An Unfinished Chaitya Hall: Junnar, Manmodi 39

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An Unfinished Chaitya Hall: Junnar, Manmodi 39Author(s): Joanna WilliamsSource: Ars Orientalis, Vol. 8 (1970), pp. 185-190Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the Historyof Art, University of MichiganStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4629259 .

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AN UNFINISHED CHAITYA HALL: JUNNAR, MANMODI 39 BY JOANNA WILLIAMS *

THE HISTORY OF EARLY BUDDHIST SCULP-

TURE is a subject more fully studied than many in Indian art, and the problems which remain here are relatively refined. It is thus possible to place with precision the carving of Manmodi, Cave 39, a monu- ment which has escaped examination. This in turn throws some light into the shadows which still surround the date of the most impressive early chaitya hall, that at Karle.

The Manmodi escarpment lies just south of Junnar, one of five hills girdling that town with over 200 Buddhist monastic caves. Junnar itself, today a large village s6 miles north of Poona, was an im- portant market center in the first century A.D. The town controlled a route leading from the Satavahana capital of Paithan into the Western Ghats and on through the Nanaghat Pass, site of the early Satava- hana dynastic cave, to the rich ports of the Arabian Sea.1 Carnelian and textiles passed from the interior to the coast whileYavana and Saka traders travelled inland, patron- izing Buddhist monastic foundations. The caves of Junnar range from the first cen-

: Professor of Art, University of California, Berkeley.

1 K. Gopalachari, Early History of the Andhra Country, Madras, I94 I, ch. 6 (based largely on the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea). The numbering of the Junnar caves has been revised by the Ar- chaeological Survey of India; I follow the numbering current in older works, although Manmodi 39 is now numbered 40. The Manmodi Caves are sometimes divided into three groups: Bhimasan- kar (i-i6); Ambiki (I7- 33); and Ambalya ( 34ff.).

tury B.C. to the second century A.D. and indicate a cosmopolitan context.

Cave 39 is one of three unfinished chaitya halls on Manmodi Hill. In this case the actual object of devotion, the stzupa or chaitya, had been completed (text fig. i and fig. I). Three plain octagonal pillars on the right interior wall were cut; those on the

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TEXT FIG. 1.-Manmodi 39. Plan.

left wall were only sketched. The fasade was almost finished, and work was pro- ceeding in several places simultaneously when the main lintel collapsed (fig. 2). It appears that one sculptor was working from the top down on the blind arches; a



i86 JOANNA WILLIAMS

second had completed the two large figures above the main arch and was carving the spandrels; yet a third sculptor had finished the lunette above the door and had moved upward to the ribs of the large arch.

The sole dated inscription on this hill records that a dwelling cell, number 4, was dedicated in the year 46 (possibly A.D. I23-I24) by a minister of Nahapana, the Ksatrapa insurgent to the end of whose reign Karle belongs.2 This inscription, however, lies at the southeast end of Manmodi Hill, while Cave 39 lies at the north. All that can safely be inferred is that excava- tions continued at the site as a whole through the period of Nahapana. A. K. Coomaraswamy suggested in passing that Manmodi 39 was contemporary with Kar- le.3 This late relative position has generally been accepted, even after recent revision of the absolute chronology of the period.4

The sculpture of the facade of Man- modi 39, on the contrary, is closely related to Nasik (Pandulena) Cave i 8 and to the Great Stupa at Sa-nchi, both of which clearly precede Karle. At the top of this fagade are two large figures holding fly- whisks: the one on the left has a parrot head rising above his turban; the one on the right is cloaked with a five-fold cobra hood (fig. 3).5 This pair of Suparn.a (Garu-

2 J. Burgess, "Report on the Buddhist Cave Temples and Their Inscriptions," Archaeological Survey of Western India, vol. 4 (i 883), p. I03 (no. i I); H. Liiders, "List of Brahm- Inscriptions from the Earliest Times," Ep. Ind., vol. io (I9I0), p. I34 (no. II74).

3 A. K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, NewYork, I965, p. 29.

4 W.Spink, "On the Development of Early Buddhist Art in India," The Art Bulletin, vol. 40 (i958), no. 2, p. 98.

I This appears to be the first image of Ga-

da) and Naga would appear to be the most stylistically advanced part of the carving, for they stand in high relief, are uncon- strained by the plane of the faiade, and move freely in response to the area they occupy. Comparison with figures in similar poses at Karle (fig. i i), however, shows major differences: projection of the legs from the wall plane is avoided, and limbs such as the raised arm do not overlap other parts of the body. The effect is closer to the dvarapalas of Nasik (fig. 8) and Sainchi (fig. io), although the basically two-dimen- sional poses are handled with more ana- tomical versimilitude at Manmodi. These figures are all studied and stable, lacking the nonchalant, transitory movements of the Karle mithuna.6

In the right spandrel of the main arch of Manmodi 39, an unfinished figure flies toward a tree hung with garlands, a kalpadruma (fig. 4). This figure would presum- ably have resembled the vidyadharas at the summit of the arch of Nasik i 8 (fig. 8). The depth of relief in this unfinished por- tion is clearly less than that of the Naga- Suparn.a above, dispelling any illusion of a consistent progress toward higher relief.

The lunette above the main arch is formed by a large lotus (fig. 5). Similarly defined flowers appear inside the smaller

ruda in human form, created to parallel the es- tablished Naga type. Serpent images in India per- haps require no specific explanation; it is at least interesting that the motif appears here and (in the form of two cobras) above the Nasik i8 arch, both caves being associated loosely with Sri Sata- karni, whose wife, according to the Nanaghat inscription, was Nayanika (of the Naga tribe).

6 J. Marshall and A. Foucher, Monuments of Safichi, Calcutta, vol. 2 (1940), pls. XXXVI, LII and LXVI; cf. D. Barrett, A Guide to the Karla Caves, Bombay, I957, pls. ii-xiv.



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AN UNFINISHED CHAITYA HALL: JUNNAR, MANMODI 39 I87

arches of Ajanta 9.' The decoration of this large lotus with human figures is apparently unique.8 Certainly the subtle adjustment of the poses of the attendant figures to their position on the lunette indicates the hand of an inventive sculptor. At the same time, the arrangement of the central group, Gaja-LaksmT (or Maya) with elephants raised on lotuses, resembles the carvings of San-chi i.9

Immediately to the east and above Manmodi 39 are a series of small vihara cells. While there is no evidence that these are contemporary with the chaitya hall, this seems a reasonable assumption. Here again appear motifs which are also found at Sa-nchi I and Nasik i 8. The inner trellis- work of three arches which decorate these vihara cells, rather than simply creating the form of a wooden screen, appears to be tied in knots as if pliable (figs. 6 and 7).This knotting and the central triratna of figure 7 closely resemble the more elaborate arch- filler of Nasik I 810 (fig. 9). The projecting arch above the southernmost cell bears a

7 Burgess, "Buddhist Cave Temples," pl. XVII.

8 This is distantly reminiscent of the placement of figures on some fluted Sasanian silver bowls, e.g. D. Shepherd, "Sasanian Art in Cleve- land," Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 5i (I964), no. 4, fig. 25. A better case for foreign influence can be made at Nasik i 8 in the row of human faces along the lowest major hori- zontal division; such masks are absent in early Indian art but common in Parthia from the Nisa rhytons on.

9 For example the south gate, top architrave: Marshall and Foucher, Monuments of Saiichb, vol. 2, pl. XI.

10 Similar twisted trellises occur in the Tiula Lena group at Junnar (J. Fergusson and J. Burgess, 7he Cave Temples of India, London, i88o, pl. XVII, 4). By contrast, in the previous caves of

floral border with small human figures springing symmetrically outward (fig. 7). Spink has pointed out similar borders at San-chi i and Nasik i8.11 Flower grills above three of the Manmodi cells (fig. 6) also occur at Nasik and Bedsa but no later.12 Thus many distinctive motifs used at the Manmodi complex are limited to a brief phase in the sculpture of the area.

Finally, the entire design of the Man- modi facade links this with Nasik i 8. Both are organized as a unified flat surface to be viewed from the front. At Manmodi the composition is a tensile one of opposing curves; at Nasik congruent arches are var- ied in size, pivoting upon the doorway be- low. This phase was initiated by Ajanta 9 with the introduction of the stone screen, whose sculptural possibilities were only later realized." The composition of this group of stone fa,ades is more compact than the diffuse balconies that surround the halls of Bhaja and Kondane. The effect also differs from later caves, beginning with Bedsa, in which the insertion of a

Pitalkhora where animals are inserted as at Nasik I 8, the form of the trellis imitates a wooden screen (M. N. Deshpande, "The Rock-cut Caves of Pi- talkhora in the Deccan," Ancient India, no. I5,

9g59, pl. XLIX B. 11 Spink, "Early Buddhist Art," p. ioo. The

motif occurs also at Anuradhapura and Mihin- tale in Ceylon (D. T. Devendra, Classical Sinha- lese Sculpture, London, I958, pls. i and 24); cf. again Pitalkhora, where the floral border is similar, but human figures are not yet inserted (Desh- pande, "Rock-cut Caves," pl. LI A).

12 R. S.Wauchope, Buddhist Cave Temples of India, Calcutta, I933, pl. XXIV.

13 Thus the relative phases formulated by Percy Brown for the early chaitya hall appear to me to be valid (Indian Architecture [Buddhist and Hindu Periods!, 3d ed., Bombay, ig5g, ch. V).



I88 JOANNA WILLIAMS

member before the hall front prevents a coherent view of the fagade as a surface. By the period of Karle, the figural decoration is confined to the lower part of the exterior and to the interior capitals which define a path of movement towards the stfzpa and dramatize its simple form. The fagade itself is dominated by a single arch with rows of smaller ones and loses inter- est as a composition, because it is partially obscured by the second, outer screen. Thus while the latest halls are enriched architec- turally, sculpturally they are impoverished.

The only inscription of Manmodi 39 suggests that the fagade was a single donation, supporting the inference that the design of the front formed a unified concep- tion. The line of writing around the peri- carp of the large lotus runs:

"Yavanasa Camdanam deyadhama gabhada(ra)."14 "Of theYavana Candra, the gift of a hall-entrance."

It might be questioned whether gabhadara refers to the entire screen or to the opening alone. At least the position of the line shows that the inscription and the figural carving were coordinated. And in the inscriptions of Karle, the word mugha (mouth), is used for the simple opening.'5

The next question, that of the absolute chronology of the monuments concerned, raises problems which are the province of an epigrapher rather than an art historian.

14 Burgess, "Buddhist Cave Temples," p. 9 5 (no. i6); Liiders, "List of Brahmi Inscriptions," p. I31 (no. ii56). Gabha-garbha, an interesting suggestion of the later garbhagrha.

15 Burgess, "Buddhist Cave Temples," p. go (nos. 4, 6); Liiders, "List of BrThmi Inscriptions," pp. I I6-7 (nos. io90o, 092).

Nonetheless whatever inconclusive evidence there is should be reviewed. Nasik vihara I9, probably slightly earlier than the chaitya hall i 8, was excavated under King Kanha (Krsna) of the Satavahana dynasty.16 The top architrave of the south- ern and probably earliest gate at Sa-nchi I was given by the foreman of the artisans of Siri Satakani (Sri Satakarni)."7 In the Puranic lists of the Andhra dynasty, Krsna appears as the second ruler.18 Of the vari- ous Satakarnis in these lists, it is most likely that the Sainchi inscription refers to Krsna's successor, who also appears in the Nana- ghat inscription along with Simukha, founder of the Andhra line.19 If it is ac-

16 E. Senart, "The Inscriptions in the Caves at Nasik," Ep. Ind. vol. 8 (I905), p. 93 (no. 22).

The donoress, Bhatapalika, who completed Nasik i8 is described as the grand-daughter of Maha- hakusiri, possibly to be identified with Kumara Hakusiri of the Nanaghat cave (ibid., pp.9I-92);

if so, the placement of the commencement of Nasik i 8 at the end of Sri Satakarni's reign is still possible.

17 Liiders, "List of Brahmi Inscriptions," p. 42 (no. 346).

18 F. E. Pargiter, 7he Purana Text of the Dy- nasties of the Kali Age, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, Varanasi, vol. i9 (I962), pp. 39, 7I.

19 Both palaeographically and stylistically, there is no reason to suggest a gap of three genera- tions between Nasik I9 or Nanaghat and SafichI I or Nasik I 8; this would be necessary if the Safichr inscription refers to the second Satakarni. If later Satakarnis are invoked (Sundara, Sivaskanda, Yajnasrri), a yet more implausible gap occurs. The short Andhra chronology, usually accepted by art historians today, is presented by D. C. Sircar in 7be Age of Imperial Unity, R. C. Majumdar ed., Bombay, I95 I, p. i9S. K. Gopalachari, however, maintains a long Andhra chronology, pre- supposing a mistake in the Puranas' account that Simukha overthrew the Kanvas (A Comprehen- sive History of India, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri ed., Bombay, vol. 2 [1957], p. 295),



AN UNFINISHED CHAITYA HALL: JUNNAR, MANMODI 39 I89

cepted that Simukha overthrew the Kan- vas about 30 B.C. and if the regnal periods given in the majority of the Puranas are accepted, the first three rulers would be dated as follows:

Simukha ca. 30-7 B.C. Krsna ca. 7 B.C.-A.D. I I Sri Satakarni c. A.D. I I-29

Thus the San-chi x toranas would have been begun in the second or third decade of the first century A.D. Manmodi 39 can be as- signed to the years between A.D. 20 and 40, along with the later Sainchi gates.

The date of Karle is further compli- cated by the question of what era was used by the Ksaharatas, under whom that cave was completed. Current estimates for the excavation range from A.D. 40-I05 (K. Khandalavala) to A.D. ii9-i25 (W. Spink).20 Without reopening the issue of Nahapana's exact position, I would like to reaffirm a late and short date for Karle. This is possible even if Nahapana's reign ended about io , as Khandalavala suggests.

In the first place, Khandalavala's prin- cipal reason for assigning 6o years to the excavation of Karle is the size of that cave: I24 ft. long, 46 ft. wide, 45 ft. high, by comparison with the "Queen's Vihara," Nasik 3, which is 46 ft. long, 41 ft. wide, and about ioft. high. The latter appears to have taken 20 years to complete.2' This

20 K. Khandalavala, "The Date of the Karle Caitya," Lalit Kala, nos. 3-4, i956-5 7, pp. I I-26;

Spink, "Early Buddhist Art." 21 Senart, "Nasik Cave Inscriptions," pp. 6o-

75 (nos. 2-5). Khandalavala's interpretation of these inscriptions is not unquestionable. It is possible that no.2, dated in the year I9 of Pulumavi, indicates the dedication of the cave to a new sect

analogy is not compelling, however, for the large number of donors at Karle would suggest a proportionately large number of workmen. The unfinished carving of Man- modi 39 shows that in this far smaller excavation several different kinds of relief carving were in progress at once, with a minimum of three sculptors working on the fagade while yet more carved the interior. Equally so on the Karle fagade, differences among the lower mithunas are explained better by varying degrees of artistic profi- ciency than by stylistic change.22 These fig- tres in turn differ somewhat from the cou- ples- higher on the Karle fagade and from the interior capitals, as a result of the position of the carvings. The entire excavation is at least loosely associated with Naha- pana's son-in-law, Usavadata, whose inscription on the exterior provided for the upkeep of the hall; apparently the son of this same Usavadata dedicated one interior pillar.23 Since the exterior inscription refers

of monks, not its completion (D.C. Sircar, Select Inscriptions Bearing on Indian History and Civi- lization, Calcutta, i965, p. 203, note i). The term cita7nanimita, the object of Pulumavi's donation of a village, corresponds to "embellishment," which is not precisely the same as completion of the cave. Moreover, the analogy between this and Karle overlooks the possible differences between a vihara (which might be said to proceed hapha- zardly) and a chaitya hall (necessitating plan- ning), as well as the difference between a cave like Nasik 4 with only four inscriptions, all royal, and Karle with its copious, general patronage.

22 Cf. Barrett, Guide to the Karla Caves, pls. ii, iii, xii and xiv.

23 Burgess, "Buddhist Cave Temples," p.9I

(no. I I); Liiders, "List of BrThmY Inscriptions," pp I I7- I i8 (no. I097). The pillar donor's father, Usabhadata, is not identified in any way; but it is not implausible that his son would fail to refer to his mother's father, Nahapana.



I90 JOANNA WILLIAMS

to Nahapana as if alive, this provides a terminus ante quem for the facade of A.D. I os tO I 2 5 (alternate dates for Nahapana's fall). There is no reason to think that the Karle fagade was begun before A.D. 7S

In the second place, an interval greater than five or ten years seems to have elapsed between the plan of halls such as Nasik i 8 and the radically different plan of Karle. The redating of Manmodi 39 as part of the former group clarifies this break. Transi- tional halls such as Bedsa are comparative- ly austere in decorative carving, although complex in spatial organization.24 When

sculptural decoration reappears at Karle, its role is no longer an independent one but rather a part of a sumptuous and dramatic architectural complex.

24 Burgess, "Budhlsst Cave Temples," pI. XI. Author's note. Since this article was written,

a comprehensive survey of the Junnar caves has appeared: V. Dehejia, "Early Buddhist Caves at Junnar," Artibus Asiae, vol. 3 I1 I969, pp. I47-66. Dehejia reaffirms the older theory that the Man- modi 39 (Budh Lena) fasade is contemporaneous with Karle. This would seem to imply that the Manmodi fagade was carved after the interior (which Dehejia admits is contemporary with Na- sik i 8 and Ajanta9), although both are unfinished.



An Unfinished Chaitya Hall: Junnar, Manmodi 39

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