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History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c14: Chapter V. Chaitya Halls.

History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c14

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Contents

Chapter V. Chaitya Halls.

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Structural Chaityas—Bihâr Caves—Western Chaitya Halls, etc.

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ALTHOUGH, if looked at from a merely artistic point of view, it will probably be found that the rails are the most interesting Buddhist remains that have come down to our time, still, in an historical or architectural sense, they are certainly surpassed by the chaitya halls. These are the temples of the religion, properly so called, and the exact counterpart of the churches of the Christians, not only in form, but in use.

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Some twenty or thirty of these are known still to exist in a state of greater or less preservation, but—with very few exceptions—all cut in the rock. In so far as the interior is concerned this is of little or no consequence, but, were it not for one or two recent discoveries, we should not have been able to judge of their external form or effect,¹ and, what is worse, we should not have known how their roofs were constructed. We know that, generally at least, they were formed with semicircular ribs of timber, and it is also nearly certain that on these ribs planks in two or three thicknesses were laid, but we could hardly have guessed what covered the planks externally.

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¹ It had previously been considered probable that a tolerably correct idea of the general exterior appearance of the buildings from which these caves were copied may be obtained from the *Raths* (as they are called) of Mâmallapuram or Mahavellipore (described further on). These are monuments of a later date, and belonging to a different religion, but they correspond so nearly in all their parts with the temples and monasteries now under consideration, that we could scarcely doubt their being, in most respects, close copies of them, as we now discover that they really are. Curiously enough, the best illustrations of some of them are to be found among the sculptures of the Bharaut Rail.

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Till recently the only structural one known was that at Sânchi, which is shown in plan in the accompanying woodcut (No. 47). It did not, however, suffice to show us how the roofs of the aisles were supported externally. What it does show, which the caves do not, is that when the aisle which surrounded the apse could be lighted from the exterior, the apse was carried up solid. In all the caves the pillars surrounding the dâgaba are of different form and plainer than those of the nave. They are, in fact, kept as subdued as possible, as if it was thought they had no business there, but were necessary to admit light into the circumambient aisle of the apse.

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47. Plan of Chaitya Hall, Sânchi. Scale 30 ft. to 1 in.

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The discovery of two old structural chaityas enables us now to realise the formation of their roofs. One of these, at Têr in the Naldrug district of Haidarâbâd,¹ has been appropriated to Vaishnava worship, and to some extent altered, but its arrangements will be understood from the accompanying view and plan (Woodcuts Nos. 48 and 49). The mandap on the east may possibly have been an addition, but if so, of an early date, as the mouldings and pilasters testify. The doors of this and of the shrine have been altered: that on the north side has been cut out, and the partition wall across the apse added, whilst the dâgaba—probably of marble—has been removed to make room for two Vaishnava images. The shrine or chaitya is wholly built of bricks of large size, measuring 17 in. by 9, and 3 in. thick, carefully laid in a cement of clay. This apartment measures 26 ft.

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¹ Têr was indentified by Dr. Fleet as the site of the ancient Tagara (‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ 1901, pp. 537ff.); and, led by this, Mr. H. Cousens visited the place in November 1901, and discovered this interesting monument. The plan (Illustration No. 49) and the substance of this account is based on his paper in the ‘Archæological Survey Annual, 1902-03,’ pp. 195f.

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48. Ancient Buddhist Chaitya at Têr. (From a photograph by H. Cousens.)

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49. Plan of Ancient Buddhist Chaitya at Têr. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. (From a Plan by H. Cousens.)

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in length by 12 ft. wide, the apsidal end and barrel-vaulted roof rising about 30 ft. from the floor; it is of brick carefully corbelled inwards to form the vault, and rising to a ridge, all carefully plastered. The mandap in front is about 13 ft. high inside, and has a flat roof of wooden beams supported by wooden pillars, and over-laid by brick and plastered outside. Slender pilasters are formed on the outside walls, supporting thick roll mouldings of an early form. The façade of the chaitya rises about 18 ft. above the hall roof (Woodcut No. 48), and is of special interest: the recess in the middle of it now contains a Hindû image in plaster, but originally it must have been a window to admit light into the chaitya. And if we compare this façade with that of the Buddhist rock-cut chaitya at Elûrâ, the close resemblance in style, and even in details, derived from earlier wood constructions, is very apparent.

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50. Plan of an ancient Chaitya at Chezarla. Scale 25 ft. to 1 in. (From a Plan by Mr. A. Rea.)

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The early chaitya, discovered about eighteen years ago at Chezarla, in the Kistna district of the Madras presidency, has been preserved, like the preceding, by being appropriated as a Saiva temple of Kapôtêsvara—“the pigeon god”; for the legend of Sivi-Usînara,—who offered his own flesh to feed a hawk rather than surrender a dove (*kapôta*) that had fled to him for protection—is well known from the Mahâbhârata and other works;¹ the story has also Buddhist forms in the Jâtaka book.² Like the Têr example, this chaitya is built of bricks of the same large size, and a mandapa 25 ft. in length by 9 ft. 9 in. wide has been added at some later date, at the east or front end of it. The original chapel is about 23 ft. in length inside and 8 ft. 9 in. wide in front and somewhat less at the apse. The walls are 3 ft. 6 in. thick, but inside pilasters have been built up to support a flat roof about 7½ ft. from the floor, hiding entirely the inside of the vaulting; outside it is identical with that at Têr. The illustrations Nos. 50, 51, and 52, will enable the reader to form a fairly distinct conception of this interesting monument.

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¹ Benfey's ‘Panchatantra,’ vol. i. p. 388; ‘Kathâsaritsâgara,’ ch. 7; ‘Mahâbhârata,’ Vana-parva, sect. 197. ‘Buddhist Records,’ vol. ii. pp. 182-183, and ‘Life of Hiuen Tsiang,’ p. 125; Burgess, ‘Notes on the Bauddha Rock Temples of Ajanta: their Paintings, etc,’ pp. 47, and 75-76.

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² The ‘Kapôta Jâtaka,’ is No. 42, and the Sivi Jâtaka, No. 499; see also Beal’s

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51. Elevation of Chezarla Chaitya Temple. Scale 25 ft. to 1 in.

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52. Section on A B, of No. 50.

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These two examples, though of so small dimensions, fully confirm the inductions arrived at before their discovery, of the form of roof and arrangement of these chapels. They must at one time have been very numerous all over India, and further important discoveries may still reward careful research. At Guntupalle in the Godâvarî district is the ruin of one, measuring 53 ft. 6 in. in length by 14 ft. 6 in. wide; but only a few feet of the walls remain. And at Vidyâdharapuram, near Bezwâdâ, the foundations have been traced by Mr. Rea of still another.

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As so much of our information regarding the chaityas, as well as the vihâras, which form the next group to be described, was first derived from the rock-cut examples in western India, it would be convenient, if it were possible, to present something like a statistical account of the number and distribution of the groups of caves found there. From what we know of their numbers and distribution we are warranted in assuming that there are at least fifty groups of caves in India proper.

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Some of these groups contain as many as 100 different and distinct excavations, many not more than ten or a dozen; but altogether we may fairly assume that not less than 1200 distinct specimens are to be found. Of these probably 300 may be of Brahmanical or Jaina origin; the remaining 900 are Buddhist—either monasteries or temples, the former being incomparably the more numerous class; for of the latter not more than twenty or thirty are known to exist. This difference arose, no doubt, from the greater number of the vihâras being grouped around structural topes, as was always the case in Afghanistan and Ceylon; and, consequently, they did not require any rock-cut place of worship while possessed of the more usual and appropriate edifice.

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The façades of the caves are generally perfect, and form an exception to what has been said of our ignorance of the external appearance of Indian temples and monasteries, since they are executed in the rock with all the detail that could have graced the buildings of which they are copies. In the investigation of these objects, the perfect immutability of a temple once hewn out of the living rock is a very important advantage. No repair can add to, or indeed scarcely alter, the general features of what is once so executed; and there can be no doubt that we see them now, in all essentials, exactly as originally designed. This advantage will easily be appreciated by any one who has tried to grope for the evidence of a date in the design, afforded by our much-altered and often reconstructed cathedrals of the Middle Ages.

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The geographical distribution of the caves is somewhat singular, more than nine-tenths of those now known being found within the limits of the Bombay Presidency. The remainder consist of two groups in Bengal—those of Bihâr and Katak, neither of which is important in extent; those of Dhamnâr, Kholvi, Besnagar, and Bâgh in Rajputana; in Madras, the groups at Mâmallapuram, Bezwâdâ and Guntupalle; and two or three small groups in the Panjâb and Afghanistan.¹

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¹ For the Afghanistan caves, see W. Simpson’s paper in ‘Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects,’ N.S., 1891, pp. 254ff, and ‘Journal,’ vol. vii. p. 244.

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This remarkable local distribution may be accounted for by the greater prevalence in western than in eastern India of rocks perfectly adapted to such works. The great cave district of western India is composed of horizontal strata of amygdaloid and other cognate trap formations, generally speaking of very considerable thickness and great uniformity of texture, and possessing besides the advantage that their edges are generally exposed in nearly perpendicular cliffs. No rock in any part of the world could either be more suited for the purpose or more favourably situated than these formations. They were easily accessible and easily worked. In the rarest possible instances are there any flaws or faults to disturb the uniformity of the design; and, when complete, they afford a perfectly dry temple or abode, singularly uniform in temperature, and more durable than any class of temple found in any other part of the world.

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From the time of Asoka, b.c. 250, when the first cave was excavated at Râjagriha, till about the 8th century, or later, the series is uninterrupted; and, if completely examined and drawn, the caves would furnish us with a complete religious and artistic history of the greater part of India during ten or eleven centuries, the darkest and most perplexing of her existence. But, although during this long period the practice was common to Buddhists, Hindûs, and Jains, it ceased before the Muhammadan conquest. Hardly any excavations have been made or attempted since that period, except, perhaps, some rude Jaina monoliths in the rock at Gwâliar, and three in southern India.

Bihâr Caves.

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As might be expected from what we know of the history of the localities, the oldest caves in India are situated in Bihâr, in the neighbourhood of Râjagriha—now Râjgir—which was the capital of Bengal at the time of the advent of Buddha. Bihâr, however, was also one of the earliest provinces in which the Jaina doctrines were propagated, and their great Tîrthankara Mahâvîra was a native of Vaisâlî,¹ and a contemporary of Gautama Buddha. He preached in Tirhut, Bihâr, and neighbouring districts, and is said to have died at Pâwâpuri, about 10 miles to the north-east of Râjgir, where his *samosaran* or stûpa stands, marking one of the most sacred places of pilgrimage of the sect.² They have several temples about Râjgir, and in early times they would have *bhikshugrihas* or residences for their ascetics hewn out in the rocks—just as other sects had. And on the wall of the Sonbhandar cave is an inscription dating perhaps from about A.D. 200, ascribing it to a Muni Vairadeva and as "fit for the residence of Arahants"—indicating that it then belonged to the Jains.³

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¹ Near Chaprâ and Cherând, on the north bank of the Ganges, some 20 to 25 miles above Patna.—‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. lxix. pp. 77ff.

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² Bühler ‘On the Indian Sect of the Jainas,’ Eng. trans., pp. 25ff.; Cunningham, ‘Archæological Survey Reports,’ vol. xi. pp. 170f.; *ante*, p. 54, *note* 1.

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³ Cunningham, ‘Archæological Survey Reports,’ vol i. p. 25, and plate 13.

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The most interesting group is situated at a place called Barâbar, 16 miles north of Gayâ. One there, called the Karna Chaupâr, bears an inscription which records the excavation of the cave in the nineteenth year after the coronation of Asoka (B.C. 244).⁴ It is simply a rectangular hall measuring 33 ft. 6 in. by 14, and except in an arched roof rising 4 ft. 8 in. above walls, 6 ft. 1 in. in height, it has no architectural feature of importance. At the right, or west end, is a low platform as if for an image, and the walls are polished quite smooth. A second, called the Sudâma or Nyagrodha cave (Woodcut No. 53), bears an inscription of Asoka's twelfth year, the same year in which most of his edicts are dated, B.C. 250, and, consequently, is the oldest architectural example in India. It dedicates the cave to the mendicants of the Âjîvika sect.⁵ The cave consists of two apartments: an outer, 32 ft. 9 in. in length, and 19 ft. 6 in. in breadth, and beyond this a nearly circular apartment 19 ft. 11 in. by 19 ft., in the place usually occupied by the solid dâgaba;¹ in front of which the roof hangs down and projects in a manner very much as if it were intended to represent thatch. The most interesting of the group is that called Lomas Rishi, which, though bearing no contemporary inscription, certainly belongs to the same age. The frontispiece is singularly interesting as representing in the rock the form of the structural chaityas of the age. These, as will be seen from the woodcut (No 55), were apparently constructed with strong

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⁴ ‘Indian Antiquary,’ vol. xx. pp. 168ff. and 361ff.

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⁵ The Âjîvikas were followers of Makhali Gosâla, a contemporary and opponent of Mahâvira and of Buddha. They were naked recluse devotees and fatalists, and were often ranked with the Digambara Jains. The Visva cave here, and the three caves in Nâgârjuni hill, excavated in the reign of Dasaratha, were all made for the Âjîvika ascetics. 'Indian Antiquary,' vol. xx. p. 362; 'Epigraphia Indica,' vol. ii. pp. 272, 274; Bühler, 'Sect of the Jainas,' (English version) p. 39.

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¹ At Kondivtê, in Salsette, near Bombay, there is a chaitya cave of more modern date, which possesses a circular chamber like this, except that it is sunk perpendicularly into the hill side. In the older examples it is probable a relic or some sacred symbol occupied the cell; in the later it may have been an

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53. Sudâma Cave.

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55. Façade of Lomas Rishi Cave. (From a Photograph by Mr Peppe, C.E.)

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wooden posts, sloping slightly inwards, supporting a longitudinal purlin morticed into their heads, while three smaller purlins on each side are employed to keep the roof in form. Between the pillars was a framework of wood, above which are shown five

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54. Kondivtê Cave, Salsette. Scale, 50 ft. to 1 in.

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image—though we know too little of the Âjîvikas to say of whom or what.

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smaller purlins. Over these lies the roof, apparently formed of three thicknesses of plank, or probably two of timber planks laid reverse ways, and one of metal or some other substance externally. The form of the roof is something of a pointed arch, with a slight ogee point on the summit to form a weathering. The door, like all those of this series, has sloping jambs¹—a peculiarity arising, as we shall afterwards see, from the lines of the openings following, as in this instance, those of the supports of the roof.

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¹ Gen. Cunningham ('Archæological Reports,' vol. i. p. 45) and others have called this an Egyptian form. This it certainly is not, as no Egyptian doorway had sloping jambs. Nor can it properly be called Pelasgic. The Pelasgi did use that form but derived it from stone constructions. The Indians only obtained it from wood. — Conf. Foucher, 'L'Art Gréco-Bouddhique du Gandhâra,' tome i. pp. 107, 108, 130; Simpson, in 'Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects,' vol. xxx. (1879-1880), p. 56.

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The interior, as will be seen from the annexed plan (No 56), is quite plain in form, and does not seem to have been ever quite completed. It consists of a hall 33 ft. by 19 ft., beyond which is an apartment of nearly circular form, forming a shrine, as in the Sudâma cave.

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56. Lomas Rishi Cave.

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Three quarters of a mile to the north-east of these, in a ridge of granite, known as the Nâgârjuni hill, are three more caves, each bearing an inscription of Dasaratha, the supposed grandson and successor of Asoka, about B.C. 220, dedicating them also to the Âjîvikas. The largest is the Gopikâ or "Milkmaid's Cave," which is a hall 46 ft. 5 in. long, with circular ends, and 19 ft. 2 in. wide, with one door in the centre of the south side. The walls are 6½ ft. high, and the vault of the roof rises to 10½ ft. in the middle. The whole interior is polished, but quite plain, and we can only conjecture that it was formed for a refectory or Dharmasâlâ.

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The remaining two, called the Vahiyakâ² and the Vadathikâ caves, are so small as hardly to deserve notice. They are on the north side of the ridge. The first is entered from the end, and consists of a single chamber 16 ft. 9 in. in length by 11 ft. 3 in. wide, and 10½ ft. high at the middle of the vault, with highly polished walls. The Vadathikâ cave is also entered from the end, and is of about the same size.³

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² By an error in reading the inscription, this cave was formerly called Vapiyakâ or "Well Cave"; but the epigraph reads "Vahiyakâ."—'Indian Antiquary,' vol. xx. p. 364 note.

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³ Gen. Cunningham, 'Archæological Reports,' vol. i. p. 50, states the width of this cave as 4 ft. 3 in., but the small drawing on plate 19 measures about 10½ ft.; it is 11 ft. 3 in.—'Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal,' vol. xvi., plate at p. 408.

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Judging from the inscriptions on these caves, the whole were excavated between the date of the Sudâma and that of the "Milkmaid's Cave," so called (which was excavated by Dasaratha), probably within forty years of that date. They appear to range, therefore, from b.c. 250 to about 220, and the Lomas Rishi is probably the most modern—it certainly is the most richly ornamented. No great amount of elaboration, however, is found in these examples, inasmuch as the material in which they are excavated is the hardest and most close-grained granite; and it was hardly to be expected that a people, who so recently had been using chiefly wood as a building material, would have patience sufficient for labours like these. They have polished them like glass in the interior, and with that they have been content.

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57. Plan and Section of Sîtâ-marhi. Scale 20 ft. to 1 in.

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There is yet another small cave of this class—called Sîtâ-marhi—about 13 miles south of Râjagriha, and 25 miles east from Gayâ. It consists of a chamber rectangular in plan, and measuring 15 ft. 9 in., by 11 ft. 3 in., which is hollowed out of an isolated granite boulder lying detached by itself, and not near any rocks. Inside it is as carefully polished as any of those at Barâbar.¹ Its principal interest, however, is in its section (Woodcut No. 57), which is that of a pointed arch rising from the floor level to a height of 6 ft. 7 in., without any perpendicular sides, which are found in the other caves here. The jambs of the doorway also slope inwards from the bottom to the top, about 1 in. each. From its peculiarities we might infer that it is possibly the oldest in the district; but we must have a more extended series before we can form a reliable sequence in this direction. In the meantime, however, we may feel sure that this hermitage belongs to the great Mauryan age, but whether before or after Asoka's time must be left at present undetermined.²

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¹ Beglar in 'Archæological Survey of India Reports,' vol. viii. pp. 106-107.

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² 'Cave Temples,' pp. 52-53.

Western Chaitya Halls.

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There are in the Western Ghâts and elsewhere in the Bombay Presidency six or seven important chaitya caves whose dates can be made out, either from inscriptions, or from internal evidence, with very fair approximate certainty, and all of which were excavated, if I am not very much mistaken, before the Christian Era. The oldest of these is situated at a place called Bhâjâ, 4 miles south of the great Kârlê cave in the Bôr Ghât. There is no inscription upon it, but from the

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58. Chaitya Cave, Bhâjâ. (From a Plan by J. Burgess.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

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plan (Woodcut No. 58), it will be perceived that it is a chaitya hall of the usual plan, but of no great dimensions, being only 60 ft. from the back of the apse to the mortices (*a a*), in which the supports of the wooden screen once stood. (From the woodcut (No. 60), it will be perceived that the pillars of the interior slope inwards at a considerable and most unpleasing angle.) (The rood-screen which closes the front of other caves of this class is gone,) as it is also in the case of the Kondânê and Pitalkhorâ examples, and in Cave No. 10 at Ajantâ. In other examples it is in stone, and consequently remains, but in those instances, where it was originally in wood, it has disappeared, though the holes to receive its posts and the mortices by which it was attached to the

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59. Front of a Chaitya Hall. (From a Bas-relief at Bodh-Gayâ.)

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walls are still there. (The ogee fronton was covered with wooden ornaments, which have disappeared,) though the pin-holes remain by which they were fastened to the stone. (The framework, or truss, that filled the upper part of the great front opening, no longer exists, but what its appearance was may be judged of by the numerous representations of itself with which it is covered,) or from the representation of a chaitya façade from the contemporary rail at Bodh-Gayâ (Woodcut No. 59), and there are several others on the rail at Bharaut, which are not only correct elevations of such a façade as this, but represent the wooden carved ornaments which—according to that authority—invariably adorned these façades. The only existing example of this wooden screen is that at Kârlê,¹ but the innumerable small repetitions of it, not only here but in all these caves, shows not only its form, but how universal its employment was. The rafters of the roof were of wood, and many of them, as may be seen in the woodcut, remain to the present day. Everything, in fact, that could be made in wood remained in wood, and only the constructive parts necessary for stability were executed in the rock.

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¹ Little more than thirty years ago, the screen in Kondâne chaitya cave was also tolerably entire.—'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. iv., frontispiece.

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60. Façade of the Cave at Bhâjâ. (From a Photograph.)

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It is easy to understand that, the first time men undertook to repeat in stone forms they had only been accustomed to erect in wood, they should have done so literally. The sloping inwards of the pillars was requisite to resist the thrust of the circular roof in the wooden building, but it must have appeared so awkward in stone that it would hardly be often repeated. As, however, it was probably almost universal in structural buildings, the doorways and openings naturally followed the same lines, hence the sloping jambs. Though these were by no means so objectionable in practice, they varied with the lines of the supports, and, as these became upright, the jambs became parallel. In like manner, when it was done, the architects could hardly fail to perceive that they had wasted both time and labour in cutting away the rock to make way for their wooden screen in front. Had they left it standing, with far less expense they could have got a more ornamental and more durable feature. This was so self-evident that it never, so far as is known, was repeated, but it was some time before the pillars of the interior got quite perpendicular, and the jambs of the doors quite parallel.

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There is very little figure sculpture about this cave; none in the interior, and what there is on the façade seems to be of a very domestic character. But on the pillars in the interior at *g* and *h* in the plan (Woodcut No. 58), we find two emblems, and at *a*, *e*, and *f* three others are found somewhat rudely formed, but which occur again so frequently that it may be worth while to quote them here (Woodcut No. 61).¹ They are known as the triratna, or trident—the central point being usually more important than here shown—the shield, and the chakra, or wheel. The two first are generally found in combination, as in Woodcuts Nos. 39 and 45, and the wheel is frequently found edged with triratna ornaments, as in the central compartment of Woodcut No. 43 from Amarâvatî. The fourth emblem here is the triratna,

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¹ See ‘Cave Temples of India,’ plate vii.

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61. Triratna. Shield. Chakra. Triratna.

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in combination with a face, and the fifth is one which is fan-shaped and frequently repeated on coins and elsewhere, but to which no name has yet been given.

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At a short distance along the face of the scarp, is an excavation of some interest, containing a group of fourteen monolithic dâgabas of various sizes. All of them have the Buddhist-rail pattern cut round the upper margin of the drum. Five under the overhanging rock vary in diameter from 4 ft. 8 in. to 6 ft. 3 in., and the front two have the square box only on the dome, as in the cave, and without the cornice, while the three behind have also the heavy cornice: that upon the largest being connected with the roof by the stone shaft of the "chhattra" or umbrella, whilst the other two had been provided with wooden shafts. Of the nine in front, the first from the north has a handsome capital 3 ft. 8 in. high, very elaborately carved (Woodcut No. 62); most of the others have been broken. One or more had only the box form without abacus, and on four of them are holes on the top as if for relics. The names of the Theras or priests, still legible on several of them, indicate that they served the place of monuments in a cemetery, though they may also have been reverenced as altars to saints.

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62. Capital of a rock-cut Dâgaba at Bhâjâ. (From a Photograph.)

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About 10 miles north-west from Kârlê, in a ravine of the Western Ghâts, are the Kondânê chaitya cave and vihâra. This chaitya is interesting, inasmuch as its façade is even a more literal reproduction of the wooden forms from which it was derived than that at Bhâjâ. Nothing could be more literal than the copying of the overhanging forms of the constructive parts of the façade, which shows no trace of stone construction in any feature, and which it would be hardly possible to construct in masonry. Its dimensions differ but little from those of the Bhâjâ chaitya, being 66½ ft. from the line of the front pillars to the extremity of the apse, 26 ft. 8 in. wide, and 28 ft. 5 in. high to the crown of the arch; the nave was 14 ft. 8 in. wide, surrounded by thirty pillars—most of which have rotted away, but which incline inwards as do the side walls of the aisles. The dâgaba was 9 ft. in diameter with a capital, like that at Bhâjâ, of about double the usual height. These two chaityas may be considered as contemporary or nearly so, and they are the finest among the four which are the very oldest specimens of their class in the west of India.¹

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¹ 'Cave Temples,' pp. 220-222 and plate 8; 'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. iv. pp. 8-10, and plate 1.

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Pitalkhorâ is a ravine among the Indhyâdri hills, about 12 miles south of Chalisgâm in Khandesh, where there are several caves—Buddhist, Brahmanical, and Jaina. Unfortunately the chaitya is entirely ruined by the decay of the rock, the front half of the temple having quite disappeared. From the style of the vihâras, and a few epigraphs, we can only conclude that it must have ranked quite as early as the preceding.¹

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¹ 'Cave Temples,' pp. 242-246, and plate 15; 'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. iv. pp. 11-12.

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The fourth of this series will be treated of among the four Ajantâ chaitya temples. The next group of caves, however, that at Bedsâ, 10 or 11 miles south of Kârlê, shows considerable progress towards lithic construction. The screen is in stone; the pillars are more upright though still sloping slightly inwards, the jambs more nearly parallel; and, in fact, we have nearly all the features of a well-designed chaitya cave. The two pillars in front, however, as will be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 63), are so much too large in proportion to the

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63. Plan of Cave at Bedsâ. (From a Plan by J. Burgess.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

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rest, that they are evidently stambhas, and ought to stand free instead of supporting a verandah. Their capitals (Woodcut No. 64, next page) are more like the Persepolitan type than almost any others in India, and are each surmounted by horses and elephants bearing men and women of bold and free execution.² From the view (Woodcut No. 65 on page 140) it will be seen how much the surface is covered with the rail decoration, a repetition on a small scale of the rails described in the last section, and which it may here be mentioned is a fair test of

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² In the Pitalkhorâ vihâra, we find the Persepolitan capital repeated with a variety of animals over it; for the Hindû artists, from their natural aptitude for modifying and adapting forms, very soon replaced the bicephalous bull and ram of the Persian columns by a great variety of animals, sphinxes, and even human figures in the most grotesque attitudes.—Dr. Le Bon, 'Les Monuments de l'Inde,' p. 15.

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64. Capital of Pillar in front of Cave at Bedsâ (From a Photograph.)

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the age of any building. (It gradually becomes less and less used after the date of these two chaitya caves, and disappears wholly in the 4th or 5th centuries; but during that period its greater or less prevalence in any building is one of the surest indications we have of the relative age of any two examples.) In this cave, as will be observed, nearly the whole of the ornamentation is made up of miniature rails, and repetitions of window fronts or façades. (It has also a semicircular open-work moulding, like basket-work, which is only found in the very oldest caves, and is evidently so unsuited for stone-work that it is no wonder it was dropped very early.) (No example of it is known after the Christian Era.) There is an inscription in this cave in an ancient form of letters, but without date, and this alone is not sufficient to fix its age absolutely without further evidence.

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65. View on Verandah of Cave at Bedsâ. (From a Photograph.)

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The next of these early caves is the chaitya at Nâsik. Its pillars internally are so nearly perpendicular that their inclination might escape detection, and the door jambs are nearly parallel.

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The façade, as seen in the woodcut (No. 66, p. 141), is a very perfect and complete design, but all its details are copied from wooden forms, and nothing was executed in wood in this cave but the rafters of the roof internally, and these have fallen down.

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66. Chaitya Cave at Nâsik. (From a Photograph.)

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Outside this cave, over the doorway, there is an inscription, stating that "the villagers of Dhambika gave the carving over it"; and another—though imperfect—on the projecting ledge over the guardian to the left of the entrance, reads that "the rail-pattern and the Yaksha were made by Nadâsirî." A third inscription, on two of the pillars of the nave, ascribes the completion of the "Chaityagriha" to Bhatapâlikâ granddaughter (?) of Mahâ-Hakusiri. The first two are in nearly pure Maurya characters, and appear to be about coeval with the inscription of Krishna-râja in the small vihâra close by, which we ascribe to about B.C. 160; and the third can hardly be much later.¹ Taking these inscriptions in conjunction with the architecture, the age of this cave hardly seems doubtful. We may accept B.C. 160 as approximately the date of its inception, though its completion may be a quarter of a century later, and, if this is so, it carries back the caves of Bhâjâ, Bedsâ, and the others, to a period considerably before that time, while, on the other hand, it as certainly is older than the Kârlê cave, which appears to come after it in age, whilst Cave No. 9 at Ajantâ may be quite as old.

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¹ 'Epigraphia Indica,' vol. viii. pp. 91-93.

Kârlê.

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The last of the caves mentioned above, known as that at Kârlê, is situated near the railway between Bombay and Poona, and is the finest of all—the finest, indeed, of its class. It is certainly the largest as well as the most complete chaitya cave known in India, and was excavated at a time when the style was in its greatest purity. In it all the architectural defects of the previous examples are removed; the pillars of the nave are quite perpendicular. The screen is ornamented with sculpture—its first appearance apparently in such a position—and the style had reached a perfection that was never afterwards surpassed.

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In this cave there is an inscription in the left end of the porch, and another on the lion-pillar in front, which are certainly integral, and the first ascribes its completion to "Setthi Bhûtapâla of Vaijayantî" (or Banavâsi), whilst the second states that the lion-pillar was the gift of the "Mahârathi Agnimitranaka son of Goti"; but neither of these, nor others on pillars, doorway, and arch, help us to a date. We are thus thrown back on style, without any help from examples closely akin in details: we have also later inscriptions, of Ushabhadâta, the son-in-law of the Kshatrapa Nahapâna,¹ and, as the latter belongs to the beginning of the 2nd century, Ushabhadâta cannot be placed earlier than about A.D. 120. (But the cave had been completed long before this, and we may pretty safely place it in the century B.C., and possibly early in that century.)

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¹ For the Kârlê inscriptions, see ‘Archæological Survey of Western India,’ vol. iv. pp. 90-92, 112-113; ‘Epigraphia Indica,’ vol. vii. pp. 47ff.

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*67-68.* Section and Plan of Chaitya Cave at Kârlê. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

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The building, as will be seen by the annexed woodcuts (Nos. 67, 68, 69), resembles, to a very great extent, an early Christian church in its arrangements: consisting of a nave and side-aisles, terminating in an apse or semidome, round which the aisle is carried. The general dimensions of the interior are 124 ft. 3 in. from the entrance to the back wall, by 45 ft. 6 in. in width. The side-aisles, however, are very much narrower than in Christian churches, the central one being 25 ft. 7 in., so that the others are only 10 ft. wide, including the thickness of the pillars. As a scale for comparison, it may be mentioned that its arrangement and dimensions are very similar to those of the choir of Norwich Cathedral, or of the Abbaye aux Hommes at Caen, omitting the outer aisles in the latter buildings. The thickness of the piers at Norwich

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69. View of Cave at Kârlê. (From a Drawing by Mr. Salt, corrected by the Author.)

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and Caen nearly corresponds to the breadth of the aisles in the Indian temple. In height, however, Kârlê is very inferior, being only 45 ft. from the floor to the apex.

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Fifteen pillars on each side separate the nave from the aisles; each pillar has a tall base, an octagonal shaft, and richly ornamented capital, on the inner front of which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures, generally a man and a woman, but sometimes two females, all very much better executed than such ornaments usually are; behind are horses and tigers, each bearing a single figure.¹ The seven pillars behind the altar are plain octagonal piers, without either base or capital, and the four under the entrance gallery differ considerably from those at the sides. The sculptures on the capitals supply the place usually occupied by frieze and cornice in Grecian architecture; and in other examples plain painted surfaces occupy the same space. Above this springs the roof, semicircular in general section, but somewhat stilted at the sides, so as to make its height greater than the semi-diameter. It is ornamented even at this day by a series of wooden ribs, probably coeval with the excavation, which prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the roof is not a copy of a masonry arch, but of some sort of timber construction which we cannot now very well understand.

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¹ Drawings of some of the pillars are given in ‘Cave Temples of India,’ plates 12 and 14, and ‘Archæological Survey of Western India,’ vol. iv. plate 13.

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Immediately under the semidome of the apse, and nearly where the altar stands in Christian churches, is placed the Dâgaba, in this instance a plain dome, on a two-storeyed circular drum, the upper margins of each section being carved with rail ornaments (Woodcut No. 70). Just under the lower of these are holes or mortices for woodwork, which may have been adorned with hangings, which some of the sculptured representations would lead us to suppose was the usual mode of ornamenting these altars. It is surmounted by a capital or Tee, the base of which is similar to the one shown on Woodcut No. 15, and on this still stand the remains of an umbrella in wood, somewhat decayed and distorted by age. This canopy was circular and minutely carved on the under surface.²

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² ‘Cave Temples of India,’ p. 235, and plate 13.

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Opposite this is the entrance, consisting of three doorways under a gallery exactly corresponding with our roodloft, one leading to the centre, and one to each of the side-aisles; and over the gallery the whole end of the hall is open, as in all these chaitya halls, forming one great window, through which all the light is admitted. This great window is formed in the shape of a horseshoe, and exactly resembles those used as ornaments on the façade of this cave, as well as on those of Bhâjâ, Bedsâ, and at Nâsik described above, and which are met with everywhere at this age. Within the arch is a framework or centering of wood standing free (Woodcut No. 69). This, so far as we can judge, is, like the ribs of the interior, coeval with the building;¹ at all events, if it has been renewed, it is an exact copy of the original form, for it is found repeated in stone in all the niches of the façade, over the doorways, and generally as an ornament everywhere, and, with the

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¹ About 1870 it was reported that this screen was in danger of falling outwards, and I wrote repeatedly to India begging that something might be done to preserve it; this was eventually effected, but by "restoration" rather than by judicious repair. Only a small portion of the original ribbing of the Bhâjâ cave now remains. That of the Bedsâ cave was destroyed about 1861 ('Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. viii. p. 223); and it would be a thousand pities if this, which is the only original screen in India, were allowed to perish when a very small outlay would save it. Like the Iron pillar at Meharaulî close to Delhi, which never rusts, teak wood that does not decay, though exposed to the atmosphere for 2000 years, is a phenomenon worth the attention not only of antiquaries, but of natural philosphers.

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70. View of Interior of Cave at Kârlê. (From a Photograph.)

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Buddhist "rail," copied from Sânchi, forms the most usual ornament of the style.

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The sculpture on the screen wall between the doors is mostly of much later date than the cave itself. All the figures of Buddha there represented are of late date and belong to the Mahâyâna school; the larger pairs of figures, however, are earlier and may be original. The later inscriptions are of the time of the Andhra king Pulumâvi (*cir.* A.D. 150).

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The presence of the woodwork is an additional proof, if any were wanted, that there were no arches of construction in any of these Buddhist buildings. There neither were nor are any in any Indian building anterior to the Muhammadan conquest, and very few indeed in any Hindû building afterwards.

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To return, however, to Kârlê, the outer porch is considerably wider than the body of the building, being 52 ft. wide by 15 ft. deep, and is closed in front by a screen composed of two stout octagonal pillars, without either base or capital, supporting what is now a plain mass of rock, but which was once ornamented by a wooden gallery forming the principal ornament of the façade. Above this a dwarf colonnade or attic of four columns between pilasters admitted light to the great window, and this again was surmounted by a wooden cornice or ornament of some sort, though we cannot now restore it, since only the mortices remain that attached it to the rock.

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In advance of this screen stands the lion-pillar, in this instance a plain shaft with sixteen flutes, or rather faces, surmounted by a capital not unlike that at Kesariyâ (Woodcut No. 7), but at Kârlê supporting four lions instead of one, and, for reasons given above (p. 60), they seem almost certainly to have supported a chakra or Buddhist wheel (Woodcut No. 8). (A similar pillar probably stood on the opposite side, but it had either fallen or been removed to make way for the little Hindû temple that now occupies its place.)

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The absence of the wooden ornaments of the external porch, as well as our ignorance of the mode in which this temple was finished laterally, and the porch joined to the main temple, prevents us from judging what the effect of the front would have been if belonging to a free-standing building. But the proportions of such parts as remain are so good, and the effect of the whole so pleasing, that there can be little hesitation in ascribing to such a design a tolerably high rank among architectural compositions.

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Of the interior we can judge perfectly, and it certainly is as solemn and grand as any interior can well be, and the mode of lighting the most perfect — one undivided volume of light coming through a single opening overhead at a very favourable angle, and falling directly on the dâgaba or principal object in the building, leaving the rest in comparative obscurity. The effect is considerably heightened by the closely set thick columns that divide the aisles from the nave, as they suffice to prevent the boundary walls from ever being seen, and, as there are no openings in the walls, the view between the pillars is practically unlimited.

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These peculiarities are found more or less developed in all the other caves of the same class in India, varying only with the age and the gradual change that took place from the more purely wooden forms of these caves to the lithic or stone architecture of the more modern ones. This is the principal test by which their relative ages can be determined, and it proves incontestably that the Kârlê cave was excavated not so very long after stone came to be generally used as a building material in India.

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There are caves at Ajantâ and probably at Junnar which are as old as those just described, and supply details that are wanting in the examples just mentioned.¹ Meanwhile, however, their forms are sufficient to place the history on a firm basis, and to explain the origin and early progress of the style with sufficient distinctness.

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¹ A much fuller account of the Rock-Temples of India will be found in ‘The Cave-Temples of India,’ 1880, and ‘Archæological Survey of Western India,’ vols. iv. and v.

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From the inscriptions and literary evidence, it seems hardly doubtful that the date of the Kârlê cave is about B.C. 80, and that at Nâsik about B.C. 150. We have no literary authority for the date of the two earlier ones, but the archæological evidence appears irresistible. The Bhâjâ and Kondânê caves are so absolutely identical in style with the Lomas Rishi cave in Bihâr (Woodcut No. 55) that they must be of very nearly the same age. Their pillars and their doorways slope so nearly at the same angle, and the essential woodenness—if the expression may be used—of each is so exactly the same, that, the one being of the age of Asoka, the others cannot be far removed from the date of his reign. The Bedsâ cave exhibits a degree of progress so nearly half-way between the Bhâjâ and Nâsik examples, that it may be dated about B.C. 120. The Pitalkhorâ cave must also range about the same age, and the whole six, with one or two to be described at Ajantâ, thus exhibit the progress of the style during nearly two centuries, and form a basis from which we may proceed to reason with little hesitation or doubt.

Ajantâ.

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There are four chaitya caves in the Ajantâ series which, though not so magnificent as some of the four just mentioned, are nearly as important for the purposes of our history.² The oldest there is the chaitya, No. 10, which is situated very near to the next to be referred to, a little higher up in the rock, however, and is of nearly twice its dimensions. It is 96 ft. 6 in.

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² For further particulars regarding the Ajantâ caves, the reader is referred to ‘Cave Temples,’ pp. 280-346, and ‘Archæological Survey of Western India,’ vol. iv. pp. 43-59.

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71. Interior of Chaitya Cave No. 10 at Ajantâ. (From a Sketch by the Author.)

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in depth by 41 ft. 3 in. in width internally, and 36 ft. high. As may be seen from the annexed view (Woodcut No. 71), the nave is separated from the aisles by a range of thirty-nine plain octagonal shafts, very slightly inclined inwards, but without capitals or bases. The triforium belt is of unusual height, and was originally plastered and painted. Traces of this can still be seen, though the design cannot be made out (Woodcut No. 72). Like Bhâjâ and Kondânê it had only a wooden or brick front; but one of the most remarkable characteristics of the cave is that it shows what may be regarded as a sign of transition from wood to stone in its architectural details. As at Pitalkhorâ, the ribs of the aisle are in stone cut in the rock, but copied from the wooden forms of previous examples; but too much stress should not be laid on this feature. The vault of the nave was adorned with wooden ribs, the mortices for which are still there, and their marks can still be traced in the roof, but the wood itself is gone.

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72. Cross-section of Cave No. 10 at Ajantâ. Scale, about 26 ft. to 1 in.

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There is a short Pâli inscription on this cave, at the right side of the façade, which seems to be integral, but unfortunately it does not contain names that can be identified;¹ but from the form of the characters a palæographist would almost certainly place it considerably anterior to the Christian Era.

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¹ It may be read—"A façade or entrance, the gift of Katahâdi Vasishthî-putra."—'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. iv. p. 116.

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Next to this, the second chaitya here (No. 9), and probably not much later in point of age, is the lowest down on the cliff, and is of the smallest class, being only 45 ft. by 22 ft. 9 in. in width, and 23 ft. high. All its woodwork has perished, though it would not be difficult to restore it from the mortices left and the representations of itself on the façade. There are several inscriptions, but they are not integral: they are painted on the walls, and belong, from the form of their characters, to about the 6th or 7th century of our era, when the frescoes seem to have been renewed, so that the real tests of its age are,—first, its position in the series, which make it, with a neighbouring vihâra (No. 12), undoubtedly one of the oldest there; the other test is the architecture of its façade, which so much resembles that of the Nâsik chaitya that it cannot be very far off in date. It may, however, be somewhat earlier, as the pillars in the interior slope inwards at an angle somewhere between that found at Bhâjâ and that at Bedsâ; and, in so far as that is a test of age, it is in favour of a greater antiquity in the Ajantâ example. Such a criterion, however, dependent on the choice of the superintendent of the excavation, is far too delicate to use with much confidence as a chronometrical test.

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The façades of both these caves are so much ruined by the rock falling away that it is impossible to assert that there was no sculpture on the lower parts. None, certainly, exists in the interior, where everything depends on painting; and it is, to say the least of it, very improbable that any figure-sculpture adorned No. 9—the figures of Buddha on the sides of the court being of much later date—while it seems likely that No. 10 also depended wholly on conventional architectural forms for its adornment.²

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² What fragments of painting remain in this cave (No. 10) differ markedly in the costumes of the figures and their physiognomy from what we find in the other caves, and are evidently of much earlier date.—'Notes on the Bauddha Rock-cut Temples of Ajantâ,' plates 8-11; 'Cave Temples,' plate 29; 'Inscriptions from the Cave Temples of Western India,' plate 34, p. 67; Workman's 'Through Town and Jungle,' p. 159.

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The next chaitya cave in this series (No. 19) is separated from these two by a very long interval of time. Unfortunately, [Figure: 73. Chaitya No. 19 at Ajaṇṭâ.

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no inscription exists upon it which would assist in assigning it any precise date; but it belongs to a group of vihâras, Nos. 16 and 17, whose date, as we shall afterwards see, can be fixed with tolerable certainty as belonging to the end of the 5th century A.D. The cave itself, as will be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 73), is of the smallest size, nearly the same as No. 9, or 46 ft. 4 in. in length, by 23 ft. 7 in. wide and 24 ft. 4 in. high, and its arrangements do not differ much, but its details belong to a totally different school of art. All trace of woodwork has disappeared, but the wooden forms are everywhere repeated in stone, like the triglyphs and mutules of the Doric order, long after their original meaning was lost. (More than this, painting in the interval had to a great extent ceased to be the chief means of decoration, both internally and externally, and sculpture substituted for it in monumental works; but the greatest change of all is that Buddha, in all his attitudes, is introduced everywhere.) In the next woodcut (No. 74)—the view of the façade—it will be seen how completely figure-sculpture had superseded the plainer architectural forms of the earlier caves. The rail ornament, too, has entirely disappeared; the window heads have been dwarfed down to mere framings for masks; but, what is even more significant than these, is that from a pure atheism we have passed to an overwhelming idolatry. At Kârlê the eight figures that originally adorned the porch are chiefs or donors with their wives, in pairs. All the figures of Buddha that appear there now are long subsequent additions. None but mortals were sculptured in the earlier caves, and among these Sâkyamuni nowhere appears. Here, on the contrary, he is Bhagavat—the Holy One—the object of worship, and occupies a position in the front of the dâgaba or altar itself (Woodcut No. 75, p. 153), surmounted by the triple umbrella and as the Numen of the place.

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