The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.61

v2.c16.61

The upper storey of this wing has two rooms, one opening into the other. The one accessible from the terrace measures 8' x 5' 6", and has a raised seat on its three sides ; the other is of the same size, but it has no raised seat. The former has only one entrance, but no verandah in front, nor a booted figure for a guard, the duty of watching the solitary entrance being left to a female bestriding a bull, and a *dhuti*-clad warder. Another peculiarity to be noticed on this side is a small square opening or window in the scarped wall of the inner chamber at a height of about 5 feet from the floor : such openings for the admission of light and air are rarely met with in cave architecture, though they are not absolutely wanting. The fact is, the hermits and monks for whom they were designed, passed their time in open air and in travelling from place to place, and the caves were occupied only at night in foul weather and during the rainy season when the ceremony of the wassā had to be celebrated by them in their monastery, and possibly also in the depth of winter, as also by the old and decrepit, who could no longer pass a life of itinerancy, and for them, and at such times windows were scarcely needed. Owing to the hill being low on this side, the scarped wall has not been carried to the same length as on the right wing, and the area has been left open as a terrace.