Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c19.18

c19.18

The earliest sub-group in the Mahayana style at Ajanta, consisting of three viharas numbered 11, 7 and 6, forming the initial productions of the later movement, are examples of a transition stage, when the threads of the previous effort were again being taken up. Although differing materially from the original Hinayana type, they still clearly owe something to wooden forms, especially in the arrangement of the pillars in the main hall which seems to be an adaptation of materials used in a structural prototype. In No. 11, the first to be cut, the design of the four pillars suggests a square shed, or similar shelter, occupying the centre of the courtyard of the structural building (Plate XLIX, Fig. 2), while No. 7, next in order of production shows how two such erections placed side by side, became necessary in a structure of larger dimensions (Fig. 3). The lower story of No. 6 which may have been cut shortly afterwards, combines the system of the four central pillars of the previous examples, with the plan of another series of pillars all round the main hall, the latter corresponding to those supporting a verandah, a complex and almost confused arrangement which was not repeated (Fig 4). The sequence of experiments indicated in this group led to the final conception seen in the upper story of No. 6 which contains a colonnade on all four sides, a satisfactory and logical system of columniation adopted in all the subsequent vihara halls (Fig. 5). It is, however, to some of the détails in the lower story of this vihara to which attention is specially directed, as it has several unusual features. This particular example appears originally to have had a verandah on its exterior which has crumbled away, so that its facade now presents a doorway, with a rectangular window on either side. At some early date the doorway has been recut and slightly enlarged, but much of the old work still remains. The doorway has the overhanging lintel characteristic of the early Gupta style (c. 450 A.D.) with a recess at its outer extremities, most probably intended as a receptacle for a figure, in wood, of the river-god. Below the recess is a nook-shaft with vase-capital, base, and a pedestal in the shape of a caryatid and an elephant, the whole forming a singularly artistic composition In the interior of this vihara, the grouping of sixteen pillars, contained within a hall approximately 54 ft. square produces a congested appearance, modified to some extent by the simplicity of their design. These pillars are unlike any others at Ajanta, as little more than a simple moulding suffices for the capital, while the shafts are chamfered, and they have no bases.