Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c41.s12.7

v6.c41.s12.7

‘The ground-plan and general structural arrangement of these caves showed a striking uniformity. Outside there came first a kind of oblong ante-chapel. . . . Where restoration had taken place recently, the front had been closed by a wooden construction with big doors and windows, and this feature is likely to have been present also in the original design. From this ante-chapel the cave-temple proper was approached through a high and rather wide passage, which alone admitted light and air to the interior excavation. This consisted everywhere of a single rectangular cella, usually almost square in shape and with sides up to 54 feet in length, hewn out of the solid rock and provided with a high conical roof. Within the cella, which is usually a little deeper than it is wide, the larger shrines had generally a big rectangular platform, elaborately decorated in plaster and facing the entrance.’²