Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c47.27

c47.27

On page 320 of the "Cave Temples of India" there is a discussion regarding the age of the first five westernmost caves of Ajanta and the last seven at the other extremity in which the following observation occurs :—"There are no inscriptions from which their age can be ascertained with precision, but their architectural details and other indications are sufficient to enable us to feel confident that nearly the whole of them belong to the seventh century, as those of the central group certainly belong to the sixth " The joint authors had assigned the inscriptions in Caves XVI and XVII to about 500 A D and it was on this account that they attributed the central group to the sixth century. They are, however, quite definite that Caves I and II cannot belong to the same period. They seem to base their opinion principally on architectural style which is often the safest and clearest indication with regard to the period of construction of ancient monuments.