Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/162

 128 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. of the same large size, and a mandapa 25 ft. in length by 9 ft. 9 in. wide has been added at some later date, at the east or front end of it. The original chapel is about 23 ft. in length inside and 8 ft. 9 in. wide in front and somewhat less at the apse. The walls are 3 ft. 6 in. thick, but inside pilasters have been built up to support a flat roof about 7^- ft. from the floor, hiding entirely the inside of the vaulting ; outside it is identical with that at Ter. The illustrations Nos. 50, 51, and 52, will enable the reader to form a fairly distinct conception of this interesting monument. These two examples, though of so small dimensions, fully confirm the inductions arrived at before their discovery, of the form of roof and arrangement of these chapels. They must at one time have been very numerous all over India, and further important discoveries may still reward careful research. At Guntupalle in the Godavari district is the ruin of one, measuring 53 ft. 6 in. in length by 14 ft. 6 in. wide ; but only a few feet of the walls remain. And at Vidyadharapuram, near Bezvvada, the foundations have been traced by Mr. Rea of still another. As so much of our information regarding the chaityas, as well as the viharas, which form the next group to be described, was first derived from the rock-cut examples in western India, it would be convenient, if it were possible, to present something like a statistical account of the number and distribution of the groups of caves found there. From what we know of their numbers and distribution we are warranted in assuming that there are at least fifty groups of caves in India proper. Some of these groups contain as many as 100 different and distinct excavations, many not more than ten or a dozen ; but altogether we may fairly assume that not less than 1 200 distinct specimens are to be found. Of these probably 300 may be of Brahmanical or Jaina origin ; the remaining 900 are Buddhist either monasteries or temples, the former being incomparably the more numerous class ; for of the latter not more than twenty or thirty are known to exist. This difference arose, no doubt, from the greater number of the viharas being grouped around structural topes, as was always the case in Afghanistan and Ceylon ; and, consequently, they did not require any rock- cut place of worship while possessed of the more usual and appropriate edifice. The facades of the caves are generally perfect, and form an exception to what has been said of our ignorance of the external appearance of Indian temples and monasteries, since they are executed in the rock with all the detail that could have graced the buildings of which they are copies. In the investigation of these objects, the perfect immutability of a temple once hewn