Caves XVII. and XVIII. are to the north of Kailasa and are called ” Chota Dumar Lena.” Cave XVII. is a Saiva temple, and has three rows of columns from side to side, containing four pillars in each row. The front and back aisles are 64 feet long, and the total depth is 76 feet, but up to the front of the shrine it is 37 feet. The cave had a porch on two massive square pillars, raised by seven or eight steps above the level of the court. A low covered corridor surrounded the court on three sides, and a small door was in front. A sculptured compartment was above this, at each end of the facade,-that on the south containing Brahma with two female attendants and two gandharvas on clouds, and that on the north probably representing Vishnu, four-armed, with female attendants. The extreme pillars of the front are plain square ones with bracket capitals. The two inner pillars have deep brackets on two sides, carved with female figures and dwarf attendants. The middle pillars in the next row have cushion capitals, with female figures, &c. for struts on their inner side, and fat dwarfs on the corners of the high square bases; the brackets above are unfinished. The outer pillars in this and the next row are in section “broken squares.” The middle pillars in the next row have the base of the “broken square” pattern, with female figures carved on the principal faces, and males on the corner ones; over this is a Dravidian moulding; then a belt with a floral ornament in the centre and two dwarfs at each corner; then a sixteen-sided neck; and then the struts with female figures and attendants on three sides. The shrine door is boldly moulded in the Dravidian style. Each dvarapala has two hands, holds flowers, and is attended by a dwarf and gandharvas. Inside is a large square salunkha and linga; and the pradakshina is entered by a door on each side of the shrine. The sculptures on the walls inside are, Mahishasuri on the south end of the front aisle, and a four-armed Ganapati on the north end. The rock on the left side of the court, at the end of the facade, has a figure of Buddha with three faces.
