The Rock-cut Temples of India/The Caves of Ajunta/Vihara No. 16—Ajunta
VIHARA No. 16.—AJUNTA.
NUMBERS 16 and 17 are the two most interesting Caves at Ajunta,—in so far as painting is concerned, the most so in India.
No. 16, represented in the above view, is a square cave, 67 ft. 6 in. wide, and 65 ft. 2 in. deep, exclusive of the sanctuary. The centre hall is surrounded by twenty pillars, generally of an octagonal form, the sides of which are adorned in painting with something like a Roman scroll, alternating with wreaths of flowers.
All the details of the architecture of this Cave are particularly good and elegant, more so than any other in this series. There are no side chapels, but eighteen cells surrounding the great hall. The figure in the sanctuary is seated with his feet down. Some of the paintings are tolerably entire and extremely interesting, though not so much so as those in the next cave. Most of these have been copied by Major Gill in facsimile, and these copies are now exhibited in the Indian Court of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham.