The Age of the Imperial Guptas c9.80.2

c9.80.2

As has been demonstrated above the *caitya*-window was used at Bhumra and Deogadh as a free-standing decorative motif and was used later on in relief against members of architecture. The large and small *caitya*-windows discovered at Bhumra were, no doubt, used along the cornice of the temple, alternately according to size, and as the majority of the Sarnath specimens belong to this variety, they should not have been styled "face-stones". As at Bhumra, the *caitya*-window of the Gupta period is really a trefoil in which the central arc is larger than the side ones and in which the side arcs are still leaf-shaped rather than arcs proper. In the middle of the larger arc is to be found a circular sunken panel, usually called the medallion. The rim or circumference of this medallion is enclosed by a line of beads, the place of which is sometimes taken by rosettes as at Deogadh. The rest of the interspaces, specially the space in the side wings is occupied with small lotus rosettes or arabesque.¹ The Sarnath Museum can boast of a much greater variety in the contents of these *caitya*-windows than any other site of early Gupta date. The best specimens show a seated or standing figure of some deity as in the Bhumra medallions and in certain cases only a running cupid.² In many cases the medallion is filled up with a large lion's head.