Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c19.19

c19.19

After a period of experiment, as shown in the diversified arrangement of the first group of the Mahayana viharas, the plan of the monastic hall became more or less standardized, although the detailed treatment of the succeeding groups shows considerable variety and fertility of invention. Of the remaining examples, the finest are Nos. 1, 4, 16, 17, 21 and 23, the high water mark of the whole series being attained in No. 16, dating from early in the sixth century, while the supreme efflorescence of the style may be studied in the carved and painted embellishment of No. 1, which was probably produced a century later (c. A.D. 625) Both Nos. 1 and 16 are of approximately the same size and designed on much the same lines, each having an exterior verandah 65 ft. long, a main hall 65 ft. square containing a surrounding aisle formed by a colonnade of twenty pillars, such being the average dimensions of the Ajanta viharas. Around the hall and verandah of No. 16, is recessed a series of sixteen square cells, and on the innermost side, cut deep into the rock, is a spacious sacrarium containing a seated figure of the Buddha.