THE ANCIENT ABBEY OF AJANTA 67
Six, Seven, and Fifteen we find the spaces filled
with lotus patterns, and the semicircular opening
no longer has a definite meaning. They are no
longer windows. They are now only decorative.
On the facade of Cave Nineteen foreign influences
are at work. A horrible vulgarity has come over
the workmen, strictly comparable to the degrading
effects of European taste on Indian crafts to-day.
Each of these once beautiful outlines is now filled
with a hideous grinning face, altogether meaning-
less. From the chequer-work which recurs here
again and again (an ornament common amongst
the Gandhara sculptures in the Calcutta collection),
it is clear that these influences have come from
the north-west. They are possibly Greek, as trans-
mitted through Persia. There had been a great
rapprochement between India and Persia in the
course of the fifth century, and nowhere is the
crude secularising effect of the West on Indian
taste better illustrated.
Yet nowhere is the sober, synthetising power of the Indian intellect more visible. In spite of its eclecticism of detail, and daring romanticism in the treatment of sacred subjects, Nineteen at Ajanta remains one of the architectural triumphs of the world. It is the very flowering-point of a great civic life. The strong porch, brought for- ward on two solid pillars, suggests the presence and words of the leaders of men ; the side-galleries, their supporters and attendants ; while on the sill of the great window behind we have room and
