Page:The Rock-cut Temples of India.djvu/111



VIEW in the interior of Vihara No. 17, representing the first row of pillars internally from the entrance.

The two immediately in front of the doorway are as elegant as any pillars at Ajunta. The corresponding pair facing them opposite the sanctuary are richer but less graceful. The remaining sixteen are plain octagons with bracket capitals and no bases, but all richly painted. The figures of fat boys who do duty as transverse brackets supporting the beams of the roof, are peculiar to this Cave, though the wooden construction of the roof itself is the same in all, and is identical with that now used throughout India. In this instance it is of course repeated in the rock.

The great interest of this Cave is centered in the frescoes which cover every part of its interior; those of the roof in geometrical patterns like those of the verandah, and those of the walls representing legendary scenes from the life of Buddha and other celebrated Buddhist worthies. 21