Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c33.s3.8

v2.c33.s3.8

There was another centre of the school at Karle, in the Bombay Presidency, famous in the history of Buddhist architecture for its possession of the largest and finest cave-temples,¹ which are still standing as memorials of their past glory. That this cave was in the possession of the Mahāsanghikas is shown by two inscriptions at the cave-temples, one recording the gift of the village of Karajaka by Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi to the monks of the Vāluraka caves for the support of the school of the Mahāsanghikas,² and the other of the time of Vāsiṣṭhiputra Siripulumāyi recording the gift of a nine-celled hall to the same school by an inhabitant of Abulama.³ Though the Mahāsanghikas did not receive much attention from the Buddhist writers and donors, the Karle caves show that the school commanded a great popularity in that part of the Bombay Presidency where the caves exist; for, otherwise the cave-temples could not have been so richly decorated with such fine specimens of sculptural and architectural beauty. Its existence and richness prove that there was a series of donors through centuries anxious to express their religious devotion and zeal in the best way that their resources could command.