History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c14.s3.2

v1.c14.s3.2

In this cave there is an inscription in the left end of the porch, and another on the lion-pillar in front, which are certainly integral, and the first ascribes its completion to "Setthi Bhûtapâla of Vaijayantî" (or Banavâsi), whilst the second states that the lion-pillar was the gift of the "Mahârathi Agnimitranaka son of Goti"; but neither of these, nor others on pillars, doorway, and arch, help us to a date. We are thus thrown back on style, without any help from examples closely akin in details: we have also later inscriptions, of Ushabhadâta, the son-in-law of the Kshatrapa Nahapâna,¹ and, as the latter belongs to the beginning of the 2nd century, Ushabhadâta cannot be placed earlier than about A.D. 120. (But the cave had been completed long before this, and we may pretty safely place it in the century B.C., and possibly early in that century.)