though still sloping slightly inwards, the jambs more nearly parallel, and in fact we have nearly all the features of a well-designed chaitya cave. The two pillars in front, however, as will be seen from the plan ([Woodcut No. 49]), are so much too large in proportion to the rest, that they are evidently stambhas, and ought to stand free instead of supporting a verandah. Their capitals ([Woodcut No. 50], p. 113) are more like the Persepolitan than any others in India, and are each surmounted by horses and elephants bearing men
51. View on Verandah of Cave at Bedsa.
(From a Photograph.)
and women of bold and free execution. From the view ([Woodcut No. 51]) it will be seen how much the surface is covered with the rail decoration, a repetition on a small scale of the rails described in the last section, and which it may here be mentioned is a fair test of the age of any building. It gradually becomes less and less used after the date
52. Chaitya Cave at Nassick.
(From a Photograph.)
of these two chaitya caves, and disappears wholly in the 4th or 5th centuries, but during that period its greater or less prevalence in any building is one of the surest indications we have of the relative age of any two examples. In this cave, as will be observed, nearly the whole of the ornamentation is made up of miniature rails, and repetitions of window fronts or façades. It has also a semicircular open-work moulding, like basket-work, which is only found in the very oldest caves, and is evidently so unsuited for stone-work that it is no wonder it was dropped very early. No example of it is known after the Christian Era. There is an inscription in this cave in an ancient form of letter, but not sufficiently distinct to fix its age absolutely without further evidence.