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Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s1: The Western Chaitya Halls and Vihāras

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s1

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The Western Chaitya Halls and Vihāras

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About nine hundred of these excavations are found in the Bombay Presidency within a radius of 200 miles of Nasik as its centre. The oldest of these caves are situated at Bhaja, four miles south of the great Karle caves in the Bhor Ghat.

Bhājā

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The old Vihāra at Bhājā is the earliest, viz. 2nd century B. C. (circa 175 B. C.) in the beginning of the Śuṅga period. At Bhaja there are three monuments: 1. A Vihāra or monastery; 2. A group of 14 rock-cut Stūpas; and 3. A large excavated Chaitya hall.

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THE VIHĀRA: The Bhājā Vihāra has the following plan:

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There is an outer verandah (17½' in length by 7' wide at the east end and 9½' at the west) separated by a wall with two doorways and a barred window; inside it is an inner hall (16' × 16'7") surrounded by excavated cells for the residence of monks, each having a stone bed. In the case of Bhājā Vihāra, the sculpture is most remarkable, almost unique in relief. These include a frieze, five figures in niches holding arms and two reliefs. The guardian figures are colossal, muscular and of heavy build, like the ancient Yaksha statues. They are extremely richly ornamented, wearing elaborate turbans, ear-pendents, torque and necklaces, armlets and profuse pearl-wristlets. In the east end of the verandah is a pillar and pilaster with inverted lotus capitals and surmounting capitals having human female busts on bovine bodies with male companions (pungava-pungavī), a motif which corresponds to the centaurs or kinnara seen elsewhere in Indian art. The jambs of the cell doorways slope inwards and the walls above and between them are ornamented with the Chaitya window pattern. The two reliefs, however, are more important.

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They are carved on the right and left sides of the cell-doorways at the east end of the verandah. On the left side, we see a royal personage, driving in a chariot with four horses, and accompanied by two women, holding a chhatra and the other a chāmara which are the marks of royalty. The wheels of the chariot move over the bodies of the very grossly proportioned nude demons. This figure was so far identified as the representation of Sūrya. [Fig. 114].

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The relief on the right side shows a royal figure with an attendant seated behind carrying a standard (dhvaja) and both riding on an enormous elephant, striding to left and upholding an uprooted tree in its raised trunk. The remainder of the landscape depicts a couple of trees within railing and groups of mithuna pairs seated enjoying music and dance. This upper figure was identified as Indra, riding on his elephant Airāvata. The various scenes in the landscape below, although explained by Coomaraswamy, have, as stated by him, no principal connection with Indra. Moreover, the two scenes of Sūrya and Indra carved on the two doorways of the cell have no obvious inter-relation. [Fig. 115].

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The fact is that the two reliefs do not represent either Sūrya or Indra. They, on the other hand, depict the visit of King Māndhātā to the Uttarakuru country. In the left-side-scene of the so-called Sūrya image, the principal figure is King Māndhātā himself, distinguished by the two royal emblems. As the story in the Divyāvadāna states, the wheels of his chariot moved over the bodies of the demons, who obstructed his ways (*asurāṇām upari vaihāyasaṃ ratho gachchhati*).

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The demons were vanquished, broken and rendered prostrate by King Māndhātā (*Jitā bhagnāḥ parājitāḥ parāpriṣṭhikritā asurāḥ*) by his religious merits (*Puṇyavipākamīheśākhyo'yaṃ sattvaḥ*).

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(*Div.* p. 223, Cowell's Ed.)

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In the second relief on the right, we see King Māndhātā actually entering the garden city of the Uttarakuru country, after overcoming the fivefold defences (*pañcharakṣā*). According to the mythical tradition as recorded in the *Mahāvāṇija Jātakas* and in the *Mahābhārata* (Bhīshma Parva), the land of Uttarakuru is an idyllic region where men and women live in eternal youth and happiness with their wants supplied by the wish-fulfilling *Kalpavriksha* tree producing costly clothes, ornaments, food and drinks and *mithuna* pairs. Here we actually have a representation of these *Kalpavrikshas*; what Coomaraswamy takes as figures suspended for human sacrifice actually represents the *mithuna* pairs being born from the *Kalpavrikshas*. The tree in the centre at the bottom is shown with ornaments suspended from its branches (*ābharaṇa-vriksha*). The same type has been seen in the Bharhut meanders. The men and women seated in pairs on the proper right side of the relief and witnessing dance actually represent the happy inmates of the Uttarakuru land (*Devo vā Devakanyā vā veṇuvallarisughoshakā krīḍanti ramante*).

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In the foreground is a tree in railing with many kinds of clothes suspended from it (*Kalpa-dūshya vrikṣāḥ*, Div. p. 221). Such a representation had both a religious and decorative purpose (*ārakṣaṇārtham atyārtham śobhaṇārtham cha*).

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Although the Uttarakuru scenes are depicted at Bharhut, Sanchi and Bodh-gaya also, but here at Bhaja we find a fullfledged and emphatic representation of the conception of a *Chakravarti* King bringing under his royal glory even Sudarśana, the capital city of Uttarakuru and this sovereign king was idealised as Māndhātā who was equal to Indra himself.

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The front portion of the Bhaja Vihāra had an important architectural feature, viz. a front wooden screen with doorways; its upper portion being occupied by rail design, similar to the frontage of the Chaitya hall by its side.

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CHAITYA GHARA—The Chaitya hall at Bhājā is still more important and offers notable architectural features. It is 55' long and 26' across, the side aisles being 2½' wide. The pillars in the hall are 11' high and have an inward slope of 5'' being tilted from their plumb line. The vault is 29' high from the floor level and is a fine piece of work being still supported on massive wooden ribs in parallel rows. The Stūpa of solid rock is in two portions, viz. a cylindrical base topped by an elongated dome which once had a wooden railing finial (*harmikā*). A notable feature from the architectural point of view was the rock and timber combination in the front which has now mostly gone. It consisted of a heavy wooden screen in two storeys, the lower one supported on four pillars with a back screen pierced by three doorways, one in the centre and two on the sides and in between them a beautiful rail design. Similar wooden screens also closed other Chaitya halls of this class as at Kondane, Pītalkhorā, Cave No. 10 of Ajanta. In other examples the screen was in stone and consequently remained, but in those instances, where it was originally in wood it has disappeared, though the holes to receive its posts and the mortice by which it was attached to the walls are still there.

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Fig. 118 b

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Fig. 119

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Fig. 118 c

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Fig. 120

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Fig. 121

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Fig. 122

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Fig. 127

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Fig. 123

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Fig. 124

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Fig. 125 a

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Fig. 125 b

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The ogee fronton (*kīrtimukha*) was covered with wooden ornaments which have disappeared; though the pinholes remain by which they were fastened to these stones. The frame work or truss that filled the upper parts of the great front opening no longer exists, but what its appearance was may be judged of by the numerous representations of itself with which it is covered or from the representations of a Chaitya façade from the contemporary rail at Bodhgaya, and several other representations of a similar nature at Bharhut, depicting the *gharamukha-Pañjara*. The only existing example of this wooden screen is that at Karle, but the innumerable small repetitions of it, not only here, but in all these caves, show not only its form but how universal its employment was. [Fig. 116]

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There is no doubt that both the Chaitya hall and Vihāra at Bhaja had their prototypes in wooden constructions and everything in fact that could be made in wood remained in wood, and only the constructive parts necessary for stability were executed in the rock. The inward sloping of the pillars was a necessary requisite to resist the thrust of the circular roof in the wooden building, but it was hardly appropriate in stone construction or excavation. The door-jambs also are similarly sloping. In course of time the architects discovered that a cutting of rock to give place to a wooden screen was sheer waste of time and labour so that in course of time three developments took place, viz. a retention of the stone screen with openings for doorways, the vertical position of the pillars of the hall and the door-jambs also being made parallel instead of being tilted.

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There is very litttle figure sculpture in this Chaitya hall, excepting five emblems on the pillars of the interior, viz. triratna, nandipada, śrīvatsa, Chakra, four triratnas round a central head and a lotus.

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Bhaja Stūpas: At a short distance from the Chaitya hall along the face of the scarp is a group of fourteen monolithic Stūpas of various sizes. All of them have the Buddhist rail pattern cut round the upper margin of the drum. Five under the overhanging rock vary in diameter from 4 ft. 8 in. to 6 ft. 3 in. and the front two have the square box only on the dome, as in the cave, and without the cornice, while the three behind have also the cornice: that upon the largest being connected with the roofs by the stone shaft of the *Chhatra* or umbrella, whilst the other two had been provided with wooden shafts. Of the nine in front, the first from the north has a handsome capital 3 ft. 8 in. high, very elaborately carved; most of them others have been broken. One or more had only the box form without the abacus, and on four of them are holes on the top as if for relics. The names of the Theras inscribed over them are still legible.

Koṇḍāne

Vihāra and Chaitya Hall:

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Ten miles north of Karle are the Kondāne Vihāra and Chaitya hall. The Vihāra is of one storey. It presents a rare type of architecture in Vihāra excavation having a central hall supported on pillars. The exterior consisted of a pillared portico on which a massive cornice is projecting corresponding to an entablature (*bhāra-paṭṭa*) which is in every detail a true copy of an wooden original. In the portico (*mukha-maṇḍapa*) is a screen wall with three square openings forming the doorway (*dvāra*) and a window on each side. The hall in the interior measuring 23 ft. × 29 ft. has a row of pillars and cells opening into it on the three sides. The pillars support a vaulted roof with ribbed beams as usually found in the Chaitya halls which have been faithfully borrowed from wooden prototypes. On one side of the portico a motif of the façade of a Chaitya hall (*gharamukha*) is carved which furnishes all the details of the architecture generally associated with the Chaitya hall. The Kondane Chaitya hall possessed a façade of the same type as at Bhājā with the pillared protico but with its upright posts partly excavated in rock and partly made of wood which shows a later development. The interior *maṇḍapa* and *garbhagriha* together measured 66 ft. in length and 26 ft. 6 in. across being slightly larger than the Chaitya hall at Bhājā. Its height is over 28 ft. [Fig. 117].

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In the series of Hīnayāna excavations those at Kondāne come immediately after Bhājā.

Pītalkhorā

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The ancient name was Piṭaṅgalya. There is a group of 13 caves at this site on two sides of a hilly ravine, nine in one face of the scarp and four on the other. They are excavated on the Satamala range on the northern fringe of Aurangabad in east Kandesh on the road connecting Aurangabad with Chalisgaon. As the crow flies, the caves lie 50 miles to the west-south-west of Ajanta and 23 miles to the north-west of Ellora. The caves lay on an ancient caravan route (*Sātthavāha-patha*). Caravans from the Govardhana countries (Nasik region) and from Śūrpāraka crossed the Indhyādri hill close to where these caves are situated in order to reach their destination, Pratiṣṭhāna, the capital of the Sātavāhanas and a great commercial centre a few centuries before and after the Christian epoch. The route almost followed the present-day Chalisgaon Aurangabad-Paithan road; Ellora which the later Buddhists chose as the site for their rock-cut monasteries, was also on the route.

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The Mahāmāyūrī Buddhist Texts mention the Yaksha Śaṅkarin at Pitaṅgalya, Khaṇḍaka at Pratiṣṭhāna, Sundara at Nāsikya and Asaṅga at Bharukachchha which nearly supply a perimeter on this highly important region in which trade and commerce accompanied with religious activity flourished at their best. The architectural activity at Pitalkhora began in 2nd century B. C. and of that period we have a Vihāra and a Chaitya hall. The place was deserted after about a couple of centuries and then renovated with sculptures in the Vihāra and Buddhist paintings in the Chaitya hall similar to those in the Ajanta caves. Thus Pitalkhora very naturally shared in the two phases of Hinayāna and Mahāyāna architectural and art activity in northern Deccan as were witnessed at Ajanta also.

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The Vihāras had wooden screens with mortice holes in the rock for the uprights and excavated cells in the interior, each cell being furnished with a bed.

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Cave 3 is a Chaitya hall, 35 ft. wide and 86 ft. long with an apsidal end. Originally there were in all 37 octagonal (aṭṭāṃsika thabha) rock-cut pillars separating the aisle from the hall of which only twelve now stand in tact in their original form, with their paintings of about the fifth century and two early inscriptions of the time when the cave was excavated, recording the gift of citizens from Pratiṣṭhāna. All the pillars have an inward inclination like those at Bhājā. The aisles are 4 ft. 11 in. wide and have stone ribs in the ceiling but the vaulted roof of the nave or main maṇḍapa was once provided with wooden ribs which have now disappeared leaving traces behind of their positions. The square spaces between the wooden ribs were once decorated with painting on plaster, of which a few traces of panels with lotuses exist. The other paintings surviving on the walls and pillars of Buddha and Bodhisattva figures deserve to be studied separately as examples of Mahāyāna phase during Vākāṭaka time.

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The circumference of the Stūpa at the base is 36 ft. and it is wanting in its dome portion which seems to have been of masonry. Crystal reliquaries were discovered within the drum of the Stūpa in oblong sockets specially chiselled for the purpose, and covered with plugged stones. This was a practice also observed at Bhājā but there the crystal reliquaries which are such a feature at Pitalkhora were wanting.

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Another feature is a flight of eleven steps. On each side of them on the rock surface is a very vigorous sculptured panel in low relief depicting a prancing winged horse and two corpulent Yakshas with upraised hands, goggle eyes, thick lips and cloven ears, wearing a cluster of bored rings. These Yaksha figures bear a family-resemblance to the Atlante dwarfs placed in similar positions at Sanchi and Karle. They seem to have been styled as *Kinkaras* or *Guhyakas* and as supporting the assembly hall of Vaiśravaṇa to produce an effect of its floating in the sky (Sabhā Parva, 10. 33, 25 where they are mentioned as Rākshasas with tipped ears (*sukti-karṇa*), *ghora* and *mahā-kāya*). [Fig 118].

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Cave 4 was the magnificent Vihāra once adorned with a sculptured façade which once had at its top Chaitya window ornamentation. Of what remains we have a row of six Chaitya windows with the interior decorated with the recessed window pattern and animal figures between the semi-circular rock-cut Vedikā pattern. Below this is the sculpture of a *mithuna*. On the pilasters of the back cells of this cave there are sculptures and on the pillars are winged sphinx and animal capital and also decorations on the Chaitya window arches over the doorway of the cells. There are seven cells in the interior of the hall and a verandah on the out side which has figures of Dvārapāla guardians on the two sides of a very ornate doorway and its high plinth is decorated with a row of beautiful elephant figures half projecting forward with the mahāut standing in front. The entrance doorway (5 ft 4 in. × 2 ft 6 in.) has its jambs ornamented with beautiful designs of half-lotuses and the *triratna*. On the two sides are two figures of Dvārapālas in dignified pose wearing a *dhotī*, a close fitting tunic and a heavy turban, and ponderous ear-pendants. They hold a javelin in one hand and a shield in the other which are oblong in shape. Both these sculptures are remarkable for their very realistic modelling and vigorous musculature of their bodies as well as the smiling expression of the face which is a rare feature of such figures in early art. Over the head of each Dvārapāla is an elephant in profile. Set within these two elephants and above the doorway was an oblong panel of Gaja-Lakshmī (now fallen from its original position) seated on a lotus and holding in two hands raised lotus stalks and being bathed by two elephants holding inverted water-jars; the whole being a delightful representation of this motif in early art. [Fig. 119].

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Beyond the elephants on the right side is an almost life-size sculpture of a horse with a figure of a male in front and a chowrie-bearer behind. This unique sculpture, with an inscribed record giving the name of the donor over it was very likely installed later during the second phase of restoration as a prop to the overhanging rock. This seems to be the scene of *Mahābhinishkramaṇa*.

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There are several short epigraphs in this cave in the script of 2nd century B. C.

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Caves 5 to 9 are all Vihāras, the ninth being of large size with a façade supported on four pillars and two pilasters leading into a portico (26 ft x 5 ft 9 in.) with a central doorway. Inside the maṇḍapa are cells alround with a fine berm with the Vedikā pattern on the architrave running alround the wall-surface above the cell dome. [Fig. 120].

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In group two, Cave 10 was a Chaitya hall with vaulted roof and a Stūpa in the apsidal portion and similar were caves 11, 12 and 13. The vaulted ceiling of Chaitya hall in Cave 12 has rock-cut ribs intercepted by rock-cut rafters which thus produce eight compartments between each two ribs, the ribs themselves projecting 7 in. from their surface. Cave 13 also is a Chaitya hall. The apsidal hall is 27 ft 10 in. deep, 15 ft wide and 15 ft high. There are two rows of pillars in the hall going round the Stūpa in apsidal end, thus dividing the hall into a central nave and side aisle, respectively 7 ft and 1 ft 11 in. wide. There were ten pillars in two rows in the front portion and four more in the apsidal end; all of them are, however, decayed and have only their stems in tact. The vaulted roof over the nave and the Stūpa have stone ribs and rafters of the same type as in Cave 12.

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Thus, from the point of view of art we find the Pitalkhora caves sharing in full all the architectural features of Vihāra and Chaitya hall rock-excavation marking the early Hīnayāna phase with Vedikā pattern portico on pillars, inclining jambs, vaulted roofing with stone and wooden ribs and the general plan of the nave, apse and aisle. The evidence about sculpture is quite full showing sculptured figures of great size and beauty in which Dvārapālas, animal figures of horses and elephants, royal couples with attendants, Śrī-Lakṣmī, Nāgarāja, Atlante dwarfs, musicians, Mithunas, etc. have been found.

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Near the cistern of Cave 7 was found a hoard of pottery including the well known sprouted sprinkler resembling the Roman and other red wares of Western Asia and indigenous imitations thereof in cruder fabric and with crackled red slip.¹

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¹ M. N. Deshpande: 'Rock-cut Caves of Pitalkhora in the Deccan', pp. 56-93. (Ancient India No. 15).

Ajanta (Ajiṇṭhā)

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The rock excavations at Ajanta are the most famous of all the caves and represent a great movement in architecture, sculpture and painting extending from 2nd century B. C. to 7th century A. D., and comprising within their fold both the Hīnayāna and the Mahāyāna phases. The 29 caves there are only four Chaitya halls and the rest are Vihāras. The Chaitya hall in cave 10 is the oldest excavation at Ajanta which may be assigded to the 2nd century B. C. It is 96' 6" in depth by 41' 3" in width internally and 36' in height. The nave (maṇḍapa) is separated from (pradakṣiṇāpatha) by a range of 59 plain octagonal shafts, very slightly inclined inwards but without capitals or bases. The ribs in the apse portion radiate from the pillars. The vault of the nave was adorned with wooden ribs, the mortices for which are still there and their marks can still be traced in the roof but the wood itself is gone. The architectural execution indicates great mastery and boldness on the part of those who excavated the Chaitya hall in the bowels of the mountain and finished it to all the ornamental details with the utmost care. The Stūpa in the apse is of an elaborate nature with the circular base in two tiers and the dome also elongated indicating a step further in the development of its shape. [Fig. 121]. Chaitya hall No. 9 is smaller than No. 10 and has a façade in which no wooden attachments are found. It has in its mukhapaṭṭa or façade a doorway in the centre and a window on either side, each opening being protected by a projecting cornice altogether making a shallow portico. Above this is the Saṅgīta Śālā, the minstrels' gallery or the music hall and over it the most remarkable portion of the Chaitya hall excavation which is known as Kīrtimukha or the broad and lofty Chaitya window (12' in height) opening to admit light and air into the interior of the Chaitya Maṇḍapa. [Fig. 122].

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The spaces on the screen are carved with Vedikā design which are so realistically depicted on the façades at Bhājā, Koṇḍāne, Nasik, etc. The plan of the maṇḍapa is rectangular and the ceiling of the pradakṣiṇāpatha on the two sides is flat and its pillars are perpendicular. Originally the vaulted roof was superficially supported on wooden ribs which did not serve any architectural function and so were removed. Both these Chaitya halls were profusely painted in the early style of the Śuṅga period and do not show any sculpture in the interior. Wherever there are figures of the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, they are all of a later date when the caves were renovated.

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Cave Nos. 12, 13 and 8 at Ajanta are Vihāras of which 12 was the oldest being attached to Chaitya shrine No. 10, and No. 13 was added later to accommodate the growing population of the monks. No. 11 is a Mahāyāna Vihāra being added much later. The establishment must have expanded even further for which Chaitya No. 9 and Vihāra No. 8 were provided in the Hīnayāna phase. Vihāra No. 12 is single-storeyed with its façade now gone. The Central hall (38' × 38') is square which served as the reception room (Upasthāna Śālā) for the monks. It had no pillars for the internal support of the roof. Round the central hall is a horse-shoe arcading forming a beautiful frieze carried all round. The stone carvers have given remarkable proof of their refined art cutting with utmost precision all the details of ornamentation and decorative motifs.

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There are four cells, on each of the inner sides and within 11 double beds and raised pillows to sleep on, are cut in stone. The cell-doors seem to have been provided with wooden shutters for which holes for pivot-hinges in the sills and lintels may still be seen. It was likely a big dormitory in which the monks assured themselves against wild animals.

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Vihāra 13 seems to have started as the residence of a single monk but later on expanded in to a hall with polished walls but without pillars (14' × 17' × 7'). It had seven cells with stone beds as in cave 12.

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Cave 8 seems to have been a natural cavern but enlarged by excavation to 32' × 17' × 10'. There are 2 cells at each end and 2 on each side of the ante-chamber leading to the shrine. There is a low door leading to the dark ante-chamber in which there is no image of any kind, with only a low stone-bench at the back.

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The group of the 5 caves in the Ajanta cliff forms the nucleus from which the other caves radiate south-east (8) and south-west (14) which belonged to Mahāyāna phase. Amongst them 16 & 17 are Vihāras and 1 & 2 are Chaitya halls with the paintings and sculptures of the most magnificent character.

Bedsā Caves

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Bedsā is ten miles south of Karle. Its group of caves shows considerable progress from wood towards lithic construction. The screen is in stone; the pillars are more upright though still sloping slightly inwards; the jambs more nearly parallel; in fact, we have nearly all the features of a well-designed Chaitya Cave.

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A very remarkable feature of the portico is two large-sized pillars which have developed all those features that are associated with the free-standing columns, viz. a tall shaft and a very conspicuous animal capital as are exactly found in front of the Karle Cave and which are truly descended from the style of free-standing Aśokan pillars, but here at Bedsā the two pillars are not free-standing but incorporated in the architecture of the portico between the pilasters on either side. They serve the architectural function of supporting on their capitals very large front beam and joists of the verandah, all no doubt cut in rock after wooden prototype.

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The pillars are eight-sided and inserted in vase-shaped bases, Pūrṇaghaṭa, and have on the summit inverted lotus leaves, the style and meaning of which have already been discussed in the case of Sarnath Lion Capital. What constitutes a very pleasing feature is the capital consisting of an abacus of decreasing recessed cornices and supporting on the top male and female riders on addorsed horses on one side and on elephant on the other (haya-saṅghāṭa and gaja-saṅghāṭa). Both the human and animal sculptures are of bold and free execution and display a rare quality of integrating sculpture with architecture in rather a difficult position. These capitals at Bedsa are undoubtedly works of genius artists whose workmanship both here and at Karle deserves the highest meed of praise.

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In front of these pillars rough masses of rocks have been left causing a partial obstruction of their view. There is an elaborate superstructure over the pillared portico and the inside wall has a very pleasant arcading to give entrance to the nave of the Chaitya hall. The whole surface of the façade is occupied by the Vedikā pattern. The Chaitya window arches are superimposed by similar architectural features of the most pleasing design in two tiers and the whole frontage furnishes an example of rare beauty in which the art of providing a façade to the Chaitya hall is seen at its best comparable only with that at Karle.

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The front surface is covered by rail decoration (*Śalākā vātāyana*) which supplies a fair test of the age of any building. It gradually becomes less and less after the Bedsa Caves and disappears wholly in the Mahāyāna phase of rock-cut caves. During the Hīnayāna phase (circa 2nd century B. C. to 2nd century A. D.) its greater or less prevalence in any building is one of the surest indications we have of the relative age of any two examples. In this cave nearly the whole ornamentation is made up of miniature rails, and repetitions of window fronts or façades. It has also a semi-circular open moulding, like basket-work (*jālaka-vātāyana*) which is only found in the very oldest caves and is evidently so unsuited for stone work that it is no wonder it was dropped very early.

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The interior of the Chaitya hall measures 45½ ft. in length and 21 ft. in width. It is severely plain having octagonal pillars without bases or capitals but showing some Buddhist symbols carved on them. The vaulted roof had originally wooden ribs attached to it which were quite massive but now most of it has disappeared. The traces of fresco paintings on the pillars and Stūpa may still be seen but likely from the 2nd phase of restoration. The Vihāra adjacent to the Chaitya hall shows a perfectly rectangular form but with a circular-end rectangular inner Maṇḍapa with square cells excavated on the three sides.

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NĀSIK (Nāsikyā)

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It was an ancient city mentioned by Patañjali as Nāsikyā and possessed a very favourable position on the Godavari to become a religious centre of repute from the earliest times and, therefore, chosen by the Buddhist community of monks for their solitary retreat and meditation.

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There are seventeen excavations in all at Nasik, of which only one is Chaitya and others are all Vihāras; six or seven being of first class nature. At one time, the walls of Nasik monasteries were also adorned with paintings like those at Ajanta but none has survived.

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The oldest Vihāra at Nasik, 2nd century B. C., is a simple square hall measuring 14 ft. each way with two square cells in three of its sides, the fourth one opening into a verandah with two octagonal pillars. Above each cell-door is a Chaitya window. This Vihāra is identical with the two oldest ones at Ajanta. There is an inscription in this cave of King Kṛiṣhṇa of Andhra dynasty, about 170 B. C.

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There are three other great Vihāras at Nasik, the oldest being of Nahapāna, the second of Gautamīputra and the third of Śrī Yajña Sātakarṇi, all three datable from 1st century B.C. to 2nd century A.D. The Nahapāna Vihāra and that of Gautamīputra are exactly similar in dimensions and in all their arrangements. They are both square halls, 40 ft. on each side, without any pillar at the centre, surrounded on the three sides with 16 cells in all. On the fourth side, viz. the front, there is a verandah supported on six pillars with a cell at each end in the case of the Nahapāna Vihāra. The pillars of the verandah of the Nahapāna Vihāra are exactly similar to those of the Chaitya hall at Karle. At Karle, we have inscriptions of the son-in-law of Nahapāna, namely Ushavadāta and his wife Dakshamitrā, who were also the donors of the two cells in the verandah of Nahapāna Vihāra.

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In the Nahapāna Cave the eight-sided shaft of the pillar is inserted at the bottom in a pūrṇa-kumbha placed on a four-tiered basement and on the top covered by an inverted pūrṇa-ghaṭa similarly in a reverse position on a tiered abacus supporting pairs of addorsed bulls (vṛisha-saṅghāṭa) over whom is an impressive entablature covered by a parapet with embrasures and superimposed rail design.

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The pillars in Gautamīputra cave are of much greater richness standing inside a railing of lotus design (padmavara-vedikā) with upright and coss-bars all covered with medallions like those found in the Kaṅkālī Ṭilā, Mathura. The top of the 8-sided pillar is covered by an unmistakable inverted jar over which is an abacus supporting addorsed lions (Siṃha-saṅghāṭa) and over their heads an entablature elaborately carved showing parapet with embrasures and then a row of spirited animals and finally, several rows of lotus medallions.

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The great Vihāra of Yajña Śrī Sātakarṇi is the most important; its hall being 61 ft. X 37½ ft. at the outer end, increasing to 44ft. at the inner end having eight cells on each side. Originally, the hall was only 40 ft. in length, but extended at a later period to 61 ft. in length. Its most marked peculiarity is that it has a sanctuary at its inner end with two richly carved pillars in front and a colossal figure of seated Buddha within the sanctuary, together with standing attendants and other figures of dwarfs, etc. usually found in later Mahāyāna shrines. There is an inscription stating that the Vihāra was completed by Vāsu, wife of the commander-in-chief of Yajña Śrī Sātakarṇi, in the 7th year of reign after many years of its original excavation by some ascetics. This refers to about the later part of the 2nd century A. D.

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Cave No. 17 at Nasik was the latest of the series showing the full-fledged Mahāyāna religious phase; Buddha being represented in all mudrās—standing, sitting, accompanied by chowrie-bearers, flying figures and dwarfs together with the Dhyānī Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. It may be assigned to a period between 600 to 800 A. D. The important group of the caves at Nasik belonged to the reign of Andhra-Bhṛtyas or the Sātavāhanas.

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The Vihāra Cave No. 12, although small in size, is important for its inscription, that it was excavated by Indrāgni Datta, the Yavana, a northerner from Dattāmitrī.

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CHAITYA HALL AT NASIK : The Chaitya hall at Nasik comes next and may be dated near the middle of the 1st century B. C. The interior pillars and the jambs of the doorways, in the case of the earlier caves, were erected at an angle. Gradually this angle was reduced and they were made more or less perpendicular. The degree of incline is indicative of their age. In the case of the Chaitya hall at Nasik, its pillars internally are so nearly perpendicular that their inclination might escape detection and the door-jambs are almost parallel. The façade of the Chaitya hall is a very perfect and complete design, being divided horizontally into two storeys; the lower with an arched door, the upper with a great Chaitya window; beside the door is a Yaksha guardian. There is an inscription on a pillar of the main Chaitya Gṛiha, the ancient word for the Chaitya hall. The architectural elements and the sculptures were the result of the generosity of several donors as shown by the inscriptions. For example, outside the cave on the doorway the epigraph shows the carvings to be the gift of the villagers of Bambhikā; and another on the projecting ledge over the guardian to the left of the entrance, reads that "the rail pattern and the Yaksha were made by Naḍa Siri"; the third inscription on two of the pillars on the nave ascribes the completion of the Chaitya Gṛiha to Bhaṭṭa Pālika.

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This Chaitya hall at Nasik, generally known by the name of Pāṇḍu Leṇa, is entirely carved out of rock without any wooden portico attachment. The façade is carved in the form of lunate above the doorway. It has on the two sides of the doorway arcades supported on pilasters with capitals of addorsed animals. The architects of the interior hall at Nasik had become conscious of the decorative possibilities of the pillars since they are beautified by a square abacus on the top carrying a mass of beautiful sculptures, both animal and decorative designs of great beauty. A special feature is the full vase motif at the bottom in which the lower portion of the shaft is inserted. This embellishment of the pillar with a *pūrṇa-ghaṭa* at the base and another at the summit was found to be a very attractive feature which had its continuation in later art. Originally it seems to have had a religious significance showing the pillar or stake both to be rooted in and topped by the *pūrṇa-ghaṭa* or the immortal Full Vase. The shape of the pillars also has appreciably changed in the Nasik Chaitya Gṛiha. Instead of being massive and ponderous as in most of the rock excavations they have become tall and slender with a diameter which is 1/8th of their height, a feature which is also found in the finest Greek and Roman pillars.

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In the Pāṇḍu Leṇa there was also a minstrel's gallery (*Saṅgīta Śālā*) not projecting outside the Chaitya hall but inside it, supported on mortices and holes cut in the rock. The Stūpa had become more elongated by increasing the height of the drum. [Fig. 123].

Junnar

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Forty-eight miles north of Poona is the old town of Junnar round which are several groups of rock-excavations, 150 in number. There are ten Chaitya halls and the rest are Vihāras. Like other early caves, they are mostly devoid of figure ornament. They may be dated from 2nd century B.C. to 1st century A.D., and were the result of the great movement of the rock-cut religious monuments, when it started with the first flash of enthusiasm. Inscriptions on some of the caves inform they were meant for the use of the Buddhist monks.

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In the Gaṇeśa Leṇa group there is a Chaitya hall similar to that at Nasik and a Vihāra which may be said to be the finest of its kind. There are several architectural forms in the Junnar caves not found elsewhere, for instance, six Chaitya caves with square ends (*āyata*), flat roofs and without internal pillars and also one completely circular Chaitya hall (in the Tuljā group) which is quite unique and of which only other instance is the Chaitya hall at Guntupalle at east-coast.

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The great peculiarity of the series is the extreme simplicity of the caves composing it. Here we do not find figures of guardians and men and women as at Karle. There is evidence that the Chaitya halls were plastered and painted. The Chaitya hall at Mānmoda has a façade with elaborate sculpture, which is also a quite unique style. On its lowermost circular front which is conceived in the form of an expanded lotus, the petal in the centre is carved with the standing figure of Śrī-Lakṣmī in the midst of side lotuses with her right hand in *abhayamudrā* and left held akimbo (*kaṭyavalambita*). She is flanked by two elephants performing her *abhiṣeka* and standing on lotuses, both being carved in similar petals as the Goddess herself. Next to the elephants are male and female worshippers, i.e. *dampatis* in *añjalimudrā* or the attitude of adoration on both sides of the group. This treatment of the Goddess Gaja-Lakshmī has been conceived here in an especially charming manner both by the position over the doorway and lotus back-ground. Though found at Bharhut, Sanchi, Bodhgaya and Udaigiri, it is seldom that Goddess Śrī-Lakshmī occupies so important a position as she does here. She was representing an ancient folk-cult which is given an open welcome in the religious setting of Buddhist Chaitya halls. On the edge of the small semi-circular centre of the sculpture on this façade is an inscription stating that, ‘the half front was the gift of Chanda, a Yavana’. This is important as pointing to the faith of the donor with *Bhāgavata* affiliation similar to that of Heliodoros, who erected the Garuḍa-dhvaja at Besnagar. Above the fronton (*kīrtimukha*), on each side of its finial, are figures:—on the right a Nāgarāja with hoods rising from shoulder, and on the left a Garuḍa with wings from his shoulder, and behind each is a Stūpa in high relief. This representation of the Nāga-Garuḍa motif is also a unique feature which the ingenious author of this decorative conception adopted on the façade of a Buddhist Chaitya in company with Śrī-Lakshmī and Stūpas. On the two sides of the *kīrtimukha* window and a little removed from it are two door-jambs and a lintel above them, the whole forming a beautiful frame which is quite impressive and lofty and decorated with a series of bigger and smaller Chaitya windows, themselves framed by Vedikā design.

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The interior of this cave measures 30' in length and 12' 6'' in width between the pillars of the nave. [Fig. 124].

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A little to the east of this is a series of four cells with a neatly carved façade; each door has the Chaitya-window arch over it projecting about 15 in., and is carved below in the same style as over the doorway of the Nāsik Chaitya—indicative of an early date.

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In the Tuljā-leṇa group, about two miles west from Junnar, there are about 12 excavations, one a Vihāra with five cells, another was perhaps a refection hall (*Bhojana-śālā*) and the most important of them all a circular Chaitya mentioned above. The façades that remain consist of Chaitya window, rail-pattern, and Stūpa ornamentation. The interior of this Chaitya hall is circular being 25' 6'' across and its domical roof (18') is supported on twelve plain octagonal pillars (*aṭṭhāṃsika-stambha*), arranged round the Stūpa. This architectural plan of an open pavilion supported on pillars seems to have been derived from a model of much older circular Parṇaśālās of wooden construction. One such round pavilion is actually depicted in relief on the Bharhut *Vedikā*, in which the shrine with a domed roof and finial (*stūpi*) has the form of a pavilion (*maṇḍapa*) supported on pillars with a raised platform (*maṇḍa*) in the centre on which is placed the turban of the Buddha under a Chhatra and Yashti. The shrine is surrounded by a railing (vedikā) and prominent gateways of which one is shown in the Bharhut bas-relief. The front side of the platform is beautified with marks of the pañjaka design and in front of it is a smaller platform for receiving flowers (pushpa-grahaṇī vedikā).

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There are several other Chaitya halls at Junnar with the interior carved as a rectangle in plan and with a flat roof without pillars and having Stūpa at the same position as in a round apse. They had small vestibules supported on pillars having water-pot bases and capitals and decorated with rail designs. Although there is a Chaitya window fronton but not perforated and hence light enters only through the doors.

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In the Gaṇeśa leṇa group there are four Chaitya halls of which one, bearing an inscription of the time of Nahapāna, is the best example we have of the Chaitya of about the first century A. D. Its proportions are good and all the details well understood and properly applied. The interior measures about 45' and there are five pillars on each side of the nave which have beautiful capitals with spirited figures of riders on tigers, elephants and other animals. The rich ornamentation of this Chaitya hall and its moderate dimensions make it a typical example of a Buddhist Chaitya Gṛiha as perfected after centuries of trial of architecture and sculpture.

Karle

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On the ancient highway connecting Aparānta or Konkaṇa with the eastern plains of Sahyādri in the hills known as the Bhorghāt are a number of rock-excavations as at Kondāne, Bhājā, Bedsā, and Kārle, the latter being the best known.

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The Karle group of caves, located about two miles north of the Bombay-Poona road, is 78½ miles from Bombay being approached from Malavali station at a distance of 3 miles to the south. There are one magnificent Chaitya hall and three ordinary Vihāras at this place. The monument is one of the grandest and finest of its class and shows the rock-cut movement in its utmost perfection. There is an integration and dignity of architecture and sculpture in the Karle cave which is unsurpassed anywhere else. It appears that the artists responsible for this excavation were gifted with long experience of sculpting the rock and handling the chisel with the gratest mastery. A contemporary inscription in the porch mentions it as the best in the whole of Jambudvipa (Jambudīpamhi uttamam) which seems to be a fairly correct estimate since our modern assessment of its aesthetic greatness does not fall short of it.

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The Chaitya hall consisted of the following component parts :—

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(1) Two lofty free-standing pillars surmounted by lion capitals.

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(2) Entrance gallery or porch (*mukha-maṇḍapa*) supported on pillars with a lower storey and upper one.

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(3) A minstrel's gallery (*saṅgīta-śālā*) of wooden construction projecting from the middle portion of the front wall of the porch.

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(4) The back wall of the porch with a large Chaitya window (*kīrtimukha*) having within it a wooden framing of trellis work, and in the lower portion three doors giving entry to the main hall and the side aisles.

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(5) Central nave or Maṇḍapa.

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(6) Two long side galleries (*pradakṣiṇā-patha*).

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(7) Apsidal end with circular termination.

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(8) A Chaitya or Stūpa in the centre of the apse (*Garbhagṛiha*).

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(9) A colonnade of thirty-seven pillars, fifteen in each row of the nave and seven round the apse.

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(10) A vaulted domed roof.

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(11) Wooden ribs under the roof of very massive construction and original to the monument.

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(12) Inscriptions engraved in several parts on the outside and inside of the monument.

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A rock-excavation or the cave like the present one gave rise to a special term according to the genius of the Sanskrit language, viz. *kīrti*, literally, ‘an excavation’ (from the root *kṛi* to cut or chisel out, as in *utkīrṇa*). Because of this the front pillar was called *kīrti-stambha*, implying that the erection of such a pillar was accepted as the normal feature of a rock-cut cave. Originally there had existed two lofty and ponderous pillars as at Kanheri but now only one remains, the other on the right side having been removed to give place to a modern Śaiva shrine. Percy Brown writes that there were similar pillars in the shrine of the Moon god at Ur in three thousand B. C. and similar obelisks in Egyptian temples and in Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem two brass pillars were erected in similar position and that “the pillars at Karle appear to have been the result of the same belief.” But it is needless to go outside India in search of their archetypes, since as we have shown several times previously the raising of such pillars to face such monuments in both sacrificial and sepulchral grounds was a very ancient custom being known in the Ṛigveda itself (RV. 10. 18. 13), and the practice is attested in the case of the Lauria Nandangarh mounds and the great Stūpa of Sanchi.

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The two pillars faced the two side-doors of the aisles as the left one surviving on the left side points to. They were located at a little distance from the outer screen of the porch and were thus free-standing. The existing pillar 50' high, has sixteen sides and is surmounted by a well-designed capital consisting of an inverted lotus with flowing curved leaves, a moulding abacus with sixteen flutings and a square support in three decreasing tiers on which there are four addorsed sejant lions facing in four directions. The pillar is certainly inspired by the Aśokan lion-capital at Sarnath, of course there being marked difference in the aesthetic quality of the two.

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Behind these two detached columns is the Chaitya hall of which the front portion consists of a vestibule (antarāla-maṇḍapa) or front porch (mukha-maṇḍapa). This entrance gallery consisted of two screens, one on the outside and the other in the inside, and formed a very happy adjunct to the main hall of the interior. It was conceived in two storeys, the lower one supported on two stout octagonal pillars without base or capital, and the upper one on four pillars and two pilasters. It served the purpose of a front verandah giving access to the nave through a central door and to the aisles through two side doorways. It is 15' deep and 52' long being greater than the interior by 7'. [Fig. 125]. The inner wall was decorated with large-sized sculptures of male and female figures who appear to be the Mithunas as in the other caves. But the Karle figures have been adjudged to be the best of their kind in India. In the two end walls of the verandah were carved front portions of elephants, standing on a base, decorated with the rail pattern and supporting above them a framed frieze, also ornamented with the rail or Vedikā design (but in Gupta times cut away to insert the figures of Buddha and his attendants). Above it a quadrantal moulding again surmounted by a rail design which is continued to form the sill of the great window. The two sides of the façade are carved with repetitions of Chaitya window design separated by rail-decorations. In some of the panels are the sculptures original to the excavation, which are the best of their kind in India. The spandrel spaces of the great sun-window are occupied with similar rows of Chaitya window arcading (kīrtimukha) and rail patterns.

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In the middle of the front portion of the porch are mortice holes which supported an impressive timber construction to serve as the minstrel's gallery (Saṅgīta Śālā) but the same has now perished. This feature of the musicians' chamber over the portico also continued later as found in the case of the Kailāsa temple at Ellora and also on the gateways of the royal palaces in later times.

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In the upper storey of the back wall the most conspicuous feature was the great opening of the fronton—the large sun-window (kīrtimukha proper) which originally served as the vent for throwing out the debris and later on as the main aperture for admitting light and air to illumine the dark interior of the nave. It was virtually a Sūrya-dvāra, the Sun-door, through which entered a flood of light-beams of which the full effect is realised when the visitor stands in the centre of the inner Maṇḍapa and casts a glance on its four sides to see how each part of the excavation is bathed in sun-light. The main volume of the great illumination is distributed over the Maṇḍapa, garbha-gṛiha and the pradakṣiṇā-patha so as to break the dark gloom and replace it by some divine effulgence creating a heavenly atmosphere from which it is not easy to extricate oneself. The soul is truly ‘enraptured, feasted, fed’ by the light-cells so abundantly piercing through the sun-window into the interior of the cave.

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There is nothing in the whole architecture of the Chaityaghara possessing such supreme value from beginning to end as the Kīrimukha Window. The great horse-shoe arch is ornamented by a finial above, and its wide opening was filled with a timber framing having beautiful trellis work and lunate bands which were filled with small upright balusters. The upper framing is still preserved but the lattice filling has perished. The circular framing of lattice design may be seen in its earlier lithic form in the Lomas Ṛishi cave of Aśoka’s time which was borrowed from earlier wooden prototype and continued in the succeeding rock-excavations.

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The interior of the cave forms the main shrine and has an architectural grandeur of its own possessing a big nave (maṇḍapa) in the centre which is separated from the two side aisles by a colonnade of columns which are of great beauty and highly finished sculptural art as shown by their capitals. The nave is 124' in length from the front doorway to the round termination behind the Chaitya, and 45' 6'' in width including the two aisles each 10' wide including the thickness of the pillars. This arrangement of the central Maṇḍapa flanked by the continuous Pradakṣiṇāpatha on two sides, the three being entered by their respective entrance doors and the main object of worship, viz. the Stūpa or the Chaitya at the other end had become an established feature of the architecture of these rock-excavations and quite well known wherever the architecture travelled. It was essentially indigenous in origin and it is unwarranted to suggest any similarity for its origin from the early Christian churches.

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