DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.614#0056
20
was used as a roller on the Benares road by a Company's
engineer officer."1 There is reason for supposing that
some of the Bhilsa topes may be assigned to this epoch,
while others are, undoubtedly, of a somewhat later date.
Of the cave-temples, so interesting not only to the
archaeologist, but likewise to all lovers of the curious,
not one was excavated earlier than the first century
before Christ. The great Karlen cave dates from the
beginning of the Christian era. The Ajunta caves belong
to several epochs; and some may be as recent as the
ninth or tenth century a.d. The Viswakarman cave at
Ellora is of the seventh or eighth century a.d. Among
the caves in Behar there is one called from Lomasa the
Eishi, which, from certain peculiarities in its construc-
tion, may, it is conjectured, have been excavated prior
to the Christian era, although the inscription which
covers it is referred to a period so late as the fourth
century after Christ.
It has been asserted, on strong authority, that no
ancient temples or religious monasteries, apart from the
cave structures, exist in India, on the ground that the
pre-Buddhist Hindus were as yet simple and unso-
phisticated, and performed the rites of their religion,
to a great extent, without idols or temples; or, if
with them, those objects were made of perishable
material. The fact of no temples or other edifices
having been discovered is regarded as a powerful reason
in substantiation of this assertion. Now, to say the
least, it is exceedingly premature to hazard such an
opinion founded on such a basis, inasmuch as the study
1 Pergusson's Handbook of Architecture, p. 7.
was used as a roller on the Benares road by a Company's
engineer officer."1 There is reason for supposing that
some of the Bhilsa topes may be assigned to this epoch,
while others are, undoubtedly, of a somewhat later date.
Of the cave-temples, so interesting not only to the
archaeologist, but likewise to all lovers of the curious,
not one was excavated earlier than the first century
before Christ. The great Karlen cave dates from the
beginning of the Christian era. The Ajunta caves belong
to several epochs; and some may be as recent as the
ninth or tenth century a.d. The Viswakarman cave at
Ellora is of the seventh or eighth century a.d. Among
the caves in Behar there is one called from Lomasa the
Eishi, which, from certain peculiarities in its construc-
tion, may, it is conjectured, have been excavated prior
to the Christian era, although the inscription which
covers it is referred to a period so late as the fourth
century after Christ.
It has been asserted, on strong authority, that no
ancient temples or religious monasteries, apart from the
cave structures, exist in India, on the ground that the
pre-Buddhist Hindus were as yet simple and unso-
phisticated, and performed the rites of their religion,
to a great extent, without idols or temples; or, if
with them, those objects were made of perishable
material. The fact of no temples or other edifices
having been discovered is regarded as a powerful reason
in substantiation of this assertion. Now, to say the
least, it is exceedingly premature to hazard such an
opinion founded on such a basis, inasmuch as the study
1 Pergusson's Handbook of Architecture, p. 7.