Karla Cave: Sculptures on exterior

Sculptures decorate the inner wall of the entrance gallery and are probably the best of their time in all India, Both human and animal figures are present: the former as Mithunas or couples who are male and female (Yaksha and Yakshi) deities, The animals appear on the end walls of the veranda and consist mainly of caryatid-like elephants, whose front portions only are carved from the rock, and above which is supported a framed frieze decorated at the very top with the vedika design (resembling railing), Repetitions of the chaitya horseshoe pattern are carved on the two sides of the facade, one just barely visible to the right centre of our slide, Parts of this original decoration were cut away in the Gupta period to make niches for figures of the Buddha and his attendants, These are seen just above the elephants on the end walls, extreme right in the slide, Characterising the whole of the sculptural system is a lively feeling of sculptured space, The space, not the figures, have been molded from the rock surface, though indeed the figures are as active as their surroundings, [formerly IA-482, number crossed out and replaced with IA-475(4)