History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c14.4

v1.c14.4

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.