Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/167

 CHAP. V. WESTERN CHAITYA HALLS. 133 were excavated between the date of the Sudama and that of the " Milkmaid's Cave," so called (which was excavated by Dajaratha), probably within forty years of that date. They appear to range, therefore, from B.C. 250 to about 220, and the Lomas Rishi is probably the most modern it certainly is the most richly ornamented. No great amount of elabora- tion, however, is found in these examples, inasmuch as the material in which they are excavated is the hardest and most close-grained granite ; and it was hardly to be expected that a people, who so recently had been using chiefly wood as a building material, would have patience sufficient for labours like these. They have polished them like glass in the interior, and with that they have been content. There is yet another small cave of this class called Sita- marhi about 13 miles south of Rajagriha, and 25 miles east from Gaya. It consists of a chamber rectangular in plan, and measuring 15 ft. 9 in., by 1 1 ft 3 in., which is hollowed out of an isolated granite boulder lying detached by itself, and not near any rocks. Inside it is as carefully polished as any of those at Barabar. 1 Its principal interest, however, is in its section (Woodcut No. 57), which is that of a pointed arch rising from the floor level to a height of 6 ft. 7 in., without any perpendicular sides, which are found in the other caves here. The jambs of the doorway also slope inwards from the bottom to the top, about I in. each. From its peculiarities we might infer that it is possibly the oldest in the district ; but we must have a more extended series before we can form a reliable sequence in this direction. In 57- P^n and Section , r,. , of Sita-marm. Scale the meantime, however, we may feel sure that 2 o ft. to i in. this hermitage belongs to the great Mauryan age, but whether before or after A^oka's time must be left at present undetermined. 2 WESTERN CHAITYA HALLS. There are in the Western Ghats and elsewhere in the Bombay Presidency six or seven important chaitya caves whose dates can be made out, either from inscriptions, or from internal evidence, with very fair approximate certainty, and all of which were excavated, if I am not very much mistaken, before the Christian Era. The oldest of these is situated at a place 1 Beglar in ' Archaeological Survey of India Reports,' vol. viii. pp. 106-107.
 * ' Cave Temples,' pp. 52-53.