Cave XI. has a verandah supported in front by four plain octagonal columns, with bracket capitals, and square bases raised on a parapet. The roof projects in front of the pillars, and is very elaborately painted. [The whole cave was painted, but except in the verandah, the paintings are almost entirely gone. The roof of the verandah, and the caves outside the pillars, are elaborately painted with flowers, birds, and geometric patterns. The back wall has been covered with paintings of rude tridents and other modern objects. The left end had a tall standing Buddha on a bluish background, his robe held in his left hand, and light flashing around him. Above the left window are two sitting figures of Buddha with fly-flap bearers; and a painted bracket figure upholds a cross-beam ornamented in geometric patterns. On a hill by the aide of the door is Indra, holding some water flowers in his left hand; and above are gandharvas, kinnaras, and saints. A similar figure was formerly on the right of the door. Over the right window is a fat bracket figure and six Buddhas. The inside paintings are almost all obliterated, and only some pictures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can be made out.] The verandah has a cell at each end, and the one on the right is entered by the side of the hall. The end wall is sculptured in two compartments, containing seated Buddhas, attendants, and worshippers; and a third compartment contains a standing Buddha, with chamara-bearer and attendant. These are of later date than the cave. The door has three plain fascias round it, but with a lion at each end of the threshold; and the windows are divided by two colonnettes with moulded capitals and bases. The hall is 37 feet by 28 feet by 10 feet, and is supported by four octagonal columns, which are among the earliest examples of pillars in viharas, and are very clumsy plain octagons with bases and capitals. As in the older caves, a kind of seat runs along the right side; and three cells are on the left side. There are also cells at the back, two to the left, and one to the right of the sanctuary. This last, which is 12 feet by 19¾ feet, opens directly from the cave, and contains a figure of Buddha, detached from the back wall, and seated on a sinhasana or lion throne. Two deer are on each side of the chakra or wheel, with lions behind them, and flying gandharvas above; and a man in front is kneeling in adoration, or holds an alms-bowl. An aperture high up on the left side of the sanctuary opens into a secret cell The architecture of the cave is not later than the 1st century A.D.; but the presence of an image of Buddha in the sanctuary, and the sculptures at each end of the verandah containing figures of Buddha, are suggestive of Mahayana doctrines, probably of the 4th century or later. On the other hand, the image in the sanctuary may have been a subsequent insertion, and the cave may have been remodelled at some period long after its original excavation, so that all its sculptures belong to a much later date than its architecture.
