and waterpot-bases, which scholars attribute to the
period B. C. 90 to A. D. 300, stand sentinel over verandahs stretching away
into darkness on either side of the main aisle. Their capitals are
surmounted with crouching animals, twin elephants, a sphinx and lion, twin
tigers, all beautifully carved through in places broken; while above them
the main walls of the cave rise steep into a pointed vault, the centre of
which is some twenty-four feet from the ground-floor. The relic-shrine or
"Daghoba" at the far end of the chapel stands upon a high plinth, and is
crowned by a rounded dome, similar to the "Daghoba" at Vyaravali which
overlooks the dead city of Pratappur in Salsette. One of the members of our
party struck the plinth with a _dhotar_ to awaken the echoes which
eddy loudly round the vault and rouse the wild birds that have built their
nests in the holes and cornices. The birds as well as the bats which lurk
in the darker recesses of the chapel are said to be responsible for the
very pungent and unpleasant odour which greets one on entering and forces
one to cut short one's visit. And what of him who built the shrine? Deep in
the back wall of the verandah is graven, in characters long since obsolete,
an inscription interpreted some time ago by scholars, which tells how
Sulasadata, the illustrious son of Heranika of Kalyana, presented the
chapel to the monastery, to the glory of God and his own lasting merit. The
rock-hewn words are headed and ended with the "Swastika" or symbol of good
fortune, which appears in so many messages from Buddhist ages.

* * * * *

On the left of the chapel at a slightly higher level stands the largest of
this group of caves, a large hall with a verandah and twenty cells around
it. Later ages have converted the whole cave into a temple of Ganpati,
whence the caves obtain their name of Ganesh Lena; and the once plain
walls, whose very austerity reflected perhaps the life of the monks
dwelling within them, have been rudely plastered, white-washed and covered
with inferior representations of incidents in the lives of Devi, Krishna,
Shiv and Ganpati. In the centre of the back wall, between two ancient stone
seats, glowers a rude "eidolon," aflame with red lead and _ghi_, so
thickly smeared indeed that the original features and form of the god have
well-nigh disappeared. Yet this is Ganesh, the kindly Ganesh, who turns not
a deaf ear to the prayers of his servan