Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/37

 CHAP, II. ORISSA CAVES. One other cave here the Bagh-gumpha deserves to be mentioned. It is a great boulder, carved into the semblance of a tiger's head, with his jaws open, and his throat, as it should be, is a doorway leading to a single cell about 6 ft. 4 in. deep, by 7 to 9 ft. wide (Woodcut No. 272). It is a caprice, but one that shows that those who conceived it had some experience in the plastic arts before they undertook it. The door jambs slope inwards slightly, and the pilasters on each side have winged elephants on the capitals and vase-shaped bases. From the form of the characters also which are engraved upon it, it is undoubtedly anterior to the Christian Era, but how much earlier it is difficult to say. A little lower down the Khandagiri hill than the Ananta are 273- Representation of a Hall from Bharaut sculptures. two caves called Tatva-gumpha, the upper consisting of one room 1 6^ ft. to 1 8 ft. long by 17 ft. deep and 5 ft. 9 in. high, having three entrances. 1 The doors are flanked by pilasters with 1 Cunningham's 'Archseological Survey Reports,' vol. xiii. (by Mr. Beglar), pp. 8 if. Like several others, it is not mentioned in Rajendralal Mitra's ' Antiquities of Orissa.' VOL. II. B