Page:The Rock-cut Temples of India.djvu/151



HE spaces between the figure-sculptures are filled in with scrolls, in the triforium belt, of the usual patterns of the age. As a matter of course they are all different, and show a considerable amount of design and elaboration. Human masks, and dragons' heads, and other fantastic devices, are frequently mixed with the foliage, and add considerably to the effect. They, too, are evidently all copied from painted originals, and have not in this instance attained that architectural formality which they afterwards acquired, and which is so essential to true architectural effect.

The shafts of the pillars of the nave are also covered with sculptured ornaments, but as these were essential constructive parts of the building, the ornament on them is of a much soberer and more architectural form, and never interferes with the outline or the constructive effect of the columns it ornaments. 31