PORCH OF CHAITYA No. 19.—AJUNTA.
THIS and the next eleven views are devoted to the Chaitya Cave No. 19, which is by far the richest and most complete of those in this series, perhaps the most so in India. It is not large, however, being only 46 ft. 4 in. by 23 ft. 7 in. in width, the nave being surrounded by only seventeen pillars; but it has scarcely suffered at all from the hand of time, and all its ornaments being sculptured, they remain as distinct at the present day as when first executed.
There is nothing to fix with certainty the age of this Cave. It is certainly later than the Viharas last described, and cotemporary with some of those which follow, while there are analogies and other circumstances which cannot be detailed here, which render it probable that it was excavated about the eighth century of our era.
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