Note 46 — Chapter I · INTRODUCTION AND CLASSIFICATION.

I believe I was the first to ascertain these facts from a personal inspection of the monuments themselves. They were communicated to the Royal Asiatic Society in a paper I read on the ‘Rock-cut Temples of India,’ in 1842. Every subsequent research, and every increase of our knowledge, has tended to confirm those views to such an extent that they are not now disputed by any one acquainted with the literature of the subject, though some writers do still indulge in rhapsodies about the primæval antiquity of the caves, and their connection with those of Egypt, &c. Till all this is put on one side, no clear idea can be obtained of the true position of the art in India.