A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.39

c21.39

About the middle of the fifth century there was a revival of rock-architecture in the western Deccan under the stimulus of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The chief centres of this art were Ajanta, Ellora and Aurangabad, not to speak of some places of lesser importance in the same region. The caitya in its essential features remained the same as before except for the introduction of Buddha images, sometimes of colossal proportions. The vihāra, however, undergoes much alteration and the innermost range of cells which served originally as dormitories for monks now became sanctuaries containing images of the Buddha. And the vihāra thus became a place of worship as well as of residence.