Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.14

c13.14

In the case of the Vihāras, we depend entirely on rock-cut examples, since the earliest structural examples, which must have existed at one time, have now disappeared. Only rock-cut examples of the earliest Vihāra have survived. In the case of the early Vihāras, co-eval in time with the Chaitya halls, the architectural plans were simple. Later on, in the Mahāyāna, from about 2nd century A. D. onwards, the Vihāras became important structures. In the accounts of Yuan Chwang, elaborate Saṅghārāmas are mentioned, sometimes having as many as five stories, super-imposed one over the other in a pyramidal form; the lower-most comprising five hundred cells and each storey diminishing by hundred. The Hīnayāna monasteries were designed as copies in the rock of the structural building used as the residence of monks. The earlier or the Hīnayāna type has the following distinct features:—