Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/173

 CHAP. V. WESTERN CHAITYA HALLS. 139 how much the surface is covered with the rail decoration, a repetition on a small scale of the rails described in the last section, and which it may here be mentioned is a fair test of 64. Capital of Pillar in front of Cave at Bedsa (From a Photograph.) the age of any building. It gradually becomes less and less used after the date of these two chaitya caves, and disappears wholly in the 4th or 5th centuries ; but during that period its greater or less prevalence in any building is one of the surest indications we have of the relative age of any two examples. In this cave, as will be observed, nearly the whole of the ornamentation is made up of miniature rails, and repetitions of window fronts or facades. It has also a semicircular open- work moulding, like basket-work, which is only found in the very oldest caves, and is evidently so unsuited for stone-work that it is no wonder it was dropped very early. No example of it is known after the Christian Era. There is an inscription in this cave in an ancient form of letters, but without date, and this alone is not sufficient to fix its age absolutely without further evidence.