Wales, James, 1746 or 1747–1795, Jugasree, commonly called Amboli Cave, 1794 or 1795
- Call Number:
- MSS 26
- Holdings:
- [Request]
- Creator:
- Wales, James, 1746 or 1747–1795
- Title(s):
- Jugasree, commonly called Amboli Cave
- Date:
- 1794 or 1795
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series II: Cave descriptions and other notes
- Part of Collection:
- Box 1, folder 12
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The collection is open without restriction.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Copyright UndeterminedThe collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Archives Department.
- Scope and Content:
- Wales begins with a description of a cave complex that is, he says, hardly visible, but that was clearly at one time impressive. He writes that “the fragments in Plate ( ) will shew a few specimens of their former grandeur, indeed, all that I could collect.” The text frequently refers to plates as showing various details, though it does not include plate numbers in any instance, but rather leaves spaces for them to be filled in. The text is presumably draft of copy to accompany the plates, in progress at the time of its abandonment. Wales continues with his description of the cave complex, insisting that “when these apartments were entire they must have impressed the spectators mind with ideas solemn and awful.” He provides measurements for various parts of the complex, again referring to unknown plates as reference. A section of the text also seems to provide interpretations of various groups of sculpture, though the actual identities of the figures remain to be filled in. Blank space is provided after the beginning of each sentence (e.g., “the group on the right side of the Door represents…”). Wales concludes the text by praising the sculpture throughout the complex: “the stone here is of a very remarkable quality so soft and inviting to the hand …the finishing in parts of this stupendous work far excels any I have hitherto seen in similar productions.” Yet he laments that the state of the complex is far from good—water now seeps in at various points, though it is clear that, when the caves were in active use, care was taken to avoid this. It is, he says, “highly probable that in a few years hence the greatest part of this Grand work will be entirely fallen in and forever lost.”
- Physical Description:
- 5 pages ; 35 x 25 cm
- Genre:
- Diaries and Notebooks
- Subject Terms:
- BritishCave templesCavesDescription and travelEllora Caves (India)India
- Associated Places:
- IndiaMumbai (India)Pune (India)
- Associated People/Groups:
- Daniell, Thomas, 1749-1840Gaṅgārāma, active 18th centuryMabon, RobertMalet, Charles Warre, 1752-1815Wales, James, 1746 or 1747-1795
- Finding Aid Title:
- James Wales archive
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/11766.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3410861
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3410861?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1