Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/230

 196 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. ments of great beauty. The capital is ornamented with an oblong bas-relief in the centre, containing a religious scene, as is the case with most of those in the cave, and is supported by flying figures on the brackets, as is also the case in many of the later caves. On the right front corner pillar in the hall the fluting is also spiral, but the twist is reversed in the upper section. 1 With the last chaitya, which belongs to this group, these caves carry our history down certainly into the 7th century. The work in the unfinished caves, I fancy, must have been arrested by the troubles which took place in Central India about the year 650, or shortly afterwards, and after which it is hardly probable that any Buddhist community would have leisure or means to carry out works, on such a scale at least, as these Ajanta viharas. It is, of course, impossible, without a much greater amount of illustration than is compatible with the nature of this work, to convey to those who have not seen them any idea of the various points of interest found in these caves ; but the general reader will find a more detailed account in the volume on the 'Cave Temples of India,' supplemented in the 4th volume of the 'Archaeological Survey of Western India.' The fairly complete series of illustrations of the paintings as well as the architecture of these caves which we now possess, forms a valuable contribution to our knowledge, affording examples of Buddhist art, without admixture from any other religion, extending from the second century B.C. till the seventh, after our era ; and besides illustrating the arts and feelings of those ages, they form a chronometric scale by which to judge of and synchronise other known series, with which, however, they differ in several important particulars. For instance, at Ajanta, there is no single example of those bell - shaped Persian capitals to pillars, with waterpot bases ; nor is there any example of animals with riders crowning the capitals, such as are found at Bedsa, Karle, Nasik, Salsette, Pitalkhora, and elsewhere. The earlier copies of the paintings were lost when the dis- astrous fire at the Crystal Palace, in December 1866, destroyed Major Gill's facsimiles of the paintings some twenty-five of them many of large size. 2 Between 1872 and 1885 a serious effort, 1 ' Archaeological Survey of Western India,' vol. iv. p. 49, and plate 18, fig. z. 1 The fate of these very remarkable remains of early Indian art has been most unfortunate. The Royal Asiatic Society memorialised the Court of Directors in 1844, that an artist might be engaged to make accurate copies of the ancient frescoes referred to in Mr. Fergusson's account of the Ajanta Caves. This was promptly and generously approved by the Court, and Major Robert Gill spent about twelve years making copies of them ; these were sent home from time to time, and were exhibited in the Sydenham Crystal Palace, where they were unfor-