History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s4.17

v1.c19.s4.17

One circumstance which prevented the age of the Mâmallapuram raths being before detected is, that being all cut in granite and in single blocks, they show no sign of wearing or decay, which is so frequently a test of age in structural buildings, and being all in the same material produces a family likeness among them, which makes it at first sight difficult to discriminate between what is old and what new. More than this, they all possess the curious peculiarity of being unfinished, whether standing free, as the raths, or cut in the rock, as caves, or on its face, as the great bas-relief; they are all left with one-third or one-fourth merely blocked out, and in some instances with the intention merely indicated. It looks as if the workmen had been suddenly called off while the whole was in progress, and native traditions, which always are framed to account for what is otherwise most unintelligible, have seized on this peculiarity, and make it the prominent feature in their myths. Add to this that it is only of late we have acquired that knowledge of the subject and familiarity with its details, which enable us to check the vagaries of Indian speculation. From all these causes it is not difficult to understand how easily mistakes may be made in treating of such mysterious objects.