Page:The Rock-cut Temples of India.djvu/24

Introduction. these still remain. At Kennari, the wooden tenons still stick in the rock; but in most cases they are replaced by stone ribs cut out of the rock.

As the Brahmans excavated caves only in order to signalize their triumph over their enemies the Buddhists, and had no real purpose to guide them, their excavations are more varied in character, and not so easily classified. Generally speaking, however, they too may be divided into two classes—Pseudo Viharas and Temples.

The first of these resemble true monasteries at first sight, being caves with flat roofs supported by pillars, sometimes nearly similar to Buddhist excavations in arrangement. They are distinguished, however, from these, by having no cells or any arrangements for residence, the wall spaces between the pillars being invariably occupied by sculpture or niches for its reception; and instead of the chapel, or dagopa, there is generally either a small temple or a figure of Siva or Vishnu. Even without sculpture, however, there are peculiarities of plan in Brahmanical excavations which at once betray their origin to any one familiar with the architectural arrangement of Buddhist Viharas.

The Brahmanical temples are still more unlike the Buddhist examples, as these are invariably exteriors, and have consequently no meaning when cut in the rock. In almost every case they have also the disadvantage of standing in a pit, the rock being dug out all round, leaving them in the midst of the excavation. The one exception to this rule is the example of the Raths at Mahavellipore. There the Brahmans found a group of granite boulders lying on the seashore, and have carved them into the form of temples, having all the appearance of structural edifices with the advantage of monolithic durability; but the parts being all copied from edifices constructed with small stones, no apparent grandeur of effect results from this cause. The Kylas at Ellora and the temple at Dhumnar are, on the contrary, hid from view externally, and when looked at from above lose half the effect due to their dimensions. When standing in the pit, however, and looking up at them, there is something in the seclusion, and an effect of eternity in the simple wall of rock enclosing the richly-carved temple, which goes far to redeem these faults, and renders xviii