Page:The Rock-cut Temples of India.djvu/327



T would be uninteresting to describe the remaining Caves of the Hindoo group, as among the photographs that have been sent to this country there are no illustrations of them. This is to be regretted, as among them the Doomar Lena is a finer and larger Cave than that of Elephanta, which it resembles, and there are several others of great magnificence.

There is also, unfortunately, only one illustration of so-called Jaina group, the Indra Subha. It illustrates, however, the perfection to which the Hindoos attained in Cave architecture when once they became so familiar with the rock as to enable them to dispense with structural forms, and adapt these masses to the apparent weight they had to sustain. In this respect some of their later caves almost surpass those of the Buddhists, for being bound by no utilitarian exigencies, they launched out into architectural magnificence, and succeeded in a manner rarely surpassed. 78