The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.s2.114

v2.c16.s2.114

The next datum we have on the subject is the Hāthi Gumphā inscription, but this unfortunately is not so positive as the first, as it is in many respects defective, and people may well take exception to it for more reasons than one. If the arguments, however, on which I have attempted to prove the contemporaneity of Aira with the Nanda Rājās of Magadha be tenable, it would follow that the Elephant Cave was cut in the middle of the fourth century before Christ. Now as that cave is an unfinished one, and altogether so poor that it cannot shed any lustre on a great King even in the estimation of men in a primitive state of society and very few persons would take the trouble to inscribe, at considerable cost, the fact of his having excavated a den which would pass for a natural cavern, the like of which may be seen in many places, it would follow that the object was to record the execution of some caves more dignified and royal in their character than the one on which the document appears and that the location of the inscription was regulated by the desire to select the most centrical and prominent position for it. This is exactly the position which the Hāthi Gumphā occupies, with the Tiger, the Serpent, and the Urdhavāhu caves on the right, the Vaikuṇṭha and the Pātālpuri caves in front, the Svargapuri caves on the left, and the Ganeśa and the Rānī Gumphā caves behind; and the inscription distinctly states that king Aira caused several caves to be cut. Uufortunately the caves are not named, and we cannot say for certain which are referred to in it. For a magnificent structure which would do credit to a king, and on which a sovereign might look with pride, the Rānī Gumphā must reckon the foremost; next comes the Vaikuṇṭha; next the Svargapuri; and then the Ganeśa. Of these the second has three separate inscriptions, the first of which ascribes its excavation to "the kings of Kaliṅga," the second to "Vīra king of Kaliṅga," and the third to "Prince Vidukha," so it cannot belong to the hero immortalised on the Elephant Cave. The others are without any inscription, and these may be included in the list of Aira's works without any very great stretch of imagination. The relation of the Queen's Palace to the Elephant Cave has been already referred to (p. [32]). Thus far then the principal caves may be assigned to the middle of the fourth century, from three hundred and twenty to three hundred and forty years before Christ; and it is not of much consequence to enquire, who were the authors of the little dens which a monk anxious for a shelter could dig for himself in a day or two, without any preliminary training as a miner or mason.