Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.275

c7.275

The crest of the Khaṇḍagiri has been levelled so as to form a terrace with stone edges. In the middle of this terrace stands a Jain temple. The main temple consists of a sanctuary and a porch. Sir John Marshall points out that the Hāthigumphā cave which is the earliest of all these caves is a natural cavern enlarged by artificial cutting. The next in point of time was the Mañcapurī cave which seems to have been the prototype of all the more important caves excavated on this site. Next again was the Anantagumphā. All these caves may be dated not much earlier than the middle of the first century B.C. (Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, pp. 639-640). Next in chronological sequence comes the Rāṇigumphā. (For details vide Asiatic Researches, Vol. XV (1824); Fergusson, Illustrations of the Rock Cut Temples of India (1845); R. L. Mittra, Orissa, Vol. I, Ch. I; A.S.I., Vol. XIII; Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (1876) and Cave Temples (1880); Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, Ch. XXVI; B. M. Barua, Old Brāhmī Inscriptions in the Udayagiri and Khaṇḍagiri Caves, 1929; B. C. Law, Geographical Essays, Ch. X).