Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/130

 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. of the Public Works Department. They also made careful plans and sections of the whole. 1 From these it appears that the dome is an exact hemisphere, 127 ft. in diameter, and consequently as nearly as may be, 400 ft. in circumference. The outer circle measures in like manner 159 ft. 2 in., or 500 ft. in circumference, and is ascended by four very grand flights of steps, one in each face, leading to a procession-path 16 ft. in width, ornamented both above and below by a range of dwarf pilasters, representing the detached rail of the older Indian monuments. It is, indeed, one of the most marked characteristics of these Gandhara topes, that none of them possess, or ever seem to have possessed, any trace of an independent rail ; but most have an ornamental belt of pilasters, joined generally by arches simulating the original rail. This can hardly be an early architectural form, and leads to the suspicion that, in spite of their deposits, their outward casing may be more modern than the coins they contain ; yet, on the other hand, we must admit that the simple hemispherical dome, without drum, placed on a low platform, 1 Cunningham, 'Archaeological Reports,' vol. v. pp. 75-79, and plates 21-24.