CLOISTER, KYLAS.—ELLORA.
THE pit in which the Temple stands measures 150 ft. in width by 270 in length, and is surrounded on all sides by a cloister of which one bay is illustrated in the annexed view. Like everything else in the Kylas, it has the defect of being a literal copy from a structural form without any adaptation to its position. The consequence is that the pillars look painfully light or slender when considered as supporting the 80 or 100 ft. of plain rock which towers over them.
The back of the cloister is covered with sculptured groups, exhibiting all the wild exuberance and strange fancies of the Hindoo imagination, though still free from the worst exaggerations of the modern style. It is when standing in its shade and looking upwards, towards the Vimana, that we become aware of the grandeur of the composition, and feel that the whole forms an architectural picture not often surpassed.
73
