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INDIA, ARCHITECTURE OF. 



INDIA, ARCHITECTURE OF. 



643 



considering their age and the fact of their having belonged to a per- 

 secuted faith, they are in a remarkable state of preservation. They 

 occur, not only singly, but in groups of from ten to a hundred distinct 

 excavations, and there are in all perhaps not less than fifty of these 

 groups in various parts of India : nine-tenths of those now known being 

 found, according to Mr. Fergusson, within the limits of the Bombay 

 presidency. The oldest are considered to be those of Behar and 

 Cuttack ; among the moat remarkable are those on the Island of 

 Elephanta near Bombay, at Kennareh, in that of Salsette; those at 

 Ellora near Dowletabad ; at Perwatam on the Kiatna ; those near the 

 pass of Ajanti, and those at Carli, about 30 miles north-west of Poonah. 

 Many of these excavations are of great extent, being composed of a 

 series of apartments and recesses cut out of the rock. Merely as 

 monuments of human labour and perseverance the works of this class 

 would be astonishing, but it is their stupendousness combined with 

 magnificence, barbaric and frequently monstrous, that imparts to them 

 a character almost sublime. As if to imitate nature in her most 

 minute as well as her grandest productions, while colossal statues and 

 sculptures display themselves within these cavern-temples and on their 

 walls, elaborate embellishments of detail are frequently given to the 

 columns, which, as we have said, appear composed of fragments capri- 

 ciously put together ; what is sometimes described as a pedestal 

 supporting the column, might with as much propriety be termed its 

 lower portion, although square or polygonal, while the rest of the shaft 

 is circular. 



The rock-temple of Carli, one of thejargest and most complete, and 

 one of the oldest of these excavations, will serve to give a notion of 

 then- general form and character : we borrow our account of it from 

 Mr. Fergusson, who has personally examined and described it, and 

 indeed all the rock-temples of India ; and whose exact as well as exten- 

 sive knowledge of European as well as Asiatic architecture, renders his 

 descriptions of especial value. In plan it is much like an early Christian 

 church or basilica, " consisting of a nave and side aisles, and terminating 

 in an apse round which the aisle is carried. The general dimensions of 

 the interior are 126 feet, from the entrance to the back wall, by 

 45 feet 7 inches in width, from wall to wall. The side aisles, however, 

 are very much narrower than in Christian churches, the central one 

 being 25 feet 7 inches, so that the others are only 10 feet wide, inclu- 

 ding the thickness of the pillars. As a scale for comparison, it may be 

 mentioned that its arrangements and dimensions are very similar to 

 those of the choir of Norwich cathedral, or of the Abbey-aux-Hommes 

 at Caen, omitting the outer aisles in the latter buildings. The thick- 

 ness of the piers at Norwich and Caen nearly corresponds with the 

 breadth of the aisles in the Indian temple. In height, however, Carli 

 is very inferior, being only 42 or perhaps 45 feet from the floor to the 

 apex, as nearly as can be ascertained. 



" Fifteen pillars on each side separate the nave from the aisles ; each 

 of these has a tall base, an octagonal shaft, and richly ornamented 

 capital, on which kneel two elephantu, each bearing two figured, gene- 



rally a man and a woman, but sometimes two females, all very much 

 better executed than such ornaments usually are. The seven pillars 

 behind the altar are plain octagonal piers, without either base or 

 capital, and the four under the entrance gallery differ considerably 

 from those at the sides. These sculptures on the capitals supply the 

 place usually occupied by frieze and cornice in Grecian architecture ; 

 and in other examples plain painted surfaces occupy the same space. 

 Above this springs the roof, semicircular in general section but some- 

 what stilted at the sides, so as to make its height greater than the 

 semi-diameter. It is ornamented even at this day by a series of 

 wooden ribs, probably coeval with the excavation, which prove beyond 

 the shadow of a doubt that the roof is not a copy of a masonry arch, 

 but of some sort of timber construction which we cannot now very 

 well understand." \ 



The shrine of the deity, a plain cupola on a circular drum, stands 

 " immediately under the semi-dome of the apse, and nearly where the 

 altar stands in Christian churches." At the opposite end under a 

 gallery is the entrance, consisting of a central door, and one on each 

 side leading into the aisles. Above the gallery the hall is entirely 

 open, the opening looking like a great window with a horse-shoe arch ; 

 and through this window the whole of the light enters. A porch out- 

 side is seven feet wider than the body of the temple. It is closed in 

 front by two thick octagonal pillars which support a plain mass of 

 rock, but which Mr. Fergusson thinks was formerly ornamented by a 

 wooden gallery, and surmounted by a dwarf colonnade or attic, and 

 crowned with a cornice or some other ornament. In front of the porch 

 stands the Lit or lion-pillar ( which appears always to have stood in 

 front of the sacred buildings), which bears four seated lions, instead of 

 the usual solitary animal. Of the effect of the exterior it is now diffi- 

 cult to form an adequate conception, but, says Mr. Fergusson, " the 

 proportions of such parts as remain are so good, and the effect of the 

 whole so pleasing, that there can be little hesitation in ascribing to 

 such a design a tolerably high rank among architectural compositions. 

 Of the interior we can judge perfectly, and it certainly is as solemn 

 and grand as any interior can well be, and the mode of lighting the 

 most perfect one undivided volume of light coming through a single 

 opening overhead at a very favourable angle, and falling directly on 

 the altar or principal object in the building, leaving the rest in com- 

 parative obscurity. The effect is considerably heightened by the 

 closely set and thick columns that divide the three aisles from one 

 another, as they suffice to prevent the boundary walls from ever being 

 seen, and, as there are no openings in the walls, the view between the 

 pillars is practically imlimited.'' 



The better known rock temple of Elephanta, or Goripura (the 

 Mountain city), as it is called by the natives, is of later date and larger 

 dimensions. It is magnificently situated, being excavated about half 

 way up the side of a mountain, and in the midst of scenery of more 

 than ordinary grandeur. The entrance, which ia hewn out of a stone 

 resembling porphyry, ii by .1 spacious front, which is supported by 



Eulrauce to the Temple at ElephauU. 



two massive pillars (one of which has fallen), and two pilasters, forming 

 three openings, under a thick and steep rock overhung by brushwood 

 and wild shrubs. " The whole excavation consists of three principal 

 part* : the great temple itself, which is in the centre, and two smaller 

 chapels, one on each side of the great temple. These two chapels do 

 not come forward into a straight line with the front of the chief temple, 

 are not perceived on approaching the temple, and are considerably in 

 recess, being approached by two narrow passes in the hill, one on each 

 side of the grand entrance, h.ut at some distance from it. After ad- 

 vancing to some distance up these confined passes, we find each of 



them conduct* to", another front of the grand excavation, exactly like 

 the principal front which is first seen; all the three fronts being 

 hollowed out of the solid rock, and each consisting of two huge pillars 

 with two pilasters. The two side fronts are precisely opposite to each 

 other on the east and west, the grand entrance facing the north. The 

 two wings of the temple are at the upper end of these passages, and 

 are close by the grand excavation, but have no covered passage to 

 connect them with it." (Erskine.) 



" From the northern entrance to the extremity of this cave is about 

 130 feet, and from the east to the west side 133 feet. Twenty-six 



