text: Architecture The only substantial remains of very early viharas are in the rock-cut complexes, mostly in north India, the Deccan in particular, but this is an accident of survival. Originally structural viharas of stone or brick would probably have been at least as common everywhere, and the norm in the south.  By the second century BCE a standard plan for a vihara was established; these form the majority of Buddhist rock-cut "caves".  It consisted of a roughly square rectangular hall, in rock-cut cases, or probably an open court in structural examples, off which there were a number of small cells.  Rock-cut cells are often fitted with rock-cut platforms for beds and pillows.  The front wall had one or more entrances, and often a verandah.  Later the back wall facing the entrance had a fairly small shrine-room, often reached through an ante-chamber.  Initially these held stupas, but later a large sculpted Buddha image, sometimes with reliefs on the walls.  The verandah might also have sculpture, and in some cases the walls of the main hall.  Paintings were perhaps more common, but these rarely survive, except in a few cases such as Caves 2, 10, 11 and 17 at the Ajanta Caves.  As later rock-cut viharas are often on up to three storeys, this was also probably the case with the structural ones.
  As the vihara acquired a central image, it came to take over the function of the chaitya worship hall, and eventually these ceased to be built.  This was despite the rock-cut vihara shrine room usually offering no path for circumambulation or pradakshina, an important ritual practice.