Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.8

c15.8

ROCK-CUT CHAITYA :—Architecturally this is the principal monument at Guṇṭapalle. It is rock-cut and the earliest in date. It is deeply impressive by its style being much similar to the rock cut Chaitya-chamber of the Lomas Rishi and Sudāmā caves in Magadha and of Junnar and Koṇḍiwte in Saurāṣṭra. It is circular in form with a monolithic Stūpa or Chaitya in the centre, surrounded by a narrow circum-ambulatory passage and covered by a circular roof with ribs under it, exactly copied from wooden originals. The shrine faces east and and has a diameter of 18' and is 14½' high from the floor to the roof. The monolithic sacred Chaitya is almost half in size of the interior round apse leaving a narrow passage 3' wide for going round. This implies an economising effort towards sculpting the rock. The measurements of the drum are, ht. 3'9" and diameter 11'8", the dome ht. 4'9" and diameter 9'2", thus giving a total eight of 8½' only. There was a harmikā on the top. The circular ceiling of the dome is like an umbrella and melon-shaped of later times (Hindi kharabu-jiyā, Skt. chhatrākāra), having sixteen ribs distinctly cut in the rock and meeting at a focal point in the centre. They are bonded with each other by stone-cut rafters in a horizontal position, thus showing how truly the stone masons were copying the wooden originals. [Fig. 202]. It has been conceived as a complete replica of a thatched Parṇaśālā moulding the space around it.