INDIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE.
An Aryan race of people came into India about B.C. 2000 across the Upper
Indus. They settled in the first instance in the Punjab, in the
watershed of the Sutlej and the Jumna, and finally in Oude and the east.
After one thousand years they lost their purity of race by mixing with
the aboriginal natives.
About this time the prophet Sakya Muni, or Buddha, arose, and apparently
succeeded in converting nearly the whole of Northern India to Buddhism.
He died in B.C. 543, and three hundred years after his death, or about
B.C. 250, King Asoka proclaimed Buddhism as the state religion, and for
about one thousand years after it continued as the state religion of
India, although at the present day there are said to be no native
Buddhists in India.
Historic art in India began in Asoka’s reign. The earlier rock-tombs and
other architecture of Asoka’s time are evidently stone copies of still
earlier wooden constructions.
Monuments consisting of edict columns or _lats_, peculiar to this
period, have been found in isolated positions erected to the honour of
Buddha in the neighbourhood of Allahabad and Delhi; they are above
thirty-three feet in height, and have a curved, inverted, bell-shaped
capital on which probably stood a wheel, the emblem, or a lion, the
symbol, of Buddha. This capital is similar in form to the base of a
Persian column, and some of the ornamentation around the neck of the
column is composed of Greek and Assyrian forms, all of which proves that
the early Indian art owes something to Assyria, Persia, and Greece (Fig.
324). Probably this came about by the subjugation of Persia by Alexander
the Great, who is said to have pushed his conquests as far as the banks
of the Indus.
[Illustration: Fig. 324.—Ornament from Asoka’s Pillar, Allahabad. (B.)]
The next great immigration that we hear about is that of the Southern
Dravidian people, who crossed the Lower Indus to Guzerat, and in course
of time had settled themselves in the southern angle of India, in the
Madras Presidency. They were a great building race of people. Another
immigration took place in the first or second century B.C., and
continued for some centuries after the Christian era. These people
occupied nearly the western half of India, and erected buildings from
Mysore in the south to Delhi in the north. This architecture is known as
the Chalukya and Jaina styles. The fourth great immigration was that of
the Mohammedans from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries.
The four principal styles of Indian architecture are the Buddhist, the
Dravidian, the Northern Hindoo, and the Chalukyan or Jaina.
In addition to the edict-pillars as illustrations of Buddhist
architecture, many solid mounds of masonry, called topes, dagobas, or
stupas, are found in some parts of the Punjab and north of India. These
are relic-mounds, erected over the supposed relics of Buddha and of
Buddhist priests, and are sometimes erected alone to the honour of
Buddha. One of the most important is the Sanchi Tope in Bhopal, Central
India (Fig. 325). Mr. Ferguson, in his “Study of Indian Architecture,”
describes this remarkable monument as follows: “It was built probably
(the tope) B.C. 500, the stone railing B.C. 250, and the gateways A.D.
19 to 37. The principal part of the building consists of a dome 106 feet
in diameter and 42 feet in height. The fence by which this tope is
surrounded is extremely curious. It consists of stone posts 8 feet 8
inches in height, and a little more than 2 feet apart, surmounted by a
plain architrave, and between every two uprights three horizontal
cross-pieces of stone are inserted.
Still more curious are the four stone torans or gateways, one of
which—the eastern—is shown at Fig. 325. It consists of two square
pillars covered with sculptures, and with bold elephant capitals, rising
to a height of 18 feet 4 inches. Above these are four lintels slightly
curved upwards in the centre, and ending in Ionic scrolls; they are
supported by continuations of the columns, and three uprights are
inserted between the lintels. All this construction is covered over with
elaborate sculpture, and surmounted by emblems. The total height is 33
feet 6 inches.” Sir G. Birdwood says: “The symbols are the _trisula_,
the _wheel_, and the _lion_, representing the Buddhistic triad, Buddha,
the law, and the congregation. The ground plan of the stupas or topes,
with the return railings and the projecting doorways or entrances, form
a gigantic swastika (‘auspicious'’), the mystic cross (fylfot) of the
Buddhists.” Ferguson says the Buddhist dagoba is a direct descendant of
the sepulchral tumulus of the Turanian races, like those found in
Etruria, Lydia, and among the Scyths of the Northern Steppes.
It is plainly seen that the details of Buddhistic ornament are derived
from Greek and Assyrian sources mixed with Buddhist emblems; a few
native ideas may be seen in the construction, and in the substituting of
the Indian elephant for the Assyrian or Persian bull. A fine cast of the
Sanchi gateway may be seen in the South Kensington Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 325.—The Sanchi Tope, Bhopal, Central India.]
As an example of Hindu or Brahminical architecture the rock-cut temple
at Ellora, called the Kylas, or “Paradise,” is one of the finest and
most wonderful (Fig. 326). The interior of the temple is not only cut
out of the solid rock, but the exterior also, with its wonderfully rich
square porch, and its two great square pillars or deepdans (lamposts)
left standing in front, all literally cut out of the solid rock.
[Illustration: Fig. 326.—Brahminical Rock-Temple at Ellora.]
The interior, which has excited the wonder and admiration of all
travellers, is rectangular in plan; the pillars are square and very
short in proportion to their breadth; the bases are composed of plinth,
circular hollows, and a torus moulding; the square shaft is fluted, the
upper extremity of which is convex and ornamented with foliage; and
above this are rings, neck, and a capital in the shape of a depressed
sphere. Above the capital are bracket supports, on which the beams rest.
The roof is panelled, and each panel has a central floral decoration.
The Kylas was supposed to have been cut out of the rock by the Southern
Dravidians. The Hindu or Brahminical temples of the earliest type
exhibit a marked imitation of timber construction in almost every detail
(Fig. 327).
[Illustration: Fig. 327.—Temple of Biskurma at Ellora.]
Brahminical architecture has three varieties—the Dravidian, which is
common to the Dakhan, south of the Kistna; the Chalukyan, between the
Kistna and the Mahanuddi; and the Indo-Aryan, which prevails in
Hindustan. The Dravidian temple is characterized by a horizontal system
of storied towers, and has a grand and imposing look of solemnity.
Examples of Dravidian architecture occur in the temples at Seringham,
Tinnevelly, Madura, Perin, Vellore, &c.
The Chalukyan is distinguished by its star-like plan and pyramidal
tower. The great double temple of Siva at Hullabeed, Mysore, is an
example of this architecture. It is remarkable for its rich system of
sculptured friezes. The building is raised from the ground by a terrace
five or six feet in height; above this is an extraordinary frieze of two
thousand sculptured elephants; the next frieze above is composed of
lions, then a band of rich floriated scroll-work; above this is a frieze
of horsemen, then another band of scroll-work; and over this appears the
frieze with the conquest of Ceylon by Rama; other friezes and bands
above this are divided by mouldings, and have celestial birds and
beasts; a scroll-work cornice over all supporting a rail divided into
panels, in each of which are two figures. Windows of pierced stone are
over these, and groups of sculptured gods of the Hindu pantheon at
regular intervals. The usual towers are wanting in this wonderful
building, and doubtless would have been added afterwards had not the
work been stopped owing to the Mohammedan invasion in A.D. 1310. Other
temples of the Chalukyan style are seen at Somnathpur, at Baillur, in
Mysore, and at Buchropully.
The Jainas sect makes its appearance in India about the seventh or eight
century. They did not believe in the divine inspiration of the Vedas, or
sacred books of the Hindus, but as long as they observed caste and
acknowledged the gods of the Hindu pantheon—which they strictly did—the
Brahmans did not question any other of their particular beliefs, and
refrained from persecuting them. If the Buddhists, for instance, had
only conformed to the observance of caste, they would never have been
driven out of India by the Hindu devotees of caste.
The Jainas are peculiar in their worship of their four-and-twenty saints
called “Jins.”
The architecture of the Jainas began when the Buddhist was dying out.
One of the characteristics of Jaina architecture is the horizontal
archway, and another is the bracket form of capital (Fig. 328).
[Illustration:
Fig. 328.—Pillar and Bracket,
Doorway of a Pagoda.
]
Jaina temples are found at Palatina and Girnar in Gujarat, and the
famous “Tower of Victory,” erected to commemorate the victory of the
Rajput raja Khambo over Mahmud of Malwa, A.D. 1439.
An interesting illustration of the transition of Indian architecture to
Mohammedan forms occurs in the Mosque of Moháfiz Khan, at Ahmedabad.
This mosque was built in the sixteenth century, and is Hindu in
character, with a Saracenic influence in the decoration and other
details. The great omissions in the sculptures are the animal and figure
forms, so dear to the Hindu artist, but the Moslem religion forbids the
representation of these, and in place of figures in the window spaces we
see some of the first indications of Saracenic tracery, executed most
likely by Hindu workmen. These windows are typical of, and similar to,
the exceedingly fine tracery of the windows of the Buddha at Ahmedabad,
which consist of beautiful stems and floral tracery.
From the eighth to the eighteenth centuries India was subject to the
invasions of the Arabs, the Afghans, and Mongols, who devastated the
country and sacked and pillaged many of the finest Hindu shrines, and,
on the other hand, built some magnificent mosques and palaces, in which
the Saracenic influences are predominant.
The palace of Delhi was built in 1627-1658 by the Mongol Emperor Shah
Jehan, the king who built the present city of Delhi, which city contains
the finest examples of the Mohammedan style in India. The Dewanne Khas,
or principal hall of the palace of Delhi (Fig. 329), is a very rich and
ornate example of this style. It is vaulted like a Gothic cathedral and
is inlaid throughout with rich marbles and mosaic work. It has a niche
inlaid with precious stones in which once stood the famous peacock
throne of Delhi. The throne was made in enamelled work, in the shape of
a peacock with a spread-out tail, and was set with diamonds and precious
stones to imitate the natural colours of the peacock. It was carried off
by Nadir Shah at the sacking of Delhi, A.D. 1738.
[Illustration: Fig. 329.—Interior of the Palace at Delhi; Seventeenth
Century.]
Around the frieze of one of the halls of this palace runs the famous
inscription, “If there is a heaven on earth, it is this, it is this.”
One of the loveliest and most impressive buildings in India is the Taj
Mehal at Agra, on the river Jumna. It is in Mohammedan style with domes
and minarets, and is erected on a platform 300 feet square and 18 feet
in height. It was erected by the Emperor Shah Jehan about 1645 as the
tomb of his favourite wife. The Emperor himself is also buried in the
Taj. On the centre of the platform is the tomb, 186 feet square, with
the corners cut off; over this rises the dome, 58 feet in diameter and
80 feet in height. The outside of the building is faced with white
marble, inlaid with beautiful designs in coloured marbles and precious
stones. The effect of this beautiful building in its dazzling whiteness
surrounded by luxuriant vegetation, as seen under a moonlit sky, is said
to be enchanting and beyond description.
The industrial arts of India will be noticed in the second volume of
this work.