DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0339
AJANTA. 317
preservation, as is also the facade and the lower part, the ac-
cumulated materials that had fallen from above have now been
removed, and display entire what must be considered one of the
most perfect specimens of Buddhist art in India. Over the whole
facade of this Chaitya temple projects a bold and carefully carved
cornice,—broken only at the left end by a heavy mass of rock having
given way. In front has been an enclosed court, 33 feet wide by
30 feet deep, but the left side of it has nearly disappeared. The
porch and whole front of the cave is covered with the most elaborate
and beautiful carving, which it is impossible to describe.
There is no inscription on this cave by which its date could be
ascertained, but from its position and its style of architecture
there can be little doubt that it is of about the same age as the two
Viharas, XVI. and XVII., which are next to it, and consequently
it may safely be assumed that it was excavated near the middle of
the sixth century—a few years before or after 550 a.d.
Beside the beauty and richness of the details, it is interesting as
the first example we meet with of a Chaitya cave wholly in stone.
Not only are the ribs of the nave and the umbrella over the Dagoba,
hut all the ornaments of the facade are in stone. Nothing in or
about it is or ever was in wood, and many parts are so lithic in
design that if we did not know to the contrary, we might not be
able to detect at once the originals from which they were derived.
The transformation from wood to stone is complete in this cave, and
m the next one we meet. The Viswa Karma at Elura the wooden
type is still further left behind.
Outside to the left, and at right angles to the facade of the
cave, is a sculpture representing a Naga raja and his wife (Plate
XXXIX.). He with a seven-headed cobra hood. She with one
serpent's head behind her. At Sanchi in the first century when the
«aga kings first appear the serpent has only five heads,1 but the
females there are still with only one. At Amravati the heads of the
serpent were multiplied to 21,2 and in modern times to 100 or 1000.
no these Naga people were has not yet been settled satisfactorily.
eJ occur frequently on the doorways and among the paintings at
' Wte, and generally wherever we find Buddhism there we are sure
1 Tree and Serpent Worship, Plate XXIV.
2 Loc. tit., LXXYI.
preservation, as is also the facade and the lower part, the ac-
cumulated materials that had fallen from above have now been
removed, and display entire what must be considered one of the
most perfect specimens of Buddhist art in India. Over the whole
facade of this Chaitya temple projects a bold and carefully carved
cornice,—broken only at the left end by a heavy mass of rock having
given way. In front has been an enclosed court, 33 feet wide by
30 feet deep, but the left side of it has nearly disappeared. The
porch and whole front of the cave is covered with the most elaborate
and beautiful carving, which it is impossible to describe.
There is no inscription on this cave by which its date could be
ascertained, but from its position and its style of architecture
there can be little doubt that it is of about the same age as the two
Viharas, XVI. and XVII., which are next to it, and consequently
it may safely be assumed that it was excavated near the middle of
the sixth century—a few years before or after 550 a.d.
Beside the beauty and richness of the details, it is interesting as
the first example we meet with of a Chaitya cave wholly in stone.
Not only are the ribs of the nave and the umbrella over the Dagoba,
hut all the ornaments of the facade are in stone. Nothing in or
about it is or ever was in wood, and many parts are so lithic in
design that if we did not know to the contrary, we might not be
able to detect at once the originals from which they were derived.
The transformation from wood to stone is complete in this cave, and
m the next one we meet. The Viswa Karma at Elura the wooden
type is still further left behind.
Outside to the left, and at right angles to the facade of the
cave, is a sculpture representing a Naga raja and his wife (Plate
XXXIX.). He with a seven-headed cobra hood. She with one
serpent's head behind her. At Sanchi in the first century when the
«aga kings first appear the serpent has only five heads,1 but the
females there are still with only one. At Amravati the heads of the
serpent were multiplied to 21,2 and in modern times to 100 or 1000.
no these Naga people were has not yet been settled satisfactorily.
eJ occur frequently on the doorways and among the paintings at
' Wte, and generally wherever we find Buddhism there we are sure
1 Tree and Serpent Worship, Plate XXIV.
2 Loc. tit., LXXYI.