Description
Junnar, north latitude 19 12′ and east longitude 73 56′, lies in a broad flat valley about 2000 feet above the sea, on the south or right bank of the Kukdi, fifty-six miles north of Poona, and about six-teen miles east of the crest of the Sahyadris. To the south-east the valley opens into the wide Deccan plain which spreads like a sea to low lines of flat-topped uplands far to the east and south. On other sides, within a radius of about two miles, the town is shut in by irregular ranges of hills 600 to 1200 feet above the plain. The hill-sides rise steep and bare to upper slopes crossed by level belts of rock whose smooth black walls appear in one range after another although separated by gaps of many miles. The lower belts of rock are in places dwarfed by earth and stones washed from the upper slopes, or the wall is broken where a torrent has forced its way through some crumbling or earthy vein. Still many belts of rock with rounded or wall-like fronts stretch across the lower slopes for hundreds of yards. Near the tops of one or two of the hills, notably of Shivner to the west of the town and of Hatkeshvar to the north, unbroken by torrents and unhid by earth and stones, a wall of trap 100 to 150 feet high girdles the hill-top like a huge piece of masonry work. The outline of most of the hill ranges is waving and irregular, the tips of the higher peaks in many cases being smoothed flat as if by a plane. In others, as in Shivner and Hatkeshvar, the great wall of rock is topped by a small rounded or level hillock. Below the base of the hills runs a belt of barren upland from which bare spurs stretch towards the river, rocky or soilless except in a few dips and hollows. The outer flats have a thin sprinkling chiefly of babhul bushes. The town is amply shaded and has some splendid pipal and banian trees and the river banks are green with groves and gardens. The town, with its long winding streets and open empty spaces, stretches over a mile along the right or south bank of the Kukdi, and beyond the town to the east south and west ruined heaps and fairly preserved tombs and mosques bear witness to the greatness of Musalman Junnar.
Hills
The hills that encircle the town form four leading groups; the low curving line of the Manmoda range to the south and southwest; the high level scarp of Shivner to the west; the lower and tamer Mangni hills to the north-west; and the high flattened tops and scarped sides of Hatkeshvar and the Suleman or Ganesh hills on the north. The Manmoda hills rise from the plain more than two miles to the south-east of Junnar. They run for about half a mile to the north, and then, with a shallow horse-shoe curve, sweep about two miles to the west and north-west towards Shivner from which they are separated by the sharp-cut gap of the Pirpada pass. Their waving irregular crest varies from 400 to 600 feet above the plain. Along the bare north-east face, about a third of the way up, runs a belt of rock, sometimes fifty or sixty feet high, in other places half-hidden by earth and stones. In this belt of rock are carved three groups of Buddhist caves: The Bhimashankar group in the east face, the Ambika group about the centre of the north face, and the Bhut ling group some hundred yards nearer the north-west. To the north of the Manmoda hill, separated from them by the deep cup-shaped hollow of the Pirpada pass for nearly a mile across the valley, stretches the great flat scarp of Shivner, the hill-fort of Junnar, the birthplace of Shivaji (1627). Steep strong slopes and belts of rock rise sharp and bare about 800 feet to a great wall of rock a hundred to 150 feet high which girds its level top. In the north of the hill nothing shows above this wall of rock. Further south a smooth flat inner mound rises about 200 feet above the main hill top. Several old Musalman buildings give a special interest to the top of Shivner: a small watch-tower at the extreme north, a mosque with a fine flying arch stretching between its minarets at the north foot of the inner hill-top, and on the flat crest of the inner hill a Musalman tomb and prayer-wall. Beyond Shivner, to the north-west, appears the bare rounded shoulder of the Tulja hills with the Tulja caves hid in a hollow in its eastern face. To the north of the Tulja hills stretches the Kukdi valley, and beyond, on the northwest, the irregular range of the Mangni hills runs to the Mhar pass. To the east of the Mhar pass the steep sides of Hatkeshvar rise about a thousand feet to the great wall of trap which encircles its inner summit. Close to the east of Hatkeshvar are the dome-like crags of the Navra-Navri that is the Bride and Bridegroom, or the Varat that is the Wedding Party hill, because they say the hill opened and swallowed a wedding party and the rounded crags are their tombs. The smooth-topped hill to the south-east is known as the Suleman hill because agates used to be found there, and also as the Ganesh hill because the chief of a group of Buddhist caves carved in its lower slopes is now a temple of Ganpati. In the plain, beyond the end of the Ganesh hill, stand a few single peaks, the remains of the south-east spur of the Suleman range. To the south, opposite the east face of the Manmoda range, the single pyramid hill of Dudhare, with its point crowned by the white tomb of a Musalman saint Pir Shall Daval, completes the circle.
The usual camping ground at Junnar is in the Bara Bavdi or Twelve Well garden to the south-west close under the great rocky face of Shivner. From the east the road to the Bara Bavdi passes through the length of the town leaving the fortified enclosure in which are the mamlatdar’s and other offices on the right and passing among splendid banian and pipal trees about half a mile to the south-west of the town. Another pleasant camping ground lies to the north of the town in a large garden and mango grove about half a mile to the south of the Ganesh caves. At the north-west limits of the town in a large enclosure are two good bungalows belonging to the Church Missionary Society. One of these is generally occupied by the resident missionary; the other bungalow is usually empty, and, by the kindness of the resident missionary, if arrangements are made beforehand, is generally available for the use of district officers and other travellers.
Sub-Divisions
The town covers a belt of land over a mile long and from a quarter to half a mile broad. Within these limits are many empty spaces, graveyards, gardens, and the walled enclosures of old fortified mansions. The town is divided into thirty-three wards or sections, some of them known as puras and others as vadas, of which thirteen are outside and twenty-one are central sub-divisions. The outside subdivisions are Shukravara, Syedpura, Pethfansumba, Maicha-mohalla called after a saint Mai whose mosque is in this sub-division, Sepoy-mohalla, Kothudpura, Mansurpura, Mandai, Kalyanpeth called after Kalyan Musalmans who founded it about the middle of the seventeenth century when (1648) Shivaji took Kalyan, Malvada, Fakirpura, Khalilpura, and Khalcha Malvada. The twenty-one central subdivisions are Chambhar-Ali, Kumbhar-Ali, Khatik-Ali, Dhorvada, Mharvada, Kasar-Ali, Pilucha-mohalla, Sadabazar, Chandipura, Syedvada, Ovanbazar called after Mr. Ovans an assistant collector who founded it, Varchi-Ali, Shankarpura, Murlidhar-Ali, Mahajan-Ali, Sarai, Aditvar, Budhvar, Kagdivada, Eadarpura, and Mangalvar. In Musalman times one more sub-division to the east was called Amravatipeth. This is now Amrapur village outside of Junnar limits.
People
The 1872 census showed a population of 10,298 of whom 8205 were Hindus and 2093 Musalmans. The 1881 returns showed an increase of seventy-five or 10,373 of whom 8367 were Hindus including; 415 Jains, and 2006 Musalmans. Most of the roads in Junnar are narrow and full of corners. They are metalled and the main thoroughfares are fairly smooth and clean.
Houses
Junnar houses are generally one-storeyed and built on a plinth a foot or two high. The walls are of dressed or unworked stone, burnt or sun-dried bricks, or white earth, and sometimes the weight of the roof, which in almost every case is covered by rough flat brown tiles, is borne by wooden pillars. Some of the fronts, but these houses are in most cases used as shops us well as dwelling places, are enclosed with red wooden planking. The only ornament is that occasionally doors and windows end in a rounded arch with waving sides in the Musalman prayer-niche or nimbara style. A few of the double-storeyed houses have deep eaves and forward beams with faces carved in tracery and other ornament. In some of the richer parts of the town the street fronts of the houses, chiefly houses belonging to Brahman moneylenders, are blind walls with only a small door opening on a courtyard.
Shops
Junnar has 288 shops, chiefly in the six sub-divisions of Aditvar, Budhvar, Kagdi-vada, Kalyan-peth, Mangalvar, and Sadabazar. The shopkeepers are Gujar Lingayat and Marwar Vanis, Brahmans, Telis, Salis, Koshtis, Kasars, Tambolis, and Musalmans. [The details of shops are: Sixty of Vani grain dealers and grocers, forty-eight of papar-dealers thirty-eight of Salis and Koshtis, thirty of oilmen, twenty of cloth-dalers, twenty miscellaneous, eighteen of goldsmiths, eleven each of betel leaf sellers and sarafs or money-changers, ten each of confectioners and dealers in fruit and vegetables, six of bangle-makers, four of coppersmiths, and two of dyers.] The shops are generally the fronts of one-storeyed houses which are sometimes open with a deep overhanging eave generally tiled, or the front is closed chiefly by wooden planking. In a few of the better class of shops belonging to grain-dealers and grocers the front is used as a veranda and work is carried on in an inner room. The chief articles sold are grain of all sorts, dry-fish, oil, groceries, copper vessels, turbans, women’s robes, blankets Europe cloth, wool, hides, paper, and stationery. Besides shops, along the Aditvar and Sadabazar roads, people sit by the road-side offering things for sale. The sellers are generally women of the Kunbi, Mali, and Koli castes who offer plantains and other fruit, vegetables, sugarcane, mangoes, oranges, lemons, grape, and melons. Besides, generally in the mornings, at several street-corners in Aditvar, Budhvar, and Sadabazar stand groups of poor Kunbis and Kolis with bundles of grass, and others chiefly Thakurs with firewood faggots. In addition to the daily supplies on Sunday the market-day about 2000 people, chiefly Kunbis Kolis and Thakurs, come to the town. There are two markets, the old market in Aditvar ward which is held on either side of the main road, and the Ovans’ Market, a broad open space along the north wall of the kot or fortified enclosure in which are the mamlatdar’s and other Government offices. At this weekly market all articles of daily use in the town are sold in large quantities, especially fruit, vegetables, and field produce. Merchants from different parts of the Junnar sub-division, and from Ahmadnagar, Akola, Rahuri, and Sangamner, bring large quantities of grain and coarse cloth, and Kathodis and Thakurs from the Konkan bring timber and wicker-work baskets. Except the grain-merchants they come with small tents. Goods are brought in carts and on bullock donkey and pony back. The marker is brisk and busy from January to April when the late crops are harvested and ready for the market, when revenue instalments are paid, and the people lay in provisions for the monsoon. Supplies fall off in the rainy season and the market is dull. The medium of exchange are silver and copper coins and shells, eighty shells for ⅜d. ( a.). The copper coin is called shivrai and is said to date from Shahu (1707- 1749). There is no barter on market days. In the smaller outlying villages barter is resorted to by the Konkan is if any of their goods are left unsold and if they are in want of daily necessaries. The chief articles bartered by Kolis, Konkan is, and Thakurs are nagli, rice, baskets, oil, onions, and salt; The people with whom they barter are Malis, Telis, and Vanis.
Trade
The origin of the importance of Junnar as a trade centre was its nearness to the Nana pass which, in former times, at least from as early as about B.C. 100, was one of the chief highways of trade between the Deccan and the coast. The pass can at best never have been easy. Even if at one time the rough slippery pavement was a flight of steps the pass must have been difficult for laden bullocks and almost impassable for any beast of burden larger than a pony. It can never be made fit for wheels, and as other routes are provided with easy roads the trade of Junnar and of the Nana pass becomes more and more local. In the fair season considerable numbers of pack animals may be seen, ponies’ bullocks and donkeys, chiefly the property of Musalmans and of Hindu oilmen, potters, and washermen, carrying millet and rice eastwards to Junnar, or bringing salt fish, cocoanuts, salt, and rice from the Konkan coast. [The following details, noted in going from Junnar to Ghatghar at the head of the Nana pass on the 28th of December 1882, give some idea of the amount and the character of the present trade: Four or five bullocks belonging to a Pardeshi and driven by a Teli going west empty to bring from the Konkan salt and cocoa-kernels and nuts a donkey driven by a Belda’r going east with local millet; a bullock driven by a Musalman going east with dried fish from the Konkan; five bullocks driven by a Teli going west with potatoes to the Konkan; two Musalman’s bullocks going east with local rice; a Musalman driving ten bullocks east with Konkan rice; a potter driving eleven donkeys east with local rice; a Musalman going east with a pony load of nachni ; a washerman with eleven donkeys and one pony going east with local rice; a pony with glass bracelets from the Konkan; a potter going east with eighteen donkeys laden with local rice; a potter with twenty donkeys passing east with local rice; and a potter with eleven donkeys passing east with local rice.] There is also the more purely local traffic of taking droves of sheep and goats and great basket-loads of vegetables and other garden produce from Junnar and the villages round to the Konkan villages and country towns with weekly markets. There still remains to Junnar, what along with its excellent climate must always have told strongly in its favour as a capital, the rich garden and other lands to the east and south. This rich tract still supplies the chief trade of Junnar, field and garden produce which is sent in carts chiefly about forty-two miles to; Talegaon station on the Peninsula railway, along a route which the Shelarvadi and Karle caves suggest was a main line of traffic about 1800 years ago in the days of Junnar’s greatness. The chief trade is in paper, women’s robes, blankets, and rice. Exports consist of paper, rice, women’s robes, potatoes, plantains, onions, chillies, myrobalans, wheat, gram and millet, molasses, blankets, sheep, and horned cattle. The imports are salt, cocoanuts, dried fish, rags for paper, clothing, oil, grain, metals, groceries, stationery, timber, cotton and silk yarn, country blankets, bangles, bullocks, cows, buffaloes, and sheep. The chief traders both importers and exporters are Vanis, Kunbis, Musalmans, Bohoras, and Kasars. Except the donkeys and ponies used for the Nana pass traffic carts are chiefly in use. With better roads and a brisker demand trade is growing.
Capital
The chief men of capital in Junnar are local Brahmans and Gujarat Vanis, Shravaks or Jains by religion, and a few Marwar Vanis also Shravaks. There are also some old grant-holders and owners of land, chiefly Musalmans; retired Government servants, Brahmans and Musalmans; some barber’s traders and contractors who have made money in Bombay; and some successful oilmen and cloth and grain dealers. The imported cloth trade is chiefly in the hands of Gujarat Vanis and the local cloth trade in the hands of Salis, Shimpis, and Koshtis, and the leading grain-dealers are Marwar Vanis. Of moneylenders several are Musalmans and a few are Hindu craftsmen Telis, Salis, and Hajams. Traders, chiefly Marwar Vanis, also lend but the chief money lending class in Junnar are the Brahmans who have 150 rich houses, one hundred and forty of them Deshasth and ten Konkanasth or Chitpavan. They lend chiefly to Kolis, Kunbis, and Thakurs.
Crafts
The chief local crafts are the handloom-weaving of women’s robes and turbans and the making of paper. The haudloom-weavers of women’s robes are Hindus of the Sali and Koshti castes. The Salis, of whom there are sixty houses, live in the north-east of the town in Chandipura, Kadarpura, Khalilpura, and Shukravar peth. The Koshtis live in Khalilpura and Budhvar peth in the north of the town. They are between thirty and forty families who came from Sangamner in Ahmadnagar about thirty years ago. The loom is simple with only two heddles. There is nothing peculiar about it except a stretcher or karsali which is placed by the weaver in front of him. It stretches the web breadthways and forms a support against which the reed or phani is pressed to bring the warp-thread home. The yarn is imported from England; the red comes dyed and the dark is dyed in Bombay. The robes are plain without ornamental borders. Almost all are used in the town; very few are exported. The weavers are generally labourers paid by the piece by men of capital, chiefly Brahmans and Gujars and a few Salis. The rates of piece-work vary from 1s. 3d. to 4s. (Rs.⅝ -2) representing 7 d. to 9d. (5-6as.) a day. Except during part of the rainy months (July-October) work is constant all the year round. In the same quarter of the town as the Koshtis are about eighteen houses of the Musalman handloom-weavers called Momins. They make turbans and borderless sadis on a small loom. The turbans are generally red and ornamented with a border of gold thread. The weavers are almost all employed by men of capital. They are paid by the piece at the same rate as the Koshtis. The turbans are sold in the town and the outlying villages or sent to Akola, Poona, and Sangamner.
Paper Makers.
A little to the north of the Koshtis and Momin weavers are the quarters of the Musalman paper-makers or kagdis, who have about a hundred dwellings and forty-two working houses. The families have been settled in Junnar apparently since Musalman times. The paper which is smooth and glossy is sold at 6d. to 1s. 6d. (4 -12 as.) a ghadi of 240 sheets. It is used in Government offices for envelopes and by native merchants for account books. It is chiefly used in the native states and is largely exported to Poona and Sholapur. Some of the paper-makers are independent traders, others borrow chiefly from Gujar moneylenders. According to the nature of the work the men earn 1d. to 6d. (1-4 as.) a day. Except in monsoon floods when the river water is muddy, the work is steady.
Blankets
Country blankets are woven in the Budhvar and Shukravar wards by about thirty-five families of Dhangars and Hindu Khatiks. The blankets are sold in the town and in the Thana villages at the foot of the Sahyadris.
Municipality
The municipality, which was established in 1861, had in 1882-83 an income of about 512 (Rs. 5120) chiefly from a house-tax, and an expenditure of about 195 (Rs. 1950). The municipality has borrowed 3300 (Rs. 33,000) to build a reservoir to supplement the existing water-supply.
Water Supply
The town is supplied with water partly from the Kukdi but chiefly by water brought in earthen pipes from three wells. It is received in eighteen cisterns measuring on an average about twelve feet by eight, each with a pipe through which the water flows. The wells are one called Barabavdi or the Twelve Wells close to the south of the town which feeds twelve cisterns, and two at the base of Shivner hill which feed six cisterns. The two wells, which are partly built of Hindu temple stones, are near each other to the west of Shivner hill and joined by an underground channel. The cisterns hold water for eight months. In the hot months (March-May) the supply in the well runs short and sinks below the level of the pipes, and the water has to be raised by working Persian wheels. The new reservoir is being built to the west of the town. The water-works are of Musalman construction probably older than the seventeenth century. A few cisterns, built by the municipality and private persons, are kept in repair by the municipality. The Barabavdi, which was private property, was bought by Government and made over to the municipality.
Objects
The town has of public offices a mamlatdar’s, subordinate judge’s, police, forest, and registration offices, a municipal office, a dispensary, and a Government and a mission school. Most of the public offices are collected in the Syedvada in the south-west of the town in or near the walled enclosure or garden which is known as the kot. This, which is a Musalman work, encloses an area 300 yards from north to south by about 220 from east to west, like a great garden with several; fine pipal and banian trees. The wall, which varies from sixteen to twenty feet high, is strengthened by fourteen towers twenty-five; to twenty-seven feet higher, of which four are in the corners, three each in the north and east faces, and two each in the south and west faces. [The tower to the north of the gate is called Phatak, that in the south-east corner Kangara, and that in the north-west Chauk.] The wall is of rough stone below and white mud above, and the towers are some of them of white mud and others of brick either sun-dried or fire-baked. It is entered through a strong gateway in the east face. Inside, the chief buildings are the mamlatdar’s office towards the north of the enclosure with two wings, an east wing for a lock-up and a west wing for a record-room. To the east is a small forest office and to the north is the office of the chief constable. To the south is the munsif’s court and further west is a dwelling house interesting as having been from 1784 to 1795 the place of confinement of Bajirav (1796-1817) the last of the Peshwas. Behind are the remains of an old Musalman bath or hamamkhana and to the south is a ruined mosque. Under a tree near the mamlatdar’s office is an old carved stone, and in the west wall of the tower to the south of the entrance gate is a stone with some Marathi writing. Outside of the gate on the right is the Government school, a large modern one-storeyed building. Across the road is the dispensary and a little along the road to the north on the left is the Mission girls school. The dispensary which was established in 1869 treated in 1883 nine inpatients and 6392 outpatients at a cost of 76 8s. (Rs.764). The post office is about 380 yards to the north, and the municipal office is at the west end of the Sadar or chief bazar. In the south or street wall of the municipal office is a small tablet with a Persian inscription dated H. 1049 that is A.D. 1639.The mission bungalows, in a large enclosure in the north-west of the town, are plain one-storeyed buildings, well designed, and of good size. The bungalow to the north-west is generally occupied by the resident missionary, the other is usually empty. About 150 yards to the west of the bungalows is a small graveyard with a few Christian tombs. [On two of the tombs are inscriptions.]
Gates
The kot is almost the only part of the old fortifications which is at all in repair. About half a mile to the south-west of the kot, just under Shivner, is a space about 640 yards by 500, surrounded by a ruined mud wall known as the Juna Baitkala. Of the walls which once surrounded the town few traces remain. Beginning from the east and going round by the south and west to the north the walls had twelve gates: Hatti, Phansumba, Lal-ves, Phatak, Ovan-bazar-ves, Aditvar, Kathvar, Fakirpura, Otur, Delhi, Agar, and Nagjhiri. Two of these, Otur and Phansumba, are in good repair; six, Aditvar, Agar, Fakirpura, Lal-ves, Nagjhiri, and Ovan-bazar, are in ruins; and of the remaining four Budhvar, Delhi, Hatti, and Phatak no trace is left. The Otur (18’x 10) and Phansumba (30’x12) gates are built of stone masonry. Over the Phansumba gate is a small room reached by a flight of steps. Of Aditvar (16′ x 10′), built of stone and mud, the walls remain and of Agar traces of the stone walls are left. Fakirpura (17’x7′) was built of stone and mud, Lal-ves (15’x 8) of stone burnt brick and mud, and the Ovan-bazar (16′ X 12′) entirely of mud. Of Nagjhiri only two stone walls remain. In Sepoy-mohalla, in the south of the town along the north bank of the Lendi stream, are remains of the wall. There is the Lal Darvaja or Red Gate, a square wooden door with old carved Hindu stones in the side walls. The walls are about twenty feet high, rough stone for the first six feet and then sun-dried brick and white earth. To the south of the gate was a dam, and another dam some distance further made this part of the stream bed or moat fit for boats. Of the old fortified mansions, the most notable is in Mangalvar peth. About 230 yards north-east of the municipal office on the left is a large enclosure entered by an old gateway with a wall of white earth and sun-burnt brick. The place belongs to the Nawab of Belha, twenty-one miles south-east of Junnar, who now lives chiefly in Surat and is deserted and empty. An inscription over the entrance shows that it was built in H.1033 (A.D.1622). Except the Buddhist caves (A.D. 100-200) and the Yadav cisterns on Shivner (1050-1200) of which separate accounts are given, there are few old Hindu remains. Carved stones and pillars are found occasionally either lying by the roadside or built into the walls of Musalman tombs and mosques or of modern houses. The style of ornament shows that they belong to both Brahman and Jain temples and the style of carving is considered by Dr. Bhagvanlal to vary from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. [ The chief stones noted were: In the south-west of the town in the kot or citadel a broken pillar, and a few carved stones in the kot wall; some carved stones by the roadside close to the mission school; the pillars near the Hemadpanti well carved stones in the Lal gate in the south and in several houses near; a pillar and a carved stone outside of the east gate; at Ambapur on the way to Afiz Bagh a small temple of Maruti with several finely carved stones, among them a row of elephants from a frieze on the Elephant gate whose site a little to the east is still marked by two elephants; in a culvert a little further east; and in Musalman tombs on the way to the Manmoda hills.]
Old Wells
Besides these fragments are three wells in the old mortarless Hindu style known as Hemadpanti. About 200 paces to the north-east of the mamlatdar’s office, near a great banian tree whose roots are ruining it, is an old step-well of large black stones built without mortar in the Hemadpanti style. In the enclosure at the mouth of the well are some old pillars divided into four-sided eight-sided and round bands, broken by the pointed lines of a pyramid ornament, In the south of the town, about 370 yards from the Lal gate, in a large uncared-for garden or orchard, is the Kundal Bavdi or Round Well, a large well of great dressed stones fitted without, mortar. It is entered from the south by a flight of steps which runs about half-way to the water and then turns to the west. About a quarter of a mile to the north-east is Kavlva’s well, a rough work of large plain dressed stones put together without mortar. It is entered by a flight of steps from the east.
Temples
Of modern Hindu temples Junnar has about sixty, two of which a Jain. Of the Brahmanical temples, which are also used as rest houses, seven are well managed and enjoy Government grants of about 30 (Rs. 300). The rest are poor, many of them falling out of use for want of funds. The chief temples are of Panchling Ganpati, Pataleshvar, Uttareshvar, and Thakurdvar. The Panchling temple is at the foot of Shivner hill about half a mile west of the town. The temple with a hall and a shrine has a dome painted with tigers, lions, and Hindu gods. The temple enjoys a yearly grant of 6 (Rs. 60) and was built about 1800. Attached to the temple is a rest-house, two cisterns, and a filled-up well. Ganpati’s temple in Aditvar peth, at which offerings are made in all thread-girding and marriage ceremonies, is said to have been built about 1820. Uttareshvar temple lies half a mile east of the town on the Kukdi, and is approached by a flight of stone steps. It is like a one-storeyed dwelling house with a tiled roof, and, as it is surrounded by fields, it is pleasantly green in the hot weather. Pataleshvar temple is a small underground shrine (12’x 10′), approached by a flight of steps, on the north or left bank of the Kukdi, about a mile north of the town. The temple enjoys a small Government grant. Thakurdvar temple, dedicated to Krishna, is a domed building on the Kukdi, half a mile north of the town. All the other temples are like ordinary dwellings. They are poor, some not able to afford even a night light. Only Brahmans worship in the Panching temple; in the other temples all Hindus except Jains.
Of the two Jain temples one is in the Budhvar peth and the other in the Phansumba ward. The Budhvar peth temple, which is dedicated to Parasnath, is large and rich, a three-storeyed building in the dwelling-house style with a gable roof and surrounded by a brick wall seven feet high. The first storey is used for daily religious meetings which are attended by about fifty Jains out of the Jain community of 415, chiefly Gujarat Vanis cloth-dealers and moneylenders. The second storey, which contains the shrine with a naked image of Parasnath, has a middle hall and two wings. The floor is paved with coloured marble and the walls have glass-covered paintings of Jain gods. The ceiling is of carved teak and the shrine doors are lined with silver. The third storey is used as a store-room. Attached to the temple is a courtyard (48′ x 17′) paved with well-dressed stones. The yard has a well and a bathing place. The temple was built by the Jains of Junnar at a cost of 3000 (Rs. 30,000) and is maintained by a managing committee from offerings in grain and cash. The temple has a paid ministrant who reads and explains the holy books.
Musalman Remains
The chief Musalman remains are mosques and tombs, a large prayer walls on rising ground to the south of the town, and the fine mansion in the Afiz Bagh. Of the mosques the chief is the Jama Masjid or Public Mosque. It stands near the middle of the town a little to the east of the kot or citadel. The outer door, with an inscription over it dated II. 1235 (A.D. 1818), is modern. In the mosque, which measures sixty-six feet by forty-three, are three rows of carved masonry pillars, apparently old Hindu, with in each row six pillars and pilasters. For seven to nine feet from the ground the pillars are four-sided, and then there is an eight-sided belt, and then three rows of cornice end in square capitals which support a very massive timber roof with in the east, front deep finely carved eaves and flying brackets. Except on the gate there is no inscription. To the east is a shady yard thirty paces by thirty-five with a well and cistern and to the south is a rest-house. Of the other mosques, one in good repair to the south of the town may be taken as a sample. The Roshan Mosque, about thirty yards to the south of the Lal gate, measures 42′ by 19′. It is entered from the east through a pointed arch which fills the whole east front. Inside are three domes resting on two eight-sided pillars, a prayer niche in the middle of the west wall, and a roof hollowed in diamond-shaped recesses. Along the top of the east front runs a plain stone eave supported by stone brackets. About sixty yards to the east is a domed tomb, 7′ 6″ by 16′ and 14′ high called the Mokarba. The tombs have almost all square bodies of stone masonry the sides either with open-peaked arches or masonry pillars. The square bodies are capped by brick domes, some of them round and others pointed. The following are the details of the Saudagar Gumbaz or Merchant’s Tomb, the finest Musalman building in Junnar.
Merchant’s Tomb
On a raised plot of ground in the centre of a raised enclosure, about a mile to the east of the tomb, is a large Musalman tomb, the chief trace of Musalman wealth and power in Junnar. It is known as the Merchant’s Dome or Saudagar Gumbaz. The building has a body about fifty-two feet square of plain stone masonry nearly thirty feet high, a heavy brick and stucco cornice several feet deep, and a large round dome which rises about twenty feet above the body of the building. About twenty feet from the ground a plain band of masonry, about six inches broad, divides the body of the building into two parts or storeys, an under-storey about twenty and an upper-storey about ten feet high. Each of the four fronts of the under-storey is divided into three rectangular recesses about 18′ 9′ high 11′ 5″ broad and 2′ deep, separated from the ground by a plinth or band of masonry about 1′ 9″ high by 4″ deep. The central recess in the south face is surrounded by a belt of simple carving about six inches broad; the other recesses are plain. Inside of each rectangular recess are two recesses with pointed arches, the outer arched recess measuring 16′ 5″ long by 10′ 2″ broad and seven inches deep, and the inner recess measuring 15′ 5″ high, 9′ broad, and 1′ 2″ deep. Except in the middle of the south and in the middle of the east face, where there are doors, the only ornament in these arched recesses is a belt of simple carving about a foot broad that crosses them about nine and a half feet from the ground where the spring of the arch begins. There are also two small round carvings of flowers on each side about a foot above the belt, on all four fronts the details of the outer rectangular recess and the two inner arched recesses are the same except at the two entrances, in the middle of the south face and in the middle of the east face. In the inner arched recess in the middle of the south face is a plain doorway, 6′ 4″ high by 3′ 6″ broad. Over the door two carved brackets support an overhanging band of stone about a foot broad. On the wall, sheltered by the overhanging stone, is an Arabic inscription in three pieces of two lines each. About a foot higher is a window (4′ 3″ X 3′ 5″) with a pointed arch filled with open stone tracery, a large central star or sunflower above, and two bands of three stars each below. On either side of the central star are short Arabic inscriptions. Below the window is a belt of simple carving and on each side are three belts of carving. Except two carved grooves the wall on each side of the door is plain for about four feet Then, about four feet from the ground, the corners of the arched recesses are carved into pilasters with three hourglass-shaped compartments separated by squares of tracery. There are inscriptions at the tops of the outer and inner pilasters on the right side and of the inner pilaster on the left side. Outside of the pilasters a band of tracery surrounds the rectangular recess. In the threshold is a line of carved stones.
In the upper storey in each of the four fronts are five rectangular recesses about seven feet by five with in each a double-arched recess, the corners of the recess being cut further back below the spring of the arch than above it. Over the rectangular recesses run two bands of stone carving, each about six inches broad. Above the carving is the heavy cornice, whose bricks, showing through the weather-worn stucco, have a mean and ragged look.
Except that no belt of tracery surrounds the central rectangular recess and that the door is smaller and plainer, the east face is the same as the south face. The door has a pointed arch and measures eleven feet by four. Besides the belt of carving that crosses the large arched recesses, a belt runs inwards along the sides of the door at the spring of the door-arch. Above the rectangular recess are a level and an upright belt of carving and an inscription on either side of the upright belt. The north and west faces are the same as the east face except that they have no doors. Inside the tomb measures 35′ 10″ east and west by 33′ 7″ north and south. The inner walls are eight-sided with, in each side or face, an outer and an inner pointed arched recess. The height of the outer recess is about 19′ 9″ and the depth eight inches; the inner recess is about ten inches lower and a foot deeper. About a foot above the points of the arched recesses wooden beams, perhaps originally the supports of a carved wood cornice or screen, stand out all round about four feet from the wall. About six feet higher in each face, three rectangular panels contain niches with pointed arches separated by plain pilasters. Where the eight corners of the main building turn into the base of the round dome a small carved bracket supports the masonry that rounds off the corner. Above the brackets, at the base of the dome, a circular belt of letters is cut in stucco about two feet broad. Above a stucco cornice about three feet broad is separated into panels by eight pillars, one over each of the brackets. Above the cornice, corresponding to the centre of each of the eight faces, is a round ornament of stucco tracery. From this the dome rises about twenty feet higher, plain and round. Of the eight faces or sides of the building, the four to the north east south and west have either doors or door-like niches. The other four to the north-east, south-east, south-west, and north-west are semicircular recesses about seven feet deep with five sides rising to a pointed dome. The walls of these recesses are plain, except that about seven feet from the ground they are crossed by a belt of five-peaked ornaments like mitres with flowing fillets about two feet broad. About a foot above the mitre peak runs a slight ornamental belt or carving. At the foot in the back wall of each an opening, about 2′ 9″ x V 9″, leads to a small chamber or store-room. In the four other sides are doors or door-like recesses. In the west face in the inner arched recess is an oblong recess (10′ 4″ x 5′ 10″) and inside of the oblong recess an arched recess (9′ 2″ x 4′ 4″) About four and a half feet from the ground, the corners of the inner arch are cut away, and, a foot below, are carved into pilastert with hour-glass or water-pot sections separated by square blocks. The recess is three feet deep. The lower part is in three faces each carved into the round-topped prayer niche pattern about 4′ 6″ high Above are two bands of the Kuran, then a half dome in four faces with a belt of tracery, and a band of the Kuran. The face of the rectangular enclosure above the prayer niche is carved with letters and tracery, and above the rectangular recess the face of the inner-pointed arch has seven level bands of writing and two lines at each side running up and down. In the north face within the inner arched recess is an oblong recess (4′ 7″ x 6″). Within this are two arched recesses, the outer 13’X 6′ and 1′ deep and the inner 12’X 4′ 2″ and 1′ 4″ deep. In the back wall, about eight feet from the ground, enclosed in a rectangular block of tracery, is a lamp-niche (2′ 9″ x 1′ 9″) in the rounded mehrab or prayer-recess shape. A belt of carving runs across the arched recess about 6′ 9″ from the ground, and about 5′ 6″ from the ground the corners of the rectangular recess are cut away and end in a scroll pattern. In the east face the rectangular recess and the outer of the enclosed pointed arch recesses are the same as those in the north face. The inner arch forms a doorway 11′ long by 4′ broad and 3′ 2″ deep The corner of the outer-arched recess about six and a half feet from the ground is cut back about 1′ 6″ and ends in a double-rolled scroll in the south face, inside of a rectangular recess, the same as in the north face, is an inner arched recess 13′ 10″ high. The upper part is a pointed window (4’3″x3’5) with open tracery. Under the window is a band of plain stone about 2′ 6″ broad, then a door 6′ 4″ high by 4′ 3” broad and 3′ deep, the corners of the rectangular recess being cut back about six inches on each side of the doorway ending in a scroll pattern about 5′ 4″ from the ground.
The floor of the tomb was originally nearly filled with a platform about 27′ 4″x 19′ 7″. The north part, which is 7′ 7″ broad and 2′ 4″ high, remains, but most of the south part, which was nine inches lower, has been broken away. In the north part of the platform is a row of eight tomb-stones varying in length from 2′ 10″ to 5′. The stone tairis laid on the tops of the tomb-stones show that all except two are men’s tombs. The stones on the south part of the platform have disappeared. There is a separate tomb-stone (4′ 10″ x 2′) opposite the east door. The tomb is used as a rest-house and its floor is covered with ashes and dust.
Afiz Bagh
About a mile to the east of the Merchant’s Tomb and two miles to the east of the town is the Hafz or Afiz Bagh. Its unfailing supply of water, fine trees, and stately old Musalman mansion, make it worth a visit. Its name is variously explained but perhaps the most plausible explanation is one which makes Afiz a corruption of Habshi, the garden and the mansion having, according to a tradition, been in the possession of, if not founded by, an Abyssinian chief. The mansion is an upper-storeyed substantial but not an inelegant building; three balcony windows on the south canopied and supported by somewhat heavy looking brackets overlook a small tank; and the east and west sides have each a bay window. The entrance is on the north, its steps flanked by bay windows like those on the other three sides. The ground-floor roof is arched and ornamented with lozenge-shaped mouldings. A little to the west of the garden on the Junnar side is a fine mausoleum locally called dargah or gumbaz which is supposed to contain the tomb of the Habshi founder of the Afiz Bagh. The mausoleum, which is entered on the south and west, has a domed roof and contains nine tombs, said to be those of the Habshi, his wife, six children, and a servant. The south entrance, within an ogee arch, is beautifully carved and pierced; it is flat-headed with pierced work above and sculptured jambs and an inscription above the lintel. The east is a narrow doorway under a pointed arch. The interior is an octagon and every other octagonal side is embrasured and arched; while the west mehrab is covered with texts from the Kuran. The exterior walls form a quadrangular figure; the upper portion of the wall veil terminates in a picturesque-looking brick cornice, consisting of pointed arches resting on tiny pedestals and interlining one another. A small minaret graces each of the four corners of the buildings. In ornamentation the walls are divided into two series of blank and arched windows, the upper series consisting of five and the lower of three windows. The middle of the lower series of the south and east walls has a doorway instead of a window. [The late Mr. G. H. Johns, C. S,]
Shivner Hill
About half a mile to the west of Junnar the steep rock of Shivner rises over a thousand feet and stretches about a mile across the plain. The hill is triangular in shape, narrowing from a southern base of about 800 yards along a straight eastern and a deeply hollowed western face to a point of rock in the north. Near the south the lower slopes of its eastern face are crossed by a belt of rock forty or fifty feet high, which disappears northwards in the steep slope that stretches to the foot of the upper scarp. This upper scarp begins about 600 feet from the plain and rises from 100 to 200 feet, stretching from end to end of the hill a level-topped wall of black rock. In the upper and lower scarps are two irregular lines of Buddhist caves all of them small and some more like the dwellings of vultures than of monks. Above the level top of the main hill rises an inner summit crowned with a mosque, a tomb, and a prayer wall. To the north the hill ends in a narrow lofty rock scarped and rounded like a ship’s stern. The west face is steep, and, in hollows, has a thick sprinkling of brushwood especially to the south-west. The lower slopes are in places broken by belts of rock, and about eight hundred feet from the plain a great wall-like cliff sweeps from the north to the south-east and then round a deep hollow stretches to the south-west. The south-west face of the hill is lower and more broken, and, from about half-way up, is strengthened by outworks and bastioned walls. As on the east side, the crest of the hill which is level in the north rises in the middle in a bare flat-topped ridge, and towards the south-west again falls to the level of the northern scarp. Shivner is interesting as showing traces of five sets of proprietors Buddhist monks, early Hindu kings, the Musalmans, the Marathas, and the English. During the first and second and probably third centuries after Christ the hill seems to have been a great Buddhist centre. About fifty cells and chapels remain. They are found on all three sides of the hill, but most of them are cut in its eastern face. Besides the cells and chapels, on the upper slopes and on the hill-top, old rock-cut steps seem to show that some of the open water cisterns are as old as the Buddhists. Traces of old rock-cut steps, deeper and broader than the monks’ steps, and the four finest water cisterns on the hill, show that before Musalman times the hill was used as a fort by Hindu kings, probably the Devgiri Yadavs (1170 – 1318). The pointed arches of the gateways show that all or nearly all of the fortifications are Muhammadan. And besides the fortifications most of the buildings on the hill top, the Ambarkhana, the prayer walls, the tomb, and the mosque, and probably many of the cisterns are Musalman (1300-1750). Though it was the birth-place of Shivaji there are no certain traces of the Marathas except some repairs in the walls and the shrine of Shivabai near the top of the southern face. The only signs of the English are a row of olive bushes on the south face and a row of teak trees along the east face of the hill top.
Fort Details
The entrance to the fort is from the south-west. The way from Junnar lies along a well made road from the south-west of the town across the Lendi stream between some old Musalman tombs and gardens. To the right are the ruined mud walls of the Juna Ghat Killa, a fortified enclosure where the mamlatdar’s office used to be held, and behind it the steep slopes and bare scarps of Shivner. To the left is the old garden and favourite camp of the Barabavdi or Twelve Wells and to the south the Manmoda hills. Beyond the Barabavdi the road winds up the bare east face of the Pirpadi pass whose crest is perhaps a mile to the south-west of the town. [Close to where the path up the hill leaves the road is a rock-cut pond measuring twenty-one feet by twelve. Some years ago near this pond were some twelfth century figures which have disappeared, except one group of Mahadev and Parvati in which the clever carving of the snake on Mahadev’a left hand is worthy of notice.] The path up the hill turns west from the main road a little below the crest of the pass. From an old banian tree fifty or sixty yards to the west of the road the south face of the hill is seen stretching on the right in a long line from east to west. At the south-east end the scarp is broken and at no one place is it more than thirty feet high. It is crested by two walls strengthened by towers which run about a hundred yards west enclosing a long narrow belt known as the Jibhecha Pada or Tongue Watch. To the west the scarp becomes higher and less broken and again falls away to the southwest where it is strengthened by a triple line of walls. For the first 200 paces from the banian tree the path lies across a slope of fiat rock. It then begins to rise keeping almost west across the under slopes of the hill. To the left the sides fall gently and to the right the upper slopes rise quickly to a lofty scarp. Two. hundred paces further the path has reached a higher level with rocks in the lower slope, bushes in the upper slope, and trees on the crest. During the next 300 paces (400-700) the rise continues gently with some old nandruk trees close by and patches of prickly-pear above. At the foot is the deserted village of Bhatkal, once the market of the fort, the Patil’s and the Mhir’s being the only houses left. To the right the scarp is divided into two parts, an upper and a lower, and between the two a wall runs from the crest of the bill along the edge of a narrow terrace about 200 paces west to Shivabai’s shrine. This outwork is called the Phatak Tower. About 900 yards from the starting tree the path begins to rise rapidly, climbing the hill-side by a rough paved ascent between thickets of prickly-pear. About a hundred paces further (1000 yards) the upper rocks of the hill-side become one sheer cliff. About fifty paces further (1050) is the first gate. It is about 100 feet below Shivabai’s shrine, and is covered by the main wall and by a second line that runs from Shivabai’s shrine down to the gate. To the left the lower slope is green with babhul and prickly-pear. On the east face of the gate is a rectangular recess about an inch deep, and inside of it a double-peaked arch opening with scolloped waving edges. The rectangular recess is broken at the top. The outer arched recess measures 10′ 4″ high by 6′ broad and 6″ deep and the inner arch 9′ 6″ high by 5′ 9″ broad. On each side of the door are towers of dressed masonry which are now little higher than the front of the-gateway. The doorway, which is entered by three steps, is 12′ 11″ deep with an arched roof 12′ 3″ high. On a plinth 1′ 10″ high are side-rooms 7′ 5″ by 5′ 8″ and 5′ 9″ high with round arched roofs. A flight of steps on the left formerly led to an upper storey. Inside of the gate on the right the scarp is much lower than it is outside, not more than fifty or sixty feet high. Above the scarp rises a wall pierced for musketry and with one or two bastions with openings for cannon. On the left runs a weak parapet three or four feet high, and below are steep slopes of rock and prickly-pear. Inside of the first gate the path is flat but rough with rocks and exposed to the fire of Shivabai’s bastion above. On the left, about 160 paces from the first gate, is the Mang’s Tower (16′ 7″ x 14′ 3″) with a wall about five feet high and two openings for cannon. On the right, as the scarp is much lower and the rocks are more broken and sloping, the wall has been raised to about fifty feet, part of it being later than the rest. About eighty-five paces further, or about 2295 paces from the starting tree comes the second gateway, called Parvangicha Darvaja or the Permission Gateway, in a wall which runs at right angles to the path for about fifty paces up the hill-side with two towers pierced for musketry, and with embrasures for cannon. The gateway, which is 18′ 2″ high and has two short side-minarets, has an outer rectangular recess and a double-pointed arch, the outer arch 10′ 1″ high and 7′ broad, the-inner 9′ 6″ high and 5′. 10″ broad. On each side, level with the point of the outer arch, is a mystic tiger, the tiger on the left with an elephant in its right forepaw and the tiger on the right with an elephant in its right forepaw and two under its hind feet. Over the middle of the door is an elephant with a broken trunk. The door is 6′ 3″ deep, the top is arched, and there are no side rooms. To the left is a ruined tower. From the second gate a narrow flat path between rocks and a wall runs about eighty paces to the third gateway (2375), which is flanked on the right by a wall with a rough round parapet that runs up the face of the hill. This gate is known as the Hatti Darvaja or the Elephant Gate. The whole height of the face of the gateway recess and outside is 21′ 9″. On the east face a shallow rectangular recess encloses a double-arched recess the outer 15′ 5″ high and 9′ 7″ broad and the inner 13′ 5″ by 6′ 4″. In the face of the wall, in a line with the peak of the outer arch, is a circular slab filled with geometric tracery and to the left a tiger. The right face of the wall has fallen. On the parapet above the gate are three stones carved with geometric designs and below on the ground are some of the carved stones that were on the right face of the gateway. The depth of the doorway is seven feet. Twenty paces (2395) between high rocks or thickets pf prickly-pear lead to the fourth gateway, which, from a Musalman tomb hid among prickly-pear on the left, is known as the Saint’s or Pir’s Gate. A flanking wall climbs the hili side to the right. The Saint’s Gate is larger and more carefully finished than the others. It has a total height of 22′ 2″ and consists of a central and two side faces with a total length of thirty-eight feet. In the central, face is an outer rectangular recess 21′ 8″ high 11′ 7″ broad and about four inches deep. In this is a double-pointed arched recess, the outer recess 20′ 3″ high 11′ 7″ broad and 1′ 4″ deep, the inner recess about 18′ high 8′ 4″ broad and 6″ deep. Inside of the inner recess a large slab crosses the arch about 11′ 6″ from the ground and forms the lintel of the doorway. On each side of the doorway is a rectangular seat 3′ 7″ from the ground and 2′ 4″ broad. The central face is separated from the side faces by a plain outstanding belt of masonry about 2′ 9″ broad, with two small arched recesses at the level of the middle of the lintel of the doorway. The side rectangular recesses are 15′ 5″ high and the enclosed arched recess 14′ 5″ high by 8′ broad and 2′ 2″ deep. To the left of the left side recess is a carved boss of stone. The gateway is 17′ deep with a central stone dome. On either side, on a plinth 3′ 8″ high, is a guard-room 11′ 3″ x 12′, with a dome fifteen feet, high resting on four peaked-arch recesses. In the back walls are arched niches 3′ 9″ x 2′ 3″ and in the side walls smaller arched niches 2′ 10″ x 1′ 7′. Inside are the ruins of houses. On the right is a broken cistern and on the left is a level belt about thirty yards broad covered with prickly-pear. Among the prickly-pear is a great grindstone about three feet across. The outer edge of the scarp is strengthened by a low parapet wall. To the right the hill side rises in bare slanting rocks with a high wall and a great outwork in front on the top. For a hundred paces (2495) the path keeps to the west. the last thirty-five paces leading up a paved way with space on the left or south-west where the parapet wall is raised into a line of fortification and runs to a point about fifty paces to the left. At 135 paces (2530) the path divides into a way for horses and a way for men, the way for horses rising by a more winding ascent to the north-west and the men’s path climbing the: sloping face of rock by a flight of fifty rock-cut steps. This part of the ascent is right in front of a great outwork about thirty-three feet high that runs before the fifth, or, as it is said to be called, Shivabai Gate. After about thirty-five paces the path turns to the left up a flight of’ twenty steps with the great outwork on the left and another wall in front. At the top of the flight of steps the path passes between walls about twenty feet high twenty-one feet to the west and then six paces to the north. The distance from, the Saint’s Gate to the Shivabai Gate is 265 paces (2660). As on the other gate fronts, in the face of the Shivabai Gate, a shallow rectangular recess encloses a double-pointed archway. The rectangular recess is 17′ high 9′ broad and 2″ deep, the outer pointed arch is 15′ high 8′ 8″ broad and 6″ deep and the inner arch 14′ high 5′ 6″ broad and 1′ 2″ deep. Inside of the inner arch is a door of teak strengthened by iron spikes in fair repair. The doorway is about 24′ deep, 9′ 4″ broad, and about 19′ to the roof which is flat. At each side on a plinth about 4′ 3″ high are side-rooms about 8′ 8″ x 6′ 2″ with pointed arched roofs about 10′ high. Above the gateway was an upper storey now in ruins. Inside of the Shivabai Gate the hill still rises in sloping rocks to an inner wall about thirty feet high, the third of the lines of fortification which guard the, entrance to the fort. To the left an old partly rock-cut path leads to some Buddhist caves and cisterns the edge of the hill-top to the left being strengthened by a wall. To the right of the Shivabai Gate, inside of a parapet wall about six feet high, a path, leaving the way up the hill to the left, runs east about 290 yards along a level terrace to a small arched gateway 12′ 4′ high. The arch which is 10′ 4″ high has scolloped edges and flowers and leaves carved on the face. On either side is a rounded pilaster about 6′ 7″ high and 5′ 11″ apart. Inside of the doorway are side recesses (5′ 9″ x 2′ 10 x6′ 5″ high) on a plinth 1′ 10″ high and with arched doors 3′ 6″broad by 5′ 6″ high. At about sixty paces to the east of the inner face of the gate, old Buddhist rock steps and modern masonry steps rise in four flights of two to five steps each separated by stretches of level pavement to the temple of Shivabai. The temple stands on a masonry plinth 15′ 10″ high 61′ long and 25′ 9″ broad. Inside it measures 27 feet into 21 feet; it has two rows of five wooden pillars on each side and a large shrine enclosed in a wooden lattice-case standing out from the north wall. The hollow in the rock behind shows that the temple stands on the site of a Buddhist cell or hall. [Details of Shivabai’s temple are given below pp. 197-199.] To the east, with a broken wall on the left, the terrace runs about 200 paces to the Phatak tower. To the west are traces of a flight of old rock-cut steps leading to two open-air rock-hewn ponds about eighteen paces long by eight paces broad. Near the temple and on the terrace are several champha trees, and some pomegranate bushes, a pipal or two, and one large tamarind. After visiting Shivabai’s temple the way lies back along the terrace to about forty steps to the east of the Shivabai Gate. Here the path up the hill turns to the left by old worn rock-cut steps between two rock-hewn ponds about sixty-five feet by nineteen. It passes with a gentle slope to the north-east for about a hundred yards and then begins to climb the hill face up rough masonry steps end pavement. Most of the way is covered on the left or north by the battlements of the top line of fortifications and in front by two gateways, the inner over-topping the outer. There is a low masonry wall on the right. At 100 paces more (or about 240) from the Shivabai Gate, and 2900 from the starting tree, is the sixth or Phatak Gate, the approach passing under a wall of rock about twenty feet high covered by a masonry wall about twelve feet higher. The height of the Phatak Gateway is 16′, of the rectangular recess 11′ 6″, and of the inner arched recess 10′; the breadth is 8″ and the depth 12′ 4″ with side-rooms about 6′ x 5′, and, on the right, an inner room 7′ x 7′ with arched niches in the three walls. From the Phatak Gate about thirty-nine paces lead up a straight steep path with, on the left, a cliff about twelve feet high and a cresting wall rising from twenty to about thirty feet as it nears the seventh gate called the Kulapkar Darvaja. As in the other gateways the face of this gate has a rectangular recess with an inner double arch. The gateway is 21′ high, the rectangular recess 18′, the outer arched recess 14′ 6″ and the inner arch 12′ 6″. The door is about 6′ broad and 30′ 6″ deep. It has been a double two-storeyed gate and has a guard-room on the left about fifteen feet long. To the left are the remains of buildings and over the gateway is a room with a south-fronting window which is very notable from the lower slopes of the hill. Beyond the sevent gate the path, with a low wall on the right, leads about thirty paces east along nearly the crest of the hill-side to a ruined gateway, twelve paces deep, which seems to have had an upper storey. About thirty paces more, or about 3000 from the starting tree, lead to the hill-top.
Hill Top
On the hill-top, to the north-east from slightly swelling rocky under-slopes, the central rounded mound of the upper hill rises 200 or 250 feet with steep grassy boulder strewn-sides. On the main or lower hill-top to the east are the remains of houses hid by trees. To the north-west are stretches of sloping rock with large rock-hewn cisterns. About thirty yards to the west, with some olive bushes on either side of the approach, is the plinth of a large building known as the Sadar or Commandant’s camp. The olives were planted about 1841 by Dr. Gibson, the first Conservator of Forests, who used to spend some months of each year on the top of Shivner. The large building about sixty paces further west is the Ambarkhana or elephant stable. It measures about thirty-eight paces east and west and eighteen paces north and south. Inside it is divided into three lines of seven rooms in each line, each with a vaulted roof on pointed arches 14′ 9″ by 12′ 8″. and about fifteen feet high. A steep night of steps leads up the north face, and the flat roof, which is seventeen feet high, commands a view of the whole country to the west and south. Much of the ground near the Ambarkhana is covered with ruins. About a hundred yards beyond the Ambarkhana, the north-west end of the hill is enclosed by a battlemented wall with lozenge-shaped battlements 4′ 4″ high by 3′ broad and 3′ 8″ apart. The hill-top forms a triangle of which the south face is the base The length of the-south face is about 820 paces, of the east face about 1100, and of the west face about 1380. In the centre stands the upper hill-top, a steep mound 200 to 250 feet high, rising sharp from the east and with a gentler slope from the west, and along the north face and in the narrow tongue that runs to the north leaving a considerable belt of nearly level ground. The 820 paces of the south face stretch nearly east and west. Beginning from the south-west end, the first hundred yards lead to near the Ambarkhana, the second hundred yards to beyond the Commandant’s house, the third hundred yards to where the path up the hill gains the hill-top, and the fourth hundred yards to the end of the buildings. The next 300 yards are across sloping rocks with some rock-hewn and masonry cisterns on the left, and, on the right, a few young teak trees and a low parapet wall. Beyond, on the right, for the last sixty or seventy paces, at the south-east corner of the hill, an outer line of wall encloses the top scarp in the shape of a tongue known as the Tongue Watch or Jibhecha Pada. The east face runs nearly north and south in a straight line of about 1100 yards. Except in the south-east corner and in the long point that stretches to the north there is little level ground on the crest of the hill, the slopes of the upper hilltop rising almost immediately from the edge of the scarp. The east hill-top, except in the extreme south-east and in the north point, has no cisterns. It has a line of young teak trees running under the shelter of the upper hill, which, like the olives, are said to have been planted by Dr. Gibson. About a hundred paces lead from the south-east corner of the hill to the beginning of the rising ground at the foot of the upper hill-top. Six hundred paces more lead to the north end of the upper hill slopes and about 400 more to the overhanging outwork at the extreme north end of the hill. About the middle of the east face is a short cut to Junnar. This was formerly much used, and, though the path was destroyed by the British, the rock is said to be still scalable by a clever climber. Traces of old walls remain near where the path reached the hilltop. Except there, and at the two ends, the east scarp is so sheer that no parapet wall is required. From the north point the western cliff, which has a total length of 1380 paces, bends with a sharp corner to the south-east, and, forming a deep hollow, turns again to the south-west. Except at the north and the south ends, where it is crested with a wall, the sheer, almost overhanging, cliff defies approach.
Upper Hill
From the crest of the scarp, except at the north and south where the ground is nearly level, the slopes of the upper hill begin to rise but much more gently than the eastern slopes. The steep bare sides of the hill-top end in a flat summit seventy or eighty paces broad. The upper hill fills almost the whole of the main or lower hill-top except that it is surrounded by a narrow level or sloping belt to the west and south, and that a flat point about 160 paces broad and 400 long runs to the north. Besides the Ambarkhana near the south-west corner the chief buildings on the hill-top are, on the crest of the upper hill, a prayer-place, and a domed Musalman tomb. At the south end of the narrow flat point that runs to the north is a mosque with a fine flying pointed arch between its minarets, a little further is a round mansion, and at the extreme north an outwork. This overhanging northern scarp has the interest of being the old place of execution. From it at least till as late as 1760 prisoners were hurled. In that year seven Kolis who belonged to the party of Javji a notorious Koli outlaw were seized by Ramji Savant a Peshwa officer at Junnar and hurled down this north scarp. [Details are given in the Ahmadnagar Statistical Account, Bombay Gazetteer XVII. 405.] There are also about thirty cisterns or rock-hewn ponds of which one is on the top of the upper hill, twenty-five on the main top, of which eleven are in the west side, eleven in the south side, and three in the east side, and five are in the upper slope of the southern hill-side within the outer wall. Several, probably many, of these cisterns are Buddhist, belonging to the times of the caves, that is the second and third century after Christ. The four finest, which are supported on massive pillars and run into the hill-side, probably belong to the times of the Devgiri Yadavs, a little before the Musalman conquest at the close of the thirteenth century. Of these four great under-ground cisterns in the main hill-top, one is in the south top about sixty yards north of the entrance gateway, two Ganga and Jamna are in the west slopes of the hill-top, and one is under the mosque at the foot of the north slopes of the upper hill. Of the Musalman cisterns, which probably include all which are neither Buddhist nor Yadav, two, one in the north point and one near the south-east end, have masonry sides. On the upper hill-top, besides a rock-hewn pond and some ruined houses, are a prayer wall or idga, and a domed Musalman tomb. To the east of the prayer wall is a pavement about twenty-six paces long by eight broad. The wall is about eighteen feet high and is topped with a line of nine battlement or lozenge-shaped slabs ending in two towers with small minarets. In the middle of the wall eight very steep steps lead to a pulpit 9′ 8″ from the ground formed of two big stone slabs together 3′ 8″ by 4′, with two upright slabs at the sides about 1′ 7″ high. The east face of the wall is carved into a central and two side recesses each with an outer rectangular recess about two inches deep and an inner arched recess about 1′ 6″ deep. The centre rectangular recess is 15′ and the centre inner arch 10′ 6″ high and 7′ broad, the side rectangular recess 13′ 4″ high and the side arched recess 10′ 6″ high or the same height as the central arched recess; the breadth is 6′ 3″. In the wall, behind the foot of the pulpit stairs, is an arched door 2′ 4″ by 4′ 8″. About fifty yards to the north is a square Musalman tomb with a plain well-dressed stone body, four pointed open arches one on each face, and a rounded brick dome. The tomb stands, on a masonry plinth 25′ 3″ by 29′ 2″ and 3′ 8″ high. It is entered from the south by two stone steps. On the southwest and north, the plinth is about 1′ 6″ broader than the tomb and to the east it is 5′ 6″ broader. In each face of the tomb is a rectangular recess 13′ 10″ high 8′ 2″ broad and one inch deep. In each rectangular recess is a double-pointed arch the outer 12′ 6″ high, 8′ broad, and 4″ deep, and the inner, which is an open arch, 12′ 1″ high and 7′ 4″ broad. Above the arch is a stone plate about a foot long by nine inches broad with passages from the Kuran and on each side are two carved bosses. Above the rectangular recess runs a plain belt pf masonry, and over it a masonry cornice of thirteen lozenge-shaped or battlement-like slabs with corner minarets. Between the outstanding belt of masonry and the cornice, a line of Arabic writing stretches nearly the whole length of the east face. The inner measurements are 15′ 7″ by 15′ 9″. The floor is paved with well dressed stones, and, in, the centre, a stone tomb 2′ 3″ high rises in five steps from a base 6′ 6″ long to a top 4′ 11″ long. It seems to have been a man’s tomb. In the sides where the spring begins, about 4 10″ from the ground, the corners of the arches are cut back about 3″. In each corner between the arches, about 5′ 4″ from the floor, a centre and two side brackets support a masonry face about 5′ 4″ broad and 6′ high. In each face is a rectangular recess an inch deep 5′ 4″ high and 3′ 6″ broad. In the rectangular recess is an arched half dome about 4′ 6″ long 3′ 2″ broad and 2′ 2″ deep. The half dome has five faces and arched niches carved in the inner side faces. Above is an eight-sided plain cornice about 2′ 2″ broad. Then about 14′ 6″ from the floor eight brackets stand out and cutting off the corners support the round brick dome. In the base of the dome is a row of sixteen panels 3′ 10″ high with pilasters between. Above this is a round plain dome perhaps about eight feet high.
View
Near the tomb the hill-top commands a wide view. To the east a broad plain broken by a few low hills stretches to distant lines of level-topped uplands. The west and north are full of hills, whose bare sides and under slopes are relieved by the rich groves and garden-lands of the Min valley. To the north-east, almost at the hill-foot, lie the citadel, the brown-tiled roofs, and the scattered trees of Junnar. The town stretches in a long line along the right bank of the Kukdi, the river showing in winding reaches and with patches of bright green garden-land on either bank. To the east of the town stretches a bare plain with a scanty sprinkling of trees, broken by one or two low pointed hills, the remains of the south-east spur of the Suleman range. On the north-east horizon are the high flat-shouldered hills of Gidaria and Bhamberi near Udapur in Junnar. To the east are the flat-topped hill above the large village of Otur and Gavlia hill in Pimpri-Pendhar village. Further to the right is Ale village hill, its long level outline broken by the gap through which the main Nasik road runs. Below, close at hand to the south-east, stretches the irregular line of the Manmoda hill-tops. To the east, like islands from a great sea, rise from the plain the single hill of Dudhare, and further to the south-east, much like Dudhare in shape, the hill-fort of Narayangad. To the south close at hand is the Suralia hill and to the south-west is the level-topped Chincholi-Parunde range with two peaks of the higher hills of Khed showing behind. A little to the west stretches the richly-wooded garden-land of Minner or the Vale of the Min, and, above the lowlands, to the west rise the bare level ranges of the Kala-Thamba hills with a pass leading to Bhimashankar. A little to the north in the distance are two hills with small square cupola-like tops, the south most of which is Hatej and close to the north the great hill of Dhak, the opening to the A’mboli pass, and the southern top of the range that running north into the Junnar valley ends near the Nana pass in the great hill-fort of Jivdhan. To the north of the hills that bound the Min valley, close at hand the Tulja hills hide all but the south-east point of Chavand and the other hills including Jivdhan, which form the southern boundary of the Kukadner or Vale of the Kukdi, as the broad strath that leads from Junnar west to the Nana pass is commonly but incorrectly called. Nana’s Thumb or Nanacha Angtha, the great rock that stands sentinel over the Nana pass is hid, but the low bare hill to the north of the Nana pass can be seen. Further north the broken western face of the Anjanola hills marks the end of the range that forms the northern boundary of the Kukdi valley. The rest are hid by the long lines of the Mhesardi and Mangni hills with the scarp of Hadsar fort showing between them. To the north of the Mangni hills, over the Mhar pass, stand the huge level shoulders and the gently pointed top of Harishchandragad (4691) one of the highest of the Sahyadris, having two or three level layers of trap which have disappeared from the lower surrounding hills. To the north close at hand, across the Junnar valley, are the scarped sides and level top of Hatkeshvar. Behind Hatkeshvar are the row of rounded tomb-like knobs of the Varhad or Navra-Navri rocks, and to the north-east the circle is completed by the scarped sides and flattened peak of the Suleman or Gane’sh Lena hills.
Flying-Arch Mosque
To the north, at the foot of the upper hill, is a mosque with a west wall about fifteen feet high whose outer face has fallen. At each end of its east face, about 24 feet apart, minarets rise about twenty feet above the roof. Inside of the minarets, clinging to them for about ten feet, springs a flying arch, which, about fifteen feet above the roof, Stretches to a point halfway between the minarets. To the east of the mosque, entered from the north side, is a court 55′ 8″ by 17′ 2″. The mosque, which is of rough stone masonry, has a broken stone eave about two feet deep and a plinth 18″ high. The east face is a pointed arch 17′ broad at the base. On the right hand, near the top of the east wall, is an inscription and on the left corner it; another inscription slab, but the letters are worn. The inner measurements of the mosque are 16′ 7″ by 23′ 2″. In the centre is; a round brick dome, and in the three walls to the south-west and; north are three peaked-arch recesses, the west recess 2′ 8″ deep and the north and south recesses 3′ 8″ each. In the west face is pulpit and an arched prayer-niche and three small niches about 4′ 4″ from the ground. To the east an arched doorway leads, down a steep flight of steps, to an open air pond or cistern about 75′ long 20′ 8″ broad and 20′ deep, the upper half of the wall being masonry and the lower half rock. In the south wall are stone stanchions for working a water-bag. Under the mosque, to the west of this outer pond, is a great rock-cut reservoir the roof resting on two rows of two pillars and two pilasters. It is about eighty-six feet long forty broad, and about sixteen deep. It holds about twelve feet of water during the rainy season and at other times about six. The front of the reservoir is a plain rock cave about six feet deep and a veranda with seats 3′ 7″ broad with a back 1′ 8″ high and 10″ broad The veranda is broken by two central pillars and two other pillars halfway between the central pillars and the end pilasters. The central pillars are about eight feet apart and support a massive slab of rock. The other veranda pillars have plain massive four-sided shafts 3′ 10″ high with faces 2′ 8″ broad and capitals 3′ 6″ broad and 10″ deep. In the capital is a central flat belt about five inches broad, and on each side a central band of three inches and two receding bands above and below. The corners of the square capitals end in little horns or knobs. On the top of the capital is a square plate about half an inch thick; above the plate is a neck about an inch and a half thick, and on the neck a bracket capital divided into four faces 1′ 9″ high 2′ 10″ broad-and standing out about 9″ beyond the line of the capital. Each face is carved into two rolls. The style of the work is Hindu not Musalman, though it is perhaps not much older than the mosque, being probably the work of one of the later Yadav kings of Devgiri. A night of rock-cut steps outside of the mosque enclosure separate from the flight of Musalman masonry steps shows that the makers of the mosque were not the makers of the cistern. To the north of the mosque is a ruined Musalman mansion with, in the upper storey of the east wall, the remains of a handsome bracket support for a bow window. Beyond is a large empty pond with masonry sides about eight feet deep. It is thirty-three paces long and about thirty-three paces across at the broadest from which it narrows northwards to a point. Further north are more ruined houses, and at the extreme end of the point overhanging the scarp is a ruined outwork. A flanking wall runs on the crest of the scarp for some distance along both the east and the west face. Along the west face, about eighty-five paces to the south-west of the mosque, are two great cisterns like the cistern under the mosque. Each has an outer pond about 33′ into 18′ with three plain four-sided pillars at the back, and inside of the pillars a great cistern hewn thirty or forty feet under the hills, the roofs supported by two rows of two four-sided pillars. These cisterns are known as Ganga and Jamna, and, like the cistern under the mosque, probably belong to the time of the Yadavs. Beyond Ganga and Jamna are several small rock-hewn cisterns, and on the right, about 500 paces from the end, begins the line of fortifications that crowns the south-west corner of the hill.
Buddhist Caves
The [The cave accounts are contributed by Dr. Bhagvanlal Indrani, Hon. M. R. A. Soc] Buddhist caves in the hill sides round Junnar number 135 with about 170 distinct openings. Of these ten are chaityas or chapel caves, and 125 halls cells or separate dwellings many of them with more than one inner cell. Besides these many small cisterns and rock seats have not been numbered. All these caves are in the early Buddhist style and probably range in date from the first to the fourth century after Christ. Almost all are plain and the only object of worship is the relic-shrine or daghoba of which there are ten. The caves are fairly rich in inscriptions numbering thirty-five. Most of the inscriptions are short and contain little but the name of the giver and the description of the gift. But seven have some historical interest. Of the whole number of cuttings 138 are without inscriptions. Of the halls cells and cisterns that have inscriptions nineteen have one and two have two; and one of the chapels of the Ambika group in the Manmoda hills has no fewer the eleven.The Junnar caves may be arranged into five groups. The Manmoda caves, from one to two miles to the south and south west of the town, are fifty in number of which four are chapels and forty-six are dwelling caves. These caves form three subordinate groups the Bhimashankar caves in the south-east, the Ambika caves in the north, and the Bhutling caves in the south-west. The second group is in the side of Shivner about half a mile to the west of Junnar. The Shivner caves include three groups on the east, on the south, and on the west faces of the hill. They include sixty-five openings of which three are chapels and the rest halls cells and cisterns. The third group is about two miles to the west of the town in the east face of the Tulja Hills behind Shivner. This contains eleven caves of which one is a chapel cave and the rest halls cells and cisterns. The fourth group is the Ganesh Caves in the south scarp of the Suleman hills about a mile to the north of the town. This group includes twenty-six caves of which two are chapels, twenty-four halls or dwelling cells, and fifteen cisterns.
Manmoda Caves
At the south-east end of the Manmoda hills, facing east about 200 feet above the plain, and going from south to north, is a group of Buddhist caves known from the local name of the chaitya or chapel cave as the Bhimashankar group. The Bhimashankar caves are about a mile to the west of the Poona road and about a mile south east of Junnar. The path to the caves lies across rocky under-slopes up a steep but easy ascent. The caves face the single peak of Dudhare which has a tomb of Pir Shah Daval on the top. The view beyond is across a wide plain sprinkled with trees und bounded by level lines of distant hills.
Cave I
Cave I. is a layana or monk’s dwelling. It is in two parts, a veranda and three cells in the back wall with plain doorways opening on the veranda. The doorways are nearly equal in size and all appear to have grooves for wooden frames. The first and second cells are nearly equal in size but the third is about two feet broader, and has a two feet broad bench The first cell is about 7′ 10″ deep 6′ 8″ broad and 6′ 9″ high The doorway is 2′ 2″ broad and 6′ 5″ high. The second cell is 8′ deep 6′ 10″ broad and 7′ 5″ high with a doorwav 2′ 2″ broad and 6′ 3″ high. The third cell is 7″ deep by 9′ 2″ broad and 7′ high with a doorway 2′ 1″ broad and 6′ 3″ high. Along the left wall is a bench 2′ broad and 2′ 6″ high. The side; walls of the cells vary in length. The veranda is 18′ 10″ broad 10′ high and 6′ 3″ deep with about six inches in front broken. In front of the veranda are two pillars and two pilasters on which the veranda beam rests. The shapes of the pillars and pilasters are of the style common to the A’ndhra period [The Andhra period is called after the Andhra or Andhra-bhritya kings, who chiefly from Paithan or Pratisthan on the Godavari about fifty miles north-east of Ahmadnagar, ruled the whole breadth of India from about B.C. 90 to A. D. 200.] consisting of an octagonal shaft with waterpot bases and capitals. The waterpot at the base rests on a round ring over four square plates each plate larger than the one above it; the waterpot at the capital is inverted with, instead of the ring, an amalaka [ The amalaka is the medicinal or lucky berry of the Phyllanthus emblica which when half dry shrivels into grooves.] resembling a cogwheel and over the wheel the plate capital. [ The details of the pillars are, beginning from the foot, the four base plates a little ver 2″ each, then the circular base of the waterpot 2″, the waterpot 1′ 10”, the eight-sided shaft 3′ 8″ high and 3 9″ round. The distance between the pillars is 4′.] The front of the veranda is plum without any ornament. About seventy feet to the left of cave I. and at about the same level, are the remains of three cells with a broken veranda, apparently a dwelling with three cells.
Cave II
Cave II. was intended to be a chaitya or chapel cave, but as a slit near the ceiling of the present back wall admitted water, the idea of making it a chapel seems to have been abandoned. To catch the water a small cistern has been cut at the left end of the back wall. The cave has an inner hall and a veranda. The hall is 33′ 9″ deep and varies in breadth from 13′ 6″ in the back to 11′ in front. The left wall is rather slanting, and juts out a little into the hall. The floor of the hall is even, and almost on the same level as the veranda. The ceiling is rough and uneven, varying in height and averaging eleven feet. The quadrangular block, which seems to have been cut from the rock to make the relic-shrine or daghoba, is 7′ deep and 8′ 6″ broad and rises to the ceiling. Behind it is a passage 3′ 7″ wide at the back and about 2′ on the sides. The flaw in the back wall admitting water appears to have stopped the attempt to carve a relic-shrine. The mass of rock seems to have been left rough and some time later a sitting female image which is not quite finished and seems to be of considerable age has been carved on the front of the rock. The figure sits cross-legged and its hands and middle are unfinished. It wears large anklets and a necklace with an end hanging like a bunch between the breasts. The ears have large earrings and a plain square crown is on the head. The doorway of the cave is about as high as the ceiling, or 10′ 4″ excluding the height of its threshold. It has grooves for a wooden frame. The veranda is 9′ 10″ broad by 4′ 7″ deep and 12′ 9″ high, or about 1′ 9″ higher than the hall. In front of the veranda, in a space 2′ 3″ deep, are two pillars and two pilasters, and between each pillar and pilaster is a foot-high bench with a foot-high curtain. On the back of the curtain is the rail pattern. The pillars and pilasters have not the pot and plate capital below but their top ornament differs little from that of the pillars of cave I- consisting of an octagonal shaft with upon it an inverted pot surmounted by a plain ring on which are four plates each larger than the plate below it. A new feature in these pillars is that the narrow eave of the ceiling does not rest on the pillar capital but on a quadrangular shaft over the capital. The cave seems to have been painted. The coating of plaster is still distinct in the ceiling of the hall and still more in the roof of veranda, where the colour remains. The ornament seems to have consisted of round circles between square panels, and the colours used appear to have been red yellow and white. The work appears to have been very poor. As at the Kanheri caves in Salsette, the plaster seems to have consisted of rice chaff and clay. The cave front or facade occupies a space 20′ broad by 40′ high in which the cave has been cut. Outside the veranda is the eave in which appear the ends of mortices. Over the. eave is the rail pattern, and above the rail pattern in a recess is a round arch, and, within the arch, a deep inner arch. Steps, which apparently led between the pillars have disappeared. Two or three steps also seem to have led to a flat space which communicated by a doorway with cave III. Over this doorway is an inscription of two whole and a portion of a third line. Except the beginning and some traces of the end letters on the right the letters have been lost from the flow of water from above. The first line had twenty letters, the second twenty and the third eleven of which seven remain. The part preserved reads:
Inscription 1.
(1) Sidham upa’sakasa nagama (sa).
(2) Satamalaputasa.
(3) Fata Virabhutina.
This seems to record a gift by a merchant whose name cannot be made out. Perhaps the giver is the Virabhuti mentioned in the third line. Whether the gift was the doorway or cave II. or cave III. cannot be determined. It is probably connected with the chapel cave II.
Cave III
Cave III. is in two parts, an inner hall and a veranda. The hall is about 18′ broad by 15′ deep and 7′ high. The walls are not equal in length, the left wall being 15′ 10″ and the right wall 14′ 10″. In the back it is 18′ 5″ broad and in front 17′ 3″. To the right, along the entire length of the wall, is a bench 10″ high and 2′ 3″ broad. The doorway is as high as the hall ceiling that is 7′ by 4′ 10″ broad, and with grooves for a wooden frame. The front veranda, which is 16′ 8″ broad by 4′ 10″ deep and 10′ 3″ high or about 2′ 9″ higher than the hall roof, is on a 6″ lower level than the hall floor. In the left wall a partly broken door opens on cave II. In front were two plain octagonal pillars and two pilasters. The right pilaster is entire and part of the left pillar hangs from the ceiling. This cave differs in shape both from dwellings and from chapel caves. It has no object of worship, the bench on the left is larger than a dwelling cave bench, and there are no holes above the bench for the usual cloth-pegs. The cave was probably a dining hall or sattra though dining halls generally have benches on all sides instead of, as here, only on one. side. To the right of Cave III. is an earth-filled cistern, and beyond it, to the right, seems a trace of another cistern.
Cave IV
Cave IV. about thirty feet below cave III. reached by a broken and difficult path, is an unfinished dwelling intended to have a veranda and cell. The fear of water, from cracks in the veranda roof, has left the cell unfinished with a depth and breadth of about 6′ 6″ and a height of about 6′. The doorway is 3′ wide and is as high as the cell. The veranda is 20′ 9″ broad by 6′ 3″ deep and 1′ higher than the cell. In front were two plain quadrangular pillars and two pilasters. The left pillar and pilaster remain but the whole of the right pillar and about half of the right pilaster are lost.
Cave V.
Cave V. about sixty feet to the right of cave IV. and on the same level, is not a cave but an artificial opening 26′ 4″ broad by 12′ 8″ deep much filled with earth. It may either be a view place or a large cistern of the style of a bathing cistern. Above Cave V. is a similar smaller opening. Above caves IV. and V. and about 70′ to the right of Cave III. on a high level, were four cisterns, three of which have broken fronts and look like cells. The first is filled with earth and has a large pipal tree growing in front of it. To the right of the front enough of the work remains to leave no doubt that it was a cistern. The second cistern about twenty feet to the right is on a lower level. It is a larger cistern with a broken front and a recess at its mouth with a small bench. In the back wall of the recess is a well cut and well preserved inscription which reads:
Inscription 2
Sivasamaputasa Sivabhutino deyadhamma podhi.
This may be translated
The meritorious gift of a cistern by Sivabhuti son of Sivasama.’
The recess seems to have been used as a cell and a doorway in its right wall leads to the third cistern which is a little larger than the second but not so deep. Its front also is broken. To the right, on the top, part of the mouth remains. A little to the right of the third is the fourth cistern filled with earth and hidden by a Ficus glomerata or audumbar tree.
Cave VI
Cave VI. is a sitting rest-chamber, which is called a mandap or pleasure seat in Inscription 3. It is a recess 9′ 10″ broad by 4′ 10″ deep and 6′ 8″ high, with on three sides the remains of a bench 1′ broad by 1′ high. To the right a recess probably contained the mouth of a cistern for the use of monks resting in the mandap. On the right wall just under the ceiling is an important well cut inscription in three lines. Two or three letters in the beginning of each line are lost; the rest are well preserved. The inscription reads:
Inscription 3
(1) [Rano] [The letters rano are entirely lost. Looking at the size of the line and of the way in which Nahapana is mentioned in Nasik inscriptions, the two missing letters are without doubt rano.] Maha’khatapasa [For maha the text has maha probably a mistake of the engraver.] Sa’mi Nahapa’nasa
(2) [a’] [A is half lost and the half that remains is very indistinct. The letters matya are dim but not doubtful.] ma’tyasa Vachhasagotasa Ayamasa
(3) deyadhama [De is entirely lost but as the letters yadhama follow though dim, de seems to be the probable letter.] chadhi [Chadhi is a mistake for podhi. The cistern near the cave leaves no doubt that a cistern was meant in the inscription,] matapocha punathayavasa [Vasa should be vase.] 46 kato
and it may be translated
‘The meritorious gift of a mandapa and cistern by Ayama of the Vatsa stock, prime minister to the king, the great Satrapa, the lord Nahapa’na, made for merit in the year. 46.’
Cave VII
Cave VII. is a small dwelling including a cell and a small open front. The cell is 7′ square and 7′ high, the front wall 3″ less in breadth than the back wall. The doorway which is as high as the cell is 2′ 8′ broad, and has no grooves for a wooden frame. The open front is 7′ 2” broad and 1′ 7″ deep. Its floor is nearly on the same level as the cell, perhaps an inch lower while the roof of the front is about one inch higher than the cell.
Cave VIII
Cave VIII. is an irregular row of seven cells. In front is a space with a greatest breadth of 10” 8″ in the middle and narrowing at the ends. The cells have a broken overhanging roof with a greatest breadth of 5′, narrowing towards the right, the effect of time. By the side of the first four doorways, in the front wall just under the ceiling, are niches of unknown use about 6″ deep and 6” broad. All are dwelling cells as the front and back wall of each has a hole for the pole from which hung the monk’s cloth and bowl.
Cave IX
Cave IX. about thirty feet below cave VIII. is a hall with a front. Its sides are irregular, with a greatest depth of 15′ 6″, and a breadth of 23′ 9′. The height is 6′ 3″, but as the floor is about 1′ 9″ deep in clay, the original height must have been about 8′. The front wall, which has doors, is smaller than the back wall being 19′ 5″. The right wall is 13′ 8′ and narrows towards the front to avoid a slit in the rock likely to admit water. The left wall is 15′ 6″ long. On the right side, running along the entire length of the wall, is a broken bench about 1′ 9′ high and with a greatest breadth of three feet. In the front wall are two doorways the left door smaller than the right. The overhanging roof of the front space is so broken that it does not look like a front, but the walls on either side are preserved. It is 19′ 2″ broad by 4′, deep. This cave was probably a dining hall or sattra as its general plan much resembles that of cave III. About twelve feet to the left is a recess, either a ruined cistern or an unfinished cistern. Between caves VIII. and IX. and about fifty-five feet to the right, a group of cisterns are cut to catch a spring which flows from the hill-top. The first two cisterns, which are side by side, look like recesses and, as their partition wall is broken, they look like a two- celled dwelling. Of the first cistern the front is preserved, and traces show that its mouth was near the left end. Of the second cistern nearly half the front is gone. A little to the right of the second cistern in a recess is the third cistern, its front partly broken, To the right of the third cistern was a rock-cut seat now broken. Further to the right are four other cisterns entirely filled with earth. Above these appear to be some excavations, perhaps cisterns. now inaccessible. About fifteen feet further is an excavation like cave V. It may be a seat or perhaps a large-mouthed bathing pond. Above this are what appear to be four earth-filled cisterns recognizable only by the grass or brushwood growing out of their mouths.
Cave X
About eighty yards to the right of this group of cisterns, near where the direction of the hill begins to change, is Cave X. The cave faces east-north-east and includes an unfinished dwelling with a cell and veranda. The veranda is finished and the inner cell incomplete, but apparently not from any flaw in the rock. The irregularly round cell is 2′ 10″ deep. This is the last cave in the Bhimashankar group. Above it is an excavation difficult of access which looks natural though it is artificial.About fifteen feet to the right of cave X. near one another are five small excavations like cave V. As they are partly filled it is hard to make out whether they are view seats, large open bathing cisterns with broken front walls, or broken cells.
Ambika Group
About 300 yards from cave X. comes the Ambika group of nineteen caves stretching from east-south-east to west-north-west, and generally facing north-north-east. About forty feet above where the group begins are seven cisterns, two of which hold good water.
Cave XI
Cave XI., a small dwelling cave, appears to have included a cell with a front veranda. The front wall of the cell and the right and left sides and the roof of the veranda are all broken. The cell, which is 8′ 2″ deep and 7′ 8″ broad, is almost entirely filled with earth. To the left are traces of an excavation. But it is entirely filled with earth and blocked by a rock fallen from above.
Cave XII
Cave XII. close to cave XI. is an unfinished dwelling cave, including two unfinished cells and a veranda. The veranda is finished but the cells are incomplete, especially the right cell. Both sides of the veranda are broken. Like cave XI. it is nearly half full of earth.
Cave XIII
Cave XIII. consists of a cell and a veranda. The cell is 15′ 7″ broad by 7′ 6” deep with irregular sides. The veranda is 7′ 10″ broad by 2′ 10″ deep. Both of its sides and a little of its front are broken. From what remains there appear to have been two quadrangular pilasters with an eave resting on them. The front of the cell is broken, but a little piece of rock hanging about the middle shows that the cave had two doorways.
Cave XIV
Cave XIV. is a dwelling cave, consisting of a hall with two cells on either side. It is greatly broken. In the back wall of the hall is a large hole caused by a layer of soft rock. The hall is 18′ 6″ square and 9′ high. The side cells, which are nearly equal in size, are 6″ higher than the level of the hall floor. The first cell to the left is 6′ 10″ deep and 6′ 7″ broad, and the second is 6′ 8″ deep and 6′ 10″ broad; the first cell to the right is 6′ 10″ deep by 7’10” broad, and the second 7′ deep by 7′ 8″ broad. The cells have plain doorways 7′ 5″ high. All the cells are nearly 7′ 5″ high and their ceiling is about 1′ higher than the hall ceiling. The right front wall of the hall is entire. The left front wall, though broken from below, remains in the upper part and shows that the hall door was 6′ broad and as high as the hall ceiling. The hall has an open front 16′ 4″ broad and 5′ 8″ deep, as appears from the still preserved top of the left side. The right side is lost. In the back wall of the veranda and to the right of the hall doorway below the ceiling is an inscription in two lines partly broken. The inscription reads:
Inscription 4.
(1) (Ga) hapatiputanam bhatunnam donanka
(2) sa chaugabham deyadhamam.
This seems to show that the givers of this cave were two sons of a householder whose name has been lost in the beginning of the first line. The names of the sons also are lost in the beginning of the second line. The cave is called four-celled.
Cave XV
Cave XV. is a large cell, 12′ 9″ deep 12′ broad and 8′ high. Catch-holes in either wall seem to show that the cave has been used for cattle. Hammer marks show that an attempt has been made to break the partition walls. The door is 4′ 3″ broad and 8′ high, and has holes in the top for a thick wooden frame. The cell had an overhanging eave.
Cave XVI
A flight of steps between caves XIV. and XV. leads to Cave XVI. The old steps have been broken and new steps have been made probably by the townspeople. An image of the Jain goddess Ambika has been carved in the cave and the image is worshipped by the Jains and other people of Junnar, and, after the name of this goddess, this group is locally known as Ambika Lene. The cave is a dwelling, consisting of five cells with a large front veranda. The cells are not cut straight and are of unequal size. Part of the back wall of the veranda beginning with the third cell and part also of the front wall are broken. The first cell is 6′ 8″ broad 7′ 10″ deep and 6′ 10″ high. In the back has been cut a shallow recess for an image or perhaps to make an inner cell. In the left wall is a hole for the monk’s clothes-peg. The door is 2′ 6″ broad and as high as the ceiling. The cell floor is 3′ lower than the veranda floor. To the left of the doorway, in a small shallow recess, is a standing figure of a Jain Kshetrapal or Field-Guardian, about 1′ 6″ high, of the tenth or eleventh century. His left hand rests on his hip and in the right hand is a weapon too broken to be identified. Round his face is an aureole. Near his right leg is a sitting human figure and near his left leg is a dog. This image has been broken probably by Musalmans. To the right of the doorway in a small recess is a broken sitting figure of a goddess 10″ high, probably a figure of the Jain, goddess Chakreshvari. On either side of the image are two human figures. In front of each image is a pair of holes in which to lay a board or plank for offerings.The second cell is 7′ 8′ deep by 6′ 9″ broad and 6′ 9″ high with a peg-hole in the back wall and two catch-holes high up the side walls. The third cell is unfinished because of a soft layer in the left side wall. It is 5′ 10″ deep by 4′ 10″ broad and 6′ 4″ high. Between the third and fourth cells is a recess, which must originally have contained the figure of a Jain god. The plinth for the seat of the god has been made as well as a drain to carry away the water of the god’s bath. The fourth and fifth cells were originally separate but the Jains have broken down, the partition, a trace of which appears in the ceiling, and made the two cells into one hall 7′ 10″ deep by 17′ 3″ broad and 7′ 1″ high In the back wall two Jain images sit cross-legged in the lotus position. They appear to have been broken by the Musalmans. The image to the left, probably of Neminath the twenty-second Tirthankar, is 3′ high and 2′ 5″ in the cross-legged posture, and has a three-canopied umbrella, and, on either side of the umbrella, a broken flying angel with a fly-flap or chauri. To the left in a recess were two small standing figures one 1′ 3″ high and the other smaller. Each figure had over the head a serpent hood, or perhaps a badly cut umbrella. The image to the right, also broken, probably by Musalmans, is perhaps of Adinath the first Jain Tirthankar, as above his shoulder are the carved ring-lest by which, in old images, Adinath is identified. The image sits cross-legged 2′ 5″ high and 2′ 3″ between the knees. Round the face is an aureole. Above is a three-canopied umbrella of somewhat different shape from the umbrella over the image of Neminath. On either side of the umbrella is an angel with a fly-flap. In the left wall of the hall, in a recess, is Ambika seated under a mango tree. The image is 2′ 3″ high by 2′.2″ broad. The left leg is crossed and the right leg hangs down. Under the left knee is the lion, Ambika’s car. Over the left and right knees are two boys, her sons Siddha and Buddha. To the left of Ambika, a standing figure 1′ 4′ high holds an umbrella. Above the mango trees three Tirthankars sit cross-legged, the middle figure larger than the two side figures. This is to show that the goddess Ambika is subordinate to the Tirthankars, though she is regarded as the special guardian goddess or shasandevi of Neminath the twenty-second Tirthankar. Under each figure are two holes probably for wooden planks. From their workmanship, these images appear to be of the tenth or eleventh century, when the Jains seem to have plastered these two cells and the veranda in front of them. Traces of the plaster, which seems to have consisted of thin hemp-like fibres mixed with lime, remain.
In front of all the cells is a broken veranda 49′ 10″ broad by 7′ 2″ deep. A wall ran along the veranda in front of caves XV. XVII. and XVIII. This wall, as well as more than half of the veranda floor, is ruined. To admit light into it, each cell appears to have had a door in the front wall, but, except the first door and the top part of the second, no traces of the doors are left.
Cave XVII
Cave XVII. is to the right of cave XV. on a two feet higher level and under cave XVI. It is a cell 7′ deep by 7′ 8″ broad and 7′ 2″ high. Its back wall and left side remain, though a partly successful attempt has been made to break the left wall. The right wall is partly broken while the front wall and part of the ceiling are gone. In the back wall is a peg-hole.
Cave XVIII
Cave XVIII. by the side of cave XVII. and under the veranda of cave XVI. consists of two cells now entirely ruined except the back wall. They are about 5′ 6″ in front of cave XVII.
Cave XIX
Cave XIX. to the right of cave XVIII. and under cave XVI. appears to have consisted of a veranda and an inner cell 7′ 1″ deep by 7′ 9″ broad and 7′ 10″ high. Its front wall and veranda are gone. A door in the left of this veranda probably led to the right cell of cave XVIII.
Cave XX
Cave XX. is a small plain quadrangular chapel cave. Its floor, which is now much filled with earth, appears to have originally been on the same level as cave XXI. to its right, the great chapel of this group. Its front wall and part of the side walls are broken. The cave probably extended to the pillars of cave XXI. and was 14 deep and 9′ 8″ broad. The height cannot be ascertained as it is much filled with earth. The relic-shrine or chaitya is about two feet from the back and side walls. In shape the relic-shrine is of the time of Gotamiputra II. (A.D. 50), consisting of a toothed belt on a round plinth, the belt surmounted by a strip of rail pattern, and on the plinth a more than three quarters circular dome, and above the dome a capital with rail pattern (now broken but distinct on the back), and on the capital a broken shaft supporting an umbrella cut out of the ceiling. The dome is about 3′ high. [It is possible that, like the relic-shrine to the left of Kanheri cave IV. the relic-shrine in this cave may be dedicated to some local monk. The cave could not then be called a chapel or chaitya cave as the word chaitya is only used for relic-shrines in honour of Buddha while the word for relic-shrines in honour of monks, as the Bhaja and Kanheri cave inscriptions show, is thupa or stupa.]
Cave XXI
Cave XXI. is an unfinished chapel or chaitya cave intended to be the chief place of worship in the Ambika group. A large cross layer of soft rock, as high as the cave and six feet broad, which runs throughout the rock and appears in cave XIV. about sixty feet to the left, seems to be the cause why the chapel was left unfinished. In spite of this layer of soft rock the excavation seems to have been continued up to the relic-shrine, but a second layer of soft trap behind the relic-shrine seems to have stopped further work. The veranda has been finished, the hall also is mostly finished, but the relic-shrine is incomplete. The rock intended for the relic-shrine seems to have been left unfinished while being dressed; only the tee has been made and the dome appears to have been partly brought into shape. The hall is 37′ 4″ deep by 16′ broad in front. The roof is vaulted on perpendicular walls the height of which cannot be given as the cave is greatly filled with clay washed in during the rains. The doorway is quadrangular five feet broad and apparently about ten feet high. Above is a moulding 13′ 7″ long and 1′ 9″ broad. Above the moulding is a recess in which is a horse-shoe arch, and within the arch a vaulted window admits light to the cave. In front of the door a flat-roofed veranda has two pillars and two pilasters in the Shatakarni (B. C. 90- A.D. 300) style with a central octagonal shaft on an Indian waterpot resting on a ring over four square plates, each plate smaller than the one below it. Above the shaft are the pot and the plates inverted, with, over the plates, a quadrangular shaft on which as in cave II. rests the eave of the roof. The left pilaster is lost. The chief interest of this cave are eleven inscriptions in the veranda, many of them recording grants, but none referring to the making of the cave. The grants do not seem to refer to this unfinished chaitya cave but to the monastic establishment which lived in the Ambika group. This cave seems to have been chosen for recording grants because it was empty and unused The inscriptions are badly cut on a rough undressed surface, but though a little hard to read, most are complete.
Inscription 5.
Inscription 5 is on the right hand pillar in two parts, one on a face to the left of the visitor and the other on the right face. It is hard to say, until the meaning is made out, whether this is one inscription in two parts or two separate inscriptions. The letters are distinct, deep-cut, and well preserved, but no meaning can be got out of them. The inscription seems to be in a foreign language written in cave characters. The inscription is in two parts, the first of which may be read:
| (1) Apura’na | (5) Va’dhima’.2 | |
| (2) Deaka’.1 | (6) Nikava. 3 | |
| (3) Hamana’. | (7) Vancha4 | |
| (4) Roathi. |
1Deaka may be also read desuka.
2The letter ma is confused by a crack in the rock; it may perhaps be va or mi.]
3Nikava may be nikacha.
4Vancha may be also read voncha or choncha.
The second part may be read
(1) Asa. [Asa may be musa.] (2) Tha’da. (3) Khunesa. [ Khunesa may be rinesa.] (4) Ma. [The small cross line after a marks that the writing is complete.]
Inscription 6.
Inscription 6 is on the left pillar on the side facing the inscribed faces of the right pillar. It is in four distinct and well cut lines. As in Inscription 5 no meaning can be made out of the words which are:
(1) Ta’bake. [Tabake may be nabake.] (2) Keausa. [Kesusa may be keasa.] (3) Ta’tobho. [The middle letter to of tatobho may be an engraver’s mistake for chho.] (4) Badhi.[Badhi may be gadhi or sadhi.]
Inscription 7.
Inscription 7 is in the back wall of the veranda to the left of the moulding on the doorway. The inscription is in four lines faintly cut on a rough surface but distinct. The inscription reads:
(1) Ga’meshu [The third letter shu appears like pa in the original as the letters are very nearly alike. It is curious to find shu here as the letter sha is not generally used in Prakrit.] va’nadeshu [The letter shu at the end is also written like up but to read up makes no sense.] nivatana’ni
(2) panarasasa [Compare below aparajita in Inscription 10.] palapasa
(3) deyadhama apajitesuga
(4) nepayogokahathe da’na- [Dana in the original looks like nana. It is probably an engraver’s mistake as; the first letter must be da.]
This records the grant by a man named Palapa of fifteen nivar-tanas in Vanada village to remain in charge of a man named Payogoka of the Apajita gana or sect. Vanada village may be the modern Vanavdi four miles west of Junnar. Apajita must be a Buddhist sect. The Jains also have ganas, one very old sect among the Digambaras is Aparajita which this name closely resembles. [Compare below aparajita in Inscription 10.]
Inscription 8
Inscription 8 on the moulding consists of four long lines on a rough surface, the letters getting larger in each lower line. As the surface is rough and full of irregular chisel marks crossing the letters the inscription is hard to read and is puzzling. It may be read:
(1). Gedha [Gedha may be gidha.] viha’ra’na [The lower part of ra is much curved and appears like ad but it must be na. Na ought to be nam.] da’na [The original has dana probably for dana. A chisel mark below na makes it look like ku but daku gives no sense, while examination shows that the roughness in the rock has no connection with the letter.] ka’ka (pu) teta [Pu seems to have been omitted after kaka and before tela for Sk. Kakaputrena. This appears to be the name of some place in Junnar, as, at the end, mention is made of a gift of eight nivatanas to the Kakaputiya samaya or the assemblage residing in Kakaputa.] sa’rasavano na’ma vannakaro iya hala’panasa’ya [Panasaya is a mistake probably for pannasaya.] bhoga deyadhama suvanaka’ra seniya.
(2) Ga’ma Danagara khetramha’ chheta ha [The ha after chheta is hard to understand. It seems to be unconnected with the sentence. If it is taken as a numeral it might represent eight. Still this cannot be right as the attribute savajatabhogam is in the singular number and as the figure for eight which occurs in the last line of the inscription is different.] (?) savaja'(ta) bhogam [The ta after savaja has been omitted probably by the engraver. Without supplying a ta the phrase gives no meaning, and the phrase savajatabhogam occurs in the Nasik inscriptions. Bombay Gazetteer, XVI. pp. 551, 552 note 2.] nivatana’ni be2 [ For be 2 the original seems to have something like pota; it is a mistake of the engraver as the letters pota and be 2 are much alike.] deyadhama simita’ya game panakavachhare hala’to karo bha’takasa deyadhama.
(3). Ga’me madahatalesu [Le looks like pe as the letters are very closely alike; but as the matra is on the second stroke and not on the first, le is better. The middle stroke in su appears to be a mistake of the engraver. With the stroke the mark cannot be made out as any letter.] chhetasu lonikamato bha’go satesu panchasu deyadhama simita’ya ola’nathiya a’baka’ nivatana’ni be.
(4). Deyadhama va’niyikasa Da’manadasa.
(5). Ga’me kisiravalava’yam kheta Viratha’na gharasa puva [pa] se nivatana’ni atha 8 Ka’kaputiya sama’ya
(6). Mhi……..deyadhama.
‘This records gifts in different places by different men to the Gidha Vihara which would seem to show that this group used to be called the Gidha Vihara. The first gift of the duty on fifty ploughs [It was an old custom for every village to have a permanent officer named Gramakuta to distribute ploughs to cultivators and levy a duty upon them (Vatsya-yana’s Kamasutra, chapter V.). It is to this duty that reference is here made.] is by a dyer named Sarasvana residing in Kakaputa. As ata here is used with Kakaputa it appears that Kakaputa is the name of some place near Junnar where the dyer lived. The second gift is by a guild of goldsmiths of two nivatanas in a field in Danagara village. This Danagara village may be Dhangarvadi village five miles south-west of Junnar, if the place Dhangarvadi be not a modern name called after Dhangars. The third gift is by a woman named Simita (Sk. Srimitra) of the rent and duty on ploughs in Panakavachhara village. This Panakavachhara may be the modern Pansarvadi two miles north of Junnar. The suffix vadi is modern and generally used to mean a small village while the name Panasara or Pansar, must have been derived from the corrupt from pana avasara. The fourth gift must be by the same Simita as the name of the giver is not mentioned. The fifth gift is by the same Simita, of two nivatanas of mango groves in Olana village. This Olana village may be Valangaon village seven miles south-east of Junnar. The sixth gift is of a field of 8 nivatanas in Kisirvalava village to the east of Virthanghara. Kisirvalava may be the modern Kusur village two miles west of Junnar. All these six grants have been made to the Kakaputiya assemblage. This seems to show that Kakaputa is the name of some place near Junnar.
Inscription 9.
Inscription 9 is in nine lines in the veranda recess to the left of. the horse-shoe arch. It is faintly cut on a rough surface. It is complete and well preserved. The inscription may be read:
(1). Kona’chike seniya
(2). Uvasako A’duthuma
(3). Sako Vada’lika’yam
(4). Karanja mula nivatana
(5). nivisa Kataputake
(6). vadamule nivata
(7). na’nide. [This letter de is much spoilt but is probably for Sk. dve. It may perhaps be va na being the preceding letter omitted in the vacant space after in]
This is a grant by one Aduthuma of the Saaka tribe, probably a Parthian Greek convert to Buddhism as he calls himself an uvasaka (Sk. upasaka) or devotee. The name of his guild is Konachika, a profession which cannot be made out. The grant is of twenty Nivatanas near karanj or Pongamia glabra trees in Vadalika and of two Nivatanas near banian trees in Kataputaka.
Inscription 10.
Inscription 10 is in the veranda recess in the back wall to the left of the great horse-shoe arch. It consists of ten lines of which the last cannot be made out. It is cut on a rough surface and care has to be taken both in taking facsimiles and in deciphering as chisel marks greatly confuse the letters. The inscription may be read:
(1). Maha’veje game ja’babhati
(2). udesena nivatana ni shanuvisa
(3). sidhagane Apara’jite
(4) narasatani [Narasatani appears to be a mistake for nirasatani (Sk. nirastani).] serasa
(5). Ma’namukudasa purato
(6). Talakava’dake nivata
(7). na’ni tini ll nagarasa.
(8). …………………… ka………… di………. sela ude
(9). sena nivata’ni ve.
(10) ……………………..
Inscription 11.
This records three grants, the first of twenty-six Nivatanas in Mahaveja village for Javabhati [The name of the donor is not given in the inscription. The grant is said to have been made for the merit of Javabhati. The name Javabhati is unusual.] to the Sidhagana or community of the Aparajita sect. No village named Mahaveja near Junnar can be traced. The second grant is of three Nivatanas at the foot of Manamukuda hill. As there is no particular mention of the person who gives or for whom the grant is made, it is probable that it is made by the same person who made the first grant. Manamukuda (Sk. Manamukuda) must be the old name of the hill which is still called Manmoda. The third grant is of two Nivatanas for this hill by a donor of the city whose name is lost.
Inscription 11 is on the left side of the front face of the horseshoe arch. It is in nine small lines, well carved and distinct, and may be read:
(1)A’bi, (2)Ka’tati,[ Katati may be Kabhati.] (3) Nivata, (4)Na’ni, (5)Va’hata,
(6). Vacheru, [Vacheru may be Vakharu,] (7)Kasa, (8)Esa, (9). Da nam.
This inscription records the grant of 10 Nivatanas of mango groves by one Vacheru a Vahata. Vahata seems to be a surname.
Inscription 12
This is a modern Persian inscription on the front right face of the inner arch. It records the name Mahammad Ali, a name which is also recorded in another Junnar cave but without the date. The date here given is Hijri 988 that is A.D. 1580. It is; probably the name of a visitor.
Inscription 13.
Inscription 13 is on the right side of the front face of the great horse-shoe arch. It is in three lines written lengthwise. It is faintly cut on a rough surface and may be read:
(1) Seniye Vasaka’rasa [Vasakarasa may be vesakarasa or tesakarasa. It is probably vasakar (SK. vansakara).]
(2). ma’se pa’donaduke
(3). Ka’saka’resu seniyapa’da e[ka]sa. [The original has padeesa. Ka is probably omitted, which, if supplied, would read pade ekasa for Sk. padaikasya.]
This records the grant of one and three-quarters, andone-quarterbamboo makers bamboo makers by a guild of bamboo makers; and another of one quarter by a guild of’ coppersmiths. The thing granted is not named. It is probably the current coin of the country which the two guilds must have agreed to pay monthly. It is difficult to understand how a guild like that of coppersmiths, who are generally better off than bamboomakers, should make a grant of only or 1 less than the bamboomakers’ guild. Perhaps sapada eka or 1 is meant to be written for pada e(ka)sa.
Inscription 14.
Inscription 14 is in the back wall of the veranda recess to the right of the horse-shoe arch. It is in six lines cut on a rough surface and the letters are much confused with chisel marks. The last two lines are much defaced and are hard to read. The sixth line appears to have some letters like bhogani (for Sk. bhogyani) but they are indistinct and doubtful. The inscription may be read:
(1). Ga’me Vala nakesu [There is a stroke on na the third letter which is probably a chisel mark. If it has any connection with the letter, na should be read ha.] kara
(2). jabhati udesena nivata
(3). nani barasa ga’mese
(4). urakesu nivatana’ni
This appears to record two grants and perhaps a third which is lost in the defaced lines. The first is a grant of 12 Nivatanas in Valana(ha?)ka village for the merit of one Karanjbhati. This name is as unusual as Javabhati in Inscription 10. The second grant is of (number lost) Nivatanas in Seuraka village. This grant also appears to be for the merit of Karanjbhati. Seuraka is probably the modern Savargaon about six miles west of Junnar.
Inscription 15
Inscription 15 is in the right hand wall of the veranda recess It is faintly cut on a very rough surface and chisel marks greatly confuse the letters. Some lines in the middle are doubtful and in some places letters can hardly be distinguished from chisel marks. The inscription may be read:
(1). Avarile va sarita. [Saritadake may be sarikhadake.]
(2). dake nivatanani cha,
(3). Tarill
(4).Ararilesu,
(5).Kenivatana’ni.
(6). …………….
(7). Avarile jibubhu
(8). tika [Jibubhutika may be also read jiputraka as bu is a letter much like pu and bhu is much like tra and the letter ti is doubtful, perhaps a chisel mark.] udesena nivata.
(9). na’ni atha ga’me ka
(10). dakesu nivatana’ni
(11). ba’ra deya.
This inscription records the grants of Nivatanas in various villages.
Cave XXII.
Cave XXII. is close to the right of cave XXI. It is a dwelling for monks and is well made. It consists of two cells with a veranda. On either side of each doorway is a pilaster and in the corner are pilasters on which rests the beam. The left cell is 8′ deep and 7′ broad with a grooved doorway 2′ 3″ broad. The right cell is 7′ 9″ deep by 7 broad with a doorway 2′ 3″ broad. Within each cell in the back and front walls are holes for the monk’s pole. The veranda is 15′ broad and 5′ 10″ deep with a ceiling about 7″ higher than the cell ceiling. Its side walls and front are gone. As the cave is nearly half filled with earth, its height cannot be given.
Inscription 16
In the back wall of the veranda between the two doorways is Inscription 16, well cut on a dressed surface and well preserved. It is in two lines with, between them, a short line of small letters recording the name of the giver’s father which was at first omitted. Above the inscription are some chisel marks showing that an attempt was made to break the wall in search of treasure. The inscription may be read:
(1) Bha’rukachhaka’nam lankudiya’nam bha’tunam
(2). Asasamasa putana
(3). Budhamitasa Budharakhitasa cha bigabham deyadhammam.
In the beginning of the first line is the svastika symbol. The inscription records the gift of the two-celled cave by two brothers Budhamita (Sk Buddhamitra) and Budharakhita (Sk. Buddharakshita) sons of Asasama inhabitants of Broach in Gujarat.
Cave XXIII
Cave XXIII. is close to cave XXII. and consists of two cells and a veranda. Both the cells are 7′ 9″ deep and 7′ 5″ broad with a doorway 2′ 4″ wide. In both cells are peg-holes on the front and back walls. The veranda is 15′ 7″ broad by 7′ 4″ deep. The veranda ceiling is about 1′ higher than the cell ceiling. Like cave XXII. the cave is more than half filled with earth. In the back wall of the veranda between the doorways is Inscription 17 in two lines faintly cut on a dressed surface. The letters are distinct. The inscription may be read:
Inscription 17
(1) Sayitigahapatiputasa gahapatisa Sivadasasa bitiyikaya
(2). cha saha pariva’. [After va the surface is dressed for about ten letters but there is no writing. The remaining letters must be rasa bigabham deyadhammam.]
This records the gift of a two-celled dwelling by the householder Sivadasa a son of the householder Sayiti, his wife and family.
Cave XXIV
Cave XXIV. close to the right of cave XXIII. is a dwelling of which only the veranda has been finished. There appear to have been two pillars and two pilasters with the roof beam resting on them. The pillars are broken, and the left pilaster is half finished. From the upper capital they appear to be of the usual Satakarni style. The cave has been left unfinished, because in the right hand corner is the same layer of soft stone which shows in the middle of the great chapel cave XXI. The veranda is 18′ 2″ broad by about 6′ 3″ deep. Outside the veranda in front, to the left of the left pilaster, is Inscription 18 in ten lines. It is very well cut on a dressed surface. Like the Kuda cave inscriptions the ikaras are rounded and serpentine. In the beginning of the first line of the inscription is the Buddhist trident and the svastika symbol comes at the end of the last line. The inscription may be read:
Inscription 18
(1). Gana’ chariya’nam thera’nam bha
(2). yanta Sulasa’nam tevija’
(3). nam anteva’sinam thera’nam bha
(4). yanta chetiyasa’nam tevi
(5). ja’nam nandanamkana vaka
(6). …………………. ankothalaki [The an of amkothalakl seems to have a dim letter like pa before it, the pa and on, being probably connected with the last letters. After ah kothalaki is distinct and the first two letters in the beginning of line 7 must be yunam, kothalakiyanam being probably an attribute of gahapati whose name is lost.
After yanam dha seems to follow after one lost letter. This lost letter is probably va, the two letters together being vadha (Sk. vriddha, old) meaning the old (in age) Gahapati of Kothalaki or the respected Gahapati, or perhaps Vadha is a proper name. The ninth line is lost, but from the fragments of letters that are left the first and second letters appear to be sa whose two top strokes remain. The vacant space for the next letter must have contained pa, as the ikara of ri the next letter follows; after ri the lost letter must be va and after va the two top strokes of sa still appear.]
(7) ya’nam (Vu) dhagahapati
(8). natuno Nandanaka
(9). (sa pariva’rasa)
(10). deyadhamam.
This inscription shows that it was not the custom to cut the; inscription only after the cave was finished but as soon as work was begun and a proper place for an inscription was available. The inscription records a gift (probably of this cave) by Nandanaka the grandson of Vadha (?) Gahapati of the Kothalki family. In the beginning of the inscription something is mentioned about a Sthavira but the connection between the two parts cannot be made out on account of the break in the sixth line. The Sthavira is the Reverend Chaitya who is called a Tevija (Sk. Traividya) and a disciple of the Reverend Sulasa also a Tevija and acharya of the ganas or preceptor of sects.
Cave XXV
Cave XXV. to the right of cave XXIV. on a rather higher level is an unfinished veranda with two plain pillars and pilasters in front. Above the pillars, in front of the ceiling, are; imitations of wooden mortices, and above the mortices is the rail pattern. The breadth of the unfinished veranda is 15′ 2″ and depth 4′. There is nothing important in the cave Caves XXVI. XXVII. and XXVIII. are in a row about thirty feet above cave XXIV. They are numbered from right to left. The way to them is difficult.
Cave XXVI
Cave XXVI. about thirty feet above cave XXV. is much like it, being a veranda with two pillars and two pilasters. The only peculiar points are two benches, on the right and left, of the length of the side walls, as broad as the pilasters and about a foot high. A piece of rock near the left bench remains unworked, and so, also, does the top of the right wall near the ceiling. The pillars also are not dressed. It is nearly finished and the back wall is well dressed, as it would not have been if it were intended to cut further in. It is 15′ 4″ broad with a greatest depth of 5′ 3″ and a height of 8′. This and cave XXV. are not dwellings but thought or view seats as they are on a high level with a fine view of the city and the distant hills. To the right of this, at a little distance, is a cistern.
Cave XXVII.
Cave XXVII. is a dwelling consisting of two cells with a recess- like veranda. The cell to the left is about 10′ deep and 10′ 5″ broad. The right and left walls are unequal in size and the ceiling is 7′ 3″ high. A hole in the right wall leads to the right cell. The doorway is 3′ 5″ wide and as high as the ceiling, and has holes for fixing the wooden door frame. The right cell is 11′ 9″ deep by 11′ 2″ broad and 7′ 7″ high with a door nearly equal in breadth to the first, with holes for fixing the wooden door frame. On the right side of both cells are holes in the back and front wall for the monk’s pole. The veranda is 25′ broad and 3′ deep. Part of the side is broken.
Cave XXVIII.
Cave XXVIII. about twenty-five feet to the left of cave XXVII. and on a slightly lower level, is a small dwelling including a cell and a small veranda in front. The cave is half filled with earth. The cell is 7′ 11′ deep by 7′ 8″ broad with a doorway 2′ 8” broad. The veranda is 7′ 5″ broad and 4′ deep. Most of the ceiling is broken.
Cave XXIX
About eighty yards to the right of cave XXIV. near a fine mango tree, are three cisterns each on a slightly lower level than the other, the lowest containing water. To the right of the lowest is a roughly cut walk, and to the right of the walk are three cisterns filled with clay.
About ninety yards from the three cisterns, on a higher level, are two other cisterns and above the cisterns on a still higher level to the right is cave XXIX. Like caves XXV. and XXVI. it is an unfinished view seat 15′ 6″ broad and 3′ deep with irregular walls. In front are two pillars and pilasters. About 150 yards further, to the right of cave XXIX. and on about the same level, are four excavations which look like cells. They are all cisterns and look like cells because their fronts have broken away.
Bhutling Group.
About 200 yards to the right, on a higher level than the two previous groups, comes the third Manmoda group called Bhutling by the people. This group goes from south-cast to north-west and generally faces north-east. It is numbered in continuation of the Ambika group beginning from left to right.
Cave XXX
Cave XXX. the first to the left in this row is a very unfinished dwelling of no special interest. It appears to have been left unfinished on account of water coming from above. The cell is much filled with earth. To the right are three earth-filled cisterns.
Cave XXXI
Just after the three cisterns conies Cave XXXI. a dwelling consisting of a cell 11′ 4″ deep by 7′ 7″ broad, with its doorway 2′ 10″ broad, and holes for a wooden frame. The height of the cell is about 6′ 5″ About 1′ 2″ under the ceiling, on the right and left side walls, are three holes in each wall facing one another.
About eighteen feet above cave XXXI. appears something like a recess but it is inaccessible. To the right of cave XXXI. and on the same level are three cisterns buried in earth and brushwood.
Cave XXXII.
Cave XXXII. is a large four-celled or chaugabbha dwelling with two cells in the back wall and two in the left wall. It is in bad order. It is partly filled with earth. The hall is 18′ square and 7′ 8″ high or, leaving 1′ 4” for the earth, about 9′ high. The first cell on the left side is 7′ 8″ broad by 7′ 10″ deep with a broken doorway, and the second cell 7′ 6′ deep by 7′ 3″ broad. The left cull in the back wall is 7 5″ square with a doorway 2′ 3″ broad and the right cell is 7′ 6″ deep by 7′ 9″ broad. To the right and along the back are benches with the ceiling over them about 1′ lower than the rest. The right bench is 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 9″ high and as long as the wall, and the back bench 2′ broad 4′ 4″ long and 2′ 6″ high. Except the doorway of the right back wall cell, all the other doorways have grooves for fixing wooden frames. There are holes in the right and left walls of all the cells for the monk’s pole.
Cave XXXIII
Cave XXXIII. close to the right of cave XXXII. is a dwelling consisting of a veranda, an inner hall, and cells. It is much, broken and much tilled with earth. The hall is 16′ deep and 15′ broad. To the right are three cells and to the left two, the one to the left unfinished and the right one broken. There is space for a third to the right of the second cell, but the hall is not finished. In the veranda are two cells, the left one finished and the right one unfinished. The veranda ceiling has been broken and pieces of rocks lie in the veranda. Close to the right of cave XXXIII. is an excavation, the beginning of a cell. Above caves XXXII. and XXXIII. are caves XXXIV. to XXXVII. reached by broken steps between XXXII. and XXXIII
Cave XXXIV
Cave XXXIV. is just above cave XXXII. It is a dwelling consisting of a plain veranda with four cells in the back wall in one row. All are of the same height and their ceilings are about 1′ higher than the veranda ceilings. They are partly filled with earth. The first cell beginning with the left is 7′ 3″ broad and 7′ deep with a doorway 2′ 2″ wide; the second is 7′ 1″ broad and 7′ deep with a doorway 2′ 5″ wide; and the third is 7′ 2″ square with the right side of the doorway broken. The fourth cell is above cave XXXV. Its floor has been broken probably in later times as an easy entrance to the other cells. It is 7′ 4″ square with a doorway 2′ 4″ wide. All the doorways have grooves for fixing a wooden frame, and each of the first three cells has holes for the monk’s pole. The veranda is plain 34′ 5″ broad and 5′ deep. Part of the roof front is broken but it appears to have had no pillars in front. At the right end of the veranda is an open cell, probably a seat for monks.
Cave XXXV
Cave XXXV. is a dwelling under the fourth cell and the veranda seat of cave XXXIV. It is in three parts, a veranda, a middle room, and a cell in the back wall. The veranda and room are separated by two plain side pilasters and a rock beam above. The inner cell is unfinished, but the middle room and veranda are well finished. The veranda is 6′ 10″ broad by 6′ deep and 6′ high; the middle room 5′ 3″ broad and 2′ 9″ deep and 6′ 3″ high; and the inner cell 4′ 10″ broad and 4′ 6″ deep. The ceilings of the middle room and veranda, which are the floors of the fourth cell and the veranda seat of cave XXXIV. are broken.
Cave XXXVI
Cave XXXVI. is close to the right of cave XXXV. and on about the same level. It is a dwelling consisting of a plain veranda and four cells in the front wall. On the doorway of each cell are horseshoe arches supported on stone imitations of wooden arches. Between the arches is the rail pattern supporting thin stone imitations of wooden mortices whose ends appear under the rail pattern. Above the rail pattern is a semicircular daghoba or relic-shrine on each side of each arch. Above the daghoba is a five-plate capital and above the plates an umbrella. On the same level as the capital, and above the arch on either side, small arches of the same shape as the big arch rest on the rail pattern. Above again is the rail pattern. [The mortices are not cut in the first cell.] On the front face of the first arch is a pattern in leaf and flower which is also found on the arch of a cell of one of the Udayagiri caves in Orissa. The other arch front faces are plain. Under the arches in the front wall, above the doorway, the carving in varying patterns partly resembles that in the chaitya cave III. at Nasik. The first, between arched lattice work on either side has the Buddhist wheel resting on a lotus; the second in the middle has a Buddhist trident and above the trident the pentagonal symbol so common in Buddhist architecture; the third has only the pentagonal symbol, and the fourth has plain arched lattice work. To the left, in the veranda, is a beautiful Buddhist wheel with beautifully carved Buddhist tridents in the rim and a lion between the spokes. The wheel is broken, only a portion on the right is left. It probably rested on a pillar of which a trace appears on the floor. The right wall of the veranda is broken; it probably had a lion resting on a pillar. The first cell is 7′ 4″ broad 7 4″ deep and 6′ 10″ high with a doorway 5′ high and 2′ wide; the second 7 8″ broad by 7′ 6″ deep and 6′ 6″ high with a doorway 5′ 9″ high by 2′ wide; the third 7′ 3″ broad by 7′ ‘3″ deep and 7′ 2″ high with a doorway 5′ 9″ high and 2′ wide; and the fourth 6’4″ broad by 7’3″ deep and 6′ 2″ high with a doorway 2 wide. Except the third all the cells have holes for fixing wooden frames and the third has grooves for hinges. All the cells have on the right side two holes in the front and back walls for the monk’s pole. The right walls of the third and fourth cells are broken, and, as appears from traces of hammer strokes, attempts were also made to break the right walls of the first and second cells. The veranda is 29′ broad and about 4’ 3″ deep. In the front wall, between the second and third cells, is inscribed the name Mahammad Ali with the date H. 988 that is A.D. 1580.
Cave XXXVII
Cave XXXVII. close to the right of cave XXXVI. is a cell 8′ 7″ broad and 8′ 5″ deep with a plain doorway 2′ 7″ broad. Its left wall is broken and leads to the fourth cell of cave XXXVI. The left of the veranda is ruined.
Cave XXXVIII
Cave XXXVIII. is an unfinished chapel cave, the largest in this group. It is close to the right of cave XXXVII but on a lower level the same as cave XXXV. The cave is 30′ long and at the outset 12′ broad with a gateway 9′ 6″ broad. As it is much filled with clay its height cannot be accurately stated, but it is probably about 10′. The daghoba or relic-shrine is eighteen feet from the gateway. In front of the gateway was a small veranda with a broken terrace. It appears to have been intended to cut on either side of the cave so as to give entrance to the aisles without passing through the gateway. The right aisle is partly finished. One pilaster and two pillars have been cut and on the left recesses have been cut to make two pillars while the passage to the left aisle has also been begun. The three pillars of the right aisle are plain octagons with the vertical wall above them, and above the wall a plain vaulted roof as in Ajanta cave X. A crack in the roof seems to have admitted; water as a large recess has been cut on the right above the gateway from where the water has been drained outside over the terrace. The relic-shrine plinth is plain and circular but it is still rough and the ornament uncarved. The dome above it is older than that of other Junnar relic-shrines. Like the domes of Gotamiputra II. (A.D, 50) it is not much rounded, but is like a bowl with a narrowing mouth., It never had a capital. Above the veranda terrace is an ornamented-; front consisting of a large arch resting on ribs the imitations of wooden rafters. Only some of the ribs are finished. Under the, arch in the back wall is the usual arched window and above the’ window a semicircle shaped like a half lotus, the middle of which; represents the calyx and the circle outside the stamen. Round the, semicircle are seven petals. The carving of the seven petals is as follows. In the middle is a standing Lakshmi. On the right is a lotus and on the left a lotus leaf. Lakshmi wears a cloth like a waistcloth and in her ears are large ear-ornaments. Her left hand; rests on her hip and her right is raised in blessing. In the side petals elephants, standing on lotuses, throw water from jars held in their trunks, an ornament common in images of Lakshmi. On one side of each elephant is a lotus leaf, on the other side a lotus bud and above the elephants a lotus. In the next petals on either side are standing male figures with thick armlets and large ear-ornaments and wearing the tasselled turban found on the heads of the male figures sitting on the elephants on the pillar capitals at Bedsa Each wears a dhotar and has his hands folded over his head. The attitude is almost as if dancing. On one side of each figure is a lotus bud and on the other side a lotus flower. In the last petal on either side women, in the same dancing attitude as the men, wear thick bracelets, large ear-ornaments, a necklace, a waistband, a waistcloth stopping at the knee, and rings on the legs.
Inscription 19
In the half circle representing the calyx is Inscription 19. It is in one line well carved in good letters and, except the last letter, well preserved. The inscription may be read:
Yavanasa Chandanam deyadhama gabhada (ra) [The ga of gabhada is distinct, bha much resembles ta in shape, and the letter da is a little broken and spoilt. In the rough surface that follows must have been the letter ra but no trace of it remains. If there were no ra the three letters appear to read gatija as there seems something like a dim ikara over ta. As gatija gives no meaning gabhada(ra) is better.] and may be translated
The meritorious gift of an inner doorway by the Yavana Chanda. The inscription shows that the doorway of the inner hall was carved at the cost of a Yavana named Chanda.
Above the arch on the upper apex was a carving now broken. The remains suggest that it was the common Buddhist pentagonal symbol. To the right is a standing life-size Nagaraja with a fly-flap in his right hand, and his left hand resting on his hip. He wears a waistcloth, a bracelet, and an armlet. In his ears are large ear-ornaments, on his head is a tasselled turban, and round the head are five snake hoods. To the left a similar life-size figure stands like the first with a fly-flap in his right hand. His dress and ornaments are the same as those of the first. He differs from the first in having wings and as on his turban appears the head of Garuda this is apparently a figure of Garuda. The cobra king and the vulture were probably chosen to show that they have laid aside their natural hate to join in the worship of Buddha. On one side of each of the figures is a relic-shrine with a tee and an umbrella. The people call the relic-shrines lings as in shape they resemble Shaiv lings; and the figures they call bhuts or spirits and for that reason this group is called Bhutling or the lings guarded by spirits. The left face of the arch is neither dressed nor separated. The right face has been separated and to the right of the right face is a Bodhi tree, which, from the shape of its leaves, appears to be a pipal tree. Garlands hang from it and above the tree an umbrella is shown raised on a double plinth. A flying human figure on the left comes towards the tree but it is unfinishsd. On the topmost frieze below are holes for mortices but the mortices are not as usual carved from the rock but put in from without. Only two of the mortices remain. Above is the rail pattern and still higher seven arches and within each another small arch. On the sides are two similar arches one above the other. To the left of the cave, under the left end of the terrace, is an earth-filled cistern.
Cave XXXIX
Cave XXXIX. to the right of cave XXXVIII. but on a higher level and about the same level as caves XXXVI. and XXXVII. is a cell with a broken veranda. It is 7′ square and 7′ high, and in the front and back walls are holes for the monk’s pole. The doorway is 2′ 2″ broad and has holes for a wooden frame. The veranda is 7′ 7″. broad and its present greatest depth is 2′, but much of it is ruined. To the right is a broken bench. The cave is not easily reached as the old steps are broken.
Cave XL
Cave XL. to the right of cave XXXIX. is another cell 6′ broad by 7′ deep and 6′ 4″ high with a doorway 2′ broad. The veranda and the steps to the cell are broken. Below Cave XL. is an earth-filled cistern. Beyond Cave XL. the hill-side is not fit for excavation. After about 500 yards the north-west end of the hill is reached . Turning to the right is a narrow valley, to the right of which in a single block of rock five small excavations facing north-east have been made. Except cave XLIV. none of them seem to have been used. They have been numbered in continuation of the Bhutling group and apparently are part of the Bhutling group, as they have no separate chapel. These caves look out towards Junnar.
Cave XLI
Cave XLI. far in the valley, is on a higher level than the other cells. It is an unfinished cell about 4′ deep. About sixty-four yards to the right is an earth-filled cistern.
Cave XLII
Cave XLII. about twenty feet below and twenty feet from cave XLI. is a veranda 7′ 10″ broad and 5′ deep and an unfinished cell 2′ 7″ deep and 6′ 10″ high with a finished doorway 3′ broad.
Cave XLIII
About thirteen yards to the right and on the same level as cave XLII. is Cave XLIII. It is an unfinished cell 10′ deep and 5′ broad with, a doorway 5′ 6″ broad, and two holes for fixing a wooden frame.
Cave XLIV
Below cave XLIII. is Cave XLIV. a dwelling consisting of a veranda and a cell. The veranda is 12′ 5″ broad 6′ 10″ deep and 6′ high. To the right is a plain pilaster. The cell is 6′ 11″ broad, 6′ 9″ long and 6′ high with a broken doorway 2′ 2″ broad. The floor of the inner cell is rough and unfinished.
Cave XLV
About fifty yards to the right on a higher level is Cave XLV. an unfinished cell 6′ 5″ deep and 4′ broad much filled with earth.
Shivner Caves
Shivner hill has four groups of caves, two on the east or Junnar face, one on the south or fortified face, and one on the west or Nana valley face. Of the two groups on the Junnar face, one in the lower and the other in the upper scarp, the first or lower group begins below the south end of the fort. Going from right to left it has twelve caves.
Cave I
Cave I. is a dwelling, including a cell and a veranda. The cell floor is about nine inches higher than the veranda floor. The cell is 7′ 6″ square and 6′ 6″ high with a doorway 2′ 6″ broad, and as high as the cell. The doorway has sockets for a wooden frame The veranda, which is rough with an open front and broken side walls, is 16′ long 6′ broad and 7′ 6″ high. It has catch-holes and seems to have been used by cattle-keepers. Beside the veranda to the left is a large empty cistern with a mouth grooved on all four sides probably for a wooden covering. Below are broken steps. A little to the left is a plain unfinished and almost inaccessible cave. To the right appear to be two earth-filled cisterns.
Cave II
Cave II. is a chapel including a square hall with a relic-shrine or chaitya and a front veranda. The hall is 19′ 6″ square and 10′ 10″ high. Ten feet from the doorway is the relic-shrine a plain plinth without a dome, and with two lines of moulding at the base and a round hole. Perhaps the dome was stone built and covered relics placed on the plinth. In the floor and walls and in the top and base of the plinth are several rice-pounding and catch-holes. A drain is cut on the left to let off water. The hall door is 5′ 7″ broad and 7′ 9″ high with thick posts for a wooden door. The veranda, which is 16′ 9″ long by 4′ broad and 9′ 10″ high, has a floor 1′ 5″ lower than the hall floor and a roof about 2″ lower than the hall roof. In front of the veranda were two pillars and pilasters, of which the right pilaster and pillar remain and the left pair are broken. They are in the usual four-plated tee and waterpot style with a central octagonal shaft. In the right corner of the back wall of the hall is a recess probably to gather water during the rains.
Cave III
Cave III. is a small dwelling cave consisting of a cell and a front. The cell, which is 9′ 8″ long by 8′ 6″ broad and 7′ 8″ high, has a doorway 2′ 5″ broad with a threshold and lintel. The door is grooved for a wooden frame. The cave has catch-holes and rice-pounding holes and is still used by cattle.
Cave IV
Cave IV. a dwelling cave with two cells and a front, is much broken. Except the front wall of the left cell, the partition wall and the front walls of the two cells are broken. The left cell is 7′ 8′ long by 7′ 10″ broad and 7′ 8″ high; and the right cell is smaller, 7′ 4″ by 7′ and 7′ 6″ high. The veranda is almost gone; only its left side wall and roof remain. On the left side wall an inscription in two lines records the gift of a cistern, which is probably the earth-filled recess close to the cells. The inscription is in clear letters but a part in the beginning is lost. It reads:
Inscription 20.
(1)…. the Bhutenakasa
(2)…. podhi cha’ deyadhama and may be translated ‘………. of Bhutenaka, and a cistern, meritorious gift.’
Cave V
Cave V. is about twenty feet from cave IV. on a higher level. It is a small dwelling consisting of a front and a cell 8′ 5″ deep 8′ broad and 9′ high. A smaller cell, with a doorway 2′ 3″ long by 3′ 3″ broad and 2′ 8″ higher than the cell floor, appears to have been begun in the left corner of the back wall of the chief cell. The main door, which is 2′ 4″ broad and about 8′ 7″ high, has grooves for a wooden frame. The left wall of the veranda, which is 10′ 8″ long, is broken and in a corner has a much damaged modern figure of Ganesh. The right wall of the veranda is well preserved and 6′ broad. As the cave faces east it appears to have been used by Musalmans as a prayer place. The praying niche may be traced in the middle of the back wall plastered up with cowdung and white clay. To the left, on the way to the cave, is an earth-filled cistern.
Cave VI. under cave V. an unfinished and earth-filled cave, appears to have been used by cattle-keepers.
Cave VII.
Cave VII. reached by broken steps in the rock, is a cell with a small front. The cell is 7′ square and 6′ 7″ high. The doorway is 2′ 4″ broad and as high as the cell. The front is small 3′ 4″ broad and 3′ 8″ long. The cave has grain-pounding holes but no catch-holes.
Cave VIII
Cave VIII. is a large hall with a front. It seems to be neither a dwelling cave nor a place of worship. The hall is 16′ 9′ deep by 16′ broad and 8′ high, The front wall is about 1′ narrower than the back wall. The doorway is 5′ 3″ high or about 3″ less in height than the cell. It appears to have had a door with large wooden frames. The front is 14′ 4″ long by 7′ broad. The cave has both pounding and catch-holes. About twenty steps further are two cisterns both filled and the first covered by a sweet or kadhinim tree.
Cave IX
To the right of the second cistern, rock-cut steps led to Cave IX. At present the rock with the steps has fallen and the cave is hard to reach. It is a small dwelling facing east consisting of a cell and a small veranda. Though unfinished it seems to have been used as a dwelling. The cell has a greatest depth of 6′ 9″ a breadth of 7′ 6″ and a height of 6′ 9″. The doorway is 2′ 4″ wide and 6′ 9″ high, and had a wooden door. The veranda has irregular walls and a bench in the left wall 3′ 10″ broad and 3′ 10″ high.
Cave X
Cave X. is a dwelling of three cells and a front. The middle cell is broken. To the left of the first cell two steps lead to a cistern below now dry and like a cell as its front is open. The first cell is 6′ 10′ deep in the right wall and 8′ 9”in the left wall, while the back wall is 6′ 7″ broad. The door is 2′ 5″ broad. The right or partition wall with the second cell is broken. The second cell is 7′ 7″ long by 7’5″ broad with a doorway 2’5” broad. This cell is ruined at the foot of the back wall and a crack appears to let in water. The third cell is 7′ deep by 7′ 2″ broad with a doorway 2′ 5″ wide The front is 16′ 5″ long by about 4′ 9″ broad and has a broken roof.
Cave XI
Cave XI. is a cell with a small front. The cell is 7′ square and 7′ high with a broken doorway grooved on the left for a wooden frame. The front is broken. Six feet to the right of the cell is what looks like an earth-filled cell whose roof is on the same level with the floor of cave XI. It was probably a cistern. Further to the right, of five cisterns near one another the third and fourth hold good water. One of these two cisterns seems to have been taken care of, as it has signs of a modern door and in front has a small recess full of water for cattle or drinking water. Twelve steps lead to six other cisterns, the fifth of which holds good water, and has sockets for a wooden frame. In front of these six cisterns, a space about 10′ broad, natural or artificial, has a good view of the town below, the Ganesh Lena hill to the right, Manmoda to the left, and distant hills bounding the horizon on the east.
Cave XII
Cave XII. is a cell with an open front. To the left is a bench as long as the wall, 1′ 4″ broad and 9″ high. The cell is 9′ long by 9′ 9″ broad and 6′ high and seems to have been used as a view-seat.The second group, in the upper scarp of the east face, has twenty-five caves going from south-south-east to north-north-west, and generally facing east-north-east. The caves have been numbered in continuation of the lower scarp caves, passing from left to right.
Cave XIII
Cave XIII. where the scarp begins near the extreme left, is hard to reach. It is a single cell with benches in the back and right walls. It is about 7′ deep 5′ broad and 6′ high with a doorway 2′ broad and as high as the ceiling. To the left of this cell is an almost inaccessible excavation. It has an open front. It may be an unfinished cell or a cistern with a broken front. To the right of this cell a space about 70′ long contained five or six cisterns of which nothing but the bottoms are left. They appear like five or six sitting places, and in later times, perhaps, were used to sit in as they have holes in front cut in the rock to support sheds. Twelve paces to the right is an open earth-filled bathing pond like what is called a nanpodhi in a Kanheri inscription. About twenty-five feet to the right of the pond is a cistern, and thirty-four paces further, on a higher level, is a small open-mouthed cistern filled with earth. Eight paces further is another large earth-filled cistern and thirty-live paces further to the right is cave XIV.
Cave XIV
Cave XIV. is about a hundred yards to the right of cave XIII. It is a two-storeyed dwelling, its ground floor in three parts, a plain veranda in front, a middle hall, and cells. The middle hall, which is 24′ 5″ broad 23′ 5″ deep and 9′ high, has a large doorway 5′ 9″ broad and 9′ high with large holes for a wooden frame. On either side is a window both 4′ broad and 3′ 10″ high and with holes for wooden frames. Of ten cells four are in the back wall and three each in the right and left walls. Catch-holes in the walls seem to show that the cave was used for horses or cattle. The cells are on a higher level than the hall, and the ceilings of the four back wall cells are four feet higher than the hall ceiling. The three cells in the left wall are unfinished, the second more unfinished than the first, and the third still more unfinished. Of the four back cells the one in the extreme left is unfinished. The second cell is 6′ 9″ broad 6′ deep and 6′ 4″ high, with a doorway 2′ 5″ broad and as high as the ceiling; the third is 5′ 10″ broad 7′ deep and 6′ 5″ high and has a doorway 2′ 6″ wide and 6′ 5″ high with holes for a wooden frame; and the fourth 6′ 2″ deep 5′ broad and 5′ 10″ high with a doorway 2′ 5″ wide and 5′ 10″ high. Of the three cells in the right wall the first two are unfinished. The third cell is T 10″ deep by 7′ 10″ broad and 6′ 10″ high, and has a doorway 2′ 5″ broad and 6′ 10″ high with holes for a wooden frame. To the right of the third cell a passage, with a door 2′ 6″ broad and 9′ high, leads to the upper storey. A flight of eight broken rock-cut steps leads to the upper storey, which is a plain hall 20′ 8″ broad 10′ 7″ deep and 7′ high, with an open front veranda 23′ 7″ broad 5′ 3″ deep and 7′ high. On its right is a quadrangular pilaster with the double crescent ornament. The original rock-cut railing seems to have been replaced by a wooden railing for which seven holes are cut in the rock. About 1′ 6″ of the floor near the back wall is rough and the rest is smooth, which suggests that a large wooden bench stood on the rough part. In the middle of the floor are two husking holes. To the left near the pilaster is an excavation probably the beginning of a stair leading below. In the left wall, just under the ceiling on a dressed surface and cut in large deep letters is Inscription 21 in one line. In the beginning is the usual Buddhist pentagonal symbol.
Inscription 21
The inscription may be read:
Mudhakiyasa Malasa Golikiyasa [The second letter of this word is not distinct and looks like mi. But as the base of ma in this inscription is horizontal, and this is rounded, li seems preferable.] A’nadasa bena jana’na deyadhamam upatha’na and may be translated ‘ The meritorious gift of a reception hall by two men Mudhakiya Mala and Golikiya A’nada.’
This shows that such halls used to be called upathana or upasthana that is a sitting place, a visiting hall, or a reception hall. An excellent view stretching to the distant hills makes this well suited for a sitting or reception hall. Mudhakiya and Golikiya, given as the names of the donors, seem to be surnames. To the right of the passage below is a broken cistern.
Cave XV
Cave XV. about thirty feet to the right of cave XIV. is an open cell without a veranda. The walls are not finished, and the cave appears to be merely a sitting cell. In front in the floor are three holes probably for a wooden shed. The cave is 9′ deep 13′ broad and 6′ 5″ high, and in a small recess in the left wall has a roughly carved relic-shrine with three umbrellas over the tee. Outside to the right is a cistern with good water, and near it, on a higher level, another cistern filled with earth.
Cave XVI and XVII
About forty feet from cave XV. are Caves XVI. and XVII. two dwellings with finished verandas but cells only begun. The veranda of cave XVI. is 5′ 6″ broad 3′ deep and 7′ high, and the doorway 2′ 6″ broad and 5′ 8″ high. Cave XVII. has a veranda 4′ deep 19″ broad and 8′ high, with an unfinished floor and a finished back wall and ceiling. The half-finished cell door is 2′ 5″ wide and 4′ 10″ high. About a hundred paces to the right is what looks like an earth-filled cistern. A little further to the right are broad steps cut in the rock,
Cave XVIII
Climbing the broad steps a second flight of twenty-seven small steps to the right, lead b to a cell-like excavation, 11′ deep 12′ 5″; broad and 8′ 10″ high, with two holes in front for a wooden frame, Four steps to the right is a cistern with good water. Holes are cut in the rock either to help the ascent or for a sun screen. The excavation has no front wall but on the back are two dry cisterns infested by bats. The cisterns, which have well cut mouths about 2 high and 3′ square, are about 13′ deep and have holes over the mouths for a wooden frame. Between the two mouths is a small polished bench 8″ broad 9″ high and 3′ 9″ long. These cisterns are dry and probably were granaries.
Cave XIX
About twenty feet further to the right is Cave XIX. a cell 8′ 10″ broad 7′ 3″ deep and 6′ 3″ high, with, along the right wall, a polished bench as long as the wall 1′ 4″ broad and 1′ high. At the end of the bench, in the right and back walls, a small recess, 1′ 6″ square and 4′ deep with a small bench, was probably used for keeping objects of worship. Between this cave and cave XVIII. steps led to the top of the fort and to the left a beginning of steps remains. These steps must be older than the Musalmans as they have recesses with images of the guardians Durga, Ganesh, and Batuka. [The images of Durga and Ganesh, which were cut in the rock, still appear; the image of Batuka is gone as it was probably not rock-cut.] The steps and images have been broken probably by the Musalmans, and a small fortification has been built on the top to close this way of approach. This confirms the belief that before the Musalmans (1320), under the Devgiri Yadavs (1150-1310), the hill was probably used as a fort.
Cave XX
Cave XX. about ten feet to the right of cave XIX. is an open cell about 7′ broad 5′ deep and 7′ high, with an earth-filled cistern at the foot of the right wall.
Cave XXI
Cave XXI. ten paces to the right of cave XX. is a large hall 19′ 8″ broad by 22′ 6″ deep and 8′ 10″ high, with a finely polished floor ceiling and walls. Along the back right and left walls are benches 1′ 7″ broad and 1′ 8″ high. In the middle of the back bench an altar 5′ 6″ broad stands 3′ 5″ in front of the bench and as long as the sides. The hall front is open with no doorway, but on either side is a pilaster and in front a small open veranda, 16′ 8″ broad and 2′ 5″ deep. The veranda ceiling is 1′ lower than the hall ceiling. Like other similar halls this appears to be a dining hall or sattra. The only point of note is the advancing altar in the middle, which apparently was for the chief monk.
Cave XXII
Inscription 22
Cave XXII. is a large dwelling, consisting of a hall, with in the right wall two and in the back wall four cells. The hall was originally 24′ 6″ deep of which 7′ in front are on a one-inch lower level to make it a veranda, the remaining 17′ 6″ being the hall with the cells. The veranda part has benches on either side, the left bench broken. The cells are about a foot higher than the hall and the ceilings are 3″ to 5″ lower than the hall ceiling. The cells vary from 6′ G” to 7′ square and are about 6′ 6″ high. The last cell in the back wall is unusually large, being 10″ broad and 13′ deep. Near the end on the right wall, this cell has a bench 3′ 1″ broad 6′ 4″ long and 2′ 6″ high, and near the bench in the front wall is a niche. This cell was probably for the chief monk. The other cells have peg-holes and no benches. In the veranda over the right bench was an inscription in two lines of well cut deep letters. It has been intentionally scraped away and only a part of the beginning and end of the first line appear. In the beginning is the Buddhist trident. The first letter yo is distinct and then appear traces of the letters nakasa which show that the cave was probably the gift of a Yavana. At the end of the second line the letters achariya are distinct, and then appears the top-stroke of na the piece of rock below having broken away.Perhaps there was a wooden screen or wainscoting between the veranda and the hall as holes are cut in the ceiling just at the point which marks the boundary line. In the scarp which overhangs the cave about fifteen holes are cut probably to support a wooden roof. In later times a wall of well dressed stones has been built between the veranda and the hall in the place of the old wainscoting and an oranmental doorway has been built near the left end. Near the east end in a recess 2′ 2″ broad and 1′ 9″ long is a well carved lattice. The shape and ornamentation of the doorway belong to about the ninth or tenth century. On the doorway in the middle of the lintel is a broken image of Ganesh which shows that the additions were Brahmanical. But no trace remains of any object of worship inside. To the left of the veranda is a large cistern, part of which runs under the veranda floor. But as the floor and part of the overhanging rock have fallen away, it is open to the sky. To the left of the cistern is a dwelling whose right and front walls are broken. It is 15′ 2″ broad 11′ 6″ deep and 8′ 3″ high, with, along the entire left wall and half the back wall, a rock-cut bench 1′ 9″ broad and 1′ 1″ high, and along half the right wall a seat about 2″ high. In front of the broken front wall is a broken cistern. A break in its right wall has joined it with the large cistern of the cave. To the right of Cave XXII. are two broken-fronted cells one above the other which were probably connected with Cave XXII. The upper cell is 15′ square and 6′ 8″ high. The front part of its right wall is broken. Near the other end of the right wall a part of the floor has been broken. Of the lower cell, which is smaller than the upper cell, both the sides and part of the ceiling which forms the floor of the upper cell are broken. Its walls are well; polished. To the right a polished doorway now broken led to cave XXIII. which is on the same level as the lower cell.
Cave XXIII
Cave XXIII. is an open veranda and an inner hall. The veranda roof has fallen out and lies in the veranda. The inner hall is 20′ 8″ broad 13′ 9″ deep and 8′ 4″ high. It has a plain polished doorway 2′ 7″ broad and 5′ high and benches of varying size along all the walls. The bench along the entire length of the back wall is 1′ 5″ broad and 1′ 2″ high and connected with it is a bench 1′ 7″ broad 4′ 10″ long and 2′ 8″ high in the corner between the left and the back wall. The bench along the right wall is 7′ 4″ long and equal in height and breadth to the bench along the back wall. Connected with this bench, in the corner between the right and front walls, is a large bench 3′ 7″ broad 6′ 5″ long and 2′ 2″ high. The open veranda, which is much broken, is 18′ 8″ long and about 10′ broad. In the left wall a broken doorway communicates with the lower cell next to cave XXII. To the rigth of the doorway is a small niche and to the rip-lit of the niche is a galloping horse with a saddle and reins but without stirrups. [The horse appears to have been carved as a fancy work by some artist while polishing the wall.] It is hard to understand to what use this cave was put. It has no separate cells for monks, nor is it a dwelling for a single monk. As it has benches of varying size it was probably used by various monks of different ranks, perhaps as a place of learning, the high bench on the right being for the preceptor the Acharya or Sthavira, one in the left corner a little lower being for the sub-preceptor or Upadhyaya, and the rest for scholars. To the right of the cave is an unfinished recess.
About a hundred yards to the right, a group of fourteen caves near one another are popularly called the Bara Gadad or Twelve Caves from the twelve cells in cave XXX. which is in the middle of the group.
Cave XXIV
Cave XXIV. the first, of this group is on a higher level than the rest, and is reached by about forty broken rock-cut steps. It is a large dwelling left unfinished apparently not on account of any flaw in the rock. The veranda, which is 7′ 9″ deep by 33′ broad and T 7″ high is finished, though much of its floor is broken. In the veranda to the left is a cell 5′ 5″ broad 4′ 4″ deep and 6′ 3″ high with a door 2′ 8″ broad and a small bench 2′ 10″ long 2′ 2′ high and 1′ broad. The hall, which is only partly cut, is 6′ 4″ deep 18′ 3″ broad and 7′ 5″ high. To the left is a window. Though unfinished the cave seems to have been used, as the doorway seems to have had a wooden door for which holes are cut in the rock. To the left, near the first cell, is another unfinished cell in the back wall of the veranda, 6′ 10″ broad 7′ 7″ deep and 7′ 1″ high with a door 3′ 2″ broad and 7′ 1″ high. Perhaps the cell was the beginning of a cutting to join it with the hall, its door, as in other caves, serving as a side-door.
Cave XXV
About thirty feet to the right of cave XXIV. and on a rather lower level is Cave XXV. a large cell 1(3′ 6″ broad by 13″ deep and 9′ 7″ high. It has an open front and a large broken cistern to the left.
Cave XXVI
Close to its right is Cave XXVI. a small cell with a broken front. To the left is a broken bench 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 5″ high. The cell, which is 9′ 4′ broad 7′ 7″ deep and 6′ 9″ high, was painted apparently in circles. Close to its right is a small recess with a bench, apparently a small view-seat.
Cave XXVII
Cave XXVII. is a dwelling in two parts an inner cell and a veranda. The cell is 7′ 6″ broad 7′ 2″ deep and 6′ 8″ high and, to the left in a recess, has a bench 2′ 7″ high by 2′ 3″ broad and 6′ 4″ long. The door, which is about 2′ 6″ broad and 6′ 8″ high, has holes for a wooden frame, and the veranda is 13′ 6″ broad and about 5′ 11″ deep. In a recess in the left wall, which is 4′ 11″ deep, is a relic-shrine in half relief consisting of a round dome with a tee and umbrella. The plinth with the rail pattern is broken. Beyond the left wall is a cistern with a broken top. The veranda ceiling is 9″ higher than the hall ceiling. In the veranda to the left of the doorway is Inscription 23 in five large lines in letters like those of the Vashish-thiputra inscription in Nasik cave III. [Compare Bombay Gazetteer, XVI. 549-554.] except that the ikaras of this inscription are rounded and winding. The first two lines are entire. Nearly the first half of the third line appears to have been intentionally rubbed away about the time of the inscription, and the surface where the letters are rubbed away is slightly lower. Traces of some of the letters appear but the letters cannot be clearly made out. The inscription may be read:
Inscription 23.
Apaguriya’na savagiriya’sa (sa) putasa patibandhakasa giribhutisa sakhuyarusalena podhi cha
(2). (de)yadhamam [The de of deyadhamam has been omitted by the engraver by mistake.] etasa oha lenasa podhiya cha nakare cha bhikhuni upasayasadham mutari ya’na akhayanivika
(3). ………………………eto lenasa chivarika kaha’pana [The na of Kahapana looks like ko through a mistaken stroke of the engraver below.] sodasa podhiya chiva
(4). ………………………esa [Esa looks like epa. The curved stroke at the side has been omitted or perhaps rubbed away when smoothing.] manam cha bisa hasato payoga’to riva dhisahasam vadham [The three letters after vadham are not well engraved.] upayyasa
(5). ……………………….ya upasayo nagare giribhutisa bitiyika’yi Sivapalanika’ya and may be translated ‘ The meritorious gift of a dwelling cave and cistern by Patibha dhaka Giribhuti son of a Savagiriya of the Apaguriyas, with his wife S’ivapa’lanika’; for this a permanent capital In front of the veranda of this cave holes are cut in the rock probably for a wooden shed.
Cave XXVIII
Close to the right of cave XXVII. are Caves XXVIII. and XXIX. At first sight these two appear to be one dwelling but examination shows them to be two. The veranda ceilings of the two are separate, and Cave XXVIII. juts out a little more than cave XXIX. Between the two was originally a wall, and, when the wall was broken, a wooden partition appears to have been made for which these holes are made in the ceiling. Both are dwelling caves and consist of a veranda in front and two cells each in the back wall. The first cell, which is 10′ broad 9′ 5″ deep and 7′ 5″ high, has a window 2′ 1″ broad and 2′ 4″ high in the front wall, to the left of the door which is 2′ 3″ wide and 6′ 5″ high. The window and the door have holes for a wooden frame. The second cell is 9′ 1″ broad 8′ 3″ deep and 8′ high and has a door 3′ 2″ broad and 8′ 8″ high, with holes for a large wooden frame. To the left, in the front and back walls, are holes probably for the monk’s pole. The floors of both the cells are 4″ lower than the veranda floor and the ceiling is as high as the veranda ceiling. Remains in the ceiling, especially in the second cell, show that both the cells were painted. The painting was of a poor order consisting of three concentric circles in square panels. The colours used were white, yellow, and black. The veranda is 22′ 3″ broad 5′ 3″ deep and 7′ 8″ high. Nearly half of the floor in front is broken. The roof is entire and about an inch higher than the veranda roof of cave XXIX.
2.19.28 Cave XXIX.
Cave XXIX. close to the right of cave XXVIII. consists like cave XXVIII. of two cells, with a front veranda whose forepart as in cave XXVIII. is broken. The first cell is 10′ 2″ broad 8′ 9″ deep and 7′ 1″ high, with a doorway 3′ broad and 7′ 1″ high. The ceiling is 2″ lower than the veranda ceiling. The second cell is 8′ 11″ broad 9′ deep and 8′ 1″ high and has a door 2′ 8″ broad with holes for a wooden front. To the left, in a recess 2′ 10″ deep 7′ 1″ broad and 2′ 9″ high is a bench, and to the left in the front and back walls are holes for the monk’s pole. Both cells have husking holes. Both were originally coated with plaster and painted and traces of the plaster remain. The veranda is 23′ 10″ broad and 5′ 3″ deep, and has a broken right wall. Further to the right are three cisterns, the middle cistern holding good water.
2.19.29 Cave XXX
Cave XXX. is a large dwelling with twelve cells or barasagabbham, four cells in each wall. The cave, which gives the group its local name of Bara Gadad, consists of a veranda, a middle hall, and four cells each in the right back and left walls. Near the cell doors, all along the walls, runs a bench about 2′ broad and 1′ 1″ high. The hall is entered by a large middle doorway 6′ broad and 8′ 9″ high, and a left doorway 3′ broad and 6′ 10″ high. On either side of the large doorway is a large window, the left window 6′ 10″ broad and 3′ 10″ high and the right window 6′ 8″ broad and 4′ high. Both the doors and windows have holes for wooden frames. The hall is 33′ 5″ deep 38′ broad and 10′ high. The ceiling has remains of plaster with traces of colour. Except the third cell on the left the cells are finished and stand from 6″ to 1′ higher than the bench all round in front of them. The side walls of some are not finished and are unequal in size. The cells vary in depth from 5′ 7″ to 7′ 7″ and in breadth from 5′ 2″ to 8′. The doorways are about 2′ 5″ broad and almost as high as the cell ceiling. The veranda, which is partly ruined, is 34′ 3″ broad 5′ 6″ deep and 8′ 9″ high.
2.19.30 Cave XXXI
A flight of thirteen broken rock-cut steps from the left of the veranda of cave XXX. leads up to the veranda of Cave XXXI. This cave is almost a part of cave XXX. as it is connected with its veranda. It is a dwelling consisting of a veranda and an inner hall. The hall is 15′ 9″ broad 14′ 8″ deep and 7′ 6″ high, and has a door 3′ 5″ wide by 6′ 10″ high with holes for a wooden frame. The veranda is 18′ 7″ broad 4’4″ deep and 8′ 2″ high, its floor about 2′ lower than the hall floor. In front of the veranda were two pillars and two pilasters. The pillars are broken and only their six plated capitals remain attached to the ceiling. The pillars appear to be undressed and their shafts and bases were never begun. The pilasters, which are nearly quadrangular, are undressed and unfinished.
2.19.31 Cave XXXII
Cave XXXII. close to the right of cave XXX. and on a higher level, is a small dwelling consisting of a veranda and an inner cell. The cell is 7′ 8″ broad 7′ 6″ deep and 7′ 6″ high and has a doorway 2′ 10″ broad and 7′ 6″ high with grooves for a wooden frame. The veranda, whose floor is partly broken, is 16’broad 4’3″ deep and 7′ 6″ high. In a recess to the right is a small seat 2′ 6″ high 3′ 9′ broad and 2′ 4″ deep. The cave was painted and the ceilings of both the cell and the veranda have remains of plaster and colour.
2.19.32 Cave XXXIII
Cave XXXIII. is close to the right of cave XXXII. with two cisterns between them. It consists of a veranda, a cell, and a half cell. The veranda is 8′ 2″ broad 6′ 9″ deep and 9′ 4″ high. In the back wall of the veranda is the half cell 3′ broad 5′ 8″ deep and 6′ 10″ high with the ceiling 6″ lower than the veranda ceiling, and a wooden door whose grooves remain. To the left of the half cell is a seat recess 4′ broad 2′ 3″ deep and 4′ high. To the left of the veranda is the cell, with a greatest depth of 7′ 6″ a greatest breadth of 9′ 2″ and a height of 6′ 5″, and a broken door 2′ 9″ broad. Its back and front sides form an angle and the back and left sides form an arc of a circle, a peculiarity of shape due to two cisterns below, whose tops are now broken.
2.19.33 Cave XXXIV
Cave XXXIV. close to the right of cave XXXIII. is unfinished.
2.19.34 Cave XXXV
Cave XXXV. close to the right of cave XXXIV. is a panchgarbha layana or five-celled dwelling. It consists of a hall and five cells, three in the left wall and two in the back wall. The hall is 18′ 7″ broad 18′ deep and 7′ 3″ high with a doorway 5′ 10″ wide, and 7′ 2″ high. To the right of the doorway is a broken window 4′ 10″ broad and 2′ 2″ high. Both the door and window have grooves for a wooden frame. In the back wall, in a recess between the cells, is a relic-shrine or daghoba in half relief. The plinth of the relic-shrine is 1′ 3″ high and 3′ 5″ in diameter, and the dome is 3′ high with a diameter of 3′ above the middle and 2′ 6″ at the base. Over the dome is the rail pattern 5″ high and 10″ broad and the tee 8″ high in four plates, and on the top of the fourth plate, which is 1′ 7″ broad, is a beaded carving. Over the plates is the shaft and over the shaft an umbrella 3″ high. The cells, two in the back wall and three in the left, vary from 3′ 8″ to 7′ in breadth and 4′ 8″ to 6′ 7″ in depth and are all about 7′ high. The cell doors are 2′ 4″ wide and 7′ high. All the cell doors, as well as the large door and window of the cave, have grooves for wooden frames.
2.19.35 Cave XXXVI
Close to cave XXXV. is Cave XXXVI. the great chapel cave of the group. Though both are in the same veranda, cave XXXV. is a little older than its neighbor. When the chapel was cut, its veranda seems to have been joined with the veranda of cave XXXV. The veranda ceiling of cave XXXV. was originally lower than now, being joined with the veranda ceiling of the chapel. The marks of its original height and breadth can still be seen in the wall.
Cave XXXVI. is the chapel or place of worship of this group. It is in two parts, a hall with the relic-shrine and a large veranda in front of both this and cave XXXV. The entrance to the hall is by two doors a main door in the middle 6′ 3″ broad and 11′ 3″ high and a side door to the left 4′ 8″ broad by 7′ high originally a window but afterwards a doorway. To the right of the middle door is a: window 3′ 5″ broad and 5 11″ high. The doorway leads into a space 4′ 8″ broad beyond which is a raised plinth five inches high and three feet broad on which are pillars and pilasters. Over the, pillar capitals is a quadrangular shaft on which the roof rests. The shrine, containing the relic-shrine or chaitya, is 31′ deep by 21′ broad’ and is two inches higher than the outer space. In shape the daghoba or relic-shrine is of the Gotamiputra period (A.D. 35-1507), its plinths 32′ 3″ in circumference and 4′ 9″ high. Over the plinth is a 1′ broad belt of rail pattern. Over the belt of rail is a flat dome 5′ 3″ high and over the dome the capital with rail pattern. Over the capital is a four-plated tee in all 3′ 4″ high. Over the tee is a shaft and an umbrella cut out of the ceiling. The ceiling has remains of painting consisting of concentric circles in square panels and flowers and leaves in the vacant corners. The panels are in five plates, a black plate in the middle and two white and red plates on either side. Some panels have seven plates a black plate in the middle with three plates white, red, and yellow on each side. The circles are mostly the same in colour, the innermost yellow, the next red, the next a large white circle, the next a a maller red circle and the last a large white circle. Some have an outermost red circle with scroll patterns. Four steps lead to the veranda which is 47′ broad and 11′ 10″ deep. On the back of the veranda by the side of the doorway and along the right wall are benches 2′ broad and 1′ 3″ high. The veranda ceiling is lower than the hall ceiling. In the back wall, of the veranda to the right of the right window is a beautiful inscription well cut and well preserved with a fine altar-like symbol in the beginning. The inscription may be read:
Inscription 24.
(1) Virasenakasa gahapatipamughasa
(2) dhammanigamasa deyadhammam chetiyagharo
(3) niyuto savalokahitasukha’ya
and may be translated
The meritorious gift of a chapel cave of Virasenaka a chief householder, an upright merchant, assigned for the welfare and happiness of all.’ In the veranda to the right is a cistern. Then follow three other cisterns two of them earth-filled. Then comes the beginning of an excavation and after this a cistern with broken front and looking like a cell. Next comes another excavation a cistern with a broken front. Its mouth appears and in the recess was an inscription in large letters of which traces remain. In one line the letters sa gatana can be read. After the cistern on the same level is another cistern with a broken front. A part of its mouth and recess appear above and in the recess is Inscription 25 which reads:
Inscription 25.
Yavanasa Irilasa gata’na deyadhama podhiyo
and may be translated ‘ The meritorious gift of two cisterns by the Yavana Irila a Gata’na P’ The two cisterns mentioned in the inscription are this and one to the left.
2.19.36 Cave XXXVII
Close to the last cistern is Cave XXXVII. a cell with a broken veranda floor. The cell is 7′ 8″ broad 7′ 8″ deep and 6′ 3″ high, and has a door 2′ 6″ broad and 6′ 3″ high with grooves for a wooden frame. The veranda is 6′ 4″ broad and 4′ 2″ deep to its right is a broken cistern in whose recess is Inscription 26. in two lines. The middle of the inscription is water-worn. It may be read:
Inscription 26.
(1) Apaguriya’na Savagiriya’sa putasa patibadhakasa (Gi)ribhutisa sa (ha)bhaya’ya Sivapa’linaka’ya
(2)(de)yadhama podhi lena cha etasa akhayanivi ……………. pa’si……chara’……..
(3) ha’pana’ evo
and may be translated
A cave and a cistern, the meritorious gift of Patibadhaka Giribhuti. son of Savagiriya’sa of the Apaguriyas, with his wife Sivapa lanika for this a permanent endowment…………………………………..’
The third or west face group of six caves is in a curve in the upper scarp. The caves generally face west and are numbered from right to left in continuation of the upper scarp of the east face.
2.19.37 Cave XXX VIII
Cave XXXVIII. is the first in the curve beginning from the right. Further to the right are what appear to be cisterns now out of reach. Cave XXXVIII is a large cell, 17′ 4″ deep 15′ 4″ broad and 7′ 6″ high. Its front wall is broken and holes have been cut for a wooden screen dividing the cave into a veranda and a cell. The holes of the screen still appear in the ceiling. To the right of this cell is a cistern. The ceiling has old plaster and appears to have been painted. The coating and plaster on the walls are modern. The cave has some modern stone and clay work and husking holes.
2.19.38 Cave XXXIX
Cave XXXIX. twenty feet to the left of cave XXXVIII. is a cell 9′ 7″ broad 8′ deep and 6′ high with a broken front.
2.19.39 Cave XL
Twenty feet further to the left is Cave XL. a cell 8′ deep 10′ 2″ broad and 6′ 6″ high with the left and front walls broken. Along the left wall is a broken bench. To the right is an excavation which was abandoned on account of a crack in the back wall.
2.19.40 Cave XLI
About twenty-five feet to the loft, on a slightly higher level, is Cave XLI. a dwelling with four cells or chaugabbha. The cave is in throe parts a veranda, a middle hall, and four cells, two in the back wall and one in each side wall. The hall, which is 15′ 6″ broad 14′ 4″ deep and 8′ high, is entered by a middle door 4′ 2″ broad and 7′ 2″ high with a window on either side, the left window 4′ 4″ high and 2′ 6″ broad and the right window 4′ 6″ high and 2′ 8″ broad. All three, the door and the windows, have grooves for wooden frames. The cell floor is about 1′ higher than the hall floor and the ceiling is 3″ to 8″ lower than the hall ceiling. The left cell is 6′ deep 6 broad and 6′ 2″ high with a doorway 6′ wide and 6′ 2″ high. The cell has no bench. The left cell in the back wall is 7′ 2″ deep 6′ 3″ broad and 6′ 6″ high with a door 2′ 5″ wide. Along the left side is a bench 2′ 3″ broad and 2′ 5″ high. The right cell in the back wall is 7′ 2″ deep 6′ 2″ wide and 6′ 2″ high with a door 2′ 2″; broad and 6′ 2″ high. Along the right side is a bench 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 2″ high. The right cell is 7′ 3″ deep 6′ 4″ broad and 6′ 3″ high with a door 2′ 5″ wide and 6′ 3″ high. Along the left wall is a bench 2′ 2″ broad and 2′ 2″ high. All the cell doors have grooves for wooden frames. Except the left wall cell all have hole in the side walls for the monk’s pole. The veranda is 6′ deep and 19′ 4″ wide. Its floor is broken, but the ceiling is in good order and on a level with the hall ceiling. To the left are five cisterns.
2.19.41 Cave XLII
About seventy yards to the left of the five cisterns comes Cave XLII. In the middle are several cisterns mostly filled up and hidden from view. Cave XLII. is a small cell 7′ 2″ deep 7′ broad and 7′ high with an open front or veranda. The front 11 of the cell is broken. It had a doorway with grooves of which marks remain in the floor and ceiling. The veranda side walls and floor are broken, and the ceiling has remains of plaster and painting.
2.19.42 Cave XLIII
About thirty feet to the left of cave XLII. is Cave XLIII. a large hall with a veranda. The veranda is 32′ broad and 3′ 6″ deep with on either side a quadrangular pilaster. Between the pilasters were four pillars on which the ceiling beam rested. The plated capitals of the pillars hang from the beam. The pillars do not seem to have been broken from below the capitals, as the surface of the last plate of each capital is dressed and smoothed and has a central hole about 1�’ square. The hole would seem to show that some mistake was made in cutting out the pillars and that wooden pillars were fitted into the holes. The roof projects four or five feet beyond the veranda beam. A door in the back wall of the veranda, with a window on each side, leads into the hall. The door is 5′ broad and 7′ 11″ high, the left window 3′ 9″ broad and 2′ 11″ high, and the right window 4′ broad and 2′ 11″ high. The hall is 27′ 5″ deep 30′ 7″ broad and 8′ 6″ high. All along the walls runs a bench 1′ high and 1′ 6″ broad. The veranda and hall ceilings, especially the hall ceiling, have remains of painting. In the hall the’ painting is very clear and consists of concentric circles in square panels, a style common in these caves, but here with the unusual addition of patterns in the circles. Of the colours green is the best preserved. Outside the veranda on either side are a series of rock-cut holes to fit wooden pillars. As the cave faces west, temporary mandaps or awnings were probably built on either side for the. monks to rest of an evening. To the right of the cave is a cistern holding good water and to the left also must have been cisterns though they are entirely ruined.
South Group.
The fourth or south face group of seven caves is in the lower part of the upper scarp. The way to the caves turns to the right after passing the fifth gate or Shivabai Darvaja and leaving the main road to the fort. The way passes by some large modern rock-cut cisterns, and leads to the temple of Shivabai where the caves begin. The row of caves runs from west to east and generally faces south. The caves are numbered from left to right in continuation of the third or west face group.
2.19.43 Cave XLIV
Cave XLIV. is a large hall 20’3″ deep 21′ broad and 9′ 1″ high, with a broken front. The Marathas have turned the cave into a temple 32′ long and 25′ 8″ broad in outside measurement. In front of the temple is a raised veranda 60′ long 37′ broad and 20′ high with two side buttresses jutting out. It is built of fine dressed stones and over it the temple hall or sabhamandap is built turning the cave into a shrine. The mandap, 26′ 6″ long 21′ broad and 11′ high, is built in the dwelling style. The roof rests on two rows of wooden pillars carved in the Moghal cypress-tree style, and in the floor between the two rows of pillars is a hole for a fountain. Between each pair of pillars is a well carved wooden arch in the Moghal style and over the arches between two beams is a strip of wood with well carved patterns. The side walls of the hall are built of dressed stones and the front wall of brick and the roof is flat and tiled. A broken part of the shrine front has been repaired with fine dressed stones and over it is a wooden latticed screen of good workmanship with two small pillars of the same style as the hall pillars. In the back wall of the shrine, on a stone altar in a wooden porch, is the goddess Shivabai a shapeless piece of rock covered with redlead. The goddess is said to be the family deity of Shivaji, who was born in this fort. In the beam over the doorway are somewhat damaged paintings. The paintings are good specimens of Maratha art with figures of Brahma and his daughter Sarasvati, Shiv, Vishnu, the moon, the planet Rahu, and other gods. The middle painting, which is spoilt, appears to have had figures of Shiv and Parvati. Inside the shrine, on the side and back walls, are well executed and well preserved paintings. As specimens of Maratha painting of the 17th century they are worthy of note. The side walls have three panels, each about 7′ long and 4′ broad. The left wall gives scenes from the Ramayan. The first panel paints the fight between Ram and Ravan. With Ram is a large force of monkeys; with Ravan an army of fearful demons. Each leader sits in a large chariot. Among weapons of war are spears, arrows, and large stones. In the second panel is the fort of Janakpur and outside the fort a king going in procession or svari. Above is Janakpur where Ravan Ram and other kings have come to be present at Sita’s consort-choosing or svayamvar, and where, from a balcony, Sita invests Ram with the wedding garland. Above, two processions approach from opposite sides. In the third panel Ram is sitting with Sita. Facing. Ram are Vashishth and other seers, and behind Ram stand Lakshman, Bharat, and Shatrughna, and Hanuman comes with monkeys and bears and falls at the feet of Ram, while one monkey presents Ram with mangoes. Above in the same panel sits Vashishth approached by Ram and his three brothers with Sita and Hanuman in front. Behind Vashisth are several sitting women.
On the right wall are scenes from the life of Krishna in four panels, the first panel small, the other panels as large as the left wall panels. Beginning from the left, in the first panel is Indra falling at the feet of Krishna, giving him a cow, and asking; pardon for his fault in harassing Krishna with too much rain. Above, the gods play music and drums and heavenly damsels or apsaras strew flowers over Krishna. In the next two panels are the. child-like pranks or bala lila of Krishna who steals butter from cowherdesses, goes with his friends and breaks their curd pots, sits with his favourite Radha and other women in swings, and takes, presents from women. Some of the paintings are of every-day life, cowherds husking grain, cooking, grinding corn, and minding the dairy. Above, Krishna upholds the mountain Govardhan and saves cowherds and cows. From the heavens clouds in the form of elephants, from their trunks deluge the mountain with water. In the third panel Krishna carries off Rukmini in his chariot from a, temple. Then follows a fight between Krishna and Shishupal the brother of Rukmini. Above in the same panel is Krishna with Rukmini, and higher still are gods. In the fourth panel is the scene of Draupadi’s consort-choosing, and Arjun shooting a fish with as arrow aiming from a reflection of the fish in a waterpot below. Then follows Draupadi investing Arjun with a wedding garland Above, a scene represents the churning of the ocean with the gods at one end of the serpent-rope and the demons at the other end.
In the back wall are six panels. In the first panel, beginning from the left, is the figure of a goddess with ten heads ten hands and ten legs. In the second panel is the Mahishasur-mardini or buffalo-demon-slaying goddess. In the third panel is the same goddess again with one head and twenty hands. Above, in a long panel, are the first five incarnations of Vishnu as the fish, the tortoise, the boar, the man-lion, and the dwarf. In the first panel to the right of the image of Shivabai is Narayan lying on his serpent couch; in the second panel Shiv and Parvati; and in the third panel Shiv in the Trimurti or trinity with Brahma and Vishnu. Above, in a long panel, are the six incarnations of Vishnu, Parshuram, Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Kalki, and Vatashayin. The image of Buddha is like the image of Vithoba at Pandharpur.
In the back wall of the shrine is a stone umbrella on an altar of well dressed stones. Under the umbrella on a small stand of well-dressed stones is a rude stone covered with redlead the image of Shivabai. A little to the right of the temple and on the same level is a dry cistern.
Cave XLV
Cave XLV. to the right of Shivabais temple and on a lower level, is a small dwelling consisting of a cell and a veranda. The front pilasters of the veranda are broken. The cell is 7′ long 7′ broad and 7′ high with a doorway 2′ broad, half built up from below probably by the Marathas or Musalmans, who seem to have used the cell as a store-room. The veranda is 10′ 4″ broad by 5′ 4″ deep and 7′ 6″ high. Close to the right of the cave is an unfinished excavation, the beginning of a cell.
Cave XLVI
Further to the right is Cave XLVI. a dwelling consisting of a cell and an open veranda. Within the cell is a half cell in the back wall with a benched recess to the left. The cell is 7′ 8″ deep 10′ broad and 7′ high. The half cell is 3′ 5″ broad and 6′ deep, and the bench 2′ 3″ broad and 5′ 11″ long. The right of the front wall is broken, but the width of the cell door 2′ 3″ can be traced from marks in the ceiling. The door has grooves for a wooden frame. The veranda, whose floor is broken, is 24′ broad 4′ 10″ deep and 7′ 5″ high. In the back wall of the veranda, to the left of the door, on a smoothed surface, is Inscription 27 in two lines well cut and well preserved. It may be read:
Inscription 27.
(1) Ugaha [On ga of Ugaha appears something like a stroke. The word may be Ugaha.] upa’sakasa putasa
(2) Isipa’litasa [The ikara of si in Isi is very dim.] saputakasa [The base of pu, the vertical stroke for the ukara, is faint.] danam
and may be translated
The gift of Isipa’lita son of Ugaha an Upa’saka with (his) sons.
Cave XLVII
Cave XLVII thirty feet to the right of cave XLVI. and on a rather higher level, is a dwelling consisting of a veranda, a cell in the right wall of the veranda, a cell and a half cell in the back wall, and a seat recess in the left wall of the veranda. The back cell if 7′ deep 8′ broad and 7′ high with along its back wall, in a recess, a bench 2′ broad and 2′ 4″ high. The cell door is 2′ 7″ wide and has a-small window to its right. The half cell to its left is 5′ deep 3′ broad and 7′ high. The cell to the right of the veranda has lost its front and right walls. Along its left runs a bench. The recess in the left wall is 2′ 1″ broad and 2′ 5″ high. Its left part is broken. The veranda, which is 14′ 5″ broad 8′ 4″ deep and 7′ 5″ high, has’ part of its floor and ceiling fronts broken.
Cave XL VIII
Cave XLVIII. about twenty-five feet to the right of cave XLVII. is a hall 15′ broad 18′ deep and 8′ high. On the back right and left walls is a bench about 1′ high and 1′ broad. The bench is not well finished and part of it is broken. It has an open front with two pillars somewhat like pilasters. On the face of the left wall is a well cut inscription in four lines. In the beginning of the first line is the Buddhist trident and at the end of it is the svastika mark. The inscription was hidden by a modern wall. It may be read;
Inscription 28.
(1) Yavanasa
(2) Chitasa gatanam
(3) bhojanamatapo
(4) deyadhama saghe
and may be translated ‘
The meritorious gift of a refectory by the Yavana Chita Gatanam for the Congregation. To the left of this half is a cistern and beyond the cistern a bench in a small recess. To the right of the hall is another cistern.
Cave XLIX
Close to the right of the right cistern is Cave XLIX. a small dwelling consisting of an open veranda and an inner cell. The cell is of very little depth and the left side is not fully cut because of a layer of soft clay in the rock. The cell is 4′ 5″ deep 10′ broad, and 7′ high. The doorway is 3′ 3″ wide and 7′ high. The veranda, whose floor and ceiling are partly broken, is 8′ 7″ broad and 10′ high. To the right of Cave XLIX. are three cisterns.
Cave L
Cave L. close to the right, is a large quadrangular chapel or chaitya with a flat roof. It is in three parts, a shrine, a veranda, and a large hall to the right. The shrine is 11′ broad and 20′ 8″ deep and the relic-shrine or chaitya is 12′ from the doorway. It consists of a round plinth over three circular bands with, over the plinth, place of the usual rail pattern, another round band about four inches narrower in diameter than the plinth. Over the band is flattish round dome without a tee. To the right of the chapel a doorway leads into a large hall which has a main doorway in the veranda. The hall is 22′ 4″ deep 24′ broad and 8′ 4″ hight. Along its back wall is a recess about 8′ high, and in the recess, along the entire back wall, is a bench 3′ broad and 3′ high. In the middle of the bench are two holes on a square dressed surface probably intended for setting an image. The work may be old or modern. The bench is higher than the benches in caves and looks modern. In front of the chapel is the veranda 23′ broad 4′ deep and 10′ high. It had two front pillars and two pilasters and traces of the right pillar and right pilaster remain. The chapel doorway is 5′ 3″ broad and 10′ high. It has grooves for a large wooden frame. This doorway and half of the right side door, leading from the chapel into the hall, have been closed by a modern work of stone and cement. It appears that either under the Musalmans or the Marathas the chapel was used as a granary or storehouse or as an ammunition room. It is now dark and full of bats. To the left of the doorway just under the ceiling is Inscription 29 in one line of well cut letters. The inscription may be read: and may be translated
Inscription 29.
Uga’haputasa Isipa’litasa sapariva’rasa chetiyagharo da’nam. and may be translated
‘ The gift of a chapel cave by Isipa’lita (sk. Risipalita) son of Uga’ha with (his) family.’
Further to the right a modern fortification prevents further passage-Beyond the fortification are three excavations, too hard to get at but seen from below in climbing the fort.
Tulja Caves
The Tulja group of eleven caves is in a hollow in the east face of the Tuljabai hill [The hill taker its name from a modern figure of the goddess Tulja cut in Cave III.] about two and a half miles west of Junnar and a mile and a half west of Shivner. The hill, which is about 400 feet high, has, about 100 feet above the plain, a scarp half hidden by earth and stone washed from the upper slopes. A gap or curve divides the hill into two blocks or spurs, and the row of caves are cut in a short scarp of rock, on the east face of the south or right block, at the head of a valley about 100 feet above the plain. From Junnar the way to the Tulja caves passes under the great pointed northern scarp of Shivner, which from below looks like the black hull and rounded stern of some huge ship. To the left is the west face of Shivner with a sprinkling of brushwood in the lower slopes, and, above, a great unbroken wall of trap curving south-east, and then with a sharp bend turning south-west. In the curve is the third Shivner group of six caves. At the south-west end the cliff is lower and an outwork on the face of the hill-side marks the only approach to the hill top. Except a rough rocky stream to the east of Shivner, the road is level and easy for a cart. On the right bank of the Kala or Jauna stream, half a mile beyond Shivner, is a small square temple of the Jam goddess Padmavati the guardian of Parasnath the twenty-third Tirthankar, with square stone walls and a brick dome. One or two old stones lie close to the north of the temple.
The way to the caves climbs the Tulja hill by an easy path up the left or south side of the valley. The front of the first four caves is dressed with a modern masonry wall, and about the centre of the line of caves, about twenty feet below, is a modern water cistern with a masonry wall on the east and south. The verandas and fronts of most of the caves have fallen leaving, towards the right, one or two patches carved in horse-shoe arches and belts cut in the Buddhist rail pattern. The caves have a pleasant outlook to the east. The great scarp of Shivner lies on the right, and about four miles further the bare slopes and wall-like cliffs of the Hatkeshvar or Suleman hills. Between the two lie the broad plain and the trees and garden lands of Junnar.
The caves are near one another in one row from left to right, facing on an average east-north-east.
Cave I
Cave I. is a panchgarbha layana or five-celled dwelling. It is in two parts, a middle hall and five cells. The middle hall is 17′ 10” square and 7′ 3″ high. Its front wall is broken but traces of the doorway, 4′ 6″ broad and 7′ 3″ high, remain. The floor and walls are well paved and smoothed. Of the five cells two are in the left wall, one in the right wall, and two in the back wall. Of the two left wall cells, the left cell is 7′ x 7′ x 7′ and he right cell is 7′ 8 X 7 5″ x 7′ 6″. The front wall of the right cell and the partition wall of the two cells are broken. Of the back cells, whose floor is about 3″ and ceiling about 5″ higher than the hall floor and ceiling, the left cell is 7′ 9″ x 7′ 6″ x 7′ 10″ and the right cell 7′ 7″ square and 7′ 8″ high. The right wall cell, on the same level as the back cell is 5′ 9″ x 7′ 6″ x 7′ 8″. The doorways of all the cells are about 2′ wide and 7′ 6″ high, and all have grooves for wooden frames. Except the right wall cell all have holes in the side walls. The hall ceiling projects a little, and under the same ceiling, to the left of cave I. is an excavation (6′ x 5′ 9″ x 7′ 8″) with the front and part of the left wall broken. It may be a separate cell.
Cave II
Cave II. close to the right of cave I. is a chapel cave and differs in its round plan from all other known chapels in Western India. It has a round floor, and in the middle of the floor the relic-shrine or daghoba with, round it, a circle of twelve plain octagonal pillars. An aisle runs all round between the pillars and the walls. The doorway in front is broken but from a part which remains on the left it appears to have been very broad. The relic-shrine or stupa in the middle of the circular floor is twenty-five feet in diameter. It consists of a plain drum-like plinth with, upon it, a rather elongated semicircular dome, differing from the flat and round domes of the other Junnar chapels. The plinth is 4′ 4″ high and 25′ 5″ round and the dome 5′ 2″ high and 22′ round. The dome does not seem to have had a large capital but a small plain capital like a plate, part of which is broken. In the middle of the plate is a hole, 7″ squre and about a foot deep, probably to support the umbrella. Both the plinth and the dome are cracked. About four feet from the stupa is a circle of twelve plain octagonal pillars well smoothed and polished and each 11 feet high and about 1′ 7″ in diameter. Traces show that the pillars were painted more richly than those of and other of the Junnar caves. Between the pillars and the round wall runs the aisle about 4′ broad. The cave ceiling or roof is dome-shaped like a hollow half globe placed over a circle, and supported on the pillars over a circular beam about 5′ thick and 2′ broad. The aisle roof inclines from the top of the beam over the pillars. The wall all round is about 9′ 2″ from the floor. The whole cave appears to have been painted. In the aisle roof, in the lower circle of the dome roof, and on the pillars, patches of colour are still left. Much of the wall to the right of the doorway is lost. From what remains of the left wall there appears to have been a doorway between two large windows 7′ high and 1′ 7″ from the floor. The windows appear to have had grooves for wooden frames. The front of this cave is masonry built and a court in front of it, twelve feet wide, is protected by a masonry wall.
Cave III
Cave III. close to the left, is a small dwelling, originally in three parts, an open narrow veranda with a cell to the right, a middle room, and two cells in the back wall. The cave has been made into a shrine of the goddess Tulja. The partition and front walls of the two back cells have been broken, and in the right wall of the right cell is cut an ugly figure of the goddess 3′ high with eight hands and riding a lion. Her first right hand holds a dagger and rests on her hip, her second holds a trident, her third a sword, and her fourth the tail of the lion. The first left hand holds the lion’s head, the second a shield, the third a bow and arrow, and the fourth a mace. On her neck is a necklace and on her head a crown. In front is a small altar of dressed stones 1′ 8″ broad and 1′ 5″ high, and over the altar are two modern pillars with a Moghal arch over them. In front of the shrine is a tortoise carved out of the base of the partition wall. The floor has been dressed and slightly sloped.
Cave IV
Close to the right is Cave IV. a row of three cells. The partition walls of the three cells have been blown away with gunpowder, probably to make a good sitting hall near the shrine of the goddess. The front of the cell floors has been broken and closed with modern masonry.
Cave V
Cave V”. close to the right of cave IV. is a small cell on a rather unusual plan. The doorway, 2′ 5″ wide, leads to a small passage 7′ deep 3′ 5″ broad and T high and the passage to a cell 7′ square and 7 high.
Cave VI
Cave VI. close to the right of cave V. consists of two cells side by side. The cells are on the same level and are equally well dressed. The first cell is 7′ square and 7′ high, and in each of its side walls three holes face one another, probably to support a wooden bench. The doorway is 2′ 3″ wide. The second cell is 7′ square and 7′ high. The front of the veranda of both is entirely broken; both are hard of access.
Cave VII
Cave VII. is close to the right of cave VI. As the partition wall between it and the right cell of cave VI. is broken, the two Cells appear as one. But the horse-shoe arch and other ornament in front over its doorway marks it a separate cave. It is 7′ 6″ Iquare and 7′ 6″ high. Its left and front walls are broken. Over the doorway, resting on ribs, is a horse-shoe arch. On the front face of the arch is some ornamental work. Below the arch over the doorway is lattice work carved as in Manmoda cave XXXVI. [See above p. 181.] Above the lattice work is a small pentagonal symbol. By the side of the main arch are two small arches, and between the main and each small arch is some lattice work. By the side of each small arch is cut a relic-shrine in half relief with an umbrella. To the left of the relic-shrine is a man bowing and on the right a man and woman approach the relic-shrine. On either side high up is an angel floating to the shrine. Near the right relic-shrine stands a Naga Raja and above a floating angel. Higher up a band of rail pattern extends along the entire ornament.
Cave VIII
Cave VIII. close to the right of cave VII. consists of two cells. side by side. Their front, partition walls, and floor are broken. Both cells are almost entirely gone and have nothing of interest.
Cave. IX
Cave IX. close to the right of cave VIII. is a dwelling with two cells, with their partition and front walls broken. The left cell is 7′ 6″ x 7′ 9″ x 7′ 7″ and the right 7′ 8′ x 7′ 7″ x 7′ 10″. In front, over, the doorway of each cell, two horse-shoe arches rest on ribs, and; between the two arches and on their sides is the rail pattern. Below each arch in the wall is semicircular lattice work. By the side of each large arch is a small arch, and between all the arches is lattice work in the round pillow fashion. Over the entire sculpture is a band of rail pattern.
Cave X
Cave X. close to the right of cave IX. is a dining hall or bhojanamandapa, 23′ 2″ broad 30′ deep and 8′ 5″ high, without a front wall. Along the back right and left walls is a bench. In the right wall, near the front, is a cell 10′ 1″ broad and 7′ 10″ deep, probably the kitchen or the place for doling out their meals to the monks. To the left is a broken cistern and to the right five cisterns filled with earth.
Cave XI
About fifty feet further to the right is Cave XI. a dwelling two parts, a passage and a cell in the left wall. The passage has a bench along about half its left wall and another in a recess in the back wall. To the left of this cave are some excavations entirely filled with earth brought by the rains.
Ganesh Lena Caves
In the long range that bounds Junnar to the north, part of which is known as the Hatkeshvar and part as the Suleman hills, one chief spur about a mile to the north of the town ends in a great rounded scarp about a hundred feet above the plain. This scarp has been cut into a long row of caves, the chief of which, one of the largest caves in Western India, has been turned into a temple of Ganpati and given the group the name of the Ganesh Lena or Ganesh Caves. The way to the caves is through the north part of the town, across the Kukdi, through some rich garden land with sugarcane plantains and rich-leaved mangoes and tamarinds, up the under slopes of the hills, most of the way shaded by mango trees, said to have been planted by Amritrav, the adopted son of Raghunathrav the sixth Peshwa (1773 -1774) and with some rich garden land on the west.
Nearly a quarter of the way up the hill side is made easy by ten flights of forty-five modern steps of well dressed masonry built in detail by people whose prayers the god Ganpati has granted. Above, the path is steeper in places with rough masonry and undressed stones or old rock-cut steps. The caves look out over the bare lower slopes of the hill with rock and bleached grass broken by patches of rich garden land, to the river whose course is marked by tree and gardens. Behind the river are the houses and trees of Junnar, and beyond, the waving out-line of the Manmoda hills. To the south-west stands the block of Shivner with its great natural bastions and rounded top, and to the west the Kukdi valley with scattered trees and garden hollows bounded by the east face of the Tulja range. Beginning from the east or right, Cave I. is a dwelling in four parts, a veranda, a middle room, a cell, and a half cell. The veranda is 3′ 9″ deep 14’11” broad and 7′ 2″ high, with, along the right wall, a bench 3′ 6″ long 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 5″ high. Its front appears to have had two quadrangular pillars of one of which a trace remains in the ceiling. Over the pillars rested the rock beam, over the beam project ribs, and over the ribs in front was the rail pattern which is now lost. Below the veranda, in a recess to the right, is an earth-filled cistern. A doorway 2′ 6″ broad and 6′ 10″ high, with a small window to the left, leads into the middle room. The middle room is 5′ 8″ deep 12′ 6″ broad and 7′ high and along its right wall has a bench 2′ 5″ broad 5′ 8″ long and 2′ 5″ high. In the back wall to the left is the half cell and to the right the cell. The half-cell is 3′ 8″ broad and 8′ 3″ deep, and along its right wall has a bench 2′ 4″ broad 7′ long and 2′ 5″ high, with, in the left wall facing the bench, a window 2′ square communicating with cave II. A door, 2′ 4′ broad and 6′ 3″ high with grooves for a wooden frame, leads into the cell which is 9′ broad 7 deep and 610″ high, with, along its right wall, a bench 7 long 2′ 6″ high and 2′ 5″ broad.
Cave II
Cave II. close to the left or west of cave I. is almost on the same plan as cave I. only differing in the position of the cell and the half cell. In front is a veranda 11′ 8″ broad 3′ 8″ deep and 7 high, with, in front, two pillars and two pilasters of which the right pillar and pilaster are partly broken. Between each pillar and pilaster is a bench with curtains on the back, the right curtain broken. On the front or south face of the curtain is the rail pattern. Over the pillars rests the rock beam and over the beam the ceiling. In front over the beam project rock imitations of rafters, their ends standing out from a thinner stone beam. Over the beam in front is the rail pattern, and over the rail the rock projects about two feet.
A doorway, 2′ 3″ wide and 5′ 9″ high, with grooves for a wooden frame, leads into a middle room 15′ broad 8′ deep and 7′ high, with, along the entire left wall, a bench 2′ 8″ broad and 2′ 5″ high. In the back wall to the left is the cell, and to the right the half cell. The cell is 9′ 7″ deep 6′ 8″ broad and 7′ high, and along the entire back wall, is a bench 2′ 7″ broad and 2′ 5″ high. The cell door, with grooves for a wooden frame, is 2′ 6″ broad and 6′ 7″ high. The half cell is 4′ 4″ deep and 2′ 9″ broad, with, along the back wall, a bench 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 3″ high.
Cave III
Cave III. close to the left of cave II. is a small dwelling consisting of a cell and an open veranda. The veranda is 15′ 11″ broad and 5′ 7″ deep, and in front of the doorway has, along the entire back wall, a bench 1′ 6″ high and 2′ broad. A door, 2′ 6″ wide and 6′ high, leads into a cell 8′ deep 8′ 4″ broad and 6′ 11″ high, with, along the left wall in a recess 7′ 4″ long 2′ 6″ broad and 4′ high, a seat 2′ 6′ high am as long and broad as the recess. In front of the recess, below the seat, are vertical bands. Between caves II. and III., in a recess in front, is a seat.
Cave IV
Cave IV. close to the left of cave III. is a dwelling consisting of a cell and an open veranda. The veranda is 16′ 3″ broad 5′ 8″ deep and 8′ 3″ high and, along its back wall, in front of the doorway has a bench 2′ broad and 1′ 6″ high. In the bench close to the right of the doorway is a small hole, probably for water to wash the feet before entering the cell. A grooved door, 3′ 5″ wide and 7′ 5″ high, with a partly broken window to the left, leads to the cell which is 16’3″ broad 10′ 10″ deep and 8′ high, and along its entire right wall has a bench 2′ broad and 2′ 2″ high.
Cave V
Cave V. to the left of cave IV. is about twelve feet lower. It is a seven-celled dwelling or saptagarbha layana. It is in three parts, a veranda a middle hall and seven cells, three in the back wall and two in each side wall. The middle hall is 29′ 4″ deep 26′ broad and 8′ 5″ high. Along the back and side walls in front of the cells runs a bench 1′ 9″ broad and 1′ high. The doorway is 5′ 3″ broad and 8′ 5″ high, and about two feet on either side is a window 2′ 6″ high and 2′ 3″ broad. The seven cells vary in depth from 9′ to 10′, in breadth from 7′ to 8′, and in height from 6′ to 7′; and each has a bench in the back wall. The veranda is 19′ 8″ broad 6′ deep and 9′ 1″ high and had two pillars and two pilasters with pot capitals of the Satakarni period (B.C. 90-A.D. 300), of which only the right broken pilaster and a trace of the base of the right pillar remain. Much of the veranda ceiling has been broken. In front of the veranda, an open court with two steps leads to the veranda. To the right of the court is a cistern. In the back wall of the veranda, to the left of the doorway, close under the ceiling, is Inscription 30 well carved in one line. In the beginning is the Buddhist trident and at the end the svastika or lucky cross. The inscription may be read:
Inscription 30
Dhanikaseniya Satagabham podhi cha deyadhamam and may be translated ‘A meritorious gift of a seven-celled cave and cistern by a guild of corndealers.’
To what place the guild belonged is not stated. It was probably Junnar.
Cave VI
Cave VI. close to the left of cave V. is a chapel cave or chaitya vihar. In its general inward plan it is much like Ajanta cave IX.[ Compare Bombay Gazetter, XII. 535 – 539.] It is entered by five steps and consists of a veranda with pillars and pilasters and a shrine. The shrine or chapel measures 43′ 8″ by 22 8′ wide and on each side has a row of five pillars and one pilaster with side aisles 3′ 8″ broad and a central relic-shrine or chaitya near the back of the chapel. The pillars are of the Satakarni period (B.C. 90 – A.D. 300) with eight-sided shafts and waterpot bases and capitals. The pillars begin with bases of four plates, each smaller than the plate below, then a waterpot, above the pot an eight-sided shaft, above the shaft a reversed pot, then a capital in five plates, and on the top a belt in the amalaka or cogwheel pattern. [The details of the pillars are: whole height 10′ 11″; each of the eight facet of the shaft about 7′ circumference, of the shaft 5′, the base 1′; lower pot 1′ 10″; the shaft 4′ 7″; the inverted pot 1′ 7″; a square plate 2′, an amalaka belt 3 ;the plate capital 10″, and the animal capital 2 9″.] Except the right pilaster all have figures of animals on the capitals sitting with inverted faces. On the left, above the pilaster next the door, is a lion, on the first pillar are two elephants, on the second pillar a sphinx and a lion, [The head of the lion is broken; the feet of the sphinx are like the hoofs of a ball and the face human with ear ornaments.] on the third pillar two elephants, on the fourth two tigers, and on the fifth two elephants. On the right side the pilaster next the door has no animal capital, the first pillar has two elephants, the second two tigers, the third two well carved elephants, the fourth two tigers, and the fifth two elephants. Hollows in the fronts of the pillars are probably the result of an attempt to break them in search of treasure. Behind the relic-shrine, in a curve, are six eight-sided pillars. The aisles are about 3′ 8″ broad and 12′ high. The walls go up straight 7′ 6″, resting on a beam above the backs of the animal capitals, and above that rise in a pointed arch about 4′ 8″, the whole height to the centre of the vault being 24′ 8″. Along the roof are stone imitations of vaulting wooden ribs as at Karle, thirteen on each side and six at the back. Between each pair of stone ribs is a hole as if for something wooden. Part of the seventh rib on the right side has broken away and been mended with wood which has disappeared. The side aisles have their ceilings marked with stone ribs like the central roof.
The relic-shrine or daghoba is in shape much like the relic-shrines of the Gotamiputra period (A.D. 35-1507) with round domes. The plinth, which is 4′ 7″ high and 27′ 7” round, is ornamented at the foot with a thin round plate, and at the head with a 4″ band with forty-five projecting teeth, and over the band a 2″ moulding surmounted by a 1′ 1” band of rail pattern. Over the rail band is a terrace 9” deep, and above is the dome nearly three quarters of a circle, 26′ round and 6′ 5” high of which 5′ 3″ show above the rail. Above the dome is a small block 6′ high 3′ broad and 2′ 6″ long, and above the block a quadrangular shaft 2′ 6″ broad 2′ 1″ long and 1′ 9″ high with rail pattern. The shaft supports a tee in six square plates, each plate bigger than the plate below, measuring altogether about 3′ 1” high. The sixth or top plate is 5′ 8″ square, and over it is a seventh square plate about 2″ bigger than the sixth plate and about 7″ thick. On the front face of the seventh plate, on the two corners, are two half pyramids and in the middle four whole pyramids, each pyramid in shape like five plates laid one over the other, each upper plate larger than the plate below it. Between each pair of pyramids are five well executed and ornamented Buddhist tridents. In front of the relic-shrine is a hole for garlands. On the top are a central and four corner holes about a foot deep. The central hole was probably for a wooden umbrella which has disappeared, and the side holes for flags. The door of the chapel is 5′ 11″ broad 9′ 2″ high and 2′ thick, and has sockets for a large wooden frame above and in “the floor. On the left door face are symbols, or perhaps letters, which have not been understood or identified. The veranda is 20′ 8″ long 6′ 8″ broad Mid 12′ 4” high. In front are two pillars and two pilasters in the same style as the chapel pillars except that the belt of cogwheel pattern is protected by a square open boxlike section. The pilasters and pillars have animal capitals on the inner and outer faces. The pilasters have each a single tiger and the pillars two elephants facing each other. The elephants, which seem to have had riders, and the tigers on the outer faces are spoilt. Above the animals the roof projects a little but is now greatly broken. Above is the rail pattern and above the rail the arch. On either side of the arch the work is unfinished.
Inscription 31
On the back wall of the veranda, under the ceiling and above the doorway, is Inscription 31 in large deep cut letters and well preserved. The inscription reads: Kalianasa Heranikaputasa Sulasadatasa ekapurisasa chetiyagharo niyuto deyadhama and may be translated
‘ A meritorious gift of a chapel cave by the distinguished Sulasadata, son of Heranika of Kalya’na.’ The inscription shows that this chapel is the gift of one Sulasadata son of Heranika of Kalyana in the Thana district. The name Heranika is from Sk. Hairanyaka and may also mean a goldsmith. But as ‘ son of’ is mentioned, Heranika is probably a proper name as, if he was a goldsmith by profession, he would simply be called a goldsmith and not designated son of a goldsmith. The inscription begins and ends with the well known svastika mark.
Between this and cave V. on a rather high level, is an excavation originally intended either for a dwelling or for a seat. On its left, side is a bench. As the builders came across a fault in the rock, it’ has been turned into a cistern.
Cave VII
Cave VII. close to the left of cave VI. on a slightly higher level, is the largest of the Junnar caves. It is a large hall without pillars or other support, 57′ long by 51’broad and 11′ 1″ high, in plan much like Nasik cave X. The difference between the two is that the Nasik cave has a daghoba or relic-shrine in half relief between the third and fourth cells in the back wall, while this cave has no relice-shrine. If this cave once had a small relic-shrine all trace has been removed, as the third and fourth cells in the back wall have had their partition wall broken away and been made into a Ganpati shrine, and the front walls have been broken and a large doorway, as broad as the two old doorways, has been opened. It is there-fore possible that like Nasik cave X. this may have once had a relic-shrine. The cave is in three parts a hall, twenty cells, and a veranda. The hall is 57′ deep 51′ broad and 11′ 1″ high. Half of the hall wall have been plastered with clay, whitewashed, and daubed with modern paintings, chiefly of Devi, Krishna, Narayan, and Shiv on the left wall; and on the back wall scenes in Krishna’s life, a Yogi, Ganesh, Garud, Hanuman, the marriage preparations of Ganpati, and in a recess a two-headed and four-handed Ganesh and his fight with a Rakshas. The right wall has paintings of Ganpati’s childhood, his Hallisaka dance, himself in the middle and women around him, and Ganpati’s procession on his rat-carrier. All along the side and back walls runs a bench 1′ 10″ broad and 1′ 6″ high. Carved on the left wall, between the cell doorways, are nine Sati monuments of later times and worthy of note as typical North Deccan Sati memorials. In shape each is like a long pillar with an arched top. Three of the monuments are plain without sculpture, the other six have sculptured panels. To the right of each of these pillars is a hand raised above the elbow, with the palm open, in token of the Sati’s blessing. The panel sculptures are mostly worn away and spoilt, but the first engraving from the right clearly shows what they originally were. It is in three panels. In the lowest panel the Sati is shown burning with her husband’s body, supporting his right hand and leg on her lap. Flames rise from the pile. The middle panel shows the Sati going on horseback to the funeral pile. Her hands are raised over her head and she rides to her death apparently in high spirits. [The progress of the Sati to the funeral pile was formerly marked by several special practices. In some places she Went to the burning ground richly dressed. scattering money and flowers, and calling out the name of God, with music sounding and drums beating. In some parts the Sati used to mark with her hands the gateways and walls of the chief temple or the chief gateway. She also marked with her hand-marks some stone in her house for her family to worship, and on this stone it was usual for her children or relations to cut the original out. In honour of Satis well-to-do people, chiefly Rajputs, used to build chhatris or shades in temples and at burning places. In some parts, as at present in Nepal, a wooden seat, called pat mandvi, is prepared to carry her, the seat and her silk robe going as coveted presents to the state. In other parts of the country, as shown in this memorial, she was carried on an elephant or on horseback. The arrangements for the pile also varied. In Gujarat and Cutch the wife sat in a specially built grass hut, and keeping her husband’s head on her lap supported it with her right hand, while she kindled the hut with a torch held in her left hand. At present in Nepal the husband and the Sati are made to lie side by side on the pile. The woman’s right hand is put under the husband’s neck, and round the woman’s face are placed inflammable materials, camphor, resin, nitrate of potash, sulphur, clarified butter, oil, and grass. Three long poles of undried wood are laid over the bodies, one over the legs, the second over the chest, and the third over the neck. Three men on each side press down the poles until the woman is burnt to death. In one instance, when the poles were carelessly held, a Brahman Sati ran from the pile and crossed a river, but was brought back by her friends and burnt.] The topmost panel shows the woman worshipping Mahadev with her husband. These Sati memorials are of about the time when the cave was dedicated to Ganpati, and the memorials were carved here as it was a holy Brahmanical shrine, the Ganpati of this cave being regarded as one of Ganpati’s eight chief forms or ashtavinayakas. [See below Ojhar.] Along the right and left walls are seven cells each and six along the back wall making twenty as at Nasik. Of the back cells, the middle two have had their partition walls broken as also the benches along their back walls. In the middle, in the vacant space between the old benches, is carved ‘a rude image of Ganpati with a thick coating of redlead and clarified butter which people have been pouring for centuries. Over Ganpati is a wooden mandap plated with brass, the gift of Junnar Brahmans. The shrine doorway, made of two cell doorways, consists of lattice work on either side, and in the middle a small wooden door. The bench in front has been cut down into a step. Except the shrine all the back cells are closed with wooden doors and used as store-rooms. The side cells vary in size from 8′ to 9′ 6″ deep, 7′ to 8′ broad, and about T high, and have each a grooved doorway about 2′ 6″ wide. Except the sixth right wall cell and the first and sixth of the left wall, all the cells have benches along the back wall, 2′ 8″ high and-2’ 4″ broad.
The hall is entered by a large middle doorway and two smaller side doorways with, between the middle and each side doorway, one large window. The middle doorway is 7′ 4″ broad and 11′ 2″ high, the left side door is 2′ 7″ broad and 7′ high, and the left window 6′ long and 4′ high. The right side door is 2′ 8″ broad and 7′ high, and the right window is 6′ long and 3′ 10″ high. The middle and side doorways are grooved for wooden frames; the sockets in the middle doorway are for a very large door.
The veranda, which is 44′ 6″ broad 7′ deep and 12′ 7″ high, has, in front six pillars and two pilasters, and between the two middle pillars is an opening leading from the veranda into an open court. Between each pillar and side pilaster is a bench, 1′ 7″ broad and 1′ 4″ high, with the pillars over them and curtains 1′ 5″ high behind them. On the back of the curtain is the rail pattern and below the rail pattern vertical imitations of wooden bars. The pillars have octagonal shafts and over the shafts pot capitals of the S’atakarni type. Over the outer face of the capitals are animals now mostly broken. Going from the right to the left, on the first pillar are two lions, on the second pillar two bulls, on the third pillar two elephants with riders, on the fourth pillar two elephants with riders, on the fifth pillar two bulls, and on the sixth pillar two tigers. The pilasters have each two tigers. On the left bench are Cut three large holes or kundis, with small exit holes fitted with small wooden or metal pipes, and closed with temporary stoppers, being intended to allow water from the holes to wash the feet of visitors. The veranda ceiling, which is marked with ribs, projects a little in front of the pillars and over the ceiling stands out the roof with the rail pattern on its front. Most of the open court in front of the veranda, which is as broad as the veranda and about 5′ deep, is broken. To the right of the court several steps are cut from under the rock. As most of the court floor is broken, the passage by the steps is unsafe, and modern steps have been cut to the right of the veranda and joined with the old steps below. Below the court are five cisterns, one of which holds water.
Cave VIII
Cave VIII. a little to the left of cave VII. and on the same level, is a dwelling cave difficult to reach. It consists of a veranda with a cell and a half cell in its back wall. The roof and left side wall of the veranda are almost entirely broken, but enough is left to show that the veranda was 19′ 4″ long by 5′ 4″ broad and 6′ 7′ high. A broken door with a small window to the right leads to the cell, 6′ 10″ deep 9′ 1″ broad and 6′ 7″ high, with a benched recess to the left, 6′ 3″ long 2′ 6″ broad and 3′ 1″ high. In the back wall near the extreme right end, is a peg hole. To the right of the cell, entered from the veranda, is the half cell 12′ 1″ long and 4’3′ broad. The half cell has an open front and a bench in the back wall III’ deep 4′ 3″ broad and 2′ 3″ high.
Cave IX.
Cave IX. is close to the right of cave VIII. the way to it being from the veranda of cave VIII. It appears to have had a front entrance but the rock is broken. The cave is a large hall and a veranda. The hall is 31′ 7″ broad 23′ deep and 9′ high, with, in the middle of the front wall, a large doorway 6′ broad and 8′ 10″ high and a side doorway on the left 3′ broad and 8′ 8″ high. Both doorways have grooves in the floor for wooden frames. On either side of the middle doorway is a window, the left window 4′ broad and 5′ high and the right window 4′ 3″ broad and 5′ high. The veranda floor is two feet lower than the hall floor which has two steps. The veranda is 31′ 6″ broad and 5′ 3″ deep and had four S’atakarni pillars of which the broken bases remain. It is hard to say for what purpose the hall was used, except perhaps, as a school or study. It differs in plan from dining halls or bhojanamandapas which have benches along the side and back walls and no front wall. It is not a layana or dwelling cave as it has neither cells nor stone benches, and it is not a shrine as it has no object of worship.
Cave X
Cave X. to the left of cave IX. but on a higher level, is difficult to reach as its front is broken. It is a dwelling consisting of an open veranda, a middle room, and in the back wall of the middle room a half cell and cell. The veranda, with broken floor and ceiling, is 22′ 10″ broad and 6′ 4″ deep. A grooved broken doorway, 4′ 5″ wide and 6′ 4″ high, with, on either side, a window each 2′ 1″ square, leads to the middle room which is 18′ broad 5′ 6″ deep and 7′ high, and in the right wall has a recess 2′ 3″ broad and 4′ high with a seat 2′ 6″ high. To the left, in the back wall of the middle room, is a cell 9′ 3″ deep 3′ 11″ broad and 7′ high, with, along its back wall, in a recess 3′ 8″ long 2′ 5″ broad and 4′ high, a seat 2′ 6″ high. A doorway, 2′ 8″ wide and 6′ 10″ high, leads on the right to the cell which is 8′ deep 8′ 4″ broad and 7′ high, with, on the left, a recess 2′ 3″ broad 7′ long and 4′ high with a seat 2′ 9″ high. Traces of painting remain on the ceiling. Outside the veranda to the left is a cistern.
Cave XI.
Cave XI. close to the left of cave X. and rather hard to reach, is a hall 15′ 2″ deep 23′ broad and 7′ 10″ high with a broken front. In the left wall is a cell, 5′ 10″ deer.6’10’ broad and 7′ high, its floor 6′ higher than the hall floor, and its ceiling 5″ lower than the hall ceiling. It has a grooved doorway 2′ 7″ wide and 6′ 10″ high. In the back wall is a recess, 6′ long 2′ 8″ broad and 4′ 6″ high, with a seat 2′ 4″ high. Traces in the ceiling show that the cave was painted. Outside, about four paces to the right, is a recess with a view seat.
Cave XII
Cave XII. close to the left of cave XI. is a small dwelling entered by a door from the veranda of cave XI. It consists of an open veranda, a middle room, and in the back wall of the middle room a half cell and cell. The middle room, which is entered by a doorway 3′ wide and 7′ 1″ high with a small window 1′ 6″ square to its left, is 12′ 8″ broad 5′ 8″ deep and 7′ 3″ high, and in its right wall has a seat recess 5′ 4″ long 2′ 7″ broad and 4′ 6″ high, the seat 2′ 7′ from the floor. To the left, in the back wall of the middle room, is the half cell 7′ 8″ deep 3′ 2″ broad and 7′ 1″ high. In its left wall is a seat recess 6′ long 2′ 6″ broad and 4′ high, the seat 2′ 4″ from the floor. The ceil is 7′ deep 6′ 11″ broad and 7′ high with a grooved doorway 2′ 8″ wide and 6′ 10″ high. The veranda, whose floor and ceiling are partly broken, is 19′ 3″ broad and 5′ deep. In the back wall of the veranda, to the left of the doorway, is a bench V broad and 1′ high, and to the right of the doorway, a seat recess 5′ 5″ long 2’5″ broad and 3′ 11″ high, the seat being 3′ high. The cave was painted, and concentric circles of painting are still seen in the ceiling of the middle room. The middle room floor and half of the cell floor has an inch-thick coating of excellent cement much of which is damaged.
Cave XIII
Cave XIII. close to the left of cave XII. but on a slightly higher level, is a small dwelling in four parts, an open court, a veranda, an inner room, and in the back wall of the middle room a cell and a half cell. The middle room is 12′ 5″ broad 7′ 9″ deep and 7′ high with, along the right wall, a bench 2′ 7″ broad 2′ 7″ high and 7′ 9′ long. The ceiling has remains of painting. To the left is a seat recess 2′ 5″ broad 7′ 4″ long and 4′ 4″ high, the seat 2′ high. In the back wall to the left is the half cell, 10′ 3″ deep 5′ 7″ broad and 7′ high, with a bench in the right wall. The cell is 7′ deep 6′ 4″ broad and 7″ high with a grooved doorway 2′ 5″ wide and 7′ high. The main doorway is 2’9″ wide and 6’11” high and has grooves for a wooden frame. To its left is a window 2′ 2″ square. The veranda is 16′ 4″ broad 4′ deep and 7′ 1″ high and has, along the right wall, a bench 4′ long 2′ 6” broad and 2′ 3″ high. In front of the veranda were two benches, 1′ 4″ broad and 1′ 3″ high, with curtains now broken. Over each end of each bench rested a plain eight-sided pillar and pilaster, of which the right pilaster and part of the right pillar remain. On the right pilaster is the double crescent ornament. , The court in front, from which two steps lead to the veranda, is 13′ 8″ broad and 6′ 6″ deep. To the right of the court is a dry cistern.
Cave XIV
Cave XIV. close to the left of cave XIII. is a chapel cave or chaitya vihar, quadrangular, with a flat roof. The shrine is 12′ 11′ broad 22′ 2″ deep and 13′ 8″ high, with a grooved doorway 5′ 11″ wide and 11′ 11″ high. The relic-shrine is twelve feet from the doorway. Its plinth is 4′ 9″ high. At the foot are three round; plates each smaller than the one below it, and above the plates a drum 21′ 3″ in circumference. Above the drum is a row of thirty-two teeth, and above the teeth a one-inch moulding which completes the plinth. Above the plinth is a band of rail pattern 10′ high, and above the rail band a round dome 3′ 9″ high and 20′ 7″ in circumference. Above the dome is a square shaft with rail pattern 10′ high and 1′ 10″ broad, and above the shaft is a five-plated tee about, 1′ 7″ high, the top plate 4′ 5″ square. Crowning the whole is an umbrella cut out of the ceiling. In front of the shrine is a veranda 10′ 9″ broad and 2′ 9″ deep, with, in front, on a space 2′ 6″ broad, two S’atakarni pillars and two pilasters, on which rests a beam. Above the beam ribs project from the ceiling. In front of the veranda a court, 20′ 2″ long and 9′ broad, is entered by four steps three feet below the veranda. The left wall of the court has a broken relic-shrine or daghoba in half relief and the same wall had a doorway loading from the veranda of cave XIII. In the back wall of the veranda, to the left of the doorway under the ceiling, is Inscription 32 very well cut in two lines. The inscription reads:
Inscription 32
(1) Kapila upa’sakasa natuno ta’pasa upa’sakasa
(2) putasa a’nadasa deyadhammam chetiyagharo niyuto
and may be translated
A meritorious gift of a chapel cave given by A’nanda, a son of Ta’pasa an Upa’saka, and grandson of Kapila an Upa’saka.’
Cave XV
Cave XV., close to the left of cave XIV. on a higher level, is a small dwelling consisting of a cell and a veranda. The cell is 7′ 11″ broad 7 9″ deep and 7 high with an unproved doorway 2′ 7″ wide and 6′ 2″ high. The veranda is 16′ broad 6′ 3″ deep and 6′ 3″ high. The side walls are preserved but the ceiling is half broken.
Cave XVI
Cave XVI. close to the left of cave XV. on a slightly higher level, is a small dwelling consisting of a cell and a veranda. The cell, which is 8′ 4″ deep 10′ 8″ broad and 6′ 11″ high, has, along its right wall, a bench 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 7″ high. The doorway is 2′ 11″ wide and 6′ 5″ high. The veranda is 11′ 11″ broad 3′ deep and 6’6″ high. Both the side walls and part of the ceiling are broken.
Cave XVII
Cave XVII. close to the left of cave XVI. consists of three small dwellings which look like separate caves but they are in one row in the same veranda. The first dwelling is in two parts, a middle room 12′ 11″ broad 5′ 3″ deep and 7′ 4″ high, with a doorway 2′ 11″ broad and 7′ 4″ high, and on either side of it a broken window. In the back wall is a cell to the right and a half cell to the left. The cell is 7′ 6′ broad 7′ 5″ deep and 7′ 4″ high, with a door 2′ 10″ wide and 7′ 4″ high, and to the left of the door a window. The ceiling has remains of painting. The half cell is 4′ 8″ broad 7′ deep and 7 4″ high with a bench 2′ 7″ high and 3′ broad. The bench ceiling is 8′ lower than the hall ceiling and projects a little in front of the bench. The second and third dwellings are close to the left of the first dwelling. A soft layer of clay has cut off much of the upper part of the cave but what remains is well preserved. The second dwelling is in two parts, a middle room, a half cell to the left, and a cell. reached from the. right of the half cell. The middle room is 7 deep 15′ broad and 7 high, with, along the right wall, a bench 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 5″ high. The doorway is 3′ 4″ broad and 6’10” high. The half cell is 4′ 6″ broad 13′ 8″ deep and 7 highs, and in its back wall has, in a recess 2′ 5″ broad 4′ 6″ long and 3′ 8″ high, a bench 2′ 5″ broad and 2′ 3″ high. A grooved door in the right wall of the half cell, 2′ 7″ broad and 6′ 8″ high, leads to the cell 7 4″ broad 7′ 4″ deep and 6′ 8″ high, with, along the back wall, a bench 2′ 4″ broad and 2′ 7″ high. In the right wall was a window looking over the middle room. In front of the doorway is a bench 1′ 8″ broad and 1′ 8″ high. The third dwelling is the largest of the three. It consists of a middle hall, and, in the back wall of the hall, two cells and two seat recesses. The hall is 25′ broad 15′ 10″ deep and 7 4″ high, and along the right and back walls has a bench 2′ broad and 1′ 10″ high. The right cell is 7 broad 8′ 9″ deep and 6′ 5″ high with a grooved doorway 2′ 8″ wide and 6′ 4″ high and a window to the left of the doorway. The left cell is 7 wide 8′ 6″ deep and 6′ 4″ high with a grooved doorway 2′ 6″ wide and 6′ 4″ high and a window to the left of the doorway. Along the back wall of each cell is a bench 2’2″ wide and 2′ 3″ high. The seat recess at each corner of” the back wall is 3′ 8″ long 2′ 7″ broad and 3′ 3″ high. The hall door was 5′ 8″ broad and 7′ 4″ high. In front of the hall door is a bench 1′ 8″ broad and 1′ high. In front of the veranda are holes for. wooden pillars but much of it is broken. To the left of the veranda are two cisterns. Between this cave and cave XVIII. are three other cisterns. In the recess of the first cistern is Inscription 33. It may be read:
Inscription 33
(1) Kalianakasa Kudiraputasa
(2) Suvanaka’rasa Saghakasa podhi deyadhammam
and may be translated
‘ A meritorious gift of a cistern by Saghaka a goldsmith, son of Kudira of Kalya’na.’
Inscription 34
In the recess of the second cistern is Inscription 34. It may be read:
(1) Isimulasa’mino bhaya
(2) Nadaba’lika’ya Na’dakatorikasa
(3) Lachhinika’ya deyadhama podhi and may be translated
‘ A meritorious gift of a cistern by Lachhinika (wife) of Torika the Na daka [and] Nadaba’lika wife of Isimulasa’mi.’
Cave XVIII
Cave XVIII. follows the three cisterns. It is like a dining hall except that it has a front wall, with, in the middle, a grooved door, 5′ 8′ wide and 7′ high and on either side of it a window 3′ 3″ broad and 2′ 9″ long. The hall is 29′ 9″ deep 24′ 8″ broad and 7′ 4″ high with a bench 1′ 7″ broad and 1′ 2″ high along the entire back and side walls. The passage to the hall is by three broken steps and on either side of the steps are broken benches 1′ 8″ high and 1′ 8″ broad. In front is an open court about 6′ broad. Outside, to the left of the court, is a cistern of good water.
Cave XIX
Cave XIX. about ten feet to the left of cave XVIII. is a cell without a from wall It is 13′ 10′ broad 9′ 9″ deep and 6′ 4″ high with, along the left wall, a bench 6′ 9″ long 1′ 2″ broad and 1’1′ high. The ceiling shows signs of a dressed stone or wooden screen from the right wall to the end of the bench. To the right is a small cell in the same roof probably connected with cave XIX. The cell is 8′ deep 8′ broad and. 6′ 8″ high, with, along the right wall, a bench 2′ 2″ broad and 2′ 7″ high. The grooved doorway of the cell is 2’6′ broad. The cave has two cisterns one to the left and another between it and the cell.
Cave XX
Cave XX., close to the left of the cistern, is a small dwelling hard to reach as the rock in front is broken. To the right is a passage 11′ deep 3′ broad and 7′ high, and to the left a cell 10′ 5″ broad 10′ deep and 7′ high, with, along the entire left wall, a bench 2′ 6′ broad and 2′ 7″ high. The cell doorway is 2′ 8″ broad and 7′ high.
Cave XXI
Cave XXI. close to the left of cave XX. is out of reach except by a modern hole cut through the cell of cave XX. It is a small dwelling consisting of a veranda and an inner cell. The cell is 10′ broad 7′ deep and 7′ high, with, along the left wall, a bench 2′ 1′ wide and 2′ 7″ high. The cell door is grooved, 2′ 7″ wide and 6’6′ high. The veranda is 16′ 5′ broad and 4′ deep. To the left, in the veranda, is a seat recess.
Cave XXII
Cave XXII. close to the left of cave XXI. is a dwelling consisting of a veranda, and in the back wall of the veranda a half cell to the left and a cell to the right. The cell is 8′ broad 6′ 9″ deep and 6′ 8″ high, with, along the entire back wall, a recessed bench 2′ 4″ broad and 2′ 7′ high. In the left wall a window looks into the half cell. The cell has a grooved door 2′ 8′ wide and 7′ high. The half cell is 4′ broad 9′ 9″ deep and 7′ high. The veranda is 19’5″ broad and 5′ deep, and in its back wall, to the right of the doorway, has a large seat recess with a seat 6′ long 2′ 10″ broad and 3′ high. In the left wall of the veranda are the remains of a doorway which led to an open sitting space 13′ 9″ broad and 5′ deep with, in the back wall, a seat recess. To the right of the recess, under the ceiling, is Inscription 35 which reads:
Inscription 35
(1) Sa’marupa’sakasa putasa
(2) Sivabhutisa deyadhama lenam
(3) Kapichite sanghasa niyutam ka?
and may be translated
‘The meritorious gift of a dwelling cave by Sivabhuti the son of Samara an Upa’saka, dedicated to the Congregation of Kapichita’ [Kapichita is probably the name of the monastic establishment in the Ganesh Lena hill.]
Cave XXIII
Cave XXIII. close to the left of the open space, consists of a veranda and two cells in its back wall. The left cell is in two parts, a front room and a half cell in its back wall. The front room is 8′ broad 8′ deep and 7′ 4″ high, with a door 2′ 7″ wide and 6′ 10″ high. The half cell is 3′ 3″ broad 7′ 10″ deep and 6′ 10″ high, with, along its entire left wall, a recessed bench 6′ 9″ long 2′ 8″ high and 2′ 6″ broad. The right cell is 8′ broad 8′ deep and 7′ 3″ high, and in its back wall, in a recess 7′ long 2′ 7″ broad and 4′ high, has a bench 2’5″ from the floor. The cell door is 2’6″ wide. The veranda is 19′ 6″ broad and 3′ 7″ deep. Between the two cells in the back wall of the veranda, close under the ceiling, is a smoothed space 2′ long prepared for, but without, an inscription. To the left is a recess-like excavation.
Cave XXIV
Cave XXIV. about a hundred feet to the left of cave XXIII. is very hard to reach as the rock in front of it is broken. A cistern is first reached, then a long seat recess, with, on either side of it, a small seat recesses all three in an open sitting space. In the broken left wall of this open space, a broken door three feet wide leads to the veranda of cave XXIV. The cave consists of a veranda, and in the back wall of the veranda, to the right, a cell and to the left a half-cell. The cell is 9′ 10″ broad 7′ 10″ deep and 6′ 10″ high with a grooved doorway 2′ 7″ wide and 6′ 9″ high, and along its entire right wall a bench 2′ 5″ wide and 2′ 10″ high. The half cell is 9′ 9″ deep 4′ 1″ broad and 7′ 8″ high, with, along its entire back wall, a bench 2′ 8″ broad and 3′ from the floor. The veranda is 22′ broad and 5′ 7″ deep with a bench along its left wall.
Cave XXV
About 150 feet further to the left, almost inaccessible, is Cave XXV. with a cell, a broken open veranda, and a seat recess to the left. In the rough back wall of the veranda is the cell 10′ deep 7′ 10″ broad and 8′ high with a doorway about 5′ 2″ broad and 6′ 2″ high. A doorway, 2′ 9″ wide and 7′ 4″ high, in its left wall, leads to an inner cell 7′ 8″ broad 4′ deep and 7′ 4″ high with uneven and irregular walls as further work was stopped by a flaw in the rock.
Cave XXVI
About forty feet below cave VI. is Cave XXVI. a plain excavation consisting of an open veranda. Passing round the east end of this hill, after a walk of fully a mile, or about four miles from Junnar, in another spur of the Suleman hill, is a group of caves in the face of the hill about 400 feet above the level of Junnar. The caves face south-south west and are usually said to be difficult of approach, as the precipice in front of them is almost perpendicular. The most easterly cave of the group is a small chaitya or chapel cave 22′ 4″ long and 8′ 2″ wide. The relic-shrine, 15′ 4″ from the door, is 9′ 4″ in height and 4′ 10″ in diameter. The walls are not straight nor the floor level. The side , aisles have not been begun and, except the upper part of the relic- shrine or daghoba, almost no part of the interior is quite finished, The height of the cave is 16′ to the top of the architrave or triforium and 18′ 2″ to the centre of the roof. Outside, the facade is carved with the horse-shoe or chaitya window ornaments, some enclosing a relic-shrine and others a lotus flower; while the rail ornament is largely interspersed in the usual way. The fronton round the window is also carved with a geometrical pattern. The general details of this cave seem to show that it is one of the earliest excavations at Junnar. Next to it, but higher up and almost inaccessible, are two cells, a well, and next a small dwelling or vihar with three cells two of them with stone beds. Some rough cutting on the back wall between the cell doors resembles a relic-shrine in low relief, but it is quite unfinished. Outside are two more cells and a chamber or chapel at the end of a veranda that runs along in front both of the vihar and the cells.
Trips
Kukdi Vally
From Junnar it is a pleasant trip sixteen miles west to Ghatghar, about two miles to the east of the Nana Pass. The road has lately been improved and is fit for bullock and pony carts. It winds up the Kukadner or Vale of the Kukdi, a broad flat valley whose bare sides rise gently to ranges of steep wildly scarped hills. At first, as in Junnar, the valley has Hatkeshvar and the Mangni hills to the north and Shivner and the Tulja hills to the south, and between the two lines of hills rocky uplands and lower spurs, strewn with stones and white with bleached grass, are relieved by a few scattered trees, and nearer the centre of the valley, until the end of the cold weather, by hollows green with crops. On the left the Tulja hills are seen hid behind the lofty waving line of the Manekdho range. About six miles from Junnar the valley opens to the Nana Pass, Chavand, Shambhu, and part of the Jivdhan range showing on the left, and Hadsar, the Masherdi hills, and the worn tower-like crags of Anjanola on the right. Though the hill-tops change, the new hills differ little from the old, and, except that it is somewhat rougher, the valley remains much the same. The hill-sides are steep and bare, striped by level belts of rock standing like walls or dwarfed by banks of earth and stones washed from the upper slopes. The same rocky spurs and low plateaus fringe the valley and the general bareness is relieved by the same thin sprinkling of trees. The level parts of the valley yield crops during the rainy months, the main crop changing near Rajur, about eight miles west of Junnar, from millet to rice. In hollows near the river, till the end of the cold season, patches of bright green wheat, purple peas, or feathery blue-green gram are broken by the glistening thistle-like heads of kardai or safflower. The stream loiters in long shady reaches between banks whose hollows glow with rich ruddy grass. At Hirdi, about ten miles from Junnar, in the northern range, formerly hid by the Masherdi hills, appear the two-headed fort of Nimgiri, the long deeply scarped line of Devala, and the worn crags of Anjanola. In the south range, beyond the massive square block of Chavand, the lower castellated crag of Shambhu is dwarfed by the higher slopes of Karkumba. Behind Karkumba stands the steep shoulder locally known as Pahad, and beyond Pahad the lofty range which ends northwards in the fortified scarp of Jivdhan. From the middle of the plain, which separates Jivdhan from Anjanola, rise the bare slopes of a small hill and a little to the south a steep narrow point. The steep narrow point is the back of Nana’s Thumb, and between it and the small hill to the north is the narrow cleft of the Nana Pass. About as far west as Hirdi the valley divides in two. A somewhat broken plain, about a mile broad, continues to stretch west about six miles to the head of the Nana Pass This is generally called the Kukadner, but the stream which drains it is only a branch of the true Kukdi. The main stream turns to the left close under Chavand, crosses to the south between Chavand and Shambhu, and then winds west aboutfour miles up a wild narrow valley ending in a glen shut in by high hills with woody terraces and green under-slopes. At the top of the glen, close under the western hills, in a thick jambhul and mango grove, on the right bank of the stream, is an old Hindu temple to Kukdeshvar, the god of the river. From the temple, across the west shoulder of Shambhu, a pleasant path leads along the north face of the Karkumba hills about five miles to Ghatghar. In the country to the west of Hirdi, in the broad or northern Kukadner, the valley is rougher than further east, the hill sides are much less bare, and the hollows and lower slopes and plateaus are in places richly wooded. In the two miles between Ghatghar and the Nana Pass the country is level and tame, redeemed to the north by the wild rounded crags of the Anjanola hill, and to the south by the great fortified block of Jivdhan, which is much like Shivner, except that the north end is squarer and blunter and that the upper hill is higher and larger. Somewhat raised rocky ground seems to join the ends of the Anjanola spurs on the north and the Jivdhan spurs on the south. But there is said to be a break in the Anjanola spur and the drainage of the two miles beyond to the head of the Nana Pass winds north and south and finally sets eastwards. In front is a line of low hillocks with grass and bushes and to the right the bare slope of the back of Nana’s Thumb which does not rise more than 150 feet above the plain. On the right of the low bank of hills to the north of Nana’s Thumb is the pass called the Boranda Gate or Borandache Dar, which is fit only for men. The pass to the south of Nana’s Thumb is called Guna and the pass to the north Nana. To the southeast the fine west scarp of Jivdhan ends south-west in a solitary rock pillar, about 200 feet high, known as the Monkey’s Point or Vandrache look.
Nana Pass
The ascent of the steep bare slope of Nana’s Thumb from the east is easy but the sides are scarped crags. The Nana Pass is on the north side of the Thumb and the Guna Pass on the south. The distance from Ghatghar to the head of the Nana Pass is about two miles. A short distance before reaching the top of the pass the ground is covered with traces of houses which formed the old village, of Ghatghar. Among the stones that mark old foundations, a few yards to the west of the path, is a broken Hero Stone (2′ 5″ X 1′) with four faces and three panels ten inches broad in each face. On the east face, in the lowest panel below, a dead man lies on the ground and above him a row of cattle shows that he met his death in a cattle raid. In the left of the panel, above, a figure, the corpse of the panel below, armed with sword and shield, fights two horsemen with spears. In the top panel is a central’ ling and two side worshippers, the one on the left sitting cross-legged, the one on the right standing and waving a lamp with his right hand and ringing a bell with his left. Above an angel bears a garland. In the south face, in the lowest panel, is a dead man with three cows above him. In the middle panel in the left, the corpse of the panel below, armed with sword and shield and with a big top-knot, fights two horsemen on the right with spears. Above two figures worship a ling, the left sitting and the right standing. In the west face the lowest panel has a dead man with a flying regal bearing a garland. In the middle panel one man on the left with sword and shield fights two men on the right with spear and shield. Above are Shiv and Parvati. In the north in the lowest panel is a dead man and two angels bearing a garland In the middle panel on the right a man with sword and shield fights two men with spears and shields. In the top panel in the centre over a ling is an angel with side worshippers. About a hundred yards to the south of the Hero Stone, a stone belonging to a temple of Hemadpanti or pre-Musalman times, represents Mahalakshmi seated between two elephants.
The Guna Pass to the south of the Thumb is not now used, and though it is said to have been formerly practicable, there are no traces of any stair or other work without which it is impassable. It is a very narrow gorge with a deep drop on either side and a sheer wall of rock in front. Over the Guna Pass is a splendid stretch of the wild western front of the Sahyadris. Beyond a spur of Jivdhan that stands out to the south of the Guna gorge the deep cleft is the entrance to the Amboli Ghat and the high point or flat top behind is Dhak. Then the Sahyadris stretch to the west in great scarps that run down from Bhimashankar in sharp cliffs to lower slopes and plateaus deep in forest. To the west, between the Guna and Nana Pass, rises the back of Nana’s Thumb whose sheer cliff is so well known a land-mark from below. It rises steep and bare but of easy ascent about 150 feet with, a few steps beyond the crest, a sheer drop into the Konkan. The top commands a magnificent view of the great bend in the Sahyadris that stretches from the range that runs to the west near Kalsubai in Nasik to the Bhimashankar hills a distance of about sixty miles. The chief hill to the north is the great fort of Harishchandragad, with its regular wall-like bands of trap, one or two of them higher layers than appear in any of the neighbouring hills. To the south the chief peaks are Dhak and Bhimashankar. To the east between its two western guardians, Anjanola and Jivdhan, the broad level valley of the Kukdi stretches to the horizon. To the north-west, across the Konkan, stands out the Mahuli range with the great cleft and shattered pinnacles of Mahuli. To the south-west behind Shidgad, at the end of the Bhimashankar hills, are the level top of Matheran, the great comb like rock of Chanderi, and the cliffs and pinnacles of Bava Malang nearly hidden by the rounded top of Tavli. Near the isolated hill of Shidgad, at the point of the Bhimashankar hills, is the rough pass of Avapa whose difficulties and dangers Fryer, who was dragged up it in 1673, has so feelingly described.
At the top of the Nana Pass, on the right, is a platform (22′ 9″ x 15′ 9″) paved with old dressed stones and varying in height from 4′ 5″ on the west to 6′ 7″ on the east. In the south-west corner of the parapet is a great jar hewn out of the rock, about five feet high, with a heavy lid on one side of which is a hole through which apparently toll money was dropped. On the left, about ten feet above the path, nearly opposite the old toll-jar, a small cell now half full of earth is used as a temple of Ganpati, and about thirty paces to the south-west are three rock-cut cisterns in the open or pool style. The path, which varies in breadth from 16′ 4″ to 7, passes about 250 feet between two high banks of rock whose scarps seem to be partly artificial, though all traces of the chisel have worn off. About 250 feet from the toll platform, on each side of the path is a line of caves or rest-houses and water cisterns. Except two close to the path, the group of caves on the right has been so injured by the weather as to look little more than natural caverns. To the left, beyond a red modern figure of Hanuman the monkey god, over which is an old cistern, is a plain rough cave whose front wall and pillars have disappeared, whose floor has been broken and hollowed, and from much of whose sides and top the original surface has peeled. The cave was about 28′ 7″ square and 7′ 10″ high. The front of the cave may be traced by the remains of two square pilasters in the walls and by the square capital of one of the pillars which is still visible in the roof. The three sides of the cave were surrounded by a stone bench two feet broad and one foot seven inches high. Except in one or two places the bench has disappeared and the floor is rough and uneven almost like a natural cave. The whole face of the side walls was originally covered with writing in characters of about B.C. 100. The peeling of the outer surface of the wall has made many blanks and spoiled the meaning of a good deal of the inscription, still enough is left to place the general sense beyond doubt.
Inteription. B.C. 100.
The inscription may be translated:
Salutation to Dhamma (Dharma); Salutation to Ind (Indra); and salutations to Samkamsana (Samkarshana) and Va’sudeva, to the moon and the sun, to the five and the wind, to the four gods of the quarters, Tama, Varuna, Kubera, and Va’sava- The great prinoe, king Vedisiri (Vedishri) …………………. patient, valiant, whose army is never baffled, lord of Dakhina’patha (Dakshina’patha) ……….. the great warrior, the furtherer (descendant) of the Angiya (A’ngiya) dynasty, the first warrior on the earth which has the sea and great mountains for its garments, excellent performer of sixteen great sacrifices ……………. his (Vedishri’s) father, the illustrious king with his queen, the son-giver, boon-giver, desire-fulfiller, and wealth-giver of the chaste (Sati’) mother of Vedisiri (Vedishri) and Sirimitra (Shrimitra), the illus’trlous (queen) …………. excellent, conferring greatness and blessings, fasting for a month, performing austerities without being a recluse, observing a ourb over the senses (charita brahma chariyaya), clever in initiation (diksha), vows (vrata) and sacrifices, fragrant with the offerings. given in sacrifices, constant ………………… performed sacrifices.
Description: At the Aga’dheya (Sk. Agnya’dheya) sacrifice, gave a gift of twelve cows ………………. and one horse; at the Ana’rabhaniya (Sk. Anva’rambhaniya) sacrifice, a gift of eight cows……………. (performed the Va’japeya sacrifice), gave gifts of 1700 cows and 17 elephants …………………….. seventeen into seventeen, 289 of Sadabi (P), 17 silver jars, ………….. at the (Ashvamedha) sacrifice with great preparations and pomp, gave gifts: 10,000 cows, 1000 cows, (ka’rsha’pana coins) in gifts to learned Brahman visitors ………….. 12, a good village, 24,400 ka’rsha’panas (as a regular sacrificial) gift and 6000 ka’rsha’panas to learned Brahman visitors, (performed the) Ra’ja (suya sacrifice, gave gifts) ……….. 1700; 1 yoked cart full of grain, 1 good robe, 1 horse, 1 horse chariot, 100 bullocks; performed a second Ashvamedha sacrifice and gave the (following) gifts: 1 horse with silver ornaments, 12 gold bracelets, gave in gift 24,000 ka’rsha’panas, a village, elephant, ……………. (gave in gifts) 60,000 cows, a yoked cart full of grain, (performed) …………… vaja sacrifice, gave in gift cows 17 cows ………… with calf …….. of the ……….. va’ja sacrifice ……………….. 17 she-goats, ………….. (gold bracelet) …………… gave in gift to. learned Brahman visitors (20,000 ka’rsha’panas) …………… gave (in gift) cows ……………. sini (?) 12, 1 horse with silver ornaments, gift of 10,000 ka’rsha’panas, ……………. (gift) cows 20,000; performed Gobhiladashara’tra sacrifice, gave in gift cows 10,001, performed Gargatrira’tra sacrifice, gift cows ……………, gave to learned Bra’hman visitors 301 robes, performed the Gava’mayana sacrifice, gave in gift 1101 cows, ……………………… gave in gift 1101 cows, to learned Brahman visitors 200 ka’rsha’panas, 100 robes; performed the A’ptorya’ma sacrifice, gave in gift ……………….. Performed the Gava’mayana sacrifice, gave in gift cows 1101. Performed ……………………. the sacrifice, gave in gift 1101 cows……….. Performed the Shata’tira’tra sacrifice, gave in gift 1101 cows………….. Performed the ………. sacrifice, gave in gift 1100 cows. Performed the A’ngirasatrira’tra sacrifice, gift cows ………………. Performed the Vaidatrira’tra sacrifice, gift cows 1002. The Chhandomapavama’na sacrifice, gift cows 1001. Performed the Antarvasutrira’tra sacrifice, gave in gift 1001 cows. Performed the Para’katrira’tra sacrifice, gave in gift cows 1001. Performed the Para’kachhandomatrira’tra sacrifice, gave in gift cows Performed the Jamadana sacrifice, gave in gift 1001 cows ……………… gave in gift 1001 cows ………… Performed the …………………. satra sacrifice, gave in gift 1001 cows. Performed the Gava’mayanaohhavasa …………….. gave in gift 1000 cows Performed the sacrifice, gave in gift 1001 cows …………….. Trayodasha (ra’tra) ……………. Tra’yodashara’tra with Varsha’ra’tra, gave in gift cows ………… Dasharatra ……………… gave in gift 1001 cows …………… sacrifice, gift ……….. gave gift.
In the back a niche or recess, about nine inches deep, began about 1′ 8″ from the east wall and continued to within 5′ 7″ of the vest wall. In this long recess there are traces of eight figures or statues about life-size. Almost nothing is left in the wall to show where the statues stood except the feet, and in several cases the feet are worn to a rounded knob. But near the top of the wall, above each, the name of the person represented is carved in large letters. The first figure is king Satavahana, whose feet and the end of a waistcloth falling between the feet, remain about 1′ 5″ from the east wall. The next figures were a couple of statues of queen Nayanika and king Satakarni. Almost no trace of this couple is left, but a slight swelling which was once one or two pairs of feet 1′ 6″ and 2′ 11″ from the feet of king S’atakarni. The fourth figure, whose feet can be dimly traced about 1′ 10″ from number three was ‘ Prince Bhaya.’ Two feet one inch to the right are a pair of feet, whose is not known, as the inscription is broken. The sixth, which is 2′ 5″ from the fifth, was the statue of Vir or Yar the champion and saviour of the Marathas. The seventh, of which the only trace is a rounded knob representing feet about 2′ 4″ from Yir, was prince Hakusri. The eighth which is 2′ 5″ further was prince Satavahana. About 18″ beyond S’atavahana, the recess ends and the whole of the wall is covered with writing. To the left or south of the rest-cave is a cistern 5′ 5″ broad and about 7′ long, half of it passing under the hill side. Close by is a second cistern 5′ X 4′ and a third 5′ X 7′, and a little further on are three more, 3′ 4″x3′, 3′ 6″x2′ 7″, and 3′ 4″x3′. Above the cisterns is a view-seat, 18’4″ x 11’9″, and a small seat 3′ 6″x 2′ 4″ inside. On the right side of the path, opposite the inscription cave, an unfinished cave 24′ 6″ x 9′ 4″ and 7′ high, has a recess about 4′ 2″ in the back wall. A few paces beyond an opening with mud and water is about 9’x 11′ 10″ and 5′ 1′ high. Further on, at the same level, are several more cuttings, but, from the force of the south-west monsoon, their front walls have fallen away and they now differ little from natural caverns. Down the hill face the path zigzags sharply between two great walls of rock. It is paved with irregular slippery stones with, at intervals, traces of old dressed stones or worn rock-cut steps. On both sides, every now and again, are small plain cisterns, one on the left with traces of an inscription and another on the right about half a mile from the main cave and nearly at the foot of the crag with an inscription. [See below p. 223.] For half a mile further the path continues to zigzag sharply down a very steep slope at the foot of the scarp till it reaches the under slopes which are thickly wooded. From the beginning of the woods, and still better, from the Shingaru or Foal about a mile further, is a splendid view of the great tower like overhanging crag of Nana’s Thumb.
The following account of the Nana pass from the Konkan side is repeated from the Statistical Account of Thana. [ Bombay Gazetteer, XIV. 286-291] Nanaghat or Nana’s pass in Murbad about seventy miles north-east of Bombay and about forty miles east of Kalyan station on the Peninsula railway, is a frequented pass in the Sahyadri hills with interesting remains and inscriptions which date from before the Christian era. Though steep and hard to climb, the Nana pass is the natural outlet for the great commerce which, in early times, centred in Junnar about twenty miles to the south-east and in Paithan about- a hundred miles to the east and in later times (A.D. 1490 – 1630) in Ahmadnagar about halfway between Paithan and Junnar. In 1675 Dr. Fryer, who had been, misguided by the Avapa pass on his way up, came back from Junnar by what he calls the ‘ Nanny Gaut,’ and explains to mean ‘ the little hill, in respect of the other which mounted a prodigious height above it.’ At the top of the pass Fryer was stopped by a drove of 300 oxen laden with salt. After an hour’s standing in the sun he got the drivers below to wait, and then the path was easy ‘ being supplied at fit distances with charitable cisterns of good water, and, towards the bottom, adorned with beautiful woods.’ [East India and Persia, 141.]
At the beginning of British rule (1818) the Nana pass was in fair order, with a paved way which was supposed to have been made by Nana Fadnavis (1764-1800). In 1819 it was among the passes which, in the Collector’s opinion, deserved to be kept in repair. [Mr. Marriott to Government, 29th Sep. 1819, Revenue Diary 144 of 1819.] Though the opening, first of high roads (1830-1840) and afterwards of railways (1858-1865), has drawn to the Thal pass in the north, and to the Bor pass in the south, the bulk of the trade between the Deccan and the coast, a considerable passenger and grain and salt traffic still centres in the Nana” pass[ Cocoanuts, rice, salt, sugar and sugar candy go to the Deccan, and myrobalans, chillies, cotton seed, cotton, vegetables, pepper, and wheat come to the Konkan, See above p. 144.] which, however, is not passable for carts.
At the foot of the pass, which is about twenty miles east of Murbad, is the village of Vaisagra, vaishya griha, the merchants’ or husband-men’s dwelling place, with a small river called the Kanikhera or the gold-bearer, whose source is said to be in three springs which rise in the hills on either side of the pass. A little to the as of Vaisagra is its suburb Pardhanpada or the minister’s village. From here the ascent begins with a gentle rise, and passes up, through thick forest, about a mile and a half, to a tableland called Shingaru or the Foal, where, near two pools of water (one of them roughly built), travellers and loaded animals rest. At Shingaru a road branches to the left to Pulu Sonala. This, of which an account is given later on, was once the favourite route but is now seldom used. From Shingaru is a rise of about a mile and a half. Over the tableland hangs the great wall of the Sahyadris, from whose level top shoots forth the bare thumb-like pinnacle of rock locally known as Nanacha Angtha or Nana’s Thumb. The west or Konkan face of the thumb is a sheer cliff but the east or Deccan face falls with a gradual slope. The valley to the left or south of the thumb is called Guna; the valley to the right or north is called Nana, the people say that Nana and Guna were two brothers, who were asked by a king of Junnar to make a road from the Konkan to his capital. At the brothers’ request it was agreed that the pass which was first finished should be used and be called by the name of the brother who made it. Both began work on the Konkan side, each up one of the valleys that flank the thumb. Guna’s path had. an easy slope, but, at the end of the year, it was little more than begun; Nana’s was a steep rough track, but it was finished, and, as he had promised, the king was satisfied and called it by Nana’s name. The Nana pass is the one ordinarily used, for the Guna pass, though at first easier than the Nana pass, is afterwards very steep and difficult.
The Nana track climbs a steep slope in zigzags of undressed stone which seem to have once been rock-cut steps, of which broken or worn traces remain. On either side of the path the hills rise thickly covered with trees, and, at intervals, seats and cisterns or reservoirs are cut in the rock. About a mile above Shingaru, on the left, near a vavla or Ulmus integrif olia tree, is a two-mouthed cistern much like the cistern marked No. 5 at the Kanheri caves. It is very deep, but is dry and choked with rubbish. In front of the recess is an inscription, which, in letters of the first or second century after Christ, records that the cistern was cut by a merchant named Damaghosh of Kamavan in the thirteenth year of Chaturparna S’atakarni son of Vasishthi. A little further to the left is a reservoir with clear limpid water, and near it a rest-seat cut in the rock with an inscription of one line, stating, in letters of about the first or second century after Christ, that the seat was cut by one Govindadas of Sopara. A little further on the right are several small cisterns without writing and of no special interest. Further on, a little below the crest of the pass, is a cistern filled with mud, and in the recess above it are traces of letters enough to show that there was an inscription. Beyond this, to the right, are other smaller cisterns.
The old road from the Konkan to the Shingaru plateau came from the south by the village of Pulu Sonala. This path is now little used except by persons going to Pulu Sonala. Along it are some rock-cut cisterns, and at the beginning of the ascent, at a place called Ganesh thal or Ganesh’s Plateau, is a stone box of the same size as the jar at the crest of the Nana pass, but square instead of round. The fact that it also is called jakaticha ranjan or the toll-jar supports the theory that both were used for collecting money. Near the jar are some ruins probably of a rest or toll-house. A little further, to the south, is Pulu Sonala village with Brahmanical-looking caves in the hill slopes four miles to the east. The way to the caves is very difficult, and, except one large chamber, there is nothing of sufficient interest to repay the trouble of the climb. It is not easy to say to what sect the caves belonged. A sculptured image of the goddess Mahishamardini or the Buffalo-slaying Devi, set as an ornament on a pillar in the large chamber, proves that the sculptors were neither Buddhists nor Vaishnavs. In a recess in the back of the chamber, near where, in other caves, the object of worship is generally placed, is a cellar much like a cistern. But this is not the proper place for a cistern, nor has it any water channel to feed it. Cellars like this were chiefly used as places of meditation by followers of the Yoga system, and it is probable that the ascetic for whom this cave was made belonged to the Yoga sect. There is no inscription in the cave, but the form of the pillars seems older than the eighth century.
Whatever be the origin of the story of the brothers Nana and Guna, it is curious to find the name Nanaguna in Ptolemy. Ptolemy mentions Nanaguna thrice, each time as the name of a river. In one passage the sources of the Naguna or Nanaguna, are said to be from mount Auindu, where the hill is cleft towards the Gaoris and the Binda.[Bertius’ Ptolemy, 204. The Gaoris is probably the Vaitarna, so called from the town of Goreh in Vada, and the Binda the Bhayndar or Bassein creek.] The second passage runs ‘ About the Nanaguna are the Phyllitee and the Bitti,’ [Bertius’ Ptolemy, 204] and the third is The mouth of the Nanaguna river.’ In Ptolemy’s list of names” on the Konkan coast, [‘Bertius’Ptolemy, 198,] the mouth of the Nanaguna river comes far south in Pirate-Ariake, that is in Ratnagiri. The source of the Nanaguna is also carried far east, half across the continent to the Vindhya mountains. At the same time, not far from the, west coast, south of Nasik and east of Sopara, close to the actual position of the Nanaghat, the lines of the Nanaguna, the Binda or Bassein creek, and the Gaoris river or Vaitarna, are made to join. This, and the phrase ‘Where the hill is cleft towards the Gaoris and Binda rivers,’ suggest that Ptolemy may have been told that the great stream of trade, from the coast to the inland marts of Paithan and Tagar, flowed along three lines, which centered in Nanaguna where the hill was cleft. And that from this Ptolemy thought that Nanaguna was a river, the same river on which Paithan was built.
For 1500 years after Ptolemy no reference to the Nanaghat has been traced. In 1673 Fryer referred to it and to its cisterns. IN 1828 Colonel Sykes noticed its excavations and cisterns, and gave a rough copy of its inscriptions. In 1838 Prinsep tried to decipher Colonel Sykes’ copy of the large inscription in the chamber. In 1854 Dr. Stevenson noticed the large inscription, and made observations on some words from it. In 1876 Pandit Bhagvanlal wrote a paper on ancient Nagari numeration from the numerals in the large inscription, and in another paper, in 1877, he translated the inscriptions above the figures in the recess in the back wall of the large chamber.
History
Strongly placed in a rich country on the Nana pass route, with a good climate and facilities for trade, Junnar appears to be a very early settlement. The hundred and thirty-five caves in the three hills which enclose it with their thirty-five inscriptions show that Junnar was a great Buddhist centre and had easy communication with Kalyan in Thana, apparently by the Nana pass, and with Broach in Gujarat. One of the inscriptions records a gift by a minister of the Paithan Kshatrapa Nahapana (A.D.10?) from which Professor Bhandarkar believes that Junnar may have been the capital of Nahapdna. [Bhandarkar’s Early Deccan History, 22. Pandit Bhagvanlal (Jour. Bom. Brt Roy. As. Soc. XIII. 17) identities Junnar with the Tagar of the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy (A.D.150) and the Greek author of the Periplus (A.D. 247). But for reasons given above, Part II. p. 211, the identification does not seem likely.] Nothing is known of Junnar till the eleventh twelfth and thirteenth centuries to which period belong the Hemadpanti temples and wells whose remains are found in and near the city. [See above p. 148. To about this time belong the Jain additions in the Manmoda caves. See above p. 170.] About this time, as the style of the reservoirs on its top and the defaced rock-cut figures of Hanuman and Ganesh at the beginning of its rock-cut stairs on the Junnar face show, Shivner fort appears to have been held by the Yadavs of Devgiri or Daulatabad (1170-1318). [See above p. 189. Compare Briggs’ Ferishta, II. 436.] In 1443 the leading Bahmani noble Malik-ul-Tujar secured Shivner fort and sent several detachments from Junnar into the Konkan. [Briggs’ Ferishta, 11.436.] Junnar was also at this time the head-quarters of the Koli head captain or sarnaik, appointed by the Bahmanis to control the Kolis and other wild tribes of the Sahyadri Mavals. [ Jour. Bom. Geo. Soc. I. 238.] About 1470 the Russian traveler Athanasius Nikitin came from Cheul to Junnar in twenty-four days by what appears to have been the Pimpri pass. [See below Navlakh Umbre.] The town stood on a stony island, no human hands built it; God made the town; a narrow road which it took a day to climb, broad enough for only one man at a time, led up the hill. At Junnar lived Asat Khan a tributary of Malik Tuchar, that is Malik-ul-Tujar, the governor of Daulatabad. Asat Khan held seven of Malik-ul-Tujar’s twenty-seven tmas that is thanas or posts. Nikitin wintered, that is passed the rains, at Junnar living there for two months. For four months’ day and night there was nothing but rain and dirt. [Major’s India in XV. Century; Nikitin, 9. Nikitin’s details of the state of the country and the people are given in Part II. pp. 218-219.] About 1485 Malik Ahmad, the founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty (1490 – 1636), was appointed manager of Nizam-ul-Mulk’s new estates in the North Deccan and made-Junnar his head-quarters. The Maratha commandant of Shivner refused to give up the fort on the plea that the king was a boy and that changes of estates and forts should not be made till he came of age. Malik Ahmad attacked the fort, and after a long siege the garrison surrendered with their swords round their necks and dressed in shrouds. The capture of Shivner was of the greatest importance to Malik Ahmad as five years’ revenue of Maharashtra was stored in the fort. The treasure enabled Ahmad to make rich presents to his officers and troops and helped him to secure all the places of strength in west and south-west Poona.[Briggs’ Ferishta, 191, 196.] On his father’s assassination in 1486 Malik Ahmad, who was besieging Rajpuri in Janjira, returned to Junnar, assumed the title of Nizam-ul-Mulk Bhairi, and set himself to improve the country. As Malik Ahmad had practically thrown off his allegiance, Mahmud Shah Bahmani II. (1482-1518) ordered Yusuf Adil Khan of Bijapur and the commandant of Chakan, about thirty miles south-east of Junnar, to attack him. Ahmad tried but failed to win to his side the Chakan commandant. As the Bahmani army was advancing against him, Ahmad left his family in Shivner and marched to meet the Bahmani force. He took Chakan, and from Chakan he marched against and defeated the Bahmani army. He returned to Junnar and busied himself with improving the; internal management of his territory. [Briggs’ Ferishta, III. 195.] In 1493 Ahmad’s sister, the wife of the commandant of Daulatabad, came to Junnar complaining of the murder of her husband and son. Malik besieged Daulatabad for two months without success and returned to Junnar. [Briggs’ Ferishta, III. 200.] In 1494 Ahmad moved his capital from Junnar to his newly founded city of Ahmadnagar. [Briggs’ Ferishta, III. 202.] In 1529 Burhan Nizam, the second Nizam Shahi king (1508-1553), sustained a defeat from the troops of Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (1525 – 1535) and retired to Junnar [Brings’ Ferishta, II. 353.] In 1562 Husain Nizam Shah the third Ahmadnagar king (1552-1565), pursued by Ram Raja of Vijaynagar (1541 -1565) and Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur (1557 – 1580) retired to the Junnar hills and employed his troops to lay waste the districts of Junnar and Purandhar. [Lassen, IV. 214.] In 1564 on the accession of Murtaza Nizam Shah, the fourth Ahmadnagar king, his second brother Shah Kasim was placed in confinement at Shivner fort. [Briggs’ Ferishta, III. 271.] In 1595 king Bahadur Nizam II. (1595 -1605) ennobled a Maratha named Maloji Bhonsla the grandfather of Shivaji, enriched him with the estates or jagirs of Poona and Supa and the charge of the forts and districts of Shivner and Chakan. [See Part II. p. 222.] In 1605, with the decline of Moghal power in the Deccan, Malik Ambar raised Murtaza Nizam II (1605- 1631) to the throne, succeeded in recovering Junnar, and made it the head-quarters of a state, which included the greater part of the former possessions of Ahmadnagar. [Grant Duffs Marathas, 43.]. In one of her flights Shivaji’s mother Jijibai came to Junnar on the 17th of May 1626 [Walks’ South of India, I. 71.] and in 1627, in Shivner fort, Jijabai gave birth to Shivaji the founder of the Maratha empire. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 55.] In 1637 as Shahaji declined to enter Bijapur service and give up Junnar and other fortresses to the Moghals, Mahmud of Bijapur (1626- 1656) helped the Moghal general Randulla Khan to overcome Shahaji who eventually agreed to enter Bijapur service and give up Junnar and other Poona forts. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 53; Elliot and Dowson, VII. 60.] About 1650 the Kolis of north-west Poona rose in rebellion. A Moghal army was sent into the hills, the hill forts were strengthened and garrisoned, the Kolis were hunted down and either made prisoners or slaughtered. The prisoners were taken to Junnar and their heads cut off and piled in a pyramid and a platform built over them which is still known as the Black Platform or Kala Chauthra. [Captain Mackintosh in Trans. Bom, Geo. Soc. I. 241-242.] In May 1657 Shivaji surprised and plundered Junnar in a night attack and carried off about 110,000 (3 lakhs of pagodas) in cash, 200 horses, valuable cloth, and other articles. [ Grant Duffs Marathas, 73.] In 1663, after Shaiste Khan’s surprise in Poona city, strong detachments were left at Chakan and Junnar and the main body of the Moghal army retired to Aurangabad. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 88,89.] In 1670 Fryer 1673. Shivaji made an unsuccessful attempt on Shivner. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 110.] In 1675 Shivaji made another unsuccessful attempt on Shivner his birthplace which was never destined to fall into his hands. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 119. Orme (Historical Fragments, 47), mentions that Shivaji sent two of his men to surprise Shivner. They got to the top but were discovered and the usual defence of rolling down stones piled from the top dispersed the assailants.] About, this time the services of the English physician and traveller Fryer were sought by the Moghal governor of Junnar or, as he calls it, Jeneah. Fryer started from Bombay on St. George’s Day, the 23rd of April 1673, and reached Junnar on the 30th of April having passed by Kalyan Murbad and the steep Avapa pass. On the first of May 1673 Fryer waited on the governor of Junnar city in his castle, that is in the city fort or kot where the mamlatdar’s office now is. It was large but made with a wall of raw brick serving to secure cattle as well as men. [ Briggs’ Ferishta, III. 195.] The governor’s mansion was in the middle of the enclosure surrounded by a green quadrangle of trees and plants. In the chief hall or country was the governor with his great men on his right. The governor sat bolstered with embroidered cushions smoking a hubble-bubble, with a rich sword and buckler laid in front of him, and a page holding a bow and arrows in the Turkish fashion. The floor was spread with a soft bed with a fine sheet drawn over it. Fryer took off his shoes and was seated on the governor’s left. Fryer had been asked to Junnar by the governor to see one of his wives who was sick. On the first lucky day after his arrival he was sent for to the ladies’ quarters which were opposite to the governor’s reception room, and in which lived four wives and more than 300 concubines. An old gentlewoman, with a tiffany veil, the government of the women’s quarters, made many trips back and forward, and at last Fryer and his linguist were allowed in. The old lady clapped her hands and led him through a long dark passage with rooms on cither side. In an airy room was a bed which was completely surrounded by silk curtains. Fryer was told to put his hand through the curtains and feel the patient’s pulse. Fryer found the hand sound and free from disease and told them the patient was well. They were pleased as they had put a healthy slave in the bed to try Fryer’s skill. He then felt the wife’s hand languid and weak and passed sentence. The ladies were much pleased with his skill and next day he was called in to bleed another of the wives. A curtain was drawn across the room and an arm held forth at a hole. But there were many of the women behind the curtain and as they pressed forward to have a peep at the doctor, the curtain gave way and the whole bevy fluttered like so many birds when a net is cast over them. Still none of them sought to escape, but, feigning a shamefacedness, kept on looking through the wide lattice of their fingers. The lady Fryer had by the arm was a plump russet dame, and after the bleeding was over summoned the rest of her blood into her cheeks and ordered the curtain to be again hung up. She poured a golden shower of pagodas on the blood which Fryer made his man fish for. The ladies were clothed like men; in-doors they went in their hair, that is bareheaded, and abroad with veils. Like the Gypsy or Egyptian Cleopatra of old they exercised their ears and noses with weighty jewels. They seemed to lead a pleasant life. They had singing wenches to amuse them and were not unemployed, pealing mangoes and other fruits, making pickles, and doing fine samples of needle work. [East India and Persia, 132-133.] Fryer found Shivner or Jeneahgad the only fort left to the Moghals. There was as commandant of the fort, a Brahman, who had turned Musalman, who never went further than the foot of the hill and a governor of the town and district with a nominal force of 17,000 horse and 3000 foot, but an effective strength of not more than half that number. Most of the horse were Moghals and most of the foot were Gentoos. The governor lived in the fortified garden in which the mamlatdar’s and other Government offices are now placed. There was no security in Junnar. The walls of the town were broken down though the gates remained. Trade had fled, though the city was well placed for coarse chintz and fine lawn, and had plenty of cotton ground and good wheat land but the fields were no sooner sown than they were burnt by the Marathas. The ploughmen and weavers had fled like the traders. Not one rich landholder was to be heard of within seven or eight days’ journey. Provisions were the only things offered for sale and these the military forced the country people to bring in. Even the strong body of troops could not hold their own with the Marathas. The Moghals at Junnar seemed encamped rather than fortified. If Shivaji came in force they fled to the main army which was stationed three days off all Pedgaon in Ahmadnagar. [This is Pedgaon about forty miles south of Ahmadnagar which from 1672 to about 1710 was one of the principal stations of the Moghal army. Compare Ahmadnagar Statistical Account, Bombay Gazetteer, XVII. 700, 733.] Shivaji was very anxious to take Shivaner not only because of its strength and importance but because it was his birthplace. An attempt had lately been made and was nearly successful.
In May (1673) Fryer paid a visit to the invincible Gur of Jeneah or Junnar that is Shivner fort. The governor of the hill asked Fryer to visit him either on the hill top or in his garden below, which was the prescribed limit of his walk. Fryer said he would visit him on the hill top, and the governor’s brother and an ingenuous Moghal with four palanquins were sent to escort him. They travelled two miles to the foot of the hill where was a garrison or fortified town, walled with strong watches, a troop of 500 horse and 500 camels, and huge stacks of hay and corn, for their droves of beasts were sheltered here at night. Shivaji had often distressed this town and put them to rout. The fort on the hill top was safe. No one could reach it except by seven winding gates which, were. very strong and able to clear one another as they rose, and the way lined with murderers and defended with good pieces of ordnance. The path was composed of slippery marble steps, cut out of the shining rock, as smooth as glass and reflecting the sun us brightly as glass. Riding was painful and keeping state in a palanquin required a strong back as the palanquin was carried bolt upright. After he had mounted near a hundred steps Fryer was received into the neck of the castle which was collared with a wall and furnished with a gate of excellent work and strength filled with soldiers. From the neck of the castle an easy ascent led to a level circus where the infantry were trained. Here were conspicuous and finely built tombs of former kings and a mosque of polished marble where the garrison went on festivals. [It seems from this that the buildings in the south-west corner of the hill are Maratha,] As no houses were able to stand the heat and the storms of the hill top, the eastern side of the hill was most inhabited as the central hill top sheltered it like a bank. They lived in little low huts, the governor in a pretty neat dwelling fenced with trees, the only trees on the hill top. The governor, who was a Brahman who had turned Musalman, was a lover of Franks and was friendliest to Fryer. He let him go all round the castle. Fryer was shown a place which Shivaji’s men had lately tried to scale. The garrison had fled hearing that Shivaji was coming with a great army and only the governor and some women were left. Two of the men managed to reach the hill top, but a stone falling by chance kept back the rest and the governor and the women hurled the two men down the mountain. The hill top had seven years’ provisions for a thousand families. It was full of granaries hewn out of stone, Fryer supposed at first for religion’s sake as they were too delicately engraved for their present use. There were several cisterns filled with butter 400 years old, a black stinking and viscous balsam, which the gentiles prized as high as gold for aches and sore-eyes The water cisterns looked nastily green yellow and red. There was no ammunition but stones. The only pieces of ordnance were, at the two ends of the hill, a narrow bored brass jaker twenty-two feet long unshapen and of Gentoo mould, on a huge winding carriage. One of these guns about four months before fired at random into Shivaji’s camp and killed a Raja about three miles off. No horse or elephant could climb to the hill top. The garrison was 1000 swordsmen and the chief gunner was a Portuguese half-caste. On the top of the hill in a wretched dwelling was a Dutch apostate enjoying a pair of wives the miserable tools who had brought him to this lamentable condition. He was despised and slighted by all, the usual fate of Christians who endure circumcision. The governor received Fryer in a chamber in his house which was hung with checkered green and red velvet. He was affable in manner and surrounded by a grave retinue. His name was Hagress Caun, or Hafiz Khan, originally a Brahman now a strict Musalman. He had been governor of Junnar city but oppressed the people being of covetous humour. He had a liberal pension and no expenses. Shivaji had lately tried to get him to betray his trust. Hagress Caun took mountains of gold and sent word to Bahadur Khan that Shivaji was going to attempt to take Shivner and the besieging force was caught in ambuscade and put to flight. At parting he gave Fryer a Kashmir bow-ring a charm against thunder. Fryer was well entertained by Nizam Beg, a relation of the governor’s, poor but of a generous open temper but neither jealous nor lazy as most Moors are. He was a good Persian and Arabic scholar, and skilled in handicrafts which he had been taught by Europeans. He was a great lover of Franks or Europeans. He received Fryer in an airy banqueting room, amused him with dance- and with a jester or mimick, and with his own hand served him with slews and baked meats. [East India and Persia, 136.138.]
Fryer noticed on the top of Shivner hill many places cut in the rock then used as granaries, but in his opinion owing their origin to religion as they were too finely engraven for their present work. On his way down he saw many dens and caverns fondly believed to be carved and cut out of the rock by some divine power having no account of their original. Fryer thought them indeed miraculous, the work of the pious zeal of former ages in undisturbed tranquility, thinking the greatest labour too little to express their love to a deity. The passages to the caves were difficult and they wore unprovided with human necessaries. [East India and Persia, 137.138.]
Fryer set apart a day to take notice of the adjacent rarities. The chief of these was a city called Dungeness, that is Ganesh Dongar, as old and as fine work as the Kanheri caves in Salsette, cut out of a mountain rock with a temple and other spacious halls, both for water and for other refreshments it was in no way inferior to Kanheri and it was much more entire. Time had not dealt so cruelly with it; the lines of its ruined beauty might still be read though in old characters. Still it was desolate; a home for bats and’ for wasps, to disturb which was dangerous, being overgrown and desperately revengeful. [East India and Persia, 134.135.]
Fryer notices that the Moghals are inclinable to the like credulity with the Gentoos. They point out a mount where undoubtedly Solomon gave audit to the two women who claimed the same child. It bears the name of Tocta Scheilmun that is Takhta Sulimani, Solomon’s Throne. [East India and Persia, 139.]
Fryer went to see a ruined palace where Aurangzeb, the presed emperor, was hospitably received in his father’s reign and lived a pretended fakir. [East India and Persia, 134.] He also mentions a garden left by a common strumpet with a noble tomb built in remembrance of her with a well belonging to a lovely spring which by aqueducts supplied the city with water. [East India and Persia, 134]
In 1684 Aurangzeb ordered thanas or posts to be placed in the country between Junnar and Sinhgad. In 1705 Aurangzeb halted 7 months near Junnar before he marched towards Bijapur. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 178; Elliot and Dowson, VII. 379.] In 1716 Shahu demanded Shivner fort from the Moghals. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 197.] In 1762 Shivner was among the territory which Raghunathrav offered to the Moghal army which defeated Madhavrav, the fourth Peshwa (1761 – 1772) midway between Poona and Ahmadnagar. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 326.] In 1777 Balvantrav Bede, the brother-in-law of Nana Fadnavis, treacherously seized and killed five outlaws at Junnar. Balvantrav was haunted by the ghosts of the murdered men and, to regain his tranquillity, he built a temple near Junnar, and in it, as the object of worship, set five stones or panch lings representing the five Kolis he had executed. [Trans. Bom. Geog. Soc. I. 256.] In a revenue statement of about 1790 Juner is mentioned as the head of a sarkar of twenty-three pargands with a total revenue of 146,434 (Rs. 14,64,338) and a sub-divisional revenue of 38,342 (Rs. 3,83,420). The limits of the Junnar sarkar apparently extended from Parner in Ahmadnagar to Sasvad in Poona. [Waring’s Marathas, 240.] In 1793 Nana Fadnavis removed Bajirav and Chimnaji Appa, the two sons of Raghunathrav, from confinement at Kopargaon and Nasik to Junnar where, according to the local story, they were kept in close custody in the gadhi now used for the subdivision revenue and police offices. [Grant Duff’s Marathas, 520. See above p. 147.] On Peshwa Madhavrav II.’s death in 1795 Parshuram Bhau went to Junnar and offered the Peshwaship to Bajirav. Parshuram Bhau held a cow by the tail and swore by the Godavari, and Bajirav was satisfied and went with him to Poona. [See Part II. p. 272.] In June 1814 Mr. Elphinstone visited the ‘ town and rich valley of Joonere, with the scarped fort of Sheonaree over the town.’ He went up the Ganesh Lena hill and saw the caves. [Colebrooke’s Elphinstone, I. 281.] In November 1817 Bajirav Peshwa, flying from Manuli in Satara and Pandharpur in Sholapur, came to Junnar among whose hills he hoped Trimbakji Denglia would make him safe. At the end of December, finding no safety in Junnar, Bajirav fled south to Poona. [ Grant Duff’s Marathas, 655.] In the war which followed with the Peshwa a detachment under Major Eldridge came to Junnar on the 20th of May 1818. Both the mud forts of Junnar and Shivner were deserted and taken possession of by Lieutenant White of the 1st Auxiliary Battalion on the night of the 21st. Annabhai Rattikar, the commandant of Shivner, had fled to Hadsar fort, ten miles west of Junnar, where he was taken. [Pendhari and Maratha War Papers, 293-294.] A battalion of Bombay Native Infantry, two six-pounders, and a party of Captain Swanston’s Horse were kept at Junnar. [Blacker’s Maratha War, 315.] In 1827 Captain Clunes notices Junnar as a sub-divisional head-quarters with 3000 houses. [Itinerary, 16.] In 1828 Junnar had some fruit gardens, a good local market, and a population of not over 8000. [ Mr. Pringle, 6th September 1828, in Lithographed Papers.] In 1841 Dr. Gibson, Conservator of Forests, believing that Shivner would be a hot weather health-resort, as it was then intended to have a central Sahyadri railway along the Malsej pass, with the help of four Chinese convicts planted a nursery of 200 exotic trees on the top of Shivner fort. [Poona Collector’s 9220 of 21st December 1883. See Part II. p. 76. The olive still flourishes on the hill. See above p. 158.] In the 1845 disturbances of Raghoji Bhangria a detachment of Native Infantry was quartered at Junnar. [See Part II. p. 308.]
REFERENCE