Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/163

 CHAP. V. CHAITYA HALLS. iag out of the living rock is a very important advantage. No repair can add to, or indeed scarcely alter, the general features of what is once so executed ; and there can be no doubt that we see them now, in all essentials, exactly as originally designed. This advantage will easily be appreciated by any one who has tried to grope for the evidence of a date in the design, afforded by our much-altered and often reconstructed cathedrals of the Middle Ages. The geographical distribution of the caves is somewhat singular, more than nine-tenths of those now known being found within the limits of the Bombay Presidency. The remainder consist of two groups in Bengal those of Bihar and Katak, neither of which is important in extent ; those of Dhamnar, Kholvi, Besnagar, and Bagh in Rajputana ; in Madras, the groups at Mamallapuram, Bezwada and Guntupalle ; and two or three small groups in the Panjab and Afghanistan. 1 This remarkable local distribution may be accounted for by the greater prevalence in western than in eastern India of rocks perfectly adapted to such works. The great cave district of western India is composed of horizontal strata of amygdaloid and other cognate trap formations, generally speaking of very considerable thickness and great uniformity of texture, and possessing besides the advantage that their edges are generally exposed in nearly perpendicular cliffs. No rock in any part of the world could either be more suited for the purpose or more favourably situated than these formations. They were easily accessible and easily worked. In the rarest possible instances are there any flaws or faults to disturb the uniformity of the design ; and, when complete, they afford a perfectly dry temple or abode, singularly uniform in temperature, and more durable than any class of temple found in any other part of the world. From the time of Asoka, B.C. 250, when the first cave was excavated at Rajagriha, till about the 8th century, or later, the series is uninterrupted ; and, if completely examined and drawn, the caves would furnish us with a complete religious and artistic history of the greater part of India during ten or eleven centuries, the darkest and most perplexing of her existence. But, although during this long period the practice was common to Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains, it ceased before the Muhammadan conquest. Hardly any excavations have been made or attempted since that period, except, perhaps, some rude Jaina monoliths in the rock at Gwaliar, and three in southern India. 1 For the Afghanistan caves, see W. Simpson's paper in ' Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects,' VOL. I. N.S., 1891, pp. 2S4ff, and 'Journal,' vol. vii. p. 244.