Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/200

i66 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. by 1 3 ft. 6 in., but to this must be added the porch or ante- chapel that extended about 20 ft. further, making the whole about 52 ft. On two sides, and on half the third, it is sur- rounded by a verandah leading to cells. The third side never was finished, but in one of the side cells, measuring 1 5 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft. 10 in., is a smaller dagaba ; at the back are four cells one of them, 17 ft. 4 in. by 1 1 ft. 9 in., with an arched and ribbed roof; and on the west side are six cells, of which the third measures loj ft. by 8 ft. 4 in., and has two statues on the back wall, the whole making a confused mass of chambers and chaityas in which all the original parts are confounded, and all the primitive simplicity of design and arrangement is lost, to such an extent that, without previous knowledge, they would hardly be recognisable. 1 There are no exact data for determining the age of this cave, but like all of the series it is late, probably between A.D. 600 and 700, and its great interest is that, on comparing it with the chaitya and vihara at Bhaja or Bedsa (Woodcuts Nos. 58 and 63), we are enabled to realise the progress and changes that took place in designing these monuments during the eight or nine centuries that elapsed between them. 2 KHOLVI. Twenty-two miles south-east from Dhamnar is another series of caves not so extensive, but interesting as being probably the most modern group of Buddhist caves in India. No complete account of them has yet been published, 3 but enough is known to enable us to feel sure how modern they are. There are between forty and fifty excavations here, mostly small, and in three groups on the south, east, and north sides of the hill the principal caves being on the south face. The most marked feature about them is the presence of some seven stupas or dagabas with square bases, in all the larger of which shrines have been hollowed out for images. One, called Arjun's House, is a highly ornamented dagaba, originally apparently some 20 ft. in height, but the upper part being in masonry has 1 In Gen. Cunningham's ' Archaeo- logical Reports,' vol. ii. the plates 78-83, for Dhamnar, and 84 for Kholvi, are on too small a scale to be of much use. There are errors also in the plan, as in repre- senting nine cells on the west of the larger chaitya instead of six ; the facade on plate 80 belongs, not to " Bhim's bazar," but to the " Great Kacheri," as on plate 79 ; the pillars of the verandah in No. 1 1 (p. 273) are not " 3 ft." in height, but about 5 ft. 8 in. - A complete survey of the Dhamnar and Kholvi excavations has not been published, and they present peculiarities that only a fully detailed survey would enable us to understand. 3 ' Journal of Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. v. pp. 336-349.