The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

THE GUPTA PERIOD 219
153. Chezarla. chaitya-hall
vaulting. The facade of the building presents
the characteristic chaitya-arch form of the rockcut
chaitya-halls which at one time probably
A much more significant structure at this
same famous Buddhist site is the small temple
standins to the left of the chaitva-hall in
enframed a Buddhist subject in relief.
There is
a similar shrine at Ter [154], also dating from
the Gupta Period, which is preceded by a
walled-in porch or mandapa, an element that
seems to have come into general usage for
sanctuaries of all types, both Hindu and
Buddhist, in the fourth and fifth centuries.
A free-standing chaitya-hall at Sanchi. probably
built on earlier foundations, shows that this
type still persisted in the fifth century; the
columns as restored may be seen to the right in
illustration 155. Probably this chaitya was
rooted with wood and thatch over the stone
columns of the nave.
154. Ter. Trivikrama temple