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The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c16: Part X. Fine Arts: Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting

The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c16

Language
English

Contents

Part X. Fine Arts: Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting

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FINE ARTS

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By G. YAZDANI, M.A., LITT.D., O.B.E.

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I. Preliminary Remarks, General Survey.

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II. Architecture; origin and development, significance of religion in the evolution of the art.

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III. Sculpture; Buddhist, Jaina, and Brāhmanic: spiritual and artistic import of these.

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IV. Painting; its rise, development, and decline.

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APPENDIXES: A. Terracottas, discovered during excavations. B. Art of Dancing, as represented in the Sculpture and Painting of the Deccan.

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Royal Chamber, a lady dressing the hair of another lady in the group, Cave XVII, Ajanta

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PRELIMINARY REMARKS

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EARLY man of the Deccan has left some engravings on rocks which show his sense of the pictorial art in the drawing of both human and animal figures, however crude they may be. Some notable examples of these drawings are on a hill near Benkal (Plate I *a*), a village in the Gaṅgāvatī *tāluk* of the Raichur District.¹ One of them represents a hunting scene, the figures of horses with riders being prominent in it. One hunter is armed with an axe which closely resembles a metal weapon, and on this assumption the drawing may not be considered to date back earlier than the Iron age, and may even be much later. Another class of ancient monuments which bear some relation to Buddhist architectural forms in regard to their origin is represented by the megalithic tombs of the Deccan. They exist in great abundance, and among them ‘cairns’, or tumuli with stone circles, show a striking resemblance to the Buddhist *stūpas*, and may be their earlier prototypes (Plate I *b*). But architecture as a fine art must possess certain aesthetic features and must also indicate a creative effort in the shaping of human actions towards the attainment of intellectual progress and elevation of life in its various aspects. The prehistoric monuments of the Deccan fall far below such a standard and therefore they cannot be studied in this chapter.

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¹ The best route by which to approach Benkal is from the Gaṅgāvatī-Ginigera road; a *kachcha* path branches off near the sixth milestone when coming from Gaṅgāvatī.

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The earliest specimens of fine art of which the dates can be fixed on palaeographical grounds are Buddhist antiquities, representing painting, sculpture, and architectural themes. But these do not date back earlier than the second century B.C., although the art which they exhibit is of a well-developed type and must have taken one or two or more millenniums to reach that stage. To expand and justify this view it may be observed that the representations of four-storied buildings in the façades of the caves at Koṇḍāṇe and Beḍsā, with projecting balconies supported by curved brackets and deeply recessed windows fitted with latticed screens of elegant design, show a long tradition and continuous progress in the art of architecture, and could not have sprung up all of a sudden in the second century B.C., to which date the monuments have been assigned on the basis of the inscriptions carved on them (Plate II *a*).² This opinion is further confirmed by the arrangement of the small and large rafters and cross-beams carved in the rock-ceiling of the *vihāra* at Koṇḍāṇe. The arrangement suggests engineering principles ensuring the strength of the building on the one hand and economy of cost on the other by a judicious use of beams of suitable dimensions (Plate II *b*).

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² Koṇḍāṇe and Beḍsā are both in the Bombay State now, but in the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era they would have belonged to the Andhra kingdom of the Deccan.

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For the specimens of sculpture also, it will be convenient to refer to the above monuments again, although in the second century B.C. the art of carving seems to have reached a high-water mark all over the Deccan, and the sculpture of the eastern zone as shown in the statuary of Amarāvatī (Plate III *a*) is as vivid and graceful as that of the central and western zones. Among the sculptures at Beḍsā and Koṇḍāṇe, which will be described in some detail later in this chapter, the *Yakṣa* and *Yakṣiṇī* riding on horses in the *chaitya*-cave at the former place are so bold in conception and so life-like in expression that they can be placed with advantage side by side with the best specimens of sculpture in the world (Plate III *b*). As the art is purely indigenous, it must have had its origin many centuries earlier in order to attain such perfection of technique and force of style. In the *chaitya*-cave at Koṇḍāṇe the dancing figures are not only delightful because of the grace of their pose but they also show an exuberance of spirit based on a fuller significance of life (Plates IV–V). The intellectual and technical qualities of these specimens represent a highly developed art, suggesting long practice and continuous progress of thought.

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Fortunately some specimens of the painting of this period have also survived, and they too confirm the above view regarding the beginning of the art of the Deccan in a remote period, hundreds of years before the Christian era. These specimens are preserved in a *chaitya*-cave, No. 10, at Ajanṭā, which has two inscriptions that help to fix its date. One of them is carved on the façade of the cave, and the other painted on the wall of its left aisle. According to both Indian and European epigraphists, among whom the German savant, Prof. Lüders, is prominent, the painted inscription belongs to the middle of the second century B.C., while the inscription of the façade is still earlier, certain characters showing Aśokan forms. The painting connected with the former inscription represents a Buddhist story, the visit of a *rājā* to the *Bodhi*-tree under which the Buddha obtained enlightenment. The painting is a long one but the greater part of it has been destroyed by time. The portion near the *Bodhi*-tree is fairly intact, and represents the *rājā* with his family and attendants on the left side, and a large party of musicians and dancers, comprising fifteen artistes, on the right. The painter has attempted to present human life in all its aspects, religious as well as worldly, and the portrayal of the figures expresses not only spiritual feeling but also a joyful outlook on the beautiful features of the world. This painting further exhibits a happy combination of emotion on the one hand, and on the other of technical niceties such as are to be found only in well-developed art.

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In emphasizing the antiquity of the fine arts of the Deccan two questions arise incidentally, first, whether these arts have any connexion with the Indus valley culture, the date of which has been tentatively fixed in the middle of the third millennium B.C.; and secondly, whether the arts in their origin and essential features are indigenous or are based on those of the western Asiatic countries. The answer to the first question is not difficult to give, for there is apparently nothing in common between the styles or technique of the sculpture and architecture of the Deccan and those of the Indus valley. Unless the writings on the seals should, if ever deciphered, prove the contrary, it will be safe to assume that the Indus valley antiquities are more intimately connected with their prototypes in Babylonia and other ancient countries of Western Asia than with the specimens of art produced in the Deccan during the first millennium B.C.

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As regards the second question, it may be observed that in the latter part of the first millennium B.C., or even earlier, foreigners who are known in history and contemporary records under the names of *Sakas* (Scythians), *Pahlavas* (Parthians), and *Yavanas* (Greeks) entered the Deccan in considerable numbers and became merged in the general population of the country. The earliest of these were probably *Sakas* or Scythians, who, after leaving their original home on the shores of the Caspian Sea, had settled down in the country to the east of Fārsistān, which was subsequently named after them Sistān (Sakistān, Arabicized form Sajistān). They entered India probably both through Afghānistān and through Sindh, and the emigrants proceeding through the latter province spread towards the Deccan. The megalithic tombs of the Deccan have been attributed by some eminent archaeologists to such Scythian immigrants, because these tombs bear a close resemblance to their prototypes in other countries of the world wherever the Scythians went. If this view be accepted, the entry of the Scythians into the Deccan must be placed at several millenniums B.C., for the pottery and the iron and bronze implements which have been found in the majority of the megalithic tombs show a primitive culture.

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As regards the *Pahlavas*, they would have come in the wake of the *Sakas*, and, as in North-west India, there may have been settlements of the *Pahlavas* in the Deccan and the provinces bordering on the north and north-west of it even before the Buddha preached his doctrine in the fifth century B.C. The *Yavanas* (Greeks) came to India first with Alexander and their migration to the southern provinces was probably connected with motives to extend their political power, as well as to propagate the Buddhist religion, for the names of many *Yavanas* are associated with the monuments of that faith.

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Now studying the monuments themselves, we may note that although some archaeologists have connected the style of the rock-hewn shrines of the Deccan with the architecture of the rock-hewn tombs of Egypt and Persia, yet the idea of dwelling in caves, in the primitive period for personal safety and later, in a stage of intellectual and spiritual advancement, for contemplation and enlightenment, has been inherent in man in the East as well as in the West. The natural caverns may have acquired sanctity as the abode of *rishis*, for whose comfort their devoted disciples may have removed the irregular features of the habitats of such pious *gurus* by dressing the walls and ceilings and levelling the floors. This process would have developed in course of time and a conventional style arisen of building shrines and replicas of tombs (*stūpas*) by cutting the rock. The cave temples of the Deccan are therefore indigenous in regard both to their origin and to their development and their architecture seems to have been copied from earlier, or contemporary, wooden or brick and stone structures. The influence of wood architecture is apparent not only in the shape of the pillars and their inward inclination,¹ but also in the presence of semi-circular rafters of wood in the ceilings of the early *chaitya*-caves at Kārle, Kondāṇe, and Ajanta, which are actually redundant in rock-hewn shrines but would have been an essential feature of the ceiling of a wooden building.

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Similarly, the beams and rafters of the *vihāra*-cave at Kondāṇe clearly show that they have been copied from the flat ceilings of structures built of bricks or of stone. Bricks of large size and of strong texture were made in the Deccan from quite early times, and in the excavations at Ajanta the bricks found at the base of the façade of cave X probably date from the second century B.C., for the inscription referring to the construction of the façade is in second century B.C. characters.² During the period extending from the first to the third centuries B.C., or going still farther back, the use of bricks for walls seems to have been quite common in the Deccan for both religious and secular buildings. Similarly, flat ceilings resting on wooden beams also came into vogue, although the majority of the dwellings were wooden structures with barrel-shaped or circular roofs. Some of these houses were of more than one story, and had, as we have noticed above, balconies and latticed windows opening on the front of the building. The bulk of the population lived in huts built of mud walls and straw roofs such as are seen in the villages today.

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The style of architecture, as shown by the archaeological monuments, or as represented in the early paintings of Ajanta, or the sculpture of the Buddhist caves, indicates no foreign influence as far as can be seen, except for the apsidal form of the *chaityas*, which bears a striking resemblance to the plans of the Roman basilicas, or to the still earlier Phoenician temples of Malta, although the latter have a semi-circular projection at both ends in the length of the structure. The Ka'ba, which according to the Muslim tradition was built by Abraham, has an apsidal extension at one end, called at the present time the *Hatim*. In studying the old Phoenician temples one notices that the square or rectangular part of the building was meant for housing the images of gods, and the semi-circular or circular projections were sacrificial pits for holding offerings to deities. Phoenicians were expert builders and wood-carvers in King David’s time, and he invited a party of Phoenician artisans to assist him in building the temple at Jerusalem.¹ Phoenicians were also great sea-traders, and references in the Old Testament to gold, spices, and peacocks, which are specially associated with the western coast of India, indicate that there was some sea-borne trade between the western part of the Deccan and the western Asiatic countries.

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There is thus some possibility that the apsidal plan of the house of God of the Phoenicians was copied in India as it was at Mecca, which was situated in the middle of the caravan route from Palestine to the Yemen. The form may indeed have sprung up independently here, for the offering of sacrifices would have required at the beginning a circular pit, which at a later period might have become a conventional form for the altar. But against the latter view are the facts that the apsidal form of the temples disappeared from India with the waning of the Buddhist religion, and that except in the case of one or two temples in South India this plan is not to be noticed among Brāhmanic temples elsewhere. The offering of sacrifices to gods was an essential feature of the Brāhmanic faith from the beginning, and if the apsidal form of temples had originated and developed in the Deccan or in India, it would not have been given up on the extinction of the Buddhist religion.

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¹ The pot-shaped bases of the pillars also seem to have been copied from wooden columns, the ends of which were placed in pots to safeguard them from the attack of white ants or termites.

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² The size of the bricks discovered at Ajanta is: length 22 in., breadth 12 in., and thickness 3 in. Bricks of similar dimensions have also been found in the excavations at Paiṭhan, the ancient capital of the Sātavāhanas. Bricks, a little smaller in size but very strong in texture, have been found in the excavations at Kondāpur. Among these, wedge-shaped and square bricks have also been found, the former used in the circular base of a *stūpa*.

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¹ Chronicles, xxii, 2-4, 15.

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Minor traces of western Asiatic influence may also be seen in the early sculpture of the Deccan, for instance in the winged animals at Pitalkhorā, Aurangābād District, the crenellated or stepped parapet carved at Koṇḍāṇe, Kārle, Ajanta, and other early Buddhist sites, and the bell-shaped capitals of the pillars of many ancient monuments in the Deccan. Among these, the winged animals have a close resemblance to their prototypes in Assyria; the stepped parapet which is so common in North African Islamic monuments has recently been discovered on the monuments of Ur (Chaldaea) and must have come to India from the latter place. The bell-shaped capitals have a striking affinity to their prototypes at Persepolis, and this form may have been introduced into India by the early Parthian (*Pahlava*) converts to Buddhism. Such similarities are, however, few, and it would be a sad mistake to conclude from them that the architecture or sculpture or other arts of the Deccan are wholly or even largely of foreign origin.

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As the specimens of art belonging to the early period are of a more developed character in the Deccan than are those to be found north of the Narmadā, and the Godāvari, it appears that the fine arts had not only an independent but a much earlier beginning in the Deccan than they had in Northern India. For example, the architecture and sculpture of the rockhewn shrines of the Deccan are of a much higher quality than those of the rock-temples of Bihar and Orissa. As regards the superior workmanship to be noticed in the lion-capital of Sārnāth, or the carving at Sāñchī, it may be observed that it is doubtful whether the former represents Indian craftsmanship, while at the latter place there are inscriptions to show that artisans of the Deccan were employed to build and embellish the Great Stūpa. Āndhras were politically strong enough to resist the encroachments of the Mauryas, and after the fall of the latter dynasty they actually defeated their successors, the Śuṅgas, and took possession of a large part of their empire, almost up to the borders of Magadha. The gold industry of the Deccan was in a flourishing condition in the time of Aśoka, and the references to the export of jewels and fabrics by Kauṭilya and early foreign writers confirm the impression that during the centuries preceding the Christian era the Deccan was not only an emporium of trade but a great centre of culture and civilization.

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It may further be observed that the human figures represented in the sculpture or painting of the Deccan are mainly aboriginal,¹ showing that the sculptor or painter had before his mind the people of his own stock even when carving or portraying the figures of gods and goddesses. But this feature of the art of the Deccan is lost in the third century A.D., when the Āndhras were succeeded by the Vākāṭakas who had matrimonial relations with the Guptas. In the later sculpture and painting of the Deccan the principal figures have Āryan features, while the aborigines appear only as servants or play a similar role.

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¹ Figures of foreigners, Śakas or Pahlavas, are carved as donors of caves in some places, and they can be easily identified by their head-gear, dress, and foot-wear (Plate XXIII a).

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The potter's craft was also fairly well developed in the centuries immediately preceding or following the Christian era, and the terra-cotta figurines discovered in the excavations at Kondāpur exhibit not only the skill of the craftsman in faithfully representing the facial features, but also a superior art in giving expression to the character and feeling of the semi-religious personages represented. The jeweller's art had also reached a high stage of elegance and many a decorative motif to be noticed in the early architecture and sculpture of the Deccan is borrowed from jewellery patterns and designs. All these crafts seem to have been closely correlated, and as a master-sculptor may have played the role of an expert architect in the designing of rock-hewn shrines, similarly a goldsmith would have acted in the same capacity for the decorative schemes which form such an important feature of these monuments. These questions will be discussed further when the architecture, sculpture, and painting of the Deccan are described separately in chronological order.

Architecture

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IN the preliminary remarks made above it has been shown that the earliest specimens of architecture to be found in the Deccan belong to the Buddhist faith, which flourished there from about the third century B.C. to the seventh century A.D., when it became practically extinct. The Brāhmanic faith was patronized during this period by many of the rulers, but for the history of the architecture of the Deccan the revival of this latter system of belief begins in the sixth century A.D., under the Chālukyas, who were enthusiastic patrons of architecture. They adorned their capital, Bādāmi, with rock-hewn shrines, some of which still exist and represent the earliest Brāhmanic monuments of this style in the Deccan. The Chālukyas in the northern part of the Deccan were ousted by the Rāshṭrakūṭas, who built some temples of outstanding merit at Ellora during the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. These shrines are hewn out of the living rock although their plans, comprising a forecourt, a room for the sacred bull, Nandi, a hall with a portico in front and the cella or shrine at the back, are copied from temples built of brick and stone which were being constructed on the same model about that time. At Ellora there are also rock-hewn shrines belonging to the Jaina faith, and these were probably carved in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. Among them the Indra Sabhā group is the most important, and indeed, both in ornamental detail and in workmanship, it is in no way inferior to the Brāhmanic caves.

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Among the oldest structural shrines which still exist, the temple at Aihole¹ is especially interesting, because, like the Buddhist chaityas, it has an apsidal plan, although the temple is dedicated to Vishṇu. It was probably built in the seventh century A.D., during the reign of Vikramāditya-Satyaśraya, the first Chālukyan king of this name.² About the same time, or a few decades later, was built the well-known Śaiva temple, Pāpanāth, at Paṭṭadakal.³ Its design comprises a square hall and a square cella with a porch of the same plan between them. The cella has a spire above it, the curvilinear form of which, although copied in the temples at Ālampur in the Raichur District, is more akin to the shape of the spires of Bhuvaneśvar and Koṇārak temples, and also to the form of the majority of spires in North India. The general form of the spires of the Deccan temples is that of a storied building, the dimensions of which gradually decrease as it rises upward. The spires are finally crowned with circular caps and finials of artistic design.

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¹ Aihole, a village in the Bijāpur district. It is not far from Bādāmi, the old capital of the Chālukyas.

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² Indian Antiquary, viii, 185-6.

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³ Paṭṭadakal is ten miles north-east of Bādāmi and eight miles south-west of Aihole.

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The structural temples of the Deccan, built between the tenth and twelfth centuries A.D., form a magnificent group, and their architectural features exhibit the influence of both North Indian and South Indian temples. The later Chālukyas, the Yādavas, and the Kākatīyas who ruled over the Deccan during this period were fond of architecture, and their buildings are characterized by a breadth of vision and loftiness of spirit on the hand and by superior craftsmanship on the other. The majority of these temples are dedicated to Śiva, but some belong to the Vaishṇavaite cult, while the number of fanes built by Jains is not inconsiderable.

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To give the reader a clear idea of the artistic merits and special features of the architecture of the Deccan it will be best to describe some of the typical monuments of the country. Taking the Buddhist shrines first, which are the oldest chronologically, it may be observed that the stūpas were perhaps the most sacred, each having been raised on a relic of the mortal remains of the Buddha. Originally the form of the stūpa as a burial-mound seems to have been adopted from the hemispherical tumuli of the Scythians,¹ or from the megalithic tombs (cairns) of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Deccan and South India, for such tombs are found in great abundance there. Be this as it may, it is a fact that by the third century B.C., i.e. during the life-time of Aśoka, the stūpa had assumed a definite form, i.e. a round base, rising perpendicularly up to a certain height, a dome-shaped structure resting upon this and being itself surmounted by a casket-shaped apex which ultimately was crowned with an umbrella, the emblem of both religious and secular dignity. Round the base of the structure was arranged a path for circumambulation, which was enclosed outwardly by a railing with gateways facing the cardinal points. The Āndhra-deśa, or the country adjoining the deltas of the rivers Kṛishṇā and Godāvarī, was a great stronghold of the Buddhist religion from the third century B.C. down to the sixth or seventh century A.D., and remains of several hundred stūpas have been traced in this part of the country, the latest discoveries having been made at Nāgārjunakoṇḍa on the southern bank of the Kṛishṇā, in the present Guntur district of the Madras Presidency.

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¹ As these tombs have a striking resemblance to their prototypes in Etruria, Spain, and Southern France, some archaeologists, as was observed above (supra, p. 719), are of the opinion that the megalithic tombs of the Deccan and Southern India were built by Scythians (Sakas) when they spread over this part of India.

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For the purpose of this chapter a short description of the central stūpa at Amarāvatī, which was perhaps the most magnificent in this part of the country, will suffice. Unfortunately, the stūpa does not exist now. It was in a ruinous condition in 1797, when Colonel Mackenzie first saw it, and since then the bulk of its fragments have been removed to London where they are preserved and exhibited at the British Museum, and the residue kept in the country are now housed and displayed at the Government Museum in Madras. According to the descriptions given by experts,¹ it appears that the base of the stūpa was of considerable size, being approximately 162 ft. in diameter. It was wainscoted with sculptural marble, the artistic and iconographic features of which will be discussed at the appropriate place in this chapter. Above the circular base was built the dome, which seems to have been from 120 to 140 ft. in diameter. The lower portion of the dome, which rose almost perpendicularly from the base, was also encased with marble slabs containing representations of the stūpa itself and jātaka stories carved artistically in relief. The upper part of the dome was built of brick and covered with stucco on which floral designs and religious emblems were similarly executed in low relief.

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¹ For a detailed account of the Amarāvatī stūpa, see The Buddhist Stūpas of Amarāvatī and Jagayyapeta, Archaeological Survey of Southern India, 1887.

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The apex of the dome comprised a casket with an umbrella rising above it. Both of them were elegantly carved. The base of the stūpa projected some three feet towards each of the cardinal points; this plan was resorted to with the double object of breaking the monotony of the uniform surface of the base and of affording support to the five monolithic pillars which were built at those points, along the upper part of the drum of the stūpa. The monolithic pillars in their turn represented a decorative feature of the stūpa, and also added strength to the masonry of the building by serving as buttresses. A processional path was arranged round the stūpa so that the votaries might walk round the building in a ceremonial manner and also view with due respect and reverence the various emblems of the faith and the scenes from the life of the Master. The path was enclosed by a marble railing externally and there were gateways for entry and exit in different directions.

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This stūpa when intact must have represented a vigorous style of architecture, based upon lofty religious ideals and a highly developed artistic sense. The latter two features of the early architecture of the Deccan are more impressively represented in the Buddhist chaityas, or cathedrals, the plans of which, as was observed above, resemble closely those of the Roman basilicas. Among such shrines the chaityas at Bhājā, Beḍsā, Pitalkhorā, Kārle, Koṇḍāṇe, Nāsik, Junnar, and Ajanta constitute a magnificent group, and they all belong to the first two centuries immediately preceding the Christian era. Being almost coeval in age they possess many common features, such as the use of wooden ribs in the vault of the ceiling, the wooden screen in the horse-shoe arch above the main entrance, the winged animals and sphinxes above the capitals of pillars (Plate VI a), the pyramid-shaped parapet carved on the façade (Plate VI b), the inward leaning of the jambs of doorways and columns of the hall, and the bell-shaped Persepolitan design of the capitals of pillars (Plate VII a). These temples vary in dimensions, and although the *chaitya* at Kārle is the most spacious,¹ and also the most imposing in regard to its architectural detail (Plate VII *b*), yet as its façade has lost many of its original features, a description of the *chaitya* at Beḍsā will be more suitable for the present review because this latter temple is comparatively in a better state of preservation. The plan of this *chaitya* resembles in arrangement to a certain extent the plan of the early Christian churches, comprising the nave, the side-aisles, and the apse containing the *stūpa* or *dagoba*. The side-aisles join in a semi-circular passage behind the *dagoba*. The *chaitya* at Beḍsā has an imposing portico in front of it, the pillars of which rise to a height of 25 ft. and are crowned with figures of animals. Some of these have human riders, the latter being carved with consummate skill. These figures are not only bold in conception but also most vivid in expression (Plate III *b*). The shafts of the pillars are octagonal in design, and they spring from pot-shaped bases and are surmounted with fluted bells which, according to Fergusson, are more Persepolitan in design than the capitals of pillars at any other place in India. The portico, which is in the form of a veranda, measures 30 ft. 2 in. in length and 12 ft. in width. The ceiling, owing to the height of the pillars and side-walls, is too high, but the rich carving attracts the eye at once and the idea of any incongruity does not rise even in the mind of the most discerning critic (Plate VIII *a*). The designs include religious architectural motifs, such as the rail and the *chaitya*-window with its lattice-work; but they are repeated so often, and are carved in such a skilful manner, that the whole looks like a goldsmith's work, and the love of the Deccan artist for richness of ornamentation is abundantly illustrated.

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¹ The general dimensions of the interior of this temple are 124 ft. 3 in. from the entrance to the back wall; 45 ft. 6 in. the combined width of the central hall and the side-aisles; and 45 ft. the height from the floor to the rock ceiling.

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There are two cells at each end of the veranda towards the right and left, the first cell on the latter side being incomplete. They have stone benches, and the jambs of their doors slant slightly inwards, both features indicating the early age of the excavation. Above the lintels of the cell-doors there is first a floral lattice design, and above that the rood-screen pattern, such as is to be seen in original wood in the *chaitya*-windows of Koṇḍāṇe and Bhājā. Access to the interior of the *chaitya* is given by three doors, the middle one of which is larger in dimensions than the two in the sides. The gallery in the sill of the great window, above the main entrance, extends 3 ft. 7 in. into the cave, which, besides the two irregular pillars in front, has twenty-four octagonal shafts, 10 ft. 5 in. high, separating the nave from the side aisles. The entire dimensions of the *chaitya* are: length, 45 ft. 4 in., width, 20 ft. The pillars are plain in design and except for the few religious symbols carved on them, and the rail-pattern executed on the *dagoba*, there is a complete absence of ornamentation in the interior of the shrine, and this feature adds to its solemn dignity. The ceiling had originally wooden ribs but these have now completely disappeared. The *dagoba* is rather slim in proportions and differs in general appearance from the *dagobas* of Kārle and Ajanta. Another feature of the carving of the cathedral is that it has no representation of the Buddha, such as is to be seen freely in the *chaityas* of later date—fourth-sixth centuries A.D. Caves XIX and XXVI of Ajanta are excellent examples of the *chaityas* of the late Buddhist period, because they belong to the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. respectively. In these temples the use of wood for the rafters of ceilings, or for the lattice-work of the *chaitya-window*, is entirely discarded; the pillars of the hall rise perpendicularly and the pyramid-shaped parapet does not appear. The pillars are round and they have spiral fluting with bands of floral or jewellery designs arranged at different levels in their height. The figures of the Buddha seated on a throne, or standing, are carved in a variety of poses (*mudras*) in the triforium as well as on the back of the aisles. Representations of the Master may also be noticed in niches carved on the *dagoba* itself. Both the exteriors and interiors of these temples are profusely adorned with sculpture, and the calm and solemn effect of the earlier shrines is replaced by magnificence and splendour. The carving taken by itself is exquisite both in design and workmanship, but its excess in the architectural scheme of the temples wearies the eye and also tends to disturb that tranquillity of mind which one would wish to feel in the interior of a religious shrine (Plates VIII *b*-IX).

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The third type of the early monuments of the Deccan is the *vihāra*, or the monastery evolved from a natural cavern wherein a holy personage dwelt and meditated. The *vihāras* of the pre-Christian period are not only plain but rather austere in design, comprising a middle room with cells arranged on three sides of it. The cells are of small dimensions, and they are connected with the main room by very narrow doors. In the cells benches are cut in the rock, and on one side of the surface of the rock is kept a little raised to serve the purpose of a pillow for the head when the Buddhist monks slept on these benches. Cave XIII of Ajanta is a very good example of an early Buddhist *vihāra*. Its middle room is 13½ ft. wide, 16½ ft. deep, and 7 ft. high. There are seven cells, which project from the main room, three of them being on the left side and two on each of the back and right sides. The monastic life permitted no ostentation, but the love of ornamentation being almost inherent in the people of the Deccan the *bhikshus* began to carve religious symbols, such as the *dagoba*, or the sacred balustrade, or the rood-screen, over the doors of their cells from the earliest times. The *vihāras* at Bhājā, Beḍsā, Junnar, Nāsik, and Ajanta, which all belong to the second or first century B.C., are adorned with such emblems, but the ornamentation shows considerable restraint and there is no lavishness such as is to be noticed in the decoration of the façades of *chaityas* of the same period. As the popularity of the Buddhist faith increased the number of *bhikshus*, the dimensions of the *vihāras* expanded quickly, and some early monasteries at Koṇḍāṇe and Nāsik have large halls in their centres. At the latter place, caves III and VIII, both of which are monasteries, and according to the inscriptions which they bear belong to the pre-Christian period, have spacious halls, and also pillared verandas in front of them for protection against rain and sun. Cave No. III, which seems to be the earlier of the two, has a hall which is 41 ft. wide and 46 ft. deep. It has also a bench on three sides and seventeen cells; seven on the right side, five at the back, and five on the left. The sculpture and the form of the pillars of these two caves resemble those of the *chaitya*-cave at Kārle, and it will not be wrong to infer that all three belong to the same period.

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*Vihāras*, which in the beginning were only monasteries through the religious zeal of the *bhikshus*, developed into temples by the inclusion of an image-chamber in the back of the *vihāra*. Although *dagobas* are carved in some of the earliest *vihāras*, yet the introduction of a shrine with an ante-chamber into the general plan of the *vihāra* seems to have come into vogue when the *Mahāyāna* doctrine permitted the representation of the Buddha in human form for purposes of adoration. At Ajanta, cave IV is perhaps the earliest *vihāra* on this plan, and it has a spacious hall 87 ft. square in the middle with an ante-chamber and a shrine at the back. The large dimensions of this cave, combined with the massiveness of its architectural features (Plate X *a*), with the frugal use of decorative work, present a faithful picture of Buddhist religious dignity, reflecting the practical restraint of the Buddhist monastic life on the one hand and the expansiveness of spiritual life on the other. The *vihāra* was probably excavated in the third century A.D. or still earlier,¹ but the work on the doorway and the windows may have been done at a later date. At this juncture it should be pointed out that in the early centuries of the Christian era, the first to the third A.D., some structural buildings also in the form of *stūpas*, *chaityas*, and *vihāras* were built in the Deccan. The *chaityas* at Ter, Koṇḍāpur,² and Pāṇigiri³ belong to this period. They are built of large bricks, but the dimensions of these structures are so small that they can never have been examples of architectural grandeur, even when they were intact. The *chaitya* at Ter has undergone much alteration on account of its having been converted into a temple of another cult, and it is impossible to form any idea of the artistic merits of the original building from present appearance. The *chaityas* of Kondāpur, which have been exposed to view in the course of excavations carried out by the Archaeological Department of Hyderabad in 1941-2, are of insignificant dimensions, the western *chaitya* measuring 25 ft. 4 in. by 10 ft. 4 in. and the eastern 21 ft. 4 in. by 21 ft. These structures when compared with the grand rock-hewn *chaityas* of Kārle, Bhājā, and Ajanta betray a lack of the lofty idealism and breadth of vision which are to be noticed in the latter *chaityas*.

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¹ This *vihāra* may have been built at the same time as the *chaitya*-cave X at Ajanta, for a temple of colossal size required a large monastery for the accommodation of monks. The ante-chamber and the shrine may have been added at a later date.

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² Koṇḍāpur is forty-three miles west-north-west of Hyderabad and the best way to approach it is to travel the first thirty-seven miles on the Bidar road and the remaining six by a fair-weather road which has been recently made motorable for the convenience of visitors by the Public Works Department of the Hyderabad State.

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³ Pāṇigiri is a hillock in the Nalgonda district on which remains of *stūpas* were found in the course of excavations made by the Archaeological Department of Hyderabad during the years 1942-3.

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Apart from structural buildings, the rock-hewn shrines of this period (first to third centuries A.D.) also show no creative effort, the same architectural forms and designs being repeated and the artistic effect being rather one of imitation than of originality. With the waning of the political ascendancy of the Āndhras the artistic impulse of the people of the Deccan seems to have deteriorated, and the passing of the sovereignty to the Vākāṭakas, who came from the north¹ and had matrimonial relations with the Guptas, ultimately proved most useful by breathing a fresh spirit of life into art in all its forms. Further, the rigorous asceticism of the *Hīnayāna* school had in course of time dimmed the original bright outlook on the joys of life, and the introduction of the *Mahāyāna* doctrine during the rule of the Vākāṭakas, fourth to fifth century A.D., saved the emotional aspect of the art of the Deccan from complete etiolation. The *vihāras* of Ajanta, belonging to this period, bear eloquent testimony to the joyous outlook which the votaries of the Buddhist faith had on the beauty of nature and the aims and ideals of life in general. Among these monasteries caves I-II and XVI-XVII deserve special notice; the last two bear contemporary inscriptions fixing their dates in the last quarter of the fifth century A.D. Cave I is the largest of these four *vihāras*, comprising a porch, a veranda, a hall with corridors on all four sides, an ante-chamber, and a shrine in which a colossal figure of the Buddha is carved. There are also fourteen cells in the interior of this *vihāra* and two in the veranda, one at each end. The veranda is 64 ft. long, 9 ft. wide, and 12 ft. 6 in. high. A large door in the middle, with beautifully carved jambs and entablature, gives access to the great hall which is 64 ft. square, its ceiling being supported by a colonnade of twenty pillars, leaving aisles 9 ft. 6 in. wide all round. The ante-chamber, at the back of the hall, measures 10 ft. by 9 ft. and leads to the shrine through a richly carved door. The shrine is square in plan, measuring 20 ft. on each side.

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¹ In *Hyderabad Archaeological Series*, Monograph No. 16, Ghatotkacha Inscriptions, V.V. Mirashi has tried to find their place of origin in the Eastern Deccan.

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The exterior view of this monastery has been somewhat marred by the destruction of the porch which was the prominent feature of it, but the several bands of carving on the architrave, representing scenes from the life of the Buddha, elephant-fights, and hunting expeditions, have been executed with consummate skill and show sculpture of a high order.

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The pillars in the interior of this cave exhibit much ingenuity both in variety of form and picturesqueness of ornamental detail (Plate X b), and these features, combined with the general effect of spaciousness, produced by the large dimensions of the monastery, make it one of the finest *vihāras* of its kind in India. Cave II is almost a replica of cave I, but its hall is a little smaller than that of the latter, and its pillars also do not indicate such a fine sense of proportion as is shown by the columns of cave I. As regards the form of the pillars and the artistic effect of some of the component architectural parts, caves XVI and XVII are superior to cave I, but taken as a whole the latter cave excels them in the beauty of its design. These *vihāras*, caves I-II and XVI-XVII, are adorned with both sculpture and painting, the merits of which will be studied in their appropriate place in this chapter.

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The plan of the *vihāra* developed a variety of forms during the period fourth to fifth centuries A.D., according to the aims and ideals and the numerical strength of the monastic orders, and notable types of these plans may be seen in the designs of caves V, XI, and XII of Ellora. They all belong to the Buddhist faith, and although after this religion ceased to exist as a living force in the land of its birth, these *vihāras* were nicknamed *Mahārwāḍa* or *Dheḍwāḍa*, which name still sticks to them, they constitute one of the most imposing group of monasteries belonging to any faith in India. Among this group caves XI and XII, though called Do Thāl and Tin Thāl respectively, both consist of three stories and have a spacious court in front which is excavated out of the living rock (Plate XI). Cave V, called the *Mahārwāḍa* or the temple of the Mahārs, is 110 ft. deep and 70 ft. wide, if the recesses cut on either side of the aisles be included. The hall is rectangular in plan and is divided into three apartments by two low benches, which may have served as tables for dining purposes or have been used as reading-desks by the *bhikshus*, for the cave has twenty cells for the accommodation of the monks and a fairly large number of them would have attended the services of the monastery. The plan of this cave resembles that of the Darbār Hall of Kaṇheri and some experts are of opinion that the *Mahārwāḍa* may have been originally a refectory, which may account for its plan (Plate XII).

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The Do Thāl and the Tin Thāl, apart from their lofty and massive façades, exhibit a refined taste in the carving of their pillars, which are not crowded with patterns but have the lotus or pot design incised only in outline (Plate XIII *a*) in harmony with the simple dignity of a religious building. These two monasteries in their uppermost story are divided lengthwise into aisles at the ends of which are niches containing representations of the Buddha according to the *Mahāyāna* doctrine. The ante-chamber contains two tall *dvārapālas* with crossed arms and high crowns, and on the back wall three female deities are carved on each side of the door of the shrine. Inside the shrine beside the colossal figure of the Buddha there are statues of the Padmāpāṇi, Vajrāpāṇi, and other Bodhisattvas, shown as attendants of the Master.

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From the top floors of these two *vihāras* the view of the valley and the plains below is grand, and *bhikshus* sitting for meditation in these caves must have been inspired by the beauty of nature in its various aspects.

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These two monasteries apparently belong to the seventh century A.D., because they are situated close to the *chaitya* styled the Viśvakarma, and this, apart from certain architectural features, bears an inscription which on palaeographic grounds has been assigned to the seventh century A.D. The revival of the Brāhmanic faith in the Deccan had begun during the rule of the Chālukyas, who built rock-hewn shrines of that faith at Bādāmi, the seat of their government; but they were tolerant to the followers of the Buddhist religion and the shrines of the latter faith continued to be built under their régime. During the reign of the Rāshṭrakūṭas, who ousted the Chālukyas from the greater part of their kingdom in the Deccan, an aggressive religious spirit seems to have prevailed, for they not only converted Buddhist *vihāras* into the temples of their own faith,¹ but also built new shrines on such a grand scale as to eclipse in the eyes of their co-religionists the glory of the Buddhist religion. Religion is often associated with a certain amount of fanaticism, but at Ellora the religious fervour of the followers of the Brāhmanic faith has carved out in the living rock temples which might well have been considered to be the work of gods not only by the votaries of that religion but also by the most discerning critic of the period, because they are unique specimens of this kind of architecture in the world. Their gigantic dimensions, rich decorative detail, and perfect finish, are absolutely amazing. Kailāsa is the most remarkable of these temples; it is monolithic, isolated from the surrounding rock, and carved outside as well as inside. It stands in a large court, 276 ft. long and 154 ft. wide, with a scarp 107 ft. high at the back. In front of this court a curtain has been left, carved on the outside with large statues of Śiva and Vishṇu, displaying ceaseless activity on the one hand and a sense of urgent vehemence on the other. The entrance to the temple is through a passage which has several apartments, and ultimately leads to the lower part of the court from the two sides of a vestibule arranged at its end. The lower court has the effigies of two life-size elephants carved at either side of the basement of the temple in order to give an air of majesty to the shrine. Two lofty *dhvajastambhas*, ensign staffs, each 45 ft. high, add further dignity to the temple (Plate XIII *b*). The basement of the temple is quite high and it is adorned with sculptures representing episodes from the *Mahābhārata* and *Rāmāyaṇa* as well as figures of lions and elephants which are very spiritedly represented. The basement measures 164 ft. from east to west, and 109 ft. from north to south, but the temple, in spite of its large dimensions, is designed like a chariot resting on the backs of elephants. The style is South Indian, developed from the style of the *rathas* of Māmallapuram, but here it appears in such a perfect form that there is nothing missing in the component parts of the temple—such as the portico, the *Nandi* pavilion, the *mandapa*, the shrine, the court with its surrounding galleries and the entrance—which are to be found in a structural temple of this style. According to an inscription it was built by the Rāshṭrakūṭa king Kṛishṇa, who succeeded Dantidurga in the latter half of the eighth century A.D.

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¹ Cave XV, called the *Daśāvatāra*, was originally a Buddhist *vihāra*, and the images of the Buddha, although chiselled off with care from many a niche, may still be noticed in some places. This cave has a long inscription of Dantidurga carved over its entrance.

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The main temple has two staircases in front which lead to a porch. The ceiling of the porch has several layers of painting, the undermost being contemporary with the building of the temple. The main hall is 57 ft. wide and 55 ft. deep and the ceiling is supported by sixteen richly carved pillars, which are so arranged that two passages have been formed, one leading from the entrance to the shrine and another crossing the former in the middle of the hall and connecting it with the balconies built at either side of it towards the north and south. The form of the pillars and their decoration show good taste, and as the rock out of which they are hewn is close-grained the carving is extremely sharp, and the floor of the hall is so finely polished that it shines like a mirror.

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A door in each of the back corners of the hall leads to the terrace behind. A wide path is arranged there round the outside of the shrine, which forms the base of the *vimāna* or spire. This tower rises to a height of 96 ft. from the court below and is richly carved. Below are compartments between pilasters, with delicately sculptured finials over each, and the middle of each compartment is occupied in most cases by a representation of Śiva or Vishṇu. On the wall above there are flying figures, and over them begin the horizontal mouldings of the *śikhara*. On the outer side of the terrace are five small shrines crowned by *śikharas*, which with the main spire in the middle give a picturesque effect to the general appearance of the temple.

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Kailāsa has several adjuncts some of which may have been excavated at a later date. But the galleries running round the court are coeval with the central shrine, and their architectural effect when the visitor looks at the long rows of columns and the continuous series of sculptured panels from one end of them, is most fascinating (Plate XIV *a*). The eastern gallery is particularly striking; it is 189 ft. in length and has nineteen panels in its back wall adorned with figures of deities of more than human size. Fergusson has compared Kailāsa with the Śaiva temple of Paṭṭadakal, a comparison which may be valid in regard to the close resemblance between the structural features of the two temples, but the very fact that Kailāsa is hewn out of solid rock suggests an idea of solidity and everlastingness which, combined with the impression which it gives of patient industry and continuous devotion to the service of the gods, makes the temple rank in sublimity and grandeur with the great temples of Egypt, like those at Karnak and Edfu.

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