The Rock-cut Temples of India/The Caves of Ajunta/Roof of Chaitya No. 19—Ajunta
ROOF OF CHAITYA, No. 19.—AJUNTA.
VIEW taken from the upper gallery, showing the construction of the roof, which still retains the wooden forms of ribs with a ridge piece, though being cut in the rock they are probably stouter and thicker than they were when really executed in timber. The upper part of the daghopa is also seen, with its three umbrellas, but these have departed still further from their wooden prototypes, and are fast approaching those forms which gave rise to the three, six, and nine-storied towers of the Jains, and which are still built at the present day in China. The connexion between the porcelain tower at Nankin, and a hemispherical dome surmounted by a wooden umbrella, is certainly not at first sight apparent; but there are few things more clear than that the one is the direct lineal descendant of the other, and every step of the change can be pointed out.