History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s4.66

v1.c19.s4.66

not been grounded in the art, like their northern compeers, by the Buddhists. The long experience of the latter in the art taught them that ponderous masses were not only necessary to support their roofs, but for architectural effect; and neither they nor the Hindûs who succeeded them in the north ever hesitated to use pillars of two or three diameters in height, or to crowd them together to any required extent. In the south, on the contrary, the cave-diggers tried to copy literally the structural pillars used to support wooden roofs. Hence, I believe, the accident to the long rath, and hence certainly the poor and modern look of these southern caves, which has long proved such a stumbling-block to all who have tried to guess their age. Their sculpture is better, and some of their best designs rank with those of Elûrâ and Elephanta, to which they were anterior. The Bâdâmi sculptures, executed in the 6th century (A.D. 579), are so similar in style with the best examples in the Mâmallapuram caves, that we had concluded they could not be far distant in date, and must be placed in the preceding century; and this has since been supported by the contents of the inscriptions in the Dharmarâja mantapam at the Sâluvankuppam cave.