Note 145 — Chapter V · CHAITYA HALLS.
Reading edition
A few years ago it was reported that this screen was in danger of falling outwards, and I wrote repeatedly to India begging that something might be done to preserve it; but I have never been able to learn if this has been attended to. Only a small portion of the original ribbing of the Bhaja cave now remains. That of the Bedsa cave has been destroyed within the last ten or twelve years (‘Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. ix. p. 223); and it would be a thousand pities if this, which is the only original screen in India, were allowed to perish when a very small outlay would save it. Like the Iron pillar at Delhi which never rusts, teak wood that does not decay though exposed to the atmosphere for 2000 years, is a phenomenon worth the attention not only of antiquaries, but of natural philosophers.