[131] For the reasons of the following determination and other particulars, the reader is referred to my work on ‘Tree and Serpent Worship,’ where the whole are set out at length. A short account of the tope will also be found in the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iii. (N. S.) p. 132, et seqq.
[132] ‘Histoire de Hiouen Thsang,’ traduite par Julien, vol. i. p. 188.
[133] It is probable that a tolerably correct idea of the general exterior appearance of the buildings from which these caves were copied may be obtained from the Raths (as they are called) of Mahavellipore (described further on, p. 328). These are monuments of a later date, and belonging to a different religion, but they correspond so nearly in all their parts with the temples and monasteries now under consideration, that we cannot doubt their being, in most respects, close copies of them. Curiously enough, the best illustrations of some of them are to be found among the unpublished sculptures of the Bharhut Tope.
[134] The only buildings in India I know of that gave the least hint of the external forms or construction of these halls are the huts of the Todas on the Nilgiri Hills. In a work recently published by the late Mr. Breeks, of the Madras Civil Service, he gives two photographs of these dwellings, plates 8 and 9. Their roofs have precisely the same elliptical forms as the chaitya with the ridge, giving the ogee form externally, and altogether, whether by accident or design, they are miniature chaitya halls. Externally they are covered with short thatch, neatly laid on. Such forms may have existed in India two thousand years ago, and may have given rise to the peculiarities of the chaitya halls, but it is, of course, impossible to prove it.
[135] ‘Illustrations of the Rock-cut Temples of India,’ 1 vol., text 8vo., with folio plates. Weale, London, 1845.
[136] ‘Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 36, et seqq., and vol. iv. p. 340, et seqq.
[137] Cunningham, ‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. i. p. 45.
[138] At Kondooty, near Bombay, there is a chaitya cave of much more modern date, which possesses a circular chamber like this. In the older examples it is probable a relic or some sacred symbol occupied the cell; in the later it may have been an image of Buddha. No plans or details of the Kondooty temple have, so far as I know, been published. I speak from information derived from MS. drawings.
[139] General Cunningham (‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. i. p. 45) and others are in the habit of calling this an Egyptian form. This it certainly is not, as no Egyptian doorway had sloping jambs. Nor can it properly be called Pelasgic. The Pelasgi did use that form, but derived it from stone constructions. The Indians only obtained it from wood.
[140] A very detailed account of all these caves will be found in Gen. Cunningham’s ‘Archæological Report’ for 1861-62.