Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.20

c13.20

The style of architecture employed in rock-cut Vihāras and Chaitya halls seems to have been copied from existing sculptural originals on timber, the general shape of such wooden building as well as every details even to the joints and fastenings of the carpentry constructions being exactly imitated in the natural rock. In some cases the rock work is partly supplemented by wooden construction attached to its surfaces. These wooden additions are to be seen on both the exterior and interior of the rock-cut works. The workmen employed would not have been beginners, for the actual workmanship is incredibly precise and they show remarkable manipulative skill in fashioning these architectural forms in the rock. The earliest examples are the most perfectly aligned, planned and wrought with every line mathematically straight and every angle true. The workmen did their job with such delicacy and skill as not to crack or splinter the rock in any place; and also to finish its surface pleasingly. The rough quarrying and the fine chiselling and carving were done by the same workmen. They were quarrymen and sculptor combined. Their tools consisted of simple iron chisel being 1/4" in width for fine work and pointed pickaxe for the first quarrying in the rock.