Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/172

 138 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. 12 miles south of Chalisgam in Khandesh, where there are several caves Buddhist, Brahmanical, and Jaina. Unfortunately the chaitya is entirely ruined by the decay of the rock, the front half of the temple having quite disappeared. From the style of the viharas, and a few epigraphs, we can only conclude that it must have ranked quite as early as the preceding. 1 The fourth of this series will be treated of among the four AjantA chaitya temples. The next group of caves, however, that at Bedsa, 10 or 11 miles south of Karle, shows con- siderable progress towards lithic construction. The screen is in stone ; the pillars are more upright though still sloping slightly inwards, the jambs more nearly parallel ; and, in fact, we have nearly all the features of a well-designed chaitya cave. The two pillars in front, however, as will be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 63), are so much too large in proportion to the 63. Plan of Cave at Bedsa. (From a Plan by J. Burgess.) Scale 50 ft, to i in. rest, that they are evidently stambhas, and ought to stand free instead of supporting a verandah. Their capitals (Woodcut No. 64, next page) are more like the Persepolitan type than almost any others in India, and are each surmounted by horses and elephants bearing men and women of bold and free execution. 2 From the view (Woodcut No. 65 on page 140) it will be seen 1 ' Cave Temples,' pp. 242-246, and plate 15; 'Archaeological Survey of Western India,' vol. iv. pp. 11-12. 2 In the PitalkhorS. vihara, we find the Persepolitan capital repeated with a variety of animals over it ; for the Hindu artists, from their natural aptitude for modifying and adapting forms, very soon replaced the bicephalous bull and ram of the Persian columns by a great variety of animals, sphinxes, and even human figures in the most grotesque attitudes. Dr. Le Bon, ' Les Monuments de 1'Inde,' P- I 5-