DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0132
Chap. V.
BEHAR CAVES.
109
The form of the roof is something of a pointed arch, with a slight ogee
point on the summit to form a watershed. The door, like all those
of this series, has sloping jambs1—a peculiarity arising, as we shall
afterwards see, from the lines of the openings following, as in this
instance, those of the supports of the roof.
The interior, as will be seen from the annexed plan (No. 44), is
quite plain in form, and does not seem to have been ever quite com-
pleted. It consists of a hall :« ft. by 111 ft.,
beyond which is an apartment of nearly
circular form, evidently meant to represent W j^jj;
a tope or dagoba, but at that early age the
architects had not quite found out how to '
accomplish this in a rock-cut structure. 44. Lomas llishi Cave.
Judging from the inscriptions on these
caves, the whole were excavated between the date of the Jvigope and
that of the Milkmaid's Cave, so called (which was excavated by
Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka), probably within fifty years of that
date. They appear to range, therefore, from 260 to 200 B.C., and the
1 General Cunningham ('Archeologi-
cal Reports,1 vol. i. p. 45) and others are
in the habit of calling this an Egyptian
form. This it certainly is not, as no
Egyptian doorway had sloping jambs.
Xor can it properly be called Pelasgic.
The Pelasgi did use that form, but
derived it from stone constructions.
The Indians only obtained it from
wood.
BEHAR CAVES.
109
The form of the roof is something of a pointed arch, with a slight ogee
point on the summit to form a watershed. The door, like all those
of this series, has sloping jambs1—a peculiarity arising, as we shall
afterwards see, from the lines of the openings following, as in this
instance, those of the supports of the roof.
The interior, as will be seen from the annexed plan (No. 44), is
quite plain in form, and does not seem to have been ever quite com-
pleted. It consists of a hall :« ft. by 111 ft.,
beyond which is an apartment of nearly
circular form, evidently meant to represent W j^jj;
a tope or dagoba, but at that early age the
architects had not quite found out how to '
accomplish this in a rock-cut structure. 44. Lomas llishi Cave.
Judging from the inscriptions on these
caves, the whole were excavated between the date of the Jvigope and
that of the Milkmaid's Cave, so called (which was excavated by
Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka), probably within fifty years of that
date. They appear to range, therefore, from 260 to 200 B.C., and the
1 General Cunningham ('Archeologi-
cal Reports,1 vol. i. p. 45) and others are
in the habit of calling this an Egyptian
form. This it certainly is not, as no
Egyptian doorway had sloping jambs.
Xor can it properly be called Pelasgic.
The Pelasgi did use that form, but
derived it from stone constructions.
The Indians only obtained it from
wood.