Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c12.32

c12.32

Entrance to the chaitya hall was obtained by means of three doorways, the one in the centre being reserved for the priests, and others of high standing, and was approached by a raised pathway on each side of which the floor was sunk to form shallow cisterns filled with water. The ordinary devotees stepped through these shallow pools on their way to the side doors, a procedure which compulsorily cleansed their feet from the contamination of the outer world. Of these who have been privileged to enter this grand interior there must be few who have not been profoundly moved by the solemn permanency and appropriateness generally of its pillared aisles (Plate XXIV, Fig. 1). Although the largest of its kind, its dimensions are not great as it has only 124 feet long, 46½ feet wide and 45 feet high, so that it would go inside the choir of either Wells or Rouen cathedral, yet within its hoary precincts one ceases to think in terms of space and only in those of time. Many more than a thousand years have passed since the rustle of pilgrims' feet in procession last echoed through its shadowed colonnades, or priests filled the high vault of the nave with their chanted liturgy, but the atmosphere of religious emotion which was then created still lingers. There can be nothing but admiration for those who, urged by their passionate devotion for the Great Teacher, could conjure out of the bare hill-side such a majestically imposing and at the same time supremely artistic place of worship.