monuments on the Vaibhāra hill is the *Sapta-parṇi* cave situated to the west of the hot springs (*Taptoda-kuṇḍa*) and also *Pippala-guhā*. On Vaibhāra is also another cave, called *Sona-Bhaṇḍāra* or Treasury of gold, excavated in the rock being 34′ × 17′ × 11½′. By its side was another cave (22·5 ft. × 17 ft.), both once having a front verandah supported on pillars of which only socket holes now remain. The *Sapta-parṇi* cave consists of a series of seven chambers separated by natural walls of rocks running east and west, the various chambers being neither regularly shaped nor equal in size, but having in front of the cave a long narrow flat ledge of rock about 25 ft. wide. There were at one time many Stūpas on the Vaibhāra and Vipula hills made of large-sized bricks. Mount Vipula still is crowned by the ruins of a lofty Stūpa.