THE avcijaeolo Steal S^ouruaL SEPTEMBER, 1848. THE INFLUENCE OF A PARABOLIC MOULDING UPON THE BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE OF WESTERN INDIA. The island of Salsette, or of the Sixty Villages, owes the peculiar loveliness of its scenery to volcanic eruptions, Avhich at some time subsequent to the commencement of the tertiary period, have at this place burst through the trap of Western India. In the centre of this island the trap rocks are high, and form a crater-like basin, which is open on its western side towards the ocean, and which is occupied by hi]ls and undulations of volcanic tufa. Two of these hills are perforated by Buddhist excavations, Avhich are known by the name of the Kenneri caves. Some idea of their extent and character may be formed from the description given by Anquetil du Perron in the third part of his preliminary discom-se to the Zend- Avesta, and the ground-plan which accompanies it; some further account is to be found in Fergusson's " Rock-cut Temples of India." The extent of these excavations is greater than that of any other Buddh remains in W^estern India, and the establish- ment of that religion in this place has been so large that erections have been made above ground. The Buddhite ex- cavations of Western India are of three kinds ; simple cells for the residence of individual monks ; large square caves, appar(^ntly used as schools, and excavations containing a chaitya, which again are either small and are possibly the burial-places of saints, or large and evidently intended for temples. The caves of Kenneri are peculiar in comprehend- ing a vast number of cells, only a few square caves, and but one completed temple. This temple is marked 3 " of the first stage from south to north-west" in Du Perron's ground-plan, and a section of it VOL. V. A a
