History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c25.s8.11

v2.c25.s8.11

Brâhmans. It is, perhaps, the earliest Brahmanical temple here; and it is natural to suppose that when the Saivas attempted to rival their antagonists in cave-temples they should follow the models that already existed, merely appropriating them to their own worship. The circumstance, however, that makes this most probable is the existence of a pseudo-structural mandapa, or shrine of the Nandi, in the courtyard (Woodcut No. 324); this evidently must have been a part of the original design, or the rock would not have been left here for it, and it is a model of the usual structural building found in Saiva temples in different parts of India.¹ This is a piece of bad grammar the Buddhists never were guilty of; their excavations always are caves, whilst the great characteristic of Brahmanical excavations, as distinguished from that of their predecessors, is that they generally copied structural buildings, a system that rose to its greatest height in the Kailâs, already described (vol. i., page 344). The Buddhist excavations, on the contrary, were always caves and nothing else. The ground floor is little more than a corridor, 95 ft. in length, and about 30 ft. deep, with cells. The upper storey hall, of which Woodcut No. 325 is the plan, is nearly square—95 ft. wide by 97 ft. deep—the roof supported by forty-four square pillars, of which those in front are richly carved. The recesses between the pilasters in the side walls are filled with large sculptures in alto-rilievo—those on the north side being Saiva, and on the other mostly Vaishnava.