Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c12.33

c12.33

The interior of this chaitya hall owes much of its architectural content to the manner in which its three principal elements have each in themselves been treated and then combined to produce a co-ordinated whole. These are the colonnade, the vaulting, and the great sun-window. Taking the colonnade first, the pillars forming it are thirty-seven in number, and are closely set, much more so than any previous example, as the space between each is but little more than the width of the column itself Those encircling the apse have plain octagonal shafts, as in all the other halls of the series, while the fifteen on each side are highly carved and decorated, repeating in their design, the theme of the larger free-standing lion-columns (*sinha-stambhas*) of the exterior. Each pillar consists of a vase base on a plinth, an octagonal shaft, a campaniform capital with spreading abacus, and each is finished off above by a fine group of sculptured statuary. To the conception of this colonnade the interior owes much of its strength in repose, but it is from the figure composition it supports that the principal vitality of effect is obtained (Plate XXIV, Fig 2). These carved groups are all somewhat similar, but there is sufficient variation in [Figure: Fig. 1 Ajanta, Facade of Chaitya-hall, No 26, 6th Century A D.]