Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c12.20

c12.20

The chronological sequence in which the chaitya halls were executed is based mainly on the principle that the earlier the example the closer it copies wooden construction. Another guide is the slope of the interior pillars, as it is assumed that their inward inclination was derived from wooden posts so slanted in order to counteract the outward thrust of a heavy timber roof, thus the greater the angle of the rake, the nearer the relation to its wooden prototype Moreover there is the particular shape of the arch forming the main feature of the facade, the curve of which is the subject of change as the style progresses, so that the rule also may be applied that the more rudimentary the curves the earlier the example This may be proved by reverting for the moment to the previous group in the Barabar hills containing the initial effort in rock architecture, that of the chapel of Lomas Rishi, the facade of which shows a gable-end consisting merely of an arrangement of laminated boards, bent rather than curved to a suitable angle (Plate XXV, Fig. 1) About a century later in the earliest example of the Hinayana series now being described, that at Bhaja, the characteristic horse-shoe arch first appears in the facade, but it is of the stilted variety and its indecisive curves suggest that this distinctive feature was undergoing a process of formation (Fig. 2). The facade of Kondane followed and denotes an advance, as there is a slight inward return to the spring of the arch, and the whole is more vigorous and firm in outline At Ajanta (No. 9) and at Karli (Fig. 3) the chaitya arch has arrived at its early maturity, being composed of a subtle and refined combination of curves, a shape which it retained for the remainder of the Hinayana period. Afterwards, in the succeeding Mahayana style as in chaitya hall No. 19 at Ajanta (Fig. 4), the arched aperture tends towards exaggeration, it becomes constricted at the base, and more florid in its curvatures until, as in the seventh century facade of Visvakarma at Ellora, it is no longer a horse-shoe arch but almost a complete circle (Fig. 5). Finally, when the chaitya arch motif appears as a decorative feature in the Brahmanical temple, it assumes a variety of forms of which Fig. 6 is an illustration. As an ornamental accessory known as the *kudu*, a kind of miniature acroterium, it is frequently used to break the line of the cornice in the Brahmanical architecture of the south.