Footfalls of Indian history . we enter Cave Nine for the first time, wefind ourselves in the company of a great host ofrapt and adoring worshippers. They stand onevery face of the simple octagonal pillars, withtheir looks turned always to the solemn lookingstupa or dagoba. They have each one of them animbus behind him. They might be Bodhisattvas,but the feeling of worship so fills the httle chapelthat instinctively one piIis them down as the earlysaints and companions of Buddha, and turns with afeeling of awe to join their adoration of the dome-like altar. They are not archaic in the
Footfalls of Indian history . we enter Cave Nine for the first time, wefind ourselves in the company of a great host ofrapt and adoring worshippers. They stand onevery face of the simple octagonal pillars, withtheir looks turned always to the solemn lookingstupa or dagoba. They have each one of them animbus behind him. They might be Bodhisattvas,but the feeling of worship so fills the httle chapelthat instinctively one piIis them down as the earlysaints and companions of Buddha, and turns with afeeling of awe to join their adoration of the dome-like altar. They are not archaic in the sense ofcrudity. But they have the feeling of an earlyworld about them. They are like the work of FraAngelico, but may be anything in date from thesecond century onwards, that is to say a thousandyears before his time! In the aisle that runsbehind the pillars the walls are covered with simplescenes from the Teaching of Buddha. Here wefind the mother bringing her dead son, and theMaster seated with his disciples about him. But. VKRAXDA, CAVE NUMBKR , AJANTA THE ANCIENT ABBEY OF A J ANT A 129 we return to the nave, and, again looking at theforms on the pillar-faces, let ourselves dream for amoment, till we seem to hear the deep Adoramuswith which they fill the air around us. This silent throng of painted worshippers sug-gests to the minds eye the worship itself that oncefilled the little cathedral chapel. We see the pro-cession of monks that must have entered at onedoor, made pradakshina about the altar, and goneout on the other side. We see the lights that theycarried, the incense they waved, the prostrationsthey made, and the silent congregation of lay-folkand students who may have looked on them fromthe back of the nave, as even now at a Hindu aratione may kneel apart and watch. We hear thechanting of the monks as the incense was swung,and we realise the problem that Buddhism had tosolve in giving solemnity and impressiveness to aworship denuded of the splendours and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidfootfallsofi, bookyear1915
