History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c15.s2: Bengal Caves.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c15.s2
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Bengal Caves.
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None of the Bihâr caves can, properly speaking, be called vihâras, in the sense in which the word is generally used, except perhaps the Son-bhandar cave, which was probably a Jaina or Âjîvika excavation. It is a plain rectangular cave, 33 ft. 9 in. long by 17 ft. wide, and 11 ft. 7 in. to the springing of the curved roof (Woodcuts Nos. 93 and 94). It has one door and one
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[Figure: 93. Plan of Son-bhandar Caves. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]
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[Figure: 94. Section of Son-bhandar Cave. Scale 25 ft. to 1 in.]
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window, but both—like the rest of the cave—without mouldings or any architectural features that would assist in determining its age. The jambs of the doorway slope slightly inwards, but not sufficiently to give an idea of great antiquty. In front there was
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95. Front of Son-bhandar Cave. (From a Photograph.)
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a wooden verandah, the mortice holes for which are still visible in the front wall, as shown in the woodcut No. 95. Such wooden verandahs were probably common, as they were attached to many of the caves at Kanheri. As mentioned above, if the inscription is as early as the excavation, it may be several centuries later than the Barâbar caves; the cave may, however, be earlier than the inscription.¹
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¹ A detailed account of these Bengal caves is given in Gen. Sir A. Cunningham's 'Archæological Reports,' vol. i. pp. 25-27, 40-53, and vol. iii. pp. 140-144; but his drawings are on too small a scale, however, and too rough to show all that is wanted.—'Cave Temples of India,' pp. 37-46.
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The other Son-bhandar cave is about 30 ft. to the right of the larger one, and is in all respects similar, except that its dimensions are only 22 ft. by 17 ft., and the roof has fallen in. Between the two a mass of rock is left in order to admit of a stair being cut in it leading to the surface of the rock above; but what stood on the platform there has not been investigated.
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The other caves, at Barâbar and Nâgârjuni, if not exactly chaityas in the sense in which that term is applied to the western caves, were at least oratories, places of prayer and worship, rather than residences. One Âjîvika ascetic may have resided in them, but for the purpose of performing the necessary services. There are no separate cells in them, nor any division that can be considered as separating the ceremonial from the domestic uses of the cave, and they must consequently, for the present at least, be classed as chaityas rather than vihâras.
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The case is widely different when we turn to the caves in Orissa, which are among the most interesting, though at the same time the most anomalous, of all the caves in India. With possibly one or two exceptions belonging to other sects, they were evidently excavated for the Jains. Till comparatively recently, however, they were mistaken for Buddhist, but this they clearly never were; hence they must be described in a subsequent section of this work (Book V. chapter ii., in Vol. ii.).