DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0224
188
BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.
Book I.
i' ... ....
g
mmkhmwIBMMKI
III
'if'iiiifiiiiiiiiiiiii
lilllJilljilllliftlli!
liniffifjjij
liill:'!;l
jfpp*
Dnyani Buddhas, Bodhisattwas, and all the modern pantheon
of Buddhism, arranged in admired confusion, as in most
of the modern caves.
There is no inscription,
but from its sculpture
and the form of its pillars
we may safely ascribe it
to the last age of Buddhist
art, say about the year
600 or later. The pillars
approximate closely in
style to those found at
Elephanta, and in the
Brahmanical caves at
Elura, which, from other
evidence, have been
assigned to dates varying
from 600 to 800 years of
our era.
More has perhaps
been said about the Nasik
caves than their archi-
tectural importance would
seem at first sight to
justify, but they are one
of the most important of
the purely Buddhist
great
106.
Pillar in 6'ri Yajna Cave.
is that
groups.1 Their
merit, however,
they belong to one of the most important of the older Indian
dynasties, known as the Andhrabhrityas, Natakarnis, or Sata-
vahanas. Owing to their coinage being mostly of lead, this
dynasty was for long overlooked by numismatists and others,
and could only be rehabilitated by their inscriptions and their
architectural work, on which these are found inscribed. And
labour on these materials has been rewarded by very important
chronological results.2
AjantA Viharas
As before mentioned, the central group of the four oldest
caves at Ajanta forms the nucleus from which the caves radiate
south-east and south-west—eight in one direction, and fourteen
India,’ vol. iv. pp. 98-114 ; Bhandarkar,
‘ Early history of the Dekkan,’ pp.
14-44.
1 For further details, see ‘ Cave
Temples,’ pp. 263 to 279, and plates.
2 ‘ Archmological Survey of Western
BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.
Book I.
i' ... ....
g
mmkhmwIBMMKI
III
'if'iiiifiiiiiiiiiiiii
lilllJilljilllliftlli!
liniffifjjij
liill:'!;l
jfpp*
Dnyani Buddhas, Bodhisattwas, and all the modern pantheon
of Buddhism, arranged in admired confusion, as in most
of the modern caves.
There is no inscription,
but from its sculpture
and the form of its pillars
we may safely ascribe it
to the last age of Buddhist
art, say about the year
600 or later. The pillars
approximate closely in
style to those found at
Elephanta, and in the
Brahmanical caves at
Elura, which, from other
evidence, have been
assigned to dates varying
from 600 to 800 years of
our era.
More has perhaps
been said about the Nasik
caves than their archi-
tectural importance would
seem at first sight to
justify, but they are one
of the most important of
the purely Buddhist
great
106.
Pillar in 6'ri Yajna Cave.
is that
groups.1 Their
merit, however,
they belong to one of the most important of the older Indian
dynasties, known as the Andhrabhrityas, Natakarnis, or Sata-
vahanas. Owing to their coinage being mostly of lead, this
dynasty was for long overlooked by numismatists and others,
and could only be rehabilitated by their inscriptions and their
architectural work, on which these are found inscribed. And
labour on these materials has been rewarded by very important
chronological results.2
AjantA Viharas
As before mentioned, the central group of the four oldest
caves at Ajanta forms the nucleus from which the caves radiate
south-east and south-west—eight in one direction, and fourteen
India,’ vol. iv. pp. 98-114 ; Bhandarkar,
‘ Early history of the Dekkan,’ pp.
14-44.
1 For further details, see ‘ Cave
Temples,’ pp. 263 to 279, and plates.
2 ‘ Archmological Survey of Western