PLACES OF INTEREST

PATANE.

Patane (Chalisgaon Taluka; 20°30' N, 74°25' E; R. S. Jamada, m. 6-0; p. 864), a village about ten miles south-west of Chalisgaon, at the entrance to one of the chief passes through the Satmala hills, is probably one of the oldest settlements in the district.[It is mentioned bv Bhiskaracharva under the name of Jadvid. Here in 1206 Bhaskar's grandson Changdev established a college, math, to teach his grandfather's works, Jour. R. A. S. New Series, I, 410.] The chief remains are, in the glen behind a temple of Mahadev, without writing or legend, and of which only the vestibule, sabhamandp, remains. Built of stone in the Hemadpanti style, and containing, in fairly good order, the ling and sacred bull, and the images of Ganapati, Lakshmi, Narayan, and Parvati. The temple is crowded with pillars supported on small stone elephants, like those at the Kailas cave in Ellora (725 A.D.). The entire building is seventy-five feet long, thirty-six broad and eighteen high, and the doors and pillars are richly carved. A stone in the vestibule, sabhdmandap, bears a Sanskrit inscription in Devnagari script, of which only the date 1173 (1095 Shake) has been read. Another temple on the village site, thirty-nine feet long, eighteen wide and twelve high, is built in plain uncarved Hemadpanti style. There is no writing and the only image is above the outer door, a small naked figure in the attitude of contemplation, and backed by a carved canopy, chhatri.

On the village site is a third temple, small and in ruins, with only the cell in fair preservation. The whole appears to have been thirty-one feet long, twenty-seven broad, and 10½ high. The part still in fair preservation is 16½ feet long by six broad. Except that above the door is a damaged image of Ganapati, the building is plain. Of its origin no inscription or legend has been found. Half a mile from the village, towards the hill on the opposite or east bank of the stream, is a temple of Devi. A flight of twenty-five steps, leading down to the stream, has on each side a lamp pillar, dipmal, one much older than the other. The building is a quadrangle, surrounded by stone and cement verandahs, otas, with a ruined roof and shrine. In the shrine are three cells in a line and a smaller cell facing the third cell. Two of the three main cells have lingas, and two have images of goddesses and sacred bulls.

The third with an image of Devi is the only one still worshipped. The small cell on the left has an image of Vishnu. In the vestibule are the representations of the Sheshashai, Devi and Lakshmi Narayan. The cells and the vestibule are built in Hemadpanti style and the ground is paved. The building contains thirty-five pillars, some round and some four-cornered, and seven of them with new stone supports. The pillars and doors are ornamented to some extent. The ruined walls have in places been repaired with brick. The entire building is sixty-nine feet long, forty-five broad, and fourteen high. At an outer corner of the temple is a stone with a Sanskrit inscription. In the vestibule is a tomb of Kanhera Svami who is said to have brought the Devi to the place by his prayers. A small yearly fair is held in March.

On the hill side, half a mile to the south-east, is a cave known as Shrihgar Chauri, cut out of the trap rock with caves and a verandah. The cave has a frontage of 25½ feet by 7½ and 8½ high, and contains five ornamented pillars. Within the door is a space of eighteen feet by fifteen and 10½ high, plain and with no pillars or images. A water cistern is cut in the rock outside the cave. Near the Shrihgar Chauri, and half way up the hill, is a second cave called the Sita Nhani. It is divided into two parts, an outer and inner, the outer measuring twenty-one feet long by 7½ broad and eight high, and the inner twenty by fifteen and eight high. The roof of each part is kept up by two plain square pillars. Nagarjun, a third cave on the way from the Sita Nhani to the Devi temple, consists of a gallery, padashali, and an inner cave, the former twenty-one feet by six, the latter twenty-lour feet by 13½ with an average height of eight feet. The gallery has two pillars, and there are two more in the inside, all ornamented to some extent. Within are three seated figures, the central one in an attitude of contemplation. To the right of the whole group is a small cell five feet square, and at the right end of the gallery is another cell 10½ feet square and at the left end a water cistern. The cave has neither writing nor legend.

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