Sculptural Art in Early Buddhist (Hinayana) Caves of Western Maharashtra: A StyloChrono Study

This work presents a comprehensive style analysis of sculptural art in the early Buddhist caves of western Maharashtra (1st cent BC to 3rd cent AD). The sculptures in these caves are some of the earliest art work in stone dating to the early historical period from the region. No independent studies on the sculptural art present in these caves have been undertaken though studies focusing on architecture and chronology have been going on for almost a century and a half. In studies conducted, sculputures tend to carry the date of cave’s architecture, which marry a time does not synchronize. In this work, through comprehensive have been deduced afresh and extenf to the cave.