Maurya and Shunga Art c9.4

c9.4

The Barabar and Nagarjuni caves of which the Sudāmā seems to be the earliest are lineal descendants of similar rock-hewn caves of rude primitive tribes and recluses. They are the earliest examples of the rock-cut method and are exact translations in stone of existing wood and thatch constructions. The interior walls and roofs of these simple cells, including that of the Lomaśa Ṛiṣi cave of the same Barabar-Nagarjuni series have all received the high polish so typical of Mauryan art. The earliest of these caves is presumably the one bearing an inscription dated in the twelfth year of Aśoka’s reign the Sudāmā—and saying that it was dedicated to the monks of the Ājīvika sect. This rock-hewn cave consists of two chambers; a rectangular ante-chamber with barrel-vaulted roof and a doorway with sloping jambs, an indication of adoption of earthen prototypes, in the long side of the chamber, at the end of which there is a separate circular cell with a hemispherically domed roof. The two chambers are connected by a central interior doorway. At the outer side the circular cell has an overhanging eave which is but transference in wood of thatch construction; moreover the live rock walls are marked by irregular perpendicular grooves which are but translation in live rock of upright wooden or bamboo planking.60