Object type: Cave

INIG1283g Chanderi (Guna). On the pedestal of a colossal image in a cave shrine, Khandhāgiri digambarjainkṣetra. 2 lines, nāgarī, Sanskrit. Indifferently engraved; mentions several persons like Śricanda,  Kanakacanda, Deucanda. Purport unclear.

INIG1281c Chanderi (Guna). On the pedestal of a colossal image in a cave shrine, Khandhārgiri digamba-rjainkṣetra Number of lines not given, nāgarī, Sanskrit. Indifferently engraved; records the obeisance of some persons (names not clear).

This inscription accompanies an ascetic figure with jaṭāmukuṭa in one of the caves on the path leading to the Nīlakaṇṭha temple at the hill fortress of Kalinjar in the Banda district in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh. The figure of the ascetic is carved to the left of an ekamukha liṅga. next to  The name Bhāvasomeśvara indicates a Pāśupata ascetic (names starting with Bhāva- are a common feature of Pāśupatas and there is much other evidence for the presence of Pāśupatas at Kalinjar). The same name is know from a 12th-century pedestal inscription of a Śaiva ascetic at Menal (Rajasthan), another Pāśupata centre.

Ekamukhaliṅga shrine of the Bhāvasomeśvara inscription

Ajanta, Maharashtra

Ghatotkaca Caves at Gulwada

Barabar Caves, Bihar.

Gopika cave

This stone inscription, inscribed on the side wall of the outside veranda of cave 17, is much damaged by exposure, which according to Shastri (1997: 46), has lead the correct decipherment of the inscription to be very problematic. The inscription starts with a dedication to the Buddha, unusual as many of the Vākāṭaka period inscriptions and charters are dedicated to Hindu gods. The inscription was carved to record the creation of Buddhist stupas and institutions by a ruler called Dharādhipa and with the wish for the longevity of these structures. The inscription was carved under the name of Ravisāmba, a vassal of the Vākāṭaka king Hariṣeṇa. The inscription also includes a genealogy for Dharādhipa and Ravisāmba.