Asoka Rule 2
Asoka Rule 2
Asoka Rule 2
•The Lomas Rishi and the Sudama are cut adjacent to one another
on the hill
•The interiors are very similar except for the façade of Lomas Rishi
which is very ornamental
•The doorways of the caves have a sloping jamb and are on the longer
side of the chamber
•The entrance unlike later caves, is not from the front but from the
side, the cave has a vestibule or a path connecting two rooms.
•The excavation was carried out this way and not axially due to the
configuration of the whale backed hill
•Barrel vaulted hall of 32’9” x 19’6” x 12’3”(ht.)
•At the end of the chamber entered by an interior doorway is a circular
cell 19’0” dia. With a hemispherical domed roof 12’3” high
Rectangular Hall
Circular room
Barrel vault
Domical roof
LOMAS RISHI AT BARABAR - 3rd c. BC
Exteriors :
•The façade is an accurate reproduction of the gable end of a wooden structure
chiselled in rock
•2 stout uprights inclined slightly inwards, 13’ high forms the main support
•The principal rafters are jointed on the top with the other parallel rafters
•On the rafters are fixed the curved roof of 3 laminated planks, the lower extremities of
which are kept in place by short tie rods, circular in section (lathe)
•The doorway is 7½’ is recessed within a semi circular archway above which are 2
lunettes forming a fanlight
•The lower lunette has a procession of elephants.The elephants are exquisitely
modeled performing an obeisance before a stupa
•The upper lunette has a pattern of lattice work both designed copied from
perforated wood
•Surmounting the gable is a finial which gets its shape from a terracotta original
•Sharply chiselled and a highly polished surface
The circular cell has an overhanging cave
like a thatch
The walls have irregular perpendicular
grooves in imitation of the upright battens
of wood or bamboo ( beehive hut)
A highly burnished surface resembling
glass
PALACES – KUMRAHAR PATNA - 3rd c. BC
Viharas or monasteries constructed with brick or excavated from rocks are found in different parts of India.
Usually built to a set plan, they have :
•hall meant for congregational prayer
•running verandah on three sides or
•an open courtyard surrounded by a row of cells and
•a pillared verandah in front.
•These cells served as dwelling places for the monks.
•These monastic buildings built of bricks were self-contained units and had a Chaitya hall or Chaitya mandir
attached to a stupa - the chief object of worship.
Some of the important Buddhist viharas are those at Ajanta, Ellora. Nasik, Karle, Kanheri, Bagh and Badami.
The Hinayana viharas found in these places have many interesting features which differentiate them from the
Mahayana type in the same regions. Though plain from the point of view of architecture, they are large halls with
cells excavated in the walls on three sides. The hall has one or more entrances. The small cells, each with a door have
one or two stone platforms to serve as beds.
HINAYANA / EARLY PHASE -2nd c BC – 2nd c. AD
Evolution of the Chaityas and the Viharas
Earlier the huts of the monks were grouped around an open
space to form the first monasteries
Evolution of the Vihara:
•An arrangement of a series of cells enclosing the 3 sides of
an open courtyard
•The other side is left open for the entrance
•Spatial planning:
• rooms normally opened onto an interior quadrangle
with the backs forming an outside wall
•This maintained the privacy and security
•An inside verandah was added along the perimeter of
the square for the monks
•A number of viharas are attached to a chaitya
hallresembling cloisters in the abbey church of the west
•Built mainly of wood and other perishable materials
•Evidence from bas reliefs
•Frequently a 2 storeyed structure, barrel vault, horse
shoe gable ends, light admitted through dormer windows
•Outer façade containing an entrance with woodwork,
including a pillared portico supporting a balcony- view
processions and ceremonie
•Modest structures of utilitarian character changing
character in the Mahayana Phase