Karli

Karli, a Chaitya temple-cave in Bombay Presidency, on the road between Bombay and Poona. In front stands a lion-pillar, supporting four lions, and bearing an inscription which ascribes its date to the 1st century B.C. The outer porch, 52 feet wide, is closed by the remains of a screen. The dimensions of the interior are 126 feet by 45 feet 7 inches, the height being not over 45 feet. The building consists of 'a nave and two side-aisles, terminating in an apse or semi-dome, round which the aisle is carried.' All the pillars are octagonal, the seven behind the dagoba or Tope (q.v.) being plain, but the fifteen on either side of the nave having richly ornamented capitals bearing elephants and human figures, all admirably executed. Over the entrance is one great window in the form of a horseshoe directing the light mainly on the dagoba. See Fergusson, History of Indian Architecture.