CIIAP. VII.] THE FIXE ARTS. 489 



exhibit a very slight advance beyond the rudest attempts 

 at excavation. 



On examining the cave temples of continental India, 

 they appear to exhibit three stages of progress, first 

 mere unadorned cells, like those formed by Dasartha, 

 the grandson of Asoka, in the granite rocks of Behar, 

 about B.C. 200 ; next oblong apartments with a veran- 

 dah in front, like that of Ganesa, at Cuttack ; and lastly, 

 ample halls with colonnades separating the nave from the 

 aisles, and embellished externally with facades and agri- 

 cultural decorations, such as the caves of Karli, Ajunta, 

 and Ellora. 1 But in Ceylon the earliest rock temples 

 were merely hollows beneath overhanging rocks, like 

 those still existing at Dambool, and the Aluwihara at 

 Matelle, in both of which advantage has been taken of 

 the accidental shelter of rounded boulders, and an en- 

 trance constructed by applying a facade of masonry, de- 

 void of all pretensions to ornament. 



The utmost effort at excavation never appears to 

 have advanced beyond the second stage attained in 

 Bengal, a small cell with a few columns to support a 

 verandah in front ; and even of this but very few exam- 

 ples now exist in Ceylon, the most favourable being 

 the Galle-wihara at Pollanarrua, which, according to the 

 Rajavali, was executed by Prakrania L, in the 12th 

 century. 2 



Taking into consideration the enthusiasm exhibited 

 by the kings of Ceylon, and the munificence displayed 

 by them in the exaltation and extension of Buddhism, 

 their failure to emulate the labours of its patrons in India 

 must be accounted for by the intractable nature of the 

 rocks with which they had to contend, the gneiss and 



1 See FERGUSSON'S Illustrations of 1 1845, and Handbook of Architecture, 

 the Rock-cut Temples of India, Lond. ch. ii, p. 23. 



2 Mahawanso, ch. Ixxvii. 



