A HANmB K

OF INDIAN ART

BY E. B . HAVELLAUTHOR OF

“TH E H ISTORY OF ARYAN RULE I N IND IA “ANC IENT AND MEDIEVAL

ARCH ITECTURE OF IND IA IND IAN ARCH ITECTURE : ITs PSYCH OLOGY,STRUCTURE. AND H ISTORY “IDEALS O F IND IAN ART 3

“IND IAN SCULPTURE AND PA INT ING,

”ETC.

W ITH ILLU STR ATIONS

O

7

“iLONDON

OHN M U RRAY,ALBEMARLE STREET,

W .

1 920

PR E FACE

THE sp eech of H .M . the King at the opening of the

School of Oriental Studies in London ,and the efforts

now beingmade by the India Society t o endow a

permanent Lectureship in Indian Art at the School ,suggest the need of a suitable handbook for the subj ect .

Public interest in Indian art,both in India and in

Europe,has increased greatly since Imade the first

attempt t o explain it s ideals andmodes of expressioninmy Indz'cmSculpture and Painting ,

now out of print .The present

‘Wol‘

k ,embracing architecture ,

sculpture, and painting in it s scope

,aims at giving such a

concise survey of the whole subj ect,free fromdry

technicalities, as will interest both the student ‘

and

general reader,and serve as a useful handbook for

travellers in India . At the same time it attempts a

solution of several interesting problems which haveexercised theminds of archa ologists formany years,and gives the results Of further researches in a fieldwhich still offers unlimited scope for the art student .

In this respect,therefore

,it enlarges upon and

sometimes revises the conclusions arrived at inmyprevious works. Itmay serve as the foundation of a

full and c omp et ent ‘

hist ory of fine art in India, whichstill remains t o be written.

In the architectural section I have aimed at givingsuch an explanation aswill enable the reader t o perceive

vi PREFACE

the intention of the builder, and correlate stupa , temple ,

monastery,palace,mosque

,and tomb with the thought

and life of the period to which they belong , rather thant o classify themin a dry academicmanner whichmakesthe builder ’s intention as unintelligible as the his

t orian’

s explanation . Only when the craftsman ’

s ideais realised will Indian architecture become a subj ectof living interest

,an open book in which the thought

and life of India are written fromVedic times downto the present day . The architecture of India willnot then appear as a bewilderingmuseumofmarvelsbelonging t o a bygone age ,

but as a still living traditionof practical craftsmanship constantly readapting itselft o the spiritual and material needs of the age ,

and

bearing witness to the wonderful constructive workof our Aryan predecessors, who three thousand yearsago ,

occupying the same position in the East as theirsuccessors do to-day ,

laid the whole foundation of

Indian civilisation upon which we are attempting tobuild . The spirit of the ancient Aryan empire builderswill be our best guide in this great task .

The section devoted t o sculpture explains the leading ideaswhich underlie the Buddhist and Hindu c on

c ep t ions of the Deity and of divine worship , as theyare expressed in the finest works of different periods.

Apart fromthe extraordinary artistic interest of theseachievements of the temple-sculptor

,the study of them

will assist those who wish t o penetrate deeper into thereligious thought ofmodern India .

Apoint ofmuch importance for the correct c lassific ation of Indian temples is the relation of the image toits shrine or temple , as every Buddhist or Hindu imagehas an architectural framework appropriate for it .The indications I have givenmay lead the way to amore systematic treatment of a subject hitherto neg

PREFACE

lec ted by archaeologists but this is only possible forthose who have the advantage of living in India .

A brief review of the different schools of Indianpainting , with typical illustrations, is given in the

third section of the book .

For permission tomake use of official photographsand illustrations,my acknowledgments are due t o the

Secretary of State for India,and t o the Director of the

Victoria and Albert Museum,South Kensington also

to Mr . Norman Blount , Calcutta ; Mr . C . Stanley Clarke ,

Curator, Indian Section ,Victoria and Albert Museum;

Mr . O . C . Gangoly ; Lt .-Colonel Victor Goloubeff ; Dr .

Karl Madsen , Director of the Royal Museumof Art ,

Copenhagen ; Sir John Marshall , D irector-General ofthe Archaeological Survey of India ; Professor W .

Rothenstein ; Mr . Abanindro Nath Tagore , C.I .E

and to Lady Wantage for kind help in providingillustrations. I amfurther greatly indebted t o Mr .

F . W . Thomas, Librarian of the India Office ,for his

always ready assistance in details connected with thetext .

E . B . H .

jan . 1 9 20.

CO NTENTS

SECTION I . ARCHITECTUREPAGR

I . THE ORIGINS OF IND IAN ART— THE STUPA,OR K ING ’

S

MONUMENT

II. THE VED IC CHANDRA CULT AND THE STUPA

I I I . STUPAS AT SANCHI,BHARHUT

,AND AMARAVAT'

I'

IV. ASOKAN PILLARS AND THE BELL-SHAPED OR

LOTUS CAPITAL

v. THE STUPA-HOUSE , OR CHAPTER-HOUSE OF THE

BUDDH IST ORDER

V I . \THE SIKHARA TEMPLE , OR K ING’

s TABERNACLE

V I I . THE SIVA AND vISHNU -S IVA TEMPLE

V I II . THE MONASTERY ,MANDAPAM , AND PALACE

Ix . MOSQUE AND TOMB

x . MUHAMMADAN ARCH ITECTURE AT MANDU, JAUNPUR

AHMADABAD ,AND GAUR

x1 . THE B IJAPUR AND MOGUL SCHOOLS - MODERNIND IAN BU ILD ING

APPEND IX : THE LOTUS DOME

CONTENTS

SECTION II . SCULPTURE

I . THE B UDDHA As GURU AND AS K ING

I I . BRAHMA,V ISHNU

,AND SIVA

,AND THEIR SAK T\I S

I I I . THE TRIMURT I AND THE LESSER DEITIEs

SECTION III. PAINTING

THE PRINCIPLES , OF INDIAN PAINTING,AND THE CHARAC

TERISTICS OF THE PRINCIPAL SCHOOLS

ix

LIST OF PLATES

ABB REVIATIONS .- T.O India Office . Archaeological Survey Of Ind ia .

THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM . Frontisp fecaI llustration by M r. Abanindro Nath Tagore, C.I .E. by k ind permission

of the Prop rietors of The Studio, owners of the Copyright.PLATE FACING PAGEI. EARLY BUDDH IST STUPAS :

A. AT BEDSA. B . AT BHAJA

II . A. LOMAS RISH I CAVE , ENTRANCE (250 B C. )B. SUDAMA OR NYAGRODHA CAVE , LONGITUDINAL

SECTION

III. A. SANCH 'I' STUPA , GENERAL VIEW (Photo

B . SANCH 'I' STfJPA ,NORTHERN GATEWAY

IV. A. SANCHI STfJPA , PROCESS ION PATH (PhotoB . MAYA,

THE MOTHER or THE BUDDHA (PANELS ONTHE BACK OF THE NORTHERN GATEWAY)

RELIEFS FROM THE SANCHI GATEWAYSA. FROM BACK OF THE SOUTHERN GATEWAY (JATAKA

STORY— THE SIX-TUSKED ELEPHANT)B. FROM BACK OF THE EASTERN GATEWAY (MIDDLE

TRANSOM)C. FROM BACK OF THE EASTERN GATEWAY (LOWER

TRANSOM) ,

D . FROM BACK OF THE EASTERN GATEWAY (END OFMIDDLE TRANSOM)

A. THE FOREST SPIRIT, SCULPTURE FROM EASTERNGATEWAY, SANCHI

B . THE LOTUS AND LION PILLAR OF THE LAW (ASOKA’

S

IMPERIAL . STANDARD) FROM RAILING OF STf'JPANo . II, SANCHI (Photo

VII. CARVED PILLARS FROM RAILING OF STI'JPA No . II,SANCHI (Photo

LIST OF PLATES xi

FACING PAGEBAs-RELIEFS FROM THE AMARAVATI STI’ iPAA. TRANSLATION OF THE BUDDHA ’ S BOWLB . CARVING OF COPING STONE

A. NAVE OF THE STI‘JPA-HOUSE , KARLEB . CARVED PILLARS OF THE NAVE , KARLE (Photos

X . A. ENTRANCE PORCH , KARLE ,

B . VISHNU PILLAR , BESNAGAR (ERECTED BY ORDEROF HELIODORU S OF TAXILA c trc . 1 40 B C . )(Photo

A. INTERIOR OF STI'IPA-HOUSE No . XIX, AJANTA .

B . INTERIOR OF STGPA-HOUSE No . XXVI , AJANTA(Photos

A. ENTRANCE To STi'

JPA-HOUSE No . XXVI, AJANTAB . ENTRANCE To VISHVAKARMA STUPA-HOUSE,

ELLORA (Photos

XIII . A. ASOKA ’ S TEMPLE AT BODH-GAYA(FromRelief at B harht t t)

B . THE EXISTING TEMPLE AT BODH-GAYA(Photo A

XIV. A. SIKHARA OF THE LINGA RAJ TEMPLE , BHUVANESHVAR

B . MARKANDEYA POOL AND TEMPLE , BHUVANESHVAR (Photos

A. SHRINE OF LALU KISHVARA, CHOHTAN , MARWARSTATE (c trc . ELEVENTH CENTURY)

B . SHRINE OF THE N INE PLANETS AT BOD ,

BENGAL (Photos

CHATURBHU JA TEMPLE , KHAJURAHO , WEST END(Photo I .O . )

XVII. CHATU RBH U JA TEMPLE , KHAJURAHO , FROM S.E .

(Photo

XVIII. A. KHANWAR MATH TEMPLE,KHAJURAHO (IN

TERIOR OF MANDAPAM)B . TEMPLE OF ITTAGI , ROOF OF MANDAPAM

(Photos

XIX. A. ROYAL CHAPEL (MIRA BAI’S) AT CH ITOR

(Photo

B . A CITY OF THE DEVAS , PALITANA (Photo

xii LIST OF PLATESPLAT:

A. BAS-RELIEF FROM THE PALACE OF SENNACHARIB

,N INEVEH

B. STELE OF NARAN SIN ,LOUVRE (Photo M ansell)

A. MONOLITH IC SIVA SHRINE AT MAMALLAPURAM(ARJUNA

’

S RATH)(By kind permission of M . Vic tor Goloubefl)

B. SIVA SHRINE AT SANCHI (CARVING ON EASTGATEWAY) (Photo

XXII. SIVA TEMPLES AT MAMALLAPURAM(By kind permission of M . Vic tor Goloubefl)

XXIII. A. TOWER OF THE GREAT TEMPLE , TANJOREB. GOLDEN LOTUS POOL , MADURA TEMPLE

(Photos I

XXIV. KAILASA TEMPLE,ELLORA (GENERAL VIEW)

(Photo

SCULPTURES FROM KAILASA TEMPLE,ELLORA

A. SIVA AND PARVATIB . SIVA AS THE SUN-GOD (TRIPURANTAKA

M I’

JRTI)

XXVI. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE KAILASA TEMPLE ,ELLORA

(Froma drawing by the Arche ological Survey of West India)XXVII. KAILASA TEMPLE

,ELLORA :

A. VIEW OF SCULPTURED PLINTH(Photo johnston <5, H ofl

'

rnarm)B. LANKESHVARA CHAPEL

XXVIII. A. MAIN GOPURAM ,TEMPLE OF SRIVILLIPUTTUR

,

)

TINNEVEI.LY

B . GOPURAM OF MADHAVA PERUMAL TEMPLE ,GANDIKOTA

,CUDDAPAH (Photos

VISHNU-SIVA TEMPLE,ITTAGI (Photo

A. VISHNU-SIVA TEMPLE , BALACAMIB . VISHNU-SIVA TEMPLE

,GADAG (Photos

XXXI. A. GAUTAMA PUTRA MONASTERY,NAS IK

B AURANGABAD MONASTERY (CAVE III)(Photos

XXXII. A. ROCK-CUT MONASTERY, U NDAVALLI

B . ROCK-CUT MONASTERY,MAMALLAPURAM

(By him! permission of M . Vic tor Goloubefi)

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI .

XXXVII .

XXXVIII.

XXXIX .

XLI .

XLII .

XLIV.

XLV.

XLVI.

LIST OF PLATES xiii

FACING PAGEA. MANDAPAM OF THE VITTALASWAMI TEMPLE ,

VIJAYANAGAR 94B . D IWAN-I-KHAS

,DELH I 94

A. PALACE OF THE GODS (BHARHUT SCULPTURE ) 96

B MODERN MANS ION,B IKANIR (Photo 96

A. PALACE OF BIR SINGH,DATIYA 98

B . FRONT OF PALACE OF BIR SINGH ,DATIYA 98

A. DATIYA PALACE , WATER FRONT (Photo 100

B . JAHANGIRI MAHALL , AGRA , COURTYARD 1 00

(Photo A

A. PALACE OF SURAJ MALL , DIG , GARDENFRONT

B . PALACE OF SURAJ MALL , DIG , WATERFRONT (Photos

MIHRABS IN INDIAN MOSQUESA. FROM ADINAH MASJ ID , GAUR 106

B . FROM JAMI ’ MASJ ID , JUNAGADH (Photos 1 06

A. BULAND DARWAZA , FATEHPUR-SIKRI 1 08

(Photo

B . CHAUMUKH TEMPLE , RANPUR , INTERIOR OFMANDAPAM (Photo

A. TOMB OF SIKANDAR LODI 1 1 0

B . SHER SHAH ’ S MOSQUE , DELH I (Photos 1 10

A . LOTUS DOME , AJANTA SCULPTURE (Photo 1 1 2

B . DIAGRAM SHOWING CONSTRUCTION OFLOTUS DOME

A. TOMB OF SHER SHAH,SAHSERAM

, (Photo 1 1 4B . TOMB OF H UMAYI

‘

JN,DELH I (Photo 1 1 4

A. ATALA MASJ ID , JAUNPUR (Photo 1 1 6

B . RANI RUPAWANTI ’S MASJ ID , AHMADABAD 1 1 6

(Photo I

A. INTERIOR OF JAMI ’ MASJ ID,AHMADABAD

B . JAMI ’ MASJ ID , CHAMPANIR

A. PERFORATEDSTONE WINDOW , AHMADABADB . PERFORATED STONE WINDOW , CHAMPANIR

(Photos I

A:STEP WELL , NEAR AHMADABAD (Photo 1 22

B . CHOTA SONA MASJ ID, GAUR 1 22

xiv LIST OF PLATESPLATE FACING PAGEXLVII . ITIMAD-U D -DAULA ’S TOMB , AGRA (Photo 1 24

B . INTERIOR OF THE SAMMAN BURJ, AGRA 1 24

(Photo johnston (Ev H offmann)XLVIII . A. PANCH MAHALL , FATEHPUR-SIKRI (Photo 1 26

B . RAJA B IRBAL ’

S PALACE , FATEHPUR-SIKRI 1 26

XLIX . A. SULTAN MUHAMMAD ’S TOMB, B IJAPI

’

JR 1 30

B . SULTAN IBRAHIM ’ S TOMB, B IJAPI

'

IR (Photos 1 30

L . A. THE TA! MAHALL , AGRA 1 38

B . INLAID MARBLE SCREEN SURROUNDING THECENOTAPH IN

' THE TAJA. SHAH JAHAN

’

S MOSQUE , DELHI(Photo Frith (St Co Ld .)

B . MODERN MOSQUE , BHOPAL, Now UNDER

CONSTRUCTION (PhotoN INETEENTH-CENTURY PALACES AT BENARES :A. AT GHOSLA GHATB . AT MUNSHI GHAT (Photos M uzunidar)

SCU LPTURE

A. THE BUDDHA , ANU RADHAPI‘

IRA, CEYLON 1 54B . THE BUDDHA , SARNATH , NEAR BENARES 1 54

A. THE BUDDHA , AJANTA (CAVE IX) 1 55B . THE BUDDHA , MATHURAMUSEUM (Photos 1 55

A. THE BUDDHA , A COPPER STATUE FROM SULTANGAN! (Now in the B irminghamM useum)

B . THE BUDDHA , HEADLEss FIGURE , SARNATH(Photo

A. A BODHISATTVA , ToRso FROM SANCHI(Now in the Vic toria and A lbert M useum, Indian Sec tion)

B . SI'

IRYA , THE SUN-GOD , KONARAK (Photo A5 1 ) . 1 58

LVII . A. BODHISATTVA (AVALOKITESHVARA) , FROM JAVA 1 60

B . BODHISATTVA , FROM PRAMBANAM , JAVA 1 60

LVIII. A. HEAD OF THE BUDDHA , FROM JAVA 1 6 1

(Now in the E thnographic M useum, Leiden)B . HEAD OF THE BODHISATTVA , FROM JAVA

(Now in the Glyp totek , Copenhagen)

A . BRAHMA(Froma Sculp ture in the E thnographic M useum, Leiden)

B . SIVA AS BRAHMA (MAHESHAMU RTI(Froma Sculp ture in the Great Temp le of E lephanta)

LIST OF PLATES XV

FACING PAGELX. A. VISHNU SUPPORTING THE HEAVENS

(RelieffromM amallapuram) (Photo I0

B . THE COSMIC SLUMBER (VISHNU-NARAYANA)(Relief fromM amallap uram)

LXI. VISHNU-NARAYANA ; CEILING SCULPTURE FROMOLD TEMPLE AT AIHOLE (Photo

LXII. A. VISHNU AS THE U N IVERSAL PILLAR(Sculp ture fromJ ava)

VISHNU RAISING THE WORLD FROM THE FLOOD(BOAR-INCARNATION)

LXIII . A. LAKSHMI RISING FROM THE OCEAN(Relief fromM dmallapuram)

B . THE CHURN ING OF THE OCEAN(Relief fromAngkor Vat , Cambodia)

LXIV. A. SIVA AS KALARI-MURTI , CONQUEROR OF DEATH(B ronze in the B rihade'shvar Temp le, Tanjore)

B . SIVA ’S SAKTI , DURGA OR DEvI

(B ronze in the M adras M useum)LXV . A: S IVA AS NATARAJA , THE LORD OF THE U N IVER

SAL DANCE(B ronz e in the B rihadéshvar Temp le, Tanjore)

B . SIVA AS SANDHYA-NRITTA-MURTI,THE LORD

IN H IS EVEN ING DANCE(B ronze in the Colombo M useum)

LXVI. A. SIVA AS BHAIRAVA , THE TERRIBLE(Sculp ture fromElephanta)

B . DURGA SLAYING THE BUFFALO-DEMON OFIGNORANCE (MAHISURA)(Sculp ture fromjava, now in the EthnographicM useum, Leiden )

LXVII. A. A CHILD SAINT (SAIVA BHAKTA)(South Indian B ronze, in the Possession of LordAmp thill)

B . SUNDARAMURTI SWAMI , TAMIL SAINT(B ronz e in the B rihadéshvar Temp le, Tanjore)

LXVIII . A. THE H INDU TRIMURTI , ELEPHANTA(By kind permission of M . Vic tor Goloubeff)

B . THE BUDDHIST TRIMURTI(Gilt Copp er Image, Nepal)

xvi LIST OF PLATESPLATELXIX . A. KUVERA , FROM H UVISHKA

’

S MONASTERY ,GANDHARA

B . KUVERA (Gilt Copper Image, Nep al) .

LXX . A. GANESHA (Sculp ture fromjava)B . HANUMAN

(Copper Image in the Vic toria and Albert Museum,Indian Sec tion)

PAINTINGLXXI . SIVA AND PARVATI : CEILING PANEL, AJANTA,

CAVE I (By kind permission of M . Vic tor Goloubejff)

LXXII . HEAD OF BODHISATTVA : WALL PAINTING,

AJANTA,CAVE I .

LXXIII . A. PAINTING FROM SIGIRIYA , CEYLONB . PAINTING FROM SIGIRIYA , CEYLON

LXXIV. A. PORTRAIT OF SURAJ MALL , BY NANHA,ONE

OF JAHANGIR ’S COURT PAINTERSB . A FAKIR RECEIVING VISITORS :PAINTING BY

ONE OF SHAH JAHAN ’ S COURT PAINTERS .

LXXV. AROYAL KEEPER LEADING A DECOY ANTELOPE ,BY MANOHAR DAs(By kind permission of Lady Wantage)

LXXVI . SHAH JAHAN HOLDING A DURBAR : BRUSHDRAW ING BY ONE OF SHAH JAHAN

’

S COURTPAINTERS(Fromthe Original in the Royal Art M useum,Cop enhagen)

LXXVII. A. SIVA WORSHIPPERS AT A WAYSIDE SH RINE(Froman EarlyNineteen th-centuryPainting , Calc uttaA rt Gallery Collec tion)

B . HUNTING BY LAMPLIGHT(FromanEarlyE ighteen th centuryPainting ,CalcuttaArt Gallery Collec tion )

LXXVIII. RAG-MALA PAINTINGSA. FROM AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PAINTING

IN THE POSSESSION OF NORMAN BLOUNT,ESQ.

B . FROM A KRISHNA SERIES IN THE CALCUTTAART GALLERY COLLECTION , PROBABLYEARLY N INETEENTH CENTURY

LXXIX . KACHA AND DEVAJANI(Froma Fresco Painting by M r. Abanindro Nath

Tagore, C.I .E .)

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4 PERSIA AND INDIA

conversion to Buddhism,which took place about 256

B .C . ,a period embracing the foundation of the Persian

Empire by Cyrus,its overthrow by A lexander the

Great, and the latter’

s famous expedition into India.

Artistic research, in fact, has rarely gone beyond thislimit

,and the influence of Persia and of Greece during

these centuries is persistently upheld by the highestauthorities as that which dominated Indian art of

the Mauryan period, and shaped its subsequent development .

It is apparent that Perso-Greek masons wereamong themany employed in Asoka’

s public works,

and no doubt their exceptional skill gave thema highrank in the select body of craftsmen attached to theimperial service . But though it may be inevitable

,

according to the inductive method of archaeologicalresearch ,

to describe the capitals of Asokan pillars as

bell-shaped and Persepolitan,

‘

SUCh c lassific a

tion begs the whole question of the origins of earlyIndian art . Neither is it possible

,bymere technical

analysis of this kind , to discover the deepermeaningof any art

,or to relate themonuments of a past age

t o the life and times of the people who built them.

The_st fip a; as is well known , was

’

a relic,

Shrine and

a symbol of the passing of the Buddha into PariNirvfina,

the boundlessOcean ofEternity . In Buddhisthistory it was primarily the funeralmonument of theroyal monk, the Prince of the Sékyas, Who taughtthe four Aryan truths, the Aryan Eightfold Path

, and

founded the Sangha, organised after the customs and

traditions of an Aryan clan . A lthough the stfip a

apparently belongs almost exclusively t o Bud dhismor

it s rival cult , Jainism,it s origin cannot be explained in

a sectarian sense . Its history did not begin with thedeath of Gautama Buddha,

or of Mahfivira . We shall

PERSIA AND INDIA 5

understand it better by describing it as themausoleum,

or funeralmonument , of an Aryan king tam.The Buddha was given a royaLfuneral by the Aryantribesmen as the H ead of the Sangha . Similar honourswere paid t o his successors, and t o all the Abbots of thegreat Buddhist monasteries

,who on state occasions

adopted the insignia of Indo-Aryan royalty : t emp oral kings bowed down t o them

,and even gave up

their thrones t o them. The royaiumj rella raised on

the t op of the stupa was notmere religious symbolism:it was in the first instance a recognition of the socialrank

,real or assumed ,

of the spiritual teachers whoseashes were dep osited there .

Indian building traditions in Asoka’

S time were”ofmuch greater antiquity than the palaces of Darius

,

and it is not necessary t o account for the perfection of

Asokan masonic craftsmanship by assuming that itwas borrowed fromIran . The royal craftsmen of

Persepolis probably borrowed asmuch fromIndia as

the Mauryan craftsmen borrowed fromWestern Asia .

The Iranians and Indo-Aryans were c o‘-heirs of the

Aryan tradition, .but the symbolismof the bell

shaped capital of Persepolis, aswe Shall presently see ,

is Indian rather than Persian .

So with the st fip a itself, we Shall only get a clearconception of it s place in Buddhist history by c on

nec t ing it with Indo-Aryan traditions,of which Vedic

literature and the epics of Indo-Aryan ,the R imz'iyana

and the Mahi bhérata,are the record . The connection

of the st fip a with Buddhist religious ritual was not

derived ent irely fromthe Circumstance of GautamaBuddha’

s royal birth . The Kshatriyas,or the warrior

class, t o which he belonged ,

had been fromtimeimmemorial the spiritual leaders of the Aryan people .

The Kshatriya king , or Chieftain , ex ofiicio presided over

THE SUN AND MOON-GOD

the sacrificial rites of the Aryan tribe or clan . He

was regarded as the representative,or offspring

,of the

deity invoked . Thus the royal line of Ajodhya in theRfimfiyana claimed t o be of the Sfirya-vamsaw the raceof the Sun -

god ,Sarya 1 -while the Péndava and K au

rava princes in the Mahébhérata were said t o belongt o the Chandra-vamsa— the race of the Moon-

god ,

Chandra . The cult of king-worship would naturallyhave two branches

,the one in which bhakti , or devotion

t o the deity in the person of the living king , was thestarting-point the other rooted in ancestor Worship

,

with the stfip a of the deceasedmonarch as its shrin'

e.

The Sun-

god was the presiding deity of the one,the

Moon-

god of the other . The changes of the moondetermined the dates on which shrdddha offerings todeceased ancestors weremade .

The Buddha himself condemned as worthless thewhole systemof Vedic sacrifices, including in his banastrology

,divination

,spells

,omens

,and witchcraft ;

but in the earliest Buddhist stfip as known t o us, the

symbolismis entirely borrowed fromthe sacrificial loreof the Vedas . The Buddha , indeed , was emphatic indeclaring that the Eightfold Path of Good Living alongwhich he led his followers was the ancient Aryan way ,

trodden by Buddhas of a bygone age .

2

It has been assumed by archaeologists, followingFergusson

’

s lead ,that Wemust draw .a hard-and- fast

line between the ritual of Hinduismand the ritual

1 The Kings of Egypt , beginning with the Fifth Dynasty , were also

reput ed t o be the sons of R a —the sun-god of H eliopolis . Each k ing Ofthis d ynast y built for himself a. sanct uary of R a , and the charge of

t hese sun-t emples was given t o spec ially honoured nobles. (H . R .

H all’

s Anc ient H istory of the Near East, pp . 1 292 Themet aphor of the Eight fold Path was borrowed fromthe

processional path of the Aryan fort ified set tlement , which generally hadeight gates.

VEDIC RITUAL 7

of the Vedas ; that the temple worship of the formerismostly derived fromaboriginal superstitions adoptedby the Brahmans,

and that the latter is pure Aryan .

On this theory Fergusson tried t o explain the originof the most conspicuous feature of Hindu t emp learchitecture In Northern India , the curvilinear spire ,

or sikhara .

But themore the symbolismof Hindu architectureis understood , the clearer it becomes that , just as thechanting of the Vedic hymns in the temple service of

to-day follows themusical traditions of three thousandyears ago ,

born in the mountain-groves of Ariana ,

so the e temple itself 13 also directly derivedi n» “0-0 mm wh om-ad“.

fromt_

ent Aryans In India .

Throughout these Vedic rites, as described in the

Brahmanas, one c an trace the same structural elements,though in a primitive form,

and the same symbolismas are found in the Silp a-séist ras

, the canonical bookso fHindu craftsmen . In Hindu t emples the ceremoniesconnected with the worship of the Fire-spirit , Agni ,began with the construction of huts or tabernac les of

various Shapes,oriented differently in relation t o the

house , and with doors facing different points of the

compass.

1 These sacrificial tabernacles, though p er

1 In the Agny-Adhéya , or consecrat ion of the household fires, therewas a round hut plac ed on the west with doors on the east and southa square hut on the east with doors on the east and west ; a c rescentshaped heart h for one fire , and a round hearth for another , et c . (seeB arnet t , Antiquities of India , pp . 1 5 6 Very similar inst ruc t ionsfor the building of t emples are given in Mfinasé ra . Thus a t emple of

B rahma, the Creator ,must have a door on all four sides— the four doorsof the sky . A t emple of Vishnu , the Preserver ,must have one doorfac ing the rising sun , Vishnu t ak ing the plac e Of Sfirya , the ancientAryan sun-

god . A t emple of Siva , the Lord of Death ,must have one

d oor fac ing the set t ing sun . A B rahma pillar was square , a Vishnupillar oc t agonal , and a Siva pillar sixt een-sided . A plain cylindricalpillar symbolised Chandra , the Moon .

8 VEDIC RITUAL

hapsprimitive in formand structure , served all the

purposes of temples, and were doubtless the prototypes of those which were in later times built , on a greatand costly scale , of permanentmaterials . In themtheoffi ciating priest , the householder , or K sha

tain,passed days ,

sometimes even a year,

the presc ribed ri tes.H

~w ~—v -r

Now, when the king or Chieftain , assisted by hisM . M

purohita , or chaplain , p refidg lp yer the tribal sacrificesas the son of Sfirya ,

the Sun god ,it ismore than

probable that the sacrificial hut constructed for himwasof a special formeasily distinguished by the crowd of

the“ impure ,

who were not allowed to enter theconsecrated ground , that it was crowned by the royalor tribal ensign , andmarked with the Symbols of the

Sun-

god .

Furthermore ,as the lighting of fireswas an essential

part of the Vedic ritual , itmay be assumed that thesacrificial chamber was constructed so that the

‘

fire

might burn effectively,and with the least Inconvenience

t o the sac rific er —i .e . ,itmust have had some kind of

chimney with appropriate vent-holes for the smoke .

A ll these conditions are fulfilled perfectly by the

sikhara of the Hindu temple . The tall spire over theshrine ,

pierced by the sun-W indows,which now are

only ornamental since the Shrine Is no longer a fire

chamber , would have served admirably the purposeof a chimney . It forms a conspicuous landmark ; itis crowned by the same insignia of royalty as Asoka ’

s

imperial standards— the amalaka , or pericarp of the

blue lotus, which is the flower of Vishnu Si'

i rya , the

Preserver of the U niverse ,and specially the patron

deity of a Kshatriya king . In the earliest knownexamples the curvilinear faces of the sikhara are always

W

decorated with Sun-emblems. The name vimdna ,the,

THE SIKHARA 9

chariot , given to the temple Shrine , connects it definitelywith the sacrificial rites of the ancient Aryan warriorpriest ; and as if to emphasise the fact , thewheels of thechieftain ’

s war-chariot are sometimes carved in stoneon two Sides of the Viména , as in the t emp leof Suryaat K on

’cirak . This suggests that the chariot of the Aryan

Chieftain ,with a bambu '

sikhara lashed to it , oftenserved as a sacrificial hut , especially in time of war .

The peculiar formof the sikhara is certainly derivedfrombambu construction— bambu being the universalmaterial for temporary structures of this k ind in the

holy land of t he Aryans in India .

But Aryan history points to the conclusion that thesikhara derives ultimately fromthe conicalmud huts ofMesopotamia

“and Persia ,

such as exist there in the

present day . Thestupa also probably comes fromthevalley of the Euphrates. One of themost interestingdiscOV

'

eries‘

Ofmodefn archaeology is the fragmentaryhist g ry of. Aryan .rule .in Mesop otamia, for it helps toexplainmuch that is Obscure in the origins of Indianart . About PERYIQ? was stormed and sackedby the Hittites. On their retreat the city was occupiedby an

”Aryag fl

tribe , the Kassites, and their Chieftain ,

Gandash , founded a dynasty which lasted for Six

centuries.

About the same time another Aryan tribe , theMitanni , founded a kLnnm, north, betweenthe Tigris and E uphrates. Sfirya , the ancient Vedic

Sun-

god , was the chief god of the Kassites, and the

gods of the Mitanni were also those which appear inthe Vedic hymnsfl Varuna

, the Concealer ,the ruler of

the night sky , and of the cosmic ocean into which thesun disappears at night Indra

, the ruler of the day,

who , like Sfirya , was the especial patron of the -Aryanwarrior , said to be the brother of Agni , the Fire-spirit

4

1 0 THE ARYANS IN MESOPOTAMIA

and s the Ashvins, the twin horsemen who preceded thecoming of U shas, the,

Dawn -maiden . Among the laterkings of the Mitanni we find t he name of Dushrat ta (orDasaratha) — one which is very familiar in Indo-Aryanliterature fromthe story of the R imfiyana , and in

Indian history as the name ofAsoka’

s son and successor .

Among t he finds at Tel! el-Amarna in Egypt,is a

series of letters written by Dushrat ta to his relativeAmenhet ep III, King ofEgypt , inscribed on clay tabletsin the cuneiformscript of Babylonia .

1

During the Six centuries of Aryan domination inthe Euphrates valley , we c an hardly doubt that therewas a Close communication between the Indian and

Mesopotamian branches of the Aryan family ,and

there are remarkable resemblances to be noted betweentheAryéivarta of Mesopotamia and that of the Panjab.

The Aryans in Mitanni were living in a land ofmanyrivers on the Slopes of an abode of Snow ,

”the Taurus

mountain range ,sacred to the Bull — which in Baby

loniawas a symbol of the Sun ploughing his way amongthe Stars. It fmay be only a curious coincidence thaton the western side of the Taurus, where their powerfulneighbours 3 . -n whose

~m m

Anatolian vilayet called Sivas with a chief town of the

same name, a district towards which the sun-wor

shipping Aryans of Mitannimust have turned theirfaces when they adored the setting sun . Was thereanother Mount iK ailfisa in the Anatolian plateau worshipped as the Sun-god’s paradise ?The Aryan kings of Mitanni and of Babylon , like .

those of Vedic India ,left no records of temple building

or of sculpture . Their sacred literature was handed1 See H . R . H all , Anc ient H istory of theNear East, pp . 2 5 8

- 60 .

2 See Fraz er, The Golden B ough, V . 1 3 4 .

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1 2 THE SACRED FIRE

palace , but the entire Aryan settlement , was reckonedas sacrificial ground . They were the town-plannersand architects of the Aryan community . Like the

Brahmans, they were spiritual teachers, and as such itwas held to be disgraceful for themt O '

build housesfor gain .

1

Seeing that before the time of the Buddha theseAryan royal craftsmen thus deliberately preferredwood as buildingmaterial because it was the substance

“w q w

WhiCh produc ed - .theW e, and also of set pur

pose used other impermanentmaterials in their imp rovised temples, rather than brick or stone, it is highlyimprobable that we shall ever discover evidence of theorigins of Indo-Aryan art , especially of temple architecture ,

other than that which is disclosed in the

existing earlymonuments and in the surviving traditions of Indian craftsmanship . All the weight of thisevidence is against the theory that the authors ,of

the Vedic hymns and of the U panishads, an active

,martial people ,who by force of their intellect imposed

their ideas uponmany other races ofmankind , weredreamers who lacked constructive genius and the

technical skill which belongs to it .Vedic thought , Vedic tradition and customdominate

the art of India in the earliest times, as they havecontinued t o do so down to the present day . And it isnot among the debris of ruined cities, or by themethodsof the archaeologist and philologist , that we Shall everpenetrate t o the roots of its inspiration . Forgit grewfirst and lived for untold generations in the Himalayanforests, where the tree of the Devas, the deodar ,still l ifts its lordly crown ,

in those grand forest-cathe

1 The t radit ion of the high status they held In ancrent India survivesin the name acharya, which is used as a cognomen by the higher cast eart isans Of Southern India in the present day .

THE FOREST CATHEDRALS 1 3

dralswhere the ancient Aryans first sang the hymns ofthe Rig-Veda —as they are still sung in the thousandpillared halls ofHindu temples— their sonorous chantsreverberating fromtree t o tree like the drone of a

mighty organ . It was there that Indra , crashing withhis thunderbolt , and the Maruts, the StormWinds,chafing the tops of cedar and pine

,lighted Agn i’s

sacrificial fire ; when Rudra,

the Roarer,

”1rushed

like a fiery serpent down the deep ravines,clearing a

path through the jungles and seasoning the soil for theAryan ploughmen ,

but often in his rage taking theircattle or human Victims as his toll ; hence he had t o bepropitiated by voluntary burnt offerings and sacrific es.

In sequestered groves, among themountains,the

Vedic Rishis,Sheltered fromthe raging elements

,

guarded the Shrine of the sacred fire precious t o theAryan homestead and listened to '

the Devas whisperingin the tree-tops the secrets of the universe ; or wor

shipped themat the foot of their Himé layan thrones— themystic Lotus-flowers of the cosmic lake

,

’I pinkor crimson when the dawn flushed on themin the

East ; golden when Sfirya sank in gloriousmajesty inthe West

,and Silvery white when King Soma or

Chandra reigned atnight . The imagery p ft his anc ientHimfilayan poetry ,

the ritual of the Aryanmountainforest cult

, and thew

geligip us teaching “which grew out

1 Rudra , the Vedic formOf Siva , seems t o have been regarded as thedest-ru '

c t ive aspect of the Fire-spirit . In R ig-Veda I . cxiv . he is in

vok ed as the accomplisher of sac rifices, the t ortuous,” the dest royerOf heroes, and prayers are Offered that his c ow-killing and man~Slaying weapon may be avert ed .

3 The sea ofmilk of Vedic and Puranicmythology is no doubta poet ical Simile for the vast st ratumof low-lying fleecy clouds whichsomet imes collects over the H imc

’i layan valleys, the snow-peaks rising

above it being compared by the Aryan p ost s t o the lotus-flowers blooming in the Himalayan lakes.

1 4 VEDIC FUNERAL RITES

of its philosophy, formed the basis of the symbolismofV ' ” w

all the art of India throughout all its subsequenttechnical modifications .

To return now t o the earliest known Indo-Aryan

monument— the stup a ; its connection with theArmtraditions of p re-Buddhist India c an be traced both In

the Vedic funeral ritual , and in the structure of the

stfip a itself .According to Buddhist tradition , eight different

Indo-Aryan tribes built stfip as t o contain the remainsof the Buddha , while twomore were built to preservethe ashes of the funeral pyre

,and the iron vessel in

which the Blessed One’

s body had been cremated . We

know ,fromthe records of Vedic ritual

,that it was the

Aryan customfor relatives to collect the fragments of

bones of a deceased person fromthe funeral pyre ,and

t o deposit themin an urn which was Subsequentlyburied in the ground . Among Vedic rites was one

called Pitrimedha , or the sacrifice for ancestors, p erformed when amonument was raised over the funeralurn .

1 The exact character of themonument is not

described ,but it is clear that the Aryan tribes, in build

ing st fip as t o honour the Si khyan Chieftains,were not

creating a precedent , but following an anc ien t Vedic

tradition . The Buddhist st fip a , when itwasnotmerelya cenotaph ormemorial , was built to contain a funeralurn ; the railing , or the enclosure surrounding thesacred relics, was known as the vedika

‘

,the Sanskrit

word used for sacrificial ground in Vedic rites ; the

cross-bar of the rail was called suchi— another allusiont o Vedic ritual , for suchameans a shoot of the sacredkusha grass, which was spread upon the place of

sacrifice . Again , the lofty terrace at the base of the

st iip a used as the procession path of the pilgrims was1 See Barnet t

’

s Antiquities of India, p. 1 5 1 .

VEDIC RITUAL 1 5

called medhi , derived frommedha ,sac rific e .

1 The

symbolismof the pradakskind ,or circumambulatory 5

rite performed by Buddhist pilgrims, was likewisederived fromVedic sun-worship . The Aryan people,

when they went in solemn procession round an altar ,keeping the right hand towards it — and also theircattle as they trod out t he corn on the threshing-floorwere ,

like the Buddhist pilgrims, turning thewheel 4of the Law,

”3 i .e . , they were following the—

path of the

U niversal Law which directed the Sun in its orbit .

The Buddha only changed the Aryan concept of theLaw froma law of sacrifice to a law of spiritual evolution propounded by himself . In Buddhist

,art , _

therefore , the ancient d

.

‘

the

symbol of the Law, and was a

purified formof the ancient Aryan ritualminus theBrahman priest and his elaborate and costly animalsacrifices .

But , itmay be asked ,if the ancient Aryans always,

like the Buddhists, built stupas to contain the ashes oftheir illustrious dead

, why are there no traces of theirexistence to be found before Buddhist times ? The

explanation is also t o be found in Vedic ritual . Likethe tabernacles used in the Vedic sacrifices, the stfip aswere temp orary structures built for the occasion of

the sacrifice , and removed when i he sacrifice was over .

The sacrifices t o the spirits of the ancestors on lyextended to three generations. If the ski dddhas had

been duly performed by his relatives, the spirit of thegreat-grandfather

‘

needed no more their pious help .

H e passed away to the regions beyond the solar sphere .

1 M edhi’

ormethi was also the name of the circ lemade by the

Aryan cat t le when they t rod out the corn on the threshing-floor .

2 In certain Vedic rit es a chariot -wheel was fast ened t o a post , andt urned t owards the right by a B rahman ,

while he chant ed a hymn fromthe Sam-Veda . Hence the expression, Turning the Wheel of the Law .

”

I 6 VEDIC RITUAL

His stupa was-

removed or allowed to decay , and his

ashes, probably, were thrown into a sacred river , as isthe custominmodern Indian ritual .

If this conclusion is correct , Aryan culture Shouldnot bemisjudged , as 1t has been by archaeologicalwriters, because so few traces of p re

-Buddhist culturehave been discovered . The art of Bharhut ,and Karle is the direct offspring of Indo-Aryan culture ,though the craftsmen were doubtless often of non

Aryan race .

CHAPTER II

THE VEDIC CHANDRA CULT AND THE STI‘

JPA

THE symbolic art which found exp ress1on 1n the c on

struction and decoration of the stupa will be betterunderstood if the stfip a itself is first considered as

an Aryan royal tomb ,rather than as a Buddhist

monument . The st ripa in its earliest known formwasM w fi M f w w h

path at the base being usually enelesed by themassivem —“ Mo‘ r o b -m m .

railing,known as a vedika , such as surrounded an

Kfyan palace ,fortified camp or settlement , or kept off

the“ impure at Vedic sacrifices. The vedika had

an entrance gateway,or tomna , at each of the cardinal

points, Similar to that which is represented in Buddhistsculptures as the approach to a royal palace or town .

On the summit of the stupa was the recep tacle for thecmerary urn‘

of the king or hero ,crowned by the royal

umbrella,ah d often surrounded , like the stfip a itself ,

by the vedika whichmarked off holy ground . Sometimes, for greater safety, the urn was buried deeply lnthe structure of the stupa . The exterior of the domewas plastered , so that the deeds of the hero or saintmight be depicted on it for the edific at ion of the

relatives or pilgrims as they went round in solemnprocession . The stupa

,as it nowexists

,is nearly always

a solid structure of brick or stone , but probably it wasongmally a domical hut built of bambu or woodenribs. Thus the earliest stupamay have been the Aryan 4 ”

1 8 SPIRITS OF DAY AND NIGHT

chieftain’

sm h uL o n i ent , imitated or reproduced inVedic funeral rites as a temporary abode for the Spiritof the deceased

,until the due performance of the

shrdddhas by his relatives helped himto pass fromthe earthly. Sphere .

Vedic ritesmay be divided into twomain classes,in which the germof the twomain divisions ofmodernHinduism, the Vaish nava and Saiva sects, may be

discovered . The first were addressed to the spiritsof the day

— Sfirya, the Sun ; U shas, the Dawn ; Indra ,

the wielder of the Thunderbolt,brother of the Fire-

god ,

Agni, and others. They were joyful rites ac c omp anied by songs, and were p erformp d in the daytimeby the Kshatriya householder or the Chieftain of the

tribe t o secure the prosperity /of the living . The

Chieftains who presided at the tribal sacrifices were theSurya-y amsa ,

the ministrants of the Sun god ,and

fromthese patriarchal rites sprang them—

idea of the

bhakti-mai’ga , the path of devotion ,and karma-marga ,

the path of service ,which became the leadingmotives

of Vaishnava religious teaching . The second classincluded all the rites performed for the benefit of thedead

,which were addressed t o Chandra ,

the Moon,

Varuna, the God of the night sky,and to Yama or Siva ,

the Lord of Death .

These were associated with the pessimistic schoolof thought

,mainly Brahmanical

,of which both

Saivismand Buddhismwere branches, looking for

moksha ,or liberation by following the fnc

’

ina-marga ,

the way of knowledge ,whether it was that indicated

by theVedic seers, or the Eightfold Path pointed out bySakhya

-Muni .The rites of both classes were often intermingled ,

but those of the Chandra cult were naturally centredround the stfip a and the cremation ground , while the

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z o BUDDHIST CRAFTSMANSHIP

material , but it lost the sacramental character it hadacquiredas themeans of sacrifice and the vehicle of theFire god , Agni . At the same time, the forms of Aryancraftsmanship , such as the tribaLensigns, the carvedsacrificial posts and railing , the tabernaclesmwhichthe Yogimeditated, and the stupa, preserved the sacramental character they had acquired in the Vedic era ,

and were therefore for a long time closely imitated bythe Buddhistmasons and sculptors. This was not ,

as is generally assumed , because the technical Skill foradapting wooden c onstruction to that of stone waslacking .

Buddhism, also , though it was by nomeans a creedof universal brotherhood in the same Sense as Christianity

— for the Buddha would not admit Slaves,debtors,

nor persons in the royal service into his Sangha—w eer

t ainlymust havemade the Aryan building craft lessexclusive ; for in rag i ng the Vedic sacrificial system,

Buddhismabolished the distinction between the

pure .

”who could , and the impure ’ ’ who could not ,

take part in the performance of Sacrifices. Thus an

Indian Buddhist king had a much wider choice of

craftsmen for the royal service than would have beenthe case if he had followed the p re-Buddhist Aryantraditions.

It was not , however , until Asoka’

S time , whenBuddhismbecame the state religion of Aryavarta ,

that the Sangha began to enlist the painter and

sculptor into its service . The earliest Buddhist ritualwas of a strictly Puritan character , for the Buddha

’

s

teaching was a protest against the extravagance of

Brahmanical sacrifices. Music , painting and sc ulpturewere to be regarded as wg rldly snares which divertedthe

!mind of the novitiate fromthe contemplation of

the Four Aryan Truths :firstly, that suffering is ih

BUDDHIST PURITANISM 2 1

separable fromlife secondly , that desire — the thirst

forpleasures, being ,and power— islthecause ofsuffering

thirdly, that suffering r gan _

be suppressed ; fourthly ,that the Eightfold Path is the way which leads to the

extinc t ion‘

fofffsufi’

eririg. While ,therefore , the stfip a

which contained the holy relics, or symbols, had to bebuilt strongly and well , it was not until later timesthat the artist and craftsman , as such , were admittedinto the Order ofmonkhood .

Even during Asoka’s reign the craftsmanship of the

chapter-house which contained the stfip a, and the

stfip a itself, was studiously primitive , reflecting thestrict asceticismof the Buddha’s original doctrine.

In the rock-cutmonasteries at Ajanta, where there isa progressive series illustrating the development ofBuddhist art fromabout the secondseventh centuryb r later , the eadL g nes are orientedtowards the north , instead of towards the rising or

setting sun , the columns are plain ,without caps or

bases ; and the law of the Buddha, which limited thedecoration ofmonasteries to designs of wreaths and

creepers, and bone-hooks and cupboards, and forbade.

s ofmen and

erved .

At Bhaja, a place in the Western Ghats of the

Bombay presidency, not far fromthe great Karle

chaitya house , there is a series ofmonolithic stfip as

carved out of a scarp of rock which also contains an

early Buddhist rock-cutmonastery . The stfip as are

inscribed with the names of the Theras, or Brethren , to

whomthey were dedicated ,probably the abbots of the

monastery .

They closely resemble the representations of st fip ascarved upon the gateways of Sanchi

'

. Though later1 Chullavagga vi. 3 , 2 .

22 STUPAS AT BHAJA AND BEDSA

than Asoka’

s time , they will serve to illustrate the formwhich the Aryan royal tomb assumed at the beginningof the Buddhist era .

The domem the cmda ,or egg

—“ which was regardedas a sy

rmfl bg lu g t the universal dome or cosmos —is raisedon a. . l1igh pl inth . In a structural stupa there

~

W6fildhave been two procession paths, one at the base of thedome in close proximity to the holy relics, and anotherat the ground level . This is the case at Sanchi , buthere the rail enclosing the procession path is only carvedas an ornament al band . The dome has become slightlybulbous ln shape ,

a later development of the hemispherical stfip a . The . railing round the actual p rocession path at the ground level

,if there was One , was

probably of wood ,for this was a transit ion period

when lithic forms were often combined with theirwooden prototypes. In all the stfip as the symbolof royalty,

the umbrella, which crowned them, ismissing ; andmmost cases the relic casket , or harmika ,

which served as a pedestal for it , has been destroyed ,but in the nearest stfip a in PI. I , fig . B , the harmika‘.is intact . This is a very elaborate one the sirnplerand earlier type shown in fi g . A is froma stfip a in the

chaitya hall at B edsa in the same neighbourhood .

The vedika railing which surrounded the relic casketis represented as an ornament above this is a seriesof Slabs placed one over the other

,and gradually

increasing in Size ,so as to forma kind of altar . The

t op is shown t o be enclosed by another railing in themiddle of which the shaft of the umbrella was fixed .

The same peculiar formis carved at Karle, and inmany other early Buddhist chaitya halls, as a throne or

platformfor the Devas, who are seated on the capitalsof thep illars enclosing the Chapter-house of the Order .

Its connection with Vedic ritual c an be traced in the

THE SUN OR MOON-WINDOW 23

Vajap fija sacrifice ,performed by Aryan householders

for obtaining worldly advancement . At the c on

c lusion of the sacrifice the householder , after a dia

logue with his wife referring to their a ttainment tothe higher Spiritual spheres

, mounted the sacrificialpost and seated himself on the top , upon

,

whichseventeen robes were spread . When he came downhe

“

was enthroned and consecrated as a Samraj , or

universalmonarch .

1 Evidently the structure abovethe relic casket on the stfip a is such a symbolic altarthrone .

The arched ornament resembling a horse-shoe on

the Bhaja relic casket represents the gable of the

curved roof of a Shrine through which the light fell uponthe altar . It occurs in nearly all the buildings rep re

sented in the Bharhut or Sanchi sculptures. No

doubt Similar roofs and similar Shrines were commonin p re

-Buddhist times,and the gradual adaptation of

the formas an emblemof the rising or setting sun

must have been a survival of Vedic symbolism. Atfirst the imitation of the roof—end is very close ,

thoughno one familiar with Indian ways of thinking wouldbelieve that the wholeintention of

'

the sculptor lay incopying the formof .aroof . H e

,no doubt

, was t hinking of the sun ormoon - light streaming in through thelattice-work which filled the upper part of the arch

,

and of the face of the sun ormoon ,which on certain

holy days looked in at the window . Successivegenerations of craftsmen put the thought into symbolio form.

In the latermonast erl es at Ajanta an image of the

Buddha as the Light of the world sometimes fills the

1 See Barnet t’

s Antiquities of India, pp . 1 66— 7 . In the same rite awheel was set up upon a post and turned by a B rahman while a symbolic,’ chariot race was being run .

24 LOMAS RISHI CAVE

window Space , and the arch’

then serves as the glory oraura of the image . And when the chaitya hall turnedtowards the west , the crocodile-dragon of Varuna

, the

ruler of the cosmic ocean into which the sun Sinksevery evening , was carved at the springing of the

arch , 1 and a lion’

s or dragon’

smask , with gapingmouth as if swallowing the whole arch , was carvedat the crown .

But in the earliest rock-cut Assembly halls of the

Buddhist monasteries, where this arch is the mainmotif of the severely restrained decorative scheme ,

one c an hardly realise the symbolismbehind it,for it

is Simply a copy of the window over the entrance . And

certainly the rules of the Sangha did not tolerate any

traffic with the despised Vedic fire-worshippers. Theyonly prescribed the patterns which were lawful for thebhikkus to use as decorations, and gave themametaphoric al interpretation in accordance with the Buddha’st eachmg .

The carved” entrance to one of the rock out hermitcave ,

is an exact reproduction of the roof-end fromwhich the sun-window is derived . The hermitage wasone of those which were dedicated by Asoka for theuse of a certain sect known as the Aj ivikas, and datesfromabout 257 B .C . The interior consists of a hall

3 3 feet long and 1 9 feet wide , with a semi-cylindricalroof . The walls, floor, and ceiling are quite plain , but

have a very fine p ohsh . At one end of the hall a narrowdoor opens into a domed chamber

, or Shrine , nearlycircular in shape , like a hollow stfip a . In a Similar adjacent hermitage , known as the Sudama or Nyagrodha

cave , the rock is cut over the entrance so as to

1 H orus, the Egypt ian sun-

god , was also represent ed in conflict withthe crocodile-dragon .

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LOMAS RISHI CAVE 25

Simulate the thatched roof of the shrine or st fip a

(PI. II , B ) . Possibly we have here a representationof an ancient Aryan st fip a with !the assembly-hallor chapel where the shrdddhd rites of the deceased

’

hero were performed .

CHAPTER III

STDPAS AT SaNCHr, BHARHUT, AND AMARAVATI

IT will be understood fromthe preceding chaptersthat, though the earliest Vedic hymnsmay give theimpression that the ancient Aryans in India knewlittle of the art of the city-builder , this is a very one

Sided view of their history . The ritual of the Vedaswas principally concerned with the Nature-spirits !to

which its prayers were addressed— with the animalsoffered in sacrifice , and the life of the farmstead whichreared them. Wemust turn to the Mahabharata and

the Ramayana , with their vivid pictures of ancientIndian cities, to realise , the civic side of Indo-Aryanlife . Connecting these with the technical conditionsalready . described , and with the known history of

the Aryan people in Mesopotamia, the comparativelyhigh development in which Indo-Aryan art is found inthe earliest existingmonuments will not appear sur

prising , but the natural outcome of the conditionswhich produced it . Before Mesopotamian historywasmade known by archmologic al research , it wasassumed that the Aryan immigrations into India cameexclusively through the passes of the Himalayas. But

India wasmore accessible to the Aryans in Meso

potamia than it was to their brothers in Iran . The

Sanchi‘

and Bharhut sculptures give clear evidence of

the contact of the Indo-Aryans with Egypt , Assyria ,

2 6

THE GREAT SANCHI STUPA 27

and Babylonia , which wasespecially close in the six

centuries from1 746 B .C .

The great st iip a at Sanchi'

is one of a group Situatedin the Bhopal State a fewmiles fromBhilsa,

near

which stood the famous city of Vidisha,

l the capitalof Eastern Malwa. It is built upon a hill which in p reBuddhist timesmay have been the Site of Aryan Vedicrites, which gave to it the odour of sanctity ,

for it is notknown to be in any way connected with the life of

Buddha . Many st fip as of the Aryan princes of Malwamay have preceded that which was dedicated to thememory of the royal Monk of K ap ilavastu . A Buddhistmonastery was built upon the hill in Asoka’

s time ,

and enjoyed a share of the lavish state patronagewhich the great emperor bestowed upon the Sangha .

When the Mauryan dynasty came t o an end , about1 85 B .C . ,

and for many centuries after that time ,

Sanchi continued to be the chief seat of Buddhist learning in Malwa,

a university for the royal city ofVidisha ,

so that the monuments which remain on the hillillustrate the development of Indian art fromabout

a t han “a .“

themiddle of the third century B . .c to the twelfthcentury A .D .

st iip a which Asoka ,or his V iceroy , built

for themonks is not now visible , for in the last thalfof the second century it was covered by a casingof rubble and fine masonry . The diameter of the

stfip a was thus increased to about -I z o w-feet ; and theheight to the hill itself providing theexcellent sandstone used by the royal craftsmen . Two

procession paths for c ircumambulat iOn were builtround the base of the dome one at a high level whichwas approached by a double staircase on the southernside, and another at the ground level . Both of them, as

1 Themodern B esnagar .

28 THE GREAT SANCHI STDPA

well as the staircase, were enclosed by the usual vedika,

or sacrificial railing . Fromthe numerous names of

donors inscribed upon the posts, cross-bars, and coping ,it would seeml ikely that the whole of the originalrailing was of wood the change to stone taking placegradually in the course ofmany years as pious laymensought to winmerit for themselves by rebuilding a

section of it in themore costly and permanentmaterial .This would account for the exact imitation of the

wooden structure by the stone-masons. It was not

because they were unpractised in the use of stone, ,but

because they wished t o avoid a break in the railing,

and to maintain the sacred associations of the old

wooden work .

1

The railing enclosing the principal or lower p rocession path stands op en at the cardinal points— the

four sky-and over each entrance is

raised a lofty torana,“

or triumphal areh (Pl . III , B ) ,reproducing in sculptured stone themassive timberstructure which Indian sculptors represent

“

as the gateof Prince Siddhartha’s palace at Kap ilavastu. The

original torana was probably of plain timber-worklike the railings, the present gates having been put upabout the first century A .D or about three centurieslater than Asoka’

s original stfip a . Like the railings,

different sections of themwere votive offerings . Thusone part of the southern gateway was a gift of the sonof the chief craftsman of Raja Siri-Satakani, one of

the kings of the'

Andhra dynasty, circ . 1 79 B .C . Anotherpart was given by the ivory-carvers of Vidisha .

1 The peculiar formof the horiz ontal bars of the railing, and themanner in which they aremort ised into the uprights (see Pl . IV , A) ,suggest the craft smanship of wheelwright s, who asmak ers of the Aryanwar-chariots are oft enment ioned with honour in the Vedic hymns.

Probably they were the craftsmen whomade the vedika and c on

struct ed the t abernacles for the Aryan t ribal sacrific es.

THE SANCHI GATEWAYS 29

In the present state of the st fip a these splendidlysculp tured otoranas contrast almost too strongly with

“

the severe Simplicity of the rest of the stupa ; but this

was hardly the case when theywere put up , for the

whole of the dome of the stupa was plastered , and no

doubt finished with a fine surface to receive the frescopaintings by which the lay community were instructedin Buddhist doctrine and

‘

in sacred history as theyprocessed round the dome which enshrined the holyrelics. It is highly probable that the sculptures of thegateways were also finished with a fine coat of whitestuc co and painted . This was certainly the case withSimilar sculptures at Amaravati' , and was the usualpractice in India . These sculptures do not representthe beginnings of Indian art . There is a long historybehind them, stretching back to the time when Aryankings ruled in Babylon , and when the painter insteadof the sculptor recorded the deeds of Aryan heroes.

Buddhismdid n ot originat e the art of Sanchi and

Bharhut anymore than it created the wealth whichAsoka and his successors lavished upon the BuddhistOrder . The Buddha himself renounced the world and

all its vanities, but the Spiritual Sangha which he

founded appropriated , for the purpose of its propaganda,

the artistic heritage of the Aryan people in India .

Of the four of the stfip a, the southern one

fac ed the,oc ession path ,

and thus was the exit for those who had finished theritual of turning t he Wheel-b f the Law.

” When a

st iip a had only one entrance, as is the case with thesmaller st fip a No . 3 , which adjoins the Great Stfip a, itwas placed on the south . Probably this was inve riably the case .

1

1 The quest ion of orient at ion is amost important one for the understanding of the principles of Indian t emple archit ec ture and iconography .

30 THE SANCHI GATEWAYS

The reason is to be found in the Vedic traditionwhich was followed by Buddhist builders. In Vedicritual the solar year

‘

was said to have two courses

(dyanas) , the northern course comprising the springand summer , when the sun passes fromsouth to northof the Equator , and the southern course when the yearbegins t o wane as the sun appears tomove towardsthe south .

1 The south, th ,erefore was the abode of

the spirits of dead, and the stupa had its exit onthe”south So that its ghost ly inhabitantmight pass

through on its way_

to its final abode . For this reasonwemay conclude that the southern gateway of the

Great Stfip a was the earliest one .

The northern one, however , is now themost c om

p lete , and on the whole the finest as a work of art ,

particularly with regard to the elephanteapitglg whicharemuch happier in composition andmore structurallyappropriate than the hens of the southern gateway ,

reproducing the capital of the imperial standard whichAsoka placed at the entrance . It would seemas ifthe northern gateway was designed throughout and

carefully supervised by onemaster-mason , while theothers were

,as the inscriptions testify , the joint gift

of several donors, and evidently carried out in sectionsby different groups of craftsmen working independently .

In these g at eways, therefore, there is a tendency to

Thefirst care of the Indian t emple-builder is t o det ermine the orientat ionof the shrine in relat ion t o that aspect of the deit y which is t o be worshipped . B y the careful collect ion oi data on the spot , it would bepossible to establish a scient ific classificat ion of Indian t emple archit ect ure based upon Indian principles, and to throwmuch light on the hist ory of Indian religious ritual . B ut Fergusson hard ly alludes to thesubject . H is H istory of Ind ian and Eastern Architec ture, and the offi c ialarchaeological report s and plans, only occasionally indicat e the orienta

t ion of a building, so.

that themat erial they p rovide ‘

for the study of the

subj ect ismostmeagre ;1 See B arnet t

’

s Antiquities of India ,p . 203 .

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THE SANCHI GATEWAYS 3 1

patchwork which is not Shown in the northern one .

In plastic design the latter shows the Indian craftsmanat his best . The play of light and shade on the differentplanes of relief is contrived with somasterly a touchthat the extreme richness of the ornamentation ,

workedout with an unerring decorative instinct

,does not

approach the insipid , as is the case with Indian art

in its decadence . Nor does the presence of Assyrianand other West Asianmotives suggest the handiworkof imported craftsmen they are reminiscences of

Indo -Aryan history , a part of thematerial which theroyal craftsmen of Vidisha inherited frompreviousgenerations, and had long Sincemade their own . The

art of Sanchi’

on the whole is WOQ QSIIEHYfl QQS ; fresh ,

al . It Shows nomore trace t utelageof. the Western schools — for artists o f all

countries borrow fromeach other and inherit ideasfromthe past .The scuipt gres of the gateways fall into twomain

categories— those which are et rp c tural or heraldic, andM < M M J O F .‘

a series , of s p ic t uresw in sto new illustrat ing

» the » sto ry of

the Blessed One for the edific at ion The“ fl u-i ".

" ,a s—n."

former are cut with the greatest freedomand sureness

of touch ,a proof that the sculpt bh s

m

a'

rt flhadw

a

"

long tradition behind it when the gateways wereput up . The bit ter, especially the earlier ones

, are

influenced by the t eehmque 0L the p ainter,” andat yw -l M

were probably finished in fraseo colours laid upona ground of fine chunam. Like the structural details, they evidence great skillmirr. p lastic i techniquebut themannerisms of p rimitive art are not:entirelyShaken off.

Crowning the gentre b f . the g ateway on the\middleof the curved transom, which is framed into the twoprincipal uprights as in timber-work

, stands the broken

3 2 THE SIGN or TAURUS

fragment of th (1 by a

group of admi of the

two attendants standing by the side bearing the royal1nS1gn1a ,

a yak-tail fly~flap ,

is intact .The symbol which crowns the two up right supports

of the gateway has been identified by M . Foucheras the nandi -pada ,

or zodiacal Sign of Taurus the Bull,

which is said to have presided over the birth of the

Buddha on the day of the fullmoon in themonth of

Vaieakha (April -May) . The Simplest formof the

Sign is a circle surmounted by a crescent , representingboth the sun and themoon ,

and also two of the Aryanwarrior ’s favourite weapons

,the discus ,,and the b ow.

The association of the Sign of Taurus with the birth o f

the Blessed One points back to remote Babyloniantimes , when the Bull was the first Sign of the zodiacand marked the beginning of the solar year . The

old -world legend that humanity was born under theSign of Taurus perhaps fixed the appropriate time forthe celebration of the Buddha’

s birthday . Thisfestival of the Buddhist Church was probably, like thesymbol itself , borrowed fromVedic ritual . The day

of the fullmoon was one of those in which shraddha

worship was paid to deceased ancestors,and the

appearance of the symbol on the gate of the st fip a

seems to be a reminiscence of the ancient Chandraworship .

1 Here , as in later Buddhist monuments,a central point has been added to the crescent t oindicate perhaps the tri-ratna ,

.or three j ewels, theBuddha

, the Law,and the Sangha for similar symbols

very frequently have a different signification accordingto the age to which they belong . The symbols of

1 It was the rule of the B uddhist bhikkus tomeet on the night s o f

the new and fullmoon for a spec ial servic e in which the rules of the

Order and confessional forms were recit ed .

PLATE VA

PLATE VB

PLATE Vc

PLATE VD

RELIEFS FROM THE SaNCH i GATEWAYS

MAHA MAYA 3 3

Buddhismwere not Buddhist inventions, but the

common property of all Indo-Aryan religion .

This interchange of symbolismis also seen in the

various panels representing Maya, themother of the

Buddha ,seated or standing upon a lotus flower Spring

ing froma vase , while on either Side above her an

elephant bathes her froma vase held in its trunk

(Pl . IV,B ) . No doubt

,as M . Foucher says, this was

meant by the sculptor to symbolise the Nativity of theBlessed One . But to many generations of artistsbefore the Buddha’

s time ,it hadmeant themiraculous

birth witnessed everymorning when U shas rose fromthe cosmic ocean , and themystic Brahma lotus, theCreator ’s throne , unfolded its rosy petals. U shas wasthe celestialmaiden who opened the doors of the sky

and was bathed by Indra’

s elephants, the rain-clouds .

In Buddhist times themeaning of themyth is changed .

B rahma is dethroned and U shas becomes themotherof the Blessed One under the name of Maha

'Maya

the Great Illusion , the cause of pain and sorrow ,from

which the Buddha showed the way of escape . In

later Indian art she is Lakshmi, the bright goddess of

the day ,greeting her consort Vishnu , the Preserver ,

as he rises victorious fromhis conflict with the spiritsof darkness, and bringing with her the nectar of immortality churned fromthe cosmic ocean (Pl . LXIII , A) . 1

Themeaning of the hieroglyphic language in whichBuddhist legendswere told or doctrine expounded by theSanchi sculptors has beenmade clear by M . Foucher’Sbrilliant researches. The subjects oft

the o_

r_

1glon p anelson the front and back of the three transoms of all thegateways are partly taken fromthe Indian story

S jung le book , the jatakas, partly fromthe eventsof the Buddha’

S last incarnation , and partly fromthe1 See below, pp . 1 68-72 .

34 BUDDHIST SYMBOLISM

history of Asoka’

s reign . Except that the subjectof t he seveh Buddhas — the Six Buddhas of the pastand , Gautama himself— appears on the t op transomin all four

, the distribution of the narrative over thedifferent gateways does not seemt o follow a definitescheme

,perhaps because in the original plan the st fip a

had only one entrance . As the devout Buddhist atthat time was not allowed to ~rep resent the Buddhahimself -a rule quite in keeping with the spirit of theU p anishads

fi he was compelled to use certain ideographs by which the appearance of the Blessed One inthe picture Was to be understood . The Nativity inthe Lumb in i’ gardenswas represented , as we have seenby the figure of Maha Maya and the lotus springingfromthe golden vase, or sometimes by the lotus and

vase only (Pl . IV, E) . A throne beneath an ashvattka ,

or pipal tree ,or the tree alone

,stood for the enlighten

ment at Bodh-Gaya, or for the Buddha himself . The

wheel was the symbol of the Buddha’

s first sermon at

Benares and the death ,or Pari-Nirvana, at Kusinagara

was represented by the st fip a . The Buddhas of the

past were also represented by stfip as or by theirespecial trees under which they attained to Nirvana .

One of themost attractive of the jdtaka panels isthat which tells, for the edific at ion of jealous wives,the story of the Six- tusked elephant

, the Buddha in a

previous existence . Howh e was the chief of a greatherd of elephants, and had two wives, one of whom,

in a fit of j ealousy , prayed that shemight be re-born as

the Queen of Benares, so that Shemight revenge herselfupon her lord . H er prayer was heard , and in due timeshe sent , with the king

’

s p ermission ,. one of the royal

huntsmen to Shoot the great elephant , and b ring backthe Six tusks as proof of his success. The huntsman ,

disguised in the yellow robes of an ascetic,wounded

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THE JATAKAS 3 5

the Bodhisattva with a poisoned arrow . Reflect ingthat by self-sac rific e he might gain a step towards

the attainment of perfect knowledge, the wise beastassisted the hunter in sawing off the Six tusks, and diedbefore his companions came t o the spot . The Queen ,

when She received the trophies, was struck by remorse ,

and likewise died . The elephant in another birthbecame the Buddha ,

and the j ealous Queen attainedpeace ofmind as one of the sisters of the Order .

In their illustrations of these jungle stories,dear

to the Indian villager , the Buddhist sculptors testifyto that intense love of the forest wild ,

and intimateknowledge of the life of its denizens

,which are so c on

sp icuous in Indian poetry and lite .rature Pl . V ,A

,

gives the panel of themiddle transomof the southgateway . On the left the King of the Elephants, theBodhisattva ,

is cooling himself in a lotus pool in the

forest surrounded by the rest of the herd , two of whomhold the insignia of royalty over his head . On the

right he is shown , together with his attendants, p romenading in the jungle in royal state ,knowing full well

that the huntsman concealed behind a tree is prea

paring the deadly arrow . The subj ect is repeated on

the northern and western gateways in the latter casethe smoother and less vigorous technique suggeststhat the ivory-carvers who executedSome of the panelsof the south gateway also had a hand in parts of the

western torana .

The Sanchi'

sculptures also Show the derivation of

that great school of Buddhist sculpture which ,after

being transplanted to Amaravati at themouth of‘the

Krishna river and t o Ceylon ,finally took root in Java ,

and in the Sixthe enturyw blossomed into the sfiendidreliefs of the great Borobudur stupa . Besides similarities ln the grouping of figures, there IS, in the expressive

3 6 THE FOREST-SPIRIT

movement and vivid style of narrative , intense religiousfeeling ,

joined with a wonderful inst inc tdmecorativedesign,much affinity with Sanchi art and the art of

Borobudur . Here also one c an trace some of the rootsof the school ofAjantapainting . The treatment of thelog s, the favouriteprecisely similar to that found at Ajanta ,

makingallowances for the different t echnlque of the sculptorand painter (Pl . VII) .And Since somuch attention has been given by

orientalists to themfii lg nce of the Hellenistic school ofg ym s “ Ts— H

Gandhara upon Indjap mfigure sculp ture ,it is important

to observe that in the Sanchi school,which certainly

owed nothing to Gandhara , there are a few figures inthe round executed with asmuch understanding of

the human formas the best of the Graec o-Buddhistsculptures. The robust young damsel with arms and

legs overweighted with ornaments who appears on

the Sanchi’

gateways as a wood-nymph hanging on t o

the boughs of amango-treemay seemless gracefuland refined than the Dryad of pure Greek art , thoughthe primeval forest might know this rustic beautybetter than the elegant town-bred maid of Athens.

But few artists would assert that the sculptor whocreated this vigorously drawn and admirablymodelledfigure had anything to learn fromthe academictechnique of the Gandhara school . Dr . Vincent Smith ,

in order to prove foreign influenc es’

in Hindu art ,

illustrates 1an example of decadent ,Hellenistic sculp

ture of the so-called Copto-Alexandrian school , and

suggests that themotivemay have found its way intoIndian art by the transference of Alexandrian ideas.

No one c an say when or where the idea originated— itmight have been in the Garden of Eden . But it is

1 H istory of Fine An:in Indz’

a and Ceylon , Pl . LXXXVI .

THE FOREST-SPIRIT 3 7

quite possible that the occurrence of themotive at

Sanchi and Mathuramay be partly the result ofAryancontact in ancient times with Egyptian and Babylonian civilisation . However, it would be difficult

to find in early Western art any examples of the

womang ndf tree motive which Show as muchfrESh

'

iie'

ss, plast ic strength and decorative beauty as

this sprightly Indian wood-nymph .

But though this contact with Mesopotamia and

Egypt explainsmany of the foreign elements in earlyIndian art , the Sanchi sculptures are best understoodas aW commentaryb n the hfe and t hought .

of Vedic India . This Indian Dryad , associated byBuddhi st

~

sculptorswith Maya, themother of theBlessedOne ,

is sung inthe Rig-Veda 1as Aranyani , the e lusive

Spirit of the Forest , a goddess of plenty , who openedfreely her bounteous store to the villager , alwayskindly and gracious toman , though her children , the

wild beasts, were to be feared

Araynani l Aranyani l Ere you vanish fromour sight , will you not to

the village You are not afraidWhen the bull bellows the cicada replies, dancing to his cymbals.

Aranyani then rejoices.

In the fading twilight c at t le graz ing and cot tages loomdimly:Aranyanithen sends home her creak ing c art s.

Oneman calls his c ow. Another fells a tree : a loiterer in the forestfancies he hears a scream.

Though the fierce beast smay k ill us, Aranyani does no harm. Let us

feast on her sweet fruits and rest there at our will .Praise be to Aranyani, Mother of forest beast s l Musk -scented, fragrant ,bountiful of food— though

'

no peasants t ill her soil .

The Vedic Rishi dwelling in the forest asramcouldtame the fiercest of Aranyan i

’

s offspring . At Sanchi‘

we see themflocking together to join in worship at

1 X , 1 46 .

3 8 AMARAVATI SCULPTURES

the cenotaph and bodhi-tree of the great Rishi whotaught the universal Law of Life (Pl . V) .I t is impossible in this work to give an adequate

impression of the richness, beauty , and variety of

Sanchi sculpture . some of it is primitive and archaic,

some - like the reliefs (Pl . VII) on the rail of the st l'

ip a

No . II , built on the western Slope of the hill— are as

cultured in design and accomplished in technique as

Italian Cinquecento work . These reliefs resemblevery closely the work of the Amaravati stupa , the

remains of which are now divided between the MadrasMuseumand the British Museum.

The bas reliefs of Amaravati (Pl . VIII) , formingthe decoration of the railing and of themarble casingof the stupa itself, Should properly be studied ln c on

nec t ion’

with the fresco paintings of Ajanta. Theymust have resembled the latter very closely when thecolour and gilding with which they were finished wereintact the technical treatment also is usuallymuchmore p ictorial than plastic . A good artisticmonograph on these superb fragments would be of greatvalue in filling up the hiatus in Indian art historywhich has beenmade by the almost complete ruin of

the early pictorial record , but this goes beyond thescope of the present handbook .

At Sanchi , as at Amaravati’ and elsewhere ,there

aremany evidences of the cosmopolitan life of the

ancient capitals of India,whichmust have been hardlyless striking than it appears at Calcutta and OEBombayin the present day . But nevertheless the dominatinginfluence 1n Sanch i sculpture IS not foreign ,

but“Indian

or Indo -Aryan,for here one c an see how perfectly the

Aryan culture of Vedic times‘had adapted itself t o its

Indian environment , and learnt to penetrate with true ,

artistic insight into the exuberant life of Indian nature .

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INDO-ARYAN ART 3 9

The Sanchi and Amaravati' artists were no copyists or

scholiasts ; they drank at the same fountain as the

greatmasters of H ellaS , though, like the latter, theywere heirs to a craft tradition ofmany centuries. It

was the Indian environment which gave Indo-Aryann . . W

art of Greece .

CHAPTER IV

ASOKAN PILLARS AND THE BELL-SHAPED OR

LOTUS CAPITAL

NEAR the southern gateway of the Great St fip a theEmperor Asoka put up a pillar carved in stone ,

and

inscribed with one of his famous edicts with which hepropagated Buddhist teaching or issued orders relatingto the conduct of the Sangha . The pillar when intact ,saysSir John Marshall ,was about in height , andconsisted of a round and slightly tapering .monolithicShaft , with bell-Shaped c apital surmounted by an

abacus and a crowning ornament of four lions set backto back , the whole finely finished and polished to a

remarkable lustre fromtop to bottom.

1

The same high authority , in common with Fergusson ,maintains that the bell-shaped "?c ap ital wasevolved in .Persia . It was fromPersian originals,Specimens of which are still extant in the plains of theMurghab , at Istakhr , Nat eSh-i-Rustam, and Persepolis,that the smooth unfiuted Shafts of the Mauryancolumns were copied .

”It may be granted that the

craftsmen who executed this and otherAsokan columnswere in all probability skilled Persianmasonsattractedto Asoka’

s court by the fame of the great emperor .

But that Asoka’

s imperial ensign was amere copy of

Persepolitan pillars is not in the least likely . Asokawas not a parvenu monarch constrained to borrow

1 Guide to Scimhi , p . 9 1 .

40

ASOKA ’S PERSIAN CRAFTSMEN 41

his heraldic devices fromothers ofmore aristocraticlineage . The Indo-Aryan clan ofwhich hewas the chiefhad traditions at least as old as those of the Persiankings

,and the craftsmen of the imperial court at

Pataliput ra ,whether Greeks , Persians, or Indians,

would have had to adapt their ideas to these traditions.

The c onstant regurrenc e of the bell-shaped capitalin all the earliest Indian sculpture shows that it wasthe usual architectural formin Asoka’

S time ; it hadu l J '

doubtless been carved in wood by the royal craftsmen.‘ m- w - u . . s o .

of India generat ions previously . The reason

for Asoka’

s preference for Persian craftsmen is dis

closed in the inscription on the Sanch i column . Theywere highly skilled stone-masons, and Asoka desiredthat his edicts should remain in force as long asmysons and great-grandsons 'may reign , and as long as theMoon and the Sun shall endure .

”

Moreover, the Bharhut and Sanchi sculptures Showus that the symbolismof Asoka’

s pillars has nothingto do with a bell , but is an adaptation t o structuralpurposes of the same lotus-and -vase motive which ,

with a different implication , served for a symbol of theBuddha’

s nativity . Here,however , it is the blue lotu

’

s,

Vishnu’s flower , which is used instead of the pinkBrahma lotus.

At the eastern gateway of Bharhut one of the

Lokap alas, or Guardians of the Four Gateways of theSky ,

is shown carrying the bell-shaped standard ,surmounted not by lions, but by Garuda , the eagle ,

of

Vishnu , the Sun-

god , who has for his emblemtheblue l otus.

The lotus throne of the Buddha is nearly alwaysrepresented in Indian art with the outer fringe of petalsturned downwards, and the whole flower 1s frequentlyShown naturalistically with the petals turned down

8

42 THE BLUE LOTUS

upon the stalk in a formclosely resembling the so- calledbell of the Asokan capitals. At Bharhut and at

Sanchi the petals and stamens of the flower are oftencarefully carved upon the so-called ‘

,b‘ ell-capital

and the Shaft of the pillar 13 fixedmawater vase whichM M W “

forms its base, as is the case at Karle (Pl . IX,A) . The

representation of the completeAsokan standard , carvedin relief on one of the Sanch i railings, shows two lotusbuds springing fromunder the abacus of the capital , adecisive proof that the .bell rep resented the“turneddown petals of the flower (see Pl . VI, B ) . The ovolomoulding above the bell” evidently representsthemelon-Shaped fruit of the blue lotus (Nymphwacaemlea) .

It was natural that the lotus, the especial flower

of the gods and the favourite of Indian poets, shouldhave been adapted by Indian craftsmen as amotiffor the decoration of pillars, as it was in Egypt . The

Egyp‘ganSL M however , used the -bud or half-openedflower to formthe capital of a pillar the Indig n c raftsmen preferred the epenflower with turned-down petalsbecause it suggested to themthe heavenly vault supported by the holymountain

, the pivot of the universe .

This bell-Shaped capital, as Asoka’

s imperialensign ,was the symbol ofuniversal sovereignty . Probably it wasmeant to apply to the Law of the BlessedOne rather than to Asoka himself , for a section of the

seed-vessel of Nymphwa cazmlea is the Wheel of theLaw which is here supported by four lions. The

fact that a Similar design was used for the standard ofVishnu

, the U pholder of the U niverse , Shows that theidea was an old Indo-A

_

ryan one, and not a newfangled

notion Trh by'

Persian sculptors of the period .

Moreover,it is evident that , while the symbolismwas

perfectly understood by the royal craftsmen of India,

THE MYSTIC LOTUS 43

it was unfamiliar to Asoka’

s imported Perso-Greek orBak trian masons. The former decorate the bell ”

with the characteristic pointed petals of the flower ,and indicate the stamens and seed-vessel clearly , whilethe latter change the Shape of the seed-vessel and c on

vent ionalise the petals so that the resemblance to thelotus is almost lost . The Gandharamsculptors, equallyunfamiliar with Indian symbolism, decorated the bell .

with acanthus leaves.

In Brahmanical symbolismthe mystery of the

sunrise is represented by the lotus 1 upon whichBrahma, t he Creator , sits enthroned

,springing from

the navel of Narayana ,the Eternal Spirit

, who liesasleep at the bottomof the waters of chaos reposingin the COilS of the world-serpent , Ananta , or the MilkyWay (see Pl . LX, B ) . What this symbolismmeant inMahayana Buddhismis explained in the TantraTattva when it compares Prajna-paramita , SupremeWisdom, to a lotus flower . In the root She is all

Brahman in stemshe is all-Maya (Illusion) in the

flower She is all-world and in the fruit all- liberation .

”

Applying this to the pillars carved by the early Buddhist builders, who were carrying on the Indo-Aryantraditions fromVedic times, we c an understand theideaS

'

theymeant to convey . The vase forming thebase of the pillar stood for the g gsmi c u watersf the

all-Brahman the shaft was the stalk of themysticflower— the unreality upon which the world- life wassupported— the bellfshaped -capital was the world itself .

enfolded by the p etals of the sky ; the fruitwasmoksha ,

1 In this case the pink lotus— the so-called sacred lotus of Egypt(Nelumbiumsp ec iosum)— B rahma’

s especial flower .

3 Very lik ely the vase originally had a pract ical purpose, to prot ectthe end of a wooden post fromdamp or fromthe at t ac k s of whi t e ant sthe symbolismof the craftsman was always based upon ut ilitarian

purposes .

44 THE LOTUS-AND-VASE PILLAR

liberation ,orNirvana , which was the goal of existence

the alt ar~up on which the Devas were seated was theTusita_ heavens .

This symbolismis so characteristically Indian ,

and so widely diffused in early Buddhist art , that themere coincidence of bell-shaped capitals occurringin Persia hardly justifies the name which archaeologistshave given them. Perhaps Persia borrowed the ideafromIndia , the land of the lotus, together with theflower itself . But it ismuchmore probable that itwasevolved by the carvers of the sacrificial posts in Vedictimes, when the Aryans occupied the valley of the

Euphrates, and were in contact with Egypt and Assyriaand with their relatives in Iran . Certainly the

Apadana of Persepoliswas not an original creation , but ,as M . E . B lochet says, a compromise between the

oldest works of Assyrian art and themost grandiosespecimens of G reek architecture . Were it not thatthe palaces of the Aryan kings in Mesopotamia werebuilt of sacrificial wood, wemight yet discover therethe prototype of the Persepolitan pillar .

The Lotus- and-vase pillar , besides being one of the

most ancient of Indian architectural orders, ismalso themost It is found at all periods. It

wasadopted by the Graec o-Roman”builders of Gand

hara as well as by the craftsmen of MuhammadanIndia . The Hindumaster-builder of the present daycontinues to iiSé

w

itfm -

This persistent survival is specially Signific ant when it is seen that the h

most distinctivemarks of .Hellenistic craftsmanship , the honeysucklepattern ,

the acanthus leaf and Corinthian capital whichoccur so frequently in Mauryan and Kushan times

,

did not survive'

in India formore than a few generations. These did not belong to the ritual of Buddhistcraftsmanship , and were quickly discarded asmeaning

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CHAPTER V

THE STUPA-HOUSE ,

‘

OR CHAPTER- HOUSE OF THE

BUDDHIST ORDER

THE organisation of the primitive Buddhist Church,

based upon the Sangha , orAssembly of theAryan clan ,

required ameeting place ; this naturally would beattached to the relic shrine or stupa of a Buddhistsaint . The Simple ritual of the H inayana school onlyneeded a thatched Shed enclosing the stupa

,giving

a sheltered place for themembers of the Order wherethey could sit andmeditate on the words of the BlessedOne or settle the affairs of themonastery . A passagefor circumambulation of the stupa was also necessary .

The lay community whose offerings contributed to themaintenance of themonastery were provided with—

a

corridor on either side of the shelter where they couldsee the stupa and circumambulate it without intertering with the service of the Sangha. This primitivetype of B udghiSj Church was apsidal at the furtherend ,

for the procession path followed the shape of the

stupa . It had three doors, the large one in the centrebeing the entrance to the Assembly-hall of the Sangha

- the nave of the Church ; the left one being the

entrance , and the right one the exit for the processionpath of the laymen . Plain wooden pillars slightlyslop ing inwards to resist the thrust of the barrel-shaped

‘n m “

roof supported the latter and divided the nave from46

PLATE IXA

STUPA-HOUSE,KARLE

PLATE IXB

LOTU S CAPITALS, RARLE

THE VEDIC STUPA 47

the corridors or aisles. The nave was lighted and

ventilated by the horse-Shoe or sunfwindow over the

W ranc e ,partially screened by a wooden trellis .

This window ,as mentioned above , was one of the

most freqli enthomedj eoohat ivemotives inM

Buddhist

art , because it was regardedor set tipg suh b or

.

of themoon,according to the orienta

tion of the building to which it belonged .

Wemust not believe , however , that this stupa-house ,

the Assembly-hall of the Sangha , was anymore thanthe stfip a itself a creation of Buddhism,

or that itsprimitiveness Shows that the Indo-Aryans were littleSkilled in the art of building . It has been explainedabove that in all probability the st fipa

-house ,as a

chapel for dead kings, had a long tradition behind itin the earliest days of Buddhism. Its structure wascomparatively Simle

,because it was only intended to

last fort hree at ions, when the solemn Vedic ritesby which the Brahman priests helped the deceasedmonarch ’

s spirit on its way to swai ga had fulfilledtheir purpose . For this reason no stupas Or st iip a

houses exist older than the third c entugymB .C whenAg glgah egani o build solid

”stupas of brick and stone ,

and provided the Sangha with permanent Assemblyhalls, whichmight endure as long as the Moon and

Sun . But though Asoka greatly increased the numberofmaster-builders in the imperial service by the employment of foreigners, even he could not commandsufficient labour for his colossal building projects, l sothat the st fip a

-houses of the Sangha continued for

themost part to be built of wood and thatch . But

it was in his reign that the royal craftsmen of Indiabegan the great series of rock-cut stupa-houses and

1 Tradit ion says that he built stupas the numbermay not

be ent irely fanciful if those built of impermanentmat erials are reckoned .

48 THE BHIKKUS ’ RETREATS

monasteries for which Karle,Nasik ,

K enheri,A janta

,

Ellora, and other places are famous .

The wandermgr bhi likus, whose duty it was to p er

p etuat e the tradition of the Good Law t aughpmh

the

Buddha , were enjoined t omeet together in the rainyseason

, when travelling was difficult or impossible ,WW M W Amfer the purpose of c omparing notes and discpsg ng the

affairs of the Sangha ; a very necessary precaution,

as the tradition , like that of orthodox Brahmanism,

was an oral one transmitted fromone generation to

another , and depending for its ac curaoy upon a

scientific systemofmemorising . The importance of

these annualmeetings was recognised by the rule of

the Order that no bhikku was allowed to travel in the

rainy season , except when news Should come froma

distant place that one of the brethren specially learnedin the Lawmight die and leave no Spiritual heir t ocarry on the great tradition .

In the early days of Buddhismthe retreats of the

bhikkus were often natural caves in the ravine of a

mountain torrent whE'f'é'

thegreat Rishis who precededthe Enlightened One had sought , bymeditation or painfulmort ific at ion of the flesh, to find the true Path .

When Asoka began to take“,the Sangha under his

imperial patronage, and the number of Mfijfiflifisfi g reatlyincreased , it became to ”enlarge theseancient retreats of the Order , and to provide others inproximity to the royal courts, so that the sons of the

Aryan nobilitymight benefit by the instruction of the

bhikkus . When kings and emperors took the vowsof the Order , and the abbots of themonasteries weretreated as royal personages, it soon followed that theritual of relic worship lost the austerity of the primitiveBuddhist cult , and b

‘e‘gepme , amhborate and ornate

as the Vedic rites over which the ancient Aryan kings

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so KARLE SCULPTURE

gallery,or naiibat khfina ,

where , in the words of Asoka’

s

edict , the sound of the drumof the Dhamma washeard instead of the war-drum,

”announcing the great

festivals or general ..meet ings of the Sangha . In frontof the porch there were two colossalm “Persepolitanormspillars , differing fromt ose Of Asoka’

5 time byhaving a shaft p ffl

sixgteen sides. The right-hand p illar ,

however , has disappeared ,and a smallmodern shrine

dedicated to Darga occupies the place where it stood .

The fifteen p illars “on either-.side . of the nave are of

the same order,only the shafts are ogtagoh al . The

symbolismhas been explained above . The pillar isthe world- lotus

, springing fromthemystic vase c on

taining the cosmic ether (dkdsa) , and supporting theTusita heavens where the Devas reside , who ,

are hereShownmounted on their respective vehicles (vdha

‘

n)and watching over themeetings of the Sangha just asin bygone ages they looked down upon the Vedicrites fromtheir thrones above the sacrificial posts.

The sculp ture , like that of Sanchi , is remarkablyrobust

,and free fromthedry academicmannerisms of

the Gandhara SchOOl , proving that there was an

original and highly develop ed school of figure- sculpture

in India before the H ellen1st 1c c lptors of the Kushancourt broke the traditionwhichmade it unlawful forartists t o represent the person of the Blessed One . The

seven pillars behind the stfip a have plain octagonalShafts without caps or bases. The st fip a itself, at

'

the

far end of the nave ,crowned by the reliquary and the

royal umbrella in wood, is alsoi figmlzfilyr simple b oth in

formand decoration,the only sculpture upon it being

the two bands representing the railings of a doubleprocession path . The surface was finished by a

coating of fine chunam, Simulatingmarble with itsfine polish , which may have served as a ground for

AJANTA 5 1

painting and gilding . All the pillars were Similarlyfinished .

The imaginationmust fill in what is now wantingin this noble deserted Assembly-hall of the Sanghathe painted banners hung across the nave the

flickering light fromthe lamps reflected upon the

glittering surface of the st iip a, and losing itself in thevaulted roof above the bowed figures of the yellowrobedmonks, solemnly pacing round the relic—shrineand chanting the sacred texts, or seated on the floor inmeditation or grave debate ; the pious laymen lookingon frombetween the close-set pillars of the nave , and

following the sacramental path along the outerambulatory .

In the ancient but long deserted Buddhist uni

in the ravine of theWaghorathe Tap t i river , and now

in the dominions of the Nizamof Hyderabad , there isa great series of stupa-houses andmonasteries dating

“ fl u -“ V

fromabout the second and first cent uries B .C . (Nos . IX“ fa-m Mm afl w ‘o

and X) to the seventh century AD . or later (No .m adm an-M “

XXVI) . The Site chosen is a lofty scarp of rock in

a secluded glen , crescent-Shaped and ovh rlooking a-M~‘mountain torrent which p ours over the high rocks at

the northern end~

of the ravine in a great cascade .

Truly a fit place formeditation , and one which everyIndian poet would associate with the birth of the

holy Ganges in the wilds of Hirnalaya . Wemight besure that the Buddhist bhikkus were not the first tofix their ashrams here . The histmy a p fp ddhist art

for nine hundred years is told in the‘twentyssix chapelsand college halls ranged along the cliff . First thechoic e of the crescent—Shaped Site shows the associationof early

,Buddhismwith the ancient Vedic Chandra

worship . Next the strict asceticismof the primitive

52 A‘JANTA

Buddhist Church is revealed in the oldest group of

monastic halls, Nos. XIII , XII , XI , and VIII , including the stupa-houses IX and X

,with their entrances

north or north-east to exclude the sunlight , their plainoctagonal pillars and the restraint in decorationcharacteristic of the H inayana school . The secondto the fifth centuries of the Christian era are rep re

sented by the adjacent group including themonasteriesnumbered XIV and XVIII and the splendid st iipa

house XIX. These occupy the centre of the crescent .On the western tip of the crescent are themonastichalls numbered I to VI ,most of which belong to theseventh century and on the other extremity of the

bow,with their entrances turned towards the setting

sun —the Saiva aspect — are the colleges numbered XXto XXV and the great stfip a

-house XXVI , the lastof the series.

begins about the same time as tand conc ludes with the death of the Emperor Harsha

,

the great patron of Mahayana Buddhism,near e

middle of the .Seventh c entury .

Possibly the Sawmwement . .which began in

Southern _ , Ind ia influenced the

latest p hase . of architec tural r ritual at Ajanta.

Comparing the finest Assembly-halls— the Chapterhouses of the abbey of Ajanta— with that of Karle

,

it is not surprising to find that the distance of sa gen

cent uries which separates themhas brought about a

greaL change in Buddhist art and architecture . The

Devas of Vedic India who looked down fromthe

massive p illaraof the Sangha ofKarlahave disappeared .

Some of the principalmotives of early Buddhist art,

such as the Ved1cM aremissing ; others, like the“ fl a g“

H . .m

t ion or reduced t omere accessories. TheStppa , from

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54 THE -MESSIAH

XXVI,belongs to the group ofmonastic hal ls which

are oriented towards the setting sun . The eclipsedragon

,Rahu ,

is carved at the crown of the great sunwindow which lights the nave ,

and at the‘

sp ringing of

the arch is the first suggestion of the crocodile-dragonof the cosmic ocean which in later Indian art has an

established place there . The Chapter-house is cOn

siderably larger than No XIX,

1and is even more

richly decorated . The design of the facade is betterconceived , but there 15 less refinement ln the exuberantcarving of the interior . The stfip a here enshrines theimage of Maitreya , the Buddhist Messiah , seated inEuropean fashion upon a throne the legs of which are

formed of lions and elephants. H is footstool is a lotuswith turned-down petals. Here and in No . XIX we

c an see the gradual transformation of the st iip a into a

temple , a process by which the st fip a—house of early

Buddhismlost itsmison d ’

éire.

At Ellora ,not far fromthe south of Ajanta

,cele

brat ed as one of the great Indian tirths , or places of

pilgrimage— for here also a great waterfall pouringover a crescent-Shaped scarp is a symbol of the birthof the Ganges— there is a stupa-house larger than thatlast described ,

and probably somewhat earlier in date .

It is especially interesting frombeing dedicated to

Visvakarma , the Architect of the Gods,who was

the patron saint of themaster-builder . This greatAssembly-hall , therefore ,may have been at one time theGuild-hall of themasons who formany generationswere employed inmaking the rock- cut Shelters for thedevotees ofmany sects who fixed their ashrams in

this holy ground , as well asmany temples for thecrowds of pilgrims

,including the amazing Kailasa

,

1 The dimensions are : length 67 ft ., breadth 3 6 ft . 3 in . , height3 1 ft . 3 in .

ELLORA 55

Siva’

s Himalayan paradise , where the Ganges has itssource .

The organisation of handicraftsmen into c o- operative societies, or guilds, was known even before Asoka’

s

time . Like the village communities, these craft-guildsregulated their own affairs withoutmuch interferencefromthe royal courts of law. It is extremely likelythat the Sangha of themasons working at Ellora hadits own Assembly-hall , for the king ’

s p raftsmen , likethe king himself , performed p riest ly f unc tions, and as

t emp lej rphitg the dwelling sp lac es of the

gods. The great temples had their own hereditary

_g g1,ftsmen , who served as architects for the village

communities, a customwhich has helped t o keep alive

the traditions of Indian craftsmanship even to the

present day .

The design of the facade of the Visvakarma stupahouse is somewhat griginal , perhaps, as Fergussonsuggests, owing to the architects

’

endeavour t o diminishthe glare of sunshine in the interior , due t o the westernorientation of the hall , by dividing , ,

the great sun

window of the nave . But as this result could havebeen secured

"

in the usual way by hanging screens overthe opening , and as the pediments over the Shrines on

either side of the window also Show a departure fromthe traditional types

,it is possible that the novelty of

design is due t o a school of craftsmen with traditionsdifferent fromthose of B edsa

,Karle, Kanheri , Ajanta,

and elsewhere. The structural stfip a-house of the

Sixth or seventh century at Ter has a gable divided ina similar fashion .

CHAPTER VI

THE SIKHARA TEMPLE , OR KING’

S TABERNACLE

THE st iipa , as we have seen , was themonument of ad‘euad w king ; and the cult of stfip a worship , which tookthe chief place in early Buddhist ritual , was no doubtconnected with the shraddha ceremonies of royalty .

The stfip a-house ,

as a must havehad its counterpart in some kind of sacrificial structure

,

temporary or otherwise ,where the living king assisted

at the performance of religious rites.

Such were the tabernacles in which the fire and

Somafi tes of the Aryan tribes werep erformed in VedicIndia. In themthe celebrant , whether hewere Chieftainor high priest , sometimes remained for h

a whole year ,so

“

theymust have been s t ruc tums upon whiCh the

royal craftsmen bestowed re ligiousmre In the Sathapatha Brahmana , a special formof tabernacle calledthe Agnidriya , or fire-house , ismentioned ,

which wasquite distinct fromthe Agni-Sala , the fire-hall of theAryan household . It was in Charge of a special firepriest , the Agn idhra,

and, thflrgughn xthe‘ kindling of the

fire" it became the dwelling-place o}11 h_

e*AH-gods

(Visve-devas)l

The Vedic rites were therefore not independent ofthe builder’s craft , as Fergusson and other writers haveassumed . In later Vedic times the development of

the Yoga cult would havemade the building of a private5 6

THE ROYAL CHAPEL 57

royal chapel almost a necessity . There ismuch hist oric al Significance in the name given to a temple inSouthern India— a kévil, or King

’

s house .

The limited view of ancient Indian life affordedby early Buddhist sculpture gives no indication of any

kind of royal chapel other than the domed stupashrine . Buddhismwas a protest against the ritescelebrated by Aryan kings in Vedic India . No Brahmanicalpaintings or sculptures of that period are known .

In the beginning the Buddhist cult of st iip a worshipconcerned itself with the Buddha as the Great Yogi ,who at his death had attained t o Pari-Nirvana — the

Sakya Prince had not assumed any priestly functionsor instituted a ritual of divine worship . The royalchapel in early Buddhist times conformed to the ritualof st iip a worship and was covered by a dome ,

as shownin the shrine attached to the Palace of the Gods in theBharhut sculptures (Pl . XXXIV, A) .

It was not until Mahayana Buddhismintroducedthe idea of a Bodhisattva as a king of the heavenlySphepes that another form~ofshrine appeared in Indianart — that which is crowned by i hec ury ilinears t eeple ,or sikhara ,

not unlike the high peaked crown,or

miikii ta ,of the Bodhisattva himself . And the form

,

when it does appear,is, as Fergusson observed

, alreadyfully developed as if it had a long history behind it .There are several indications that the sikhara temple

was the Kshatriya king’s chapel where the rites of

Surya or Vishnu worship were performed in his presenceas the gods’ representative on earth . The c ap of it

,

in the oldest as well as in themostmodern examples,is invariably the same as that found in Asoka’

s imperialstandards-“ the amalaka ,

or fruit of Vishnu’

s blue lotus,

the symbol of a Chakra—vartin , or world ruler . The

Manasara Silp a—Sastra lays down the rule that a

I O

58 CONSTRUCTION OF SIKHARA

Vishnu templemust be placed on the Rajap atha , the

King’s Road,with its entrance facing east . The geo

graphical distribution of the sikhara temple correspondswith that of the Vaishnava cult ; it is the almostuniversal formin Northern India ,

where the Vaishnavait es are in the greatmajority ,

whereas the templesin Southern India,

where the Saivas predominate , are

as frequently crowned by the stupa dome .

In the Buddhist temple architecture the sikharabecame the distinctivemark of the Bodhisattva cult ,associated with Mahayanist doctrine , while the st fip a

was the architectonic symbol of the H inayanists, forwhomthe Buddha was a yogi and a teacher ratherthan a king . Mahayanists pursued the path of bhakti ,

or loyalty to their spiritual king ; orthodox H inayanists sought salvation in the induct -marge , the wayof knowledge of the Law. The distinction between theBuddha as a king and as a guru is very clearlymarkedin Indian painting and sculpture .

1

AS to the peculiar therec an be little doubt that it was derived frombambuand thatch construction . The amalaka was probablythe straw c ap bound with strings t omake it watertight ,and the jealase , o

_

rjar, was an inverted water-pot placedover the ends of the bambu supports t o protect themfromthe rain ,‘

according to the practice still followedby native thatchers in Bengal and Southern India.

The symbolismof the lotus and the nectar or somajar was a decorative treatment of these practical c onstructive details.

There is good reason to believe that thismostcharacteristic feature of Indo Aryan architecture wasnot , as Fergusson was convinced , indigenous In India,

but was introduced by4 heA ryansi romM esopotami\,

1 See below, sect ion Ii Sculpture ’

c hap ter i .

THE ARYANS IN MESOPOTAMIA 59

together with themillets, barley , wheat , and oil-seedswith which they enriched the agriculture of non-AryanIndia . There does not exist in India any primitiveindigenous type fromwhich the sikhara c an be derived

,

for the temple c ar covered by a bambu framework inthe formof sikhara c an hardly be the prototype of the

temple itself . But the tall conicalmud huts of Meso

potamian villages are strikingly suggestive of the

conical formof temple sikhara sometimes found inIndia .

Themore usual , curvilinear formof it in India isonly a technicalmodification of structure due to theuse of a bambu framework . As to the antiquity of

these cone—Shaped structures in Mesopotamia therec an be no doubt . A group of buildings carved on a‘

relief discovered by Layard in the Palace of Sennacheribat Nineveh (Pl . XX , A) , built in the eighth centuryB C shows both the sikhara cone and the hemisphericalst fip a

-dome . Whether this relief represents a villageor a palace, it certainly suggests the probability thatboth the Indo-Aryan forms were derived fromMesopotamia— a probability which is greatly increased bythe recent discovery of the Aryan domination of the

Euphrates valley in the secondmillenniumB C and of

the interesting fact that the Aryans of Mitanni , besidesworshipping the Vedic gods, also venerated the Assyriangoddess Ishtar or Ashtaroth . .Verily now have I

sent her (Ishtar) , writes King Dasaratha to his

brother-in-law, Amenhet ep III , King of Egypt , and

she is gone . Indeed , in the time ofmy father , the ladyIshtar went to that land and just as She dwelt thereinformerly and they honoured her

,somay nowmy

brother honour her t en timesmore than before .

”

This remarkable letter gives a very different account of1 H istory of the Near East, H . R . H all, p . 1 9 7 .

60 THE ARYANS IN MESOPOTAMIA

the religious attitude of the Aryans in Vedic times tothat given by Fergusson when he writes of the sikharathat no-one c an accuse the pureAryans of introducingthis forminto India

,or of building temples at all , or of

worshipping images of Siva and Vishnu with whichthese temples are filled .

Another more ancient Mesopotamian sculptureis the famous stele of NaramSin , c irc . 2750 B C in the

Louvre (Pl . XX , B ) , commemorating his victory overSatuni, King of Lulaba . Whether the tall cone rep re

sents a king’s fort , or is only an artistic convention forthe summit of a loftymountain ,

it certainly suggestsa connection between the Indian sikhara and Meso

p ot amian art , for the Shrine crowned by the sikharaand by Vishnu ’

s lotus emblemwas a symbol of the holymountain Mandara , of themystic Mera round whichthe sun andmoon revolved .

To sumup the evidence ,it seems that the sikhara ,

as well as themany Assyrian or Babylonian decorativemotives occurring at Sanchi and Bharhut , are accountedfor by six centuries ofAryan rule in Mesopotamia . U sedas a temporary Shrine or tabernacle in ancient Vedicritual , and later on in the cult of Yoga, the sikharawas

introduced there,

by the employment “

of bambu - in its c onstruction , itacquired itsp eculiar Ind ian curvilinear form. Buddhismdeprived it of its raison d ’e

‘tre as the Shrine of the Sun

god ; therefore the formonly survived in bambu or

woodenmaterials until the development of the cult ofbhakti in Mahayana Buddhismagainmade the king

, as a

Bodhisattva , the symbol of divinemajesty and the

temporary ruler of the Sangha . In Gupta times therevival of Vedic traditions in the royal courts of India

1 H istory of Indian and Eastern Architec ture. z ud Edition .

Int roduct ion , p . I 4 .

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62 VARIETIES OF THE SIKHARA

the history of“ Aryan rule In India ,

as every IndoAryan dynasty built royal chapels for the wogship of

its Ishta-devata. Beginning with Vedic times, it wasthe symbol of the Kshatriya chieftain ’

s priestly functions, laid aside for a time when the Buddhistmonkbecame the people’s guru,

and the relic shrine the

people’s temple . It reappeared when Buddhismitselffound an iconic symbol in the c rownedk ing , and whenthe abbot‘of amonastery assumed all the insignia of

royalty . F romthat time to the p resent mdiyw almostevery temple in Aryavarta , themodern Hindustan, has

been crowned by the royal sikhara .

The shape of the -

s ikhara follows the plan of the

Shrine , or cella ,

1 which it covers. Thismayb e c ircular ,

but W W

The'

Simp lest formof it is found in thousands of wayside shrines in Ng iherni l ndia (Pl . XV) . Every p rovince has a characteristic variation given by localschools of craftsmen , but these aremuch too numerousto describe . So far as is known , the .most. -ancient

k

sikhara temple existing in India is the great shrineof the Bodhi -tree at d h5Gfiay g ,

marking the spotwhere the Blessed One obtained e nlightenment . The

shrine which Asoka built at the same place is rep re

sented in the Bharhut sculptures (Pl . XIII , A) . It is

interesting to'

not e that here and elsewhere at Bharhutthe symbolismof the Persepolitan capital is ex?plained ,

for the turned-down petals of the lotus are

carved upon the bell of the Asokan pillar standingin front of the entrance . The present brightemp le at

W O W ,”

Bodh—Gaya (Pl . XIII , B ) is structurally , perhaps, thatwhich Huvishka , the Kushah in the firstcentury B .C . ,

but the exteriorh is to a great extent a

modern restoration undertaken by the Archa ologic al1 H iranya

-

garoka,womb of the universe .

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64 BHUVANESHVAR

For the style of architecturemost characterist icof the great Gupg fi period , one must turn t o the

ancient capitals of Ind ian affected“ M M -l s on-fl

a ”

by the stormof Muhammadan iconoclasmwhichbegan to sweep over Northern India in thefi g eyenth

Centmy, and continued to rage at intervalS down t o

the time of Aurangz ibn Bhuvaneshvar , which froma time of unknown antiquity was the capital of thekingdomof or Kalinga— the conquest of whichby Asoka 1Sdescribed ln his Edicts as the event whichled to his becoming a disciple of the True Law —is one

of these .

Surrpunded by rocky hills in the caves of whichJain and Buddhist hermits found retreats, Bhuvaneshvar in the course of centuries acquired an odour of

sanctity whichmade it , like Benares and other places ,a city of the gods, encircled by a pilgrims’ procession“m mpath and fillexiw with hundreds“ of temples The nameBhuvaneshvar , L ord oi . . - the U niverse , suggeststhat it was a king’s capital , and the temples are , in fact ,nearly all crowned by the royal sikhara ,

and have theorthodox aspect of a Vishnu shrine fac ing ,thew rg lg gsun , ,

though inmany cases Siva is the deity worshipped .

”

In Jain ,Buddhist , or Brahmanical temples when

the saint or deity of the shrine is worshipped as a hero ,

or world-conqueror , Indian craft ritual ordains thatthe roof Shall be Vishnu

’

s spire instead of Siva’

s dome .

In the centre of theg roup towers the steep le of the‘ M m

amasterpiece of finemasonry built of the local lateritestone, perfectly jointed without .mo, _rtar or cement .

.m-C: W W

technique ,the Linga-raj sikharamust rank as one of

the greatest works of the Indian builder, though itsH “M “an ” “ fi n-c um“

‘1

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66 crvrc USES OF TEMPLES

more stately abode,or the deitymight be honoured by

building a series of enclosures,each one grander and

more sumptuous than the last,whereby the builder

could demonstrate themanifold aspects in which thedivinity declared itself

,and provide accommodation

for the priests and pilgrims who worshipped there .

But the shrine itself could only be p resemg i forposterity by enclosing fl it minr imp efishablc .-.

materials.

Both the stupa and the sikhara were sacrosanctsymbols which could not be lightly changed t omakethemmore . pleasing t o the eye .

As Hindu ritual is individualistic and not congre

gat ional, the temple service does not necessarily requiremore than a fitting shrine for the deity and a verandahor porch for the custodian of it . Many thousands of

Hindu temples are of this simple type, either with thesikhara steeple

,as in PI. XV,

or with the st fip a dome,which c an be seen in the Buddhist st fip a

-houses at

Ajanta (Pl . XI ) . But the elaborate ritual of the royalcourt

,the attraction of a venerated shrine as a reSort

5 “ M i a

?"

for p ilg£1ms or the numerous civic purposes t o whicha temple was devoted, oftenmade it necessary t o p rovide a suitable shelter for. large congregations . The

temple was the durbar hall of kings, themeeting-housefor the Assembly of the village community it was a

parliament -house and a debating-hall where philosophical or religious discussions took place . It was at

the temple, also,

that the people listened t o_ _

rec it at_

ions

of the great epics,to the st ories told by the village

kathaks, the Si11ging of sacred songs,or watched the

temple nautch. Many of the great temples built byroyal dynasties or by wealthy devotees have thereforea series of spaciousmandapams, or assembly -hal ls,dedicated t o such uses

,upon the construction of which

the highest skill of the Indian master-builder was

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68 KHAJURAHO

known as Bundelkhand in the Native States and the

Central Provinces of' British India. The Jain,Vaish

nava and Saiva sects had each an equal share in buildingthe temples

,but they are nearly all of the sikhara type

,

symbolising the universal sovereignty of the deityworshipped— whether it be a Jain hero,

1 Vishnu, who

rules ln Vaikuntha,or Siva , the Lord of Kailasa.

The back view of the‘Chgtugbhuja temple, PI. XVI,gives a good idea of the effect of these stately structures,in which,

by adding a covered p roc eSsion path and

massive porches t o the cell in which the image of the

deity 1s enshrined ,and by p 1hngp 1nnac le up on~p 1nnac le“ W M

carved with wondrous patience and v ski llfi around the

central sikhara , the builders realised. a noble . archit ec

tonic conception of Vishnu’

s holymount ainMMandara

with which he stirred the cosmic waters t o bring iffithegolden jar with the nectar of immortality

,or of his

mystic lotus rooted in the depths of the universaldkdéha 3 which flowers in the highest heavens.

The side-view of the same temple,Pl . XVII, Shows

the three pillared halls built in front of the vestibuleof the shrine, the principal one the assembly-hal l of thepeople

,through which they had access t o the covered

procession path, the next the dancing-hall,or Nata

mandapam,and the third the entrance porch of the

temple , which was called the Bhoga-mandapam, and

was dedicated t o the offerings of grain,sweetmeats, and

flowers brought by the worshippers.

5 These halls are

1 Jina Conqueror .

2 Chat urbhuja is a. name of Vishnu signifying his universal sovereignty .

3 Ether .

4 Bhoga food .

5 The dimensions of the t emple are approximat ely the same as thoseof the Kandarya M ahad eva t emple, which are given by Fergusson as

follows: Length 1 09 ft . , breadth 60 ft height 88 ft . above the terrace,or 1 1 6 ft . above the ground .

PLATE XVI

CHATU RBH U JA TEMPLE,KHAJURAHO

,FROM WEST

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7o CHITOR

the Tirthankaras, the divine heroes of the Jains, exceptthat the sikhara the ensign of the Surya-vamsa

,which

never appears 1n Musalman buildings, is wanting .

The Guj erati dynasty, like that of Mewar,was of

Rajput descent- Ahmad Shah’s grandfather having

embraced Islamt o save his life— andmaint ained '

all

the traditions of Raj put culture,so that the Muham

madan architecture of Guj erat is Saracenic,

only inthe sense that it is Indo—Aryan architecture adaptedto the ritual of Islam.

At Chitor, which was his capital, Kumbha Ranabuilt a royal chapel in honour of Vishnu

, but themostimportant one there 15 named after his Queen ,

Mira Bai(Pl . XIX,

A) . Like the Khajuraho temple illustratedin PI. XVI and XVII

,it has a covered p rocession

_ w m w w

path round the shrine leading fromthe great assemblyhall

,or Sabha-mandapam

,with its lotus dome

covered externally by a pyramidal roof which differsfromthose of the Khajuraho temples in being placeddiagonally ln relation t o the front of the shrine . The

lofty sikhara crowning the latter ismore severe in stylethan those which crown the royal chapels of the

Chandéla dynasty, al though it is several centurieslater in date ; for the royal line of Mewar

,proud of it s

il lustrious ancestry, and schooled in a constant strugglefor independence , has alwaysmaintained itsmartialtraditions and some of the dignified simplicity of ear lyIndo—Aryan court life .

We have seen that the sikhara of a Vishnu temple,symbolical ly considered, is an architectonic renderingof Vishnu’

s holymountain ,Meru or Mandara

,just as

the tower of a Siva temple stands for Kailasa,Siva’

s

Himalayanmountain . The veneration gfumuow

u’

nt ains

has played a part in all religions,and it 15 quite probable

that originally Vishnu and Siva were both p ersonific a

PLATE XVIIIA

INTERIOR OF MANDAPAM,KHAJU RAHo

PLATE XVIIIB

CARVING OF MANDAPAM ROOF, ITTAGI

MIRA BAi’

s TEMPLE, CH ITOR

PLATE XIXB

CITY OF THE DEVAs,PALITANA

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CHAPTER VII

THE SIVA AND VISHNU-SIVA TEMPLE

IN the last chapter we have tried to trace the evolutionof the Indian sikhara chapel back t o the patriarchaltimes when the Kshatriya Chieftain offi ciated as highpriest at the Aryan tribal sacrifices

,and the Kshatriya

householder had no need of a Brahman t o direct theworship of his lures et penates . We have also seen

how thememorial chapel of the dead Aryan Chieftainwas appropriated t o Buddhist worship

,and used as the

Assembly-hall of the Sangha . It remains now t o

explain the subsequent evolution of the stupa shrinein Hindu temple architecture .

Besides the Jain and Buddhist there was anothersect

,that of the Saivas

,whose doctrine was similarly

p essimist 1c , whose ritual Was associated with funeralceremonies

,and who looked for salvation in pursuing

the path of knowledge (indna-marga) rather than the

path of steadfast loyalty and devotion (bhakti- tnarga)or of duty (karma-marge) , to which the Kshatriyawarrior mostly inclined . Siva,

the Lord of Death ,the deity worshipped by the Saivas, was the apotheosisof the Brahman ascetic

,who found the path of know

ledge bymort ific at ion of the flesh and bymeditation .

The religious teaching of the Saivas differed frbmthatof the Jains and Buddhists in being based upon the

Vedas as d ivine revelation Themetaphysical specula

BAS-RELIEF FROM NiNEVEH

PLATE XXB

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74 EVOLUTION OF THE SIVA TEMPLE

at Mamd lap igrang, near Madras,nowknown asArjuna

’

s

Rath— the war- c ar of Arjuna .

The stfi pa ,as the symbol of the Lord of Death,

Siva, was venerated by the Saivas asmuch as It was

by the Jains and ‘Buddhists,the only distinction being

that the former did not use it as a reliquary, for relic

worship formed no part of Brahman ritual . The c hiefdifference between the 5 3

21 3 and Bnddhist shrine is

that the former is squarep g c tagnnaljn p lahr— a cubical

cell being the usual Brahmanic al symbol for the

cosmos 1 -while the latter is fi gulaflrh oruwheel-shaped ,

the equivalent Buddhist symbol .The fact that the cubical cell was intended either

for the spiritual exercises of a livingYogi or for an imageof the deity conditioned the size of it

,so the builders, in

their endeavours t o give height and importance to theshrine, were constrained top ile replicas of it one“over theother, gradually diminishing in size so as to

p i Ilarnidal structure . In this case it is a three-storiedshrine

-

f th'

e topmost crowned wbdymamsoliud nstfip a dome .

Miniature cubicles aremat“ four c orneTfi f the

terraced roofs,with a rectangular cell in themiddle of

each side intended iQLEn_ image _ in -.a recumbent ,p ose,

like the Buddha in his last sleep of Pari-Nirvana,

’ or

for the ascetic dormitory of a living Yogi .There is very little difference between the structure

of the Dravidian dome and that of the Buddhiststupa-shrine seen at Aj anta. Both are closely relatedt o the ribbed dome of the fire-shrine — probably formedof skins stretched on a wooden or bambu framework

1 Derived fromthe ancient idea that the world was square, the skybeing support ed on four pillars.

1 If the shrine were B rahmanical, it would be for the analogousfigureof Vishnu , asNarayana, slumbering under the cosmic wat ers in the coilsof the great serpent , Ananta, a symbol for the M ilk y Way.

PLATE XXII

SIVA TEMPLES,MAMALLAPURAM

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76 SAIVA AND VAISHNAVA TEMPLES

type of themonolithic shrine at Mamallapuramand of

the so- called Dravidian temple .

The stupa dome at Aj anta,in the structural form

ofwhich it is a copy , would have beenmade on the sameprinciple asmodern Persian bulbous domes (Pl . XLI , B ) ,derived fromBuddhist st iip as, with internal woodenties arranged like the spokes of a Wheel . Symbolically ,

the difference b ddhist dome isthat the finialmmort

_

ality, ,éo f t he’

Tatter the reliquary_ _

and the royal0

1w w w ‘e a

umbrella . An extension or sligh‘

t'mOdific at ion of the

midal India,which in themind of

themdevout stood for Siva’

s Himalayan paradise,Mount

Kailasa,just as the toweringmass of the sikhara type

was a symbol of Vishnu’

s holy mountain . On the

seashore at Mamallapuramthere are two adj oiningtemples (Pl . XXII) which illustrate the interchangeof symbolismfrequently occurring

,in Indian temple

architecture ; for though both temples are of Saivadesign

,the smaller of the two

,a five—storied one

,is

now dedicated t o Vishnu . At theand beginning of the twelfth century a great Vaishnavamovement , headed by Ramanfija , swept over SouthernIndia

,and in this p eriod Older Saiyfia were

W O O “

appropriated t o the Vaishnava cult , and new temples,“

W m ‘w v

like the Vaikuntha Perumal temple at Conjiveram(Kanchi) , were built

-

according to the Saiva tradition ,

but dedicated j omNishnu. “ In the same way the

Vaishnava sikhara temples of Northern India wereappropriated by the Saiva cult, as we have alreadynoticed .

Fergusson ,in his academic classification of Indian

architectural styles, labels the Saiva temples Of SouthernIndia Dravidian ,

”and the Vaishnava temples of the

TOWER OF THE GREAT TEMPLE,TANJORE

PLATE XXIIIB

GOLDEN LOTU S POOL ,MADURA

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78 KAILASA TEMPLE,ELLORA

Aryan courts— the main point of issue being the

authority and spiritual significance of the Vedas.

1

Several of his:successors popularised Saiva teachingand enlistedmany non-Brahmans as disciples

,so that ,

like Buddhism, it divested itself Of its Brahmanicalexclusiveness. It also found great favour in the royalcourts of Southern India. At Badami , the ancientcapital of the Chalukyan kingdom,

there are severalSaiva temples of about the seventh century, small insize, but superb in craftsmanship

, and distinguishedby a noble simplicity of design for Saiva teachingaimed at a return t o the simple liv1ng and high thinkingof the Vedic Rishis which inspired it . In the eighthcentury the Saiva temp les became gnaglmderw andmoreelaborate, for all the great ruling i p gwers of SouthernIndia were its patrons, and v

i

ed swith each other in theSplendour of their public works. Vikramaditya,

the

line,built the great

temple0

of Virfipaksha at Pat tadakal,near Badami ;

the Pal lavas at Conjiverambuilt the K ailasanatha

temple ,and sculptured some of the famous Raths at

Mamallapurarn .

In these two centuries one c an “ trac e the g radualevolution of the plan of

,a

,Saia temple, symbolising

the palace of the Lord of Death in his Himalayanglacier ; but it was at

Mm,not far t o the south of

Aj anta,and within the territories of the Chalukyan

kings,

”t hat the royal craftsmen ofa l ndia, with amazingtechnical skill and fertility of invention , perfected theirideal ln the rock- cut temple .Qf Kailasa,

which repeatson a grander andmore elaborate scale the scheme of

the structural temple at Pat t adakal . Ellora,as

beforementioned, is one of themost halyjirths gp laces1 SeeH istory of Aryan Rule in India, by the Author (Harrap) , p . 2 1 8 .

2 It is now within the d ominions of H .H . the Niz amof H yderabad .

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80 THE NANDI SHRINE

the solidmass of the roof. The Ihree sides of the deeppit which formed the temple cafi

’

ffy‘

sfa were sub

sequently _

c arved . .into Cloisters,

w which p ro

vided a richly sculptured procession path,and a series

of splendid _ chap els, fromwhose dimly- lit recessesSiva’s snow-white palace could be seen glittering inthe sunlight , for the sculpture

,as usual

,was finished

with a fine coat of highly, p olished g hunamh

Passing through the gopuram,

1 with its walls battlement ed like the entrance of a royal palace (PI. XXIV) ,one passes over a bridge to a detached two-storiedshrine dedicated to Siva’

s bull,Nandi

,and placed

at the entrance t o the main courtyard . On eitherside a stately carvedmonolith

,nearly 50 feet high,

serving as the ensign of royalty,bears Siva’

s

trident,the symbol of his threefold qualities, ’ on

the Summit .The bull is the symbol of Siva as the Creator, c on

nec t ing the Saiva with those traditions of very remoteantiquity when the year began with the sun

’

s entranceinto the constellation of Taurus, which was worshippedas the bull ploughing his way among the stars. Therewas a tradition current in Babylonia that the humanrace was born under Taurus, and we have seen alreadyhow the Buddhists adopted the same zodiacal sign t omark the Nativity of the Buddha (p . The bullis aW c ause he wears Siva

’

smoon-crest on

his head . Nandi in the Saiva ritual corresponds t oBrahma the Creator . His shrine , like Brahma’s, hasdoors on all four sides facing the cardinal points. In

the great Siva temple at Elephanta a splendid image1 Lit erally c ow fort , a name no doubt derived fromthe gat e

ways of the ancient Aryan village ,where armed sent inels wat ched the

c at t le on the c ommon gra z ing-ground under the walls .

2 The three gunas— sat tvam, rajas, and t amas .

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82 SAIVA MYTHOLOGY

large sun-window,originally intended to illuminate

the shrine,but here filled by an image of Siva seated

in yogi attitude with the right hand raised in the

gesture This is one of themany pointsin which Saiva and Buddhist iconography correspond .

Fromthe level Of the inner courtyard the solidplinth upon which the temple rests c an be seen

“ u

w

(Pl . XXVII , A) . It is about 22 _feet high, and sculptured with a whole herd

”pi glephants, as if supportingthe temple on their backs

,showing the characteristics

of the noble beasts with consummate art and with an

amazing effect ofmonumental dignity . It goes roundthe whole length of themain temple with its assemblyhall

,only interrupted by the porches on the north

,

south , and west sides,which at the ground level are

fil led with sculpture illustrating legends fromSaivamythology . U nder the southern porch

,which was

formerly connected with the chapel on the Opposite sideof the courtyard, there is a fine panel (Pl . XXVII)telling the story fromthe Ramayana of Ravana’

s

impious attempt to remove Kailasa t o Ceylon . Worstedin the fight with Rama and hismonkey allies

,Ravana

flew in hismagic c ar to Kailasa , and in order to forcethe Great God to come to his aid ,

began to underminethe mountain ,

hoping to carry it off on his back .

Parvati felt the ground tremble, and her attendantsfled in dismay . She clutched Siva’

s armto rouse himfromhismeditation ; but He who knows the past,present , and future, only pressed down His foot andheld the t en-armed demon-king a prisoner in the

dungeon he hadmade for himself, where he remaineda thousand years until he had expiated his crime byrepentance .

For the pilgrimthe outer circumambulation of

1 Dharma-chakra-mudra .

PLATE XXVIIA

SCULPTURED PLINTH IKAILASA TEMPLE

PLATE XXVIIB

LANKESHVARA CHAPEL ,KAILASA TEMPLE ,

ELLORA

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84 THE KAILASA TEMPLE,ELLORA

series ofmonastic halls or Chapels rises in three st oriesabove the Cloisters.

l This was never completed, but

the intention was to cut right through to the uppersurface of the rock so as to forma skylight in the topstory .

The great bat hing t ank . which is a striking featureinmany other popular Ind ianshrinea (see Pl . XXIII , B ) ,c ub-fl“

is wanting at El,

lora because the pilgrims performedtheIr necessary ablutions at the water-fall or in the

streamwhich flows at the foot of the hill .Probably this marvellous temple remained the

chief centre of Saiva worship in the Dekhan until thethirteenth century, when the Muhammadans

,having

conquered the greater part ofHindustan ,broke through

the great barrier of the Vindhyamountains and forcedthe Brahmanmonks and temple craftsmen to seek theprotection of the Hindu courts farther south . But the

design of the Kailasa at Ellora remained for all timethe perfectmodel of a Sivalaya

‘

-the. temple craftsman ’

s vision ofSiva’

swondrous palace inH isHimalayanglacier, which nomortal c an ever reach, where in H isYogi ’s cell the Lord of the Universe

,the Great Magi

c ian,controls the cosmic forces by the power of

thought ; the holy rivers,c reat ing

‘

l ife in the worldbelow

,enshrined in Hismatted locks Parvati , His other

Self— the U niversal Mother,watching by His side .

Whenever a Siva temple is found crowned byVishnu’

s sikhara,instead of by the pyramidal st fip a

tower,it is either because a Vaishnava temple has been

appropriated by the Saiva cult , or because in thattemple Siva is worshipped in his Sattvic aspectas Vishnu the Preserver . This frequently occurs inNorthern India

,but it is very rarely the case in the

Dravidian or southern country, the great stronghold1 See Pl . XXVII , on the right .

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86 THE CHALUKYAN STYLE

the Jains before described, they reproduce in their”

scheme themain features of the ancient Aryan townplan as described in the canonical books of the Indiancraftsman ,

the Silp a-Sastras. The inILEL .temp le .

rep re

sents and council-house approachedby the two main thoroughfares

,the Rajap atha , or

King’s street , and the Vamanap atha,Short or South

street . The bazaars, bathing places, debating-halls,public orchards, city walls and gates are all indicatedin the lay

-out of the great South Indian temples,each

one of which should have a separatemonograph .

When the distinction in symbolismbetween the

typical Saiva and Vaishnava temples is understood,it will not be difficult t o follow the evolution of the

architecture of the two great cults Ofmodern Hinduism,for the study of which a greatmass ofmaterial isavailable . We must now briefly consider a thirdarchitectural Ioup which, after Fergusson,

has beencTaSSI e archaeologically because itsgeographical distribution correspondsto the territories of the Chalukyan kings who ruledin the Dekhan fromabout the sexenth u t om the end

of the twelfth centuries A .D .,

This name is unsat is

factory, because the style did not begin with the

Chalukyan dynasty, nor was it exclusively charact erist ic of the temples built under it s patronage .

Fergusson states that the Chalukyan style was naturally evolved fromtheDravidian ,

i.e . the orthodox Saiva,

type of temple . But this is hardly c orrect , as the

design of the temples included in this category wasa compromise between the Dravidian pyramidalst fip a

—tower Of the Saiva type,and the Indo-Aryan

curvilinear sikhara of the Vaishnava type .

We have noticed already that the two great schoolsof . Indian religious thought , theSaiva a nd fl aifi navm

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88 ITTAGI TEMPLE

by local craft conditions or by the invent ive fancy of

the builder .

Though this formOf a temple shrine probablyoriginated with theVaishnavamovement in theDekhan ,

it did not,once it was established in the canons of— the

master-builder, retain a strictly sectarian character .

Like the other two types,it was used by different sects

— a characteristic of Indian temple-building whichhas often led to disputes regarding ownership . And

though Ramanfija’

s namemay be associated with it ,just as Sankaracharya

’

s name is connected with the

Saivamovement , the Chalnkyan style”began to

evolve several centuries before Ramanfija’

s appearancein the eleventh century

,for the Vaishnava doctrine

of qualifiedmonism,preached by Ramanfija in opposi

tion t o the Advaita doctrine of the Vedanta , had its

exponents centuries before his birth .

The Saiva temple of It t agi (PI. XXIX) , abouttwenty-onemiles E .N .E . fromGadag in Hyderabad,built about the time of Ramanfija,

and typical of thestyle

,is one of themost beanjiful examples .ofmedigval

architecture_

in the Dekhan . The decorative workh

iS

SIIp erbly rich and finished in execution,but it is not

over-elaborated with the Wild profusion of the laterdecadent architecture of Halebid . Likemany othertemples of the period

,it is remarkable for the absence.

of figurg sculpture, the nic hes designed for imagesbeingmostly empty or filled

,with aniconic symbols.

In this respect also the temples tell the religious historyof the times

,formany Hindu teachers— Jain ,

Saiva ,

and Vaishnava— taught the vanity of idolatry, and

refused it the place in religious ritual which popularsuperstition gave to it .

The crowning member of the tower,the st iipa

symbol, and the roofs of themandap ams in the ' It tagi

VISHNU—SIVA TEMPLE,BALACAMI

PLATE XXXB

VISHNU - S IVA TEMPLE,CADAG

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CHAPTER VIII

THE MONASTERY,MANDAPAM , AND PALACE

THOUGH we first meet with the monastery in the

dwellings of the Buddha’s fraternity cal led the Sangha—the Community— after the name of the Aryan clan

organisation,monasticismwas an institution deeply

rooted in Indian life,even in Vedic times

,though

Sakya-Mani , perhaps, was the first to put it on a fullyorganised footing . And just as he ordered the deliberations of the Sangha after the traditions of the Aryanpopular assembly

,so the plan Of themonastery

,the

Sangharama , or abode of the Sangha,followed the

simple but eminently practical arrangement of the

Aryan j oint- family house,which down to the present

day has remained the typical plan of a well- to-do Indian

home . It consists of three ormore sets of ap artmentsgrouped round a central courtyard

,square or Oblong

in shape, with a verandah In front , on either side of the

entrance, and others round three sides of the courtyard . In the front _ _

verandah, facing the road,the

men of . the household c anmainand transact business or

pass round the hookah to theirmale friends, while theinner courtyard gives the necessary privacy

,fresh air

,

and protection fromthe glaring sun which are essentialfor the comfort and health Of the family . In the

Indian village the -c ourtyard~serves -as a shelter for

,

the

ryot’s catt le by night,as it also did in the primitive

90

PLATE XXXIA

GAUTAMA PUTRA MONASTERY,NAS IK

PLATE XXXIB

MONASTERY AT AURANGABAD

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9 2 NALANDA

civilised Asia,and spread Buddhist and Hindu learning

far and wide, both in the East and West . The rockc utmonuments of Aj anta

,Ellora, Aurangabad , and

other places enable us to understand the splendourto which Indian universities

,such asTaksasila

,Benares

,

and Nalanda, attained when Mahayana Buddhismrelaxed the ascetic rules of its great Teacher and theirAbbots were the Lords Spiritual, whose authority theWar-lords of the Five Indies did not dare to dispute.

The excavations nowin progress on the site of Nalanda 1

will surely bring in a rich harvest of archaeologicaltreasures and Show the detailed planning of the greatmonastery ,

which is described in outline by H iuenTsang ; but they will not restore its lofty towers, which ,in H iuen Tsang

’

s flowery language , seemed “likepointed hill-tops

,lost in themists of themorning,”

nor its shady groves and gardens, with lotus pools andmango orchards, Where the t en thousandmonks and

scholars took their recreation . The viharas of five

stories, with soaring domes and pinnacles,”seemto

have been like the pyramidal towers of which a sculptured monolithic model exists at Mamallapuram(Pl . XXXII , B ) . It is arranged on the same principleas the tower of the Siva temple . Fg ur. pillared pavilions piled one even

the other,the three upper ones being surrounded by

rows ofmonastic cells,the cubical ones formeditation

and study in the day-time,the Oblong ones used as

dormitories. The topmost pavilion is octagonal andis crowned by the st fip a

-dome . This was no doubt“the upper room”which was accorded t o scholars

of distinction . This type of college building, which

1 Themodern B aragaon , close to Rajagriha ,which was the capital

of Magadha in the days of the B uddha , and thirty-fourmiles fromPatalip ut ra , themod ern Patna .

PLATE XXXIIA

MONASTERY, UNDAVALLI

PLATE XXXIIB

MODEL OF MONASTERY,MAMALLAPURAM

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94 RELIGIOUS DEBATES

of the gods, and in Indian palaces. Discussions onphilosophical and religious questions have been fromthe earliest times somuch a part of Indian social andreligious life that every village had its debating-hall

,

if only a temporary pandal of bambu andmatting or

a venerable tree of wisdom —a banyan or a pipalunder whose branches the elders gathered in the eveningt o listen to wandering sadhus defending their theoriesof the universe ,

or to disciples of a great teacher travelling fromtoll t o toll, and fromcourt to court , t o winconverts for theirmaster’s cause— for even the commonpeople took an intelligent interest in the great problemsof life which occupied all the thoughts of themonkand scholar . In the towns and at the royal courtsa contest between philosophical champions was as

much an entertainment for a great wedding feast orfor a state ceremonial as it was a recreation for thescholars of a Sanskrit toll or university . And the

quinquennial parliament of religions,when under

royal auspices thousands of representatives of differentschools fromall the universities of the landmet withhigh solemnity t o adjust disputes or to listen to the

thesis of some famousmaster of philosophy— a Sankaracharya or Ramani'ija,

who had already won his spursin a hundred fights— was an event in Indian publiclife like the grandest tournaments of European chivalry

,

which roused the greatest excitement and became a

landmark in history . Such great combatsmight lastfor days or weeks, and when finally the end came, and“ letters of victory were given t o the successfuldisputant as a record of his triumph, his opponentswould often be beside themselves with grief and rage,and the exultant victor sometimes so far forgot hisphilosophic dignity as t o throw dust upon themintoken of his contempt .

PLATE XXXIIIA

VITTALASWAM I TEMPLE, VIJAYANAGAR

PLATE XXXIIIB

DIWAN- I-KHAS,DELHI

(Photo by J ohnston 6} H ofiman)

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96 MANDAPAM AT VIJAYANAGAR

revelled in the task of giving artistic.

expression to theexuberant beauty of the tropical forest . Themagnific ent mandapm f the sixteenth century (Pl .XXXIII , A) , built by the K ings of Vijayanagar fortheir royal chapel dedicated to Vishnu , perhaps indicates the highest point to which Indian genius attainedin that direction .

This wonderfulmandapammay give an idea of the

earlier wooden pavilions of Nalanda, with their‘‘pillars_

ornamented with dragons, beams resplenden t with all

the colours of the rainb'

O'

wi — rafters richly carvedcolumns ornamented with jade painted re d and richlychiselled

,as Hiuen Tsang described it . The later

work of the same school in~Southern India,however

astonishing itmay be technically, MWand often loses all artistic coherence . But in NorthernIndia the reaction caused by the Muhammadanconquest and the restriction of sculptured orna

mentation imposed by the law of Islamcreateda new school of Indian craftsmen— the so-calledIndo-Saracenic— fi based upon Hindu technical

,t ra

dit ions but more rationalistic and worldly in its

ideals, though themysticismof the East still clungto them.

The typical works of this school are the pillared

pavilions of Fatehpur -Sikr i (Pl . XLIX , A) built forAkbar , and the famous private audience hall of ShahJahan at Delhi (Pl . XXXIII, B ) , his Elysiumon earthof white marble and precious inlay ,

the exquisiteelegance of which is no less remarkable than the

gorgeous sculptured beauty of the VIJayanagar templemandapambuilt about a century earlier .

The typical pl an of amonastery,as we have seen ,

reproduced that of the Indo-Ar'

yan joint-iamily house— a series of chambers grouped roamOpen court .

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98 iNDIAN PALACES

ments, those for drinking and weeping,

1servants’

rooms,rooms for keeping and grinding corn

,and

latrines were to be on the southern side . The armoury,guard-house, gymnasium

,storeroom, and study

were t o be on the north . The court-house and

record-roomon the north , and the stables on the

south .

The council-house should be built of two or threestories, with pavilions on the roof. It should be beautifuland accessible fromall directions

,with a central hall

double the width of the Side-rooms, be provided withfountains, musical instruments, clocks, ventilatingapparatus

,mirrors and pictures. Dwelling-houses for

the Ministers,Members of Council, and officials were

t o be built separately on the north and east .There aremany circumstances whichmay account

for the complete disappearance of the buildings wherethe great kings of ancient andmediaeval India livedand held their court besides the fact that religioussentiment did not protect the deserted palace of an

extinct dynasty fromspoliation,either by Hindu or

Musalman . U nlike the temples andmonasteries whichwere carved in the living rock or built of imperishablematerials to consecrate the holy place where theystood

,the sites of royal cities were frequently changed

owing t o political disturbances or the exigencies of

warfare . Kings and dynasties disappeared, but theimmortalg ods remained for ever ~There ~was a certainfitness in the unwritten laws of the king’s craftsmen

1 According to an excellent Indian t radit ion a. royal palace shouldhave a special c hamber— a grumbling ormourning room—to which thelady of the z anana should ret ire when she had a grievance or wasin distress ofmind , so that the harmony of the rest of the householdshould not be disturbed . The k ing then , if he wished , could visit thelady in her retreat and redress her grievance or t ry to bring her

PALACE OF B IR SINGH,DATIVA

PLATE XXXVB

FRONT OF PALACE OF B IR SINGH,DATIYA

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1 00 PALACE AT DATIYA

great political events havemade the Mogul buildingsmore famous.

And just as themodern Indian mansion in Rajputana retains the principal features of the buildingdescribed as the Palace of the Gods in the Bharhutsculptures, so it is clear that the sixteenth and sevent eenth century palaces of the Raj put princes werebuilt according t o a traditional Hindu plan , and werenot mere imitations of the fashions of their foreignrulers.

wDatiyawith its noble exterior, an architecturalmasterpiece comparable with the Doge’s Palace at Venice .

It was built in the beginning of

century by Raja B ir Singh Deva of U rcha Whomadehimself infamous in the history of the time as the

agent employed by Jahangir to way_

lay and kill hisfather’s intimate friend and “ prime minister

,Abul

Fazl,when lie passed through the Raja’s territories

on his return to court fromthe Dekhan. The Raja,

when the plot succeeded t oo well,was hunted into the

jungle by the imperial troops, but escaped capture,and on Jahangir’s accession to the throne was richlyrewarded by his employer . Jahangir’s enmity to AbulFazl was due t o the fear that the lattermight persuadehis father t o set aside his succession t o the throneon account of his unruly temper and drunken habits.

Built very solidly of granite and well adornedwith spacious tanks

,the palace follows very closely

Sukracharya’

s directions for the planning of a royalresidence . The Raw ivat e apartments are in a

square tower of four stories about 1 40 feet in height,stand ing i nw t he zmidst —of '

the e

c ounc il - buildingsi .e in the centre of the quadrangle formed by a

great block of buildings,

of equal length in all direc

DATIYA PALACE,WATER FRONT

PLATE XXXVIB

JAHANGIR I MAHALL , AGRA

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1 02 GARDEN PALACES

park committee as well as it s tank or water committee,

and Babur’

s complaint that Indians knew nothingabout pleasure-gardens

,and had neither baths nor

colleges,must be ascribed t o his extreme ignoranceof the country

,though doubtlessmany of the finest

gardens of Northern India were devastated in the

long series of marauding invasions which occurredbefore his time .

Babur’

s gardens at Agra and elsewhere were afterthe Persian model

,divided crosswise with paved

terraces and water- channels,a platform themount

of Felicity —in the centre providing a place for

recreation and entertainment . The plan was therefore the same as that of the Indo-Aryan village plan

,

repeated in the planning of the temple court .The pleasure-gardens of the Muhammadan dynastieshad the religious character which runs through all

Indian art,for one of themwas always chosen as the

owner’s last resting-place . H e usually took greatpains in ordering the building which should eventuallycover his tomb, and the ga

rden itself was a symbolof the Elysian fields in Which he hoped to Wanderafter. death .

While many of the Hindu princes who becametributaries of the . Mogul conquerors imitated the

luxurious habits of the imperial court in themorespacious and sumptuous designing of their palaces .

and garden-mansions, they departed very little fromthe earlier traditions of the Indian master-builder .

Nor were their pleasure-gardens ever used as privatecemeteries. TheMInost .beaut iful_ of -fli e i garden

-.palanes

of India now existing is that which was built by theRaja Suraj -Mall Of Bharatpur at Dig,

about the

middle of the eigh teenth century ,

“

and ornamentedWith some of the loot fromthe palace at Agra which

PLATE XXXVIIA

PALACE OF SURA! MALL , DIG ,GARDEN FRONT

PLATE XXXVIIB

PALACE OF SURAJ MALL,DIG

, WATER FRONT

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I O4 TECHNIQUE

torrentialmonsoon rain . In Asoka’

s time the buildersof Magadha were in demand all over India, and theirtraditions were incorporated with those of Raj putana,

where the local redmaterial almost asm'

e

m

a

' l

silyw

worked as wood andmuchmore durable . In this excellentmaterial slabs and

beams of almost any dimensions c an be obtainedwithout difficulty, and wherever this was the caseIndian stone construction naturally retained a gooddeal of the technique of timber-work ; for only the

modern paper architect,working pedantically accord

ing to an archmologic al style,would design an

arch of numerous small pieces jointed together whenit could be constructedmore easily and effectuallywith one or two .

CHAPTER IX

MOSQUE AND TOMB

IF the palaces of Muhammadan India,except for the

extreme beauty of the decoration,c an but rarely

take the same rank in architecture as those of the

Hindu princes of Raj putana,on the other hand its

mosques and tombs are unsurpassed,and general ly

appealmore t o the European critic than the earlierworks of the Indianmaster-builder, t o whomthe entirecredit of their creation is due ; for though ,

like all

great artists, he borrowed fromhisneighbours, especiallyfromPersia

,the IW M tomb are Indian

and — as perfect lnmasonic craftsmanshipas those of Persia are in the art of brick and glaz edterra-cotta .

The striking contrast between themost remarkableof Indian mosques and tombs

, especially those of

the strict Sunni school,and the best known Hindu

buildings hasmade many critics besides Fergussonignore the derivative character of all Islamic architecture ,

and t o attribute to Pathan and Mogul somesubtle artistic sense which was lacking in themindof the Indian master-builder before he became a

slave of the Musalman conqueror or a convert to thecreed of Islam.

In the beginning of the thirteenth century , whenthe first Indo-Muhammadan dynasty was founded

I 6 105

1 06 THE KAABA

at Delhi,Musalman architecture had its established

canons,but no great originalmasterpieces t o hold up

as examples '

for the Hindu builder . The Arabs hadborrowed their builders fromRome

,Byzantium

, and

Persia . The combination of the three schools, workingtogether under conditions laid down by Islamic law

,

produced what is called Saracenic architecture,which

,

however,

’

had not developed into an independentstyle before Islambegan to draw upon the artisticresources of India in the same way as it had borrowedIndian science- mathematical

,medicinal

,and astro

nomic al— to build up the schools for which Arabculture became famous in Europe .

B efore'

the advent of the Prophet , Mahayana Buddhism

,besides converting the Far East, had spread all

over Western Asia ; and the description given by Arabwriters of the Kaaba ,

themost venerated shrine inArabia ,

which was the firstmodel of a Muhammadanmosque

,strongly suggests a Buddhist temple ormonas

t ery filled with Mahayanist images. It had been forall Arabs a place of pilgrimage froma very remoteperiod— Muhammadan tradition says fromthe .t imeof Abraham. It contained hundreds of images

,among

themthose of Jesus Christ and the Holy Vir'

n . As

M . Foucher has pointed out,Harit i

,the

1,

dhist

Madonna,is one which occurs in Mahayanist icono

graphy all over Asia ; and it is not at all improbablethat in the seventh century an ancient Buddhistshrine in Arabia contained images of Harit i and her

partner , which were c onfused ,

'

as is so often the case,

with Christian images.

l

That which happened in later times in every provinceof India where Muhammadan rule was established

1 See The B eginnings of Buddhist Art , by A . Foucher, t ranslat ed byL . A . Thomas and F . W . Thomas, pp . 2 7 1

-9 1 .

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MIHRAB S 1 07

must have occurred earlier in Arabia and in Persia ,

when the war- lords of Islamhad few building craftsmen except those they took prisoner or importedfromother countries. The Buddhist images weretorn fromtheir niches and broken up ormelted the

former temple ormonastery , if not utterly destroyed ,was used as a place of Muhammadan worship ,

and the

empty niches (mikn’

ibs) with their arches— lanc et t ed ,

trefoiled,or sometimes of the earlier H inayana trefoiled

form— remained in the walls. The principal one inthe west em.wall of the convertedmosque pointed thedirection to which the faithfulmust t urn when sayingtheir prayers, and was called the Kiblah”1

so

the arched niche was retained in every newly-builtmosque and became a symbol of the faith . In privatehouses the numerous small niches which formerly hadserved as shrines for the saints

,or household gods

,of

Mahayana Buddhism, were also retained they wereuseful as cupboards or receptacles for the hookah

,

rose-water vessel,lamp

,or other article of domestic

use . The niche with its changed contents became as

common amotif in the Muhammadan art of Arabia,

Persia,and India

,as it had been . when it was the

shrine of a Buddhist saint .

It followed almost inevitably that the pointed or

horse-shoe arch was also used structurally for windowand door openings instead of the semicircular Romanarch or the beamof the temple portico . The Persianbuilders quickly perceived the wonderful colour effectsproduced by their enamelled terra-cotta— an art

which they had inherited fromBabylon and Nineveh—when placed upon the curved surfaces of the niche

,

and the convenience of placing a doorway or windowunder the shelter of its semi-dome instead of building

1 FromArabic Qabala , to be opposite.

1 08 THE LOTUS DOME

a projecting porch or balcony for it . The law of the

Kuran,which

,like the Mosaic law, forbade themaking

of a graven image or the likeness of anything whichis in heaven or earth

,dictated the character !of Mu

hammadan decorative art so long as the Sunna— the

canonical law of Islam— was strictly observed ; Textsfromthe Kuran ,

in the beautiful scripts of Arabiaand Persia,

were used with great effect as architecturaldecoration both carved and painted . But this rulewas not held to be valid by the Shiahs, the dissentingsect

,who both in Persia and in India allowed them

selves a free use of animals and human figures, so thatmall Muhammadan countries there was the samedifference between Sunni and Shiah architecture as

there was between Hinayana and Mahayana architecture in India .

The st iip a-domewas another Buddhist contribution

to Muhammadan architecture , in which a_dome was

likewise a symbol of a tomb or relic shrine . The domesof the earlier Khalifs were constructed after Roman or

Byzantinemodels; but when theMuhammadan buildersbegan to be recruited fromthe Gandharan districtson the north-west frontier of India ,

and Indian influenceon the building craft of Islamgradually becamestronger, both the formand systemof domical c onstruction in the West were discarded

,and the types

familiar t o Buddhist builders were substituted for

them. Thus the bulbous”dome of MuhammadanPersia is undoubtedly derived fromthe st i

'

ip a shrineof the type sculptured in the -

st fip a-houses XIX and

XXVI at Ajanta. The p r1nc 1ple of its construction ,

by which the outward thrust is counteracted by a

systemof internal ties in the formof a wheel witheight spokes— _ the eight-petalled lotus— instead of byexternal abutments as in the Roman and Byzantine

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ISLAM IN INDIA 1 09

dome,is certainly Indian and Buddhist .

ll The Indian\builders, when they attacked the same problemon a

larger scale,using finemasonry instead of light im

permanentmaterials,solved it in the traditional way

by a systemOf pendentives beautifully fashioned inthe formOf a lotus flower

wwhich acted as an internal

counterp oise. The dome of the Sultan Muham”a"mad ’s tomb at Bijap i

'

ir (Pl . XLIX ,A) , which until

recent times was the second largest in the world,is the

most famous example of this system. As Fergussonobserved , it is better both as engineering and as pureaesthetic than the more cumbrOfi m

Romafi systemfollowed by European builders .

But itmay be said that,even if Islamborrowed

most of the constructive elements of its architecturefromthe building craft of India

,artisticmerit depends

upon the way in which these elements were used ,

and in this essential Muhammadan art shows an

originality and sense Of fitness all its own . This isquite true,

but Fergusson describes the early Muhammadan architecture of India as

“invented by the

Pathans,”2 who

,he says

,had strong architectural

instincts and could hardly go wrong in any

architectural project they might attempt .

”3 The

Pathan style,he writes

,was the stepping-stone

by which the architecture of the West was introducedinto India .

”

H e also gives the Moguls the credit of inventingthe style called after the dynasty of that name .

Other writers, while discarding the term Pathanarchitecture

,

”follow the lead of Fergusson in treatingIndo-Muhammadan architecture as a foreign impor

1 See Appendix .

2 H istory of Indian Architec ture . end ed 1t vol . 11 , p . 2 88 .

3 Ibid ., p . 1 9 7 .

4 Ibid . , p . 1 88 .

1 1 0 THE INDIAN BUILDER

tat ion , instead of being, as it really was,a new and

brilliant development of the ancient Indo-Aryanbuilding traditions under the pressure of foreigndomination . The aesthetic ideasmfwhich . found expression in Musalman architecture in India came fromthe mind of the Indian build er, and not fromhisArab , Pathan ,

Turkish , or Mongolmaster .

For nearly a thousand years before themission of

the Prophet of Arabia began, Indiaghad exercised a

profound influence upon the building craft of Asia,

for wherever Indian found a

footing , the Indian c raftsmanmand artist followed t oshow the correct

,practice ofmtheTrue Law in the ritual

of the Buddhist Church . The great univM’

Of

India were schools of religious craftsmanship as wellas of philosophy and science . In some of t he oldesttemples of Japan there exist at the present day fresco

p aint lngs of the s chool of Ajanta. We know fromthememoirs of the Chinese pilgrims

, Fa Hian and

Hiuen Tsang , how the work of the Indian imagezmakerwas prized by

“the foreign pilgrims who flocked to

Indian shrines, asmu'

ch’

asm

th'

e preciousmanuscriptsin which the teaching Of the Law was written . One

cannot doubt that the Silp a-Sastras,the canonical

books of the Indian craftsman,were among the

Buddhist texts which were carried t omany distantcountries by these earnest seekers after truth, and

that their first care on reaching home after their longand perilous j ourneys would be t o build a fittingshrine for the sacred relic or image, as nearly as possibleafter the Indian

,

model .Themaster-builder in all countries was a constant

traveller , accustomed t o long journeys in search of

work,and the rapid spread of Buddhist propaganda,

both fromits original home in Magadha and fromthe

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THE INDIAN BUILDER 1 1 1

Gandhara country, in which it subsequently took root ,must have created a great demand for the Indianbuilder in all the great cities of Asia .

Following upon this widespread and age- long

diffusion of Indian building traditions throughout theBuddhist world came a demand of a similar characterfromanother quarter which regarded Buddhist religiousdoctrine as anathema, but had no less need for the

services Of the Indian craftsman . In A .D . 7 1 2 ,or

ninety years after the Hegira,Islamestablished direct

control with India through the Arab conquest of Sind ,which remained a pro

’

vince of the,khalifate until it

became an independent Musalman State . It is knownthat Indian pandits and physicians were employedat the Baghdad court ; and itmust be inferred that thedemand for Indian builders was not less great, forlong afterwards the war Islam, who but

tu n

chered Brahman and Buddhist monks wholesale,made a point ofspafing the lives of the ,skilled Indian

craftsman . Mahmjd of Ghazni, amaz ed at themagnificenc e of the Indian temp les he looted, ‘

carried offM “

W

their c raftsrnmen to build for himat

Ghazni, and set up”"

tli'

5re a slavemarket of Indianwomen and craftsmen t o supply the harems and

workshops of Muhammadan Asia . Thismethod of

rec ruit ing n

fo-r t heir public works service was continued

by"many other Musalmanmonarchs.

It is necessary to take all these historical fac ts intoconsideration in order to follow the evolution of the

schools of architecture classed by Fergusson as IndoSaracenic .

”The

,latter were in all cases directly

derived fromthe local schools of Hindu or Buddhistbuilding which preceded them. The earliest archaeologically styled Pathan

,which was established by

the court builders of the first Sultan of Delhi,and

1 1 2 PATHAN BU ILDINGS

influenced the Muhammadan build ings Of NOrthernIndia fromthe end of the twelfth t o themiddle Of

the sixteenth centuries,is only entitled t o the name

fromthe fact that some Of the Sultans were Turksand others Pathans. Mahmad of Ghazni may be

said t o lhave laid the foundations of the school bybringing Indian and Persian builders to Ghazni

’

,

some by c ompulsion and others by persuasion,for

several of the Raj put fighting clans joined the armieswhich he led to the loot of the cities of Hindustan .

The characteristics of these so-called Pathan buildingsare

,asmight be expected

,a blend of Indian and

Persian traditions adapted to the strict Sunni ritual,as dictated by the U lamas of the Delhi court . The

severity‘

of their style must be attributed to the

puritanical sentiment of the Sunni interpreters of

Islamic law,and not to the - racial temperament of

the Pathan or Turkish fightingmen or of their leaders.

The external curve of the Pathan dome is , the

exact outline which themasonry dome of the Hindutemplemandapamof the period would assume if allits external sculpture w

’

ere chipped off . As the

masons were practical builders, they naturally adaptedthe structure of the dome to the new conditions. The

dome is invariably crowned by '

the Buddhist and Hindusymbol

,the Amalaka

,or blue- lotus fruit , which

probably passed the censorship of the U lama bec auseits connection with the worship of Vishnu was not

understood . The use of recessed arches was a sugges

tion fromPersian Musalman buildings adapted, as

before stated , fromthe niched shrines of Buddhistsaints. The forms of the arches themselves, in all

Indo-Saracenic styles, were invariably taken fromthe ritual of the Indian image-maker .

There is a finer feeling for »moa d archi

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PERSIAN AND INDIAN BUILDING 1 1 3

tectonic beauty in Indianmosques and tombs,generally

built of cased in finemasonry,than is Often found in Persian Musalman buildings

,

which owe their peculiar charmmore to their exquisitecolouring and ornament . The grand portals of Indianmosques and tombs

,such as the Buland Darwaza of

Akbar’

s imperialmosque at Fatehpur Sikri , aremoreperfect in f,orm_ and st ructure than the facades of

Persian mosques,which the Indian builder was set

t o imitate . The Persian made his fronts for the

display Of the potter’s lovely tile-mosaic,and often

disregarded structural fitness in the effort t o attaina splendid colour effect .

In this sculpturesque quality the feeling for rhythmin p rofile_

sw and masses— which

.u—‘fl—“T

t erist ic of Ind ian . . -rnosques and tombs,one c an also

fl fl-l P"

M ”

detect the hand, of . the -Hinduw ~and -Buddhist templecraftsman

,who underMusalman rule found his occupa

tion as an image-maker gone,but ample demand for

his servIc es as amaster-builder .

1 It is a quality as

conspicuous in the virile strength of the Pathanschool as it is in the feminine ,

sometimes effeminategrace of Jahangir’s and Shah Jaban ’

s buildings.

Themost perfect and latest examples of the formerschool are thempsque, and - tomb wo fv ShérmShah

,the

able and crafty Afghan chieftain who drove Babur’sson

,Humayfin ,

fromhis throne and ruled asmasterof Hindustan from1 540 t o 1 545 . Themosquen st ands

within the walls of the Purana K ila,or Old Fort

,at

Delhis s —which was Sher Shah ’s capital— and the latterat Sahseram,

in Bengal,where he had his family estate

One facade of themosque is shown in PI. XL,B .

1 Every H indumast er-builder was versed in the ritual and pract iceof image-mak ing, though he usually specialised in one or other Of thetwo art s

1 14 SHER SHAH ’

S MOSQUE AND TOMB

It c an be seen at once that the Indian builder hasacquired a perfectmastery of the elements of designintroduced by the ritual of Islamand put his own

stamp upon them; for there is hardly any directimitation of foreignmodels, but a

_

skilful and barmonious adapt at ion of Hindu tradition t o Muhammadanstructural requirements. The dome, like all Pathandomes

,is crowned w hy the w lnd ran l lotus-and -vase

symbol . The crenellated parapet is the lotus-leaf

p at tefn which is seen in the gateway of the Kailasatemple at Ellora . Lotus flowers fill the spandrils of

the » arches,and the lotus-bud ornamentation of the

soflit s is also derived fromthe traditional symbolismOfHindu and Buddhist shrines. The bracketed corniceis another characteristic In dian feature . The archedOpenings are beautifully Spaced and prop or tioned,not placed in Persian fashion at the back of a semicylindrical niche but

,probably with the idea of

saving space withIn the liwan ,slightly set back within

the larger ornamental arches.

ShEL Shahisnomb finely placed in the centre of

Of Ind ian tmonurnents The terrace In which it isbuilt, reached by a bridge which ‘

is now broken,is

3 00 feet square,and the dome of the sanctuary is

the sec ond - largest in,

India ,being feet in dia

meter,or 13 , feetmore than the dome’

of thegrajmMahall . Like all Muhammadan tombs in India

,it

is very characteristic of theman for whomit wasbuilt . The Musalman monarch usually took the

keenest interest in the designing of his ownmausoleum,

and his court builders were no less keen t o follow hiswishes in giving it a personal note . Sher Shah wasa strict Sunni

,a stern disciplinarian

,and an able but

iron-handed ruler, who In his short reign of five years

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SHER SHAH ’S TOMB 1 1 5

restored peace and order in the provinces -which hadbeen reduced to a state of anarchy by the devastationsof Timiir , and by the bitter struggle formasterybetween Mogul

,Afghan

,and Raj put Chieftains which

followed the death of Babur , He protected the

Hindu ryots fromthe exactions of Musalman Zamindars, so that his State treasurymight be replenished ;and as his own countrymen ,

t o whomhe gave largesswith a bountiful hand , were not builders,

he set Hinducraftsmen t o work in carrying out his building proj ectsin conformity with Sunni prescriptions. Just as the

Indianmosque is always . Indian, ,so is the tomb of

the great Pathan : it is the fift eenth- century developmen of the Irido-Aryan hero ’

s tomb,the Buddhist

stupa . We have already seen how in the seventhcentury A .D . , at Ajanta,

the original idea of the stfip a

Sanchi and Bharhut is altered . The

dome,instead of being a solidmass enclosing a small

relic chamber , has become a structural dome 1of lotus

leaf formserving as the roof of an image shrine . The

Lord Buddha has arisen fromthe dead and his tombhas become his throne- chamber .

Wemust infer that in the seventh century A .D . the

living Indian king,enthroned in state as the Buddha’s

representative on earth,would have been seated under

such a domed canopy . So when the Musalman Sultansand nobles of Delhi five centuries later employed

1 Though no st ructural dome Of this k ind now exist s either at

Ajanta or elsewhere in India , the sc ulptured representat ions of themare dec isive proof that they exist ed and in the great M ahayanamonast eries d escribed by H iuen Tsang they were doubt less verymuch largerthan the largest sculptured represen tat ions Of them. The dome of the

c anopy shown in PI. XLIV , A , c ould no t have been built in a solidmassand it c ould hardly have been const ruc t ed otherwise than by themethodemployed bymodern Persian builders shown in PI. XLI , B , which ,

withit s wooden int ernal t ies in the formof a wheel , is undoubt edly derivedfromthe Indian Buddhist t radit ion . See Appendix .

1 1 6 SHER SHAH ’S TOMB

Indian craftsmen t o build their tombs In their pleasuregardens

,the latter had a traditional type of structure

easily adapted t o it — the pavilion on the centralterrace Of a royal garden where the king sat . The

foreign Musalman monarchs in India nearly alwayshad Indian wives and adopted Indian customs

,so

the domed pavilionswhich cover the earliest Muhammadan tombs in India were probably usual in the Hinduroyal gardens Of the period

,and were Obviously derived

fromthe Buddhist canopied shrine as sculptured at

A!anta 1 The consecration of the pavilion as a tomb,

on the death of the owner of the garden,made it a

shrine which often attracted large crowds of pilgrims.

The garden tomb became for the Indian Musalman,

and often for the Hindu pilgrims,what the Buddhist

reliquary or cenotaph had been . Thismade/it nec es

sary t o extend the original nucleus Of the pavilion,or

arcaded chamber— whichwas either square or octagonalin plan— by building arcaded or pillared corridorsround it

,analogous t o the covered procession paths

of Buddhist and Hindu shrines.

Shér Shah planned on amagnificent scale the tombin which he and his comrades in arms should rest

,

evidently anticipating that it would be a resort of

many.

pious Musalmans ; not without reason ,for he

was prod igal in the benefactions he bestowed on his

fellow-countrymen and c o-religionists as their shareof the rich kingdomhe ' had

'

won by his sword . In his

reign ,his biographer records

,no Afghan

,whether in

'

Hind or in Rob,was in want, but all becamemen of

substance .

”

The structura l scheme of the tomb,with it s central

octagonal chamber surrounded by corridors,

1 Ult imat ely fromthe more primit ive domed canopy shown at

Sanch i (Pl . XXII , B ) .

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SHER SHAH ’S TOMB 1 1 7

is very similar t o that Of the many-spired Bengalitemples.

Pl . XLII , A ,shows it in it s present c on

dition after the recent restoration by Sir John Marshall,who rightly replaced the feeble andmeaningless kioskplaced on the summit by previous restorers by the

original Hindu symbol which crowns other Afghantombs in the neighbourhood .

Neither in this nor in any other of the great IndoMuhammadanmonuments is the hand ormind of the

foreign builder apparent . It is neither Pathannor Indo-Persian . Though Sher Shah was an

A fghan by race,his family had been settled in Bengal

for generations,a fact which gave hima great advan

tage over his rival,Humayfin ,

for the Moguls at thattime were looked upon as interlopers, disliked bothby Hindus and by Musalmans born in India . Thisstately pile commemorating the deeds Of the doughtyAfghan chief is an early example o f the great school ofIndian masonic craftsmanship t o which the fortresspalace of Dat iya belongs . The only part which thePa'

thans took in the new creation was that theyforced the Indian builder t o break loose fromthe rigidritual Of the Brahman and Buddhist temple and gavehima wider scope

,

faculties.

CHAPTER X

MUHAMMADAN ARCH ITECTURE AT MANDU,JAUNPUR

,

AHMADABAD ,AND GAUR

MANY other remarkable monuments of the Afghanrule in India are found at Mandu

,the former capital

of the Sultanate of Malwa founded by D ilawar Shahin the beginning of the fifteenth century

,when Timfir’s

bloody raid into India gave himan_

opportunity of

renouncing his allegiance t o the Sultans of Delhi .Mandu

,built upon a grand plateau overlooking

the valley of the Narbada river, was in it s time one

Of themost formidable of -the~hillmfortressesmofl nd ia .

It played a conspicuous part in the history of the

fifteenth and sixteen th “centuries, and it s imposingpalaces

,mosques, and tombs ,

reservoirs and dharmasalas, or rest-houses for travellers

,designed with the

stern simplicity of the Sunni sect to whichmost of

the Afghan Sultans belonged , still testify‘

t o the

architecturalmagnific ence of an Indian royal city inthose days.

1

The fine mosques of Jaunpur represent anotherlocal development of the

‘

same school,most likely

based upon the p re-Muhammadan craft traditions of

Benares, which had been a great building centre fromthe dawn of Indian history right down to moderntimes. Jaunpur was founded by the Delhi Sultan

1 A summary of the romant ic history ofMandu is given in thof Aryan Rule in India , by the Author (H arrap) , pp . 3 47

—55 .

1 1 8

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JAUNPUR 1 1 9

Firaz Shah in the fourteenth century ,and under the

Sharki dynasty in the fifteenth,when it formed an

independent Musalman State, it became famous as a

seat of Islamic learning especially remarkable for itstolerant attitude towards H indusim.

The Muhammadans began at Jaunpur,as they did

at Delhi and elsewhere,by using thematerials provided

by the Hindu temples they destroyed . The buildingserected afterwards under the enlightened SharkiSultans are eloquent Of the spirit of the Musalmancolleges of Jaunpur

,for they show an interesting and

original synthesis of Hindu and Muhammadan struc

tural ideas which had it s parallel in, the attemptmadeby Husain Shah

,the Sultan of Gaur

,t o found a religious

cult called Satya-Pir,with the Obj ect of uniting Musal

man and Hindu in divine worship .

1 The imposingpropylons of themosques, in which arch and bracketare combinedmost skilfully

,are adaptations of the

Hindu temple gopurams . Froma technical point ofView,

it is interesting in these early Indo-Muhammadanbuildings t o observe the various experimentsmadeby the masons in arch- construction . There is no

sign that they were working under expert foreignguidance ; evidently everymason had his own ideason the subj ect , and was allowed to

' work in his own

way provided that he conformed t o the building ritual ofIslamdictated by themullahs or by the offi cers of

the court under whose orders the builders were placed .

Contemporary with the Jaunpur school was the

Muhammadan school of Guj erat,established under a

dynasty which threw Off allegiance t o the DelhiSultanate at the end of the fourteenth century .

The founder of it,Muzaffar Shah ,

was the son Of a

1 Satya-Narayana was the name under which Vishnu was wor

shipped in B engal . Pirwas the Arabic synonymfor the Supreme Spirit .

1 20 BUILDINGS ON GUJERAT

Raj put chieftain who, when taken prisoner by the

Musalmans, renounced Hinduismt o save his life . H is

son and successor , Ahmad Shah I , built Ahmadabadin the first half of the fifteenth century . Outsidethe chief towns the province remained Hindu

,and

the Muhammadan architecture of Guj erat is in everydetail , evenmore distinctly than in other places

,d e

rived fromthe local building traditions. Ahmadabadwas planned after the ancient Indo-Aryan traditionof a royal capital . Ahmad Shah was a contemporaryof the famous Kumbha,

the Rana of Chitor,whose

royal chapel has been described above 1and Ahmad’s

royalmosque ,both as regards structure and ornamen

t at ion ,was laid out on nearly the same lines as a great

Jain temple which was being built at Ranpur in

Kumbha’

s territory about the same time . This purelyIndian school . of building , which originated some of

the most beautiful mosques and tombs of Islam,

attained t o full development about the end of the

fifteenth century , when Mahmud B egarah captured thehill fortress of Champ anir, and built there a splendidmosque,

finished in 1 508 ( PI. XLIV,B ) . Fromthe

“

middle of the same century Guj erat became one of

the most powerful Musalman States in NorthernIndia there was great building activity in it s chieftowns, Ahmadabad , Champ ani’r , Cambay,

Baroch,

Dholka,and Mahmfidabad ,

until near the end of the

sixteenth century , when Gujerat became a provinceof Akbar

’

s empire .

These Guj erati buildings are distinguished by the

varied design of theirminarets,which were adaptations

of the contemporary Hindu towers of victory,and by

the exquisite perforated stone tracery of their windows

(Pl . XLV) , hardly less beautiful than the stained glass1 P. 70

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WELLS AND IRRIGATION WORKS 1 2 1

of theWestern Gothic school , with which Indo-Muhammadan architecture hasmany a ffinities

,and fulfilling

a Similar aesthetic idea with themodifications nec essit at ed by the requirements of a tropical climate . The

origin Of these stone trellises c an be traced backthrough the pierced stone windows of Hindu templest o the wooden screens which filled the windows of

Buddhist stfip a-houses.

Guj erat was also famous for itsmagnificent stepWells and irrigat ion works

,serving public orchards

and ordinary agricultural purposes, which both ,under

Hindu and Muhammadan rule,were constructed as a

part Of the religious duty Of the State . The finest ofthese step-wells now in use is at Asarwa,

near Ahmadabad (Pl . XLVI , A) . It was built

,according t o the

Sanskrit inscription in one of its pillared galleries,in

the first year of the sixteenth century by a Hindulady

,Bai Sri Harira,

Whose husband was apparentlyconnected with Mahmud Shah’

s court .

1 The underground chambers surrounding step-wells were designedt o provide a cool retreat in the torrid heat of the

Indian summer .

On the north-eastern Side of India ,Gaur was for

several centuries one Of themost important buildingcentres of Hindustan . In the sixteenth century itwas reckoned by the Portuguese as one of the greatestof Indian cities

,its population being estimated at

over amillion . Its early history as the capital Of theHindu kingdomof Gaur

,when it was known under

the name Of Lakhnauti,goes back t omany centuries

before Christ . Situated as it was on the banks of the

Ganges with easy access t o the sea,it had amaritime

trade which no doubt extended t o the whole of the

1 For descript ion of the well and illust rat ions see IndianArchitec ture,by the Author (Murray, pp . 1 43

—4 .

1 8

1 22 BENGALI ARCHITECTURE

Indian coast- line, and it was perhaps fromGaur as a

centre that the characteristic forms of Bengali architecture spread t o other parts of India .

We have seen already In early Buddhist architecturethat the craftsmanship of the village served the

purposes of the monastery and temple,the forms

consecrated by use in the religious ritual Of Vedictimes being perpetuated in brick and stone whenAryan religion was organised as a brotherhood basedupon the village community, and the garden c 1tieS Of

India -with their public orchards,bathing places

,and

assembly-halls— made the village the foundation of

civic life and the unit of their planning .

Wemight therefore expect it t o be the case in Bengal,

the home country of Buddhism,that the charac

t erist ic s of cottage-building would be repeated in the

t emple,and that themosque

,as in other parts of

India,would be an adaptation of the temple .

This is in fact what we find there . The excellentthatched curved roofs withpointed upon an elastic bambu frameworkwhich gives themrigidity and actsmost effectivelyin throwing Off the rain . The horse-shoe arch

,

the bulbous” dome ,and the curvilinear sikhara

must have been originally built on the same principle,

which is as effective in it s practical purpose whetherthe roof be built of thatch or brick and plaster or of

slabs Of stone .

The Pathans, when theymade Lakhnauti a Muhammadan capital , found therefore a local school of buildingusing curvilinear roofs ; and as

_

brick rather than stoneis the natural building ”material of the country , theyhad less difficulty In adapting the temple t o Muhammadan symbolism

,for the Bengali builders were

accustomed to use the arch both for structural and

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BENGALI ARCHITECTURE 1 23

decorative purposes. The Pathanmosques and tombsof Gaur

,Panduah

,and Malda on this account are an

even closer imitation Of Hindu and Buddhist buildingsthan they were in the neighbourhood Of Delhi , wherestone of large dimensions was procurable,

and c onse

quently the arch was not used by Hindumasons t oserve a structural purpose . The terra- cotta and fine

moulded brick decoration used both in themosque andtemple in Bengal was certainly not imported by theMuhammadans the cognate art Of enamelled tiles andbricks so much used in Muhammadan buildings in

India was probably a local one in Gaur . It is sometimes found in early Buddhist buildings in India— e g .

K anishka’

s st fip a at Peshawar— andmay have beenone of the arts which the early Aryans introducedinto the Ganges valley fromMesopotamia ,

togetherwith the priceless economic products of Babyloniawith Which they enriched the agriculture of India .

Persramc nlfnd was certainly a pA aerfuL- Infiuence

on the court life Of Muhammadan India,butwasmo t ,

as is general ly assumed,the e great .“

creativ e

in During the whole period of Muhammadan rule in India that came fromWithin the dilet

tanti monarchs of Turkish,Pathan

,and Mongol

extraction dictated the fashions of their courts,and the

Indian craftsmen did their best t o please their foreignrulers, whether they were uncompromisingly Sunni ortolerantly Shiah in their religious professions. But itwas the innate versatility of the Indian builders

,

pastmasters in their craft and heirs t o a tradition

goIng back t o the building of Nineveh and Babylon,

whichmade Muhammadan buildings in India themostbeautiful of their kind in the world .

Themost important Muhammadan buildings nowremaining at Gaur, among the ruins covering an

GAUR

area about t enmiles in length and between two and

threemiles in breadth ,date fromthe last’ half of thethe firg n halfn of i het sixt eenth .

. uv _ p ao a l. - 4 “ a“ ”m “

Some of themhave pillars of polished basalt, instead ofthe usual brick piers, and the brickwork is faced withfine masonry ,

instead of tiles,exquisitely decorated

in low relief. When the Indian mason was thusemployed in the service of Islamhe began exp eriment ing with arch- construction in the same way as

at Jaunpur,but the forms of th

’

efi ‘

arches he used werethose he had been accustomed t o use in Buddhistand Hindu -t emples .

Gaur was absorbed into the empire of the GreatMoguls in 1 576 ,

and soon became subj ect to the fateof the former Hindu city and many others like it .It s splendid deserted buildings were used as brickfieldsand quarries, fromwhich ready-madematerials couldbe transported for the building of other cities .

It thus happens,says Fergusson ,

that Murshidabad,

Malda,Rangpur

,and Rajmahal have been built

almost entirely with itsmaterials, whilst Hughly and

even Calcutta are rich in the spoils of the Old capitalof Bengal .

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CHAPTER XI

THE B IJAPUR AND MOGUL SCHOOLS— MODERN INDIAN

BUILDING

ALL the Muhammadan building schools described abovebelonged t o Hindustan ,

the ancient Aryavarta . Southof the Vindhyamountains, in the Dekhan and farther

south,there were several other Muhammadan schools,

marked by a strong individuality ,which , like those of

the north ,were derived fromthe p re-existing Buddhist

and Hindu traditions . Kulbarga,Bidar, Golkonda,

Ahmadnagar , and Aurangabad— the capitals ofdifferentMuhammadan kingdoms of the Dekhan fromthe

fifteenth t o the seventeenth centuries— were laid out

by the Indian craftsmen in the service OfMuhammadanSultans asmagnificently as the ancient cities of Indiawhich the armies of Islamdestroyed or used as Gaurwas used . But themost distinguished of the southernschools under Musalman rule was that of B ijap i

'

ir,the

capital of the State of the same name which becameindependent in 1 490,

when Yusuf ’Adil Shah,its

Turkish governor,threw Off allegiance t o the Bah

mani Sultans and founded a dynasty which lasteduntil the latter part of the seventeenth century . But

the great building proj ects of the B ijap fir Sultans onlybegan with the reign of

’Ali ’Adil Shah I in themiddleof the sixteenth century , after the victory of the

United Musalman forces of the Dekhan over RamRaj,the Raja Of Vij ayanagar, and head of the Hindu

1 2 5

1 26 VIJAYANAGAR AND BIJAPUR

coalition which for‘

two centuries had barred the

passage of the arms of Islamt o the farther south .

During this period Vijayanagar had been in SouthernIndia what Gaur was in the north

,a great trading

centre and one of the most populous cities of the

East,crowded with artisans of every kind

,and laid

out sumptuously with artificial lakes, parks, gardens,

palm- groves,

and orchards . Paez , a Portuguesetraveller in the early sixteenth century

,described

it as the best provided city in the world stockedwith provisions of every kind

,with broad and beautiful

streets full of fine houses. The palace of the Rajaenclosed a space greater than all the castle of Lisbon .

”

The relations between Vijayanagar and its Musalmanneighbour had by no means been always hostile .

The Rajas had sometimes assisted the B ijap fir Sultansin their quarrels with other Musalman States

,and had

enlisted a Muhammadan bodyguard in their service,

allowing its officers t o swear fealty on the Kuran,and

building for themamosque in the quarter of the cityset apart for them. After the fatal battle ofTalikota,

in which RamRajwas killed, Vijayanagar was sackedby the Musalmans, and B ijap fir, with the help Of the

captive Hindu craftsmen ,became the chief building

centre of the Dekhan ;

The architecture of B ijap fir was characterised bythe fact that the Sultans who were the builders Of

the city were nearly all of the Shiah sect, and as toleranttowards Hinduismas the Vijayanagar Rajas had beentowards Islam,

admitting Brahmans into their serviceand using Mahratti instead of Persian as the officiallanguage for revenue administration . IbrahimII

(1 580 in whose reign most of the finestbuildings of Bijap fir were begun ,

was even suspectedOf taking part in Hindu religious ceremonies.

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BIJAPUR 1 27

The fact that the ’Adil Shahi dynasty was Turkishmay account for the Special effortsmade by the B ijap firbuilders in dome- construction . Constantinople wasfamous throughout the Muhammadan world for thegrandeur Of it s domes, and there was a constant rivalrybetween Musalman potentates t omake theirmonuments the biggest things on earth

,either as regards

Size or in the costliness Of materials and decoration .

The‘

Indian craftsmen , p ut upon theirmettle by theirMusalman employers

,achieved in the tomb Of Muham

mad — 1 660) a dome“ approximatelyas large as that of the Pantheon at Rome

,built entirely

on Indian constructive p rinc ip lesf sc ient ific ally the

most perfect in the world,_ and ,as Fergusson stated

,

art ist ic alfy themost beautiful formOf roof yet invented .

The principle of its construction was at that timeunknown in Europe

,but it is found in domes of an

earlier date at Bijap iir and other parts of India . It

is therefore extremely unlikely that Ottoman buildershad anything t o do with the evolution of B ijap firarchitecture .

The earliest of the great buildings at B ijap i'

ir is

the royalmosque of’A li ’Adil Shah

,built in the last

half of the sixteenth century t o celebrate the fall ofVijayanagar. It closely resembles the ruined buildingnow known as the Elephant Stables in the old

Hindu city, which was probably built as amosquefor the Muhammadan bodyguard Of the VijayanagarRajas.

’Ali ’Adil Shah ’

s successor,IbrahimII

,built

the magnificent mausoleum(Pl . L ,B ) a nd mosque

called after his name asmemorials for his favouritedaughter and for his wife

,Taj Sultana,

which was

1 The area of floor space covered by the dome exceeds that of the

Pan theon by a bout square feet , but the dome it self is slight lysmaller .

1 30 MOGUL ECLECTICISM

The Mogul building tradition was therefore whollyIndIan » only

“mwm departure analogous t o that of

the Renaissance In Europe . The Hindu builder threwhis old structural formulas into themelting-p ot , and

reshaped themhimself, with astonishing constructiveskill

,in new forms Of such fantasy and variety that

the European critic,accustomed t o the archaeological

rules of the Renaissance and generally profoundlyignorant of Indian history, finds it difficult to followthem:forwhile the Renaissance tied down the Europeanmaster-builder t o narrower constructive limits than theGothic

,the changes in craft traditionsmade by the

Muhammadan conquest of India gave the Indianmaster-builder a new and much wider field for hisinvention and skill . Especially in the Mogul periodthe dilettante began t o exercise considerable influenceupon the design of buildings, but not t o the same extentas in Renaissance architecture in Europe . At thebeginning _

Of"Ranaissann ca a rchitecture the amateur

archaeologist was admitted into the fraternity of

masons,and after a time had somuch influence upon

building traditions ' that craftsmanship and designwere divorced fromeach other

,with disastrous results

,

both economic and artistic . The fragments of Greekand Roman building were drawn

,measuredminutely,

written about in countless volumes,and made the

models of a correct taste which every builder wasbound to accept . The literary amateur who knewhis books became themaster-builder

,and themaster

builder,whose creative mind had led the van of

civilisation,became amore or less illiterate artisan

,

whose vocation it was t o shape a set of paper patternst oapractical formand supply the technical knowledgewhich the architect lacked .

Therewas nothing similar to thisprocess ofdegeneraM m e “

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1 28 THE MOGUL SCHOOL

doubtless among the famous buildings of the worlddiscussed by Shah Jahan and his mast er-builderswhen the design of the TajMahall at Agra was underconsideration . The Bijap iir monument was builtunder Similar circumstances a few years before ShahJahan commenced the wonderful memorial t o his

beloved wife .

THE MOGUL SCHOOL

It may be convenient for historical purposes to

classify all Muhammadan buildings erected by the

Indian master-builders under the Mogul dynasty,

fromit s foundation by Babur in 1 526 down to the

eighteenth century,as Mogul,

”though they are bynomeans Mogul

,or Mongolian

,in design and are very

varied in character . In order t o understand the historyOf the Mogul or of any Indo-Muhammadan school ofbuilding , onemust fi rst c onsider the effect of Islam’

s

war- like propaganda upon the building traditions of

India .Before the Muhammadan conquest the Indian

hereditary builders, whose traditions of technique and

design went back in an unbroken line t o some Of the

most ancient cities of the world,had formany c en

turies borrowed no structural ideas fromoutside India ,

but kept strictly t o the craft ritual laid down in their

own sacred writings . T hough it is written in the

Silp a—Sastras that themaster-builder Should be c on

versant with all the sciences, it is probable that, as

in the present day,every branch of the Indian building

craft had become highly Specialised, common traditionsc o ordinating the different branches and preserving

unity Of structure and design .

Many centuries of practice within these lines haddeveloped extraordinary technical Skillwithout exhausting the immense fertility Of invention possessed by the

INDIA AND ISLAM 1 29

Indian craftsman,when the Muhammadan conquest

made a revolutionary change in his hereditaw

n C‘

f'

a‘

ft

practice . each expert in hisown special branch

,were forced into the service of

Islamin different parts of Asia and Europe,and set t o

work indiscriminately at the bidding of theirmasters.

The expert builder of Hindu vimanasmight not builda temple spire, but he could design or build the domeof amosque or tomb equally well . The image-makermight notmake images

,but he could construct the

mihrab of amosque or carve texts fromthe Kuran .

The painter might not paint pictures,but he could

ornament enamelled tiles,decorate walls without using

figures or animals, and draw designs for themullahswhen they were planning amosque or tomb .

Thousands of Indian craftsmen thus settled down toa new life and new work in thein i orced exile

,took

Muhammadan names,and became Persians

,Arabs

,

Turks,Spaniards, or Egyptians. A few centuries after

wards the establishment of a Muhammadan empire inIndia increased the demand forMusalman craftsmen

,and

Offeredmany inducements for the descendants of theseIndian captives t o seek employment in the Opulentcities some ofwhich their ancestors had helped t o build .

The new ideas brought into India by these foreignerswere only the old ones in a new shape

,the craft ritual

Of India adapted to different technical conditions and

t o a new environment . Religious animosities by thistime had softened down . The Hindu and Musalmancraftsmen worked amicably together without c ompulsion ,

and used inventive faculties t o add t o

the Splendour of Indian”

cities and gratify the tasteof their Mogul rulers

, who planned their capitalsafter the traditions of Indo -Aryan royalty

,and were

themselves generallymore than half Indian by birth .

I 9

1 30 MOGUL ECLECTICISM

The Mogul building tradition was t herefore whollyonlymm

d‘

eparture analogous t o that of

the Renaissance in Europe . The Hindu builder threwhis old structural formulas into themelting-p ot , and

reshaped themhimself, with astonishing constructiveskill

,in new forms Of such fantasy and variety that

the European critic,accustomed t o the archaeological

rules of the Renaissance and generally profoundlyignorant of Indian history

,finds it difficult t o follow

them:forwhile the Renaissance tied down the Europeanmaster-builder to narrower constructive limits than theGothic

,the changes in craft traditionsmade by the

Muhammadan conquest of India gave the Indianmaster-builder a new and much wider field for hisinvention and skill . Especially in the Mogul periodthedilettante began t o exercise considerable influenceupon the design of buildings, but not t o the same extentas in Renaissance architecture in Europe . At thebeginnih gm q f”R enaissanc e architecture the amateurarchaeologist was admitted into the fraternity of

masons, and after a time had somuch influence upon

building traditions “ that craftsmanship and designwere divorced fromeach other

,with disastrous results

,

both economic and artistic . The fragments of Greekand Roman building were drawn

,measuredminutely

,

written about in countless volumes,and made the

models of a correct taste which every builder wasbound t o accept . The literary amateur who knewhis books became themaster-builder

, and themasterbuilder, whose creative mind had led the van Of

civilisation,became amore or less illiterate artisan

,

whose vocation it was to shape a set of paper patternst o apractical formand supply the technical knowledgewhich the architect lacked .

Therewasnothing similar to thisprocess ofdegenera

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THE GREAT MOGULS 1 3 1

tion with the Renaissance of Indian architecturein tha _ _Mgg I_1LpeI iOd The first five of the GreatMoguls were

,like themonarchs and noblemen who

imposed their ideas upon Renaissance building in

Europe,men of wide culture keenly interested in

architectural design . But while each of themgavea personal note to his palace

,mosque ,

or tomb,there

was no fixed formula , no Mogul style —Or paperpatterns t o which the Indian master-builders weretied . Humayfin ’

s tastes were Persian ; his buildersdesigned hima Persianised version of the orthodoxIndian Musalman ’

s tomb . Akbar, in the beginningof his reign , ordered his imperialmosque at FatehpurSikri to be built as a duplicate of the Holy Place (atMecca or but except in the general planwhich conforms t o the ritual of Islamthemosqueis a perfectly original design in which the creativemind of the Indian builder is dominant . Even the

orientation of themosque is not orthodox Musalman ,

for it is like that of a Vishnu temple .

Jahangir’s favourite wife,N in Mahall

,who p rac

tically ruled the empire,was a Persian by birth

,and

She loved t o imitate the painted tile decoration of

her native land in a sumptuous fashion with preciousmarble inlay

,perhaps giving suggestions for the

patterns herself . But t he Itmad -ud -daulah’

s tomb at

Agra which she built for her father is neither a Persiannor Mogul building . It is Indian

, yet something new.

Similarly, when the Sultan of Bijap iir bade his buildersmake his tomb as fine as that Of the Emperors of Rome,

they gratified his wishes bymaking an Indian dome,

unique in engineering and unsurpassed in beauty,but

not Roman or Turkish . The eclecticismof the Mogul

1 An inscript ion to this effect is placed on themosque .

1 3 2 BABUR’

S BUILDINGS

period was a great opportunity for the Indian builder,

and hemade full use of it .

Mogul architecture,so- called

,c an hardly be said

t o have commenced until the founding of the presentcity of Agra by Akbar in 1 558 ,

Opposite t o the old

city on the left bank of the river which Babur hadmade his capital . The latter

,who was the first of

the Indian Mogul line,expresses In hismemoirs a

profound contempt for all things Indian,and it is

said that he employed architects fromConstant inop le t o carry out his numerous building proj ects .

l

Thismay possibly be true ,for out of themany buildings

erected by Babur at Agra,Delhi

,and Kabul

,appa

rent ly only two have lasted t o the present day— a

result which might be expected fromthe importation of foreign builders unused t o Indian technicalconditions. In the Sixteenth century

,moreover

,the

Indianmaster-builder had nothing t o learn fromEuropeanmethods. Dr . Vincent Smith suggests vaguely 2

that there is some reason for thinking that the

grandeur Of the proportions of buildings in the northof India and Bijap firmay be partly due t o the teachingof this foreign school ; but grandeur of proportionwasnot amonopoly of the Western schools

,and excepting

the radiating arch , with which Indian builders of

the sixteenth century were perfectly familiar,

3 there is

1 Vincent Smith, H istory of Fine Art in India and Ceylon ,p . 406 .

2 Ibid . , p . 406 .

3 Fergusson’

s theory that the Muhammadans t aught Indian builderst o use the radiat ing arch is by nomeans proved . I t was used inB abylon before Rome was built , and it is impossible t o believe thatInd ian build ers should not have observed it s use during themany c ent uries of India

’

s c lose commerc ial int erc ourse with M esopot amia , bothin early t imes and in the days of the Roman Empire . It was probablyused in bric k -building c ount ries, lik e B engal , long before the Muhammadan c onquest . In other places Indian builders avoided the arch for verygood t echnic al reasons.

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1 3 4 AKBAR’

S BUILDINGS

impress of his versatile genius upon his palaces at

Agra,the new capital which he built at Fatehpur

Sikri, and his tomb at Sikandra . His great fame and

the wealth of his treasurymust have attracted craftsmen fromall the cities of Asia . Akbar himself waseager t o enlarge the range of his knowledge, and in

the cosmopolitan atmosphere of his court,where

Christians,Jews

,Brahmans

,Zoroastrians, and Musal

mans disputed with each other,and every foreigner

who had new ideas t o Offer was welcome,he had

ample Opportunity Ofmaking himself acquainted withthe style of buildings in other countries

,but he had

no desire t o pose as a foreigner or t o introduce Mongolian fashions. H is new capital was laid out on strictlyIndian lines— like one of the royal cities of Rajputana— the Jami Masj id

,with it s towering gate of victory

(Pl . XXXIX ,A) , taking the

: place of a Vishnu temple,

but oriented in the same way . It is only in some of

the decorative details that Persian and perhapsChinese influence is visible . The symbolic design of

his throne chamber in the private hall of audience

(D iwan-i-Khas) , where he sat upon amassive Vishnupillar as a Chakravartin , or ruler of the four quarters, isentirely Indo-Aryan

,for Akbar

’

s ambition was to

obhterat e all sense of foreign domination in themindsof his subj ects, and t o dissolve re ligious controversiesin a common feeling Of loyalty t o amost just

,a

most wise , and amost G od -fearing king .

”1 And in

having his own tomb at Sikandra planned afterthe model of an Indian five- storied assembly-hall

,

1 For an account of Akbar’

s reign and his polit ical and religiousideals, see H istory of Aryan Rule in India , by the Author (H arrappp . 450

-

5 5 7 . The buildings at Fat ehp ur—Sik ri are desc ribed in the

Author ’

s H andbook to Agra and the Taj (Longmans) , and in Indian

Architec ture (Murray) .

JAHANG'

I'

R 1 3 5

apparently as ameeting-place for the royal Order,the Din- Ilahi

,which he founded, Akbar probably

had in hismind his great predecessor, Asoka,who

united all Aryavarta in devotion t o the saintly Headof the Sangha

,the Buddhist religious brotherhood .

The Panch Mahall (Pl . XLVIII , A) , adjoining Akbar’

s

palace at Fatehpur-Sikri, where most probably the

Ordermet during Akbar’s lifetime,is of similar design ,

the four lower pavilions corresponding t o the fourgrades of the Order

,Akbar being enthroned under

the domed canopy at the t op as Grand Master .

Jahangir ( 1 605 Akbar’

s rebellious and un

scrupulous son,under whose directions the tomb

was completed,

1altered the original design of the

t op story where Akbar ’s cenotaph is placed, omit tingthe canopy of curious white and speckled marble

,

ceiled all within with pure sheet gold richly inwrought ,”

with which,according t o WilliamFinch ,

who Visitedthemausoleumwhen it was being built

,it was t o

have been covered .

Akbar kept up a great state ceremonial , but regulated the economy of his public works with greatcare and exactitude . Jahangir

,for political reasons

,

allied himself with the Sunni party,which was bitterly

hostile t o Akbar’s religious views,so that in the build

ings of his reign anything whichmight give Offence t oorthodox Musalman feeling is studiously avoided .

In this he was followed by his son,Shah Jahan but

at the same time bothmonarchs indulged their luxu1 Neither Jahangir ’

s inscript ions nor stat ement s in his memoirsc an be t ak en as proof that the t omb was wholly built according t o

Jahangir ’s inst ruct ions aft er Akbar ’

s death . It is highly improbablethat Akbar neglec t ed t omake arrangement s for perpetuat ing his workas founder of the D in-Ilahi ; or that Jahangir , if he had an ent irely freehand in the building of his father ’s t omb , would have permit t ed a

scheme which depart ed so far fromorthodox Sunni t radit ion .

1 3 6 SHAH JAHAN’

S BUILDINGS

rious tastes in the lavish use of themost costly buildingmaterials

,especially whitemarble with precious inlay .

The commanding influence which women now assumedat the Mogul court— the imperious Nar Jahan

,Jahan

gir’

s empress,and of her niece

,Shah Jaban ’

s belovedMumtaz Mahall— is Shown in the feminine elegance

,

contrasting strongly with themanly vigour of Akbar’s '

buildings,which characterises the Itmad -ud -daulah

’

s

tomb,the Moti Masj id and the E LMahall at Agra,

and the Diwan-i-Khas at Delhi . But all these buildings,as well as the later additions t o Akbar ’s palace at

Agra,are natural

_ _ dey elopmants of the Indian crafttradition of p re

-Muhammadan times,influerICeC by

the idiosyncrasies Of the rulingmonarch, and adaptedby Indian court craftsmen t o the id eas and Socialconditions of Muhammadan India . It is quite futilet o seek for the creative impulse behind themin Samarkand

,Timur ’s capital

,or any other Of the cities where

the Moguls’ Turkish ancestors ruled, for every phase

of Mogul architecture 1s essentially Indian .

The Indian type of bulbous or lotus dome whichcharacterises Mogul buildings after Akbar ’S timemost probably was brought t o Delhi from. B ijap fir ,but it originated inBuddhist India— together with thehorse-shoe or lotus- leaf arch fromwhich its c on

structive principle is derived— froma dome of lightconstruction built in an elastic framework

,like the

thatched roofs of Bengal,tied together

“

internallyby themaha-

gbaama ,or great lotus eight ormore

radiating bambu or wooden ties which suggested tothe builder themystic lotus. He therefore emphasised the symbolismexternally by a band of lotuspetals 1

round the neck of the dome, and repeated

1 The petals are clearly shown in the sculptured relief fromAjanta,

PI. XLII , A»

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1 3 8 THE TA! MAHALL

not stand alone,for, as we have already noticed

,the

Muhammadan rulers Of India took so keen an interestin themaking of their own tombs that inmany casesthe personality Of theman or woman c an be seen

almost as distinctly in the architectonicmonument asit would have been in the portrait statue which thelaw of Islamforbade themtomake . Froma purelywsthet ic point of view somemay even prefer the epicgrandeur of Shar Shah ’s tomb to the lyrical charmof

the TajMahall .The want of understanding of Indian art which

until recently has been universal in Western criticismhas ledmany t o give willing credence t o vague suggestions that a

“monument SO unique and beautiful couldnot have been creat ed by Indian builders. Theseprepossessions ‘

are supported by a definite s tatementrecorded by a Spanish Augustinian Friar

,Father

Manrique,who visited Agra in 1 640 when the Tajwas

still unfinished,by which the credit for it has been

fastened on an Italian adventurer in Shah Jaban ’

s

service,one Geronimo Veroneo

,who died at Lahore

shortly before Father Manrique’

s arrival, and told hisstory t o a Jesuit priest . Italian adventurers are

always credited with abnormal artistic gifts, and hisimprobable story has been t oo lightly accepted as

proof outweighing all contemporary Indian accountsand— most important of all— the testimony of the Tajitself . A number of contemporary accounts writtenin Persian give a detailed list of the chief craftsmenand agree in placing first Master (U stad) Isa,

orMuhammad l Sa Effendi

,described as the best designer

(or draftsman) of his time .

”The list includes a dome

builder,Ismail Khan Rfimi two sp ec iahst s for

building the pinnacle surmounting the dome mastermasons fromDelhi,Multan , and Kandahar amaster

PLATE LA

TA! MAHALI AGRA

PLATE LB

SCREEN SURROUNDING CENOTAPH,TA! MAHALL

,AGRA

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1 40 THE TA! MAHALL

Nfir Jahan ,wielded unbounded influence over the

Emperor,he had renewed the destruction of Hindu

temples which had ceased entirely during the reignsof father and grandfather . H e had broken down thesteeple of the Christian church at Agra, and wouldhardly have outraged Muhammadan Orthodoxy and

thememory of his beloved wife by employing a Christian as the chief designer of a tomb which was t o be

peerless in the world of Islam. There is not the

least evidence that Veroneo ’

s position at the courtwas that of a builder or architect . Nearly all Europeans in the Mogul imperial service were artillerists,and it was probably in that capacity that he enjoyedShah Jaban ’

s favour . Father Manrique’

s story is

not corroborated by any other contemporary writer.

Tavernier and Bernier both allude t o the buildingOf the Taj, and they would certainly have given a

European the credit due t o himif they had heard and

believed the tale .

Moreover,the idea that Indian builders of the

seventeenth century worked, in themodern Europeanfashion , after measured drawings prepared beforehand by the chief architect

,and that the faultless

curves of the central dome betray themind and handof a foreigner , is al together wide of themark . Theyworked then ,

as they do now,after a general idea

,

based upon traditional practice . When the generalidea had been settled by Shah Jahan , the executionOf it would have been left in the hands of his expertadvisers, and the dome built by the dome-builderwould be the latter’s own creation

,not a precise

copy of a paper pattern ormodel set before him.

So if Veroneo was so deeply versed in Indian crafttradition that he could design a lotus dome afterthe rules laid down in the Silp a

—Sastras,the dome

THE TA! MAHALL 1 41

itself,built by Asiatic craftsmen ,

would not havebeen his .

1

The building of the Taj commenced soon afterMumtaz Mahall

’

s death in childbirth in 1 63 1 , and

lasted nearly twenty- two years . IbrahimII,the

Shiah Sultan of B ijap fir, had died five years before itscommencement, and the splendid mausoleumwhichhe had raised t o thememory of his favourite daughter

,

Zohra Sultana,and his wife

,TajSultana ,

was probablystill under construction when Shah Jahan was afflictedby the loss of his beloved Mumtaz Mahall . Ibrahim’

s

Taj Mahallmust have been then the latest wonderof the Musalman world, and certainly it was keenlydiscussed by Shah Jahan and his builders .

“

The

dome of the Tajat Agra is the best proof of that , forit might have b een built by the same mason who

built the dome of Ibrahim’

s tomb} Both are c on

structed on the same principles they are Of nearlythe same dimensions, 3 and —

a fact unnoticed by Fergusson and his followers— the contours of both c or

respond exactly, except that the lotus crown of the

Taj at Agra tapersmore finely and the lotus petalsat the springing of t he dome . are inlaid

,instead of

1 A more d etailed disc ussion of the subj ect is given in Indian

Architec ture, by the Author, c hapt er ii .

2 B ijap i'

ir bec ame t ributary t o Shah Jahan in 1 63 6 . Sk illed craft smanship was a formof t ribut e always so highly priz ed by Musalmansovereigns that Shah Jahan is no t lik ely t o have neglect ed this Op p or

t unity of Obt aining the build ers he want ed . The d ome of the Taj isnearer t o that of Ibrah im’

s t omb than it is t o H umayfin ’

s or the Khan

K hanan’

s t omb at D elhi, which M r . K . A . C . Creswell , fromit s c lose

resemblanc e in plan and general arrangement , t ak es t o be themod elO f the Taj (Indian An tiquary , July B oth the Taj and the

B ijap fi r d omes have the Indian Mahap adma , or lotus c rown ,which is

never found in Persian or Arabian domes . The plan Of the Tajis alsoOf Indian origin .

3 The B ijap fi r dome is 5 7 feet in d iama er, the Agra dome 5 8 feet .

1 42 THE TA! MAHALL

sculptured , in accordance with the whole scheme of

decoration .

Naturally, in the general idea Of themonumentShah Jahan preferred t o follow his own family traditions

,rather than those of the B ijap iir dynasty,

'

and

the Sunni propriety of his great-grandfather ’s tombat Delhi no doubt appealed t o him. The florid sculpture of the Shiah Sultan ’

s tomb was t oo suggestive of

Akbar’

s catholic tastes ; but .he could easily excel inthe richness of thematerials used

,for Shah Jahan

was the richestmonarch in the world, and was prodigalin the spending of his wealth . Nar Jahan

’

s and

Mumtaz ’s fancy for the quasi j ewelledmarble dictatedthe choice ofmaterials and the process of decoration .

Shah Jaban ’

s Hindu craftsmen with cunning handsmade themost brilliant pietra dura work in the Persianstyle,

1 carefully avoiding offence t o Sunni prejudices.

In the lovely pierced trellis-work which filled the

windows and formed the screen with which the cenot aphs were enclosed it is likely that B ijap fir craftsmen were also employed . B ijap fir after Ibrahim’

s

death could not hold its own politically against theMogul power, and lost it s prestige as a great buildingcentre ,

while themagnificence of Shah Jaban ’

s buildingproj ects lured the best craftsmen towards Agra and

Delhi . The Taj Mahall is, in fact , exactly such a

building as one would expect to be created in Indiaof the seventeenth century by a group ofmasterbuilders inheriting the traditions of Buddhist and

Hindu building , but adapting themto the taste of a

cultured orthodox Muhammadan monarch who had

all the wealth of India at his disposal . The /

p lan , whichconsists of a central domed chamber surrounded by

1 The designs of the jewelled inlay were evident ly inspired by the

borders of the pictures painted by the court painters of the t ime .

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A GREAT MODERN MOSQUE 1 43

four smaller domed chambers, follows the traditionalplan Of an Indian panchratna , or five- j ewelled

”

temple . Its prototype, as I have shown elsewhere, 1

is found in the Buddhist temple of\Chandi Sewa in

Java,builtmore than five centuries earlier, and in

the sculptured st iip a-shrines of Ajanta. Neither Shah

Jahan nor his court builders, much less an obscureItalian adventurer, c an Claimthe wholemerit Of its

achievement . The h

Taj“Mahallq g llowsm the rule Of

all the great architecturalmasterpieces Ofl '

theworldin not being a thing of will

,of design

,or

”of

‘

s'

cholarship

,but a discovery of the nature of things in building

a continuous . d evelopment along the Same line of

direction imposed by needs,desires, and traditions .

”1

Shah Jaban ’

s great mosque,the _ Jami Masj id at

Delhi (Pl . LI, A) , though strikingly picturesque whenit s tall minarets and imposing gateways and domesare silhouetted against a sunset Sky ,

does not come upt o the level of his other buildings. The design of the

liwan is verymuch bettered in a finemosque of the

same style, and even larger in scale (Pl . LI , B) , whichis .now being built at Bhopal under the personaldirection of H .H . the Begam.

Though the great traditions of the Mogul courtbuilders have thus survived in full vigour t o the

present day ; themonuments Of the dynasty after theend of Shah Jaban ’

s reign in 1 658 are hardly worthnotice . Aurangz ib,

his successor,broke away c om

p let ely fromthe artistic traditions of his dynasty,

and ,reverting t o the strictest rule of the Sunni sect ,

enforced the law of the Kuran forbidding portraitpainting and sculpture

,expelled the musicians who

had enlivened the Mogul court,withdrew state patron

1 Indian Architec ture, by the Author (Murray,pp

. 2 2 — 3 .

2 Architec ture, by Professor Lethaby,p . 207 .

1 44 MODERN I NDIAN BUILDING

age fromthe Hindu craftsmen who had contributedso

,much t o the creation of the greatestmonuments

of Islam, and set on foot a wholesale destruction of

Hindu temples . Aurangz ib’

s Musalman craftsmenWere wholly unable t o keep up the high architecturalstandard of hismore tolerant predecessors ; but thesp endid traditions Of the Indian master-buildersurvived the chaos which accompanied the declineand fall of the Mogul Empire

,and in the latter part

of the nineteenth century several Of the‘palaces of

Hindu princes at Benares (Pl . LII) are architecturalachievements Of the highest rank

,judged by any

standard ,Eastern or Western .

Even in the p resentfl day fl thel rrdian building craftretainsmuch of its Irnyefirmy it ality,

as

"

a'

fi’

ifiyast igat ion

by the Archaeological Survey'

Cf India which I was ablet o set on foot through the India Society

,has amply

proved .

l U nfortunately,many European writers and

the Public Works Administration of India have lentsupport to fiction that all that is great in Indianarchitecture was created by foreigners

,offering an

almost insuperable impediment t o that perfect fulfilment Of the needs and desires of the age which Indianmaster-builders have always been able to accomplishin former generations. There is, however, some hopethat the light thrown upon Indian art history in

recent years, and the experience gained in the buildingof the NewDelhi, will

fl

help t o infuse the life and thoughtof India intomodern state undertakings . Amatterof SOmuch educational and economic importance as

the preservation of craft traditions, which have shownsuch amazing vitality and strength in the struggleagainst the disintegrating forces ofmodern commer

1 See Rep ort on M odern B uilding , by the Archaeological Survey of

Ind ia,1 9 1 3 .

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THE LOTUS DOME 1 45

c iahsm,cannot fail to engage the attention of an

India progressing towards the goal of self-governmentu nder her newAryan rulers .

APPENDIX

THE LOTU S DOME

THE symbolismof the lotus flower and leaf is universal inIndian p oetry, sculp ture, and p ainting. It is esp ec iallyap p lied to the rising or setting sun

,which is likened to a lotus

flower floating on the c osmic waters— henc e the p oetic ex

p ression of the Buddha’

s or Vishnu ’

s or Siva ’

s lotus-foot .”

The similarity in formof the dormer Windows and gable-endsof Indian c ottages

,when roofed with bent bambu rafters

,to the

sun’

s disc as it touches the horiz on was doubtless the reason

why they were so extensively used as a dec orativemotivein early Indian art

,and why subsequently in Mahayanist and

Hindu art the same formwas adap ted as the aureole or gloryfor a Bodhisattva or Deva image.

The hideous archaeologic al terms borrowed fromFergussonsuch as horse- Shoe arch and bulbous or swellingdome

,aremeaningless andmisleading in their ap p lic ation t o

Indian artistic symbolism. Mr. K . A . C . Cresswell , in the

Indian Antiquary for July 1 9 1 5 , attemp ts to disprove the

theory of the Indian origin of the lotus dome by showingthat Timar

,in his buildings at Samarkand,made his c rafts

men follow the design of the great wooden dome of the Ummayad Mosque at Damascus ; ergo, he argues, Timar c ouldnot p ossibly have had in,

hismind the smaller and inc on

sp icuous solid domes of Ajanta, or any domes he saw in India .

Dr. Vinc ent Smith, p ronounc ing judgment on the evidenc e

brought forward, condemns the Indian theory as purely

fanc iful and opp osed to c lear evidenc e, and relegatesmyerroneous theory to a footnote.

1

The question is not,however

,disposed of so easily. Tirnfir

’

s

excursions as an amateur architec t are interesting as an

1 Akbar the Great M ogul. p . 43 5

1 46 THE LOTUS DOME

historic al ep isode, but have nothing to do with the origin

of anc ient c raft traditions. Mr. Creswell and Dr. Vinc entSmith app roach the subjec t fromthe Old standpoint of ac ademic styles, which has long been disc arded by the exp ertarchitec tural historian . The question to be dec ided is not

what style or fashion of those days ap p ealed to Timfir ’sarchitec tural fancy

,but what influenc e themany c enturies

of Buddhist temp le c raftsmanship had upon the living buildingtraditions of Western Asia. It c annot have been an entirelynegligible fac tor

,as Mr . Creswell assumes. Arabian archi

tec ture,like most Arabian culture

,was derivative. The

dome of the greatmosque at Damascus,built early in the

eighth c entury A.D was c ertainly not an invention of Sarac enic builders, or the first of its kind . Theminiature stfipadomes at Ajanta exhibit the same c onstruc tive p rincip le ,

though they themselves are only a sculp tor’

s rep resentationof real struc tural domes, with a bambu or wooden framework ,

which were p robably built in thousands by Buddhist temp lec raftsmen of the same and earlier p eriods, not only in India,

but wherever Buddhismwas p lanted in Asia. If it be grantedthat these Ajanta domes are notmere fanc iful c reations of a

sculp tor’

s imagination ,like the dec orative motives of the

Italian Renaissanc e, but exac t rep resentations of c ontemp orarybuildings— a p roposition which c an hardly be disputed— it

follows that the original domesmust have been hollow struetural ones, built in the first instanc e up on a bambu or woodenframework for it is a physical imp ossibility to p lac e a soliddome of br1ck ,

stone, p laster, or wood,and of a similar design ,

over a life-siz e image. The only question to be dec ided,then

,

is by whatmethod such hollow domes of large siz e c ould havebeen made struc turally p ossible Certainly bent bamburibsmust have been used originally to p roduc e the charac terist ic curve of the dome, just as they were used to formthelotus-leaf arch

,or window of early Buddhist buildings

,and

are used in the roofing Of wooden Indian c ottages. The use

of radiatingwooden or bambu ties,like the sp okes of a wheel,

is suggested in several of the earliest Indian stupas, e .g . the

anc ient Jain stupa found near Mathura: they would have

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SECTION II

5 6 U LFT U RE

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1 52 GANDHARAN SCULPTURE

his disciples ; and long before the Mahayanist schoolbroke away fromthe primitive traditions of Buddhism

,

and sanctioned the worship of the Great Teacher as

the Divine Ruler of the universe,Indian idealismmust

have formed the impression which the painters and

Sculptors of the Kushan court in Gandhara,about

the beginning of the Christian era,tried to shape . Their

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are Obviously the godsof the Greek and Roman pantheon adapted to an

Indian nivran . The Gandharan,

sculptures inmodernmuseums . Show, "

how, ,

i llenist ic

artists realised the true Bud l eftt o the Indian mystics who put

into artistic formwhat they saw in their visions of

the Blessed One in the Tushita heavens,or when He

deigned t o listen t o their prayers and descended toearth t o show His divine formt o them

,as the Devas

of Old revealed themselves t o the Vedic Rishis)For the two central ideas which run through all

Buddhist iconography are as certainly derived _ froman ancient Indo-Aryan tradition as are the st iip a

and the sikhara,t o which they are closely related .

In the first the Buddha is conceived as the Great Guru,

the Muni 1 who by the power of Yoga has Obtained fullinsight into all themysteries of the universe and has

become the teacher of the law. He is the'

Buddhistc ounterpart of the Brahman Maha-Yogi

,Siva

,wor

shipped through the in’

dna-marga ,the Path of Know

ledge . In the second he is a King,the Supreme Head

of the Sangha regarded as a universal Church . The

Bodhisattva is the ideal Kshatriya King of the Mahabharata who has learnt to subdue himself

,so that

he may dispense divine justice and become God’sVicegerent on earth . But he fights only with spiritual

1 Monk .

BUDDHA TYPES 1 53

weapons which,like those of the great Aryan heroes,

are personified andmade t o take p lac es in the Buddhistpantheon as various manifestations of the Bodhisattva

,e .g . Divine Love,

Avalokit'

eshvara,and Divine

Wisdom,Manjusri .

The type of head conforms to fixed t radit iOfi

regardingmarks of identity ( lakshanas) eyebrowsj oined together ; a bump of wisdom“

on the top of

the head (ushnisha) , covered in the case of the Bodhisattva by the high-peaked tiara ; three lucky lineson the neck the lobes of the ears split and elongatedin a fashion still prevalent in Southern India ; amarkin the centre of the forehead (urna) symbolising thethird eye of Spiritual vision . But every school of

sculptors impressed its own racial type upon the

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas it created . A GandharanBuddha is unmistakably one of the race t o whichthe Kushan dynasty belonged ; an Indian image isofsome Indian race . A Chineseimage has a Mongoliancharacter . Yet it is very rarely the case that any

attempt at portraiture ismade ,as often happens in

Western sacred art : it is an idea l racial type ratherN M W M

thanmarlw indiyihdual that is represented .

This was alsOw

tli'

éh as'

é'

inThegods Ofw

the pantheonwhich Greek artists created . The difference betweenthe Indian and Greek ideal lies in themetaphysicaloutlook . The Indian idea was that Yoga,

throughwhich divine wisdomwas attained

,not only gave

the body eternal youth and superhuman strength,

but purified it of its physical dross and gave it a finertexture than the commonmortal clay . The BuddhaSitting under the Bodhi tree at Gaya,

reduced t o a

living Skeleton bymental agony and prolonged fasting,

was at once supernaturally transformed when the

Great Truth of the cause of human suffering flashed22

mm “ m “ v

1 54 THE YOGA IDEAL IN ART

upon hismind . H e appeared then like the Devas,

the Shining Ones,who thronged t o hail himas their

Lord , with a body like a lion— thaL is,“withmassive

neck land ”shoulders ,

waist , _

and a golden or

tawny skin ; the veins and . bones hiddenffSfifip lerounded limbs smooth as a woman ’

s —a superman.whose body combined the either sex

but transcended.all of them. This was the antithesis

of the athletic ideal of classical Greek art based uponearthly notions of amens sana in corpore sano . It

was the symbol of spiritual rebirth by whichmankindcould become even as the gods.

Though this ideal was not realised in perfect artisticformuntil Indian sculpture and painting reached theirzenith in Northern India about the sixth century A .D . ,

the idea itself was ofmuch greater antiquity . The

god- like _ heroes -of the_

Mahabharat a h

and _ ,IndozAryan

arms ; ,in their shoulders

,necks,n nd

waista they were like lions. The same type appearsin Minoan art of 3 000 B .C . ,

where men are shownwith their waists pinched in with leathemgirdles.

It is also prominent in Egyptian and early Greek art .

The prolonged Aryan domination of the Euphratesvalley probably accounts for its survival in Indianart , as well as formany other evidences of Babylonianculture in India . fit was the doctrine of Yoga

,hOw

ever,which gave the . idea its Characteristic Indian

expression , in which the mystic tries to reveal thedivine power of thought which controls all physicalmanifestations

,a power which c an only be realised

when themind ,immovably fixed and undisturbed by

worldly desires, attains to perfect tranquillity and the

supreme joy of harmony with the eternal .The two sculptures in PI. LIII are c lassic aLIr/ Ighan

typ es of the Buddha as the Monk and Guru. The

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THE BUDDHA AS GURU 1 35

first (Fig . A) is a colossal statue at Anuradhapura inCeylon

,no doubt one of the great masterpieces of

its age which served model for the school t oa i l—" w—v

“which it _belonged . The Buddha is just emerging

fromthe Yoga trance, as indicated by the left legbeing released fromthe adamantine pose when the

two legs are firmly locked together . It shows the

same great sweep of line andmasterly generalisationof formwhich distinguish the , classic _

paintings of

Ajanta in I ndia and those of the allied Cingaleseschool of Sigiriya . Wemay assume that it was thework of some famous sculptor fromNorthern India .

Its provenance is clearly indicated in the SarnathBuddha (Pl . LIII , B ) , which , though of a later dateprobably the fifth or sixth century - .the

3 3.

1119 “ s M

ofm fac e . In the first half of the fourthcentury A .D . the King of Ceylon

,Meghavama,

was

on very friendly terms with the great Gupta Emperor,

Samudragup ta,who gave himpermission t o found

and endow amonastery at BOdh-Gaya. The Anurad

hapura Buddhamay belong . to Meghavarna’

s reign .

The Sarnath sculpture, which is about 5 ft . 3 in .

in height,belonged to a temple or monastery in

the Deer Park where the Buddha began t o preach .

It represents the Master enthroned and expoundinghis doctrine

,while a band of disciples at his feet

worship the Wheel of the Law. Though it belongs t othe same great school as the Ceylon sculpture, it ismore

,

dry and academic in treatment . The contourslack the beautiful rhythmic flow of the Ceylon image

,

and the rather woodeny plastic treatment shows thehand of a copyist lacking in original power Of expression .

Both of these Buddhas are dressed in the lightdiaphanous robe which is characteristic

'

of Guptasculpture, with a slight difference in arrangement .

1 56 THE BUDDHA As GURU

In the Ceylon Buddha the left shoulder is bare, whereasthe Sarnath sculpture shows the robe giving wthe neck .

Another type of the Buddha as the Ascetic and Teacheris shown in PI. LIV,

A,a sculpture on the face of the

rock outside Cave IX at Ajanta. Here the Buddhais seated on his throne ,

not as a Yogi,but in European

fashion a pose which indicated the Buddhist MessiahMaitreya

,

l who is t o be the world-teacher in a new

dispensation . It is significant that Buddhismshouldlook t o the West for its coming saviour . Possiblythe iconographic idea came fromGandhara Maitreyais usually classed as a Bodhisattva, and sometimeswears the Bodhisattva’

s crown,but here the attendants

on either side are crowned as Kings or Devas,the

lesser divinities who are the servants of the GreatTeacher . This noble sculpture ismore vigorous inexpression and masterful in technique than the

Sarnath Buddha, andmay be earlier in date .

The Buddha as Guru is also represented standingerect with the right hand raised in the gesture knownas abhayamudra,

dispelling fear . The splendid statuenow in the BirminghamMuseum(Pl . LV ,

A) is of

this type . It was excavated froma ruinedmonasteryat Sultanganj , in Bengal, andmay be classed with theAnuradhapura Buddha as one of the greatest worksOf the early Gupta period

,

“testifying t o the greatskill of North Indian metal founders at this time

,

for it is about 71 feet high ,of copper cast in

sections, probably by the c ire perdue process on a

core held together by iron bands.

2 It is probablyof the same age as the famous iron pillar of Delhi

,

a royal standard Of the traditional Vishnu type,

1 See Waddell ’s Lamais’min Tibe.

2 The stat ement of Rajendra Lal Mitra that it was cast in two layerscalls for expert corroborat ion .

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THE BUDDHA AS KING 1 37

set up about A .D . 41 5 by Kumaragup ta I to celebratethe victories of his father , Vikramaditya,

the castingofwhich was a feat which could not have been achievedin Europe until quite recent times.

1

The standing Buddha carved in sandstone , now in

the MathuraMuseum(Pl . LIV,B ) , is of the same type

as the Sultanganj statue and of nearly equal size,but the execution ismore dry and academic , resemblingin this respect the Sarnath Buddha . The colossalheadless figure (LV ,

B ) recently dug up at Sarnath showsa variation in the pose and drapery

,and '

also a heavi

ness in the limbs which does not belong to the Indianideal . It was probably the work of a foreign sculptorat the Gupta court . Inmost Gupta sculpture thereare clear suggestions of Hellenistic influence visible

,manifesting itself .mostly as technical mannerisms.

The ideas which the artist wishes to realise,the real

creative impulse, are deeply rooted in Indian thoughtand go back t o p re-Buddhist times.

.The Buddham as .or Bodhisat tva ,

is very finely realised in the noble torso now in the

Victoria and Albert Museum(Pl . LVI,A) . The

sway of the lithe,youthful figure,

suggesting the

swinging gait of the royal elephant,Often used in

Indian poetry as a Simile for the graceful carriage of

a young woman,would alone distinguish the sculptor’s

intention fromthe studied,self-disciplined immov

ability of the Yogi who has attained to full Buddhahood, even if the shoulder-straps Of deer’s hide and

the splendid collar and girdle did not proclaimthe

Kshatriya prince . The figure is said to havecrowned one of the royal standards put up near the

great st iip a at Sanchi, but I think it is an error t o

1 The height of the pillar is about 24 feet , the diameter varying from1 6 4 to 1 2 05 inches .

1 58 THE BUDDHA As KING

attribute it to Asoka’

s time . Royal patronage of

the Buddhist abbey Of Sanchi continued for manycenturies after the st fip a was built by Asoka . It is

true that in technique it is fully equal to ' the bestcraftsmanship of the Mauryan period : it has

,more

over,al l the freshness and vitality of the early Sanchi

school . \/But Buddhist orthodoxy did not allow a

sculptured image of the Buddha,either as a King or

a Guru,until lohg after Asoka’

s time/ It is clearlythe work of an early Gupta sculptor the Gupta royalstandards were of the same lotus pattern as thoseof Asoka

,and at that time Mahayana Buddhismhad

sanctioned the worship of the Buddha’

s image both as

the Teacher and as the King . In the earlier H inayanaschool a Bodhisattva was only the name for one of

the Buddha’s previous existences as told in the jatakasthe idea of a divine ruler of the Sangha had not arisen

,

though the Patriarch Of the Order was accordedroyal honours as the representative Of the Founder .

This torso is clearly distinguished frommost Guptasculpture in bearing no trace of Hellenistic or Gandharan influence ,

and brings fresh evidence to provethat Indian sculpture was not so deeply indebted t othe Gandharan school as archaeologists have maint ained . The fine image of Sarya

,the Sun-

god ,from

the temple of Kanarak , in Orissa (Pl . LVI , B ) , willenable us t o realise what the missing head Of the

Bodhisattva was like . It also illustrates the wonderful ‘ continuity of Indian artistic traditions, for the

two sculptures, though separated fromeach otherby a distance of at least nine centuries, l have so

many close correspondences that itmight almost bethought they were works of the same school . Onlythe pose differs, for the Sun-

god ,driving his seven

1 The Kanarak t emple was built between A .D . 1 240 and 1 280.

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THE VEDIC TRADITION 1 59

horsed c ar and,hke Vishnu, holding up the heavens,

has the same static pose of the Buddha as the Teacherof the U niversal Law. Sfirya

’

s active pose when he isshooting the arrows which destroy the demons of

darkness is finely given in the relief fromthe Kailasatemple (Pl . XXV,

B ) .Sarya was one of the ancient Vedic deities wor

shipped by the Aryans both in India and in Meso

potamia . In Indian art he appears as the Aryanfighting chief in his war- c ar, which probably playedthe same part in the Aryan conquest of India as itdid in the conquest of Egypt by the Shepherd Kings.

1

The horse introduced into Mesopotamia fromIran

about ‘2 ,000 B . c . replaced the ass in the war- cars of

Babylonia,an innovation which for a time made

these early engines Of war as irresistible as the tankinmodern warfare .

The ideas of Vedic India manifest themselves inBuddhist sculpture and painting as clearly as they doin Buddhist architectural designs. The Buddha as

the Guru represents the Brahman or Indo-Aryanthinker who found salvation by the path Of knowledgethe Bodhisattva,

the Kshatriya or Indo-Aryan heroand leader ofmen who was the central figure of bhakti

worship , the path of loyalty or devotion . The reason

why there are so many missing links in the chainconnecting Indian sculpture and painting with p re

Buddhist times is no doubt the same as that whichhas prevented the explorer fromtracing the evolutionof the st iip a and the s ikhara . As in ancient Egypt

,

the houses and palaces of Indo-Aryan nobility were of

clay or sun-dried bricks.

"

They were adorned withpaintings and carvings, and in spite of the prohibitionsof the Vedic Rishis, there were probably icons of house

1 See Anc ient H istory of the Near East . H . R . H all , p . 2 1 3 .

1 60 THE VEDIC TRADITION

hold and t ribal deities in themlong before MahayanaBuddhismgave themits sanction . But Aryan sculpture of the pure Vedic tradition was perhaps almostexclusively made of the various sacrificial woodsparticularised in the Ramayana

,

ll which could not longresist the attacks of insects and other destructiveinfluences of the Indian climate . In the land of the

five rivers, the Panjab , where the first Aryan settlements were located ,

the constant shifting of the

river bedswould in course of time completely obliteratethe towns and villages built upon their banks and

as bathing was an indispensable part of Aryan rehgious

ritual, wemay assume that the earliest settlementswere always located on the banks of the

'

sacred rivers.

Fresco-painting onmud wall and Sculpture in woodare themost fugitive of historical records in India

,

so it is not surprising that no vestiges of their existencebefore Asoka’

s time have been discovered . But ,thereis no good reason for supposing that the Indo—Aryanswere less proficient in the fine arts than any othersection of the Aryan family .

Fragmentary though the record is, it would takemany volumes t o illustrate fully the variations inthe two original types of Buddha images, for Buddhistculture spread itself all over Asia, bringing with itwherever it went the traditions of Indian sculptureand painting . In Java,

which was colonised fromIndia early in the Christian era

,the best period of

Indian sculpture is very fully represented,both in

its Buddhist and Brahmanical aspect , for the islandescaped the iconoclastic rage of the Muhammadanswhich desolated the temples andmonasteries of India.

Two fine examples of the Bodhisattva type fromJavaare given in PI. LVII . The first is a finely inspired

1 See Ideals of Indian Art, by the Author, p . 10 .

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JAVA SCULPTURE 1 61

conception of Avalokit éshvara ,or Padmapani, the

Bodhisattva of divine love and pity ,seated on his

lotus throne,the up and down turned petals of which

are symbols of the heavenly and earthly spheres.

H e is in the pose of royal ease,

”i.e . , with the right

leg completely released fromthemeditative position .

H is right hand , with the palmturned upwards,makesthe gesture of charity (vara-mndra) , the left expoundsa point of the Law. The similarity between the royalinsignia worn on the body

,the j ewelled collar

,shoulder

band,and girdle

,and those on the Sanchi torso (Pl .

LVI,A) , will be noticed . Borobudur was built about

the second half of the ninth century A .D . , and thissculpturemay be a century or two later . The gracefulstanding figure B of the same plate belongs t o the

temple of Chandi Sewa at Prambanam,which Is

supposed t o have been built about the end of the

eleventh century . A cast of it is in the Trocaderoin Paris.

The two beautiful heads illustrated in PI. LVIIIare also fromJava . The Buddha type

,Fig . A ,

is now in the Ethnological Museumat Leyden . The

Bodhisattva,Fig . B ,

is in the Glyp t otek at Copenhagen .

CHAPTER II

BRAHMA, VISHNU ,AND SIVA

,AND THEIR SAK TIS

WE must n ow pass on t o consider the divine idealrepresented by the Brahmanical deities

,Brahma

,

Vi shnu,and Siva

,who are worshipped separately and

also j ointly as the Three in One. The Silp a-Sastras

,

as already mentioned,ordain that Brahma’s shrine

shall be open on all four sides,that Vishnu’s shall

face the east,and Siva’

s the west . Brahma, the

personification of prayer, is the Creator symbolisedby the rising sun , which gives the signal formorningprayer . Brahma’s saktz’ , or active principle in nature,is Sarasvati

,the lady of the lotus-pool

,goddess of

speech and learning . H er flower,the p ink or red

lotus,whose petals unfold at themagic touch ‘

of the

sun ’

s first rays, is the symbol of the womb of the

universe,H iranya

-

garbha ,hidden in the depths of

the cosmic waters fromwhich Brahma, self-created,sprang . In Indian art Brahma is often shown seatedin Yogi fashion as the Great Magician upon themysticlotuswhich springs fromthe nave! ofVishnu Narayana,

the Eternal Spirit . He also appears riding on the

swan or wild goose,the king of the lotus-pool

,whose

Sanskrit name,hamsa

,is convertible into themystic

formula SA-HAM— I AM HE,that is Brahma.

Brahma’s four heads are said to symbolise the fourVedas

,but as the Vedas were originally only three in

number; a differentmeaningmust be sought . It was1 62

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BRAHMA AT ELEPHANTA 1 63

more likely an iconic equivalent of the royal title, Kingof the Four Quarters,

”adopted by all Egyptian kings

fromabout B .C . ,and brought t o India by the

Aryans fromMesopotamia . The Indo-Aryan kings

used the termChakra-vartin as an equivalent , implying that the world was a round plane, whereas in

Egypt it was thought to be square .

Temples of Brahma are now very rare, but in everySiva temple the Creator is worshipped in the ancientMesopotamian solar symbol of the bull and in the

lingam.At the great temple of Elephanta, dating

fromabout the seventh century A .D . ,the cubical

shrine with four doors guarded by the eight regentsof the quarters is a Brahma shrine . It was originallyoccupied by the superb sculpture shown in PI. LIX,

B .

The lingamis here metamorphosed into an imageof Brahma 1

as King of the FourQuarters, the t op of thelingamwhich surmounted the fourfold royal tiarabeing broken . The Buddhist had an equivalentsymbol in a cubical shrine surmounted by a stfip a t o

represent the Adi-Buddha,the Creator

,whose consort ,

or sakti , was Prajnaparamita,transcendental wisdom

,

an idea evidently borrowed fromthe Vedic idea of

Brahma. It is probable that the Saiva lingamveryfrequently took this formof a Brahma image beforeMuhammadan iconoclasmcompelled Hindu sculptorsto content themselves with the plain lingamnow

used as a symbol of the Creator .

A fine statue of Brahma fromJava (Pl . LIX,A9,

now in the Ethnographic Museumat Leyden,gives

a different but very dignified conception of the Grand1 The esot eric t eaching of the Saiva-Sid dhant ins indicat es this image

as Sadasiva-mart i the formless, incomprehensible B rahman (see

E lements of H indu I eonography , by T . A . Gopinath R ao , vol . ii, part ii)but as it is obviously impossible for the t emple sculpt or t o render suchabst ract concept ions, he gives thema popular int erpretat ion .

1 64 VISHNU

sire of the human race,andmore complete than the

mutilated sculpture of Elephanta . Here the faces arebearded

,as In all the Java representations of Brahman

sages. The clasped hands in front of the body holda vessel in the formof a lotus bud containing theelixir of life . H is other attributes appearing in the

sculpture are the hermit ’s jar for the holy waterwhich gives life t o the earth

,the lotus flower , and the

royal swan . Those which aremissing are the Brahmanhermit ’s sacrificial ladle and his rosary .

Brahma,originally the Supreme God ,

of the Brahmans, has now beenmerged in the two chief cults ofmodern Hinduism,

centred in the worship ofVishnu and

Siva . Vishnu , as his name signifies,is said to pervade

all space :he isAkdska—garbha , the Container of Ether .

But as distinguished fromBrahma he is the sun at

noon supporting the heavens (Vishnu-Sarya) , or the

sun at midnight under the earth reposing on the

coils of the serpent of eternity (Ananta or Sasha) ,the Milky Way . In this aspect he is known as VishnuNarayana . H is colour is blue

,the deep transparent

blue of the Himalayan sky after themonsoon rains, andhis flower

,as we have seen

,is the blue lotus, or water

lily . H is shrine should face the east , so that Lakshmi ,the Day

-goddess,his bride

,may enter as she rises

fromthe cosmic ocean'

everymorning to greet herspouse . H e rides on Garuda

,the Himalayan eagle .

In his universal formas the all-pervading , everlastingCause he is described in the Bhagavad Gita as t oo

terrible for ordinary mortal visio'

n .

ll But as the

supporter of the heavens, and as themidnight sun

slumbering under the cosmic ocean , he is representedas the Aryan warrior king armed with the terrificweapon

,the Chakra or discus, besides the sword , bow,

1 See I deals of Indz’

an Art, by thelAuthor, pp . 56—7 .

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LAKSHMI

andmace . His sakti, Lakshmi the bringer of pros

p erity,seems t o be identical W Ith the Dawn Maiden

U shas,lwh0, clad in robes of saffron and rose- colour

,like

the Brahma lotus flower,flings open the doors of the

sky . To hermany of the songs of the Rig-Veda are

addressed,especially the immortal inspired hymn I . 1 1 3 ,

which invokes her thus

The heaven-born Ushas in days gone by cont inually hath dawned .

Giver of wealth,may she shine forth t o-day thusmay she give lighthereaft er, undiminished and undying cont inuing in her glory .

Ushas, child of heaven , illumineth with her beams the whole expanseof sky. Throwing off the robes of night and awakening the world ,she cometh in her c ar by ruddy horses drawn .

Arise the breath of our life hath come back to us I The darknesshath gone , the light approacheth She leaveth a pathway for the

sun t o t ravel , so that now our days will be lengthened .

Chant ing the praises of the bright ening Dawn , the singer invok ingthee st ret cheth the web of his hymn . Bount eous Ushas ! Shineupon himwho praiseth thee ! Grant us the blessing of food and

o ffspring .

Mother of the Devas Ad it i’

s1rival , B anner of Sac rifice,magnificent

Ushas, arise ! B eloved of all , shine upon us, bless our prayers and

mak e us chief among the people .

The famousmonolithic granite sculpturesatMamallapuraminclude two fine reliefs, given in P1. LX , whichshow Vishnu in his active and passive aspects. In

Fig . A he is an eight-armed warrior-kingthe heavens with one hand and holdingmace

,sword

,and shield , and hiswar-trumpet , the conch,

in others.

“ The ascent of the sun towards its zenithis symbolised by the image of Brahma on his righthand seated on his lotus throne and carried up by thesun

’

s disc personified . The descent is shown on the

1 Adit i, the Universal M other .

2 For themyst ical int erpretat ions of Vishnu ’

s arms given in the

Puranas, see Ideals of Indian Art, by the Author, p . 1 5 3 .

1 66 NARAYANA

other side by the falling disc partly covered by Vishnu’

s

shield and by the image of Siva, WhomVishnu is

touching with one finger and one t oe, an allusion to

the three strides in which the sun is said to completehis daily round . On the right of Vishnu’

s head ishis Boar incarnation ,

Varaba,the form

.which he is

said t o have taken when he raised the earth fromthedepths of the ocean , whither she had been carriedby a demon ,

H iranyaksha . The four figures groupedat his feet are the guardians of the four quarters. The

panel in PI.LX ,A , showsNarayana in hiscosmic slumber ,the coils of Ananta forming his couch . The figureson the right refer t o

’

a solarmyth regarding a demonwho

,evading the doorkeeper of Vaikuntha

,Vishnu ’

s

palace,attempted to steal the sleeping god’smace .

It will be noticed that Vishnu as the night sun onlypossesses the normal number of arms t multi leg rin/ s of Vishnu-Sarya are probably M o

suggest the rays of themidday sun .

The wonderfully fine relief given in PI. LXI is an

unusual representation of

Magasj i fi the snake worldwof the cosmic ocean ,

seated7

-‘ w Q a 'h—n fi n

pose , _

of‘T '

Foyal ease"

on the c ofls"

offl an ta,

war trumpet . Two graceful Naginis, the snakegoddesses whosemagl c powers and seductive charmsplay a great part in Indian folk- lore

,together With

two male genii, flit lightly as butterflies round the

deity bringing their offerings. The playful rhythmof their sinuous serpentine bodies, drawn by amostaccomp lished hand, fill the whole sculpture with -thesense of supreme delight which is said t o belong t o

\

Vishnu’

s paradise . It is carved on the ceiling of an'

old temple at Aihole,dated about the seventh or eighth

century A .D . , near Badami, the ancient capital of

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AvATARs OF VISHNU 1 67

the Chalukyan kings, and the great art centre whichcreated the Kailasa at Ellora .

Vishnu as the Pillar of the U niverse or p ersonific a

tion of the sacredmountain Meru,

l which stands inthe centre of the world , is finely given in themonumental statue fromJava (Pl . LXII , A) . Here he hasthe usual four arms holding the discus

,mace, war

trumpet , and sword . One of the t en Avatars,or

incarnations of Vishnu , the Varaba or Boar Avatar ,has been alluded to above . This is the subject of

a very powerful rock-sculpture at U dayagiri,in

the Bhopal State (Pl . LXII , B ) , which shows a

colossal figure of the Avatar standing upon the

serpent of eternity and lifting up the earth, a

small female figure,fromthe depths of ocean

,while

the assembled gods and sages stand by to welcomeher .

The t en Avatars of Vishnu are, first,the Fish which

saved the progenitor of the human race,Manu

,from

the Flood . Second ,the Tortoise, the dome of

heaven which he placed at the bottomof the cosmicocean t o serve as a pivot for the great churning whichbrought t o earth the lovely goddess Lakshmi

,or Sri.

Third,the Boar . Fourth , the Man-lion

, Narasimha ,

who rescued Vishnu’s faithful worshipper, Prahlada,

fromthe persecution of his impious father, the King

of the Asuras, who attempted to usurp the sovereignty

of the Lord of the U niverse . This is the subject ofa fine sculpture at Ellora . Fifth

,the dwarf Vamana

,a

formVishnu assumed when he appeared before anotherdemon king , Bali , who ,

like Prahlada’s father , triedt o usurp Vishnu

’

s throne,and begged of himasmuch

land as he could cover in three steps. When Bali

1 The M emof the human body is said t o be the spinal column .

1 68 CHURNING OF THE OCEAN

agreed , Vishnu in his real formstrode across the

whole earth . Sixth ,under the name of a Brahman

warrior king,Parasu-Rama

,who is said t o have

destroyed the whole race of Kshatriyas twenty-one

times. Seventh , when he appeared as Rama, the

ideal Indian king,the hero of the Ramayana .

Eighth, as Krishna,whose religious doctrine forming

the philosophical basis of the Vaishnava cult is ex

pounded in the Bhagavad Gita . Ninth,as the Buddha

,

a Brahmanical commentary stating that this wasthe Avatar which Vishnu assumed to lead demons andsinners t o their own destruction . Lastly

,Vishnu’

s

tenth incarnation,not yet consummated, will be that

of Kalkin ,who will come riding on a white horse

,

sword in hand,t o restore the Aryan law of righteous

ness and rule the earth .

Asmight be supposed,the coming of the Day

goddess,Vishnu’

s bride, over the Himalayan peakshas often inspired the Indian poet and artist and

this appears t o be the foundation of,the well-known

myth of Vishnu’

s second Avatar,the Karma,

or

Tortoise,in which formhe assisted at the Churning

of the Ocean,as told in the Mahabharata,

the Ramayana , and the Vishnu Purana . In order to restoret o the three regions of earth

,air , and heaven their

lost prosperity,Vishnu ,

it is said,instructed the

Devas,the Shining Ones

,t o join with the demons

of darkness,the Asuras, in churning the cosmic ocean,

the Sea of Milk,for the nectar of life of immortality,

amrita . So the Devas_came t o the shores of that

sea,which shone like the shining clouds of autumn

,

and with Vishnu’

s help upturned the holymountain ,

Mandara,t o serve as a churning—stick, while the

great serpent Ananta,whose coils encircle the earth,

was used as a cord . Vishnu himself, in,the formof a

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CHURNING or THE OCEAN 1 69

mighty tortoise, made a pivot for the stick . The

Devas seized the tail of the serpent and the Asuras thehead— and the churning began .

The first product of the churning was the divinec ow

,Surabhi, the fountain ofmilk

,ametaphor often

used in the Vedas for the rain- cloud which dispelleddrought ; then Varun i

,Vishnu’

s own embodiedradiance 1

; next the tree, Parijata,which bears

all kinds of celestial fruits ; then the moon rose

and was seiz ed by Siva as his own . At this pointfires and poisonous fumes engendered by the chuming overspread the earth and threatened the wholeuniverse

,so the Creator

,Brahma

,intervened and

begged Siva t o use his power . The latter thenswallowed the poison and so became Nila-kantha ,

blue-necked .

The climax is the appearance of the physician of

the Gods,Dhanwantari, bearing the treasure sought

for,the precious cup of amrita ,

in his hands, followedby the goddess Lakshmi herself, radiant with beautyand attended by a choir of celestial nymphs

,while

the elephants of the skies, the rain-clouds,pour water

over her fromgolden vases. The Devas and Asurasbegan now t o struggle for the possession of the amrita ,

but the demons were quickly vanquished and drivendown t o Patala below the earth . So the cosmicdrama ends with the return of prosperity to all the

three worlds, and the general rejoicing of gods and

men .

Themyth has been given a spiritual interpretationas the struggle which takes place within the soul ofman between the powers of

‘

good and evil ; but ithas not been observed by Oriental scholars that the

1 See Tantra of the Great Liberation , t ranslat ed by A . Avalon , p .

xxxviii . Varuni has been incorrect ly translated as the God of Wine .

24

1 70 CHURNING OF THE OCEAN

original naturalistic foundation of it is t o be foundin the wonderful effects whichmay be witnessed on

any still autumn starlit night in the Himalayas, at

Darj eeling or elsewhere . Climbing a high hill c ommanding a wide prospect over the distant snowyrange, themeaning of the poet ’s comparison of the

Sea of Milk to the thin shining clouds of autumn ”c an be realised ; for one looks down upon a vastmotionless sea ofmilk-white clouds stretching out to

the far horizon,and dotted here and there with islands

formed by the highestmountain peaks. Stretchingacross the deep blue vault of heaven

,the Milky Way,

the Great Serpent of Eternity,encircling the earth ,

is seen,the planets glittering like jewels in hismany

heads. In the solemn stillness of the night Sashawatches ceaselessly while Narayana sleeps upon his

coils. No wonder that the Indianmysticmeditatingon themarvellous prospect in front of himfeels himselftransported to the shores of the cosmic ocean

,t o

the edge of that limitless expanse of akasha in whichall the worlds lie floating .

Then towards morning , before it is yet dawn ,

there is a sudden stirring in the air and the Sea of Milkbegins t o be agitated . The Davas, the bright spiritsof the day,

as yet invisible ,have seized the tail of the

Serpent and the churning of the cosmic ocean hasbegun .

The clouds begin t o break up into whirling wreaths ofevaporation

,and it seems as if the depths of the valleys

below formed a vast cauldron wherein gods and

demons are brewing somemysterious potion . Or is

it the smoke of the sacred fire-drill they are turningfor the worship of the coming day A faint reflectionon the horizon of Varun i

,the radiance of day ,

now

heralds the approach of the Sun-god ’s seven-horsed c ar .

The crescentmoon which had risen some hours before

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1 72‘ RAMA AND KRISHNA

of Mamallapuram(Pl . LXIII , A) . Here the goddess isenthroned on the Brahma lotus with turned-downpetals four river-goddesses are in attendance bringingwater for hermorning bath ,

assisted by the Elephantsof the Skies, which forma canopy over her head .

The actual churning is rendered on a grand scalein the has-reliefs of the procession path of the greattemple of Augkor Vat in Cambodia, built about thetwelfth century by Sarya-Vatman II , one of the lastof

“

the Hindu kings who ruled over the Indian colonyin the Far East . Pl . LXIII , B

, shows the centralportion where Vishnu ,

manifesting himself in severalAvatars, is directing the churning . Below he is the

Great Tortoise . In themiddle he appears in his fourarmed formjoining hands with the Devas and Asuras.

At the top he is holding the churning-stick in its

place .

The legends of Rama and of Krishna, the seventh

and eighth Avatars,

fill a great part in Vaishnavapoetry and painting , but they do not take a veryprominent place in classical Indian sculpture now

extant . Rama in temple images and as a household

god is the typical Indo-Aryan king . His faithful ally

,

Hanuman ,themonkey-king whose devoted service

.

enabled himt o rescue S ita fromthe stronghold of

the demon-king,Ravana,

is often rendered with thesympathy and keen observation of animal life Charac terist ic of the best Indian art (Pl . LXX,

B ) . Krishnais commonly represented either as an infant cradledon a lotus leaf and floating up on the cosmic watersa counterpart of Narayana— or as a child-hero dancing

upon the serpent Kaliya, which infested a whirlpoolin the Jumna .

The cult of Vishnu , centred in the idea of bhakti, the

loyal devotion ,as! of the soldier to his Chief (as in the

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1 74 BHAKTI AND JNANA-MARGA

image, l paid homage to their living and dead saintsthose who had reached Nirvana. But when Buddhismentered upon the bhakti-marga , the popular c ravmgcould not be resisted . Similarly the philosophicBrahman , when he tried to gain converts to the inane;rnarga among themasses, was forced to show themthe image of the Great Yogi and the place where H e

dwelt on earth . The comparative lateness of the

appearance of Saiva temples and images should not,

however, be taken as evidence of the late origin of the

cult . The way of knowledge is always the mostdifficult to find , and the abstruse philosophic ideaswhich formthe basis of Vedic wisdomare not

those which appeal directly to popular imagination .

Moreover , the Brahmans, as the special custodiansof the Vedic tradition , would naturally be the lastt o sanction any deviation fromthe Vedic forestritual, inwhich wood, thatch , and clay were deliberatelychosen for the temple service in preference tomorepermanent ‘

and costly materials. Siva’s abode is

placed in the Himalayas, and the cult which is so

distinctively Brahmanical had its original Indianhome in the north , though its early ideals and symbolsmay have been brought by the first Aryan invadersfromIran or Mesopotamia . But at the present timethe Saivas predominate in the south

,and the best of

the Saiva sculpture now extant mostly belongs to

the period of the Chola Empire,or. fromthe ninth

to the thirteenth centuries A .D . , when the disturbed

1 The prohibit ion of the graven image by the B uddha and later

religious reformers was probably direct ed against its common employment in sorcery and the black art rather than against its use as an

aid t o religious devot ion . Themak ing of the image of an enemy whowas t o be dest royed was a usual part of the ritual of the sorcerer and

belief in the effect of his spells was at the root of the furious iconoclasmwhich so oft en at tended popular religiousmovements.

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1 76 ASPECTS OF SIVA

die in his sixteenth year . The Rishi craved the latterboon ,

and his wife in due course bore hima son who

was called Markandéya . AS the child grew up and

Showed wonderful genius, the father’

s heart grew sad

at t he prospect of his impending fate,and revealed

the secret t o Markandéya,who forthwith set out on a

pilgrimage to all of Siva’

s tirths, and while he wasworshipping the lingamat Tirukkadanur in the

Tanjore district, Kala, the Lord of Death,sent his

messengers to take him. They tried t o bind the

boy ’s soul with the fatal noose , but failed to do so ,

and went back t o report the case to theirmaster .

Kala,who then came in person

,was at the point of

taking the young Brahman as he still prayed whenSiva Himself in wrath burst out of the lingamand

with his lotus foot struck Kala senseless to t he ground .

As a reward for Markandéya’

s devotion Siva thenbestowed upon himthe gift of eternal youth

,so that

he is still believed to live as one of the blessed saints.

_App fithgruasp g g tmoj“ Siva is that of Dakshina-marti ,

which represents the gracious Lord of Knowledgewho taught the Rishis philosophy

,music , and art .

These attributes are also transferred t o Siva’s sakti,

Darga or Devi , who in the beautiful bronze fromtheMadras Museum(Pl . LXIV, B ) closely resembles theJava sculpture ofAvalok

'

it éshvara given in PI. LVII A .

But the most characteristic conception of Salvasculpture, and the one t o which no parallel is foundin early Buddhist art , is that of Nataraja,

the Lordof the Dance .

”It is useless to look for the inception

of thismotif in t he earliest stone andmetal imagesof it

,by which we c an trace it back

,to about the

sixth century A.D for we have to reckon with a

period of unknown antiquity when it must havebeen carved in wood, and with a stillmore remote

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HYMN OF CREATION

life,and in the grand hymn X . 29 of the Rig Veda

the Aryan seers propounded the theory of the firstcause and of the nature of the Great U nknownSpirit

,which was the starting-p omt of later philo

sophical schools °

There was not Exist ence nor Non-Exist enceThe Kingdomof Air nor the Sky beyond .

What was there to contain , to cover inWere there but vast unfathom’

d depths of Water

There was no Death there, nor ImmortalityN0 Sun was there, dividing Day fromNightThen was there only THAT rest ing within ITSELFApart fromIT there was not anything .

At first within the Darkness veil ’d in Darkness,Chaos unknowable , the All lay hidWhen sudden fromthe formless Void emerging ,By the great power of H eat was born that Germ.

Thereaft er came Desire , the primal root of MindB eing fromnon-B eing sprung , our Rishis t ell :B ut came the vit al p ow’

r fromearth or heav ’

n P

What hidden force imp ell ’d this part ing hereWho knows whence this was born or how it cameThe gods themselves are lat er than this t imeH e only , the Creat or, t ruly knoweth this.

And even H e, perhaps,may know it not .

The Buddha took the agnostic attitude indicatedin the last lines of the great hymn ,

and left it t o Brahmanphilosophers t o work out the full theory of the firstcause propounded in the Vedanta . Their disciples,again

,making an apotheosis of the Vedic seer in the

person of the hermit-god dwelling among the eternalsnows

,j oined the primitive Aryan sun-worship to this

philosophic teaching,so as t omake a way of know

ledge easy for unlearned folk t o follow . It is thusthat there is somuch primitive folk-loremixed up

THE TANJORE NATARAJA 1 79

with the esoteric teaching of the Saiva cult,as indeed

is the case in all religions.

The MadrasMuseumhas several very fine Natarajasof the Chola period

,

l but the image still worshipped inthe great temple of Tanjore is perhaps the mostimpressive rendering of the Saiva conception of the

cosmic dance which the Chola sculptors achieved .

The temple was completed about the beginning of

the eleventh Century : the imagemay have belongedt o an earlier shrine . Mr . O . C . Gangoly,

who firstpublished the Tanjore image in his excellent bookon South Indian B ronzes, makes it older than any

of the Madras MuseumNatarajas but apart fromthe evidence of style and technique

,the introduction of

the crocodile dragon in the halo,or arch of radiance

,

”

of the Tanjore bronze points t o a later date . In the

earlier Indian rendering of this sun-symbolism,as

seen in the Buddhist horse-shoe arches,the crocodile

dragon,the demon of darkness

,who swallows the

sun at night and releases it in themorning, is not

combined with these sun-windows until a fter the

development of the Mahayana school .The Silp a

-Sastras distinguish between two formsof the dance— the d a-nritta

,the Dance of Disso

lut ion shown in the Tanjore image,which symbolises

Siva’

s Spiritual and material manifestations in the

cosmos,and the Sandhya

-nritta,which ismuch quieter

in movement , and is directly associated with the

time of the Brahman ’

s evening prayer at sunset .

This latter is shown in the bronz e fromthe ColomboMuseum(Pl . LXV,

B ) .

A legend told in the K oyil Puranarn reads likethe attempt of a Brahman littérateur to answer the

1 See Pl . VII and VIII in Ideals of Indian Art, and PI. XXV in

Indian Sculp ture and Painting .

1 80 THE TANJORE NATARAJA

inquiries of the pilgrimcrowd as t o themeaning of

the image it need not be taken t o indicate the originalintention of the artist . Siva,

it is said,disguised as a

Yogi,came t o a public disputation and confounded

all the assembled philosophers so that they , in a rage ,tried t o destroy himby evilmantras. Lighting thesacrificial fires they created a ferocious tiger, whichSiva seized and

,stripping off it s Skin with the nail

of his little finger, wrapped it round his loins. The

disappointed magicians next created a monst rousserpent

,which the Great Yogi took and wreathed

about his neck . Then he began t o dance . At lastan evil spirit in the formof a dwarf sprang out of

the sacrificial flames and rushed upon him. ButSiva trampled it under his feet, and as all the godsassembled he resumed his triumphal dance .

The artistic intention was doubtlessmore simpleand more natural . Siva,

as before stated,was the

apotheosis of the Brahman ascetic , whose attemptst o penetrate into the secrets of the U niverse are

\summed up in the U panishads. As the supremedeity of the Saivas and the incontrovertible exponentof the indna-rnarga , the way of knowledge, Siva wasassociated with the Vedic sacrificial cult of Siirya

and Agni,the sun and fire Spirits. When a Brahman

artist wished t o create an image of the sun-d ance,

which he witnessed every day at the time of worship,

he naturally personified the sun as the Great Asceticin hismystic universal dance .

The demon upon which the Sun-

god is tramplingis analogous t o the powers of darkness which Vishnudefeated in the Churning of the Ocean

,or the demon

Vrita,whomIndra overcame with his thunderbolt .

The tiger-skin is the usual wear of the Brahman ascetic .

The drumwhich he holds in the right upper hand is

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1 82 THE WESTERN GHATS,

O Lord of the Dance, Who cal ls by heat of drumall who are absorbed in worldly things and dispelsthe , fear of the humble 1

and comforts themwithH is Love divine Who points t o His ‘up lift ed Lotusfoot as the refuge of salvation Who carries the fireof sacrifice and dances in the Hall of the U niverse

,

do Thou protect us 1There is a simple and natural reason

,apart from

philosophy andmetaphysics,why the Nataraja as a

symbol of the U niversal Lord appealedmore t o the

people of Southern India,who never saw the eternal

snows,than the image of the Maha-Yogi of the Hima

layas. In the dawn of Indian Civilisation the greatmountain chain which stretches along the westerncoast was t o the people of the adjoining low-countrywhat the Himalayas were t o the non-Aryan peopleof the Indus and Ganges valleys . It was up there , inthe cool heights overlooking the vast expanse of the

Indian Ocean , that their Aryan teachers and law

givers jlived, the Brahmans . who taught themthe

Science and art of theVedas, and theKshatriyawarriorsunder whose protection peaceful villagers were safefromthe savage marauders who had their lairs inthe heart .of the jungles. And in the pellucid air of

the Western Ghats,washed clean bymonsoon Storms,

the Brahman at his e vening prayers heard day byday Siva

’

s drum,the time-beat of the ocean ,

thunderingalong the shore , and saw the golden sun throbbingon the western horizon as it sank slowly into the

j aws of themysterious dragon of the nether world .

So the Brahmanical art of Southern India is a trueinterpretation of Indian history and

,like all true art ,

holds themirror up t o nature in revealing to us the

beat ific vision of the Universal Lord in hismystic1 By the gesture of the right lower hand .

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1 84 DURGA AND MAHISURA

power but less technical refinement, we c an gather

that Bhairava is engaged in the destruction of the

demon Ratnasura,assisted by Kali

,who is shown as

a grimand gaunt ogress a rmed with a sacrificialknife : Parvati

,Siva’

s Himalayan bride,looking on

worshipfully at the awfulmanifestation of the GreatGod ’s tamasic powers. The Ellora temple c an be

approximately dated about the beginning of the eighthcentury . The Elephanta sculpture is perhaps a c en

tury earlier .

Parvati herself, under the name of Dfirga the In

accessible,also assists in the constant struggle of

the gods with the powers of darkness,her chief oppo

nent being a buffalo-demon,Mahisura

,who caused

much trouble in the heavenly regions. This is the

subj ect of the great sculpture fromJava now in the

Ethnographic Museumat Leyden (Pl . LXVI , B ) , inwhich Darga striding over the carcass of the deadbuffalo is seizing the demon which comes out of its

head in the formof a curly-headed dwarf . The samesubject is also very powerfully treated in one of the

Mamallapuramreliefs (Cave XXXII) .

An important Chapter in South Indian sculpture isfilled . with

,the

,

images,representing the bhakti phase

of the Saiva cult , by which the Brahmans of the

south tried t o combat the influence of MahayanaBuddhism,

Jainism, and Vaishnavism. These are the

idealised portrait statuettes of the Saiva teacherswho fromthe Sixth t o t he ninth centuries carriedon a great popular propaganda and won as muchveneration in the south as the Vedic Rishis or the

Arahats of Buddhism. There aremany popular legendsstill current of their devoted lives and of themiraclesperformed by them. The sculptors of the Cholaperiod made many fine images of these canonised

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1 86 PORTUGUESE INFLUENCE

close commercial intercourse with the Portuguesecolony at Goa

,the influence of European art c an be

traced in the direct imitation of classical Greek posesand an elaboration of themuscular systemwhich isOpposed t o the true Indian ideal . This hybrid schoolis ofmore interest to the historian than to the artist ;

CHAPTER III

THE TRIMURTI AND THE LESSER DEITIES

ITmust be understood that the images of Brahma,

Vishnu , and Siva already illustrated belonged t o the

original conception of these deities as separate powers,

each one of which was taken by his own devotees

.t o be the Supreme God and had his own appropriate

(formof temple— the Brahma temple open on all four‘sides the Vishnu t emple with one door t owards theeast, the shrine roofed by a sikhara the Siva templewith one door towards the west , the shrine roofed bya stfip a

-dome . But there was also a theologicaldoctrine of the triune nature of the Supreme

,a

trinity which the Buddhists expressed by the formulaof the Three Gems, Buddha— Sangha— Dharma

,c ollec

t ively representing the cosmos ; and the Brahmansby the Three Aspects of the Godhead

,Brahma

Vishnu— Siva,who gjoint ly represented a trinity of

Spirit and a trinity ofmatter .

‘

The germof themetaphysical concept is probablyto be found in the three strides of Vishnu

,or the

three positions of the sun,which correspond t o the

Brahman ’

s sandhya’

, the spiritual exercises he p er

forms at sunrise,noon , and sunset . When

,by an

induct ive process of reasoning , Vedic philosophy estab

1 Sat-chit-dnandamor B eing, thought -power, and bliss, and Sattvamrajas-tdrnas, the c onditions of creat ing, activity and preservation , and

‘

dissolut ion , or darkness.

1 88 TRIMURTI AT ELEPHANTA

lished the theory of the threefold nature of divinity,

the separate sun-gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Sivacame t o be regarded as the Three in One throughwhich the eternal unchangeable Brahmanmanifesteditself in time and Space, the unity of the Godheadbeing expressed by the name Ishvara

,the Supreme

Ruler,or Narayana, the primordial Beingwho lies under

the cosmic waters during the N ight of the Gods whenall creation sleeps.

In spite of the countless gods and demi gods whichfill the Hindu pantheon the belief in the underlyingunity of the Godhead 1s common t o all classes of

instructed Hindus in the present day,

1 images beingregarded as symbols of themanifold powers and aspectsof divinity . Themystery of the Trinity is not oftenapproached in Hindu temple sculpture . One

'

of the

few exceptions is the great temple of Elephanta,which

has three entrances and amagnificent three-headedbust on a colossal scale occupying the principal shrinein the wall (Pl . LXVIII , The explanation of

the three heads given by Dr. . Burgess in his work on

Elephanta which has hitherto been accepted by otherwriters is incorrect . The splendid photographs kindlyplaced atmy disposal by M . Victor Goloubeff affordClear proof that the head In the right which Dr. Burgesstook t o be Vishnu 1s really a woman ’

s head , andmustbe identified as Parvati , Siva

’

s nature- force,taking

the part of the Creator— a very appropriate idea fora temple dedicated t o Siva .

The late Mr . T . A Gop inatha Rao ,in his

‘

admirabletreatise on

,Hindu iconography

,identified the Trimfirt i

of Elephanta with the five-headed formof Siva,or

Mahé’

shamfirt i. The reasons given are not,however,

artistically convincing . It is diffi cult to understand1 See Census Report for 1 90 1 , vol . i , p . 3 63 .

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TRIMURTI AT ELEPHANTA 1 89

how a triple-headed figure in relief c an be supposedto represent a five-headed figure in the round

,and how

Six arms c an be said t o stand for the t en which are

ascribed t o the Mahéshamfirti . The three doors of theElephanta temple, Corresponding t o the triple-Shrineof the later Trimiirti temples, seemt o point veryclearly t o the intention of the temple sculptors. POS

Sibly the image (Pl . LIX,B ) , formerly placed in the

four-doored Brahma Shrine now occupied by the

lingam,is intended for the five-headed Mahéshamfirti

,

the Supreme Siva .

The maj estic central head of the Trimiirt i seems,therefore

,t o be Vishnu, for it bears the three j ewelled

discs upon his tiara for his three steps across the

heavens ; the necklet of pearls for the planets whichglitter in the firmament and the golden collar withthe five j ewels, the cosmic elements— ether (pearl) ,air (sapphire) , fire (ruby) , water (emerald) , and earthlymatter (diamond) . These are all distinctive symbolsof Vishnu , and do not appear in Brahma images.

The third head leaves no roomformistake,for the

frowning brows and protruding tongue,the cobra

twined in the hair, the Skull and the trefoiled foliage, 1

Show clearly that it is Siva in his tamasic or destructiveaspect .

The Trimfirt i in Mahayana Buddhismis shown inthe fine copper-gilt statuette fromNep al, of uncertaindate

,illustrated in PI. LXVIII , B . Itmay have been

brought fromBengal by Buddhist refugees in the

stormy days of the first Muhammadan invasions,when themonasteries and temples in the sub-Himalayandistricts

,like those t o the south of the Vindhyan

mountains, gave shelter t omonks and craftsmen who1 The leaf of the bet t ree (Crataeva religiosa) and of the nirgundi

(Vitese trefoliata) .

1 90 KUVERA

escapedmassacre or slavery . The traditions of NorthIndian temple met al-workers have been also p re

served in Nepal t o the present day,but owing t o

their inaccessibility the Nepalese monasteries and

temples have not yet furnished asmuchmaterial forthe student of Indian sculpture as those of SouthernIndia ; but some fine images collected for the Government Art Gallery

,Calcutta, are illustrated in my

Indian Sculpture and Painting . The splendid templelamps and sacrificial vessels of Nepal are better known

,

for they have long had an established place in the

collections of curio-hunters.

‘

THE LESSER DEITIES

To the deities symbolising the deepermetaphysicaltheories of Indo-Aryan religion are added a host of

lesser divinities representing popular ideas,such

”

as

Kuvera,the god of weal th ; Ganésha,

the elephant

god ; and Hanuman ,the monkey-god . Kuvera ,

the

king of the gnomes, or yakshas, who guard the treasureshidden in the earth , is probably a Creation of theminer’sfancy ,

H e appears inmany countries under variousforms. In India he was especially popular in the

Gandharan country , and a stone sculpture fromHuvishka

’

s monastery (Pl . LXIX ,A) , now in the

Mathura Museum,shows himas a jovial r and thirsty

dwarf who is plied with drink by an attentive hand f

maiden . Here he is a very Characteristic miner’shobgoblin . In the fine copper-gilt statuette fromNepal (Pl . LXIX ,

B ) he is treated withmore dignityand with' greater technical refinement . He has here

"

developed into a four-armed deity for which a fat

Brahman teachermight have been themodel . He is

in the ritualistic pose of royal ease ,”

expoundingj'

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GANESHA 1 9 1

some points of doctrine . H is sakti seated on his lapismissing .

Kuvera had his abode in the Himalayas,and was

essentially amountain gnome . In the I ndian plainshis place was taken by Ganésha and by Hanuman .

The former, otherwise known as Ganapati, orVinayaka,

is the King of the Ganas, or troops of‘minor devils

who are under Siva’s commands in the same way as

the Buddha is said t o have enrolled the hosts of the

evil Spirit , Mara,in his service after he had foiled the

tempter under the Bodhi-tree . Ganésha probablywas an aboriginal jungle deity brought into the Hindupantheon as a son of Siva and teacher of wisdom.

The quaint legend in the Puranas which accountsfor his elephant ’s head and infant ’s body says thatParvati, when taking a bath

,fashioned himfromthe

scurf of her body and set himdown t o guard the

entrance . He did his duty so valiantly that Sivahimself could not gain admittance until he had cutoff his head . Parvati insisted that her offspringshould be restored '

t o life, and as the child ’s headcould not b e found, Siva replaced it with that of thewisest of beasts . He thus was installed among thegods as the genial protector of households and the

personification of common sense,whose aid should

be first invoked in all worldly enterprises. H e,

was

also the scribe of the gods and the especial patron ofauthors

,in which capacity he represented the traditional

knowledge known as srnriti,that which is remembered

,

as distinguished fromsruti , the intimations of divinewisdomwhich come fromGod Himself and are givenboth t o Brahman and Sadra, the l earned and

"

the

ignorant ,This quaint conception of worldly wisdom; is one

of themost popular of Hindu household gods,and is

1 92 HANUMAN

often carved over the entrance doorway . The templesculptors succeeded in investing his grotesque figurewith much monumental dignity and Sphinx-likemystery , as will be seen in the

’

fine sculpture fromJava (Pl . LXX,

A) ;Hanuman

,the monkey-god ,

doubtless anotheraboriginal totemraised t o a higher plane of thoughtby Hindu teachers andmade one of the heroes of the

Ramayana,takes the same place among Vaishnavas as

Ganésha does among the devotees of Siva . He is

Rama’

s faithful ally and messenger,the symbol of

loyal devotion t o the path of duty (karma-marga) ,which neither reasons nor questions, whether it leadst o death and glory on the battle-field

,or only t o the

dull drudgery of common daily life .

This was the Spiritual ideal which Chaitanya and

other great Vaishnava teachers opposed t o the philosophic way of knowledge

,

”arguing that

,as the love

of God transcends all the wisdomwhich man c an

acquire ,so unselfish devotion t o God ’s service

,both

in the higher and lower Walks of life,is the surest

way t o salvation ,or liberation of the soul . What

soever I do ,with or withoutmy will , being all sur

rendered t o Thee, I do it as impelled by Thee .

”

This bhakti , the spiritual link which j oinsman and

beast,effaces distinctions of class or

'

c ast e andmakesall humanity free

The‘

same amI t o all beings there isnone hatefult o Me

,nor dear . They verily who worship Me with

bhakti , they are in Me and I in them(Bhagavad Gita,IX

,

The illustration Pl . LXXI , B ,is froma bronze

in the Indian sec tion of the Victoria and AlbertMuseum.

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CHAPTER I

THE PRINCIPLES OF INDIAN PAINTING,AND THE

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRINCIPAL SCHOOLS

THE p rInCIp les of the art of painting werd summarisedby a Sanskrit writer

,Vatsyayana,

of the third centuryA .D . ,

under six categories1 . Rfipu

-bheda— the distinction of forms and

appearances.

2 . Pramanam— measurement , scale, a nd, “ ”propor

tian }W ”

N

3 . Bhava— Sentiment and expression .

4 . Lavanya Yojanam— the realisation of grace or

beai1ty .

5 . Sadricyam— likeness or'

resemblance .

6 . Varnikabhanga— the use ofmaterials and im

p lements.

The references in early Pali and Sanskrit literatureto picture-halls (Chitra-salas) in royal palaces

,and

t o the Skill of Indian kings,and of the lords and ladies

of their court,in drawing and painting , 1 are very

numerous,but no visible evidence of the works of the

Indian court painters has come to light before the

days of the Mogul Empire . A few rough drawingsand paintings of prehistoric times have been recentlydiscovered in the Raigarh State ,

Central Provinces,

and in the Mirzapur district of the United Provinces.

1 l hiLmi fi .W xfi

ac t as thg w rules for E wdicmsap rific ial

altars. It s canons are emhp d ied in t he gima-_Sastras.\1 See Indian Sculp ture and Pain ting ,

by the Author, pp . 1 5 6—63 .

I QS

1 96 BEFORE MUHAMMADAN TIMES

Some few but very precious fragments of classicIndian painting have survived in the ancientmonast eries of Ajanta and elsewhere

,but with these exc ep

tions the record of Indian painting beforeMuhammadantimes Seems t o be a blank .

The.

chief reason for this striking contrast in the

history of pictorial and plastic art in India is probablythis

,that fromthe time when Asoka determined t o build

the funeralmonuments of Buddhist saints solidly inbrick‘ and stone instead of in impermanentmat erials

,

lasting at most for three generations, the art of the

sculptor gradually took the foremost place in , all

religious works. The walls of the . picture-halls”

in palaces andmansions were of wood, clay, or bric k .

Tempera or fresco paintings on these foundat lons,

under the best conditions,would rarely lastmore than

a few centuries in India . The banners painted withreligious subj ects hung up in temples andmonasterieswere stillmore liable t o decay . So ,

although paintingflourished ,

more especial ly in the chitra-salas of

princes,during the whole period of Buddhist and

Hindu polit ical supremacy in India,natural destruo

tive agencies had obliterated most of the . earlierworks of Indian painters long before Muhammadaniconoclasts wreaked ftheir fury upon the sculpturesof temples andmonasteries.

The court architect in these early timeswas perhapsalso the court painter, and joined with the court poetand chronicler in recording the deeds of the royal house .

But the builders employed by the great religiousfoundations usually combined sculpture with painting ,as painted reliefs gradually superseded the fresco and

tempera paintings which decorated the processionpaths and assembly-halls of temples

,relic-shrines

andmonasteries ; for the artist devotee who followed

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PAINTED RELIEFS 1 97

the bhakti-marga , g1v1ng up his life t o the serviceof his patron saint or devata, was determined thathis work

,like the building itself, Should be as durable

as human skill and science couldmake it . Thus onlycould he acquiremerit in the sight of the great artistof the Gods

,Vishvakarma,

hismaster, and hand iton t o his children ’

s Children .

Painting on a grand scale , therefore, tended t o become entirely subsid iary t o sculpture ; but neverthelessan indispensable art , fOi

rwithOut the final intonaco of

plaster,thinner than an egg

-shell and highly polished,

and the due performance of the eye-painting ceremony

with it s appropriatemantras which gave it the breath oflife divine, a stone image was an inert block unfit forworship . The intonaco also protected the surface of

the sculpture fromexposure t o weather . It couldeasily be renewed when necessary . The painting of

temple banners and icons belonged t o the cal ligrapher’sart which was also the parent of the later schools of

Indianminiature painters.

This very ancient art practice still survives amongthe traditions of the temple craftsmen of India .

Hindu temples now built in Northern India,in the

districts where red sandstone ismostly used, are still

covered with this fine polished intonaco,and some

times decorated with frescoes. In the days of the old

John Company the interior walls and columns of

Anglo-Indianmansions in Calcutta and Madras wereoften finished with this beautiful white polish ; butthe fresco-painting for which it was intended t o bethe ground was held t o be inconsistent with the correctclassic taste of those days, and inmodern times patentpaints of European brand and unwholesome wallpapers have been substituted for it . About fifteenyears ago I brought some temple craftsmen from

1 98 FRESCO PAINTING

Jaipur t o teach the Indian process of fresco-paintingin the Calcutta School of Art .

1 A panel in frescoexecuted at this time byMr . Abanindro Nath Tagore,

illustrating the story of Kacha and Devajan'

i

in the Mahabharata, 1 is reproduced in PI. LXXIX .

These Jaipur craftsmen also renewed the polishedplaster in the ballroomof Government House, Calcutta,

by Lord Curz on ’

s orders.

The preparation of the lime requires great care and

patience , and it s application t o the surface of the wallsis an art in itself, just as was the wax coating (ganosis)applied t o ancient Greek statuary . The degeneratepractice followed in many old Hindu temples of

frequently smearing all the building with whitewashis doubtless derived fromthe same tradition but itis now done so unintelligently and unskilfully thatthe masterly technique of the original sculpture isobliterated by the plastering . In the temples whichwere desecrated by the Muhammadans and abandonedas places of worship the last painted intonaco put

upon the stone would inmost cases eventually disappear through natural causes

,even when unscientific

antiquarians have not assisted themin ignorance of

the Indian sculptor-painter’s technical methods. In

favourable circumstances the astonishing permanence ofIndianmural painting has been proved by the frescoesof Aj anta and S igiriya .

When these technical conditions are understood,it

will be evident that the record of Indian religiouspainting in p re

-Muhammadan times is not really so

fragmentary asmight appear at fi rst Sight,for in a

complete history of the art the painted reliefs of

1 A detailed desc ript ion of the process is given in Indian Sculp ture

and Pain ting , pp . 2 67-

7 2 .

1 Ad i-Parva , I . 76—7 . Rory ’s translat ion, pp . 2 32

-

40 .

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200 ART AND YOGA

pupil, Arjuna . Now,Arjuna

,take aimand tell

me what you see— the bird

,the treemyself and your

brothers No,

said Arjuna,

I see the birdalone,

neither yourself,Sir

,nor the tree Describe

the bird ,”

said the Master . I see only a bird’shead,

”Arjuna replied Then shoot,cried Drona

,

and in an instant the arrow Sped,the bird fell shot

through the eye ,and the teacher embraced his pupil

with delight .

It is the same way in Indian art and in all Orientalart inspired by Indian idealism. The artist

,through

a process of severemental discipline,is taught t o

discriminate the essentials in forms and appearances,

and to see clearly with hismind’s eye before he takesup brush or chisel . Once the image is firmly fixedin the mirror of hismind by ‘

intense concentration ,

or when the daemon residing in the object to be

depicted has beenmade tomanifest itself by the powerof yoga,

the realisation of it,facilitated by the tech

nic al traditions of the school taught under the otherfive categories

,was swift and sure . Rapa-bheda is

sruti — the revelation of the divine . The science of

art — the rules of proportion ,expression , beaIIty,

likeness

,and the use of tools— is of the kind of knowledge

described as srnriti— that which is remembered , or

handed down by tradition .

‘

Beneath the transcendental conceptions of Indianreligious art as we see themat Ajanta and elsewhere,there is

,however

,an undertone of intense realism.

Nothing could bemore real and alive than the figureswith which Buddhist artists peopled what Europeanscall the unseen world . To themit was the real worldin which their lives were Spent ; only the immortalsweremade not of common clay . There is abundantevidence of themost careful study of nature in the

PLATE LXXII

HEAD OF BODHISATTVA,AJANTA

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202 AJANTA PAINTINGS

sympathetic copies subsequentlymade by Lady H er

ringham,assisted by the pupils of Mr . Abanindro

Nath Tagore,are exhibited in the Indian section of

the Victoria and Albert Museum,and were published

by the India Society in 1 9 1 5 .

Two of Lieut .

-Colonel Goloubeff’s photographs,typical of the best work of the Ajanta school

,are

given in Pls . LXXI , LXXII. The first,froma ceiling

panel in Cave I,shows Parvati Sitting on Siva’

s lapand receiving instruction fromthe great Guru . The

subj ect occursmore than once in the later paintingsof Ajanta,

for Mahayana Buddhismallowed to all

Brahmanical deities a place in it s pantheon . Parvatiis drawn with a few sweeping brush-strokes whichsumup in perfect rhythmthe sweetness and purityof the Lady of the snows listening attentively to herlord ’s teaching . Siva’

s figure is less searchingly drawnthe painter has concentratedmost upon the pose and

expression of the two heads— Siva’

s a noble god - liketype, and Parvati

’

s with the surpassing grace of puresaintly womanhood . Behind the figures is a background of conventional clouds ; the two deities are

poised in the heavenly regions like birds resting on

their wings,

an idea which Indian artists alwaysexpressed finely without giving 7 t o the Devas any

bird- like attributes. The practice of yogamade themfamiliar with the idea of levitation and demonstratedt o themit s possibilities even for mortal flesh and

blood ;The head of the Bodhisattva (Pl . LXXII) , with

the royal crown and his long hair braided with jessamine flowers

,belongs t o the central figure in the

wall-painting of the samemonastic hall , which p robably represents themarriage of Prince Siddharthaa subject in which the Ajanta painters have drawn

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204 MUHAMMADAN PAINTING

monastery . In any case , no line of demarcation c an

be drawn between secular and religious painting inthe Buddhist and Hindu period except as regards

”

the choice of subj ect . Kings and queens, as sons and

daughters Of the gods, were endowed with all the

physical and spiritual graces of divinity, and foundeasy access to the heavenly regions even in theirlifetime .

It was different with the Muhammadan rulers,who

patronised painting as a court accomplishment . The

law of the Prophet condemned paint ing as a fine art ,

and a strict Musalman only indulged his artistictaste in calligraphy, transcribing the texts of the

Kuran ,verses of his favourite poets

,or Persian qua

trains of his own composition . Calligraphy was therefore themeans of acquiring religiousmerit

, and wasvalued higher as an art than picture painting , evenby the Shiahs, who had no puritan scruples. Some of

the best Muhammadan painters were those who

combined book illustration with calligraphy . But

Muhammadan pictures, as distinguished fromilluminatedmanuscripts, very rarely had a religious character,though scenes fromthe life of Muhammad and of

Musalman saints are sometimes found . Muhammadanpainting on the whole is realistic and matter-oi-factin its outlook , secular in subj ect

,and wholly devoid

of the spiritual emotion which inspired the work of

the Buddhist and Hindu artist . Abul Fayl,Akbar

’

s

biographer , felt the difference when he noted thatHindu pictures surpass our conception of things.

Before Akbar brought the Indian painter and the

Persian and Arabian calligraphist together, there hadbeen a great Muhammadan school of miniaturists

,

led by Bihzad ,a famousmaster who flOurished at

the end of the fifteenth centuryat the courtofKhurasan .

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206 JAHANGIR ’S PAINTERS

Mal,the son of Amar Singh

,painted by an artist

named Nanha . Amar Singh was the Rana of Mewar,

who in 1 61 4 submitted t o the imperial army,much toJahangir’s satisfaction ; forAkbar, though he capturedChitor

,could never force the Rana himself t o his

knees. Jahangir attempted t o conciliate the Rajputsin the same way as his father had done

,and hadmarble

statues of the Rana and his son Karan put up in the

imperial palace at Agra . The other son,whose

portrait was added t o Jahangir’s collection,is not

mentioned by name in hismemoirs.

1

There are no traces of the calligraphist ’s techniquein this painting— it is a real painter’s picture . The

contours are sharply defined , but the original outlineis whollymerged in the subsequent p ainting . It is

possible that European pictures, which Jahangiradmired and gave t o his painters t o copy

,may have

influenced the artist ’smanner . But it ismore likelythat the natural development of the indigenousIndian school since the time of Ajanta produced thisresult . In the broad but subtle modelling of the

forms,and theminute finish of the : gold brocade and

other ornamental accessories,the p ainter

’

s techniqueis closely allied t o the later style of the Ajanta school .Another greatmaster of Jahangir’s court early

in the seventeenth century,and afterwards in the

service of Shah Jahan‘

,was Manohar Das

,a Hindu

painter whose work is well represented in the colleetion of Lady Wantage lately exhibited In the Victoriaand Albert Museum. A royal keeper leading a

decoy antelope by Manohar (Pl . LXXV) is perhaps1 Jahang ir in hismemoirs refers only to Suraj Mal (or Suraj Singh) ,

the son of Raja Basu of Kangra , who was alt ernat ely in favour and indisgrace at the court . Possibly he was the subject of the paint ing, forJahangir, in his frequent drunken carouses,might easily havemade a

mistake in a detail of this k ind .

PLATE LXXV

A ROYAL KEEPER AND DECOY ANTELOPE

PLATE LXXVI

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208 RAJPUT PAINTINGS

When the Mogul school,in themiddle of the seven

t eenth century,resolved into its original constituent

elements through Aurangz ib’

s banishment of Hindupainters fromhis court

,the latter continued t o find

patronage at the Hindu Courts and among the higherclasses of the people. But the designation of Rajputwhich Dr. Coomaraswamy and other writers haveapplied to the extant works of the later Hindu paintersis far t oo narrow and ap t t o be verymisleading, for,although the traditions of Hindu painting hadmorevitality in Raj putana than elsewhere, they were bynomeans exclusively Raj put . The Classifications of

Mogul,

”“Buddhist,

”and Hindu which I adopted

in the original collectionmade for the Calcutta ArtGallery aremore correct .In Mogul times and later there were Hindu schools

at Benares,in the Panjab and Kashmir

,in Bengal.

in Gujerat , |in the Dekhan ,and

“

in South India,besides

the Buddhist schools of Nepal,Sikkim,

Bhutan,

Tibet, and Burma,

which were unaffected byMuhammadan influence and are still alive . Burma,

as regardspainting

,is still a termincognita to Anglo-Indian and

Indian connoisseurs, though, even in the present day,

it has a very interesting traditional school .At present our knowledge of the later Hindu schools

is almost entirely confined to examples painted on

paper,as the painters in the service of Hindu rajas

imitated the fashions of the Mogul court in the sameway as they now imitate the art fashions of Europe .

But nearly all Hindu painters, when painting on paper,followed closely the traditional technique ofmuralpainting

,and their paintings are exact reproductions

of the frescoes of the Hindu chitra-sala,or picture

hall . It is not unlikely that further investigationof the subject by Indians who c an gain access to the

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2 1 0 THE LAND OF THE MOON

the picture will find a ready response even‘

fromtheunlettered peasant . That which seems to themodernWestern onlooker t o be strange and unreal

,often

indeed gross,is t o

‘

the Hindu mystic quite naturaland obviously true .

We are often reminded of the ancient Chandra cultand of India’

s name as the Land of the ‘Moon bythe frequent Choice of night scenes— women prayingat Siva’

s shrine under the crescent moon ; Radhaseeking her beloved Krishna in the dark forest at

midnight :

two lovers riding by torchlight throughamount ampass hunting by lamplight on the banksof a moonlit river ; pilgrims Sitting round a campfire listening t o the tales of a village Kathak .

The two illIIstrat ionS given in PI. LXXVII willshow with what rare intuition

‘

the Hindu painterinterpreted the religious feelings of the people

,and

the penetrative insight of his communings with the

Spirits of river,wood

,and sky . In the first amother

with her son and daughter-in-law are' worshipping

at a wayside Shrine under a tamarind—tree . The

draperies have suffered fromunskilful restoration,

but the power and feeling with which the effect of

night is given makes us understand Rembrandt ’sinterest in Indian painting .

1 In the same Spiritthe great Dutchmaster illustrated Biblical stories.

The hunting scene,fortunately in a perfect state of

preservation,is perhaps intended t o illustrate Rama’

s

life in exile on the banks of the Godaveri . There ismuch in it , especially in the group of deer startled bythe fall of their leader , t o suggest a connection withthe traditions of the classic Indian school, as we knowthemfromA janta.

Specially characteristic of theHindu artist ’s spiritual1 See Indian Sculp ture and Pain ting , by the Author, pp . 202 -

4 .

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2 1 2 MODERN PAINTERS

and even the tree seemt o be attentive listeners.

The next probably belongs t o one of a Vaishnavaseries ofmusical modes — Radha is wandering overthe moonlit fields of Brindaban asking the peafowlwhere her beloved Krishna c an be found .

The old traditions of Hindu painting still lingeramong the temple craftsmen of India

,in the ritual

of the Hindu womenfolk,and but rarely at the courts

of the Hindu princes,though a few descendants of

the old court painters still practise their art . Asystematic investigation of these living traditionswould certainly yieldmaterial of the highest artisticand archaeological interest

,a nd help the technical

development of the important new school of Indianpainting which has arisen in the last twenty yearsat Calcutta under the leadership of Mr . Abanindro

Nath Tagore,C.I .E . The genesis of the school was

described byme in two numbers of the Studiomagazine .

1

The annual exhibitions of it s works in Calcutta,and

those which were held in Paris and in London in recentyears

,have demonstrated it s further development

muchmore completely than it would be possible t oattempt in this handbook ,

which will,however

,serve

t o explain the historical foundation upon which Mr .

Tagore and his pupils are trying t o build,and some

of the artistic ideals which inspire their work.

1 October 1 902 and July 1 908 .

PLATE LXXIX

KACHA AND DEVAJANI

(Froma Fresc o Paint ing by M r . Abanind ro Nath Tagore,

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2 1 4 INDEX

dhi sm, 4 ,

1 9 imperial st andards ,

8, 40

-

43 ; ed ic t s on the Sanc hi

pillar, 40 ; preferen c e for Persian

c raft smen , 4 1 death, 49 11 ; c on

quest of O rissa,64 ; palac e at

Patalip ut ra , 9 7Assembly or debat ing-hall , c onst ruot ion

, 9 5Assyria

,seven -st oried t emples of

,.9 3

Asuras,d emons of darkness, 1 68

,

1 69 King of the,1 67

Aurangabad ,1 2 5 ; roc k -c ut monas

t ery. 9 1

Aurangz ib ,64 ,

1 3 7 ; administ rat ion ,

1 43 ; banishment of H indu paint ers

,1 43 ,

208

Avalok it éshvara,sculpt ure of

,1 76

Avalon ,A t ranslat ion of Tantra of

,the Great Liberation

,1 69 n

Avatars, the t en ,

1 6 7

Babur, gard ens at Agra,

1 02 d eath ,

1 1 1 ; found er of the Mogul dynasty

,1 28 1 3 2

B abylon ,Siege of

, 9 ; use of theradiat ing arch

,1 3 2 n

B adami, 7 8 , 7 9 ,

1 66

B aghd ad c ourt,1 1 1

B ai Sri H arira,1 2 1

B airamKhan,1 3 3

B alagami, t emple at,89

B ali,the d emon king ,

1 67B ambu ,

use in the c onst ruc t ion ofthe sikhara

, 9 , 5 8, 60,1 47

B aragaon , 9 2 n

B arnet t,Dr Antiquities of India ,

7 11,1 4 n ,

2 3 11 . 3 0 11,I 7 7

B aroc h,1 20

B edsa,c haitya hall at

,2 2

B ell -shaped c apit al,the symbol

Of: 4 : 62

B enares, 45 67 ; H indu palac es at ,

1 44 ; Umversity, 9 5B enares

, Queen of, 3 4

B engal, archit ec t ure,1 22 ; that ched

c ot t ages , 1 2 2,1 3 6

B ernier,F . ,

1 40

B esnagar ,2 7 n

B hagavad G ita,1 64 1 68

,1 9 2

B hairava,the Tern ble

,1 83 1 84 ;

shrine of,8 1

Bhaja,series ofmonolithic st fip as,

2 1 relic c ask et,2 3

B hakti, worship of

,6, 5 8, 60,

1 5 9 .1 7 2 I 7 3 .

1 84B hak ti -marga ,

the path of devotion ,

Bharhut,

1 9 ; sculptures,2 3 ,

62 ;

gat eway, 4 1 represent at ion of thelot us flower

, 42 reliefs of,1 9 9

B hava,

sentiment and expression ,

1 9 5B hikkus

,t he

,24 meet ings, 3 2 n ,

48 anc ient ret reat s, 48 ashrams

at Ajanta, 5 1

Bhilsa,2 7

Bhoga-mand apam

,68

Bhopal St at e,2 7 , 1 6 7 ; mosque at

,

1 43B huvaneshvar

,Lord of the U ni

verse,

”64 t emples

,64

B id ar,1 25

B ihar,24

B ih z ad,204

B ijapur,1 25 ; t omb at

,1 09 ; arch i

t ec ture,

1 2 6 ; Taj Mahall,

1 2 7siz e of t he d ome

,1 4 1 n ; t ribu

t ary t o Shah Jahan,1 4 1 11

B irminghamMuseum,

statue of

B ud dha,1 5 6

B lochet,M . E . , 44

B oar Inc arnat ion,the

,1 6 7

B odh-Gaya, 3 4 ; monast ery, 1 5 5

t emple,62

B odhisat tva,the

, 3 5 ,1 5 2 ,

1 5 8 cult,

5 8 ; sculptures,1 60 ; paint ing of

,

202

B odhi-t ree,shrine of the

,62

B ombay School of Art,20 1

B orobfidfir,1 6 1 ; stupa

, 3 5 ; reliefsof

,1 9 9

B rahma,the Creat or

, 7 n ,6 1 n

,1 62

t emple of, 7 n , 1 62

,1 63 ,

1 87shape of the pillar

, 7 n , 45 symbol of t he lotus flower

, 4 3 , 9 5 ,1 65

sakti,1 62 four head s

,1 62 image,

1 63 ,1 65 t riune doc t rine, 1 87

B rahman rItual, 7 4 ; c onversion of

fire-worshippers, 7 5 ; the c ult of

Saivism, 7 7 ,

1 74B uddha

,Gau t ama

, 4 ; t he passingint o Pari-Nirvana

, 4 funeral , 5 ;t eaching , 6 , 20

,1 5 1 st fip as, 1 4 ;

birth, 3 2 ,

80 ; lotus throne , 4 1 ;worship of

,63 ; mirac le , 7 5 ; t he

Great Guru and Monk,

1 5 2

Supreme H ead of the Sangha ,1 5 2

id eal rac ial t ype,

1 5 3 ; statues,1 5 4

— 8,1 6 1

B uddhas,the seven

, 3 4B ud dhi sm

,stupa the sac red sym

bol , 1 9 Charac t er of t he ritual, 20meetings of the B hikkus, 48 sys

t emofmemorising , 48 spread of,1 06

B uddhist art, 3 ; development , 2 1

hist ory, 5 1 c hange, 5 2 stfip a ,

INDEX

1 4 chaitya-halls,

2 2 ; legend s

hieroglyhp ic language, 3 3sc ulpture in Java

, 3 5 Churc h ,

the primit ive, 46 ; the stupa

house, 46 assembly-halls

, 46 , 49ritual of st fip a worship , 5 7 t emplearchit ec t ure

, 5 8 formof t he

shrine, 74 finial of the dome ,

7 6 ; early st ruc t uralmonast eries,9 1 archit ec ture

,1 2 2 worship

of t he saint s,1 7 3 t riune d oc t rine ,

1 87 ; schools of paint ing ,208

B ull,the symbol of Siva ,

80

B und élkhand,68

Bur gess, Dr . ,work on Elephant a

,1 88

Burma,school of paint ing ,

208

Calc ut ta ,1 24 Art Gallery

,1 90,

208 School of Art,1 9 8 , 2 1 2

Calligraphy, art of,204

Cambay,1 20

Cambodia ,1 7 2

Ceylon, 3 5 ,

203 ; sculpture,1 5 5

Chaitanya,spiritual id eal of

,1 9 2

Chakra-vart in , or world ruler, 5 7 , 1 63Chalukyan dynasty

,86 ; style

,86 8

Champ anir ,mosque ,1 20

Chanda,the sc avenging deit y , shrine

t o,8 1

Chand éla dynasty,67 royal chapels

,

70

Chand i Sewa,t emple of, 1 43 , 1 6 1

Chandra,the Moon -

god , 6 ,1 8 pillar,

7 n , 45 ; c ult,2 1 0

Chand ra-vamsa,the

,6

Chat urbhuja t emple, 68 ; d imensions,68 n

Chit or,

‘ fort ress of,

c aptured,69 ,

206 ; royal chapels, 70

Chola Empire,1 74

Churning the O c ean ,legend of

,1 68

70,1 7 2

Colombo Museum,1 79

Conjiveram,t emple at

, 7 6 , 7 8, 85Const ant inople

, d omes, 1 2 7Coomaraswamy ,

Dr . ,208

Copenhagen ,Art Museum

,1 6 1

,207

Copt o-Alexandrian school , 3 6

Craft -guilds, 5 5Crataeva religiosa ,

1 89 n

Creswell , K . A . C . ,Indian Anti

guary,1 4 1 11 , I 4S

Cunningham,General

,63

Curvilinear spire or sikhara, 7 , 8

,

5 7 .1 2 2

.I 47

Cyrus,found s the Persian Empire

, 4

Damascus, Ummayad mosque at

,

1 45 . 1 46

2 1 5

Darj eeling ,1 70

Dat iya, fortress, 1 03 ; palac e, 1 00,

1 1 7Davids, Mrs. Rhys

,B uddhism

,1 9 n

Dekhan,the

,1 25 ; t emple archit ec

t ure,87

Delhi, 9 6 ,1 06 ; the Purana Kila, or

O ld Fort , 1 1 3 ; Diwan-i-Khas,

1 3 6 ; the new build ing ,1 44

Deodar,the t ree of the Devas

,1 2

Devas,t ree of

,1 2

,1 3 ; the Shining

Ones,1 68— 70

Dhanwant ari, physic ian of the Gods

,

1 69Dholka

,1 20

D ig , gard en-palac e at

,1 02 -

4Dilawar St at e ,

1 1 8

D in-I lahi,Akbar

’

s Imperial Order3 9 .

I 3SDome

,t he anda or egg ,

2 2 ; the

bulbous,

”2 2

,1 08

,1 2 2

,1 3 6 , 1 45 ;

t he lot us,

1 08,

1 3 6 ,1 47 ; the

Pathan,1 1 2

,1 1 4 ; the st fip a,

1 08

Domes,c onst ruc t ion ,

1 1 5 ,1 2 7 , 1 46

Dravid ian or non-Aryan rac es, 73 ;

st ruc ture of the d ome, 74

Dfirga or Devi,1 76 ; the Inac c es

Sible,

1 84 ; Shrine at Mamallapuram

, 7 4Dushrat t a

,king of the Mitanni

,10,

5 9 . 1 5 1

Egypt the sac red lotus of, 43 n

Egypt ians, use of the bud of the

lot us, 42

Eight fold Path of Good Living ,6

Elephant , the six -tusk ed , 3 4Elephant St ables

,ruin

,1 2 7

E lephan t a ,t emple at

,80

,1 63 ,

1 88 ;sc ulptures, 1 75 ,

1 83 ,203

Ellora ,roc k -cut monast eries

, 48

stupa-house, 5 4 t emple of Kailasa,7 8

— 85 ; sculpt ures,1 6 7 , 1 83

Euphrat es,valley of the

, 9 , 44 , 5 9 ,

Fa H ian ,the Chinese pilgrim,

1 1 0

.Fat ehpur Sikri,mosque

,1 1 3 ,

1 3 1 ;palac e

,1 0 1 ; pavilion , 9 3 , 9 6

Fergusson ,James

,6,1 1

, 40, 49 , 5 5 ,

5 6 . 5 7 . 5 8. 68 11. 7 6. 86. 87 . 9 3 .

1 03 ,1 05 ,

1 1 1,

1 24 ,1 2 7 ,

1 3 2 n,

1 4 1 , 1 45 , 1 5 1 ; H istory of Indianand Eastern Architec ture

, 3 0 n ,60,

6 1,69 n

,1 09

Finch,William

,1 3 5

Firaz Shah ,Sultan of Delhi

,1 1 9

Fish ,t he,

1 67

2 1 6 INDEX

Foucher,A . , 3 2 , 3 3

“The B eg innings

of B uddhist Art, 7 5 n ,

1 06

Fraz er, J . G . , The Golden B ough, 10 n

Fresc o-paint ing ,1 9 7 , 1 9 8

Gadag ,88

Gand ash,Chief of the Kassit es, 9

Gandhara ,H ellenist ic school of

, 3 6

ruins of, 9 7 ; sc ulptures,

1 5 2

Ganesha,the god of R eason

,shrine

,

8 1 the E lephant -god ,1 9 0 ; legend ,

1 9 1 ,sc ulpt ure

,1 9 2

Ganges, t he , 45 , 7 9 ,83 ,

1 2 1,

1 2 3 ; valley, 1 82

Gangoly,O . C . ,

South Indian B ronz es,

1 7 7 n ,1 7 9 ,

1 85 n

Ganosis,or wax -c oat ing , 5 3 n ,

1 9 8

Gat eways Of the Sanc hi st fip a ,2 9

—3 2

sign of Taurus t he B ull , 3 2 panels,3 3

Gaur,67 , 1 2 1 ; hist ory , 1 2 1 ; mari

t ime t rade,

1 2 1 Muhammad anbuildings, 1 2 3 ; und er the empireof the G reat M oguls, 1 24

Ghaz ni,

Girnar, 7 1

Goa,Portuguese c olony at

,1 86

God averi,t he

,2 1 0

Golkond a,1 2 5

Goloubeff,Lieut .

-Col . Vic tor, phot ographs, 1 88

,201

,202

Gopurams or gat eways,80

, 85Greek sculpt ure, ganosis, 5 3 n ,

1 9 8

Griffiths,John

,Ajanta,

20 1

Guj erat,69 ,

1 20 ; Muhammadansc hool of

,1 1 9 ; minarets,

1 20 ;

st ep-wells,1 2 1

Guj erat i dynast y, 70

Gunas,the t hree

,80 n

,1 7 3

Gunt ur, 9 3

Gupt a period,st ruc t ural t emples of,

6 3 ; style of archit ec ture,64 ;

royal st andards, 1 5 8

Gwalior,67

H all,H . R . ,

An c ient H istory of the

Near East,6 n

,1 0 n

,1 1

, 5 9 n,1 5 9 n

H anuman,t he monk ey-god ,

1 7 2 ,

H ardwar, 45

H arit i,the B uddhist M ad onna

,1 06

H arsha,Emperor

,d eath

, 5 2

H avell,E . B .

,H andbook to Agra and

the Taj, 1 3 4 n H istory of Aryan

Rule in India, 7 8 n ,

1 1 8 n,1 3 4 n ;

I deals of Indian Art,1 60 n

,1 64 n

,

1 65 n ,1 7 9 n

,1 85 11 ; Indian Archi

tec ture,1 2 1 n

,1 3 4 n ,

1 4 1 n ,1 43 n ;

Indian Sculp ture and Pain ting ,

1 79 n,1 9 0 n

,1 9 5 n ,

1 9 8 n ,2 1 0 n

H ermit ages, roc k -c ut,24

H erringham,Lady

,202

H imalayan valleys,1 3 n

H imalayas,2 6

, 7 5 ,1 70,

1 74 ,1 82

inayana school,1 9 , 46 , 5 2 , 5 8 ,

1 5 8indu t emples

,66

,1 40,

'

1 44 ,1 9 7 ;

the c urvilinear spire,or sikh ara ,

7 ,8 ; use of the lotus-and -vase

pillar, 44 ; t owers of vic t ory

,6 9 ,

1 20 doc t rine of t he Trimurt i,87

palac es, 9 9 ,1 44 ; pleasure-

gard ens

,1 02 ; image-mak ing ,

1 1 3 n

belief in the unit y of the Godhead,

1 88 ; paint ing ,205 ,

208,

2 1 2 ;c harac t erist ic s

,209

— 1 1

H induism,

ritual,6 ; geographic al

d ist ribut ion of the twomain sec t s

7 7H indus

,Essay on the Archit ec t ure of

the, 45

H indust an,1 25 c onquered by Mu

hammadans,84

H iranya-

garbha ,womb of the uni

verse,6 2

'

n,1 62

H iranyak sha ,the d emon

,1 66

it t it es,t he

,c apture B abylon

, 9iuen Tsang ,

the Chinese pilgrim,

1 1 0,

1 1 5 n ; d esc ript ion of themonast ery of Naland a, 9 2 , 9 6 ,

1 0 1

H orus,the Egypt ian sun -

god ,2 4 n

H oysala B allala dynasty, 89H ughly ,

1 24H umayfin ,

1 1 3 ,1 1 7 ; d esign of his

t omb,1 3 1 ,

1 3 3H usain Shah

,Sult an of Gaur

,1 1 9

H uvishk a,th e Kushan k ing ,

6 2 ;monast ery,1 90

H yd erabad,H .H . the Niz amof

, 5 1 ,

7 9 11

IbrahimII,Sultan of B Ijap fir , 1 26 ;mosque

,1 2 7 ,

1 4 1

Ind ia,figure

-sc ulpture, 3 6 , 50 ; the

Land of the M oon, 4 5 ,

2 1 0 ih

t rodu c t ion of the sikhara t emple ,

60 ; monast eries or universit ies,

9 1 , 9 2 ,1 1 0 ; d ebat ing-halls

, 9 4 ;philosophi c al c ont est s, 9 4 t emplemandap ams, 9 5 ; anc ient monument s

, 9 7 ; mosques and t ombs,1 05 ,

1 1 3 , 1 1 6 Muhammadan rule

in,1 06

,1 2 3 ,

1 2 9 influenc e on the

archit ec t ure of Islam,1 08— 1 0

Ind ia,Northern

,H indu t emple archi

t ec t ure, 7 ,

2 9 n, 7 6 ,

85 , 9 3 ; the

Vaishnavamovement, 5 8, 87 way

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2 1 8 INDEX

Kulbarga ,1 25

Kumbha,Rana of Chitor

,69 , 1 20

Kuran,the law Of, 1 08

K fi rma,or t ortoise, 1 67 , 1 68

Kuvera, god of wealth ,

1 90 ; sculpt ure of

,1 90

Lahore,1 3 7

Laknaut i, 6 7 , 1 2 1,1 22

Lak shmi, Godd ess of the Day, 3 3 ,6 1

,

1 64 ,1 65 ,

1 67 , 1 69 ,1 7 1

Lank ésvara chapel,Ellora , 83

Lavanya Yojanam,realisat ion of

grac e and beaut y, 1 9 5Layard ,

Sir H enry , 5 9Lethaby,

Prof. , Architec ture, 1 4 3 n

Leyd en ,Ethnologic al Museumat ,

1 6 1 1 63 ,1 84

L ingam, ,

symbol of the,1 63

Linga-raj t emple ,

B huv-anéshvar, the

G reat,64 ; dat e of t he build ing ,

65Lokapalas, or Guard ians of the FourGat eways of the Sky, 4 1

Lomas R ishi c ave, 2 4Lotus flowers, 8 , 1 3 , 3 3 , 3 6 , 4 1 , 42 ,

4 3 ,1 3 6 ,

1 45 ,1 62

,1 64 ; amalaka

,

or fruit,8, 5 7 ; dome, 1 3 6 , 1 45 ,

1 47 :

Lot us-and -vase pillar, 4 1 , 44 , 1 1 4

Lumbini gardens, 3 4Madras Museum

,1 7 6 ,

1 79Magadha , 9 2 n . ; build ers of

,104

Mahabharat a,t he, 5 ,

2 6,1 5 1 , 1 54 ,

1 9 9

M aha-p adrna ,or lotus c rown,

1 3 6 ,1 4 1 n ,

1 47Mahavira , 4Mahayana d oc t rine , 5 8 , 1 5 2 monast eries, 9 1 , 1 1 5 11 ; school , 1 79

Mahéshamfirt i, the five-headed formof Siva

,1 88

Mahisura,the buffalo-demon ,

1 84Mahmad B egarah ,

mosque ,1 20

Mahmfi d of Ghaz ni,1 1 1

,1 1 2

M ahmfidabad ,1 20

Mait reya,the B uddhist Messiah

, 5 4 ,1 5 6

Malda,1 2 3 ,

1 24Malwa

,2 7

Malwa,Sult an of, 69

Mamallapuram,shrine at

, 74 , 7 6 ,

9 2 ; t emples, 7 6 ; sc ulptures,1 65 ,

1 7 2 reliefs,1 84

Manasara Silp a-Sast ra

, 5 7M andap ams, or assembly-halls, 66 ,

9 5

Naginis, snake-goddesses, 1 66

Nalamandap am,68

Mandaramountain,60

,68

, 70,1 68

M andu,1 1 8 ; history of

,1 1 8 n

M anohar Das,pic tures

,206

Manrique,Father

,1 3 8

Mark and éya ,

‘legend of

,1 76

Marshall,Sir John

,1 1 7 ; Guide to

San chi, 40

Marut s,the st ormwinds

,1 3

Mathura, 3 ,

6 7 Jain st fi p a at,1 46museum

,1 5 7 , 1 90

M auryan dynasty, 4 ,

2 7Maya

,M other of the B uddha

, 3 3 , 3 7 ,1 7 1

M edhi,the

,1 5

M eghavama ,King of Ceylon

,1 5 5

M era,mount ain

,60

,6 1 70,

1 6 7Mesopot amia

,26 ; c oni c al hut s of

,

9 . 5 9 .1 47 ; Aryan rule in

. 9 . 10.

60 palac es, 44

Mewar,69

M ian Shah M ir,portrait of

,207

M inoan Art,1 5 4

M ira Bai,royal c hapel

,Chit or , 70

M irz apur d ist ric t,1 9 5

Mit anni,t he

, 9 ; sac red lit erature

1 1

Mogul dynasty, 1 28 fall of,1 4 4 ;

archit ec t ure,1 3 2 school of paint

ing ,205 , 208 ; miniatures, 200

palac es, 9 9 ,1 0 1

M oksha,or liberat ion

,1 8

,1 9 , 43

Monast eries,B ud dhist

, 9 1

Moon-

god ,Chandra

,6,1 8

Mosques,69 n ,

105 , 1 07 ; the grandportals

,1 1 3

Mot i oM asjid ,1 3 6

Mount ain-worship , 70Muhammad ’

Ad il Shah,t omb of,

1 09 ,1 2 7 , 1 3 1 ; siz e of the dome,

1 09 , 1 2 7Muhammadans

,c onquer H indust an ,

84 , 9 6 d est ruc t ion of t emples, 9 9 ,

1 60 ; pleasure-gard ens, 1 02 ; rule

in India,1 06

,1 2 3 ,

1 29 ; archit ec

t ure,

1 07- 1 0 ; t ombs in India ,

1 1 6 ; school ofminiaturist s, 204 ;paint ing ,

204 charac t erist ic s, 209Mulla Shah ; 207Mumtaz Mahal l

,1 3 6 ; monument

t o,1 3 7 ; d eath,

1 4 1

Murshidabad,1 24

Musalman,

art ist ic t ast e in c alli

graphy. 204Mu z affar Shah

,1 1 9

Mysore,89 ; t emples

,89

INDEX

Naland a,universit y , 9 2 ,

1 01,

1 9 9 ;

exc avat ions, 9 2 pavilions, 9 2 , 9 6

Nandi, t he bull, shrine ded ic at ed to ,

80

Nandi-p ada ,the sign , 3 2

Nanha,port rait , 206

NaramSin ,st ele of

,60

Narasimha,theman -lion

,1 67

Narayana ,the Et ernal Spirit , 43 ,

74 n ,1 62

,1 66

,1 7 1 , 1 88 ; relief of,

1 66

Narbada river,1 1 8

Nasik,roc k -c utmonast eries, 48 , 9 1

Nataraja,Lord of the Danc e ,

1 7 6 ;image ,

1 79 ,1 83 symbol , 1 82

Nelumbiumsp ec iosum, 4 3 11Nepal

,1 89 ,

1 90

Nineveh , 5 9Norwich Cathedral , 49Nar-Jahan ,

Empress, 1 3 6 ; design of

t ombs,1 3 1 , 1 3 6 ,

1 3 7Nt

‘

ir M ahall,Empress, 1 3 1

Nymphaea‘c ierulea , 42

Oc ean ,churning the ,

legend ,1 68

Orissa ,64 ,

1 5 8

Paez,1 26

Paint ing ,princ iples of the art of, 1 9 5

Palac e,an Indian

,plan of

, 9 7 , 1 01

Palitana, 7 1 .

Panch Kosi R oad ,B enares

, 45Panch Mahall

,five-st oried pavilion ,

9 3 .I 3 S

Panchratna,

or five-j ewelledt emple

,6 3 ,

1 43Pandava

,war-chiefs

,t raining ,

1 9 9Panduah

,1 2 3

Pan jab,the first Aryan set t lement s,

1 60

Parasnath, 7 1

Parasu-R ama,

a B rahman warriorking ,

1 68

Parijat a,the t ree

,1 69

Pari-Nirvana,the O c ean of Et ernit y

,

4 3 4Pan s

,Musée Cernuschi in

,201

Parvat i,the U niversal Mother

,82 ,

84 ,1 84 ,

1 88 ; shrine,8 1 ; legend

of,1 9 1 ; paint ing ,

202

Patalip ut ra , 9 2 n ; palac e , 4 1 , 9 7Pathan archit ec ture

,109 ; st yle

,

1 1 2

Patna , 9 2 n

Pat t adakal,t emple at

, 7 8, 79Persepolis

, 40 ; bell-shaped c apital of

, 5 , 44 , 45 ,62

2 1 9

Persepolitan or lotus pillars, 50

Persia,foundat ion of the Empire

, 4c raft smen , art of, 1 07 ; c olour

effec t s,1 07 ,

1 1 3 ; method of c on

st ruc t ing d omes,

1 1 5 n,

1 47 ;mosques,faqades, 1 1 3

Perso-Greekmasons, 4

Peshawar ,K ani shka

’

s stfip a at,1 2 3

Pillar ,with bell-shaped c apital ,

40 ; shaft s, 50 ; variet ies of

, 45Pishd chas

,or d emons, 5 3

Pitrimedha ,or the sac rific e for anc es

t ors,1 4

Pradakshind ,or c irc umambulatory

rit e ,1 5

Prahlada,1 6 7

Prajna-paramita,Supreme Wisdom,

4 3 .I 63

Pramanam,measurement

,sc ale and

proport ion ,1 9 5

Prambanam,1 6 1

Puranas,the

,1 65 n ,

1 68,1 9 1

Purohita , or chaplain ,8

R a , the sun-

god of H eliopolis,6 n

Ragas, syst ems of,2 1 1

Rag-malas

,melody-pic tures, 2 1 1

Rahu,the ec lipse-dragon , 5 4

R aigarh St at e ,1 9 5

Raja B ir Singh Deva ,t reachery ,

1 00

Raja Siri-Sabakani, 28Raja Suraj -M all

, garden-palac e at

D ig ,1 02— 4

Rajagriha , 3 , 9 2 n

Rajaraja I ,Emperor

,85

R ajend ra Lal M it ra,1 5 6 n

Rajmahal, 7 1 , 1 24

R aj put ana,buildings,

1 00

RamRaj, Raja of Vijayanagar, 1 25palac e

,1 26 killed ,

1 26

RamRaz,Essay on the Architec ture

of the H indus , 45Rama

,the ideal Indian k ing ,

1 68 ,1 7 2 ,

2 1 0

Ramanfija , 7 6 ,87 , 88

Ramayana ,the

, 5 ,26

,1 60

R angpur, 1 24Ranpur

,t emple at

,69 ,

1 20

Rao ,T . A Gopinath ,

E lement s ofH indu I c onography ,

1 63 n ,1 88

Rasht rakuta dynasty, 79R atnasura

,the d emon ,

1 84Ravana

,the d emon -k ing ,

1 7 2 legend

82

R embrand t,int erest in Indian paint

ing ,2 10

R enaissanc e architec ture,1 30

220 INDEX

Rig-Veda

,hymns of the

,1 3 , 3 7 , 1 65 ,

1 7 8

R ome,Pan theon at

,1 2 7

R udra,

the R oarer,

1 3 , 7 5Rapa-bheda

,dist in c t ion of forms and

appearanc es,1 9 5 ,

1 9 9

Sabha-mandapam, or assembly-hall ,70

d a-nritta,Dan c e of Dissolut ion

,1 79

Sadasiva-mart i,1 63 n

Sad rieyam,lik eness or resemblanc e

,

1 9 5Sahseram

,1 1 3 ,

1 3 3Saiva sec t

,1 8 ; in Southern Ind ia ,

5 2 . 5 8. 87 ; c ult. 7 2 . 7 7 .

1 73 .1 7 9 .

1 84 ; t emples, 7 3 , 7 6 , 7 7 , 7 8 ,

88,

89 ,1 83 form

, 7 4 kalasha of t he

d ome, 7 6 ; sc ulpt ure

,1 74 ,

1 7 51

;

port rait st atuet t es of the t eachers,

1 84 ,1 85

Saiva-Sid dhant ins,t eaching ,

1 63 n

Sakyas,Princ e of the

, 4Samarkand

,1 3 6 ,

1 45Samman B urj or Jasmine Tower

,1 3 7

Samud ragup t a ,Emperor

,1 5 5

San c h i,1 9 ,

2 1 ; stupa at,2 2

,2 7 ;

proc ession paths,2 7 ; vedika or

sac rific ial railing ,2 8 t oranas

,2 8

gat eways, 2 9—3 2 ,

1 47 sign of

Taurus t he B ull, 3 2 ; panels, 3 3

figure of a wood -nymph, 3 6

c harac t erist ic s of t he sc ulpture, 3 8

pillar with bell-shaped c apit al ,40 ; represent at ion of the

”

lotus

flower, 42 shrine at

,1 1 6 n t orso

,

1 5 7 , 1 6 1 ; reliefs of,1 9 9

Sandhya-nritta

,d anc e

,1 79

Sangha,or Assembly-hall

, 46 , 9 0 ;c harac t er of t he ritual of relic

worship, 48 ; members, 1 5 1

Sangharama , or abod e of the Sangha,

9 0

Sankaracharya ,88

Sept a-Mat ris, the sevenmothers of

Creation,shrine t o

,8 1

Sarac enic archi t ec ture,1 06

Sarasvat i, godd ess of Speech,83 , 1 62

Sarnath,st atue of B ud dha

,1 5 5 , 1 5 7

Sat-chit-dnandam,1 87 n

Sathap at ha B rahmana , 5 6

Sat t vam-rajas-tamas,1 87 n

Sat uni,King of Lulaba

,60

Satya-Narayana,c ult

,1 1 9 n

Sc andinavia,c ustomof seeing the

sun danc e,1 7 7

Sc ulpt ure,art of

,1 5 1

Sennacherib , Palac e of, 5 9

Serpent,symbol of the

, 7 5Sasha

,1 70

Shah Jahan,1 0 1

,1 28

,1 3 5 ; audien c e

hall, 9 6 ; monument of t he Taj

M ahall,

1 3 7—43 ; a st ric t Sunni

1 3 9 ; d est ruc t ion of Hindu t emples,

1 40 ; mosque ,the Jami Masj id

,

1 43 ; port rait , 207Shahd ara

,t omb at

,1 3 7

Shark i dynast y,1 1 9

Shatrunjaya ,hills of

, 7 1

Sher Shah,mosque

,1 1 3 t omb

,1 1 4 ,

1 1 6,1 3 3 ,

1 3 8 administ rat ion,1 1 4

Shiah sec t,1 08

,1 2 6

,204

Shraddha,rit es

,6,1 5 ,

1 8,25 , 3 2 , 5 6

Sid dhart ha,Princ e

,2 8

,202

Sigiriya ,fresc oes

,1 5 5 ,

203Sik andra

,t omb at

,1 3 4

Sikhara t emple , 5 7 c onst ruc t ion 9

5 8 , 60 introduc ed in t o India,60

form,6 1 Shape

,62

Silabhadra,the Abbot , 9 3

Silp a-Sast ras

,the

, 7 , 5 7 , 86 ,1 1 0,

1 2 8,1 62

,1 7 9 ,

1 g5 n

Sind,Arab c onquest of, 1 1 1

Sita,resc ue

’

of,1 7 2

Siva,Lord of Death , 7 n ,

1 8,6 1 11 ,

7 2 .87 . 1 7 5 ; t emple. 7 n .

1 62.1 7 3 .

1 87 shape of t he pillar , 7 n , 45Lord of Kailasa

,68 ; bull , Nand i

80 ; t rid ent,80 ; image of

,82 ,

1 66 ; legends, 82 ,1 75 ,

1 80 Lord

of t he U niverse ,84 ; moon-lot us

,

9 5 ; N ilakantha ,1 69 ,

1 7 1 emhlems

,1 7 3 ; plac e of his abod e

,

bron z e figure ,1 75 sakti ,

1 7 6 ; tamasic aspec t,

1 83 ,1 89

°

five-head ed formof,1 88 ; paint ing

of,202

Sivas,t he Anat olian vilayet , 1 0

Smith,Dr . Vinc ent , 89 ; Akbar the

Great M ogul, 1 45 H istory of FineArt in India and Ceylon , 3 6 ,

1 3 2 n

Smriti,1 9 1 , 200

Sruti,1 9 1 ,

200

St ep-wells of Guj erat , 1 2 1

S tudio M agaz ine, 2 1 2

St fip a ,the

,or King

’

smonument , 4 ,

the vedika,1 4 ,

1 7 ; suchi,

1 4 ; medhi , 1 5 ; t emporary struc

t ures, 1 5 d ome c onst ruc t ion,1 7 ,

2 2,1 08

,1 1 5 symbol of Bud dhi sm,

1 9 c raft smanship , 2 1 ; harmika,

2 2,

at San chi , 2 7 ; transformedint o a t emple , 5 4

Stupa-house , 5 6 ; st ruc ture, 47

number of, 47

°

series of roc k -cut ,

4 7 ; at Ajanta, 5 1

Suchi,or c ross-bar of the rail, 1 4

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222 INDEX

Vit thalaswami t emple, 85 Yama or Siva,Lord of Death

,1 8

Vrita,the d emon

,1 80 Yoga c ult

, , 5 6 , 1 5 3Yogi, the Great , 45 ; image of, 1 74,

W add ell,Lamaismin Tibet 1 56 n 1 75

Waghora,the

, 5 1 Yusuf ’

Ad il Shah,1 25 , 1 27

W ant age, Lady, 206Wheel of the Law

, Turning the,

1 5 ,2 3 n ,

29 Zohra Sultana ,mausoleum,1 2 7 ,

1 4 1

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