360 



Statistics of the 



[No. 38, 



however, that the union of both modes of research is absolutely re- 

 quisite, to justify an opinion upon the much vexed question of Bud- 

 dhist Chronology. The graphic delineations of Sykes, Mallet, Bird, 

 and Kittoe, with the beautifully illustrated descriptions of Fergusson, 

 so recently before the public, have made us in some degree familiar 

 with the principal Buddhist fanes in central and western India. 



The hills in which the caves we are about to describe have been 

 dug, are amygdaloid trap, of varying degrees of induration, and 

 rising at their highest points to about 700 feet above the plains : their 

 southern slopes are invariably precipitous and barren- looking, the 

 only covering they possess, being a straggling vegetation of low 

 prickly bushes, and stunted shrubs. It is this aspect that has been 

 selected as the sites for the caves, and is consequently by no means 

 remarkable for picturesque properties, a circumstance not often found 

 wanting in the localities fixed upon by these old Buddhist monachists. 

 A whitened mark in the sides of the hill, about two-thirds up the 

 ascent indicates the spot where the caves are to be found ; this is a 

 small Jain cave, kept whitewashed by the Devotees of the city — the 

 remainder are rendered more or less inconspicuous, by jungle bush- 

 es, and rubbish obstructing the view. The caves form three sepa- 

 rate groups, scattered over a space of about a mile and a half, and 

 are eleven in number. With the exception of the small Jain cave 

 just alluded to, they all come under the denomination of Vihara, or 

 Monastery Caves, accompanied by the usual waggon-vaulted cave, 

 containing the Deghopa; their general characteristics unmistake- 

 ably denoting a period, when Buddhism was fast declining from its 

 high estate, and had stooped to a temporising policy, apparent in 

 the absence of that simplicity which marked its purer and domi- 

 nant period: the figure of Buddha is to be seen associated with 

 Buddhist Saints, or in a position the most opposed to that of 

 mental abstraction, being represented in amatory dalliance, with 

 scantily robed females ; again figures essentially brahminical are 

 admitted into the temple, associated not unfrequently with orphic 

 symbols, to which may also be adduced a florid style of carving, as 

 further proof of a later period of Buddhism. There is but one cave 

 indicating any great antiquity, where Buddha is represented of gi- 

 gantic proportions, reclining on his side, obtaining beatitude by ab- 

 sorption into the essence of the deity ; a state known as Nirvani, or 

 Nirbuthi. We note a peculiarity observed in isolating the sanctum 

 from the walls by a passage passing round, containing chapels and 



