Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.5

c13.5

Of the several architectural features in the rock excavations the vaulted roof may be said to be very remarkable in its conception. It was re-inforced by strong solid large-sized wooden-ribs inserted in the rock on the two sides. This was a feature borrowed from the original wooden buildings, although in the rock excavation its functional purpose no longer existed and it remained merely as a decoration over which much time, labour and money must have been spent. [Fig. 111]. Similar was the case with the wooden screen provided on the ground floor and the circular framework of screens of the *Chaitya* windows which have remained in some caves and disapeared in others. The Buddhist railing as seen in the *Stūpas* of Bharhut and Sanchi had no place in the architecture of the *Chaitya* hall, but it seems to have had such a fascination on the minds of the stone masons that they employed it profusely as a decorative motif on the facades or walls of the verandah.