Ajanta: Cave 10, chaitya hall, dated 150 B.C.

Chaitya hall No. 10 is the oldest construction at Ajanta and may be dated to the 2nd century B.C. It is larger than the succeeding chaityas and measures 96 feet 6 inches in depth by 41 feet 3 inches in width internally, and 36 feet in height, Around the long rectangular nave and apse is a narrow aisle separated from the main part of the temple by 59 plain octagonal pillars, which are slightly bent toward the center of the cave and have neither bases nor capitals, At one time, wooden ribs radiated outward from the pillars, and their marks can still be detected in the roof though the wood has long since deteriorated, Great care in planning is evident in this early hall, and though the decoration is austerely applied it is gracious, At the back of the nave, in the apse of the hall, is the model stupa which the faithful would have circumambulated by the aisles during their worship at the hall, The stupa itself is different in conception from those post-dating it (in the age of King Asoka, for example) for it is not a half-domed, sphered, but an elongated bubble similar to those stupas constructed in the Gupta Period, Originally, bonds of sculptured decoration encircled the stupa at its midsection, These decorations are just visible today and are badly decayed