In the later viharas there was a shrine in the centre of the back wall containing a large image of the Buddha.
The second type of rock excavations are known as viharasor monasteries devoted to the residence of monks and ascetics.
Asoka is here mentioned for the first time;--the Constantine of the Buddhist society, and famous for the number of viharas and topes which he erected.
Their priests, like the Buddhists', never marry, they live in isolated viharas and choose their successors from amongst the members of any social class.
Besides the Viharas already described, there are many others, scattered over the slope of the mountain.
They are all viharas with the exception of the principal temple; the greater number, however, are scarcely larger than ordinary small chambers, and are destitute of any peculiarity.
The principal temple resembles the larger viharas at Adjunta, with the single exception, that it is separated on both sides from the solid rock, and is connected with it only above, below, and at the back.
The older viharas or monasteries were also cut in the rock (Figs.
It is almost certain that this is a reproduction of the earlier forms of chaityas and viharas which existed in India, and have been already referred to.
Two kinds of edifices which are not tombs remain, the chaityas (temples or halls of assembly) and viharas or monasteries, which were generally attached to the chaityas.
These viharas may therefore be assigned to the 6th or 7th century A.
The rock-cut viharas are found in the neighborhood of the chaityas already described.
The description given in the sutras of these Viharas is far from discouraging.
The number of the monasteries or viharas in the territory of Magadha was so great that the old name of the country was changed for a name derived from them; it was called the land of monasteries: Vihara (Behar).
Hence it appears that the Brahmans considered it advisable to erect Brahmanic monasteries in opposition to the viharas of the Buddhists, and to support them at the cost of the state.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "viharas" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
