The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.s2.82

v2.c16.s2.82

**Jain Caves:**—We next come to another range of caves facing the east, and divided into two compartments by a partition across the middle which is known by the name of Jain Gumpā or “Jain Caves” (Plate XXVI, A). Each of these compartments is divided into two aisles by a range of pillars along the middle. The compartment on the right side is twenty-one feet six inches long, and eight feet high, the breadth of the outer aisle being four feet four inches, and that of the inner one six feet eight inches. The pillars along the middle are formed of round shafts with a narrow fillet round the middle which have denticulations above and below, and capitals formed of two tiles of unequal size enclosing a flattened ribbed ball, the upper or larger tile having a row of triangular denticulations looking downwards, and the lower one the same denticulations looking upwards (Woodcut No. 6). On the back wall are carved in low relief a series of seated Dhyānī Buddhas and some nude standing images of Jina Deva. At the east end there is a raised altar of masonry—probably not a hundred years old—on which are ranged a number of small Jain images, each about sixteen inches high and nude, as the images of the Digambarī sect of the Oswāls usually are.