The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

THE AIHOLE TEMPLE

67

centrated light

upon thechaityaat

thefartherend. The

hall,

or mandapiDu,

shown in

front of the chapter-house in

the

illustration

(fig.

28),

was

most probably intended

for the lay

memberswhoattendedthe

service, or it mayhave

been used

astheassembly

hallofthevillage.

Generally, wemayassume, the lay

memberslistenedand

circumambulated outside the chaitya-pavilion,

or hall; butin

themoreimportant

chapter-houses

the

devotions of the lay

members

wereprovidedforbyverandahson

thelongsides of the hall. Plate

IX, c, shows one ofthis type, in

which,however,thereisnosttlpa-

like altar, but a simple table or

throne covered by an umbrella.

The verandahs are covered by

lean-to roofs

or

chhajas, which

support balconies, intended for a

music-gallery, with the usual

woodenrail surrounding them.

The

finest of the very few

structural

chaitya-grihas yet dis-

covered is one which Fergusson

and his followers,

to

the con-

fusion

of theirreaders,

put

into his Dravidian compartment,

though he points out its resemblance in plan to the ancient

Buddhist

chaitya-hall

at Sinchi. This is a stone building,

probably

ofthesixthorseventhcenturya.d.,

situatedatAihole

intheBijaptirdistrictoftheBombayPresidency. Althoughso

manycenturies

laterthan the buildingsoftheMauryan

epoch,

itmay

betakenparentheticallyoutofitschronologicalsequence

toexplain thearrangementofthe great rock-cut chaitya-halls

which
aretobedescribed next.

Fig.28.—AncientBuddhistChaitya-houseat

Ter(fromFergusson's"History").