[191] ‘Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. viii. p. 56. See also, ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. v. p. 726.
[192] Curiously enough, on the roof of this cave there are four square compartments representing the same scene, in different manners—a king, or very important personage, drinking out of a cup with male and female attendants. What the story is, is not known, but the persons represented are not Indians, but Persians, and the costumes those of the Sassanian period. Copies of these pictures by Mr. Griffith are now exhibited in the India Museum at Kensington.
[193] ‘Rock cut Temples,’ pl. 8.
[194] Eight large lithographic plates illustrating these caves will be found in my work on the ‘Rock-cut Temples of India,’ 1843. In 1864 I published a small volume containing fifty-eight photographic illustrations of the same series. Reductions of some of the more important frescoes, copied by Major Gill, were fortunately published by Mrs. Speir in her ‘Life in Ancient India,’ in 1856; and since then Mr. Griffith, of the School of Arts at Bombay, has been employed to recover, as far as it can now be done, the frescoes destroyed in the Crystal Palace fire. If he is successful, these curious paintings may still be made available for the history of art in India. It is feared, however, that the means taken by Major Gill to heighten their colour before copying them, and the destructive tendencies of British tourists, have rendered the task to a great extent a hopeless one.
[195] Ante, p. 59.
[196] I possess a large collection of MS. drawings of these caves, made for Daniell by his assistants in 1795-6.
[197] ‘Voyage en Arabie et d’autres pays circonvoisins,’ 1776-80. Most of the plates referring to these caves were reproduced by Langles in his ‘Monuments d’Hindostan,’ vol. ii., plates 77, et seqq.
[198] Schlagintweit, ‘Buddhismus in Thibet,’ plate 3.
[199] Plans of these caves, with descriptions and some architectural details, will be found in Gen. Cunningham’s ‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. ii. pp. 270-288, plates 77-84. Those of Dhumnar I have seen myself, but till those of Kholvi are photographed we shall not be able to speak positively regarding them; the General’s drawings are on too small a scale for that purpose.
[200] The Kholvi group is situated more than sixty miles north of Ujjain, that of Dhumnar about twenty-five further north, and deeper into the Central Indian jungles.