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Interior view of Karle rock-cut caitya hall, Western Ghats, Lonavala, Maharashtra
Not on view
This painting represents one of the earliest documentations of the rock-cut monasteries of the Western Ghats. The natural passageways through this mountainous terrain served as important trade routes in the commercial development of both the coast and hinterland of western India and, in the early centuries BCE, supported a flourishing Buddhist community. Karle carries an inscription recording its lead donor as the merchant Bhutapala. This interior scene of Karle Cave 8 depicts six of the ornate pillar capitals that line the hall’s interior, each adorned with a noble couple astride a seated elephant. The work is signed by the artist, who is otherwise unrecorded, and was likely an amateur painter, albeit with some training.
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