Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c19.21

c19.21

The interior is divided into nave and aisles by a colonnade of fifteen pillars, in addition to two at the entrance, all closely set, and eleven feet high. These pillars have richly patterned shafts, with cushion capitals and ponderous brackets above. Supported by the brackets is a broad triforium or frieze, five feet wide, divided into panels, and continued right round the nave Over all rises the vaulted roof, with the ribs no longer additions in wood, but carved out of the rock itself. Every portion of the scheme is elaborately sculptured, particularly the bracket capitals and the triforium frieze above. Images of the Buddha, empanelled, canopied, or niched, are the leading feature, but, in contrast to these static figures, are groups of aerial beings, some mounted on winged animals, others in full flight, the whole forming an animated conception of great charm. But the interior is merely the setting or background for the *stupa* which it enshrines. This sacred emblem stands on a slightly elevated platform within the centre of the apse. At each side of the step leading to the platform erect and alongside the corresponding pillar, was originally sculptured a life-sized statue of the stupa guardian. Although they have now almost entirely crumbled away, the effect when complete of these two attendant figures, silent and impassive as the living rock out of which they were carved, must have been impressive indeed. The stupa is a composite monolith some 22 ft. high, its apex therefore nearly touching the vault of the apse above. In spite of the double dome forming the body, and other complexities, the traditional shape of the tumulus may still be traced, but the stupa as a whole, has been so elongated and elaborated that it bears really little resemblance to the low semi-spheroidal brick mound from which it was anciently derived. The face of the domical portion has now been converted into a pillared niche and canopy, its shallow recess occupied by a large image of the Buddha in high relief. Above the dome rises a tall finial in tiers, consisting of a *harmika*, three diminishing parasols, and a vase, the last being almost lost in the sombre gloom of the roof. The soaring height and general intention of this stupa recall the tapering spires of reliquaries found in some Continental cathedrals. (Plates XLIX and L).