Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.16

v3.c12.16

Cave X, although completely deprived of its front, is more impressive on account of its lofty ceiling and spacious nave.¹ Thirty-nine pillars divide the aisles from the nave, and support an entablature from which the vault of the barrel-shaped roof springs (Plates XXII–XXIII).² The latter originally had curvilinear rafters and cross-beams of wood in imitation of the ceiling of a structural building. Their use was, however, conventional, for they could not have given any support to the rock-roof. Pieces of old rafters still remain in the mortises, but in the *chaitya*-caves at Karle, Bedsa, and Kondane they are seen in perfect form and a better state of preservation. The *dāgoba* of Cave X is of massive proportions. The design is plain, except the capital, which as usual is decorated with Buddhist architectural motifs. Above the capital there was originally a wooden umbrella, which, like the beams of the ceiling, has perished.