VERANDAH OF CAVE No. 16.—AJUNTA.
THE verandah of this Cave, No. 16, is supported by plain octagonal columns with bracket capitals, not unlike those of No. 11, and its roof is ornamented with paintings of singularly elegant design, but which unfortunately have been very much destroyed by exposure to atmospheric influences.
There are no inscriptions in the Caves Nos. 16 and 17, which would enable us to fix their date with certainty, but from such data as exist, and such analogies as are available for comparison in other Caves, there can be little doubt but that they belong to the seventh or eighth centuries. At all events we cannot be mistaken if we assert that they were excavated and painted between what in Europe we should call the age of Justinian and that of Charlemagne, but probably nearer the age of the first than second-named emperor.
The doorway leading into the central hall is unusually plain, being merely adorned with one pilaster similar in design to the pillar in the verandah of Cave No. 11.
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