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octagonal shaft, and richly ornamented capital, ‘on which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures, generally a man and a woman, but sometimes two BSGEREREEEEEaeA Seale 0 ft.t0 Lin. e £ 6 | 132. : BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. fernales,: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 threugh 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 eee aisles from one another.” Fergusson, 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 Visvakarma 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 CHAP. VIII.] BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE, &C. _ 133 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 fagade of Ellora Chaitya looks like that of an -ordinary two-storeyed house, with verandas richly sculp- tured. The cave of Kenhert on the Island of Salsette in Bombay harbour is well known. It was excavated in the early part of the fifth century A.D, Itis 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 Viharas was the. celebrated monastery of Nalanda (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 Viharas with a high wall which can still be traced, measuring 1,600 ft. by 400 ft. Outside this enclosure again Stipas and towers were built, ten or twelve of which have been identi- fied by General Cunningham. The architecture of this great monastery, Besiever fia 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, eearcely 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 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 tothe 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 R4jrant Gumpha are both said to have been excavated before the Christian Era, and a curious story is sculptured on them both. ‘A man sleeps under a tree, and a woman, apparently -his wife, introduces.a lover. A fight ensues, and the : victor carries away the naked female in his arms. Older than these caves are smaller and simpler ones, among which the Tiger Cave in Udayagiri is the best known, Turning now to Western India, the Nassik group contains three principal Viharas known under the , ames of Nahapana, Gautamiputra, and Yaduyasri. ‘The first two are on the same plan, being halls qo feet square with 16 small.cells for monks on three sides, anda six-pillared veranda on the fourth side. An inscription in the Nahapana Vih4ra shews that it was excavated by the son-in-law of that chief, who, we have seen elsewhere, heads the list of Shah kings ; and the date of this Vihaéra is therefore about 100 A. D. The Gautamiputra Vihd4ra is supposed to be two or : three centuries later. The Yaduyasri Vihadra has a CHAP, VIII.] BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE, &e. 135 hall 60 feet by 40 to 45 feet, and 21 cells for monks. It has also a sanctuary with two richly carved pillars and a collosal figure of Buddha with many attendants. The date of this Vihara appears from an inscription to be the fifth century. Perhaps the most interesting Viharas in India are Nos. 16 and 17 of the Ajanta Vih4ras. They are beautiful specimens of Buddhist monasteries, and | possess a unique value, as they still contain fresco paintings with a degree of distinctness unequalled in any other Vihéra in India. Their date has been ascertained ; they were excavated early in the fifth century, when the Guptas were the emperors of India. Vihara No. 16 measures 65 feet each way,: and has twenty pil- lars. It has sixteen cells for monks on two sides, a great hall in the centre, a veranda in the front, and a sanc- tuary in the back. All the walls are covered with fres- coes representing scenes from the - life of Buddha or from the legends ’ Ajatita, Vihara No. 16.- 136, oe BUDDHIST PERIOD, [BOOK Iv. of saints, and the roofs and pillars have arabesques and ornaments, and all this combiries to: produce a peculiar richness of effect.: Judging from the representations of the frescoes which have been published, the painting was by no means contemptible. The figures are natural and elegant, the-human facés are pleasant. and expres- sive and convey the feelings which they are meant to convey, and the female figures are supple, light, and elegant, and have an air of-softness and mild grace . which mark: them peculiarly Indian in style. The decorations are chaste and correct in style and singular- ly effective. It isto be hoped: that a fairly complete representation of these curious paintings: will yet be published for the elucidation. of the art. of painting in ancient India; and such a work will be as valuable ‘ to the historian of Indian Art as the paintings recovered from Pompii and preserved in the museum of Naples are valuable to the historian of ancient.European Art. Dr. Fergusson, however, apprehends that the means . adopted to heighten the color of the Ajanta paintings - in order to copy them, and the “ destructive tendencies of British tourists” have alréady spoilt. these invalu- able treasures. Ajanta Vihara No. 17 is similar in sius to No. 16 and is: known as the Zodiac cave, because a figure of the Buddhist Chakra or wheel was suetakes for the signs of the Zodiac. Eight or nine Viharas exist at Bogh, a ‘place sb at ’ ‘ CHAP. VII.] BUDDHIST “ARCHITECTURE, &c. - 137 30 miles west of Mandu. The great Vihara here has a hall 96 feet square and a shala or school-room attached to it 94 feet by. 44 feet; while a veranda 220 feet in _ length runs in front of the hall and the shala. 28 pillars beautify the hall, 16 pillars are in the school-room, while 20 pillars all in a row adorn the veranda. At _ one time the whole of the back wall of the gallery was adorned with a series of fresco paintings, equalling the Ajanta paintings in beauty. The principal subjects are processions on horseback and on elephants, Women exceed men in number, and dancing and a Sovoanalane are prominently introduced. At Ellora there.are numerous Vih4ras attached to the Visvakarma Chaitya of which we have spoken before.’ The great Vihara is 110 feet by 70 feet, and this as well as the smaller Viharas belong probably to the same century as the Chaitya.. ' There are'three temples here which curiously illus- trate the steps by which Buddhistic excavations gradu- ally merged in the Hindu. The first temple is Do- tal, a two-storeyed Buddhist Vihara, Buddhistic in all its details. The second temple is Teen-tal, similar to the Do-tal, and: still having Buddhist sculptures, but | departing so far from simplicity of style as to justify Brahmans in appropriating it, as they have done! The third: is Das Avatar, still resembling the other two in - architectural ‘details, but entirely Hindu in sculptures. Later on,when Hinduismhad completely triumphed over 138 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. Buddhism, the Hindus of Southern India excavated’ in the spot, in the 8th or 9th century A. D. the famous temple of Kail4sa which has made Ellora one of the ‘great wonders of India. But of this and other Hindu edifices we will speak when we come to treat of the Pauranik Period. We need only state here that the main distinction between Buddhist works and. Hindu ‘works is this ; Buddhist Chaityas and Viharas are caves inside hills and rocks ; while Hindu workers, even when they worked on existing his and rocks, imitated struc- tural buildings by clearing away the stone on all sides, and thus allowing the edifices carved to stand out in bold relief against the Heighbosting rocks. Such is Kailasa in Ellora. We need not lengthen this chapter by giving an _ account of Gandh4ra Viharas. There can be no doubt that Greek influence greatly modified the style of architecture there, and some capitals found in Jamalgiri are undoubtedly Corinthian in style. Nor is it possible to include here an account of Ceylonese architecture. There are numerous ruins of ancient topes and other edifices in that island, specially near Anuradhapura which continued to be the. capital of Ceylon for ten centuries.