The Age of the Imperial Guptas c9.80.1

c9.80.1

In the main shrine at Sarnath, numerous *caitya*-windows were used in the older structure of the Gupta period, when that monument was rebuilt with stone. Some of these stones, specially the carved ones, were again used in the construction of the plinth when that temple was rebuilt in brick in the 9th or 10th century A.D. At this time, certain *caitya*-windows were used for the construction of the lowest plinth line. The comparison of the *cai-tya*-windows in stone, both fragmentary and entire, in the plinth of the main shrine at Sarnath enables us to declare that that shrine, as it was discovered in 1904-05, cannot be a monument of the early Gupta Age. The Museum of Archæology at Sarnath now becomes very useful to the student of Gupta Art, as it contains the best collection of *caitya*-windows of the Gupta period. Unfortunately for us, the learned compiler of its Catalogue, Rai Bahadur Pandit Dayaram Sahni, M.A., now Deputy Director of Archæology in India for exploration, could not find suitable terminology for the expression of his ideas, and therefore, it is extremely difficult to find out which section of the catalogue contains his description of this famous collection of *caitya*-windows. All of them are described under the heading " D(i).-Pediments and face-stones."¹ Some of them are undoubtedly pediments as they are stones from plinth-mouldings and string-courses of early Gupta buildings; but it is very difficult to understand what is meant by face-stones.