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Others pourtray men and women eating and drinking and making love. * * The sculptures of these gateways form a perfect Picture Bible of Buddhism, as it existed in India in the first century of the Christian Era." The date of the Sanchi rail is said to be three centuries after that of Buddha GayA and Bharhut rails ; and the Amardvati rail is again three centuries posterior to the Sanchi rail. The date of the Amardvatf rail is said to be the 4th or 5th century A. D. Amarivati is situated on the southern bank of the Krishna river near its mouth, and was long the capital of the Andhra empire of Southern India. The Amarivati rail is loaded with ornament and sculptures. The great rail is 195 feet in diameter, and the inner 165 feet, and between these two was the procession path. Externally the great rail was 14 feet and internally 12 feet, while the inner rail was solid and six feet high. The plinth of the great rail was ornamented by a frieze of animals and boys, and the pillars as usual were octagonal and ornamented with disks. The inside of Digitized by Google 128 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. the great rail was more richly ornamented than the outside, and the upper rail was one continuous bas- relief 600 feet in length. The inner rail was even more richly ornamented than the great rail with figures most elaborately carved with scenes from the life of Buddha or from legends. Two woodcuts given in Dr. Fergusson's work, one from the great rail, and one from the inner rail, are interesting. The former represents a king seated on his throne and receiving a messenger, while his army in front defends the walls. Lower down the infantry, cavalry and elephants sally forth in battle array, while one of the enemy sues for peace. The latter, i the woodcut from the inner rail, represents three objects of worship, viz., a stupa with its rails, a chakra or wheel of religion, and a congregation worshipping a relic or sacred tree. We now come to the important subject of CHAITYAS, i. assembly halls or churches. The great distinguishing feature of these Buddhist churches is that they arc not constructed but excavated. Twenty or thirty churches are known to exist, and all of them with one exception are excavated rocks. The external view of European churches and of Hindu temples forms their most distinguishing and noble feature; but of the Buddhist churches, — excavated in rocks, — there is no external view except the frontage which is often ornamented. Digitized by Google CHAP. VIII.] BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE, &C. I2Q Nine-tenths of the Buddhist churches which exist belong to the Bombay presidency, and this is explained by the fact that the western presidency is the great cave district of India, with rocks peculiarly fitted for excavation. There is a cave in Behar which is believed to be the identical Satapanni cave of Rajagriha, in which, or in front of which, the First Council was held imme- diately after the death of Gautama to fix the canon. It is a natural cave slightly improved by art, and, it was seen by Houen Tsang when he resided in Magadha. There is an interesting group of caves 16 miles north of Gaya, of which the most interesting is the one known at Lomasa Rishi's cave. The form of the roof is a pointed arch, and the frontage is ornamented with simple sculpture. The interior is a hall 33 ft. by ig ft, beyond which there is a nearly circular apartment. All the caves of this group are said to have been ex- cavated in the 3rd century B. C. There are five or six Chaitya caves in the Western Ghats, all of which are said to have been excavated before the Christian Era, and of which the cave at Bhaja is said to be the most ancient. As in the Buddhist rails, so in the Chaityas, we find architecture in stone slowly evolving itself out of wooden forms. The pillars of the Bhaja cave slope inwards at a considerable angle, as wooden posts would slope, to give strength to R. C D., A. L— III. 9 Digitized 130 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. a structure; and the rafters of the cave are still of wood, many of which remain to this day; the date of this cave is said to be the 3rd century B. C. In the next group of caves, at Bedsor, consider- able progress is manifested. The pillars are more upright, though still sloping inwards. The frontage is ornamented with rail decoration, the design being taken from actual rails as described before, but represented here merely as ornament. The date of the caves is said to be the first half of the second century. The next cave is at Nassik. The pillars are so nearly perpendicular that the inclination escapes detec- tion, and the facade though still exhibiting the rail decoration shews a great advance in design. The date of the cave is said to be the last half of the second century. And when we come at last to the cave at Karli, on the road between Poona and Bombay, we find the archi- tecture of this class in its state of perfection. The pillars are quite perpendicular, the screen is ornament- ed with sculpture, and the style of archftecture both inside and in front is chaste and pure. The Chaitya is said to have been excavated in the first century before Christ, and it is the largest and the most perfect Chaitya yet discovered in India; and the style of architecture was never surpassed in succeeding centuries. Digitized by Google CHAP. VIII.] BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE, &C. 131 The following account will interest our readers "The building, as will be seen from the annexed resembles to a great extent an early Christian church in its arrangements, consisting of a nave and side aisles, terminating in an apse or semi-dome, round /vhich the aisle is carried. The general dimensions of the inte- rior are 126 ft. from the entrance to the back wall, by 45 ft. 7 in. in width ; the side aisles however are very much narrower than in Christ- ian churches, the cen- tral one being 25 ft. 7 in., so that the others are only 10 ft wide, including the thickness Kiirli Cbaitya . of the pillars. * * Fifteen on each side separate the vane from the aisles ; each pillar has a tall base, an octagonal shaft, and richly ornamented capital, on which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures, generally a man and a woman, but sometimes tw# Digitized by Google 132 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. females, all very much better executed than such orna- ments usually are. The seven pillars behind the altar are plain octagonal piers without either base or capi- tal. * * Above this springs the roof, semi-circular in general section, but somewhat stilted at the sides so as to make its height greater than the semi-diameter. * * Immediately under the semi-dome of the apse, and nearly where the altar stands in Christian churches, is placed the Dagoba. * * "Of the interior we can judge perfectly, and it certainly is as solemn and grand as any interior can well be. And the mode of lighting is the most perfect, one undivided volume of light coming through a single opening over head at a favorable angle and falling directly on the altar or principal object in the building, leaving the rest in comparative obscurity. The effect is considerably heightened by the closely set thick columns that divide the tlircc aisles from one another." Fergiisson, There are four Chaityas at Ajanta, dating probably from the first century to the sixth century A. D. Statues of Buddha appear in the later Chaityas ; and Buddhism as represented on the latest of these Chaityas is very akin to the Hinduism of the sixth and subse- quent centuries. The Visvakarmi cave of Ellora is a Chaitya belonging to the latter part of the Buddhist Period. The dimen- sions of the hall are 85' ft. by 43 ft, and in the roof Digitized by Google CHAP. V1IL] BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE, &C. 1 33 * all the ribs and ornaments are cut in the rock though still copied from wooden prototypes. In the facade we miss for the first time the horse-shoe opening which is the most marked feature in all previous examples. The facade of Ellora Chaitya looks like that of an ordinary two-storeyed house, with verandas richly sculp- tured. The cave of Kenheri on the Island of Salsette in ■ Bombay harbour is well known. It was excavated in the early part of the fifth century A. D. It is a copy of the great cave at Karli, but very inferior in style. Lastly, we come to VihaRAS or monasteries. Fore- most among the Buddhist Vihdras was the celebrated monastery of Nilanda (south of Patna), visited by Houen Tsang in the 7th century, as we have seen in the last chapter. Successive kings had built here, and one of them surrounded all the Vihdras with a high wall which can still be traced, measuring 1,600 ft. by 400 ft. Outside this enclosure again Stupas and towers were built, ten or twelve of which have been identi- fied by General Cunningham. The architecture of this great monastery, however, has not been properly restored nor the arrangements made clear. There are some reasons to suspect that the superstruction was of wood, and if that be so, scarcely a trace of it can now be left. Many of our readers who have visited Cuttack and Bhuvanesvara must also have seen the caves in the Digitized by Google 134 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. two hills, Udayagiri and Khandagiri, about 20 miles from Cuttack. There is an inscription on the Hathi Gumpha or the Elephant Cave to the effect that it was engraved by Aira, king of Kalinga, who subdued neighbouring kings. It is believed that Aira lived before Asoka, and that the inscription is one of the old- est yet found in India. The Ganesa Gumpha and the Rdjrani Gumpha are both said to have been excavated before the Christian Era, and a curious story is sculptured on them both.