Cave-19

It has the best preserved facade. It shows the earlier chief characteristic, of the great chandrasala window, flanked by great wealth figures on the upper story. Above this are three ranks of Buddha images lined up in rows within architectural frames. It is completely a Mahayana monument. Flanking the great arch, on the first storey are great figures of Indian, though not specifically Buddhist wealth deities, Padma and Shanka Nidhi (Lotus and Conch Wealth). Like the Wealth Goddess Lakshmi, these are figures shared by the Buddhists with Brahmanical and Jains in popular iconography. On the ground story, below, we see Buddhas in a variety of poses flanking the entrance porch. They are crowded by the addition of unplanned figures, filling up the spaces originally intended to remain empty to either side.

Inside the Cave 19 we find something striking and familiar. When we compare the stupa here to the one’s in the earlier and later first century ones at the site, Caves 10 and 9, we see that what was an aniconic, geometric reliquary mound in the first Early Andhra period, have been replaced in the Gupta period by a stilted form toped by three tall chattra (umbrellas) and featuring upon its face a large fremed nich, within which we find a standing Buddha image. The change in the effect, from the geometric symbol to the one featuring a beautiful image of the Buddha is striking. And yet, it is new for us only in its scale. We have already seen this equivalence of the Buddha with the stupa in the stupa relief depictions at Amaravati in the Later Andhra period. And indeed we have the same question here as we did then. Is this imagery here depicting a Buddha standing before (or with) a stupa, or is this a depicrtion of a Buddha within a stupa?

The same equivalence can be seen in a fragment of painting added to Cave 9’s ambulatory in the Gupta period. To view the stupa is indeed to view the Buddha, whch, in the geometric, Nikaya form undoubtedly stands for the Buddha of the Paranirvana, the Buddha who has gone away. Where this stupa dominated by Buddha’s figure is more likely a Mahayana image, of the cosmic Buddha who promises a Mahayana nirvana of eternal life.

Nagaraja with his consort on the wall to the right of the entrance

Opposite the Nagaraja image is the figure of Buddha in pralamba pada posture and in dharmachakra-pravartana-mudra. Absorbed in contemplation, he is seated on a raised platform and with the feet resting on a double-lotus pedestal. The miniature Buddha figures bordering the niche are later editions, carved at intervals with in the next century. It will be noticed that the lotus foot-rests of these minature Buddhas were further amplified by the edition of a worshipper at either end, probably a donor in each caves. Similar miniature Buddha figures are also noticed on pilasters and below the Buddha figures.

Buddha in a niche to the left of the entrance