The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c33.44.2

v1.c33.44.2

Over the doorways of this cave are ornamental arches enclosing various reliefs; in one is a standing figure of Lakshmī supported by the usual elephants on lotus flowers (Pl. XXVII, 75); in another is the four-horse chariot of the Sun-god (?) depicted *en face*, with the crescent moon and stars in the field; in a third are elephants; in a fourth, a railed-in tree and figures to right and left of it bearing offerings in their hands or posed in an attitude of prayer. The arch fronts themselves are relieved by bands of birds or of animals and Amorini at play or of garlands intertwined, and over each is a pair of triple-headed snakes, while in the intermediate spaces are flying Gandharvas disposed in separate panels (Pl. XXVII, 76). The last mentioned are more stiff and schematic than the similar figures in the Manchapurī cave, and this taken in conjunction with other features, such as the chubby Amorini and the treatment of the Sun-god's chariot, seems to indicate for these sculptures a date not much earlier than the middle of the first century b.c. A further stage in the development of this architecture is reached in the Rānī Gumphā, which is at once the most spacious and elaborately decorated of all the Orissan caves (Pl. XXVIII, 79). It consists of two storeys, each originally provided with a verandah—the lower 43 feet in length with three cells behind, the upper 20 feet longer with four cells behind;