Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE

abhadra) who was a Bhagavata (devotee) of Vasudeva, the early Vaishnava deity.

THE MAURYAS The earliest stone architecture consists of monolithic pillars built by Ashoka (272-231 B.C), the grandson of Chandra Gupta Maury a, the founder of the Maury a dynasty. These highly polished sandstone pillars have been found in various places throughout

THE SUNGAS The Sunga period also witnessed the first significant body of art that can be securely associated to the Buddhist religion. Buddhism was founded by Buddha (the Enlightened One) who was born in a Kshatriya (warrior caste) family in Magadha. Buddhism did not accept the authority of the Vedas, the caste system and rituals, and propounded ethical systems, in which non-violence ( ahimsa ) was a major element. The places connected with the events of Buddha's life came to be places of pilgrimage especially where architecturalforms such as Monasteries (viharas) and churches (stupas) came to be con- structed which are connected to the Sunga period. An important stupa is at Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh) dated to c 100 B.C known as Sanchi stupa II. Tradition credits Ashoka with building 84,000

Ashoka's vast empire, extending from Afghanistan on the west, Orissa in the east, Nepal in the north and Karnataka in the south. Each pillar consists of a monolithic shaft of about 50 ft. in height above which is an inverted bell capital on which is a circular drum, surrounded by an ani- mal capital, such as the Lion capital from Lauriya Nandangarh, the Bull capital from Rampurwa and the Lion capital from Sarnath. The Sarnath pillar consists of a lotus bell capital, surrounded by a sculpted drum on which are represented the bull, horse and lion above which are four addorsed lions while the crowning element originally consisted of a large wheel. These pillars are inscribed with epigraphs composed in the vernacular language of Magadha (a form of Prakrit) and propagate the message of dharma; hence they are known as dharma-stambhas (pillars of law). The inscriptions re- flect Ashoka's policy of dharma which was based on the principles of Bodhi dharma,

stupas all over India and Af- ghanistan but they have almost entirely perished. Some of them still exist, the most fa- mous being the big stupa at Sanchi, in Madhya Pradesh. The diameter of the stupa is 121 1/2 ft., the height about 77 1/2 ft., and the massive stone rail- ing which encloses it is 11 ft., in height. According to Sir John Marshall, the original brick

stupa built by Ashoka was probably of not more than half the present dimensions. In Buddhism, stupas contain relics and serve as symbols of Buddha and his parinirvana (final extinction). Ac- cording to Buddhist texts, Buddha’s relics were divided into eight portions and distributed to different kingdoms where stupas were erected over them. Ashoka redistributed them and eventually thou- sands of other stupas were raised in the name of Buddhism, as a direct reference to Sakyamuni himself. In Sanchi stupa II were found reliquaries ON which were inscriptions which indicate that it contained the bone relics that belong to famous Buddhist saints. The form of the stupa was closely related to its function: the. solid, circular hemispherical dome was enclosed within a railing (vedika) which formed a circumambulatory path around, meant to be cir- cumambulated by Buddhist devotees. The four cardinal entrances in the railing and the pattern of entrances thus produced creates a cos- mological diagram in the form of a swastika. The railing was perhaps a direct imitation in stone of a wooden prototype and contains elaborate carvings in the form of lions, dwarfs and wish fulfilling vine ( kalpalata ), as well as a prototype of a Sarnath lion pillar. Remains of a mahastupa (large stupa) were found (by Alexan- der Cunningham) in Bharhut which was located along a major trade route of ancient India, and datable to 100-80 B.C. Only the eastern torana (gateway) was found, but there were probably four, and they probably had an iconographic programme in their embellish- ment which consisted of animal figures, plants, makaras (crocodiles), Gajalakshmi (goddess of wealth), nagarajas, (ser- pent kings) including a Greek warrior and a royal procession bring-

such as non-injury to animals, tolerance and benevolence. The articulations on pillars, especially the lotus, animals and cakra re- veal religious and royal symbolism. They also appear to be a blend of Indian and Achaemenid art: the animals rendered naturalistically are reminiscent of seal carvings from the Indus Civilisation while the palmettes and "honey suckle" rosettes on the drum of the capital resemble west Asiatic ones at Bulandibagh; and the ad- dorsed lions might be due to Achaemenid royal influence. However, the unfluted pillar, animals on the drum, the lotus and wheel are clearly Indian elements and symbolise Indian concepts, such as the world axis, animals of direction, of creation and the Buddhist dharma , respectively. Ashoka's regime witnessed the establish- ment of rock cut architecture, such as the Lomas Rishi in the Bara- bar and Nagarjuna hills near Gaya. The cave is modelled after wooden architecture and donated to the Ajivaka sect. Post- Mauryan art, which is known as the Sunga period, continued the Mauryan tradition especially in the erection of pillars and carving of large figures of Yakshas. Important among the discoveries is the pillar at Vidisha which is surrounded by a Garuda (eagle, a vehicle of Vishnu) and constructed by a foreigner, Heliodorus (the ambas- sador .of the Graeco-Bactrian King Antialkidas to King Bhag-