PLACES

PALE VILLAGE

Pale village (T. Mahad; p. 854; RS. Mumbra, 90 m), almost a suburb of Mahad about two miles north-west, has a group of twenty-nine Buddhist caves of about the first or second century after Christ.

Pale is probably the Baillipatna [This account of the Pale and Kol caves is prepared from Dr. Burgess' notes in Bombay-Archaeological Survey, separate pamphlet, X. 1-3 and Report, IV. 18-19.] of Ptolemy (A. D. 150) and the Palaipatmai of the Periplus (A. D. 247) [Bertius' Ptolemy, 198; Mc Crindle's Periplus, 128. The Patna of Ptolemy and Patmai of the Periplus are the Sanskrit Pattan city.]. Pale next appears as Valipavana or Palipattana, in a copper-plate of Anantdev, the fourteenth prince of the northern Silahara family (A. D. 1094) where it is mentioned as the native place of the Chief Minister. No further mention of Pale has been traced till 1774, when Forbes wrote "The excavated mountain is about a mile from the town of Marre (Mahad), of great height and difficult ascent. Like the excavations at Salsette and Elephanta, there are temples and habitations hewn out of the solid rock. The principal temple is sixty feet long, thirty broad, and ten in height; the roof and sides are not ornamented, but at the termination is a large image, seated on a throne with a smaller figure on each side, and two mutilated animals under his feet; the light is admitted through a range of pillars forming a grand entrance [Oriental Memoirs, I. 201. Niebuhr's (1764) reference (Voyage en Arable II. 33-34) to a great temple or twenty-five houses with rooms cut in the rock not far from Fort Victoria or Bankot probably refers to the Pale caves.]".

Caves.

The caves are cut in the almost perpendicular scarp of the hill and face east. The first twenty are in the upper scarp and the remaining eight about thirty feet lower.

Beginning from the south end of the series, Cave I is the largest and perhaps one of the latest of the group. Its veranda, fifty-three feet by eight, is supported by six pillars and two end pilasters. Of these only the south pilaster and the next pillar have been finished; the others are merely blocked out square masses. The finished pilaster has a narrow band of leaf ornament at the top, and another similar band about three feet from the bottom, with a line of beads or flowers over the lower band. The finished pillar is square at the base to a height of three feet; above this is an eight-sided band six inches broad, then three feet two inches of the shaft is sixteen-sided, returning through another eight-sided band to the square form. Three doors and two windows in the back wall of the veranda open into a large hall fifty-seven feet wide along the front wall and sixty-two feet at the back, by about thirty-four feet deep, with an average height of ten feet four inches. Round all four sides of the hall runs a low bench. In the south wall four cells have been begun but none of them are finished. In the back wall, at each end, are the beginnings of four more cells, while in the centre is the entrance to the shrine, with a window at each side. The shrine measures twenty feet by seventeen and has a square mass of rock in the centre rising to the roof. On the front of this mass of rock is sculptured an image of Buddha seated with wheel and deer beneath, fly-whisk bearers at his side, and demigods or vidyadharas above. On the south and north faces are other fly-whisk bearers and on the back face is the roughly blocked out form of a sitting Buddha. Everything about this cave shows that it was left unfinished. In front of cave I, at a lower level are three reservoirs, each about fourteen or fifteen feet square. Two have small square entrances, the third is perhaps partly broken. Cave II is close to the north above cave I. It has two piliars in front of a small veranda, 15' 7" broad by 4' 3" deep, which gives access to a small unfinished cell, 7' square and 5' 6" high.

Cave III is close to cave II. It has been very carefully finished, and is the most perfect of the series. In front is a raised veranda, beyond the front of which the rock projects a good deal giving ample shade. In the veranda are two pillars with square bases and eight-sided shafts. At the right end of the veranda is an irregular recess containing a seat beaded and with pilasters. There are beaded seats also inside the veranda curtain. The wall of the veranda has been plastered and panelled in the Muhammedan window pattern. A door, with sockets for a wooden frame, in the back wall of the veranda leads to a chamber, 17' long by 8' 6" deep and 7' high. The chamber has a stone bench in the right end, the edge of which is beaded and at ends are moulded pilasters. From the right side of the Court of this cave, in front, stairs lead to cave IV and to reservoirs in front of cave I. These stairs are now broken away. Caves IV and V are at a considerably lower level. Cave IV has two broken pillars in front of the veranda. A door in the back wall, with sockets for posts in the floor and ceiling, leads into a small room (12'x7'x6' 6") and cell behind (6' x 6' 9"). On the north or right wall was a large inscription about 3' 10" x 2' but only a few letters here and there can be traced. Cave V consists of a veranda and a hall. The veranda, 15' 1" broad and 4' 9" deep, has two eight-sided columns with bases 20" square and two square pilasters with the usual double-horn ornament. The veranda wall has been hewn very smooth and there is a curtain between the pillars and pilasters with n bench inside. A door in the back wall of the veranda with sockets leads to a rough clay-plastered hall, 15' 6" square and 7' 3" high. An 18" high bench with plain beading runs round three sides. Cave VI is a recess in the rock, perhaps an unfinished cave, on about the same level as the cisterns in front of cave I. Cave VII is a larger, roughly finished cell with a veranda with a cistern to the left of the front, half filled with mud. Cave VIII is a larger irregular excavation with a veranda.

Cave IX is a caitya or temple-cave and is one of the largest of the group. It consists of a veranda, a middle-hall with cells in the side walls and a shrine with a daghoba behind. The two pillars in front of the veranda are destroyed, but part of the capital of one still attached to the ceiling and portions of the bases, show that they were of the old pot or lota shape like the pillars in Nasik Cave X and in some of the Junnar caves. There is also a pilaster on either side with the usual double-horn ornament. The hall, 27' wide, 23' 9" deep and 9' 2" high, has a bench running along the back and side walls. The right and left walls of the hall have in each a row of three cells with grooved doors and benches along their back wall. In the back wall are the shrine in the middle and on either side a cell with bench along the back wall. The shrine is a large recess about 15' square, with in front of it large holes as if for a screen. The shrine once contained a relic-shrine, or daghoba of which the only traces are the umbrella left in the roof and the rough surface of the floor. On the back wall is an inscription of four lines and two letters which from the form of the letters appears to be of about A. D. 130. It has been translated:

"To the perfect one: Prince Kanabhoa Vhenupalita's dwelling-cave, chapel and eight (8) cells; this much work is endowed, and two (2) cisterns on each side of the dwelling-cave, is presented. This is the meritorious gift of that Kumara (prince). [Kanabhoa Vhenupalita is Sk. Kanabhoja Vishnupalita. The titles Kumara and Kanabhoja show that Vishnupalita was of royal family. Kanabhoja, corresponding to the Mahabhoja of the Kuda inscriptions, was probably the title of a family which ruled in and about Mahad or Palepattan.]"

Cave X is south from and above the level of cave IX. In front of the veranda, which is 15' 7" long and 3' 11" broad, are two 'eight-sided pillars with end pilasters. A door, with a small square window on either side, leads into a ball 15' 3" x 6' 9", which has a cell behind it. Cave XI is like cave IX but, between the pillars and pilasters, is a low curtain carved on the outside with the rail pattern, but much destroyed. Caves XII and XIII have each two eight-sided pillars and two pilasters in front of the veranda and inside an oblong hall with a stone bench. Cave XIV is under cave XIII and is similar in plan to cave X. Cave XV consists of a veranda and a cell 10'x 6' 9". Cave XVI is a recess 4' deep containing a relic-shrine or daghoba in half relief 6' 2" high and 4' in diameter. The plinth of the relic-shrine is surrounded at the upper edge by a plain rail pattern, and the tee is crowned by five thin slabs or plates, the top plate touching the roof. Cave XVII consists of a veranda 21' 3" long and 5' 2" broad with two broken eight-sided pillars. A door in' the back wall of the veranda, with a large square window on each side, leads into a hall 18' 8" deep by 15' broad and 8' high. The hall has a bench along the back and side walls and a cell off the east end of the south walk Cave XVIII is unfinished; the veranda has two square pillars, blocked out, but the hall is only begun. Cave XIX is similar to caves IV and XIV: Cave XX is in the same style, but the cell is unfinished; Cave XXI is only the beginning of a cave.

In the lower scarp, about thirty feet below caves I-XXI is a group of eight caves. Cave XXII, at the south end of the group, is a small room or shrine 9' 4" deep by 8' 5" broad and 7' high, with a plain relic-shrine in the middle, 4' 8" in diameter, the top of its capital reaching to the roof. Round the upper edge of the plinth of the relic-shrine is a band of rail pattern. On the north wall is carved a figure of Buddha, seated with dangling legs with attendant fly-whisk bearers, and demigods, the latter holding a crown or mitre over his head. Over the demigods, a flower wreath or torana comes out of. the mouths of alligators on either side. These images are a later addition, the work of Mahayana Buddhists of about the fifth or sixth century. In the south wall is a cell with a stone bench. Cave XXIII is a plain veranda with a cell containing a stone bench. Cave XXIV is a copy of cave XI with the rail pattern on the outer side of the veranda curtain. The veranda is 15' 2" long and 4' 9" broad, and the hall, which has a square window on each side of the door, is 14' 10" x 6' 7" with a stone bench in the north end. Cave XXV was a chamber of which the front has fallen. There arc two cells in the back wall of the chamber. Cave XXVI is a cell 9' 3" by 7' 10" with a square window. Cave XXVII is a room with a window on each side of the door and a cell at the back with stone benches in both. Cave XXVIII consists of a veranda 16' 9" broad by 4' 9" deep with in front two eight-sided pillars and pilasters, and hall 17' 3" by 8' 3" with a cell at the north end of the back wall. Outside the veranda, on the north, is an inscription in six lines. As the latter part of each line has peeled off and others being worn out the full meaning of the inscription cannot be made out. It seems to record the dedication of a cave and of a Cetiya Kodhi (?) together with an endowment of land for the worship of Buddha. The giver's name may be Vadasiri. In the first line are the names of the house-holder and Seth Sangharaksita and the first syllable of his son's name VI................Vadasiri was probably his wife. On a raised bench ornamented with the rail pattern is a small relic-shrine, in half relief 4' 2" high. Cave XXIX is a room 11' 2" by 6' 7" with a window to the south of the door and a cell in the back wall. Near the bottom of the hill are two small and plain relic-shrines or daghobas hewn out of single blocks, severed from their bases. On top of these caves was a fortified hill known as Songiri, the remains of which could still be seen. In times of Sivaji, the fort was used as a prison for Europeans. Revington Gifford Taylor, a factor from Rajapur was confined in this fort for about an year.

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