DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0156
Chap. VI.
VIHARAS.
133
CHAPTEi; VI.
VIHARAS,1 OR MONASTERIES.
contests.
Structural Viharas—Bengal and Western Vihara Caves—Nassiek, Ajunta, Bagtl,
Dhumnar, Kholvi, ami Ellora Viharas—Circular Cave at Junir.
Stb dctubal Viharas.
AVk are almost more dependent on rock-cut examples for our know-
ledge of the Viharas or monasteries of the Buddhists than we are
for that of their Chaityas or churches : a circumstance more to be
regretted in this instance than in the other. In a chaitya hall
the interior is naturally the principal object, and where the art
of the architect would be principally lavished. Next would come
the facade. The sides and apse are comparatively insignificant and
incapable of ornament. The facades and the interior can be as well
expressed in the rock as when standing free; but the case is different
with the viharas. A court or hall surrounded with cells is not an
imposing architectural object. Where the court has galleries two or
three storeys in height, and the pillars that support these are richly
carved, it may attain an amount of picturestjueness we find in our
old hostelries, or of that cla.ss of beauty that prevails in the courts
of .Spanish monasteries.'-' Such was, I believe, the form many of the
Indian structural viharas may have taken, but which could hardly
be repeated in the rock; and, unless some representations are dis-
1 Throughout this Work the term "Vi-
hara " is applied only to monasteries, the
abodes of monks or hermits. It was not,
however, used in that restricted sense
only, in Cornier times, though it has been
so hy all modern writers. Hiouen Thsang,
for instance, calls the Great Tower at
Buddb Qaya a vihara. and describee
similar towers at Nalanda, 200 and 300
feet high, as viharas. The ' Mahawanso'
also applies the term indiscriminately to
temples of a certain class, and to resi-
dences. My impr< ssion is that all build-
ings designed in storeys were called
viharas, whether used for the al>ode of
priests or to enshrine relies or images.
The name was used to distinguish them
from stupasor towers, which were always
relic shrines, or erected as memorials of
plabes or events, and never were resi-
dences or simulated to he such, or con-
tained images, till the last gasp of the
style, as at Kholvi. At present this is
only a theory; it may, before long, become
a certainty. Strictly speaking, the resi-
dences ought probably to be called
Sangharamas.but, to avoid multiplication
of terms, vihara is used in this work as
the synonym of monastery, which is the
sense in which it is usually understood
by modern authors.
- Vol. i\\, Woodcuts Xos. 89, 90.
VIHARAS.
133
CHAPTEi; VI.
VIHARAS,1 OR MONASTERIES.
contests.
Structural Viharas—Bengal and Western Vihara Caves—Nassiek, Ajunta, Bagtl,
Dhumnar, Kholvi, ami Ellora Viharas—Circular Cave at Junir.
Stb dctubal Viharas.
AVk are almost more dependent on rock-cut examples for our know-
ledge of the Viharas or monasteries of the Buddhists than we are
for that of their Chaityas or churches : a circumstance more to be
regretted in this instance than in the other. In a chaitya hall
the interior is naturally the principal object, and where the art
of the architect would be principally lavished. Next would come
the facade. The sides and apse are comparatively insignificant and
incapable of ornament. The facades and the interior can be as well
expressed in the rock as when standing free; but the case is different
with the viharas. A court or hall surrounded with cells is not an
imposing architectural object. Where the court has galleries two or
three storeys in height, and the pillars that support these are richly
carved, it may attain an amount of picturestjueness we find in our
old hostelries, or of that cla.ss of beauty that prevails in the courts
of .Spanish monasteries.'-' Such was, I believe, the form many of the
Indian structural viharas may have taken, but which could hardly
be repeated in the rock; and, unless some representations are dis-
1 Throughout this Work the term "Vi-
hara " is applied only to monasteries, the
abodes of monks or hermits. It was not,
however, used in that restricted sense
only, in Cornier times, though it has been
so hy all modern writers. Hiouen Thsang,
for instance, calls the Great Tower at
Buddb Qaya a vihara. and describee
similar towers at Nalanda, 200 and 300
feet high, as viharas. The ' Mahawanso'
also applies the term indiscriminately to
temples of a certain class, and to resi-
dences. My impr< ssion is that all build-
ings designed in storeys were called
viharas, whether used for the al>ode of
priests or to enshrine relies or images.
The name was used to distinguish them
from stupasor towers, which were always
relic shrines, or erected as memorials of
plabes or events, and never were resi-
dences or simulated to he such, or con-
tained images, till the last gasp of the
style, as at Kholvi. At present this is
only a theory; it may, before long, become
a certainty. Strictly speaking, the resi-
dences ought probably to be called
Sangharamas.but, to avoid multiplication
of terms, vihara is used in this work as
the synonym of monastery, which is the
sense in which it is usually understood
by modern authors.
- Vol. i\\, Woodcuts Xos. 89, 90.