Page:The Rock-cut Temples of India.djvu/18

Introduction. This discovery led to a thorough investigation of the Buddhist literature of Ceylon by the Hon. Mr. Turnour, and the consequent fixation of the date of the birth of Sakya Muni, the founder of that faith, in or about the year 623, and of his death eighty years later, in 543. It was also then ascertained that Buddhism did not become a prevalent, still less a state religion, till 300 years afterwards, in the reign of Asoka. As all the earlier excavations belong to this faith, an initial date was thus obtained, beyond which it was impossible to carry back the antiquity of any of the rock-cut temples then known or since brought to light. Subsequent researches have more and more confirmed the conclusions then arrived at; and there seems no reason for doubting but that the whole series of Indian Rock-cut Temples were excavated in the fourteen centuries which elapsed between the time when Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka, excavated the "Milkmaid's Cave" in Behar, about 200 years, and the completion of the Indra Subha by Indradyumna at Ellora, in the twelfth century after our era.

As might naturally be expected from their locality, the oldest group of these caves is that at Raja Griha in Behar, being close to the original seat of Buddhism, and where it first rose into importance. They extend from 200 to the destruction of the Andhra dynasty in the fifth century of our era.

Next to these is the Cuttack series, beginning about the same time, but ending earlier in so far as Buddhism is concerned, but continued through a Jaina series of much more modern date. These are the only two groups known to exist in Bengal.

On the western side of India, the Cave at Karli is apparently not only the oldest, but the finest known to exist. It is situated on what is now, and probably was then, the great highroad between the plains of the Deccan and the Harbour of Bombay, which we know to have been an important Buddhist locality, from the number of caves that still exist around it. But the most complete and interesting series known is that of Ajunta, which are fully illustrated in this volume. They extend from the first century to the tenth or eleventh  and present every variety of style of Buddhist art prevalent in India during that important period.

Next in importance to these is the well-known group at Ellora, xii