DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0204
182 CAVE-TEMPLES OF WESTERN INDIA.
present known are found in these caves, they do not suffice to
enable us to arrange them all in chronological order.
Under these circumstances we are forced to rely a great deal
more than is desirable on palseographic evidence. In relative dates
the varying progressive changes which the alphabetic forms assume
are invaluable, and generally a safe guide; but for epochal dates
they are comparatively useless. The local or geographical position
of the place where an inscription is found is often a cause of greater
change in the characters employed, than distance of time. It is
only when the characters are compared within a certain limited
area that they can be successfully employed for the purposes of
chronology. Even then the results derived from such indications
can only be considered as approximative, and never as capable of
any great precision.
The architectural character of the caves is a far more distinct and
constant characteristic than the alphabetic form of their inscriptions.
All the caves have architectural features, and these, as in all true styles,
all over the world change according to a certain law of progression
that can never be mistaken when sufficient materials exist for com-
parison. In Europe it has of late years been allowed to supersede
all other evidence in ascertaining the age of medieval or classical
buildings, and in no single instance has an appeal from its decision
been sustained. If, for instance, we take such a cave as that at
Bhaja (woodcut No. 1), the whole of the front of which was con-
structed in wood, and where the pin holes still exist, by means of
which the wooden ornaments were originally attached to the rock.
Where the wooden ribs of the roof still remain in situ, and where
the rock-cut pillars of the nave slope inwards in imitation of wooden
posts, we may feel sure that we are at the very cradle of stone-cut
architecture, and cannot get much further back without reaching a
state of affairs where wood and wood only was employed. When
on the other0 hand we compare this with the facade of the Lomas
Eishi cave in* Behar (woodcut No. 3), which we know was exca-
vated by Asoka B.C. 250, we find the two so essentially identical.
in style, that we may fix the date of the Bhaja cave at least as ear J
as 200 B.C., and in doing so we may feel certain we do not err )
many years, or in ascribing it to too ancient a date.
If starting from this point we take a series of four such Chaity
caves as those of Bhaja, Bedsa, Karle, and Nasik—to be descn e
n:
present known are found in these caves, they do not suffice to
enable us to arrange them all in chronological order.
Under these circumstances we are forced to rely a great deal
more than is desirable on palseographic evidence. In relative dates
the varying progressive changes which the alphabetic forms assume
are invaluable, and generally a safe guide; but for epochal dates
they are comparatively useless. The local or geographical position
of the place where an inscription is found is often a cause of greater
change in the characters employed, than distance of time. It is
only when the characters are compared within a certain limited
area that they can be successfully employed for the purposes of
chronology. Even then the results derived from such indications
can only be considered as approximative, and never as capable of
any great precision.
The architectural character of the caves is a far more distinct and
constant characteristic than the alphabetic form of their inscriptions.
All the caves have architectural features, and these, as in all true styles,
all over the world change according to a certain law of progression
that can never be mistaken when sufficient materials exist for com-
parison. In Europe it has of late years been allowed to supersede
all other evidence in ascertaining the age of medieval or classical
buildings, and in no single instance has an appeal from its decision
been sustained. If, for instance, we take such a cave as that at
Bhaja (woodcut No. 1), the whole of the front of which was con-
structed in wood, and where the pin holes still exist, by means of
which the wooden ornaments were originally attached to the rock.
Where the wooden ribs of the roof still remain in situ, and where
the rock-cut pillars of the nave slope inwards in imitation of wooden
posts, we may feel sure that we are at the very cradle of stone-cut
architecture, and cannot get much further back without reaching a
state of affairs where wood and wood only was employed. When
on the other0 hand we compare this with the facade of the Lomas
Eishi cave in* Behar (woodcut No. 3), which we know was exca-
vated by Asoka B.C. 250, we find the two so essentially identical.
in style, that we may fix the date of the Bhaja cave at least as ear J
as 200 B.C., and in doing so we may feel certain we do not err )
many years, or in ascribing it to too ancient a date.
If starting from this point we take a series of four such Chaity
caves as those of Bhaja, Bedsa, Karle, and Nasik—to be descn e
n: