On reaching the scarp, we wound round its base until we arrived at an opening cut through it from top to bottom, which proved to be the entrance to a gallery of about one hundred yards in length and nearly four in breadth, terminating in a quadrangular court, measuring about one hundred feet by seventy, and about thirty-five feet in height; in short, an immense square cavity, hollowed out of the rock, in the centre of which, cut in like manner out of one single mass of stone, is the temple of the four-armed divinity, Chaturbhuja. Exclusive of this gallery, there is a staircase cut in the north-west angle of the excavation, by which there is an ascent to the summit of the rock, on a level with which is the pinnacle of the temple. Apparently without any soil, some of the finest trees I ever saw, chiefly the sacred pipal, bar, and tamarind, are to be found here.
The ground-plan of the temple is of the usual form, having a mandir, mandap, and portico, to which the well-known term pagoda is given, and there is simplicity as well as solidity both in the design and execution. The columns, entablatures, with a good show of ornament, are distinct in their details; and there are many statutes, besides flowers, not in bad taste, especially the carved ceilings. It would be regarded as a curiosity if found on a plain, and put together in the ordinary manner; but when it is considered that all is from one block, and that the material is so little calculated to display the artist’s skill, the work is stupendous.
Vishnu, who is here adored as the ‘four-armed,’ was placed upon an altar, clad in robes of his favourite colour (pandu, or yellow ochre), whence one of his titles, Pandurang. The principal shrine is surrounded by the inferior divinities in the following order: First, on entering are the Poliyas or ‘Porters’; Ganesa is upon the right, close to whom is Sarasvati, “whose throne is on the tongue”; and on the left are the twin sons of Kali, the Bhairavas, distinguished as Kala (black), and Gora (fair); a little in advance of these is a shrine containing five of the ten Mahavidyas,[[11]] or ministering agents of Kali, each known by her symbol, or vahan, as the bull, man, elephant [723], buffalo, and peacock. The Mahavidyas are all evil genii, invoked in jap, or incantations against an enemy, and phylacteries, containing formulas addressed to them, are bound round the arms of warriors in battle.[[12]]
At the back of the chief temple are three shrines; the central one contains a statue of Narayana, upon his hydra-couch, with Lakshmi at his feet. Two Daityas, or evil spirits, appear in conflict close to her; and a second figure represents her in a running posture, looking back, in great alarm, at the combatants. Smaller figures about Narayana represent the heavenly choristers administering to his repose, playing on various instruments, the murali, or flute, the vina, or lyre, the mayura, or tabor, and the mridang and thal, or cymbals, at the sound of which a serpent appears, rearing his crest with delight. The minor temples, like the larger one, are also hewn out of the rock; but the statues they contain are from the quartz rock of the Patar and they, therefore, appear incongruous with the other parts. In fact, from an emblem of Mahadeva, which rises out of the threshold, and upon which the ‘four-armed’ Vishnu looks down, I infer that these temples were originally dedicated to the creative power.
We proceeded by the steps, cut laterally in the rock, to the south side, where we enjoyed, through the opening, an unlimited range of vision over the plains beyond the Chambal, even to Mandasor and Sondwara. Descending some rude steps, and turning to the left, we entered a cavern, the roof of which was supported by one of those singularly shaped columns, named after the sacred mounts of the Jains; and here it is necessary to mention a curious fact, that while everything on one side is Buddhist or Jain, on the other all is Saiva or Vaishnava. At the entrance to the cave adjoining this are various colossal figures, standing or sitting, too characteristic of the Buddhists or Jains to be mistaken; but on this, the south side, everything is ascribed to the Pandus, and a recumbent figure, ten feet in length, with his hand under his head, as if asleep, is termed “the son of Bhim,” and as the local tradition goes, “only one hour old”: a circumstance which called forth my conductor, who gravely swallowed the tale, the exclamation—“What would he have been if nau mahine ka balak, 'a nine months’ child'!”[[13]] The chief group is called the Five Pandus, who, according to tradition, took up their abode here during their exile from the Jumna; and the other figures are performing menial offices to the heroes.[[14]]
Fortunately, I had my Jain Guru with me, who gave me more correct notions of these groups than the local cicerone. All these figures are representations of the [724] deified pontiffs of the Jains,[[15]] and the group of five are the most celebrated of the twenty-four, and distinctively called the Panch-Tirathi, namely, Rishabhadeva, the first; Santinath, the sixteenth; Neminath, the twenty-second; Parsvanath, the twenty-third; and Mahavira, the twenty-fourth. Each has his sacred mount, or place of pilgrimage (tirath), and each is recognized by his symbol, namely, the bull, black antelope, conch-shell, hooded serpent, and tiger; and it is quite sufficient to find one of these symbols upon the plinth to ascertain the particular pontiff to which it belongs. There was also, in a sitting posture, Chandraprabha, known by his sign, the crescent.[[16]] All the figures are from ten to eleven feet high. That in a recumbent position, my friend said was one of the pontiffs, about to “shuffle off this mortal coil,” preparatory to apotheosis. “When such an event took place, the throne of Indra shook, and he sent a deputation to convey the deceased through the Kshira Samudra (sea of curds), to the great temple of deification, whither the whole heavenly host advanced to conduct him.”
Next to, and communicating by a passage with, this hall of the Jain pontiffs, is the most extensive excavation of Dhamnar, locally designated as “Bhim’s Bazar.”[[17]] The extreme length of this excavation is about a hundred feet, and the breadth eighty. Although the name of this leader of the Pandus designates every subdivision of this cave, yet everything is Buddhist. The main apartment is that called Bhim’s armoury or treasury, the entrance to which is through a vestibule, about twenty feet square, supported by two columns, and having four lateral semicircular niches, now empty, but probably intended for statues: this opens to the armoury, which is a vaulted apartment, about thirty feet by fifteen, having at the further end a dagoba, supporting the roof. These singularly formed columns, if we may so term them, are named after their sacred mounts; and this is called Sumeru, which being sacred to Adinath, the first pontiff, we may conclude he was here adored. An extensive piazza, full twenty feet wide, evidently a Dharamsala for the pilgrims, runs round this apartment, supported by rows of massive square columns, all cut out of the rock; and again, on the exterior, are numerous square cells, called the apartments of the Srawaks, or Jain laity; in one of which there is a supporting dagoba, and in another two statues of the twenty-third pontiff, Parsva. A part of the vaulted roof of Bhim’s treasury, as it is called, has fallen in so that the vault of heaven is seen through the aperture of the mountain. This is also attributed to Kaurava Chor (thief), whose statue appears on the pinnacle of the temple of Barolli, indicating the old enemy of [725] the Pandus, who robbed them of their kingdom. Close to the armoury is an apartment called the Rajloka, or for the ladies; but here tradition is at fault, since with the exception of Kunti, the mother, Draupadi alone shared the exile of the Pandavas.
CAVE TEMPLES OF DHAMNAR.
To face page 1776.
Still further to the right, or south-west, is another vaulted and roof-ribbed apartment, thirty feet by fourteen, and about sixteen in central height, supported by another image of Sumeru. The sacred bar, or fig-tree (Ficus religiosa), had taken root in the very heart of this cavern, and having expanded until checked by the roof, it found the line of least resistance to be the cave’s mouth, whence it issued horizontally, and is now a goodly tree overshadowing the cave (vide Plate). Around this there are many Pausiddhsalas, or halls for the Yatis, or initiated disciples, who stand in the same upright meditative posture as the pontiffs.