The Rock-cut Temples of India/The Caves of Ajunta/The Oldest Vihara—Ajunta
THE OLDEST VIHARA.—AJUNTA.
THIS and the following view, represent the interior of No. 12, the oldest Vihara or Monastery at Ajunta, and from the analogy with other similar excavations bearing inscriptions, was excavated almost certainly anterior to the Christian Era, though how long before it cannot now be determined.
It consists of a square hall, 36 ft. 7 in. each way without any pillars or internal supports. It has three cells on the right-hand side as you enter, and four cells on each of the other two faces. Towards the face of the rock it has one doorway, with a window on each side.
It is peculiar at Ajunta, from having no central cell opposite the entrance, and no image or object of worship of any sort. In this respect it resembles the old Cuttack and Behar Caves, none of which have any images in their interiors, though the practice was apparently universal in the West soon after the age at which these earliest caves were excavated.