30G Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture. [Sept. 



bearing a singularly striking resemblance to the turned up corners of 

 the different stories of Chinese buildings. As the Chinese religion was 

 borrowed from the Indians chiefly through Kashmir, the introduction 

 of the Kashmirian style of temple must naturally have followed upon 

 the establishment of the new belief. This resemblance between the 

 sacred buildings of the two countries may therefore be taken as a strong 

 evidence in favor of the statement that Buddhism was introduced into 

 China by five hundred Kashmirian Arhans during the first century of 

 the Christian era. None of the stone roofs now existing have these 

 ornamental corners, nor do I think that they could ever have had them ; 

 unless perhaps some of the very earliest buildings, in which the wooden 

 roofs may have been more closely imitated. 



2. — The masonry of the roofs is constructed entirely of horizontal 

 courses. The ceilings are first formed by overlapping stones, which 

 gradually diminish the opening to a size sufficiently small to be covered 

 in by a single stone. Over this the interior of the pyramid was most 

 probably hollow. Such at least is the case with the Pandrethan roof, 

 which has a window in each of its four niches looking into the hollow 

 part of the roof. I have little doubt that the same plan was followed 

 in all the other roofs ; partly perhaps to lessen the great weight of the 

 pyramidal mass, but chiefly for the sake of economy. 



3. — The flattened top of the pyramid in the Payach example is an 

 elegant pinnacle formed of a melon-like fruit surmounted by a concave- 

 sided cone. In Sanskrit this is called kalasa ^r^re, which means the 

 topmost point of anything. Thus the famous Rana Sanka, the Sisodia 

 chief who opposed Baber, was called the kalasa, or pinnacle of the 

 glory of his native country, Mewar. 



XXIV. — Interior Decorations. 

 1 . — The interior decorations are of two kinds ; namely, those of the 

 walls and those of the ceilings. Of the latter there are but two speci- 

 mens, which have already been fully described in the accounts of the 

 Payach and Pandrethan temples. Under this head also should be 

 included the soflits of the trefoiled arches, which, in the only existing 

 example at Marttand, are divided into square panels, each containing an 

 expanded lotus flower. 



