DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0167
11 i
BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.
Book I.
represented afterwards in sculptures or paintings. Whether we
shall ever recover any traces of what Buddhism was between the
death of Sakya Muni and Asoka, is more than doubtful. If found, it
would probably be even more unlike the present Buddhism than that
of the intermediate period. Judging from what we have hitherto
found, it looks as if it would turn out to be a pure worship of trees
by a Naga or serpent-reverencing race, on whose primitive faith
Asoka engrafted the teachings of Sakya .Muni. There were Buddhists,
of course, in India before Asoka's time, but it seems doubtful if they
were sufficiently powerful to dig caves or erect monuments. None at
least have yet been discovered, and till they are we must be content
to stop our backward researches with such a group of monuments as
these Udayagiri caves.
Western Vihara Caves.
There are at least four Viharas which we know for certainty were
excavated before the Christian Era. There are probably forty, but
they have not yet been edited with such care as to enable us to feel
confident in affixing dates to them. The four that are known are
those attached to the chaityas at Bhaja and Bedsa (Woodcuts Nos.
45, 49), and the two oldest at Ajunta, Nos. 12 and 11. Those at
Karli are probably coeval with the great chaitya itself, but, strange to
say, they have never been drawn or investigated, so that we really
know little or nothing about them. At Junir there are several, which
are very old, and at Sana and Tulaja, in Cujerat, there are several of
very ancient date, but they, like those at Junir, are too imperfectly
known to be quoted as authenticated examples of the period.
The oldest of these is that attached to the chaitya at Bhaja
{ante, Woodcut No. 45). It is five-celled; three of these have single
stone beds in them, one is double-bedded, and one, apparently the resi-
dence of the superior, is without that uncomfortable piece of furniture.
In front of these are two long stone benches at either end of a hall
33 ft. in length. It is not clear whether this hall was always open
as at present, but, if it was closed, it was by a wooden screen like the
chaitya beside it, which is undoubtedly of the same age. They are
indeed parts of one design. The same may be said of the Bedsa
vihara, though placed a little further apart. In this case, however,
there are three cells with stone beds in the verandah of the chaitya,
and a fourth was commenced when apparently it was determined to
remove the residence a little further off', and no instance, I believe,
occurs afterwards in which they were so conjoined, till at least a very
late date, when, as at Dhumnar (Woodcut No. t>5), all the parts got
again confounded together. As will be seen from the plan (Woodcut
No. 49) it is exceptional in form, being apsidal like the chaitya itself.
BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.
Book I.
represented afterwards in sculptures or paintings. Whether we
shall ever recover any traces of what Buddhism was between the
death of Sakya Muni and Asoka, is more than doubtful. If found, it
would probably be even more unlike the present Buddhism than that
of the intermediate period. Judging from what we have hitherto
found, it looks as if it would turn out to be a pure worship of trees
by a Naga or serpent-reverencing race, on whose primitive faith
Asoka engrafted the teachings of Sakya .Muni. There were Buddhists,
of course, in India before Asoka's time, but it seems doubtful if they
were sufficiently powerful to dig caves or erect monuments. None at
least have yet been discovered, and till they are we must be content
to stop our backward researches with such a group of monuments as
these Udayagiri caves.
Western Vihara Caves.
There are at least four Viharas which we know for certainty were
excavated before the Christian Era. There are probably forty, but
they have not yet been edited with such care as to enable us to feel
confident in affixing dates to them. The four that are known are
those attached to the chaityas at Bhaja and Bedsa (Woodcuts Nos.
45, 49), and the two oldest at Ajunta, Nos. 12 and 11. Those at
Karli are probably coeval with the great chaitya itself, but, strange to
say, they have never been drawn or investigated, so that we really
know little or nothing about them. At Junir there are several, which
are very old, and at Sana and Tulaja, in Cujerat, there are several of
very ancient date, but they, like those at Junir, are too imperfectly
known to be quoted as authenticated examples of the period.
The oldest of these is that attached to the chaitya at Bhaja
{ante, Woodcut No. 45). It is five-celled; three of these have single
stone beds in them, one is double-bedded, and one, apparently the resi-
dence of the superior, is without that uncomfortable piece of furniture.
In front of these are two long stone benches at either end of a hall
33 ft. in length. It is not clear whether this hall was always open
as at present, but, if it was closed, it was by a wooden screen like the
chaitya beside it, which is undoubtedly of the same age. They are
indeed parts of one design. The same may be said of the Bedsa
vihara, though placed a little further apart. In this case, however,
there are three cells with stone beds in the verandah of the chaitya,
and a fourth was commenced when apparently it was determined to
remove the residence a little further off', and no instance, I believe,
occurs afterwards in which they were so conjoined, till at least a very
late date, when, as at Dhumnar (Woodcut No. t>5), all the parts got
again confounded together. As will be seen from the plan (Woodcut
No. 49) it is exceptional in form, being apsidal like the chaitya itself.