Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s19.4

c12.s19.4

The Barābar and Nāgārjuni caves of which the Sudāmā seems to be the earliest are lineal descendants of similar rock-hewn caves that must have been in use by peoples 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 structures. The exterior walls and roofs of these simple cells, including that of the Lomaśa Ṛiṣi cave of the same Barābar-Nāgārjuni 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 antechamber with barrel-vaulted roof and a doorway with sloping jambs—an indication of adoption of wooden 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 overhanging eaves which are but transference in wood of thatch construction ; moreover the live rock walls are marked by irregular perpendicular grooves which are but translation on live rock of upright wooden or bamboo planking¹.