History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s4.19

c15.s4.19

A member of the same ministerial family cut the Cave No. XIII, which is called the Ghaṭotkacha Cave, wherein the donor gives his family history. The family was of Malabar Brahmins who married both Brahmin and Kshatriya wives. Hastibhoja was the minister when the Vākāṭaka Devasena ruled (‘Vākāṭake rājati Devasene’). The wealth of the empire of the later Vākāṭakas is further illustrated by the inscription in Cave-temple No. XVII, which was cut as a Vihāra by a Vākāṭaka feudatory in the reign of King Harisheṇa. His family had existed for nine generations, which evidently arose under the reign of Pravarasena I. They were probably a Gujarat family, which is suggested by their names. They proudly describe this piece of architecture ‘the Chaitya of the King of Ascetics’ as a piece of gem in monolith’ (ekāśmakam maṇḍapa-ratnam-etat) where the donor placed a reservoir ‘charming to the eyes’. These donors were fully alive to a keen sense of aesthetics and their art was highly conscious. The architectural motifs of the pillars are not repetitions; every piece is an individual conception. The ‘Aśokan’ polish is used on the walls of Cave No. XIII¹, but the artistic sense seems to have forbidden its employment on any art moulding of the Ajaṇṭā caves.