ISdo.] Alexander R. Caddy — Afsoka Tascrlptlom in India. 167 



on the other side is quite gone ; of what remains I have brought a cast 

 to Calcutta. 



49. The HatJwpimpJia in all probability was the Pllkhdna or 

 elephant-house. But from its prominent character the rounded brow of 

 the cave has been selected for the laudatory inscription, in Asoka 

 characters, which gives it its importance. 



50. Considering the nature of the sandstone — gritty, friable stuff 

 that it is — it is fortunate not to have come under the weathering in- 

 fluences which have obliterated larger-featured sculptures. 



5 J. Most of the dedicatory tablets are obscure and of no im- 

 portance, save for their ancient character. One — that on the Tiger cave — 

 points to a period when there was a change in religious opinion, nnd 

 some intolerance prevailed. The Tiger cave is labelled as the chamber 

 of a fierce anti-Vedist. 



52, Between the two hills a road now runs where jungle filled the 

 glen, and the stair leading to the cave level of Khanclagiri gives access 

 to caves unknown when Fergusson visited the place. Here, on the level 

 of the highest bluff of Udaigiri^ is the Ananta cave, opening to the 

 north. Of the Asoka inscription which once described it, little is now 

 discernible. 



Mr. Fergusson has attached some importance to this cave, for be- 

 sides the description of it by Dr. Mitter, and the photographs of the 

 sculptures by Mr. Locke, he had the Commissioner of Orissa ask Mr. 

 Phillips to visit the cave before he was satisfied that all particulars had 

 reached him. 



At page 72 of his book on the '* Rock-cut Temples of India," under 

 the joint-authorship of Mr. Burgess, he says, referring to the four 

 sculptured tympana inside the arches, two of which are perfect : — 

 " From our knowledge of the sculpture of Barhut, we may safely 

 predicate that in addition to the Tree and image of Sri^ the two re- 

 maining tympana wei-e filled, one with a representation of a wheels and 

 the other of a dagoba, the last three being practically the three great 

 objects of ivorship both here and at Sanchi." What I have written in 

 my fuller report, before I saw Mr. Fergusson's book, is to this purpose. 



53. The Ananta cave has been an important place of worshij)^ 

 Within its inner chamber is a sketch-relief of what has been supposed 

 to be a preaching Buddha. This figure has been accepted by Dr. Mitter 

 and others as a Buddha — probably it is a Tirthanhara made at a later 

 period ; above his head are a row of emblems, — the trisul flanked by a 

 shield on either side, and these again each by a tree emblem and then the 

 swastika. 



This cave, already described by Fergusson, Dr. Mitter and othe rs 



