iTH'j'j'W'i

TEMPLE AT K^iKTONOGGDK, DINAJEPORE.

HISTOEY
OP

INDIAN AND EASTERN ARCHITECTURE;

By JAMES FERGUSSON, D.C.L,

F.R.S., M.R.A.S.,

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OP BRITISH ARCHITECTS,

MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF DILETTANTI,
ETC. ETC. ETC.

Tope

at

Manikyala.

FORMING THE THIRD VOLUME OF THE

*

NEW

EDITION OF THE

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE.'

LONDON
JOHN MUKEAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
189L
Tke rigid of Translation

is

reserved.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ROCK-CUT TEMPLES OF INDIA.
18 Plates in Tinted Lithography, folio: with an 8vo.
Gd.

21. Is.

volume of Text, Plans, &c.

London, Weale, 1845.

PICTURESQUE ILLUSTRATIONS OF ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE IN HINDOSTAN.

24 Plates

Woodcuts, and explanatory Text, &c.

in

U.

Coloured Lithography, with Plans,

London, Hogarth, 1847.

4s.

AN HISTORICAL INQUIRY INTO THE TRUE PRINCIPLES

OF BEAUTY IN ART, more
Svo.

especially with reference to Architecture.

Royal

London, Longmans, 1849.

31s. 6cL

THE PALACES OF NINEVEH AND PERSEPOLIS RESTORED

An

Essay on Ancient Assyrian and Porf-ian Architecture.

Murray, 1851.

16s.

London,

THE ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK OF ARCHITECTURE.

Being

8vo,

a Concise and Popular Account of the Different Styles prevailing in all Ages and
all Countries.
With 850 Illustrations. Svo. 26s. London, Murray, 1859.

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALL COUNTRIES, THEIR AGE

AND USES.

With 234

Illustrations.

8\o.

London, Murray, 1872.

TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP, OR ILLUSTRATIONS OF

MYTHOLOGY AND ART IN
100 Plates and 31 Woodcuts.

INDIA,

4to.

in the 1st and 4th Centuries after Christ.

London, India Office; and W. H. Allen & Co.

2nd Edition, 1873.

THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS RESTORED,

AVITII THE REMAINS
London, Murray, 1862.

CONFORMITY
4to.

7s. Gd.

RECENTLY DISCOVERED.

IN

Plates

AN ESSAY ON THE ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY OF JERUSALEM

with restored Plans of the Temple, and with Plans, S. ctions, and Details of
by Constantino the Great over the Holy Sepulchre, now known as
the Mosque of Omar. 16s. Weale, 1847.
;

the Church built

THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM.

Being the Substance of Two Lectures delivered in the Royal Institution, Albemarle
Street, on the 21st February, 1862, and 3rd March, 1865. Woodcuts. Svo.
7s. ed
London, Murray, 1865.

AN ESSAY ON A PROPOSED NEW SYSTEM OF FORTIFICATION, with Hints for

Weale, 1849.

its

Application to our National Defences.

THE PERIL OF PORTSMOUTH.

FoKTS.

Plan.

Svo.

3s.

12s. 6d.

London,

French Fleets and English

London, Murray, 1853.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE BRITISH MUSEUI^I, NATIONAL

GALLEliY, and NATIONAL RECORD OFFICE; with
Improvement.

Svo.

Suggestions for tUeir

London, Weale, 1859.

LONDON. WM. CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

During

the nine years that have

snbject,^

very considerable progress has been

of

many

of

Indian

of the problems that

among

researches

of

made

publication

points, but

of

Bombay

'

generally from

the

volumes of

the five

Eeports

Archaeological

western caves and

the

this

in the elucidation

perplex the student of the History

than from an architectural point of view

rather

the

'

on many obscure

light

still

The

Architecture.

Cunningham's

General

on

elapsed since I last wrote

has

new

thro^Mi

an archaeological

and Mr. Burgess's

structural

temples of

presidency have added greatly not only to our stores

but

information,

the precision

to

our knowledge

of

regarding

them.

For the purpose

of

such a work as

this,

however, photography

has probably done more than anything that has been written.

now

are

very few buildings in India

of

any importance

which have not been photographed with more or

and

for purposes of

now

available

distinguishing

are

differences

and,

completeness

comparison such collections of photographs as are

simply invaluable.

between

For detecting

specimens

when

sufficiently

numerous,

similarities,

to actual

afford

or

distances

at

situated

from one another, photographs are almost equal

inspection,

less

There

at least

personal

picture

of

Indian art of the utmost importance to anyone attempting to describe

it.

These new

aids,

added to our previous stock of knowledge, are

probably sufficient to justify us in treating the architecture of India

'

History of Arcliitcctnro in all Conutric

s.'

2ik1 cJ.

Murray, 1867.

PKEFACE.

vi

Proper in the quasi-exhaustive manner in which

the

GOO pages of

first

this work.

Its

is

it

attempted,

description might,

in

of course,

be easily extended even beyond these limits, but without plans and

more accurate architectural

such

would

additions

than we at present possess, any

details

very

contribute

practically

was

that

little

valuable to the information the work already contains.

The

case

only 150 pages and 50

to

when we turn

different

is

Instead of

to Further India.

both these figures ought at least

illustrations,

be doubled to bring that branch of the subject up to the same

completeness as that describing the

of

stage

For

Proper.

however,

this,

the

materials

architecture

India

of

do not at present

exist.

Of Japan we know almost nothing except from photographs, without

dimensions,

.plans,

or

dates

and,

know almost

Treaty Ports, we

except as regards

as little of

Pekin and the

We know

China.

a great

about one or two buildings in Cambodia and Java, but our

deal

regarding

information
that

Burmah and Siam.

the same

may

be said of

deficiency

may

be supplied, and

whole

harmony.

into

position

relative

Proper,

and incomplete,

so fragmentary

is

hardly available for the purposes of a general history, and

is

it

the rest

all

is all

each,

of

it

may

At present a
and their

Ten

hence this

years

then be possible to bring the

slight

sketch

relation to

the

indicating
of

styles

India

that can well be accomplished.

Although appearing as the third volume of the second edition

the
as

'

may be

General History of Architecture,' the present

an independent and original work.

chapters

extended

only to

and though most

more than

the

of

In the

of

considered

Indian

last edition the

about 300 pages, with 200 illustrations,^

the w^oodcuts reappear in the present volume,

half the original text has been cancelled,

and consequently

600 pages of the present work are original matter, and 200

at least

illustrations

and

These, with the

the subject to

these by far the

new
the

most important

chronological and

have

been added.

topographical details,

present

English reader in a more compact and complete

form than has been attempted in any work on Indian architecture

published.

hitherto
all

It does

not, as I

feel

only

the information that could be desired, but I

'

History of Architecture,'

vol.

ii.

too

am

keenly, contain

afraid

it

contains

445-756, Woodcutb 966-1163.

PREFACE.
nearly

Yii

that the materials at present available will {idmit of

all

l)cing

utilised, in a general history of the style.

When

I published

my

first

ago, I was reproached for

theories

which

afraid,

inevitable.

of

the

work on Indian arehiteeture

making dogmatic

I did not even attempt to sustain.

The

defect was, I

am

My

conclusions were based upon the examination

actual buildings

throughout the three Presidencies of India

and in China during ten

world

placed before the

ground of

my

amount

description

of

residence

years'

in the East,

the multitudinous details

would have

generalisations,

present volume, the

the

and

to have

which were

required

an

the

additional

and engravings which was not warranted by

The numerous engravings

the interest felt in the subject at that time.

in

thirty years

and propounding

assertions,

extended letterpress,

to works of later labourers in the wide

will greatly diminish, but

domain

and the

I'eferences

of Indian architecture,

cannot entirely remove, the old objection.

No man

can direct his mind for forty years to the earnest investiga-

tion

any department

of

of

knowledge, and not become acquainted

with a host of particulars, and acquire a species of insight which

neither time, nor space, nor perhaps

the

resources

permit him to reproduce in their fulness.

more

instance,

than

3000 photographs

of

language

will

I possess, to give a single

of

Indian buildings,

with

which constant use has made me as familiar as with any other object
that

is

perpetually before

my

eyes,

and

to recapitulate

all

the

mation they convey to long-continued scrutiny, would be an

if

not

case

indeed an impossible undertaking.

demand

evidence

broad results

that

statements

the

for

abridged, and

if

the

first

fancies,

has been

my

my

hope

is

given

the
the

beyond the appended

readers to believe that the assertions are not

but deductions from

facts.

My

endeavour from

to present a distinct view of the general principles

which have governed the

and

of

when

necessities

must be merely indicated or greatly

the conclusions sometimes go

proofs, I can only ask

speculative

The

should often be

infor-

endless,

historical

that those

development of Indian architecture,

who pursue

the subject beyond the pages of

the present work, will find that the principles I have enunciated will

reduce to order the multifarious details,

turn will confirm the principles.

Though

and

that

the vast

knowledge which has gone on accumulating since

the

details

amount

in

of fresh

commenced my


PREFACE.

viii

has enabled

investigations

the

vieVvs, yet

me

and the

adopted,

classification

my

and enlarge

modify,

correct,

to

sequences

historical

I pointed out thirty years since, have in their essential outlines been

and

confirmed,

continue,

will

my

from

the

Some men

in their investigations.

eminence and learning,

more

conversant with books than buildings, have

their

knowledge

which
of

and

from written

inferences

contemporaneous with

are

the

on

the

records in the rocks, or on sculptures

authorities,

none

of

and

all

relate,

mainly

imperishable

the

and carvings, which

necessarily

who executed

represented at the time the faith and feelings of those

them, and which retain their original impress to this day.

a country as India, the

These

authors.

be

to

secondary

meanwhile, I shall have realised a

have

succeeded in popularising
generally

ciples

and

study,

so

basis,

styles

that

it

may

take

The

publication

'Architecture in

all

of

projected,

it

this

is

but, as explained

the subject was not,

treatment, and

among

must

still

it

to

its

on a stable

the other great

the

history

fifth

of

As

originally

volume on

wanted to make

the

to the present

at present rest.

in the preface to

when

if

prin-

its

mankind.

volume completes

it

In

Eude

the series quite

my work

bearing that

was written, ripe for a

historical

the materials collected were consequently used in an

argumentative essay.
serious

architecture

was intended to have added a

Stone Monuments,' which

complete

dream

by rendering

true position

arts of

and there

the

long-cherished

subject

Countries, from the earliest times

day, in four volumes,'

title,

its

which have ennobled the

await

supply.

Indian

establishing

in

well

can thus give an impulse

and

intelligible,

assist

the

her

doubtless

will

can

of

pens

the

may

however,

points,

In such

are, so far as I

than

trusted

which time and further study

solution

the

more

immeasurably

judge,

of her sculptors

chisels

My

falsified in later times.

been

have

contrary,

drawn

naturally

they

events

which have been avowedly altered and

authorities,

prin-

pursued

have

inquirers

great

of

sub-

that not a

is,

be observed, arise

which

courses

different

impression

may

few of the discordant opinions that

cipally

Many

stand good.

to

trust,

sidiary questions remain unsettled, but

examination of

Since that
its

work was published, in 1872, no

arguments has been undertaken by any

competent authority, while every new fact that has come to light

PREFACE.
especially in India

has

ix

served to confirm

me more and more

correctness of the principles I then tried to establish. ^

ever, the matter is

in the

Unless, how-

taken np seriously, and re-examined by those who,

from their position, have the ear of the public in these matters, no
such progress will be made as would justify the publication
second work on the same subject,

of

my

ever having an opportunity of taking

as

to

be able to describe

its

objects in a

German

up the subject

again, so

more consecutive or more

exhaustive manner than was done in the work just alluded

of

consequently see no chance

to.

Mosaik zur

of Stonehenge without any reservation,

though arriving at that conclusion by a

Kunstgeschichte, Berlin, 1876,' has lately

very different chain of reasoning from

'

II( rr

distinguished

Kinkel of Zurich,

adopted

my

in his

'

professor,

views with regard to the age

Buddha preaching.

(From

that I was led to adopt.

a fresco painting at Ajuuta.)

-X

NOTE.
One

of the great ditticultios that meets every one altemptinj^ to write ou Indian

subjects at

tlie

Gilchristian

present day

mode

to

is

know how

of using double vowels,

to spell

Indian proper names.

which was fashionable

has now been entirely done away with, as contrary

to

fifty

The

years ago,

the spirit of Indian ortho-

graphy, though it certainly is the mode which enables the ordinary Englishman to
pronounce Indian names with the greatest readiness and certainty. On the otht r
hand, an attempt is now being made to form out of the ordinary English alphabet
a more extended one, by accents over the vowels, and dots under the consonants,

and other devices, so that every letter of the Devanagari or Arabic alphabets shall
have an exact equivalent in this one.
In attempting to print Sanscrit or Persian books in Eoman characters, such a
system is indispensable, but if used for printing Indian names in English books,
intended pri:icipally for the use of Englishmen, it seems to me to add not oidy immensely to the rcpulsiveness of the subject, but to lead to the most ludicrous
mistakes. According to this alphabet for instance, d with dot under it represents
a consonant we pronounce as r but as not one educated Englishman in 10,000 is
aware of this fact, he reads t-uch words as Kattiwad, Chitod, and Himadpanti as if
spelt literally with a d, though they are pronounced Kattiwar, Chittore, and Himarpanti, and are so written in all books hitherto published, and the two first are so
spelt in all maps hitherto engraved.
A hundred years hence, when Sanscrit and
Indian alphabets are t;mght in all schools in England, it may be otherwise, but
in the present state of knowledge on the subject some simpler plan seems more
;

expedient.

In the following pages I have consequently used the Jonesian system, as nearly
be, as it was used by Prinsep, or the late Professor Wilson, but avoiding as
far as possible all accents, except over vowels wher.^ they were necessary for the
pronunciation.
Over such words as Naga, Kaja, or Hindu as in Tree and Serpent
worship I have omitted accents altogether as wholly unnecessary for the pronunciation. An accent, however, seems indispensable over the a in Lat, to prevent it
being read as Lath in English, as I have h( ard done, or over the i in such words
as

may

as Hullabid, to prevtnt

Names

of

known

its

being read as short bid in English.

places I have in all instances tried to leave as they are usually

and are found on maps. I have, for instance, left Oudeypore, the capital of
Tod and others always spelt it, but, to prevent the two
places being confouuded, have taken the liberty of spelling the name of a small
unknown village, where there is a temple, Udaipur though I believe the names are
the same. I have tried, in short, to accommodate my spelling as nearly as possible
to the present state of knowledge or ignorance of the English public, without much
reference to scientific precision, as I feel sure that by this means the nomenclature
may become much less repulsive than it too generally must be to the ordinary
English student of Indian history and art.
spelt,

the Kajput state, spelt as

xi

CONTENTS.
INTKODUCTION

Puge 3

BOOK

1.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.
Tage

Chap.

and Classifica-

Intkodiction

I.

tion

Stambhas

ir.

III.

oil

Lats

vati

Tope

Jelalabad

Kails Rails

tra, Sauclii,

at Bharliut,

and Amravati

..

Cave

at Junir

Gandhara

i-Bahi,

. .

Monasteries

. .

133

Monasteries at Jamalgiri, Takht-

and Shah Dehri

84

Halls Behar Caves

Western Chaitya Halls, &c. .. 105

V. Chaitya

VI [.

Mut..

Page

Bengal and
Nassick,
Ajunta, Bagh, Dhumnar, Kholvi,
and Ellora Viharas Circular

"Western Viliara Oaves

57

Viharas

Structural

52

Tope

MoNASTEUlIiS

47

and in Behar AmraTopes

Topes
Manikyala

Gandhara

ViHARAS ok

VI.

StupasBhilsa Topes Topes

at Saruath

IV.

Ciivp.

..

Introduclory
Pollonarua

Ceylon
Anuradhapura

VIII.

BOOK

..169

..

185

II.

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.
207
Introductory
II. Construction
Arches Domes
210
Plans-Sikras
PaliIII. Northern Jaina Style
I.

Girnar IMount Abu

Parisnath Gualior Khajuraho 22G
tana

Modern Jain a Style Jaina

Jaina CavesTemple, Delhi
255
Converted Mosques

IV.

V. Jaina Style in Southern India

BOOK

265

Bettus Bastis

III.

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

I.

II.

Kashmih Temples MarttandAvautiporeBhaniyar

Nepal Stuaps or Chaityas Wooden TemplesThibet Temples

Kangra

2/9
at

298

CONTENTiS.

BOOK

ly.

DRAYIDIAN STYLE.
Pack
319

Chap.

iNTRODUCTORy

I.

duia Tiuuevelly

IMahavelliporc Kylas,

Dravidian Temples Tanjore

Tiruvalur Seringliam
Chillambaram
Ramisseram
Ma-

at
j

Pavilion at Vijayanagar

BOOK
iNTKocrcTORY Temple
ropully

raugul

Kirti

Temples

at

at

Wo-

..

The Kait
Temple at

at

Iswara
Hulla-

38G

bid

Somnatlipur

BOOK

380

STYLE.
and Baillur
Hullabid

at Bucli-

Stanibha

..

Y.

CHALUKYAN
I.

340

Archi tec tube Palaces

Madura and Tanj ore Garden

IV. Civil

Page

and Pe-

roor Vijayauagar

Ellora 320

III.

CombaconuDi

Coi.jeveramVellore

RjCK-CuT Temples

D;tA VIDIAN

II.

Chap.

YI.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

iNTiiODUCTORY
Dravidiaii and
Indo-Aryau Temples at Badami
Modern Temple at Benares
406

I.

Orissa

II.

History Temples

at

Bhuvaneswar, Kaiiaruc, Puri, Jaand Cuttack

414

jepur,

Western India
Dharwar
Brahmanical Rock-cut Temples

III.

IV. Central and

Udaipur, Benares,
Bindrabiin,
Kautonuggur, Amritsur
448
..
..

V. Civil Architecture Cenotaphs

Palaces at Gualior, Amber,

Deeg
437

BOOK

Northern India

Temples at Gualior, KhajuraliO,

Ghats

Reservoirs

Dams

470

Yll.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

Introductory

I.

Ghazni

II.

Tomb

489
of

Gates of Somuath

Mahmud

Minars

III.

other

on

the Plain

494

Pathan Style

Mosque

Mosques of

Musjid and Lull Durwaza

Butwa

at

VI.
at

in

the Pro-

Jumma
..

520

52G

Malwa The
Mandu

Great Mosque

510

Bengal Kudam ul Roussoul

Mosque, Gaur Adinah Blosque,
Maid ah
545

VII.
..

Buildings

vinces

Old Delhi Kutub Minar Tomb

of Ala-ud-din Pathan Tombs
Ornamentation of Pathan Tombs 498
IV. Jaunpore

Jumma BTusjid and

Mosques at Ahmedabad
Tombs and IMosquos at Sirkej and

V. Gujerat

CONTENTS,

INDIAN SARACENIC

AUCmTWTVUE,- continuefL
Tage

Chap.

Kalbtjrgah The Mosque

Kalburgah

YIII.

IX, BiJAPUR

Tlio

Jumma

<-'HAP.

Mosque at Futtehpore
Sikri Akbar's Tomb, Sccundia
Palace at Delhi The Taje
Mehal The Muti Musjid
Mosque at Delhi The Imambara,

552

Miisjid

Tombs of Ibrahim and Mahmud The Audience Hall

Tomb

of

Nawab Amir Khan,

Lucknow

near

Tatta

557

Tomb of Mohammad Ghaus,

BOOK
BuRMAH Introductory

II.

Temples at Mendoet and

Brambanam Tree and Serpent
Temples Temples at DjeiDg and
Suku

SiAM

Pagodas

at

Ayuthia and

Bangkok Hall of Audience at

Bangkok General Remarks
III. Java
History Boro Buddor
.

560

Wooden

INDIA.

Ruins
Prome, and Pagan
Circular Dagobas
Monasteries 611

of Thatun,

Nawab,

VIIL

FURTHER
I.

of late

Architecture
Mosque of Shah Hamadan, Srirmgger
G08

Mogul Architecture Dynasties

Tomb

Juuaghur
XI,

X.

Pack

Gualior

at

631

BOOK

637

Cambodia
Introductory
Temples of Nakhon Wat, Ongcor
Thorn, Paten ta Phrohra &c,
663

IV.

IX.

CHINA.
Introductory
II. Pagodas
Temple of the Great Dragon
Tombs Pailoos Domestic Architecture

I.

Buddhist

Temples

Taas

685
689

APPENDIX

711

INDEX

..

749

DIRECTIONS TO BINDEB.
Map
Map

of

Buddhist and Jaina Localities

Chalukyan, and Dravidian Localities

of Indo-Aryan,

To face 47
To face 279

xiv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

No.
1.

Naga

people worshipping
the
Trisul emblem of Buddha, on a
fiery pillar

Sri

seated on a Lotus, with two

elephants pouring water over
her

Lat at Allahabad

honeysuckle

ornament

from capital of Lat,

bad

at Allaha-

Assyrian

6.

Capital of Lat in Tirhoot

..

..

left-hand

Pillar,

Northern Gateway
Ornament on right-hand
Northern Gateway

97

35.

51

36. External Elevation of Great Rail

at Amravati
100

53

37.

Angle Pillar

38. Slab

54

Capital of Sankissa

Page
on

46

53

5.

No.
34. Bas-relief

54

39.

at

from Inner

Pillar,

97

Amravati ..
..101
Rail, Amravati
101

Dagoba (from a

Slab),

Amravati

102

Emblem

40. Trisul

104

41. Plan of Chaitya Hall, Sanchi

..

105

Ghurba group

,.

108

Rishi Cave

..

109

Surkh Minar, Cabul

Moggalana

56

42. Nigope Care, Sat

8.

Relic Casket of

..

..

62

43. Facade of

9.

Relic Casket of Sariputra

..

..

62

44.

63

45. Chaitya Cave,

.,

63

46. Facade of the Cave at Bhaja

,.

..

63

47. Front of a Chaitya Hall

..Ill

61

49. Plan of Cave at Bedsa

66

50. Capital of Pillar in front of

7.

10.

View

11.

Plan of Great Tope at Sanchi

of the Great Tope at Sanchi

12. Section of Great Tope at Sanchi

13. Tee cut in the rock on

at
14.
15.

16.

Tope at Sarnath, near Benares

..
Panel on the Tope at Sarnath
Temple at Buddh Gaya with Bo. .

at

68
51.

109

Bhaja

115

..

..

117

..

..118

55.

80

57. Interior of Chaitya

View

of Manikyala Tope

22. Restored Elevation of the

..

..

56.

81

Tope at

Manikyala
and Section of portion of
Basement of Tope at Manikyala
24. Relic Casket, Manikyala
25. Tree Worship: Buddh Gaya Rail
.

123

Cave No. 10 at

Ajunta

123

59. Chaitya No. 19 at

60.

82

Ajunta

,.

View

of Facade Chaitya
No. 19 at Ajunta

..124
Cave
125

61. Rock-cut

86

62.

126
Dagoba at Ajunta
..
Small Model found in the Tope at

uncovered

88

63.

Fa9ade of the Viswakarma Cave at

and Serpent Worship at Bharhut

90

64.

Rail

Cave

Buddh Gaya

Rail

. .

..

..

93

65.

31. Representation of Rail

. .

93

66. Great

94

67.

32. Rail in

Gautamiputra Cave,Nassick
of Tope at

Northern Gateway
Sanchi

96

in

front

of

Great

Cave,

130

Kenheri

92

30. Rail, No. 2 Tope, Sanchi

128

Ellora

28. Tree

29. Rail at Sanchi

126

Sultanpore

27. Portion of Rail at Bharhut, as first

"

Cave No. 10 at

86

26. Relic Casket

33.

of Interior of Cave at Karli 120

Ajunta

81

82

117

Cave at Karli

of Cave at Karli

58. Cross-section of

23. Elevation

Cave at

Cave at Karli

54. Plan of

21.

of

114

78

View
View

113

..

78

kyala

..

Cave

..

Bimeran

20. Relic Casket from Tope at Mani-

Trisul 112
..

Cave at Nassick

19. Tope, Sultanpore

at

Ill

113

53. Section of

Tope

,.

Bedsa

View on Verandah

72

18.

110

Chakra.

Shield.

52. Chaitya

from the

Cave

Bedsa

70

"

tree

17. Representation of a Tope

Rail at Amravati

Rishi

48. Trisul.

Dagoba

Ajunta

Lomas

Lomas

at

Dhumnar

Rath at Mahavellipore

..

131
134

Diagram Explanatory of the Arrangement of a Buddhist Vihara

of Four Storevs in Heio-ht

..

134

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Pack
No.
68-69. Square and oblong Cells from
135
Bharhut
..
at
..
Bas-relief
a
71. Pillar in
72.

140

Cave

70. Ganesa

Ganesa Cave, Cuttack

Upper Storey, Rani Gumpha

,.

Ajunta
75. Cave No. 2 at Ajunta
76. Cave at Bagh
77. Durbar Cave, Salsette
74. Cave No. 11 at

78.

..

..

81.

216

118. Diagram Plan of Jaina Porch

..

216

..

217

147

View
at

Yadnya

..

151

..

152

Ajunta..

154

Cave No. 16

83. Plan of
84.

..

Sri Cave..

Sri Cave, Nassick

at

154

Ajunta

View

..

163

89. Circular Cave, Junir

167

90. Section of Circular Cave, Junir

167

Round Temple and part

of Palace

from a bas-relief at Bharhut

92. Plan of

93. Plan

..

168
171

Monastery at Jamalgiri
Takht-i-

of Monastery at

171

Bahi
94. Corinthian Capital from Jamal-

173

giri

95. Corinthian Capital

from Jamal173

giri

96. Plan

of Ionic

Monastery, Shah

176

Dehri
97. Ionic Pillar,

..176

Shah Dehri

98. Elevation of front

of

Staircase,

Ruanwelli Dagoba
99.

View

190

of Frontispiece of Stairs,

Ruanwelli Dagoba

191

100. Stela? at the end of Stairs,

yagiriD'goba
101.

102.

..

..

Thuparamaya Tope
Lankaramaya Dagoba,

Abha..

..

192

192
a.d. 221

194

103. Pavilion with Steps at Anurad-

Diagram of Jaina Porch ..

Temple at AiwuUi
..
121. Temple at Aiwulli
122. Plan of Temple at Pittadkul
119.

105.

tree, Anuradhapura
The Jayta Wana Rama

Pollonarua

,.

..

219
220
..

221

Pagoda at Kanaruc
222
Diagram Plan and Section of the
Black Pagoda at Kanaruc
223
..
125. The Sacred Hill of Sutrunjya, near

124.

227

Palitana

Temple of Neminatha, Girnar .. 230

127. Plan of Temple of Tejpala and
Vastupala

232

232
Temple at Somnath
..
129. Temple of Vimala Sah, Mount
Abu
235
130. Temple of Vimala Sah, Mount
Abu
236
131. Pendant in Dome of Vimala Sah
Temple at Abu
237
128. Plan of

132. Pillars at Chandravati

..238

..

Temple at Sadri ..
..240
134. View in the Temple at Sadri
..
241
135. External View of the Temple at
Sadri
242
..244
136. * Jaina Temple at Gualior ..
137. Temple of Parswanatha at Kha245
juraho
246
138. Chaonsat Jogini, Khajuraho
..
139. The Ganthai, Khajuraho ..
..248
249
..
..
140. * Temple at Gyraspore
141. Porch of Jaina Temple at Amwah,
251
near Ajunta
142. Jaina Tower of Sri Allat Chittore 252
143. Tower of Victory erected by
253
,.
Khumbo Rana at Chittore
144. * View of Jaina Temples Sona256
..
..
ghur, in Bundelcund
145. View of the Temple of Shet
133. Plan of

257
Huttising at Ahmedabad
Upper part of Porch of Jaina
259
Temple at Delhi
Entrance to the Indra Subba Cave

197

11

201

148. Colossal Statue at

202
Mehal Prasada
107. Round House, called Watte Daje
203
in Pollonarua

Arch
Arch

262

Yannur

..

Temple
151. Jaina Temple

268
270

149. Jaina Basti at Sravana Belgula

150. Jaina

at Moodbidri

..

271

at Moodbidri

..

272

152. Pillar in Temple, Moodbidri

..

211

153. Pavilion at Gurusankerry

..

213

154.

213

155.

of City Gateway, Bijanagur 211

109. Gateway, Jinjuwarra

7.

at Ellora

Ruins of

106. Sat

110. Radiating

of

123. Restored Elevation of the Black

146.

Steps leading to the Platform of the Bo-

111. Horizontal

120. Old

197

Moon Stone at Foot of

View

6.

. .

hapura
104.

108.

in

88. Plan of Dehrwarra, Ellora

91.

115.

126.

of Interior of Vihara No. 16

155
Cave No 17 at Ajunta
80. Pillar in Vihara No. 17 at Ajunta 156
..160
..
87. Great Vihara at Bagh
85.

214
215

145

150

Yadnya

..

inGautamiputraCave, Nas-

82. Pillar in

214

Dome

149
..
Nahapana Vihara, Nassick
Nahapana Cave, Nassick 150
sick

.,

the pillars of a Jaina

79. Pillar in
80. Pillar

213
..

140

146
.

of Roofing

143

l-lfi

. .

Diagram

113-114. Diagrams of Roofing

Diagram of Roofing
Diagram of Indian construction
117. Diagram of the arrangement

140

73. Tiger Cave, Cuttack

112.

XV

..

Tombs of Priests, Moodbidri

Stambha at Gurusankerrv

.,

..

273

274
275
270

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

xvi
No.
156.

Page

Tomb

of Zein-ul-ab-ud-din.
vation of Arches

157. Takt-i-Suleiman.
158.

Arches
Model of Temple

Ele-

281

Elevation

of

Kashmir

..

Temple of Marttand
286
of Temple at Marttand
287
..
162. CentralCellof Court at Marttand 288
163. Niche with Naga Figure at Marttand
290
..
..
291
164. Soffit of Arch at Marttand
..

View

'

165. Pillar at Avantipore

166.

View

in Court of

292

Temple

at

Temple
169. Temple
168.

..

Miilot

at

the

206. * Gopura at
207. Portico of

209.
210.

296
170. Temple of Swayambunath, Nepal 302
303
171. Nepalese Kosthakar

Bhowani Temple, Bhatgaon 304

Temple of Mahadeo and Krishna,

172. Devi

306

Patan
174.

Doorway

of Durbar,

175. Monoliths at
176.

Doorway

Bhatgaon

Dimapur

of the

Temple

..

,.

307

..

309

at Tassi-

ding
177. Porch of

Temple at Pemiongchi

313
314

178. Temples at Kiragrama, near Kote

Kangra
179. Pillar at

Erun of the Gupta age

182. Arjuna's Rath Mahavellipore

331
..
Perumal Pagoda, Madura ..
184. Entrance to a Hindu Temple,
332
Colombo
333
185. Tiger Cave at Sal u van Kuppan
334
186. Kylas at Ellora
183.

188. Deepdan in

Dharwar

toba at Vijayanagar

through

..

..

Gopura

375

at

Tarputry

376
Gopura at Tarputry 377
Palace, Madura
..382

213. Hall in

214. Court in Palace, Tanjore

..383

..

215. Garden Pavilion at Vijayanagar

./

216. Temple at Buchropully

..

Doorway of Great Temple at

Hammoncondah
218. Kirti Stambha at Worangul
..
..
219. Temple at Somnathpur
..
220. Plan of Great Temple at Baillur
221. View of part of Porch at Baillur

384
389

217.

224. Plan of Temple at Hullabid

,.

390
392

394
395
396
397
398
399

225. Restored view of Temple at Hul-

400

labid

226. Central Pavilion Hullabid, East

Front

402

227. Dravidian and Indo-Aryan Temples

231.

232.

233.

View

of the eastern half of the

Great Temple at Seringham ... 349

196. Plan of Temple of Chillambaram 351

199. *

371

337

View

Chillambaram 353
Temple at
353
Chillambaram
Ruined Temple or Pagoda at
354
Chillambaram

View

..

366
368

335

Temple at Purudkul 338

Diagram Plan of Tanjore Pagoda 343
191. View of the Great Pagoda at Tan344
jore
192. * Temple of Soubramanya, Tanjore 345
346
..
193. Inner Temple at Tiruvalur
346
194. Temple at Tiruvalur

197.

at Badami
411
Modern Temple at Benares
..
412
412
Diagram Plan of Hindu Temple
Temple of Parasurameswura
,.
418
Temple of Mukteswara
..
,.419
Plan of Great Temple at Bhu-

190.

228.
229.

230.

. .

421

vaneswar
Great

of

Bhu-

Temple,

422

vaneswar
234. Lower part of Great

Tower

at

Bhuvaneswar
235. Plan of Raj Rani Temple
233.

Doorway

in

238.

View

of

Raj Rani Temple

237. Plan of Temple

Puri

of Juganat

Tower of Temple

..

239. Hindu Pillar in Jujepur

240.

241.

430
of Juga-

431
..

Hindu Bridge at Cuttaf-k ..

View of Temple of Papanatha
Pittadkul

423
424
425

at

nat

of Porch at

198. Section of Porch of

212. * Portion of

189. Plan of Great

195. *

at Vellore

223. Kait Iswara, Hullabid

330

187. Kylas, Ellora

Temple

222. Pavilion at Baillur

328

363
Tinne-

at

Combaconum

317

181. Raths, Mahavellipore

..

Madura

316

180. Capital of Half Column from a

317
Temple in Orissa

Nayak's

Compound Pillar at Vellore

..
372
Compound Pillar at Peroor
..
372
View of Porch of Temple of Vi-

211. * Entrance

Salt

Pvange

173.

Tirumulla

in

Choultrie,

295
in

View

205. Half-plan of Temple

velly

293
at Payech

361

trie

204. *

..294

niyar
167. Temple at Pandrethan

361

trie

208.

Bha-

358

203. Pillar in Tirumulla Nayak's Choul-

160.

161.

356
..

202. Plan of Tirumulla Nayak's Choul-

283

284

159. Pillar at Srinagar

seram
201. Central Corridor, Ramisseram

282
in

No.
Page
200. Plan of Great Temple at Ramis-

..433
..

434

at

438

LIST OF ITJJJSTRA'riONS.
No.
242. Pillar in Kylas, Ellora

Badami
Section of Cave No. 3, Badami
Dhumnar Lena Cave at Ellora
Rock-cut Temple at Dhumnar
Saiva Temple near Poonah
Temple at Chandravati
Temple at Barrolli
Plan of Temple at Barrolli

243. Plan of Cave No.

244.

245.
246.
247.
248.

249.
250.

Page
..

3,

251. Pillar in Barrolli

. .

444
444
445
446
446
449
450
450

..

..451

. .

..

252. * Teli ka Mandir, Gualior

..443

253* Kandarya Mahadeo, Khajuraho

453
455

254. Plan of Kandarya Mahadeo, Kha255. Temple at LTdaipur

256. Diagram explanatory of the Plan

of Meera Bale's Temple, Chittore
458
257. * Temple of Vriji, Chittore

258. Temple of Vishveshwar

259. Temple of
Gualior

Scindiah's

..
.

..

Temple at Bindrabun ..
262. Balcony in Temple at Bindrabun
263. Temple at Kantonuggur ..
..
264. * The Golden Temple in the Holy
Tank at Amritsur
265. * Cenotaph of Singram Sing at
Oudeypore
266. * Cenotaph in Maha Sati at Oudey261.

of

pore
267. *

Tomb

Rajah

of

Baktawar

268. * Palace at Duttiah

269. * Palace at Ourtcha, Bundelcund

the

at

Bund

of Lake Rajsamundra

Mahmud

ma

dabad
295. Plan

Mosque

Mirzapore

Gualior

at

529

297. Section of Diagram explanatory

of the Mosques at Ahmedabad
529
298. Plan of
Sirkej

Tombs and Mosque

at

tomb

at

531

299. Pavilion
Sirkej

front

in

of

300. Mosque at Moohafiz

301.

Window

Khan

Bhudder

in

, .

Ahme-

at

533

dabad

Tomb

532
532

of

Meer Abu Tourab

Tomb

534

472

305. Plans of Tombs of Kutub-ul-Alum

and his Son, Butwa
536

of

Syad Osman

Tomb

534

of Kutub-ul-Alum,

Butwa 536

306. Plan of Tomb of Mahraiid Begurra

474
477
478

538

near Kaira
307.

Tomb

of

Mahmud

Begurra, near

538

Kaira
308. Plan of

Mosque

at

Mandu

. .

Mosque

of Great

309. Courtyard

542

at

Mandu

543

Roof

314.

501

at Old Delhi

Ajmir

Tomb

529

296. Elevation of the Queen's Mosque,

495

284. Great Arch in Mosque at Ajmir

285. Pathan

Mosque,

487

Kutub
Kutub

at

Queen's

485

281. Iron Pillar at

283.

the

of

528
528

Musjid

304.

Kutub

Tomb

Jumma

Mirzapore

310.

Modern curved form

Mosque

at

of

Kalburgah

..

..

555
Mosque at Kalburgah
View of the Mosque at Kalburgah 555
. .

316.

317. Plan of

Jumma

Jumma

Musjid, Bijapur

560

Musjid

319. Section on the line A B through

the Great Dome of the Jumma

507
509

320.

511

321. Plan of

Shepree, near

515

Musjid

Tomb

of Rozah of Ibrahim

Tomb

of

559

Domes

318. Plan and Section of smaller

of

504
505

512

554

315. Half-elevation, half-section, of the

279. Central Range of Arches at the

282. Interior of a

522

471

278. Section of part of East Colonnade

503
at the Kutub, Old Delhi

280. Minar of

..

303. Plan and Elevation of

from the Tomb of

496
at Ghazni

. .

..
.

277. Plan of Ruins in Old Delhi

Musjid, Jaunpore

Darwaza Mosque, Jaunpore 523

293. Plan of Jumma Musjid, Ahme-

546
311. Kudam ul Roussoul Mosque, Gaur 548
312. Plan of Adinah Mosque, Maldah 549
550
313. Minar at Gaur

275. Minar at Ghazni

276. Ornaments

519

468

the Central Pavilion

in the Palace at Deeg
483
.
.

of Shere

292. Lall

302.

View from

..

at Old Delhi

I)elhi

482

273. Ghoosla Ghat, Benares

Tomb
Tomb
Tomb

290. Plan of Western Half of Courtyard of Jumma Musjid, Jaunpore

522
291. View of lateral Gateway of Jum-

467

481

Benares

274.

464
465

Observatory,

271. Hall at Deeg

272.

462
463

at

Ulwar

270. Balcony

459
460

Mother,

260. Plan of Temple at Bindrabun

View

Page
516
Shah at Sasseram 516
288.
of Shere Shah
517
289. Pendentive from Mosque at Old
287.

294. Elevation of the

456
457

juraho

No.
286.

XV ii

Mahmud at

..

560
561

Bija-

562

pur

322. Pendentives of the Tomb of Mah563

..
..
miid, looking upwards

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

xviii

Tage

No.
323. Section of

Tomb

of

Mahmiid

at

564

Bijapur
324. Diagram illustrative of Domical

565

Construction
325. Audience Hall, Bijapur

. .

566

. .

of Nawab Amir Khan, near

568
Tatta, A.D. 1640

Tomb

326.

327. Plan

Tomb

of

Mohammad

of

576

Ghaus, Gualior
328.

Tomb

Mohammad

of

329. Carved Pillars in the Sultana's

579
Kiosk, Futtehpore Sikri ..
at Futtehpore Sikri

Mosque

Gateway

331. Southern

Futtehpore Sikri
332. Hall in Palace at Allahabad

Tomb

of Akbar's

333. Plan

at

..

335 View of Akbar's Tomb, Secundra

of Taje Mehal

583

369.

339. Section of Taje Mehal,

Agra

341.

View
jid,

in

374.
375.

Agra

600

345.
346.
347.
348.
349.
350.

Tomb

Imambara

at

Lucknow

Nawab

605

..

606
ghur
Mosque of Shah Hamadan, Sri609
nugger
..615
..
Plan of Ananda Temple
615
Plan of Thapinya
616
Section of Thapinya
View of the Temple of Gauda617
palen
620
Kong Madii Dagoba

..

675

377.

Lower Part

of

. .

677

One of the Towers of the Temple

at Ongcor Thom
680
379. Temple of the Great Dragon
690
380. Monumental Gateway of Buddhist
Monastery, Pekin
693
381. Temple at Macao
694
382. Porcelain Tower, Nankin ..
695
..
383. Pagoda in Summer Palace, Pekin 696
384. Tung Chow Pagoda
697
385. Chinese Grave
699

378.

386. Chinese
387.

Group

Tomb

of

Tombs near Pekin

388. Pailoo near Canton

389. Pailoo at

623

390.

625

391. Pavilion in the

355. Fa9ade of the King's Palace, Bur-

. .

629

632

699
700
701

Amoy
702
Diagram of Chinese Construction 703

392. Pavilion in the

628

358. Ruins of a Pagoda at Ayuthia

..

Summer

Palace,

Summer

Palace,

705

Pekin

627

. .

Corridor,

Nakhon Wat
676
Pilaster Nakhon

621

Kioum

of

Nakhon Wat
671
View of Exterior of Nakhon Wat 671
View of Interior of Corridor,
Nakhon Wat
672
General view of Temple of Nakhon

621

357. Monastery at Mandale

657

670
Section

352. Half-plan of

356. Burmese

..

Nakhon Wat 668

the Temple of Nak-

351.

mah

655

. .

of Juna-

..
Shoemadou Pagoda, Pegu ..
Shoemadou Pagoda
..
353. View of Pagoda in Rangun
..
354. Circular Pagoda at Mengun

652

. .

Wat
601

of the late

649

. .

View of the Maha Vihara,Anurad-

376. Pillar of Porch,

Courtyard of Mflti Mus-

..

Wat

599

N.E
344.

..

Brambanam

hon Wat

596
597

and

Temple at Panataram

372. Diagram

342. Great Mosque at Delhi from the

343. Plan of

Boro Buddor

371. Elevation of

373.

..

340. Plan of Mati Musjid

646

370. Plan of Temple of

586
592
597

. .

at

64C
entrance

central

of

368. Terraced

..

. .

Dome

hapura

336. Palace at Delhi

View

View

stairs at

Se-

338. Plan of Taje Mehal, Agra..

of principal

Boro Buddor
366.

581

Akbar's Tomb at Secundra, explanatory of its Arrangements 585

365. Elevation

smaller

of the

Boro Buddor

at

367. Small Temple at

584
cundra
334. Diagram Section of one-half of

337

of one

364. Section

580

. .

Mosque,

of

Page
633

Tower of the Pagoda

634
Wat-ching at Bangkok ..
..
361. Hall of Audience at Bangkok .. 635
362. Half-plan of Temple of Boro Bud'..
645
..
dor
363. Elevation and Section of Temple
645
of Boro Buddor

Domes
577

. .

360. The Great

Ghaus,

Gualior

330.

No.
359. Ruins of a Pagoda at Ayuthia

Pekin

706

View in the Winter Palace, Pekin 707

394. Archway in the Nankau Pass .. 709
393.

Note. Those woodcuts in the above list marked with an asterisk are borrosved
from *L'Inde des Kajahs,' published by Hachette et Cie, Paris, translated and
republished in this country by Messrs.

Chapman and

Hall.

HISTOKY
OF

INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

HISTORY
OF

INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
INTRODUCTION.
It

is

in vain, perhaps, to expect that the I iterature or the Arts of

any

other people can be so interesting to even the best educated Europeans

as those of their

own country.

much

few are aware how

within a very narrow

field

it

forced on their attention,

is

the

of

concentrate

to

We

observation.

of

names

nursery with the

the

Until

education does

heroes

of

In every school their history and their

history.

attention

become familiar in
Greek and Eoman
taught,

are

arts

memorials of their greatness meet us at every turn through

and
and aspirations become, as it were, part of ourselves.
their religion is our religion
So, too, with the Middle Ages
their
architecture our architecture, and their history fades so insensibly
into our own, that we can draw no line of demarcation that would
life,

their thoughts

How

separate us from them.

from

familiar

this

geography

is

history

is

its

perplexity.

different is the state of

home we turn

to such

when

feeling,

a country as India.

Its

hardly taught in schools, and seldom mastered perfectly

a puzzle

its

But, above

are so unfamiliar

who go

literature a

all,

the

names

of

and so unpronounceable,

its

its arts

a quaint

heroes and great

that, except a

any ever become

up any memories which are

to India, scarcely

that they call

mythic dream

men

few of those

so acquainted with them,

either pleasing or

worth

dwelling upon.

Were
at least
all

it

not for

that

this, there is

probably no country

would so well repay attention

out

as India.

of

Europe

None, where

the problems of natural science or of art are presented to us in so

distinct

and so pleasing a form.

Nowhere does nature show

herself in

such grand and such luxurious features, and nowhere does humanity
Side by side
more varied and more pleasing conditions.
Brahman caste, and the chivalrous Kajput, are
found the wild Bhil and the naked Gond, not antagonistic and warring

exist

in

with the intellectual

B 2

HISTOKY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

now as they have done

own lot, and prepared to

one against the other, as elsewhere, but living

for thousands of years, each content with his

follow, without repining, in the footsteps of his forefathers.

It cannot, of course, be for

one

moment contended

that India ever

reached the intellectual supremacy of Greece, or the moral greatness

of Eome
but, though on a lower step of the ladder, her arts are
more original and more varied, and her forms of civilisation present
an ever-changing variety, such as are nowhere else to be found.
What, however, really renders India so interesting as an object of
;

study

that

is

it is

now

Greece and

a living entity.

Eome

are dead

and

have passed away, and we are living so completely in the midst of

modern Europe, that we cannot get outside to contemplate it as a

But India is a complete cosmos in itself bounded on the
north by the Himalayas, on the south by the sea, on the east by
impenetrable jungle, and only on the west having one door of comwhole.

munication, across the Indus, open to the other world.

Across that

stream, nation after nation have poured their myriads into her coveted

domain, but no

waves ever mixed her people with those beyond

reflex

her boundaries.

In consequence

of

all

this,

every problem of

ethnography can be studied here more

easily

anthropology or

than anywhere

else

every

and often of the most pleasing form

illustration, and many on a scale not easily

art has its living representative,

every science has

its

matched elsewhere.

But, notwithstanding

all

nine cases out

this, in

and Indian matters fail to interest, because they are to

The rudiments have not been
most people new and unfamiliar.
mastered when young, and, when grown up, few men have the leisure
of ten, India

or the inclination to set to work to learn the forms of a new world,

demanding both care and study and till this is attained, it can hardly
be hoped that the arts and the architecture of India will interest a
European reader to the same extent as those styles treated of in the
;

previous volumes of this work.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks,

it

may

still

be possible to present

the subject of Indian architecture in such a form as to be interesting,

even

To do

not attractive.

if

be followed as far as

is

this,

however, the narrative form must

compatible with such a subject.

All technical

and unfamiliar names must be avoided wherever it is possible to do

and the whole accompanied with a sufficient number of illustrations
enable

its

forms to be mastered without

difficulty.

Even

if

so,

to

this is

tell the whole of so varied and so

Without preliminary or subsequent study it can
hardly be expected that so new and so vast a subject can be grasped
but one volume may contain a complete outline of the whole, and enable
any one who wishes for more information to know where to look for it,

attended

to,

no one volume can

complex a history.

or

how

to appreciate

it

when found.

INTRODUCTION.

Whether successful or not, it seems well worth while that an

attempt should be made to interest the public in Indian architectural
first, because the artist and architect will certainly acquire broader
art
;

and more varied views of their art by its study than they can acquire
from any other source. More than this, any one who masters the
subject sufficiently to be able to understand their art in

best

its

and

highest forms, will rise from the study with a kindlier feeling towards
the nations of India, and a higher certainly a correcter appreciation

of their social status than could be obtained

from anything that now

exists in their

from

anomalous

their literature, or
social

and

political

position.

Notwithstanding
while to master

all

all

this,

many may

be inclined to ask, Is

it

worth

the geographical and historical details necessary to

unravel so tangled a web as this, and then try to become so familiar

with their ever-varying forms as not only to be able to discriminate

between the different styles, but also to follow them through all their
ceaseless

My

changes

impression

that

is

No

the affirmative.

architecture

history of

immense portion

this

of the

its

still

is

and

But, more than

this, architecture

a living art, practised on the principles which caused

wonderful development in

turies

answered in

fairly be

who leaves out of his view the works of an

human race, which has always shown itself

so capable of artistic development.

in India

may

question

one has a right to say that he understands the

there, consequently,

Europe in the 12th and 13th cenand there alone, the student of archi-

tecture has a chance of seeing the real principles of the art in action.

In Europe, at the present day, architecture

so anomalous

and abnormal that few,

is

practised in a

to shake off the influence of a false system,

and

to see that the art of

common

ornamental building can be based on principles of

and

that,

when

so

practised,

not only

the result

is,

easily

sense

but must be,

Those who have an opportunity of seeing what perfect

satisfactory.

buildings the ignorant uneducated natives of India are

will

manner

any, have hitherto been able

if

understand

how

success

may

be

now producing,

achieved,

those

while

who observe what failures the best educated and most talented architects in Europe are constantly perpetrating, may, by a study of
Indian models, easily see why this must inevitably be the result.
It is only in India that the two systems can now be seen practised side by side the educated and intellectual European always
failing because his principles are wrong, the feeble and uneducated

native

as

inevitably

The Indian
and how they can

right.

European system
especially in

its

it

builders
best
is

details,

because

succeeding
thinh

produce
considered

only
the

of

effect

more

his

are

are

doing,

they desire.

In the

building,

essential

should be a correct

principles

what they

cojiij

that
of

something

else,


HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

than good in

itself

or appropriate to its purpose

hence the difference

in the result.

In one other respect India affords a singularly favourable

many

there so

old feelings,

field to

the

In no other country of the same extent are

student of architecture.

and

distinct nationalities, each retaining its old faith

and impressing these on

There

art.

its

its

consequently

is

no country where the outlines of ethnology as applied to art can be

so easily perceived, or their application to the elucidation of the various

The mode

problems so pre-eminently important.

has been practised in Europe for the

In India

very confusing.

and

clear

it is

last

in which the

centuries

tliree

No

intelligible.

art

has been

one can look

and no one can study

practised there without recognising what the principles of the

at the subject without seeing its importance,

the art as

science really are.

In addition, however, to these

doubtedly be conceded by those

advantages,

scientific

who

will

it

un-

are familiar with the subject that

They

for certain qualities the Indian buildings are unrivalled.

display

an exuberance of fancy, a lavishness of labour, and an elaboration of

They may contain nothing so sublime
detail to be found nowhere else.
as the hall at Karnac, nothing so intellectual as the Parthenon, nor so

constructively grand as a mediaeval cathedral

qualities

not

architectural art
fill

up a

but for certain other

perhaps of the highest kind, yet very important in

the Indian buildings stand

great gap in our knowledge of

tlie

alone.

They consequently

subject,

which without them

would remain a void.

HiSTOEY.

One

of the greatest difficulties that exist

perhaps

India has no history properly so called, before the

in the

13th century.

Had

the greatest

from the

in exciting an interest in Indian antiquities arises

fact, that

Mahomedan

invasion

India been a great united kingdom, like

China, with a long line of dynasties and well-recorded dates attached to

them, the task would have been comparatively easy

sort exists

but notliing of the

or ever existed within her boundaries.

On

the contrary,

knowledge extends, India has always been occupied by

three or four different races of mankind, who have never amalgamated
so far as our

so as to

become one people, and each

of these races

have been again

subdivided into numerous tribes or small nationalities nearly, sometimes

wholly, independent of each other

them ever kept a chronicle

from any well-known era.^

of

The

and, what

following brief resume of the

priucipal events in the ancient history

of India

has no pretensions

to

is

worse than

or preserved a series of dates

being a

not one

complete or exhaustive view of the subIt is intended only as such a

popular sketch as shall enable the general

ject.
:

all,

commencing

INTRODUCTION.
The absence

of

any

historical record is the

India possesses a written literature equal

and

more

striking, because

not surpassing in variety

to, if

by any other nation, .before the invention, or

and use, of printing. The Vedas themwith their Upanishads and Brahmanas, and the commentaries on

extent, that possessed

at least before the adoption

selves,

them, form a literature in themselves of vast extent, and some parts of

which are as old, possibly older, than any written works that are now

known

to exist

up a body

and the Puranas, though comparatively modern, make

mixed with mythology and itradition such as few

of doctrine

nations can boast

of.

Besides this, however, are two great epics, sur-

not in merit, those of any ancient nation, and a

drama of great beauty, written at periods extending through a long
passing in extent,

if

of years.
In addition to those we have treatises on law, on
grammar, on astronomy, on metaphysics and mathematics, on almost
every branch of mental science a literature extending in fact to some

series

10,000 or

11,000 works, but in

called historical.

No man

of recording the events of his

experience of others, and

all

it

own

life

was only

book that can be

known, ever thought

this not one

in India, so far as

at

is

or of repeating the previous

some time subsequent

to the

Christian Era that they ever thought of establishing eras from which
to date deeds or events.

All this
'

is

the more curious because in Ceylon we have, in the

Mahawanso,' and other books of a

like nature, a consecutive history

which may be depended upon within very

narrow limits of error, for periods extending from B.C. 250 to the present
time.
At the other extremity of India, we have also in the Eaja
of that island, with dates

Tarangini of Kashmir, a work which Professor Wilson characterised

as

"the only Sanscrit composition yet discovered to which the

of

History can with any propriety be applied."

however, possess

it,

it

As we

title

at present,

hardly helps us to any historical data earlier

than the Christian Era, and even after that

dates for some centuries

its

by no means fixed and certain.

In India Proper, however, we have no such guides as even these,
but for written history are almost wholly dependent on the Puranas.

are

They do furnish us with one

list

of kings' names, with the

length

of their reigns, so apparently truthful that they may, within narrow

limits,

be depended upon.

They

reader to grasp the main features of the

an extent as may enable

him to understand what follows. In order
to make it readable, all references and all
proofs of disputed facts have been postponed. They will be found in the body
of the work, where they are more appropriate, and the data on which the principal
stoiy to sucli

disputed dates arc fixed will be found in

however, of one range

only,

are

an Appendix especially devoted to their

Unfortunately no book exists
to which the reader could with advantage
be referred and without some such indiscussion.

troductory notice of the political history

and ethnography the artistic history would

be nearly,
*

'

if

not wholly, unintelligible.

Asiatic Kesearches,' vol. xv. p.

i.

'

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

8
of dynasties

probably, however, the paramount oneand extend only

the Greeks
Chandragupta the Sandrocottus

from the accession

of

of

325, to the decline of the Andra dynasty, about a.d. 400 or 408.

B.C.

It seems probable

we may

as far back as the

An j ana

marked by the

and labours

in

life

find sufficient confirmation

of

Sakya Muni

the

present

lists

Buddha

chronology

All the

our chronology, with tolerable certainty.

before that period

these

of

691, so as to include the period

era, B.C.

purposely and avowedly falsified by the intro-

is

duction of the system of Yugs, in order to cany back the origin

the

of

Brahmanical system into the regions of the most fabulous

From the 5th century onwards, when the Puranas began

antiquity.

to be put into their present form, in consequence of the revival of the

Brahmanical

religion, instead of recording

contemporary events, they

purposely confused them so as to maintain their prophetic character,

and prevent the detection

of the falsehood of their claim to

For Indian history

equal to that of the Vedas.

we

an antiquity

after the 5th century

are consequently left mainly to inscriptions on

monuments

or

on

and to the works of foreigners for the necessary

information with which the natives of the country itself have neglected
These probably will be found eventually to be at
to supply us.

copper-plates, to coins,

least sufficient for the purposes of chronology.

Already such progress

has been made in the decipherment of inscriptions and the arrange-

ment of coins, that

and even the date
north

of

India

south of

the

all

the dynasties

of

the reigns of

may

be arranged consecutively,

almost

all

the

kings in the

have been already approximately ascertained.

India so

much

because there have been fewer labourers in the field

In

more
than from want

has not been done, but this

is

There are literally thousands of inscriptions in the south

which have not been copied, and of the few that have been collected
of materials.

number have been translated but they are such

that, when the requisite amount of labour is
bestowed upon them, we shall be able to fix the chronology of the
only a very small
to

as

give us hope

kings of the south with a degree of certainty sufficient for

all

ordinary

purposes. 1
It is a far

more

difficult

task to ascertain whether

we

shall ever

recover the History of India before the time of the advent of Buddha,
or before the

Anjana epoch,

arts,

or to

mark

Here we certainly mil find no

and no buildings to illustrate the

B.C. 691.

coins or inscriptions to guide us,

the position of cities, while

have become so blurred,

if

all

ethnographic traces

not obliterated, that they serve us

guides through the labyrinth.

Yet on the other hand there

Almost the only person who has of

done anything in this direction is
Sir Walter Elliot.
His papers in the
Juunial of the Royal Asiatic Society

is

little

as

so large

late

and the Madras Journal throw immense

light on the subject, but to complete the
task we want many workers instead of

'

only one.

'

'

INTRODUCTION.
a mass of literature

such

as it is

cannot but hope that, when a

to bear

may

upon

it,

winnow the few

much

it

main

But

from the severely

facts of the case

necessary

is

as

severe

available, it will

it

spirit

of

criticism

to

grains of useful truth out of the mass of worthless

chaff this literature contains.

the

on the subject, that we

of learning is brought

amount

In order, however, to render

not require industry so

this,

bearing

sufficient

the leading features of the history of even that period

be recovered.

even

state

to

it

does not seem too

critical

spirit

of

much

the age.

seem to be nearly as

to expect

Meanwhile,

follows, in so far as

them, in order to make what follows in-

telligible.

Aryans.

At some very remote period

stated in the

Appendix

the world's history

in

for reasons

have been at about the epoch

called by the Hindus the Kali Yug, or B.C. 3101
the Aryans, a
I believe it to

Sanscrit-speaking people, entered India across the Upper Indus, coming

from Central Asia. For a long time they remained settled in the
Punjab, or on the banks of the Saras vati, then a more important stream
than now, the main body, however, still remaining to the westward of
If, however, we may trust our chronology, we find them
2000 years before the Christian Era, in Ayodhya, and then in the
plenitude of their power.
It was about that time apparently that the

the Indus.

settled

event took place which formed the groundwork of the far more modern

poem known

as the

Ramayana.'

The pure Aryans,

uncontami-

still

nated by admixture with the blood of the natives, then seem to have
attained the height of their prosperity in India, and to have carried
their victorious arms,

it

may

be, as far south as Ceylon.

There

is,

however, no reason to suppose that they at that time formed any

permanent settlements in the Deccan, but

to

their

missionaries,

it was at all events opened

and by slow degrees imbibed that amount of

Brahmanism which eventually pervaded the

whole

Seven or eight hundred years after that time, or

before B.C.

it

the

of

may

south.

be about or

1200, took place those events which form the theme of

the more ancient epic

known

up an entirely new view

that poem were Aryans at

of

as

the

Indian

all,

'

which opens

Mahabharata,'

social

life.

they were of a

If

much

the heroes of
less

pure type

than those who composed the songs of the Vedas, or are depicted in
the verses of the

'

Eamayana.'

Their polyandry, their drinking bouts,

of fighting, mark them as a very

from the peaceful shepherd immigrants of the earlier
age, and point much more distinctly towards a Tartar, trans-Himalayan origin, than to the cradle of the Aryan stock in Central Asia.

their

gambling

tastes,

and love

different, race

As

if

to

mark

the difference of which they themselves

felt

the existence,

they distinguished themselves, by name, as belonging to a Lunar race,

HISTORY OF INDIAN AKCHITECTUliE.

10

from, and generally antagonistic

distinct

was the proud distinction

of the purer

to,

and

Solar

the

race,

Aryan

earlier

Avhich

settlers in

India.

Five or

six

hundred years

700, we again
The Aryans no longer
and neither the Solar nor the Lunar
The Brahmans have become a priestly

after this, or about B.C.

find a totally different state of affairs in India.

exist as a separate nationality,

race are the rulers of the earth.

and share the power with the Kshatriyas, a race of far less purity
The Yaisyas, as merchants and husbandmen, have become
a power, and even the Sudras are acknowledged as a part of the body
and, though not mentioned in the Scriptures, the Nagas, or
politic
caste,

of descent.

Snake people, had become a most

They

mentioned in the

are first

'

influential part

the population.

of

Mahabharata,' where they play a most

important part in causing the death of Parikshit, which led to the

great sacrifice for the destruction of the
practically closes the

were not, as

it

Nagas by Janemajaya, which

Destroyed, however, they

the time.

history of

was under a Naga dynasty that ascended the throne

Magadha, in G91, that Buddha was born,

of

B.C.

623, and the

Nagas

were the people whose conversion placed Buddhism on a secure basis

in India,

and

led to its ultimate adoption

by Asoka

(b.c.

250) as the

religion of the State.

Although Buddhism was

and consequently

race,

taught by a prince of the Solar

first

purely Aryan blood, and though

of

its

first

had as little affinity with the religion of

the Yedas as Christianity had with the Pentateuch, and its fate was
The one religion was taught by one of Jewish extraction
the same.
but it was ultimately rejected by
to the Jews and for the Jews
them, and adopted by the Gentiles, who had no affinity of race or
religion with the inhabitants of Judsea.
Though meant originally, no
doubt, for Aryans, the Buddhist religion was ultimately rejected by
disciples were

Brahmans,

it

the Brahmans,

by

who were consequently

thousand years

for nearly a

it

thom and

their religion

till

utterly eclipsed

and we hear

and superseded

little

or nothing of

they reappeared at the court of the great

Yicramaditya (490-530), when their religion began to assume that

strange shape which
it is

it

now

still

retains in India.

as unlike the pure religion of the

one religion being to another

of the

'

Mahabharata

'

Yedas

In

its

new form

as it is possible to conceive

unlike that, also, of the older portions

but a confused mess of local superstitions and

imported myths, covering up and hiding the Yedantic and Buddhist

doctrines,

ever

it

which may sometimes be detected as underlying

be, however, it

of a purely

Turanian people, because

All this has been so fully gone into

by me

in

my work on

'

"What-

it.

cannot be the religion of an Aryan, or even

Tree and Serpent

it

was invented by and

Worship,' pp. 63, et seqq., that

be necessary to repeat it here.

it

for as

will not

INTRODUCTION.
mixed a population
country

II

as probably were ever gathered together into one

people whose feelings and superstitions

it

only too truly

represents.

Dravidians.
Although, therefore, as was hinted above, there might be no great

main incidents and leading

difficulty in recovering all the

the history of the Aryans, from their

first

features of

entry into India

till

they

were entirely absorbed into the mass of the population some time
before the Christian Era, there could be no greater mistake than to
suppose that their history would fully represent the ancient history

The Dravidians

of the country.

are a people who, in historical times,

seem to have been probably as numerous

as the pure Aryans, and at the

day form one-fifth of the whole population of India.
As
Turanians, which they seem certainly to be, they belong, it is true, to a
lower intellectual status than the Aryans, but they have preserved their

present

nationality pure
history, so they

and unmixed, and, such

Their settlement in India extends

we cannot

times, that

immigrants,
scale,

as they were at the

feel

of

or, at least,

to

such remote

pre-historic

even sure that we should regard them as

as either conquerors or colonists

on a large

but rather as aboriginal in the sense in which that term

understood.

dawn

seem to be now.

Generally

it is

usually

is

assumed that they entered India across the

Lower Indus, leaving the cognate Brahui

in Belochistan as a

mark

of

the road by which they came, and, as the affinities of their language

Ugrians and northern Turanian tongues, this view

But they have certainly left no trace of their migrations anywhere between the Indus and the Nerbudda, and all the facts
of their history, so far as they are known, would seem to lead to an
opposite conclusion.
The hypothesis that would represent what we
know of their history most correctly would place their original seat in
the extreme south, somewhere probably not far from Madura or Tanjore,
and thence spreading fan-like tow^ards the north, till they met the
Aryans on the Vindhya Mountains. The question, again, is not of

seem

to be with the

seems probable. ^

much importance

for our present purposes, as they do not

seem to have

reached that degree of civilisation at any period anterior to the Christian

Era which would enable them

life

to practise

any

of the arts of civilised

with success, so as to bring them within the scope of a work devoted

to the history of art.

It

may

be that at some future period, when we

know more

of the

ancient arts of these Dravidians than we now do, and have become
familiar with the remains of the Accadians or early Turanian in-

'

Dr. Ciildwell, the author of the

trustworthy advocate of this view.

'

Dravidiau Grammar,'

is

the greatest

and most

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

12

we may

habitants of Babylonia,

indications are

much

however, one thing seems tolerably

it

At

of history.

too hazy to be at

India in historical times,

which may throw some

detect affinities

on this very obscure part

light

all relied

If the

clear.

present, how^ever, the

upon.

Geographically,

Dravidians came into

was not from Central Asia that they

migrated, but from Babylonia, or some such southern region of the

Asiatic continent.

Dasyus.
In addition to these two great distinct and opposite nationalities,
there

India a third, which, in pre-Buddhist times, was as

in

exists

numerous, perhaps even more

but of whose history we

than either the Aryans or Dravidians,

so,

know even

less

than we do of the two others.

Ethnologists have not yet been even able to agree on a

which to
that

is

call

them.

name by

have suggested Dasyus,^ a slave people, as

name by which the Aryans designated them when they

first entrance into India, and subjected them
Whoever they were, they seem to have been a people
sway.

the

found them there on their

to their

of a very inferior intellectual capacity to either the

vidians,

and

it

is

by no means

Aryans or Dra-

clear that they could ever of

them-

have risen to such a status as either to form a great community

selves

capable of governing themselves, and consequently having a history,^

must always have remained in the low and barbarous

which we now find some of their branches. When the
Aryans first entered India they seem to have found them occupying
the whole valley of the Ganges the whole country in fact between
the Yindhya and the Himalayan Mountains.^ At present they are only
or whether they

position in

found in anything
that

great

plain.

like purity in the mountain ranges that bound

There they are known as Bhils, Coles, Sontals,

Nagas, and other mountains

tribes.

But they

certainly

form the lowest

underlying stratum of the population over the whole of the Gangetic

plain.*

'

So far as their

affinities

have been ascertained, they are with

Tree and Serpent Worship,' pp. 244-

247.
^

In Arrian there

is

a curious passage

which seems certainly to refer to this

people. " During the space," he says, " of
6042 years in which the 153 monarch
reigned, the Indians had the liberty of
being governed by their own laws only
twice, once for about 200 years, and after
that for about 120 years."

'Indica,'

cli.

The Puranas, as may be supposed,

do not help us to identify these two periods.

ix.

cannot help

fancying that they

occupied some part of southern India, and

even Ceylon, before the arrival of the
Dravidians. It seems difficult otherwise
to account for the connection between

Behar and Ceylon in early

ages,

and the

spread of Buddhism in that island leaping

over the countries which had been Dravidianised.
*

I cannot help

Gonds

suspecting that the

also belong to this northern race.

It is true

they speak a language closely

Tamil but language, though

allied to the

invaluable as a guide,

is

nearly useless as

INTRODUCTION.

13

trans-Himalayan population, and it either is that they entered

India through the passes of that great mountain range, or it might
be more correct to say that the Thibetans are a fragment of a great

the

population that occupied both the northern and southern slope of that
great chain of hills at some very remote pre-historic time.

Whoever they were, they were the people who, in remote times,
were apparently the worshippers of Trees and Serpents
but what
interests us more in them, and makes the inquiry into their history
;

more

desirable, is that they were the people

in India,

and they, or

now, adhered, or

historic times, as

No

who

first

adopted Buddhism

their congeners, are the only people

still

adhere

to,

who, in

that form of faith.

purely Aryan people ever were, or ever could be, Buddhist, nor, so

far as I

know, were any Dravidian community ever converted to that

faith.

But

Bengal,

in

Ceylon,

in

China, wherever a Thibetan people

Thibet,

in

exists, or

Burmah, Siam, and

a people allied to them,

Buddhism flourished and now prevails.

Dra vidians resisted it in the south, and a revival

there

it

of

But in India the

Aryanism abolished

in the north.

Architecturally, there is no difficulty in defining the limits of the

Dasyu province

wherever a square tower-like temple exists with a

perpendicular base, but a curvilinear outline above, such as that shown

we may feel certain of the

Dasyu extraction, retaining
ratio to the number of these

in the woodcut on the following page, there

existence, past or present, of a people of

their purity very nearly in the direct

Were it not consequently for the diffinew names and obtaining acceptance to what is

temples found in the district.

culty of introducing

the proper names

unfamiliar,

India would be Dasyu

which

have

felt

or of

for

the

instead

of

constrained to adopt.

Aryans of introducing
all,

style,

this

style

prevailing

in

northern

Indo-Aryan or Dasyu-Aryan
No one can accuse the pure

form in India, or

of building temples at

worshipping images of Siva or Vishnu, with which these

and they consequently have little title to confer

The Aryans had, however, become so impure
in blood before these temples were erected, and were so mixed up
with the Dasyus, and had so influenced their religion and the arts,
that it may be better to retain a name which sounds familiar, and does
not too sharply prejudge the question. Be this as it may, one thing
seems tolerably clear, that the regions occupied by the Aryans in
temples are
their

filled,

name on

the style.

India were conterminous with those of the Dasyus,

test of affinity.

their

language on

alities of Italy,

The Romans imposed

all

the diverse nation-

France, and Spain. We

tlie Cornish, and

have imposed ours on

are fast teaching the Irish, Welsh, and

Highlanders of Scotland

to

abandon

their

or, in

other words,

tongue for ours, and the process is rapidly

going on elsewhere. The manners and

customs of the Goods are all similar to

those of the Coles or Khonds, though,
it is true, they speak a Dravidian tongue.

HISTORY OF INDIAN AECHITECTURE.

14

Aryans conquered

the

that

who occupied

tribes

them

to such

their

arts,

So

much

whole of

the

plains

the

aboriginal

native

or

northern India, and ruled

of

over

an extent as materially to influence their religion and

and
so,

the

also

very materially to modify even their language.

indeed, that after

some four or five thousand years of

if we have some difficulty in

domination we should not be surprised

recovering traces of the original population, and could probably not

do

some fragments

so, if

hills

of the people

had not sought refuge in the

on the north and south of the great Gangetic plain, and there have

remained

fossilised, or at least sufficiently

permanent for purposes of

investigation.

Hindu Temple,

SisuNAGA Dynasty,
Leaving

these,

Baiicorah.

b.c.

691 to 325.

which must, for the present at

least,

be considered

we tread on surer ground when we

approach the period when Buddha was born, and devoted his life to
There seems very little reason
rescue man from sin and suffering.
for doubting that he was born in the year 623, in the reign of Bimbasara, the fifth king of this dynasty, and died B.C. 543, at the age of
as practically pre-historic times,

New

eighty years, in the eighth year of Ajattasatru, the eighth king.

sources
times,

of

that

to

recover

of

that

information are opening out so rapidly regarding these

there

period,

seems

perfectly

and

as

customs of those days.

little

doubt we shall before long be

authentic
perfect
It

is

account
picture

of
of

the
the

political

able

events

manners and the

too true, however, that those

who wrote

INTRODUCTION.
Buddha

the bioo-raphy of
narrative of his
to separate the

life

15

in subsequent ag^es so overlaid the simple

with fables and absurdities, that

wheat from the chaff

it is

noAv difficult

but we have sculptures extendino-

back to within three centuries of his death, at which time we may

assume that a purer tradition and correcter version of the Scrip-

fairly

must have

tures

From what

prevailed.

hope to creep even further back than

illustrations

which

to

place

will enable us to

among

it

the

may

and eventually to find early

exercise so sound a criticism on the

books as to enable us to restore the

as

has recently occurred, we

this,

Buddha

life of

authentic

records

to such

the

of

an extent,

benefactors of

mankind.

Immense progress has been made during the last thirty or forty
in investigating the origin of Buddhism, and the propagation

years
of

its

doctrines

and in communicating the knowledge so

Much, however, remains to be done

in India,

gained to the public in Europe.

before the story

complete, and divested of

the absurdities which

and more must yet be
before the public can be rendered familiar with what is so
is

subsequent commentators have heaped upon

effected

essentially novel to them.

all

it

the leading events in the

Still,

of the

life

founder of the religion are simple, and sufficiently well ascertained for
all

practical purposes.^

of

kings,

The founder
known

was one

this religion

of

as the Solar dynasties,

of the

last

of a long

line

who, from a period shortly

subsequent to the advent of the Aryans into India, had held para-

mount sway
century

B.C.

in

Ayodhya

purely Aryan blood,

seat of

the

were

they

modern Oude.

known

About the 12th

by another race

superseded

the Lunar race,

as

who

this,

the

descendants of

lineal

less

transferred

power to capitals situated in the northern parts

In consequence of

or 18th

much

of

the

of the

Doab.

Solar

kings

the

were reduced to a petty principality at the foot of the Himalayas,

where Sakya Muni was born about 628

For twenty-nine years

B.C.

he enjoyed the pleasures, and folloAved the occupations, usual

men

of

his

rank and position

impressed by the misery incident to

to devote the rest of his life to

the

to

but at that age, becoming painfully

human

existence, he determined

an attempt to

alleviate

For

it.

this

purpose he forsook his parents and wife, abandoned friends and

all

the advantages of his position, and, for the following fifty-one years,

devoted himself steadily to the task he had set before himself.

were spent in the meditation and mortification necessary to

*

The most

pleasing of the histories

of Buddlia, written wholly from a Euro-

pean point of view,

St.

Hilaire, Paris.

is

that of Bartlielemy

Of those

partially

partly European, are those of

Bishop Bigandet, from the Burmese le-

native,

gends, and

the

'

fit

Years
himself

Romantic History

of

Buddha,' translated from the Chinese

by the Rev. S. Beal. The Latita Vistara,' translated by Foucaud, is more
modern than these, and consequently
'

niore fabulous

and absurd.

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

16

for his mission

from

life was devoted to wandering

and preaching, and doing everything that
to disseminate the doctrines which he

the rest of his long

city to city, teaching

means could

gentle

effect

believed were to regenerate the world, and take the sting out of

human

misery.

He

died, or, in the phraseology of his followers, obtained

was absorbed into the deity

80th year of his age, 543 years

With

was born

B.C.

now

is

accumulating around the

fast

at a time

when

so deteriorated

it

Aryan

the purity of the

why

understanding

in

difficulty

Sakya Muni was so successful as

mission of

become

no great

seems

at Kusinara, in northern Behar, in the

the information that

there

subject,

Nirvana

proved to be.
races in India

the

He
had

by the constant influx of less pure tribes from

and consequently their influence,

the north and west, that their power,

was

fast fading

races

away.

At that

time, too,

had, from long familiarity with the

seems that the native

it

Aryans, acquired such a

degree of civilisation as led them to desire something like equality

with their masters, who were probably always in a numerical minority

in

most parts

the abolition of caste,

or degree,

In such a condition of

valley of the Ganges.

of the

things the preacher was sure of

a willing audience

and taught that

had an equal chance

all

men,

who proclaimed

of whatever nation

and ultimately

of reaching happiness,

heaven, by the practice of virtue, and by that only.

the

Turanian Dasyus

hailed

him

The

subject

and

it was
by them that the religion was adopted and proclaimed, and that of the
Aryan Brahmans was for a time obliterated, or at least overshadowed

races

and obscured.
It is by no means

how

clear

far

as a deliverer,

Buddha was

successful in convert-

At

ing the multitude to his doctrines during his lifetime.

synod was held at Rajagriha, and

his death,

hundred monks of a
superior order, it is said, were assembled there on that occasion, ^ and
But the accounts
if so they must have represented a great multitude.
the

first

five

and of the second convocation, held 100 years afterwards

at Yaisali, on the Gunduck, have not yet had the full light of recent
Indeed the whole annals
investigation brought to bear upon them.
of

this,

of

the

Naga

accession

of

dynasty, from the death of Buddha, B.C. 543, to the

Chandragupta 325, are about the least satisfactory of

the period.

Those of Ceylon were purposely

carry back the landing of Yyjya, the

first

falsified

in

order

to

conqueror from Kalinga,

to a period coincident with the date of Buddha's death, while a period

There may possibly be an error of

but, on

forty to sixty years in this date

the whole, that here given is supported

by the greatest amount of concurrent testi-

mony, and may,

after

all,

prove to ha

minutely correct.
2

'

Foe Koue

wanso,'

V. p.

20

Ki,' xxv. ch. 11

;

Maha-

'Journal of Ihe Asiatic

Society of Bengal,' vol.

vi.

527.


INTRODUCTION.
apparently of sixty years

at

17

between the two events.

elapsed

least

We have
and sculptures

All this may, however, be safely left to future explorers.

annals and coins,^ and we

may

recover

belonging to this period, and, though

it

inscriptions

most improbable we

is

shall

recover any architectural remains, there are evidently materials existing

which, when utilised,

The kings
low

caste,

may

suffice for the purpose.

seem to have been considered

of* this dynasty

and

w^re

consequently,

not,

as of a

favour either with the

in

Brahman or, at that time, with the Buddhist and no events which
seem to have been thought worthy of being remembered, except the
second convocation, are recorded as happening in their reigns, after
;

the death of the great Ascetic

in such annals as

we

or,

Maurya Dynasty,
The

was widely

case

known,

325 to 188.

b.c.

different with

was certainly one of the most

best

brilliant,

the

and

Maurya dynasty, which

is

fortunately one of the

The

of the ancient dynasties of India.

Chandragupta, the Sandrocottus of the Greeks, to

was sent

first

whom

king was

Megasthenes

ambassador by Seleucus, the successor of Alexander in

as

the western parts of his Asiatic empire.

now

being recorded

at all events, of

possess.

unfortunately lost

that

the

from

It is

Greeks

acquired

his narrative

almost

all

the

The country was

but the Maurya residing

knowledge they possessed of India at that period.

then divided into 120 smaller principalities,
in Palibothra

the

mount sway over

modern Patna

the whole.

grandson, the great Asoka

to

its

highest

known

It

(b.c.

seems

to have exercised

was not, however,

272 to 236), who raised

Though

pitch of prosperity and power.

to the Greeks,

we have from native

para-

this king, but his

sources a

this dynasty

utterly un-

more complete

picture of the incidents of his reign than of any ancient sovereign of

The

India.

was

great event that

made him famous

his conversion to that faith,

One

coin at least of the period

known.

It

Kunanda

or

belongs

to

is

well

a king called

Krananda, generally assumed

to be one of the nine

Nandas with whom

In the centre, on
one side, is a Dagoba with the nsual
Buddhist Trisul emblem over it, and a
serpent below it on the right the Sacred

this dynasty closed.

and the

zeal

in Buddhist history

he showed in propa-

Tree, on the left a Swastica with an altar?

on the other side a lady with a lotus (Sri ?)
witli an animal usually called a deer, but
from its tail more probably a horse, with
two serpents standing on their tails over
its head, which have been mistaken for
Over the animal is an altar, with
horns.
an umbrella over it. In fact, a complete
epitome of emblems known on the monu-

ments of the period, but savouring much

more of Tree and Serpent worship than
-lourof Buddhism, as it is now known.
'

nal of the Koyal Asiatic Society,' vol.

(N.S.)

p.

447,

et seqq.

i.

HISTORY OF INDIAN AECHITECTURE.

18

He did, in fact, for Buddhism,

what Constantine did for Christianity, and at about the same
distance of time from the death of the founder of the faith.
From

gating the doctrines of his new religion.

exactly

a struggling sect he

made

on the basis on which

it

the religion of the State, and established

supreme for nearly 1000 years.

lasted

it

order to render his subjects familiar w^ith the doctrines

faith,

he caused a series of edicts embodying them to be engraved on

rocks near Peshaivur, in Gujerat, in the valley of the

Dhoon under

He

Himalayas, in Cuttack, and in several intermediate places.

the third and greatest convocation of

Patna, and, on
the

new

his

of

it

In

its dissolution,

Yavana country, whose

the faithful in his capital at

sent missionaries to spread the faith in

capital

was Alexandria, near the present

Others were despatched to Kashmir and Gandhara

Cabul.

city of

the
held

one was sent to the HimaAvanta

possibly

part

of

Thibet

country,

and

to

three

valleys of

the

Himalaya, and

were despatched to the Maharatta

others

other places

which have not yet been

in

Central and Western

Two

identified with certainty.

India

missionaries

Souverna Bhumi, a place now known as Thatun

were sent to the

on the Sitang

the

river, in

deputed to Ceylon.^

Pegu, and his own son and daughter were

All

those

countries, in

fact,

which might be

which were inhabited by races who might in any

way be supposed to be allied to the Dasyus of Bengal, were then
sought to be converted to the faith. He also formed alliances with

called foreign, but

Antiochus the Great, Antigonus, and with Ptolemy Philadelphus, and

Magas

and the protection

More than all this, he built

of Cyrene, for the establishment of hospitals

of his co-religionists in their countries.

innumerable topes and monasteries

none of

those

now

existing

all

over the country

and, though

can positively be identified

as

those

by him, there seems no reason whatever for doubting that

the sculptured rails at Buddh Gaya and Bharhut, the caves at Bharabar in Behar, some of those at Udyagiri in Cuttack, and the oldest
of those in the Western Ghats were all erected or excavated during
actually built

the existence

this dynasty,

of

inscriptions and

coins,

and such

if

not by

him

himself.

histories as exist,

These, with

make up

a mass of

materials for a picture of India during this dynasty such as no other

can present

and, above

all,

they offer a complete representation of the

forms and beliefs of the kings and people, which render any
It was Buddhism, but without
mistake regarding them impossible.
a personal Buddha, and with Tree and Serpent worship cropping up
religious

in every unexpected corner.

There

is

certainly

no dynasty in the whole range of ancient Indian

'
All these particulars, it need hardly
be said, are taken from the 12th and

15th chapters of the

'

Mahawanso,' con-

firmed by the inscriptions themselves and

the relics found at Sanchi, to
reference will be

made

all

hereafter.

which

INTKODUCTION.

19

history that would better repay the labour of an exhaustive investigation than that of these Maurya kings.
Not only were they the
in historical times who, so far as we know, united the whole of
India into one great kingdom, but they were practically the first who

first

came in contact with European civilisation and Western politics.

More than even this, it is probably owing to the action of the third
king of this dynasty that Buddhism, from being the religion of an
obscure sect, became, at one time, the faith of a third of the

human

and has influenced the belief and the moral feelings of a greater
number of men than any other religion that can be named.
Fortunately, the materials for such a monograph as is required
are abundant, and every day is adding to them.
It is to this dynasty,
and to it only, that must be applied all those passages in classical

race,

authors which describe the internal state of India, and they are neither

Though

few nor insignificant.

Mudra

Hindus

the

themselves

have contributed much history, they have given

to

said

Rakshasa,'

that

placed

their

own

the

cannot be
us, in the

a poetical version of the causes of the revolution

Mauryas on the throne.

inscriptions give us dates,

But, putting these aside,

and a

perfectly authentic con-

temporary account of the religious faith and feelings of the period

while the numerous bas-reliefs of the rails at

Buddh Gaya and Bharhut

and costumes of the day,

and a gauge by which we can measure their artistic status and judge
how far their art was indigenous, how far influenced by foreign

afford a picture of the manners, customs,

elements.

The

dates of the kings of this dynasty are also perfectly

known,^ and the whole framework of their history depends so

completely on contemporary native monuments, that there need be no
well

real uncertainty

the subject

regarding any of the outlines of the picture when once

is fairly

grasped and thoroughly handled.

It is the firmest standpoint

civilisation

and

we have from which

to judge of Indian

history, whether looking to the past or to the future,

and it is one that gives a very high idea of the position at which the
Hindus had arrived before they came practically into contact with the
civilisation of the West.

SuNGA Dynasty,

b.c.

Kanwa Dynasty,
History affords us

little

Wilson's 'Hindu Drama,' vol.

Lassen,

xii.

edition 1871.

it is

70 to 81.

beyond the dates

next two dynasties, but there seems

p. 151, et seqq.,

188 to 76.

b.c.

true, brings these dates

down by ten years below where I have

placed it. But he overlotks the fact that

of the kings' reigns for the

no reason to doubt the general

according to

liis

hypothesis

sixteentli year of his reign,

Magas

A soka,

in the

would claim

as his ally ten or twelve years after

his death,

which

is

improbable,

C 2

HISTOKY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

20

with which these are

con'ectness

we

degTees

recorded in

and

are collecting inscriptions

we may hope

belongs to their time, so that

has hitherto appeared only a dry

to breathe

into

life

what

Such inscriptions

names.

of

list

Pumnas, and by

the

finding* caves that certainly

bear their names have yet only been discovered on the western

as

caves at Karli, Nassick, and similar places, but there seems no reason

doubting that they reigned also in Magadha, and,

for

we may look

Orissa, so that

so,

over

for further information regarding

them

on the eastern as well as on the western side

if

These

India.

of

were not, however, apparently known to the Greeks, and,

dynasties

being Buddhist, are passed over in comparative silence in the Puranas.

It is thus only

their history.

them

are few

from

Up
and

monuments

their

to recover

to the present time, those identified as belonging to

have not yet been systematically

far between, but they

searched for, and

we can hope

that

till

this

is

done there

no reason

is

to.

despair of

ultimate success.

Andea Dynasty,
The dynasty
Mauryas

that succeeded to these Rois faineants

the most important

To

history.

31 to a.d. 420.

b.c.

is

after the

of all those about this period of

known

the classical authors they are

Indian

as the Andrse, in

the Puranas as Andrabrityas, and in the inscriptions as Satakaniis or

but under whatever name, notwithstanding occasional

Satavahanas

periods

depression,

of

history of India, during-

they have been very

no

behind

coins

they played a most important part in. the

more than four centuries and a half. Latterly

much

principally, that precision

the period.

The

overlooked in consequence of their leaving

them, while

native

Central

India,

consequently no

place

they have, however,

left

researches,

of the history of

practically intro-

came across the Indus as strangers

they had learnt from the Bactrians, or

succeeded them in the north-west.

dynasty of

and have

numismatic

much
however, who

limits, all

bringing with them an art

who

from

is

dynasties in India,

duced coinage within her

those

it

has been given to

no

had

these

in

many and most

The Andras, being a

coinage

of

importance,

numismatic researches

interesting

inscriptions

in

many

parts

Architecturally, their histoiy begins with the gateways of the

Tope

the western caves, and traces of their existence occur in

of India.

at Sanchi

the southern or oldest of these was almost certainly erected

during the reign of the

1st century

while

first

Satakarni in the

three in the course of that century.

the rail

at

first

Christ Avas teaching at Jerusalem

It

quarter of the

and

the other

ends with the completion of

Amravati, which with aUnost

ecpuil

certainty was

com-

INTKODUCTION.
menced in the

21

quarter of the 4th century, and completed about

fii-st

A.D. 450.1

Between these two monuments there is no great difficulty in filling

up the architectural picture from the caves, at Nassick and Ajunta,
and other places in western India, and more materials will no doubt
eventually be discovered.

The

more than usually

this dynasty is

history of

interesting for

embraces nearly the whole period during which

Buddhism reigned almost supreme in India. It became the state reour purposes, as

it

ligion, it is true,

two centuries

under Asoka, but there

earlier

reason for believing that the Yedic religion or

During the

immediately.

first

is

no

Brahmanism vanished

four centuries, however, of the Christian

Hindu building or cave,

seems that Buddhism at

Era we have not a trace

of a

and, so far as any

material evidence goes,

it

the time was the

It cannot, of course, be supposed that the

religion of the land.

was wholly

faith

obliterated, but

it

certainly

Hindu

was dormant, and in

abeyance, and, to use a Buddhist expression, the yellow robes shone

over the length and breadth of the land.

It

was during the reign

of these Andras,

though not by them, that

the fourth convocation was held by Kanishka, in the north of India,

and

the

new

change

doctrine,

similar

to

Mahayana, introduced by Nagarjuna

that made by Gregory the Great when he
the

established the Church, as opposed to the primitive forms of Christianity, at

about the same distance of time from the death of the

My

founder of the religion.

impression

held in the last quarter of the

Certain at least
first

it is,

practically

that

it

introduced

first

is,

that this convocation was

century of our era, probably 79.

was about that time that Buddhism was

into China, Thibet, and Burmah, and

apparently by missionaries sent out from this as they were from the
third convocation.
It

was towards the end

visited India (a.d. 400).

As

of the reign of the

Andras that Fa Hian

his objects in doing so were entirely of a

religious nature, he does not allude to worldly politics, nor give us a

king's

name we can

narrative

concerned,
true,

identify

but the picture we gather from his

one of peace and prosperity in so far as the country

is

and

mentioned

of

supremacy for his

occasionally,

Buddhism was then

but

religion.

they are

Heretics

few and

are,

far

it

is
is

between.

certainly the religion of the north, especially in

the north-west of India

but even then there were symptoms of a change,

in the central provinces and outlying parts of the country.

For complete

details

of these

two

ship,' whicli is practically

devoted to a

monuments

and- the dates, the reader

referred to

my

'

is

Tree and Serpent Wor-

'

detcription of these two

monuments,

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

22

Guptas, 819 to 465.

Ballabhis, 465 TO 712 (?).

At the time when Fa Hian was visiting the sacred places in India,
Andra dynasty w^as passing away. It had culminated with Gautamiputra (312 to 333), and they were fast sinking into
a second-class position among Indian princes.
The dynasty that superseded them was that of the Guptas, who, at the end of the fourth

the power of the

century of our era, seem to have attained

to the position of lords

paramount in northern India. They date their inscriptions, which

are numerous and interesting, from an era established by the Andra
king Gautamiputra, four cycles of 60 years each, or 240 years after the
Saka era of a.d. 79, or in 319

but

it

was not apparently

till

under the

third king, Samudra, about 380, that they really obtained the empire
of northern India,

which they retained

about the year 465, or

It is

germs

it

may

be a

till

the death of Skandagupta,

little later.

during their reign that we

first

perceive in high places the

change which was gradually creeping over the religious

of that

That the Guptas were patrons of Buddhism is evident

Chandragupta II. made to the tope at Sanchi in the
year 400, and recorded on the rail of that Monument, but their other
inscriptions, on the lats at Allahabad and Bhitari, show a decided
tendency towards Hinduism, but a class of Hinduism which was still

system of India.

from the

far

gifts

removed from the wild extravagances

little

There seems

of the Puranas.

doubt that the boar at Erun, and the buildings there, belong to

this dynasty,

and

are consequently

among

oldest temples in India, dedicated to the

raising its head in defiance to

From

their coins

and

the earliest

new

not the very

if

which was then

religion,

Buddhism.

inscriptions,

we may

feel

certain that the

Guptas possessed when in the plenitude of their power the whole of

northern India with the province of Gujerat, but
of

Samudra Gupta on the Allahabad

clear.

pillar

how

were justified

If that inscription is to be believed, the

far the boasts

is

by no means

whole of the southern

country as far as Ceylon, together with Assam and Nepal, were subject

However

to their sway.

of short duration.

brilliant it

Gujerat and

all

may have

been, their power was

the western provinces were wrested

from them by the Ballabhis, about the year 465, and a new kingdom
then founded by a dynasty bearing that name, which lasted till the
great catastrophe, wliich about tw^o and a half centuries after Avards
revolutionised India.

Ujjain Dynasty.
Although

it

was becoming evident in the time of the Guptas that

a change was creeping over the religious belief of India,

it

was not

INTRODUCTIOX.

23

then that the blow was struck which eventually proved

fatal, l)ut by
Being Hindus,
authentic about their history than about the

a dynasty which succeeded

we know

that

less

is

them

in Central India.

Buddhist dynasties, who lived to inscribe their names on rocks and in

but there seems very little doubt that the great Vicramaditya
caves
reigned in Malwa from 495 to 530, though the Hindus, in order to
;

connect his

have done

name with an

era they thought

Notwithstanding

period.

fit

to establish 56 years B.C.,

they can to mystify and obscure the chronology of the

all

this,

it

seems

perfectly

this time there reigned in central India a

clear

about

that

king who, by his

liberality

and magnificence, acquired a renown among the Hindus, only second

by Solomon among the Jews. By his patronage of
literature and his encouragement of art, his fame spread over the
length and breadth of the land, and to this day his name is quoted
as the symbol of all that is great and magnificent in India.
What is
more to our present purpose, he was an undoubted patron of the
to that obtained

Brahmanical
tradition

religion,

worshipper of

his

associates

name

connected with Buddhism.

directly

and Vishnu, and

Siva
or

indirectly

no

with anything

Unfortunately we have no buildings which

But the main

can be attributed to him, and no inscriptions.

fact of

a Brahmanical king reigning and acquiring such influence in Central

India at that time

is

only too significant of the declining position of the

Buddhist religion at that period.

His successor,' Siladitya, seems to have returned to the old faith,

and during his long reign of sixty years to have adhered to the Buddhist
doctrines.

In the beginning of the next century, after a short period of anarchy,

we find a second Siladitya seated on the throne of Canouge as lord

paramount in India, and, during a prosperous reign of thirty-eight to
forty years, exercising supreme

sway in that country.

It

was during

Hiouen Thsang visited India, and

gave a much more full and graphic account of what he saw than his
predecessor Fa Hian.
Nothing can be more characteristic of the state
his reign that the Chinese pilgrim,

of religious feeling,
fete given

of

by

this

Ballabhi and

and the

Kamarupa (Assam) were

himself a Buddhist, the

among

then prevailing, than the

spirit of toleration

king at Allahabad in the year 643, at which the kings

first

present.

The king being

days were devoted to the distribution,

the followers of that religion, of the treasures accumulated during

the previous five years, but then

came the turn

were treated with equal honour and liberality

of the other sects,

among whom

of the

Brahmans, who

then followed the fete

the Jains appear conspicuous.

All

were feasted and feted, and sent away laden with gifts and mementos of
the magnificence and liberality of the great king.

Pleasant as this picture

state of affairs

is

to look upon, it is evident that such a

could hardly be stable, and

it

was in vain to expect

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

24

that peace 'could long be maintained between a rising and ambitious

and one which was

sect,

fast sinking into

the load of an overgrown priesthood.

decay

apparently beneath

Accordingly we find that ten

years after the death of Siladitya troubles supervened as prophesied,^

and the curtain soon descends on the great drama

of the history of

northern India, not to be raised again for nearly three centuries.

is true,

we can

still

time longer, and

it

follow the history of the Ballabhis for some

would be satisfactory

their destruction with precision, as it

mind

if

we could

fix

It

little

the date of

was the event which in the Hindu

If it was destroyed
must have been by the Moslem, either before or
during the time Mohammed Kasim, a.h. 712, 713. It was a flourishing city in 640, when visited by Hiouen Thsang, and from that time,
till the death of Kasim, the Moslems were in such power on the Indus,
and their historians tell us the events of these years in such detail,
that no other foreigner could have crossed the river during that period.
If it perished by some internal revolution of convulsion, which is more

considered the closing act of the drama.

is

by a foreign enemy,

probable,

only shared the fate that overtook

it

power during the Khalifat

their

all

northern India about

Strange to say, even the Moslems, then in the plenitude

this period.

of

it

Indian conquests, as

if

of

Bagdad, retired from their

the seething cauldron were too hot for even

them

to exist within its limits.

The more southern dynasty

Chalukyas of Kalyan seem to

of the

have retained their power down to about 750, and may, up to that
time, have exercised a partial sway to the north of the Nerbudda, but

we

after that

lose

all

sight of

them

while, as a closing act in the

King of Kashmir
from north to south, and subjecting

great drama, the Raja Tarangini represents the

Lalitaditya

the

all

five

as conquering India

kingdoms, into which

was nominally divided, to his

it

imperious sway.

We

need not stop now to inquire whether this was exactly what

happened or not.

It is sufficient for present purposes

to

know

that

about the middle of the 8th century a dark cloud settled over the
north of India, and that during the next two centuries she was torn
to pieces

by internal

which have left nothing but negative

During that period no event took place

troubles,

evidence of their existence.

of

which we have any record

to

be quoted even in the

no dynasty rose

lists

of

the

appears whose acts have been recorded

which we have a trace

'

p. 215.

translated

by Stanislas Julien.

to sufficient distinction
;

no

illustrious

name

no buildings were erected of

and but few inscriptions engraved.

Vic et Voyages de Hiouen Thsang,'

It need hardly be said that all
these particulars are taken from the three
volumes relating his Indian experiences,
*

i.

bard

Dark

^ This does not apply to Orissa, which,

from its remote situation, and having at
that time no resident Buddiiist population, setms to have escaped being drawn

into the vortex of these troubles.

INTRODUCTION.

25

night seems to have "settled over the land, and whether we shall ever be
able to penetrate into its mysteries seems more than doubtful.

When

light again appears in the middle of the 10th century the

Buddhism had practically disappeared

and west at least, though it still lingered on in Bengal,
and Jainism had supplanted it in most places but the mass of the
people had become followers of Yishnu or Siva.
New dynasties had
arisen which, though they try to trace their lineage back to the

scene

wonderfully changed.

is

in the north

when Ballabhi

troublous times

fell,

were new to Indian history.

Old

India had passed away, and the history of modern India was about
to

The

open.

old

had become

dynasties

races were gaily stepping forward

alas

engaged

be

to

in

life

extinct,

and the Eajput

to assume their places

too

soon,

death struggle with the most

or

implacable foe to their race and religion that India has ever known.
It

was a cruel Nemesis that their

by the

soon have been followed

and the

fatal

Moslem

Somnath in 1024,

at

invader, and changed the whole

But, as hinted

her subsequent career.

of

siege

on the banks of the Ghaghar in 1193, which practically

fight

laid India at the feet of the

course

victories over the Buddhists should

above,

appearance of the Moslem on the scene, our chronological

with the
difficulties

and the subject need not therefore be further pursued

cease,

in this

introduction.

Immigkations.

From

the above brief sketch of ancient Indian history

gathered that

with solid

it

is

flesh the skeleton of history

to the advent of

it

may

be

doubtful whether we shall ever be able to clothe

Buddha.

which

all

is

we

possess anterior

It is also possible that pious frauds

may

have so confused the sequence of events between his death and the
the

of

rise

Mauryas, that there will be great

difficulty in restoring

anything like completeness.

But for the thousand
years that elapsed between " the revenge of Chanakya " and the fall
that

of

period to

when

Ballabhi the materials are ample, and

applied to their elucidation there

is

little

sufficient industry is

doubt that the whole

may

made clear and intelligible. It does not fall within the scope of
this work to attempt such a task
but it is necessary to endeavour
to make its outlines clear, as, without this being done, what follows
be

will be utterly unintelligible

principal objects of this

which

on the

No
in

is

while, at the

work

is

same time, one

of

the

how the architecture,

may be brought to bear

to point out

one important branch of the evidence,

subject.

from events that occurred

phenomena of her history

direct evidence, however, derived only

India

itself,

clear, Avithout

would

suffice

to

make

the

taking into account the successive migrations of tribes

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

26

and peoples who, in all ages, so far as we know, poured across the Indus
from the westward to occupy her fertile plains.
As mentioned above, the great master fact that explains almost
all we know of the ancient history of India is our knowledge that
two or three thousand years before the birth of Christ a Sanscritspeaking nation migrated from the valleys of the Oxus and Jaxartes.

They crossed the Indus in such numbers as to impress their civilisation

and their language on the whole of the north of India, and this to
such an extent as practically to obliterate, as far as history
the original inhabitants of the valley of the

is

concerned,

Ganges, whoever they

may have been. At the time when this migration took place the
power and civilisation of Central Asia were concentrated on the lower
Euphrates, and the Babylonian empire never seems to have extended
across the

Carmanian

The

desert to the eastward.

road, consequently,

between Bactria and India was open, and nations might pass and
re-pass between the two countries without fear of interruption from any
other people.
If

any of the ancient dynasties

towards the East,

of

Babylonia extended their power

was along the coast

it

north-easterly direction.

It

is,

Gedrosia, and not in a

of

means improbable,

indeed, by no

as

may be found among

who occupied southern

hinted above, that the origin of the Dravidians

the Accadian or in some of the Turanian peoples

Babylonia in ancient times, and who may, either by sea or land, have
passed to the western shores of India.
tion

is

available, this

When

the

seat of

however, further informa-

mere speculation, though probably in the

is

direction in which truth

Till,

may

hereafter be found.

power was moved northward to Nineveh, the

Assyrians seem to have occupied the country eastward of the Caspian

to prevent

in sufficient force

that time

say

B.C.

tribe crossing the

1000

we

any further migration.

At

least,

after

have no further trace of any Aryan

Indus going eastward, and

been a consequence of this cutting

off of

it

seems mainly to have

the supply of fresh blood that

the purity of their race in India w^as so far weakened as to admit of

the Buddhist reform taking root, and being adopted to the extent

it

afterwards attained.

During the period

tainly occupied

the

of

the

countries

Achemaenian sway, the Persians

cer-

about the Oxus in sufficient strength

So essentially indeed
prevent any movement of the peoples.
had Bactria and Sogdiana become parts of the Persian empire, that
Alexander was obliged to turn aside from his direct route to conquer
them, as well as the rest of the kingdom of Darius, before advancing
to

on India.

Whether it were founded for that purpose or not, the little Greek
kingdom of Bactria was sufficiently powerful, while it lasted, to keep
the barbarians in check; but when about the year 127-12G B.C.,

INTRODUCTION.
the Yiiechi and

about 120

other cognate

27

invaded Sogdiana, and

tribes

finally

conquered the whole of Bactria,^ they opened a new

B.C.

chapter in the history of India, the effects of which are

felt

to the

present day.
It

how soon

not yet quite clear

is

after the

destruction of

the

Bactrian kingdom these Turanian tribes conquered Cabul, and occupied the country between that city and the

Indus.

Certain

it

is,

however, that they were firmly seated on the banks of that river
Christian Era, and

the

before

become

an

date

this

of

power

Indian
king

is,

very considerable

Generally,

it

supposed he reigned

is

about twenty to forty years after Christ.^

been brought to

lately

The

importance.

unfortunately, one of those small puzzles that

remain to be solved.

still

under the great king Kanishka had

of

light,

which seems

till

Evidence, however, has

to prove that he

was the

founder of the Saka era, a.d. 79, and that his reign must be placed
in the last quarter of the first century of our era, instead of in the
earlier half.^

Be this as it may, it seems quite certain that the power of these

Turuska kings spread over the whole Punjab, and extended as far
at

Muttra

as

least

Jumna,

on the

in

the

century of

first

the

Christian Era.

At the same time another

and

inscriptions

in

horde,

which they

crossed the Indus lower down,

to us only

themselves

whether the

from the coins

Sahs or Sah kings,

and occupied the whole

It is not quite clear

of Gujerat.

known

call

first

of the province

of them,

Nahapana,

was only the Viceroy of one of these northern kings ^probably of

Kanishka himself though he and his successors afterwards became

They seem

independent, and founded a kingdom of their own.

their

coins

and

series extends

inscriptions

from the Saka

from that date to

era,

a.d.

79,

to date

and the

a.d. 349, or at latest to 371.*

It

thus happens that though Gautamiputra, the Andra king (312-333),

boasts of having

by the

of

No

humbled them,^ they were only

in fact finally disposed

the Guptas.

rise of

other foreign race, so far as we know, seems to have crossed the

Lower Indus

But the whole external history of northern

Kanishka to that of Ahmed Shah Durani (1761)

into India.

India, from the time of

a narrative of a continuous succession of tribes of Scythian origin.

is

The

best

and most accepted accouut

of these events is found in Vivien

Martin's
^

'

de

Cunningham's Numismatic
'

175

Alterth.,'
^

the Asiatic Society.'

p. 24.

wrote a paper stating the evidence

Journal of

it

has only been

printed for private circulation,

*

'Journal

Koyal Asiatic

Bombay Branch

of

Sociely,' vol. viii. p. 28.

'

'

The evidence being,

however, incomplete,

Cliron.,'

'

ii.

in favour of this last view, which I in-

tended stiould appear in the

Les Huns hlancs,' Paris, 1849.

Journal of the Asiatic Society

of Bengal,' vii. 704; Lassen's, 'ludische
viii.

St,

Ibid., vol. v. p. 42.

the

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

28

pouring across the Upper Indua into India, each more Turanian than
the one that preceded it, till the whole culminated in the Mogul conquest of India, in the 15th century, by a people as distinct in blood

from the Aryans

Of the older

as

any that

races, it

exist.

seems probable that the Yavanas must be dis-

tinguished from the Turanians.

that

they were pure

It

mispronunciation of Ionian.

now be contended
name may be merely a

hardly

will

Greeks, though their

The term seems

to have been applied by

Indian authors to any foreign race coming from the westward who
did not belong to one of the acknowledged kingdoms

As such

it

known

to them.

would apply to any western adventurers, who during the

kingdom sought to establish settlements in

and would also apply to the expatriated Bactrians
themselves when driven from their homes by the Yuechi, 120 or 130
years B.C.
It is only in this sense that we can explain their presence in
Orissa before and about the Christian Era, but in the west the term
may have been more loosely applied. The Oambojas seem to have been
a people inhabiting the country between Candahar and Cabul, who, when
the tide was setting eastward, joined the crowd, and sought settlements
in the more fertile countries within the Indus.
existence of the Bactrian

any part

of India,

The Sakas were well known to classical authors as the Sacae, or

They pressed on with the rest, and became apparently

Scythians.

most formidable during the

was apparently their

It

battle

the

raised

on the banks

Kortir,

at

first

defeat

popularity

of

that

four centuries of the Christian Era.

by the
of

great

Yicramaditya in the

the Indus, a.d. 524 or 544, that

monarch

to

its

by

name 600

his

other name, Sri

years before his time,

and

highest pitch,

induced the Hindus at a subsequent age to institute the era

and another

called

known
by his

Harsha, 1000 years before the date of the battle

of Korur.^

Another important horde were the Ephthalites, or White Huns,

into India apparently in the 4th century, and one of whose

who came
kings,

if

we may

Cosmas Indicopleustes, was the head

trust

powerful state in northern India, about the year 535.

of

They, too,

seem to have been conquered about the same time by the Hindus, and,
as both the Sakas and Hunas were undoubtedly Buddhists, it may have
been their destruction that first weakened the cause of that religion,

and which

ultimate

to its

led

defeat a

little

more than a century

afterwards.

During the dark

passing the
^

Indus.

750 to 950, we do not know of any horde

The Mahomedans were probably too strong on

ages,

The argument on which

tions are

founded

is

these asser-

stated at length in the

privately printed pamphlet alluded to on

preceding page.

It is too

long to insert

here, but, if not published before this

is

work

complete, an abstract will be inserted in

the Appendix.

INTRODUCTION.

29

the frontier to admit of

they only

conducted

its being done, and after that age they

and
the various invasions which completely changed

the face and character of northern India.

For seven centuries they

were continued, with only occasional interruptions, and at

sulted

in

placing the

Mahomedan power

the whole of India, but only to

in

distinctly,

so

re-

to pieces like a house of cards,

fall

before the touch of Western civilisation.

and written so

last

supreme, practically, over

All this, however,

many

books, that

written,

is

need not be

it

recapitulated here.

Southern Inbta.
the records of the ancient history of northern India are un-

If

satisfactory

and untrustworthy, those

ancient

literature

like

which point to any

that

the

of

peninsula are at least ten times more

southern part

the

of

The Dravidians have no

the Yedas.
They have no traditions

of

so.

seat of their race out of India, or of their

having
migrated from any country with whose inhabitants they can claim
any kindred. So far as they know, they are indigenous and abori-

The utmost

ginal.

extent to which even their traditions extend

claim for their leading race of kings

Arjuna, one of the heroes of the

on his

travels,

the

Pandyas

Mahabharata.'

He,

that

stretch back

to

from

it is said,

when

married a princess of the land, and she gave birth to

the eponymous hero of their race, and hence their name.

indeed,

is

descent

they produce long

lists

the times of the Pandus.

till

It is true,

which they pretend

These were examined by

kings,

of

the late Professor Wilson in 183G, and he conjectured that they might

extend back to the 5th or 6th century before our

But

era.^

has since come to light has tended to show that even this
over-estimate of their antiquity.

If,

the

way

the

of this identification

we

do know

really

second edict of Asoka do

Oholas, Pandyas, Cheras,

triarchy existed in the third century B.C.

fact, all

that

however, as Dr. Kern believes,

the Ohoda, Pada, and Keralaputra of the

really represent

all

may be an

of

modem

but there are

times,

this

difficulties in

which have not yet been removed.

is

that, in

classical

In

times, there was

Regio Pandionis in the country afterwards known as the Pandyan

kingdom
sent

of

Madura, and

would indicate a northern

vol.

it

has been conjectured that the king

race,

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,'

iii.

b.c.^

origin of the embassy.

We

are

now

in a

position to prove an intimate connection

p. 202.

For an exhaustive description of this

India and Rome,'
London, 1873. My own impressions arc,
^

subject see Priaulx,

I confess, entirely in

who

was not a Porus, which

but this very king of the south. Be

an embassy to Augustus in 27

'

favour of the northern

between the north of India and Rome at

that time. Witli the south it seems to have
been only trade, but of this hereafter.

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

30
this,

however, as

it

may, we do know, by the frequent mention

country by classical authors, that

was at

it

in the early centuries of our era to carry on a considerable

commerce with the western

nations,

and there

improbability that at least one powerful dynasty

in

established

Pandyan.
a

much

the

south.

The Chola and

If

so,

that

of this

least sufficiently civilised

may

dynasty

amount

of

consequently no

is

then have been

was

certainly

the

the Chera became important states only at

later date.

When we

turn to their literature we find nothing to encourage

any hope that we may penetrate further back into their history than

we have hitherto been

able to do.

Dr. Caldwell, the best and latest

oldest work in the Tamil, or

any southern language, to the 8th or 9th century of our era,^ and
that even then can hardly be called native, as it undoubtedly belongs

authority on the subject, ascribes the

to the Jains,

who

same authority,

According to the

are as certainly a northern sect.

it

was superseded by a Yaishnava

the 12th or 13th century, and that again

made way

literature

about

for one of Saiva

There is no trace of any Buddhist

and nothing, consequently, that would enable

tendency about the latter date.

literature in the

south,

us to connect the history of the south with the tolerably well-ascer-

tained chronology of Ceylon or Northern India, nor

existence of any ancient Buddhist

monuments

am

I aware of the

in the south

which would

help us in this difficulty.^

Not having passed through Bactria, or having lived in contact

with any people making or using coins, the Dravidians have none of
their own, and consequently that source of information is not available.
Whatever hoards

of

ancient coins have been found in the

Madras

Presidency have been of purely Koman origin, brought there for the
purpose of trade, and buried to protect them from spoliation.

The

inscriptions,

which

are

literally

innumerable

all

Presidency, are the one source from which we can hope that

over the

new

light

may be thrown on the history of the country, but none of those

hitherto brought to light go further back than the 5th or 6 th century,
and

it is

not clear that earlier ones

the most hopeful field that

domains.
find any

'

may

be found.^

It

is,

at all events,

open to future explorers in these dark

There is nothing, however, that would lead us to expect to

Tamil or native inscription in the country extending so far

Dra vidian Grammar,' second

London, 1875,
2

lies

edition,

p. 129, et seqq.

Sir WalterElliot

and others frequently

speak of Buddhist monuments in the south.

I have never, however, been able to see a
pliotogiaph or drawing of any one except
at Amravati and its neighbourhood.
3 In
his 'Elements of South Indian

Palaeography,' Mr. Burnell, the last and

best authority on the subject, divides the

South Indian alphabet into Chera, ChaThe first, he states,

appears in Mysore in the second half of
the 5th century. The oldest specimen of
the second he dates from the first half of
that century. The third is more modern.
lukya, and Vengi.


INTRODUCTION.

31

back as the age of Constantine. Those on the raths at Mahavellipore,

or the caves at Badami, which may be as old as the age of Justinian'
are in Sanscrit,

and consequently look more

an evidence

like

of

the

northern races pushing southward than of the southern races extending themselves northward, or being sufficiently advanced in civilisation
to erect for themselves the

monuments on which

these inscriptions are

found.

From

a study of the architecture of the south

we

arrive at pre-

same conclusions as to the antiquity of Dravidian civilisation that Dr. Caldwell arrived at from a study of their literature.
The only important Buddhist monument yet discovered in the Presi-

cisely the

dency

is

that at Amravati, on the Kistnah,^ but that

intrusion.

foreign

It

was

colony or

is

avowedly a

formed by the

settlement

northern Buddhists at or near their port of departm*e for Java and

The rock-cut temples at Mahavellipore and

works of northern Hindus advancing southward in the 5th or 6th century, and engraving the evidence of their

their eastern settlements.

Badami seem

to be the

on the imperishable rock.

religion

So far as

genous native temple has been brought to

is

yet

known, no indiby any native

light, built

king, or with inscriptions in any southern tongue, whose date can be

carried further back than the 8th century.
their building activity

was enormous.

From

that time forward

style

culminated in the

The

16th and 17th centuries, to perish in the 18th, under the influence of
a foreign and unsympathetic invader.
impossible that future investigation
at least of the

gap that

exists

may

It

is,

however, by no means

enable us to All up a portion

between the 5th and the 8th century.

There may be buildings yet undescribed which are older than any we

now know.

But if they do carry us back to the 5th century, which

more than can reasonably be expected, they are still seven or eight
centuries behind what we knoAV for certainty to have existed in the
There we have buildings and caves certainly, extending back
north.
is

to B.C. 250,

and

coins,

and

it

seems by no means impossible that with sculptures,

inscriptions,

and written documents, we may some day be

able to bridge over the gulf that exists between the death of

Buddha

and the accession of the Mauryas. In other words, the materials for
history in the North of India carry us back with the same relative
degree of certainty for more than a thousand years beyond what those
found in the south enable us to trace of her history or her

am, of course, aware of the existence

of a so-called Buddhist pagoda at

patam.
before

may
spot

however, utilised
railway purposes, I believe

It was,

British

it

for

was photographed,

so its history

remain a mystery. On the

was apparently known as the

for ever
it

Negaby the

Jaina

(hence China)

may have

arts.

pagoda, which

To me it
small Hindu

been.

it

looks like the

gopura of a
temple, but I
have no real knowledge on the subject.
See Yule's

'

Marco

second edition.

Polo,' vol.

ii.

p.

320,


HISTOHY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

32

When

the history of the south does acquire something like con-

takes the form of a triarchy of small states.

The eldest
and most important, that of Madura so called after Muttra on the
Jumna was also the most civilised, and continued longest as a united
and independent kingdom.
The Chola rose into power on the banks of the Cauvery, and to the
northward of it, about the year 1000, though no doubt they existed
as a small state about Conjeveram for some centuries before that
sistency

it

The

time.

Chera, were located in the

third, the

southern Mysore

country, and probably extending to the coast as early as the 4th or

5th century, and gradually worked their way northward, and became
so powerful that there

is

reason for believing that during the dark

ages of the north (750 to 950) their power extended to the Nerbudda,

and

it

may

Ellora,

be to them that we owe the Kylas and other excavations at

erected

the

in

however, superseded,

southern

first

style

about that time.

by the Cholas, about

a.d. 1000,

They
and

were,
finally

These
by the Hoisala Bellalas, a century or so afterwards.
became the paramount power in the south, till their capital
Hullabid was taken, and their dynasty destroyed by the Mahomedan,

eclipsed
last

in the year 1310.

With

the appearance of the

north.

Mahomedans on

the scene the

diffi-

Indian chronology disappear in the south, as well as in the

culties of

From

time forward the history of India

that

is

found in

such works as those written by Ferishta or Abul Fazl, and has been
abstracted and condensed

crepancies and difficulties

numerous works

in

that

may

buildings,

what

is

all

to affect,

much

These, however, are not of such

less to invalidate,

this is the class of evidence

any reasoning

any
which principally concerns

be put forward regarding the history or

and

Euro-

it

still,

history of the native principalities.

importance as at

in almost every

must be confessed, slight disabout the sequence of some events in the

There are

pean language.

affinities of

written in the following pages.

Sculptures.
In order to render the subject treated of in the following pages
quite complete, it ought, no doubt, to be preceded by an introduction
describing

first

the sculpture and then the mythology of the Hindus

in so far as they are at present

known

to us.

There are in fact few

works connected with this subject more wanted at the present day than
When Major Moor published the
a good treatise on these subjects.
*

Hindu Pantheon'

in 1810, the

subject was

comparatively new, and

the materials did not exist in this country for a full and satisfactory
illustration

of

published his

it
'

in

all

Mythology

its

of

branches.

When,

the Hindus,'

in

1832,

Coleman

he was enabled from the

INTRODUCTION.
of Colebroke

more recent researches

considerably, but

illustrations

his

Moor chose

33

and Wilson,

to

improve the text

very inferior to those

are

of

his

from such bronzes or marbles as existed

Coleman's were generally taken from modern drawin our museums.
ings, or the tawdry plaster images made for the Durga puja of
Bengali Babus. By the aid of photography any one now attempting
predecessor.

the task would be

Hindu temples

able

his

to

perfectly authentic examples

select

of the best age.

from

were done judiciously, and

If this

it would not only afford a more

mythology of the Hindus than has yet
been given to the public, but it might also be made a history of the

examples carefully engraved,

the

satisfactory illustration of the

which it is known to us.

work could be successfully

art of sculpture in India, in all the ages in

It

doubtful, however, whether such a

is

The photographs

carried through in this country at the present day.

that exist of the various deities have generally been taken representing

them only

as they appear as

ornaments of the temples, without special

They

reference to their mythological character.

are sufficient to

what the sculptor intended, but not so detailed

emblems or

being distinctly perceived.

characteristics

factory as illustrations of the mythology,

points should

that there
details of

is

made

be

all

It

faith,

to be feared
all

the

and who

is

familiar with the signifi-

the emblems, to convey to others the true meaning of these

innumerable carvings.
consequently hoped

From

it is

as to be able to give the exact

Pandit brought up in the

is

be satis-

meaning
would require the assistance of some

emblems and symbols

all

At the same time

clear.

To

indispensable that these

hardly any one in this country so familiar with

of all that is represented.

cance of

it is

show

as to allow all their

its

In India
it

may

very nature,

it

it

could easily be accomplished, and

it

before long be attempted there.

is

evident that sculpture can hardly ever

be so important as architecture as an illustration of the progress of

Tied down to the reproduction

admits of the same

the arts, or the affinities of nations.

of the
variety,

immutable human
or

the

figure, sculpture hardly

same development,

as

such an art as architecture,

mankind
Yet
sculpture has a history, and one that can at times convey its meaning
with considerable distinctness. No one, for instance, can take up such a
whose business

it is

to administer

to all

the varied wants of

and to express the multifarious aspirations

of the

human mind.

and follow the gradual development of the

from the first rude carvings of the Byzantine
school, till it returned in the present day to the mechanical perfection
of the old Greek art, though without its ennobling spirit, and not
book

as that of Cicognara,i

art as he describes

'

Icoiie,'

it,

Storia della Scultura, dal suo risorgimento in Italia siao al seciilo di Napo-

Venezin, 1813.

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

34

he has before him a fah'ly distinct ilhistration of the progress

feel that

human mind during

the

of

in Europe,

but

it

and to

The Indian

and decay with equal distinctness

story

story that Cicognara tells

one of

is

that of backward decline, from the sculptures of

is

Hindu Mythology.'
When Hindu sculpture

Gaya, and Bharhut,

towards higher aims and better execution.

Bharhut and Amravati

the

may

India

in

with mediaeval sculpture

having that curious Indian peculiarity

The

of being written in decay.

Sculpture

period.

of expression,

tell its tale of rise

also interesting as

is

steady forward progress

'

that

power

fairly claim to rank, in

it is

of

illustrations

dawns upon us

first

200 to 250,

B.C.

the

topes, to

Coleman's

Buddh

in the rails at

thoroughly original, absolutely

without a trace of foreign influence, but quite capable of expressing

its

and

ideas,

Some

animals, such as elephants, deer,

and monkeys, are better represented

known

in

any part

architectural

The human

where

grouped

of beauty

together,

with singular

felicity.

kind

there

of

art,

is

too,

than in any sculptures

some

are

trees,

and the

though very different

figures, too,

and grace, are truthful to nature, and,

combine

For

there

so,

with an elegance and precision which

cut

are

details

from our standard

the world

of

very admirable.

are

was

of telling its story with a distinctness that never

surpassed, at least in India.

the

express

to

an honest

probably nothing

much

intended

action

pre-Raphaelite

purpose-like
better

to

be

found

elsewhere.

The

have gained a

much

had declined when the gateways

art certainly

executed in the

in breadth of treatment, but

little

delicacy

in

and

precision.

Its

however, arrested, apparently by the

at Sanchi were

They may then

had certainly lost

century of the Christian Era.

first

it

downward progress was

rise

then,

in the extreme north-west

of India of a school of sculpture strongly impregnated with the tradiIt is not yet clear

tions of classical art.

whether this arose from a

school of art implanted in that land by the Bactrian Greeks, or w^hether

it

was maintained by direct intercourse with

during the early centuries

acted

causes

is

due to each.

Rome and Byzantium

Christian

Era.

one day we

may

the

simultaneously, and

criminate what

know

of

For the present

Probably both
be able to
it

is

to

that a quasi-classical school of sculpture did exist in the Punjab,

and to the west of the Indus during the first five centuries
and it can hardly have flourished there so long, without
being

dis-

sufficient

after Christ,
its

presence

felt in India.

effects

Its

were certainly apparent at Amravati in the 4th and

5th centuries, where a school of sculpture was developed, partaking

of the characteristics of

Though
styles,

it

the

may, in some
degree

of

both those of Central India and of the

w^est.

respects, be inferior to either of the parent

perfection

reached by the

art

of

sculpture

at

INTRODUCTION.

35

Amravati may probably be considered as the culminating point attained

by that art in India.

When we

meet

Buddhist caves,
qualities,

Hindu

again in the early

it

much

has lost

it

and frequently

temples, and

of its higher aesthetic

resorts to such expedients

as

later

and phonetic

giving dignity

by making them double the size of less

important characters, and of distinguishing gods from men by giving
them more heads and arms than mortal man can use or undei'stand.
to the principal personages

All this

developed,

is

and richness

the 13th or 14th century.

the

must be confessed, with considerable vigour

and the Mysore, down to

it

of effect in the temples of Orissa

presence

After that, in the north

Moslems

the

of

remarkable groups and statues

it

but, in the south,

and

was checked by

some

most

of the

they are very remarkable

were

executed after this time, and continued to be executed, in considerable

perfection

As we
practised

down

to the middle of the last century.

shall see in the sequel, the art of architecture continues to be

with considerable success in parts of India remote from

European influence

much

so

discriminate between what

any

No

that

so,

it

requires a practised eye to

new and what

is

But the moment

old.

is

figures are introduced, especially if in action, the illusion vanishes.

mistake

is

then possible, for the veriest novice can see

low the art of sculpture has

modern temples
those

of

past

in Gujerat

centuries

Were

fallen.

it

how

painfully

not for this, some of the

and Central India

are worthy to rank with

and

but their paintings

their,

sculptured

decorations excite only feelings of dismay, and lead one to despair of

true art being ever again revived in the East.

To

those

are

arts

who

practised,

Architecture being
traditionally,

and

familiar

are

the

a
its

cause

technic

the principles

w^ith

of

this

art,

its

difference

forms

practised

principles

is

may

on which these
obvious enough.

down
The

be handed

almost mechanically.

higher phonetic arts, however, of sculpture and painting admit of

no such mechanical treatment.

They

require

and a higher

power

of expression, to ensure their

successful

amidst

class of intellectual

development.

much

political

Architecture,

decay

individual excellence,

may, consequently, linger on

but, like literature, the phonetic

arts

can only be successfully cultivated where a higher moral and

intel-

feared, is at present to be

found

lectual standard prevails than,

it

is

in India.

Mythology.
Whenever any one

will seriously

undertake to

w^rite

the

history

of sculpture in India, he will find the materials abundant and the

sequence by no means
logy,

the case

materials

is

are not

difficult to follow

different.

It

abundant for

but, with regard to

cannot, however,
this

mytho-

be said that the

branch of the inquiry also

D 2

but


HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

36

they are of a much less tangible or satisfactory nature, and have

become so entangled, that it is extremely difficult to obtain any clear
ideas regarding them
and it is to be feared they must remain so,
;

who

until those

and the sculpture

architecture

The

investigate the subject will condescend

latter contain a

good

of

but they do not contain

deal,

to study the

the country as well as

all

its

books.

the infor-

mation available on the subject, and they require to be steadied and

confirmed by what

is

and substance to what

Much
doubt

built or carved,
is

which alone can give precision

written.

of the confusion of ideas that prevails

from the exaggerated importance

arises

on this subject no

has of late years been

it

the fashion to ascribe to the Vedas, as explaining everything connected

It would, indeed, be impossible

with the mythology of the Hindus.

to

over-estimate

ethnological

value of these writings from

the

point

philological #r

Their discovery and elaboration have

view.

of

revolutionised our ideas as to the migrations of races in the remote

Aryan

ages of antiquity, and establish the affiliation of the

a

seems

that

basis

absolutely

unassailable

but

races on

cannot be

it

too

upon that the Aryans are a race of strangers in

They may, as
India, distinct from the Indian people themselves.
hinted above, have come into India some three thousand years before
Christ, and may have retained their purity of blood and faith for two

strongly insisted

thousand years
or, to
'

but with the beginning of the political Kali

Yug

speak more correctly, at the time of the events detailed in the

Mahabharata,' say 1200 years

B.C.

they

had

much

lost

of

both

while every successive wave of immigration that has crossed the Indus

during the
race.
it

may

last three

From

thousand years has impaired the purity of their

this cause,

and from

their admixture with the aborigines,

probably be with confidence asserted that there

per cent.

perhaps not one

of pure

Aryan blood

is

not

now

five

in the present popula-

tion of India, nor, consequently, does the religion of the Yedas constitute

one-twentieth part of the present religion of the people.

Though

this

may

there are few things

be absolutely

so, it

more remarkable,

must not be overlooked that

as bearing

on this subject, than

the extraordinary intellectual superiority of the Aryans over the Dasyus,

or

whatever we

entered

it.

may

call

the people they found in India

when they

them

to subdue

This superiority was

sufficient to enable

the country, though they w^ere probably infinitely inferior in numbers

of

and to retain them in subjection through

Even now, when their purity of blood has become
diluted that they are almost lost among the people, their intellect,
embalmed in their writings, has left its impress on every corner
the land, and is still appealed to as a revelation of the will of God

to

man.

to

the conquered

people,

long ages of time.

so
as

With

the Yedas, however,

we have very

little

to

do in the

])resent

INTRODUCTION.
The worship they foreshadow

work.

is

a class too purely intel-

of

lectual to require the assistance of the

stonemason and the carver to

The worship of the Aryans was addressed to the
g-ive it expression.
The firmament and all its hosts
sun and moon.
the rain-bearing
;

cloud

dawn

the sun-ushering

all

that was beautiful in the heavens

above or beneficent on earth, was sung by them in hymns of elevated

praise, and addressed in terms of awe or endearment as fear or hope
in the bosom of the worshipper. ^
Had this gone on for
some time longer than it did, the objects worshipped by the Aryans
in India might have become gods, like those of Greece and Rome,
endowed with all the feelings and all the failings of humanity. In
the deities were dethroned, but never were
India it was otherwise
degraded. There is no trace in Vedic times, so far as at present
known, of Indra or Varuna, of Agni or Ushas, being represented in
wood or stone, or of their requiring houses or temples to shelter them.

prevailed

It

is

true

indeed that the terms of endearment in which they are

addressed are frequently such as mortals use in speaking of each other

but how otherwise can

man

express

his

feeling

love

of

or

address his supplication to the being whose assistance he implores

The

great

beauty of the Veda

powers of nature are dwarfed into

is,

that

human

stops short

it

fear, or
?

before the

when every man

forms, and

stood independently by himself and sought through the intervention

of

all

that was

great

approach the great

Had

or

glorious on the earth, or in the skies, to

spirit that is

beyond and above

the Aryans ever been a numerical

all

created things.

majority in

India, and

consequently able to preserve their blood and caste in tolerable purity,

the religion of India never could have sunk so low as

might have

it

destroyed

it

as

less,

to

cesses

did,

though

What

reaUy

was, that each succeeding immigration of less pure Aryan

Tm'anian races rendered their numerical majority

or

and

it

below the standard of the Veda.

fallen

relatively less

while their inevitable influence so educated the subject races

render their moral majority even

went

on

steadily

and

less

uninterruptedly

important.
till,

in

These prothe

time

of

an equality with that of

The Vedas were
the Aryans, and afterwards for a while eclipsed it.
only ultimately saved from absolute anniliilation in India, by being
embedded in the Vaishnava and Saiva superstitions, where their

Buddha, the native

inanimate forms

religions rose fau:ly to

may

still

be recognised, but painfully degraded from

their primitive elevation.

AVhen we turn from the Vedas, and try to investigate the origin
those religions that first opposed and finally absorbed the Vedas in

of

their abominations,

The

ritual of the

we

find our

Veda

is

means

chiefly, if

not\vholly,addressedtotheelemeuts,i)ar-

of information painfully scanty

H. Wilson, Asiatic

ticularly to fire." H.

Researches,' xvii. p. 194; ibid.,

'

p.

G14.

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

38

As will appear in the sequel, all that was written

worth reading was written by the Aryans all that

and unsatisfactory.
India that

in

is

was built was built by the Turanians, who wrote practically nothing.
But the known buildings extend back only to the 3rd century B.C.,
while the books are ten centuries earlier, or possibly even more than
that, while, as

might be expected,

is

it

only accidentally and in the

most contemptuous terms that the proud Aryans even allude to the
abject Dasyus or their rehgion.
What, therefore, we practically

know

them

of

is

from what we now

little

more than inferences drawn from

results,

and

see passing in India.

Notwithstanding the admitted imperfection of materials,

seems

it

becoming every day more and more evident, that we have in

to be

the north of India one great group of native or at least of Turanian

which we know in

religions,

their latest developments as the Buddhist,

The

Jaina, and Vaishnava religions.

it

named we only know

first

as

was taught by Sakya Muni before his death in 543 B.C., but no one
presume supposes that he was the first to invent that form of faith,

or that

was not based on some preceding forms.

it

The Buddhists

themselves, according to the shortest calculation, admit of four pre-

ceding Buddhas

place

is

according

more usual accounts,

to the

of twenty-four.

when he

assigned to each of these, where he was born, and

and mother's name is recorded, and the name,

Bodhi-tree under whose shade he attained Buddhahood.

died, the father

the

assigned

dates

to

each of

these

seems no reason for doubting that they

ages,

and

The

their dates extend

Jains,

in

is

known

of

all

are in northern India, and though

them, they too

may have

existed.

The

series

some say the preceptor

Sakya Muni.

of

The Vaishnava
but

it

and

last.

logy

is

or

person-

Their places of birth and

last.

ends with Mahavira, who was the contemporary

real

manner, claim the existence of twenty-four

like

death are equally recorded,

else

may have been

The

but there

back to a very remote antiquity. ^

Tirthankars, including Mahavira the

little

fabulous,

childishly

are

too, of

man

first

too, closes

Its fifth

correct,

lion

series

is

shorter,

consisting of only nine Avatars,

same time, Buddha himself being the ninth

Avatur takes us back to Rama, who, if our chrono-

at the

may have

lived

B.C.

2000

deal with creation and events anterior

earth.

the

fourth,

Narasinha,

points to the time the Aryans entered India.

In this respect the Vaishnava

*
list of the twenty-four Buddhas,
with these particulars, is given in the
introduction to Tumour's Mahawanso,'
Representations of six or seven
p. 32.
of these Bodlii-trees, with the names attached, have been found at Bliarhut,
'

list

to

differs

The

three

man's appearance on

from the other two.

showing at least that more than four

were recognised in the time of Asoka.
If the rail there were entire, it is probable
representations of the whole might be
found.

INTRODUCTION.

39

They only record the existence of men who attained greatness by the
and immortality by teaching the ways of God to
The Vaishnavas brought God to earth, to mix and interfere in
man.
mundane affairs in a manner that neither the Aryan nor the Buddhist

practice of virtue,

ever dreamt

of,

and so degraded the purer

religion of India into the

monstrous system of idolatry that now prevails in that country.

No attempt, so far as I know, has been made to explain the origin
of the Saiva religion, or even to ascertain whether it was a purely local
or whether

superstition,

it

was imported from abroad.

authentic written allusion to

sador to Bardasanes (a.d. 218, 222),

This

is

who

which contained an image

of India

The

earliest

seems to be that of the Indian ambas-

it

described a cave in the north

of a god, half -man, half- woman. ^

beyond doubt the Ardhanari form

of Siva, so

wards at Elephanta and in every part of India.

The

familiar after-

earliest

engraved

representations of this god seem to be those on the coins of Kadphises

80 to

(B.C.

where the figure with the trident and the Bull

100^),

certainly prefigure the principal personage in this religion.

enough, however, he or she

emblem, as

trisul

professed

is

the king, or his subjects at

if

both religions.

Besides

an

of limbs took

earlier,

this,

all

it

simultaneously

least,

seems now

tolerably

endowing gods with an

ascertained, that the practice of

well

Curiously

always accompanied by the Buddhist

certainly a greater development

in

infinity

Thibet

and the trans-Himalayan countries than in India, and that the wildest
Tantric forms of Durga are more common and more developed in
Nepal and Thibet than they are even in India Proper.
seems pretty

it

clear,

now

as the evidence

If this is so,

stands, that Saivism

is

northern superstition introduced into India by the Yuechi or some of

the northern

hordes

who migrated

into

India,

either

immediately

before the Christian Era, or in the early centuries succeeding

It does not

of the Ganges,

seem

the

it.

have made much progress in the valley

where the ground was preoccupied by the Vaishnava

group, but to have

among

at first to

Jats,

been generally adopted in Rajputana, especially

who were almost

certainly

the descendants of the

White Huns or Ephthalites, and it seems also to have been early

carried south by the Brahmans, when they undertook to instruct the
Dravidians in the religion of the Puranas. That of the Vedas never
seems to have been known in the south, and it was not till after
the Vedas had been superseded by the new system, that the Brahmanical religion was introduced among the southern people. It is
also, it is to be feared, only too true that no attempt has yet been
made to ascertain what the religion of the Dravidians was before the
northern Brahmans induced them to adopt either the Jaina or the
*

Stobseus,

p. 153.

'

See also Priaulx, India and Rome,'

Ariaua Antiqua,' plates 10, 11.

Physica,' Gaisford's edition, p. 54.

^

Wilson's

'

'

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

40

Vaishnava or Saiva forms of

Pandu

faith.

and other forms

Kolis,

of

'

It is possible that among the

Rude Stone Monuments that arc
'

found everywhere in the south, we may find the

Dravidian faith before they adopted that of

old

the

fossil

remains of
Hindus.

the

These monuments, however, have not been examined with anythingthe care requisite for the

like

till it is

done we must

solution

rest content

a problem like this, and

of

with our ignorance.^

In the north we have been somewhat more fortunate, and enough

is

now known

to

make

it

to

the task,

we may know enough

least tolerably clear.

can con-

clear that, so soon as the inquirers

and apply themselves earnestly

sent to put aside personal jealousies,

When

to

make

I first published

the general outline at

my

work on

Tree and

Serpent Worship,' seven years ago, no one suspected, at least no one

had hinted in

type, that such a

Since that time, however, so

form

much

of religion existed in Bengal.

has been written on the subject,

and proof on proof has accumulated with such rapidity, that few will
be bold enough to deny that Trees were worshipped in India in
the earliest times, and that a Naga people did exist, especially in the
It may be too
north-west, who had a strange veneration for snakes.
bold a generalisation to assert, at present, that no people became
Buddhists who had not previously been serpent worshippers, but it

now

certainly

nearer the truth than at

is

events, quite certain that

first

sight appears.

It

is,

at all

underlying Buddhism we everywhere find

evidence of a stratum of Tree and Serpent Worship.

may be repressed and obscured, but

Sometimes

it

up again, and,
the Tree and the Serpent, at some

to a certain extent, the worship of

at others it crops

times and in certain places, almost supersedes that of the founder of

the religion himself.

The

or

five,

seven,

one thousand-headed Naga

or

everywhere

is

present in the temples of the Jains, and pervades the whole religion
of the Yaishnavas.

In the great act of creation the Naga performs

the principal part in the churning of the ocean, and in almost every
representation of Yishnu he appears either as supporting and watching

over him,
is,

in

or

fact,

great group

as

the
of

performing some subsidiary part in the scene.

Naga

that

religions,

It

binds together and gives unity to this

and

is

it

the

presence

of

the Tree and

Serpent worship underlying Buddhism, Jainism, and Vishnuism that

seems to prove almost incontestably that there existed a people in the

north of India, whether we
other name,

call

them Dasyus, Nishadhas,

who were Tree and

^
A book has recently been published
by the late Mr. Breeks, of the Madras
Civil Service, on the primitive tribes of
the Nilagiris, which gives a fuller ac-

count of these 'rude stone monuments'

Serpent

worshippers,

or by any

before

they

than any other yet given to the public.

can hardly, however, be accepted as a
soluiion of the problem, which requires
a wider survey than he was able to
make.

It

INTEODUCTION.
adopted any of the

Hindu forms

of

41

Nothing can be more

Aryan race than such

faith.

antagonistic to the thoughts and feelings of any

forms of worship, and nothing more completely ante-Vedic than

It seems also to have no connection with Saivism.^
Nor

rites.

there any trace of

fact,

no solution

it

of the riddle possible,

There appears, in
but to assume that it was an

whom

it

belonged that gave

it

was the conversion

rise to that triarchy of

have succeeded each other in the north during the

religions that

is

found among the Dravidians.

aboriginal superstition in the north of India, and

of the people to

its

two

last

thousand years.

This solution of the

steps

in

guessing

at,

difficulty

has the further advantage that

once clearly to explain what philology

at

though

its w^hole

tendency

now seems

view of the mythology be correct,

If this

is

in the

it

only dimly

same

direction.

seems certain that there

it

existed in the north of India, before the arrival of the Aryans, a people

whose

affinities

were

all

with the Thibetans, Burmese, Siamese, and

who certainly were not Drathough they may have been intimately connected with one

other trans- Himalayan populations, and

vidians,

division at least of the inhabitants of Ceylon.

Both the

pre- Aryan

Turanian group

but

my

races

of

India belonged, of course, to the

present impression

as hinted above, that

is,

the Dravidians belong to that branch of the great primordial family

mankind that was developed

of

the westward of the Caspian.

in Mesopotamia and the countries to

The Dasyus, on

the contrary, have

all

and the two

their affinities with those to the eastward of that sea,

might consequently be called the Western and the Eastern, or the

Scythian and Mongolian Turanians.
Such a distinction would certainly

represent

our present knowledge of

considering the whole as one family, which

the
is

subject

better

than

too often the case at the

present day.

These, however, are speculations which hardly admit of proof in

the present state of our knowledge, and would consequently be quite

out of place here, were

to explain the

it

phenomena

not that some such theory seems indispensable

of the architectural history of India.

of the north is so essentially different

from that

cannot possibly belong to the same people.

are

Aryan

Neither of them certainly

and unless we admit that the two divisions

The serpent of Siva is always a cobra,

and used by him as

That

of the south that they

priated to Siva,

and no

of the country

trace of tree wor-

or poisonous snake,

ship mingled with the various forms of

an awe-inspiring weapon, a very different

auimal from the many-headed tutelary
Naga, the guardian angel of mankind,
and regarded only with feelings of love
and veneration by his votaries. It may
also be remarked that no tree is appro-

adoration paid to this divinity

cumstance in

itself

cir-

quite sufficient to

distinguish this form of faith from that

Dasyu group which pervaded the

of the

valley of the Ganges.

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.

42

were occupied by people essentially different in blood, though

still

belonging to the building races of mankind, we cannot possibly under-

how they always

stand

essentially

so

practised,

and

Until

these

different.

to the present employ,

various

styles

and

ethnographical

mythological problems are understood and appreciated, the styles of

architecture in India seem a chaos without purpose or meaning.

Once,

however, they are grasped and applied, their history assumes a dignity

and importance

than

far greater

they

may

and,

when combined with

Even

possess.

is

due to any merely

that, however, is in

many

aesthetic merits

respects remarkable,

the scientific value of the styles, seem to

render them as worthy of study as those of any other people with whose
arts

we

are acquainted.

Statistics.
It

would add very much to the clearness of what follows

any

possible to compile

anything

like precision

distributed, either

as

new

through

mode

in which the people of

volumes, in such a manner as to

difficult to abstract

the general

reader.

were

India are

1871-72 has afforded a mass

late census of

material for this purpose, but the information

five folio

it

regards their religious beliefs or their ethno-

The

graphical relations.
of

the

if

which would represent with

statistical tables

what

is

wanted so as to render

Even, however,

if

this

is

make
it

distributed
it

extremely

intelligible

to

were done, the result

would hardly, for several reasons, be satisfactory. In the first place,

is a first attempt, and the difficulty of collecting and

the census

arranging such a mass of new materials was a task of the extremest

The

difficulty.

fault of

any shortcomings, however, lay more wdth the

enumerated than with the enumerators.

of

Few

natives

know anything

ethnography, or can give a distinct answer with regard to their

and even with regard to religion their notions are

Take for instance the table, page 93 of the Bombay
The compilers there divide the Hindus of that Presidency into

race or descent

equally hazy.

Report.

three classes

3,465,349 Saivas.
1,419,233 Vaishnavas.

8,029,989 Mixed.

12,914,571

The mixed class they proceed to define as " all who simply worship
some god or goddess, without knowing anything of theology"

description

the

that probably applies with equal truth to two-thirds of

The upper and

Hindu population of the other presidencies.
know now what sect they belong to, and the sects

educated classes do

INTRODUCTION.
are so distinctly

marked

as to

admit

of

43

no doubt

but even that was

not so clear in former days.

The

great

however, of

defect,

the census

is,

that

does not

it

include the population of the Native States, estimated at 46,245,000,

or one-fifth of the whole population of India

same

and, though

assume that the proportions of races and their

fair to

it

may be

beliefs are the

as those of the adjacent states under British rule, this

is

only an

assumption, and as such must vitiate any attempt at precision in

statements regarding the whole of India.

Notwithstanding these

difficulties

or defects,

it

may

be useful to

British Bunnah was ascertained by the

census
amount
Of
about 7-lOths
more
235,000,000
15-20ths
the various branches
the
175,000,000, belonged

state here that the population of the whole of India

of

exclusive, of course,

to

late

of

these,

souls.

or

Hindu

to

nearly,

or,

to

of

more than l-5th or 4-20ths or 50,000,000, professed

the Mahomedan faith
and the remaining 1-2 0th was made up
principally of the uncivilised hill tribes, and various minor sects which
cannot correctly be classified with the followers of Siva and Yishnu.
In this last group of 11,000,000 are the Jains and the Christians, who,
though so influential from their wealth or intellect, form numerically but
religion

a very small fraction of the entire population.

The

tables of the census, unfortunately, afford us very little in-

formation that

among

is

satisfactory with regard to the distribution of races

From

the people.

the

new

Grammar,' we learn that upwards

Tamil, or languages
of

allied

This

4-5ths, or 190,000,000 of souls

be somewhat

to say regarding the other

side as Koles, Bhils, Sontals, Nagas, &c.

classes,

whose

may

be put

hill tribes of

various

millions

five

on one

affinities are

may

as it stands, it accounts for only

it

and what are we

?
Four or

Caldwell's ^Dravidian

of

of 45,000,000 are Dravidian or speak

to that dialect.^

an over-estimate, but, taking

l-5th of the population

edition

not yet by any means settled, but whose

ethnic relations are of very minor importance compared with those of

the 185,000,000 remaining.

As the census

much

leaves us very

in the

dark on this subject,

supposing we assume that one-half, or 90,000,000 more or

inhabitants of

northern

inhabitants of the country

call

them.

parts,

who

less,

of the

India are the descendants of the original

Dasyus,

Nishadhas, or whatever we

and assume that one-third

entered

are lineal descendants of the Aryans

India before the time of

Buddha

one-third

the de-

scendants of Yavanas, Sakas, Hunas, and other Scythian tribes

crossed

the

may

Let us further divide the remaining 90,000,000 into three

who

Indus between the Christian Era and the time of the

* Page 41,
Dr. Cornish, iu the iutroductiou to the 'Madras Statistical Tables,'
p. 67, states this at only 30,000,000 a

very considerable difference but on the

am inclined to place faith in
;

whole I

Dr. Caldwell's figures.

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTUKE.

44

Mahomedan
or

invasion

and that the remainder are the Moslem

descendants, Avho have

their

entered

races,

800

India during the last

years.

Such a scheme may nearly represent the

but

seems almost certainly to exaggerate the importance of the

it

foreign immigrant element.

facts of the case

Taking, for instance, the

about

last,

which we know most, it seems hardly probable that since the time
of Mahmood of Guzni any such number of tribes professing the

Mahomedan
procreate

could have entered

religion

a population

had brought

their

of

women

Two

except in the most exceptional cases.

may have
;

or three millions of warriors

crossed the Indus in that time

marrying the females

progeny

India so as to be able to

30,000,000 of souls, even supposing they

with them which they certainly did not,

the country,

of

but thirty millions

and

settled in India, and,

may have had

numerous

a vast population by direct descent,

is

we know how many of the Moslems of India were refrom slaves purchased and brought up in the faith of their

especially as

cruited

In Bengal

masters.

especially,

where they are most numerous, they are

Bengalis pure and simple, many, perhaps most, of w^hom have adopted
that faith quite recently from motives

Though

stand or explain.
of

Mussulmans

India at the

in

not one-half

that

certain

may

there

of

is

not

day,

number

to under-

difficult

consequently be

present

this

who

descendants of emigrants

it

50,000,000

we may

quite

feel

immigrants or the

are

India during the last eight

entered

centuries.

The same
in the

were

first

sufficiently

people, and,

if

who

probably true of the Turanian races,

is

ten centuries after our era.

It is

numerous to be the progenitors

they were

most probably natives

of thirty millions of

the mothers, in nine cases out of ten, were

so,

of India.

Of the Aryans we know

less

but,

if

so great a

millions can trace anything like a direct descent

present day, the

entered India

most improbable that they

number

as thirty

from them

the

at

Aryan blood in their veins must be

But, though their blood may be diluted, the

amount

infinitesimally small.

of pure

influence of their intellect remains so powerfully impressed on every

institution

of

the country

previous presence

is

still

that,

had they perished altogether,

an element

of the

their

utmost importance in the

ethnic relations of the land.

Another census may enable us to speak with more precision with

regard to these various divisions of the mass of the people of Hindustan, but

meanwhile the element that seems to be most important,

though the
race.

least investigated hitherto, is the extent of the aboriginal

been so overlooked, that putting

It has hitherto

millions

may seem

feriority has kept

seems to

me

it

to

many an

exaggeration.

Its

it

at ninety

intellectual

in-

in the background, but its presence everywhere

the only means of explaining most of the

phenomena we

INTRODUCTION.

45

meet continually, especially those connected with the history of the

Except on some such hypothesis as that
just shadowed forth, I do not know how we are to account for the
architecture of the country.

presence of certain local forms of buildings

we

find in the north, or

with which they were adhered

to explain the persistence

to.

When

from these purely ethnographic speculations we turn to ask

liow far religion and race coincide, we are left with still less information of a reliable character. As a rule, the Dravidians are Saiva,

and Saiva in the exact proportion

the purity of their blood.

of

In

other words, in the extreme south of India they are immensely in the

In Tanjore, 7 to

majority.
5 to 1

in Madura,
and Salem, and generally in the
1 ;^ but as we proceed northward they become equal, and
the northern districts of the Madras Presidency the pro-

south, 2 to

some

in

the followers of Vishnu

1 of

in Trichinopoly, 4 to

of

portions are reversed.

In Bengal, and wherever Buddhism once prevailed, the Vaishnava

sects

are,

might be expected, the most numerous.

as

much

were not that so

tion into the south,

from the north,

it

of the present

and

w^as

would be

and where

it

it,

of the Himalayas,

among

too,

itself

it

only existed to a

was an importation.

had

its

If,

however,

origin to the northward

the Tartar tribes of these regions, there

no

difficulty

in understanding its presence in

to

which

is

it

if

an importa-

understand how the Vaishnava

Buddhism

correct to assume that Saivism

is

Indeed

religion is

taught to the Dravidians by Brahmans

difficult to

religion ever took root there, where

slight extent,

Hindu

found to prevail

there.

But,

is

Bengal to the extent

on the other hand,

nothing can be more natural than that an aboriginal Naga people,

who worshipped trees and serpents, should become Buddhists, as

Buddhism was originally understood, and, being Buddhists, should
slide

downwards into the corruptions of the present Vaishnava form

which is avowedly that most fashionable and most prevalent

of faith,
in the

north of India.

One
the

of the

most startling

discovery

Bengal are

that

nearly

among 25,000,000
more

brought out by the

Mahomedan 20,500,000

north-west provinces the

looks

facts

one-third

like a

last census, is

the population

of

Eastern

out of 66,000,000 while in the

Mahomedans

and in Oude

of

are less than l-6th

little

more than

matter of feeling than of race

4,000,000

1-1 0th.
it

It thus

seems that as

of Bengal were Buddhists, and clung to that faith

had been abolished in other parts of India, they came
in contact with the Moslem religion before they had adopted the
modern form of Vishnuism, and naturally preferred a faith which
acknowledged no caste, and freed them from the exactions and

the inhabitants

long after

it

'

Madras

Kei)ori,' p. 90.

HISTORY OF INDIAN AKCHITECTURE.

4G

The Mahomedan rehgion is in fact

any of the modern Hindu forms,
population came in contact with it,

tyranny of a dominant priesthood.

much more
and when

like

this

Buddhism than

non-Aryan

are

casteless

had adopted the new

before they

faith,

and were

free to choose, after

the mysterious evaporation of their old beliefs, they naturally adopted

the

most resembling that in which they had been brought

religion

up.

It

is

only in this

way

that

it

seems possible to account for the

predominance of the Moslem faith in Lower Bengal and in the Punjab,

where the followers of the Prophet outnumber the Hindus, in the
proportion of 3 to

2,

or as 9,000,000 to 6,000,000.

Where Buddhism had prevailed the choice seemed to lie between

Yislmu or Mahomet. Where Saivism crept in was apparently among
those races who were Turanians, or had affinities with the Tartar races,
who immigrated from the north between the Christian era, and the age
of the Mahomedan conquest.

To most

people these

may

appear as rash generalisations, and at

the present stage of the inquiry would be so in reality,

proof could be alforded.

most

of

them

if

no further

After reading the following pages, I trust

at least will be

found to

rest

on the firm basis

induction from the facts brought forward.

It

of a fair

might, consequently,

have appeared more logical to defer these statements to the end of

the work, instead of placing

they are read and mastered

them
first,

at the beginning.

a great deal that

following pages will be unintelligible, and

Unless, however,
is

stated in the

the scope and purpose of

the work can be neither understood nor appreciated.

1.

Naga people worshipping the Trisul emblem of Buddha, on a

(From a bas-relief at Amravati.)

fiery pillar.

it

AB

Xe ccadive

V
SJievriTi^-Che

o
0

Principal

BUDDHIST SfJAINA
LOCALITIES.
^

Buddhist
Jazrut,

Jled
Slue.

CEYIiON
^ON AR U A

Maldive
Islands

80

^ Statute Mile
lOO

lOO

200

300

47

BOOK L
BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER

T.

INTRODUCTION AND CLASSIFICATION.

may

some minds when they

no stone architecture in India older than two
and a half centuries before the Christian Era but, on the other hand,
it adds immensely to the clearness of what follows to be able to assert
It

create a feeling of disappointment in

are told that there

is

that India owes the introduction of the use of stone for architectural
purposes, as she does that of

Asoka, who reigned from

Buddhism

B.C.

as a state reUgion, to the great

272 to 236.

It is not, of course, meant to insinuate that the people of India

on the contrary it can be
had no architecture before that date
proved that they possessed palaces and halls of assembly, perhaps
even temples, of great magnificence and splendour, long anterior to
;

Asoka's accession
day, they were

all

but, like the buildings of the

in wood.

Burmese

at the present

Stone, in those days, seems to have been

employed only for the foundations of buildings, or in engineering

works, such as city walls and gates, or bridges or embankments
all
;

else, as will

as

we may now

perished,

it is

is

regret this, as

not so clear, as

were wrong in

wood

Much

appear from the sequel, were framed in carpentry.

this,

all

inasmuch

these buildings have consequently

may

it

as,

at first appear, that the Indians

in

all

respects,

a better building material than stone.

except durability,

It is far

more

cut and carved, larger spaces can be covered with fewer and less

brous points of support than

is

possible with stone,

easily

cum-

and colour and

much more easily applied to wood than to stone. For the

same outlay twice the space can be covered, and more than twice
the splendour obtained by the use of the more perishable material,
gilding are

the

one great defect being that

producing
tectural

it

is

that impression of durability

effect

while, at the

ephemeral.

which

same time, the

is

It

fails

also

in

so essential to archi-

facility

with which

it

can be carved and adorned tends to produce a barbaric splendour far

less satisfactory

ment

than the more sober forms necessitated by the employ-

of the less tractable material.


BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

48

Book

I.

Be this as it may, it will, if I mistake not, become quite clear

when we examine the earliest " rock-cut temples " that, whether from
ignorance or from choice, the Indians employed wood, and that only
the construction

in

From

time.^

of

ornamental

their

buildings,

Asoka's

before

was in con-

this the inference seems inevitable that it

sequence of India being brought into contact with the western world,

by

first

Alexander's

Bactrian kingdom in

We

and then by the establishment

raid,
its

of

the

immediate proximity, that led to this change.

do not yet know precisely how early the Bactrian kingdom ex-

tended to the Indus, but we

sculpture,

and

seems as

it

feel its influence

and generally on the

if

arts of India,

on the coinage, on the

from a very early date,

before long w^e shall be able to fix with precision

not only the dates, but the forms in which the arts of the Western

world exerted their influence on those of the East.

be made clearer in the sequel.
to state here that

we know

it

is

number

of examples

may

be sufficient

who occupied India before

know anyage of Asoka. From that

only by inference that we

thing of that of the Buddhists before the

time forward, however,

it

absolutely nothing of the temples or archi-

tecture of the various peoples or religions

the rise of Buddhism,^ and

This, however, will

In the meanwhile

all is clear

and

intelligible

w^e

have a

sufficient

whose dates and forms are known to enable us

to write a perfectly consecutive history of the

Buddhist

style

during

1000 years it was practised in India, and thence to trace its

various developments in the extra Indian countries to which it was
the

carried,
If

any

and where

it is still

our ethnography

is

practised at the present day.^

not at fault,

time.

architecture

would be in vain to look for

of

*
These remarks must not be taken as
applying to sculpture also. It is quite
true that no stone sculptures have yet
been found in India of an earlier date
than the age of Asoka but, as will be seen
in the sequel, the perfection the Indian
;

artists

it

any importance in India before Asoka's

The Aryans, who were the dominant people before the rise of

earlier

had attained in stone sculpture

when they executed the

bas-reliefs at

shows a familiarity
with the material that could only be attained by long practice.
2 No mention of temples, or, indeed, of
buildings is, I believe, found in the Vedas,
and though both are frequently alluded
to, and described in the Epic Poems and

Bhurhut

(b.c. 200),

the Purauas, tliis hardly helps u^ first

because, like all verbal descriptions of
buildings, they are too vague to bo intelligible, and secondly, because there is
no proof that the passages containing
;

these descriptions
interpolated after

may

not have been

probably long after

the Christian Era.

^

I believe I

was the

ascertain

first to

these facts from a personal inspection of

the

They were

monuments themselves.

communicated

to

the Royal Asiatic So-

ciety in a paper I read on the

Temples of

Indii,' in 1842.

Rock-cut

Every subse-

quent research, and every increase of our

knowledge, has tended to confirm those
views to such an extent that they are not
now disputed by any one acquainted with
the literature of the subject, though

some

writers do still indulge in rhapsodies about

the pritiiseval antiquity of the caves, and

their connection witii those of Egypt, &c.
Till all this is

put on one

side,

no clear

idea can be obtained of the true position

of the art in India.

Chap.

INTRODUCTION.

I.

Buddhism, were

and expressed
over,

essentially a

but they nowhere

aesthetic

or

arts,

splendour

seem

have

to

durability

or

non-artistic

words

their ideas in

They wrote books

race.

like their congeners all the

successfully

sought

have

to

the

through

the

immortality

for

world

cultivated

That was always the

Turanian races, and we owe it to

their

of

49

buildings.

aspiration of the less intellectaal

we are' enabled to write with such certainty

and fall as evidenced in their architectural

this circumstance that

the history of their rise

productions.

There

is

no a priori improbability that the Dravidian races

south of India, or the indigenous races of the north,

may

erected temples or other buildings at a very early date, but

that can be said

the

Buddhist

is

that

style

struggling into lithic

in

is

it

them

trace of

all

is

infancy

its

When we

lost.

wooden

style

of

so, all

if

first

forms and we have no reason to suppose

more advanced. When, however, we

six or seven

plete in all their details,

lithic

all

types, either in the

wood
it

can ever be replaced.

which they may have

Still,

is

all

the

now doubtful whether

as one single

despair

of

examples

earlier

the missing links

example of a Hindu temple

dating before the Christian Era might solve the

to

first

com-

in their forms, that they

or brick work, from

So completely, indeed, have

been obliterated, that

not

that

attempts to trace them back to their original

have hitherto baffled

been derived.

centuries afterwards, they are so

and so truly

meet

painfully

the other styles were then

meet them, some

the

not have

difficulty,

we ought

such being found, while the central provinces of

India remain so utterly unexplored as they

now

are.

Where, under

ordinary circumstances, we ought to look for them, would be

among

the ruins of the ancient cities which once crowded the valley of the

Ganges

but there the ruthless Moslem or the careless Hindu have

all traces of any that may ever have existed.

In the remote valleys of the Himalaya, or of Central India, there may,

thoroughly obliterated

however, exist remains which will render the origin and progress of
Hindu architecture as clear and as certain as that of the Buddhist
;

but

till

these

are

discovered,

Buddhist that our history

it

is

naturally

with
begins.

of

architecture

the

Besides

this,

the

however,

Buddhists very early adopting the mode

of excavating their temples in the living rock, their remains are im-

from the happy accident

of the

perishably preserved to us, while

it

is

only too probable that those of

the Hindu, being in less durable forms,

may have

disa]Dpeared.

The

former, therefore, are easily classified and dated, while the origin of
the latter, for the present, seems lost in the mist of the early ages
of

Indian

arts.

history of India

known

to us are

Meanwhile, the

commences

B.C.

knowledge

250, and that

Buddhist for at

least

five or

that
all

six

the

the

architectural

monuments now

centuries after that

time, are cardinal facts that cannot be too strongly insisted upon" by

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

50
those

who wish

Book

I.

away a great deal of what has hitherto tended

and unintelligible.

to clear

to render the subject obscure

Classification.

For convenience

of description it will probably be

to classify the various objects of

groups, though of course

found expedient

Buddhist art under the

five following

them
from one another, and sometimes two or more of them must
be taken together as parts of one monument.
1st. Stamlhas^ or Ldts.
These pillars are common to all the styles
it

is

at times impossible to

separate

entirely

With

of Indian architecture.

bear inscriptions on

With

capitals.

bearing pillars
of Graruda or

their

the

the Buddhists they were employed to

with emblems or animals on their

shafts,

Jains they were generally

Deepdans, or lamp-

with the Yaishnavas they as generally bore statues

Hunaman

with the Saiva they were

flag-staffs

but,

whatever their destination, they were always among the most original,

and frequently the most

2nd.
classes,

elegant, productions of Indian art.

Stupas, or Topes.

according

to

These,

their

towers erected to commemorate some

dear to the

spot

followers

kept separate,

the

event or
of

3rd. Rails.

These

found

are

surrounding

of

Buddhist
but

Topes,

an(l

are

pillars,

Greek temple apart from the

however, in early ages at

used for so

many

other,

least, is

and

also

is

cella.

they

represented

and other

as

objects.

It

like describing the

The Buddhist

rail,

never attached to the tope, and

such

various

purposes,

tend to the clearness of what follows

certainly

this is so,

Grenerally

architecture.

they

be objected that treating them separately

peristyle of a

till

least, as one.

have recently been discovered to be one of the

features

enclosing sacred trees, temples,

may

be

to

been discovered by

yet

which they can be distinguished from one another, and

most important

some

of

two ought always

but no external signs have

they must be considered, architecturally at

Stupas or

true

mark some sacred

Buddha
secondly,

Buddha, or

of

these

divided into two

be

first,

relics

If it were possible,

saint.i

the religion

of

Dagobas, or monuments containing

Buddhist

may

again,

destination

if

that

it

is

will

they are treated

separately.

4th.

Chaityas,'^ or

From two

Assembly Halls.

Sanscrit words, Dhatu, a

and Garbha (Pali, Gabbhan), the
womb, receptacle, shrine of a relic. (Turnour, Mahawanso,' p. 5.) The word Pagoda is probably a corruption of Dagoba.
^ In Nepal, according to Hodgson, and,
I believe, in Thibet, the monuments which
*

relic,

'

These

in

Buddhist

art

cor-

are called Stupas in India are there called

Etymologically, this is no
doubt the correct desigaation, as Ohaitya,
like Stupa, means primarily a heap or
tumulus, but it also means a place of
an altar
sacrifice or religious worship
from Chita, a heap, an assemblage, a
Chaityas.

Chap.

CLASSIFICATION.

I.

51

respond in every respect with the churches of the Christian religion.

Their plans, the position of the altar or

relic

casket, the aisles,

and

other peculiarities are the same in both, and their uses are identical,
in so far as the ritual forms of the one religion resemble those of the
other.
5th.

very
the

ViharaSy or
the

closely

ages

earlier

Chaityas
chapels

Monasteries.

corresponding
they

altars

the

institutions

accompanied, but

churches.

or

and

Like

In

later

times

in which the service

pendently of the Chaitya

halls,

Chaityas, these resemble

among

were
they

Christians.

In

detached from, the

were furnished

Avith

could be performed inde-

which may or may not be found in

their proximity.

multitude, &c. (Monier Williams' 'SansDictionary Stt& wee). Properly speak-

crit

'

iiig,thcrefore, these caves ought perhaps to

be called " halls containing a chaitya,"

Sri seated

aud this latter term

consequently be used wherever any
ambiguity is likely to arise from the use

or "chaitya halls,"
will

ofJihe simple term Chaitya.

on a Lotus, with two Elepliants pouring water over Ler.

(From a modern sculpture from Indoie.)

E 2

BUDDHIST AKCHITECTURE.

52

CHAPTEE

Book

I.

II.

STAMBHAS OR LATS.
It

is

not clear whether we ought to claim a wooden origin for these,

as w^e can for all the other objects of

it

is,

however, that the

diameters

of

Buddhist architecture.

Certain

Asoka, with shafts averaging twelve

much more

are

height,

in

lats

wooden posts than any

like

forms derived from stone architecture, and in an age w^hen Avooden

were certainly employed to support the roofs of

pillars

much more

the purposes to

halls,

it

is

same material should be employed for

which these stambhas were applied, than the more

likely

that

the

intractable material of stone.

The

oldest authentic examples of these lats that

King Asoka

with, are those which

after

the

consecration

his

set

up

of

thirty-first

The

he had adopted.

rock-cut

are acquainted

reign

his

scriptions conveying to his subjects the leading

faith

we

in the twenty-seventh year

edicts

to

bear in-

doctrines of the

new

the same king are

of

dated in his twelfth year, and convey in a less condensed form the
same information Buddhism without Buddha but inculcating respect
to parents and priests, kindness and charity to all men, and, above

all,

tenderness towards animals.^

The

best

known

of these lats is that

up by Feroze Shah, in

set

his Kotila at Delhi, without, however, his being

of the original purpose for

inscription.

which

it

in

w^as erected, or the

the least aware

contents of the

fragment of a second was recently found lying on

These inscriptions have been published

before the birth of Christ, would be one of

in various forms and at various times by

the Asiatic Societies of Calcutta and London C Journal of the Asiatic Society of

the religious history of the modern world,

'

Bengal,' vol. vi. p. 566, et seqq.; 'Journal

ofthe Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. xii. p. 153,

8eqq.)and in various other publications,

but always mixed up with extraneous

et

matters.

It

is,

however, very

much

to

be

regretted thatacaref ully-edited translation

separate form easily
is not issued in some
accessible to the general public.

An abso-

lutely autlieutic and unaltered body of

Buddhist doctrine, as it stood 250 years

the most valuable contributions possible to

and 60 much has been already done that

the task does not seem difficult. Among
other things, they explain to us negatively
why we have so little history in India in
these days.
doctrines.
father's

any

is only busied about

does not even mention his

Asoka

He

name

and makes no allusion to

even those con-

histoiical event, not

of the founder of the

a people so careless of
genealogy, history is impossible.

nected with the

religion.

life

Among

Chap.

STAMBHAS OR

II.

Hindu Rao's

the ground near

exist in Tirhoot

at

LAT!S.

53

Two

house, north of Delhi.i

others

Radhia, and Mattiah, and a fragment of another

was recognised utilised as a

roller for the station roads,

by an utilitarian member of the Bengal Civil Service.

The most complete, however, is that which, in 1837,
was found lying on the ground in the fort at Allahabad, and then re-erected with a pedestal, from a design
by Captain Smith.^

This

pillar

more than usually

is

Asoka inscriptions
it contains one by Samudra Gupta (a.d. 380 to 400),
detailing the glories of his reign, and the great deeds
It seems again to have been thrown
of his ancestors.^
down, and was re-erected, as a Persian inscription tells
us, by Jehangir (a.d. 1605), to commemorate his accession.
It is represented without the pedestal (Woodcut ISTo. 3). The shaft, it will be observed, is more
as

interesting,

in addition to

the

wide at the base, diminishing to 2

than 3

ft.

at the

summit, which in a length

like the tapering of the

instance

for

than

stem of a

ft.

2 in.

of 33 ft.* looks

more

a deodar

pine,

tree

the others of this class, this lat has lost

all

Like

anything designed in stone.

its

crown-

ing ornament, which probably was a Buddhist emblem

but the necking
a wheel or the trisul ornament^

remains (Woodcut No.

still

and

4),

is

almost a

literal

^^^^
Assyrian honeysuckle ornament from capital
of Lat, at Allahabad.

copy of the honeysuckle ornament we are so familiar

with as used by the Greeks with the Ionic order. In
this instance, however, it is hardly probable that it was
introduced direct by the Greeks, but

is

more

likely to

a
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,'

'

Ibid., plate 40.

pubThese dimensions are taken from Capt. Burt's drawings

lished in the
Lat at Allahabad.

vol. vi. p. 794.

'

'

Ibid., p. 969, et seqq.

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,'

vol.

plate 3.
5

'

Tree and Serpent Worship,' plates

9, 10, 10a, et

passim.

iii.

BUDDHIST AKCHITECTURI^:.

54

have been borroAved from

occurs as the crowning

conntry

native

its

Greeks also originally obtained

that there can be

came from Central

capital

little

Asia.

whence the
again,

of a pillar at Sankissa, in the

Doab,

half-way between Muttra and Canouge

time surmounting

Assyria,

I.

The honeysnckle ornament,

it.

member

EOOK

so

of

(Woodcut No.

and

5),

essentially Persepolitan

this

type,

doubt that the design of the whole capital

This

pillar,

shorter proportion than the edict lats,

which
is

of a

is

much

stouter

and

surmounted by an elephant,

but so mutilated that even in the 7th century the Chinese traveller

Hiouen Thsang mistook

this is indeed the effigy
at,

6.

Capital at Sankissa.

(From a Drawing

by Gen. Cunningbain.)

lat

6.

might

for a lion,

Cunningham

as General

which, however,
clear as

it

is

if

he was looking
supposes,^

by no means so

at first sight appear.

Capital of LSt in Tirhoot. (From a Drawing by the late Capt. Kittoe.)

Another capital of a similar nature to that last described crowns a

a lion of bold and
at Bettiah in Tirhootthis time surmounted by

good design (Woodcut No.

In this instance, however, the honey-

6).

of
replaced by the more purely Buddhist ornament
suckle ornament
there are cable
instances
both
In
geese.
or
hansas
sacred
of the
is

a flock

ornaments used as neckings, and the bead and

student of classical art. The last named form

These features

at Persepolis.

it

reel so familiar to the

is

may be remarked

also,

however, found

are only found on

and are never seen afterwards in India, though

common in Gandhara and in the Indus for long afterwards, which
from Persia, though
seems a tolerably clear indication that it was
the lats of Asoka,

he obtained those
probably on a suggestion from the Greeks, that

'

ArchEeological Reports,' vol.

i.

p.

274, plate 46.

Chap.

STAMBHAS OR LATS.

II.

hints which in India led

the

to

55

conversion of wooden architecture

After his death, these classical features disappear, and

wooden forms resume their sway, though the Persian form of capital
into stone.

long retained

position in Indian art.

its

more than probable that each of these Asoka lats stood in

front of, or in connection with some stupa, or building of some sort
but all these have disappeared, and the lats themselves have some of
them at least been moved more than once, so that this cannot now
It is

So

be proved.

far,

now be

however, as can

stambhas stood in front

ascertained, one or

or beside each gateway of

of,

tope,

and one or two in front

know

that six or seven can

each chaitya

of

now be

hall.

two

every great

At

least

we

traced at Sanchi, and nearly an

equal number at Amravati,^ and in the representation of topes at the

latter

place,

these

lats

are

frequently represented

both outside and

inside the rails.

At

Karli, one

still

stands in front of the great cave surmounted by

four lions, which, judging from analogy, once bore a chakra or wheel,

probably in metal. ^
the

opposite

Two

side

of

corresponding pillar probably once stood on

entrance bearing some similar emblem.

the

such are represented in these positions in front of the great cave

which is an exact but debased copy of the great Karli

at Kenheri,
cave.^

The two lats

many respects

in

at

Erun and the

to those just

iron pillar at Delhi, though similar

described, seem certainly to

belong to

the era of the Guptas at the end of the fourth or the beginning of

century of our era, and to be dedicated to the Yaishnava

and in consequence belong to a subsequent chapter. That at
Pathari is not inscribed or is at least unedited, and though it looks
old, may also be of the Gupta times.
This is a meagre account, it must be confessed, of Buddhist lats,
the

fifth

faith,

which probably

at one time could be counted

portant Buddhist localities in Bengal

be able to add

many more

to our

list.

but

it

They

by hundreds in the imis

feared

we

shall hardly

are so easily overthrown

and so readily utilised in populous localities, that all trace of most of

them has probably been irrecoverably lost, though one or two more
examples

'

and

may

probably be found in remote, out-of-the-way places.

Tree and Serpent Worship,' plates

and plates 89 and 90.

On the left lie remarked a figure of

Buddha, which he mistook for Mahadeva,
and in another part a row of bulls, and
he adds " The Chacra of Yichnou, the
Mahadeva, and the bulls, seem not to

5,

'

Ibid., plate 42.

In

the

description

accompanying

Daniell's view of this cave he says

"

On

being a temple
not aware how
inextricably these religions were mixed
up at the time when this cave was e\favour the opinion of

the pillars to the right, above the capital,

a group of lions, from the centre of
which a few years bince arose the chacra,

of the Bhoods."

is

or

war disk of Viclmon, though not the

its

He was

Icast

appearance of

it at

present remains."

cavatcd, about a.d. 400.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

56

There
pillar

no instance, so far as I am aware, of a built monumental

This is sufficiently accounted for by
in India.

is

removed, when

There

down and

now

coeval with them,

and the Minar Chakri.

7),

place

the

their materials

they had lost the sanctity which alone protected them.

among

the topes of Cabul, and

called the

Surkh Minar (Woodcut

however, two such pillars

are,

evidently

of

I.

now standing

the ease with which they could be thrown

No.

Book

Alexander

to

These are ascribed by the traditions

the

though they are evidently

Great,

Buddhist monuments, meant to mark some sacred spot, or to commemorate some event, the memory of which has passed away. There
can be
of

the

little

doubt that their upper members are meant to be copies

tall capitals

common

of

the Persepolitan pillars, which Avere probably

also in Assyria,

shape and

outline

and throughout

exhibit

great

this part

of Asia, but their

degeneracy from the purer forms

with which that architecture commenced in India, and which were

there retained in their purity to a much later period than in this
remote province.

No

the age of these

monuments may

reliable data

fourth century of our era, or

(From

a Drawing

it

may

seem to
be.

It

be even

exist for ascertaining

what

probably was the third or

earlier.

Surkh Miliar, Cabul.

by Mr. Massoii, in Wilson's 'Ariana Antiqua.')


STUPAS.

Chap. IH.

CHAPTEK

57

III.

STUPAS.
CONTENTS.
Bhilsa Topes

Topes

Topes

There

Amravati
Jelalabad Topes Manikyala Tope.

at

Sarnath and in Behar

are few subjects of like natm-e that

some

labour of

origin of Relic

Worship and

Babylon or Assyiia.
respect

its

So far as

is

shown

was

present known,

at

Rome

in

classical

In some of these countries the

the

to

bones and ashes of persons

with care and affection

into

subsequent diffusion over the

Egypt, nor in Greece or

in

would better reward the

studeut than an investigation

competeut

part of the old world.

exist

Gandhara

Tope

it

the

gi'eater

did not

times, nor

in

gi'eatest possible

remains of departed greatness, and the

who were

respected in

life

were preserved

but there was no individual so respected

that a hair of his head, a tooth, or a toe-nail, even a garment or a

utensil he
his death.
to

had used, was considered

most precious treasm-e after

it appear to have occun-ed

as a

In none of these countries does

any one that a bone or the begging-pot

thing worth fighting for

a meritorious

among
first

was a

or that honour done to such things was

them were

likely

Yet so ingrained do these sentiments appear

to be

and that prayers addressed

act,

to be granted.

of a deceased saint

the followers of Buddha, that

it

is

to

difficult to believe that the

occasion on which this sentiment arose, was at the distribution

of his remains

on his attaining Xirvana

at Kusinagara, B.C. 543.

On

that occasion, eight cities or kingdoms are said to have contended for

the honour of possessing his mortal remains, and the difficulty was

met

by assigning a portion to each of the contending parties, who are said

to have erected stupas to contain them in each of their respective
localities.^

None

of

these

can

now be

identified

with certainty

everything in futm-e ages being ascribed to Asoka, who, according to

Tumour

in 'Journal of the Asiatic

Society of Bengal,' vol.

vii.,

p. 1013.

The fame of this distribution seems to

have reached Europe at least as early as the
ist century of the Christian Era, inasmuch
as Plutarch (' Moralia,' p. 1002, Diibner
edition, Paris, 1841) describes a similar

partition of the remains of

among

eight cities

who

Menander,

are said to have

desired to possess his remains

he does not hint that

it

was

but as

for

pur-

poses of worship, the significance of the

fact does not seem to have been appreciated.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECT UEE.

58

popular tradition,

we now

those

is

mark

else architectural

It is true, the great

find there.

the staff of Kakasanda

pagoda

Buddhas

but supposing this to be true, we only

most modern, which covers over the older

the case with the great
in
'

Dagoba

at

so, they,

if

we
Rangoon

at

of the present Kalpa,

Konagamma

garment of Kasyapa, and eight hairs from the

Buddha

but

the Shewe Dagon

the water-dipper of

domes

India, are the earliest things

in

said to contain relics of all the four

is

number of 84,000
Some of these may be

sacred spots.^

are encased within their

see, or

like everything

I.

said to have erected the fabulous

towers to

relic shrines, or

Book

the bathing

head of

now

This

erections.

Gautama
and

see the last

is

at least

Bintenne, near Kandy, in Ceylon,

which the thorax-bone of the great

Mahawanso,' or great Buddhist history

ascetic

enshrined.

lies

of Ceylon, describes the

The
mode

which this last building was raised, by successive additions, in a

manner so illustrative of the principle on which these relic shrines
arrived at completion, that it is well worth quoting
" The chief of
the Devos, Sumano, supplicated of the deity worthy of offerings for
The Vanquisher, jDassing his hand over his head,
an offering.
in

bestowed on him a handful of his pure blue locks from the growinghair

Eeceiving and depositing it in a superb golden

the head.
on the spot where the divine teacher had stood, he enshrined

of

casket,

down

the lock in an emerald dagoba, and bowed

in worship.

" The thero Sarabhu, at the demise of the supreme Buddha, receiving at his funeral pile the Thorax-bone, brought and deposited
that

in

to be

identical

12 cubits high to enshrine

erected

The younger

brother

it,

and thereon departed.

King Devenampiatisso

of

(b.c.

259),

having

dagoba, constructed another encasing

discovered this marvellous

30 cubits in height.

it

This inspired personage caused a dagoba

dagoba.

King Duttagamini

(b.c.

it,

IGl), while residing

there, during his subjugation of the Malabars, constructed a dagoba,

This was the "Mahiyan-

encasing that one, 80 cubits in height."

dagoba

gana

completed."

new

addition some

deposit

It

is

that at

possible

was made

at

least

each successive

most of the topes

examined in Afghanistan and the Punjab, which show signs of these

successive increments, seem also to have had successive deposits, one
above the other.

Of
tooth.

all

the relics of Buddha, the most celebrated

At the

vol.
2

distribution

of Puri,

and the celebrated temple

'Malia\vunso,'p. 26, 'HioueuTlisang,'

ii.

p. 417.

Hongli,

is

the left canine

said to have fallen to the

'

tlie

great bell at Ran-

Asiatic Rcscai

clics,'

vol.

of Juggernath,

which now

xiv. p. 270.
3

Account of

2:oon,

is

it

and to have been enshrined in a town called from that

" Dantapura."
This, most probably, was the modern

lot of Orissa,

circumstance

town

original

Abstracted from

wans

>,'

p. 4.

Turuour's 'Maha-

Chap.

ST UPAS.

III.

flourishes there, not only in all

but the worship

now

celebrated

59

probability occupies

the same spot,

there

miitato

is

the same,

nomine,

which was once performed in honour of this tooth. Be this

as it may, it seems to have remained there in peace for more than
eight centuries, when the king of the country, being attracted by
some miracles performed by it, and the demeanour of the priests,
as that

became

from

the

religion

of

converted

belonged,

to

the

thereon complain
the narrative

to

Brahmanical faith, to which he had

Buddha. The dispossessed Brahmans

suzerain

his

only by his

called

lord,

resident

the Gautamiputra of the Andrabhitya dynasty.

He

ordered the tooth

when, from the wonders

was converted

and the excitement

but

this,

it

exhibited, he

it

caused, led to

being ultimately conveyed surreptitiously to Ceylon, where

about the year 311

and in

^
;

last fifteen centuries

About the same time

and a

(a.d.

in

time

the

subsequent fate was

is

Dr. Bird,

there,

it

was not

has done

it

324^) another tooth of Buddha was

the

of

kingdom, as

the

half.^

enshrined in a tope on the island of

apparently

its

arrived

it

spite of various vicissitudes still remains

in British custody, the Palladium of

during the

in

almost certainly

to be brought to the capital,

also

Palibothra,

at

Pandu, but

title

Gautamiputra, but

When

not known.'*

Bombay

Salsette, in

same

but only a copper

harbour,

what

its

the tope was opened for

which recorded

plate,

its

enshrinement, by a noble layman called Pushyavarman.^

Almost as celebrated as these was the begging-pot of Sakya Muni,

which was long kept in a dagoba or vihara erected by Kanishka at
Peshawur, and worshipped with the greatest reverence.^ After paying
a visit to Benares,' it was conveyed to Kandahar, and is still said to be
preserved there by the Mussulmans, and looked upon even by them as
a most precious

relic.^

There may be an error in this date

being from fifteen to
twenty years too early.

The principal particulars of this

are contained in a Cingalese

work

story

called

the ' Daladavamsa,' recently translated by

Sir

Mutu Comara Swamy.

I have col-

lected the further evidence on this subject

in a paper I read to the Asiatic Society,

and published in

their

'

Journal

'

(N.S.)>

vol. iii p. 132, et. seqq.,

and again in 'Tree

and Serpent Worship,'

p. 174, et. seqq.

^ The date being given as 245, Samvat

has generally been assumed to be dated
from the era of Vicraraaditya. I am not

aware, however, of any insciiption of so

early an age being dated from that era,

nor of any Buddhist inscription in which

it is used either then or thereafter.

The same

tooth relic at

to the extent of its

had overtaken another

Nagrak in northern India.

fate

Fa Hian, b.c. 400,

his 13th chapter.
ii.

p.

describes
'

it

as perfect in

Iliouen Thsang,' vol-

97, describes the stupa as ruined,

and the tooth having disappeared.

^ For a translation, &c., see
Journal
Bombay Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic
'

Society,' vol. v.
'

p.

33.

Historical Eeseai ches,'

*^

'

'

'

See also Bird,

Bombay, 1847.

Foe Koue' Ki,' ch. xii. p. 77.

Hiouen Thtang,' vol. i. p. 83.
Foe Koue Ki,' p. 353. A detailed

account of

Gandhara

its

transference from the true

Peshawur

to the

new Gan-

dhara in Kandahar will be found in a

paper by Sir Henry Kawlinson, Journal
of the Koyal Asiatic Society,' vol. xi.
'

p. 127.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

60
All

become plainer

this will

we

as

Book

we

proceed, for

every Buddhist locality sanctified by the presence of

find

shall

relics,

I.

and that

these were worshipped apparently from the hour of the death of the

Were

founder of the religion to the present day.

it

it,

would be interesting

to try

and

this the place to

do

by which, and

trace the path

the time when, this belief in the efficacy of relics spread towards the
west, and how and when it was first adopted by the early Christian
Church, and became with them as important an element of worship
as with the Buddhists.
That would require a volume to itself

meanwhile, what

is

more important

our present purpose

for

knowledge that

this relic-worship gave rise to the

great

which are the most important feature

dagobas,

is

the

building of these
of

Buddhist

the

Buddhist

architectural art.

No
dagoba

one can,

Turanian
the

of

buried,

the

is

fancy,

the

always

never, so far as

to

The
have

Indians, however, never seem to have

burnt,

their

discovered.

consequently

may

It

be

the tumuli, from being of

all

Not only out

assumed the form of cones.

earliest caves, the

no example

and

that the dagobas, even in the earliest times,

this

took a rounded or domical form, while

earth, necessarily

dead,

we know, had any tumuli among them.

in consequence of

but in the

tumulus of the

sepulchral

whether found in Etruria, Lydia, or among the Scyths

races,

northern steppes.

but

believing that

in

hesitate

descendant of

direct

of doors,

forms of dagobas are always rounded

and

dagoba has yet been

of a straight-lined cone covering a

This peculiarity, being so universal, w^ould seem to indi-

had been long in use before the earliest known example,

some other material than earth had been employed in
their construction
but we have as yet no hint when the rounded
form was first employed, nor why the conical form of the tumulus
was abandoned when it was refined into a relic shrine. We know,
indeed, from the caves, and from the earliest bas-reliefs, that all the
roofs of the Indians were curvilinear
and if one can fancy a circular
chamber with a domical roof not in stone, of course as the original
receptacle of the relic, we may imagine that the form was derived from
cate that they

and that

this.i

Bhilsa Topes.

The most
interesting,

extensive,

and taking

Among the bas-reliefs of the Bharhut

tope

is

one

it

group of topes in India

representing

just sucli

domical roof as this ,Woodcut No. 90).

It is not, however, quite easy to make

out

altogether, perhaps the

known

as

the

most

Bhilsa

is

that

its

plan, nor to feel sure whether

the object on the altar

whether

it

of offering.

may

is a relic, or
not be some other kind

Chap.

BHILSA TOPES.

III.

Gl

name in the kingdom of Bhopal, near

There, within a district not exceeding ten
miles east and west and six north and south, are five or six groups of
Topes, from a town of that

which they are

situated.

topes,

containing

vidual

examples.

between

altogether

The

principal

of

and

twenty-five

known

these,

as

thirty

indi-

the great tope

at Sanchi, has been frequently described, the smaller ones are

known

from General Cunningham's descriptions only ^ but altogether they

have excited so much attention that they are perhaps better known
than any group in India. We are not however, perhaps, justified
;

from the greater extent of this group, as now existing,

the same pre-eminence in Buddhist times.
If we
coald now see the topes that once adorned any of the great Buddhist
in assuming,

possessed

that

it

sites

in the

Doab

Behars, the Bhilsa group might sink into

or the

may

only be, that situated in a remote and thinlypeopled part of India, they have not been exposed to the destructive
insignificance.

It

the Hindu religion, and the bigoted

Moslem has not wanted their materials for the erection of his mosques.
They consequently remain to us, while it may be that nobler and more
extensive groups of monuments have been swept from the face of the

energy of opposing sects of

earth.

Notwithstanding
very

little

Our usual

that

all

that has been written about them,

the

guides,

Chinese

Pilgrims,

fail

us

never was within some hundreds of miles of the place

Thsang ever was

journal becomes

times

there,

so wild

impossible,

we know

regarding their object and their history.

certain

is

was

it

leaving

after

and curt that

He

him.

follow

it

is

here.
;

and

Ballabhi,

always

Fa Hian
Hiouen
when his

if

difficult,

some-

no
which we can now identify the place, and nothing to
tell us for what purpose the great tope or any of the smaller ones
were erected. The Mahawanso,' it is true, helps us a little in our
to

has,

at

all

events,

left

description by

'

difficulties.

is

there

some time

nagara,

the

when on

narrated that Asoka,

(Ujjain), of which

Ujjeni
tarried

It

place

he had

way

his

at Chetyagiri, or, as it is elsewhere called,

modern Besnagar,

close

Sanchi.

to

to

nominated governor,

been

He

there

Wessamarried

Devi, the daughter of the chief, and by her had tAvin sons, Ujjenio
and Mahindo, and afterwards a daughter, Sanghamitta. The two last
named entered the priesthood, and played a most important part in
the introduction of
mission,

Mahindo

Buddhism
visited

his

Before setting out on this

mother at Chetyagiri, and was

into Ceylon.

royal

*
Bhilsa Topes, or Buddhist Monumonts in Ceutral India,' Smith, Elder,
and Co., 1854. One half of my work on
'
Tree and Serpent Worship,' and forty-

five of its plates, besides woodcuts, are

devoted to the illustration of the great

Tope

and numerous papers have ap-

peared on the same subject in the

Journal of the Asiatic Society and

'

'

elsewliere.

way

is in

cast of the eastern gate-

the South Kensington

Museum.

BUDDHIST AECHITECTUI^E.

62

lodged

In

in

"a superb

this there

all

vihara,"

no mention

is

Book

I.

which had been erected by herself.^

of the great tope, which may have

but till some building is found in India

before that time
which can be proved to have existed before that age, it will be safe
to assume that this is one of the 84,000 topes said to have been
existed

Had

by him.

erected

been different

but

eight

the

has been dug into, and found to

it

commemorate some

w^hich

cities

might have
be a stupa, and

at the funeral pyre, the case

It consequently

not a dagoba.
or to

Sanchi been one of

Buddha

obtained relics of

event,

was erected to mark some sacred spot

and we have no reason to believe that

was done anywhere before Asoka's time.

this

On

the other

hand two smaller topes on the same platform conThat called No. 2

tained relics of an undoubted historical character.

Tope contained those

Buddhist teachers who took part in the

of ten

third great convocation held under Asoka, and

some

of

whom

were sent

on missions to foreign countries, to disseminate the doctrines then

settled, and No. 3 Tope contained tw^o relic caskets, represented in
One of these contained
the accomjjanying woodcuts (Nos. 8 and 9).

8.

Relic Casket of Moggalana.

relics of

Maha Moggalana,

panions of

hand

Buddha
It

disciples.^

dagoba

is

as

centuries must

old

as

the other of Sariputra, friends and com-

and usually

himself,

does
the

Relic Casket of Saiiputra.

9.

not

of

course

called

follow

time of Buddha

his

this

erected to enshrine

is

seems to be that these

left

this

on the contrary, some

elapse before a bone or rag belonging to

becomes so precious that a dome

and
that

right

from

were

any mortal

it.

The

great

by
Asoka himself, in close proximity to the sacred spot, which the great
The tope containing relics of his
tope was erected to commemorate.
contemporaries must of course be much more modern, probably conprobability

relics

deposited

there

temporary with the gateways, wdiich are subsequent to the Christian

Era.3

'

Muhawansn,'

p. 76.

See also

and Serpent Worship,' p.

where all this is more fully
is

'

99, el
set out

Tree

'

seqq.,

rail

than

necessary here.
2

Cunningham,

near the eastern gateway

('

Journal

of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol.

p.

'Bliilsa Topes,' p. 299,

The Chandragupta inscription on tlie

454

is

ii.

evidently a subsequent addition,

and belongs

to the year a.d. 400.

Chap.

BHILSA TOPES.

III.

The

general

from the view

of

appearance of the Sanchi Tope will be understood

it

on Woodcut No. 10, and

ment from the plan and

will

63

be observed that

section,

the

Nos. 11

principal

and

building

its

shape and arrange-

12.

From

consists

of

these

it

dome

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

1)4

somewhat
li

less

than a hemisphere, lOG

ft.

Book

and 42

in diameter,

1.

in

ft.

eight. ^

On

the top of the tope

a flat space about 34

is

in diameter,

ft.

formerly surrounded by a stone railing, some parts of which are

lying there

and in the centre

Indian archaeologists as a Tee.

The

w^oodcut (No.

example at

cut

the

age.

The lower

with

Ajunta,

form

usual

part

is

repreat

this

adorned

Buddhist

usual

the

to

from a rock-

13),

sents

still

known

of this once stood a feature

rail

be described hereafter), the

(to

upper by the conventional win-

dow,

two

Tee cut

13.

in the

casket.

No

hundreds

are

rock on a Dagoba at Ajunta.

tope,

which

features

are

crowned by a
lid of three slabs, and no doubt
either was or simulated a relic
universal.

and no representation

of

It

is

tope

without this feature, and generally

and

we have

was surmounted by one or more discs representing the umbrellas of state in

modern times by as many as nine of these. The only ancient wooden
one now known to exist is that in the cave at Karli (Woodcut No. SO),
but the representations of them in stone and painting are literally
or

is

it

thousands in number.

The dome

rests

on a sloping base, 14

diameter, having an offset on

its

ft.

in height

summit about

ft.

by 120

wide.

ft.

in

This, to

judge from the representations of topes on the sculptures, must have

been surrounded by a balustrade, and was ascended by a broad double

ramp on one side. It was probably used for processions round the
monument, which seem to have been among the most common
Buddhist ceremonials. The centre of this great mound is quite solid,
but the exterior is faced with
being composed of bricks .laid in mud
dressed stones.
Over these w^as laid a coating of cement nearly 4
inches in thickness, which was, no doubt, originally adorned either
;

with painting or ornaments in

Beside the

relief.

group at Sanchi, which comprises

six

or seven topes,

there are at Sonari, six miles distant, another group of

Two

of these are important structures, enclosed in

and one

of these yielded

At Satdhara,

three

numerous
miles

eight topes.

square courtyards,

relics to the explorers.

further on,

is

a great tope

101

ft.

in

diameter, but which, like that at Sanchi, seems to have been a stupa,

and yielded no

'

No.

relics.

was found to contain

These views, plans,

from a Memoir by Capt.

2,

relics of

&c.,
J.

however, though only 24

ft.

in diameter,

Sariputra and Moggalana, like No. 3 at

are taken

D. Cunning-

ham,

'

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' August, 1847.

Chap.

TOPES AT SAENATH AND IX BEHAR.

III.

Besides these there are S2veral others,

Sanchi.

all

small,

65

and very much

ruined.

The most numerous

gi'oup, however, is

situated at Bhojpur, seven

miles from Sanchi, where thirty-seven distinct topes are grouped together

The

on various platforms.
is

largest is 66

in diameter, hut No.

ft.

described as one of the most perfect in the neighbourhood, and, like

several others in this group, contained important relics.

At Andher, about

miles west of Bhojpur,

five

With

is

a fine group of

above enumemakes up about sixty distinct and separate topes, in this

small district, which certainly was not one of the most important in
India in a religious point of view, and consequently was probably surpassed by many, not only in the number but in the splendour of its
three

small, but

very interesting topes.

those

rated, this

religious edifices.^

Without more data than we

impossible to

present possess,

at

it

is

course

of

speak with certainty with regard to the age of this

group of topes, but, so far as can be at present ascertained, there seems

no reason for assuming that any

of Asoka, B.C. 250, nor is

of

them

are earlier than the age

probable that any of them can be of later

it

date than the era of Salivahana, a.d. 79, or say after the

Their

of our era.

rails

may

be

later,

century

first

but the topes themselves seem

to be included within these three centuries

and a

all

half.

Topes at Sarxath axd ix Behar.

Not only

there no other group of topes in India Proper that

is

can be compared, either in extent or in preservation, to those of

Bhilsa, but our knowledge of the subject
is

is

now

so complete that

it

probably safe to assert that only two, or at most three, topes exist

between the Sutlej and the

sufficiently

sea,

perfect

to

enable their

There are, of
form and architectural features to be distinguished.
course, numerous mounds near all the Buddhist cities which mark
the site, and many of which probably hide the remains, of some of the
hundreds of stupas or dagobas mentioned by the Chinese PilgTims,
besides

many

that they failed to distinguish.

fewest possible

why

this should be so.

small stones,
little

exceptions, have

better

deserted,

All, or

perished
nearly

all,

All,

nor

is

however, with the

it

difficult

to

see

were composed of brick or

laid

either

without mortar, or with cement that was

than

mud.

They consequently, when desecrated and

formed

such

convenient

^
As all the particulars regarding all
these topes, except the grent one and

No. 3 of Sanchi, are taken from

Cunningham's work

entitled

'

quarries

the

villagers,

that

by Smith and Elder,

one volume 8vo., in 1854, it has not
been thought necessar}^ to repeat the
Topes,' published

Gen.
Bhilsa

for

in

reference at every statement.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

66
nearly

all

Book

I.

have been utilised for building huts and houses of the

Hindus, or the mosques of the iconoclastic Mussulmans. Their rails,

being composed of larger stones and not so easily removed, have in

some instances remained, and some will no doubt be recovered when

looked for
and as these, in the earlier ages at least, were the
;

Tope

14.

iconostasis

of

the

at Saniuth, near Benares.

shrine, their

(^Fruiu u I'liutdgraph.)

recovery will

largely compensate for

the loss of the topes which they surrounded.

The
is

best

known,

as well as the best preserved of the

that at Sarnath, near Benares (Woodcut No. 14).

explored by General

stupa

viz.,

sanctified

Cunningham

containing no

by the presence

of

relics,

in

Bengal topes,

was carefully

1835-36, and found to be a

but erected

Buddha,

It

or

to

mark some

by some act

of his

spot

during

Chap.

SARXATH

III.

his long residence there.

TOPE.

67

in the Deer Park, where he

It is situated

took up his residence with his five disciples when he

first

remo^-ed

from Gaya on attaining Buddhahood, and commencing his mission

What act it commemorates we, shall probably never
as a teacher.
know, as there are several mounds in the neighbourhood, and the
descriptions

enable us

to discriminate between them.

The building
solidly

110

consists of a stone basement, 93

the

built,

height of 43

Chinese Pilgrims are not sufficiently precise to

the

of

now

ft.

above the surrounding ruins, and 128

ft.

Externally the lower part

21

6 in. wide,

ft.

ft.

in diameter,

and

being clamped together with iron to the

Above that it is in brickwork, rising to a height of
stones

and 15

ft.

In each

apart.

ft.

above the plain.

by eight projecting

relieved

is

faces,

each

a small niche, intended

is

of Buddha, and below them,

monument, is a band of sculptured ornament of the
The central part consists as will be seen by
beauty.

apparently to contain a seated figure

encircling the

most exquisite

the cut on the next page

but combined with

of

singular

geometric patterns of great intricacy,

skill

above and below, foliage

and,

much resembling that carved by Hindu

Mahomedan mosques at Ajmir and Delhi, as to

equally well designed, and so

artists

on the

earliest

make us feel sure they cannot be very distant

The carvings round the niches and on
left so

them.
at

all,

in some instances only outlined

that it is imposwhat ultimate form it may have been intended to give

unfinished

sible to guess

in date.

the projections have been

The upper

part of the tower seems never to have been finished

may

sur-

pilasters,

and

but from our knowledge of the Afghanistan topes we

mise that

it

was intended to encircle

it

with a range of

then some bold mouldings, before covering

with a hemispherical

it

dome.
In his

General

excavations.

Cunningham found, buried

in

the

masonry, at the depth of 10 J ft. from the summit, a large stone

on which was engraved the usual Buddhist formula, " Ye dharmma

solid

hetu," &c., in characters belonging to the 7th century, from which

monument

he infers that the

that

men

should carefully en-

grave such a formula on a stone, and then bury

feet in a

mass

of

more probable that

one

Avas

it

ten or twelve

masonry which they must have hoped would endure

for ever, that I cannot accept the conclusion.

this

To me

6th century.

belongs to the

appears so extremely improbable

it

it

may have

It

seems to

me much

belonged to some building which

designed to supersede,

or

to

have been the pedestal

some statue which had been disused, but which from its age had
become venerable, and was consequently utilised to sanctify this
of

These dimensions and

Reports,' vol.

i.

details arc taken fro:n

Gen. Cunningham's Archseological

'

p. 107, et n'tjq.

F 2

BUDDHIST AriCHITECTURE.

68

new

erection.

am

mnch more

consequently

tradition preserved by Captain Wilford,^ to the

monument was erected by the sons

(interrupted

The form

?)

of

character

the

ments, the unfinished condition in which

whole circumstances

of

the case, render

probable that I feel inclined to adopt

The other Bengal

sandha

Ka

Baitliak.

to])e

ix. p.

See also paper by ^'csy Wcstin

its

completion.^

sculptured

of

its

is

left,

date so

orna-

and indeed the

much the most

almost without hesitation.

existing nearly

General

'Asiatic Researches,' vol.

it

it

this

Sarnath

and destroyed

Pala,

by the Mahomedans, in 1017, before

the monnment,

Cnnningham

entire is
states

known
its

as

Jara-

dimensions to

203.
icutt,

'

T.

inclined to adopt the

effect that the

Mohi

of

Book

Calcutta Review,' 1874, vol,

lix. p. G8.

CUAl'.

hd 28

BUDDH

111.

in diameter by 21

ft.

high, so

thlit

55

As

ft.^

Avas

it

Hiouen Thsang,

69

in height, resting-

ft.

a basement 14

oji

height,

a.d. G4(), its age is probably, as General

Cnnningham

intermediate between these dates, or about a.d. 500.^

states,

ft.

when complete, may have been abont

not mentioned by Fa Hian, a.d. 400, and is by

total

its

CiAYA.

bold, fine tower, evidently earlier than that at

It is a

Sarnath, and showing

nothing of the tendency towards Hindu forms there displayed. It

has, too, the remains of a procession-path, or extended basement

which
the

wholly wanting at Sarnath, but which

is

earlier

monuments.

The third stupa, if

Buddh Gaya, which

at

Bodhi-tree

(Ftcus

may

it

is

always found

Hiouen Thsang

erected, as

Hansa goose who devoted

community of Bhikshus.^

in honour of a
of a starving

was

It

the celebrated temple

is

stands immediately in front of the celebrated

under whose

relifjiosa) *

Buddha

shade

complete enlightenment in the thirty-fifth year of his age,

such detail by Hiouen Thsang

Its history is told in

little

doubt as to the main facts of the

Asoka

authority,

in
us,

to relieve the Avants

itself

be so called,

tells

attained
588.

B.C.

that there seems

According to

case.

this

built a small vihara here, but long afterwards this

was replaced by a temple 160

which are the exact dimansions

ft.

high and GO

of

the present building, according to

ft.

(20 paces) wide,

Cunningham,^ and we are further told that it was erected by a

Brahman, who was warned by MahesAvara (Siva), in a vision, to
In this temple there

execute this Avork.

Avith

dimensions of

the

that

Avas

placed a statue of Buddha, seated cross-legged,

to the earth.

Who

this

Brahman

translated by Mr. Wilkins in vol.

284), for

pilgrim

it

is

a cella corresponding

found there, in Avhich the Brahman

Avas

of the

i.

Avitli

'

one hand pointing

from an inscription

learn

A\^e

xisiatic

Researches

'

(p.

can hardly be doubted that the Brahman of the Chinese

Amara Deva

identical Avith the

of the inscription, Avho Avas

one of the ornaments of the court of Vicramaditya of Malwa, a.d.

From

495-5o0.

Colonel Burney,

a Burmes3 inscription on the spot,

decay, Avas restored

From

the

'

Ibid.,

these

accounts afford

i.

p. 17.

'

planted there 2225 years ago, or

A\'as

B.C.

414,

built 120 years

Not a bad guess for

Afcoka's age in a locality where Buildhisni

afterwards, or iu 289.

Ave

gather,

has been so long forgotten.

^

'

'

and that the temple

us

INIartin's

19..

Hiouen Thsang,' vol. iii. p. GO.

* Buchauau Hamilton was tol
by tlie
priests on the spot, in 1811, that it was
^

by

very

Avith

that the building Ave uoav see before us (Woodcut

Aicluiiological Reportri,' vol.

translated

by the Burmese in the year 1806-1309.'^

data

tolerable certainty,

first

learn that the place, having fallen into

further

aa^c

'

IMontgomery

Ea.-tern India,' vol.

oueii Tl sang,' vol.

ii.

i.

p. 7G.

pp. 4Gl:-40'^.

ArcIaTeoIogical Reports,' vol.

i.

p. 5.

'Journnl of the Asi.ttic Society of

Bengal,' 1834, vol. iv. p. '214. See also
"

Cuimiughain,
vol.

i.

'

Archaeological

p. 5, et seq'i.

Reports,'

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUIIE.

70

Book

I.

No. 16) is substantially that erected by Amara the Brahman, in the

beginning of the Gth century, but the niches Hiouen Thsang saw,
containing golden statues of Buddha, cannot be those now existing,

and the sculptures he mentions find no place in the present design

and the amalakas of gilt copper that crowned the whole, as he saw
;

it,

have disappeared.

The changes

in

detail,

as well

as

the

intro-

duction of radiating arches in the interior, I fancy must belong to

Temple

the

at Badeih

Burmese

Though
detail,

it

restoration

these,
is

Gaya with

Bo-tree.

(From a Photograph by Mr, Peppe, C.E.)

beginning

the

in

may have

consequently,

probable that we

still

forms

anomalous

and

the
its

14th century.
appearance

in

have before us a straight-lined

pyramidal nine-storeyed temple of the

essential

of

altered

(Ith

unlike

century, retaining

anything

else

w^e

all

its

find

in

India, either before or afterwards, but probal)ly the parent of

many

nine-storeyed towers found beyond the Himalayas, both in China and

elsewhere.

Eventually

we

mny

discover

other

examples which

may

render

AMRAVATl.

CiiAr. III.

71

less
exceptional than it now appears to be
but
anomalous features may be due to the fact that it was
erected by Brahmans for Buddhist purposes in an age of extremest
toleration,^ when it w^as doubtful whether the balance would incline

tower

noble

this

perhaps

its

towards Buddhist or Brahmanical supremacy.

and a

In

than a century

less

half after its erection the storm burst (a.d. 648)

ally sealed the

fate

flickering- of the

At Keseriah,
of the pillars

what appears

Buddhism

of

which eventu-

in Central India, with only a fitful

lamp afterwards during

the tempest.

lulls in

in Tirhoot, about 20 miles north of Bakra, where one

Asoka mentioned above

of

found, are the ruins of

is

to have been a very large tope.

It

is,

however, entirely

ruined externally, and has never been explored, so that we cannot

tell

w^hat was its original shape

All along this line of

or purpose.^

country numerous Buddhist remains are found,

more or less ruined,

and they have not yet been examined with the care necessary to
This is the more to be regretted as this was
ascertain their forms.
the native country of the founder of the religion, and the place where

his doctrines

all

appear to have been originally promulgated.

thing older than the age of Asoka

in this district that

is

must be looked

it

preserved in India,

If

is

it

any-

probably

for.

Amravati.
Although not a vestige remains in uta
Amravati, there

ments

is

of it in the India

Serpent Worship'

appearance were.

about 100
31:

no great

ft.

ft.

in

difficulty,

Museum

as

is

'

ascertaining what

was small, only 30

It

in circumference,

and 50

the central dagoba at

of

by piecing together the fragdone in Plate 93 of Tree and

ft.

its
ft.

high.

dimensions and general

35

to

ft.

in diameter, or

The perpendicular

part,

high, was covered with sculptures in low relief, representing

The domical part was covered with

life of Buddha.
and with wTeaths and medalUons either executed in relief
No fragment of them remains by which it can be asceror painted.
tained which mode of decoration was the one adopted.
scenes

from the

stucco,

Altogether, there seems no doubt that the representation of a tope

on the following page (Woodcut No. 17), copied from the inner rail at
Amravati, fairly represents the central building there. There were
probably forty-eight such representations of dagobas on this rail. In

each the subject of the sculpture

the same throughout

representing the

'Hiouen
i.

p.

251.

varied, but the general design

may

is

be taken as

in which a Buddhist dagoba was ornamented in

Thsang, Festival of the

Allahabad in 643,'

three Religions at
vol.

mode

is

and, on the whole, the woodcut

2
|

view of

it is

given,

'

Journal of the

Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol.

iv. p,

122.

BUDDHltST ARCHITECTUIIE.

72
the 4tli or

5tli

have readied

17.

century, which

its

is

r>ooK

the time at which the style seeins to

highest point of elaboration, in India at

llepiesentition of a

Tope from the Rail

1.

at

Amravati.

(From u

least.

bas-relief in the India

Museuiu.)

Gandhaha Topes.
The extreme

paucity of

examples

form, in the valley of the Ganges,

is,

to

retaining

their

architectural

some extent, compensated for

by the existence of a very extensive range of examples in Afghanistan

and the western Punjab. In his memoir of these topes, published
by Professor Wilson, in his Ariana Antiqua,' Mr. Masson enumerates
and describes, in more or less detail, some sixty examples, or almost
'

exactly the
existing

at

same number which General Cunningham described as

In this instance, however, they extend over a

Bhilsa.

range of 200 miles, from Cabul to the Indus, instead of only 16 or


Chap.

GANDBIARA TOPES.

111.

73

To these must be added some fifteen

Manikyala or in its neig-hbourhood, and

17 miles from Sonari to Andher.

or twenty examples, found at

probable about the same number

it is

exist undescribed,

still

making-

altogether perhaps 100 stupas in this province.

Notwithstanding

was probably the

wealth

this

finest of

we miss

examples,

of

When Fa Hian

all.

which

one,

passed through the

province in a.d. 400, he describes the dagoba which King Kanishka

had erected at Peshawur as " more than 470 ft. in height, and decorated

with every sort of precious substance, so that

all

who

passed by,

and saw the exquisite beauty and graceful proportions of the tower
and the temple attached to it, exclaimed in delight that it was
incomparable for beauty

" and he adds, " Tradition says this was the

highest tower in Jambudwipa."

way more than two hundred

having been 400

as

high,

ft.

When Hiouen Thsang

afterwards, he

years

but

was then ruined

it

passed that

reports

the

" the

tower
part

that remained, a li and a half in circumference (1500 ft.) and 150 ft.
high " and he adds, in twenty-five stages of the toAver there were a
;

"ho" 10
now

No

bushels of relics of Buddha.^

trace of this

monument

exists.

These north-western topes are so important for our history, and

all

have so nmch that

by

so

many

is

be extremely convenient
describe
error.

common among
from those

characteristics

we could

if

them, and are distinguished

India Proper, that

of

find

it

would

some term which would

them without involving either a theory or a geographical

The term Afghanistan topes, by which they are generally

has the defect

is too modern, and
" Ariana,"
Peshawur and the western Punjab.
designated,

of
as

including

not
defined

by Pro-

fessor Wilson, describes very nearly the correct limits of the province

though

for,

it

includes

Bactria

where no topes have yet been

-

Pilgrims that in the

Khoten,

as

and

will,

Avere

5th and

and the
found,

know from

w^e

Upper Oxus,
Chinese

the

7th centuries these countries, as far

and

Buddhist,

intensely

valley of the

no doubt, be found Avhen looked

monuments must exist,

The name, howcA^er,

for.

it seems to imply the existence in that region

an xlryan people, and consequently an Aryan religion. At the
time to Avhich he Avas referring, that was no doubt the case, and

has the defect that

of

therefore

from the Professor's point

of

vicAV the

name was

correctly

applied.

When

the

Sanscrit-speaking

races

original settlements in the valley of

first

broke

up

from

their

the Oxus, they passed through

the valley of the Cabul river on their Avay to India, and lingered, in
all

first

'

and in the Punjab before reaching their

"
permanent position on the SarasAvati the true " Arya Yarta

probability, both there

Bcal's

'Fa Hian,'

p. 35.

'

Vie et Voyages de Hioucu Thsang,'

vol.

i.

p. 83.

BUDDHIST ARCHITKCTURE.

74

Book

I.

between the Sutlej and

the Jumna.
It is also nearly certain that
dominant caste in these countries down to the
time of Alexander's invasion, and during the supremacy of the
Bactrian kingdom. About 180 years, however, before the Christian

they remained the

Era,

we may

if

Chinese accounts,^ the Yuechi, and other

trust the

Tartar origin, were on the move in this direction.

tribes of

that time they struck

tlienceforward

to

down

have

permanently occupied

not clear whether they immediately, or

trated into the Cabul valley

Era

their

country.

It

is

what interval they pene-

at

but between that time and the Christian

Hunas, had

Yuechi, Sakas, Turuskas, and

successive hordes of

About

the Bactrian monarchy, and appear from

poured into the valley and the western Punjab to such an extent as

Aryan population,
and supplant it by one of Turanian origin, and with this change
of race came the inevitable change of religion.
Turania would therefore for our purposes be a more descriptive name than Ariana
but

to obliterate, or at least for the time supersede the

it

is

No

not sufficiently precise or well defined.

people, so far as is

know^n, ever adopted and adhered to the Buddhist religion

who had

not a large proportion of Turanian blood in their veins, and the

name would consequently

faith.

Gandhara

is,

include

the

all

on the contrary, a

who

people

adopted this

name, which certainly,

local

in early times, included the best part of this province, and in Kanishka's

time seems to have included

all

most appropriate term we could

he reigned over, and,

moreover, this advantage, that

It has,

In the time of Asoka,

his missionaries,

which, in

it

so,

would be the

is

it

essentially

Buddhist.

was Kashmir and Gandhara to which he sent

and from that time forward Gandhara

Buddhist books, that kingdom

all

if

find.

Taxila was the capital, and which

is,

is

is

the term by

described, of

as nearly as can

now be

which

ascertained,

conterminous with our architectural province.

It

is

not

clear

whether

Kanishka was

or

was

not

the

first

known,
he seems to have done for Buddhism in Gandhara exactly what Asoka
He elevated it from its posidid for that religion in central India.
Buddhist king of this country

but, so far as is at present

tion as a struggling sect to that of being the religion of the State.

We

know, however, that Asoka himself sent missionaries to this country ^

and, more than this, that he engraved a complete set of his edicts on a
rock at Kapurdigiri, 30 miles north-east from Peshawur, but we do
;

not know what success they or he attained. Certain it is, as Professor Wilson remarks, that " no coin of a Greek prince of Bactria
has ever been met with in any tope."
in

them

all

The

local coins that are

found

belong to dynasties subsequent to the destruction of the

'

De

'

Giiigne's

'

Histoire des Huns,' vol.

Mahavvaiiso,' p. 71.

'

ii.

p. 40, et seqq.

Ariana Antiqua,'

p. 43.

Chap.

GANDHAEA

111.

TOPES.

75

Bactrian kingdom, and, according to the same authority (p. 322),

" were selected from the prevailing currency, which was not of any
remotely previous issue " " while the Greek Bactrian coins had long
;

ceased to be cuiTent, though they had not, perhaps, become so scarce

as to be enshrined as rarities "
Under these circumstances.
44).
(p.

Professor Wilson arrives

doubtedly

all

the

at

conclusion that the topes " are un-

subsequent to the Christian Era "

(p.

322).

It

true

is

that some of- the kings whose coins are found in the topes, such as

Hermaeus, Azes, Kadphises, and others,

may have

lived prior to that

epoch, but none of their coins show a trace of Buddhism.

of the last-named king,
of the Buddhists

trident

of

on the

Siva in

so

also true that

is

it

reverse, but

it

we

doubted that the monarch was a follower of

the

With Kanishka, however,

beyond

all

doubt

presence
this

all

is

those

coupled with the bull and

is

remarkable a manner that

though acknowledging

On

find the trisul eml)lem

Buddhism

of

can hardly be

it

the

Hindu
in

He was

altered.

relio-ion,

his

realm.

Buddhist,

he held the convocation called the third by the

northern Buddhists

the

fourth ticcording to the southern

From

Nagarjuna was apparently the presiding genius.

at which

that time the

Thibetans, Burmese, and Chinese date the introduction of Buddhism

into their countries

Buddhism, known

not, hoAvever, the old simple

Hinayana, Avhich prevailed before, but

the

the

corrupt

as

Mahayana,

which was fabled to have been preserved by the Nagas from the

whom Xagarjuna received it, and

from Peshawur over the Avhole of northern and eastern
Asia.
It was precisely the same revolution that took place in the
Christian Church, about the same time after the death of its founder.

time of Buddha's death, and from

spread

it

hundi'ed yeare

Six

hierarchical

Roman

primitive forms.

after

Christ, Gregory

system,

Catholic

Six

hundred years

in

Great

the

after

introduced the complicated and idolatrous

of

the

the

simpler

Mrvana, Nagarjuna
as we

the

Mahayna,^ though,

from the Chinese Pilgrims, a small minority

learn

established

supei'session

still

adhered in after

times to the lesser vehicule, or Hinayana system.

Although, therefore, we are probably safe in asserting that none

Gandhara topes date before the Christian Era, it is not because

of the

there

before

is

any inherent, d

jrriori

Kanishka, as there

is

improbability that they should date

that

those

of

India

Proper cannot

no trace of wooden construction here.

All is stone and all complete, and copied probably from Bactrian
Their dates
originals that may have existed two centuries earlier.

extend beyond Asoka.

There

is

depend principally on the coins, which are almost invariably found

Ariana Antiqna,' pla'e 10.

Le Bouddhisme,

'

Vassilief,

Dogmes,'

&c.,

'

Paris,

1865,

p.

31,

et

passim.

He

spells the

and Kbinaiaua.

ses
\

words Makhaiana

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

76
deposited with the

relics, in

No

these topes.

They

been found in any Indian tope.

north-western ones, and always

fix

Bi

coins so far as I

OK

I.

know have

are found in hundreds in these

a date beyond which the tope cannot

be carried back, and generally enable us to approximate very nearly

to the true date of the

monument

in question.

If these of

Kanishka

are the earliest, which appsars to be the case, the great one which he

commenced,
its

at Manikyala, is probably also the last to be finished in

present form, inasmuch as below 12

ft.

of

solid

masonry, a coin of

Yasoverma of Canouge was found, and his date cannot be carried back
beyond a.d. 720. Between these dates, therefore, must be ranged the
whole of this great group of Buddhist monuments.
There probably were no great Buddhist establishments in Gandhara before Kanishka, and as few, if any, after Yasoverma, yet we learn
that between these dates this province was as essentially Buddhist as
any part of India. Fa Hian tells us, emphatically, that the law of
Buddha is universally honoured, and enumerates 500 monasteries,^ and
Hiouen Thsang makes no complaint of heretics, while both dilate in
on the wealth

ecstasies
skull,
feet,

teeth,

garments,

even his shadow

of

was

everywhere displayed.

relics

pots

staffs,

Buddha

of

Part of the

impressions

of

his

to be seen in this favoured district, Avhich

sanctified by many actions which had been commemorated

by towers erected on the spot where these meritorious acts were per-

was besides

Many

formed.

have been

of these spots

doubt rcAvard the

known

industry of

enough

is

of

India for the study of

all

to render this province

the

identified,

and more will no

meanwhile

investigators, but

future

one of the most interesting

traditions

or

art

Mediseval

of

Buddhism.

The

antiquities

of

western part of the province were

the

first

investigated by Dr. Honigberger, in the years 1833-34,^ and the result

of his

numismatic discoveries published in Paris and elsewhere

the only account

we have

by Mr. Masson, who, with singular perseverance and

what Dr. Honigberger had left undone.^ Those

pleted

and

district

about

Manikyala were

Yentura and M. Court,

but

of the buildings themselves is that given

first

the

officers in

sagacity,

investigated

service

of

com-

of the eastern

by General

Runjeet Sing, and

the result of their researches published by Prinsep in the third volume

but considerably further light has been

Journal in 1830
thrown on them by the explorations of General Cunningham, and
of his

'

'

published in his 'Archaeological Reports

'

'

'

for 1863-18G1:.

from Mr. Massou's sketches

Beal's translation, p. 2G.

]itlio;^rciplis

Honigberger,

which, though not so detailed as we could

Reise.'

Mr. Mas&ou's account was commuui-

cated to Professor Wilson, and by

published in his

'

him

Ariaua Anliqua,' with

wish, are
1

'

still sufficient to

render their

form auJ appearance intelligible,

Chap.

JELALABAl) TOPES.

III.

77

Jelalabad Topes.

The

topes examined

and described by Mr. Masson

Jelalabad are thirty-seven in nnmber,

ronnd

as existing

eighteen disting-nished as

viz.,

the Dariinta group, six at Chahar Bagh, and thirteen at Hidda.

yielded coins and

these about one-half

tance,

which proved the dates

Christian Era, or

may

it

of

more

relics of

or less

their erection to extend

be a few years before

it,

to the

Of

impor-

from the

7th or 8th

century.

One

of the

most remarkable

No. 10

of these is

museum

contained, besides a whole

Hidda, which

of

gems and rings, five, gold

408), Marcian and Leo (474)

of the emperors Theodosius (a.d.

of

solid

two
and 202 Sassanian coins extending to, if not
beyond, the Hegira.^ This tope, therefore, must belong to the 7th
century, and would be a most convenient landmark in architectural

gold Canouge coins

history, were it not that the whole of its exterior is completely peeled
off,

so that

no architectural mouldings remain, and, apparently from

ascertaining them, no dimensions are quoted in the

the difficulty of

About one-half

text.^

found to be so rich as
In

general

the others contained

of

India, except
at

Darunta

second class being a

great

Sarnath example.

the

about the usual

is

the

proportion to their

in

taller

all

more tower-like appearance, than any found

They are also smaller, the

breadth, and having a far

largest

but none were

appearance they differ considerably from

Indian topes just described, being

in

relics,

this.

being
size

little

IGO

only

of

ft.

the first-class

more than 100

in

ft.,

This

circumference.

topes

in Afghanistan,

while

many

are

the

much

smaller.

In almost every instance they seem to have rested on a square base,

though in many

Above

rubbish.

this has been removed,

and in others

this rises a circular base or

buried in

it is

drum, crowned by a

belt

sometimes composed merely of two architectural string-courses, with

coloured stones disposed as a diaper pattern between them.

different

Sometimes a range

of plain pilasters occupies this space.

rally the pilasters are joined

an ogee form.

of

circular
rail at

In one instance

the

That

and three-sided arches.

Eed Tope

More genesometimes

cii'cular,

they

are alternately

this belt represents the enclosing

Sanchi and the pilastered base at Manikyala cannot be doubted.

The length

coins range
sufficient to

quisite

by arches sometimes

which these
than 200 years is
warn us what caution is reof time ever

more

in fixing the date

frjm their deposits.

of buildings

than the coins deposited in it,

it may be one or two
hundred years more modern,
earlier

but, as in this case,

j

^
j

tope cannot be
\

'

Ariana Antiqua,'

p. 109.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUnE.

78
It

shows,

however, a very considerable change in style to find

elevated so far

from

its

Book

up the monument

as it here

and

is,

it

changed

so completely

original purpose.

Generally speaking, the

dome

or roof rises immediately above this,

but no example in this group retains

its

termination in a perfect

Some appear
had

some

nearly

steepness

(From a Drawing by Mr.

Wilson

or
slight

the

in

seems

It

probablc

Miisson.

'ArianaAntiqua.')

were

elevation

ill

Wood-

flat,

only

may

tllCrC

havc been somc Connection between

in

excavation

his

any decision of this point.

was brought to light by Mr. Masson
the tope at Sultanpore, and is shown in the

to lead us to

peculiarity
of

annexed

(Woodcut

section

ment

originally

small

tope

on

consisted
large

base, with the relic placed

summit.

This

increased

in

was

those

Besides

'

Ariana Amiqua.' j

there

are

thirty topCS

to infer

others

from Mr. Massoii's very

still

on

its

afterwards

it.

men-

already

about twenty
iu

the

bourhood of Cabul, but

ruined, and few of any striking appearance.

of

square

by a second

size

tope being built over

tioned

No.

proved that the monu-

It is

19).

Masson, in Wilson's

the

But

shape of the roof and the purpose for which the tope was raised.

we have no evidence
One interesting

that

18)

probably

at BimerMTi.

pitch

(like

No.

centre.

less

of

represented in

with

of

or

and some
cut

more

'

conical,

greater

Tope

state.

to have

hemispherical

roofs,

18.

T.

So at

least

brief notice of them.

No

all

neigh-

much

we are

led

doubt many

remain in spots hitherto unvisited by Europeans.

In the immediate vicinity of

all

these topes

are

found caves and

tumuli, the former being the residences of priests, the latter for the

most part
shrines.

careful

buryiiig-places,

Their exact
investigation

perhaps in some instances

destination

by persons

cannot

smaller

be

ascertained

thoroughly

conversant

relic-

without a

with

the

Chap.

MANIKYALA.

111.

There

subject.

are

still,

79

many

however,

points

great

of

interest

which require to be cleared up by actual examination. AVhen this

has been done we may hope to be able to judge with some certainty
of their affinity with the Indian buildings
of Persia

on the one hand, and those

on the other.

Manikyala.
The most important group, however, of the Gandhara topes is that
Manikyala in the Punjab, situated between the Indus and the

at

Jelum

or Hydaspes.

Fifteen or twenty examples are found at this

which were opened by General Ventura and M. Court
about the year 1830, when several of them yielded relics of great
value, though no record has been preserved of the greater part of
their excavations.
In one opened by M. Court, a square chamber
was found at a height of 10 ft. above the ground level. In tliis was

most

place,

of

a gold cylinder enclosed in one of silver, and that again in one

The inner one contained

copper.

These were, no doubt, the

and four pearls.

was intended to

The

preserve.

read, but certainly contains the

assured

feel

found much worn,

locality

by long

to a date 33 b.c.,^

The gold

when we know more

whom

it

owes

coins were

it is

remote

certain the

coins were

all

those

but

To

is

so completely ruined that neither

less

later, we will be
and history of the

the antiquary the

so to the

of considerable

interest,

how much

of the date

its origin.

is

now

Some Roman

use,^ before they reached this

down

than twenty years before Christ

to

we may

of Kanishka,^ so that

erected after that date.

able to say only

monarch

which the tope

This tope, therefore, could hardly have been erected

Kanishka.

earlier

as if

and, as they extend

monument was
of

name

relics

has only partially been

inscription

was erected during his reign.

it

of

four gold coins, ten precious stones

its

architect, as

form nor

its

inquiry
the

tope

dimensions can

be distinguished.

Another w^as recently opened by General Cunningham, in the relic

chamber of which he found a copper coin, belonging to the Satrap
Zeionises,

who

is

supposed to have governed this part of the country

may

about the Christian Era, and we

was erected by him or in

in a

glass

the tope

itself,

4J

in.

was intended to

'

Thomas

'

relics

were enclosed

stoppered vessel, placed in a miniature representation of

wide at base, and 8 J

which may be considered

or

therefore assume that the tope

This and other

his time.

in

'

be, in that

Prinsep,' vol.

i.

in.

high (Woodcut No. 20),

what a tope was

as a fair representation of

day.

p. 144.

Journal of the Asiatic SoL-iety of

It

is,

perhaps, taller,

Bengal,' vol.
^

Thomas

iii.

in

'

p.

however.

559.

Prinsep,' p. 148.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUEE.

80

than a structural example would have been

four umbrellas,

The

Book

and the

with

tee,

I.

its

no doubt, exaggerated.

is,

group

principal tope of the

perhaps,

is,

most remark-

the

able of its class in India, though inferior in size to several in Ceylon.

It

was

by

noticed

first

view

correct

of

Mountstuart

by

published

it

and

Elphiustone,

him,

with

his mission to

afterwards

the

very

narrative

Cabul in 1815.

thoroughly

of

was

It

by

explored

General Yentui-a, in 1830, and a comaccount

plete

volume
its

of

by

published

his

of

investigations

his

Prinsep

that

12

ft. -to

15

of

the

They

hid

Works

made

the

of

depth

round by the

ft. all

Public

also

cleared
to

it

third

Since then

Journal.'

'

basement has been

rubbish

the

in

of

officers

Department.

and

plans

careful

sections of the whole, manuscript copies

of wliich are

From
dome
in

now

those

before me.

appears

it

nearly

as

may

400

be,

The outer
manner 159 ft.
circumfereucc, and

ference.

in like
Tope

Manikyaia.
(Found and drawn by Gen. Cunai,.gham..)
20.

Relic Casket from

at

f^^^^,

in

path 16
of

dwarf

ft.

that

the

an exact hemisphere, 127

diameter, and
consequently,
is

ft.

measures

circle

500

asccudcd

^.^.^^^

^.^^^

as

circum-

in

2 in., or
is

ft.

ft.

by

^^^^^^

each face, leading to a procession-

in width, ornamented both above

pilasters, representing the

detached

and below by a range

rail

Indian

of the older

monuments. It is, indeed, one of the most marked characteristics

of these Gandhara topes, that none of them possess, or ever seem
but all have
to have possessed, any trace of an independent rail
;

an ornamental
the original
to

leads

casing

This can hardly be an early architectural form, and

rail.

be very

that

was

an

has

much more modern than

outw^ard appearance

half -ruined state,

All

it

may

really requires

invariable

to

adjunct

(Woodcut No.

the

of

the coins they contain.

Manikyala tope, in

present

its

be judged of from the view" (Woodcut No. 21).

wholly disappeared.

elevation

by arches simulating

the suspicion that, in spite of their deposits, their outward

may

The

belt of pilasters, joined generally

complete

to

The

these

restored

its

outline

buildings

elevation,

22), to the usual scale, 50

Archieological Reports,' vol.

ii.

p.

is

the

which

tee,

no other

feature

half-section,
ft.

67, plate 65.

to 1

in.,

halfwill

Chap.

MANIKYALA.

III.

afford

the means

expkin

its

View

On

of

Manikyala Tope.

digging into this

separate

25

monuments
and the
the base (Woodcut No. 23, next page) will

Restored Elevation of the

22.

other,

comparison with other

of

architectural details in so far as they can be

21.

of

of

and elevation

section

81

deposits

of

relics,

made

out.

(From a Photograph.)

ope at Manikyala.

Scale 50

ft.

to 1 in.

monument, General Ventura found

deposited

at

three

apparently equal distances

from the surface of the finished monument and from each

and each apparently increasing in value or importance as it

ft.

G-

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

82

The

descended.

PART

OF

was at the base of a

first

FRONT

solid

Book
cubical

I.

mass of

ELCVATJON

CROSS

SeCTION.

Elevation and Section of Portion of Basement of Tope at Maiiikyala.

squared

masonry,

and

contained,

and one

inter

alia,

Yasoverma

of

some Sassanian coins

720), and one of

(a.d.

Abdullah ben Hassim, struck at Merv a.h. G6,

The second, at a depth of 50 ft.,
or A.D. 685.^

The

contained no coins.
a depth of 75

ft.,

which was a

in

deposit,
level

of

at

the

It consisted of a copper

procession-path outside.
vessel,

principal

was on the exact

relic

casket

in

brass,

annexed woodcut (No. 24),

containing a smaller vessel of gold, filled with

represented

in

the

brown liquid, and with an inscription on the

which has not yet been fully deciphered, but
around it were one gold and six copper coins of
the Kanishka type.
If this were all, it would be easy to assert
that the original smaller tope, as shown in the
section (Woodcut No. 22), was erected by Kanishka,
or in his age, and that the square block on its
summit was the original tee, and that in the 8th

lid

24.

Kelic Casket,
Maiiikyala.

century an

envelope

following the original form, was

'

Thomas's

'

added

Piinsep,' vol.

but

25

ft.

it,

and with the extended

to

i.

p. 94.

in

thickness,

Chap.

MANIKYALA.

111.

procession-path

assumed

it

present

its

form,

lower than we w^ould otherwise expect from

Against this theory, however, there

said that a fragment ^ or, as

it

found at a depth of 64

(69

is

83
whicli

very

is

much

its age.

an ugly

is

little

fact.

It

is

printed, three Sassanian coins were

ft. from the finished surface)

and
masonry was found perfectly solid and
undisturbed from the surface to the base, the whole monument must
be of the age of this coin. As engraved, however, it is such a fragment ^ that it seems hardly sufficient to base much upon it.
Unless

this

if

were

General had

the

might

ft.

as the whole

so,

discovered

and noted

himself,

it

at

it

the time,

have been mislabelled or mixed up with other

Sassanian fragments belonging to the upper deposits that its position
it

may

so

easily

be wrongly described.

planation will not

deposit was

howe^'er, there were three, this exmay, however, be that the principal
as we know was sometimes the case^ in this

accessible,

bottom

instance, at the

If,

It

suffice.

an open well-hole or side

of

gallery, before

the time of the rebuilding in the 8th century, and was then, and then
only, built

up

the Manikyala

solid.

however, neither of these explanations

If,

tope

a mystery and a riddle I cannot

is

suffice,

unravel.

If

we may disregard this deposit, its story seems self-evident as above

explained.
But whatever its internal arrangements may have been,
seems perfectly certain that

it

its

present

external appearance

is

due

to a rebuilding in the early part of the 8th century.

General Cunningham identifies M. Court's tope as the Huta Murta,

one of the most celebrated topes in the province, erected to commemo-

Buddha, in a previous stage

rate

appease the hunger of a tiger,

its

seven famishing cubs

of

existence, offering his

andaccording

Unfortunately, the same

terior coating now^ remains.

ham

which can

remarks, of

still

all

entitled to a longer notice in a

la the text

it

is

The

19

true of all the

there

is

not one,

original position

its

none, consequently,

work wholly devoted

certainly printed
to

facing

outer

its

is

As General Cunning-

be identified at Taxila.

excepting the great Manikyala tope, that retains in

"three" with a reference

of

worse, of all the fifty or

is

these sixty or seventy stupas

a single ^\Tought stone of

to

but, as before remarked, nothing of its ex-

other fifteen topes at this place, and, what

fifty-five

body

to another version

p. 7>*, vol. v.,

are

to architecture.

he says: "

have a strong

in the

suspicion that General Ventura's record of

un-

three Sassanian coins having been found

doubtedly a misprint, and I canuot help

believing the former is so also, as only

below deposit B may be erroneous."

2
Journal of the Asiatic Society of

and Prinsep
one fragment is figured
complains more than once of the state
of the French MS. from which he was
compiling his account. I observe that
Geneial Cunningham, in his volume just

Bengal,' vol.

plate 21 of vol.

iii.

latter is

received,

adopts

the same

views.

At

'

'

'

'

'

iii.

Foe Koue

Fa

plate 21,

Hian,' Beal's translation,

Hiouen Thsang,'
^

fig. 18.

Ki,' chap. xiii.

vol.

'Archaeological

i,

p. 32.

p. 89.

Keports,' vol.

172,

ii.

p.

BUDDHIST

Si

Book

ARCHITECTLTlllO.

CHAPTER

I.

ly.

RAILS.
CONTENTS.
Rails at Bharhut, Muttra, Sauclii, and Amravati.

It

is

only recently that our rapidly-increasing knowledge has enabled

us to appreciate the important part which Rails play in the history of

The

Buddhist architecture.
true,

is

been long known

and without the

the great

rail of

but

Tope

the plainest

is

it

at Sanchi has, it

those

of

yet

dis-

which are found on it, and the

gateways that were subsequently added to it, presents few features
There is a second rail at Sanchi which is more
to interest any one.

covered,

ornamented and more

in such a

The same

manner
at

is

Gaya, though

it

interesting, but

it

has not yet been published

as to render its features

least

is

inscriptions

true

partially

of

or its history intelligible.

the

great

one of the oldest and finest of

rail

its

Buddh
When,

at

kind.

however, the Amravati sculptures were brought to light and pieced

it was perceived that the rail might, and in that instance
become one of the most elaborate and ornamental features of
Since then General Cunningham has found two or three
the style.
buried rails at Muttra, and his crowning discovery of the great rail
at Bharhut, has made it clear that this was the feature on which the

together,^
did,

early Buddhist architects

lavished all the resources of their art, and

which we may consequently expect to learn most.
The two oldest rails of which we have any knowledge in India

from the study

those

are

The

at

former.

of

Buddh Gaya and

date than Asoka.^

The

of

certainly

are

latter, in his

'

Memorandum,' ^ he

at

Bharhut.

much

later

ascribes to the

These determinations he founds principally on

on them, which

age of that monarch.

the form

recently discovered

that

General Cunningham thinks, cannot be of

the characters used in the inscriptions

nearly

identical

them, and the details

of

the

with those used on the

sculptures,

it

is

quite

lats.

evident

From
they

cannot be far removed in age from the dates so assigned to them.

'

'

Tree and Serpent Wordhip,' Preface

to the First Edition.

'

1874,

Memorandum,' dated 13tli April,

printed by the Bengal Goveru-

'

Archajological Reports,'

vol.

1.

p.

10

ment, but not published.

Chap. 1Y.

On

was

rail

am

or

believe
during-

tree,

that

Buddh

the

At all
Mahawanso that

his reign.

fifteenth chapter of the

he did not worship this

if

85

inclined to

by Asoka,

really erected

we know from the

events,

even

however,

whole,

the

Gaya

RAILS.

'

'

he certainly reverenced

to

it

such an extent that when he sent his daughter Saiigamitta to aid in

the conversion of Ceylon to the true faith, he cut off and entrusted her
with a branch of this tree planted in a golden

That

vessel.

replanted with infinite ceremony at Anuradhapura, and

was

tree

or its Uneal

it,

descendant, remains the principal ?iume?i of the island to this

day.

Hiouen Thsang tells us that Asoka built a small vihara to the east of
the tree on the spot where the present temple stands ;^ and nothing
is consequently more probable than he should have added this rail,
which is concentric with his vihara, but not with the tree.
There certainly is no inherent improbability that he should have
done

so, for it seems hardly doubtful that this was the tree under
whose shade Sakya Muni attained "complete enlightenment," or, in

other words, reached

Buddhahood

and no spot consequently could be

considered more sacred in the eyes of a Buddhist, or was more likely

to be reverenced

from the time forward.

The Bharhut rail, according to the inscription on it, was erected

by a Prince Yadha Pala, son of Raja Dhanabhuti, a name we cannot

recognise in any
all-powerful

the

but hardly could have been contemporary with

list,

and all-pervading

rule

Asoka, and must conse-

of

quently have been subsequent, as no such works were, so far as we

now know,

The ultimate

India before his day.

in

erected

deter-

mination of the relative dates of these two monuments will depend

on a careful comparison

of their sculptures,

do not exist in this country.

and

for that the materials

thanks to the kindness of

have,

General Cunningham, a nearly complete set of photographs of the

Bharhut

sculptures, but not one of the

Buddh Gaya

It is true

rail.

the drawings by Major Kittoe, in the India House Library, are very

much

better

report

the

as

than

published by

those

but they do not

General Cunningham in his

suffice for this purpose.

evidence at present available enables us

nearly certain that the Bharhut sculptures

Gaya

rail to

be 250

B.C.,

Sanchi to range from

The Buddh Gaya

and

is

very

'

the present

i.

at

B.C.,

however,

seems

it

a century nearer

Buddh Gaya

least,

that at Bharhut 200

assum.e

are

the

and

Buddh

and the gateways

at

10 to say 70 or 80 a.d.^
rail is a rectangle,

ruined.

Its

w^ere, indeed,

ft.

by 98

vol.

i.

plates

ft.,

only obtained

8 to 11.
' For tills last determination, see
Tree
and Serpent Worship,' p. 09, et seqq.
'

p. 465.

Arehaoological Reports,'

measuring 131

dimensions

Voyage's dans les Contrees OcciJen-

tales,' vol.
2

much

for

far,

to judge,

are half

those of the gateways at Sanchi than those at

consequently we may,

In so

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

86

The

by excavation.

and

are apparently only 5

pillai*s

11

ft.

T.

height,

in. in

ornamented with a semi-disc top

generally

are

Book

or a group

containing a single figure,

of

and bottom,
They have also

several.

a central circular disc, with either an animal or bust in the centre of

No

a lotus.

none

part of the upper rail seems to have been recovered, and

the

of

intermediate

As the most

ancient

between the

rails

extremely interesting to have this

for

its

merit as because

artistic

are

pillars

monument

sculptured

in

India,

rail fully illustrated,^

it

is

the

sculptured.

it

would be

monu-

authentic

earliest

much

not so

ment representing manners and mythology in India. Its religion, as

might be expected, is principally Tree and Serpent worship, mingled
with veneration for dagobas, wheels, and Buddhist emblems. The
domestic scenes represent love-making, and drinking, anything, in
fact, but Buddha or Buddhism, as we afterwards come to undei'stand

the term.

Bharhut.
Whatever

interest

may

attach

It is to be hoped that when Gen.

Cunningham publishes the volume he is
preparing on the Bharhut Tope, he will
*

add photographs of the pillars of this

It would add immensely to the
rail.
value of his work if it atforded the means
of comparing the two. Some illustrations
of the sculpture from Major Kittoe's drawings will be found in Tree and Serpent
'

Worship,' woodcuts 7, 20, 24.

them are reproduced here, the

25.

Tree Worship

to the

times over by that

surpassed ten

Buddh Gaya

Rail.

Two
first

of

of

rail

the

Buddh Gaya,

at

it

is

newly-discovered rail at

presenting a

man

on his knees before an

altar worshipping a tree, while a flying

figure brings a garland to adorn

The

it.

other represents a relic casket, over which

a seven -headed

Naga

and over

umbrella of

hiiu an

are, besides,

closure,

two

spreads his hood,

state.

There

trees in a sacred en-

and another casket with

tiiree

umbrellas (Woodcuts Nns. 25, 26). They

are from drawings by Major Kittoe.

re-

Relic Casket

Buddh Gaya

Rail.


RAIL AT BHARHUT.

Chap. IV.

Bharhut, which, taking

monument

in

all

it

certainly in

all,

87

perhaps the most interesting

is

of view
known to exist
which seems to have been 68 ft. in diameter, has entirely disappeared, having been utilised by the natives

The

in India.

to

build, their

tope

itself,

villages

but about one-half of the

down

thrown

partly

a historical point

and

buried

the

in

rubbish,

rail,

which was

still

remains.

was 88 ft. in diameter, and consequently some 275 ft.

It was divided into four quadrants by the four entrances,

Originally

it

in length.

each of which was guarded by statues 4J ft. high, carved in relief

in the corner pillai*s of Yakshas and Yaksliinis, and Xaga Rajas
the representatives,

The

Buddhists.

with a Toran

or,

(No.

27),

and

From

tainty.

Chinese would

the

as

One

those at Sanchi.

enable General

thos3 peoples who afterwards became

gateway only seems to have been adorned

in fact, of

eastern

sufficient

to

bringing offerings to a tree

are

like

with almost absolute cer-

restore it

ft.

6 in. in

top of the chakra, or wheel, which

of

supported by a honeysuckle

all,

the middle beam, of lions similarly em-

beam has not been

the upper

in the following woodcut,

The beams had no human figm-es on

The lower had a procession of elephants,

beauty.

great

them, like those at Sanchi.

ployed

a " Pailoo "

his restoration it appears to have been 22

was the central emblem on the top

of

it,

fragments were found in the excavations to

Cunningham

height from the ground to the

ornament

call

shown

pillar of it is

recovered, but

the beam-ends

ornamented with conventional crocodiles, and show elevations

buildings so correctly drawn as

featm-es in the rock-cut edifices

The

toran,

most

like

to enable us to recognise

now

this

all

of

their

existing.

one,

is

that which

surmounted the

southern entrance at Sanchi, which, for reasons given elsewhere,^ I

believe to be not only the oldest of the four found there, but to have

been erected in the

to 28).

first

quarter of the

This one, however,

and constructively

so

is

no reason why

age of the
the toran

The

rail,

it

that

on architectural grounds
least a century older, and

was at

should not be two centuries more ancient.

The

however, does not depend on this determination, as

may have been added

rail

century of our era (a.d. 10

so inferior, that I would,

alone, be inclined to affirm that it

see

first

much more wooden than even

af tei'wards.

was apparently 9

ft.

in

height, including

the coping,

and had three discs on intermediate rails. The inner side of the
upper rail was ornamented by a continuous series of bas-reliefs,
divided from each other by a beautiful flowing scroU. The inside
also of the discs was similarly ornamented, and some of the piUars
had bas-reliefs in thi-ee storeys on three of their sides. Altogether,
I fancy not less than one hundred separate bas-reliefs have been

'

Tree and Serpent Worship,'

p. 99, et seqfi

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

88
recovered,

nearly

all

all

representing some scene

inscribed not only with the

or

Book

I.

legend of the time, and

names

of the principal persons

represented, but with the title of

the jataka or legend, so that they

are easily recognised in the books

now

Portion of Rail at Bharhut, as

27.

monument

It is the only

that consequently gives

first

current in Buddhist countries.

uncovered.

in India that

it

is

(From a Photograph.)

so inscribed,

and

it

is

this

such value for the history not only of art

but of Buddhist mythology.^

If

this

sculpture,

work professed
it

to be a history of

would be necessary to

^ When I wrote my work on

Tree and
Serpent Worship nothing was practically
known as to the age of the jatakas, or
'

'

illustrate

Indian
this

art,

rail

to

including
a

much

the early form in which they were represented much, therefore, that was then
;

advanced was, or at

least appeared

to

HAIL AT BHARHUT.

Chap. IV.
greater extent than

attempted

is

more important than

Meanwhile,

discoverer.

but as architecturally

that

others,

89

however,

may

task

well

cannot

it

be

be

too

it

hardly

is

to

left

strongly

its

in-

upon that the art here displayed is purely indigenous. There

no trace of Egyptian influence.
It is, indeed, in

sisted

absolutely

is

every detail antagonistic

art

classical

nor can

to

it

that

art

nor

any trace

there

is

be affirmed that anything here

of

exhibited

The

could have been borrowed directly from Babylonia or Assyria.

somewhat those at Persepolis,

and the honeysuckle ornaments point in the same direction
but,
the pillars do

capitals

of

barring

that,

resemble

the

the

the

especially

art,

belonging

figure-sculpture

to

seems an art elaborated on the spot by Indians, and by

rail,

Indians only.^

Assumhig

these facts to be as stated, they give rise to one or two

inferences which have

an important bearing on our investigations.

with its toran, are more essentially

First, the architecture of this rail,

wooden than even those

Sanchi, and, so far as

at

it

goes, tends to con-

firm the conclusion that, at the period they were erected, the style

was passing from wood to

sculpture
cleverly
it

expressed in

they were

material

How

It

chisels

is

and

other hand, however, the

every

were

detail

perfectly

from

far
tools

so

which

in

it

is

familiar

being a

quite

well

first

and so

cut,

that

with the
attempt.

equal to carving the

and must have been perfectly familiar with their use.

taken them to acquire this degree of perfection

stone,

long

carvers

using.

They must have had

hardest

the

hard sandstone

the

evident the

equally

is

On

stone.

sharp and clean, and

so

is

may have

it

in stone carving,

it

is

of

course impossible to guess, without further

Though, therefore, we may

must have been centuries.
despair of finding any architectural buildings older than the time of
Asoka, it is by no means improbable that we may find images or basreliefs, and inscriptions of a much earlier date, and for the history of
data

but

it

India and her arts they would be as

They, like this

the ruins

or

rail,

of

usefill

as

the larger examples.

some neglected mound

and will only be recovered by

are probably buried under

some forsaken

city,

excavation or by accident.

others to be, mere guess work, or daring

speculation.
satisfaction to

It

is,

me

consequently, no small
to find that this sub-

sequent discovery of a monument 200

years earlier does not force me to unsay
a single word I then said. On the contrary,

everything I then

advanced

is

confirmed, and these inscriptions render

certain

what

before their discovery

was

necessarily sometimes deficient in proof.

^

The

following outline (Woodcut No.

on the next page) of one of the bason a pillar at Bharhut may serve
to convey an idea of the ttyle of art
and of the quaint way in which the
On tlie left, a
stories are there told.
28,

reliefs

king with a five-headed snake-hood is

kneeling before an altar
strewn with flowers, behind which is a

represented,

tree {Sirisa Accasia?)

effect,

hung with garlands.

an inscription to this
"Erapatra tiie Naga Raja worships

Behind him

is

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

90

Book

I.

For the present we must be content with the knowledge, that we

now know

perfectly

what the

state of

Above him is
Naga himself, rising
To its right a man ia the

two wives.

the Divinity (Bliaj^avat)."

the great fivc-heaJed

from a
robes

lake.

of

priest

his

28.

be

Naga

as being
'

pa>8

snake

ueaily all

length,

back of their heads an arrangement which is universal in all Naga

sculpture.
They are standing up to their
waists in water.
If we may depend on
the inscription below him, this is Erapatra twice over, and the females Lis
at the

I should, however, rather

an epitome of my work on
Tree and Serpent Worship.'
As expressing in the shortest possible com-

Naga

quintuple snake- hood, and behind

single

the

Rajas represented with their two wives.

This bas-relief is further interesting

a female genius, apparently floating in

the air. Belowis another Naga Raja, with

him two females with a

when

inclined to fancy there were two

standing up to his

midvlle in the water, and above the

the arts was in India

much

it

will

tliat

also

is

said

serve

to

there at

explain

advanced in the following

pages.
As it is 200 years older than
anything that was known when that
book was written, it is a confirmation
of

its

tliat is

theories, as

satisfactory as

complete.

Tree ami SiTpeut Worship at Bharhut.

(From

a Photograph.)

it

is


MUTTRA.

Chap. IV.

Greeks

visited

first

Buddh Gaja nor

Neither the

it.

rails were, it is true, in

91

existence in Alexander's time

Bharhut

the

but both were

erected within the limits of the century in which Megasthenes visited

the country, as ambassador from Seleucus, and

it

from

principally

is

we know what India was at that time.

If he did not see
these monuments he must have seen others like them, and at all events
saw carvings executed in the same style, and wooden chaityas and

him

that

temples similar to those depicted in these sculptures.

curious points

they bring out

is,

that

the

But one

of the

observances he

religious

witnessed at the courts of the Brahmanical king, Chandragupta, are

he would

not those

have witnessad had he

Buddhist grandson the great Asoka.

this age, everything is Buddhist, but

He nowhere

been

There,
it

is

The

scene where Ajatasatra

at

be worshipped,

to

nearest indication of his presence

the king

his

else

Buddhism without Buddha.

appears, either as a heavenly person

or even as an ascetic.

deputed to

everywhere

as

in a

is

whose reign he attained Nirvana

in front of which are impressions of his feet.

kneels before an altar

in

His

feet, too, seem impressed on the step of the triple ladder, by

which he descended from Heaven at Sankissa Maya's dream, and
;

the

descent

indications

of

objects to

to

sufficient

can be

convince an

expert

But, as at

indicated.

religion

Elephant

white

the

which worship

is

Muni.

tells

Besides this, the Bo-trees of

are represented in these sculptures,

inscriptions

we can can

us,

Buddhism

that

sculptures, are

these

the

is

the

them

trees,

Sakya

Bodhi-tree of

six or seven of

and both by

easily recognise

is

by far the most numerous

Sanchi,

addressed in

one of which, the inscription

and other

recognised,

his predecessors

their foliage

as those

and

known

their

at the

present day as belonging to these previous Buddhas.^

Naga

common

and kings with their five-headed serpent-hoods are

people,
;

but only one instance has yet been brought to light in

which the serpent can be said

drinking are

not

represented nude

they are at

as

Making

to be worshipped.

represented here

as

Sanchi

at

Muttra.

nor

All are

love

are

and

females

decently clothed,

from the waist downwards at least, and altogether the manne s and
customs at Bharhut are as much purer ;as the art is better than
it is in the more modern example at Sanchi.

MUTTRA.

When

excavating at Muttra,

pillars of a rail,

General Cunningham found several

which, judging from the

style, is

about the same age as that at Bharhut, or

modern, but

still

it

most probably of
a little more

may be

certainly anterior to the Christian Era.

'

'

Maliuwauso,' Introduction,

p. 32.

The

pillars.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

92

Bock

I.

however, are only 4J ft. high, and no trace of the top rail nor of the
Each pillar is adorned by a figure
intermediate discs has been found.

high

naked female in

of

singularly

relief,

executed,

well

richly

adorned with necklaces and bangles, and a bead belt or truss round

Each stands on a crouching dwarf, and above

middles.

their

in a separate compartment, are

on a somewhat smaller

female,

two

tbe busts of

making

either

scale,

each,

male and

figures, a

love

violent

to

each other, or drinking something stronger than water.^

Though

the

sculptures

anti-Buddhistical tendency,

do not, indeed, know

building

it

it

was attached.

But

able.

if

if

of

scenes,
this

circular, or to

It

it

is

what

class of

would be unobjection-

If part of a palace, it

belonged to a temple,

it

We

can hardly be Buddhist.

rail

was straight or

cated to Krishna, not to Buddha.

a form of

and Cuttack have made us

what might be supposed an

Sanchi

at

some strange

with

familiar

ought to have been dedi-

not, indeed, impossible that

Vishnuism may have co-existed with Buddhism in the

But

neighbourhood of Bindrabun, even at this early age.

problems, the existence of which

these

are

only just dawning upon us, and

is

which cannot be investigated in a work

like the present.

Sanchi.

Though
are

the rails surrounding the topes at Sanchi are not, in them-

interesting as those at

selves, so

useful

Buddh Gaya and Bharhut,

decorating rails were arrived

at,

still

and the torans or gateways

great

by

quite

aro

rail

any

The

to exist in India.

be

the

described

closure

IttO

as

known
rail

great

tope

circular

in

ft.

of

the

of

unequalled

examples

other

suriounds

they

which the modes

exhibiting the various steps by

in

that

may
en-

diameter, but

not quite regular, being elliptical

on one
or

side, to

stairs

admit

procession-path
i JzO

.-t

Rail at Sanchi.

29.

78

lOftet

monument.

(From a Drawing by

consists of

height,

top by

and spaced 2
rail

Outlines of

ft.

ft.

3 in.

thcfcG sculptures are

'

octagonal pillars 8

it
ft.

its

position by a tenon cut

graphs of the v liole, which represent

what is omitted in the lithographs,

given

in General
of his

the

be seen from

These are joined together at the

apart.

deep, held in

Cunningham's third volume

I have photoReports,' pLite 6.

surrounding
will

the annexed woodcut (No. 29),

Gen. Cunningham.)

in

As

ramp
berm or

of the

leading to the

EAIL AT SANCHI.

Chap. IV.

on the top

the pillars, as at Stoneheiige

of

on either

side,

straction

is.

and the

first,

between the

The

pillars, for

rails

added afterwards.

hand

laterally, so

instance, could not have been put

posts,

They must have been

was

done,

or

after-

before

either

up

inserted

and supported while the next pillar

and when the top rail

as to take their ends,

was shut dowTi the whole became mortised together

pantiT, but not as any
stone-work

pillars are

rails,

into the right or left

was pushed

which are slipped into lens-shaped holes,

the whole showing how essentially wooden the con-

intermediate

three

93

as a piece of

car-

wards.

The next
rail

design

fied

in

stage

that

in

exempli-

is

Xo. 2

of

Tope, Sanchi (Woodcut

No. 30)

there circular

added in the

are

discs

centre

each

of

pillar,

and semicircular plates

at top and bottom.
In
carpentiy

the

circular

ones would represent a

great

nail

meant

to

keep the centre bar in

its

place

the half discs

Rail, Xo. 2 Tope,

30.

S;iTiclii.

(From a Drawing by Colonel Maisey.)

top and bottom, metal

plates to strengthen the

and

junctions

this it seems

most probably may

really

have been the

origin of these forms.

If

from

this

we

attempt to follow the

ornamentation of these

31.

rails,

it

Representation of Rail.

progi*ess

made

in

the

seems to have been arrived at by

(From

a Bas-relief at Amravati.)

placing a circular disc in each of the intermediate

rails, as

shown

in

the woodcut (No. 31), copied from a representation of the outer face

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

94

of

the Amravati

carved upon

rail,

Book

In the actual

it.

I.

the pillars

rail

and the spaces somewhat wider, but in

it has the same zoophorus below,
all other respects it is the same
and the same conventional figures bearing a roll above, both which
features are met with almost everywhere.
A fourth stage was reached in that shown in the next woodcut
proportionally

are

taller

(No. 32), from a representation of a

the Gautamiputra cave

full discs

on the

Rail in Gautamiputra Cave, Nassick.

32.

pillars

rail in

312 to 333, where there are three

at Nassick, a.d.

as well

yet be found

multiplied

on the

as

rails,

and no doubt other variations may

but these are sufficient to show how the discs were

till

the

pillars

almost become

evanescent quantities

in

the composition.

The
tution
if

greatest innovation, however, that took place, was the substiof

figure-sculpture for the lotus or water leaves of

the

discs,

that can be called an innovation, which certainly took place in the

wooden age

of architecture, before

it

was thought

translating these

of

at Buddh Gaya
and Bharhut, show these changes already completed in the manner

things into stone.

above described.
sculpture,

is

The

The

we know, those

plainness of the

consequently no test of

though the extreme

seems

example,

earliest rails

only

multiplication
to

ha^e

of

or the absence

rail,

its

greater

discs,

taken place

as
just

or

of figure-

antiquity,

less

shown
before

in

the

their

last

dis-

continuance.

To

return, however,

from

its

B.C.

was probably in Asoka's time,

shown by the inscription on it, was the

erection, which, as explained above,

250

but as each

rail, as

The rail that surrounds

commenced immediately after

this digression.

the great tope at Sanchi was probably

RAIL AT SANCH[.

Chap. IV.

may have taken 100

gift of a different individual/ it

The age

erect.

on the

an inscription

which

states that

Kami

king, and

that
the

the torans

of

of

more

is

or 150 years to

easily ascertained.

south gateway, which

There

is

certainly integral,

is

the gateway was erected during the reign of a Sat

is nearly certain that this applies to a king of

it

name who reigned

oldest

95

As

a.d. 10 to 28.

the four,

it

gives us

gateway

this

certainly

is

a starting-point from which to

The next that was erected was

That was followed by the eastern the one of which
there is a cast at South Kensington
and the last erected was the
The style and details of all those show a succession and a
western.
determine the age of the others.

the northern.

that

progress

could hardly have

taken place in

than a century,

less

much

and, with other reasons, enable us to assert without

hesitation,

that the four gateways were added to the rail of the great tope during

the

first

general view

the

and

century of the Christian Era,

their

the building (Woodcut

of

execution spread

The northern gateway

pretty evenly over that period.^

No.

In design and dimensions these four gateways are

The northern

one another.

larger

than the others.

beam, measure 18

shown in
more in

on the following page.

detail in the cut (No. 33)

to

is

10), but

Its

is

the

the

to

pillars,

very similar

all

as well

as

somewhat

underside

of

the

finest,^

lower

including the elephant capitals, and the total

ft.,

emblem is 35 ft. The extreme width across

The other gateways are somewhat less in
being only 33 ft. in height. The other two

height to the top of the

the lower

beam

is

20

ft.

dimensions, the eastern

having

All these four

wherever,

attached to the
scenes from the
rarely, if

what

sure

their

exact dimensions

while standing.

in
rail
life

ever, after

or torans

gateways,

were covered with the

rear

easy to be

not

fallen, it is

may have been

most elaborate

fact,

their

surface

behind them.
of

they are

as

properly

sculptures both in

was

not

hidden

called,

front

by

and

being

Generally the sculptures represent

Buddha when he was

he became an

ascetic,

Prince Siddharta,

the

and nowhere

is

he repre-

sented in the conventional forms either standing or seated cross-legged,

In addition to these are scenes

which afterwards became universal.

from the jatakas or legends, narrating events or actions that took place
during the five hundred births through which Sakya Muni had passed
before he became so purified as to reach perfect Buddhahood.
One of

General Cunningham collected and

translated 196 inscriptions from this tope,

which will be found in his work on the

BhilsaTupe8,p. 235, e^segg-., plates 16-19.

- The
details from whicli these determinations are arrived at will be found
in

'

Tree and Serpent Worship,'

p.

98,

consequently not necessary

et seqq.

It is

to repeat

them

here,

It Is very

when

much

Lieut. Cole

to be regretted tliat
had the opportunity he

did not take a cast of this one instead of

j

the eastern.
its

It is far

more complete, and

sculptures more interesting.

RAIL AT SANCHF.

Chap. IV.

97

these, the Wessantara, or

of

the lower

events of

beam

that

of

"alms-giving Jataka," occupies the

the northern gateway, and reproduces

wonderful

exactly as

tale

it

is

whole
all

the

narrated in Ceylonese

books at the present day.

Besides

these

the

scenes,
trees

historical

w^orship

of

represented

is

at

least seventy-six times

dagobas

or

shrines,

relic

thirty-eight times

the

of

em-

chakra, or w^heel, the

blem
or

Dharma

of

ten

times

the

Sri,

of

the

and

law

Devi

of

who
Hindu

goddess,

afterwards, in the

Pantheon, became the conYishnu, ten times.

sort of

The

which

blem

am

crowns

may

gateways

inclined

On

believe

to

Buddha

the left-hand

the north

of

pillar

the

and

be,

represent

does,

himself.

em-

or trident

trisul

gate-

way it crowns a pillar,

hung with wreaths and
emblems, at the bottom of

which are the sacred

feet

(Woodcut

The

whole

No.

looking

34).

like

mystic emblem of a divi-

was forbidden

nity, it

form.

under a human

The

corresponding

the opposite pillar

face of
is

to

it

represent

adorned with architecscrolls, wholly with-

tural

out

any

esoteric

meaning

so far as can be detected,

but
Bas-relief on left-hand Pillar,

Northern Gateway.

great

of

(Iesi<^"n
to

Other
present
as

sieges

and

fighting,

beauty

sculptures

Ornament on right-hand Pillar

nvr^vfUom Gateway.
nntow^v
Northern

re-

and consequent triumphs, but,

can be seen, for the acquisition of

with the faith.

of

No.'J'
35).
(Woodcut
V

Othei'S portray

relics

or

men and women

subjects

so

far

connected

eating and drinking

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUEE.

08

and making

and otherwise occupied, in a manner

love,

thing we have

lioOK

hitherto

as unlike any-

been accustomed to connect with Buddhism

Be

as can well be imagined.

may, the sculptures

this as it

gateways form a perfect picture Bible of Buddhism as

India in the

important historically as they are interesting

The

it

of these

existed in

Christian Era, and as such are as

century of the

first

].

artistically.^

small tope (No. 3), on the same platform as the great tope

was surrounded by a

at Sanchi,

disappeared.
of

which are

of

the

standing.

still

great

which has now almost entirely

rail,

had, however, one

It

about half the

It is only

measuring about 17

tope,

and one beam

toran, the pillars

ft.

size of

to the top of

those

the upper

beam, and 13

ft. across its lower beam.

It is apparently somewhat
more modern than the great gateways, and its sculptures seem to
have reference to the acts of Sariputra and Moggalana, whose relics,
as above mentioned, were deposited in its womb.
This tope was only 40 ft. in diameter, which is about the same

dimension as No. 2 Tope, containing the

who took

the ten

relics of

apostles

part in the third convocation under Asoka, and afterwards

in the diffusion of the Buddhist religion in the countries bordering on

India.

As above pointed

out, the rails at

Buddhism

a similar picture of

At

earlier.

first

Buddh Gaya and Bharhut

at a time

sight the difference

is

expected, but on a closer examination

not so striking as might be

it is

only too evident that both

the art and the morals had degenerated during the interval.

a precision and a sharpness

There

is

about the Bharhut sculptures which

is

and drinking and love-making do not occur in the

they do, however, occur at Buddh Gaya to anysculptures

not found
earlier

afford

from two to three centuries

here,

thing like the extent they do at

There

Sanchi.

any figure entirely nude

Sanchi nudity among the

Bharhut

of

females

rather the rule than the exception.

is

are nearly the

than

earlier

same

at

The

objects of worship

in both instances, but are better expressed in the

the

in

no instance at

is

later

examples.

Till,

however,

Bharhut

the

sculptures are published in the same detail as those of Sanchi,

hardly

fair

to

insist too

instituted between

publication

of

them.

it

is

on any comparison that may be

strongly
I believe

know

nearly

but

all,

till

the

General Cunningham's work the public will not have

the same advantage.

again to the fact of

so little

For

details of these sculptures

references, I
'

it

their being, even

and
must refer the reader to my
work on Tree and Serpent Worship,'
where they are all represented and
^

may

be well to draw attention

more evidently than the rails,
removed from the wooden originals out of which they were

Before leaving these torans,

described in great

do not,

detail.

strictly speaking,

Sculptures

belong to this

work, and, except for historical purposes,

are not generally alluded

to.

RAIL AT AMRAYATI,

Chap. IV.

No

elaborated.

99

one can look at them, however carelessly, without

perceiving that their forms are such as a carpenter would

imagine,

and could construct, but which could not be invented by any process
of stone or brick masonry with wliich we are familiar.
The real
wonder
in

when the new fashion was introduced of repeating

had previously been executed only in wood, any one

that,

is

stone what

had the hardihood to attempt such an erection in stone and still

more wonderful is it that, having been done, three of them should
have stood during eighteen centuries, till one was knocked down by
some clumsy Englishmen, and that only one the earliest, and consequently the slightest and most wooden should have fallen from
;

natm-al causes.

Although these Sanchi torans are not the

their

earliest

specimens of

executed wholly in stone, neither are they the

class

no means

last.

We

knowing whether those represented

at Amravati^ were in stone or in wood, but, from their different
appearances, some of them most probably were in the more permanent
material.
At all events, in China and Japan their descendants are
counted by thousands. The pailoos in the former country, and the
toris in the latter, are copies more or less coiTect of these Sanchi
gateways, and like their Indian prototypes are sometimes in stone,
sometimes in wood, and frequently compounded of both materials, in
varying proportions. What is still more curious, a toran with five
bai-s was erected in front of the Temple at Jerusalem, to bear the
sacred golden vine, some forty years before these Sanchi examples.
It, however, was partly in wood, partly in stone, and was erected to
replace one that adorned Solomon's Temple, which was wholly in
bronze, and supported by the celebrated pillars Jachin and Boaz.^
have,

it

true,

is

of

AMRAYATI.
Although the

rail at

Bharhut

in India in an historical sense,

is

the most interesting and important

is

it

far

from being equal to that

respects, the

ment

Amravati

rail

In the

first

in India.

probably the most remarkable monu-

is

place

inner

165

Bharhut

ft.,

or almost

exactly

representation of

among

them has been detected

the sculptures at Sanchi

and Serpent Worship,'

least

ft.

in diameter, the

dimensions of

twice the

that at

between these two was the procession-path, which in the

They must certainly have been very

common in India, for, though only one

at

more than twice the dimensions

it is

the rail at Bharhut, the great rail being 195

of

at

Indeed, in these

Ami-avati, either in elaboration or in artistic merit.

ten

plate 27,

representatiom?

('

fig.

of

are found at Amravati, plates 59

Tree
2),

them

60

(fig. 1),

(fig.

98

2),

(fig.

may
2

dix

'

63

85

(fig.

(figs.

2),

3),
1

64

and

(fig. 1), 69,

2),

96

(fig.

83
3),

and no doubt many more

yet be found.

Tree and Serpent Worship,' Appen-

I. p.

270.

(lig. 2),

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

100
earlier

examples was on the tope

of the great rail

was about 14

the inner rail was solid, and only 6

The

itself.

ft. ;-

Externally, the

internally,

ft.

Book

was 2

it

total

height

ft. less,

external appearance of the great -rail

and comic

may

be judged of from

attitudes.

The

The
and

pillars, as usual.

External Elevation of Great Rail at Amravati.

36.

were octagonal, ornamented with

discs top
less

while

in height.

the annexed woodcut (No. 36), representing a small section of it.

lower part, or plinth, was ornamented by a frieze of animals
boys, generally in ludicrous

I.

full

discs

and bottom, between which were

importance.

On

in

the

and half
more or
most elabo-

centre,

figure sculptures of

the three rails were full discs,

all

and all different. Above runs the usual undulating roll

moulding, which was universal in all ages,^ but is here richly interThe inside of the rail was very
spersed with figures and emblems.
rately carved,

In

Burmah

at the present

day a

roll

preciselysimilarto this, formed of coloured

muslin, distended by light

is

bamboo hoops,

borne on men's shoulders in the same

manner

as shown here, on each side of

the procession that accompanies a high
priest or other ecclesiastical dignitary to

the grave.

RAIL AT AMKAVATL

Chap. IV.

much more
cut

all

richly

101

ornamented than the outside shown in the wood-

the central range of discs, both on the pillars and on the

rails,

carved with

being

subjects,

generally

figured

very great

of

and beauty of detail,

and the upper rail was one con-

elaboration

tinuous
ft.

bas-relief

in length.

upwards

of

600

At the returns

of

the gateways another system was

37.

Angle

pillar at

Amravati.

38.

Slab from Inner Rail. Amarvati.

The pHlars being

adopted, as shown in the above woodcut (No. 37).
was on the
sculpture
narrower, and the discs smaller, the principal
intermediate space

in this

instance a king

on his throne receives

a messenger, while his army in front defends the walls

lower

down

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

102

Book

T.

the infantry, cavalry, and elephants sally forth in battle array, while

one of the enemy sues for peace, which

probably the information

is

being communicated to the king.

The inner
twelve
the

slabs

most

dagobas

apparently

with scenes from

elaborately carved

One of these dagobas has

or from legends.
(Woodcut No. 17). Between these were pillars
ornamented, either as shown in Woodcuts Nos. 38 and 89, or

of

already been

and

with figures of

generally

rail,

each quadrant

in

life

though lower, was even more richly ornamented

rail,

than the great

Buddha
given

with either Buddhist designs or emblems, but

these

whole

pictures

series

of

as

was

it

as rich, at least, as

all

the

making up a
Buddhism,

of

understood in the 4th

and 5th

centuries, unsurpassed

by

anything

now known to exist

The slab represented

in

India.

Woodcut No. 38

now much

ruined,

in

101), though

(p.

interesting

is

as

showing the three great objects

of

Buddhist worship at once.

the top

but
in

the dagoba with

is

with
the

the

place

five-headed
usually

At

its rail,

Naga

occupied by

Buddha. In the central compartment is the chakra or wheel, now

generally

emblem
member

acknowledged
of

Dharma,

of the

below that

the

to

be the

the

second

Buddhist Trinity
tree,

possibly

re-

presenting Sanga or the congrega-

and in front of all a throne,

on which is placed what I believe

tion
Diigoba (from a Slab), Amravati.

to be a relic, wrapt

up

in a silken

cloth.

This combination

is

repeated again and again in these sculptures,

and may be almost designated

rather

the confession

of

faith,

as the shorter

Buddhist catechism, or

Buddha, Dharma, Sanga.

The

last

woodcut (No. 39) is also interesting, as showing, besides the three

emblems, the form of pillars with its double animal capitals so common
in structures of this

The age

of

and an

earlier age.

these rails does not

For the reasons of the following deand other particulars, the

reader is referred to my work on Tree
and Serpent Worship,' where the whole
*

termination

'

seem doubtful.

are set out at length.

of the tope

will

also

The

outer

or

A short account
be found in the

'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,'

vol. iii. (N. S.) p. 132, ef seqq.

KAIL AT AMRAVATI.

Chap. IV.

commenced about

great rail seems to have been

when

the tooth relic paid this place a visit on

Ceylon, and

its

The inner

The

spot.

fragments that exist of the central tope are certainly of an

age,

and some

much
to

earlier

of the slabs of the inner rail exhibit sculptures of a

earlier date

some disused

new

to

rail is

an older monument existed on the

clear that

is

way from Pari

occupied the whole of the rest of

a.d. 400, and, with

the history of
it

a.d. 819, at the time

its

more modern, and seems to have been

some other detached fragments, carry
the monument down, it may be, to 500.
At the same

that century.

begun about
time

may have

erection

103

on their backs.

earlier building,

It

seems as

if

they had belonged

and been re-worked when

fitted to their

places.

When Hiouen Thsang

visited this place in the year

639

had

it

already been deserted for more than a century, but he speaks of

magnificence and the beauty of

site

its

he applies to almost any other

monument

in

expressions he uses one not easily understood

says, " It

was ornamented with

Bactria "

(Tahia).

all

its

more glowing terms than

in

Among

India.
at

sight,

first

other

for he

the magnificence of the palaces of

Now, however,

we know what the

that

native art

India was from the sculptures at Bharhut and Sanchi, and as we

of

also know nearly what the art of Bactria was from those recently
dug up near Peshawur, especially at Jamalgiri, we see at once that
it was by a marriage of these two arts that the Amravati school of

sculpture was produced, but with a stronger classical

anything of

its

kind found elsewhere

India.

in

influence than
It

is

now

also

tolerably evident that the existence of so splendid a Buddhist estab-

lishment so far south must have been due to the fact of the mouths of
the Kistnah and Godavery being ports of departure from which the

Buddhists of the north-west and west of India, in early times, conquered

or colonised

Pegu and Cambodia, and eventually the island of Java.

we proceed. Meanwhile it seems

All this will be clearer as

bable that with this, which

of its class,

example

is

seem to be

panels

tures,

in

or later, have

row

must have been

between

the

in the

pilasters.

which they were adorned,

their rails attached to their

all

If they

of pilasters.

form
This,

for

it

had any figured

indeed,

illus-

on plaster on

of paintings

was probably the

certainly was not with sculp-

but we cannot understand any Buddhist monument existing

anywhere, without the jatakas or legends being portrayed on

in

pro-

most splendid specimen

of this age

trations, they

mode

certainly the

we must conclude our history of Buddhist rails. No later

and the Gandhara topes, which generally
to exist

known

sides in the shape of a

the

is

some shape or other.

At Sarnath all reminiscences

'

'

Histoire de

of a rail

Hiouen Thsang,'

trachiite

its Avails

had disappeared, and a new

par Julien,

vol.

i.

p. 188.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

104

mode

of

ornamentation introduced, which

anything found on the

Rook

I.

no resemblance to

bore

earlier topes.

Although, therefore, our history of

the rails

may

finish

about

by no means follows that many examples may not yet be

brought to light belonging to the seven and a half centuries that
A.D. 500, it

elapsed

between that

date

and

the

age

Asoka.

of

certainly were sculptured to a greater or less extent,

As they
when they

all

are

examined and published we may hope to have an ancient

pictorial

history of India for those ages nearly as complete as that

possessed

by any other country in the world.

know

present, however,

we only

thrown down
may hope to find many more whenever they are

and buried that Ave

looked for, and from them

The

to learn the whole story of

crowuiug ornapage 96, is a

chakra or wheel in the centre, with trisul
emblems right and left. On the upper
beam, five dagobas and two trees are
worshipped on the intermediate blocks,
on the middle beam
Sri and a chakra
on
are seven sacred trees, with altars
the intermediate blocks, Sri and the

Note.

ment

At

of ten or twelve examples, but they are so easily

in

central

Woodcut No.

33,

40.

Trisul

Emblem.

Buddhist

art.

chakra again. The lower beam is wholly

occupied by the early scenes in the
Wessantara jataka, which is continued

The subjects on the pillars

been described in Tree and
Serpent Worship,' but are on too small

in the rear.

have

all

a scale to

'

be

distinguishable

woodcut.

(From

Amravati.)

a sculpture at

in

the

CHAITYA HALLS.

Chap. V.

CHAPTER

105

V.

CHAITYA HALLS.
CONTENTS.
Beliar Caves

Although,

Western Chaitya Halls, &c.

looked at from a merely artistic point of view,

if

it will

pro-

bably be found that the rails are the most interesting Buddhist remains

come down

that have

to our time,

still,

in an historical or architectural

by the chaitya

sense, they are certainly surpassed

These are

halls.

the temples of the religion, properly so called, and the exact counter-

part of the churches of the Christians, not only in form, but in use.

Some twenty

or thirty of these are

In so far as the interior

rock.

consequence, but

form

which

in

still

to exist in a state

is

concerned this

is

what

is

perhaps worse,

also nearly certain that

on these

or three thicknesses were laid, but

what covered the planks

We know

to

though

believe

that

they

that they

it

two

ribs planks in

we cannot even guess

externally.

have been metal, or any kind of

ling

or no

hides from us entirely

it

their roofs were constructed.

were formed with semicircular ribs of timber, and

is

cut in the

all

of little

prevents our being able to judge of their external

or effect,^ and,

mode

the

it

known

with one exception,

of greater or less preservation, but,

felt,

It

could hardly

and one

is

unwil-

were thatched with grass,

I confess, as the evidence at present stands, this

seems to

me

the most probable suggestion.^

The only

structural one

is

at Sanchi,

and

in plan in the accompanying woodcut (No. 41).

is

shown
It does

41.

Ei:'."_'.:-.iD

Plan uf Chaitya

Hall, Sanclii.
how the roofs of the Scale
to 1 in.
30
What it does show,
aisles were supported externally.
which the caves do not, is that when the aisle which surrounded

not however, suffice to show us

ft.

It is probable that a tolerably correct

idea of the general exterior appearance of

the buildings from wbich these caves were

copied may be obtained from the Baths
(as

they are called) of Mahavellipore

(described
are

further on, p. 328). These

of a later date, and

monuments

belonging to a different religion, but

they correspond so nearly in all their
parts with the temples and monasteries

now under

consideration, that

we cannot

doubt their being, in most respects, close

Curiously enough, the
copies of them.
best illustrations of

among

some of them are

to

unpublished sculptures of the Bharhut Tope.

2 The only buildings in India I know
be found

tlie

of that gave the least hint of the external forms or construction of these
halls are the huts of the

Todas on the

BUDDHIST AKCHITECTURE.

106
the

apse

could

up

solid.

In

be

from the

lighted

the

all

caves the

Book

the

exterior,

apse was carried

surrounding the dagoba are

pillars

They

from and plainer than those of the nave.

different

kept as subdued as possible, as

there, but Avere necessary to

if

it

I.

are, in fact,

was thought they had no business

admit light into the circumambient

aisle

of the apse.

As almost

all

our information regarding these chaityas, as well as

the viharas, which form the next group to be described,

from the rock-cut examples in Western India,

if

it

the

were possible, to present something like a

number and

is

derived

would be convenient,

it

statistical

account of

The

distribution of the groups of caves found there.

descriptions hitherto published do not, however, as yet admit of this.

I

them

have myself visited and described

all

the most

and in an interesting paper, communicated

;^

to

important of

Bombay

the

branch of the Asiatic Society by the Eev. Dr. Wilson, he enumerated

groups

thirty-seven

different

Europeans.^

This number

is

of

more

caves,

or

less

exclusive of those in Bengal

known

to

and Madras,

and new ones are daily being discovered

we may therefore
assume that certainly more than forty, and probably nearly
;

fairly
fifty,

groups of caves exist in India Proper.

Some

of these groups contain as

excavations,

many

many

as

100 different and distinct

not more than ten or a dozen

convinced that not

less

but altogether I

feel

than 1000 distinct specimens are to be found.

Of these probably 100 may be

of

Brahmanical or Jaina origin

the

remaining 900 are Buddhist, either monasteries or temples, the former

for of the latter not
being incomparably the more numerous class
;

more than twenty or thirty are known

no doubt, from the greater number

This difference arose,

to exist.

of

always the

the viharas being

grouped

in Afghanistan

and

around structural topes, as

is

Ceylon

they did not require any rock-cut place

and,

consequently,

of worship while possessed of the

The

case

more usual and appropriate

edifice.

facades of the caves are generally perfect, and form an excep-

tion to what has been said of our ignorance of the external appearance
of Indian temples

and monasteries, since they are executed in the rock

In a work recently pubMr. Breeks, of the

Madras Civil Service, he gives two photo-

Nilj-iii Hills.

lished

by the

late

graphs of these dwellings, plates 8 and

Their roofs have precisely the same
9.
elliptical forms as the chaitya with the
ridge, giving the ogee form externally,
and altogether, whether by accident or
design, they are miniature chaitya halls.
Externally they are covered with short
thatch, neatly laid on.

Such forms may

have existed

in Indi.i

two thousand years

and may have given

ago,

rise

to

the

peculiarities of the chaitya halls, but it

of course, impossible to prove

is,
'

it.

lUusI rations of the Eock-cut Temples

'

of India,' 1 vol., text 8vo., with folio plates.

Weale, London, 1845.

2
Journal Bombay Branch of the
Koyal Asiatic Society,' vol. iii. pt. ii.
p. 36, et 8eqq., and vol. iv. p. 340, et seqq.
'

CHAITYA HALLS.

Chap. V.

107

could have graced the buildings of which

In the investigation of these objects, the perfect immutability of a temple once hewn out of the living rock is a very
important advantage. No repair can add to, or indeed scarcely alter,
the general features of what is once so executed and there can be no

with

the detail that

all

they are copies.

doubt that we see them now, in

essentials, exactly as originally

all

This advantage will be easily appreciated by any one who

has tried to grope for the evidence of a date in the design, afforded
by our much-altered and often reconstructed cathedrals of the
designed.

Middle Ages.

The geographical distribution of the caves is somewhat singular,

more than nine-tenths of those now known being found within the
limits of the

Bombay

Presidency.

The remainder

consist of

in Bengal

those of Behar and Cuttack, neither of which

extent

one only

in

lipore

known

is

two groups
important

is

Madras, that of Mahavel-

to exist in

and two or three insignificant groups, which have been traced

in Afghanistan and the Punjab.

At one time some were

inclined to

connect this remarkable local

distribution with the comparative proximity of the west side of India to

the rock-cutting Egyptians and Ethiopians.

But the coincidence can

be more simply accounted for by the existence in both countries of

rocks

perfectly adapted

western India

is

to

such works.

The

composed of horizontal

great cave district

strata

of

of

amygdaloid and

other cognate trap formations, generally speaking of very considerable

thickness and great uniformity of texture, and possessing besides the

advantage that their edges are generally exposed in perfectly perpendicular

cliffs.

No

rock in any part of the world could either be more

more favourably situated than these formaand easily worked. In the rarest
there any flaws or faults to distm-b the uni-

suited for the purpose or

They were

tions.

easily accessible

instances are

possible

formity of the design

when

and,

complete,

they afford a perfectly

dry temple or abode, singularly uniform in temperature, and more

dm-able than any class of temple found in any other part of the world.

From

the time of Asoka, who, two hundred and

Christ, excavated the first cave at Kajagriha,

in

8th century, the series

the

is

till

uninterrupted

fifty

years before

the great cataclysm

;

and,

if

properly

examined and drawn, the caves would furnish us with a complete

religious

and

artistic history of the greater

part of India during ten

or eleven centmies, the darkest and most perplexing of her existence.

common to
Mahomedan conquest.

But, although during this long period the practice was

Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains,

Hardly any excavations

and

it

ceased before the

have been

made

or

attempted

some rude Jaina monoliths

may be one or two in southern India.

period, except, perhaps,

Gualior,

it

in

since

the

that

rock at

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

108

Book L

Behar Caves.
As might be expected from what we know

of the history of the

the oldest caves in India are situated in Behar, in the neigh-

localities,

bourhood of Rajagriha, which was the capital of Bengal at the time of

There is, indeed, one cave there which claims
the advent of Buddha.

which the

to be the Satapanni cave, in front of

held B.C. 543.

proved by

The

and

art,

most

Barabar,

Karna

It

no architectural importance.

of

miles

north

Chopar, bears an

of

the

is

very

cave

group

interesting

sixteen

the

in

and,

simple,

except

which

year

in

Asoka

of

the

the excavation
245).^

(b.c.

with

importance.

called

called

there,

records

doorway

place

at

One

Gaya.

inscription

nineteenth

situated

is

of

has no architectural feature of

Sudama

convocation was

first

however, only a natural cave very slightly im-

is,

sloping

second,

It

jambs,
the

called

Nigope cave (Woodcut No. 42), bears an inscription

by Asoka in the twelfth year of his reign,
the same year in which most of his edicts
are dated, 260 or 264 B.C., and, consequently,
is the oldest architectural example in India.
It consists of two apartments
an outer, 32 ft.
0 in. in length, and 19 ft. 6 in. in breadth,
and beyond this a circular apartment, 10 ft.
in diameter, in the place usually occupied by
the solid dagoba ^ in front of w^hich the roof
hangs down and projects in a manner very

or

Nigope Cave, Sat Ghurba group.

much
The most

thatch.

as

interesting

if

of

it

the

were intended

group

that

is

to

represent

Lomas

called

which, though bearing no contemporary inscription, certainly

Itishi,

belongs to the same age.

The

frontispiece is

singularly interesting

as representing in the rock the form of the structural chaityas of the

age.

These, as will be seen from the woodcut (No. 43), were apparently

with

constructed

strong

supporting a longitudinal

wooden

posts,

sloping

rafter

morticed

into

slightly

their

inwards,

heads,

while

three small blocks on each side are employed to keep the roof in form.

Between
support

'

the
five

pillars

smaller

Cunniugham,

ports,' vol.

1.

p.

'

was

rafters.

Avchrcological

framework of
Over these

Re-

4.5.

At Koudooty, near Bombay, there is

much more modern
date, which possesses a circular chamber
2

a chaitya cave of

In the older examples it is

probable a relic or some sacred symbol
like this.

wood,
lies

Avhich

the

rocf,

served

to

apparently

in the later it may

occupied the cell
No
have been an image of Buddha.
plans or details of ihe Kondoo4iy temple
have, to far as I know, been published.
I speak from information derived from
;

MS. drawings.

BEHAK CAVES.

Chap. V.

formed

109

two of timber planks

some other snbstance externally.

of three thicknesses of plank, or probably

laid reverse ways,

and one

of metal or

Fa9ade of Lomas Kishi Cave.

43.

The form

of the roof is

(From

liologiapli

by Mr. Peppe, C.E.)

something of a pointed arch, with a slight ogee

The

point on the summit to form a watershed.

of this series, has sloping

afterwards

from the

see,

jambs ^

door, like

peculiarity arising, as

all

those

we

shall

the openings following, as in this

lines of

instance, those of the supports of the roof.

The

be seen from the annexed plan (No. 44),

interior, as will

is

quite plain in form, and does not seem to have been ever quite completed.

It consists of a hall 33

beyond

which

circular

form,

is

ft.

apartment

an

evidently

meant

by 19
of

to

ft..

nearly

represent

a tope or dagoba, but at that early age the

architects

had not quite found out how

to

accomplish this in a rock-cut structure.

Judging

Lomas

u.

caves, the whole were excavated between the date of the

that

of

the

'

They appear

to range, therefore,

General Cunningham

cal Eeports,' vol.

i.

p.

('

Archssologi-

45) and others are

in the habit of calling this an Egyptian

This it certainly is not, as no

Egyptian doorway had sloping jambs.

form.

cave.

Nigope and
by

Milkmaid's Cave, so called (which was excavated

Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka), probably within

date.

ii:shi

from the inscriptions on these

from 2G0

to

fifty years of

200

B.C.,

that

and the

Nor can it properly be called Pelasgic.

The Pelasgi did use that form, but derived it from stone constructions.
Indians only obtained it from wood.

The

no

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

Lomas Rishi

is

probably the most modern^

richly ornamented.

No

amount

great

the hardest and most close-grained granite

is

who

these.

They have

polished

them

the most

is

found
which they are excavated

and it was hardly to be

had been using nothing but .wood

so recently

would have patience

as a building material

certainly

it

I.

of elaboration, however, is

in these examples, inasmuch as the material in

expected that a people

Book

for labours like

sufficient

like glass in the interior,

and with that

they have been content.

Western Chaitya Halls.

There are in the Western Ghats in the Bombay Presidency live
important chaitya caves whose dates can be made out, either
from inscriptions, or from internal evidence, with very fair ap-

or

six

proximate
not

certainty,

much

very
these

of

the

is

great

situated

Karli

and

which were

of

all

mistaken, before
at

cave

upon it, but

From the woodcut (No.

scription

place

in
I

45),

the

have
it

the
called

and

is

no

it

dimensions, being only 60

is

a chaitya

ft.

from the

of the apse to the mortices (a a), in

which the supports

once stood.

From

of the

wooden screen

the w^oodcut (No. 46),

taken from one of these photographs,

will

it

be perceived that the pillars of the

interior

slope

inwards at a considerable

and most unpleasing angle.

screen which closes the front
caves of this class

examples

1yMSg'r)^S5i^^^^^^^

in-

the usual plan, but of no great

hall of

back

am

oldest

photographs.

several

will be perceived that

south of

miles

There

Ghat.

plan

if

The

Era.

Bhaja, four

Bhore
a

excavated,

Christian

it

is

is

The roodof all other

In all other
and consequently

gone.

in stone,

remains; but in this instance, being in

wood, it has disappeared, though the

and the mortices by which it was attached to
The ogee fronton was covered with wooden
the walls are still there.
though the pin-holes remain by
ornaments, which have disappeared
which they were fastened to the stone. The framework, or truss
that filled the upper part of the great front opening, no longer
appearance was may be judged of by the
its
exists, but what
numerous representations of itself with which it is covered, or
holes to receive its posts

'

A very

detailed account of all these caves will be found in Gen.

'Archaeological Report' for 1861-62.

Cunningham's

WESTEKN CHAITYA HALLS.

Chap.

Ill

Illttil/iifililH

Facade of the Cave at Bhaja.

from the representation

rail

of

a chaitya

(1*

rom a Photograph.)

facade

from the contemporary

Buddh Gaya (Woodcut

at

No. 47), and there are several

others on the rail at Bharhut,
Avhich are not only correcL ele-

vations of such a fagade as this,

but represent the wooden carved

to

that

according
invariably

which

ornaments

authority

The only

adorned these fagades.

existing example of this

screen

is

innumerable
of

it,

these

wooden

that at Karli, but the

small

repetitions

not only here but in

all

shows not only

its

caves,

form, but

how

ployment was.

universal

The

its

rafters

emof

Front of a Chaitya Hall.

Bas-relief at Buddh Gaya.)

(From a

the

roof

many

of

were

of

them, as

wood,

may

and

be seen in the woodcut, remain to the present

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

112

Book

I.

Everything, in fact, that could be made in wood remained in

wood, and only the constructive parts necessary for stability were

day.

executed in the rock.

easy to understand that, the

It is

repeat

in

stone forms

wood, they should have done so

pillars

was requisite to

first

men undertook

time

to

they had only been accustomed to erect in

literally.

The

the thrust of

resist

sloping iuAvards of the

the circular roof

in the

wooden building, but it must have appeared so awkward in stone that it

would hardly be often repeated. As, however, it was probably almost
universal in structural buildings, the doorways and openings naturally
followed the same lines, hence the sloping jambs.
Though these were
by no means so objectionable in practice, they varied with the lines of
the supports, and, as these became upright, the jambs became parallel.
In like manner, when it was done, the architects could hardly fail to
perceive that they had wasted both time and labour in cutting away the
Had they left it
rock to make way for their wooden screen in front.
standing, with far less expense they could have got a more ornamental
and more durable feature. This was so self-evident that it never, so far
as is known, was repeated, but it was some time before the pillars of the
interior got quite perpendicular, and the jambs of the doors quite
parallel.

There
interior,

is

very

little

and what there

figure-sculpture about this cave

is

on the fagade seems to be

none in the

of a very domestic

But on the pillars in the interior at g and h in the plan

and /three others
(Woodcut No. 45), we find two emblems, and at a,
are found somewhat rudely formed, but which occur again so frequently
They are known as the
that it may be worth while to quote them here.

character.

48.

Chakra.

Shield.

Trisul.

trisul, or trident,

Tii.~ul.

the central point being usually more important than

The two

here shown, the shield, and the chakra, or wheel.

generally found in combination, as in
is

frequently found

compartment
here
is

is

of

edged with

Woodcut No.

33,

first

are

and the wheel

ornaments, as in the central

trisul

Woodcut No. 38 from Amravati.

The fourth emblem

the trisul, in combination with a face, and the fifth

is

frequently repeated on coins and elsewhere, but to which no

one which

name has

yet been given.

The next group

miles

south

construction.

of

of

Karli,

The

caves, however, that

shows

screen

is

considerable

in stone

at Bedsa, ten or eleven

progress

towards

lithic

the pillars are more upright.

WESTERN CHAITYA

CriAP. V.

though

and

in

49.

still

fact

PIALLS.

113

sloping slightly inwards, the jambs more nearly parallel,

we

have

nearly

Plan of Cave at Bedsa.

all

the

features

(From a Plan by Mr. Burgess,)

of

Scale 50

ft.

well-designed

to

in.

cave.
The two pillars in front, however, as will be seen
from the plan (Woodcut No. 49), are so much too large in proportion

chaitya

BUDDHIST AECHITECTURE.

114
to

the rest,

free

instead

they are evidently stambhas, and

that
of

Book

supporting a verandah.

Their

ou^i^ht

capitals

to

I.

stand

(Woodcut

No. 50, p. 113) are more like the Persepolitan than any others in
India, and are each surmounted by horses and elephants bearing men

View on Verandah

51.

and women
No. 51)

it

of

of Cave at Bedsa.

(From a Photograph.)

bold and free execution.

will be seen

how much

From

the surface

is

the view (Woodcut

covered with the

rail

decoration, a repetition on a small scale of the rails described in the last

section,

of

and which

any building.

it

may

here be mentioned

It gradually

becomes

less

is

and

a fair test of the age

less

used after the date

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

116

two chaitya

of these

caves,

Book

I.

and disappears wholly in the 4th or 5th

any

centuries, but during that period its greater or less prevalence in

building

one of the surest indications we have of the relative age of

is

any two examples.

In this cave, as

of the ornamentation

window

of

made up

is

fronts or

fagades.

it

and

w^as

and

It has also a semicircular

open-work

is

only found in the very oldest

evidently so unsuited for stone-work that

is

dropped very

There

Christian Era.

No

early.
is

whole

repetitions

moulding, like basket-work, which

caves,

will be observed, nearly the

of miniature rails,

example of

it

is

it

is

known

no wonder
after

the

an inscription in this cave in an ancient form

of letter, but not sufficiently distinct to fix its age absolutely without

further evidence.

The

third cave

is

the chaitya at Nassick.

so nearly perpendicular that their inclination

and the door jambs are nearly

Its pillars internally are

might escape detection,

parallel.

The facade, as seen in the woodcut (No. 52, p. 115), is a very perfect
and complete design, but all its details are copied from wooden forms,
and nothing was executed in wood in this cave but the rafters of the
roofs internally, and these have fallen down.
Outside this cave, over the doorway, there is an inscription, stating
that the cave was the gift of a citizen of Nassick,^ in the reign of
King Krishna, the second

of the Andrabritya kings,

who

reigned just

before the Christian Era,^ and inside, on the pillars, another in an

form of character, stating that it was excavated in honour of

King Badrakaraka,^ who was almost certainly the fifth king of the
Sunga dynasty, and who ascended the throne about B.C. 129. It may
be possible that a more critical examination of these inscriptions may
render their testimony less absolute than it now appears, but, taking
older

them

in conjunction with the architecture, the age of this cave hardly

seems doubtful.
B.C.

For myself,

129 as the date of

century

later,

and,

its

I see

no reason for hesitating to accept

inception,

if this is so, it

though

carries

its

completion

may be

back the caves of Bhaja and

Bedsa to a period considerably before that time, while, on the other

it as certainly is older than the Karli cave, which appears to

hand,

come next

to

it

in age.

Karli.

The

fourth cave

mentioned above, known as that at Karli,

situated on the road between

of all

the

finest,

indeed, of

Bombay and Poonah, and

its

is

is

the finest

It is certainly the largest as

class.

well as the most complete chaitya cave hitherto discovered in India,

^ From a photograph
and an unpublished paper by Professor Bhandarkur,
read before the Oriental Congress.

From

'

Bliandarkur's paper, ubi supra.

Journal Bombay Branch of the

Royal Asiatic

Society,' vol. v. p. 55.

GREAT CHAITYA AT KAELI.

CllAP. V.

and was excavated

In

purity.

it

removed

ai-e

at

when the

a time

style

117

was in

its

greatest

the architectural defects of the previous examples

the pillars of the nave are quite perpendicular. The

all

ornamented with sculptureits first appearance apparently in

such a positionand the style had reached a perfection that was never
screen

is

afterwards surpassed.

Scle 20 ft to

I io.

Han of Cave at Karli.

S4 .

In this cave there

is

an inscription on the side of the porch, and

another on the Uon-pillar in front, which are cenainly integral, and

Maharaja Bhuti or Deva Bhuti,^ who,

ascribe its excavation to the

according to the Ptu^as, reigned

B.C. 78,

and,

if

this is so, they fix

the age of this typical example beyond aU cavil.

The

wiU be seen by the annexed illustrations (Xos. 53,

an early Christian church
consisting of a nave and side-aisles, terminating
in its arrangements
The general
in an apse or semidome, round which the aisle is carried.
dimensions of the interior are 126 ft. from the entrance to the back
building, as

54, 55), resembles, to a very great extent,

:

wall,

by 45

ft.

The

7 in. in width.

side-aisles,

however, are very

narrower than in Christian churches, the central one being 25

so that the others are only 10
pillars.

As

Jonrnal

scale

for

ft.

of

tlic

much
7 in.,

wide, including the thickness of the

comparison,

Bombay Branch

ft.

it

may

Koyal Asiatic

be mentioned that

Society,' vol. r. pp. 152-3.

its

118

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUllE.

Book

I.

GREAT CHAITYA AT KARLI.

Chap. V.

119

arrangement and dimensions are very similar to those of the choir of

Norwich Cathedral, or of the Abbaye aux Hommes at Caen, omitting

The

the outer aisles in the latter buildings.

Norwich and Caen nearly corresponds

In height, however, Karli

Indian temple.

42

ft.

or perhaps 45

ft.

from the

thickness of the piers at

to the breadth of the aisles in the

very inferior, being only

is

floor to the apex, as nearly as

can be

ascertained.

Fifteen pillars on each side separate the nave from the aisles

has a

pillar

capital,

an octagonal

base,

tall

and

shaft,

each

ornamented

richly

on which kneel two elephants, each bearing two figures, genea woman, but sometimes two females, all very much

man and

rally a

The seven

better executed than such ornaments usually are.

behind the altar are plain octagonal

capital,

piers,

and the four under the entrance

from those at the

The

sides.

pillars

without either base

or

considerably

gallery differ

sculptures on the capitals supply the

and cornice in Grecian architecture

and in other examples plain painted surfaces occupy the same space.
Above this springs the roof, semicircular in general section, but somewhat stilted at the sides, so as to make its height greater than the
It is ornamented even at this day by a series of
semi-diameter.
wooden ribs, probably coeval with the excavation, which prove beyond
the shadow of a doubt that the roof is not a copy of a masonry arch,
but of some sort of timber construction which we cannot now very well
by

place usually occupied

frieze

understand.

Immediately under the semidome of the apse, and nearly where the
altar stands in Christian churches, is placed the dagoba, in this instance

a plain

dome

ornaments on

slightly stilted

As

on a circular drum.

now, and no mortices for woodwork,

there are no

probably was
and painted, or may have been adorned with
hangings, which some of the sculptured representations would lead us to
It is sursuppose was the usual mode of ornamenting these altars.
mounted by a Tee, the base of which is similar to the one shown on
Woodcut No. 13, and on this still stand the remains of an umbrella in
wood, very much decayed and distorted by age.
originally

it

it

plastered

Opposite this

is

the entrance, consisting of three doorways, under

a gallery exactly corresponding with our roodloft, one leading to the

centre,

and one

whole end of

to each of the side-aisles

the hall

is

open as in

one great window, through which

great

window

is

all

all

and over the

gallery the

these chaitya halls, forming

the light

is

admitted.

This

formed in the shape of a horseshoe, and exactly

resembles those used as ornaments on the fa9ade of this cave, as well

at Nassick described above, and which
Within the arch is a framemet with everywhere at this age.
work or centering of wood standing free (Woodcut No. 55). This, so

as

on those of Bhaja, Bedsa, and

are

far as

we can judge,

is,

like the ribs of the interior, coeval

with the

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

120
building

;^

at all events, if

of the original form, for

it

it is

has been renewed,

Book
is

it

found repeated in stone in

of the fagade, over the doorways,

and

I.

an exact copy
the niches

all

generally as an ornament every-

where, and with the Buddhist "rail," copied from Sanchi, forms the

most usual ornament

The

of the style.

presence of the

woodwork

is

an additional proof,

if

any were

wanted, that there were no arches- of construction in any of these

Buddhist buildings.

There neither were nor are any in any Indian

building anterior to the

Mahomedan Conquest, and

very few indeed in

any Hindu building afterwards.

To

return, however, to Karli, the outer porch

is

considerably wider

Asiatic Society,' vol.

ix.

this screen

would bo a thousand

pities if this,

few years ago it was reported that

was in danger of falling outwards, and I wrote repeatedly to India
begging that something might be done
to preserve it; but I have never been
able to learn if this has been attended
Only a small portion of the original
to.
ribbing of the Bhaja cave now remains.
That of the Bedsa cave has been desti oyed within the last ten or twelve years
('Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal
*

is

and it
which
the only original screen in India, were
p.

223)

allowed to perish when a very small outLike the Iron pillar

lay would save it.
at Delhi

which never

rusts,

teak wood

that does not decay though exposed to

the atmosphere for 2000 years,

nomenon worth the

is

a phe-

attention not only of

antiquaries, but of natural philosophers.

GREAT CHAITYA AT KARLI.

Chap. V.

than the body of the buildmg, being 52

wide, and

ft.

by a screen composed of two stout octagonal

or capital, supporting

what

now

is

121

pillars,

closed in front

is

without either base

a plain mass of rock, but wliich was

once ornamented by a wooden gallery forming the principal ornament

Above

of the fagade.

between

this a

dwarf colonnade or

was surmounted by a wooden cornice or ornament

we cannot now
it

columns

attic of fom-

admitted light to the great wuidow, and this again

pilastei*s

restore

some

of

sort,

though

since only the mortices remain that attached

it,

to the rock.

In advance of this screen stands the

lion-pillar, in tliis

instance

a plain shaft with thirty-two flutes, or rather faces, surmounted by a

capital

not unlike that at Kesariah (Woodcut No.

but at Karli

6),

supporting four lions instead of one, and, for reasons given ahoxa
(p.

seem almost certainly to have supported a chakra or

A similar pillar probably stood on the opposite

55), they

Buddhist wheel.
but

side,

has either

it

temi3lc that

tlie little

The absence

been taken down to make way for

fallen or

now

occupies

its place.

the wooden ornaments of the external porch, as

of

mode in which this temple was finished

and the porch joined to the main temple, prevents us from
judging what the effect of the front would have been if belonging
well as our ignorance of the

laterally,

to a free-standing

But the proportions

building.

remain are so good, and the

there can be

little

effect

of

such parts as

of

the whole

pleasing, that

so

hesitation in ascribing to such a design a tolerably

high rank among architectural compositions.

Of the

interior

we can judge

perfectly,

and

it

certainly

is

as

solemn and grand as any interior can well be, and the mode of lighting
the most perfect
single
directly
rest

one

opening

on the

undivided volume of light coming tlu'ough a

overhead

at

in comparative obscurity.

by the closely

very favourable

and

angle,

falling

altar or principal object in the building, leaving the

The

heightened

effect is considerably

columns that divide the three

set thick

aisles

from one

another, as they suffice to prevent the boundary walls from ever being
seen, and, as there are

no openings in the

walls, the

view between the

pillars is practically unlimited.

These pecuUarities are found more or

less

developed in

all

the

other caves of the same class in India, varying only with the age and
the

gradual change that took place from the more purely wooden

forms of these caves to the

modern

ones.

This

is

lithic or stone

architecture of

the more

the principal test by which their relative ages

can be determined, and

it

proves incontestably that the Karli cave

was excavated not very long after stone came to be used as a buildingmaterial in India.

There are caves at

old as the four

Ajunta

and probably

just described, and,

when the

at Junir

which are as

liistory of

cave

arclii-

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

122

comes

tecture

wanting

forms are

to be \vritten

examples

the

in

origin

I.

supply details that are

extenso, will

Meanwhile, however, their

quoted.

to

place

the history

and

early

progress

sufficient

explain the

in
just

Book

on a firm

and to

basis,

the style with

of

sufficient

distinctness.

From

the inscriptions and literary evidence,

about 120

We

B.C.

Karli cave

is

about 78

B.C.,

but the archaeological evidence appears

earlier ones,

Bhaja cave

seems hardly doubt-

it

and that at Nassick

have no literary authority for the date of the two

ful that the date of the

so absolutely identical in style with

is

The

irresistible.

Lomas

the

Rishi

cave at Behar (Woodcut No. 43) that they must be of very nearly

same

the

age.

Their

pillars

and their doorways slope so nearly at

the same angle, and the essential woodenness

be used

of

both

is

the expression

if

so exactly the same, that, the one being of

may
the

age of Asoka, the other cannot be far removed from the date of his
reign.
The Bedsa cave exhibits a degree of progress
way between the Bhaja and Nassick examples, that

so nearly halfit

may

safely

and the whole four thus exhibit the progress

of the style during nearly two centuries in the most satisfactory
manner, and form a basis from which we may proceed to reason with
be dated 150 to 200

very

little

B.C.,

hesitation or doubt.

AJUNTA.I
There are four chaitya caves in the

A junta

which, though

series

not so magnificent as some of the four just mentioned, are nearly as

important for the purposes of our history.

is

the lowest

down on

the

cliif,

ft. by 23 ft. in width.

All
would not be difficult to restore

only 45
it

and

representations of itself

its

is

The

woodwork has

but they do not seem integral.

when

real tests of
it,

with

there

its

its

They

first, its

and
2nd or 3rd century

position in the series, which

accompanying vihara (No.

It

and the

inscriptions,

the frescoes seem to have been renewed, so that the

age are,

the other test

in date.

left

are painted on the walls,

is

12), undoubtedly the

the architecture of

its

fa9ade,

resembles that of the Nassick chaitya (b.c. 129) that

off

perished, though

from the mortices

on the fagade. There are several
it

belong, from the form of their characters, to the

of our era,

oldest there (No. 9)

the smallest class, being

of

may, however, be somewhat

make
oldest

which so much
it

cannot be far

earlier, as

the pillars in

the interior slope inwards at a somewhat greater angle, and, in so far

as that

is

a test of age,

it

indicates a greater antiquity in the

Ajunta

example.
*
For further particulars regarding the
Ajunta caves, tlic reader is referred to a
paper I wrote iu the 'Journal of the

Royal Asiatic Society,' 1842, and republished afterwards with a folio volume of
plates to illustrate

it.

CHAITYA HALLS AT AJUNTA.

ClIAP. V.

The next

chaitya (No. 10)

very near to the

situated

is

123
last,

up in the rock, however, and of nearly twice its dimensions.

It is 94 ft. 6 in. in depth by 41 ft. 3 in. in width internally.
As may be seen from the annexed view (Woodcut No. 57), the nave
Uttle higher

Interior of Chaitya

57.

is

Cave No. 10

at Ajunta.

separated from the aisles by a

(From a Sketch by the Author.)

range of plain octagonal shafts,

The

perfectly upright, but without capitals or

is

unusual

of

height,

Traces of this can

still

out (Woodcut No. 58).

and was

originally

plastered

triforium belt

and

painted,

be seen, though the design cannot be made

One

of

most remarkable character-

the

istics of

the cave

is

that

signs of transition from

stone in

The

its

it

shows

wood

to

architectural details.

ribs of the aisle are in stone

cut in rock, but copied from the

wooden forms
amples.

The

of

previous

vault of

was adorned with wooden

the mortices for which are

and

there,

their

ex-

the nave

marks can

ribs,
still

still

be traced in the roof, but the

wood

itself is

Crosi-Section of Cave No. 10 at Ajunta.

No

scale.

gone.

There are two inscriptions in

this cave

which seem to be

integral,

but unfortunately neither of them contain names that can be identified

but from the form of their characters a palasographist would
;

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

124

Book

almost certainly place them anterior to the Christian Era.^

however,

assume

Taking,

the circumstances of the case into consideration, and so

all

as to avoid stretching
to

I.

any point too

for the present that the

would, perhaps, be better

far, it

cave belongs to the 1st century

of our era.

The

fagades of both these caves are so

aw\ay that

falling

on

ture

the

it

lower

None, certainly,

parts.

where everything depends on painting

it,

much

ruined by the rock

impossible to assert that there was no sculp-

is

and

the

in

exists
it

interior,

to say the least of

is,

very improbable that any figure-sculpture ever adorned the oldest,

while

it

The next chaitya cave

10 depended wholly on con-

even No.

seems likely that

ventional architectural forms for

adornment.

its

in this series (No. 19)

separated from

is

two by a very long interval of time. Unfortunately, no inscription exists upon it which would assist in assigning it any precise
date
but it belongs to a group of viharas, Nos. IG and 17, whose

these

date, as

we

shall afterwards see,

belonging to

as

as will be seen

the

5th

can be fixed with tolerable certainty

our

century of

The cave

era.

itself,

from the plan (Woodcut No. 59), is of the smallest

size, nearly the same as No. 9, or 46 ft. 4 in. by
23 ft. 7 in., and its arrangements do not differ
much, but
school

of

its

details belong to

All

art.

wooden

but

appeared,

trace

of

forms

a totally different

woodwork has

dis-

'

everywhere

are

re-

peated in stone, like the triglyphs and mutules of

the Doric order, long after their original meaning

ChaKyaNo.

59.

19

scaie'so^ft" tJTi In.

was lost. More than this, painting in the interval

had to a great extent become disused as a means
of decoration, both internally and externally, and
sculpturc Substituted for it in all monumental
works

but

the

Buddha, in
In the next woodcut (No. 60)

where.
will

greatest

his

all

be

seen

how

change of

attitudes, is

the

all

is

that

introduced every-

view of the fa5ade

completely figure-sculpture

had

superseded

it

the

The rail ornament,

window heads have been dwarfed
down to mere framings for masks but, what is even more significant
than these, is that from a pure theism or rather atheism we have
passed to an overwhelming idolatry. At Karli, the eight figures
plainer architectural forms of

too, has

entirely disappeared

the earlier caves.

the

that originally
pairs.

All

the

adorned the porch

figures of

Buddha

These inscriptions are translated in

Dajis' paper on the Ajuuta inscriptions, 'Journal Bombay Branch of
the Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. viii. p. 63,
^

Bhau

are

chiefs

with their wives, in

that appear there

as if found in cave 2.

now

are

long

On the accompany-

ing plate they are described as one on

cave 10, the other on cave 12.


CHAITYA HALLS AT AJUNTA.

Chap. V.

subsequent

None but mortals were

additions.

125

sculptured

the

in

and among these mortals Sakya Muni nowhere apj)ears.

Here, on the contrary, he is Bhagavat the Holy One the Deity
the object of worship, and occupies a position in the front of the
dagoba or altar itself (Woodcut No. 61, p. 126), surmounted by the
earlier caves,

triple

umbrella and as the

At
nearly

a future

time

the

Buddhist

stage of
in

Numen

of the place.

our inquiries we

which

this

may

portentous

For the present

ritual.

it

is

be able to

change

sufficient

took
to

fix

more

place

remark

in

that

images of Buddha, and their worship, were not known in India in

1st century of our era,

the

and that the revolution was complete

in

the 5th century.

Before

leaving

these 500 years.

in Nos. 56
of

this cave, however,

it

may

be well to remark on

change that had taken place in the form of the dagoba during

the

the

and

K
57,

Woodcut No. 61 is compared with the dagobas

will be seen how much the low rounded form

it

early examples

had been conventionalised into a

tall steeple-

The drum had become more important than

the dome,
and was ornamented with architectural features that have no meaning
as applied.
But more curious still is the form the triple umbrella

like

object.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

126

Book

I.

had assumed. It had now become a steeple reaching to the roof of

the cave, and its original form and meaning would hardly be suspected
by those who were not familiar with the intermediate steps.
I am not aware of more than three umbrellas being found surmounting any dagoba in the caves, but the annexed representation

Rock-cut Dagoba at Ajunta.

(From a Drawing by the Author.)

61.

G2.

in the Tope at Sultanpore.

(From Wilson's Ariana Antlqua.')

Small Model found

'

numerous models are found with seven, making with the base and
finial nine storeys,^ which afterwards in China became the conven-

number for the nine-storeyed towers of that land.

The last chaitya at Ajunta (No. 26) is of a medium size, GG

tional

and has a long

enable us to

inscription, but

fix its

date with certainty.

than the last-named,

mythological.

We

its

shall

ft.

by 3G,

which unfortunately contains nothing to

It

more modern
meaning more
in assuming tbat it was
is

certainly

sculptures are coarser, and their

probably not err

excavated towards the end of the Gth or beginning of the 7th century

'

Kittoe in 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' Marcli, 1847, plate

6.

CBAITYA AT ELLORA.

Chap. V.

127

and that the year GOO is not far from its true date. Its chief interest
in showing how nearly Buddhism was approximating to Brahmanism

is

when the catastrophe took

country of

which expelled the former from the

place

its birth.

Ellora.

The

Viswakarma cave

celebrated

at Ellora is a chaitya of the first

between the two last-described caves at

be as modern as the last. There are unfortunately no

intermediate in age

class,

Ajunta, or

may

it

nor any traditions^ that would

inscriptions

and

its

in fixing its age,

assist

which must consequently depend wholly on

position in the series

its

architectural peculiarities.

The dimensions
the inner end

is

of this cave are considerable, 85

entirely blocked

being circular as in

all

ft. by 43 ft., and

up by the dagoba which, instead of

the older examples, has a frontispiece attached

No. 19 at Ajunta, which, as shown in

Woodcut No. 60, makes it square in front. On this addition is a figure
of Buddha seated with his feet down, and surrounded by attendants
and flying figures in the latest style of Buddhist art. In the roof, all
the ribs and ornaments are cut in the rock, though still copied from
wooden prototypes, and the triforium has sculptured figures as in
Nos. 19 and 2G of Ajunta. Its most marked characteristic, however,
is the fagade, where for the first time we miss the great horseshoe
opening, which is the most marked feature in all previous examples.
to

larger than that in cave

it

We

can

window

trace a reminiscence of

still

in the centre

considered

necessary,

opening, and

it

is

(Woodcut No.
in

this

easy to

see

instance,

why

but

it

was evidently

reduce the

to

was

this

upper part of the

the

in

it

63, p. 128)

the

of

size

case.

the

At Bedsa,

and elsewhere, there was a verandah or porch with a

of the great window, which prevented the direct
rays of the sun from reaching it, and all the older caves had
wooden screens, as at Karli, from which curtains could be hung so
as to modify the light to any desired extent.
At Ellora, no screen
could ever have existed in front, and wooden additions had long ceased
Karli, Kenheri

screen

to

be

in

front

used, so

that

it

consequently became necessary to reduce the

In the two

opening.

of the

size

later

chaityas

at

Ajunta, this

is

by simply reducing their size. At Ellora it was done by

dividing it.
If we had the structural examples in which this change
was probably first introduced, we might trace its progress but, as
this one is the only example we have of a divided window, we must
effected

Sir Charles Mallet,

in

the second

1000 years before his day.

volume of the Bombay Literary Transac-

be

quotes a tradition that the Ellora

caves were excavated by a Raja Eelu,

ical Kailas,

'

tions,'

true

if

cave in the

applied

to

the

This might

Brahman-

but hardly to any Buddhist

series.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

128

accept

it

as one of

the

latest

modifications of

may

be

an

Book L

the facades of

improvement, as

cliaityas.

Practically,

sufficiently

large to light the interior in a satisfactory

artistically it

a grandeur

it

seems rather to be
about the

older

There

regi'etted.

design

which we

Fu9ade of the Viswakarma Cave at Ellura.

domestic-looking arrangement, though

it

is

tlicse

is

it

manner

still
;

but

a character

and

miss in this

more

(From a Photograph.)

is

still

a form

of

opening

not destitute of beauty.

Owing

to the sloping nature of the

ground in which

it is

this cave possesses a forecourt of considerable extent and

elegance of design, which gives its fa9ade an importance
entitled to from any intrinsic merit of its own.

excavated
of
it

great
is

not

WESTERN CHAITYA HALLS.

Chap. V.

129

Kenheri.

One
India

of the best

is

Kenheri cave.

as the great

being 88

known and most

that on the island of

ft.

by 39

6 in.

now almost

In dimensions

10

ft.

frequently described chaityas in

in.,

Bombay Harbour, known

Salsette, in

and

it

belongs to the

has the advantage that

it

In the verandah there

absolutely fixed.

is

its

rank,

date

is

an inscription

Buddhaghosha dedicated

recording that the celebrated

first

one of

the

middle-sized statues in the porch to the honour of the lord Bhagawan,^

and in the same porch another inscription records the execution of the
great statues of Buddha by " Gotamiputra's imperial descendant Sri

Yadnya

Kami."

Sat

Now we know

ghosha, went on his mission to Ceylon,

ever to have returned to India

that the first-named,

B.C.

410,^ and he

and Yadnya

Sri

is

Buddha-

not

known

has always

been

assumed to have lived 408-428, generally it must be confessed on the

mistaken etymology of confounding his name with that of Yuegai of
the

That, however,

Chinese.

is

apparently only a translation of the

" Moon beloved king," and more applicable, consequently, to Chandra

Sri or Chandragupta, who was his contemporary.
The true basis
for

the determination of his date

for this period seems indisputable.*

the Puranic chronology, which,

is

Be

all

may, the con-

this as it

junction of these two names here in this cave settles their date, and
settles also

the age of the cave as belonging to the early years of the

5th century, at the time when Fa Hian was travelling in India.

This being

one would naturally expect that the architecture of

so,

the cave should exhibit some stage of progress intermediate between

cave No. 10 and cave No. 19 of Ajunta, but nothing of the sort
apparent here

the

Kenheri cave

is

a literal copy of

at Karli, but in so inferior a style of art that,

was inclined to ascribe

the

traditions

by spasmodic

true

of

it

art

to

when

the

is

great cave

I first

saw

it,

an age of Buddhist decrepitude, when

had passed away, and men were trying

efforts to revive a

dead

art.

This being now proved not

to be the case, the architecture of this cave can only be looked

upon

an exceptional anomaly, the principles of whose design are unlike

as

anything

else to

be found

individual caprice, the

in

origin

India, emanating probably from

of

some

which we may probably never now

be able to recover.
Internally

the

though these have

roof
fallen

was ornamented

*
'Journal Bombay Branch of
Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. v. p. H.

'

Loc.

cit. p.

25.

with

timber

rafters,

and

away, the wooden pins by which they were

the

Introduction to

See Appendix.

Mahawanso,'

p. 30.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

130

Book

I.

and the screen in front has aR the

as at KarR, proving that it was
intended to be covered with wooden gaReries and framework. What
is stiR
more curious, the figures of chiefs with their wives, whicli

fastened to the rock stiR remain

and

mortices

other

indications,

adorn the front of the screen at Karli, are here repeated RteraRy, but
copied so badly as not at
the more strange as

it

first

This

sight to be easily recognisable.

occurred at an age

when

their place

is

was reserved

Buddha, and when, at Karli itself, they were cutting

away the old sculptures and old inscriptions, to introduce figures of
Buddha, either seated cross-legged, or borne on the lotus, supported
by Naga figures at its base.^
for figures of

In front of this cave

we now have, would

weather-worn that

comparing

it

a dwarf rail which, with the knowledge

(Woodcut No.

these anomalies

spite of

is

in itself be almost sufficient to settle the age, in

it

is

difficult

with the Gautamiputra

^1

64).

make

to

rail

Unfortunately
out

all

it

is

details

its

so

but

(Woodcut No. 32) and the

(From a Drawing by Mr.

Rail in front of Great Cave, Kenheri.

Amravati

(Woodcut No.

rail

36),

it

AVest.)

wiR be seen that

it

contains

all

those complications that were introduced in the 3rd and 4th centuries,

but which were discontinued in the 5th and 6th, when the
shape

fell

The evidence

in fact seems complete that this cave w^as excavated

in the early years of the 5th century

an anomaly, the

like of

same

tolerably correct representation of

Hindostau,'

The

is

vol.

engraved in Langlo's

ii.

p. 81, after Niebulir.

curious part of the thing

Buddhist figures

of

is,

that the

the Karli facade

are not copied here also, from which I

would

but, admitting this,

and that

it

remains

far as I

know

in a vihara at Nassick

age, to be described hereafter.

these sculptures
'

which only occurs once again so

in the history of Indian architectm'e,

of the

in any

rail

into disuse as an architectural ornament.^

infer, as well as

from their own

were more
modern than even this cave.
2 For further particulars regarding this
cave, the reader is referred to my work on
the Rock-cut Temples of India,' p. 36,
plates 11 and 12.
intrinsic evidence, that they

'


WESTERN CHAITYA HALLS.

Chap. V.

Dhumnar.
About

way between Kotah and Ujjain,

half

exists a series

but the

extent,

siderable

interest

in Rajputana, there

Dhumnar which

of caves at a place called

might be

that

felt

are of con-

in

them

is

considerably diminished, by their being cut in a coarse laterite conglomerate, so coarse that all the finer architectural details had to be
worked out in plaster, and that, having perished with time, only their
Among the sixty or seventy
plans and outlines can now be recognised.
excavations here found one is a chaitya of some extent, and presenting
peculiarities of plan not found elsewhere.
It is practically a chaitya
cella

situated in the midst of a vihara

Cave

65.

at

which the dagoba

is

65).

The

cell

(From a Plan by Gen. Cunningham.)

Dhumnar.

Scale 50

in

(Woodcut No.

situated

ft.

is

to 1 in.

only 35

ft.

by 13

ft.

in.,

but to

must be added the porch, or ante-chapel, extending 25 ft. further,

making the whole 60 ft. On two sides, and on half the third, it is
surrounded by an open verandah leading to the cells. The third side

this

never was finished, but in two of the side

the whole

making

cells

are smaller dagobas

a confused mass of chambers and chaityas in which

all

the original parts are confounded, and

of

design and arrangement

is

to

lost,

all

the primitive simplicity

such an extent that, without

previous knowledge, they would hardly be recognisable.

There are no exact dates

but like

all

and 600

a.d., or

of

the series

even

later,

it

is

and

for

determining the age of this cave,

late,
its

probably between the years 500

great interest

is

that,

on comparing

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

132

Book

I.

it with the chaitya and vihara at Bhaja or Bedsa (Woodcuts Nos. 46

and 49), we are enabled to realise the progress and changes that

took place in designing these monuments during the seven or eight

centuries that elapsed between them.

Kholvi.

Not

far

from Dhumnar

is

another series of caves not so extensive,

but interesting as being probably the most modern group of Buddhist

caves

in

No

India.

published,^

but

modern they

very complete

enough

is

known

account
to

One, called Arjun's House,

are.

dagoba, originally apparently some 20

is

is

in

ft.

part being in masonry has fallen away.

the front, in which

of

them has

enable us

to

feel

yet

been

sure

how

a highly ornamented

height,

Inside this

but the upper

is

cell

open to

a cross-legged seated figure of Buddha, showing

an approach to the Hindu mode of treating images in their temples,

which looks as if Buddhism was on the verge of disappearing.
The same arrangement is repeated in the only excavation here
which can be called a chaitya hall. It is only 26 ft. by 13 ft. interbut the whole of the dagoba, which is 8 ft. in diameter, has
nally
;

been hollowed out to make a cell, in which an image of Buddha is

The dagobas, in fact, here there are three standing by
enshrined.
themselves have

become

temples,

and

only

distinguishable

from

those of the Hindus by their circular forms.^

It is probably hardly necessary to say more on this subject now,
most of the questions, both of art and chronology, will be again
touched upon in the next chapter when describing the viharas which
were attached to the chaityas, and were, in fact, parts of the same

as

As mere residences, the viharas may be deficient in

and unity which characterises the chaityas, but their
number and variety make up to a great extent for their other defiand altogether their description forms one of the most
ciencies

establishments.

that

dignity

interesting chapters in our history.

Gen. Cunningham's
pi. 70
ii.
and 74, are on too small a scale to be of
much use. I have not myself visited
^

The

plates

in

'Archaeological Reports,' vol.

The

particulars of

the architecture

of these caves are taken from Gen. Cun-

to.

him as to their age,

and am surprised Dr. Impey could be
so

mistaken regarding them. 'Journal

of the Royal Asiatic

Bombay Branch

these caves.
2

ningham's report above alluded

entirely agree with

Society,' vol. v. p. 336, et seqq.

'

VIHARAS.

Chap. V[.

CHAPTER

133

VI.

VIHARAS/ OR MONASTERIES.
CONTENTS.

Bengal and Western Vihara Caves Nassick, Ajunta, Bagh,

Dhumnar, Kholvi, and Ellora Viharas Circular Cave at Juuir.

Structural Viharas

Structural Viharas.

We

more dependent on rock-cut examples

are almost

ledge of the Viharas or

for

that

regretted

of

in

the interior
of the

their
this

incapable of

knowwe are
circumstance more to be

the other.

principal

for our

the Buddhists than

of

Chaityas or churches
instance than in

naturally the

is

object,

In a chaitya

hall

and where the

art

would be principally lavished.

Next w^ouid come

The sides and apse are comparatively insignificant and
ornament. The fagades and the interior can be as well

architect

the fagade.

monasteries

expressed in the rock as

with the viharas.

when standing

court

or

hall

free

but the case

surrounded with

is

different

cells is

not an

imposing architectural object. Where the court has galleries two or

three storeys in height, and the pillars that support these are richly
carved,
old

it

may

amount

attain an

hostelries, or of

that class

of

of

picturesqueness

we

find

in

our

beauty that prevails in the courts

Such was, I believe, the form many of the

may have taken, but which could hardly
be repeated in the rock and, unless some representations are disof Spanish monasteries.^

Indian structural viharas

* Throughout this work the term " Vihara " is applied only to monasteries, the
abodes of monks or hermits. It was not,
however, used in that restricted sense
only, in former times, though it has been
so by all modern writers. Hiouen Thsang,
for instance, calls the Great Tower at
Buddh Gaya a vihara, and describes
similar towers at Nalanda, 200 and 300

feet high, as viharas.

The Mahawanso
'

also applies the term indiscriminately to

temples of a certain class, and to residences. My impression is that all buildings designed in storeys were called
viharas, whether used for the abode of
priests or to enshrine relics or images.

The name was used to distinguish them

from stupas or towers, which were always
relic shrines, or erected as memorials of
places or events, and never were residences or simulated to be such, or contained images, till the last gasp of the
style, as at Kholvi.

only a theory

a certainty.

it

At present

this is

may, before long, become

Strictly speaking, the resi-

dences ought probably to be called

Sangharamas, but, to avoid multiplication
of terms, vihara is used in this work as
the synonym of monastery, which is the
sense in which

it is

usually understood

by modern authors.
- Vol. iv., Woodcuts Nos.

89, 90.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

,134

Book

I.

covered among- the paintings or sculptures, we shall probably never

know, though we

may

guess,

what

the

original

appearances

have been.

Great Rath at Mahavellipore.

(From a Photograph.)

may

VIHAEAS.

Chap. VI.

There was, however,

135

another form of Vihara even

I beheve,

less

was pjTamidal, and is the

Take, for instance, a
original of all the temples of southern India.
description of one mentioned both by Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang,i
capable of being repeated in the rock.

It

though neither of them, it must be confessed, ever saw it, which

" The
in part for some absurdities in the description

accounts

building," says

" has altogether five storeys.

Fa Hian,

The

lowest

is

shaped into the form of an elephant, and has 500 stone cells in it
the second is in the form of a lion, and has 400 chambers
the third
;

shaped like a horse, and has 300 chambei-s

form of an ox, and has 200 chambers and the
is

the fourth

a dove, and has 100 chambers in

Hiouen Thsang is
enough but if we
;

"

it

and the account given

At

practically the same.^

at

we

of

it

by

sight this looks wild

we get

mode

of decoration

range of elephants adorn the

Karli, where a great

lower storey, and was continued with variations to

as

shape of

substitute the assertion that the several storeys were

adorned with elephants, lions, horses, &c.,

which began

first

the

in

is

fifth is in the

Hullabid, where,

shall see further on, all these five animals are, in the

13th century,

superimposed upon one another exactly as here recounted.

The opposite woodcut (No. 66), taken from one of the raths at Mahavelhpore, probably correctly represents such a structure, and I believe
also the

(No. 67)

form of a great many ancient viharas in India. The diagram

is intended to explain what probably were the internal ar-

rangements of such a structure.

the rock-cut examples

we

As

far as

can be understood from

it

have, the centre was occupied by halls of

varying dimensions according to height, supported by wooden posts

above the ground-floor, and used as the common day-rooms of the

The

monks.

(Woodcuts
were

apparently

such

68,

69)

on

the

may have

and

terraces,

been

sleeping-cells

Xos.

are

as

fre-

quently represented in the

Bharhut and

bas-reliefs at

Alternately

elsewhere.

they seem to

and

square

With

Ti

been
,

smaller

between.

have
oblong,

and
Square and oblong Cells from a Bas-relief at Bharhut.

apartments

Of course we must not take too

literally a representation

of

a monastery, carried out solidly in the rock for a different pm-pose,

as

an absolutely correct representation of

ance, however, of

Beal's

Thsang,'

'Fa Hiau,'

vol.

iii.

this form,

p.

p. 102.

139,

as

its

original.

The import-

explaining the peculiarities

'Hiouen

'

of

sub-

Journal of the Koyal Asiatic Society,

vol. vi.

(N.S.) p. 257,

et seqq.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

136

Buddhist and Dravidian architecture,

sequent

well worth

quoting

than

sequel

though

here,

great that

so

is

I.

it is

be more evident in the

this will

can be at present.

it

Book

In construction the breadth, in

a structural building, would probably have been greater in proportion

to the height than in this example, but that

is

of

consequence

little

for our present purposes.

It

of

is,

course, always

difficult,

sometimes impossible, to

realise

the form of buildings from verbal descriptions only, and the Chinese

Pilgrims were not adepts at architectural definitions.

Thsang's description of the great Nalanda monastery

is

Hiouen

Still

important, and

germane to our present subject that it cannot well be passed over.

This celebrated monastery, which was the Monte Oassino of India
for the first five centuries of our era, was situated thirty-four miles
south of Patna, and seven miles north of the old capital of Rajagriha.
If not founded under the auspices of the celebrated Nagarso

juna in the 1st century, he at

all

Mahayana

and making

or great translation,

when one

viharas on this spot,

which can

Avall,

the seat of that school for

it

After his time six successive kings had built as

Central India.

a high

events resided there, introducing the

still

many

them surrounded the whole with

be traced, measuring 1600 ft. north and
of

and enclosing eight separate courts. Externally to

this enclosure were numerous stupas or tower-like viharas, ten or
twelve of which are easily recognised, and have been identified, with
more or less certainty, by General Cunningham, from the Pilgrim's
south, by 100

ft.,

The

description.^

general appearance of

from the following

monks

wei'e

each

" In

the

four storeys

the place
courts

different

The

height.

in

may

the

be gathered

houses

ornanunted with dragons, and had beams resplendent with

colours

the rainbow

of

The

rafters

and

Avith jad3, painted red

open work.

the

columns

doors were

and the roofs covered with glazed

tiles

and varied

moment

Or

up

" The

there

are

a thousand manners."

Sangharamas

none equal to

of their construction."

of

of

as

brilliant

the

of carved

colours,

the effect

at

which
every

he enthusiastically sums

India are counted

this in

all

decorated with elegance,

multiplied themselves by reflection,

in

pillars

ornamented

and balustrades

richly chiselled,

of

Lintels

carved

richly

the

of

had

pavilions

by thousands, but

majesty or richness, or the height

From what we know

Burmese monasteries at the

and with its groves of
Mango-trees, and its immense tanks, which still remain, it must have
Here there resided in his
been, as he says, "an enchanting abode."
time within and without the walls 10,000 priests and neophytes, and
present day this

is

of the effects of

probably no exaggeration

'

Archfeological Reports,'

plate 16.

vol.

i.

p. 28,

'Hiouen Thsaug,'

vol.

i.

p.

151.

VIHARAS.

Chap. VI.
religion

137

and philosophy were taught from a hundred

our

consequently

Pilgrim

Law

doctrines of the

sojourned

five

chairs,

years,

What Cluny and

Buddha.

of

for

and here

imbibing

the

Clairvaux were

France in the Middle Ages, Nalanda was to Central India, the

all true learning, and the foundation from which it spread

to

depository of

over

all

the other lands of the faithful

but

still,

as in all instances

connected with that strange parallelism which existed between the two
religions, the Buddhists kept five centuries in advance of the Christians

and use

in the invention

of all the ceremonies

and forms common to

both religions.
It w^ould indeed be

satisfactory

the architecture of this cele-

if

brated monastery could be restored and

Something

been

has

its

arrangements made

Cunningham^ towards

by

done

clear.

and

this,

made by Mr. Broadley and Captain Marshall.

The former it is feared has destroyed more than he has restored, and
his drawings are so imperfect as to be utterly unintelligible.
The

excavations have been

has not yet published his discoveries.

Nothing, however,
would probably better repay a systematic exploration than this cele-

latter

brated spot,

and capable

undertaken by some one accustomed to such researches,

if

making

of

detailed

drawings of what

arcliitectural

is

found.
If,

however,

should turn out, as hinted above, that the whole of

it

the superstructure of these viharas w^as in wood, either

decay

may have made such havoc among

all

fire

or natural

that remains of them, as to

What

leave little to reward the labours of the explorer.

has been done

in this direction certainly affords no great encouragement to hope for

much. At Sultangunge, near Monghyr, a large vihara was cut through

by the railway, but except one remarkable bronze statue of Buddha ^
nothing was found of importance. The monastery apparently consisted
of two large courtyards surrounded by cells.
What was found, however,
could only have been the foundations, as there were no doorways to the

apartments or means of communication between each other or with the

exterior.^

The vihara excavated by Captain

Kittoe

and Mr. Thomas,

Sarnath, seems certainly to have been destroyed by

remained

w^as

series

of

some twenty

surrounding a pillared court 50

cells

ft.

cells

square.

evidently forming a sanctuary, as

is

fire.

and four larger

On

at

All that
halls

one side were three

frequently found in the later

rock-cut examples.*

The excavations conducted by General Cunningham, at the same

more satisfactory in their result. The two buildings

place, are hardly

'Archaeological Reports,' vol.

i.

pp.

^
I

Now in private hands in Birmingham.

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol. xxxiii.

28-36, plate 16.

I

p. .360, et seqq.

Ibid., vol. xxiii. p. 469, et seqq.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

138

Book

he explored seem to bear the relation to one another of a vihara GO

I.

ft.

and a temple of little more than half these dimensions

with a projecting porch on each face.^ Ou\j the foundation of these
buildings now remains, and nothing to indicate how they were originally
square over

all,

finished.

We may

eventually hit on some representation which may enable

form definite ideas on this subject, but till we do this we
probably must be content with the interiors as seen in the rock-cut
us

to

examples.

Bengal Caves.
None

of the

Behar caves can, properly speaking, be

the sense in which the word

called viharas, in

generally used, except perhaps the Son

is

Bhandar, which, as before mentioned. General Cunningham

with the Sattapanni cave, in front of which the
held 543 B.C.

17

It is a plain rectangular excavation,

wide, and 11

ft.

first

33

identifies

convocation Avas
ft.

9 in. long

7 in. to the springing of the curved roof.^

ft.

by
It

has one door and one window, but both, like the rest of the cave,

without mouldings or any architectural features that would

determiuing

but not

The jambs

its age.

sufiicieiitly to

assist in

doorway slope

slightly inwards,

give an idea of great antiquity.

In front there

of the

was a wooden verandah, the mortice holes for which are

still

visible in

the front wall.

The

other caves, at Barabar and Nagdrjuna,

in the sense in which that term

least

oratories, places

One Arhat or

ascetic

of

if

not exactly chaityas

apphed to the western caves, were at

prayer and worship, rather than residences.

may have

is

resided in them, but for the purpose of

performing the necessary services.

There are no separate

cells

in them,

nor any division that can be considered as separating the ceremonial

from the domestic uses

of the cave,

and they must consequently,

for the

present at least, be classed as chaityas rather than viharas.

The

case

is

widely different w^hen we turn to the caves in Orissa,

which are among the most interesting, though at the same time the
most anomalous, of all the caves in India. They are situated in two
isolated hills of sandstone rock, about twenty miles from Cuttack and

The oldest are in the hill called Udayagiri

modern in that portion designated Khandagiri. They became
Jaina about the 10th or 11th century, and the last-named hill is
crowned by a Jaina temple, erected by the Maharattas in the end of the

five

from Bhuvaneswar.

the more

last century.

For this aud the other Sarnath remains sec Cuuuingham's Archajological
^

'

Reports,' vol.

i.

p.

114,

ct seqq.,

plates

'

2 These dimensions are from plate 42,

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,

for 1847,

by the

late Capt. Kittoo.

BENGAL CAVES.

Chap. VI.

What we know

of the age of the older caves is principally derived

from a long inscription on the front

Gumpha,

139

known

of the oldest,

From

or Elephant Cave.^

we

it

learn

that

by a king called Aira, who ascended the throne

as the Hathi
was engraved
Kalinga in his

it

of

twenty-fourth year, and spread his power by conquest over neighbouring

He

rajas.

seems at

and Buddhist

first

faiths,

to have vacillated betAveen the Brahmanical

but

adopted

other good works, he

constructed subterranean chambers

and

have

to

finally

Among

distributed infinite alms.

the
is

and

latter

said " to have

caves containing a chaitya temple,

pillars."

PalaBographically, the forms of the letters used in this inscription

by Asoka in the copy of his edicts on the

and that recently found at Aska, near the

are identical with those used

Aswatama rock

close by,

The

northern corner of the Chilkya lake.

presumption, therefore,

first

may be of about the same date. This is justified by the

mention of Nanda in the past tense, while there seems no reason for
doubting that he was one of the kings of that name who immediately
that they

is

preceded the revolution

Ohandragupta on the

placed

that

throne.

Beside these, there are other indications in this inscription which seem

make

to

it

Mamyan
Asoka

almost certain that Aira was contemporary with the great

dynasty of Magadha

but whether he preceded or followed

appears unlikely that Asoka would

up two copies of his edicts in the dominions
of such powerful kings as Aira and his father seem to have been, and as
unlikely that Aira should make such a record without some allusion
On the
to the previously promulgated edicts, had they then existed.

not quite so clear.

is

have been allowed to

am

whole, I
that this

Still it

set

inclined to believe that Aira lived before Asoka, and,

the oldest inscription yet found in India.

is

may, the cave in which

it

is

found

is

Be

if

so,

this as it

certainly the oldest here.

It

a great natural cavern, the brow of which has been smoothed to

is

all the rest remains nearly in a state of

a small cave, the whole " fronton " of which over

admit of this inscription, but

Close to

nature.

the doorway
as old as the

is

it is

occupied by a great three-headed Naga, and

Hathi cave.

The

inscription on

it

may

merely says that

be
it

Chulakarma, who seems also to have

excavated another cave, here called the Pawan Gabha,^ or Purification
the unequalled chamber of

is

Cave.
Besides these, and smaller caves to be noticed hereafter, the great
interest of

'

the Udayagiii caves centres in two

This inscription

first

attracted

admitted,

the

the

made by

so-called

Ganesa

Prinsep, with the

attention of Stirling,

senting

it

and a

very imperfectly

is

assistance of his pundits,

plate repre-

given in the

15th volume of the Asiatic Researches.'

It was afterwards copied by Kittoe, and
a translation, as far as its imperfection

'

and published,

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,'

vol. vi. p. 1080, et seqq.

'

'

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

vi. p.

1073, plate 54.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUEE.

140
cave,

and that

it

long by 10

ft.

is

of Lelat Indra Kesari, the

Bhuvaneswar temple

in the 7tli century.

a small cave, consisting of two

wide, in front of which

that was once adorned with five

cells,

dicating

pillars,

though only three are now

There

it

to Jaganath

but this

ft.

may

architecture

cut

No.

They

71).

is

evidently an
of

style

the

be judged of from the annexed

woodcut, representing one of

to 1 in.

an inscrip-

is

The

addition in modern times.^

Scale 50

ft.

a verandah, slightly longer,

on this cave in the Kutila characters, de-

tion

Ganesa Cave. (From

a Plan by Mr. Locke.)

together 30

is

standing (Woodcut No. 70).

70.

1.

Rani Hanspur, from a tradition

Raiii, or

was excavated by the Rani

celebrated builder of the

The former

Raj

called the

Hinduthat

Book

its

(Wood-

pillars

of extreme

are

simplicity,

being square piers, changing into octagons in the centre only, and

with a slight bracket of very wooden construction on each

doorways

leading

adorned

with

the

face.

the

into

cells

The
are

horseshoe

usual

formed canopies copied from the fronts

of the chaitya halls,

now

so familiar with

Pillar in

71.

Ganesa Cave, Cuttack.

72.

(From a Sketch by the Author.)

The
both
62
ft.,

ft.

of

other cave

very

much

originally

opening into three.

that the cave

is

thereabouts.

'

'

to all

the

nine

that

(From a Plan by
ft.

to 1 in.

by verandahs the upper

(Woodcut No. 72), the lower, 44

which

leading into these

is

pillars

of

cells

it

may

be,

by a century

the upper verandah

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,'

have

a sufficient indication

itself

anterior to the Christian Era,

Of

of

being two storeys in height,

adorned

All the doors

slightly inwards,

wooden buildings

Upper Storey, Rani Gumpha.

H. H. Locke.) Scale 50

larger,

long, opening into four cells

jambs sloping
or

is

which were

w^e are

and from the openings com-

sculptures,

mon

and which

from the Bharhut

vol. vi. p.

075.

only

BENGAL CAYES.

CllAP. VI.

141

two remain standing, and these mnch mutilated, while all the six
It seems as if from inexperience
of the lower storey have perished.
the excavators had not left sufficient substance to support the mass

and probably, in consequence of some slight shocks

of an earthquake, the mass above fell in, bearing everything before
Either then, or at some subsequent period, an attempt has been
it.
made to restore the lower verandah in wood, and for this purpose
a chase has been cut through the sculptures that adorned its back
rock above

of

w^all,

and they have been otherwise

make out

impossible to

so mutilated

meaning.

their

that

Fortunately,

it

almost

is

those

the

of

upper verandahs are tolerably entire, though in some parts they, too,

have been very badly treated.

Besides this, which may be called the main body of the building,

two wings project forward

20

ft.

that on the left 40

and, as these contained

on

cells

afforded accommodation for a considerable

The

great

man

represents a

him.

To them

as

to

woman

woman

is

him

The second

approaching

to the sleeper.

is

carrying

two successive

it

off

scenes,

first.

all

essential

respects,

with the

and follow

that precede

it

represent

sents, probably

for

interest
larly

classical

in action

some
in

and costume

The

scenes

that

elsewhere

the

first

reliefs

altogether.

this rape scene

known

more purely Indian.

far

it is

its

named

It

repre-

greatest
is

singu-

Bharhut

Before the discovery

hardly doubtful that we would have

pronounced those in the Ganesa cave the

perfect.

Ganesa, but the

episode

that

is,

regarding

case

design and execution, the latter wilder, and both

the Bharhut sculptures,

of

is

impression

bas-relief is identical, in

different

local tradition not

our present purposes

and two elephants.

my

this is the

in the

first

perhaps, in vain to speculate what

is,

though

In the Raj Rani cave the second

the

first

a naked female in his arms.^

intended, while I feel certain

is

their

woman watching over

leading a man by the hand,
Beyond them a man and a

bas-relief comprises fifteen figures

There may be in

in

The

lies

bas-reliefs.

swords and shields in very close combat,

fighting with

are

and behind them a man

of inmates.

however,

a tree, and a

asleep under

introduce

only one

number

caves,

In the Ganesa cave there are two

sculptures.

if

two

these

of

interest

that on the right

ft.,

both storeys, the whole

sculptures,

oldest, as

how^ever,

being the most

having shown

how

us

was at a very early date, have considerably

and those in the Rani cave.
modified our opinions on this subject
perfect

the native art

There

is

this bas-relief

a very faithful drawing of

by Kittoe in the Journal
'

of the Asiatic Society

vii.

plate

44.

But

of Bengal,'

casts

vol.

of all these

sculptures were taken some three years

ago by Mr. Ijocko. of the School of IJe-

and photographs of these

with others of the caves, are now
before me. Keduced copies of some of
these were published on plate 100, Tree
and Serpent Worship,' 2ud edition, 1873.
sign, Calcutta,

casts,

'

BUDDHIST AKCHITECTUKE.

142

being so essentially

Indian

in

their

now appear

style,

Those in the Ganesa (xumpha, as more

oldest.

been executed by some Yavana

artist at a

The

anything, in

T.

the

nie

may have
still

other bas-reliefs in

Rani cave represent scenes of hunting,

Raj

drinking, and love-making

to

classical,

subsequent age, but

both seem anterior to the Christian Era.^

the

Book

fighting, dancing,

but religion or praying

fact,

From the sculptures at Sanchi and Bharhut,

in any shape or form.
we were prepared to expect that we should not find any direct
evidence of Buddhism in any sculptures anterior to the first century
but those at this place go beyond these in that
of the Christian Era
Nothing here can be interpreted as referring to any scenes
respect.
in the life of Sakya Muni, or to any known jataka, and it is by no
means clear whether we shall ever discover the legends to which they
Besides these bassi-relievi, there is in the Rani cave a figure,
refer.
Behind him or her,
in high relief, of a female (?) riding on a lion.
;

a soldier in a

or rather the dress of

kilt,

boots reaching to the calf of the leg

Plate

represented
strangers

behind

fig.

28,

of

1,

Roman

very

soldier,

similar, in

with laced

fact, to those

and Serpent Worship,'

Tree

paying their addresses to the three-storeyed dagoba

this, again, a

as

and

female of very foreign aspect.

In another cave of the same group, called the Jodev Garbha, and
of about the

sacred tree

same
is

two doorways leading to the

age, between the

being worshipped.

It

is

and devotees and others are bringing

rail,

cell,

surrounded by the usual

offerings.^

In another, probably older than either of the two last-mentioned,

called

Ananta Garbha,

are two

one

devoted, like the

last, to

of

is

Sri

(vide

ante, p.

51).

over the two doorways

bassi-relievi

Tree worship, the other to the honour

She

standing on her lotus, and two

is

elephants, standing likewise on lotuses, are pouring w^ater over her.^

The same
times

representation

Sanchi, and, so

at

honour paid to god or

One other cave

It is a great

Avith

man

occurs

once, at least, at Bharhut,

far as I

cell

that shows that those

258, et

semblance of a

the

into

(Woodcut No.

who conceived

*
That there were Yavanas iu Orissa
about this time is abuudautly evident,
from the native authorities quoted by

and ten

instance

earliest

of

deserves to be mentioned before leaving Udayagiri.

boulder, carved

leading to a single

the

is

in Indian sculptures.

jaws open, and his throat, as

his

Stirling

know,

Asiatic Researclies,' vol. xv. p.

'I'hese represent them as
seqq.
'

coming from Kashmir, and Babul Des,

or Persia, and one account names the
invader as Haagsha Deo, which looks
very like Hnshka, or Huvishka (the

it

should be,

73).
it

tiger's
is

head,

a doorAvay

but one

It is a caprice,

had some experience

in the

brother of Kanishka). whose inscriptions

are found at Muttra.
Cunningham,

'

Archajological Reports,' vol.

ii.

p. 32,

seqq.

Journal of the Asiatic Society cl

vii. plate -12,
'Tree and
Serpent Worship,' plate 100.
2

Bengal,' vol.

'

'

Tree and Serpent Worship,' plate

100, p. 105.

Cfiap. VI.

BENGAL CAVES.

143

From

the form of the characters

plastic arts before they

undertook

it.

which

upon

it

engTaved

are

Christian Era, but

it,

undoubtedly anterior

is

to

the

how much

earlier it is dii!icult to say.

From whatever

point

view they are looked

unlike

caves are "so

Orissan

of

these

at,

anything that we have prehabit

viously been in the

of

considering Buddhist, that

may
we

well

are

justified

in ascribing

excavation to the

their

fol-

lowers of that religion at

Not only

it

asked whether

be

there

is

all.

no figure

Buddha, in the conventional forms and attitudes by which he

was afterwards recognised, but there is no scene which can be interpreted as representing any event in his life, nor any of the jatakas
of

in which
in

wheel

future

his

the caves

greatness was

emblem, nor

anything

in

There

prefigured.

or represented in the

sculptures,

fact

that

is

no dagoba

no chaitya cave, no

is

usually

considered

emblematical of that religion.

When we

look a

more closely into it, however, we do detect

emblem attached to the Aira inscription, and

little

the Swastica and shield

the shield and trisul ornament over the doorways in the older caves,

and these we know, from what w^e find at Bharhut and Sanchi, and at
Bhaja {ante, p. 112), were considered as Buddhist emblems in these

But were they

places.

on the coins
Siva,2

may
of

exclusively so

The

trisul

and we have no reason

for

is

found

and trident

of

assuming that the Swastica, and

it

be even the shield, were not used by other and earlier

sects.

The truth of the matter appears to be that hitherto our knowledge

Buddhism has been derived almost exclusively from books, which

took their present form only in the fourth or

or

ornament

of Kadphises, in conjunction with the bull

from monuments erected

fifth

century of our era,

after the corruptions of the

Mahayana

intro-

duced by Nagarjuna, and those who assisted at the fourth convocation

held by Kanishka in the
to realise

first

from the sculptures

century of our era.

of

We now

are able

Bharhut, of these caves, and of the

Sanchi gateways, and the older western caves, what Buddhism really

was between the ages of Asoka and Kanishka, and it is a widely

thing from anything written in the books we possess, or

different

^
There may have been a structural
dagoba attached to the series, which

may have
^

disappeared,

Wilson,

'

Ariana

An tiqua,'

plate 10.

BUDDHIST ARCPHTECTURE.

144

Book

T.

or paintings.
Whether we
what Buddhism was between the
death of Sakya Muni and Asoka, is more than doubtful.
If found, it
would probably be even more unlike the present Buddhism than that

represented

of

scnlptnres

in

of

Judging from what we have hitherto

would turn out to be a pure worship of trees

intermediate period.

the

found,

afterwards

recover any traces

ever

shall

looks as

it

if

it

by a Naga or serpent-reverencing race, on whose primitive faith

Asoka engrafted the teachings of Sakya Muni. There were Buddhists,
of course, in India before Asoka's time, but

it

seems doubtful

least

have yet been discovered, and

till

at

they are we must be content

backward researches with such a group

to stop our

they

if

None

were sufficiently powerful to dig caves or erect monuments.

of

monuments

as

these Udayagiri caves.

Western Vihara Caves.

There are at

Yiharas which

least four

excavated before the

Christian

w^e

know

for certainty were

There are probably

forty,

but

they have not yet been edited with such care as to enable us to

feel

known

are

confident

those

Era.

The

in affixing dates to them.

four that are

attached to the chaityas at Bhaja and

and the two

45, 49),

Bedsa (Woodcuts Nos.

at Ajunta, Nos. 12 and 11.
Those at

oldest

Karli are probably coeval with the great chaitya

say, they

know

itself,

but, strange to

have never been drawn or investigated, so that we really

little

At Junir

or nothing about them.

are very old,

and

at

there are several, which

Sana and Tulaja, in Gujerat, there are several

very ancient date, but they, like those at

of

Junir, are too imperfectly

known to be quoted as authenticated examples of the period.

The oldest of these is that attached to the chaitya at Bhaja
three of these have single
It is five-celled
{ante, Woodcut No. 45).
;

double-bedded, and one, apparently the

stone beds in them, one

is

dence of the superior,

without that uncomfortable piece of furniture.

is

resi-

In front of these are two long stone benches at either end of a

33

ft.

in length.

as at present, but,

chaitya

beside

it,

if

it

hall

not clear whether this hall was always open

It is

was closed,

which

is

it

was by a wooden screen

undoubtedly of the same age.

indeed parts of one design.

The same may be

vihara, though

further

placed a

little

apart.

said of

In this

the

case,

there are three cells with stone beds in the verandah of

like the

They

are

Bedsa

however,

the chaitya,

and a fourth was commenced when apparently it was determined to

remove the residence a little further off, and no instance, I believe,
occurs afterwards in which they were so conjoined, till at least a very
late date, when, as at Dhumnar (Woodcut No. 65), all the parts got
again confounded together.

No. 40)

it is

As

will

be seen from the plan (Woodcut

exceptional in form, being apsidal like the chaitya

itself.

WESTERN VIHARA

VL

Chap.

It is not clear

whether this

or whether

was

it

is

My

impression

the

wooden

erection,

attempt at an independent
ought to resemble a chaitya in

first

it

that the latter

is

145

a copy of any existing

that, being

vihara in the rock, they thought

plan.

CAVES.

the true explanation

is

such

an arrangement in a free-standing structure intended for a residence

would be absurd, but we are here assisting at the " incunabula " of the
style, and must not be surprised at anomalies.

Number

12 at Ajunta

no

It has

each way.

merely a square

is

and

pillars,

measuring 36

hall,

horseshoe arches, four of which are over the doors of

only ornamental.

and carried with

ft.

7 in.

only ornament consists of seven

its

Unfortunately, the rock over

its

the other three

cells,

front has given way,

the fa9ade, which jDrobably was the most ornamental

it

part of the design.

Number

11

any sanctuary
In age,

it

step in advance of this one, there being four

is

(Woodcut No.

pillars in its centre

or

ritual

seems

to

It

74).

be contemporary

with the chaitya No. 10, to which

evidently belongs, and

considered

as

about

datina-

like

it

may

Christian

be

Era,

^
^-

these

early viharas on

f^"^

relievi,

figure-sculpture

of

-i

nr:'-r^'^

'

'

western

the

unlike

their

74.

no

'

-1
"

eastern contemporaries, they are wholly

devoid

or

characteristic

that

is

marked

India,

t'
'

'

vr'

most

of

Jii

_-_r,,^

The
side

without

is

>

rather before that time,

of

but

cells,

it

example,

transitional

the

has nine

arrangement.

Cave no. n,

at Ajunta.

'^^'^^'^^afesi S^tlflJl nr^""''^

bassi-

not even an emblem, relieves the severity of their simpUcity.

Over the doorways

of the cells there are the usual horseshoe arches,

copied from the windows of the great chaityas, and the invariable

Buddhist

rail

repeated

everywhere as a stringcourse, with an occa-

sional pillar or pilaster to relieve the monotony.

There do not at present seem to

account

satisfactorily

for

exist

curious

this

uberance of figure-sculpture in the

east,

any data

difference

and

sufficient

between

its total

the

to
ex-

absence in the

west in the pre-Christian Era caves, and the problem must be relegated
for further inquiries.

Looking, however, at the progress made of late

years in these subjects, there

is

doubt that

little

its

solution

not far

is

and will, when reached, throw fresh light on the early history of
Buddhism. Meanwhile, it may be worthy of remark, that the only

off,

living representation that

presence

of

the

is

three-headed

common

chaitya (Woodcut No. 52), and

its

on the Chulakarma and Ananta caves

to

to both sides of India,

Naga on

the

fagade

of

the

is

the

Nassick

appearance in a similar position

Udayagiri in Orissa. It points

an important feature in early Buddhist history, but not exactly
at

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

146

what wc are now looking

for.

Book

Besides this the three,

five,

I.

or seven-

headed Naga occurs so frequently at Bharhut, Sanchi and elsewhere,

that his presence here can hardly be called a distinctive peculiarity.

The next

step after the introduction of four pillars to support the

roof, as in cave

No. 11 at Ajunta (Woodcut No. 74), was

to introduce

twelve pillars to support the roof,

there being no intermediate

number

which would divide by four, and

admit of an opening in the centre

r
,

O
n
IP
1

.r!

of

every

is

shown

representing the

plan of the cave

No. 2 at Ajunta.

Before this stage

of

rt

This arrangement

side.

in the woodcut (No. 75),

cave

architecture

rated considerably from

purity

W
Cave No.

2, at

CFrom a P an by
Scale 50

ft.

those

these

in

been

degene-

its

original

caves

always

sanctuary containing an

image of Buddha.

Ajunta.

the Author.)
to 1 in.

side chapels, like

and

possess

had

the worship had

reached,

quently,

besides

instance

under

There are

fre-

in

the

consideration,

two

this,

as

Catholic churches, containing images of

subordinate saints, sometimes male, sometimes female.

76,

Cave at Bagh.

(From a Plan, by Captain

Literary Society.')

The next and most

Dangerfield, in the ' Transactions of the

Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Bombay

extensive arrangement of these square monastery-

Chap.

VL

caves

is

NASSICK VIHARAS.

147

that in which twenty pillars are placed

on each

to support the roof, six

the

in

floor,

so as

counting the corner pillars twice.

side,

There are several of these large caves

Ajunta and elsewhere and

last woodcut (No. 76),

at

one at Bagh, on the Tapty, represented in the

complement, four additional

has, besides the ordinary

centre

pillars

in

the

these were introduced evidently in consequence of the rock not

being sufficiently homogeneous and perfect to support

itself

without this

additional precaution.

These

which

might be

Greek architecture, as
with two
with six

form

pillars

with four

tetrastyle,

distyle,

when

and hexastyle

the leading and most characteristic division of these

and with

excavations,

according to the terms used in

when having no

each face

in

pillars

classed,

astyle,

slight modification are to be

found in

all

the

modern series.
The forms, however, of many are so various and so abnormal, that
it would require a far more extended classification to enable us to
In many instances the great depth of
describe and include them all.
the cave which this square arrangement required was felt to be inconand a more
venient
oblong
form
was
;

adopted,

the

in

as

Durbar cave at Salsette (Woodcut No.

where,

77),

besides,

the sanctuary
jected

is

pro-

forward,

and

with

assists,

the

the roof.

In some

examples

this

the

standing

6>

is

carried even further,

and

support

to

pillars,

Durbar Cave,

77.

(Krora a Plan
Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Salsette.

by the Author.)

sanctuary,
boldly forward

the only support.

to

the hall, forms in reality

centre of

the

This, however,

is

a late arrangement, and must be

considered more as an economical than an architectural improvement.

Indeed by

it

the dignity and beauty of the whole composition are almost

entirely destroyed.

Nassick Viharas.

The two most

interesting series of caves for the investigation of

the history of the later developments of the Yihara system, are those
at Nassick
sisting

The

of

latter

and Ajunta.
twenty-six

group

The

latter is

first-class

numl)crs,

it

caves,
is

by

far the

four

true,

of

most extensive, conwhich are chaityas.

seventeen

excavations,

L 2

but

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

148

only six or seven of these can be called

only one chaitya.

The

merit or interest.

Ajunta has

Book

first-class,

and

possesses

it

others are small excavations of no particular

the

also

advantage of retaining the

greater portion of the paintings which once adorned the Avails of

viharas

erected

all

subsequently to the Christian Era, while these have,

almost entirely disappeared at Nassick, though there seems very

doubt that the walls of

ornamented.

I.

little

the greater viharas there were once

all

so

This indeed was one of the great distinctions between

them and the earlier primitive cells of the monks before the Christian
The Buddhist church between Asoka and Kanishka was in the
Era.
same position as that of Christianity between Constantine and Gregory
the Great.

It

Ages with

was the last-named pontiff who inaugurated the Middle

their

pomp and

It might, therefore,

ceremonial.

under

be expedient to describe the Ajunta viharas

circumstances

certain
first

all

but they are singularly deficient in well-preserved inscriptions

Nassick, on the other hand,

containing recognisable names.

rich in this respect,

and the history

of the series

is

peculiarly

can be made out with

very tolerable approximative certainty.^

The only

difficulty is at the

beginning of the

series.

If the chaitya

cave was, as above stated, commenced 129 years before Christ, there

ought to have been a vihara of the same age attached to

There

does not seem to exist.

and on a lower

level

is

than those now on each side of

quently more likely to be what we are looking

a simple square hall measuring 14

is

sides, the

cells in

three of

octagon

pillars in front.

its

it,

but such

indeed a small vihara close to

ft.

for,

it,

than they

It

are.

each way, with two square

fourth opening on a verandah with two

The only ornament

of the interior

is

a horse-

shoe arch over each opening, connected with a simple Buddhist

In every

it,

and conse-

rail.

with the two old viharas Nos.

detail it is in fact identical

12 and 11 Ajunta, and certainly anterior to the Christian Era

but

it

bears an inscription of Krishna Eaja, and he seems almost certainly

to be the second of the Andrabritya race,
B.C. 8, or

These inscriptions were

first

pub-

lished by Lieut, Brelt, with translations

by Dr. Stevenson, in the fifth volume of

the

'

Journal

Eoyal Asiatic

Bombay Branch
Society,' p.

of

39, et seqq.,

16.

volume of the same journal,

p. 37, et seqq., and translated by Professor
Bhandarkar in a paper not yet published,
but to wliich I have had access. I have
also been assisted by manuscript plans
and notes by Mr. Burgess and, though
in the eighth

have not seen the caves myself,

that I can realise all their

I fancy

main features

without difficulty.

the

They were afterwards

by Messrs. E. W. and A. A. West

plates 1 to

revised

and he ascended the throne

for.^
But for this

120 years after the time we are looking

Professor Biiandarkar, in his paper

on these inscriptions, passes

over the

inscriptions in the interior of the chaitya,

without alluding to them in any way.

it that there is any mistake about

Is

them? and that the cave is a century

more modern than they would lead us
to suppose?
The answer is probably to
be obtained on the spot, and there only.

NASSrCK VIHARAS.

Chap. VI.

149

the archifcectural details

would accord perfectly with those of the

and the age ascribed to it but the inscriptions may have
been added afterwards. If this is not so, the only suggestion that
chaitya,

occurs to

me

fallen

that, as originally executed, the chaitya

is

and that the

were in

cells

this, as at

had a forecourt,
Bedsa and Sana, but that havino-

away, from some flaw in the rock, was entirely removed, and

at a subsequent time that

above the

on the right was added

level of the floor of the chaitya, that

at a height of 6

on the

12

left at

about the same datum,i which could hardly have been the case
were part of the original conception.

Turning from

which practically belong to the

these,

rather than to this, the

interest

the oldest of which bears the

of

Nahapana (Woodcut No.

second that of

Yadnya

correct,

is

in

three

chapter

last

great

they

if

viharas,

name

78), the

Gautamiputra, and

the third that of

chronology

centred

is

ft.

ft.,

Sri

their

if

my

dates

thus fixed, in round numbers,

are

as A.D. 100, 300,

The two

and 400.

principal

viharas

at

Nassick, Nos. 3 and

8, are so similar

in dimensions and

in

rangements, that
Slble
,

plans

all

their ar-

^78.

almost impos-

it is

distinguish between
^
on paper.
They are

to

Scale 50

On

to 1 in.

without any pillars

each

side,

sides

by sixteen

ft.

and are surrounded on three

the same dimensions.

ft.

both

square halls measuring more than 40

in the centre,

JMahapana Vihara, Nassick.

a Plan by Mr. Burgess.)

(From

their

the fourth side

is

cells of

nearly

a six-pillared verandah, in

the one case with a cell at each end, in the other with only one

which

is

cell,

The
we can hardly

the most marked distinction between the two plans.

architecture, too,
hesitate in

is

in

some

assuming that the one

It is in fact the

so similar that

respects

an intentional copy

is

of the other.

problem of the great cave at Kenheri, being a copy

Only the difference in age between

two chaityas being five centuries, the degradation in style is
greater than here, where it appears to be little more than two.
of that at Karli repeated here.^

the

The

pillars in the

verandah of cave No. 8 (Woodcut No. 79,

are so similar to those in the great Karli chaitya, that

out, as Justice

Samvat

Newton ^

supposes, that

if

it

p.

150)

should turn

Nahapana was the founder

of the

there would be nothing in the architecture to contradict such a date.

According to Mr. West, " the pillars are shorter
era,

56

B.C.,

^
Journal Bombay Brancli of the
Eoyal Asiatic Society,' vol. viii. p. 40.
2 Ante,
p. 129. See also plate 11 of
my folio work on the 'Kock-cut Temples,'
'

where the

pillars of the

two caves are

contrasted as here.
^

'Journal

Koyal Asiatic

Bombay Branch

of

Society,' vol. ix, p. 16.

the

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

150
in proportion,

and the human

figures

Book

more rudely designed "

I.

but

whether to such an extent as to justify an interval of nearly two centuries is not quite clear.

On

Bhaja and Bedsa are quite

at

know

the other hand no vihara I

this side of India has a fagade so richly

plain,

ornamented as

of

on

Those

this.

and those around Karli, though

on the whole the architectural

richer, are far inferior to this, so that

evidence tends strongly to a date subsequent to the Christian Era.

The

79.

on

inscription

Pillar in

this

cave

Naliapana Cave, Nabslck.

says,

80.

that

it

was

excavated

by

Pillar in Gautauiiputra Cave, Nassick.

(From a Photograph.)

(trom a Photograph.)

Ushavadata, son-in-law of Nahapana, viceroy under King Kshaharatra,^ evidently a

foreigner,

whose proper name has not yet been

discovered, but for reasons given in the Appendix, there seems

little

doubt but that the Saka era (a.d. 78-9) dates from his coronation,

and

as

some years must have elapsed before the son-in-law

viceroy could have been in a position to undertake such a

this, I

presume a.d. 100

The
'

pillars of the

Journal

Bombay

Braiicli

is

the

of

work

as

not far from the date of the cave.

Gautaniiputra cave No. 3 have, as will be seen

Royal Asiatic

Society,' vol. viii. p. 42.

j^*^ y^j^

NASSICK VIHARAS.

Chai>. VI.

from the

woodcut (No. 80),

last

much

lost

151
of the elegance of those

Instead of the graceful bell-shaped Persian capitals,

we have the pudding forms that afterwards became so prevalent. The
described.

last

and have no

and the whole shows an

and sculptured
doorway also belongs to a much more modern age.
Besides this,
there are three things here which prove almost incontestably that it
shafts are straight posts,

bases,

The

not to be mistaken.

inferiority

richly carved

belongs to the same age as the Amravati tope erected in the 4th century

the

rail

in front, already given

end of the verandah,^ and the

(Woodcut No.

36), the pilaster at the

which occupies the

same position on the back wall in this cave that the man with the club
It has the same attendants, and the same superfluity
occupies in No. 8.
of umbrellas, as are found there,^ so that altogether the age of the
bas-relief of a dagoba,

excavation can hardly be considered doubtful.

Cave No. 12 is a small vihara, the central hall being 30 ft. by 23

and with only four cells on one side. Considerable alterations
have been attempted in its interior at some date long subsequent to
ft.,

its

first

excavation, to

adapt

Hindu

apparently to

it

worship.

Its

verandah, however, consisting of two attached and two free-standing

columns,

An

undoubtedly of the same age as the Nahapana cave No. 8.

upon it states that it was excavated by Indragnidatta,

is

inscription

prince regnant under Patamitraka of the northern region.^

names can be recognised, but they point

these

kings,

possibly

to

None

of

an age when foreign

the Punjab,

of

ruled this countiy by satraps.

The

great vihara beyond the

chaitya cave, and 12

level, is

above

ft.

from

of the series, not only

but from

size,

its

60

ft.

in depth

its

ordinance and

The hall

date (Woodcut No. 81).

is

by 40

ft.

wide

at the outer end, increasing

45

at

ft.

the inner,

and

marked

ever,

is

that

sanctuary at

peculiarity,
it

its

has

The
how-

a regular

inner end, with

two

richly

front

(Woodcut No.

to

with

eight cells on either side.

most

its

one of the most important

carved

pillars

in

Ya-lnya Sri Cave, Nassick.

gi.

(From a Plan by Mr. Burgess.)

82, p. 152),

Scale 60

and within, a colossal figure of

Buddha, seated, with flying and standin
*

'

Tree and Serpent Worship,' wood-

cut 12, p. 92.

2

Ibid., plates 81, 91, 97, ct 2)cissi)n.

'

'

ft.

to 1 in.

attendants, dwarpals, dwarfs.

Journal

Royal Asiatic

Bombay Branch

of

Society,' vol. v. p. 55.

the

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

152

and

all

Book

I.

the usual accompaniments usually found in the fifth and sub-

sequent centuries, but never, so far as I know, before.

we

Fortunately

have

in this cave an inscription

containing

name.

well-known

have

It is said to

been excavated by the wife

commander-in-chief

of the

Yadnya

Emperor

the

of

Sat Karni, descendant

Sri,

King Gautamiputra,

of

seventh

the

in

We

year.^

are not able to fix the exact year to

which

this date

probably

it

was

but

it

does

doubtful

that

refers

only

regnal,

not

seem

this

king reigned

first

quarter

century,

of

and

we

in

the

the

5th

conse-

quently have in this cave

a fixed point on which to
base our calculations for the

period about the time.

Beyond
Pillar in Yadnya Sri Cave.
(From a Drawing by Mr. Burgese.)

82.

called a vihara

sitting,

one side

Buddha

is

more modern than that

there represented in

a colossal recumbent figure of

modern

there

is

excavation.

No. 17 it can hardly be

and covered with sculpture
all his

accompanied by chowrie bearers, flying

is

this

another

of very irregular shape,

of a date at least a century

described.

still

him

of the cave last

attitudes, standing or

figures, dwarfs, &c.

On

attaining Nirvana, which

Besides these, there are Dyani

modern pantheon of Buddhism,
arranged in most admired confusion, as in all the most modern caves.
There is no inscription, but from its sculpture and the form of its
pillars we may safely ascribe it to the last age of Buddhist art, say
about the year 600 or later. The pillars approximate closely in style to
those found at Elephanta, and in the Brahmanical caves at EUora,
which from other evidence have been assigned to dates varying from
is

a sure sign of a very

Buddhas, Bodhisatwas, and

600 to 800 years of our

all

era.

More has perhaps been

said about the Nassick caves

architectural importance would

'

'Journal

date.

the

Bombay Branch

seem

than their

at first sight to justify, but they

of the Royal Asiatic Society,' vol.

viii. p. 56.

AJUNTA VIHARAS.

Chap. VI.
are one of the

most important

of the pnrely

153

Buddhist groups, and they

have hardly yet been aUuded to in European books.

merit, however,

is

the older Indian dynasties,

Being

or Satavahanas.

Their great

that they belong to one of the most important of

known

as the Andrabrityas, Sata

Karnis,

purely Indian extraction, they, however,

of

did not coin money like the Punjab dynasties, nor their contemporaries and rivals the Sah kings of Gujerat, who brought the art with
them when they came as conquerors from the north-west, where
they had learnt the art from the Greeks.
This dynasty has, consequently, been overlooked by numismatists and others, and can only
be rehabilitated by their inscriptions and their architectural work, on
which these are found inscribed.

Ajunta Vihakas.
As

before mentioned, the central group of

the four oldest caves

Ajunta forms the nucleus from which the caves radiate north and
south eight in one direction, and fourteen in the other.
It seems,
at

however, that there was a pause in the excavation of caves after the
great effort, and that they were then extended, for some time at

first

least,

a southern direction.

in

tolerably consecutive

or

it

Nos.

Thus caves Nos. 13

may be contemporaneously with

8, 7,

and Nos.

and 6

and,

the last named,

20 form a
After that,

may

be grouped

Nos. 21 to 26 at one end of the

form the

latest

series,

and most ornate group

of

series.^

As above explained
to the Christian Era.
features,

lastly,

1 to 5 at the other,

the whole

to

without any violent break.

series,

may

of the central four, three are certainly anterior

One, No. 10, being transitional in some of

its

belong to the 1st century, and be consequently contem-

porary with the gateways at Sanchi.

After this

however,

first effort,

came the pause just alluded to, for Nos. 13, 14, and 15, which are the
only caves we can safely assign to the next thi-ee centuries, are comparatively insignificant, either in extent or in richness of detail.

Leaving

these,

we come

to

two viharas, Nos. 16 and

17,

which are

the most beautiful here, and, taken in conjunction with their paintings,

probably the most interesting viharas in India.

No. 16 is a twenty-pillared cave, measuring about 65 ft. each way

(Woodcut No. 83, p. 154), with sixteen cells and a regular sanctuary,
The
in which is a figure of Buddha, seated, with his feet down.
general appearance of the interior may be judged of by the following

woodcut (No. 84) in

The

caves, it

outline, but only a coloured representation in

may be

explained, were

numbered consecutively, like houses

street,

in a

beginning at the north end, the

first

cave there being No.

1,

accessible cave at the southern

No. 26.

much

the last

end being

AJUNTA VIHAEAS.

Chap. VI.

could give an idea of the richness of effect produced by

g-reater detail

decoration.

from the

155

its

All the walls are covered with frescoes representing scenes

life of

Buddha, or from the legends

of saints,

and the roof and

by arabesques and ornaments, generally of great beauty

heightened by the most harmonious colouring.
pillars

No. 17, which

very similar in plan,

is

is

generally

of outline,

known

as the

Zodiac cave, from the figure of a Buddhist chakra or wheel painted

View

85.

at one

end of

its

Cave No.

17, at

Ajunta.

(From a Photograph.)

verandah, which was mistaken by early visitors for

a celestial emblem.

may

in

The

general effect of

its

architecture internally

be gathered from the above woodcut (No. 85) from a photograph,

or from the next woodcut (No. 86) representing one of its pillars to
a larger scale, from which the curiously wooden construction of the
roof will be better observed than

the usual

mode

of

forming

flat

throughout India, and which

from the photograph.

or terraced

roofs

It

is,

in fact,

at the present

day

consequently does not seem to have

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

156
varied

from the Sth century

from these

illustrations

definitely varied,

the

at

all

pillars

I.

As may be gathered

events.
in

Book

these

caves

generally in pairs, but no pillars

almost in-

are

any one cave

in

are at

each

like those

all

any

in

however,

cave,

there

In

other.

general

is

harmony of design
and of form, which
prevents their variety

from being unpleas-

The

ing.

sin-

is

harmonious

gularly

and

satisfactory.

The
of

on

effect

the contrary

great

interest

two caves

these

however,

lies,

Buddhist

represent

on

legends

in

which

their frescoes,

scale

and with a distinctness found nowhere

in

else

India.

The

of

Am-

sculptures

ravati

some

of

which may be contemporary,

slightly

what

most

most

in

painting

are

nearly

approach them
as

only

or

earlier

but,

cases,

admits

of

greater freedom and

variety

greater

of

incident than sculpever

ture

certainly

instance
its
Pillar in

Vihara No.

(From a Sketch by

17, at Ajunta.
the Author.)

details

and

in

are

also

of

and,

when combined

Avith

the

viharas

in

and
this

vindicates

claim to greater
power.

phonetic

Many
and architectural

does,

of

the

frets

painted on the roofs and pillars of these

great

elegance

architecture,

and

appropriateness,

make up

whole un-

AJUNTA VIHARAS.

Chap. VI.

157

rivalled in India for its ethnographic as well as for its architectural

beauty.

Fortunately the age of these two caves

not doubtful

is

there

is

much mutilated it must be confessed, but

of which enough can be made out to show that they were excavated
by kings of the Yindhyasacti race, one of whom, Pravarasena, whose
name appears in the inscription on No. 16, married a daughter of
a long inscription on each,

Maharaja Deva,

We

Chandra-gupta.^

alias

have inscriptions of the

king dated 82 and 93 of the Gupta era, or in a.d. 400 and 411,
and his son-in-law may probably have reigned a few years later. We

last

may

consequently safely place these two

They

Sri cave,

expect

to

caves

in the

first

half

of

more modern than the Yadnya

No. 15, at Nassick, which is exactly the result we would
arrive at from their architecture and the form of their

the 5th century.

are thus slightly

sanctuaries.

Their great interest, therefore, from a historical point of view,

in their being

consists

and

arts of India

almost unique specimens of the architecture

during the great Gupta period, when Theodosius

was emperor of the East, and

Sassanian,

He

said to have visited India.

is

did visit India,

it

II.

time when Bahram Gaur, the

at

reigned 420 to 440

must have been while they were

if

he

in course of being

excavated. 2

Nos. 18, 19, and 20 succeed this group, both in position and in
and probably occupied the remaining half of the 5th century in

style,

construction, bringing

down our

history to about a.d. 500.

Before proceeding further in this direction, the cave-diggers seem

to have turned back

and excavated Nos.

8, 7,

and

6.

The

last

named

is

the only tw^o-storeyed cave at Ajunta, and would be very interesting

if

it

damp and

were not so fearfully ruined by

nature of the rock in which

faulty

elegant

singularly
Internally,

it

is

decay, owing to the

No. 7 has a
two projecting pavilions.^
excavated.

is

broken by

verandah,

small,

it

and occupied by a whole pantheon of Buddhas.

almost every respect. No. 17 at Nassick, with

It resembles, in fact, in

which

it is,

There

no doubt, contemporary.

still

remain the

five

the six last at the southern

first

caves

one of these

are viharas of greater or less dimensions.

'

'

Journal

Bomaby Branch

of

the

Koyal Asiatic Society,' vol. viii. p. 56.

See also, Journal of the Asiatic Society
'

is

northern end, and

a chaitya, the other ten

Some

are only

commenced,

and female attendants. What the story

not known, but the persons represeuted are not Indians, but Persians, and

is, is

costumes

the

of Bengal,' vol. v. p. 726.

at the

cave there are four square compartments

those of the Sassanian

Copies of these pictures by Mr.
Griffith are now exhibited in the India

representing the same scene, in different

Museum

Curiously enough, on the roof of this

manners

king, or very import

mt

per-

sonage, drinking out of a cup with male

period.

'

at Kensington.

Kock

cut Temples,' pi

8.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

158

and two, Nos. 4 and 24, which were intended

have been the

to

of the series, are left in a very incomplete state

Book

I.

finest

interesting, however,

its commencement
Both these were intended to be 28-pillared caves,
and the hall of No. 4 measures 84 ft. by 89 ft.
Caves Nos. 1 and 2 are among the most richly-sculptured of the
The fagade, indeed, of No. 1 is the most elaborate^ and beautiful
caves.
of its class at A junta, and with the corresponding caves at the opposite
end conveys a higher idea of the perfection to which decorative sculptm^e

as

showing the whole process of an excavation from

to its completion.

had attained at that age than anything else at Ajunta. With the
last chaitya, which belongs to this group, these caves carry our history
down certainly into the 7th century. The work in the unfinished caves,
I fancy, must have been arrested by the troubles which took place in
Central India about the year 650, or shortly afterwards, when, I fancy,
the persecution of the Buddhists commenced, and after which it is
hardly probable that any community of that faith would have leisure
or

means

to carry out

any works, on such a

scale at least, as these

Ajunta viharas.
It

of

is,

illustration

is

much

greater

amount

of

compatible with the nature of this work, to convey

who have not

to those
interest

course, impossible, without

than

them any

seen

found in these caves

but

the various points of

idea of

it is

hoped that a complete

to be

them may be one day given to the world. The

when the disastrous fire at the Crystal
1860, destroyed Major Gill's facsimiles of the paintings,

series of illustrations of

materials for this nearly existed

Palace, in

which can hardly now be replaced.^

and

it

hoped

is

will

be,

good

deal, however,

done, as they afford

may

be,

complete series of

examples of Buddhist art without any admixture from Hinduism, or

any other religion extending from 200 years before Christ to 600 or 7 00
and besides illustrating the arts and feelings
after his era
of those ages, they form a chronometric scale by which to judge of,

years

and synchronise other known

series

in several important particulars.

single example of those bell-shaped

Eight large lithographic plates

illus-

trating these caves will be found in

work on the Rock-cut Temples of

'

my

India,'

with which, however, they

For instance,

at

Ajunta there

Persian capitals to

Bombay, has been employed

same series. Reductions

of some of the more important frescoes,
copied by Major Gill, were fortunately
published by Mrs. Speir in her Life in
Ancient India,' in 1856 and since then
Mr. Griffith, of the School of Arts at

tory of art in Jndia.

'

no

with

to recover,

it

lie is

trations of the

is

can now be done, the frescoes

destroyed in the Crystal Palace fire. If

as far as

In 1864 1 published a small volume

containing fifty-eight photographic illus1843.

pillars,

differ

may

successful, these curious paintings

still

be made available

ever, that the

for the his-

It is feared, liow-

means taken by Major

Gill to heighten their colour before copy-

ing them, and the destructive tendencies

of British

tourists,

have rendered the

task to a great extent a hopeless one.


BAGH VIHAKAS.

ClIAP. VI.

waterpot bases

crowning the
Salsette,

nor

any example

there

is

159

animals with

of

and elsewhere in the Ghats.

These dilferences seem to point

to a Avestern influence, Persian, Saka, or Scythian, or

we

like to designate

it,

riders

snch as are found at Bedsa, Karli, Nassick,

capitals,

which did not penetrate so

by whatever name

far inland as

Ajunta

we know the

foreign

or EUora, but was confined to those regions where

influence prevailed.

many more

These, and

ethnographic distinctions in architecture

no doubt, be brought out by careful examination and comparisons, from which, when made, it can hardly be doubted that the
will,

most important

results will be derived.

BAaH.
At a distance about 150 miles a little west of north from Ajunta,
and thirty miles west of Mandu, near a little village of the name of
Bagh, there exists a series of viharas only little less interesting than
the later series at Ajunta.

They

are situated in a secluded ravine in

the side of the range of hills that bounds the valley of the Nerbudda

on the north, and were

or

visited

first

at

least first described

Lieutenant Dangerfield, in the second volume of the

'

by

Transactions of

They have since been described more

by Dr. Impey in the fifth volume of the Journal Bombay
Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society.' Unfortunately the plates that

the Literary Society of Bombay.'

in detail

'

were to accompany that paper were not published with

it,

but being

deposited by the author in the library of the India Office, they are

now

and from them and from

before me,

this paper the principal details

that follow have been gleaned.

The

series consists of eight or

but no chaitya

nine viharas, some of them of the

nor does any excavation of that

very

first

class

seem ever to have been attempted

class,

larger viharas

them, which
fact,

hall,

here.

On

the other hand, the

seem to have had a shala or schoolroom attached to

may

also

have been employed for divine

service.

The

however, that the sanctuaries of the viharas generally have a

dagoba in them, instead of an image of Buddha, points to a distinction

which may hereafter prove of value. On the whole they are purer

and simpler than the

the same age.

The plan

latest at

Ajunta, though most probably of about

of one has already been given, but

it

is

neither so large

nor architecturally so important as the great vihara, shown in plan.

Woodcut No.

87.

Its great hall is 96

rank as a twenty-eight pillared cave,

are eight pillars ranged
in consequence of

some

octagonally

ft.

square,

like
;

and

and would

at

Ajunta

No. 4 there, but inside this

at a

later

age, apparently

failure of the roof, four structural pillars

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

160

shaded lighter
description

were

how

introduced.

is

I.

not clear from Dr. Impey's

He

the central octagon was originally roofed.

Great Vihara, at Bagli.

to

It

Book

seems

(Kroiu a Pan by Dr. Impey.)

have believed that a dagoba originally stood in the centre, and

having been destroyed brought down the roof with

a

dagoba in the sanctuary, this

there

is

seems

much more

likely that it

is

was a copy

As, however,

it.

hardly probable, and

it

of a structural octagonal

dome, such as we find the Jains invariably employing a few centuries

afterwards.

If this is so, it

would be highly interesting that

be examined by some architect capable

from such indications

of

these

as remain.

We

domes supported on eight

loth century, but not one before.

it

should

of restoring it constructively

have hundreds, almost thousands,

revival in the

after the

pillars
If

this is one,

it

might help to

restore a missing link in our chain of evidence.

The

shala connected with this vihara measures 94

ft.

by 44

the two are joined together by a verandah measuring 220

adorned by twenty free-standing

pillars.

the back wall of this gallery was adorned

ft.

and

ft.,

in length,

At one time the whole

with a

series

of

of

frescoes,

As in those at
among them any symptoms
of Buddhism as generally understood.
The principal subjects are
pi'ocessions on horseback, or on elephants.
In the latter the number
of women exceeds that of the men.
Dancing and love-making are as

equalling in beauty and in interest those of Ajunta.

Ajunta, the uninitiated would

fail to trace

usual prominently introduced, and only one small picture, containing

two men, can be said to be appropriated to worship.

With one exception, no man or woman has any covering on their
heads, and the men generally have the hair cropped short, and with
only very small moustaches on the face.
Some half-dozen are as

SALSETTE.

Chap. VI.

dark as the Indians of the present day.

many

fairer,

as

fair

Spaniards,

as

and

161

The

rest

nearly

all

much

are very

wear

coloured

dresses.

We

are not at present in a position to say,

long time be able to

sure,

feel

who

the

races

sented in these frescoes or in those at Ajunta.

and may not

for a

that

repre-

are

are

Negatively we

may

probably be justified in asserting that they are not the ancestors of the
present inhabitants of Rajputana, nor of any of the native races
Gronds, or such like.

Are they Sakas, Yavanas, or any

Indus tribes who, in the

India across that

forms

The

river,

first

centuries of the Christian

Bhils,

of the trans-

Era flowed into

bringing with them their arts and religious

style of art, especially at

Bagh,

is

very similar to that of

Persia at about the same date.

The

the latest,

if

our chronology

beyond 650 or 700, unless

rest of

The

date of this group of caves seems hardly doubtful.

could not well have been commenced

is

it

much

before a.d. 500

earliest

the date of

correct, could not well be carried

down

was, that the troubles that convulsed the

India after that date did not reach those remote valleys in

Rajputana

till

some time afterwards.

Salsette.

One

of the

most extensive, but one

the groups of Indian caves,

is

of the least satisfactory of all

that generally

known as
The

Caves on the Island of Salsette in Bombay Harbour.

cave there, as mentioned above, is only a bad copy

the Kenheri
great chaitya

of the Karli cave,

and was excavated in the beginning of the 5th century, and none of the
The place, however, must have had some
viharas seem to be earlier.
sanctity at an earlier date, for there seems no doubt that a tooth of
Buddha was enshrined here in the beginning of the 4th century, when
these relics were revolutionising the Buddhist world at least at two
diametrically opposite points of the coast of India, at Puri, and in this
island.^

that

an

It

the

island,

may have been

in consequence of the visit of this relic

became holy, and it may have been because it was

that it remained undisturbed by the troubles of the main-

island

and that the practice of excavating caves lasted longer here

than in any series above described. Be this as it may, the caves here
go straggling on till they fade by almost imperceptible degrees into
The Hindu caves of Montpezir, Kundoty,
those of the Hindu religion.
and Amboli are so like them, and the change takes place so gradually,
that it is sometimes difficult to draw the line between the two

land,

religions.

Although, therefore, we have not at Salsette any viharas that can

compare with those of Nassick, Ajunta, or Bagh, and they nowhere

Ante, p.

.59.

BUDDHIST AECHITKCTri^i:.

162

form a

which might

series

Book

I.

guessing their dates, yet, just

assist us in

and because they do fade so gradually into the

next phase, are they worthy of more attention than has been bestowed
because they are so

late,

upon them.

As

Bombay, and

these caves are so near

seems strange that they have lately been so

one seems to have visited, or at

What we know

those

of

made

so

easily accessible,

much

least described, the outlying groups.

Montpezir or Amboli

of

it

and no

neglected,

derived from

is

from the
Lord Valentia or Niebuhr.^ The Kenheri group is better
known, and I can speak of them from personal knowledge.
A plan of one has already been given (Woodcut No. 77). It is a
two-storeyed vihara, and one of the finest here, though it would not
be considered remarkable anywhere else. Another, of which a repreDaniell's drawiugs,^

at the

end of the

last century, or

travels of

sentation

India, though
are generally

my

given in

is

Avalokiteswara with

heads,

common

it is

mere

'Kock-cut Temples,' plate

ten

the

only instance

modern

in Thibet in

19, represents
I

times.^

know
The

or natural caverns slightly improved

cells,

by

in

of

othei-s

art,

and

hardly worthy of illustration in a general history, though a monograph

most valuable addition

of these caves w^ould be a

to our scanty stock of

knowledge.

Dhumnar and Kholvi.

There are no viharas at either of these places which can at

all

compare, either in dimensions or in interest, with those already de-

The

scribed.

at

largest,

bination with the chaitya.

Dhumnar, is
Woodcut No.

that

given in comthough important, is

already

65, and,

Next

evidently transitional to another state of matters.

called the Great Kacheri

about 25

ft.

but

At Kholvi

at

all.

42

ft.

There

by 22

is,

ft.

there

is

is

to this is

one

only a six-celled vihara, with a hall

square, encumbered by four pillars on

the chaitya above alluded to

cells.

it is

its floor

a similar hall, but smaller

and near

and without

nothing that can correctly be called a vihara

indeed, one large hall, called Bhim's home, measuring

but

has no

it

cells,

and

is

be called a shala at Bagh than a vihara.

much more

The

like Avhat

others are mere

would

cells,

of

no architectural importance.'^

possess a large collection of

drawings of these caves, made

by
^

for

MS.

Daniell

his assistants in 1795-6.

'

Voyage en Arabic

circonvoisins,'

1776-80.

et d'autres

pays

Most of the

plates referring to these caves were re-

produced by Langles in his

d'Hindostan,' vol.

ii.,

'

Monuments

plates 77, et seqq.

Schlagintweit,

Thibet,' plate

'

Buddhismus

in

3.

Plans of these caves, with descripand some architectural details, will

be found in Gen. Cunningham's Archaeotions

'

logical Iteports,'

77-81.
myself,

v.)l. ii.

pp. 270-288, plates

Those of Dhumnar I have seen

but till those of Kholvi arc

ELLORA.

Chap. VI.

The

bemg

163

fact seems to be that

when these two groups of caves were

Buddhism was fast losing its original characteristics,
the bastard Brahmanism that succeeded it.
When
we cannot at present exactly say but I cannot help

excavated

and fading into

that took place,

may have

fancying that this religion

lingered on, and flourished in

the remote wilds of Rajputanai or in the island of Salsette long after it

had been driven from the neighbourhood of the great cities and from

populous and well-cultivated plains

the

those of Kholvi,

century of our

may have been

and these

caves, especially

excavated in the 8th or even in the 9th

era.

Ellora.
Ellora there are numerous viharas attached to the Yiswakarma,

At

or the great chaitya above described (p. 128).

Like it, however, they
are all modern, but on that very account interesting, as showing

more

clearly

steps

by

than

which

elsewhere

the

Buddhist

cave-

architecture faded into that of the

Every step of the process

Hindus.

can be clearly traced here, though

the

date

precise

change

took

place

which

at

the

cannot yet be

fixed with certainty.

The

great vihara, which

contemporary

evidently
chaitya,

warra,

known

is

and,

as

are

lowness of

110

roof.

its

Its

than

and such

in

form, too,

It looks
,

. ,

more

a nat-rooiea cnaitya, with

aisles,

ft.

across the central

ft.

exceptional.

those

of

great defect being the

recesses, its

is

88), differs

dimensions

Its

considerable, being

depth by 70

the

Dehr-

be seen from

will

(Woodcut No.
considerably from any
above.

also

the

as

the plan

illustrated

is

with

it

an

ordinary

its

like
,

Plan of Dphrwarra, Ellora.

Danieii's 'Views.') Scaie 50

88,

three

vihara

probably was intended to be, and,

of

if

so, it

we had one

Dhumnar

north,

is

curious to

of the earliest

about twenty-five further

and deeper into the Central Indian

jungles.

scale for that purpose.

is

situated more

than sixty miles north of Ujjain, that

photographed we shall not be able to

speak positively regarding them; the
General's drawings are on too small a

The Kholvi group

to

observe that at Bedsa (Woodcut No. 49)

'

(From
ft.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

164

complete viharas, looking like a chaitya in plan

one of the

common

showing the same confusion

latest,

in architectural history, where a

ment generally hampers

which

in its decrepitude

Close

its

Viswakarma

which the sanctuary stands

some

Saiva caves

the

of

a thing very

style or a

new aiTange-

copying some incongruous form,

Avith

returns

it

passing away.

it is

a small

is

I.

and here we have

of ideas

vigorous manhood, but to which

a sure sign that

the

to

itself

during

casts off

it

new

Book

and very pretty vihara, in

all round it, as in
and the appearance of the

with a passage

free,

further

on

warders on each side of the door would lead one rather to expect

an image of Siva inside than the Buddha which actually occupies

The

it.

how^ever, of its architecture are the

details,

same

as in the

great cave.

Communicating with this one is a small square vihara, the roof of

which is supported by four pillars of the same detail as the Dookya
Ghur, which is the cave next it on the north but though surrounded
;

by

cells it

has no sanctuary or images.

Higher up the
cells,

than these are two others containing numerous

hill

and one with a very handsome

unfortunately fallen in

hall, the outer half

which has

of

enough, however, remains to show^ not only

plan, but all the details, w^hich very

much

its

resemble those of the last

group of viharas at Ajunta.

In the sanctuaries

of

most of these caves are figures

On

with their feet down.

sitting

one are nine figures of

principal

cross-legged, [and

seated

cross-legged,

each side of

the

of

Buddhas

image in the

Buddhas, or rather Bodhisatwas,

below them three and three

some
them a

figures,

and others standing, probably devotees, and one

of

woman.
Neither of these caves have been entirely finished.

There
makers')

another group of

still

is

Chumarwarra, or

The

quarter.

these

small viharas, called the

understand correctly) the Chumars' (or shoe-

(if

first

is

square,

Avith

twelve

pillars

same plan as those at Ajunta, though the detail is similar

There are cells, and in the sanctuary Buddha
Viswakarma.
with the feet down

it

never has been finished, and

is

on the
to the
sitting

now much

ruined.

The second

is

cushion form of

much
the

similar

in

plan,

though

are

of

on each

The

the

and more ornamented

Buddha, all like the one
down, and there are only two
;

galleries here contain figures of

in the sanctuary, sitting with their feet

much

pillars

better formed than in the last example,

lateral

cells

the

Elephanta and the Dehrwarra, but the capitals are

side of the sanctuary.

last is

a small plain vihara with

cells,

but without

pillars,

and

ruined.

Thft whole of

the

caves in this group

resemble one another so

Chap.

VL

much

ill

ELLORA.
and execution that

detail

among them, and

cession

make out any

to

is difficult

it

probable that they were

is

it

165
suc-

excavated

all

within the same century as the Yiswakarma.

The next

temples are particularly interesting to the anti-

three

quarian, as pointing out the successive steps by which the Buddhistical

Brahman ical.
Tal, or Dookya Ghur,

caves merged into the

The

first

two storeys
that
is

most of

may

it

be assumed to be, without doubt, of the same age.

Yiswakarma.

The

detail,

and

left

its

are all Buddhistical, though

in

all

architectural

its

the sculptures are

made by

by

finished

their

At

successors.

it

may

This

Brahmans.

entirely to the

nical temple here,

and

it is

first sight, it

own

their

probable,

worship.

the

be true to a certain extent,

we
Brahma-

appears more probable that

it

It is evidently the earliest

natural to suppose that

when

the Saivites

is

the existence of a pseudo-structural mantapa, or shrine of

;

this

evidently must

have been a part of

the original design, or the rock would not have been

it

is

a model

of

the

usual

Buddhists never were

guilty

This
of

copied structural buildings

in the Kylas, to be described further on.

It is not easy, in the present state of our

closely

may

Kholvi.

later

It is certainly finer

with the traditions of the

be owing

knowledge.

is

in

greatest height

excavations,

else.

knowledge, to determine
or earlier than those of

than

either,

and conforms

style in its palmiest

to local circumstances, of

The manner, however,

its

The Buddhist

on the contrary, were always caves and nothing

Dhumnar and

that they generally

is

a system that rose to

whether the Ellora Buddhist group

grammar

excavations always are

their predecessors,

that of

it,

Brahmanical excavations, as

caves, whilst the great characteristic of

distinguished from

here for

a piece of bad

is

their

left

building found in Saiva

structural

temples in different parts of India.

more

to

circumstance, however, that makes this most

The

Nundi, in the courtyard

that

if

only models that existed, merely appropriating them

the

follow

the

seems as

attempted to rival their antagonists in cave-temples they should

first

and

cave, very

preceding, but

the Buddhists, and appropriated and

bnt on a more careful examination

owe

the two

to

details

Brahmanical.

all

excavation had been

deviating

of that style as almost to justify the

Brahmans in appropriating them as they have done.

The third, the Das Avatar, is another two-storeyed
similar

of

three

very similar to the last in arrangement

is

sculptures

from the usual simplicity

so far

pointed out in speaking

intended to have had

unfinished.

Teen Tal,

next, or

It

and shows no more tendency

details,

its

apparently was

It

but has been

storeys,

and

all

Brahmanism than what was

towards

a Buddhist vihara of

are so similar to those above described

its details

Buddhistic in

strictly

the

Do

the

is

which

days

but

which we have no precise

it

fades into the

Hindu

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

166

Book

I.

how late it is. If we take a.d. 600

Yiswakarma and its surroundings, and
A.D. 750 as a time w^hen the last trace of Buddhism had disappeared
from western India, we shall probably not err to any great extent
but we must wait for some inscriptions or more precise data before

group
as

in itself sufficient to prove

is

medium

the

date

attempting to speak

A
while

filled

but in the meanthat in these " rock-cut temples," eked

know

like completeness

out by the few structural examples

history of the arts

and

done before this great cartoon

to be

up with anything

satisfactory to

it is

on the subject.

Avith precision

more requires

great deal

can be

for the

years that ranged from B.C. 250

that exist,

of the

liturgies

to-

we have

and

with zeal and intelligence enough for the purpose

that,

when any one

devote himself to

will

more vivid and

the task, he will be able to give us a

a complete

Buddhists for the thousand

750

a.d.

far

more authentic

account of this remarkable form of faith than can be gathered from any

books whose existence

is

now known

to us.

JUNIR.

When

the history of

the cave-temples of western India comes to

be written in anything like a complete and exhaustive manner, the

groups situated near and around the town of Junir, about half-way

between Nassick and Poonah, will occupy a prominent position in

There are not,

the series.

magnilicent as that at

Bhaja and Bedsa

but there

least,

quite

any probably

probably three, chaitya

so far as

we

These
Colonel

at

caves

There

caves,

its

with

square

and

The

certainly

instance,

terminations

pillars,

is

and

quite unique

have long been known to antiquarians.

any description

Bird noticed

them

in

caves

themselves.^

Historical

Eesearches,'

the

of
his

'

Dr. Wilson described them in the

Stevenson

In

1833

republished their

Civil

Service,

inscriptions,

'

and

with

lastly

wrote an account of

Antiquary' for February, 1874.

In

in 1850,
in 1857

translations,

Mr. Sinclair

them in the

Notwithstanding

Journal of.the Royal Asiatic Society,'

1847,

with some

'Bombay Journal;' and

the eighth volume of the same journal

Bombay

age,

possessing examples

for

are,

.wretched lithographs, so bad as to be almost unintelligible

Dr.

at

Sykes published a series of inscriptions copied from them,

but without
Dr.

the same

and one circular cave which

present know.

without internal

those

equal to the finest at that place.

forms not known elsewhere.

two,

so old as

one chaitya, both in plan and dimen-

is

great interest of the series, however, consists in

of

any chaityas so

true, in this locality

is

that at Nassick and probably of

sions, very like

one vihara, at

it

Karli, nor

vol. iv. pp.

all

this,

287-291.

'

in

of the

Indian

we are

JUNIR.

Chap. VI.

photographs which would

drawings or

without

still

1G7

The

understand their peculiarities.

negatives taken, but never would allow

them
not

and,

take

when Mr. Bargess

us

Bhau

obtaining, through Government, the use of Dr.

effected,

to

autumn, he did

visited the caves last

apparatus with him, as he depended

photographic

This has not yet been

enable

Bhau Daji had a set of

any prints to be made from

late Dr.

and

it

is

available for the purposes of our history, yet

it

till

on

Daji's negatives.

this

series is

hardly

can hardly be passed

over in silence.

The

great peculiarity of the group

caves composing

They

it.

any

himself, but there are not even

which we meet with

at

is

the extreme simplicity of the

any

are too early to have

figures of

of these figures of

Karli and elsewhere.

Buddha

men and women

Everything at Junir

wears an aspect of simplicity and severity, due partly to the antiquity

of the caves of course, but, so far as at present

One exception

where.

but

it

in the most

is

known, unequalled elsemodern cave here is

that Sri, with her two elephants pouring water over her, occupies the
frontispiece of a chaitya cave.^

through

all ages, it is

Though

so ubiquitous

a position as she does here

The annexed plan and

but her history has

section

Circular Cave, Jiinir.

25

ft.

ft.

its

roof

is

to convert it into a

now worshipped

is

probable one

that

a fact

will explain

It is not large, only

Scale 25

that

the lingam

ft.

The

tee has

been removed

lingam of Siva, in which form

suggests

the

idea

really a miniature

is

to 1 in.

supported by twelve plain octa-

gonal pillars which surround the dagoba.

from the dagoba

to.

(From a Drawing by Mr. Buigess.)

to 1 in.

6 in. across, while

to be written.

Section of Circular Cave, Junir.

90.

(From a Plan by Mr. Burgess.)

Scale 50

still

(Woodcuts Nos. 89, 90)

the form of the circular cave above alluded

89.

and continuous

seldom this goddess occupies so very important

it

fancy a very

dagoba, though

bearing a different meaning now, and that it was really originally

copied from that Buddhist emblem. The interest of the arrangement
of this cave will be more apparent when we come to describe the dagobas
at Ceylon, which were encircled with pillars in the same manner as

There

is

a representation of this cave

in Dr. Bird's book, plate IG, but so badly

done that it requires being told what

intended in order to find it out.

is

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

168

Book

I.

Meanwhile the annexed representation (Woodcut No. 91)

temple from the Buddhist sculptures at Bharhut may
enable us to realise, to some extent at least, the external form of
these temples, which probably were much more common in ancient

this one.-

of

a circular

times than any remains we

now

Hound Temple and part

91.

Besides
extensive

this

group at

possess

of Palace,

Junir,

would

justify us in assuming-.

from a bas-relief

there

is

near Aurungabad, and two others,

at Bliarhut.

one

apparently equally

still

more

extensive, at

Daraseo, or Darasinha, and at Hazar Kotri, in the Nizam's territories

but they are even

several

Mr.
they

less

others whose

known than

existence

is

the Junir

only

known

to us

Burgess is enabled to continue his explorations a

may

those at

purpose.

group, and there are

be brought within the domain of history.

by hearsay.

If

few years longer,

At

present, like

Junir, they are not available for any historical or scientific

GANDHARA MONASTERIES.

Chap. Vll.

CHAPTER

IGO

YII.

GANDHARA MONASTERIES.
CONTENTS.
Monasteries at Jamalgiri, Takht-i-Bahi, and Shall Dehri.

Few

of the recent discoveries

in India promise to be

of important results for the ehicidation of

more

the archaeology

fruitful

India
than those obtained from the recent excavations of ruined monasteries in the neighbourhood of Pesha^nir.
A great deal still remains
to be

of

done before we can speak with certainty with regard either to

enough is kno^vn of them to make it certain

their age or origin, but

that the materials there

the

amount

exist

for

not only the question of

settling

on that of India, but

of influence classical art exercised

also for solving

many problems

of

Buddhist archaeology and

art.

As mentioned above, it is from their coins, and from them only, that
the names of most of the kings of Bactria and their successors have been
recovered but we have not yet found a vestige of a building that
can be said to have been erected by them or in their age, nor one
piece of sculpture that, so far as we now know, could have been
;

executed before their downfall, about B.C. 130.

owing

to

This, however,

fanatic Moslems,

who

may

be

inhabited by

the fact that Bactria proper has long been

destroy any representations of the

human form

they meet with, and no excavations for hidden examples have yet been

undertaken in their country

while

it

is

uncertain

still

fluence of the true Bactrians extended eastward,

and

how

they ever really possessed the valley of Pesha\\iTr, where

No

tures yet discovered have been found.

existence in our

own

territory

till

far the in-

Avhether, in fact,
all

the sculp-

one, in fact, suspected their

Lieutenants

Lumsden and

Stokes, in

monastery at Jamalgiri, which

1852, partially explored the half -buried

had been discovered by General Cunningham in 1848. It is situated

about thirty-six miles north-east from Peshawur, and from it these
officers

excavated a considerable number of sculptures, which after-

wards came into the possession of the Hon.

published an account of them in the
Society,'

country.
astrous

in

1853,

and brought the

Unfortunately,
fire

that

they

occurred at

were
the

'

E.

Clive

Bayley.

He

Journal of the Bengal Asiatic

collection

utterly

Crystal

itself

destroyed

Palace,

over
in

to

this

the

dis-

where they were

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

170

Book

I.

being exhibited in 1860, and this before they had been photographed,
or any serious attempt

made

compare them with other sculptures.

to

Since that time other collections have been dug

out of another

monastery eight miles further westward, at a place called Takht-iBahi, and by Dr.
Sahri

called

Bel lew at

some

Bhalol,

third

locality,

ten miles southward,

which have found

of

their

way

to this

and two years ago Dr. Leitner brought home an extensive

collection, principally from Takht-i-Bahi.
The bulk of the sculpcountry

Lahore Museum,

tures found in these places have been deposited in the

where upwards of 800 specimens of

many

are being added every season.

and

graphed,^

these

brought home, are

idea

general

to

art

to ascertain in

now

exist,

and

of these have been photo-

together

enab^.e

with

student

to

the

specimens

obtain

The worst thing

they represent.

a
is,

un systematically carried on that

the excavations have been so

impossible

class of art

Some

representations,

sufficient

the

of

this

fair

that
it

is

most instances where the sculptures came

from,^ and in almost no instance can the position of any one piece of
sculpture be fixed with anything like certainty.^

The

following plans (Woodcuts Nos. 92, 93), of the two principal

monasteries which have been excavated in

will explain their

As

out.

have

will be seen at a glance, they

for

some time possessed pliohundred objects

tograplis of about one

o itained in

these

the vicinity of Peshawur,

arrangements in so far as they have yet been made

excavations, princi-

Museum and
have received from Gen. Cunningham twenty large photographic

are very similar to each other.

pp. 197-202), he does not mention

where

they came from, and gives the dimensions

of a few only.

manner by

^ The mode in which the excavations

have recently been conducte I by Government has been to send out a party of
sappers in the cold weather to dig, but
the officer in charge of the party has
been the subaltern who happened to be

Jamalgiri.

in

pally those in the Lahore

latterly I

plates, representing 165 separate objects

recently obtained in a more methodical

himself, principally from
These plates are, as I understand, to form part of the illustrations
of a work he intends publishing on the
When it is in the hands of the
subject.
public there will be some data to reason

upon.

At

present there

is

scarcely any-

thing to which a reference can be made.

When

Gen. Cunningham was selecting specimens in the Lahore Museum,

to be photographed for the Vienna Exhibition, he complains that he could
2

only ascertain the " find spot " of five

or six out of the whole number 500

It is therefore to be regretted
or 600.
that,

when publishing

tions of the 1G5

himself

('

a list with descrip-

objects

discovered

Archaeological Reports,'

by

vol. v.

command

company

of the

A new otficer

is

at the time.

consequently appointed

every year, and no one has ever been

had any experience

selected because he

in such matters or
suits.

any taste

for

such pur-

What has been done has been done

wonderfully well, considering the circumstances under which it was under-

taken
as

but the result on the whole

might be

is,

expected, painfully disap-

Quite recently, however, it

understood that Gen. Cunningham
has taken charge of the excavations,
and we may consequently hope that in
pointing.
is

future these defects of arrangement will

be remedied.

to

contain images,

though none were found in

situ.

In the centre

of each stands a circular or square platform or altar, approached

steps.

The

circular

one at Jamalgiri

is

by

adorned with cross-legged,

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

172

Book

I.

conventional, seated figures of Buddha, the square one at Takht-i-Bahi

by two rows of
court,

BB,

pilasters

Beyond

one over the other. ^

this is

an oblong

from the number of images, small

called the pantheon,

models of topes, and votive offerings of all sorts, that are found in it.
It, like the last court, is surrounded by niches for images.
Beyond

CC, with the usual

this again the vihara or residence,

At Takht-i-Bahi

there

with only one door leading into

Jamalgiri

at

it.

but so far detached that

the woodcut.

It

is

residential cells.

a square court, D, surrounded by a high wall

is

corresponding court exists

could not be included in

it

the cemetery, and probably

called

not without

Embassy to Thibet ^ describes a similar

enclosure at Teshoo Loomboo in which the bodies of the deceased
monks were exposed to be devoured by the birds, and what happened
there in 1800 may very well have been practised at Peshawur at a
reason, as

much

Turner in his

'

earlier age.

When we

attempt to compare these plans with those of our rock-

cut examples in India,

with

structural

we

apparently exist at Ajunta, nor

monastery or

outside the

is

Kenheri,^ and similar groups

anything analogous to

does not

attached

it

exists

and a much more extensive one at

Bhaja,

cave at

residential

The pantheon

group of small rock-cut dagobas

to other series of caves, but a

just

The

are the only ones readily recognised.

parts

comparing

at once perceive the difficulty of

examples.

rock-cut

may have

Numbers

existed elsewhere.

small models of topes and votive offerings are found in the neigh-

of

bourhood of
doubt

all

deposited

square altar
place

of

is,

the

Buddhist
in

and

establishments,

some

such

place

as

originally

w^ere

The

this.

circular

no
or

however, a feature quite new to us, and takes the

dagoba in

having steps to ascend to

all
it, it

rock-cut

the

seems as

if

chaitya halls.
it

From

was intended either

its

for a

platform from which either a congregation could be addressed, or a

prayer offered up to a deity.

If,

however,

it

was

really a

dagoba, as

General Cunningham supposes, that difficulty disappears, and on the

whole I

am

In the

logical

inclined to believe he

fifth

volume of

Reports'

just

his

'

may

Archaeo-

received,

Gen.

Cunningham assumes

that both these

were stupas of the ordinary character.
They may have been so, but both having
steps up to them would seem to militate

The

against that assumption.

one

is

only 22

ft.,

circular

the square one 15

and there

ft,

be right in this decision.

Jamalgiri monastery,
that

it

To prevent mis-

understanding, I

Cunningham,

may mention

that Gen,

in his plate No. 14,

by mis-

take, ascribes the plan to Sergt. Wilcher,

instead of to Lieut, Crompton.

Embassy

'

'Journal

Lahore Gazette,'

'

30th August, 1873.

no room on either for a procession-path

round the dome, if it existed and, if this
is so, of what use could the steps be ?
Lieut. Crompton, who excavated the

is

clearly of opinion

see page 2 of his

report, published in the

consequently

in diameter,

is

was a platform

Royal Asiatic
p. 116, et seqq.

to Thibet,' p, 317.

Bombay Branch

of

Society,' vol.

No. 21,

vii.,

the

GANDHARA MONASTERIES.

Chap. VII.

One

of the

monastery

the

of

steps

is

most remarkable ornamental features that adorn this

series of bas-reliefs that adorn the front of the
stairs leading from the so-called Pantheon to the

circular court at Jamalgiri.

adorned with

is

figures

and

according

Sanaa

173

to

jatakas

They

bas-relief

the

can

are sixteen in number,

containing

Among

subject. ^
easily

twenty,
these

thirty,

the

be recognised,^ and so

and each
or

forty

Wessantara

may

others

Besides these there are representations of

Avhen carefully examined.

the chase, processions, dancing, and domestic scenes of various kinds.

95.

Corinthian Capital from Jamalgiri.

(From a Photograph.)

Corinthian Capital from Jamalgiri.

(From a Thotograph.)

In fact such a

series

of

sixteen

hardly know^n to exist anywhere

part

of

an exuberance

of

bas-reliefs,

else,

but

sculptural

is

one

over another,

is

here only an appropriate

ornamentation

hardly

to

matched, as existing in so small a space, in any other building of

be
its

class.

'

now

These have been removed, and are

in Gen. Cunningham's possession

believe.
He has sent me
photographs of twelve of them.
Tree and Serpent Worship,' plates

at Simla, I

'

24

3) and 36 (fig. 1).

he modillion cornice, though placed

(fig.
'

'1

on the capital in the photograph, belongs in reality to another part of the

building.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

174

The

Book

I.

architecture of this monastery seems to have been of singular

General Cunningham brought away a dozen of capitals of

richness.

the Corinthian order, and others exist in the Lahore

be seen from the

last

two

Museum.

illustrations (Nos. 94, 95), they are

ably classical, but of a form to which

it

is

As

will

unmistak-

not at hrst sight easy to

They are more Greek than Roman in the character

but more Roman than Greek in the form of their

assign a date.
of their foliage,

and general design. Perhaps it would be correct to say they

more Byzantine than either, but, till we have detailed drawings
and know more of their surroundings, it is difficult to give a positive
volutes

are

opinion as to their age.

Not one
so

entire,

Some

of

these

of

that

their

them were

square,

may have formed

they

was found

in situ, nor,

use or position

and

it

is

is

not at

apparently, one
first

quite

sight apparent.

consequently not difficult to see

the caps of the antse on each side of the

cells,

Cunningham's plate (15). If this is

so, the circular ones must have been placed on short circular pillars,
one on each side, forming a porch to the cells. One at least seems to
have stood free like a stambha and, as the General represents it
on plate 48, may have carried a group of elephants on its head.

and

are so represented in General

All these capitals were apparently originally richly

gilt,

and most

of them, as well as some of the best of the sculptures, show^ traces of

gilding at the present day,^ and, as others show traces of colour, the
effect

must have been gorgeous in the extreme. From

what we find in the contemporary caves at Ajunta

of the whole

the analogy of

and Bagh, as well as elsewhere, there can be little doubt that frescobut no gilding, as far as I know, has
painting was also employed
been found in India, nor indeed any analogue to the Corinthian
:

All the capitals found in India are either such as grew out

capital.

own wooden construction, or were copied

from bell-shaped forms we are familiar with at Persepolis, where alone
There
in Central Asia they seem to have been carried out in stone.
of the necessities of their

is little doubt, however, that before the time of the Acheemenians the
same forms were used in Avood by the Assyrians ^ and they may
have been so employed down to the time of Alexander, if not later.
Certain it is, at all events, that this was the earliest form we know of
emplo^'d in lithic architecture in India, and the one that retained
;

its

footing there certainly

among
It

is

these

in

'

till

long after the Christian Era, and also

the Gandhara sculptures probably to a very late date.

not difficult to restore, approximately, the front of the

monasteries,

from the numerous representations

Arcliajological Reports,' vol.

v.

'The Palaces

sepolis Restored.'

pp

40 and 19G.

of

Nineveh and Per-

II. sect,

i.,

ef

By

of

the Author.

cells

them

Part

GANDHAEA MONASTEKIES.

Chap. Vll.

175

found among the ruins, where they are used as conventional frames for
sculptures.

may have

Buddha, or emblems of

of

life

probably was owing to the

It

fact

that

their

fronts

been adorned with paintings representing scenes from the

various sorts, that these miniature

them were used to convey the same design in

The form of the wooden framework which filled the upper
sculpture.
part of all the great windows of the chaitya halls, from the earliest
known examples, is also used for the same purpose in these Gandhara
monasteries.
Few things among these sculptures are more common

representations

than

of

frames,

semicircular

these

They

varied design.

filled

with sculpture

of the most
what would have

are in fact the counterparts of

been carried out in painted glass had they possessed such a material.
It is to be feared that it is hardly likely we shall now recover one
of these cells or chapels in so perfect a state as to feel sure of its form
and ornamentation. It would, however, be an immense gain to our
knowledge of the subject if one were found, for it is hardly safe to
depend on restorations made from conventional representations.
Meanwhile there is one monument in India which
mutatis
mutandis reproduces them with considerable exactness.
The small

Mahavellipore

detached rath at

well as in design, an
Its

cells.

pillars.

them

lower front

Above
somewhat

roofs,

all

flanked

with
it

by two detached

narrow^

waist

admit of the display

to

between

must be confessed, but

In the Jamalgiri representations of

simplified

is

Mahavellipore

two

dilerently arranged

extremely similar.

everything

open,

entirely

is

are

this

both in plan and dimensions, as

is

almost exact reproduction of these Jamalgiri

of

these

still

cells

At

sculpture.

the architectural features are retained, but they are

much

that there seems no doubt this

still

marvellously alike, so

little

rath (Woodcut No. 181, p. 328), with

so,

its

circular termination,

is

what a Buddhist chaitya hall was at the time it was

carved, as that the great rath (Woodcut No. G6) is a correct reproduction of a Buddhist viliara at the same period.

as exact a co]3y of

If this

is

so, these

Gandhara sculptures and these raths represent

in a much more complicated and

the chaitya hall of the Buddhists

elaborate

form than we find

it

in the simple but majestic examples at

The Jamalgiri

Karli, Nassick, or Ajunta.

cells

as the rath at Mahavellipore, but they are

it^

to

as nearly in date as they are in form.

Quite recently, General

need not be so modern

certainly approaching

One

curious

peculiarity

Gandhara sculptures
rally

retain

of

to the Christian Era.

these

that they gene-

is

jamb on each
In India and in

building

would certainly

this

fix their

peculiarity

age as anterior

a small vihara

In Gandhara

it is

only found in decorative sculpture, and

retained apparently from association. It

the sloi)ing

side of their openings.

a structural

Cunningham has dug out

does not, at
!

'

all events,

appear as

argument could be based on

there employed.

its

if

any

use as

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

176

at

Book

I.

Shah Dehri, the ancient Taxila, which seems more ancient than
Peshawur monasteries. As will be seen from the plan (Wood-

these

No. 96),

cut

^SM^a^

only

small

but

sions,

dimen-

simple

arrangements

its

simple,

indeed,

as

those at Cuttack or

the

western

them

Ghats.

has

it

ever divided

continuous

It

seat.

used for both purposes.

most

Its

As

Ionic order.

and

beds

no doubt, however, was

Plan of Ionic Monastery, Shah Dehri. (From a Plan

by General Cunningham.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 inch.

the pillars are of the usual form,

into

how-

but more like

as there,

is its

as

any

in

raised bench, not

peculiarity, however,

in

of

Like

96.

not

is

it

in

as

will

remarkable

be seen, the bases of

correct as any that could be

found in Greece or Rome, from before the Christian

Era to the age

l

^i-l^ r

capital

Constantine,
out,

and,

thoudi the

there can be

little

twelve
doubt what was intended (Woodcut No. 97)
coins of Azes were found close by, from which it

'

'

of

not fully made

is

may

be

inferred the building

belonging to the

first

century

was

of

his

age, or

and there

b.c.,^

is

nothing in the architecture to militate against this

It

idea.

seems the oldest thing yet found in this

province.

The extraordinary

Ionic Pillar, Shah Dehri.

oSer'^iluinrngfam.)

monasteries
the

history

their

age

of

classical

Indian

should

be

is

such

of

that

art,

is

it

determined,

present, sufficient materials

if

do not

it

exist

surpassing

of
is

in

the general public to form even an opinion

may

character

and

the

bcauty of the sculpturcs found in these Gandhara

be brought forward on

the subject

the

possible
this

interest

for

utmost importance
to

do

so.

At

country to enable

on any argument that

nor will

they be in a

Government can be induced to spend the

They are quite
trifling sum required to bring some of them home.
here, they would hardly be surthrown away where they now are
Pending
passed in interest by any recent discoveries of the same class.
position to do so

till

the

'

Assuming

that his age has been correctly ascertained, which I

liowcver, to flouht exceedingly.

am

beginning,

GANDHARA

Chap. VII.

MONASTEIilES.

177

must be content with such a statement of the argument as may be put forward by those who have access to photographs
and such materials as are not available to the general public.^ It
it is understood that General Cunningham intends to publish photothis, the reader

the 165 objects in his collection.

When this is done, it
supply the want to a certain extent, but a really correct judgment can only be formed on an actual inspection of the objects

graphs of
will

themselves.

Among

Indian antiquaries there are two different views as to the

age of these sculptures, regarding either of which a great deal

urged with a considerable degree of

The

plausibility.

may

be

that the

first is,

Bactrian Greeks carried with them into Asia the principles of Grecian
sculpture and

the forms of Grecian architecture, and either during

supremacy or after their expulsion from Bactria established a
school of classical art in the Peshawur valley.
It further assumes
their

Buddhism was

established there under Kanishka and his

bloomed into that rich and varied development we find
This is the view adopted
exhibited in these Gandhara monasteries.
that, w^hen

successors,

it

by General Cunningham, who, however, admits that, as all the sculptures are Buddhist, the earliest must be limited to the age of
Kanishka, which he assumes to be about

and that they extend

B.C. 40,^

to A.D. 100, or thereabouts.

The

theory equally admits

other

the

presence

the

of

classical

element, derived from the previous existence of the Bactrian Greeks,

but spreads the development of the classical feeling through Buddhist

art

over the

or

from

ascribes

whole

the

7th

the

peculiar forms as

its

West,

munication with the

Justinian,

during which

period

to

1st

8th

than to the original

rather

it

existed

century

in

the

valley,

and
much, if not more, to constant comfrom the age of Augustus to that of
or

seed

our

of

planted

era,

by the

there

Bactrians.

Confining

the

argument as much

above quoted, either

development
were

they

of

had

know

perfectly

events

Syria,

(a.D.

and well-educated
I

Western
of

the

270)

class,

Corintliian

and we know that

and other mu-

examples of an
in collections
however

when

influence

capitals

inferior
in

this

it

between

distinguish

possess photographs of about 300

actual

the instances

the

classical

form, after the age of Constantine.

seums, and have had access to about as

many

to

in

Italy,

We
in

between the ages of Augustus and Aurelian

eye to

objects from the Lahore

possible

Greeks took with them to Bactria, or

the

under

the history

as

Corinthian capitals are a local

these

that

lost their original

Greece, and in

is

forms

executed

orders

at all

it

requires a practised

the capitals

of

the

country, but even they barely suffice for

the purpose.
^

'

Archaeological

Introduction, p.
to the

vi.

Reports,'

vol.

v..

See also Appendix

same volume, pp. 193-1.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

178

Pantheon

The

of

Agrippa and those

last

show considerable

entablatures

so stereotyped that

evident,

is

it

if

Book

executed at Baalbec or Palmyra.

but the capitals were

progress,

any Greek or

Roman

could predicate exactly what they would have been.

however, the design of the capitals went wild,

if

had

artists

designed capitals in Gandhara during the period just alluded

The

I.

to,

we

After Constantine,

may

the expression

from them, instead of their

supporting horizontal architraves, required a total change, and in the
West it produced exactly the same effects that we find in Gandhara.
be used.

practice of springing arches

The capitals, for instance, in the churches of St. Demetrius and

now known as the Eski Jouma at Salonica, both built in the

that
early

the 5th century, are almost identical in design with these

part of

and many in the churches in Syria and Asia Minor

;^

show the same

" abandon " of design, though frequently in another direction.

The presence

of

little

Buddha among
modern

cross-legged figures of

foliage of the capitals is another sign of a comparatively

The

first

prominent example of the practice, I

believe, in classical art,

seems to be found in the Baths of Caracalla, at

but

certainly did

it

only general in what

ever, so

much

become common

not

may

till

be called mediaeval

in the presence of figures of

the
age.

Rome

(a.d.

312-330)

;^

long afterwards, and

art.*

It

Buddha on

not,

is

how-

these capitals

that I would insist on as an indication of age, as on their presence in

the monastery at

In the

first

all.

place,

Buddha, in any

of

believe

it

is

India executed as early as the Christian Era.

been found in

Those on the fagade

Karli and in the western caves are avowedly insertions of the

at

4th or 5th centuries or

caves
I

no statue

correct to state that

of his conventional attitudes, has

later.

nor any found at

know

of

There are none belonging to the eastern

Buddh Gaya, Bharhut,

or Sanchi

any one in India that can be dated before

a.d.

Gandhara monasteries they are very frequent, and

which in India would be assumed to be certainly as late
some of them very much later.
or 5th century

of

these

as

nor do

100.

In

type

the

4th

Buddhist books

It is true

Texier and Pullan,

chitecture,'

'

London, 1864,

tell

Byzantine Arpis. 22-25 and

pi. 44.
2
^

De Vogue, Syrie Centrale,' passim.

By a curious slip of the pen General
'

Cunningham

Archjeological Reports,'
vol. V. p. 193) places " These Roman
examples in the baths of Caracalla in
the beginning of the

first

century of the

Christian Era, almost contemporary," he

adds,
finest

with that which I assign to the

Indo-Corinthian examples just

us frequently of statues of

Buddha

described, namely, the latter half of the

first century n.c."
This is so evidently
a mere slip that I would not allude to it

were

it

not that

for the early

much

of his

argument

age of these sculptures

is

based upon this coincidence.

* There is a capital at i^iah, in Syria,
on which a bust is introduced, which may
be as early as the Christian Era, but it
is a solitary example not repeated afterwards, so far as I know.
See ' Syrie
Centrale,' by De Vogue, plate 3.

GANDHARA MONASTERIES.

Chap. VII.

having been made at much earher dates.^

this

Bnt Indian books have

they represent facts and beUefs at the time

defect, that

fatal

179

now

they were m'itten, or acquired the forms in which we

much

without

reference

time at which they are supposed to have happened.

we

till

some book that assumed

get

their testimony

find them,

contemporary authorities or facts at the

to

Consequently,

present shape before a.d. 400,^

its

of very little avail in the controversy.

is

Buddha, there are a great number

Besides these figures of

of

which General Cunningham supposes represent kings.

This
can hardly be the case, as they have all got nimbuses or glories at
All have the tika on their foreheads, as
the back of their heads.
Buddha has, and none have any kingly attributes, but all wear the
figures

The

same ornaments and amulets.

occur anywhere in India,

may

If

may

be allowed to hazard a guess,

represent

Amanda

the time of

who

patriarchs

the

Nagarjuna was one

most important of

of the

this

is,

The misfortune
Gandhara,

is,

and,

must be

point that

fear, a

Church from

the

these, and, if this theory

for future

left

series

but

investigation.^

no inscribed statue has yet been found in

that
it

till

over

found among the

correct, his statue will certainly be

is

would suggest that they

presided

ceised to be a living institution in India.

it

till

may

they

but, as no similar figures

not easy to feel certain on this point.

is

it

impression was,

first

represent Bodhisatwas, or Buddhist saints

all

is,

must be more

identification

or

less

guess-work or conjecture.

more important point than the mere presence

Buddha

ventional figures of
excessive

which renders

reduplication,

much more modern than

In Beal's introduction to

'

Fa

Hian,'

he mentions, on Chinese authority, which is much more reliable than

Indian, that a statue of Buddha was
brought to China from Kartchou (?) in
On asking Mr. Beal to look
B.C. 121.
carefully into the authorities

statement, he
in the extreme,
2

believe

reports

them

to

for

this

be hazy

and not
it

is

to be relied upon.
generally admitted

that the redaction of the 'Mahawanso,'

and other Ceylonese

Buddaghosha's time,

scriptures

possess.

made

in

a.d. 408-420, is the

oldest authentic Buddhist

They, like the

'

their

is

probable that they are very

is

known with

a date

anterior to,

300 or 400, in which more than one such figure

18,

p.

it

con-

these

generally assumed.

is

In India, no building or cave

say, A.D.

of

or of saints in these monasteries,

work we now

I.alita Vistara,'

and other works, are founded on older

have been

lost,

repre-

is

and what we have

what

is

the writers of the 5th and subsequent

centuries thought they ought to be.
'

Unfortunately no Indian

patriarchs has yet

we have

are

come

list

of these

to light.

Those

derived from Japanese or

Chinese sources, and are

all tainted

the falsification which the Chinese

with

made

Buddhist chronology by putting

Buddha's date back to about 1000 B.C., in
order that he might have precedence of

in

Confucius in autiquity
history is written
list

of the twenty-eight

see Lassen,
vol.

ii.,

'

for so it is that

in the

East.

For a

known patriarchs,

Indische Alterthumskunde,'

Beilage

ii.

p.

1004.

works of course, but the earlier forms

N 2


BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

180

Even

sented.

Amravati they do not occur on the great

at

was erected in the beginning

appear

on the inner

first

and they

first

Book

rail

which

rail

the 4th

century {ante, p. 100), but

which was added a century afterwards

of

occur in such caves as No. 19 and No. 26 at Ajunta, and

in the later caves in the island of Salsette, none of which seem to be

earlier

than A.D. 500,

on the base

The

latter

so early.

if

Gandhara monasteries they

In the

the altars or

of

is,

stupas,

out

of

walls,

indeed, the most remarkable peculiarity of any.

Buddhist monument in India, so far as

thrust

in hundreds
and in the cells.

exist literally

on the

is kno\\ii,

make way

their cells to

The

images.

for

In no

have the monks been

practice

is

Buddhist monuments the

universal with the Jains, and in the latest

but here we have what in all earlier Buddhist

cells are ignored
monuments would be cells surrounding courts or halls, but all filled
with images of Buddha or saints. To such an extent is this carried,
;

that

the plans of these monasteries had been submitted to me, with

if

merely a verbal

description

or written

unhesitatingly have pronounced

The

10th century.

9th or

them

their

of

to

sculptures,

adscription, but the similarity of their plans

is

most

made

would

Jaina temples of

the

any such

course, negative

sculptures, of

Considerable allowance must also be

be

striking.

the fact

for

that the

Mahayana, or Greater Translation, introduced in the north of India

by Nagarjuna, was considerably in advance of the Hinayana school
Making,

of Central India in all complications of ritual observances.

however, an allowance of one or even two centuries for

any

difficult to believe that

of these monasteries yet

this, it

is

brought to light

are earlier than the 4th or 5th century.

If

am

correct in assigning the outer

tope to the beginning of the

tainly

no a priori

surround
of

its

casing of the

8th century {ante,

improbability in this view.

p.

Manikyala

83), there is cer-

The

that

pilasters

base are so similar to those represented in the bas-reliefs

the monasteries^ that they must belong nearly to the same age.

Those of the tope are

reliefs,

and may,

less classical, it is true,

therefore, be

more modern

than those of the bas-

but they cannot be very

far apart.

All these statues of Buddha, or of Buddhist saints, in the Gandhara

monasteries,
archaeologist.

a peculiarity which will interest the Clu-istian

Without exception, they have a nimbus or circular disc

have

behind their heads.

This does not occur at Sanchi in the 1st century

of our era, nor, so far as

The

is

capitals of these pillars

known, in any sculpture, on any

are so

speak very
confidently about them. I have drawings of them by Col. Yule and by Mr.
W. Simpson, and latterly Gen. Cunningruined that

it is difficult to

ham
'

or in

has published drawings of them,

Archseological Keports,' vol.

None
this

rail,

them are quite

must arise from the

task.

of

jdI.

24.

satisfactory,

but

v.

difficulty of the

GANDHAEA MONASTERIES.

Chap. VII.

any cave, before

it

century of our era.

its

181

appears at Amravati on the great

may

Earlier examples

rail,

be found, but

in the 4th

they are,

till

presence militates against the idea that these sculptures can be so

early as the

1st century after

Christ, and, with

the other

would seem to indicate a much more modern date.

One other argument seems to bear directly on

evidence,

From

this point.

what has been said above (ante, p. 76), it appears that the erection
of the topes in Gandhara was spread pretty evenly over the whole
time that elapsed from the Christian Era till Buddhism ceased to be
and that the
the religion of the country, in the 7th or 8th century
most flourishing period was about the year a.d. 400, when Fa Hian
;

visited the country.

of the monasteries

seems reasonable to suppose that the erection

It

would follow the same course, and that we might

expect their greatest development

to

be simultaneous.

the monasteries and their sculptures within the

century after Christ would seem to violate

all

limits

To compress
the

of

first

the probabilities of the

case.

In addition to

all this local

evidence,

when we come

sarcophagi or the ivories of the lower empire,

many

be struck with the

many

Gandhara
Museum, and labelled

to compare these

the western world, especially with those of

sculptures with those of

it

seems impossible not to

points of resemblance they present.

There are

bas-reliefs which, if transferred to the Later an

of the

"Early Christian," would pass muster with

one hundred who visit that collection.
There may be one or two that might be described as belonging to
as early an age as that of Hadrian, but generally they would seem of

ninety-nine

people

as

out

of

later date.

Among

the

ivories, those

about the time of Constantine present

about the same jumble of the classical orders, the same reminiscence

mixed up with the inconborrowed from extraneous sources which it is difficult to

account for but both in their perfections and their faults they seem
of

art

classical

in

the

figure-sculpture,

gruities

so distinctly to belong to the

same

believe they do not belong to the

is

class of art that it is difficult to

same

age.

The

great difficulty here

know what

to

which

may

differences

equation we ought to allow for distance in space

have the same effect as time in producing apparent

but this hardly seems to have been of

much importance

here.

Against all this may be urged the difficulty of understanding how

such direct and important influence could have been exercised by the
Byzantines in this remote province without

its

leaving any trace of

its existence on the arts of the Parthians or Sassanians, whose king-

dom

lay between,

and without our having any written record

intimate relations.

It is difficult, of

stated above, such negative inferences

course, but,

if

of such

the facts are as

must make way before the

posi-

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUI^E.

182
tive testimony of

the sculptures themselves.

Book

I.

Till within the last very

few years no one dreamt of classical art having any such influence
at

any age on the

of

tradiction

arts of

That being established

Gandhara.

previously

all

conceived

ideas,

the time

in con-

Avhich

at

took place ought to be ascertainable with comparative facility

in so far as

any mitten evidence

is

concerned,

may have

bably at or after the time of Constantine, as at

or

it

and,

been as proafter

that

of

Augustus.

would be easy to extend this argument to any length

It

Avithout producing the data

on which

it is

but

based, or giving references to

drawings and photographs Avhich have not been published,

would

it

who have not access to

To avoid, therefore, being

hardly carry conviction to the minds of those

means

of information not yet

tedious, perhaps I

may

made

public.^

be allowed to state that, having given the best

my command,

the conclusion

have

attention

to

the materials at

arrived at

is,

that though some of these Gandhara sculptures probably

are as early as the 1st century of the Christian Era, the bulk of those at

Jamalgiri and more especially those at Takht-i-Bahi, are subsequent

to

the

8th

3rd

till,

and

and

4th,

in fact, the time

that

the

series

down

extends

when Buddliism was

the

to

obliterated in

these

countries.

The

discovery of some new^ fact, or of an inscription on a piece of

sculpture either with a date or a king's

may any day

one.

settle

name

that can be recognised,

beyond dispute which of these views

is

the correct

Meanwdiile, however, as the evidence at present stands,

it

seems

hardly doubtful that the theory which assigns the more modern date to
these sculptures,

been brought to

is

that w^hich accords best with

light, or

all

that has hitherto

with the history of the Buddhist religion as at

present known.
If this is so,

it is

evident that the term Graeco-Bactrian, or Grgeco-

Buddhist, which has been applied to these sculptures,

is

a misnomer.

The Bactrians may have sown the seeds of a classical style in these
parts, but the art w^e now find there would be more properly called
Indo-Roman or Indo-Byzantine, and must have been nourished and
kept up by constant communication between the East and the "West

during the period at which

it

was most flourishing, which may be

described as that intervening between the age of Constantine and that of

Justinian.

^
No complete history of the ivories
has been published which is sufficient
for reference on this subject.
Gori's
are too badly engraved for this purpose
but the first twelve plates in Labarte's
Histoire do I'Art are perfect as far as
they go. So are the plates in Maskell's
;

'

'

Catalogue of the South Kensington

Museum,' and those published by the
Arundel Society but it is to the collection of casts in these two last-named
'

institutions that the reader should refer

for fuller information

on the subject.

GANDHARA MONASTERIES.

Chap. VJI.

183

From what has been said above regarding the sculptures of Bharhut
and Sanchi, it appears evident that the Indians had a school of art of
their

own

before they

knew anything

of the arts of the western world

but that native art seems to have had very

influence on the arts of

little

Gandhara. The western arts, on the contrary, acting through that

country, seem to have had considerable influence on those of India at
subsequent to the Christian

periods

Era.

It

seems at

almost

least

impossible to escape the conviction that the arts of Amravati and the
later caves, say of the

Western
it

and

influence,

Gupta period, betray most marked evidence of

it seems that it is only through Gandhara that

can have reached them.

So strongly marked

this that

is all

it

may become

a subject of an

interesting investigation to inquire whether the Greeks were not the

first

who taught

There

the Indians idolatry.

Manu, or any

the Vedas or in the laws of

is

no trace of images in

of the older books or traditions

As repeatedly mentioned, there is as little trace of any

Buddha or Buddhist figures being set up for worship before
the Christian Era, or for a century after it.
But the earliest, the finest,
and the most essentially classical figures of Buddha are to be found in
Gandhara, and, so far as we at present know, of an earlier date there
of the Hindus.

image

of

than any found in India Proper.

If General

Museum

Cunningham's sculptures or the contents

made

could only be

of the

Lahore

available to the learned in Europe, with

the requisite local information, they would, I fancy, at once supersede

the meagre and most unsatisfactory written details which have alone

come down

to us, and w^ould throw a flood of light on one of the

most interesting but most obscure chapters of the history of the
commerce and of the early intercourse between the western and the

eastern world.

Pending
eyes to

discoveries,

being done, we already

this

many

and to teach us to cease to wonder

hitherto appeared inexplicable.

the

King

lonius of

know enough

of

to open our

things that promise to result in the most interesting

Taxila, in the

If,

for

architecture.

many
it

things which

not true that

is

century, spoke good Greek, as Apol-

first

Tyana would persuade us he

practised Greek

at

instance,

If

St.

did, we know at
Thomas did not

least that
visit

he

Gondo-

same century, many, at least, of his

no a priori reason why he should not

phares, king of Gandhara, in the

countrymen

did,

have done so
'

Bhagavat

also.

Gita,'

the Hindus,

and there

in

of

classical

we now know

Gandhara in the

how many

If there are traces of

and

In short, when we

is

realise
first

thousands,

it

at least

how

Christian doctrine in the

learning in other poetic works of

where they

five or six centuries

may

may have come

from.

strongly European influence prevailed

after Christ,

and think

be millions, crossed the Indus, going

eastward during that period, and through that country, we ought not

BUDDHIST AECHITECTURE.

184
to be surprised at

any amount

of

Book

Western thought or

art

we may

I.

find in

These, however, are problems that are only just dawning upon

India.

and which are certainly not yet ripe for solution, though it may be
most important they should be stated as early as possible, as it seems
evident that the materials certainly exist from which an early answer

us,

may

be obtained.
In the meanwhile the question that bears most directly on the

subject

now

influence

in

shown

hand
iji

is

these

the inquiry,

how

far the

Gandhara sculptm'es

is

to the direct influence of

times of Augustus and Justinian

seems that the latter was very

cause,

and that in the

tion of the

West

first

kingdom

there,

and
the

Both, most probably, had a part

in producing this remarkable result

it

classical

Rome and Byzantium between

the Bactrian Greeks during the existence of their

how much

undoubted

due to the seed sown by

but, so far as

we

at present

much more important than

centuries of the Christian

exercised an influence on the arts

know,

the former

Era the civilisaand religion of

the inhabitants of this part of India far greater than has hitherto been
suspected.

Feet of Buddha.

(From a

bas-relief at Amravati.)

CEYLON.

Chap. VIII.

CHAPTER

185

VIII.

CEYLON.
CONTENTS.
Introductory

Auuradliapura Pollonarua,
Introductory.

If the materials existed for writing

and

in anything like

it

complete

manner, there are few chapters in this history that

satisfactory

ought to be so interesting or instructive as that which treats of the

architecture of Ceylon.

It alone, of all

known

countries, contains a

complete series of Buddhist monuments extending from the time of

Asoka

to the present day,

history so detailed

and

'

Mahawanso

buildings can be ascertained with

earlier

Besides

its

unbroken

own

series

'

it

alone possesses a

and purposes

very

tolerable

intrinsic interest, if it were possible to

with

its

of the

precision.

compare

this

ascertained dates with the fragmentary groups

on the continent of India,

many

and in the

so authentic, that the dates

its

parallelisms

might throw much

light

on

questions that are obscure and uncertain, and the whole acquire

a consistency that
nately,

is

now

only too

evidently

wanting.

Unfortu-

no one has yet visited the island who was possessed of the

necessary qualifications to supply the information necessary for these

Sir Emerson Tennent's book, published in 1859, is still the
work on the subject. He had, however, no special qualifications
for the task, beyond what were to be expected from any well-educated
gentleman of talent, and his description of the buildings ^ is only
meant for popular reading.
The two papers by Captain Chapman, in the third volume of the

purposes.
best

Transactions,'

and thirteenth volume

of the

'

Journal of the Asiatic

Society,' are still the best account of the ruins of

Anuradhapura, and

beyond these a few occasional notices are nearly all the printed matter
we have to depend upon. Some seven or eight years ago, a series of
photographs, by the late Mr. Lawton, threw some light on the matter,
and quite recently a second series by Captain Hogg, R.E., have added

^
I purchased from his artist, Mr.
NichoU, and possess all the original

sketches from which the illustrations of

his

book were engraved.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE,

186

our

to

somethiii<>-

knowledge.

But

Book

photographs without

plans

I.

or

dimensions or descriptions are most deceptive guides, and, as none of

these have been supplied, they add

This

of the subject.

is

to our scientific

little

knowledge

the more to be regretted, as quite recently

some excavations have been undertaken at Anuradhapura which are

considerable light on the structure of the great
dagobas there, but regarding which no information, except what is
afforded by these photographs, has reached this country.^
One of the most striking peculiarities of Ceylonese art, as compared

calculated to throw

with that of the continent,

which

it

less useful for

obvious

is

almost total absence of sculpture

the

and may be a peculiarity that may render it much

comparison than might at first sight appear. The most

exhibits,

suggestion

meet

to

sculptures are buried in the

this

difficulty

is

assume that the

to

accumulated ruins, in the

cities

where

the great monuments are found, and will be discovered when excavations are made.

tenable

It is to be feared, however, that this theory is hardly

Ceylon has never been occupied by Mahomedans, or other

and there

no reason

hostile

races,

statues

would be thrown down, or

is

such excavations as have been made

places

have

and

besides this,

they are in the most likely

revealed nothing that would lead us to hope for better

elsewhere.

results

suppose that at any time

to

bas-reliefs destroyed

Perhaps this ought not to surprise

the same thing occurs in Burmah.

us,

In that country there

as nearly
is

an un-

amount of painting and carving, but no sculpture properly

and the same thing may have occurred in Ceylon.
so called
So far as we can now see, all the great topes were covered with
chunam, which may have been painted to any extent, and all the
viharas, as in Burmah, were in wood, and consequently unfitted for
permanent sculpture.
Besides this, such information as we have
would lead us to suppose that painting was a more favoured art
with the islanders than sculpture.
When Fa Hian, for instance,

limited

When

the present governor was ap-

pointed hopes ran high that

factory stite of our

cleared away.

tliis

unsatis-

knowledge would be

Tlie stars, however, in

their courses have warred

gainst archaeo-

logy in Ceylon ever since he assumed

Bway over the island, and the only residuum of his exertions seems to be that

a thoroughly competent German scholar,

Herr Goldsmidt, is occupied now in copying the inscriptions, which are numerous,
in the island. These, however, are just
In
what is least wanted at present.
India,

no

where we have no history and

dates,

inscriptions

are

invaluable.

and

in

are,

ever,

fact,

our only sources of

In Ceylon, how-

information.

correct

they are, for archaeological pur-

poses, comi^aratively unimportant.

is

What

there wanted are plans and architec-

tural details,

general

and

these,

descriptions

accompanied by
and dimensions,

would, with the photographs we possess,

supply all we now want. Any qualified
person accustomed to such work could

supply nearly all that is wanted in twelve

months, for the two principal cities at
least; but I despair of seeing it done
in

my

day.

CEYLON.

Chap. VIU.

187

an accompaniment to the

visited the island in 412-J:1;3, he describes

procession of the tooth relic as follows

" The

king next causes to

be placed on both sides of the road representations of the 500 bodily

forms which

Bodisatwa assumed during his successive births " (the

" These figures," he adds, " are all beautifully painted

jataka in fact).

and have a very

in divers colours,

some

sently see,

permanent

in

stone,

It

was

shall

pre-

we

as

for,

and cleverness

of their carvings are of great delicacy

but they seem to have preferred colour to the more

execution,

of

appearance."

life-like

not that they could not sculpture

forms

representation.

of

when we think
such monuments as Bharhut,
remarkable,

this

If

so,

is

certainly

it

of the wealth of sculpture

Sanchi, or Amravati.

is

exhibited by

In so far as our

present information goes, one single monastery in Gandhara, such as

Jamalgiri, for instance, possessed

more sculpture than

in the whole island of Ceylon.

The form,

have been discovered,

may

It

in

is

almost as curious as

Buddha has

ancient figure of

the

of

found

Only one

rarity.

yet been discovered at Anuradhapura.

be of the 3rd or 4th century, and

chapel in front

its

to be

is

such sculptures as

too, of

is

placed un symmetrically

Everywhere, how-

Ruanwelli dagoba.

men with

ever, there are statues of five or seven-headed serpents, or of

which may be of any age, and at the foot of every

important flight of steps there are two dwarpals or doorkeepers with

serpent-hoods,

this strange appendage,^

larger

and attached

and older dagobas are

to each flight of steps of all the

Naga

figures of the great

so far as the testimony of the sculptures alone

fact, in

we would be forced

himself.

monuments

to conclude that all the great

capital were devoted to Serpent worship instead of that of

with one exception, however

which

is

not

so,

that one

but

it

is

We

of the

Buddha,

dedicated to the Bo-tree,

is

supposed to be the tree originally sent by Asoka from

Gaya more than 2000 years

is

In

concerned,

is

know, of course, that

Buddh
all

this

a testimony to the early prevalence of Tree

and

ago.

Serpent worship in the island, as strange as

it

was unexpected.

Another peculiarity of the Ceylonese monuments is their situation

it will have been observed, none

in the two capitals of the island, for,

of the

remains

of

Buddhist architecture described in the previous

chapters are found in the great capital cities of the Empire.

are detached

the land,

of

valleys.

monuments, spared by accident

or

rock-cut examples

found

in

They

some distant corner

remote and secluded

in

Buddhist Palibothra has entirely perished

so has Sravasti

and Yaisali
and it is with difficulty we can identify Kapilawastu,
Kiisinara, and other famous cities, whose magnificent monasteries and
;

'

Beal's translation, p.

The

artist

who made

57.

the drawings

for Sir E. Tenuent's book, not

what a serpent-hood was, has

knowing

in almost

drawn

all instances

so

recognisable,

'J'he

make
hoods.

it

it

as to be un-

photographs, however,

quite clear that all

had serpent

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

188

Book

I.

stupas are described by the Chinese travellers in the fifth or seventh

century of our

In a great measure, this may be owing to their

era.

having been built of brick and wood

is

singularly destructive of

But much

the

first,

and, in that climate, vegetation

and

and decay

insects

of

the

due to the country having been densely

It may also be
peopled ever since the expulsion of the Buddhists.
second.

is

also

remarked that the people inhabiting the plains of Bengal since the
expulsion of the Buddhists, were either followers of the Brahmanical
or

Mahomedan

religions

both

them,

inimical to

or, at least,

having

no respect for their remains.

In Ceylon the case

is

Though
now Buddhists,

different.

early deserted, the people are

the great capitals were

as they

have been for

and there, consequently, cities are still found

adorned with monuments, which, though in ruins, convey a sufficient
impression of what those of India must have been in the days of her

the last

2000

years,

glory.

Anuradhapura seems to have become the

capital of Ceylon about

400 years before Christ, or about a century and a half after the death
of Buddha, and the fabled introduction of his religion into the island.
It was not, however, till after the lapse of another 150 years that it
became a sacred city, and one of the principal capitals of Buddhism
in the East, which it continued to be till about the year 769, when,
owing to the repeated and destructive invasions of the Malabars, the
capital was removed to Pollonarua.
That city reached its period of

prosperity

greatest

Prala-ama

Bahu,

and

apparently

extension,

1153-1186, and

then

disastrous period into decay.

The

moved

the country

hither and thither,

till

seat of

in

reign

the

during

sank

of

long and

government was afterwards

fell

into the hands of the

Portuguese and Dutch, and finally succumbed to our power.

Anueadhapura.
The

city of

Anuradhapura

almost uninhabited jungle.

severely

is

now

totally deserted in the

Its public buildings

from the circumstances under which

centuries to the attacks of foreign enemies.

it

midst of an

must have

suffered

perished, exposed for

Besides this, the rank

vegetation of Ceylon has been at work for 1000 years, stripping off
all

traces

of

plaster ornaments,

and

splitting the

masonry in many

places.

The very desolation, however, of its situation has preserved these

No bigoted
monuments from other and greater dangers.
Moslem has pulled them down to build mosques and monuments of
his own faith
no indolent Hindu has allowed their materials to be

ancient

used for private purposes or appropriated as private plunder

and no

ANURADHAPURA.

Chap. VIII.

has

magistrate

English

and

station roads

them

rendered

yet

We may

bridges.

189
available

mending

for

be sure, therefore, that these

greatest attention from the student of Buddhist

and that a vast fund of information may be drawn from
them when sufficiently explored and described.
The peculiar fortune of Anuradhapura is that it continued the

deserve the

ruins

architecture,

capital of Ceylon for ten centuries

and, alone of

Buddhist

all

cities, it

retains something like a complete series of the remains of its greatness

We

during that period.

'Mahawanso' and

possess, moreover, in the

other Ceylonese scriptures, a tolerably authentic account of the build-

ing of

monuments, and

these

all

Among

dedicated.

the

vestiges

which they were

of the purposes to
of

former grandeur

its

found, are the ruins of seven dome-shaped topes or

to

still

be

dagobas, of one

monastery, of a building erected to contain the sacred Bo-tree, and

several other ruins
called the

and

these

the great

is

is

it

now

to

Two

88

180

with a radius of

dome

its

ft.,

is

and with the base and

244

which

ft.,

is

only 16
it

known

one, the Abhayagiri,

ft.

in the

'

and described

exactly hemispherical,

being thus more than 1100

ference,

cubits assigned to

outline, it

to.

of the topes are of the largest size

B.C.

year B.C. 161.

mound, without any distinguishable

a mere

again alluded

was erected

mound

more probably it is a tope

commemorate the victory over

intruder which he gained on this spot about the

will not be

spire

less

making up a

ft.

total

in circum-

elevation of

than the traditional height of 120

Mahawanso.'

It

was erected by a king

commemorate his reconquest of his kingdom from

foreign usurper who had deposed him and occupied his throne for

Walagambahu,
a

Among

antiquities.

of the usurper Elaala, but

by the king Duttagaimuni

erected

that

As

tomb

to

about sixteen years.

The second

tope

the

is

Jetawana, erected by a king Mahasena

A.D. 275.

In form and dimensions

described,

though somewhat more perfect in

it is

almost identical with the last

outline,

and a few

feet

owing probably to its being more modern than its rival.

These two were commemorative monuments, and not relic shrines.
Next to these, but far more important from its sacredness, is the
Ruanwelli dagoba, erected by king Duttagaimuni, between the years
161 and 137 B.C., over a very imposing collection of relics, of which a
higher,

account

full

is

given in the 31st chapter of the

Mahawanso.'

dimensions are very similar to those of the two last described, but
has been so

from a
its

defaced, partly by violence,

and

partly, it

it

seems,

failure of the foundations, that it is not easy to ascertain either

original

tope,

much

Its

260

ft.

shape or

size.

in diameter.

The

The same king erected another smaller

now known as the Mirisiwellya. Like

It is

cubit of Ceylon

is

nearly 2

ft.

3 in.

BUDUHIS^J' xVRCHITECTURE.

190
the last

described

teresting either

it

from

very

is

its

Some excavations

much

ruined,

Book

and not particularly

I.

in-

form or history.
have recently been undertaken have

that

dis-

closed the fact that the Kuanwelli dagoba had at its base three offsets,
or procession paths, rising like steps, one behind

now

but with no ornament

two bars on the outer edge

cornice to the upper.

It

other,

of the

two lower

ones,

and

of

an elephant

can hardly, however, be doubted that the inner

faces were originally plastered,

and painted with

historical scenes.

No

Elevation of front of Staircase, Ruanwelli Dagoba.

98.

and above the

apparent, except a plain Buddhist rail of

On

scale.

each of the four fronts of this dagoba was an ornamental projection

containing and partially concealing the flights of steps by which access

was had to these

galleries. ^

From

the photographs,

where the steps were that lead to the

first,

it

not clear

is

but those leading from the

to the second and third were arranged like those at Sanchi

(Woodcut No. 11) behind this frontispiece. Without a plan, however,
it is difficult to make out exactly what the arrangement may have
first

been.

precisely similar arrangement of

stairs exists

on the four faces

of the Abhayagiri and Jetawana dagobas, to that shown in the two

Woodcuts Nos.
a frieze of

98, 99,

and

consists first of a plain base, above

used in the metopes of the

Roman

Doric order

plain faces divided by ornamental string courses.

nice

which

is

elephants' heads with paterae between them, very like those

above this are three

Then

a bracket cor-

with patera3 again, and above this two or three more cornices.

Above this there w^as probably a parapet simulating a Buddhist rail.

At each end of this projecting arrangement were two stelae

at

the Ruanwelli the inner covered by a foliaged pattern, the outer by

In the photographs

it is

called an altar,

which

it

certainly

was

not.

CiiAP.

ANURADHAPUHA.

YIIL

a seven-headed Naga, as will

the

at

Abhayagiri, the

be observed in the Woodcut No. 99

inner stele

adorned with a pattern

is

nearly identical with that on the pillars

Sanchi,^ that

we have no

about the same age

to

99.

View

191

the western

of

difficulty in recognising

though

this one, of

of Frontispiece of Stairs, Riianwelli DagoLa.

them

course,

(From

so

gateway at

as belonging

is

the older of

a Pbotograph.)

On the other stele in this tope (Woodcut No. 100),

we recognise the shield, the Swastica, the trisul, the conch (of
Vishnu ?) and all the other Buddhist emblems with which we are
already familiar.
The Naga here has a stele of his own and
detached from the other two.
All this is architecturally so unlike anything we find of the same
the two (B.C. 104).

age on the continent of

nearly identical,
differences

and

that,

while

India,

when we come

similarities

may

lead

but we must at present wait for the

its

to
to

sculptured

are so

details

know more about

these

it,

most important inferences

requisite

information to enable

us to see the bearing of these peculiarities.

Besides these four large

known

'

'

as the

Tree and Serpent Worship,'

and 35.

cuts Nos. 34

buildings

there

are

two smaller

Thuparamaya and Lankaramaya, very

pi.

19.

In some respects

it

similar

ones,

to

resembles the

one

Wood-

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

192

100.

Stelae at the

end of

Stairs,

Abhayagiri Dagoba.

another in size and arrangement.

Woodcut No.

101.

101.

The

Thiiparamaya Topo.

tope

The

itself,

Book

I.

(From a Photograph.)

first-named

is

though small

(From an unpublished Lithograph by the

late

represented in

and

somewhat

James Prinsep.)

ANURADHAPURA.

Chap. VIII.
ruined,

of

is

193

a singularly elegant bell-shaped outline. ^

diameter

Its

and height are nearly the same, between 50 ft. and GO ft., and it
stands on a platform raised about 9 ft. from the ground, on which
are arranged three rows of pillars, which form by far the most important architectural ornament of the building. The inner circle stands
about 2 ft. from the dagoba, and the other two about 10 ft. from each

The

other.

monoliths 26

pillars themselves are

the lower part, to the height of 9

about
cut

The next

ft.

as

off,

is

division, 14

same material, 2

in height, of which

6 in. in length, has the angles

ft..

ft.

the two

These sustain a capital of the

granite.

6 in. in height.

number

differ as to the

originally 108

they were

says

ft.

square, each side being

left

usual in this style, so as to form an octagon

parts being of one piece of

Accounts

ft., is

149, and states the original

number

Mr. Knighton

of the pillars, as

whereas Captain

Chapman counted

have been 184.^

to

This relic-shrine was erected by the celebrated king Devenampiaabout 250 years

tissa,

say

which

placed

itself

Asoka
and is

it

to contain the -right

B.C.,

Buddhist

the

chroniclers

on the crown

belongs to the most interesting period of

older, or, at least, as old, as

tinent of India

nearly as

may

and there

having escaped
tooth relic was

4th century,

it

is

escaped

Buddha,

of

the

skies,

Buddhist history,

anything now existing on the con-

every reason to suppose

form in which

alteration,* and,

having

relic-shrine,

the

be, in

from

As contemporary with

the monarch.

of

jawbone

descending

what

is

it

now

exists, as

was originally designed,

it

more unusual in a Buddhist

When

augmentation.

the

celebrated

brought hither from India at the beginning of the

was deposited in a small building erected for the

purpose on one of the angles of the platform of this building, instead

of being placed, as seems generally to

have been the

case, in a shrine

summit, and eventually made the centre of a new and more

extended erection. Perhaps it was an unwillingness to disturb the

on

its

sacred circle of pillars that prevented this being done, or

been that the tooth

was destined never to

It is certain

and

the

is

that

may have

it

some reason we do not now understand,

be permanently hid from the sight of its adorers.
has been accessible during the last 2000 years,

relic, for

it

only relic of

its

seems to have been similarly

class that

preserved and exhibited.

The Lankaramaya (Woodcut No. 102) is extremely similar to the
though considerably more modern, having been erected a.d. 221
last

Since the drawing was made from

this cut is taken, it has been
thoroughly repaired and made as unlike
^

which
what
2

it

was

as can well

be conceived.

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal

'

for

March, 1847,

p. 218.

'

'Transactions of the Eoyal Asiatic

iii. p. 474, and
Journal of

Society,' vol.

'

the Royal Asiatic Society,' vol.

*

am

xiii. p.

168.

afraid this is no longer true.

From what

I learn, I fear it

has been

repaired.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTUEE.

194

and looks
a

its

more ancient

repair

As

will

a.d. 221.

(From

a Pliotograpb.)

be observed the two last-mentioned dagobas present us

not

peculiarity

inasmuch

with,

features.

Lankaramaya Dagoba,

102.

with a

found

on

any example we have

topes,
first

met

represent,

and take the place

It can hardly be

the rail of

of,

doubted

the northern

and subserve the same purpose, but in what manner is not at

Referring, however, to what was said above,

sight very apparent.

about

seem

yet

they are surrounded by three circles of slender

as

monolithic columns, of very elegant design.

that these

T.

more recent date than it really is, in consequence

some time ago, which has nearly obliterated

of even

thorong-h

of

Book

the

Ceylonese

difficult

fancy,

capitals,

preferring

painting to

to explain the anomaly.

sculpture,

These

pillars

connected with one another by beams

and from

covered with

the

these,

frames or curtains

paintings which are

so

of

it

not

does

were originally,

wood on

their

may have been suspended

indispensable a part

of

But it may be objected why three ? or, as I

believe, the Lankaramaya had originally, four such ranges of pillars ?
It is true the northern dagobas had generally only one rail, but that
at Amravati had two, and as the great dagobas here had three procession-paths, while none of the northern ones had more than one, we
should not be surprised if the smaller dagobas had three paths also,
though differently arranged, and even then hardly capable of disWhen we come to describe the
playing the same amount of painting.
great temple of Boro Buddor in Java it will be seen that it had five
Buddhist decoration.

ANURADHAPURA.

Chap. VIII.
procession-paths,

and

outside, with

195

and that their walls were sculptured, both inside

an amount of stone decoration which none of these

Ceylonese topes could display, even in painting, by any arrangement

we can now understand.

There
city,

another

still

is

but so ruined that

the

dagoba

Saila

within

the limits of the

architectural features are undistinguishable,

its

though tradition would lead us to suppose

place, belonging to a period

was the oldest in the

it

The

even anterior to Sakya Muni.

at all events is said to have been hallowed

spot

by the presence of Kasyapa,

the preceding Buddha.

Besides these, there

on the

are

Mehentele, a few miles to

hill of

the north-east of the city, two important relic-shrines

on

class, erected

of

Buddha over

summit

its

his left eyebrow.

immediately below

The

first

on a shoulder of the

other,

hill

Thuparamaya

the same class as the

this, is of

one of the

grew on the forehead

to cover a hair that

small central building surrounded by concentric rows of granite pillars,

mode

which, as appears to have been usual when this

was employed, rose

There

are, in addition to

sorts scattered over the plain,

interesting, either

their history, has not been

from their architecture or

ascertained, nor will

than

decoration

of

mound.
these, a gTeat number of topes of various
but whether any of them are particularly

to half the height of the central

be

it

the place

till

is

far

more

carefully surveyed

has yet been.

it

There

another ruin at Anuradhapura, which,

is

if

more

little

would be even more interesting than those topes. It goes

by the name of the Lowa Maha Paya, or Great Brazen Monastery.
We have a full account in the Mahawanso of its erection by the pious
king Duttagaimuni (B.C. 161),^ according to a plan procured from

perfect,

'

heaven for the purpose

tion

as well as a history of its subsequent destruc-

and rebuildings.

When
square,

first

and

erected

as high as

is

it
it

indispensable
it

have been 100 cubits or 225

said to

was broad

storeys, each containing

30)

'

100

cells for

priests, besides halls

Nearly 200 years after

apartments.

required considerable repairs, but the

in the reign of Mahasena, a.d. 285,

utterly.^

instead of

is

and other

erection

(a.d.

great disaster occurred

said to have destroyed

it

was re-erected by his son, but with only five storeys

nine
and it never after this regained its pristine magnifi;

fell

removed

to

completely deserted, and

which once supported

granite about 12

'

who

first

its

It

cence, but gradually

ment was

ft.

the height w^as divided into nine

ft.

into

all

it.

high

decay even before the seat of govern-

Pollonarua.

that

Since

time

that

now remains

are

been

has

it

the

1600

pillars

These generally consist of unhewn blocks of

some of the central ones are sculptured, and

'Mahawauso,' Tumour's trauslatiou,

p. 1(38.

Loc.

cit., p.

235.

0 2


BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

196

many have been

split

rebni'ding after

about G

its

into two, apparently at the time of

destruction

apart from centre to

ft.

Book

I.

the great

as it is, they stand

by Mahasena
centre in a compact phalanx, forty on
;

ft. or 260 ft. each way.

Upon the
must have been placed a strong wooden framing from which
the remaining eight storeys rose, as in the modern Burmese monasteries,
in a manner to be explained in a subsequent chapter.

each face, and covering a space of 250

pillars

There

only one difficulty, so far as I can

is

see, in

understanding

the arrangement of the superstructure of this building, and that

wards of

five

no hesitation

is

the

consisted of nine storeys

For myself

have

in rejecting this statement as impossible, not only

from

assertion of the

'

Mahawanso

each

'

that

containing

it

100 apartments.

after-

the difficulty of constructing and roofing such a building, but because

its

form

so utterly opposed to all the traditions of Eastern art.

is

we turn back

Fa Hian

to

or

Hiouen Thsang's description

If

of the great

Dekhani monastery (page 135) or to the great rath at Mahavellipore

(Woodcut No. 66), or, indeed, to any of the 1001 temples of southern
which simulate

India, all

of

we

distinct

get

erected

a
in

appropriate

Indian

the
to

idea

of

three, five, or

nine-storeyed residences,

what such a building may have been

style.

It

would,

too,

the climate, each storey having

ing or sleeping in the open

air,

be
its

and the whole

convenient

if

and

terrace for walkeasily

constructed

and kept in order. All this will be clearer in the sequel, but in
the meanwhile it hardly appears doubtful that the Lowa Maha Paya
was originally of nine, and subsequently of five storeys, each less in
dimension than the one below it. The top one was surmounted as at
Mahavellipore by a dome, but in this instance composed of brass
and, gilt and ornamented as it no doubt was, it
whence its name
must have been one of the most splendid buildings of the East. It
was as high as the topes, and, though not covering quite so much
;

ground, was equal, in cubical contents, to the largest of our English

cathedrals,

and the body

of the building

was higher than any of them,

omitting of course the spires, which are mere ornaments.

Besides these there are scattered about the ruins of Anuradhapura

some half dozen, it may be a dozen, groups of pillars, whose use and
purpose it would be extremely interesting to know something about.
They all seem raised on a platform or stylobate, and approached by
one or more flights of steps, of a highly ornamental character. One
of these, leading to a group of pillars attached to the Euanwelli dagoba,
will convey some idea of their general character (Woodcut No. 103).

At the foot of the flight of steps is a semicircular stone, popularly

known in Ceylon as a moon stone (Woodcut No. 104). At least a dozen
of these are known to exist at Anuradhapura and as many probably
Some are large and some smaller than others, but they
at Pollonarua.

ANURADHAPURA.

Chap. VIIL

are all nearly identical in design

of the sort

where.

197

and quite peculiar

to Ceylon

nothing

having yet been found on the continent of India or

Inside an outer

ornamental ring

is

else-

a procession of animals,

divided from the next compartment by a richly elaborated scroll

Pavilion with Steps at Anuradliapura.

103.

104.

Moon

(Krom

a I'liotugrapli.)

Stone at Foot of Steps leading to the Platform of the Bo-tree, Anuradhapura.

(From a Photograph.)

within that again a row of birds bearing lotus buds, and then a lotus
The animals are always
flower with a disc ornamented with circles.
elephants, lions, horses,
geese, or

it

may

and

bulls, the

be pigeons.

These,

birds
it

will

either

be

hansas, or sacred

recollected, are

the

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

198

Book

I.

animals which Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang describe as ornamenting

the

the five storeys of

afterwards

shall

Dekhani monastery, and which,

great

were also

see,

century in precisely the same manner.

For 1500 years

we

as

13th

arranged at Hullabid in the

and

they,

they only, seem to have been selected for architectural purposes, but

why this was so we are yet unable to explain.^

The risers of these stairs, though not adorned with
the Jamalgiri monastery in

those of

reliefs, like

richly ornamented, being divided generally into

of dwarfs

storeyed bas-

Gandhara, are

all

two panels by figures

and framed by foliaged borders, while the jambs or flanking

stones are also adorned by either figures of animals or bas-reliefs.

we had plans

If

which these steps

or any architectural

the pavilions to

details of

probably would be easy to say to what pur-

led, it

pose they were dedicated and

how

The photographs

they were roofed.

do not enable us to do either, but from them we gather that some

by walls, as the outer side of

rough and unsculptured, while those in the centre

these halls were certainly enclosed

of

the pillars

left

is

Meanwhile

are sculptured all round.

the

buildings

Fa Hian

my

impression

describes as preaching halls

is

or

chaitya

In India the form

ceremonial halls attached to the great dagobas.

these take

that they are

is

the

that of halls with simulated dagobas inside them, towards

which the worship was addressed, but when a real dagoba existed 200 ft.
to 400 ft. in diameter, what was w^anted was a hall in which the
priests could assemble to chant their liturgies, and from which to
address their prayers to the great object of

were

so,

but whether this was so or not

Besides these there

is

at

is

not yet ascertained.^

Anuradhapura a temple

called

Isurumuniya,

partly cut in the rock, partly structural, regarding which

mation would be

extremely interesting.

years the pillars of

but whether

means

this

If

their reverence.

the axis of these halls ought to be turned towards the dagobas,

it

clear.

its

porch

still

carried the

some

within the

Till

wooden beams

From

the mortises in the face of the rock I

it

was at

least in the

few

of a roof,

was the original one or a subsequent addition

inclined to believe that

infor-

last

is

by no

would be

original form, but the

building has been so knocked about and altered in modern times, that
it is

impossible to speak with certainty regarding

At Amravati

the Zoophoriis

cut No. 36) consisted of the

mals, I believe, but

it

is

(Wood-

same

ani-

not complete,

fragment of the horse having been

brought home, and generally, it seems,
that this limited menagerie is to be
found in all Buddhist works.
110

"

Any

architect

of

could in a w^eek easily

ordinary ability

make

the plans

and draw ngs

it.

So far as can be

requisite to

give us

all

the information required respecting these

halls in

Anuradhapura.

that Capt.

Hogg has

am

not sure

not already done

that is wanted, but he was sent oif

suddenly to St. Helena that no time
was allowed him to communicate his
information to others, even if he had it.
all

so

rOLLONARUA.

Chap. VIII.

199

judged from such photographs as have come home, I would be incUned

to

the

ascribe

The

excavation to the Gth or 7th century.

original

and the Naga dwarpals are all of the old

pattern, but coarser and showing unmistakable signs of decadence.
To us these are the most interesting of the remains of the
ancient city, but to a Buddhist the greatest and most sacred of the
the

architecture of

steps

vestiges of the past

This

the celebrated Bo-tree.

is

now

is

reverenced

and worshipped even amidst the desolation in which it stands, and

has been worshipped on this spot for more than 2000 years and thus,
if not the oldest, is certainly among the most ancient of the idols that
still command the adoration of mankind.
When Asoka sent his son Mahindo, and his daughter Sangamitta,
to introduce Buddhism into Ceylon, one of the most precious things
which they brought was a branch of the celebrated tree which still
;

grows at Gaya^ (Woodcut No. 16). The branch, so says the legend,
itself from the parent stem, and planted itself

spontaneously severed
in a golden

phecy,

was

it

According to the provase prepared for its reception.

to be " always green, never growing nor decaying," and

certainly present appearances

for,

notwithstanding

seem

to increase.

age,

its

Its

would go
it

is

being evergreen

only a characteristic of

is

Ficus religiosa- our acquaintance with

species, the

extend over a longer series of years than

speak with certainty as to

It

an assertion,
though healthy, does not

far to confirm such

small, -and,

its

it

does, before

yet

about 12

enclosure

called

and

sacred,

the

ft.

Maha

adorned with

architectural

in height, in the centre of

Vihara.
gates

of

rises in three

a large square

But though the place is large,

some pretension, none of the

which at present surround

work like the present.

features

requh^e notice in a

we can

stationary qualities.

grows from the top of a small pyramid, which

terraces, each

its

however, must

it,

it

are

such

as

to

POLLONAEUA.2
Although very much more modern in
pure in

style, the ruins at

those of the northern capital to which

between the ancient and modern

had ceased

'

tree

to

St

natives of

ascribe the planting of their Bo-

Duttagaimuui, the pious king

See Buchanan Hamilton's

of Ceylon.
'

the

atistics of

Behar,' p. 76,

Montgomery

Aecordiug

to

proper
('

Mr. Rhys Davids, the

less

less

interesting than

They form a

link

time when the Buddhists

on the continent of India, and,

name

of the city

is

I'ulastipura

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,'

(N.S.) p. 156), and its modern

As, howor Topawa.
ever, that here given is the only one by
vol.

vii.

name Topawoewa
which

Martin's edition.
^

and consequently

succeeded.

it

styles at a

to exist, or at least to build,

Singularly enough,

Behar

date,

Pollonarua are scarcely

it is

it is

known

retained.

in English literature,

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

200

Book

I.

when

properly illustrated, will enable us to speak with confidence of

much

that

of

we

is

Almost

beyond the Ganges.

find

ruins

these

we know

all

at present

due to the publications of Sir Emerson Tennent/

which, though most valuable contributions, are far from exhausting

According to this authority, the principal ruins extend

the subject.

and south for about a mile and a half from the

and comprise two dagobas, besides a
immber of smaller edifices. The greater part seem to have been
erected during the reign of Prakrama Bahu, 1153-86, though, as the
city became the capital of the kingdom in the 8th centm'y, it is probin a line nearly north

palace

able

an

that

while, as

Gal

the

to

it

Yihara,

search would reveal

intelligent

was not deserted

some

of

date

earlier

1235, some of them

till

may

also

be

more modern.
most interesting group

If not the oldest, certainly the

rua

that of the rock-cut sculptures

is

known

not rock-cut temples in the sense in which the term

are

nor chaitya

stood in India, being neither residences

on the face of the rock,

left,

cross-legged

is

conventional attitude, 16

known

pillars

figure of

in

last described

and

paint,

this

is

height,

and backed by

to

a figure

of

his

only 25
is

No. 26, and others in the

these,

applied to

Beyond

it.

air

and

still

him, lying down in the conventional

Nkvana.

attaining
is

liberally

Buddha, standing in the open

rare in India, but there

ft.

This figure

is

45

ft.

long, while

These Nirvana figures are

high.^

one in the most modern cave at

latest caves at

Nassick and

A junta,
None

Salsette.

however, so far as I know, ever attained in India such

dimensions as these.
so,

in

ft.

perhaps the most elaborate specimen

that appearance may, however, be owing to whitewash

standing one

done

which have been most

attitude of

of

the

front,

further to the right another of

the

On

halls.

exist anywhere.
Next to this is a cell, with
on the back wall of which is another seated
Buddha, but certainly of a more modern aspect than that

class

its

two

They
under-

is

a figure of Buddha, seated in the usual

a throne of exceeding richness

of

at Pollona-

as the Gal Vihara.

In another century or two they might have

but the attainment of such colossal proportions

is

a sure sign

of their being very modern.

In front of the Gal Yihara stands the principal religious group of

'

'

Christiauity

1850;

in

'An Account

Ceylon,'

Murray,

of the Island of

Ceylon,' 2 vols., Longmans, 1859.

Since
then Mr. Lawton's and Capt. Hogg's photographs have added considerably to the
precision but not to

the

extent of oar

knowledge. Not one plan or dimension,

and no description, so far as I know,
have reached this country.

Among

Hogg's

photographs

are two colossal statues of

Buddha, one

at

Capt.

Seperawa, described as 41

ft.

high,

the other at a place called Aukana, 40

high

but where these places are

nothing to show.
They are
extremely similar to one another, and,
except in dimensions, to that at the Gal
ft.

there

is

Vihara.

Chap. VHI.

POLLONARUA.

201

the city, consisting

first of the Jayta Wana Eama Temple,

170 ft.
wide (Woodcut No. 105), containing an erect statue
of
Buddha 58 ft. in height.
On one side of it is the Kiri dagoba

long by 70

ft.

on the right of the woodcut with two smaller topes, standing on

577 ft. by 500 ft., and
was apparently at one time entirely filled with objects of religious
raised platforms, the whole space measuring

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

202

The whole

adoration.

Bahu.

Book

I.

Prakramaand plastered, which gives it

even beyond what is due to the inferior
belongs to the age of

certainly

It was, however, built of brick,

an appearance of inferiority
style of that age.

Next

in

importance to this

the

is

Rankot Dagoba, 18G

ft.

in

diameter.

This, though only half that of some of those in the older

capital, is

still

India.

is

smTounded,

which at

of small shrines,

or of the rails

than any known to exist on the continent of

larger

Its base

those in

like

Burmah, by a number

this age supplied the place of

the pillars

which formed so important a part of the structm-e

of the

older examples.

At some distance from this, and near the palace, stands the Sat
Mehal Prasada (Woodcut No. 1 OG), which is one of the most interesting

Sat Mehal Prasada.

106.

buildings of the place, as

existing
vol.

i.

of

the

page 152,

it

(From

is

seven-storeyed
et seqq.

That

Sir J. E. Tennent's

'

Ceylon.')

one of the most perfect representations

temples of Assyria

already described,

this is a lineal descendant of the Birs

Nimroud can hardly be doubted.

It is

also interesting as affording

a hint as to the appearance of the five or nine-storeyed monasteries

mentioned in a previous page (196).

residence, nor does

This one, however, never was a

simulate one, like the raths

it

at

Mahavellipore

or other buildings in the Dravidian style, Avhich will be described in a

subsequent chapter.

In front of
4

ft.

the

it

dolmen

rests

upright stones

examples,

it

a splendid dolmen, or stone table, 2C

lies

broad, and 2

ft.

thick.

It

would be interesting

on the ground, or

most

probably the

is

latter.

to

ft.

long,

know

if

supported on three or more

Like most of the Indian

appears to be a squared and carved repetition

of

what

POLLONAKUA.

Chap. VIII.

203

The carving on

Europe we find only rough and unhewn.

in

border

represents

subject

favourite

stone

is

a
of

number
the

hansas

of

sacred

or

Sri,

its

always

At one end

Buddhist sculptors.^

engraved a representation of

geese

of

this

with her two elephants

with their water-pots (Woodcut No. 2)

and I fancy I can detect
her also in other photographs elsewhere in Ceylon, but not so distinctly
;

as to feel sure.

Close to the Sat Mehal

at present

known,

is

is

unique.

a circular building, which, so far as

It

may

is

almost be described as a hollow

dagoba, being a circular enclosure surrounded by a wall, but empty

the centre, at

in

least

Round House,

107.

called

have had a shrine in

containing nothing now.

Wntte Daje,

its

in Pollonarua.

centre,

or

(From

it

may

sort,

con-

Originally,

Sir J. E. Teuneiit.)

tabernacle

taining a relic or, more probably, a sacred Tree.

of

some

It is

surrounded by

a procession-path, enclosed by a highly-ornamental screen, and beyond

this
like

by a second gallery adorned with a range of slender pillars,

surround the dagobas at Anuradhapura (Woodcut

those which

No. 107)

below

this, again, is

a richly-carved stylobate.

Four flights of steps lead up to its procession-paths, more magniand elaborate than any others that have yet been discovered
in Ceylon.
They all have most elaborate moon stones to start from.
Their risers are each adorned with twelve figures of dwarfs, and their
side-pieces, or jambs, are also of exceptional richness, and each has
ficent

They occur also on Asoka's pillars

known sculptures in India

in the earliest

(Woodcut No.

6).

It

was the cackling

of these sacred

geese which

is

said to

have saved the Capitol at Kome from

being surprised by the Gauls.

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

204
a

pair

Book

I.

Naga-headed dwarpals on each side of its upper flight.

are sufficient to show that this is one of the most

of

The photographs
interesting

buildings

Ceylon,

in

sculptural decorations

well

as

as

one of

the

in

richest

but unless the antiquities of Java throw some

on the subject, we must be content with ignorant admiration

some one capable of investigating its history visits the place.^
light

till

Besides these, there are in Pollonarua several of those groups of

without roofs or walls, which we tried to describe in speaking

pillars,

Anuradhapura.

of

One, called the Audience Hall, seems to be very

similar to those of the northern capital

Vihara,

but

another,

known

as the Hetti

and may really be the foundation of a vihara

we have plans and more details it is needless speculating on

more

is

till

extensive,

what they may or may not have been.

Although built in brick, and very much ruined, there

exist

still

and a viharathe Abhayagiri which was

really a residence, and whose examination would, no doubt, throw
considerable light on the arrangement of similar buildings in India.
That information might, however, be difficult to obtain, and, till the
Pollonarua a palace

in

simpler and more monumental buildings are examined and drawn,

investigation

may

Besides these,

Among

subject.

of

style

Pollonarua possesses another point of

though

importance,

considerable

its

architecture,

ruins

are

gawa, apparently from

is

One

hardly probable that

receive

it,

it

of these

is

called the

this

was the

first

and
like

it

from

was

for

behind them.

building erected

is

originally, or is

to

now, dedicated to

testified by the presence of the bull along-

also apparently

on

its

roof.

But be

its

may,
met with,

this as it

a direct literal copy from a constructive vihara than

even the raths at Mahavellipore (Woodcut No. 181).

either

for fear of the

the lowest and flattest of those buildings I have yet

and more

time

Dalada Mali-

Another, though called the Vishnu Dey-

style.

the worship of Siva, as

it

Dravidian

fancy, be at least

their cherished palladium

left

anne Dewala, was certainly either

it,

is

the

in

of

present

would be a most important landmark in the very vague

chronology of that

side of

easily,

when migrating southward

was sheltered here, and

it

buildings

several

interest

our

to

possessing at one time the tooth relic

its

Tamils they would have

If

germane

hardly

whose dates could

approximately ascertained.

it

its

well be postponed.

being a copy of

built, or to its

being very

old.

The preceding woodcut, from Sir

Tcnueut's book, is far from doing
justice to the building or to Mr. Nicholl's
drawings, wMch are before me but among

it

the half dozen photographs I possess of

idea of

E.

This

may

an actual vihara existing

Those

at

arise

the

at Mahavellipore,

not one is sufficiently explanatory to

convey a correct idea of its peculiarities,

and, after all,without plans or dimensions,

it is

in vain to attempt to convey a correct

it

to others.

f^HAP.

even

CONCLUSION.

VII r.

may have gone through

older than this one,

if

205
certain

stages

towards their present conventional forms before they were cut in the
rock.

But more

of this hereafter.

It is unfortunate for

Dambul and Dunumadala

at

Kanda

^as

those, for instance,

only

are

natural

caverns,

and those mentioned above, as the IsuruAnuradhapura, and Gal Yihara at Pollonarua, besides being

slightly

improved by

muniya

at

art

comparatively modern, have very

that

Ceylon that

the history of architecture in

the oldest and finest of her rock-cut temples

by no means

little

Generally speaking, what

architecture these Ceylonese caves do possess

fa9ades of masonry, never of the

and

architecture about them,

little

a good class.

of

same age

is

developed on applied

as the caves themselves,

and generally more remarkable for grotesqueness than beauty. Besides,

the form of these caves being accidental, they want that interest
which attaches so strongly to those of India, as illustrating the
religious forms

and ceremonies

of the early Buddhists.

only point of interest seems to consist in their being

celebration of the

same

rites to

Indeed, their

still

used for the

which they were originally dedicated

2000 years ago.

Conclusion.

Although the above sketch cannot pretend

a complete and exhaustive

be accepted, as far as
tion

of

Buddhist

beginning of the

goes, as a fairly correct

it

architecture
style,

and

in

of

must, of course, be done before

filled

years from this

may

up
time

but this
all

that

alter the

now

may

it

certainly

The

is
is

error.

the

deal

more

known and

all

being rapidly done, and in a few

necessary to
It

is

complete the history

hardly probable, however,

discovered in India which will materially

covery like General Cunningham's at Bharhut

;

know

succession of

great

the examples are

all

views put forward in the preceding pages.

of explorers

probably

intelligible descrip-

doubt, and their dates are generally

be available for the purpose.

that anything will be

We

India.

ascertained within very narrow limits of

lacuncB

and

as certainly its end.

the buildings hardly admits

the

be anything like

to

on the subject,

treatise

but even that, though

it

may reward

Another

dis-

the industry

has given breadth and precision

and added so much to om* stores of knowledge, has

What was written in my work
altered little that was know^n before.
on 'Tree and Serpent Worship' before the discovery was made, has,
in almost every instance, been confirmed, and in no important parand om' knowledge is now so extended,
ticular modified or changed
to our inquiries,

it

to

probably will be the same in other cases.

form an opinion on the chances

of

It is difficult, however,

any such discoveries being now

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.

206

The one important building we miss

made.

reached us,
{ante,

may

territory.

If

was rock-cut, it almost certainly exists, and

some of the unexplored parts of the Nizam's
discovered, it will throw more light on Buddhist

If

it

is

it

That

light.

century of our era than anything yet brought

first

did

it

seems

exist

hardly

inasmuch as

doubtful,

have in the great rath at Mahavellipore (Woodcut No.

w^e

copy of

literal
it

which accounts have

yet be found in

architecture in the
to

I.

the rock-cut monastery described by the Chinese Pilgrims

is

135).

p.

of

Book

certainly

is

it

on

not a

a small

first

class of building that

scale,

it

is

true

but

66)

so perfect that

attempt to repeat, in a monolithic form, a

must have been very common

at the time this

was attempted.

Be

this

as

to overrate the

may, even such a sketch as that contained in the

it

preceding pages

to

sufficient

is

prove that

it

importance of architecture and

is

almost

its

associated arts in

impossible

elucidating and giving precision to our knowledge of Buddhist history

and mythology, from the time when

state

at

till

Buddh Gaya and Bharhut, with

complete picture of Buddhism as

dynasty

it

became the religion

(B.C.

325 to

B.C.

188).

of

In the

perished in so far as India was concerned.

it

the
rails

we have a
Mauryan
At Sanchi and the western caves we
it

the

eastern

caves,

existed during the great

have as complete a representation of the form

it

took from the

century before our era to the third or fourth after

first

At Amravati,

it.

and from the Gandhara monasteries, w^e learn w^hat modifications

had been introduced before and during the 4th century and from the
Ajunta and later caves we trace its history downw^ard through its
period of decay till it became first almost Jaina and then faded away
;

altogether.

During the

first

temporary records

half

except

latter w^e

have no books

with

sculptures

its

of

w^e

thousand years we have no con-

this

those

written

in

stone,

can depend upon

and during

the

but the architecture,

and paintings, remain, and bear

the

indelible

impress of the thoughts, the feelings, and the aspirations of those

who

executed them,

and supply us with a vast

knowledge on the subject which

now known

to us.

is

amount

of

exact

not attainable by any other means

207

BOOK

11.

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER

1.

INTRODUCTORY.
There

the problems connected with this branch of

are few of

and

subject so obscure

history of the Architecture of

meet with
Girnar,

it

it

From

of

long

that point

it

AYhen we

the Jains.

early part

of

the

first

practically

11th century at Abu, or at

experience

and perfect in all its parts, evidently

and continuous artistic development.

progresses

during one or two centuries towards

a style complete

is

the result

in the

our

so puzzling as those connected with the early

the purity and perfection it

and from that culminating point
its downward progress can be traced through abundant examples to
the present day.
When, however, we try to trace its upward progress
greater richness, but in doing

had attained

the case

is

some Jaina
and 177

at the

statues at Muttra, with dates

may

date,

and

we have only fragments

all

of 99

Jainism

and they must have been associated with

yet reward the explorer.

the 11th century,

and

upon them apparently

If this is so, it is the earliest material trace of

a.d.^

buildings which

origin

loses

General Cunningham has recently found

widely different.

that has yet been discovered,

till

so

earlier period,

From

this time forward,

of temples of uncertain

in so very ruined a condition that they hardly

Yet we cannot doubt that the Jains did

and did build temples, during the whole of this interval,
and the discovery of some of them may yet reward the industry of some
assist us in

our researches.

exist in India,

future investigator.

Meanwhile one thing seems tolerably

clear,

that

the

religions

of

the Buddhists and that of the Jains were so similar to one another

'

'

p.

Archaeological

31,

et

seqq.,

Reports,'

plates

13 and

vol.

iii.

15.

As

neither photographs nor even drawings

of these figures are yet available, we are
still

uuable

art, or to feel

to

speak of their style of

sure of their authenticity

nor has the era from which these dates

are to be calculated been fixed with anything like certainty. The evidence, howit now stands, is strongly in
favour of their being what they arc represented to be.

ever, as

JAINA AI^CHITECTURE.

208

Book

II.

both in their origin, and their development and doctrines, that their
must also at one time have been nearly the same. In

architecture

we could trace back Jaina art from about the

we first meet it, to the year 600 or 700,
when we lose sight of Buddhist art, we should probably find the two
Or if, on the other hand, we could trace Buddliist art
very much alike.
from A.D. GOO to a.d. 1000, we should as probably find it developing
itself into something very like the temples on Mount Abu, and elsewhere,
consequence of
year 1000,

this, if

when

practically

at that period of time.

strong presumption that the architecture of

similar arises

that

it

what
do

is

from the

the two sects was

fact of their sculptures being so nearly identical

not always easy to distinguish what belongs to the one and

to the other

and in

instances

all

The Tirthankars

this readily.

it

requires

some experience

to

are generally represented seated in

the same cross-legged attitude as Buddha, with the same curly hair,
and the same stolid contemplative expression of countenance. Where,
however, the emblems that accompany the Jaina saints can be recognised, this

difficulty does

from the

arises

naked

not

exist.

Another, but

less

certain

-Digambaras

or Sky-clad, which in ancient times seems to have

been the most numerous

sect,

though another division or the Swetam-

baras, or White-robed, were clothed

much

naked

it

may

be assumed to belong to the sect of the Jains, but the converse

so certain.

If clad it

may

When,

like the Buddhist.

therefore, a figure of the class is represented as

means

test

fact that the Jaina saints are generally represented as

certainly
is

by no

belong to either, and in consequence

frequently difficult to distinguish between late Buddhist and early

it is

Jaina bas-reliefs and sculptures.

So far as we can at present

see,

the most hopeful source of informa-

tion regarding Jaina architecture seems to be the ruined monasteries of

the Gandhara country (Woodcuts Nos. 92, 93, 96).

gonal court of these viharas surrounded by

what

is

found in

place of worship,

surrounded by

all

may

Jaina temples.

The square

The square

or poly-

containing images

is

or circular altar, or

easily be considered as the prototype of the Sikra

cells of

the Jains

probably as early as the fourth or

the temples at

cells

Abu and

and altogether these viharas, though

century of our era, are more like

fifth

Girnar than anything intermediate.

It is indeed

every day becoming more and more apparent that, in consequence of

our knowledge of Buddhist architecture being derived almost exclusively

from rock-cut examples, we miss a great deal which, if derived from
structural buildings, would probably solve this among other problems

now perplexing us.

The same remarks apply equally to the Jaina caves. Those at
EUora and Badami do not help us in our investigation, because they
that are

are not copies of structural buildings, but are imitations of the rock-

cut

examples of the Hindus, which had grown up into a style of

INTRODUCTORY.

Chap.

I.

their

own, distinct from that of

209

structural

Buddhist and Jaina

interposed between

the

as completely as if

no examples

edifices.

These,

being

two
and prevent our tracing any
connexion that may have existed between the two forms of art.
The earliest hint we get of a twelve-pillared dome, such as those
universally used

by the Jains,

is

where

second hint

doubt that others

the

in

found in the great

is

7th century, and

6th or

be found when looked for

but
In the valley of the Ganges, and wherever the Mahomedans

little

to look for them.

These zealots

and the richly carved horizontal

the Jains, so appropriate and so easily re-arranged for their

found the slender and elegant

of

will

would be in vain

settled in force, it

domes

in a sepulchre at Mylassa,^ probably

Bagh (Woodcut No. 87)

cave at
there

existed,

is

belonging to the 4th century.

styles, separate the

purposes, that they utilised

pillars,

all

they cared not to destroy.

The

great

mosques of Ajmir, Delhi, Canouge, Dhar and Ahmedabad, are all merely
There is, however, nothing in any
reconstructed temples of the Jains.
of

them that seems

to belong to a very remote period

that can be carried back to times long,

at

if

nothing

in fact

anterior to the year

all,

So we must look further for the cause of their loss.

As mentioned in the introduction the curtain drops on

1000.

the drama
and for three
centuries w^e have only the faintest glimmerings of what took place
within her boundaries.
Civil wars seem to have raged everywhere,
and religious persecution of the most relentless kind. When the cur-

Indian history about the year 650, or a

of

tain

later,

little

new scene and new dramatis

Buddhism had entirely disappeared, except

again rises we have an entirely

personae presented to us.

in one corner of Bengal, and Jainism had taken

the west, and Yishnuism had usm'ped

and these three

its

place throughout

On

inheritance in the east.

Siva had been adopted by the mass of the

the south the religion of

people,

its

religions

had

all

assumed new and complex

forms from the adoption of local superstitions, and differed widely

from the simpler forms of the earlier faiths. My impression is that it

was during these three centuries of misrule that the

later temples

and

viharas of the Buddhists disappeared, and the earlier temples of the

Jains
filled

and there

up by new

separates

this

is

may

a gap consequently in our history which

discoveries in remote

places,^

be

but which at present

chapter from the last in a manner

it

is

by no means

pleasant to contemplate.

to

Vol.

The

i.

p. 359,

Woodcut No.

antiquities of

some extent

Java

at least,

ciency, as will be pointed out in a sub-

241.

will probably,

supply this

sequent chapter.

defi-

JAINA AHCHITECTURE.

210

CHAPTER

Book

II.

1\.

CONSTRUCTION.
CONTENTS.

Arches Domes

Plans Sikras.

Arches.

Before proceeding
temples,

the

peculiar

Jaina or Hindu

to describe the arrangements of

may add

it

what follows if we first explain

constructing arches and domes which they

to the clearness of

modes

of

invariably employed.

As remarked
certainty

that

least is certain

and that

India,

above,

the-

we cannot

although

that no structural

all

with

assert

absolute

Buddhists never employed a true arch, this at

the

example has yet been found in

arched or circular forms found in the caves

wooden forms, and nowhere

the Hindus and Jains the
even
they use stone arches and stone domes which are
case is different
not copied from wooden forms at all but these are invariably
are without one single exception copies of

With

simulate stone construction.

:

horizontal

arches,

formed

never

intended

or

be

to

formed with

radiating voussoirs.
It

has already been explained, in speaking of Pelasgic

art,^

prevalent these forms were in ancient Greece and Asia Minor, and

how
how

long they continued to be employed even after the principles of the

true arch were perfectly understood.

In India, however, the adherence

more remarkable. As the Hindus

quaintly express it, " an arch never sleeps " and it is true that a
radiating arch does contain in itself a vis viva which is always tending
to thrust its haunches outwards, and goes far to ensure the ultimate
to this

form

of construction is even

destruction of

every building where

it

is

employed

while the hori-

Hindus are in stable equilibrium, and,

might remain so for ever.

zontal forms employed by the

unless disturbed

by

violence,

There can be no doubt that the Hindus carried their horror of an

arch to an excess which frequently led them to worse faults on the
other side.

In city walls for instance, where there

'

Vol,

i.

p. 212, e< seqq.

is

a superabundant

Chap.

ARCHEvS:

II.

View

of City Gateway, Bijaiiagur.

hand

abutment on either
principle

entirely

is

we

placed.

If

instance,

one of

(From a

counteract

I'liolograph.)

any thrust, the

misfor

take,

the

to

211

city

gates
Bijanagur
at
(Woodcut No. 108), we
cannot

perceiving

help

with

that

much

smaller

and less trouble a

more stable construc-

stones
far

could have been ob-

tion

tained, so long as the wall

on either hand

What

entire.

remained

Hindu

the

feared was that

the wall

if

were shattered, as we
find

it,

have

the

fallen,

horizontal

main

now

would
though the
arch

layers

still

re-

in their places.

Instead of a continuous
bi-acket like that

the

last

usual

times

form,
at

shown

in

example, a more
in

least,

is

modern
that

Gateway,

of

(From

Jiiijiuvai la.

Kinlocli Forbes' 'Ras Mala.')

horizontal

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

212

Book

II.

detached brackets placed a

little distance apart the one from

"When used in moderation this is the more pleasing form
of the two, and in southern India it is generally used with great

several

the other.

In the north they are

success.

exaggerate

to

liable

it,

in

as

the

gateway from Jinjuwarra in Gujerat (Woodcut No. 109, p. 211), when

it becomes unpleasing, though singularly characteristic of the style.
It is this horizontal or bracket

formative principle of
architecture, every

upon

the

mode

construction that

of

Dravidian or Southern

style

principle

form and every ornament depending almost wholly

found in the horizontal dome, which

is

is

unknown

but which has given a new character to the

one of

the

In the north, however, another development of the same

it.

south,

is

Hindu

of

most

its

beautiful

style,

demands a somewhat

features,

in the

and, as
detailed

explanation.

Domes.

the pointed arch, so

domes

the history of

much

regretted that, while so

It is to be

history of

little

has been written on the

should have been said regarding

the one being a mere constmctive peculiarity

that might very well have been dispensed with

the other being the

and perhaps the

most important acquisition with which science has enriched the art of
noblest

in

feature

the

styles

in Avhich

prevails,

it

architecture.

The

so-called Treasuries of

Mycense and Orchomenos, as well as the

chambers in Etruscan tombs, prove that as early as ten or twelve cen-

had learned the

turies before Christ the Pelasgic races

chambers with stone

circular

vaults, not constructed, as

art of roofing

we construct

them, with radiating vaults, on the principle of the

common

by successive

and closed by one

layers of stones converging to a point,

arch, but

large stone at the apex.

Whoever invented the true or radiating arch, the Eomans were

first who applied it as a regular and essential architectm'al feature,
and who at the same time introduced its complement, the radiating
dome, into architectm'al construction at what period it is not now
known. The earliest example, the Pantheon, is also the finest and
largest
but we have lost entirely the innumerable steps by which

the

the architects

must have slowly progressed

to

so

daring an experi-

ment.

There

is,

domes, which

what

however, a vast difference between these two classes of

it

is

necessary to bear in

mind

in order to understand

follows.

The Roman arch and Roman dome

are always constructed

(Woodcut

No. 110) on the principle of voussoirs, or truncated wedges, radiating

from a centre. This enabled the Romans to cover much larger spaces

DOMES.

ClIAP. II.

213

with their domes than perhaps was possible on the horizontal prinbut it involved the inconvenience of great lateral thrusts,

ciple

dome and

continually tending to split the

tear the building in pieces,

requiring immense and massive abutments

and

to

counteract their

destructive energy.

Radiating Arc!

The Indian

or

Hoiizontal Arch.

111.

horizontal

dome never can be made

used on the smallest

section, except w^hen

scale,

circular

From

takes a form more or less pointed (Woodcut No. 111).

the time

of the building of the Treasm-y of Mycenae ^ to the birth of Christ

have a tolerably complete

the

first

example

is

After the Christian

called.

found in a singular tomb

dome

near HaUcarnassus,^ where the

its

history

till

Mylassa,^

After this we lose

the form reappears in porches like those

Mount Abu, where

of the 11th century on

at

exhibits all the peculiarities of

construction found in the Jaina temples of India.

the thread of

we

arches and vaults constructed on

few domes properly so

this principle, but

Era

series of

in

but almost always

it

is

a perfectly established

must have been practised long before it

could be used as we find it in that building. Whether we shall ever
be able to recover the lost links in this chain is more than doubtful,
but it would be deeply interesting to the history
of art if it could be done.
In the meantime,
there is no difficulty in explaining the constructive steps by which the object is now attained
in India.
These may also throw some light on
the history of the invention, though this is not,
feature, that

architectural

of course, capable of direct proof.

The

simplest

mode

of roofing a small square

is merely to run
an architrave or stone beam from each pillar, and
cover the intermediate opening by a plain stone

space supported by four pillars

Unless,

slab.

mode

The next

step

to reduce the extent of the central space to be covered

is

cutting off

Diagi-am of Roofing,

however, slabs of great dimensions are available, this

of construction has a limit very soon arrived at.

therefore

its

corners

this is

angle of the square, as in

1
'

112.

Vol.

i.

Woodcut No.

vol.

112, thus employing five stones

p. 213.

Fully illustrated in

ii.

by

done by triangular stones placed in each

ibicl,^ p,

of the Dilettanti Society's

'

334.

Antiquities of Ionia.'

JAIN A ARCHITECTUKE.

214
instead of one.
the same,

By

this

means, the

(Woodcut No. 113)

The next

instead of two tiers

Thus,

if

Diagrams

and

,5

ft.

8 in.

(Woodcut No. 114)

extent roofed

remain 4

may be

square.

ft.

ft.

is

ft.,

or 10

ft.,

which quadruples the area roofed.

by the second process the space

may

however, and

tier,

shown

at

to

which

it

is

carried in the
to.

style, instead of

octagonal form being

so

that

the square shape

tained, with twelve pillars, of

eight

internal

pillars

may

the

such, there

as

left

always four external pillars

angles,

In

instances of octa-

all

gonal domes in this

115),

exactly

Mylassa above referred

however, as in

eight

Woodcut No.

in

be carried a step further

extent

tomb

are

the

currently used in India,

still

another

this,

by a fourth

seldom carried further than this

pillars (as

the

always assuming the central stone to

is

with

square

ft.

four tiers and thirteen stones

All these forms are

but with four pillars the process

it

114.

by the third 8

with

step in the

and nine stones

tiers

of Roofing.

five stones,

the central stone

roofed will be about

process

by employing three

is

113.

increased in the ratio

is

of ten to seven, the actual area being doubled.

process

II.

the central stone remaining

size of

side of the square space so roofed

tlie

Book

at
is

the
re-

which the

be taken as

mere insertions to support the long architrave between the four angular pillars.
115.

Diagram

of Roofing.

It

evident

is

that

here

again

we

beyond which we canstones.

This was somelong
and
large
not progress without using
octagon,
of
the
and making the
angles
times met by cutting off the
been
done
an awkwardthis
has
When
lower course of sixteen sides.

come

ness

arises

in

getting

to

limit

back to the square form.

This was escaped

DOMES.

Chap. IL

from, in

all

com'ses for

the instances I
all

am

placed immediately on

(Woodcut No.

acquainted with, by adopting circular

above that with sixteen

lower course with sixteen sides

system might

130,

be

the

more from the

13

ft.

many

In

sides.

altogether omitted,

instances the

and the

circles

octagon, as in the temple at Yimala Sah

236).

p.

carried

is

It

is

difficult

to

how

say

far

this

constructively without danger of weakness.

The Indian domes seldom exceed 30

arisen

213

ft.

may have

in diameter, but this

difficulty of getting architraves

in length to support the sides, than

from any

above 12

ft.

or

inability to construct

domes of larger diameter in themselves. This last difficulty was to

some extent got over by a system of bracketing, by which more than
half the bearing of the architrave was thrown on the capital of the
column, as shown in Woodcut No. 116. Of course this method might

116.

liagrani O! Indian construction.

of bracket capital in the angle of an octagonal dome.
I

B.

Form

have been carried to any extent, so that a very short architrave would
suffice for a large
is

so

another matter.
far as I

dome but whether

The Indians seem
;

know, they never carried

this could be

done with elegance

to have thought not

it

to

any extent.

at least,

Instead

of

shown in Woodquestionable whether that could ever be made

bracketing, however, they sometimes used struts, as

cut No. 116, but

it

is

a really serviceable constructive expedient in stone architecture.

The
domes

great advantage to be derived from the

just described

was the power

it

mode

of constructing

gave of placing them on

pillars

without having anything to fear from the lateral thrust of the vault.

The Romans never even attempted this, but

brought their vaults down to the ground, or at
them on great

cylinders,

always,

so

to

speak,

least could only erect

which confined the space on every

side.

The

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

216

Book

11.

Byzantine architects, as we have seen, cut away a great deal of

piers they were forced

ages

were

crowd

employ

to

to support

and in

their domes,

heavy abutments

use either

forced to

sure to sacrifice either the external effect or the internal

ensure stability

convenience

ance of which

case

This

the pressure was vertical, and

all

only required sufficient strength in the

downward

bear the

One

it

the

pressure of

to

masonry, so as in a great mea-

their interiors with masses of

India never was

all

or

externally,

of their buildings to the constructive exigencies of their domes.

in

the

the great heavy

substructure, but nevertheless could never get rid of

the mass

an

to

support to

advantage the import-

not easily over-estimated.

is

mode

of the consequences of this

of construction was, that all

the decoration of the Indian domes was horizontal, or, in other words,

the ornaments were ranged in concentric rings, one above the

This arrangement allows of

vaults.

offence

being disposed in vertical

of

instead

good

to

taste,

and

ribs, as

far

Roman

in

or

other,

Gothic

more variety without any

rendered some of the

has

practically

Indian domes the most exquisite specimens of elaborate roofing that

Another consequence

can anywhere be seen.

of

this

mode

con-

of

employment of pendants from the centres of the

domes, which are used to an extent that would have surprised even

struction was

the

Tudor

the

our

architects of

own

tive

With them, however,

country.

pendant was an architectural tour de

ingenuity and large masses to counterbalance

tending to destroy the building

ornaments

it

pendant, on the contrary, only adds

the

force, requiring great construc-

its

it,

own weight

dome, and has no other prejudicial tendency.

and

while

is

the

always

Indian

have a lightness and elegance never even imagined in Gothic art

hangs from the centre of a dome more like a

the

to that of

Its forms, too, generally

;

it

lustre of crystal drops

than a solid mass of marble or of stone.

As before remarked, the eight pillars that support the dome are
almost never

left

addition

four

of

by themselves, the base being made square by the

others

at

the

angles.

There are many small buildings so conwith

structed

twelve

shown

only

pillars,

as

the

an-

in

nexed diagram (No.

117),

\!

1/

lA

^
'

but two more

i

II

II

are oftener added on

Diagram of the arrangement
of the pillars of a

Jaina

1^

^'^'^^^

making

twenty altogether, as

Diagram Flan of Jaina Porch.

shown on the upper

or four on each
side of the annexed diagram (No. 118)
these four, or
front
of
or again, two in
twenty-eight
;

face,

making

six

on each

Chap.

DOMES.

II.

face, so as to

on

carried

is

make
till

thirty-six

and the same system

number

the

217

of

reaches

pillars

aggregation

of

fifty-six

(Woodcut

No. 119), which is the largest

number I ever saw surrounding
but any number of
domes may surround one
temple, or central dome, and the

one dome

these

number consequently be multiplied ad infinitum.

When so
great a number of pillars is
introduced
stance,

it

the

usual to

last

in-

make

the

compartment on each
and surmount it

outmost
face

in

as
is

square,

with a smaller dome.

This

is

occasionally though rarely done

Diagram

ng.

of

Jaina Porch.

even with the smallest number.

The

result of

first

singularly varied

arrangement

this

outline in

is,

Hindus obtained

that the

producing the happiest

plan,

effects

of

and shade with every change in the sun's position.

Another
result was, that by the accentuation of the salient and re-entering
angles, they produced those strongly-marked vertical lines which give
such an appearance of height to Gothic designs. To accomplish this,
light

however, the Western architects were obliged to employ buttresses,

and other constructive expedients.

The Hindus obtained
by a new disposition of the plan without anywhere inteiTupting

pinnacles,
it

the

This form of outline also expresses the internal

composition.

arrangements of the porch better than could be done by the simpler

outline

of

either

in Europe.

Its

greater aisles

is

square or

circle,

such as

merit, however,

greatest

is,

is

usually

employed

that the length

pared with that of the subordinate

aisles.

The

the angle, the great aisle forms the diagonal, and

the ratio of 10 to

7, as

compared

were in the centre of the

side,

to

what

it

entrance
is

com-

being in

consequently in

would be

where we usually place

dome

the

of

exactly proportioned to their relative width as

if

the entrance

From

it.

the

same proportion
(correctly 707 to 1000) prevails betweeen the central and side aisles,
and this again is perhaps the most pleasing that has yet been introduced anywhere. In Gothic churches the principal aisles are generally
twice as wide as the side ones, but they are also twice as high, which
introduction of the octagonal

restores the proportion.

Here, where the height of

nearly so, this gradation just

the relative importance

the other

too narrow.

in the centre the

of

suffices

to

all is

the same, or

give variety, and

to

mark

the parts, without the one overpowering

and neither has the appearance

of

being too broad nor

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

218
It

is,

of course, difficult for those

Book

who have never

seen a building of

the class just described to judge of the effect of these arrangements

they have seldom been practised in Europe.

II.

There

and

however, one

is,

building in which they have accidentally been employed to a consider-

and which owes its whole beauty to the manner in which

arrangement above described.
That building is Sir
Christopher Wren's church of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. Internally its
principal feature is a dome supported on eight pillars, with four more
in the angles, and two principal aisles crossing the building at right
angles, with smaller square compartments on each side.
This church
is the great architect's masterpiece, but it would have been greatly
improved had its resemblance to a Hindu porch been more complete.
The necessity of confining the dome and ais'es within four walls greatly
Even the
injures the effect as compared with the Indian examples.
Indian plan of roofing, explained above, might be used in such a
able extent,
follows

it

the

much

building with

expense and

less

constructive danger than a

less

Gothic vault of the same extent.

Plans.

Up

to the present time only one temple has been discovered in India

which gives us even a hint

how

of

the plans of the Buddhist Chaitya

Halls became converted into those of the Jaina and

Fortunately, however,

very

little

evidence

its

the place where

the

Hindu

that

distinct

The temple

doubt about the matter.

in the village of Aiwulli, in

so

is

temples.

can be

there

in question

situated

is

Dharwar, in western India, not far from

the Chalukyan sovereigns

original capital of

is

supposed to have been situated, and near the caves of Badami on the
one hand and the temples of Pittadkul on the other.
ascertained by an inscription on

whom we know from

Vicramaditya Chalukya,

of

Its date is

outer gateway, containing the

its

name

inscriptions certainly

commenced

died in a.d. 680, and with less certainty that he

to reign

may possibly be a little older, but the

latter may fairly be taken as a medium date representing its age.
It is
thus not only the oldest structural temple known to exist in western
650.^

A.D.

The temple

itself

India, but in fact the only one yet discovered that can with certainty be
said to have been erected before the great cataclysm of the beginning of

the 8th century,

Mr. Burgess
Vishnu,'^ but

Jaina figures

'

of

is

this

opinion

does not

among

that

vol.

iv.

p.

1, et

seqq.

'

and

'

^
I

'

There certauily are

clear.
it

Society/ vol.

Madras

Journal
Journal,' vol. xx. p. 78, et seqq.
of the Royal Asiatic

Bombay Branch

originaTy dedicated to

Avas

those that once adorned

Journal of the Royal Asiatic So-

ciety,'

it

seem quite

iii.

and

it

seems to be

p. 206, et seqq.

Archaeological Reports,' 1874, pp. 41.

42.

Loc.

cit.,

plate 54.

CiiAr.

FLANS.

II.

219

a fact that though the Jains admitted Siva, Vishnu, and

the gods

all

Hindu Pantheon into their temples, there is no evidence of the

reverse process.
The Hindus never admitted the human Tirthankars
of the Jains among their gods.
Its original dedication is fortunately,
however, of very little importance for our present purposes.
The
of the

and Vaishnavas,

religions of the Jains

and

were, in those days

as pointed out above (p. 40),

for long afterwards, so

impossible to distinguish between them.^

temple was erected was the age of

this

Chinese traveller Hiouen Thsang has

King

it

toleration

India.

in

was

when
The

us a most vivid description

left

which he was present

of a great quinquennial festival, at

in A.D. 648, at which the great

similar that

Besides this, the age

Siladitya

Allahabad

at

and

presided,

distri-

buted alms and honours, on alternate days, to Buddhists, Brahmans,

and

heretics

of

who were assembled

classes,

all

thousands, and seem to have

that

at

led,

on the eve

a disruption

up

contests, but

violent

any disturbance.^

to

least,

of

that
that

to

among

trace of dissension

no jealousy

felt

led

in

tens

of

was

It

most

the

to

there

of each other, or rivalry

time we have no

the sects, nor any reason

to believe that they did not all use similar edifices

their

for

their

as

with only such slight

purposes,

religious

modifications

different

may have

formulae

required (Woodcut No. 120).

Be

as

this

may, any one who

it

will

compare

the plan of the chaitya at Sanchi (Woodcut No. 40),

which

is

certainly Buddhist, with that of this temple

which

at Aiwulli,

hardly

fail

either Jaina or Yaishnava, can

is

how

perceive

to

nearly

must have been when complete.

will be observed, the apse is solid,

it

that

At

aisles

it

Temi^e^at AisvuHi.
Bur-ess.)

appears
free-standing

the rock-cut examples, so far as

is

chaityas.

known, the

pillars

from those that separate the nave from

they never have capitals or bases, and are mere plain

round the apse are

the

and

always was the case in structural

this

least, in all

they om

identical

In both instances.

makeshifts.

From

difi'erent

the

nature of

their

in

situation

the rock, light

could not be admitted to the aisle behind the apse from the outside,

but must be borrowed from the front, and a solid apse was consequently inadmissible

was

it

easy

to

but in free-standing examples, as at Aiwulli,

introduce

windows

there

or

became a

it

indispensable,

cell

containing an image of a god

and

also a thickening of the wall

'Asiatic Researches,' vol.

vol. xvii. p. 285.

ix. p.

270,

vol.

when

p. 253, et seqq.

relic-shrine,

door was then

it

was necessary

'Hiouen Thsang, Vie

i.

Another

anywhere.

change was necessary when, from an apse sheltering a

et

Voyages,'

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

220
it

Book

II.

should bear a tower or sikra to mark the position of the cella on the

outside.

Omitting the verandah, the other changes introduced between

of these two examples are only such as were required

the erection

to adapt the points of support in the temple to carry a

roof, instead of the light

(Woodcut No.

may

It
state

wooden superstructure

121.)

be a question, and one not easy to settle in the present

of our knowledge, whether the

not verandahs,

like

the Aiwulli

Buddhist chaityas had or had

example.

The

rock-cut

naturally give us no information on this subject, but

tion

certainly

climate,

always.

heavy stone

of the Buddhist chaitya.

that

is,

they

looking at their

had

this

extreme

examples

the presump-

appropriateness

appendage, sometimes at

least,

in
if

that

not

Chap.

SIKRAS.

II.

from

If

this temple at Aiwulli

221

we pass

to the

neighboming one

Pittadkul, built probably a couple of centuries later,

have passed the boundary

that separates

line

we

find that

at

we

ancient from the

the

mediaeval architecture of India, in so far at least as

The

plans are concerned (Woodcut No. 122).

circular

forms of the Buddhists have entirely disappeared, and

the cell has become the base of
it

a square tower, as

The nave

remained ever afterwards.

of the chaitya

has become a well defined mantapa or porch in front

but distinct from, the

of,

an

in

variety

infinite

subordinate adjuncts,

cell,

and these two features

and with various

forms,

of

the

are

elements of

essential

Hindu temples

the plans of the Jaina and

of all the

subsequent ages.

The
.

procession-path round the

dakshina
^

as

I.

common

centuries as a

The

verandah

cell it

was

some

Pound

at Pittadkul.

scal'e 5o^ft.^tri\n.

pillared porches contained

elements of

the

(FromaPianhy

windowless

pian of Temple

122.

but not a universal leature.

and the

all

disappeared.

useless,

themselves

in

cell called Pra-

that round the apse, remained for

or

shelter

of

shadow that were

required.

SiKRAS.

There

is

one other peculiarity

common

ceeding to describe particular examples.

or

called

spires

cells in

to both Jaina

Sikras,

or

It is the

which the images are placed.

It is

and that these

cells

seems also an invariable

cell

of the towers

receive their light

ru^^e

probably correct to assert

the

of

variably placed in square, generally cubical

It

form

Vimanas, which invariably surmount the

that the images of the Tirthankars or

sion,

and Hindu

north of India that requires notice, before pro-

in the

architecture

Hindu

cells, of

deities

are in-

no great dimen-

from the doorway

only.

that the presence and position of the

should be indicated externally by a tower or spire, and that these

towers, though square or nearly so in plan, should have a curvilinear

outline

in

elevation.

retains unaltered the

5th or 6th century, this

ture.

As

it

is,

at Buddh Gaya {ante, p. 70)

form given to it when erected in the
dictum would not apply to Buddhist architec-

If

the

tower

original

however, the only Buddhist sikra yet discovered

it

is

hardly fair to draw any decided inference from one single example,

know

while with Jaina or

Hindu towers

instance the tower

represented in the following woodcut (No.

which purports

Kanaruc

of

no exception.

Take

for

123),

an elevation of the celebrated Black Pagoda at

and may be looked upon as a typical example
and of which it may be considered as a fair medium
to be

in Orissa,

of the style,


.IAIN A

222

example.

The upper

its base.

It

part

ARCHITECTURE.

of

tower, to

the

Book

some

it.

extent, overhangs

bends inward towards the summit, and is sm-mounted by

what is called an Amalaka from
its

supposed resemblance to a fruit

of

the

name

Phyllanthus emUica.

This,

however,

take.

Had

it

is

mis-

certainly a

been said

it

was copied

from a melon or any large gourd

was divided into pips exterthere
nally
if there are any such

that

some early examj^les that might

seem to countenance such an idea

are

but the Phyllanthus

cant

ever have been adopted as an

peculiar nicked form

blocking

small

occurs

form

architectural
in

frequently

could hardly

Besides this

model.
old

it

seems

was employed

as
as

if

its

examples as a sort

dividing the sikras horizontally

course

compartments, and

straight-lined

/'

it

so insignifi-

Restored Elevation of tbe Black Pagoda at Ranaruc.

(.From a Drawing by the Author.) No scale.

123.

of

berry that

is

what

is

circular

into

numerous

used there in a

ornament

at

the

a very beautiful architectural device, and was, as far

as I can see, adopted only because it was so, and contrasted brilliantly
with the flat ornaments with which it was employed. At present

summit.

It is

we do not seem
a great

many

architecture.

to be in a position to explain its origin, or that of

other

details that

are fre(]uently

met with

in

Hindu

Chap.

Whatever

dome

flat

origin, this

its

of

reverse

and graceful design.

The great and
is

this

at

amalaka

form

first

generally surmounted by a

is

the

curvature, in

kullus, or pinnacle, in the

original

223

SIKIIAS.

11.

centre

of

which stands the

of a vase, generally of very beautiful

sight

question

puzzling

curious combination of

from what

is,

forms derived

It

like

is

nothing found anywhere out of India, and like no utilitarian form in

now know

India that we

of.

It

cannot be derived from the domelike

tion.

12

J.

Diagram

I'laii

both in

The

in plan,

They

forms of the topes.

circular

are

eleva-

sikras are straight-lined

and

seo:ment

and

plan

their

of

section

circle

and Section of th? Black Pasndi at Ivanaruc, detigned

ilic construction of Hindu Temples.

it

to exiikiin

is

never
is

not

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

224

Book

derived from any many-storeyed building-s, as the

Dravidian architecture of the south

the

of

certainly to have been copied

II.

vimanas
which seem

sikras or

of

India,

from the many-storeyed viharas

of the

Buddhists, and we cannot fancy any class of domestic building which

could hive formed a

model

out

which they could

of

One curious thing we do know, which

elaborated.

have been

that

is

all

the

ancients roofs in India, whether represented in the bas-reliefs or copied

caves, were invariably curvilinear

in the

ogee

having

weakest part

is

circular or rather

but nothing on any bas-relief or painting gives us a hint

any building

of

generally

a ridge added externally to throw off the rain from that

like these sikras.

Another curious and perplexing circumstance regarding the sikras

that when Ave first meet them, at Bhuvaneswar for instance, or the

Bay

of Bengal, or at Pittadkul in the 7th century,

India, the style

is

complete and settled in

no hesitation then, nor has there been any

or

known

attenuated,

have elapsed since the erection of these

they are almost

of

attenuation

pointed

as

no

is

bad

they never changed in any essential

the

parts

found in the

and are

recent,

There was
During the twelve

since.

examples, they have gone on becoming more and more

till

degree

their

that

centuries

thirteen

earliest

on the west coast of

its parts.

all

easily

Gothic

as

test

feature

of

spires,

age

their

of

the

and
but
All

design.

examples are retained in the most

oldest

recognisable

in

buildings

the

present

the

of

century.

The one

hypothesis that occurs to

assume that

this peculiarity is to

we take
No.

for

124,

223),

arch,

me

as sufficient to account for

was a constructive

an assumed section

instance

p.

horizontal

it

it

will

that

like

be seen
of

the

how

of

easily

necessity.

If

diagram (Woodcut

the

a very

pointed

tall

(Woodcut
In that case we

Treasury at Mycenae

No. 122, vol. i.), would fit its external form.

might assume that the tower at Buddh Gaya took a straightlined form like that represented in Woodcuts Nos. 128, 129, vol. i.,
while the
Hindus took the more graceful curvilinear shape,

which
and as

was more common in remote classical antiquity,

found in Assyria may have reached India at a remote

certainly
it

is

period.

This

does

hypothesis

not

account

for

the

change

from

the

form in the upper part, nor for its peculiar

ornamentation
but that may be owing to our having none of the
When we first meet with the form, either in
earlier examples.
square

to

the

circular

Dharwar

or Orissa,

it

is

complete in

all

its

parts,

and had evidently

'
Sec Woodcuts Nos. 99, 112, 122, 124, 127, 172, 177 and 178 of
work.

vol.

i.

of this

Chap.

SIKRAS.

II.

reached

that

state

The

of

perfection

225

through long stages of

tentative

some earlier examples than we now

know may one day tell us by what steps that degree of perfection
was reached, but in the meanwhile I fear we must rest content with
the theory just explained, which, on the whole, may be considered
experience.

discovery

of

sufficient for present purposes at least.^

'

In his work on the

Orissa,'

'

Antiquities of

Babu Kajendra Lala Mittra

sug-

gests at page 31 something of this sort,

but

if

his diagram were all that

is

to

be said in favour of the hypothesis, I

would

feel inclined to reject

it.

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

22G

CHAPTER

Book

IT.

III.

NORTHERN JAINA STYLE.

CONTENTS.
Palitana

Girnar Mount Abu Parisnatli Gualior Khajuraho.

Palitana.

The

temples into what

grouping together of their

Temples "

" Cities of

may be

called

which the Jains practised to a

the
followers
of
any
The
extent
than
other religion in India.
greater
Buddhists grouped their stupas and viharas near and around sacred
is

a peculiarity

Manikyala, or in Peshawur, and elsewhere

spots, as at Sanchi,

but

they were scattered, and each was supposed to have a special meaning,
sacred spot.
The Hindus also grouped their temples,
Bhuvaneswar or Benares, in great numbers together but in all
so far as we know, because these were the centres of a popula-

mark some

or to
as at

cases,

tion

who

in the

believed

and wanted them

religions, however, possess

that

about thirty miles from G-ogo, on

No
but

survey has yet been

it

covers

scattered

made

of

very large

it

its

eastern coast

is

nor have

it,

space

The

between them.

enclosures,

ones line the

streets.

temples and perform the

Neither of these

its

called,

of

Gujerat,

in

(Woodcut No. 125).

temples been counted

ground, and

of

its

two extensive

are

shrines

and

hills

larger ones are situated in tuks, or

surrounded by high

silent

usually

as

by hundreds over the summits

in the valley

separate

the temples were dedicated,

such a group of temples, for instance, as

Sutrunjya, or Palitana,

at

whom

gods to

for the purposes of their worship.

few

fortified walls

yatis,

or

priests,

the
sleep

smaller
the

in

and a few attendants are

constantly there to keep the place clean, which they do with the
most assiduous attention, or to feed the sacred pigeons, which are the
but there are no human habitations,
sole denizens of the spot
daily

services,

properly

so

ascends in
devotions

called,

the
or

It

is

the

morning, and

satisfied

must not cook

there.

within

his

walls.

returns

curiosity.

The pilgrim or the stranger

when he has performed his

He must

not eat,

or

at

least

on the sacred hill, and he must not sleep

the gods, and meant for them only, and not

his food,

a city

of

intended for the use of mortals.

Jaina temples and shrines

are, of course, to

be found in

cities,

and

PALITANA.

Chap. IIL

where there are a

sufficient

as in other rehgions

than any

sect, to

to place

is

but,

of

number
beyond

of votaries to support a temple,

this,

the Jains seem, almost more

have realised the idea that to build a temple, and

was in
use to any

an image in

irrespective

temple

227

its

it,

itself

of

a highly meritorious act, wholly

Buildmg a
co-religionists.

their

conceive to be
with them a prayer in stone, which they

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

228

Book

II.

eminently acceptable to the deity and likely to secure them benefits

both here and hereafter.

It

in consequence

is

the Jains

of

believing

to a greater

extent

than the other Indian sects in the efficacy of temple-building as a

means

much

salvation,

of

that

larger a proportion

may

It

ligions.

owing

also be

architectural

their

to their

performances bear

numbers than those

to the fact that nine

out

so

other re-

of

of

ten, or

ninety-nine in a hundred, of the Jaina temples are the gifts of single

wealthy

individuals

generally are small

middle

the

of

and

classes,

that

buildings

these

deficient in that grandeur of proportion

that

marks the buildings undertaken by royal command or belonging to

important organised communities. It may, however, be also owing
to this that their buildings are more elaborately finished than those
of more national importance.
When a wealthy individual of the
class who build these temples desires to spend his money on such an
object, he is much more likely to feel pleasure in elaborate detail and
exquisite finish than on great purity or grandeur of conception.

All

these

peculiarities

are

found in a more marked

almost any other

Palitana than at

known

the student of the style, extending through

it

Some

flourished.

of

the temples

degree at

place, and, fortunately for

all

are as old

the ages during which

as

the

11th century,

and they are spread pretty evenly over all the intervening period
down to the present century. But the largest number and some of
the most important are now erecting or were erected in the present
century or in the memory of living men.
Fortunately, too, these
modern examples by no means disgrace the age in Avhich they are
built.
Their sculptures are inferior, and some of their details are
deficient in meaning and expression
but, on the whole, they are
;

equal, or nearly so, to the average examples of earlier ages.

that

makes Palitana one

named
as

for

the

of

philosophical

It is this

the most interesting places that

student

of

architectm-al

art,

can be

inasmuch

he can there see the various processes by which cathedrals were

produced in the Middle Ages, carried on on a larger scale than almost

anywhere

methods
that Ave

else,
still

and in a more natural manner.

It is

by watching the

followed in designing buildings in that remote locality

become aware hoAV

is

it

that

the

uncultivated

Hindu can

and perfection which

has not been attained in Europe since the Middle Ages, but which
might easily be recovered by following the same processes.
rise

in

architecture

to a degree

of

originality

GlRNAR.

The

hill

of Girnar,

Puttun Somnath,

is

on the south coast of Gujerat, not far from

another shrine of the Jains, as sacred, but some-

Chap.

how

GIRNAR.

III.

229

not so fashionable in modern times as that at Palitana.

consequently, that bewildering magnificence arising from the

and variety
Besides

buildings

of

this,

the

of

temples

that

ages

all

apparent size from being perched on the side of a

above the

composed

level of the sea,

number

crowd that temple

Girnar lose

themselves at

It wants,

much

hill

rising

of

city.

their

3500

ft.

of granite rocks strewn about in

most picturesque confusion.

Although we have no Girnar Mahatmya to retail fables and

is done at Sutrunjya, we have at Girnar inscriptions
which prove that in ancient times it must have been a place of great
falsify dates, as

On

importance.
lence

a rock outside the

the

Junaghar

Old Fort

On

town

at its foot, called jpar excel-

Asoka,

B.C.

250,

carved a

copy of

the same rock, in a.d. 151,

Rudra Dama,
the Sah king of Saurastra, carved an inscription, in which he boasted
of his victories over the Sat Karni, king of the Dekhan, and recorded
his having repaired the bridge built by the Maurya Asoka. ^
The
embankment of the Sudarsana lake again burst and carried away this
bridge, but was again repaired by Skanda, the last of the great Guptas,
in the year a.d. 457,^ and another inscription on the same rock records
his celebrated

edicts.^

this event.

place where three such kings thought

their deeds or proclaim their laws must,

important city or place at that time

the

testify to

No

India occurs here as elsewhere.

it

worth while to record

one would think, have been an

but what

is

so characteristic of

material remains are found

There are no remains of an ancient

fact.*

city,

to

no

temples or ruins that can approach the age of the inscriptions, and

but for their existence we should not be aware that the place was

known

may

be old

mined by any one capable

modern things, and till so

No

of

The

Wilson, in

lias

yet

best is that

vol. xii.

Asiatic Society.'

of Professor

'Journal of Royal

Mr. Burgess has, how-

and General Cunningham those

north of India.

When

Girnar,
in

the

published it may be possible to make a

better translation than has yet appeared.
^ 'Journal
Bombay Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. viii. p. 120.
these

is true,

some caves in

discriminating between ancient and

visited

been pub-

ever, recently re-copied that at

are, it

but they have not yet been exa-

really satisfactory translation of

these Asoka edicts

lished.

There

before the 10th century.

the Uparkot which

are

Ibid., vol. vii. p.'l24.

Lieut. Postans' 'Journey to GirJiar,'

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. vii. p. 865, et seqq.

This, with

their

evidence

is

not available.^

most of the facts here recorded, is

taken either from Mr. Burgess's descripVisit
tions of the photographs in his
to Somnath, Girnar, and other places in
Kathiawar,' or Lieut. Postans' 'Journey,'
just referred to.
Col. Tod's facts are too
much mixed up with poetry to admit of
their being quoted.
^ Mr. Burgess visited this place during
the spiing of the pretent year, and has
brought away plans and sections, from
which it appears these caves are old, but
till his materials are published it is impossible to state exactly how old they
may be. I am afraid this work will be
published long before his Report.
'

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

230

My

impression

that they

is

may

Book

belong to the age of

which was a great age for excavating caves

of

II.

Guptas,

the

this class in India, but

must await further information before deciding.

The principal group of temples at Girnar, some sixteen in number,
is situated on a ledge about 600 ft. below the summit, and still conse({uently nearly 3000 ft. above the level of the sea.
The largest, possibly
also the oldest of these, is that of Neminatha (Woodcut No. 120).
An
Ave

126.

Temple

inscription

(From a Plan by Mr.

of Ncminatlia, Girnar.

upon

records

it

that

it

Hurgess.)

Scale 50

ft.

to

in.

was repaired in a.d. 1278, and

unfortunately a subsequent restorer has laid his heavy hand upon

so that

is

it

have been.

difficult

now

to realise

This unfortunately

Hindu temple

temples.

If a

and goes

to decay,

ruthlessly

employed

or

no one ever
to build a

newest fashion of the day.

is

what

its

original appearance

it,

may

only too often the case with Jaina

Mahomedan mosque
after repairs

new temple

or

AVith the Jains

it

it,

but

is

once deserted

its piaterials

mosque according
is

otherwise.

are

to the

If a

man

Chap.
is

GIRNAK.

III.

new

not rich enough to build a

restore

231

fane, he

may

at least be able to

an old one, and the act with them seems equally meritorious,

usually

it

generally consists in covering

is

but the way they set about

up the whole of the outside with a
up and hiding all the details, and

considered to be with us

as
it

thick coating

of

chunam,

filling

leaving only

the

outline.

The

interior

adorned

generally

is

repeated coats of whitewash, as destructive to artistic

with

but

effect,

not

so irreparable.

The plan and

the outline are generally, however,

and that

originally erected,
It stands in a

left as

they were

the case with the temple of Neminatha.

is

courtyard measuring 195

by 130

ft.

over

ft.

externally.

all

The temple itself has two porches or mantapas, one of which

by Hindu architects the Maha Mantapa, the other the

is

called

Ard'ha

it is not quite clear to which of the two the term

Maha, or great, should be applied in this instance I would say the
inner, though that is certainly not the sense in which the term is

Mantapa,^ though

usually understood.

Around

the

courtyard

arranged

are

seventy

with

cells

covered and enclosed passage in front of them, and each of these

contains a cross-legged seated figure of the Tirthankar to

temple

is

and

dedicated,

with

generally

representing some act in his

w^ould have been nine or ten

But

life.

more

bas-relief

whom

the

picture

or

for the fall of the rock there

cells,

and indeed

this repetition of

the images of the saint, like the multiplication of temples, seems to

have been the great aim of the Jaina architects.

Brambanam

see in a Jaina temple at

temples or

As we

shall presently

in Java, there were 236 small

surrounding the great one, and there, as here, each of

cells

them was intended

contain a similar image

to

of

one of the Tir-

thankars.

Immediately behind

of Neminatha is a triple one

and Vastupala, who also erected one of
Abu. From inscriptions upon its walls it

temple

the

erected by the brothers Tejpala

the principal temples

in

seems to have been erected in a.d. 1177.

temples joined together, an

The plan

is

that of tlu^ee

arrangement not unfrequently found in

the south, but rare in the north, w^hich

capable of great variety of

effect,

extent than plainer forms.

In

this

is

to

be regretted, as

it

is

and shade to a greater

instance there is an image of Mal-

and

of light

linatha, the 19th Tirthankar, in the central cell, but the lateral ones

each contain a remarkable solid pile of masonry called a Samosan, that

on the north side named Mera or Sumera a fabled mountain of the

that on
Jains and Hindus having a square base (Woodcut No. 127)
Parisnath,
in
Bengal
nearly
Sikhara
with
a
Samet
the south, called

circular base.

Each

Ram

rises in four tiers of

Raj,

'

diminishing width, nearly to

Architecture of the Hindus,'

p. 49.

JAINA ARCHITECTUKE.

232
the roof, and

From

Book

II.

siirniounted by a small square canopy over the images.^

is

would appear that with the Jains, the Mounts Girnar,

Sutrunjya, Abu, &c., were not only holy places, but holy things, and
as with the Syrians
that with them
the worship of high places was
this it

really a part of their religion.

127.

Plan of Temple of Tejpala and Vastupa

Some

(From a Plan by Mr. Burgess.)

a.

of the other temples

Scale 50

ft.

to

1 in.

Girnar are interesting from their

at

and remarkable from fragments

an ancient date that have survived

history,
of

the

too

constant repairs

them

illustrating

tedious
to

but without

would

it

only

be

recapitulate their names, or

to

attempt to describe by words objects

which only the

practised

eye

of

far

from the

shore,

hill,

however, on the sea-

Somnath,

stands the temple of

historically perhaps the

in

from

India,

Mahmood

of

the

most celebrated

campaign

Avhich

Gazni undertook for

destruction in 1025, and the

results that

the

Not

Indian antiquary can appreciate.

its

momentous

campaign had eventually on

the fate of India.

123.

Plan of Temple at Son,nath.

(From a Plan by Mr. F?urgess.)
Scale 50

could

have

ft.

to 1 in.

As will be seen from the annexed plan

(Woodcut No. 128) the temple itself never

been remarkable for

its

dimensions, probably

Burgess, 'Visit to Girnar,' &c.,

p. 3.

it

never

GIllNAR.

Chap. IK.

but the dome of

exceeded about

130

measures 33

across, is as large as

ft.

ft.

over

all,

enclosed

w^as

it

may have been

in a courtyard, and that

Though very

similar in plan,

Neminatha, and
have

if

is

From

evident that

of

surpassing magnificence.

nearly twice the dimensions of that of

it is

court was proportionately large,

its

has been said regarding

justified all that

what fragments

it

its age.

temple of Neminatha (Woodcut No. 126)

the

like

of the siege,

porch, which

its

any we know of

we have

the accounts, hoAvever, which

233

its

it

may

really

From

splendour.

must

of its sculptured decorations remain, they too

have been of great beauty, quite equal to anything we know of this

class,

or

their

of

age.

has not yet been determined, however,

It

whether what we now see are fragments of the temple attacked by

Mahmood, and consequently whether they belong

to the 10th or even

may be due to a repair which was

effected in the 12th.
As the story is now told, after Mahmood's
departure it was restored by Bhima Deva of Anhilwarra Puttun, who
the 9th century, or whether they

1021-1073, and adorned by Siddha Raja, 1093-1143, and

by Kumara Pala in 1168. Generally it is thought that what we
now see belongs to the last-named king. Any one on the spot,

reigned
lastly

thoroughly acquainted with the subject, might discriminate

among

and tell us its story. In so far as photographs enable us to judge,

would appear that a considerable portion of what we now see belongs

these
it

to the original fane,

though very much altered and knocked about by

subsequent restorers.

Another point

dispute

of

the

is

name

of

the god to

temple was dedicated when the Moslem marched against

the

name Someswara,

it

whom
it.

generally assumed to have been Siva.

is

the

From
If,

however, that had been the case, the image in the sanctuary would
almost certainly have been a lingam.

a belly.^

it

distinctly as

In that case

Tirthankars.
period, but

The Mahomedan

historians,

and
must either have been Vishnu or one of the
can find no trace of Yishnuism in Gujerat at this

however, represent

what seems

having a head with

eyes, arms,

it

to

me

to settle the case

is,

that

all

the kings

above mentioned, who took part in the repairs after the departure of

Mahmood, were undoubtedly

Jains,

and they would hardly have

repaii'ed

or rebuilt a temple belonging to another sect.

('

translated

'Fcrishta,'

Briggs, vol.

i.

p.

72.

by

General

Wilson, however

Asiatic Researches,' vol. xvii. p. 194),

is

was a lingam.
One slight circumstance mentioned incidentally by Ferishta (p. 74) convinces
me as clearly it was Jaina. After de-

clearly of opinion that

it

scribing the destruction of the great idol,

he goes on to say, " There were in the

temple some thousands of tmall images,
wrought in gold and silver, of various
shapes and dimensions." I know of no
religion except that of the Jains and
the very late Buddhists who indulged

in this excessive reduplication of images.

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

234

Book

II.

Mount Abu.
It is hardly to be wondered at that Mount Abu was early fixed
upon by the Hindus and Jains as one of their sacred spots. Rising
from the desert as abruptly as an island from the ocean, it presents
on almost every side inaccessible scarps 5000 ft, or 6000 ft. high, and

summit can only be approached by ravines cut into its sides.

the summit is reached, it opens out into one of the loveliest
valleys imaginable, six or seven miles long by two or three miles in
width, cut up everywhere by granite rocks of the most fantastic
shaj^es, and the spaces between them covered with trees and luxuriant
vegetation.
The little Nucki Talao, or Pearl Lake, is one of the loveliest gems of its class in all India, and it is near to it, at Dilwarra,
the

When

the

that

Jains selected a

rendezvous.
place of

It cannot,

Tirth,

their

worship in modern times.

probably the causes of

are

for

site

however, be said that

Its

and

this,

it

or

sacred place

distance

and

either Palitana or Girnar in the extent of its buildings

the

age of Jaina supremacy

two

of

India.

it

rival

but during

was adorned with several temples,

which are unrivalled for certain

They

inaccessibility

consequently cannot

it

of

has been a favourite

qualities

by any temples in

are built wholly of white marble, though no quarries

known to exist within 300 miles of the spot,

and carry it up the hill to the site of these
temples must have added immensely to the expense of the under-

of

that

and

to

material are
transport

taking.

The more modern of the two was built by the same brothers, Tejpala
and Yastupala, who erected the triple temple at Girnar (Woodcut
No. 1*27). This one, we learn from inscriptions, was erected between
the years 1197 and 1247, and for minute delicacy of carving and beauty
of detail stands almost unrivalled even in the land of patient and lavish
labour.^

The

by another merchant prince, Yimala Sah, appais simpler and bolder, though still
good taste would allow in any purely architectural

other, built

rently about the year a.d. 1032,^

as

elaborate

object.

as

Being one of the oldest as well as one

examples known of a Jaina temple,

introduction to the style, and

how complete and

with

it

perfect

it

among

most complete
form a convenient

of the

its peculiarities

other things serve to

had already become when we

illustrate
first

meet

in India.

See 'Illustrations of Indian Archiby the Author, p. 30, from which

work the plan and view are taken.
^

tecture,'

MOUNT

Chap. HI.

ABU.

235

The annexed plan (Woodcut No. 129)

will

suffice

to

explain the

general arrangements of the temple of Vimala Sah, which, as will be

observed, are similar to some

we have already met, though

course

of

varying consideraby in
extent and detail.

The
here,

principal object
elsewhere,

as

is

only

lighted

cell

from the door, containing a cross-legged seated

figure

the

of.

whom

in

dedicated,

is

in-

this

Parswanatha.

stance

The

to

saint

temple

the

cell,

as in all other

terminates

examples,

upwards in a

sikra, or

pyramidal

spire-like

roof,

to all

which

is

common

Hindu and Jaina

temples^ of the age in

north

the

To

as

this,

of

India.

in

almost

all instances, is

a portico,

attached

generally of

considerable extent, and

in

most examples sur-

mounted by a dome
resting on eight pillars, which forms indeed the distinguishing characof

teristic

the style, as well as

example the portico

which
in

is

by no means an unusual number

ft. by 90

colonnade of smaller

the residence of a

In this

monk,

which belong alike

many

find

it

to

is

and over the door

from his life.

all

and the whole

ft.,

is

enclosed

surrounded by a double

case,

it

on

all sides,

however, each

cells,

exactly as they do

cell,

instead of being

occupied by one of those cross-legged images

Buddhism and Jainism, and between which

distinguish.

difficult to

the Jaina practice,

forming porticos to a range of

pillars,

in number, which enclose

in Buddhist viharas.

In this

forty-eight free-standing pillars,

of

an oblong courtyard, about 140

fifty-five

so

most beautiful feature.

its

composed

is

repetitions of the

of each cell, or

on

Here they are, according to

same image of Parswanatha,

its

jambs, are sculptured scenes

In other religions there may be a great number

'

See ante,

p. 221.

of separate similar

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

236

Book

II.

chapels attached to one building-, but in no other would fifty-five be

found, as in this example, or the seventy that surround the temple of

Neminatha at Girnar (Woodcut No. 126), each containing an image of

the same saint, and all so identical as to be undistinguishable.
With
the Jains

it

seems to be thought the most important point that the

deity or saint is honoured by the number of his images, and that each
image should be provided with a separate abode. In other examples,

however,

image

of

it

is

only a separate niche.

the Tirthankar

a thousand times

over,

is

all

On some

repeated hundreds,
the

images

Jaina monuments the

it

may

identical,

almost be said

and

the

niches

arranged in rows beside and above each other, like pigeon-holes in

a dovecote.

MOUNT

ClIAP. III.

Externally the temple

is

ABU.

237

and there

perfectly plain,

indicate the magnificence within, except the spire of

over the plain wall, though even this

is

nothing to

i^

the cell peeping

the most insignificant part of

the erection.

The woodcut (No. 130)

of

the porch, but

it

will give

drawing to convey a correct

detail

and

diversity

Pendant in

131.

some idea

of

the

arrangement

would require a far more extensive and elaborate

Dome

impression of

design.

of

of

The

Vimala Sah Temple

great

at

Abu.

its

extreme

pillars,

as

beauty of

will

be seen.

(From a Photograph.)

same height as those of the smaller external porticos and

them they finish with the usual bracket-capital of the East
upon this an upper dwarf column or attic, if it may be so called, is
placed to give them additional height, and on these upper columns
rest the great beams or architraves which support the dome
as,
are of the

like

however, the bearing

relieved

is

long,

by the curious angular

at

least

in

appearance, the weight

strut or truss of white

is

marble, men-

tioned above (p. 215), which, springing from the lower capital, seems
to support the middle of the beam.

That

this last feature is

derived from some wooden or carpentry

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

238
original, can, I

was
it

think, scarcely be

might

easily be

buildings in

this

the

to

more and more attenuated,

to be mentioned hereafter,

present

is

continues
day,

but

at last, except in

till

it

It

II.

but in what manner

unknown

as

it

probably

discovered by a more careful examination

neighbourhood.

down almost

feature

doubted

introduced into masonry construction

first

Book

of

the

an architectural

gradually

becoming

one example at Delhi,

loses all its constructive significance

as

a supporting member, and dwindles into a mere ca^nament.

^/

132.

On
is

(From Tod's 'Western

India.')

the octagon so formed rests the dome, the springing of which

shown

block

Pillars at Chandrdvati.

in

in

the

Woodcut No. 130

Above the second row

supporting statues, and

(p.

236).

the octagon suffices

angles of
of

In this instance a single

to

introduce the circle.

ornaments sixteen pedestals are introduced

in the centre

is

a pendant of the most exqui-

and finished with a

and appropriateness of ornament which is probably
unsurpassed by any similar example to be found anywhere else.
Those introduced by the Gothic architects in Henry YII.'s chapel at
site

beauty

delicacy of

the

detail

whole

is

in

white

marble,

Chap.

PARISNATH.

III.

239

Westminster, or at Oxford, are coarse and clumsy in comparison.

is

difficult,

by any means

of illustration, to

It

convey a correct idea of

the extreme beauty and delicacy of these pendant ornaments, but the

woodcut on page 237 (No. 131) from a photograph

form, even if it cannot reflect their beauty.

As

will explain their

before hinted, there never seems to have

been any important

was too inaccessible for that purpose but
a few miles to the southward on the plain are the remains of an
extensive city, called Chandravati, where there are extensive remains

town on Mount Abu.

It

same age and style as those on the mount,

them probably more modern, but still all of the best age.
The place, however, was destroyed at the time of the Mahomedan
conquest in the middle of the 14th century, and has since remained
wholly deserted. It has in consequence been used as a quarry by the
neighbouring towns and villages, so that few of its buildings remain
The fragment, however, shown in Woodcut No.
in a perfect state.
of Jaina temples of the

some

132,

of

may

serve

to

the

illustrate

in

style

but as no two pillars are exactly alike,

which they were

erected,

Avould require hundreds to

it

represent their infinite variety of detail.

Parisnath.

The highest point

the

of

Bengal range of

south of

hills,

Eaj-

mahal, has characteristically been appropriated by the Jains as one

of

their

Mount

most favourite Tirths.

original

Its

Sikhar, and no less than nineteen of

name apparently was

their twenty-four Tirth-

ankars are said to have died and been buried there,

Parswanatha, the

name

it

now

last

among

but one, and he consequently gave the

others
hill

the

bears.

Unfortunately, no photographer has yet visited the hill, nor

any one who was able to discriminate between what was new and

what

Such accounts, however,

old.

encouraging,

and

architectural

remains.

they seem

modern, or at

in

all

do not

lead

us

as
to

The temples on
least to

we have
expect
the

are by no means
any very remarkable

hill

are

numerous, but

have been so completely repaired

modern times that their more ancient features cannot now be

Something may also be due to the fact that, since the

discerned.

revival of

country.

that

The

religion,

Pala

Bengal has never been

dynasty

of

Bengal

seem

essentially a

to

have

Jaina

remained

Buddhist nearly to the Mahomedan conquest (a.d. 1203), when they

seem suddenly to have dropped that religion and plunged headlong
Whether from this, or
into the Vaishnava and Saiva superstitions.
from some other cause we cannot now explain, Jainism never seems
to

have taken root in Bengal.

took

its

rise

in

the

At

Gth century

the time that

B.C.,

it,

Behar was

with Buddhism,
the

intellectual

JAINA AKCHITECTURE.

240

and the

political centre of

in the country of

important,

cally

its

the

India,

and Buddhism long held

II.

sway

its

Before, however, Jainism became politi-

birth.

centre

Book

power had

of

towards

gravitated

the

West, and Jainism never seems to have attained importance in the

country where

first

it

appeared.

Were

not for this, there seems

it

doubt but that Parisnath would have been more important in

little

than Palitana or Girnar

eyes

their

but

not

is

it

and

so,

conse-

it

quently occupies only a very slight corner in an architectural history

of India.

Besides the effect the

temples
to

on

hill-tops, the

Jains sought to obtain by grouping their

love

of

the

picturesque, which

they seem

have cultivated more than any other sect in India, led them to

seek

an exactly opposite direction. Some of their favourite

found in deep and secluded valleys. One at Muktagiri,
instance, near Gawelghur, is situated in a deep Avell-wooded
it

in

Tirths are
for

valley, traversed

by a stream that breaks in

course into numerous

its

picturesque waterfalls.

Another example
Sadri.

of

this

love

of

picturesque

the

is

found at

In a remote valley piercing the western flank of the Ara-

vulli, there is

a group of

numerous nor perhaps

temples, neither so
so

picturesquely

those

more

situated

as

but

of

Muktagiri,

at

interest

architecturally,

and situated in a spot

dently selected for

evi-

natural

its

beauties.

The

principal temple here

was erected by
of

Oudeypore.

Khumbo Ran a
He seems to

have been a zealous promoter

of

Jaina

the

during

perous

and

religion,

long

his

reign

and

pros-

his

filled

country with beautiful buildings,

both

siastical.

Plan of Temple at Sadri.

(From a Plan by the Author.)

133.

Scale 100

ft.

civil and
Amongst

he built

tliis

situated

in a lonely

eccle-

others,

temple of Sadri,

and de-

serted glen, running into the

to 1 in.

western

slope

of

the

Ara-

Komulmeer.
Notwithstanding
long neglect, it is still nearly perfect, and is the most complicated
and extensive Jaina temple I have myself ever had an opportunity
vulli,

below

his

favourite

fort

of

of inspecting.

From

the plan

(Woodcut No. 133)

it

will

be perceived that

it

is

Chap.

TEMPLE AT

III.

SADRI.

241

ft. by 225 ft., exclusiye of the projections on each

In the centre stands the great shrine, not, however, occnpied,
as nsnal, by one cell, bnt by fonr
or rather four great niches, in

nearly a square, 200

face.

each of which

and

placed a statue of Adinatha, or Rishabde\'a, the

is

greatest of

the

Jaina saints.

Above

first

this are four other niches,

occupied, opening on the terraced roofs of the building.

Near the four angles of the court are four smaller shrines, and around
them, or on each side of them, are twenty domes, supported by about
420 columus four of these domes the central ones of each group

similarly

View

134.

in the

Temple

at Sadri.

(From a sketch by the Author.;

and tower over the others and one that

is
supported by the very unusual
number of sixteen columns, and is 80 ft. in diameter, the others being
only 24 ft.
Light is admitted to the building by four uncovered
courts, and the whole is surrounded by a range of cells, many of them
now unoccupied, each of which has a pp'amidal roof of its own.
The internal effect of this forest of columns may be gathered from
the view (Woodcut No. 134) taken across one of its courts
but it is
impossible that any view can reproduce the endless variety of persjxictive and the play of light and shade which results from the disposition
of the pillars, and of the domes, and from the mode in which the light

are three storeys in height,

facing

the

principal

entrance

JAINA AECHITECTURE.

242

introduced.

is

cells,

most

wonderful

where meet the view.

eighty-six cells

are

interior,

and

all their

imag'es of the Tirthankar,

Besides the twelve in the central sikras there

of

form and

very varied

surrounding the

size

fa9ades more or less adorned with sculpture.

The general external effect

owing
by Woodcut No. 135

of

II.

from the number of

which every-

also results

effect

them containing

of

Book

the Sadri

of

Temple may be judged

and the greater

to its lofty basement,

External View of the Templc at Sadri.

135.

the principal domes,

elevation of

sion of
of

Jaina temple than

ment on

exterior

their

faces

The immense number

prevents

smallness,

grandeur
the

its

more favourable impres-

usually the case

designs

however,

this,

the

is

more generally the

of

and

their general

anything like

architectural

parts in the building,

laying claim

to

but their variety, their beauty of detail

greatest defect

being the want of orna-

more modern temples.

case in the older than in the

in

is

buildings as architectural

these

gives a

it

whole building being

exactly

alike

the

no

two

pillars

grace with which

they are arranged, the tasteful admixture of domes of different heights

and the mode in which the light is introduced,

an excellent effect. Indeed, I know of no other
building in India, of the same class, that leaves so pleasing an imwith

ceilings,

flat

combine

to produce

pression, or affords so

columns in an
Besides
despised

its

it

many

hints

for

the

graceful arrangement of

interior.

merits of design,

its

dimensions are by no means to be

covers altogether about 48,000 sq.

ft.,

or nearly as

much

as one of our ordinary medij^eval cathedrals, and, taking the basement

into account,

is

nearly of equal bulk

of sculptural decorations

it

while in amount of labour and

far surpasses any.

Chap.

GUALIOR.

III.

243

GUALIOR.

The rock at Gualior is, and must always have been, one of the
most remarkable high places in Central India, and seems, as such,
early to have been appropriated

by the Jains.

and

position

Its

scarps, however, led to its being- fortified, and, as

its

one of the strongest

India, it was attacked and taken by storm by Altumsh,

Moslem emperor of Delhi, in a.d. 1232 and from that time
till the fall of the Mogul empire it was held by the Mahomedans, or
by Hindu kings subject to their suzerainty. Under these circumstances, we should hardly expect to find any extensive ancient Hindu

in

places

the

first

remains

the

in

temples

There

place.

known

one,

as the Sas

however, two

are,

Bahu,

very remarkable

generally understood to be

is

Jaina erection, and seems to be so designated and dedicated to

Padmanatha, the sixth Tirthankar. General Cunningham doubts this

adscription,^

in the case of
to say for

of

consequence of the walls being adorned with bas-

in

belonging certainly to the Yaishnava and Saiva

reliefs,

the Aiwulli temple,

what

sect a

extremely

is

it

As

sects.

difficult

sometimes

temple was originally erected.

which we are now speaking the

In the times
had not become distinct

sects

The

and antagonistic

as they afterwards were.

like those of the

Greeks and Romans, parts of one religion, which

different deities were,

all

and the temples were frequently of a most pantheistic

character.
Be this as it may, this temple was finished apparently
in A.D. 1093, and, though dreadfully ruined, is still a most picshared

in,

What remains

turesque fragment.

the arms

across

nothing
storeys

is

in

principally

the

of

those

constructively

is

of

roof

its

ft.

Of

porch.

but the foundation

left

height,

the cruciform porch of a temple

is

which, when complete, measured 100

are

from front

the
;

to rear,

and 63

with

sanctuary,

but the porch which

entire,

very

though

much

shattered

three

is

details

its

ft.

sikra,

its

and

(Woodcut

No. 136, next page).

An
as

it

older Jaina temple

is

was used as a mosque

though

building entirely,
part of

striking

the

described by General Cunningham, but

it

is

more

made up

likely that

of

Jaina

it is

Jaina remains at Gualior are a

or rock-cut sculptures that are excavated in the rock

amount, when taken together, to hardly

and

small.

They

the Buddhists,

are,

still

though some are

'

Mahomedan
The most

series of

on

caves

all sides,

and

than a hundred, great

however, very unlike the chaityas or viharas of

less

be mentioned hereafter.
statues,

less

details.^

do they resemble the Brahmanical caves, to

Most

of

cells that

Arch.icological Reports,' vol.

ii.

them

are

mere niches

may have been

p. 357.

contain

to

originally intended

Ibid., plate 90.

244
for residences.

JATNA AUCHITECTURE.
One curious

fact 'regarding

them

Pm.ok II.

is,

that, according to

period of
inscriptions, they were all excavated within the short

thirty-three years, between a.d. 1441

figures are of colossal size

and

a.d.

one, for instance,

is

1474.

57

ft.

Some

about

of

the

high, which

is


Chap.

KHAJURAHO.

III.

245

greater thau auy other iu the north of India^ thuugh

are several which

more

exja-essive

or surpass

ei^iial

and more

it,

iti

the

s^^iith

and, as free-standing

cherv

tigitfts

are

difficult to execute.

Khajtraho.

The

city of

Khajnraho, the

ancient capital of the Chandels,

about

situated

is

125 miles

W.S.W. from Allahabad, and

150

abont

Goalior.

miles

It is

now

from

S.E.

a wretched

deserted place, but has in and

arotmd

some

a group of

it

thirty temples, which, so far

as

present known, are

at

is

the

as well

in form

beautiful

niost

iu detail of

elt^nt

the most

as

any of the temples

now standing

in India.^

made

So far as can be

out from such inscriptions as

as from their

as well

exist,

style, it

appears that

these

all

two unimport-

temples, with

ant exceptions, were executed

simultaneously and within the

limits of the 11th century

what

is also

between the

divided

In each group

three religions.
there
rest

is

seem

nearly as possible,

be, as

to

eiually

and,

curious, they

one greater than the

cathedral

in

fact

round which the smaller ones

In the Saiva

are clustered.

group

the

is

it

Kandarya

Mahadeva. of which a representation will

on

in the

l)e

Kiujuraoo.
of Fvsw^uutha
(Frvan a PfaoCograpb.)

Temple

given further

Vaishnava group

The only person who has

it

is

described

Gen. Cunningham, Aiehseological Beporta,' toL

ii.
p. 412, et iei)*j., from which cemse-

these temples in

any detaQ

id

'

qaently

all that L5

here suid

taken.

the Bamachandra

am

these

and in the

alao inddbted to the

Goia&l

for

eomplele aei of pliologn^liB ci

femplea,

whidi enaUes

me

to

speuk of their appearance with confidence.

JAINA AECHITECTUEE.

246

Jaina the Jinanatha

three

all

Book

so like one another that

II.

requires

it

very great familiarity with the photographs to distinguish the temple

one religion from those of the others.

It looks as if all had

and by some arrangement that neither
sect should surpass or be jealous of the other.
Either from this,
or from some cause we do not quite understand, we lose here all

of

been

the

by one

built

peculiarities

we

prince,

usually

assign

Jaina

to

temples

this

of

age.

more important than the porch.

There
are no courtyards with circumambient cells
no prominent domes,
nor, in fact, anything that distinguishes Jaina from Hindu architecture.
If not under the sway of a single prince, they must have

The vimana

or

sikra

is

been erected in an age of extreme toleration, and when any rivalry

that

existed

must only have been among 4he architects in trying

the most beautiful and most exquisitely adorned

who could produce

building.

As an

illustration of

one of the three great temples

further

on,

Jaina

smaller

will

suffice

art

temples,

that

of

(Woodcut No. 137),

Parswanatha
of

be given

will

view of one of the

to

the

illustrate

here employed.

style

porch

Its

was added or has been

removed and replaced in modern
times by a brick abomination with
either never

pointed

There

itself.

in

Hindu

passes

the

however,

This,

arches.

hardly interferes with

temple

the

nothing probably

is

architecture
richness

that

of

sur-

three-

its

combined with

the

outline

and

storeyed

base

extreme

elegance

of

delicate detail of the upper part.

The

two
alluded

called

the

138.

consists

to

are,

Chaonsat

merely

measuring 105
surrounded

by

one

Jogini,

of
ft.

temples

first,

demons.

female

sixty-four
Chaorsat Jogini, Khajurtho.
(From a Plan by Gen. Cunningham.)
Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

exceptional

above

or
It

courtyard,

by 60

ft.

and
small

sixty-four

each of which is surmounted by a small spire, as shown in the

woodcut (No. 138). This is so essentially a Jaina arrangement (see
Temple of Neminatha, for instance Woodcut No. 126), that I have
cells

very

little

religion.

doubt this was

The temple

itself

originally
it

is

temple

belonging

true has gone, but

if

it

to

that

was as old

KHAJURAHO.

Chap.

III.

as

believe

it

is/

nothing

247

more probable than that

is

was of

it

wood, like the old chaityas of the Buddhists, and has perished.

view

this

correct

is

it

probably

is

the

oldest

If

Jaina temple yet

discovered.

The
and

is

other exceptional building

the other

is

its pillars,

only a fragment

is

it

of a double portico

enclosed

temple

skeleton without flesh

now standing

may

few

Cunningham

an

in

once

found among

inscription,

inclined

is

believe

to

that

belong to the sixth or seventh century of our era

may

pillars

page).

the form of several letters

ruins, General

alone without the walls that

them (Woodcut No. 139, next

From
these

Khajuraho, as

from the bells

or for some other cause unknown.
UnfortuIt is called Ganthai, either

for its rudeness.

sculptured on
nately

one of totally different character,

is

as remarkable for its extreme elegance, even at

this

which

would ascribe to it, from the character

But when at the same time from finding
a Buddhist statue and a short Buddhist inscription near them (p. 431),
he is inclined to assign them to that religion, I beg leave to differ.
Till, however, we know more than we now do of what the differences
or similarities between the architecture of the Jains and Buddhists
is,

as near as

be, the date I

of its architectural details.

were at the age when the temple was erected,

Almost

the question.

we know

all

it

is

impossible to argue

Buddhist art at that

of

time

being derived from rock-cut examples, we have no pillars so slender

it by no means follows that they may not have existed.
They are not known however, while many Jaina examples are
known so nearly like these as to establish a strong presumption that
they belong to that religion.
The plan too of the building, so far as
it can be made
out, is utterly unlike anything we know that is

as these, but

Buddhist, but very similar to

Be

this

as

it

many

may, these

that certainly are Jaina.^

singularly

are

pillars

graceful

form, and elegant in their details, and belong to a style which,

were more examples of

" Gupta
these

style."

pillars,

certainty to

however,

if

it,

would

their

age,

little

400

to

if

there

feel inclined to distinguish as the

however,

Except,

we have very

in their

some

we can

600.

It

Erun

and

anything

like

fragments at

ascribe with

would be most interesting,

something more could be discovered, as

it is

the age

when

and w^hen Hindu literature reached its

and one Hindu temple of that age would

the great Vicramaditya lived,

highest point of perfection,

consequently throw light on

many

problems.

duce

me

Some Buddhist

^
General Cunningham hesitates to
adopt its extreme simplicity and rudeness as a test of its age, because it is

old.

built of granite, the other in the exquisite

see Mr. Burgess's Report

stone of the neighbourhood.

however, and the forms of

Its

pla.i,

its eikras, in-

caves

to believe it to be exceptionally

For plans of similar Jaina temples,

on Belgam and
Kuladgi, pis. 2, 10 and 45. These, however, are more modern than this ono.
2

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

248

Book

II.

and these Jaina fragments are all, however, that have yet come to
light.
There seems, nevertheless, very little doubt that more exist in

The Ganthai, Khajuraho.

139.

Rajputana and Central India.

soiith-west

from

this, there is a

(From a Photograph.)

At Gyraspore, near

Bhilsa, 140 miles

group of columns arranged

like these.

Chap.

and

GYRASrORE.

111.

like

Mokundra

them deprived
pass

there

is

were of sun-burnt bricks

being

easily

was the case

their walls

of

a third
?

Temple

140.

Was

or merely of small
?

My

it

140).

that

In the

their walls

square stones which,

impression

is,

the

latter

may, these Gyraspore pillars are una Jaina edifice, but of an age considerably

but be this as

doubtedly the remains of

(Woodcut No.

example.^

removed, were utilised

;

219

it

at Gyraspore,

(From a Photograph.)

more modern than the Ganthai. They can hardly under any circumstances be ascribed to an age anterior to the great civil war which

commenced

a.d.

G50

but they are almost certainly anterior to the

In the same town of Gyraspore is

great revival in the 10th century.

a very grand
pillars.

Its

old

temple apparently of about the same age as these

are old, but it has been so ruined and

details at least

Picturesque lllustratious of Iiidiau Architecture,' by the Author, plate

5.

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

250

and almost

repaired,

rebuilt, that it is extremely difficult to say

the form or purpose of the original erection

toran

also a

and in

century,

may have

throughout

fact

region

this

there

II.

what

There

been.

beauty in the village, probably of the

great

of

Book

numberless

are

remains partially made known to us by photography, but which

examined would probably

scientifically

largest

suffice to

up some

fill

is

11th

if

the

of

gaps in our history, and especially in that of Jain a archi-

tecture.

At Bhanghur
very beautiful

for instance, in the

Jaina temples.

One

Alwar
in

territory, there are

that

some

neighbourhood, photo-

graphed by Captain Impey, belongs to the 10th or 11th century, and

is

Khajuraho or elsewhere,
and near it again is a colossal Jaina image, called Nan Gungi, some
20 ft, in height, which is apparently of the same age as the temples,
and consequently superior to any of the colossi at Gualior or in the
beautiful

as

south of

as

any

of

its

The

India. ^

class, either

Jains

as a sect

at

are

hardly

now known

in

Rajputana, and their temples are consequently neglected and falling

into decay

though some

of

them, being of the best age and unrestored,

are of extreme interest to the investigator of Indian art.

Among

these,

few are more pleasing than the

Amwah, near Ajunta (Woodcut No. 141).

The sanctuary with its spire are gone, only
and

its

culty

roof

externally

be made out.

is

Yet

It

little

the portico remaining

so ruined, that its design can with

it

stands

so

well

on

its

the thirty-tw^o small columns that support the roof

well

temple at

only a fragment.

is

stylobate,

diffi-

and

externally are so

proportioned and so artistically arranged, as to leave

little

to

be desired.

The

great

feature

of

the

interior is a

supported on twelve richly carved

pillars,

dome 21

ft.

in diameter,

with eight smaller ones

Like all Indian domes, it is horizontal in construction,

and consequently also in ornamentation, but as that is done here, it
This
is as elegant or more so than the ribbed domes of western art.
one is plain in the centre, having no pendant which, however, is
one of the most marked and pleasing features of Jaina domes, as
may be gathered from the example in the temple of Vimala Sah at
Mount Abu (Woodcut No. 131).
As before mentioned, the Buddhists, though always employing
circular roofs, and in all ages building topes with domical forms
externally, never seem to have attempted an internal dome, in stone
The Hindus occasionally essayed a timid imitation of those of
at least.
the Jains, but in no instance with much success.
It is essentially a
feature of Jaina architecture, and almost exclusively so among the
interspersed.

and

Tmpcy,

'

plate GO.

Views

in

Delhi, Agra, and Rajpootana,' London, 18G5, frontispiece

Chap.

AMWAH.

III.

northern

adopted
using

it

Indians,
it,

why

though,

and why

particular

this

and they

they,

251

only, should

sect should have

have persevered in

through so long a period, are questions we are not yet in

It was an essential feature in the architecture

a position to answer.
of

the Moslems before they

eagerly

and

there,

which

seized

is

came

on the domes

into India,

the

of

Jains

One

one of

of

the most interesting

tower of Sri Allat,^ which

No. 142, next page), and

monuments

arrived

first

from them worked oat that domical style

the most marked characteristics of their art in India.

afterwards

Porch of Ja'ma Tenip'e at Amwali, near Ajunta.

141.

and they consequently

when they

that

may

ever, they are frail,

still

(From a Photograph by Major

Gill.)

Jaina monuments of the age

is

the

adorns the brow of Chittore (Woodcut

one probably of a great number of similar

is

have existed. From their form, howand human violence so easily overthrow
wonder that so few remain. This one is

at one time

and

trees

them, that we ought not to

a singularly elegant specimen of

its

class,

about 80

ft.

in height,

and

adorned with sculpture and mouldings from the base to the summit.^

An

inscription

once existed at

its base,

which gave

896, and though the slab was detached this

would arrive at from the

Sri Allat, to

tower
tioned
('

is

style that there

whom the erection of this

ascribed, is the 12th king,

in

Tod's

Rajastan,' vol.

i.

Aitpore
p. 802).

men-

inscriptions

is

its

date as a.d.

so nearly the date

seems

little

doubt that

we
it

Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient

in
Hiudostan,' by the
Author, pi. 8, p. 38.
^

'

Architecture

142.

Jaina Tower of

Sri Alhit, Chittoie.

(From

a Pholograpli.)

TOWER AT CHITTORE.

Chap. TIL

was of that age.

was dedicated

It

253

to Adnatli, the first of the Jaiiia

Tirthankars, and his figure

is

repeated some hundreds of

on the face

times

the

of

tower, but, so far as I could

any of

perceive, not that of

tlie

other Jaina saints.

The temple
ground

put

being

date,

in the fore-

more modern

of a

is

together

fragments of

principally of

which have

older buildings

disappeared.

Most
above
the

Jaina

belong

to

age

of

great

or

first

which

architecture,

down

extended
year

buildings

the

of

described

There

that.

after

to about the

or perhaps a

i:-500,

little

seems

then to have been a pause,

at least in the north of India,

but a revival in the

century,

the reign of

Khumbo, one

most powerful

the

15th

under

especially

kings of the

of

Mewar dynasty

whose favourite capital

His

Chittore.

of

the

reign

w^as

ex-

tended from 1418 to 1468,

and

it is

to

him

that

we owe

the other of the two towers

that

still

adorn the brow of

The

Chittore.

one

older

has just been described and

This

illustrated.

erected

tory

to

of

vic-

his

pillar

Mahmud

over

victory

Malwa, in the
It

is

one was

commemorate

as

year

therefore

phraseology a

in

Jaya

of

1439.

Indian

StamJtha^
14:i.

or

that

pillar

of

of

victory,

Trajan

at

like

Tower

of Victuiy erected by

Chittore.

Khumbo Kana

ac

(From a Photograph.)

Rome,

but in infinitely better taste as an architeatural object than the

Roman

JAIXA AKCHITECTURE.

254
example, though

from the

which

is

sculpture

it

may

woodcut (No. 143), it

distinctly marked on the

last

Book

As

be inferior.

will be

IT.

seen

nine storeys in height, each of

is

exterior.

stair in

communicates with each, and leads to the two upper

the centre

which
and more ornamental than those below. It is 30 ft. wide
the whole being covered
at the base, and more than 120 ft. in height
with architectural ornaments and sculptures to such an extent as to
storeys,

are open,

leave

no plain

same time this mass of decoration is

no way interferes either with the outline or

parts, while at the

kept so subdued, that

it

in

the general effect of the pillar.

The Mahomedans,

we

as

shall afterwards see, adopted the plan of

commemorate

erecting towers of victory to

direct imitation

almost

literal copies of

peculiar

mode

their exploits, but the

most

was by the Chinese, whose nine-storeyed pagodas are

these Jaina towers, translated into their

own

of expression.

Other examples of this middle

found at Palitana, Girnar, and

style of

Jaina architecture are to be

the fashionable tirths of the Jainas,

all

but they have not yet been described or illustrated to that extent that
enables us always to feel sure that what
date,

and may not be a

The Chaumuk

building.

have been erected in

to

we

see really belongs to this

repair or a modification of

or Four-faced

its

some pre-existing

at Palitana

present form in 1618, and

seems certainly
is

a very grand

The temple too of Ardishur

and beautiful example of the style.^
Bagavan, which is the largest single temple on that hill, seems to have
assumed its present form in 1530,^ though parts of it may be older.
At least, it is certain that an older temple stood on the spot, though not
with the fabulous antiquity ascribed to it by the priests, and credulously
repeated by Colonel Tod.*
deficient in the

extreme grace and elegance that charac-

terised the earlier examples,

those of the middle style are bold and

Though

vigorous specimens of the art, and

of

adherence to the traditions

still

show an

the style, and a

originality

and an

freedom from any

admixtures of foreign elements, which cannot be predicated of the

modern

style that succeeded

The dome

that

was substituted
sketched
2

of

it

now crowns this tower

dome since I

for the old

in 1839.

Burgess,
this

it.

'

Sutrunjya,' p. 20.

temple

is

A plan

given by him

and

several photographs.
2

Burgess,

Tod's

'

pp. 280, 281.

loo. cit., p. 25.

Travels in Western India,'

MODERN

Chap. IV.

JAlXxV STYLE.

CHAPTER
MODERN JAIXA

255

IV.

STYLE.

CONTENTS.

Jaina Temple, Delhi

The

Jaina Caves Converted Mosques.

two places in northern India where the most modern

Jaina

styles

of

can probably be stndied to most advantage are

arcliitecture

Sonag'hnr, near Dntteah, in Bnndelcund,

and Miiktagm, near Gawelghur,

The fonner is a granite hill, covered with large loose masses

primitive rock, among which stand from eighty to one hnndred

in Berar.
of

temples of varions shapes and sizes ("\Yoodcnt Xo. 144, p. 256).

So far
as can be made out from photogTaphs or drawings,^ not one of these
temples assumed

its

present form more than one hundred years ago.

Their original foundation

no

traveller

may

be

earlier,

but of that we

how and when

very distinctly the immense influence the

had on that

all

these temples

Mahomedan

of the native styles at this age.

dome

temples here are surmounted by the bulbous

The

nothing,

became a sacred mount.

this hill

Like most Hindu buildings of the period,

tecture

know

having yet enlightened us on the subject, nor explained

style

Almost
of

show

of archi-

the

all

the Moguls.

native sikra rarely appears, and the openings almost invariably

take the form of the

Mahomedan foliated pointed arch. The result is

when looked closely into, and generally

picturesque, but not satisfactory

the details want the purity and elegance that characterised the earlier

examples.

Muktagiri, instead of being situated on a

the Jains usually are,

is

gi'oup of temples are situated

that

thunders

down from

on a platform

the height of

those of Sonaghur, they are all

of

the

L. Eousselfct, in

'

difiicult

to

find

L'Inde des Eajahs,'

ft.

above them.

of them.

largest

style,

Like
copied

far as can be ascertained

for beauty of desigTi.

another place in

temples.
j

and the

at the foot of a waterfall

60

devotes three plates, pp. 396-S, to these

as the tirths of

modern domed

from Moslem art, and none of them, so

from such illustrations as exist, remarkable
would, however, be

hill,

in a deep romantic valley,

India

I possess several

It

where

photographs

256

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

Book

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

258
architecture

II.

happily combined with the beauties of nature, and

so

is

Book

produces so pleasing an impression on the lover of the picturesque,

though nearer

acquaintance

may

disappointment to

in

result

the

antiquarian student of the style.

In remote parts of the empire, and especially in the immediate

the older shrines, this

of

vicinity

Mahomedan influence was much

The modern temples, for
is true, but they are much more

than in the places just mentioned.

less felt

instance, at Palitana have domes,

it

directly the lineal descendants of the old Jaina

those

occurs in the walls of that old city.

eye

to

domes than copies

Moguls, and the foliated pointed arch rarely,

the

of

discriminate

between what

if

of

ever,

It requires, indeed, a practised

old

is

and what

new, and

is

without the too manifest inferiority of modern sculpture this would

not always be easy even to the most accomplished antiquary.

One example must

at

by

for the present suffice to

degenerated from

its

it,

there are

effect

how

aimed

little it

has

For, though this woodcut

ancient excellence.

145) does not prove

(No.

show the

this style in recent times, as well as to illustrate

photographs in this country

which do exhibit the marvellous details of this temple in a manner

not to be mistaken. It was erected about thirty years ago by Huttising, a rich Jaina merchant, and dedicated to Dharmanath, the 15th
In this instance the external porch between two circular

Tirthankar.

great magnificence and most elaborately ornamented,

and leads to an outer court with sixteen cells on either side. In the

towers

is

of

centre of this
(see

is

Woodcut No.

domed porch
117).

of the usual form, with

twenty

pillars

This leads to an inner porch of twenty-two

two storeys in height, and with a roof of a form very fashionmodern Jaina temples, though by no means remarkable for
beauty, and difficult to render intelligible without more illustration
than it merits. This leads to a triple sanctuary, marked by three
Behind this is a smaller court with
sikras, or spires, externally.

pillars,

able in

of eight cells,

two groups

the centre, and two,

between

it

and the

accustomed to
arrangement,

its

at

still

first

one in each angle, with a larger

more important,
court.

forms, some of

least, will

To

at

cell

in

the point of junction

the eye of

European, un-

them may seem strange

but

its

probably be admitted to be very perfect.

Each part goes on increasing in dignity as we approach the sanctuary.

The exterior expresses the interior more completely than even a
and whether looked at from its courts or from the
Gothic design
outside, it possesses variety without confusion, and an appropriateness
;

of every part to the purpose for

which

it

was intended.

JAINA TEMPLE, DELHI.

Chap. IV.

259

Jaina Temple, Delhi.

There

is

leavin^^ this

Upper part of Porch of Jaina Temple

146.

but

its

one other example that certainly deserves notice before

branch of the subject, not only on account of

at Delhi.

its

(From a Photograph.)

In the preceding pages it has frequently been

remark upon that curious wooden strut by which the

singularity.

necessary

to

beauty.

JAINA ARCHITECTUHE.

260

Jains

soufi^ht to

11.

apparent weakness of the longer beams

the

relieve

Book

Abu (Woodcut No. 129), at Girnar,

and many other places we shall have to remark upon
everywhere, in fact, where an octagonal dome ^^'as
in the sequel
used.
It was also employed by the Hindus in their torans, and so
favourite an ornament did it become that Akbar used it frequently
both at Agra and Futtehpore Sikri. For centuries it continued without much alteration, but at last, in such an example as the great
Bowli at Bundi,^ we find it degenerating into a mere ornament.
It was left, however, for a Jaina architect of the end of the last

under their domes.

occurs at

It

at Oudeypore,

or

Mahomedan city of
mode by which what was only conventionally

beginning of this century, in the

suggest a

might

become

really

an

appropriate

constructive

Delhi, to
beautiful

part

of

lithic

architecture.

As

be observed in the

will

had the happy idea

pierced

Avith

tracery

foliaged

cut (No. 146), the architect has

last

the whole of

filling in

of

the back of the strut

most

the

of

device

exquisite

thus

turning what, though elegant, was one of the feeblest parts of Jaina
design

a thoroughly

into

bracket

stone

constructive

one

most pleasing to be found in Indian architecture, and

while
that

preserving

all

traditional

its

support these brackets

propriety,

and the whole makes up

design as any certainly of

is

the dome.

It is

any constructive
is

not

adopt

difficult,

part of the composition

elegant, but too conventional.

the

eyes

It

but has become a mere

why

however, to see

When

it.

natives

nation

of

too,

pillars,

and constructive

as elegant a piece of architectural

The weak

its age.

propriety,

The

associations.

great elegance

are of

the

of

doing this

have

should

no longer has
ornament.

admire

It

and

been educated by a

gradual succession of changes in any architectural object, persevered

in

through

five

or

six

the

centuries,

taste

becomes so accustomed

to believe the last fashion to be the best, the change has been so gra-

how far they are straying from the true path.

The European, who has not been so educated, sees only the result,

dual, that people forget

without having followed the steps by which

shocked to find how far

of

construction,

indeed,
ture.

it

is

and,

it

arises

Few among

from

has been so reached, and

finding

it

also

unfamiliar,

condemns

it.

is

dome
So,

with nine-tenths of the ornaments of Hindu architecus are aware

with their admiration of

sequently,

it

has deviated from the form of a true

how much

or

education has had to do

mediaeval art,

and few, con-

condemnation of Indian forms

very want of gradual and appropriate education.

perceive
this

how much

classical

their

'Picturesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture,'

pi. 17.

CAVES.

Chap. IV.

2G1

Jaina Caves.

The

Jains never were great cave-diggers

nature

the

of

their

religion did not require great assembly halls like the chaityas of

Buddhists, nor was

monasteries
affected

those

like

and

light

the

necessary that their priests should live apart in

it

of

predecessors,

their

gloom

than

rather

air

Brahmans, however, during the stage

and

their

ceremonial

Like the

mystery.

or

of transition they could hardly

by the Buddhists, to which all

1000 years, and which was
a singularly impressive form of temple-building.
We find

refuse entirely to follow a fashion set

India had been accustomed

in

reality

for

nearly

them, consequently, excavating caves at Khandagiri, near Cuttack, in

succession to the older ones in the Udayagiri.
At Ellora they followed
immediately after the Buddhists

may

and elsewhere there are caves which

be claimed by either religion, so like are they to each other in

their transitional state.

Great light has recently been thrown

on the

history

of

these

excavations by the discovery of a Jaina cave at Badami, in Dharwar,

There

with a well-ascertained date.^

no inscription on the cave

is

but there are three other Brahmanical caves in the same place,

itself,

which has an inscription with an undoubted

one of

or A.D. 579

and

all

date,

500 Saka

four caves are so like one another in style that

The Jaina
we take the year a.d. G50

they must have been excavated within the same century.

probably the most modern

cave

is

as a

medium

date,

but

if

we may probably consider

it

as certain within

an

and about 19

ft.

error of twenty years either way.

The cave
deep,
either

and

it

itself

is

is

very small, only 31

ft.

uncertain whether

little

across

the

end of the verandah are integral, or whether they may not

The inner

have been added at some subsequent period.

ever, are of

examples

groups, howis

unaltered,

standing-point for comparison with other

fixed

and when we come

them

Ellora has

pression
selves,

the architecture

to

compare

it

with the groups known

Indra Subha and Jaganat Subha at Ellora, we cannot hesitate

to ascribe
at

the cave, and

the age of

and thus becomes a

as the

groups of figures at

arising

which

to about the

same

Hitherto,

age.

from the character

partly

are

neither

purely

Jaina

of

nor

group

the Jaina

been considered as the most modern there

an im-

the sculptures
purely

Hindu

them-

more,

however, from the extreme difficulty of comparing rock-cut examples

with structural ones.

is,

the

interiors

practically

Our knowledge

in nine cases out of ten, derived

no

are

quite

exteriors,

subordinate.

and

at the

of

the architecture of temples

from their external forms, to which

Cave-temples,

however,

have

utmost facades modified to admit

Burgess, 'lieport on Belgam and Kuladji Districts,' 1875,

p. 25,

plates 36 and 37.

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

262

Book

II.

more li<^lit tlian is usual iu structural edifices, and then strengthened

and modified so as to suit rock-cut architecture. As no ancient Jaina
temple hitherto known had a dated inscription upon it, nor a tolerably
authenticated history, it is no wonder that guesses might be Avide of
the truth.
Now, however, that we know positively the age of one
example, all this can be rectified, and there seems no doubt that all
the Indra Subha group were finished before the cataclysm say

before a.d. 750.

When

with this new light we come to examine with care the

architecture

of

these

fa9ades,

extraordinary

affinity

above

the

woodcut

in style as the Kylas

nearly

caves,

so

date.

May
of

itself,

a Photograph.)

style.

The

little

detached

147),

and,
that

like

are

essentially

as

many

they cannot

of

shown

Dravidian

the details of these

possibly

be distant in

we, therefore, assume from this that the Chalukyan king-

Kalian,

in

the

cat examples, with the

7th

century of

\\'e

shall

our

era,

extended from

Badami on the south, and that all

temple at AiwuUi (Woodcut No.

excavated or erected under their auspices

this

group exhibits an

the Indra Subha, and the gateway

(No.

identical

Ellora on the north to

To

(From

with the southern

shrine in the courtyard of

dom

find the Ellora

Entrance to the ludra Subba Cave at Ellora,

147.

in

we

these rock-

120), were

have occasion to re\ert

presently,

when

de-

CONVERTED MOSQUES.

Chap. IV.

scribing the Dravidian style

theory represents

this

of

may be assumed

it

that

the case more nearly than any

The Chalukyas

brought forward.

hitherto

but meanwhile

the facts

263

Kalian were situated

of

on the border-line, halfway between the north and the south, and
they, or their subjects, seemed to have

practised the styles of

archi-

might
almost be said alternately and we consequently find them mixed up
here and at Dhumnar in a manner that is most puzzling.
belonging to those two divisions indiscriminately

tecture

The

king of this race, Yicramaditya

last

II.,

ascended the throne

A.D. 733,^

and died probably in or about the year

probably,

therefore,

that

before

date that these

temples were,

Saiva

Cholas,

who were

believe,

a.d.

excavated by the

the Dravidian races, and,

if

and

The

this

much

shrine

king, and

last

the model that suggested the Kylas, the

Indian rock-cut examples of

all

Indra Subha looks very

the com*t of the

in

may have been

it

greatest of

or

Jains, however, seem to have been earlier in the field,

little

as if

other

Cheras

power, as will presently be explained, up to the Ner-

their

budda.

was

It

I mistake not, superseded

Chalukyas on the death of Yicramaditya, their

the

carried

750.

Dravidian temple-

The Kylas and

forms were introduced by the Jains at Ellora.

great

it

its class.

Converted Mosques.
form in which we can study the architectm-e

Another

the

of

Jains in the north of India is the courtyards of the early mosques

which the Mahomedans erected on their first entiy into India. So
essentially do some of these retain their former features that it might

be convenient to describe them here.

It

however, in

doubtful,

is

some instances whether the pillars are some or all of them in their
original position, or to what extent they have been altered or eked out

Be

by the conquerors.
one fact

the

temples.

more

that

All are
as

logical,

latter rather

"Were

it

this

as

certain

is

is,

may, for our

of

Mahomedan mosques, and

well

more convenient,

as

than with the former

not for

might

it

that none

this,

to

present

them
it

are

will,

purposes

now Jaina

therefore,

be

group them with the

class of buildings.

Jomphra, at Ajmir

the Arhal-din-ka

so

and has been, described as a Jaina temple.^ So

might a great part of the mosque at the Kutub, Delhi. That at
Canouge, however, was originally a rean-angement, and has been
much altered since I knew it that at Dhar, near Mandu, is of comcalled

be,

paratively

'

recent

Journal of

ciety,' vol.

iv,

p.

date

while the Jaina

the Eoyal Asiatic So-

7; 'Madras Journal,'

vol. XX. p. 78, et seqq.

pillai*s,

Tod's

'

plate facing

so

frequently

Eajastan,' vol.
it.

1.

used

p. 778,

and

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

264
at

Ahmedabad

in

loth centui'y, are

the

imported, and

all

positions for which they never were intended.

The astylar temples of the Hindus were

except as quarries

to

useless

the

Book

II.

used

in

Moslems

a purpose to which they were frequently applied

but the light columnar style of the Jains not only supplied materials

more easily adapted to their purposes, but furnished hints of which

Moslem architects were not slow to avail themselves. The architecture of Ahmedabad, for instance (a.d. 1396 to 1572), is derived
far more directly from the Jaina than from any style familiar to
The same may
their co-religionists in any other part of the w^orld.
be said of that of Juanpore, though in the last-named city there
is hardly a stone that can be said to be derived direct from any
the

previously existing building.

The process by which this conversion of a Jaina temple to a

Moslem mosque w^as effected will be easily understood by referring to
the plan of that of Yimala Sah, on Mount Abu (Woodcut No. 129,

By removing

the principal cell and its porch from the

building up the entrances of the cells that
and
centre of the court,
was at once obtained, surrounded by a
courtyard
surround it, a
double colonnade, which always w-as the typical form of a mosque.
a more important side
one essential feature was wanting
Still
this they easily obtained by removing the smaller
towards Mecca
p.

235).

pillars

from that

side,

and re-erecting in

of the porch, with their

dome

their place the larger pillars

in the centre

smaller domes, by placing one of

them

and,

at each end.

if

there were

two

Thus, Avithout a

new column or carved stone being required, they obtained a

mosque which, for convenience and beauty, was unsurpassed by anything they afterwards erected from their own original designs.

single

SOUTHERN

OllAP. V.

IKDIA.

CHAPTEK

265

V.

JAINA STYLE IN SOUTHERN INDIA.

CONTENTS.
Bettus

GOOD deal has been done

monuments of the Jains

the

am

as I

Bastis.

lately

in

recently been written

aware, has

way

the

photograph in

of

in southern India, but nothing, so far

that

any

gives

statistical

account of their present position in the country, nor any information

when

their

What

is

establishments were

first

formed in

no plans have been made

is,

that

and no architectural
drawn, so that altogether our knowledge of the subject is

details

somewhat

superficial

but

their

of

it

buildings

interesting

is

curious from the unexpected relationship

and

Mysore and Canara.^

even more to be regretted for our present purposes

it

from

its

extent,

and

reveals with other styles

countries.

Mr. Burgess's report has proved that Jains did

and Badami {supra,

p.

tainly in the 7th century

four

exist at Aiwulli

261) as early as the end of the 6th, or cer;

but after that there

w^hen

the

is

a pause or break

style

reappears

in

Belgaon and in that neighbourhood in the

11th and

12th centuries.

of

or

five

centuries,

strength at

In the same manner southern Jains seem to have pressed northward

as far as
style

Ellora

in

the

with them {supra,

7th or 8th century, taking their Dravidian

p.

261)

but there again we stop, in so far

any direct evidence has been found, till the great outburst of Jaina
magnificence at the end of the 10th century, which then seems to have
continued in the north till disturbed by the Mahomedan invasion.
as

It is by no means clear whether the destruction of their temples, as at

Ajmir and Delhi, and the persecution of their faith generally, may

not have been the cause that induced the Jains to migrate southward.

ment

It certainly

in

the

was about that time when

Unfortunately the census of 1872 did

to the Mysore, where the

not extend

principal Jaina establishments are situatcd, nor to

Of course

south took place.

any of

tlie

native states of

'

it

southern India.

its

The

do not consequently
facts of the case,

greatest

existed

there

developbefore.

figures thus given

at all represent the

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

266

and some
at

11.

of the early kings of Hoisala Bellalas were Jains nominally

All

least.

either

Book

their

know them,

however, so far as we

buildings,

Somnathpm-, Bellur, or HuUabid, belong to the Vaishnava

at

or Saiva faiths.

Another circumstance which

is

perplexing, or at least unusual,

is,

that the Jainism of the south does not seem to be founded on any pre-

Buddhism.

existing

No

important Buddhist remains have yet been

discovered south of Poona, with the single exception of the Amravati

tope and a few caves in

bably

exist, or

immediate neighbourhood.

its

have existed

More may

pro-

but the rapid manner in which Hiouen

Thsang passes through these countries, and the slight mention he

makes of Buddhist establishments,^ render it doubtful if any important communities belonging to that faith existed in Dravida-desa.^

In the

capital, indeed,

Konkanapura, which seems to have been

ated somewhere in Northern Mysore, there

tensive Buddhist establishments

on the

situ-

may have been some

but as they have

left

ex-

no memorials

and no monuments, we may be allowed to suspect they were

spot,

not so important as he describes them to be in the 7th century.

If,

no

however, there was

Buddhism

in

the

on which

south

Jainism could be based, there are everywhere traces of the prevalence

now

of Serpent worship in those districts where the religion of Jaina

many heads and

Sculptured serpents, with

prevails.

in

their

all

conventional forms, are found everywhere about and in the temples

and Subramuni, below the Ghats,

of Serpent worship in southern

say

to

how

far

when the worship

ceases

some indications that

inquired after,
indications

it

India.

It is not, unfortunately, easy

is

it

quickly than sculptured

did prevail here also, but,

impossible to say to what extent or

Enough, however,

can be relied upon.

latter

faith.

stones,

disappear more readily.

traces

its

is

till

south, but

those districts

did not appear in

in

which Jainism

and

There

purposely

how

far the

known, even

now, to justify the assertion that Tree and Serpent worship did
antecedently in

one of the principal seats

Tree worship was mixed up with the

Trees perish more easily and

are

still

is

prevailed

exist

in

the

the more purely Dravidian countries

where the people are now devoted to the worship of Siva and the

Hindu Pantheon.
The truth of

the matter appears

to

be, that until the

numerous

Jaina inscriptions which exist everywhere in the south are collected

'Vie et Voyages,'

seqq., vol.

iii.

vol.

i.

p.

201, et

p. 146, et seqq.

Walter Elliot and others have

there are Buddhist remains in
the south, and I know the general
opinion is that this is so. I have never
myself seen any, nor been able to obtain
^

told

Sir

me

photographs or detailed information regarding them. When they are brought

forward these assertions may be modified.
They, however, express in the

meanwhile
the subject.

our

present

knowledge

of

BETTUS.

Chap. V.

and

translated,

and

plans

until

about them,

collected

statistics

the time of the introduction of

during

situdes

existence

idle

is

of

their

either about

Jain ism into the south, or

there.

and

buildings,

speculate

to

a task which,

its vicis-

to be
few in that Presidency are capable of undertaking, and that

feared,

fewer

its

are willing

still

to

successfully carried

for, if

It is

but

and

is

is

it

worthy of being attempted,

would add to our scant

out, it

knowledge one of the most interesting chapters

religious

it

devote the time and labour requisite for

successful accomplishment

its

made

are
it

267

still

stores of

available for the

artistic history of the people of India.

Bettus.

The

peculiarity that strikes one as distinguishing the Jaina

first

architecture of the south from that of the north,

is

the division of the

southern temples into two classes, called Bastis and

The

Bettus.^

former are temples in the usual acceptance of the word, as understood

in the north, and, as there, always containing

twenty-four Tirthankars, which

latter

are

unknown

north

the

in

sky and containing images, not of

Gomata Eaja

an image of one of the

The

the object there worshipped.

is

and are courtyards open to the

a Tirthankar, but of a Gomati or

though who he was, and why worshipped, no

so called,

He

one seems exactly to know.

is

not

known

to the Jains in the

All the images on the rock at Gualior are of one or other of

north.

the Tirthankars, and even the Ulwar colossus.

be identified with these southern images.

Nan

Gungi, can hardly

It looks almost as if

some

vague tradition of Gautama Buddha the prince, as distinguished from

Mahavira the

last

his

had in

preceptor,

to

rise

this

late

peculiar form.

and who

said to have been

is

times penetrated to the south, and given

Be

this,

however, as

king or Jaina saint are among

this

of

of the Tirthankars,

Three

native art in the south of India,

it

of

them

are

attention

Wellesley,

He,

like

That

most indifferent Saxon.

of even the

the

known, and have

if
any more

known to Europeans,^ and it is doubtful

They are too remarkable objects not to attract

long been
exist.

may, the images

the most remarkable works of

of

the

late

Duke

of

Wellington when, as

all

those

who

was a part of the

now
^

stands.

followed him, was astonished at the

hill

The former

'Asiatic Restarclies,' vol.

is

or

A.

amount

ix. p. 285.

These three were engraved in Moor's

Pantheon,' plates 73 and 74, in 1810.

of

know whether

had been moved to the spot where

the more probable theory.

'

Sir

he commanded a division at the siege of Serin gapatam.

labour such a work must have entailed, and puzzled to

it

the attcHtion

at Sravana Belgula attracted

The

it

hill called

I have photographs of them, but not of

any others, nor have I been able to hear
of any but these three.

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

268

Indra

Giri

is

one muss of

the

subjacent mass or lying

fashion into a statue 70

the

its

This

it.

in

ft.

summit
the

Jains

11.

and

heig'ht,

either a

part of

undertook to

3 in. in height, and have achieved

ft.

The

marvellous success.

on

400

about

granite

probably had a mass or Tor standing on

Book

task of carving a rock standing in

with

it

its

place

Hindu mind never would have shrunk from, had it even been twice
but to move such a mass up the steep smooth side of the hill

the size

seems a labour beyond their power, even with

masses of

centrating

rock was found

in

men on
situ

their skill in con-

all

Whether, however, the

or was moved, nothing grander or more
a single point.

anywhere out of Egypt, and even there no known statue

in height, though, it must be confessed, they do excel it

imposing

exists

surpasses

it

in the perfection of art

they exhibit.

The image
which

kala,

being 41

size

in

80

moved

tons

was

certainly to the

and

stands,
luckily

it

now

its

date

engraved

is

1432, and

A.D.

it,

so

is

it

its

5 in.

ft.

where

place

upon

and weighs

height,

about

Kar-

at

next

is

that

like

at

Belgula, that there can

hardly

much

be

dif-

between

ference

their

ages.

The

third at

Yannur

smaller, about 35

is

high

from the
which

in

it is

style

of

art

executed

is

it

ft.

but

apparently,^

probably the oldest

(Woodcut

three

of the

No. 148).
Colossal Statue at Yannur.
(From a Photograph.)

148.

All

Digambara

sect of

Jains, being entirely

naked

peculiarity of having twigs of the Bo-tree of

relifjiosa

'

twisted

round

Asiatic Ecsearclics,' vol.

2

arms

their

Ix. p.

Moor's

'

285

'

and

and
in

Indian Antiquary,'

Pantheon,' plate 73.

to

the

possess the

all

Sakya Muni

legs

three

these

belong

figures

the Ficus

manner found

vol.

ii.

p. 353.

BASTIS.

Chap. V.

nowhere

and in having serpents

else,

Badami a

cave at

arms and

legs

relegated

to

their

at

precisely as

This

background.^

the

which

found

is

it

its
is

though probably not

is certainly
say a.d. 600

figure,

older than the three great monoliths,

and with other indications

probable that the greater prominence of the serpent or the

renders

it

tree

no unfair indication of the relative age of

is

In the Jaina

feet.

two serpents wound round

these twigs are here, and the Bo-tree

similar figure has

so old as the cave in

much

269

any two

statues.

In that at Yannur, the serpents are three-headed and very prominent

on

the statue,

beside
are

and

so,^

less

at

alongside

steles

the

At

legs.

they

Kfirkala

Belgula they are relegated to the base, while

the

whole

principal group of the Bastis of the Jains, at present

known

with

the tree

its

leaves

thickly

there

is

spread

over

figure.

Bastis.

The

at least, above the Ghfits,

two

hills

the

that at Sravana Belgula.

is

on whose summit the

Indragiri,

On

described stands, and dominates the plain.

all

colossal

image just

a shoulder of the other,

As might be

number.

called Chandragiri, stand the Bastis, fifteen in

expected from their situation, they are

There are there

of the

Dravidian style of

and are consequently built in gradually receding stories,

ornamented with small simulated cells, as was
is
explained above, p. 134, and will be more fully described presently.

architecture,

each of which

No

is

among them

occurs

instance

which

the

of

curvilinear

sikra

or

spire,

universal with the northern Jains, except in the instance of

Ellora above alluded to.

Unfortunately, no one has yet thought

it

worth while to make a

plan of any of these temples, nor even to describe them in detail, so

that

it

is

difficult

to

feel

sure

anything regarding them.

of

The

following woodcut (No. 149) conveys, however, an idea of the general

external

appearance,

which

is

more

generality of northern Jaina temples.

north
rally

is

almost always quite plain.

ornamented with

mental

cells.

cloisters, at

Inside

is

the back of

ornamental

than that

The outer wall of

The southern ones

of

the

those in the
are as gene-

and crowned with a row of ornaa court probably square and surrounded by
which rises the vimana over the cell, which

pilasters

principal image of the Tirthankar.

It always is surmounted by a small dome, as is universally the case with every
vimana in Dravidian architecture, instead of with the mysterious
amalaka ornament of northern sikras.

contains the

'

Burgess,

'

Arclioeological

Reports,'

1875, p. xxxvii., plate 25.

2 Tlic artist who drew the litliograpbs
for the

'

Indian Antiquary,'

vol.

ii.

plate

on

p.

353, not

knowing

that serpents were

intended, has supplied their place with

an ornamentation of his own design.

JAINA ARCHITECTUKE.

270
It

may

a vain speculation, but

])e

and not be struck with

this woodcut,

of southern Babylonia

temple

itself

resemblance

the

it

panelled

seems

or

difficult

it

seems impossible to look at

resemblance to the temples
of vol.

The same

i.).

the backward position of the

pilastered

basement, are

all

points of

The

regard as purely accidental.

to

IT.

its

(Woodcuts Nos. 47 and 48

division into stories, with their cells

Book

distance of time would seem to bar such an idea, but the combinations
of

men

with bulls and

lions,

and the many

similarities

between the

Pantheons of Babylonia and India, render the fact of the architecture

Jaina Basli at Siavaua Belgula.

149.

of

the

one country influencing

impossible, though by

long tried to shake

some

off

it

that

may

(From

of

a Pbotograi'b.)

the

other,

far

from being

be considered improbable.

ha^'e

the idea as an untenable hypothesis, but every

time I return to the study of the subject, its likelihood recurs with
Its verification, however, or refutation must
increasing strength.

depend on our possessing greater knowledge of the subject than we

do

at present.

When

Ave

we come on
religion of

descend the Ghfits into Canara, or the Tulava country,

a

totally

different

the country, and

all

state

or

of

nearly

matters.
all

Jaiuism

is

the temples belong

the
to

TEMPLE AT MOODBIDRT.

Chap. V.

Dravidian style of the

this sect, but their architecture is neither the

south, nor that of northern India,

anywhere

else

in

271

and indeed

is

India Proper, but recurs with

not

known

all

its

to exist

peculiarities

in Nepal.

The annexed two views (Woodcuts Nos. 150-51)

of these temples,

of one of the largest

found at a place called Moodbidri,^ in Canara,

much

plainer than

Hindu temples

usually are.

Jaina Temple at Moodbidri.

150.

The

(From a Photograph.)

octagons,

'

Among

the

Architecture of

plates

photographs

of

the

Dharwar and Mysore,'

74 and 75, there labelled HlrWhen writing the descrip-

pouhully.

tions of these plates, I

was struck with,

and pointed out, the curiously exceptional

nature of the style of that temple, and
with the style of Nepal
but I had no idea then that it was below,
and not above, the Ghats, and far from
being exceptional in the country where
it was
situated.
In fact, one of the
its affinities

are

pillars look like logs

wood with the angles partially chamfered off, so

and the sloping roofs of the verandahs

of

will give

They

a fair idea of the general aspect of these temples externally.

as to

are

make them
so

evidently

great difficulties in writing a book like

the present is to avoid making mistakes

of this

sort.

Photographers are

in naming the
views they are making, and mounters
frequently more so, in transferring the

frequently so

careless

right

names

many

instances photographs

to the

mounts, that in very

come

to

me

with names that have no connexion with

the subjects and it is only by careful
comparison, aided with extraneous knowledge, that grave errors can be avoided.
;

JAINA AllCHITECTURE.

272

wooden that
In

original.

tlie

style

many

itself

Book

ir.

cannot be far removed from a wooden

below the Ghats the temples are

places, indeed,

wholly constructed in wood without any admixture of stone, and

almost all the features of the Moodbidri temples may be found in wood
still

at the present day.

The

blinds between the pillars, which are there

executed in stone, are found in wood in every city in India, and with
very

little

variation are used by

Europeans in Calcutta to a greater

extent, perhaps, than they were ever used

Jama lemplo

lol.

The
the

feature, however,

northern

verandah.

Nepal, and

it

styles,

am
is

is

at

by the

natives.

(From a Photograph.)

Moodbidn.

which presents the greatest resemblance to

the

reverse

not aware of

its

so peculiar that

it

slope

existence
is

of

the

eaves

anywhere

much more

above the

else

likely to

south of

have been

copied than re-invented.

The

marked contrast with

Nothing can exceed the richness or the
No two pillars seem alike, and
variety with which they are carved.
many are ornamented to an extent that may seem almost fantastic.
This again seems an indication of their recent descent from a wooden
interiors of the Canarese temples are in

the plainness of the exteriors.

TEMPLE AT MOODBIDKI.

Chap. V.
original.

Long

273

habit of using stone would have sobered their forms,


JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

274

JioOK

II.

and

this is just such an excess of strength as a people accuswooden architecture would employ when first called upon to
replace in stone supports which in wood would have appeared necessary to carry a heavy stone roof (Woodcut No. 152, p. 273).
Their plans, as far as can be made out from photographs, are those

ncss

tomed

to

Jaina temples

usual in

dark

in which the

cell

naked of course, as
the Digambara sect.

all

porches, leading

spacious, well-lighted

image

of

one of the Tirthankars

is

to

placed,

Jains seem to have belonged to

the southern

determined with certainty, as no

from them have yet been published or translated, but,
as information can be gathered from the various sources
three or four hundred years seems to be about the limit of

Their age has not yet been

inscriptions

in so far
available,

Some may go back

their age.

kingdom
time

may

it

of the

was

first

as far as 1300, but

looks as

it

the

if

Zamorin was at the height of its prosperity about the

visited by the Portuguese, and that the finest temples

belong to that age.

Besides the greater temples, there are several varieties of

ones which seem peculiar to the style

such,

smaller

for instance, as the five-

shrine

pillared

Four-pillared

Hindu temples
There

No.

153).

pavilions

uncommon

not

Gurusan-

at

(Woodcut

kerry

of

in the south.

a very famous

is

one,

on the opposite

for instance,

India at Mahavelli-

shore of

know

pore, but not one, that I

of,

are

front

in

with

with

five pillars, or

access to the upper chambers.

There are three of these upper

chambers in
the

two

but

open

instance

this

lower

now

apparently
;

closed,

originally

but to what use they

were devoted, or what

were

pose they
subserve,
clear.

temple
Pavilion at rJunisankeiry.
(From a Fhotograph.)

153.

now

there,

that

to

means

At the base of the

number of
are
a
,

stoues

bearing

serpents

unagcs

or

seven or eight are

and the serpents themselves are some with one, others

three, five, or seven heads.

and

no

by

is

pur-

intended

the

living

form

It
of

may

be that this

this

strange

is

a serpent temple,

divinity,

when

alive,

TOMBS OF PRIESTS, MOODBIDRI.

Chap. V.

But

inhabited the upper storey.

may

it

275

also be, that the stones

brought there in modern times, so that

till

will take the trouble to ascertain the facts of

were

some one on the spot

the case,

it is

not safe

to speculate regarding them.

third

in the

the

feature, even

tombs of the

more

characteristic

priests, a large

Tombs

154.

ficence,

the

of
of

They vary much

of Priests, Moodbidri.

some being from three to

(From

five

style, is

found

which are found in

Three of these are

neighbourhood of Moodbidri.

the annexed Woodcut (No. 154).

number

illustrated

in size

in

and magni-

a Photograph.)

or

seven storeys in height,

but they are not, like the storeys of Dravidian temples, ornamented

with simulated
of

each storey

cells
is

and finishing with domical

a sloping

roof, like

roofs.

The

division

those of the pagodas at Kat-

mandhu, and in China or Thibet. In India they are quite anomalous.

In the first place, no tombs of priests are known to exist anywhere
else, and their forms, too, are quite unlike any other building noAV
known to be standing in any other part of India.
T 2

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

276

Thou<^li not the grandest, certainly

Bock

II.

most elegant and graceful

tlie

objects to be found in Canara belonging to the Jaina style of architecture are the stambhas, Avhich are found attached to almost every

temple.

or

These are not, hoAvever, peculiar to the place or

lamp-bearing
exhibiting

for

pillars,

light

and in that

descendants
statues

of

those

generally

or Vaishnavas

Jains

of

the

With
Their

arrangement

Jains this does

the

are the lineal

pillars

Buddhists, which bore either emblems

the former

they as

have some

case

from their summit.

not appear ever to have been the case.

or

or

animals

of

figures

generally bore

may,

they

have

been

adorned

given

Gurusankerry

The

specimen of

its

No.

The

155).

(Woodcut

class

sub-base

and

polygonal
a

circle

may

at

all,

are

If
it

copied

not

is

it

you

Those we

from

pillars

statues

got

shaft,

anything

the
less

erect

meant
and are

accustomed

anything better proportioned to the work to be done

looking at

in

when merely
we have,

them, and our eye

but,

so

ought to have some-

solecisms

however,

this

a pillar

erect

support architraves,

supporting
Statu blm at (jurnsflnkerry.
(Fiom a Photugi'aph.)

many

sight appear top-

first

but

absurd

approaching

To

thing to carry.

^^^^^i to

an

into

capital

design.

reality.

into

and above a wideof most ela-

at

heavy,

thence

figure

spreading
borate

is

the base

square, changing

octagon,

at

average

fair

square and spreading

itself

ex-

one

of

is

so

and

south,

Canara.

here

or

it

to

among

as

the

in
in

especially

ample

frequent

so

as

this

nowhere

seem

Jains

the

with the

Be

statues.

elaborately

if

They

style.

used sometimes by the Hindus, but then generally as deepdans,

are

is
is

to

offended

proposed

breadth of the base and the strength of

the

than here exhibited would be found dispropor-

tionately small.

On

the

lower

or

square part

of

these

stambhas, as well as on

the pillars inside the temples at Moodbidri (Woodcut No. 152) and
elsewhere in Canara,

we

find

that

curious

interlaced

basket-pattern,

STAMBHAS.

Chap. V.

which

is

on Irish

from Irish manuscripts or the ornaments

in a former volume (ii. p. 475), it

so familiar to us
crosses.

277

As pointed out

common in Armenia, and can be traced up the valley of

Danube into central Europe
but how it got to the west coast
of India we do not know, nor have we, so far as I know, any indiThere was at all
cation on which we can rely for its introduction.
is

equally

the

times for the

-last

and are so now.

It

Christians

of

estab-

if it were from them

But stranger things have happened
architecture, and few things can be

would be strange, indeed,

the Jains obtained this device.

than even this in the history of

more interesting when the means

may

body

fifteen centuries a large

on this coast who were in connection with Persia and Syria,

lished

exist of tracing

any connection that

be detected between them.

any one wished to

If

which Avould

illustrate

and weakness, there

select
rise

its

one feature of Indian architecture

and progress,

as well as its perfection

probably no objects more suited for

are

this

They are found

of all ages, from the simple and monolithic lats which Asoka set up
to bear inscriptions or emblems, some 250 years B.C. down to the sevenDuring these
teenth or perhaps even eighteenth centuiy of om' era.
2000 years they were erected first by the Buddhists, then by the Jains,
and occasionally by the other sects in all parts of India and notwithstanding their inherent frailty, some fifty it may be a hundred
After the first and most simple,
are known to be still standing.
erected by Asoka, it may be safely asserted that no two are alike
purpose than these stambhas, or free-standing

pillars.

bear strongly the impress of the age in which they were

though

all

erected,

and

It

may

all

are thoroughly original

and Indian in design.

be owing to the styloclastic propensities of the Moslems

that these pillars are not found so frequently where they have held
of India
but, whether from this
more frequent in Canara and among
In the north we
the southern Jains than in any other part of India.
depend mainly on the rock-cut examples for their forms, but they

sway, as in the remoter parts

cause or not, they seem to be

are so usual there that

as

frequent

it

in connection

seems hardly doubtful they were relatively

with structural

examples,

though

these

have generally disappeared.

It has

these

been suggested that there

may

be some connection between

stambhas and the obelisks of the Egyptians.

The time

that

elapsed, however, between the erection of the monoliths in the valley

of the Nile

and those in India seems to render

this doubtful,

they were certainly erected for similar

purposes and

same position

When, however, we

relatively to the temples.

the vast difference between their designs,

a

connection,

that

vast

ages

it is

though

occupied

the

look at

evident, even assuming

must have elapsed

before

the

plain

straight-lined forms of the obelisks could have been changed into the

JAINA ARCHITECTURE.

278

Book

The two

complicated and airy forms of the Jaina stambhas.

11.

are the

Alpha and Omega of architcctm-al design the older, simple and

severe, beyond any other examples of pm'ely ornamental objects
the
latter, more varied and more highly ornamented than almost any
;

others of their class that can be named.

We
any

and must

issue,

may

it

have a

how

be pointed out

that this

it is

style of

little

further information before

but mean-

curiously characteristic

Indian

of

remote province of Tulava, or Canara, should

own, differing essentially from that found in any

its

Indian continent, but

the

other part of

Avait for

can be derived from them

satisfactory conclusion

while
art

hardly yet in a position to push these speculations to

are

legitimate

their

having

still

affinities Avith

outlying and distant countries, Avith wdiich one Avould hardly suspect

any connection but for the indications derived from their architecture.
I

cannot

even a plausible conjecture how or at what time

offer

a connection

Nepal and Thibet and Canara

betAveen

existed

but

cannot doubt that such was the case, and that some one with

better

opportunities
It

terious.

intercourse

is

less

may have

western shores of
countries

Avill

hereafter

difficult

to

existed

India,

may have been

we now

Assyrian, or, as

explain what

conjecture
betAveen

and how the

hoAV

the

noAv seems
early

Gulf

Persian

relations

call

them Armenian, forms

mys-

frequent

and

the

two
the amount of

betAA^een

so intimate as to account for

so

and

aa^c

these

now

find in

the Jaina architecture of southern India, especially in that beloAv the

Ghats.

It

subject

should be

will

require,

hoAvever,

much more

that

fully

the

gated than has hitherto been the case before

more than indicate how rich a

of

any future explorer.

Indian

and more

field lies

branch of

scientifically

the

investi-

it is worth Avhile to do
open to rcAvard the industry

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279

BOOK

III.

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

CHAPTER

I.

KASHMIR.
CONTENTS.

Temples

Although
from an

neither so

Marttand Avantipore Blianiyar.

beautiful

in

nor so interesting

itself,

artistic or historical point of

view as

many

either

others, the archi-

of the valley of Kashmir has attracted more attention in

modern times than that of any other styles in India, and a greater
number of special treatises have been written regarding it than are
devoted to all the other styles put together. This arises partly from

tecture

the beauty of the valley in which the Kashmiri temples are situated.

The beauty

of

its

scenery has at

times attracted tourists to

all

verdant snow-encircled plains, and the perfection of

its

its

climate has

induced them to linger there, and devote their leisure to the investigation of
fate

is

its

treasures,

and

natural

artistic.

widely different from that of

In this respect their

temples situated on the hot

of India, where every official is too busy to devote

such a task, and travellers too hurried to linger for a

and dusty plains

himself

to

leisurely

and loving survey

of their beauties.

Apart, however, from this

adventitious

advantage, the

temples

Kashmir do form a group well worthy of attention. When one

or two spurious examples are got rid of, they form a complete and
homogeneous group, extending through about six centuries (a.d. 600
to A.D. 1200), singularly uniform in their development and very
They have
local, being
unlike any other style known in India.
of

besides

this

taken, and

who

are

is

a certain classical element,

which can hardly be misEuropeans

sufficient in itself to attract the attention of

interested

in

detecting

remote valley iu the Himalayas.

their

own

familiar

forms

in

this

'

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

280

The

POOK

IJI.

the modern investigators of the subject were

and Trebeck, who visited the valley in 1819-25.^
They were both acute and intelligent observers, but, having no special
earliest

of

Messrs. Moorcroft

knowledge of the subject, their observations on the architecture of the

add much to our knowledge of

valley do not

its history.

who being an artist

drew the buildings with wonderful correctness, so as to bring out the
peculiarities of the style, and also to api3roximate their history with
They were followed by

Gr.

T. Vigne in 1833,

About the same time Baron Hiigel gave

very tolerable exactness.^

much

impression on the subject to the public, but in a manner

his

less critical

than his predecessors.^

In 1848, Captain (now General) A. Cunningham published in the

the
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

September number of

'

an essay on what he called the Aryan order

of

which was wholly devoted to that

It

fifteen

folding

plates,

Kashmir.

of

by

illustrated

containing plans, elevations, and views, and in

was required for settling the history

fact all that

but

architecture,

was

done by his successors in this

In 1866, the Rev.

W.

the style, and,

of

but for one or two unfortunate mistakes, would have

left little to

be

field of inquiry.

C. Cowie, Chaplain

on duty in Kashmir,

published in the same journal an essay on the same subject, as a supple-

ment to General Cunningham's paper, describing several temples he

had not visited, and adding considerably to our knowledge of those
he had described. This paper was also extensively illustrated.
In consequence of all this wealth of literature, very little remained
to be done, when in 1868 Lieutenant Cole, R.E., obtained an appointment

as

superintendent

proceeded

to

Kashmir

remaining

the

the Archgeological Survey of

of

with a

outstanding

quite

staff

general,

and had not

the investigation he was

qualified

all

hoAvever,

Indian antiquities

himself by any special study for

deputed to undertake.

could do was to adopt blindly General

this there

and

settle

Unfortunately,

questions.*

Lieutenant Cole had no previous knowledge of

in

India,

to

sufficient

therefore,

All,

Cunningham's

he

and in

dates,

would have been no great harm, but, when he came across a

temple which had escaped his predecessor's attention, he arbitrarily

interpolated
these

all

it,

with a date of his own, into the General's

dates are given as

if

the reasoning on which they are based, they Avould,

if

As

series.

perfectly ascertained without

any

of

accepted, lead

*
Travels in the Himalayan Provinces
and in Ladakh and Kashmir,' London,

don, 1845.

Murray, 1841.

ings

Kashmir, Ladak,' &c.,

two vols. 8vo., London, Colburn, 1842.
^
Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab.'
Translated by Miijor Jcrvis, Lou-

the authority of the Secretary of State

'

'Travels in

'

for

'Illustrations of the Ancient Build-

under

in Kashmir,' &c., prepared,

In

lia

in Council,

by

Cole, R.E., quarto, Allen

don, 18G9.

Lieut.

and

H. H.
Lon-

Co.,

CllAP.

TOMB OF ZEIN-UL-AB-UD-DiX.

I.

most erroneous conclusions. Putting these, however, aside.

Cole's plans and architectm*al details are a valuable

the

to

281

Lieutenant

contribution to our knowledge of the subject, and with his photo-

graphs and those now available by others, enable those who have not
had an opiX)itunity of visiting the valley to foim an opinion of their
own, and with all these lights there seems little difficulty in ascertaining

the really important facts connected with this style.

all

The

and most misleading mistake that has

first

reference

Cunningham
Srinagar

made with

l)een

Kashmiri architecture, was the assumption by General

to

the

that

Zein-ul-ab-ud-din's

to

enclosiu'e

belonged

originally

an

to

ancient

tomb

Kashmii'i

in

temple.

Lieutenant Cole boldly prints on his plates, ''probable date a.d. 40u
to 5()0," a mistake as nearly as

doubtful that

and who in

a.d.

may

be of

1(m;)0

years, as it is hardly

was erected for or by the prince whose name

it

omened nickname

As

Butshikan, the idol-breaker.

of

the woodcut (Xo. 156),

it

will

and the

peculiarities

and other parts are

in

of

All the

just such as are

mosques and

tombs

Mahomedan

the gateways

found

7^

instance

for

V~

contemporary Moslem art in India.

all

ill-

be seen from

consists of a series of small pointed arches in

rectangular frames, such as are very frequently found in

art,

bears,

it

1416 succeeded his father Sikandar, who bore the

'J

at

Ahmedabad,

up

of details

a.d.

1396-1572,

borrowed from the architecture

of the Jains,

and the bases

of theu* minarets

and tneu" internal

can only be

pillars

tinguished from those

of

made

are

ois-

i_

Tomb

of zeiu-ni-ab-ud dii..
Elevation of Arch-s.
(Frooi a drawing by Lieut,

i56.

the heathen by

and by the substitution of foliage for human figures

in the niches or places where the Hindus would have introduced

their

position,

images of their gods.

no incongruity, no borrowed features

There are
eveiT stone was carved for the place where it is found.
found at
those
like
gateway,
niches it is true on each side of the
In this instance there

is

Marttand and other Pagan temples but like those at Ahmedabad

they are without images, and the arch in brick wliich simnounts this
gateway is a radiating arch, which appears certainly to bs integi'al,
;

but,

if

so,

could not possibly be erected by a Eindu.^ When General

visited the valley in 18J:8, he was not so familiar as

Cunningham

he has since become with the ruins of Gom*, Juanpore, Alunedabad,

and other Moslem cities where the architectural forms adopted by the

arch.

cannot

make

the photograph,

it

according to the scale on the plan, only

out the span of this

AcJordinET to the rods laid

apixars

to

l.te

aero.- s

15 feet;

half that amount.

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

282

Moslems

With

with difficulty distinguished

are

we now

the knowledge

mistake the

name

possess

it

from those

Assuming

Mahomedan cemetery

of

found.

it is

this for the present, it gives us a hint as to the age of

the other anomalous building in

Kashmir

the temple

called the Takt-i-Suleiman, near the capital.

hill,

Hindus.

was erected by the prince whose

fact, that this enclosure

the city in which

of the

IIT.

not likely that any one can

is

bears to surround his tomb, in the

it

Book

enclosure

that crowns the

Inside the octagonal

surrounds the platform on which

that

the temple stands

(Woodcut

a range of arches

is

No. 157), similar to those of the tomb of Zein-ulab-ud-dm (Woodcut No. 156), not so distinctly
pointed, nor so Saracenic in detail, but
Takt-i-suieimau.
Klevaiion of Arches.
(From a drawing by

Lieut. Cole.)

headed doorw^ay, not

true arch, but by a curved lintel of

in the

Hindu

imitations of

18th centuries.

very

still

nearly rescmblino:
a little more debased
n them, only
j
in stvlc.
At the bottom of the stcps
^ is a round-

157.

The same

Mahomedan
is

it

is

true surmounted

by a

one stone, such as are universal

architecture in the 17th

and

the case in the small temples alongside,

which are evidently of the same age.^ The temple too, itself, is far
from liaving an ancient look. The one most like it, that I am
acquainted with, is that erected by Cheyt Sing at Rannuggur, near
Benares, at the end of the last century.
I know of no straightlined pyramid of a much older date than that, and no temple with
a polygonal plan, combined with a circular ceU, as
that

is

of ancient date.

upon them,

inscriptions

however,
as

is,

now

it

honour

are

avowedly of the 17th century.

from a review
stands,

the case here,

four pillars in the

cell,

however, that they belong to a repair

suggested,

is

The

the

of

with the Persian

my

It

whole evidence, that the temple,

commenced by some nameless Hindus,

was

is

conviction,

in

Jehangir, and that the

of Siva, during the tolerant reign of

building was stopped at the date engraved on the staircase, a.h. 1069
(a.d. 1659), the first year of the reign of the bigot

then unfinished, and has

was

consequently

Aurungzebe.

remained a

It

ruin ever

which may give it an ancient look, but not such as to justify

any one putting it 1879 years before what seems to be its true date,

since,

as

is

Cunningham and

done by General

his

follower

Lieutenant

Cole.
If

we may thus

get rid of

examples, the history of

all

two anomalous and exceptional

these

the

remaining temples in the valley

more than usually homogeneous and

of the principal example
(a.d. 750)

and

of

the

the others, some

'

easily

intelligible.

temple at Marttand

may

is

The

is

date

hardly doubtful

be slightly older, but none

Lieut. Colo's plates, 1-08 to 4-68.

Chap.

KASHMIIU TEMPLES.

I.

283

can be carried further back than the reign of Kanaditya, a.d. 578 to

Nor can any one be brought down

below, say 1200, which is

Between these dates, with a
very little local knowledge, the Avhole might easily be arranged.
Such a classification is, however, by no means necessary at present.
The style during these six centuries is so uniform that it may be
594.

probably the date of that of Payech.

taken as one, for the purposes of a general history.

Temples.
Before proceeding to speak of the temples themselves,

what follows

to the clearness of
liarities

the

of

are.

styles

we

if

explain what

first

it

may add

the pecu-

This we are able to

do from a small model in stone of a Kashmiri

temple (Woodcut No. 158), which was drawn by
General

being

Cunniugham

such

common throughout

miniature

India,

and in

temples
all in-

stances exact copies of their larger prototypes.

The temple in this instance is surmounted

by four roofs (in the built examples, so far as
they are known, there are only two or three),
which are obviously copied from the usual
wooden roofs common to most buildings in
Kashmir, where the upper pyramid covers the
central part of the building, and the lower a
verandah, separated from the
walls

or

merely by a range of

wooden examples the

interval

centre

either

pillars. ^

in

the

ornaments.

buildings

stone

by

between the two

it

Besides this, however,

is

all

closed

and
with

these roofs

by dormer windows, of a pattern

very similar to those found in mediaeval buildings in Europe
and the same steep, sloping lines
are used also to cover doorways and porches, these
being virtually a section of the main roof itself, and
are

In the

roofs seems to have been left open for light

air

'
i

relieved

^Kls^mii^^'^

wooden construction.
which support the porticoes and the one on which
the model stands are by far the most striking peculiarity of this
evidently a copy of the same

The

pillars

shafts

style, their

being almost identical with those of the Grecian

Doric, and unlike anything of the class found in other parts of India.

vol.

See drawing of mosque by Vigne,

i. p.
269 and also Journal of the
;

'

Asiatic Society of Bengal,' 1848, p. 253,

General A. Cunningliam's
paper on the subject, from which tliis

containing

woodcut

is

taken.

APtCIIITECTUliE IN

284

THE HIMALAYAS.

BOJK

III.

Generally they are from three to four diameters in height, diminishing slightly towards the capital, and adorned with sixteen flutes,
rather shallower than those of the Grecian order.
Both the bases

and

capitals are, it is true, far more complicated than w^ould have

been tolerated in Greece, but at Paestum and in Rome we find with
the Doric order a complexity of mouldings by no means unlike that

found

These peculiarities are

here.

representation

which

of

pillar

more evident in the annexed

(Woodcut No. 159),

still

found in

Srinagar

more highly ornamented example than the last, but

in its details, and, if anything, more unlike any
known examples of true Hindu architecture. Nowhere in Kashmir
do we find any trace of the bracket capital of the Hindus, nor of the
changes from square to octagon, or to the polygon of sixteen sides,
and so on. Now that we are becoming familiar with the extent of
is

equally

a far

classical

influence

classical

Gandhara

that

prevailed

7th or 8th century, we have no

culty

in

176) doAvn to the

{ante, p.

diffi-

understanding wdience these

in

quasi-Grecian forms were derived, nor

why

found

they should be

valent

in

this valley.

It

so

pre-

adds,

how-

ever, very considerably to our interest

in the subject to find that the civiliza-

tion

West

the

of

India that
tected

down

in

strong an

this

part

can be

of

de-

the Kashmiri buildings

to the time

under

perished

of

influence

its
all

so

left

impress on the arts

when

the local style

Mahomed an

influence

in the beginning of the 14th century.

(From a drawing
by W. Carpenter, E^q.)

159.

Pillar at Srinagar.

Although, therefore, there can be no

mistake about the principal forms of

the
of

architecture of

Kashmir being derived from the

the West, and as

little

classical

styles

doubt as to the countries through which

must not be overlooked that the

and more remote from its source in Kashmir than in Gandhara. Nothing resembling the Corinthian capitals
of the Jamalgiri monastery are found in the valley.
The classical
features in Kashmir are in degree more like those of the Manikyala
it

was introduced into the

valley, it

classical influence is fainter

tope and the very latest examples in the

style, in fact,

on the tradition
from w'hich

The

it

fact,

Peshawur

The one

valley.

seems to commence Avhere the other ends, and to carry

for

centuries

after

it

had been

lost in the

country

was introduced.
however, of a quasi-Doric order being currently used

in the vallcv from the sth to the 12th

centui'v is one of

the

manv

Chap.

MARTTAND.

T.

285

arguments that tend to confirm the theory that the Corinthian order
of the Gandhara monasteries is not so ancient as might at first sight

At

appear.

events,

all

so

at

valley

"late

a Doric order was the style of the Kashmiri

if

date,

there

no a

is

improbability in a

jjriori

Corinthian order being used at Peshawnr in the 5th or Gth century.

On

evidently derived

from the

same

seems most unlikely that there should be any break in the

it

continuity
appear,

both were

as

contrary,

the

source,

Strange though

the tradition.

of

seems as

it

the impulse

if

first

it

may

at

sight

first

given by Bactria three centuries

before the Christian Era continued without a break to influence

the

India for twelve centuries after that

that corner of

architecture of

epoch.

No

example of the Doric order has yet been found in Gandhara,

but, as both Ionic

and Corinthian

capitals have been

found there,

seems more than probable that the Doric existed there also
our knowledge, up to this date,

any

deficiencies

limited practically to two monas-

is

a hundred,

out, probably, of

teries

our series that

in

it

but as

we ought not to be surprised at

may from time to time become

apparent.

There

no means

one other peculiarity of this style which

still

is

easy to

account

This

for.

is

the

trefoiled

by

is

it

which

arch,

is

everywhere prevalent, but which in our present state of knowledge

cannot be accounted for

any foreign

to

impression

is,

that

No. 58,1

it

will

is

it

the Buddhists.

of

by any constructive

from which

style

Referring, for instance, to

it

represents,
;

Woodcut No. 46

or to

decorative

no means improbable that the

is

just such a trefoil as

every-

is

and, as both there and everywhere else

in India, architectural decoration

buildings applied as

Kashmir

My own

derived from the facades of the chaitya halls

where prevalent in Kashmir

out the

nor traced

be perceived that the outline of the section of the

cave at Ajunta, which

in

necessity,

could have been copied.

it

is

made up

of small models of large

features wherever

trefoiled fagade

as currently as the simple horse-shoe

Buddhist buildings of

India

required,

it

is

by

may have been adopted

Proper.

form was throughAll these features,

however, mark a local style differing from anything

else

in

India,

pointing certainly to another race and another religion, which we are

not as yet able to trace to

its source.

Marttand.

By
style

is

far

the

finest

the temple

of

and most typical

On the Toian attached to the rail at

Bharhut are elevations of chaitya halls,
'

^example

Marttand, situated about

showu
trefoil

in section,

of
five

the

Kashmiri

miles

east

which represent

form with great exactness.

of

this

AKCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

286

Islamabad, the ancient capital of the valley.

lion

Kashmir, and

of

raptures about
or

Thebes,

Great

or

of

the

admiration

it

the

excites

it

III.

architectural

go into
Palmyra

necessary to

is

to

old

world.

due to

its

on an elevated plateau, from which a most

No

obtained, over a great part of the valley.

is

house interferes with

its

and

solitary grandeur,

down apparently by an earthquake

are unobscured

It is the
it

wonderful groups of ruins of

other

It stands well

extensive view

think

tourists

beauty and magnificence, comparing

however,

part,

situation.

or

its

all

Book

ruins

its

tree

shaken

lie scattered as they fell, and

by vegetation, nor are they vulgarised by any modern

Add to this the mystery that hangs over their origin,

accretions.
and a Western impress on its details unusual in the East, but which
familiar forms and suggests memories
calls back the memory of
that throw a veil of poetry over its history more than sufficient to
excite admiration in the most prosaic spectators.
AVhen, however,
we come to reduce its dimensions
to

to

(Woodcut No. 160), and

its pretensions to rank

scale

examine

among

the great examples of archi-

tectural art, the rhapsodies of

it

which

has been the theme seem a

little

out of place.

The temple
161)

is

itself

(Woodcut No.

a very small

building, be-

ing only 60

in length

The width

in width.

however,

ft.

is

by 38

ft.

of the fa9ade,

eked out by two wings

make it 60 ft.
As General Cunningham estimates
complete,
that its height, when
or

adjuncts, which

was 60

blem

ft.

(From a drawing

by General A.'Cuiiiiingham.)
Scale 100

If et

to 1 inch.

earnestly

so

to solve

themselves
Temple of Marttand.

160.

pro-

also, it realises the

Jews

the

how

to

set

build

a temple with the three dimensions

equal, but yet should not be a cube.

was more than twice as

At Jerusalem the temple was 100 cubits, or 150
large as this one.
At Marttand these dimensions
ft. in length, breadth, and height.^
were only 60 ft. But it is one of the points of interest in the KashSmall, however, as the Jewish temple was,

miri temple that

it

reproduces in plan, at

it

least,

the

Jewish temple

more nearly than any other known building.

>

Olio

Bell, jud.,' v. v. 4, Midhave written a work I Lope

Josephus,

doth,

iv. 6. I

day

to

'

publish,

'On

the temples

of tlie Jews,' in

will be

drawn

which

all

to scale.

these dimensions

MARTTAND.

Chap. L

The

roof

the

of

Hiigel doubted

if

it

287

temple has so entirely disappeared that Baron

ever possessed

General Cunningham, on

one.^

the other hand, has no doubts on the subject,

on his plate No.

the

of

floor

The

14.

restores

and, looking at the tenuity of the walls

and the large voids they include, I doubt extremely

could have supported a stone roof of the usual design.

View

IGl.

the plan

could,

if

of

Temple

and

it

is

Mai ttand.

it

will be seen that

how

had one was in wood

used wooden roofs for

When,

too.

none of the masses

the roof of the porch

in stone, be fitted to that over the cella.

my

they ever

if

(From a Photograph.)

very difficult to see

things into consideration,

this

at

carefully examined,

is

are square

in stone

it

temple that could have belonged to the roof, militates

against this view

seriously

and

absence, however, of any fragments on the

impression

is,

that

its

Taking
roof

these

all

certainly

it

and knowing how extensively the Buddhists

no improbability of

their chaitya halls, I see

being the case here at the time this temple was erected.

The courtyard that surrounds and encloses

state of ruin, a more remarkable object than

'

this temple

the temple

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' Sept. 1848,

is,

in

itself.

p. 2G7.

its

Its

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

288

dimensions are

internal

though not excessive

220

by 142

ft.

they are

not

ft.,i

Rook

which are

mnch more than

III.

respectable,

those

of

the

temple of Xeminatha at Girnar (Woodcut Xo. 12G), which are 165 ft.
and 105 ft., though that is by no means a large Jaina temple. On
each face

which

162.

a central

is

it

is

larger

Ceiitral Cell of

Court at Marttand.

and higher than the colonnade in

1G2), but

even then only 30

(From a drawing by General A. Cunningham.)

height to the summit of the roof, supposing

in

and the
not

dimensions

One

of

the

side

go wild

of it

are

to

it
ft.

their

Ko

ft.

Bcale.

be completed,

high, which are

strongly-impressed

and interesting.

most remarkable features

"

only 9

about, though

certainly curious

to all true

Cunningham
terior

to

is

of the

common

on each

pillars

Grecian aspect

is

cell,

placed (Woodcut Xo.

Kashmiri temples,

of the courtyard,
is

though

it

thus described by General

have a suspicion also that the whole of the in-

quadrangle was originally

filled

with water to a level

Cuuningliam iu the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' Sept. 18i8,

p. 209.

Chap.

MAKTTAND.

I.

289

within one foot of the bases of the cohimns, and that access to the

temple was gained by a raised pathway of slabs, supported on solid

blocks at short intervals, which connected the gateway flight of steps

The same kind

with that leading to the temple.

pathway must

of

have stretched right across the quadrangle from one side doorway to
the other.
Sunilar pathways still exist in the Shalimar gardens, as
reservoirs and canals.
On the outside
and close by the northern side of the gateway,
there is a drain by which the surplus w^ater found its exit, thus
keeping the surface always at the same level. The temples at Pandrethan Ledari, and in the Barahmula Pass, are still standing in the

passages

across the different

of the quadrangle,

midst of water.

constant supply of fresh water was kept up by a

canal or watercourse from the River Lambadari, which was conducted

alongside of the mountain for the service of the neighbouring village
" The only object," the General goes on to
of Sinharotsika," &c.

remark, "of erecting temples in the midst of water must have been

them more immediately under the protection

to place

who were

or human-bodied and snake-tailed gods,

for ages throughout

Kashmir."

There are no inscriptions on

temple which

this

enclosure at least was erected by Lalitaditya,^

;

and

my

conviction

is

enable

\\'ould

to fix its date with certainty, but all authorities are

to 761

of the Nagas,

zealously worshipped

us

agreed that the

who reigned

725

a.d.

that he also erected the temple

itself.

General Cunningham, however, on the strength of a passage in the

*

Raja Tarangini,' ascribes the building

who reigned
enables him

a.d.

to

He may

578 to 594.
identify

the

the temple to Ranaditya,^

of

have

local

information which

with

Sinharotsika

village

wiiich he has not given to the public

but even then

it

this
is

place

only said

he erected a temple to the sun at that place,* but nothing to show

that

was

it

not

clear.

'

Whether

this temple.

Journal of

Society of

the Asiatic

Cunningham,
'

loc.

cit.,

Travels in Kashmir,'

p.

vol.

263
i.

p.

384.
3

It is not a little singular, however,

that the only temple I

know

of in India

that resembles this one, either in plan

or arrangement, is the smaller temple of
Conjeveram in the Chola country, near
INIarlras

and

it is

curious that both the

Kashmiri history,
and that of the Chola country, mention
that Ranaditya of Kaslimir married a
daughter of the Cliola king, and assisted
'

was dedicated to the sun

is

Riija Tarangini,' the

in

forming an aqueduct from tlie Cauvery

at least an intimacy which

showing

Bengal,' Sept. 1848, p. 273.

Vigne,

also it

never saw a sun temple, or a drawing of one, and can,

may have
and

arisen from

that

affinity

of

which, overleaping
the intruded Aryans, united the two ex-

race

religion,

tremities of India in one

common

True, the style of the two

difterent

not

know

and d d

but

when

bond.
temples is

saw the one

did

of the existence of the other,

not, as I

the details with

now

tliat

should, examine

care which

alone

would enable any one to pronounce definitely

*

regarding their

Trover's

'

affinities.

Translation,' lib.

iii.,

v.

462.

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

290
give

therefore,

may,

Be

no opinion on that head.

seems to

it

me

extremely improbable

Book

this, therefore,

as

temple

the

that

III.

it

should

have stood naked for 150 years, and then that a far greater king than
its founder should have added the indispensable adjunct of a court.
all Kashmiri temples, it was intended to stand in the water,
something of the sort must have existed from the beginning, and very

If, like

little

have been

this,

many

of

In addition to

the great Lalitaditya to add.

left for

the temple

the details of

are so nearly identical

itself

with those of the temple at Avantipore, erected a.d. 852 or 853, that
it is very much more likely that only 100 instead of 250 years inter-

vened between the dates of the Marttand and Avantipore temples.

The question as to what deity this temple was dedicated to

more

is

determine

to

difficult

than

its

the

Raja Tarangini,'^ espe-

'

cially

was at

Lalitaditya

same

Jaina,

by

summarised

as

Wilson,^
the

According to

date.

Buddhist,

time

Yaishnava

or

three

religions that were

undistin-

guishable

in

time

tolerance,

but

200 years

of persecution

wars,

that

which,

came out

and

the

10th

in

century.

only

were

submitted

would
it

me,

to

when

plan

the

unhesitatingly

Jaina

and

distinct

antagonistic
If

of

after

declare

water

its

arrangements were explained,

it

would

Naga^
but

as

not

at

antagonistic

all

necessarily

either

to

hism or Vishnuism
Niche with Naga Figure at Marttand.
(From a Photograph.)

age.
1

temples,

aud cannot,

therefore, say

appear

clearly

(Woodcut No. 163),

As
know

have

nothing

Budd-

at

that

just

said,

of

sun

whether this resembles them or

not.

stone

Unfortunately, the

friable a nature that the

so far as can be

Trover's

'

made

Translation,'
^

of

out

now

is

126-871.

built

is

of

so

barely recognisable, but,

from such photographs

lib. iv., v.
'

which the temple

sculptures are

as

exist, all

the

'Asiatic Researches,' vol. xv. p. 49.

Tree and Serpent Worship,'

p. 47.

ClIAP.

AVANTIPORE.

I.

291

principal figures in the niches have snake-hoods

are

Ngaas, in

fact,

Any

with three or five-headed snakes at the backs of their heads.

one on

with his attention turned to

the' spot,

mine in a few minutes how

has yet visited

many

could easily deter-

was the case or not

but no one

with the prepara-

it

necessary

tion

far this

this,

to

and

this

settle

regard-

other uncertain points

ing the architecture and mythology

of the place.
of this temple

monograph, however,

would be a work well

worthy of any pains that might be

upon

bestowed

archaeologist

and mythological
of

details

its

and

Indian

many

importance,

are

have

they

any

by

it

for, besides its historical

great

of

so

(Woodcut No. 164.)

As

well

merit.

the

typical

164,

example of a quasi-classical
of

drawn

been

never

with the care they

perfect knowledge

beauty,

history of the style both before

(From a

of Arch at Marita'.d.

style,

would be a landmark in the

peculiarities

its

Soffit

Sketch by the late Mr. Wilson, B.C.S.)

and

after its date.

AVANTIPORE.
Next in importance
those

of

Avantipore,

to

all

Marttand, among Kashmiri temples, are

certainly within

erected

reign of Avantiverma, the

king

first

the

limits

Utpala

the

of

of

the

dynasty, and

The stone with which they

and the temples themselves are so ruined,
that there might be a difficulty in ascertaining to what religion
Raja Tarangini were not so distinct
they were dedicated if the

who reigned from

are erected

is

a.d.

875 to a.d. 904.

so friable,

'

in describing this

monarch

'

as a devoted follower of Siva,^

and naming

these temples as dedicated to various forms of that god.

The two
size,

principal ruins stand in

200

about

Avantiswami,
identical

temple

'

in

itself

has

ft.

by IGO
pillars

all

ft.

ft.

'

Cowie

nearly

other

also

is

first

the

same

One, called

and

almost

astylar,

but the

Marttand,

like

The

of

internally.

was much more important than in the

Plans of tlitse temples with details

are given by Cunningham, plates 17 and
18, and by Lieut, Cole with photographs,
plates 20 to 27, and 2 to 5 for details. Mr,
2

courtyards

170

round,

design and dimensions.

Asiatic Researches,' vol. xv. p. 61.

Translation,' lib, v., c. 128.

Troyer's

or

example.^

adds considerably

formation on the subject,

to our in-

Tlie

dimen-

sions quoted in the text are from Lieut.

Cole,

and are

in excess of those given

General Cunningham.

U 2

by

ARCfllTECTUEE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

292

The

the

as

richness

greater

exhibit

the

clearly

such

just

of

more elaborate carvings of

one might expect from their

Several

have

these

of

been

Avantipore

at

which the

detail

tendency,

in

Hindu

style

in

date.

difference

by

given

latter

towards

fact,

the

III.

the

distinguish

to

Marttand from that of those

style of the temples at

is

most

seems

that

characteristic

Book

the

three

authors to whose works I have so often had occasion

and

to allude,

the annexed
of

columns

its

which the reader

to

as

is

liar at

the

Doric of the exit is compared

^-rrr
^
Mycene (Woodcut

Avanti-

Wilson,

^ ^

-^-r

No. 117,

C.S.)

(Fromannw- With the piUars of

by Mr.

ing

vol.

it

1.)

-xr

touib 01
i-m

tlic

if

seems dimcult to escape the con-

viction that the two forms w^ere derived from

common

At

source.

ponnesus and
resembles

bat

amples quoted above, inasmuch as

as interesting historically, as
165.
pore.

referred

is

(Woodcut No. 165) of one

elegant in itself, and almost

fragment

events, there

all

Kashmir, so far as

now

we

some

nothing between the Pelo-

is

know, that

so

nearly

it.

Bhaniyae.

At

near the remote village

place

on the

Bhaniyar,

of

road

between Uri and Naoshera, there stands one of the

best-preserved

Like

was supplied

temples

in

the valley.

with the means of keeping

all

its

the

older

courtyard

down

the long ages of neglect these brought

half

to

bury

the

place.

It

was

less

it

its

than those of the temples

and during

of water,

silt

mud

and

recently, however,

order of the Raja of Kashmir, and hence

dimensions are

temples,

full

sufficient

excavated

nearly perfect state.^

last described,

by
Its

being only

by 120 ft., but, except from natural decay of the stone, it is

nearly perfect, and gives a very fair idea of the style of these buildings.
The trefoiled arch, with its tall pediment, the detached column and
its architrave, are as distinctly shown here as in any other existing
145

ft.

example

Kashmiri

of

colonnade,

and

present

those

all

quasi-

now know Avere inherited from the

neighbouring province of Gandhara. The central temple is small,
only 26 ft. square, and its roof is now covered with wooden shingles
classical

features

which

w^e

but whether that was the original covering

is

not certain.

Looking,

however, at the central side-cell of the colonnade (Woodcut No. 166),

seems to

it

me

extremely doubtful w^hether

General

justified in restoring the roof of the temple, or of the

and

Lieut.
38.

Cole,

'

Ill'istrations

Cunningham

is

central cell at

of Ancient Btiikliugs in Kashmir,'

P- 23,

plates 37

Chap

BHANIYAR.

1.

Marttand in

My

stone.

the temple-roof was in

View

166.

At

in

impression rather

wood

is,

hinted above, that

as

that of the side-cell in stone, but

Waniyat are

flat.

(From a Photograph.)

Court of Temple at Bhaniyar.

a place called

293

two' groups of temples,

which were

examined and described by the Rev. Mr. Cowie,^ and plans

and photographs are found in Lieutenant Cole's book.^ They differ

carefully

somewhat from those we have been describing, inasmuch as they do

not seem to have been enclosed in colonnaded courts, and consist each
of one large and several smaller temples, unsymmetrically arranged.
The larger ones are 30 ft. and 32 ft. square in plan over all the
;

smaller 10

ft.

or 12

ft.

There are no inscriptions, nor any

enable

us

to

fix

the

date

and the stone has decayed

be

examples
the

historical indications that

Waniyat temples with

the

an extent that the

to such

would

certainty,

details

cannot

with the precision necessary for comparison with other

defined

of

of

but whether this decay arises from time or from the nature

stone

there

are

no

means

knowing.

of

Lieutenant

Cole,

basing his inferences on certain similarities he detects between them

and the temple

220,

B.C.

of the Takt-i-Suleiman,

ascribes

their

Reasoning from the same

erection
basis,

the

to
if

which he believes was erected

first

century after

Christ.

the temple on the Takt belongs

would infer that they were among the most

modern temples in this style in the valley. Besides this, they are
purely Hindu temples, without any of those Naga or Jaina peculiarities that distinguish the older ones, and almost certainly, therefore,
may be placed after the year a.d. 1000. How much more modern
they may be must be left for future inquiry.
to the 17th century, I

'

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' 186G,

p.

101, et seqq.

<

Illustrations of

Kashmir,'

p. 11,

Ancient Buildings in

plates 6 to 11.

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

294

Among

Book

III.

the remaining examples, perhaps the one that most clearly

exhibits the characteristics of the style

is

that at Pandrethan

cut No.

1G7).

stands, as

(WoodIt

still

has always

it

stood, in the centre of

its

tank

but the over-

which

flow drains,
ginally

the Avater

choked

same
become

at the

having

level,

ori-

keep

served to

by

can now

neglect,

only

be

it

ap-

proached by swimming
or in a boat. Originally,
it

seems to have had a

third storey or division

but that has

to its roof,
fallen

of

lower

the

building,

the

exhibits

ever,

characteristic
of
Temple at Pandrethan.
(From a Drawing by General Cunningham

167.

One

last

architecture.

among

The temple

the

all

features

the style in as

much

perfection as almost any

other

must conclude

example

part

how-

at Payech,

known example.

our illustrations

though one

of

of

the

Kashmiri
smallest, is

and also one of the most modern examples

(Woodcut No. 168). Its dimensions are only 8 ft. square
for the superstructure, and 21 ft. high, including the basement
but
with even these dimensions it acquires a certain dignity from being
erected with only six stones
four for the walls and two for the
roof.^
It stands by itself on a knoll, without any court, or any of
the most elegant,

of the style

the surroundings
to the gods of

when

of

their worship

older

temples, and, being

it

if

its

dedicated wholly

certainly belongs to an

had superseded the older

would be interesting
it

the

Hindu Pantheon,

the

age

faiths of the valley.

date could be ascertained, as

it

It

carries with

Bhaumajo and of several other temples. So

made out, it seems to belong to the 13th
but is probably of a more modern rather than

that of the caves of

as can

far

at

present

century of our era,

of a

more ancient

be

date.

In order to write a complete monography of the Kashmiri

we ought

to be able to trace

it

very

much

further

thing in the previous pages enables us to do, and by

'

Ciinuingliam,

'

style,

back than any-

Jonrnal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' Sc]

t.

some means
1848, p. 250.

Chap.

TEMPLE AT PAYECH.

I.

Temple

168.

at

Payech.

(From

295

a Photograph.)

with the other styles of India.

In order to do

this,

however, we must discover some Buddhist remains in Kashmir.

We

to

connect

know from

it

history that Asoka, B.C. 250, sent missionaries to convert

the inhabitants of the valley to the Buddhist faith, and that in the 1st

and we
Hiouen Thsang found Buddhism, if not
The
the only religion, at least one of the dominant faiths of the people.
details he mentions, and the fact of his lingering here for two whole
years (a.d. 633 to a.d. 634) to study its forms and scriptures, proves how
important this religion then was.^ But not one vestige of a chaitya
and though there are mounds
or of a vihara has yet come to light
which may contain stupas, it is most improbable that they will contain any architectural forms that may be of any use for our purposes.
When we know more of the forms and ages of the Gandhara monasteries (ante, pages 169, et seqq.), they may supply some of the missing
links required to connect the Kashmiri style to that of the outer
century Kanishka, a Buddhist king, reigned here absolutely

know

that in the 7th century

world

but

parts of the

'

Kaja

till

the temples in Salt Eange, and other little-frequented

Punjab are examined, we

Tarangiiii,' vol.

i.

verse 170.

shall

'

Vie

not

know

et Voyages,' vol.

all

i.

that

p. 96.

we

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

2iiG

Book

III.

Meanwhile the annexed woodcut (No. 169), representing

desire.

temple at Miilot, shows how nearly the Punjabi style resembled that
of Kashmir.
There are the same trefoil -headed openino's the fluted
:

Templeiat Mulot,

169,

in the bait Itaugc.

(i'rom a Photograph.")

with quasi-classical bases and capitals

pillars,

larity of style

not

to

similar, but smaller, at

and from what

There

be mistaken.

Kathwai

is

and a general simianother temple very

both are near Pind Dadan Khan,

can learn there are others which

may form

a con-

necting link between the Gandhara monasteries and the Kashmiri

temples.

It

may

be that

but, looking at the

last

Mahomedan

immense

few years in this direction, I

are looked for all that

is still

bigotry has defaced them

strides that
feel

wanting

all

have been made during the

confident that so soon as they

will certainly be found.

So many and so various are the points of interest connected with

the style of the ancient buildings in Kashmir, that they deserve
fuller

illustration

than

work.

Though not

priate

examples of

of the Indian styles,

is

much

compatible with the scope of the present

very pleasing and approand they have this advantage over most
that Kashmir possesses, in the Raja Tarangini,'
magnificent, they are

art,

'

KASHMIRI TEMPLES.

Chap. L

what may be said

to be the

297

Any

only Indian history in existence.

one familiar with that work, and with the actual buildings, could

much

without

difficulty fix their dates,

doubt that

it

and from the buildhigs

illus-

This has not yet been accomplished, but there

trate the history.

is

no

can be done.

Another point

of interest connected with this style

but undoubted affinity which exists between

forms of ancient Greece.

to us relations

when

This,

the strange

is

and the

it

architectural

may

fully investigated,

reveal

between the two countries or their outlying depend-

which are not now suspected.

But the greatest point of interest is that arising out of the connexion which at one time seems to have existed between Kashmir
and Cambodia, which will form the subject of a subsequent chapter.
Between the two we shall probably be able to gather up the threads
of the long-lost form of Serpent superstition, and learn to know
what were the arrangements of the temples, and what the worship
encies

addressed to that mysterious deity.

I

have already, in

my work

on Tree and Serpent worship, and in

the Introduction, entered so fully into this subject, and said

I

have at present to say about

all

that

more here than

that I need not do

it,

recapitulate the results, but they can hardly be too often repeated in

order to render the context intelligible.

who adopted Buddhism

people

So far as I can ascertain, the

in India were neither the Aryans nor

the Drayidians, but a native aboriginal race in the north,

Aryans

Dasyus.

called

trees

and

form

of

serpents,

Before

and

their

conversion

whom

the

worshipped

the higher and purer

after their adoption of

worship they continually relapsed to their old faith and old

whenever the influence

feelings

discipline

northern India

of

Buddhism

was the head-quarters

it

and though the

Hindu

dedicated to

revival in the

of

Naga worship in
Buddhism

their

backslidings.

In

not exclusively Naga, certainly show

oldest temples, if

an unmistakable tendency in that

the

its

embraced

inhabitants

with avidity, there are everywhere signs of

Kashmir the

became weak, or

This was especially the case in Kashmir, with

relaxed.

and Gandhara

Taxila,

till

they

direction,

11th century.

and continued

to do so

After that they were

Siva and Yishnu, and the people of the valley seem to

have been completely converted to the Hindu

religion,

when they

under the influence of the followers of Mahomet, and adopted the

faith of the Arabian Prophet in or about the 14th century.

fell

It is

that

all

between the
the

fall of

temples

in

Buddhism and

the

Before that we have nothing

true

the rise of

Kashmiri

after that,

Mahomedanism

must be ranged.
only the tomb of Zein-ulstyle

ab-ud-dln and the temple on the Takt-i-Suleiman can be classed as

examples of the
title to

style,

that affiliation.

though the

latter

can hardly even claim a


ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

298

CHAPTER

P>OOK

III.

11.

N E P A L.
CONTENTS.

Any

Wooden TemplesTliibet Temples at Kaiigra.

Chailyas

Stii})as or

map

one looking at the map, and the

inclined

to

fancy that, from their

would probably be

only,

similarity

and sur-

situation

of

roundings, the arts and archaeology of Nepal must resemble those of

Kashmir.

It

for there are

would not, however, be easy to make a greater mistake,

no two provinces of India which are more diametrically

opposed to one another in these respects than these two Himalayan

Partly this

states.

proper

in

mandu,

and

three

are situated

in width east

Gorkha

due to

is

which the

^is

Patau,

capitals,

only twelve miles

state live in the valleys that

north and south, by nine

surround this central point

they are sparse and isolated

communities, having very

munication with each other.

Kashmir, on the other hand,

the most

beautiful

and

Nepal
Khat-

valley of

Bhatgaon, and

bulk of the population of the

It is true, the

west.

The

local peculiarities.

fertile valleys in

is

but

com-

little

one of

the world, measuring more

than one hundred miles in one direction and more than seventy in
another, without any ridges or interruptions of any sort, and capable
of

population on one

maintaining a large

vast,

unbroken,

fertile

plain.

Another point of difference

is,

The population who now

fare.

and have retained possession

that

Kashmir never was a thoroughit entered it from the south,

possess

of it

in sufficient numbers to keep back

in aU historical times, at least

any immigration from the north.

In Nepal, on the contrary, the bulk of the population are Thibetans,

a people from the north,

ward

and, so far as

southern races

who

begmning

of

the

materially

to

left

there apparently in their passage south-

we can gather from such

histories as exist, the

found there only entered the valley in the

14th century, and never in such numbers as
are

modify

the

essentially

Turanian

character

of

the

people.

from Kashmir from the fact that the Mahomedans never had possession of their valley, and never, consequently,
Nepal

also

differs

influenced their arts or their religions.

The

architectural

history of


Chap.

NEPAL.

11.

the two valleys differs, consequently, in

209
the

following particulars

In Kashmir we have a Buddhist period, superseded in the 8th century

by an original quasi-classical

that

style,

lasted

till

was supplanted by that of the Moslem in the

Nepal we have no succession of

not

we

know when any

find

styles

no

in

it,

loth

history in fact

was introduced

of the three religions

turn,

its

centuiy.

In

we do
but what

for

the Yaishnava, Saiva, and Buddhist religions existing side

is

by side at the present day, and flourishing with a rank luxmiance

unknoAvn on the plains of Bengal, where

was checked by the example

had no influence in the

Owing
all,

of the

probably their exuberance

Moslems, who, as just remarked,

valley.

monuments

to all the principal

certainly, subsequent

the

to

IJrth

in Nepal

century

and

being too poor to indulge in such magnificence as

plains, the buildings of

when

people

found on the

But, on the other hand,

modern gives them an

the very fact of their being

it

the

to

is

Nepal cannot compare, as architectural objects,

with those found in other parts of India.

own, and though

being modern

is

an exaggeration,

it

is

interest

of

their

characteristic

one,

more temples than houses, and

more idols than men it is true to such an extent that there is an
unlimited field for inquiry, and even if not splendid, the buildings
Judging from photographs and such
are marvellously picturesque.
materials as are available, I have no hesitation in asserting that
there are some streets and palaces in Khatmandu and Bhatgaon
which are more picturesque, and more striking as architectural
compositions, than are to be found in any other cities in India.
The style may be called barbarous, and the buildings have the
it is

said that in Nepal there are

;

defect of being principally

of

outline,

their

wealth

in
of

wood

but their height, their variety

carving

and

richness

of

colour,

are

such as are not to be found in Benares or any other city of the

plains.

The

real point of interest in the architecture of

student of the art

mastered,

it

presents

lies

in

its

Nepal to the true

ethnographic meaning.

microcosm

us with a complete

of

When

when

was in the 7th century, when Hiouen Thsang visited it

Buddhist and Brahmanical religions flourished side by

side

when the distinctive features of the various races were

marked than they have since become under the powerful
the Mahomedan domination.

From
it

all

these causes I believe that

fully

India as

if

far

it

the

and
more

solvent

of

the materials existed, and

were possible to write an exhaustive history of the

architecture

would throw more light on most of the

problems that are now perplexing us than that of any other province
in India.
It only, however, can be done by some one on the spot,
of the valley of

Nepal,

it

and perfectly familiar not only with the Nepalese buildings but with

ARCHITECTURE IN THE lilMALAYAS.

300
all

the phases of the question

ethnographic than
architecture, to

of

the

must

suffice here to

If

which the

aesthetic

history

were subordinate,

question

it

should be attempted, however incom-

it

might be

materials

value would be more

its

were an ethnographic

this

aesthetic.

would be indispensable that

plete

but even then

^
;

Book HI.

but the contrary being the case,

point out the

it

forms of the architecture, merely

indicating the modes in which the various

among

divided

are

styles

the different races.

Like that of so many other countries of India, the mythic history

Nepal commences with that of the heroes of the

of

'

Mahabarata,' but

with some more reasons in this case than in most others, for
probable that

and

India,

it

Gorkhas,
lists

great war returning to

dogs, across

their

events,

if

no event

dominion

the

valley

connect

that

sur-

these

of

the

The long
events with modern
Nepal.

of

all

interest,

and

recorded between 1300 years B.C. and a.d. 1300 that need

arrest attention.

probably the

first

What we do

gather

is,

that at some remote period,

century of our era. Buddhism did penetrate into

the valley, and, finding

it

mountains, through

these

the

represents

not purely fabulous, are at least barren of

is

seems

homes, accompanied by

their

not actually through the

if

names, how^ever,

of

poem

certain, at all events, that the

vivors of the

it

was through the Himalayas that the Pandus entered

it

inhabited by a people of

was, of course, easily adopted, and has

Thibetan origin,

remained the religion

since

of that section of the population.^

Nepal

is

fortunate

possessed in Mr. Brian H.

in

having

Hodgson one

of

the most acute observers that ever graced

the Bengal Civil Service. At the time,
however, when he was Resident in the
valley, none of the questions mooted in
this work can be said to have been

and he was mainly engrossed

and communicating to others
the unsuspected wealth of Buddhist learning which he found in Nepal, and the
started

in exploring

services he rendered to this cause are in-

Nor did he neglect the

have before me a short
manuscript essay on the subject, only
four sheets foolscap, with about one hundred illustrations, which, if fully worked
out, would be nearly all that is required.
calculably great.
architecture.

Unfortunately there are neither dates

nor dimensions, and the essay is so
short, and the drawings, made by natives, so

incomplete,

supply what

that

it

does not

wanted but, if worked

out on the spot and supplemented by
is

photographs,

it

might

be

all

that

is

required.
^

A curious mistake occurs in Buchanan

Hamilton's
Nepal.'

'

Account of the Kingdom of

says " Gautama,

At page 57 he

according to the best authorities, lived

in the sixth century B.C., and Sakya in the
first

century a.d. The doctrines of Sakya

Siugha differ most essentially from those

of Gautama."
In the writuigs of any
other man this would be put down as
a stupid mistake, but he was so careful
an observer that it is evident that his
informers confounded the founder of the
Saka era whether he was Kanishka or

not

with

the founder of the

though they seem

to

religion,

be perfectly aware

of the novelty of the doctrines introduced

by Nagarjuna and the fourth convocation.

He adds, page 190, that Buddhism was
introduced into Nepal a.d. 33, which is
probably, however,

if,

at least,

it

fifty

years

too

early

was consequent on the

fourth convocation.

Chap.

NEPAL.

11.

301

There are two accounts of the mode in which the Hindu or Rajput

The

element was introduced into the valley.

one

favourite

is,

that

by Ala-u-din, in 1306, the conqueror sought

the hand of the proud Rajput's daughter, and to avoid the contamination he and his followers fled and sought refuge in Nepal.
Another account represents the Rajas of Mithila and Semrun descendants of the Surya Yansa kings of Ayodhya and the Rajputs of
Canouge flying in like manner, in 1326, to avoid the tyranny of the
Delhi emperors
and that it was these tribes, and not the fugitives
from Chittore, wfio conquered and colonised a part of the valley.^
Both accounts are probably to some extent true, and they and their
followers form the Parbuttya or Hindu element in the population
at the present day, and make up the bulk of those who profess the
Hindu religion and worship Siva and Yishnu and the other gods of
after the sack of Chittore

the

Hindu Pantheon.
Before they entered the valley, however,

seems to have been

it

occupied by Kiratas, Bhotyas, Newars, and other tribes

origin,^

Hindu

according to the

Tartars or Thibetans
the doctrines of

and

still

governing caste

sovereign having called in the

purity

of

in

of

other

impure
words,

who had early adopted

adhere to them. The Newars seem
till the year
1768, when a weak

they are

Buddha and

to have been the

idea

those

assistance

of

a neighbouring Gorkha

Raja, he seized the kingdom, and his successors

in

rule

still

Nepal.

They apparently were originally of the Magar tribe,* but having mixed
with the immigrant Hindus call themselves Rajputs, and have adopted
the Hindu religion, though in a form very different from that known
in the plains, and differing in a manner we would scarcely be inclined
to expect.

When

a country

that

the religion of

professed

the

naturally be supposed that

down, so as

to meet, to

followers of the religion

its

destroyer was

the

mild religion

introduced into

Buddha,

of

it

might

most savage features would be toned

some extent at least, the prejudices of the

it was superseding.
So far from this being

the case in this instance,

it

is

said

that

when

first

introducing the

Gorkhas propitiated the deity with human sacrifices, till

warned in a dream to desist and substitute animals.^ Besides this,
the images of Durga or Kali, though hideous and repulsive enough in
and, in fact, throughout
the plains, are ten times more so in Nepal
there is an exaggeration of all the most prominent features of the
religion the

religion, that

would lead to the

balief

that

it

found

congenial soil in the valley and blossomed with unusual

there.

the
2

This, in fact,

is

one of the reasons that lead to the belief that

Buchanan Hamilton, 'Account

Kingdom of Nepal,' p. 12.
Ibid., p. 49.

singularly

exuberance

of

^ Buchanan Hamilton,
Account of
Kingdom of Nepal,' p. 190.
'

'

Ibid., p. 22.

'

Ibid., pp.

tl

35 and 211.

ARCUITECTURE IX THE HIMALAYAS.

S02

the religion of Siva

is

affinities, it

people

was

among

but

practised

with

peculiarities that characterise its

all

the

hill

the

original

indicate

that

suit

milder

northern

devil- worshipping

Tantric

is

the

with

tribes,

So

birthplace.

the architecture of the Saiva temples in Nepal

to

III.

northern Tartar superstition, which, when

introduced into India, was softened and modified to

genius of the

Book

far, too, as

concerned,

it

seems

came into the valley from the north,

Bengal. The architecture of the temples

the worship

and not from the plains of

of Vishnu, on the contrary, seems evidently

to be

an offshoot of the

art of the plains.

Stupas or Chaityas.

The two
valley of

oldest and most important Buddhist monuments in the

Nepal are those of Swayambunath and Bouddhama ^ the
:

former, beautifully situated on a gentle eminence about a

Khatmandu, the

170.

'

latter at Kasachiel, at

Temple of Svvayambunath, Nepal,

some distance

(From a Diawing

in the

mile

from

off.

Hodgson

Collection.)

view of this temple from the frontispiece of Bucliai)au Hamilton's volume.

STUPAS OR CHAITYAS.

Chap. U.

No

very precise information

but, in

form

their present

to be

is

303

had about the date

at least, they are

not

the

of either,

oldest

in

the

According to Brian Hodgson, there are several low, flat,

tumuli-like chaityas, with very moderate tees, which are older, and
may be of any age but, as will be seen from the previous woodcut
valley.

(No.

Swayambunath is of an irregular clumsy form,

remarkable for the exaggerated form of its tee. This

170), that

and

chiefly

at

marked

in fact, the most

is,

dagoba, which in China

stupa becomes

the

thirteen storeyed

temple

continual presence

of

for

their

the

its

fire-altar,

fire, the two principal

from time immemorial."
The

in

connexion

with

statues

of

suspect a connexion between

and Buddhism in that province, but hardly

would seem

this

modern Thibetan

perpetual

flames

in Gandhara, would lead us to

fire-worship
as

the

frequently to such an extent that

and the tee changes into a nine or

According to Kirkpatrick (p. 151), "this

chiefly celebrated

is

characteristic of

carried

evanescent,

tower.

wicks having preserved

Buddha

is

so

intimate

to

indicate.

Mr.

In

Hodgson's
there

collection

drawings

chaityas

of

Nepal,

in

are

hundred

one

nearly

different,

all

of
them small,
and
generally highly
ornamented
but none

most

them

of

none

and

grand,

exhibiting

elegance

that

form

of

or

beauty of detail which

characterises the

ings

the

of

buildplains.

From

low,

mound,

one

flat

tenth

of

diameter in height,

its

they rise to such a

tall

building as this, which

common

is

bearing

the

171),

the dagoba
is

of

(Woodcut
which
in

Kosthakar
No.

form,

name

is

is

No

scale.

only the crowning ornament, and between

these there

Among

others,

the four-faced lingam of Siva, with a corresponding

emblem

variety

every conceivable

there

Nepalese Koslhakar.

with four Buddhas

of

shape

and altogether

and

detail.

such a confusion of the

two

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

304
religions

as

to

confirm the idea hinted at above, that the lingam

Devi Bhowani Temple, Bhatgaon.

is

really

Book IH.

diminutive

dagoba,

(From a Photograph.)

and not

tlie

emblem

it

is

nsnally

ClIAP.

NEPAL.

II.

305

supposed to represent, though, no doubt, in modern times understood

meaning.

to have that

By

the

far

Nepalese

They

roofs.

most

are

and

characteristic

many

possessing

those

are

anything found

unlike

Patau, where " Sakya occupies the basal

storey, a small

the

their

all

Usually, they seem

Amifcabha the second

floor,

Dharmadatu Mandala the

stone chaitya the third, the

of the building, externally consisting of

or apex

fifth,

and

Bengal,

in

the

sloping

Avith

Saiva faith, but Mr. Hodgson mentions one at

to be dedicated to the

fourth

divided

seem with those in Burmah or China.

affinities

temples of

beautiful

storeys

small churamani, or jewel-headed chaitya."

One

of the

most elegant

this class

of

the

is

Bhowani temple

Bhatgaon, represented in the previous woodcut (No. 172).

height, but stands particularly well

in

storeys

which gives

steps,

Mahadeo,

Another, dedicated to

woodcut (No. 173).

same

the

is

of

of

which

roof,

is

at

five

five

of its congeners.

centre of the next

only two storeys in height, but has

It is

form

characteristic

seen in

is

on a pyramid

many

a greater dignity than

it

It

nearly universal

in

the
all

which have any pretension to archiThe temple on the left of the last cut is deditectm-al design.
cated to Krishna, and will be easily recognised by any one familiar
with the architecture of the plains from its sikra or spire, with the
buildings, civil or ecclesiastical,

curvilinear

and

outline,

like the ordinary types,

One
and

much more

taking

arranged quite

pavilions, not

so as to be unmistakably Bengali.

It is a

singularly

is

still

must complete our illustration

doorway leading to the durbar

other example

tecture of Nepal.

clustering

its

but

specimen

characteristic

China than

of

of

the

of

the archi-

of

Bhatgaon,

at

style,

India in the style of

but parits

orna-

ments (Woodcut No. 174, p. 307). It is indeed so like an archway in

the Nankau Pass, near Pekin given further on that I was at first
inclined to ascribe them to the same age.
The Chinese example,

however,

is

dated in 1345

centre

Nagas, with

are

seven-headed

character of the foliaged ornaments

believe in so great a lapse

of

on the left-hand side

it

valley.

It

Canara

to

and on either
and the general
it

is

difficult to

but I dare not

Since he was in Nepal the building

been " improved." His drawings

have been one of the most picturesque buildings in the

not so now.

be remembered that in speaking of the architecture of

(ante,

'

hoods also

so similar that

of the cut has

It certainly is

may

is

In the

the same.

time between them

question Mr. Hodgson's evidence.

show

is

Garuda, with a seven-headed snake-hood

is

hand

Mr. Hodgson, was

this one, according to

erected as late as 1725, yet their ornamentation

p.

272),

'Journal of

tlie

remarked

Royal Asiatic

on

the similarity

Society,' vol.

v.

(N.S.)

that

existed

p. 18.

AllCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

30G

between
this

tluit of

Himalayan

173.

Book

III.

and the style tliat is found in

do not think that any one can look

that remote province

valley

Temple

ot

and

Maliado and Krishna, Patan.

(From a riiotograph.)

at the illustrations quoted above, especially

153, and not perceive the similarity between

examples, though

it

Woodcuts Nos. 150 and

them and the Nepalese

might require a familiarity

Avith

all

the photo-

NEPAL.

CiiAP. ]I.

graphs to make

174.

it

evident,

Doorway

without

of Darbar, Bbatgaon.

beino- the case, it is curious to

307
pointed

its

l)eiiig

(From

a Photograph.)

out.

Tliis

find Colonel Kirkpatrick stating,

X 2

more

ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

SOS

than

seventy years

Newar women,
many husbands

like

as

"

that

a^^o,

III.

remarkable enonu:h that the

is

it

among

those

Book

the Nairs, may, in

fact,

have as

they please, being at liberty to divorce them con-

tinually on the slightest pretence." ^

Dr. Buchanan Hamilton also
remarks that " though a small portion of the Neware have forsaken

the doctrine of

Buddha and adopted

changing their manners, which are

the worship of Siva,

it is

without

remarkable for their extra-

chiefly

women

ordinary carelessness about the conduct of their

"

and he

remarks on their promiscuousness and licentiousness.^

In
no two tribes in India, except the Nairs and Newars,
who are known to have the same strange notions as to female chastity,
and that, coupled with the architecture and other peculiarities, seems
to point to a similarity of race which is both curious and interesting
elsewhere

fact, there are

but

how and when

to determine.

the connexion took place I must leave

do not think there

is

it

to others

anything in the likeness of

the names, but I do place faith in the similarity of their architecture

combined with that

manners and customs.

of their

Wooden Temples.
In the Himalayan districts between Kashmir and Nepal, in Kulu,
Kangra, and Kumaon, there are a vast number of temples, regarding
w^hich it would be extremely interesting to have more information

They

than we now possess.

Deodar pine,
more fantastic in shape,
but at the same time more picturesque and more richly carved than
What
buildings in more permanent and more intractable materials.
we now know of them, however, is mainly derived from photographs,
and, like most buildings

in

taken without any system,

were either picturesque

the landscape.

No

are all in wood, generally

that

material,

because the buildings

only as pictures,

in themselves or

so

situated

as

to

improve

one yet has thought of measuring them, nor of

asking to what divinities they are dedicated, and

into their age or traditions

and

till

this

is

of inquiring

less

still

done

it

is

impossible to

them in anything like a satisfactory manner.

Whenever this chapter of Indian architectural

treat of

history comes to
form a curious pendant to that of the w^ooden
architecture of Sweden and Norway, the similarities between the two
It can hardly be exgroups being both striking and instructive.
pected that any ethnographical or political connexion can be traced

be written,

it

will

between peoples so remote from one another which could influence

but it is curious, if this is so, to observe

their architectural forms

how

people

'

Nepaul,'

Buchanan

come independently

to adopt

tlie

p. 187.

Hamilton,

'Acoount

of.

.51,

the same forms

Kingdom
&c.

of

Nepal,'

and similar

pp.

29,

42,

Chap.

WOODEN TEMPLES.

II.

modes of decoration when using the same materials for like purposes,
and under similar climatic influences. Although it may, consequently,
be impossible to trace any influence that the people of the Himalayas
could have exerted on the peoples of the north-west of Europe, it is
by no means clear that in these wooden structures we may not find the

germ of much that is now perplexing us with regard to the earlier forms
Hindu stone architecture. Like Buddhist architecture, there can

of

hardly be a doubt that

and

much

difficult to see

it is

any

of

it

was derived from w^ooden originals,

where wooden styles were likely

locality

and longer practised than in those valleys where

abundant, and forms so excellent and so lasting a

to be earlier adopted

the Deodar pine

is

building material.

An
many

these valleys, would, no doubt, bring to light

monuments, which would not only be interesting in
might
but

exploration of

curious

themselves,

throw considerable

many

on

points

One

now
our

of

light

obscure
inquiries.

monument,

for

in-

stance, has recently been

discovered by Major God-

win Austen near the foot

Naga

of the

sam, which
other

known

where

else.^

called

unlike any

to exist any-

The temple

temple

if

As-

hills in

is

may

it

be

consists of a long

corridor, about

250

ft.

in

and 21 ft. wide,

roof of which was

length
the

by

supported

pillars

richly carved, spaced

21

15

ft.

to

but

its

most remarkable

fea-

tures are
of

ft.

apart

one
the other
monoliths

two rows

sixteen,

seventeen

of

standing in front of

The

tallest is

from 12

'

The

to

15
13

ft.,

ft.

Monolitbs at

175.

Dim ipur.

(From a Drawing by Major Godwin Auskn.)

this.

the smallest 8
in height,

ft.

and 18

in.,

ft.

to

the general range being

20

ft.

in circumference.

followiug iiaiticulars a-e taken j'Jouraalof the Asiatic Society of Ben-

from a paper by Major Austen

in

the

'

gal,'

voh

xliii.

part

i.,

1874.

AKCHITKCTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

310

No two

though

are exactly alike,

all

Book

III.

have a general similarity of design

woodcut (No. 175), which may

Another similar monolith was
found a small distance off, -measuring IG ft. 8 in. in height, and 23 ft.
to those represented in the preceding

be considered as typical of the

style.

in circumference.

The natives were quite unable to give any account of these curious
monuments, nor is it easy to guess why they were placed w^here they
are.
So far as I know, no similar monument exists anywhere, for the
pillars seem perfectly useless, though attached to two rows of stones

may have borne

that

a roof

otherwise they look like those rows of

rude stone monuments which we are familiar with in this country and
in Brittany, but

which a more

may have adorned

artistic people

with

rude carvings, instead of leaving them quite plain, as our forefathers

As

did.

far as

for

their

only things the least like them, so

carving, the

know, in India, are the

(Woodcut No. 152), and

are actual supports of

in the temple at Moodbidri

pillars

in other places in Canara, but there the pillars

roofs

these are round-headed,

and evidently

never were intended for any utilitarian purpose.

Judging from the gateway and other remains

Dimapur, in which these

pillars

The gateway

great age.

is

of

the

Gaur

probably of the IGth or 17th century

vation
is

correct,

is

a friable

of

the

that

of

the

town

found, they cannot be

are

of

any

type, with a pointed arch,

and,

of

if

Major Austen's obser-

sandstone of which they are composed

and perishable nature, they cannot be

of

any remote

antiquity.
It

would be very interesting

could be found, and

Assam

if

few more similar monuments

one of the most promising

When Hiouen Thsang

such discoveries.

for

is

was known

visited

India

fields in
it,

in

the

7th

kingdom of Kamrup, one of the three

principal states of Northern India, and continued populous and important till the Pathan sovereigns of Delhi attempted its conquest in
Owing to the physical difficulties of the country,
the 15th century.
century,

it

as

the

they never were able to succeed in this attempt

the country for

savage

the

lated

that

hill

many

years, and, cut off

rest of the world,

on either hand, aided by famine, so depopu-

tribes

the country that the jmigie

survived,

but they blockaded

from the

and one

of

the

overpowered the feeble

richest valleys

one of the most sparsely inhabited.

good and

liberal

might, in a few years, go far to remedy this state of

so

blessed, the

human
that

remains of

When
many

this

is

is

now

government

affairs,

jungle might again be cleared and rendered

population.

the

remnant

in the world

and,
fit

if

for

done there can be no doubt but

ancient

cities

will

be found.

Already

Captain Dalton has given an account of the ruins of Gohati, which

was almost certainly the ancient capital of the province. " Its former
importance," the Ooniniissioner says, "

is

well attested

by the immense

Chap.

THIBET.

II.

extent of

its fortifications,

311

and the profusion

The remains

and old stone bridges are found both within and

of stone gateways

without the old city walls."

Like

these bridges.

horizontal

the

Captain Hannay gives a view of one of

the rest,

all

principle,^ but

Chinese Pilgrims.

is

constructed without arches, on

may

be as old as the time of the

it

it

found and

Besides these, other ruins have been

more or

described, in

which

of carved stones

every excavation of the modern town brings to light.

less detail,

in the pages of the

When more

Asiatic Society of Bengal.'

fully

'

Journal of the

known they

will certainly

be of considerable historic and ethnographic value, though they hardly

can compare with the vast monuments of such provinces as Orissa or

Gujerat, and other parts of India Proper.

Thibet.
would be extremely interesting

It

the world,

if,

before leaving this part of

were possible to compile anything like a satisfactory

it

account of the Buddhist style in Thibet, for

in its gTeatest purity at the present

exists
it

is

entirely

would

and

there that Buddhism

moment, and there only

it is

essentially a part of the system of the

gladly, therefore,

compare the existing

We

people.

state of things in

Thibet

with our accounts of India in the days of the supremacy of the same

The

religion.

who

jealousy of the Chinese, however,

are

now supreme

over that nation of priests, prevents free access to the country, and
those

who have

penetrated beyond

its

forbidden barriers have either

done so in the disguise of mendicants, and, consequently, dared neither

draw nor examine minutely what they saw, or

to

else

had

portraying what was unintelligible, and, consequently,

little taste

of

very

for

little

interest to them.^

So far as can be made out from such narratives as we have, there

does not seem to be in Thibet a single relic-shrine remarkable either
for sanctity or size, nor does relic-worship

seem

to be expressed either

But as no country
body of priests in proportion to its
population, and as all these are vowed to celibacy and live together,
their monasteries are more extensive than any we know of elsewhere
in

architectm*e

their

or

their

religious

forms.

in the world possesses a larger

some
*

as

15,000.*

'Journal of the

Bengal,' vol. xxiv. p.

^

what he saw, but they are not selected

from that class of monuments which is

Asiatic Society of
1.

et seqq.

the subject of our present inquiry.

Ibid., vol. XX. p. 21)1, et seqq.

who was sent

Teeshoo Lomboo by Warren Hastings,

to

if we may trust M. Hue,

The monasteries do not seem to be built with

containing 2000 or 3000 lamas, some,

many

as

Capt. Turner,

it is

true,

has published with his interesting narrative a number of very faithful views of

289.

'

Voyage dans

le Thibet,' vol.

The monastery

ii.

p.

referred to is that

of Se'ra, in the neighbourhood of Lassa,

I

the capital.

ARCHITECTURE IN

312

any regularity, or

THI^]

HIMALAYAS.

Book

III.

gTouped into combinations of any architectural

to be

pretension, but to consist of long streets of cells, mostly surrounding

small courtyards, three or four on each side, and sometimes two or

even

high

storeys

three

generally,

Lama

the city of Lassa, where the Delai

magnificence than

entirely with

the rest

all

high,

four storeys

perhaps always, Avith a small

The monastery

shrine or altar in the centre.

the

sheets

of

centre being occupied by a building

number

gilt

form a

and

sur-

Around

this

gilt),

also.

of smaller ones, where the inferior

of this great ecclesiastical order reside

to

difficult

coA'ered

fifth)

gold (rather, perhaps, merely

central palace are grouped a

outside

seems to be of more

crowned by a dome (making the

rounded by a peristyle of columns, which are

members

Bouddha La,

of

resides,

some

distinct idea without

but of

this

all

it is

drawings than

better

the native ones, which are at present alone available.

The

Lama, who

Delai

resides

in this palace,

by the

believed

is

Thibetans to be the living incarnation of the Deity, and, in consequence,

There

the prhicipal,

is

are,

parts of Thibet
objects

still

not the only, object of worship in Lassa.

if

however, four or

worship in

of

subordinate incarnations in different

five

and Mongolia, who, though

the

inferior to this

where

places

they reside,

one, are

and

by

particular sects of Buddhists.

It

is

worship of a living rather than of a dead deity that

this

seems to be the principal cause of the difference of the architectural

forms of India and Thibet.

In the countries we have hitherto been

describing no actual incarnation of the Deity

is

believed to have taken

place since the death of Sakya Muni, though the spirit of

many

descended on

and holy men

saints

God

have been content to worship images of the departed deity, or

which

recall

His presence.

among them,

In Thibet, where their deity

continually transmigrating, but never

such a form of worship would be absurd

can

nor

exist,

thought worth preserving.

look here for the same

of

relics

is still

present

dying, of

com*se

relic of

still

living

god

any past manifestation

therefore,

priori,

we should scarcely
we find in India

sacred edifices as

of

class

no

memory

the semblance or the

is

has

in India, therefore, they

or Ceylon.

Owing

Thibet

before

itself,

may

to supply the

however,

while,

temple

the
in

nearly

the

in

the

in

It

the

is

will

be

as

jambs,

as

travellers

the

No.

curious

sloping

of

for

(Woodcut

view

plains.

universal

European

to

data requisite

Tassiding

employment

the

with

at

probably ha\'e to wait some time

even the valleys dependent upon

or

Himalayas, are so accessible

them

guarded against

to the jealousy with Avhich the country is

the intrusion of Europeans, we

of

which

doorway of

perseverance

w^e

that

enable

the

showing

recollected

in the

In the mean-

purpose.

176)

it

to

do
this

not

meet

featm'e

is

Behar and early western caves (Woodcuts

Chap.

D-joi

176.

No3.

THIBET.

II.

4:3,

tinued

to

way

of ihe

45,

Temple

and

(From

at TassuUng.

but

50),

313

Dr. Hook'^r s

we

there

lo3e

'

it.

Himalayan Journals.')

It

may have

con-

be commonly employed during the Middle Ages, though

the examples have perished

but

it

is

curious to find

it

cropping up

here again after a lapse of 2000 years.

Another view in the porch

interesting, as

showing the form

in the rock examples,

and

bracket capital of India

the

of

temple at Pemiongchi

also as illustrating the extent to

may

is

also

which we are familiar with

roof

of

which the

be carried under the influence of wooden

(Woodcut No. 177). It hardly seems doubtful that the

derived from wooden construction, but was
ecpially appropriate to masonic forms, and is used in masonry so
judiciously by Indian architects that we lose sight of its origin in
architecture

idea

was

originally

most instances altogether.

as these minor styles undoubtedly are from
and valuable though they may be for the hints they

Interesting
variety,

us in understanding the

history of

their

afford

the other styles, they never can

be so important as the greater architectural groups that are found on

the plains of India

itself.

monograph

of the styles of

Kashmir or

Nepal, or of the intermediate valleys, would be an invaluable addition

our knowledge

to

but hardly more

is

required in a general history

than that their places should be indicated, and their general charac-

It is

found currently employed iu Ihc

decorative

sculpture

of

the

Gaudhara

monasteries, but never as a constructive

feature.

ARCHITECTUEE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

314

teristics so defined as to

styles,

render them recognisable.

Even

Book
these

III.

minor

however, will become more intelligible when studied in con-

nexion with the Dravidian and northern

styles,

which are those

it

is

next proposed to define and describe.

Temples at Kangra.
Though

little

temples in one of

out of their place in the

the Himalayan

valleys

series, there are

which

it

may

two small

be expedient

Chap.
to

TEMPLES AT KANGRA.

If.

here

describe

leaving this

before

part

exactly
over,

as

series,

but

they can

so

rare

in

what

they possess

is

subject, as

that has

their

just been

Besides this, they do

be presently advanced.

any other

into

fit

the

of

much

peculiarities will assist us in understanding

said, or that will

315

not

hardly be passed

Indian

temples

well-

ascertained date.

The temples
from Kote

the

in

situated

are

Kangra, and, as an

Kiragrama, not far

of

village

on them

inscription

records, were

by two brothers, Baijnath and Siddhnath, in the year 804

built

them

Neither of

by 28

inside

are

(not 48

ft.

The

large.
ft.)

over

all externally,

of

the temple, from front to rear,

38

ft.

over

including

all,

the

has a porch 20

larger

50

is

and the whole length

The

ft.

a.d.^

square

ft.

smaller one

only

is

In 178G, the large temple

sanctuary.

underwent a thorough repair at the hands of a Raja Sinsarchand,

which has obliterated many of its features but it is easy to see at a
;

glance what was done in the beginning of the 9th century, and what

The

1000 years afterwards.

small

temple, though ruinous,

hand

interesting, because it has escaped the

be seen from the woodcut (No. 178),

old temple

great

simplicity of

it

outline,

has

no

all

more

is

As

the spoiler.

of

will

the features of a very

repetitions of

itself,

and

the whole surface of the upper part covered with that peculiar horse-

shoe diaper which was so fashionable in those early days.

here as
tion

otherwise

over a

repetition

its

The

countable.
taste,

must be copied from some brick or

if it

amalaka

whole

stringcourses

are

It looks

terra-cotta construc-

seems

surface

subdued

unac-

and in good

and the crowning ornament wxll proportioned.^

There

doubt that the sikra of the larger temple was simi-

is little

but

larly adorned,

coating of plaster
pillars,

all
it

however, of

The

at least.

its

details

its

1786.

it

has lost

its

by the

interest.

The

porch retain their forms up to their capitals,

may be

architraves, as

to the repair in

are so completely obliterated

has received that

The

seen from the woodcut, belong

shafts of the pillars are plain cylinders,

very classical proportions, and the bases also show that they are

of

removed

only slightly

two

the

toruses,

from

classical

the cavetto,

or

The square

design.

plinth,

hollow moulding between, are

all

by Hindu ornamentation, of great

The capitals are,
elegance, but unlike anything found afterwards.
however, the most interesting parts, though their details are con-

classical,

but

siderably

obliterated

styled

the

partially

hidden

by whitewash.

Cuuningliam,

ports,' vol. V. p.

'Archaeological

178, et seqq., from

Rewhich

the following particulard are abstracted.

I

They belong

to

Avhat

may

be

Hindu-Corinthian order, though the principles on which

hope no oue will mistake the

ele-

vation, pi. 44, vol.

V.

of

Cunningham's

'Archaeological Reports' for a representation of this temple.

least resemble

it.

It does not in the

AKCIllTECTUEE IN THE HlxMALAYAS.

316

they are designed

178.

order of
to

is

diametrically opposed

Ttnipletj at Kiiagrauia, uear

the same name.

con\'ert a circular

shaft

The

those of

to

Kote Kangra.

(From a

object of

both

into a

square

Book
the

111.

classical

Photograpli.)

as is

well-known

architraAX'-bearing

is

capital

Chap.
in

TEMPLES AT KANGKA.

11.

We

gmceful and pleasing manner.

which the Ionic and Corinthian capitals

is true, but not without effort and some
required

To

the

all

and

skill

taste

of

817

know

all

effect
little

in

pleasingly,

it

clumsiness, which

it

architects

classical

manner

the

this

conquer.

to

Hindus placed a vase on the top of

their column, the bowl of which was about the same diameter as
that of the pillar on which it was placed, or rather larger
but such
an arrangement was weak, because the neck and base of the vase were
necessarily smaller than the shaft of the pillar, and both were still
To remedy these defects, they designed a very beautiful
circular.
class of foliaged ornament, which appears to grow out of the vase, on
the

object,

this

effect

each of
of the

its

four faces, and, falling downwards, strengthens the hollows

neck and leg of the vase, so as to give them

the strength

all

they require, and at the same time to convert the circular form of
the shaft into the required square for the abacus of the capital.

Hindus, of course, never had

ability or

sufficient

The

constructive skill to

enable them to produce so perfect a form as the Corinthian or Ionic

capitals

of

the

G-reeks

or

Romans

but

it

is

probable that

if

this

form were taken up at the present day, a capital as beautiful as

either of these might even now be produced.
It is, indeed, almost
the

only suggestion

European
It is

duced.

179.

by no means
It

Pillar at

first

Indian

clear

when

appears, but

Krun of

Gupta

late

that

architecture

seems

to

offer

for

use.

the

form

this

timidly

ISO.

it

of capital was first intromust be confessed, in such

Column from a temple

(From a Lithograph.)

Capital of Half

age.

Orissa.

in

Buddhist caves as were excavated after the beginning of the

5th century

as,

for instmce, in

the

Yadnya

Sri

cave

at

Nassick

AKCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS.

318

Book Ul.

(Woodcut No. 81); in the courtyard of the Viswakarma, at Ellora

(Woodcut No. 68)
and in some of the later caves at Ajunta the
twenty-fourth for instance.
It is found at Erun (Woodcut No.
179), among some fragments that I believe to be of the age of
the Guptas, about a.d. 400, and it is currently employed in the
.

middle group of Hindu caves at Ellora, such as the Ashes of Ravana,

and other caves of that age, say about a.d. 600. It afterwards
became frequent, almost universal, with the Jains, down to the

Mahomedan

time of the

The preceding

conquest.

representation of

one (Woodcut No. 180), from a half column of a temple in Orissa,

shows it in a skeleton form, and therefore more suited to explain its
construction than a fuller capital would do.

On

introduction, the

its

bell-shaped or Persepolitan capital seems to have gone out of fashion,

and does not again appear in Indian

To return from this digression
temple of Baijnath

is

of the bulls in front of

art.
:

there can be no doubt that the

dedicated to Siva, not

in pavilions of the

it,

porch, but also because Ganesa appears

yet, strange to say, the

vira, the

last

back niche,

is

among

only from the presence

same architecture as the
its

integral sculptures

Jaina Tirthankar, with a perfectly legible inscription,

dated in a.d. 1240.^

It looks as if the

age of toleration had not passed

even them.

'

occupied by a statue of Maha-

CuuniDgham,

'

Arcli.icological Reports,' vol.

v. p.

188.

319

BOOK

IV.

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

CHAPTER

I.

INTRODUCTORY.
The

within which

limits

Dravidian style of architecture pre-

the

vailed in India are not difficult to define or understand.

Practically

they are those of the Madras Presidency, or, to speak more correctly,
they are identical with the spread of the people speaking Tamil, or

any

of the cognate tongues.

Dr. Caldwell, in his

'

Grammar,' estimates

among them a
Tudas and Gonds, who, it is true, speak
dialects closely allied to the Tamil tongues, but who may have learnt
them from the superior races, in the same manner that all the nations
of the south-west of Europe learnt to speak Latin from the Romans
or as the Cornish men have adopted English, and the Irish and
these at forty-five or forty-six millions,^ but he includes

number

of tribes, such as the

northern Scots are substituting that tongue for their native Gaelic

Unless we

dialects.

of

race,

and

may do

It

know

their history, language is only a poor test

in this instance architecture does not

so hereafter, but in so far as

are in too rude a state to have

advanced

sufficiently

state

therefore, for the present,

some

we

thesa

me

whom we

race,

and who, in so
and Vishnu

known

as the Dravidian.

their

Putting

own

them

tribes

in

yet say to

far as they are

Hindus

not

and

Grammar

Jains, but

practise one style of architecture,

On

and

the east coast the boundaries of the

and irregularly into the Nizam's

what extent, nor within what limits.

'Comparative

1875, p. 42.

aside,

have, according to the last census,

extend as far north as the mouth of the Kistnah, and

sporadically

'

purposes.

to our aid.

have no reason for doubting are practically of

followers of Siva

style

come

know, these

thirty millions of people speaking Tamil, Telugu, Canarese,

Malayalam,

that

still

at present

any architecture of

our

for

we

territories,

of the Dravidian Languages,'

it

penetrates

but we cannot

London, second edition,

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

320

On
but

it

20

the west coast

its

Book IV.

natural boundary northwards

did at one time (a.d. 7 00

is

the Kistnah,

reach as far as Ellora, in latitude

?)

but it seems to have been a spasmodic effort, and it took no permanent root there, while the reflex Avave brought the northern styles
into the Mysore or other southern countries, where their presence was as
;

little

to be expected as that of the Dravidian so far north.

Although considerable progress has

problem

been made in the right

lately

no satisfactory solution has yet been arrived

direction,

The

origin of the Dravidians.

of the

at

usual theory

of
is

the
that,

coming from the westward, they crossed the Lower Indus, passed
through Scinde and Grujerat, and, keeping to the right, sought the
localities in which we now find them
or rather, that they were
pushed into that corner, first by the Aryans, who almost certainly
crossed the Upper Indus, and passed through the Punjab into the valley
of the Ganges, and afterwards by the Rajputs, w^ho followed nearly in
;

their footsteps.

In favour

of this

view

is

the fact

pointed out by Dr. Caldwell,^

first

that the Brahuis in Belochistan speak a Dravidian tongue, and

may

consequently be considered as a fragment of the race dropped there in

transitu.

But against

view

this

it

may

urged that between the

be

Brahuis and the northern Tamils we have a tract of civilized country

extending over 1000 miles in which we have no evidence of the passage

and where

of the Dravidians,

migration,

we should

So far as history

it

is

nearly certain,

it

if

were a national

find their traces.

is

concerned, in such glimmerings of tradition as

they certainly do not favour this view of matters.

w^e possess,

only to they

fail

to afford us

any trace

quest, but at the earliest time at

of

which we find any mention

the most civilized and important

of

their

Not

such a migration or conof

them

communities occupied the

North of them all was

Era and the Mahomedan invasion
we find the jungle gradually disappearing, and the southern races

extreme southern point of the peninsula.^

forest,

but between the

Christian

in the 14th century, they were checked

and
But for their interference it looks as
if,
at that time, the Dravidians might eventually have driven the
Aryans through the Himalayas back to their original seats, as the

pushing northwards,

till,

driven back by the Moslems.

Maharattas,

who

are

half

Dravidians,

nearly

did

at

subsequent

period.
If

'

'

any

clear

Grammar,'

or

direct

relationship

sketch

p. 44.

The best account of the Pandyan

kingdom the Ivegio Paudionis of the
2

classical authors

is

Wilson's

could

historical

in

be

discovered

the 'Journal of

Asiatic Society,' vol.

173G.

iii.

p.

between

the

Eoyal

199, et seqq.

Chap.

INTRODUCTORY.

I.

321

the Tamil and the Median or Accadian languages of Turanian origin,

which the decipherment of arrow-headed inscriptions is revealing to

us, it might help a good deal in explaining the original introduction
of the Dravidians into India, and the numerous Assyrianisms that

and architecture

the mythology

in

exist

however, more progress

more expedient

for

made

is

present to assume

the

southern India.

of

in that direction,

it

seems

Till,

would be

it

Tamil-speaking

that the

and that the evidences of connexion

between them and Babylonia are due to continued and close commercial intercourse between the Persian Gulf and the Malabar coast.
That such did exist from very remote ages we may feel certain, and
its extent seems such as to justify and explain any similarities that
are

practically aboriginal,

are

races

now found
Be

existing in southern India.

may, as far back as their traditions reach, we find

all this as it

the Dravida Desa, or southern part of India, divided into three king-

doms

Cholas, and

or states, the Pandyas, the

of the earth, nor interfering with those

the

Oheras, formiug

the

triarchy of powers, neither interfered with by the other nations

little

part

greater

have

peace

of

their

among

been

separate people, as

existence

all

beyond their
their

themselves, and

unlike the

rest

of

world

During
and

war

of

grown

have

they

the

limits.

relations

up

can well

as

be

conceived.
called the Pandyan kingdom
and seems to have attained sufficient
importance about the time of the Christian Era to have attracted the
special attention of the Greek and Roman geographers.
How much

Of the

three, the

was the

it

earlier it

know

earliest

became a

not,^

but

it

most southern was

civilized,

state, or

had

regular

succession

as early as five or six centuries before the Christian

tained
the

within

itself

century,

last

of

rulers,

we

seems certainly to have attained to some consistency

its

when

boundaries

original
it

was swallowed

in

till

up

Era, and mainthe

our

in

middle

of

all-devouring

aggression.

During

this long period the Pandyas had several epochs of great

and power, followed by long intervening periods of depression and obscurity.
The 1st century, and afterwards the 5th
or 6th, seem to have been those in which they especially dis-

brilliancy

tinguished themselves.
exist,

which

us as yet,

periods

If

buildings

down

to

the reign

of

either

Tirumulla

Besides the account of this state

given by Professor Wilson, in voh iii. of
the 'Journal of the Royal Asiatic So'

of

of

these

epochs

still

by no means improbable, they are utterly unknown to

nor have w^e any knowledge of buildings of the intervening
is

ciety,'

Nayak,

there are

a.b.

many

1624.

This

scattered notices

found in Taylor's 'Analysis of

Mackenzie MSS-,' and elsewhere.

the

DllA VIDIAN STYLE,

322

adorned

prince

the

capital

MMura

of

city

Book IV

which have been drawn

with

many

splendid

by

Daniell and others.

some
"What more ancient remains there may be will not be known till the
place has been carefully and scientifically explored.
The Chola kingdom extended northwards from the valley of the
Can very and Coleroon rivers, whose banks seem always to have been
of

edifices,

its

principal seat, nearly to Madras,

after

their

along the eastern coast, called

all

them Cholomandalam or Coromandel. The date of the origin of

kingdom is not known, but their political relations with Kash-

mir can be traced as early as the 6th century, and probably

earlier.^

Their epoch of greatest glory, however, was between the 10th and
12th centuries, w^hen they seem to have conquered not only their
neighbours the Pandyas and Cheras, but even to have sui-passed the

bounds of the triarchy, and carried their arms into Ceylon, and to
have maintained an equal struggle with the Chalukyas in the north.
After this period they had no great revival like that of the Pandyas

under TirumuUa Nayak, but sank step by step under the Mahomedans,
Mahrattas,

and English,

to

present

their

state

of

utter

political

annihilation.

The Cheras occupied

the

Pandya, and westward

what

is

now known

as

of

country northward of the kingdom of

Chola, including

Their

Mysore.

rise

a considerable

annals took place nearly at the time of the

most probably

is

an exaggeration

part

according to their
Christian

of

own

Era, but this

but there are inscriptions which

prove that they were powerful in the 4th and

5th centuries.

From

seem gradually to have extended their conquest northwards.

Their sixteenth king boasts of having conquered Andhra and
Kalinga,^ and their tw^entieth king, Kongani Eaya III., boasts of
this time they

having conquered Chola, Pandya, Dravida, Andhra, Kalinga, Varada,

and Maharastra desas

as far

as

the

Nerbudda

According to

river.^

the dates in the Kongadesa Rajakal, this must have taken place in the

7th century, but from what we

taken place

till

after the

know

of

history,

it

could not have

overthrow of the Chalukyan dynasty, and

consequently hardly before 750.

That a southern conquest did take place

about that time seems almost certain from the eclipse of the Chalukyas

between 750 and 1000,* and from the excavation of the Kylas and
other temples of

Dravidian architecture at Ellora about that time,

and there seems no race but the Cheras who could have effected this.
Yira Chola (a.d. 927-977) seems first to have checked their victorious career, and Ari Vara Deva, another Chola king (1004), to have
completed

their

destruction.

He

'Asiatic Eesearches,' vol. xv. p. 40.

'Journal of the Royal Asiatic So-

ciety,' vol. viii. p. 5.

also boasts

of

having carried his

Ibid.

Ibid., vol. iv. p. 10.

Chap.

INTUUDUCTOKY.

1.

and

victorious standard to the Nerbudda,

to

323

to have

been a benefactor

Ohillambaram, the then famed temple of his race.

This was the

great effort of the early triarchy

last

after

this

the rise of the Bellalas in Mysore, and the revival of the Chalukyas in
India, seem

central

to

have checked them to such an extent, that

they never regained a perfect independence, though at times wealthy

and powerful and capable

of

embarking in the most splendid architec-

tural undertakings.^

Although,

politically, these three

always remained distinct,

states

and generally antagonistic, the people belonged to the same race.

Their architecture is different from any- other found in India, but
united in itself, and has gone through a process of gradual change
from the earliest times at which we become acquainted with it, until

we

altogether

lose sight of it

This change

the last century.

in

invariably for the worse, the earlier specimens being

in

all

is

instances

the most perfect, and the degree of degradation forming, as mentioned

above, a tolerably exact chronometric scale, by which

we may measure

the age of the buildings.

Buddhism,
footing of

and

as before hinted, does not

much importance among any

as early as

7th century the few votaries of Buddha

the

existed in the south

was

it

seem to have ever gained a

of the Dravidian races of India,

of

India were finally expelled.^

extirpated that I do not

know

of one single

that

So completely

Buddhist monument

south of the Kistnah, except the tope at Amravati described above,

and

am

inclined very

much

to

doubt

if

any

really

important ones ever

existed.

The Jaina

religion,

on the contrary, continued

Conjeveram and in the Mysore, and seems

in these

places,

and

to

have attracted to

may have been towards the

Though
the southern people.

to

flourish

to have succeeded

whatever tendency

itself

there

doctrines of

of

influential

at

Buddhism

Buddhism on the part

from their

the Jains never formed more than a small numerical

among whom they were located.

The Hindu religion, which thus became supreme,

intelligence,

fraction of the

people

designated the Brahmanical, in order to distinguish

is

it

now commonly
from the

earlier

Yedic religion, which, however, never seems to have been known in

the sonth.

The two

sects

into

which

it

is

worshippers of Siva and of Vishnu, and are

almost antagonistic
fables

and monstrous

but both are now so

superstitions, that

The particulars are abstracted from

Walter Elliot's paper in tl.e fourth,
and Mr. Dowsoii's paper on the Cheras
Journal
in the eighth, volume of the
of the Royal Asiatic Society.'
^

Sir

'

it

is

divided consist of the

now

quite distinct

overloaded with

very

and

absurd

difficult to ascertain

2 The documents collected by Colonel

Mackenzie are full of the disputes which
ended in the persecution, and these extended apparently from the 5th to the 7th

centuiy.

Y 2


DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

324

what they

Nor

really are or ever were.

Book IV.

we yet

are

in a

position

to

speak confidently of their origin.

Recent discoveries in Assyria seem, however, to point to that country

much

as the origin of

Vaishnava

the

that

we

find underlying the local colouring

Garuda, the eagle-headed Vahana, and

faith.

panion of Vishnu, seems identical with the figure

Assyrian sculpture, probably representing

us in

god

Dagon, prefigures

Assyrians,

the

of

incarnation of Vishnu.

The man-lion

is

the

now

so

of

com-

familiar

The

Ormazd.

to

fish-

" Fish- Avatar,"

or

not more familiar to us in

Assyria than in India, and tradition generally points to the West for
the other figures scarcely so

whose name alone

easily

an index

is

recognised

to his origin

more

especially

Bali,

and Maha Assura, who,

by a singular inversion, is a man with a bull's head,^ instead of a bull

with a man's head, as he is always figured in his native land. It is
worthy of remark that the ninth Avatar of Vishnu is always Buddha
himself, thus pointing to a connexion between these two extremes of
Indian faith
there

and we are told by inscriptions

was then no

appreciable

difference

Indeed, as pointed

Vaishnavas.^

of the 14th century that

between

impossible to avoid considering these three faiths

one superstition of a native race

purest

Buddhism

three

as

and

Jains

the

out in the introduction,

seems

it

stages

of

being the oldest and

Jainism a faith of similar origin, but overlaid with local

and Vishnuism a third form, suited to the capacity of

superstitions

the natives

of

India in modern times, and

to

compete

with

the

fashionable worship of Siva.

Both these religions have borrowed an immense amount of nomenclature from the more abstract religions of the Aryan races, and both
profess to venerate the Vedas and other scriptures in the Sanscrit
Indeed

language.

it

is

but impossible that the intellectual supe-

all

riority of that race should not

but

it

make

itself felt

on the inferior

tribes,

most important always to bear in mind that the Sanscrit-

is

speaking Aryan was a stranger in India.

often repeated that
all,

indeed, which

all,

indeed, which

is
is

all

that

written

is

It

intellectually

belongs
belongs

artistic

to

them

cannot indeed be too

great in

that

but

that

to other

all

races,

aboriginal or immigrated into India at earlier or

country
is

built

who were

either

subsequent periods,

and from other sources than those which supplied the Aryan

stock.

There does not seem to be any essential difference either in plan

and Vaishnava temples in the south of India.

or form between the Saiva

It is only

by observing the images or emblems worshipped, or by

See Dr. Babingtou, Plate 4, vol. ii.

Transactions of the Royal Asiatic
aculpture at Malia
Society,' for the
1

of

'

Balipuram.
2

and

'Asiatic Researches,' vol.

vol. xvii. p. 285.

ix.

p.

270,

Chap.

INTRODUCTOKY.

I.

325

reading the stories represented in the numerous sculptures with which

a temple

adorned, that we find out the god to

is

whom

it is

dedicated.

Whoever he may

be, the temples consist almost invariably of the

following parts,

arranged in various manners, as afterwards to

explained, but differing in

which they were executed

1.

It

is

The

itself, is called

the Vma7ia.

always square in plan, and surmounted by a pyramidal roof of

;

god or his emblem

placed.

is

The porches

door leading to the

3.

be

according to the age in

principal part, the actual temple

one or more storeys

2.

themselves only

four

it

contains the

cell

in

which the image

or Mantapas^ which always cover

of the

and precede the

cell.

Gate pyramids, Gopuras^ which are the principal features in the

quadrangular enclosures which always surround the Vimanas.

4.

Pillared halls or Choultries, used for various purposes,

are the invariable

accompaniments

and which

of these temples.

Besides these, a temple always contains tanks or wells for water

to be used either for sacred purposes or the convenience of the priests,

dwellings

for all the various grades of the priesthood attached to

and numerous other buildings designed

for state or convenience.

it,

DEAYJDIAN STYLE.

326

CHAPTER

BuoK IV

11.

DRAVIDIAN ROCK-CUT TEMPLES.

CONTENTS.

Mahavellipore

Although
Dravidian

it

it

as there

it,

its

burst on us full blown at once as

all

modern

the

of

nothing so mysterious

is

regarding the styles of northern India, nor does

is

is

the case with the architecture

Hitherto, the great difficulty in the case has been,

of the Chalukyas.

that

origin

early history with the same precision as

Buddhist architecture, there

of

out the

not be possible to point

and trace

style,

we can that
about

may

Kylas, EUora.

the temples of southern India have been found to be of so

The

a date.

our

centuries of

great building age there was the IGth and 17th

Some

era.

structural buildings,

it

is

true, could be

traced back to the 12th or 13th with certainty, but beyond that

was to a great extent conjecture

examples,
certainty.

and

if

we could hardly go back much

it

all

were not for rock- cut

further with anything like

Recent investigations, how^ever, combined with improved

knowledge and greater familiarity with the subject, have now altered
this state of affairs to a great extent.

It

seems hardly doubtful

now

that

the Kylas at Ellora, and the great temples at Purudkul (Pattadkul),

are anterior to the 10th century.^

from the 8th or

9 th,

and

if

am

It

may, in

not very

fact,

be that they date

the " raths,"

much mistaken

as they are called, at Mahavellipore are as early, if not indeed earlier,

than the 5th or Gth, and are in reality the oldest examples of their
class know^n,

and the prototypes

of the style.

One circumstance which has prevented the age

pore raths being before detected
in single blocks, they

frequently a test of

is,

show no sign

that being

all

of

the Mahavelli-

cut in granite and

of wearing or decay,

which

age in structural buildings, and being

all

is

so

in the

same material produces a family likeness among them, which makes

at first sight difficult to discriminate between what is old and
what new. More than this, they all possess the curious peculiarity of
it

being unfinished, Avhether standing

free, as

the raths, or cut in the rock,

as caves, or on its face, as the great bas-relief

they are

all left

with

one-third or one-fourth merely blocked out, and in some instances with

Burgess,

'

Report on Belgam and Kaladgi,' 1875, plates 39, 40.

Chap.

MAHAYELLIPORE.

II.

the intention merely indicated.

suddenly called

It looks as if the

acquiring

are

with

details,

its

Add

knowledge

that

which

From

speculation.

how

account for what

to

and native
is

otherwise

have seized on this peculiarity, and make

unintelligible,

prominent feature in their myths.

we

workmen had been

whole was in progress,

the

which always are framed

traditions,

most

while

off

327

these causes

it

that

the

it

only

now

and familiarity

check the vagaries of Indian

is

not

difficult

might be made in treating

easily mistakes

is

it

the subject

of

will enable us to

all

to this

of

to

understand

such mysterious

objects.

we do not know

If

Mahavellipore,

it

we would wish about the

all

dak from Madras,

night's easy

made

Situated on an open sea-beach, within

supply the information.

of
to

one

has been more visited and oftener

it

The

than any other place in India.

described

antiquities

attempts have not been

not because

is

volume of the
them

first

'Asiatic Researches' (1788) contained an exhaustive paper on

by W. Chambers.

This was followed in the

Goldingham.

Mr.

l)y

fifth

In the second volume of

of the Royal Asiatic Society

there appeared

'

(1798) by another
the

'Transactions

what was then considered

a most successful attempt to decipher the inscriptions there, by Dr.

Guy

most of the sculptures.

Babington, accompanied by views of

The 'Madras

Journal,' in 1844, contained

guide to the place by

W.

Taylor and Sir "Walter

and almost every journal of every traveller in these parts
contains some hint regarding them, or some attempt to describe and
Lieutenant Braddock, with notes by the Rev.

Elliot

Most of these were collected

volume in 18G9 by a Lieutenant Carr, and published at the expense
of the Madras Government, but unfortunately the editor selected had

explain their peculiarities or beauties.

in a

no general knowledge of the subject, nor had he apparently any

His work in consequence adds

familiarity with the place.

little

local

to our

previous stores.

In addition to

all this.

Colonel Mackenzie undertook to illustrate

the place, and employed his stalf to

sculptures

and architectural

seven drawings of the place

details,
is

make

detailed drawings of all the

and a volume containing

thirty-

in his collection in the India Ofiice,

and

Daniell has also published some faithful representations of the place.

Quite recently

it

has been surveyed by the revenue surveyors, and

photographed by Dr. Hunter, Captain Lyon, and others, so that the

materials seem ample
distant times,
or

instruction, that

co-ordinate

could do

it

but the fact

and by individuals

the

it

whole.

easily in a

however, the main

is

is,

they have been collected at such

differing so essentially in capability

almost impossible, except on the spot, to

Any

accomplished architect or archsGologist

month, and

features

tell

us the whole story.

seem tolerably

distinct,

within limits sufficient for our present purposes.

Meanwhile,

and ascertained

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

328

The

and most interesting group

oldest

vellipore, are the so-called five

on the sea-shore

one

raths

Book IV.

monuments

of

of these, that with the

look as

that were so, must have been between 35

if

its

its

and IG

or nearly so, but

might guess
by 16

is

ft.

it

high.

ft.

northern

in a like proportion.

a mere Pansala or

It is the only

cell

11

ft.

square

one too that seems finished

(From a Sketch by the Author.)

a small copy of the last to the southward, and measures

is

and 20

ft.

in height.

very remarkable

it is

curvilinear shaped roof with a straight ridge.

ft.

and 40

its

has no throne or image internally from which we

in plan,

the above woodcut,

long, 25

detached

destination.

its

The next
ft.

ft.

is

Ratbs, Mahavellipore,

181.

11

width diminishing

on the north

first

externally,

ft.

southern end, sinking to half that height at

extremity, and

The

little

other four stand in a line north and south, and

they had been carved out of a single stone or rock, which

if

originally,

high at

The

rest.

Maha-

apsidal termination in

the centre of the annexed woodcut (No. 181), stands a

from the

at

monolithic temples standing

or

wide,

and 25

ft.

high.

The

third, seen partially in

an oblong building with a

Its

Externally,

dimensions are 42

it

ft.

seems to have been

completely carved, but internally only partially excavated, the works

being apparently stopped by an accident.

It

is

through, so that daylight can be seen through

it,

of the rock

have fallen to the ground

earthquake and other causes.

My

cracked completely

and

several

masses

this has been ascribed to

impression

is,

the

explanation

not far to seek, but arose from unskilfulness on the part of

an
is

workmen

Chap.

MAHAVELLirORE.

II.

employed in a
to

work

first

329

Having completed the

attempt.

make

to excavate the interior so as to

exterior, they set

resemble a structural

it

building of the same class, leaving only such pillars and supports

were sufficient to support a wooden roof of

as

In this instance

struction.

had the

been

excavation

As

lower storey to powder.

the

ordinary con-

the

was a mass of solid granite which,

completed, would certainly have crushed
it

was, the builders seem to have

it

taken the hint of the crack and stopped the further progress of the
works.

The
it

however,

last,

is

hand

right

plan, 34

of the last woodcut.

in height.

ft.

the most interesting of the series.

has already been given (Woodcut No. 66), and

dimensions are

Its

upper part

Its

it

with

entirely finished

is

sculptures, the lower merely blocked out.

It

may

view of

shown on the
27 ft. by 28 ft. in
is

its

be, that frightened

by the crack in the last-named rath, or from some other cause, they
desisted, and it still remains in an unfinished state.

The

materials for fixing the age of this rath are,

first,

the pala?o-

form of the characters used in the numerous inscriptions

graphical

with which

is

it

Comparing these with Prinsep's alphabets,

covered.^

allowing for difference of locality, they seem certainly to be anterior

to the 7th

century.^

The language,

too,

Sanscrit, while

is

all

the

Chola inscriptions of the 10th and subsequent centuries are in Tamil,

and
most

much more modern

very

in

antiquity

the character of

is

of the

Hindu Pantheon, such

mortals

four

arms

never

proof

in forms

all

more

to

but none of these combinations or

in the caves here, or at Ellora or Elephanta.

of

have on this rath

;

Siva too

more subdued than

The one extravagance

are to be found elsewhere.

have

We

Brahma and Vishnu

as

appears in most of his characters, but

generally

Another

characters.^

the sculpture.

is

that

the gods

them from
extravagances we find

distinguish

It is the soberest

and

most reasonable version of the Hindu Pantheon yet discovered, and

consequently one of the most interesting, as well, probably, as

the

earliest.

None
mention
for

of the inscriptions
of the Pallavas in

on the raths have

dates, but

from the

connexion with this place, I see no reason

doubting the inference drawn by Sir Walter Elliot from their

inscriptions
later

" that the excavations could not

than the 6th century."

certainly very like

Add

well

have been made

to all this, that these raths are

Buddhist buildings, as we learn to know them

from the early caves, and

it

seems hardly to admit of doubt that we

^
Most of these were copied by Dr.
Babiugtou, and published with the papers above referred to, but others are
given in tlie volume on the Mackenzie
collection ill the India Offi.;e.

'Journal of the Atiutic Society of

Bengal,' vol.
3

Sir

vii.

plate 13.

Walter Elliot in

compilation, p. 127.
*

Ibid.

Lieut. Carr's

DKA VIDIAN TYLE.

330

the last forms of

have here petrifactions

of

and

tliat of

to

of the first

The Avant
make this

forms of

it

Buddhist architecture/

the Dravidians.

of interiors in these raths

so clear as

Book IV.

might

be.

makes

We

it

sometimes

difficult

cannot, for instance,

tell

whether the apsidal rath in the centre of woodcut No. 181 was meant
to reproduce a chaitya hall, or a vihara like that of woodcut No. 48.

From

its

whole

is

being in several storeys I would infer the

so conventionalised

the different uses

to

different religion, that

There

is

latter,

but the

by transplantation to the south, and by

which they are applied

we must not

for

the purposes of

stretch analogies too far.^

one other rath, at some distance from the others, called

Arjuna's rath, represented in the above woodcut

(No. 182), which,

and gives a fair idea of the

form these oblong temples took before we have any structural buildstrange to say,

Among

is

finished, or nearly so,

hara monasteries are

the recently discovered ruins

building so exactly like the

here, that there can be no

long rath
doubt that

such buildings were used in the north

of India two centuries at least before
Christ, but to what purpose they were
applied is not so clear. The one at
Bharhut seems to have contained the
thrones or altars of the four last Buddhas.
2

Among

the sculptures of the

Gand-

several

ing fa9ades of buildings.

at Bharliut is a bas-relief representing a

represent-

They may bo

cells or cliaitya halls, but, at all events,

'

they are almost exact reproductions of

Being used
the faQade of this ratli.
as frameworks for sculpture, the northern

examples
but

it

is

are, of course, conventionalised

impossible to mistake the iden-

tity of intention.

They may probably be

of about the

same age.

Chap.

MAHAVELLIPUHE.

II.

331

This temple, though enteruig in the side, was

never intended to be pierced tlu'ough, but always to contain a cell.
The large oblong rath, on the contrary, was intended to be open
ings

all

of

the

class.

we should consider it as a
One thing, at all events,

round, and whether, consequently,

choultrie or a gopura

seems

certain

and

not quite

is
it

is

what

the vimanas

all

viharas,

southern

in

most here that the

and are the originals
India were copied, and

us

interests

Buddliist

square raths are copies of

from which

clear.

Perumal Pagoda, Mddura. (From a MS. Drawing in the possession of

the late General Momeith. Madras Engineers.) No scale.

unchanged

continued to be copied nearly

Woodcut No.

183,

for

instance,

erected in the 18th century.

and some

the

of

wonder rather
pletely

obliterated

however, in
examples,

it

and

earlier

that

is

all

It is

featm'es

their

are

centuries

traces

of

gradual

the

very

one

represents

changed,

twelve

which cannot be

to

is

it

hardly

late

true,

period.

Madura,

from

and the

recognisable

but

cells

the

should not have more comoriginal.

easily

There

recognised

transformation

in

detected

is

nothing,

intermediate

by

any

one

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

332

On

familiar with the subject.

EooK IV.

the other hand, the oblong raths were

halls or porticoes with the Buddhists, and became the gopuras or gateways which are frequently indeed generally more important parts

They,

of Dravidian temples than the vimanas themselves.

too, like the

vimanas, retain their original features very little changed to the

present day, as may be seen from the annexed example from a modern

Tamil temple on the opposite shore

No. 184).

To

all

this,

referring in the sequel, and

ties of

of the Gulf

Manaar (Woodcut

of

however, we shall have frequent opportuniit

will

become much plainer

as

we

proceed.

Entrance to a Hindu Templ^', Colombo.

184.

The

(From

Sir J. E. Tennent's 'Ceylon.')

other antiquities at Mahavellipore, though very interesting in

themselves, are not nearly so important for our history as the raths
just described.

The

caves are generally small, and

fail architecturally,

from the feebleness and tenuity of their supports. The

cave diggers had evidently not been grounded in the art,
northern compeers, by the
latter in the art

Buddhists.

The long

southern
their

like

experience of

the

taught them that ponderous masses were not only

their roofs, but for architectural effect

and
Hindus who succeeded them in the north ever
hesitated to use pillars of two or three diameters in height, or to crowd
them together to any required extent. In the south, on the contrary,

necessary to support

neither they nor the

the cave diggers tried to copy literally the structural pillars used

support wooden roofs.

to

Hence, I believe, the accident to the long rath,

and hence certainly the poor and modern look of all the southern
caves, which has hitherto proved such a stumbling-block to all who
have tried to guess their age.
their

best

designs

Their sculpture

is

better,

and some

of

rank with those of EUora and Elephanta, with

Chap.

MAHAVELLIPOIiE.

II.

which they were, in

that

we know

in

sculptures

executed in the 6th century ^ (a.d. 579),

those

the date of

in

the

The Badami

certainty.

cave No. 3

we

are

at

are enabled to approximate

Mahavellipore

sculptures

caves

with

similar

so

in

best examples there that they cannot be far distant

placed in the follov^ing century

it

Now, however,
Badami were

contemporary.

probability,

all

the

that

333

very

tolerable

style

with the

in

date,

will not probably be far

and

if

from the

truth.

The

great bas-relief on the rock, 90

most remarkable thing

by 40

ft.

Now

of its class in India.

be wholly devoted to Serpent worship,^

not before, and opens a

new chapter

it

in

ft.,

that

is

century, and

There

is

may

be a couple of centuries

Indian mythology.^

anterior

is

it

certainty
to

to

had
There

it

the

it

10th

earlier.

one other antiquity in a place called Saluvan Kuppan,

two miles north

of

Mahavellipore, which has not yet been drawn or

Tiger Cave at Saluvan Kuppan.

135.

known

acquires an interest

seems notliing to enable us to fix its age with absolute

can hardly, however, be doubted that

perhaps the

it is

(From a

I'hotograp.li.)

described, but deserves notice as a lineal descendant of the tiger cave

Cuttack (Woodcut No. 73). Here not one but a dozen of tiger
heads welcome the anchorite to his abode.
Here, too, they are conventionalised as we always find them in Chalukyan art
and this example
at

serves, like every other, to

Burgess,

'

Report on

show how the Hindu imagination in

Bel gain,'

Sec,

p. 24.

Tree and Serpent Worship,' p. 73.

it were possible to rouse the Madras
Government to take any interest in such
^

'

If

matters,

it

art

might be hoped they would

replace the head of the great Naga on

his body before it is destroyed by being
made a cockshy for idle Britishers.

DllAVIDIAN STYLE.

334

Book IV.

runs wild when once freed from the trammels of sober imitation of
natural

things,

which we find to be

its

characteristic

the

in

early

stages of Buddhist art.

Kylas, Ellora.

From
tion

is

the raths at Mahavellipore to the Kylas at Ellora the transi-

At the first-named

easy, but the step considerable.

place

we

have manifest copies of structures intended originally for other purposes, and used at Mahavellipore in a fragmentary and disjointed

manner. At Ellora, on the contrary, the whole is welded together,

and we have a perfect Dravidian temple, as complete in all its parts
as at any future period, and so far advanced that we might have
some difficulty in tracing
the

back

parts

to

originals without

tunate

for-

of

the

possession

on

their

the

the

Madras

Independently,

how-

examples
shore.

of

ever,

its

historical

ethnographical

Kylas

in

is

most

the

one of

itself

monuments

architectural art in

beauty and singularity

Its

ishment of

any
that

structure

but

is

on the

a model of

nume-

from the

and

views

of

that have been pub-

it

Unlike the Budd-

we

excavations

been

hitherto
it

sketches

not

is

have

describing,

mere

interior

chamber cut in the rock,

a complete temple, such as might have been erected

In other words, the rock has been cut away, externally

plain.

as well as internally.

The

and rational design than

rock around

in

rous

hist
(Curiectcd from a Pliin in Daniell's
Hindcstan.') Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

and

better

is

other

lished.

ill

it

known than almost

country,

Views

aston-

travellers,

in consequence

'

of

India.

always excited the

Kylas at Ellora,

and

singular

interesting

or

the

value,

it

older caves are of

this

temple,

because,

much more
in

cutting

natural

away the

to provide an exterior, the whole has necessarily been

Chai'.

KYLAS, ELLUKA.

II.

placed in a

has been escaped by the fact that the boulders

which they are hewn were found lying free on the

difficulty

of granite out

shore

In the cognate temples at Mahavellipore (Woodcut

pit.

No. 181) this

335

of

but at Ellora, no insulated rock being available, a pit was

dug around the temple

in the sloping side of the hill, about 100 ft.

and half that height at the entrance or gopura,
the floor of the pit being 150 ft. wide and 270 ft. in length.
In
the centre of this rectangular court stands the temple, as shown
in the preceding plan (Woodcut No. 18G), consisting of a vimana.

deep at

its

between 80

inmost

ft.

side,

and 90

ft.

in height, preceded

by a large square porch^

supported by sixteen columns (owing probably to the immense weight

to be borne)

and in front

before this stands a detached porch, reached by a bridge

of all stands the gateway,

which

is

in like

manner con-

nected with the last porch by a bridge, the whole being cut out of
the

native

rock.

Besides

these

there

are

two

pillars

or

deepdans

on each side of the detached

porch, and two elephants about the size of life.
All round the court
(literally

there

is

the plan,

lamp-posts)

left

standing

a peristylar cloister with

which give to the whole

cells,

and some halls not shown in

and at the same time

a complexity,

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

336

a completeness, which never

Cook IV.

to strike the beholder with astonish-

fail

ment and awe.

As will be seen from the view (Woodcut No. 187) the outline
of the vimana is at first sight very similar to that of the raths at
Mahavellipore, but on closer inspection we find everything so modified at EUora as to make up a perfect and well understood design.
The vimana with its cells, and the porch in front of it with its side
cells, make a complete Hindu temple such as are found in hundreds
in southern India, and instead of the simulated cells that surround
the hall in the Madras example, they again become realities, but used
Instead of being

for widely different purposes.

dences of priests, the five or rather seven

central object here

simulated

the

resi-

surround the

that

cells

each devoted to a separate divinity of the

are

Hindu Pantheon, and group most pleasingly with the central vimana.
It is, however, so far as is now known, the last reminiscence of this
Buddhist arrangement in Hindu architecture after the year 1000
;

even these

disappear or become independent

cells

separated from the temple

Though

damaged

considerably

Moslem

by

wards

and a

became, in

concerned

so

instead,

close

however,

lower

the

approach to what these objects after-

at

far,

violence,

advance on anything found

part of the gopura shows a considerable

at Mahavellipore,

wholly

erections,

itself.

as the

least,

of

the

tall

perpendicular parts

pyramids

which

universal afterwards, the gopura in the Kylas exhibits only what

be called the germ of such an

member

of

arrangement.

a gopura placed in the

It

small as not to be visible except from above.

from

two

parts.

Nothing

either

side

of the
of

the

kind however

to,

which possibly represents a flame, though

what

it

really

is,

and so

to

connect these

two

square

pillars

called

the ornament at the top of

it

is

diflicult

to ascertain

them as representhe Buddhists (Woodcut No. 6) is very

while the temptation to consider

tatives of the lion pillars of

great

only the upper

exists here.^

porch are the

deepdans, or lamp-posts, before alluded

so

may

In more modern times

would have been interposed

five to ten storeys

On

is

roof of the gateway,

flat

are

were

(Woodcut No. 188).

In the south of India, however, among the Jains, as mentioned

above (p. 276), such pillars are very common, standing either singly
or in pairs in front of the gopuras,

carry lamps for

festivals.

granite, square at base,

They

and always apparently intended

to

generally consist of a single block of

changing to an octagon, and again to a figure

Some, however,

of sixteen sides, with a capital of very elegant shape.

are circular, and, indeed, their variety

'

In DauicH's plates, No. 16, the upper

Being cut in the
is shown.

part of this

is

infinite.

They range from

rock no addition or alteration could after-

wards have been intended.

ROCK- CUT TEMPLES.

Chat. U.

Deepdan

133.

30

sions,

Dharwar.

(From a l^hotograph.)

and even 50 ft. in height, and, whatever their dimensouthern

are among the most elegant specimens of art in

to 40

ft.

in

337

ft.

India.

no inscription or other date from which

It is safe,
the age of the Kylas can be ascertained with precision.
Dravidians,
southern
the
by
erected
was
it
however, to assert that
the eclipse of
either the Cheras or the Cholas who held sway here during
Unfortunately, there

is

and Mr. Burgess's recent

the Chalukyas, or between a.d. 750 and 950
tolerable confidence
with
assert
to
us
enable
Dharwar
in
researches
of these dates.
second
the
than
first
the
nearer
be
must
age
its
that
covered with inscripgreat "temple at Purudkulhis Pattadkal is
;

The

which unfortunately are dated, but from their import

himself ascribe
and the form of their characters, both Bhau Daji^ and
doubting the
for
reason
,2
no
and I see
to the 8th or 0th century

tions,

'

'

none

of

Journal

Royal Asiatic
et seqq.

Bombay Branch
Society,'

vol. ix.

of

tin;

p. 314,

'

Report, on

1874, p. 31,

Bel gam and

et seqq.

Kaladji,'

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

338

Book IV.

correctness of the date assigned by Mr. Burgess to this temple, which,

according to

him was

erected during the 8th century.

In plan

almost exactly a duplicate of

may be

gathered from the

189), but there

(No.

the

is

as

annexed woodcut

some

is

it

Kylas,

difficulty

little

in instituting such a comparison of their archi-

tecture as would enable us to feel sure of their

one

structural

is

make

tt^iMte^^

temple

am

know what

elder

On

If,

consequently,

knowledge of the

down

with considerable confidence that

allowing,

^']?umdkuK
^^'"""scarj loo^ft to'un.''^''''^

from

years

the

course,

of

truth

some

cxccution

J^^'^^

were

it

on a date which should cor-

fix

age of the Kylas, I would put

189.

to

the whole,

the two, but certainly

of

rectly represent our present

many

also

allowance

locality.

not distant in date.

necessary to

rock-cut, but

inclined to believe the southern

the

is

because the

first place,

other

for distance of

however, I

I^J

the

the

we hardly

because

in

relative dates

it

was not
way,

either

thirty

of

a.d. 800,

to

fifty

important

so

monument.
Considerable misconception exists on the subject of cutting temples

Almost every one who

in the rock.

the apparently prodigious amount

vation,

and there

is

principal source of

sees these temples is struck

no doubt that

with

labour bestowed on their exca-

of

their monolithic

character

the

is

the awe and wonder with which they have been

regarded, and that, had the Kylas been an edifice of masonry situated

on the

plain, it

In

travellers.

would scarcely have attracted the attention

reality,

however,

considerably

is

it

expensive to excavate a temple than to build one.

the Kylas, the most wonderful of

on which

European

and

less

Take, for instance,

To

this class.

all

of

easier

excavate the area

stands would require the removal of about 100,000 cubic

it

yards of rock, but, as the base of the temple

structure massive,

it

solid

is

simply this

rock,

and shoot

excavated area, so that the question

easier to chip

is

and the super-

occupies in round numbers about one-half of the

away 50,000 yards

of

whether
it

to

it

spoil

is

(to

borrow a railway term) down a hillside, or to quarry 50,000 cubic

yards of stone, remove it, probably a mile at least to the place where
The excavating
the temple is to be built, and then to raise and set it.
process

would

cost

There arc four photographs of

temple in the
of

proba,bly

'

about

this

Arcliitectural Antiquities

Dharwar and Mysore,'

plates 54-57.

one-tenth

One

of these

is

book, plate 38.

of

the

other.

The

repeated in Mr. Burgess's

Chap.

ROCK-CUT TEMPLES.

II.

ornament would be the same in both instances, more

sculpture and

especially in India,

where buildings are always

the carving executed

on

339

in

set

Xevertheless the

situ.

up

and

block,

in

produced

impression

by these monolithic masses, their unalterable

and appearance of eternal diu-ability, point to the process
as one meriting more attention than it has hitherto received in
modern times and if any rock were found as uniform and as easily
spectators

all

character,

worked

amygdaloidal traps, we might hand down to

as the Indian

some

posterity

more

diu'able

monument than many we

now

are

erecting at far greater cost.

Before leaving this branch of the subject there

is

one other rock-

cut example which deserves to be quoted, not either for

size

its

or

from the elegance of its details. It is situated at a

place called Kumululu,^ thirty-five miles south-west from Shivelliputtun, and consequently twice that distance north from Cajx;
Comorin. Like the examples at Mahavellipore, this one never was
antiquity, but

who commenced

finished, probably because the person

to complete
use,

it,

and

was nobody's business to

it

and intended only to

glorify

him who made

finish
it.

did not live

it

what was

have been, and

if successful,

dimensions might have followed.

The

no

Maha-

of a separate boulder, but out of a ridge, as I fancy those at

vellipore to

of

It is not cut out

any number of others of any

other side of the hill had been

occupied by the Jains, and numerous images of their Tirthankars are

carved upon

it,

cared to do

so.

Mahavira that

with inscriptions that could easily be read

It
this

shrine was

little

10th or 11th century, and

if

it

undertaken,

carved,

when

it

it

was

blocked

only

out,

was abandoned, and

its details, it certainly

we cannot

any one

is

probably

had been completed

been one of the most perfect gems of the

unexplained

if

was evidently to mark the triumph of Siva over

is

style.

and

now

the

it

part

will be

only

From
how much

entirely forsaken.

more modern than the Kylas

it

the

For some reason

up]:)er

yet say with certainty.

Several pLotograpLs of

in

would have

found in Capt. Lyon's collection.

DKAVIDJAN STYLE.

340

CIIArTER

Book IV.

III.

DRAVIDIAN TEMPLES.
CONTENTS.

Tiruvaliir ScnngliaTn Cliillambaram Rnmisscram Madura

Ti!iiicvclly Combacomim Conjcvcrani Vellore and PcroorVijayanagar.

Tanjoro

When

we turn from

these few scattered rock-cut examples to the p'eat

structural temples of the style,

we

find their

extent so vast, and their variety so

to

difficult

more

formulate any distinct

so, as a

the subject.

number

ideas

so ^reat, their

is

perplexing, that

it

is

extremely

and

regarding them,

still

matter of course, to convey to others any clear idea on

To any one

at all familiar with the present status of the

population of the ])rovince, the greatest wonder

could ever have conceived,

much

less

carried

is

how such

out, such

a people

vast

under-

takings as these, and that so recently that some of the greatest and
boldest were only interrupted by our wars with the French little
more than a century ago. The cause of this, however, is not far to
seek.
Ever since we took possession of the country, our countrymen
have been actuated by the most beneficent intentions of protecting the
poor against the oppression of the rich. By every means we have
songht to secure the ryot in his holding, and that he should not be
called on to pay more than his fair share of the produce of his land
while to the landowner we have offered a secure title to what
belonged to him, and a fixed income in money in lieu of bis portion
;

of the produ(;e.

To

people,

however, in the state of civilization

to which India has reached, a secure title

and a fixed income only

means the poAver of borrowing on the occasion of a marriage, a funeral,
or some great family festival, ten times more than the borrower can
ever pay, and our courts as inevitably give the lender the power of
foreclosing his mortgage and selling the property.
During the century in which this communistic process has been going on the
landed aristocracy have

gradually

cities,

ment

and by them dissipated

is

of

in frivolities.

to reduce the whole population to

the

of

starvation, they

the wealth

of

money-lenders of the

If the

aim

of the govern-

the condition

proprietors, occupying the land without capital,

the verge

All

disappeared.

the country has passed into the hands

of

peasant

and consequently on

have certainly succeeded.

It

may

be

Chap.

TEMPLES.

III.

beneficent,

number
art

341

and may produce the greatest happiness

the

to

greatest

but in such a community neither science, nor literature, nor

have any place, and religion

becomes degraded by the status

itself

of its votaries.

Before we interfered, the condition of things was totally different.

The

was then in the hands of a

from it immense revenues

practical proprietorship of the land

few princes or feudal

who

lords,

derived

they had no means of

spending, except in works of ostentation,

which in certain stages of civilization, are as necessary for the employment of the masses as for their own glorification. In such a

country as India the employment of one-half of the population in

agriculture

is sufficient

half are free for any

to produce food for the whole, while the other

employment that may be

We

available.

in this

country employ our non-agricultural half in manufactures and commerce.

The southern Indians had

occupation

Whether

for

this

the

was more profitable or

or spinning cotton
It is

is

not a question

enough to know the

neither,

fact,

and

and

than

population

surplus

found

in

no

better

temple-building.

than hammering iron

beneficial

necessary to enter on here.

it

is

to

mark

The

consequences.

its

population of southern India in the 17th and 18th century was pro-

bably hardly

less

than

it

now

is

some

thirty millions

and

one-

if

third or one-fourth of such a population were to seek employment in

building, the

persevered in through

results, if

something astonishing.

Egypt in the time

rently in
results.

after

similar

of

centuries,

affairs

would

prevailed

be

appa-

of the Pharaohs, but with very different

The Egyptians had

immortality, that

state

great and lofty ideas, and a hankering

impressed

itself

on

southern Indians had no such aspirations.

their

all

works.

The

Their intellectual status

and always was, mediocre they had no literature of their own no

which they could look back with pride, and their religion
It is impossible that
was, and is, an impure and degrading fetishism.

is,

history to

anything very grand or imposing should come out of such a state of

What they had to offer to their gods was a tribute of labour,

things.
and that was bestowed without stint. To cut a chain of fifty links
out of a block of granite and suspend it between two pillars, was with
them a triumph of art. To hollow deep cornices out of the hardest
basalt, and to leave all the framings, as if of the most delicate woodwork, standing free, was with them a worthy object of ambition, and
their sculptures are still inexplicable mysteries, from our ignorance of
how it was possible to execute them. All that millions of hands working through centuries could do, has been done, but with hardly any
higher motive than to employ labour and to conquer
to

the second was overcome

higher moti\'e

difficulties, so as

and the cleverness with which

we are but without some
true architecture cannot exist.
The Dravidians had

astonish by the amount

of the first

and

astonished

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

342

not even the constructive

Book IV.

overcome which enabled the

difficulties to

mediaeval architects to produce such noble fabrics as our cathedrals.

The aim

Middle Ages was to design

of architects in the

which

halls

should at the same time be vast, but stable, and suited for the accom-

modation of great multitudes

to witness

lofty

In

ritual.

their

struggle to accomplish this they developed intellectual poAvers which

impress us

No

through their works.

still

His

the intellectual faculties of the Hindu.

god were placed in a dark cubical

cell

such lofty aims exercised

altar

and the statue

of his

wholly without ornament, and the

porch that preceded that was not necessarily either lofty or spacious.

What

the

Hindu

craved

architect

for,

was a place to display

powers of ornamentation, and he thought he had accomplished

demanded when he covered every part

art

most elaborate and most

difficult

of his

building with the

Much

designs he could invent.

this ornamentation, it is true, is very elegant,

his

all his

and evidences

of

of

power

and labour do impress the human imagination, often even in defiance

judgment, and nowhere is this more apparent than in
It is in vain, however, we look among them
these Dravidian temples.
for any manifestation of those lofty aims and noble results which constitute the merit and the greatness of true architectural art, and
which generally characterise the best works in the true styles of the
of our better

western world.

Turning from these

first

describe

them

is

generalities

to

the

temples themselves, the

experienced in attempting either to classify or

great difficulty

them

that no plans of

exist.

know myself upwards

of thirty great Dravidian temples, or groups of temples,

which must have cost

a great deal more
four, of

of

much

but of

which even

Two- thirds

as

these

all

to build as

these there are only three, or

moderately

have

any one of

an English cathedral, some

been

Hunter, Capt. Lyon,^ and others

trustworthy

sufficiently

plan

is

photographed

the remaining third I

course, irrespective

of

village

temples, and,

extensive groups which have been overlooked.

it

If

may

may

be

available.

by

know

from personal inspection or from drawings and descriptions.

of

it

Dr.

either

This

is,

some
these temples had
be,

of

been built like those of the Greeks, or even as the Christian churches
in the Middle Ages, on

one uniform plan, changing only with the

progress of time, one or two plans might have sufficed

that, in nine cases out of ten,

is

aggregation of parts, arranged without plan, as accident

Capt.

ment

fur

Lyon was employed by Governthis purpose, and made 276

photographs of these temples. Fourteen

were furnished to Government, but,

sets

but the fact

Dravidian temples are a fortuitous

dictated

at

owing to difficulties which occurred in

bringing them out, they can hardly be
said to be published
in this country at

least.

CHAr.

TANJORE.

III.

the time of their erection

tion to this rule

is

and, without plans, no adequate idea can

seen them.
The one great excep-

who have not

be conveyed to those

commenced on

343

The

found at Tanjore.

to be

great

Pagoda there was

a well-defined and stately plan, which

was persevered

As will be seen from

the annexed diagram (Woodcut Xo. 190) it
consists of two courts,^ one a square of
about 250 ft., originally devoted to minor
but when the temple
shrines and residences
was fortified by the French in 1777 ^ it
was converted into an arsenal, and has not
been re-appropriated to sacred purposes. The
in

completion.

its

till

temple

itself

stands in a courtyard extremely

well proportioned to receive

500

long by half

ft.

being about

it,

that

width,

in

the

distance between the gateway and the temple

being broken by the

Nundi,^ which

but

pm-pose,

its

is

shrine

not

much

so

Bull

the

of

important for

sufficiently

to

as

so

interfere with the effect of the great vimana,

inner end

which

stands

court.

The perpendicular

measures 82

near

ft.

the

square,

part of

and

is

of

the

its

base

two storeys

in height, of simple outline, but sufficiently

by niches and pilasters. Above

pyramid rises in thirteen storeys
the summit, which is crowned by a

relieved
this

to

the

dome
and

said

to

consist

porch in front

is

of

reaching a height

kept low, and

be seen from the woodcut

tower

dominates

over

(Xo.

the

stone,

single

190

of

The

ft.

will

as

Diagram Plan ol Tanjore Pagoda.

(From a Sketch by the Author.)

191) the

Scale 200

ft.

to 1 in.

and

gopuras

surrounding objects in a manner that imparts great dignity to the

whole composition.
Besides the great temple and the

As the plan is only an eye-sketch,

and the dimensions obtained by pacing,
it must not be too much relied on.
It
is sufficient to explain the text, and that
'

is all
2
^

16
7
10

that

at present required.

is

The dimensions

of this

ft.
ft.

image are

from muzzle to rump, by above

across, 12 ft. 2 in. to top of head,
4

in. to

top of

has been so frequently and so thoroughly

coated with oil, which is daily applied
it,

that

hump, and

ft.

in.

it

looks like bronze.

I tried

remove a portion of this epidermis in

order to ascertain what was beneath, but
was not successful. No other kind of stone,
however, is used in any other part of the

to

ft.

there are several

to top of back.
It is composed of a single
block of stone, I believe granite, but it

to

Inscription on gateway.

Nundi porch

temple.

344

DllAVlDlAX STYLE.

Book IV

'p -

View of the Great Pagoda

lyi.

other

smaller shrines

Soubramanya, a son
architecture as

at Taiijore.

in
of

the

(From a Photugrai)h by M;ddletoii Rayne. Esq.,

enclosure, one of

Siva's, is

C. K.)

which, dedicated to

as exquisite a piece

of

decorative

to be

found in the south of India, and though small,

almost divides our admiration with the temple itself
(Woodcut No.'
It is built behind an older shrine, which
192).
may be coeval with
the great temple as originally designed.
is

One
tures

of the peculiarities of the Tanjore temple

is that all the sculpon the gopuras belong to the religion of Vishnu,
while everything

the courtyard

clined to believe

named

di\ inity,

is

dedicated to the worship of Siva.

only an instance of the extreme tolerance

at

which

it

At

first I felt in-

had been erected wholly in honour of the

but am now more inclined to the belief that
it

that

firstit

is

prevailed at the age

was erected, before these religions became antagonistic.

Chap.

TANJORE.

111.

345

What, then, was that age ? Strange to say, though so complete

and uniform, and standing, as it does, almost alone, its date is not
known. Mr. Norman, a competent authority, in the text that accompanied Tripe's photographs, says it was erected by Kadu Vettiya
Soran, or Cholan,^ a king reigning at Conjeveram in the beginning of
the 14th century.
At one time I hoped it was earlier, but on the
whole I am now convinced that this must be very nearly the truth.
The Soubramanya is certainly one century, probably two centuries,
more modern. The Bull itself is also inferior in design, and therefore
more modern than those at HuUabid, which belong probably to the
13th century, and the architecture of his shrine cannot be carried
back beyond the 15th century. It may even be considerably more

modern.

It is disappointing to find the

whole so recent in date, but

there seems no excuse for ascribing to this temple a greater antiquity

than that just mentioned.

Though

so very important in Dra-

vidian history,
correct

list

we have not even now a

of tlie Chola kings from the

year 1000 downwards. There certainly is

not one among the Mackenzie MSS. Tlie

Mr. Ellis, it is said, had one, but

ho determined not to publish anything
late

before he

was

forty years of age,

and

be-

time he swallowed a bottleful

of laudanum by mistake, and was found
dead in his bed one morning. His papers
served his successor's cook to light fires
fore that

for

some years afterwards.

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

346

Book IV.

TiRUVALUR.

The

temple at Tiruvalur, about

thirty

miles

west of

Madras,

contrasts curiously with that at Tanjore in the principles on which

it

was designed, and serves to exemplify the mode in w^hich, unfortunately,

most Dravidian temples were aggregated.

The nucleus

Inner Temple at
Tiruvalur.

193,

Scale 200

ft.

here was a small village temple

(Woodcut No. 193), drawn to the same scale as the
plan of Tanjore in Woodcut No. 190.
It is a double
shrine, dedicated to Siva and his consort, standing
in a cloistered court which measures 192 ft. by
156 ft. over all, and has one gopura in front. So
far there is nothing to distinguish it from the ordi-

nary temples found in every village.

It,

however,

to 1 in.

some subsequent period became sacred or rich,

and a second or outer court was added, measuring 470 ft. each way,
with two gopuras, higher than the original one, and containing
at

within

its

walls

numberless

little

shrines

and porches.

Additions

were again made at some subsequent date, the whole being enclosed
in

court

910

ft.

by 701

several important shrines.

ft.

When

this

time with

the last

intended to endow the temple with

five

gopuras,

addition was made,

it

and
Avas

one of those great halls which

SERINGHAM.

ClIAP, III.

347

were considered indispensable in temples of the

they had

or

were intended to have

1000

Generally

first class.

columns

this

one has

only G88, and only about one-half of these carry beams or a roof of

any sort. There can, however, be very little doubt that, had time
and money been available, it would have been completed to the
typical extent.
As it is, it is probably owing to our management
the revenues

of

the country that the requisite funds

of

were not

forthcoming, and the buildings stopped probably within the limits of

the present century.

The

may

general effect of such a design as this

the bird's-eye view (Woodcut No.

194).

The gateways,

thing can be worse.

As an

irregularly

blank wall, lose half their dignity from their

be gathered from

artistic

design, no-

spaced in a
positions

great

and

the

bathos of their decreasing in size and elaboration, as they approach

sanctuary,

the

is

mistake which nothing can redeem.

admire beauty of

detail,

evidence of labour,

if

and be astonished

at

they are found in such a temple as

an architectural design

may

"We

the elaboration and

this,

but as

altogether detestable.

it is

Seringham.

The temple which has been most completely marred by

system of design
and,

if

that at Seringham, which

is

principle of design could be reversed,

its

this false

certainly the largest,

is

would be one of the

temples in the south of India (Woodcut No. 195, p. 349).

Here
the central enclosure is quite as small and as insignificant as that at
finest

Tiruvalur, and except that

it

from an ordinary

its

dome

village temple.

gilt

is

has nothing to distinguish

The next

enclosure, however,

is

more magnificent. It encloses the hall of 1000 columns, which measures some 450 ft. by 130 ft.
The number of columns is, I believe,
sixteen in front by sixty in depth, or 960 altogether
but I do not
feel sure there is not some mistake in my observations, and that the
odd forty are to be found somewhere. They consequently are not
spaced more than 10 ft. apart from centre to centre
and as at one
end the hall is hardly over 10 ft. high, and in the loftiest place only
;

15
it

ft.

will

or 16

produces.
all

ft.,

and the

pillars

be easily understood

They

are,

carved more or

spaced nearly evenly

how

little

effect

over the

floor,

such a building really

however, each of a single block of granite, and

less

elaborately.

much

finer

portico

stretches

the pillars in it are

from gopura to gopura
much more widely spaced, and the central aisle is double that of
those on the sides, and crosses the portico in the centre, making

across

court

this

double that

transept

is

a pleasing and graceful architectural design

its

height,

too,

is

of
;

the

side

the other

aisles.
is

It

only an


DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

318

The next

evidence of misapplied labour.

Book IV.

four enclosures have nothing

very remarkable in them, being generally occupied by the Brahmans

and persons connected with the temple. Each, however, has, or was
intended to have, four gopuras, one on each face, and some of these
tically,

and

fed,

2880

The

very considerable magnificence.

are of

ft.,^

passed

all

The

fleeced.

and, had

outer enclosure

wall

its

that

encloses

measures 2475

it

same extent

any other known temple.

ft.

in depth

the opening through

by

ft.

as thase dimensions

The northern gopura,

leading to the river and Trichinopoly, measures 130

100

prac-

gopuras been finished, they would have sur-

others in the south to the

exceed those of

is,

with shops, where pilgrims are lodged, and

bazaar, filled

it

ft.

measures 21

in width

ft.

6 in.,

by
and

The four jambs or gateposts are each of a

more than 40 ft. in height, and the roofingslabs throughout measure from 28 ft. to 24 ft.
Had the ordinary
brick pyramid of the usual proportion been added to this, the whole
would have risen to a height of nearly 300 ft. Even as it is, it is
one of the most imposing masses in southern India, and probably
perhaps because it never was quite finished 'it is in severe and good
Its date, fortunately, is perfectly well known, as
taste throughout.^
its progress was stopped by its being occupied and fortified by the
French during our ten years' struggle with them for the possession of
twice that in height.

single slab of

granite,

Trichinopoly

and

if

we allow

fifty

years for

its

progress, even this

The

would bring the whole within the limits of the 18th century.

other three gopuras of this enclosure are in the same style, and w^ere

commenced on the same scale, but not being so far advanced when
we stopped the work, their gateposts project above their walls in a
manner that gives them a very singular appearance, and has led to
some strange theories as to their design.
Looked at from a distance, or in any direction where the whole
can be grasped at once, these fourteen or
cannot

to

fail

produce a certain

Woodcut No. 195

the view in

considering them as
their

arrangement

least possible

ornament.

may

but even then

buildings.

great

fifteen

as

As

exactly that which enables

is

effect

Had

separate

effect,

gate

towers

be gathered from
it

can only be by

parts

them

of

one whole,

to produce the

that can be obtained either from their mass or

the four great outer gopuras formed the four sides of

a central hall, and the others gone on diminishing, in three or four

the whole would have

directions, to the exterior, the effect of

increased in a surprising degree.

'
Except this dimension, which is from
a survey, and those of the gopuras, the
dimensions above quoted must be taken

cum gram. They were obtained

pacing and eye- sketching.

only by

To accomplish
2

my

this,

been

however, one

A
'

drawhig of it was published in

Picturesque Illustrations of Indian

Architecture.'
It has since been
quently photographed.

fre-

DRAVmiAN

350

STYLE.

other defect must have been remedied

2000

in a wall nearly

in extent

ft.

is

Book IV.

a gateway even 150

wide

ft.

a solecism nothing can redeem

but had the walls been broken in plan or star-shaped, like the plans of

Chalukyan temples,

and shade would have been obtained, and due

But if the Dra vidians

light

proportions of parts, without any inconvenience.

ever

had

it

them

in

to think of such things,

was not during the

it

17th and 18th centuries, to which everything in this temple seems to

belong.

Chillambaram.

The temple

Chillambaram

at

one

is

of

most venerated, and

the

has also the reputation of being one of the most ancient, temples in
southern India.

was there, therefore,

It

if

anywhere, that I at one

time hoped to find some remains that would help to elucidate the
history of the style.

original

removed from any

It was, besides, so far

haunt

city or frequented

man

of

capital

one might hope to find

that

its

form unaltered.

It is old, but I

tion with Hiranya

am

afraid the traditions that connect its founda-

Yerma

of

Kashmir, in the beginning

century, on which I was at one time inclined to

impalpable a nature to be depended upon.

doubting that there

may have been

I see

of the 6th

are

rely,^

too

of

no great reason for

a connexion between the kings of

Chola and those of Kashmir at the period

but I cannot see anything

in this temple either of so early an age, or any feature in the style of

On

Kashmiri architecture.

the

other hand, the

foundation of

the

temple appears to be clearly described in the following passage of the

Kongadesa Eaja Kal

" Yira

Chola Raya (a.d. 927 to 977) one day

saw on the sea-shore the Sabhapati of Chillambara (Siva), attended

by Parvati, dancing and beating the damaraka (a kind of drum) he
therefore expended great sums of money in building the Kanaka, or
;

Golden Sabha."^

little

further

(a.d. 1004), observing that his

Sabha

on,

it

is

to the Chillambara deity, he built gopuras,

madapanas
granted

(image-houses), sabhas

many

it

Deva

maddals (enclosures),
or

apartments), and

If this last could

be applied to the

(holy

jewels to the deity."

great enclosure,

"Ari Yari

said,

grandfather had built only a Kanaka

places

would be a most important date

but on a careful

examination of the whole circumstances of the case I

feel

that these passages refer only to the two inner enclosures,

west end of the tank (Woodcut No. 196).

convinced
B, at the

They, indeed, measuring

square, appear to have been the whole of the original

about 320

ft.

temple, at

least

in

the

10th

nth

and

^
'Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient
Architccturc in Hindustan,' p. GO.

centuries, always

supposing

'Journal of the Royal Asiatic So-

cicty,' vol. viii. p. 7.

Chap.

CHILLAMBARAM.

III.

ISeale

351

of Feet

Plan of Temple of Cliillambaram.

(From a Flan by Admiral Paris, ia Tom- du Monde,' vol. xvi.

196.

p. 35.)

'

that any part of the building

however, I

am

is

On

really as old as this.

inclined to believe that this inner temple

The temple

one referred to in the above extract.

the whole,

is

really the

of Parvati, C,

on

the north of the tank, was added afterwards, most probably in the

14th or 15th centmy, and to that age the great gopm'as and the
second enclosure also belong.

The

hall

learn

from the Mackenzie MSS., the

many

donations to the fane.^

It

columns, E, was

we
made

1685, at which time,

kings

was then,

'Madras Journal,' No,

1000

of

almost certainly erected between 1595 and

of

the

also, in

20, p. 15

locality
all

probability.

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

852
the

oiifcer

commenced

enclosure was

but

it

Book IV.
never was carried out,

being in most places only a few feet above the foundation.

The

now

oldest thing

existing here

is

shrine in the inmost

little

two pillars,
on a stylobate, ornamented with
dancing figures, more graceful and more elegantly executed than any
other of their class, so far as I know, in southern India.
At the sides
are wheels and horses, the whole being intended to represent a car,
as is frequently the case in these temples.
Whitewash and modern
alterations have sadly disfigured this gem, but enough remains to
enclosure (opposite

about

show how
dedicated

but

high,

ft.

in the plan), with a little porch of

resting

and consequently how ancient, it was. It was

Yerma, the god of dancing, in allusion, probably, to

exquisite,
to

the circumstance above mentioned as leading to the foundation of the

temple.

In front of

a shrine of very unusual architecture, with a tall

it is

copper roof, which, I have no doubt, represents or

above referred

and

to,

making up what seems

the golden sal)ha

is

and

in front of this is a gopura

pillared porch,

The

to have been the temple of Yira Deva.

outer enclosure, with the buildings

contains, are,

it

it

appears, those

of Ari Yari.

The temple
which

some idea

gives

No.

of Parvati, C,

.198)

width, the next 8

50

ft.

principally remarkable

The

ft.,

The

construction.

ft.

till

spanned.

galleries

are

aisles
all

his

power

ft.

in

for the

making the whole

would crush the supports, recourse was had to

together by transverse purlins,

continued

outer

6 in. in width,

vaulting, or rather bracketing, shafts,

be

porch,

In order to roof this without employing stones

or thereabouts.

of such dimensions as

tied

its

and the section (Woodcut

but the architect reserved

which measures 21

for

woodcut (No. 197)

following

of its present appearance,

explains its

central aisle,

is

singular elegance.

of

is

all

and these brackets were again

in stone, and the system w^as

the width was reduced to a dimension that could easily

As the whole

is

enclosed

two storeys in height, the

effect

in
of

suiTounded by

court

the whole

is

singularly

pleasing.

Opposite to
similar in

this, across

many

the tank,

is

probably slightly more modern.

Here the

four in front by forty-one in depth,

hall

of

pillars are

making 984

central space, four in the porch, then

the

1000 columns,

respects to that at Seringham, above described, but

arranged twenty-

but in order to get

twenty-eight, then two, and

but, on
must be added, which
and makes up the 1000.^ It must be con-

again twenty-four, have been omitted, altogether fifty-eight

the other hand, those of the external portico

nearly balances the

loss,

Its flimeDsioriF, as nearly as

Paris' j.lanp, arc 840

ft.

by 180

ft.

can bo asccrtninod from

my

paces,

and Admiral

CHILLAMBARAM.

Chap. Hi.

View

i.

of Porch at Uhillambarain.

Section of Poich of

Temple

at Cluliambaraoj.

353

C^'rom Drawings by the Author.)

(From a Sketch by

the Author.)

JNo Scale.

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

354
fessed tins forest of

more or

less

granite pillars, each

of

Book IV.
a

single

stone,

and

all

carved and ornamented, does produce a certain grandeur

of effect, but the

want

of design in the arrangement,

and

of subordi-

nation of parts, detract painfully from the effect that might have been

RAMISSERAM.

Chap. TIL

355

Leaving out the pillars in the centre is the one redeeming

and that conld easily have been effected without the brick
vaults, formed of radiating arches, which are employed here
another
certain proof of the modern age of the building.
These vaults are
l^rodiiccd.

featnre,

certainly

and

integral,

could not have been

certainly

as

Mahomedans had

after the

till

settled in the

south,

employed
and taught the

Hindus how to use them.

Although this temple has been aggregated at different ages, and
grown by accident rather than design like those at Tiruvalur and
Seringham just described, it avoids the great defect of these temples,
for though like them it has no tall central object to give dignity to
the whole from the outside, internally the centre of its great court is
occupied by a tank,

without at

all

round which the various objects are grouped

interfering with one another.

important object, to the eastward of

it

The temple

itself

one

is

the Parvati temple another, on

the north, and forms a pleasing pendant to the 1000-columned choultrie

Alongside the Parvati another temple w^as commenced

(Woodcut No. 199), with a portico of square pillars, four in front,
and all most elaborately ornamented, but in such a manner as not to

on the south.

interfere with their outline or solidity.

From

whom

its

now ruined

unfinished and

this temple

From

feel sure of its age.

its position,

its

ornamentation, there seems

of

the 17th and

would be inclined to ascribe

it

is

difficult to

money

to

erect

they might

not easy to say to

however, and the character of

doubt that

belongs to the end

it

From

the 18th century.

it

to the earlier date, but

its

in

style,

that case

finished.
When they had
and to commence a new enclosure,
have spared enough to complete this solitary

understand
the

little

half of

first

state, it is

most probably Soubramanyanor to

was dedicated

great

certainly

its

not being

hall,

shrine.

Ramisseram.
If it

were proposed to select one temple which should

exhil)it

the beauties of the Dravidian style in their greatest perfection,

the same time exemplify

choice would almost

all

its

inevitably

characteristic
fall

Paumben (Woodcut No.

on that

defects
at

of

all

and

at

design, the

Ramisseram, in the

In no other temple has the

same amount of patient industry been exhibited as here, and in none,
unfortunately, has that labour been so thrown away for want of a
island of

design appropriate for

grown by
begun and

successive
finished

its

200).

display.

increments

It

like

on a previously

is

not that this temple has

those

undeviatingly carried out as that at Tanjore,

diametrically opposed to

it,

last

settled plan, as

described

regularly

it

and

was
as

but on a principle so

that Avhile the temple at Tanjore produces

2

A 2

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

356

an

effect greater

double

its

than

due to

is

its

dimensions and ten times

Book IV.

mass or

its

one, with

detail, this

elaboration, produces

no

effect

6 72 Jcel

Ik,

^Cr arc/en

r^'

4 f 4

MMM M

VtMMMMMMM

MMMM

\t

MS*

t?

53

\M M M M

Uj3

LI

(*

MM
<ri *

fil"**'

3'r

50
J

200.

externally,

MMK

loo

M-M

Xt

M\
M/

200
1

Vf

MMMMM

*oo

aoo
I

Plan of Great Temple at Ramisseram,

soo"^--

-I

Scale 170

and internally can only be seen in

ft.

to

1 in.

detail, so that the parts

hardly in any instance aid one another in producing the effect aimed

at.

RAMISSERAM.

Chap. HI.

The only

part of the temple which

rest is a small

357
a different age from the

of

is

vimana, of very elegant proportions, that stands in the

garden, on the right hand of the visitor as he enters from the west^ (D).

been so long exposed

It has, however,

at Mahavellipore

corroded they cannot

now be made

quently be ascertained from them.

it

is

more modern than any

possibly

it

may

be guessed as 50

temple on the shore

like the

to the action of the sea-air, that its details are so

of

and

out,

It is safe,

age cannot conse-

its

however, to assert that

the rock-cut examples above quoted

be of the 11th or 12th century.

ft.

in height,

by 30

ft.

or 40

occupy the platform under the dome,

ft.

in plan, so that

From

forms a feature in so large a temple.

dimensions

Its

it

may

hardly

the four bulls

that

was originally
dedicated to Siva, as the whole temple now apparently is, though the
scene of Rama's most celebrated exploit, and bearing his name.
Externally the temple

is

it

is

evident

enclosed by a wall 20

it

ft.

in height,

and

possessing four gopuras, one on each face, which have this peculiarity,

that they alone, of

all

those I

know

in India, are built wholly of stone

from the base to the summit. The western one (D) alone, however, is
finished, and owing apparently to the accident of its being in stone,
it is

devoid of figure- sculpture

some half-dozen

plaster casts that

now

Those on the north and

south (A and C) are hardly higher than the wall in which they stand,
and are consequently called the ruined gateways. Such a thing is,
adorn

it

however,

having been added quite recently.

Partly from
I know, unknown in southern India.
and more from the solidity of their construction, nothing

so. far as

their form,

but an earthquake could well damage them, and their age

as would superinduce ruin

from decay

of material.

is

not such

These, in fact, have

never been raised higher, and their progress was probably stopped in
the beginning of the last century,

when Mahomedan, Mahratta, and

other foreign invaders checked the prosperity of the land, and destroyed

The eastern fagade has two entrances

the wealth of the priesthood.
and two gopuras. The smaller, not shown in the plan, is finished. The
larger one (B in the plan) never was carried higher than we now see
it.
Had it been finished,^ it would have been one of the largest of its
class, and being wholly in stone, and consequently without its outline
being broken by sculpture, it would have reproduced more nearly the
effect of an Egyptian propylon than any other example of its class
in India.
^

The

No. 200)
'Journal

plan of this temple (Woodcut

taken from one in the
is
of

of Bombay,'

the Geographical Society

vii., and may he de-

vol.

pended upon in so far as dimensions

and general arrangements are concerned.
The officers who made it were surveyors,
but, unfortunately, not architects, and

photographs since made reveal certain

discrepancies of detail which prove it
to require revision by some one on the
spot.
2

There

is

a view of

it

plates that accompanies

travels

in the Atlas of

Lord Valeutia's

not very correct, but conveying

a fair idea of

its

proportions.

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

358

The

Book IV

^lory, however, of this temple resides in its corridors.

These,

as will be seen by the plan, extend to nearly 4000 feet in length.

breadth varies from 20

is

ft.

to 80

ft.

of free floor space,

and

The

their height

roof.
ft. from the floor to the centre of the
compound, and richer and more elaborate in
the Parvati porch at Chillambaram (Woodcut

apparently about 30

Each

pillar or jjier is

design than those of

No. 197), and are certainly more modern in date.

The general appearance of these corridors may be gathered from
the annexed woodcut (No. 201), but no engraving, even on a much
more extended scale, can convey the impression produced by such a
display of labour when extended to an uninterrupted length of 700 ft.

Central Corridor, Ramisseram.

201.

None

our cathedrals are more than

of

600

of St. Peter's is only

corridors are 700

lighting, produce

The

ft.

long,

ft.

detail as themselves.

India.

(From a Photograph.)

an

500

of

Here the

side

galleries as rich in

and modes

of

not equalled certainly anywhere

in

These, with the

effect that is

much

apse.

and open into transverse

varied

side corridors are generally free

consequently, from

and even the nave

ft.,

from the door to the

devices

from

the vulgarity of

figure-sculpture,

the age to which

and
they

The
a more pleasing effect.
from the sanctuary is adorned on one side

belong, and, though narrower, produce

central corridor leading

by portraits of
()])posite

tolerable,

the

rajas

of

Ramnad

them, of their secretaries.

were

it

in

Even

not that within the last

the
they,

17th

century,

and

however, would be

few years they have been

Chap.

MADUKA.

III.

painted witli a vulgarity

that

is

359

on the part

inconceivable

of

the

descendants of those who built this fane.

Not only

but the whole of the architecture has

been dosed with repeated

coats of whitewash, so as to take off

first
all

they, however,

the sharpness of detail, and

then painted with blue, green, red, and yellow washes, so as to

figure

and destroy

believed.

its

effect

to

dis-

an extent that must be seen to be

Nothing can more painfully prove the degradation

our system has reduced the population than this profanity.

to

which

No

upper

and consequently no refinement, now remains, and the priesthood, instead of being high bred and intellectual Brahmans, must be

class,

sunk into a

state of

debasement from which nothing can now probably

redeem them.
Assuming, however, for the nonce, that this painting never had
been perpetrated,
to

still

the art displayed here would

be very

that of such a temple as, for instance, Hullabid, in

to be described further on.

we have

The

the

inferioi-

Mysore,

perimeter, however, of that

temple

4000 ft., carved

on both sides, and in the hardest granite. It is the immensity of the
labour here displayed that impresses us, much more than its quality,
and that, combined with a certain picturesqueness and mystery, does
produce an effect which is not surpassed by any other temple in
India, and by very few elsewhere.
is

only 700

The age

ft.

here

corridors extending to

From

of this temple is hardly doubtful.

excepting the oldvimana

first

to last its

uniform and unaltered that its

erection could hardly have lasted during a hundred years, and if this
style

is

so

must have been during the 17th century, when the Ramnad
height of their independence and prosperity, and
when their ally or master, TirumuUa Nayak, was erecting buildings in

is

so, it

rajas were at the

the same identical style at Madura.

It

may have been commenced fifty

its gopuras may have ex-

years earlier (1550), and the erection of

tended into the 18th century, but these seem the possible limits of
deviation.

Being so recent, any one on the spot could

easily

ascer-

They could indeed be determined very nearly from

the photographs, were it not for the whitewash and paint, which so
disfigure the details as to make them almost unrecognisable.
tain the facts.

Madura.
If the native authorities consulted

compiling his Historical sketch of the

by the

late Professor

Kingdom

of

Wilson in

Piindya could be

would seem that the foundation of the dynasty ought

some five or six centuries before the Christian Era.^

relied upon, it

to be placed

Even, however,

'

if

this is disputed, the fact

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,'

of

the

vol.

iii,

southern part of

p.

202.

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

360

Book IV.

the Peninsula being described as the " Regio Pandionis " by classical
authorities

sufficient

is

did exist there in

first capitals,

kingdom bearing

to prove that a

the early centuries

the

of

Christian

name

that

Their

Era.

however, seem to have been Kurkhi, possibly the Kolkhi

Ramnad, and Kalyana, near Cape Comorin. The

Kula Sekhara founding MMura, and the fabulous incidents

of the Periplus, near

story of

with which the tale

the south, and

is

is

adorned,

is

one of the favourite legends of

abundantly illustrated in sculptm-es of Tirumulla

Nayak's choultrie and in other buildings of the

For our present purposes

is

it

capital.

hardly worth while to attempt to

investigate the succession of the dates of the seventy- three kings

are said to have succeeded

who

one another before the accession of the

Naik dynasty, in 1532, inasmuch as no building is now

kingdom that can claim, even on the most
shadowy grounds, to have been erected by any of these kings. It

Nayak
known

or

to exist in the

may have been

that, anterior to the rise of the great

Chola dynasty,

and 11th century, that of Madura may have had a long

period of prosperity and power
but certain it is, that if they did
in the 10th

build anything of importance,

its

existence cannot now^ be

identified.

After that, for a while they seem to have been subjected to the Bellala

dynasty of the Mysore, and

the

Ramnad, and

for

two centuries

the whole of southern

Their power for

evil

Mahomedan

same

destroyed that power in 1310 spread

their

invasion

that

baneful influence as far as

its

and

raids

oppressions

kept

India in a state of anarchy and confusion.

was

first

state of Yijayanagar, in the

checked by the

rise of the great

Hindu

Tongabhadra, in the 14th century, and

by the establishment, under its protection, of the Nayak dynasty

by Yiswanath Nayak, in the beginning of the 16th. After lasting

210 years, the last sovereign of the race a queen ^was first aided,
and then betrayed, by Ohanda Sahib the Nawaub of the Carnatic,
who plays so important a part in our wars with the French in these
parts.
It

may

be

indeed, probably

is

the case

that

there are temples in

the provinces that were erected before the rise of the

but certain

it is

that

all

Nayak

dynasty,

those in the capital, with the great temple at

Seringham, described above, were erected during the two centuries of

their supremacy, and of those in the capital nine-tenths at least were
erected during the long

and prosperous reign

this dynasty, Tirumulla Nayak, or as he

is

of

the tenth king of

more popularly known,

Trimul Naik, who reigned from 1621 to 1657.

Of his buildings, the most important, for our purposes ^

'

Journal of the Royal Asiatic So-

ciety,' vol.
2

iii.

Fortunately this clioultrie

of the best

is

also one

known

of Indian buildings.

was drawn by Daniell in the end of

the last century, and his drawings have
It

p. 230, et seqq.

at least, is

MADURA.

ClIAP. III.

3GI

the celebrated clioultrie which he built for the reception of the pre-

who consented

siding deity of the place,

temple and pay the king an annual

to leave his dark cell in the

visit of

ten days' duration,

on

condition of his building a hall worthy of his dignity, and where he

could receive in a suitable manner the homage

As

subjects.

333

will be seen

long by

105

of the king and his

from the plan (Woodcut No. 202) the hall

on the stylobate, and

which are different, and all
most elaborately sculptured. An elevation of one is given (Woodcut
No. 203), but is not so rich as those of the centre, which have life-

is

ft.

ft.

in width, measured

consists of four ranges of columns, all of

been repeated by Langles and others.

It was described by Mr. Blackadder in
the Archgeologia,' vol. x. p. 457; and
by Wilson, Journal of the Royal Asiatic
'

'

Society,'

vol.

iii.

p. 232.

Volumes

of

native drawings exist in some collections

containing representations of every pillar.

A model

in bronze of a porch exists at

South Kensington Museum, and it has
been abundantly photographed.

DRAYIDIAN STYLE.

362

and are even more elaborate in

sized tig-ures attached to them,

In

details.

instance

this

Book IV.

be

will

it

observed

that

the

their

detached

bracketing shaft at Chillambaram has become attached to the square

central pier,

and instead

of the light elegance that characterised that

example, has become a solid pier,

The view

difficult to

is

richer

cer-

(Woodcut No. 204) gives some, but only

The sides are now closed with screens, and

of the interior

a faint, idea of the effect.

it

depth

feet in

example.

earlier

it

five or six

but far from being either so elegant or so appropriate as the

tainly,

procure good photographs

identical with the corridors

is

but hi

effect, as

in detail,

Ramisseram, where the light

at

is

abundant.

As the date

of this hall

two years to erect

chronology of the

perfectly well

is

1623 to

it,

We

style.

known

took twenty-

it

1645 it

becomes a fixed point in our

can,

instance, assert

for

Avith

certainty that the porch to Parvati's shrine at Chillambaram

No. 197)

certainly anterior to this,

is

turies, and,

From the
Ramnad were at

of

the Nayaks

dants

history

style

and design

the temple.

If

hall leading

The expense
ft.

at

to the

same

allies or

depen-

age.

It

is,

indeed, most

assisted in the erection of

details are the same, his three-aisled

the

have been a far grander feature

singled-aisled

corridors

that

lead

nowhere.

one of the single-aisled corridors at Ramisseram, 700

would have been about the same as the

long,

the

would probably have been a nobler build-

though the

for,

than

of

that

he had indeed been allowed any share in making the

to the sanctuary Avould

architecturally

learn

two buildings are so absolutely

Madura may have

original design, the temple

is

of the

must belong

identical that they

probable that the king of

it

we

the period

of

times independent, at others at war with

but in Tirumulla Nayak's time either his

and the

ing than

probably by a couple of cen-

with equal certainty that the corridors at Ramisseram are

contemporary.
rajas

perfect

(Woodcut

Madura, which

is

half their Jength.

cost a million sterling

as

confidently

is

have cost between three and

triple-aisled choultrie

consequently, the choultrie

If,

asserted

the

temple must

and such an estimate

hardly seems excessive when we consider the amount of labour expended on it, and that the material in both is the hardest granite.

The fagade

four

millions

of this hall, like that of almost all the great halls in the

south of India,

is

adorned either with Yalis

trampling on an elephant

or,

monsters

of the lion type

even more generally, by a group consist-

ing of a warrior sitting on a rearing horse, whose feet are supported

on the

shields

tigers.

These groups are found

of

foot

soldiers,

sometimes slaying men, sometimes

literally in

hundreds in southern India,

and, as works exhibiting difficulties overcome by patient labour, they

are

unrivalled, so

works of

art,

far

as I

know, by anything found elsewhere.

they arc the most barbarous,

it

may

As

be said the most

Chap.

MADURA.

111.

\ulgar, to be

found in India, and do more to shake one's faith in

the civilization of the people

did

in

363

any other department

who produced them than anything they

of art.

Where

these monstrosities are

not introduced, the pillars of entrances are only enriched a

little

more

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

364

Book IV.

when the ornamentation

than those of the

interior,

and generally quite

sufficiently rich for its purpose.

in better taste,

is

Immediately in front of his choultrie, TirumuUa Nayak commenced

a gopura, which, had he

been the

finest

edifice

from north

to complete

lived

of

class

its

would probably have

it,

in southern

India.

measures

It

and 107 ^ ft. in depth. The entrance

through it is 21 ft. 9 in. wide and if it be true that its gateposts are
GO ft. (Tripe says 57 ft.) in height, that would have been the height
of the opening. 2
It will thus be seen that it was designed on even a
larger scale than that at Seringham, described above, and it certainly
174

ft.

to

south,

far surpasses that celebrated edifice in the beauty of its details.

doorposts alone, w^hether 57

or 60

ft.

Its

in height, are single blocks

ft.

of granite, carved with the

most exquisite scroll patterns of elaborate

and all the other carvings are equally beautiful. Being unfinished, and consequently never consecrated, it has escaped whitewash,

foliage,

and

alone, of

the buildings of Madura,

all

its

beauties can

still

be

admired in their original perfection.

The

Madura

great temple at

building than the choultrie

but,

is

a larger and far more important

somehow

the same

or other,

the

attention

No

one has ever attempted to make a plan of

of

to

travellers

however,

temple, and, as
of the

its

all

the characteristics

date

is

known,

perfectly well

utmost value in enabling us to

of

fix

the

has.

latter

or to describe

it,

such detail as would enable others to understand

possesses,

has not attracted

it

that

extent

it

its peculiarities.

first-class
it

in
It

Dravidian

forms a landmark

the relative date of other

temples.

The sanctuary

is

said to have been built by Viswanath. the first

king of the Nayak dynasty, A.D. 1520, which may possibly be the case
but the temple itself certainly owes all its magnificence to Tirumulla
;

Nayak,

a.d.

1622-1657, or to his elder brother, Muttu Yirappa, Avho

preceded him, and

now

existing here.

who built a mantapa, said to be the oldest thing

The Kalyana mantapa is said to have been built

and the Tatta Suddhi in 1770. These, however, are insigcompared with those which certainly owe their origin
to Tirumulla Nayak.
The temple itself is a nearly regular rectangle, two of its sides
measuring 720 ft. and 729 ft., the other two 834 ft. and 852 ft. It

A.D. 1707,

nificant parts

possessed four gopuras of the

beautiful

first

and

class,

tank, surrounded by arcades

whose sculptm-es surpass those of any other

acquainted with.

There

is

five smaller

and a

hall

hall

of
of

ones

a very

1000 columns,
its

a small shrine, dedicated to

class

the

am

goddess

^
In the description of Tripe's photograph this dimension is given as 117 ft,
2 Most of these particulars, with those

votes twenty-six photos, to this temple

that follow regarding the temples, are

alone.

taken from Capt. Lyon's description of

his photographs of the places.

He

de-

Chap.

MADURA.

III.

365

Miiiakshi, the tutelary deity of the place, which

number

of fifteeu columns, so the real

is

occupies

only 985

but

the

it is

space

not their

makes it the wonder of

more remarkable than the
choultrie about which so much has been said and written.
I do not
feel sure that this hall alone is not a greater work than the choultrie

number but

their marvellous elaboration that

the place, and renders

it,

some

in

respects,

taken in conjunction with the other buildings of the temple,

it

certainly

forms a far more imposing group.

As mentioned above, the

owes

Nayak

Vaishnava temple at Serin gham

great

magnificence to buildings erected during the reign of the

its

all

was Trichinopoly, and where

Within a mile, how^ever, of that much-lauded

dynasty, whose second capital

they often resided.

temple

another, dedicated to Siva, under the

is

of Jumbiikeswara,

title

which, though not so large as that dedicated to Sri Rangam, far surpasses

hall containing

fed

an architectural

in beauty as

it

the outer enclosure

is

not large, but

some 400

On

pillars.

by a perpetual spring, which

is

object.

The

first

gateway of

leads direct to the centre of a

it

the right these open on a tank

one of the wonders of the place. ^

The corresponding space on the left was intended to be occupied by

make up the 1000, but this never was

the 600 columns requisite to

Between the two gopuras

completed.

of the second enclosure is a very

beautiful portico of cruciform shape, leading to the door of the sanctuary, which, however,
interior

makes no show

externally,

not vouchsafed to the profane.^

is

the same as that of

its

and access to

The age

great rival, except that, being

its

of this temple is
all

of one design,

probably was begun and completed at once, and from the simplicity

it

and

of its parts

details

may

be

earlier

than the great buildings of

we assume a.d. 1600, with a margin of ten or

fifteen years either way, we shall probably not err much in its date.
One of the great charms of this temple, when I visited it, was
Tirumulla Nayak.

If

Neither whitewash nor red nor yellow paint had then

and the time-stain on the warm-coloured granite was all
but it sufficed, and it was a relief to
that relieved its monotony
contemplate it thus after some of the vulgarities I had seen. Now
its

purity.

sullied

it,

altered.
Like the pagodas at Ramisseram, and more so
Madura, barbarous vulgarity has done its worst, and the
traveller is only too fully justified in the contempt with which he
speaks of these works of a great people which have fallen into the
all

this

those

is

at

hands of such unworthy successors.

'

The view

in this temple in

my

'

Pic-

turesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture,'

No. 21,

is

taken from the corner

There

is

much more

extensive than

to

would have

led

not know, however,

of this tank.
^

very

a native plan of this temple

in the India

Museum, which makes

it

my

in-

spection of the part I was allowed access

be depended upon.

me
how

to supjiose.

do

far the plan can

DRAYIDIAN STYLE.

366

Book 1Y

TlNNEVELLY.

Though

neither

among

the largest nor the most splendid temples

of southern India, that at Tinnevelly will serve to give a

205.

Half-plan of Temple at Tinnevelly.

(From a Plan
Scale 100

ft.

to

in the possession of the

1 in.

good general

Royal Asiatic Society.)


Chap.

COMBACONUM.

III.

867

idea of the arrangement of these edifices, and

has the advantage of

having been built on one plan, and at one time, without subsequent
Like the little cell in the Tiruvalur temple
alteration or change.

(Woodcut No. 193),

has the singularity of being a double temple,

it

the great square being divided into equal portions, of which one

dedicated to the god

other to

Siva, the

consort

his

is

The

Parvati.

preceding plan (Woodcut No. 205) represents one of the halves, which,

though differing in arrangement from the other, is still so like it as to

make the representation and description of one sufficient for both.

The

dimensions of the whole enclosure are 508

general

75G

ft.,

378

ft.

There are three gateways to each

each.

wall dividing the two

precedes

portico

the

which,

splendid porch,

by

reaching

before

An

other.

internally

to

gateway of

the

in the

the entrance to

the

outer

very
inner

on the right to the intermediate gateway, and

enclosure, branches off

left to

gateway, leading

great

and one

half,

the principal gateway faces

the temple, and the lateral ones are opposite each

on the

ft.

the larger dimension being divided into two equal portions of

the great hall of 1000 columns

10

pillars in

width by

100 in depth.

The inner

enclosure

usual, has only one

cell,

is

The temple

surmounted by a vimana or

surrounded by

with the outer, and, as

not concentric

gateway.

triple colonnades.

spire,

itself

consists of a cubical

preceded by two porches, and

In other parts of the enclosure are

smaller temples, tanks of water, gardens, colonnades, &c., but neither

so

numerous nor so various

as are generally

found in Indian temples

of this class.

The

great 1000-pillared portico in the temple

poetic of its class in India.

It consists of

is

one of the

least

a regiment of pillars 10

deep and extending to 100 in length, without any break or any open

Such a

space or arrangement.
a certain effect

forest of pillars does,

but half that number,

if

Chalukyan or Jaina temples, would produce a

of the Dravidians seems to have been

The aim

the mere exhibition of inordinate patient

no doubt, produce

arranged as in some of the

far nobler impression.
to force admiration

by

toil.

COMBACONUM.
If

the traditions of

the natives could be trusted,

one of the old capitals of the Chola dynasty

is

Combaconum

one of the places

where we might hope to find something very ancient.

There are

fragments of older temples, indeed, to be found everywhere, but none

in situ.
All the older buildings seem to have been at some time ruined

and

rebuilt,

to antiquity

probably on the same

which

is

site,

but with that total disregard

characteristic of the

portico, in a temple dedicated to Sri

Rama,

Hindus in
is

all

ages.

One

very like that leading

206.

Gopura

at

Combaconum.

(From a Photograph.

Chap.

CONJEVEKAM.

III.

369

from the second to the third gopura in the temple of Jumbiikeswara,

There
described above, but, if anything, it is slightly more modern.
is

gopura in the town, represented in the

also one fine

(No. 206).

cut

It

is

wood-

last

comparison with those we

small, however, in

ft. across and about 130 ft.

Those of Seringham and Madura have, or were intended

have just been describing, being only 84

in height.

to have, at least double these dimensions.

It

is,

however, a richly-ornamented example of

and the

class,

its

preceding woodcut conveys a fair impression of the effect of these buildIt is not old

ings generally.
is

enough

to be quite of the best age, but

not so modern as to have lost

still

it

the character and expression

all

of the earlier examples.

*

Conjeveram
expect more

CONJEVEEAM.

another city where

is

of anti(|uity

by Adondai, the

said to have been founded

tunga Chola, in the

Combaconum
this,

however,

as
it

11th or

the capital
is

tradition would

existence

on the

would lead us to

illegitimate son of

Kolo-

of

the

Chola Mandalam.

Even

before

supposed to have been inhabited by Buddhists,^

that neither of

is,

to

It is

12th century, and to have succeeded

and that they were succeeded by Jains.

said

lead- us

than in almost any city of the south.

can be

If this is so, all that

these religions have left

any

traces

of

their

and many passages in the Mackenzie MSS.

suppose that it was a jungle inhabited by savage
spot,

Kurumbars when the Cholas took possession of it.

Be this as it may, the two towns. Great and Little Conjeveram,
possess groups of temples as picturesque and nearly as vast as any
The great temple at the first-named place
to be found elsewhere.
possesses some first-class gopuras, though no commanding vimana.
It has, too, a hall of 1000 columns, several large and fine mantapas,
large tanks, with flights of stone steps, and all the requisites of a firstclass Dravidian temple, but all thrown together as if by accident.
No
two gopuras are opposite one another, no two w^alls parallel, and there

hardly a right angle about the place.

is

All this creates a picturesque-

ness of effect seldom surpassed in these temples, but deprives

dignity

we might expect from such

There may be some part

parts

if

it

of that

properly arranged.

I did not see^

which may be

older, but

certainly none of the principal buildings are so old as Parvati's shrine

at Chillambaram, but all

seem equally

building epoch of the Nayak dynasty.

It is supposed, erroneously, I believe

( Journal

of tlie

Royal Asiatic

Society,'

265), to be the Kanchipuram visited by Hiouen Thsang in 640.

Nagapatam was more probably the place

(N.S.) vol.

vi. p.

to

be anterior to the

They probably

are

the

great
last

be indicated.
2 I
was too unwell when I visited
Conjeveram to make so careful a survey
of its temples as I would have wished
to have done.

2 B

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

370
the Cholas

efforts of

Book IV.

but here, again, whitewash and red paint have

done so much to obliterate the record, that

not safe to dogmatise

it is

regarding the age of any buildings in either of the two Conjeverams.

VeLLORE and PEliOOR.

Although the temples

and

at Yellore

at Peroor, near

can only rank among the second class as regards

porticos

Coimbatore,
they possess

size,

extreme interest to architectural history, and are con-

of

sequently worthy of more attention than has been bestowed upon them.

That

at Vellore, however, is unfortunately situated in the fort occupied

by the British, and has consequently been utilised as a

Walls

store.

and whitew^ash and fittings have

reduced it to that condition which we think appropriate for the
Enough, however, still remains to
noblest works of art in India.
enable us to see that it is one of the most elegant as well as one of
have been built between

piers,

its

As

the oldest porches or mantapas in the south.

and sharply

The

are.

and

cut,

from being so extravagant

far

cornice

great

too,

trellice-work of supports,

those marvels

anywhere

and

sometimes

as tliey

double flexures and

its

clearly

its

little

not only very elegant in form, but one of

industry, such

are

as

be found hardly

to

network of

deeper and more elaborate than even this one.

is

outer facing there

its

with

from

be seen

There are many such cornices, however, in the south

else.

one at Avadea Covill

The

is

patient

of

will

and rearing horsemen are

the woodcut (No. 207), the Yalis

said to be only about an inch in thickness,

is

sui)ports

more elaborate and more

is

than those at Yellore, though

was ever executed in so hard a

difficult to

is

it

materia,!.

'J'he

delicate

how

understand

either

ti'aditions of the place

assign the erection of the Yellore porch to the year l^aO, and though
this

is

perhaps being too precise,

The bracket
elegant
lire

shafts

not

is

them

of

at
is

least

it

is difficult

1800,

it

to

Chillambaram
the pier

truth.

tlie

but even more

;

but

they

by very elegant

at

Hullabid.

might seem that

to feel certain

and belonging

am

whole, however, I

windows

in the

examples are earlier than

distant in locality,

from

found in Pratapa Rudra's temple at Worangid

(Woodcut No. 217) or

so also, but

attached

far

are similar

than those in Parvati's porch at

some

open-work, such as

will

it

(Woodcut No. 208)

As both

these

one was

this

when comparing buildings

to different styles of

On

art.

inclined to believe that between 1300

so

the

and 1400

be found the true date of this porch.

The
limits

date

by the

of

base of one of
are exactly

Peroor

the porch at

is

ascertained within

narrow

Sepoy loading a musket being carved on the

pillars, and his costume and the shape of his arm

figure of a
its

those

we

find

in

contemporary pictures of the wars of

Aurungzebe, or the early Mahrattas,

in

the

beginning of the

18th

Chap.

VELLORE AND PEROOR.

III.

century.

As shown

in

Woodcut No. 209,

371

the bracket shafts are there

attached to the piers as in Tirumulla Najak's buildings, and though

the general character of the architecture

Portico of

207.

ness in the details,

Temple

and a marked

is

the same, there

is

a coarse-

at Yellore.

inferiority

in

the

figure-sculpture,

that betrays the distance of date between these two examples.

Slight as the difference

may

appear to the unpractised eye,

it

is

within the four centuries that include the dates of these two buildings

(1850

to

1750) that practically the whole history of the Dra vidian

208.

Compound

Pillar at Vellore.

a Photograph.)

(From

209.

Compound

Pillar at Peroor.

a Photograph.)

(From

Chap.

VIJAYANAGAR.

III.

temple architecture
the

scale,

included.

is

and some

first date,

which are

There are rock-cut examples before

Dharwar on a smaller

structural buildings in

but

older,

37a

safe to assert that nine-tenths, at least, or

it is

more, of those which are found south of the Tongabhadra, were erected

between these dates.

Of course

not meant to assert that, before the

is

it

dates, there were not

far

from

structural

this being the case,

it

of these

first

temples in the south of India.

So

seems nearly certain that during the

seven centuries that clasped between the carving of the rocks

six or

and the erection of the Vellore pagoda, numerous

must have been erected in order that a style should be
elaborated and so fixed that it should endure for five centuries afterat Mahavellipore

buildings

wards, with so

which

little

change, and with only that degradation in detail,

the fatal characteristic of art in India.

is

seems impossible that the horsemen, the Yalis, and above

It

the great cornice of double curvature,

shown

all,

in the woodcut (No. 207),

could have been brought to these fixed forms without long experience,

and the

difficulty

is

elaborated in stone

anywhere

them
as

case

The one suggestion

north.

from terra-cotta forms.

men on

life,

made

and so burnt

form a perfect

as to

forms found

me

is

that they are derived

Frequently, at the present day, figures of

horseback larger than

also

lithic

there any trace in

with the Buddhist architecture of the

that occurs to

the village temples

figures

is

being derived from wooden architecture,

details

evidently the

so

as they are so unlike

all,

yet they are not wooden, nor

any of their

of

is

else

understand how they could ever have been

to

at

or of giants on foot, are seen near

of pottery, their hollow forms of burnt clay,

Most

terra-cotta substance.

on the gopuras are not in plaster as

is

of the

generally said,

for

The art has certainly been long

we adopt the theory that it was used
many ornamental purposes before wood or stone, it will account

for

much that

but are also formed of clay burnt.

practised in the south,

is

and

if

otherwise unintelligible in the arts of the south.

YlJAYANAGAR.

The dates just quoted will no doubt sound strange and prosaic to
who are accustomed to listen to the childish exaggerations of the
Brahmans in speaking of the age of their temples. There is, however,

those

evidence above quoted, which,

luckily a test besides the

if

it

could

be perfectly applied, would settle the question at once.

When

Mahomedans from
made their power seriously felt in the south, they struck
down the kingdom of the Hoisala Bellalas in 1310, and destroyed
Delhi

in the beginning of the 14th century the

first

their capital of Hullabid

previously

attacked, was

and in 1322 Worangul, which had been

destroyed, and it is said they then

finally

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

374
carried

their

victorious

arms

Book IV.

The Mahomedans
far as Ramnad.
make any permanent settlement in the

as

did not, however, at that time

Hindus were able

from the panic, Bukka and Harihara, princes it is said of
the deposed house of Worangul, gathered around them the remnants
of the destroyed states, and founded a new state in the toAvn of
Vijayanagar on the Tongabhadra. An earlier city it is said had been
south, and the consequence was, that as soon as the

to recover

founded there in 1118, by a Yijaya Rayal, but only as a dependency of

the Mysore Raj, and there

consequently no reason for supposing that

is

any

of the buildings in the city belong to that period, nor indeed

the

new dynasty founded by Bukka had

consolidated

its

till

power, which

was certainly not before the beginning of the 15th century.

The

was

city

by the Mahomedans in loGo, but

it maintained a gallant struggle

finally destroyed

during the two pre\'ious centuries

against

Bahmnny and

the

x\dil

Shahi dynasties of Kallmrgah and

Bijapur, and was in fact the barrier that prevented the Moslems from

taking possession of the whole country as far as Cape Comorin.

Its

time of

was

prosperity

greatest

Krishna Deva, 1508,

a,nd the

between

the

accession

death of Achutya Rayal, 1542, and

monuments

it

of
is

must be ascribed.
There is, perhaps, no other city in all India in which ruins exist in
such profusion or in such variety as in Vijayanagar, and as they
are all certainly comprised within the century and a half, or at the
utmost the two centuries, that preceded the destruction of the city,
their analogies afford us dates that hardly admit of dispute.
Among those in the city the most remarkable is that dedicated

to their reigns that the finest

in the city

to Yitoba, a local manifestation of Vishnu.

It

Rayal, A.D. 1529-1542, and never was finished

was erected by Achutya

and if it were not that

no successor ever cares in India to complete the works begun by his

we might fancy the works were interrupted by the

predecessor,

The

principal part of the temple

the annexed woodcut (No. 210).

consists of

siege.

a porch, represented in

It is wholly in granite,

and carved

with a boldness and expression of power nowhere surpassed in the

buildings of

its class.^

peculiarities of the

As

will be observed, it has all the characteristic

Dravidian

style

the bold cornice of double flexure,

the detached shafts, the Talis, the

most here

richly-carved

stylobate,

&c.

But

forms an exact half-way house in

what

interests us

style

between such porches as those at Vellore and Chillambaram, and

that of Tirumulla
here,

it

meaning.

is true,

The

Nayak

is

that

it

at Mtldura.

The bracket

shafts are detached

but they are mere ornaments, and have

cornice

is

lost

their

as bold as any, but has lost its characteristic

'
I have never been able to ascertain
even apiiroximately its diraensious. Huutlrcds visit it, many have phot(igraphed,
some written descriptions, but to measure

dimensions and make even a sketch plan

seems beyond tlie educational capacity
of our countrymen.

Chap.

VIJAYANAGAR.

llf.

View

210.

of Porch of

Temple

of Vitoba at Vijayanagar.

875

(From a Photograph by Mr.

Neill.)

and other changes have been made, which would inevitably

supports,

have led in a short time to the new style of the Nayak dynasty.

The
parts

little

building on the right

the car of the god, formed of a

is

block of granite, with movable wheels, but

single

that

There

move.

are,

they are the only

one or

besides, either

two pavilions,

smaller, but similar in design to that represented in the woodcut, a

gopura, and other adjuncts,

which w^ould be

interesting,

if

we had

the means of comparing and describing them.

Although the temple of Vitoba

able ruins in India,

extent

is

certainly one of the

and there are other temples

in the capital,

it

is

not quite clear that

most remark-

of great beauty
it

and

there the chffs-

is

cTmuvre of this dynasty are to be found, but rather at a place called

Tarputry, about one hundred miles a
capital.

There are two temples there

to Vishnu, is

the elder, and

in so

little
:

far

of

south from the

now

in use, dedicated

east

the one

as whitewash

and paint

will

allow one to judge, ranges with the works of the earliest kings of the

Vijayanagar dynasty

now

belonging to a

but the w^onders of the place are two gopuras

deserted teifiple on the banks of the river, about a

quarter of a mile from the others.

finished, the other never

In almost
all

the

all

the gopuras of

figure-sculpture

exquisite
(?) stone,

is

of these

was apparently quite

India this part

is

part.

comparatively plain,

and ornament being reserved

for

the upper

In this instance, however, the whole of the per-

or pyramidal part.

pendicular part

One

carried higher than the perpendicular

covered with the most elaborate sculpture, cut with

and precision, in a fine close-grained hornblende

and produces an effect richer, and on the whole perhaps in

sharpness

376

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

Entrance tlircmgh Gopura at Tarputry.

(From a Photograph.)

Book IV.

Chap.

212.

III.

TAEPUTRY.

Portion of Gopuia at Tarputry.

(From a Photograph.)

377

DHAVIDIAN STYLE.

378

better taste, than anything else in this style

It

difficult

is

of

course

to

institute

Book IV.

(Woodcuts Nos. 211, 212).

comparison

between

these

gopuras and such works as Tiramulla Nayak's choultrie, or the corridors

at

Ramisseram

of

comparison but the vulgar one of cost

they are so different that there

;

is

but

no common basis

compared with

if

Hullabid or Baillur, these Tarputry gopuras stand that

than any other works of the Vijayanagar Rajas.

not so

much

so as one

They

better

test

are inferior, but

would expect from the two centuries of decadence

and they certainly show a marked supe-

that elapsed between them,

gopura of Tirumulla Nayak, which was

commenced, as nearly as may be, one century afterwards.
About fifty miles still further east, at a place called Diggu Hublum,
riority over the great unfinished

there

is

a large unfinished mantapa, in plan and design very like that

of the temple of Vitoba at Vijayanagar, but its style

and

much more

at least a century

like those of the

Nayaks, that

it

must be

details are so

more modern, and could not therefore have been erected before the de-

The

struction of that capital in a.d. 15G5.

dynasty, however, continued

two centuries after that time, till the country was

finally conquered by Tipu Sultan.
It must have been by one of the
expatriated rajas that this temple was erected, but by whom even
Whoever may have built it, it is a fine bold specitradition is silent.
men of architecture, and if the history of the art in the south of India
to exist for one or

is

ever seriously taken up,

it will

one of the best specimens of

its

worthily take a place in the series as

age,

wanting the delicacy and elegance

of the earlier examples, but full of character

and merit.^

Conclusion.

The

buildings mentioned, and more or less perfectly described, in

the preceding

pages are in number rather more than one-third of

the great Dravidian temples

portance and extent they

half.

known

are,

however, more

Of the remainder, none have vimanas,

When

was

and indeed
temple on the
hill of Tripetty or Tirupetty was reputed
to be the richest, the most magnificent,
as it was certainly tlie most tacred of
So sacred,
all those in the Presidency.
indeed, was it, that no unbelieving
foreigner had ever been allowed to climb
the holy hill (2500 ft. high) or profane
In 1870, a party of
its sacred precincts.
^

up

in Madras,

to the present year, the

police forced their

way

in, in

pursuit of a

murderer who had taken refuge there,

and a Mr. Gribblc, who accompanied

In im-

to exist in the province.

certainly

like

that

than
of

one-

Tanjore,

them, published this year (1875) an account of what they saw in the Calcutta
Review.'
As he exclaims, " Another
of the illusions of my youth destroyed."
The temple is neither remarkable for its
size nor its magnificence.
In these respects it is inferior to Cunjevtram,
Seringhair, and many others; and whatever may be done with its immense revenues, they certainly are not applied to
It is a fair specimen of a
its adornment.
Dravidian temple of the second class, but
'

in a sad state of dilapidation anddisrepair.

CONCLUSION.

Chap. IIL

nor corridors, like those of Ramisseram

379

but several have gopuras

quite equal to or exceeding those mentioned above, and

mantapas of great

and

beauty

many have

such
others possess

Several

extent.

Covin, Veeringepuram, Taramungulam, and

Avadea

as

features

unsurpassed by any in the south, especially the first-named, which

may, perhaps, be considered as one of the most elegant

as well as one of the oldest.

of

its

class,

It would, however, be only tedious to

attempt to describe them without plans to refer

more extensive
class.
They

to, or

than are compatible with a work of this

illustrations

however, worthy of more attention than has been paid to them,

are,

more complete illustration than has hitherto been bestowed

Taken altogether, they certainly do form as extensive,
and in some respects as remarkable, a group of buildings as are
to be found in provinces of similar extent in any part of the
and

of

upon them.

world

^Egypt,

perhaps,

alone

excepted

Egyptian in extent, and though at

present

respects

which are

similarities

ing to enumerate the whole,

it

but

sight

first

they

the

pylons

even

the

some

Without attempt-

startling.

may be mentioned

both in form and purpose, resemble

equal

different,, in

so

gopuras,

that the

the

of

Egyptian

The courts with pillars and cloisters are common to both,

and very similar in arrangement and extent. The great mantapas
and halls of 1000 columns reproduce the hypostyle halls, both in
purpose and effect, with almost minute accuracy. The absence of any
temples.

vimana over the sanctuary is universal in Egypt,

and only conspicuously violated in one instance in India. Their mode
of aggregation, and the amount of labour bestowed upon them for
labour's sake, is only too characteristic of both styles.
There are,
besides, many similarities that will occur to any one familiar with

central tower or

both

styles.

Is all this accidental

It

seems strange that so

many

coincidences

should be fortuitous, but, so far as history affords us any information,

or as any direct

answer that

communication can be traced, we must for the present

The interval of time is so great, and the mode in

it is so.

which we fancy we can trace the native growth of most of the features
in India seem to negative the idea of an importation
but there certainly was intercourse between Egypt and India in remote ages, and
;

seed

may

If

then have been sown which fructified long afterwards.

we were

logical or

to

trust,

however, to either tradition or to mytho-

ethnological coincidences,

it

is

rather

to

Babylonia than

Egypt that we should look for the incunabula of what are found
in southern India.
But here the architectural argument is far from
having the same distinctness and, in fact, whichever way we turn, we
to

'

are forced to confess that these problems are not yet ripe for solution,

though enough
distant

when

is

known

to encourage the

hope that the time

materials will be gathered that will

make

all clear.

is

not

DRAVIDIAN STYLE.

380

CHAPTER

Book IV.

IV.

CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.
CONTENTS.
Palaces at

Madura and Tanj ore Garden Pavilion

at Vijayauagar.

AliTHOUOH,

like all nations of Turanian race, the Dravidians were

and enthusiastic builders, it is somewhat singular that till
they came in contact with the Mahomedans all their efforts in this

extensive

direction should have been devoted to

the service of

No

religion.

any civil or municipal building is to be found anywhere,

though from the stage of civilization that they had attained it might

trace of

be expected that such must have existed. What is, however, even
more remarkable is, that kingdoms always at war with one another,
and contending for supremacy within a limited area, might have been
expected to develop some sort of military architecture.
So far, however, as is now known, no castle or fortification of any sort dates
from the Pandya, Chera, or Chola days. What is still more singular
in a people of Turanian blood is, that they have no tombs.
They
seem always to have burnt their dead, and never to have collected
their ashes or raised any mounds or memorials to their departed
friends or great men.

monuments

"

'

There

are, it

over the south

all

thoroughly investigated,
to the Dravidians

it

when

is

of

is

true,

numberless " Rude stone

India, but,

till

they are more

impossible to say whether they beloug

in a lower stage of civilization

than when

they became temple builders, or whether they belong to other underlying races

who

still

exist, in

of India, in a state bordering

Dolmens

or stone circles

scattered fragments, all over the south

Whoever
we know, at

on that of savages.^

may have

belonged

to,

these
least,

that they never were developed into architectural objects, such as would

bring them within the scope of this work.

cenotaph

is

known

No Dra vidian tomb

or

to exist anywhere.

When, however, the Dravidians came in contact with the Mussulmans this state of affairs was entirely altered, in so far, at least, as
concerned.
The palaces, the kutcherries, the
civil buildings were

'

What

Monuments,'

know on
p.

455,

this subject I

et ceqq.

have already said

in

my work

on

'

Rude Stone

CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. IV.

and the dependencies

elephant-stables,

381

of the abodes of the rajas at

Yijayanagar and Mddura, rival in extent and in splendour the temples

themselves, and are not surpassed in magnificence by the

Mahomedan

palaces of Bijapur or Bidar.

One

of the

that they are

is,

most interesting peculiarities of these civil buildings

all in a new and different style of architecture from

that employed in the temples, and the distinction between the civil

up to the present day. The civil buildings

what we would call a pointed-arched Moorish style picturesque in effect, if not always in the best taste, and using the arch
everywhere and for every purpose. In the temples the arch is never
In some places, in modern times,
used as an architectural feature.
when they wanted a larger internal space than could be obtained
religious art is kept

and
are

in

all

by bracketing without great expense, a brick vault was introduced,

may

it

be said surreptitiously

for it is always

Even

concealed.

now, in building gopuras, they employ wooden beams, supported by

pillars, as lintels, to cover the central openings in the upper pyrahaving

midal part, and this

symptoms

exhibit

many

decayed,

most modern

the

of

decay which are not observable in the older

of

examples, where a stone lintel always was employed.

But

it

not

is

only in construction that the Dravidians adhere to their old forms

some gopuras erected within the

and erecting even now, which it requires a
practised eye to distinguish from older examples
but with the civil
There

in temples.

are, especially,

this century,

limits of

buildings the case

a convenient

quite

is

palace

different.

wood was very

My

the supports and the roofs.

being

its

not, indeed, clear

is

could be erected in the

temples, unless, indeed,

the case, and

It

so,

trabeate

style

how
the

of

extensively employed, both in

conviction

that this

is,

really

was

to a great extent, at least, accounts for

their disappearance.

The

principal apartments in the palace

Madura

at

are

situated

round a courtyard which measures 244 ft. east and west by 142 ft.
north and south, surrounded on all sides by arcades of very great
The pillars which support the arches are of stone, 40 ft.
beauty.
in height,

and are joined by

of design.

The whole

exquisitely

fine

characteristic

court

stands

stucco

the

Some money was,

foliated brick arcades of great elegance

the

called

ornamentation

"chunan,"

or

the Madras Presidency.^

of

the throne-room

of

Swerga
of

the

I believe,

Yilasam, or
palace,

On

Celestial

lime,

one

Pavilion,

the

which

side

of

is

the

formerly

High Court

of

purview of an Anglo-Saxon to make a

plan of the place. It is, consequently,

during Lord Napier's administration on

the repairs of this court and its appurtenances, but it was quite beyond the

shell

now used by

expended

worked out in the

is

very
'

difficult to describe

it.

TJRAVIDIAN STYLE.

382
Justice.

It

is

an arcaded

is

and

diameter
placed

60

the

in

ft.

splendid

hall

dome GO

covered by a

octagon,

On

height.

Book IV.

shown

another

of

in

ft.

this

court

annexed woodcut (No.

the

in

side

Dewanni Khas and Dewanni

Aum of Mahomedan palaces. This one, in its glory, must have
been as fine as any, barring the material. The hall itself is said
to be 120 ft. long by 67 ft. wide,^ and its height to the centre
of the roof is 70 ft.
but, what is more important than its dunen218), the two corresponding with

the

sions,

it

possesses

Gothic building.
little

the

structural

Hall in Talace, Mtldura.

213.

all

It

is

(From

evident

propriety

DanielL's

that

if

and

character of

Views

in Hindustan. ')

the

Hindus had persevered

'

longer in this direction they might have accomplished some-

thing that would have surpassed the works of their masters iu

form of

art.

In the meauAvhile

same king who

it

is

curious to

built the choultries (AVoodcuts Nos. 202,

built also this hall.

The

style of the

one

is

as different

the other as Classic Italian from Mediaeval Gothic

over ornamented as the other

is

this

observe that the

203 and

20'!)

from that of

the one as

much

too plain for the purposes of a palace.

Description attached to Tripe' Photographs.

CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. IV.

but both

among

383

the best things of their class which have been built

in the country where they are found.

The modern dynasty

of Sivagi, the great

of

Tanjore was founded by Eccoji, a brother

Mahratta

chief,

during the decline of the Madura

DEAVIDIAN STYLE.

384

dynasty in 1675.

The

palace was probably

wards, but the greater part of

its

Book IV.

commenced

shortly after-

buildings belong to the 18th century,

and some extend even into the 19th.

It

is

not unlike the Madura palace in arrangement

evidently copied from

nor

it

very different in style

is,

indeed,

but the orna-

mentation is coareer and in more vulgar taste, as might be expected

from our knowledge of the people who erected it (Woodcut No. 214).
In some of the apartments this is carried so far as to become almost

One

offensive.

of the

most striking

roof of the great hall externally.

Garden Pavilion at Vijayanagar.

215.

peculiarities of the palace is the

As you approach Tan j ore, you

see

(From a Photograph.)

two great vimanas, not unlike each other in dimensions or outline,

and

at a distance

temple.
to be

On

made up

mouldings of
Indian art

can hardly distinguish which belongs to the great

closer inspection, however, that of the palace turns

dumpy

out

and fat balusters, and ill-designed

Italian architecture, mixed up with a few details of
A more curious and tasteless jumble can hardly be
of

pilasters

found in Calcutta or Lucknow.

The

palace buildings at Vijayanagar are

scattered than those either at Tanjore or

much more

detached and

Madura, but they are

older,

and proljably reproduce more nearly the arrangements of a Hindu

prince's residence, before they fell completely under the sway of

ClYIL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. IV.

Moslem

the

Practically

influence.

385

palace consists

of

number

of

and other buildings, that may

have been joined by wooden arcades. They certainly were situated
in gardens, and may consequently have had a unity we miss in their
detached pavilions, baths, hareems,

One

present state of desolation.

these pavilions

of

the preceding woodcut (No. 215).

It is a fair

is

represented in

specimen of that pic-

turesque mixed style which arose from the mixture of the Saracenic

and Hindu

Even

styles.

this

mixed

style,

however, died out wherever the Europeans

The modern

extended.

influence

settled,

or

Nawabs

of the Carnatic, of the Rajas of

all

their

in the bastard Italian style, ado^^ted

and the Babus of Calcutta.

buildings are imposing from
variety

of outline,

Ramnad

palaces

the

of

or Travancore, are

by the Nawabs of Lucknow

it
must be confessed, the

Sometimes,
their mass,

and picturesque from

but the details are always detestable,

their

from

first

being bad copies of a style that was not understood or appreciated,

but also generally from their being unsuited for the use to which
they were applied.

To

these defects

style is generally characterised

stand in a people

much

who have

it

must be added, that the whole

by a vulgarity

generally

it

is

difficult to

under-

shown themselves capable

of so

refinement in former times.

In some parts of the north of India matters have not sunk so low
as in the

Madras Presidency, but in the south civil architecture as a

and though sacred architecture still survives

fine art is quite extinct,

in a certain queer, quaint

type that

form

of temple-building,

would hardly be a matter

of regret if

and the curtain dropped over the graves

that practically have become extinct.

exist,

arts

it

of

of so low a

it

is

it,

too, ceased

both, as

to

they are

2 c

CHALUKYAN

386

STYLE.

BOOK

Book V.

V.

CHALUKYAN

STYLE.

CHAPTER

I.

INTRODUCTORY.
CONTENTS.

Temple

and Baillur

Of

Kirti Stamblia at Worangiil Temples at Somuathpur

The Kait Iswara at Hullabid Temple at Hullabid.

at Bucliropully

the three styles into which

itself,

the Chalukyan

tiful,

but

of

the

the

is

The very name

known.

least

them were put forward,

clear ideas regarding

first

in a paper

architecture naturally divides

of the

hardly recognised by early writers on Indian subjects,

people was

and the

certainly

it

Hindu

neither the least extensive nor the least beau-

is

by

Sir

Walter

Royal Asiatic

Society.'

To

this

in 1826,

volume of the Journal

he added another paper, in

Elliot, in the fourth

'

Madras Journal
and since then
numerous inscriptions of this dynasty and of its allied families have
l)een found, and translated by General Le Grand, Jacob and others, in
the
Bombay Journal,' and by Professor Dowson in the Journal of
volume

twentieth

the

of

the

'

'

'

the Royal Asiatic Society

From
era

all

this

here.^

we gather that

early in

rose into importance at

this family

Nizam's territory

Bay

'

and

of Bengal, in the

spread

the sixth

Kalyan

in

century of our

what

is

now

the

eastward as far as the shores of the

neighbourhood of the mouths of the Kistnah and

They extended, in fact, from shore to shore, right across

the peninsula, and occupied a considerable portion of the country
now known as Mysore, and northward extended as far, at least, as
Godavery.

Dowlutabad.
^

Vol.

i.

(N.S.) p. 247,

Professor Eggelirig tells

forgery.

There

is

wrong about

et seqq.

it,

but

how

the error arose

me he

has
great reason for suspecting the date 411
for Palakesi I. (' Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society,' vol. iv. p. 8) to be a
2

something certainly

is

not yet clear.

century too early.

It

seems at least a

See the 'Journal of

the Royal Asiatic Society,' vol.

j

ibid., vol. iv.

(N.S.) p. 93.

iv. p.

12

Chap.

INTEODUCTORY.

I.

Beyond

they seem to

this,

have

887

been

closely

with

allied

the

Ballabhi dynasty of Gujerat, and afterwards to be the parent stems

of Dwarasamndra took their rise.
and descents are more easily traced than their
origin.
Jaya Singa, the founder of the Kalyan dynasty (a.d. 500 ? ),
claims to be of the Solar race of Bajputs, and descended from kings

from which the Hoisala Bellalas

Their

affiliations

Ayodhya 1000

reigning in

years

origin of their religion as of their

position to prove

in a

At

originally Jains.

Jaina religion

the

generations)

(fifty-nine

before his

seems as likely to be a reminiscence of the

This, however,

time.

it,

events,

all

race

for,

seems clear that the extension of

it

with that of Chalukyan

nearly conterminous

is

though we are not yet

seems likely that the Chalukyas w^ere

it

sway, and the time at which the religion spread over India was also
coincident with their rise and
It

fall.

were either the revivors of

propagators
faith

of

as practised

to

assert

that

early

part

of

their

Chalukyas

the

Jaina faith or even

the

but, during the

its

principal

form

history, this

mixed up with the more orthodox

inextricably

is

much

be too

course,

Avould, of

religions

by them, and prevails to the present day, in the countries

The style of architecture which they invented

where they ruled.

when Jains

was,

true, practised

is

it

Vaishnavas and Saivas

form of faith.
Like all dynasties

but

it

afterwards

by them both as

seems to have had

origin

its

in the

earlier

Central and Northern India, the Chalukyas

of

suffered eclipse in the dark ages that intervened between a.d.

1)50

^
;

and the

to

difficulty is

know whether

750 and

have any temples in

Those at Aiwulli and Purudkul deand 189), belong to their age, and

that period.

their style before

w^e

scribed above (Woodcuts Nos. 121

may have been

erected by early kings of this race

belong to their

style.

vilinear

outline

the Dravidians.

of
It

the
is

northern
as if

style, or

of

their

that

it

was not

and developed peculiar

own, that they expressed them in the style

they had consolidated

stitutions

pyramids of

the storeyed

intrusive race adopted hesitatingly

this

the styles of earlier inhabitants of the country, but

till

but they do not

Their sikras, or towers, either show the cur-

which their name has been

their

power,

in-

to

affixed.

is more than probable that

the materials exist for settling
and all other questions connected with this style but, unfortunately, if it is so, they exist in the Nizam's territory, and that

It

these

is

terra incognita to us

in

one has yet passed through

so
it

far as architecture is

Avho

concerned.

had any knowledge

No

of the art, or

was even aware that any interest attached to the forms or age of the
buildings.
It thus happens that, but for a few stray photographs, it

'

Journal of the Eoyal Asiatic Hocioty,'

vol. iv. p. 10,

seqq.


CHALUKYAN

388

must have been passed over as a

STYLE.

style

Book Y.

known, from an

less

artistic

point of view, than that of almost any civilized country in the world.

The

Hydrabad

rulers of the

Mahomedans,

territory being bigoted

to be feared that great destruction of native temples

place

may have

but the real cause of our ignorance on the subject

and apathy

difference

and who, if they chose, could

months or years, and with
expressing a wish that

who

to such matters in those

expense

the in-

is

rule the rulers,

up the whole mystery

clear
little

in a few

beyond

themselves,

to

it is

taken

should be done.

it

It may be, however, that the remains have perished.

The line of
Mahomedan capitals Bijapur, Kalburgah, Bidar, and Hydrabad

which have long occupied the native country

painfully suggestive

the

of

the wealth of remains that exists in

and the Berars on the north

Chalukyas,

the

of

of the

is

Hindu temples but still

Dharwar on the south and west,

destruction of

Nizam's

territories, is so great that

and many will probably be found

enigmas, though they may not be sufficient to

certainly cannot have perished,

all

to solve the historical

restore the style in its integrity.

Whether Kalyani
list

itself

of remains in the

dated

has escaped

Bombay

by no means

is

1873, there are the following entries

" Three

south-east of town, some fine temples and other

Bhau

on, on the authority of the late

Khotri,

Hindu temple."

part of a

probably
reading

all there,

it

miles

to the

and further

"

stated, " has extensive

is

hills,

called

Pir Padshah Musjid

Thousand Chambers.

or

Daji,

ruins

There are caves in the

ruins for miles around.

In a

clear.

Presidency, prepared by Mr. Burgess,

is

Hazar

probably

If this is so, the history of the style is

and only awaits the advent

of

some one capable

of

it.

The simplest and most typical example of the style that I know,
and the one, consequently, which will serve best to explain its peculiarities, is at a place called BuchropuUy, not far from Hydrabad.
It probably is also one of the oldest,

cataclysm

but this

is

only a guess.

of the early

form of the

As

subject.

will

style as

and may even date before the

I have no such real knowledge

would enable

be observed, the temple

star-shaped, of twenty-four sides

me

to feel sure

itself

is

on such

polygonal, or

(Woodcut No. 21G). These, however,

by increments added flatly

are not obtained, as in the northern style,

to a square, as will be explained hereafter, but are points touching a

circle,

in this

either

more

instance apparently right angles, but

acute

or

flatter

principal faces, how^ever,

niches, the fourth

than a right angle.

larger

than the others

by the entrance.

The

roof

is

afterwards were

There are
three

in steps,

four

occupied by

and with a

The
flat band on each face in continuation of the larger face below.
summit ornament is a flower or vase, in this instance apparently
The porch is simple, consisting only of sixteen pillars.
incomplete.

Chap.

TEMPLE AT BUCHROPULLY.

I.

Temple

216.

at

(From

BuchropuUy.

a Photograph.)

any attempt

disposed equidistantly, without

389

octagonal

the

at

dome

of the Jains or the varied arrangements subsequently attempted.

Although

no great magnificence in

of

resting as possessing
style

from those

Instead of

The

sikra

as unlike

is

the

surround

that

square

their

plans,

straight-lined

it

either

this

one

consists of

and

cone,

it

is

arrangements
styles.

The

its

was

it

styles, the

occasionally a feature or form from one or

star-shaped.
in

porch, too,

the southern

of

Situated as

between the Dravidian and northern

an extent

inte-

steps

is

to the curvilinear

columns spaced equidistantly over

forms of the northern

to such

practically

decorations

its

Dravidian spire in storeys as

either the bracketing

is

on the north or south.

is

outline of the Jaina or northern temples.

and

this temple

itself,

the features which distinguish the Chalukyan

all

or

floor,

is

open,

without

the domical

locally,

half-way

Chalukyan borrowed

from the

other, but never

as to obliterate its individuality, or to prevent its

being recognised as a separate and distinct style of architecture.

When
able

to

the Nizam's

trace

the

all

territory is

steps

examined,

by which

this

developed into the metropolitan temple of

capital, six

on

its walls, this

north of Worangul.

miles

Priusep's

w^e

shall

simple

probably be

village

Hammoncondah,

example
the

old

According to an inscription

temple was erected, in a.d. 1163, by Pratapa Rudra,^

'

Useful Tables,' re-edited by Thomas, pp. 267-2G8.

("HALUKYAN STYLE.

;5i)0

who,

tlioni>h

theii'

possessions

detached

tlij'ee

is

not

])()rtic(),

exactly himself

and

cells of A'ery

sn]>])orted

Doorway

217.

their style.

of Great

Chalukya

Book V.
in

The temple

blood, succeeded

itself

is

triple,

considerable dimensions, in front of which

by between

Temple

at

240 or

Hammoncondab.

8(KI

pillars,

disposed in a

(From a Photograph.)

varied and complicated pattern, ^ but without any sign, so

far

can trace, of the Jaina octagonal arrangement for a dome.

'

If all

the quadrants of this portico

were equal the numbers ought to be

300, or 75 in each, but I fancy a considerabb; [(oriion of two of them was cut oft'
by the

,sitc

of the U'lnjilc.

to

having-

A?^ I liuvc

as

notliiug but photographs to go by,

they only show

;

Like

and

even this is
uncertain, and the dimensions I cannot
even guess at.
They arc very large,
liowever, for a

tlie

exterior,

Hindu

temj>lo.

Chap.

WOKANGUL.

I.

most of these

late temples, this

391

one was never finished.

It

extensive for one king's reign, even for one so powerfnl

was too

he was
and before it was heartily taken up again the
Mahomedans were upon them (in a.d. 1309), and there was an end of
Hindu greatness and of Hindu art.

nndertook

w^ho

Some
the

of

as

it,

however,

details,

its

entrances, which are

lavished their utmost

are

great

of

beauty,

especially

on which the architects generally

objects

The preceding woodcut (No. 217)

skill.

will

explain the form of those of the great temple, as well as the general

Nothing in Hindu

ordinances of the pillars of the great portico.

more pleasing than the pierced

is

for

They

windows.

not extensively

in

are

not,

so

any other

far

style,

as

art

Chalukyas used

the

Avhich

slabs

used

recollect,

certainly,

but as used by them are highly

ornamental and appropriate, both externally and internally.

The

pillars, too, are

without being overdone

rich,

and

as it is

only in pairs that they are of the same design, the effect of the whole
is

singularly varied, but at the

same time pleasing and

elegant.

There are at Hammoncondah or Worangul a great number

smaller temples and shrines, in the same

and, like

it,

apparently

style as the great

of

temple,

to Siva, from the constant

Most are ruined but whether this

dedicated

all

presence of his bull everywhere.

owing to Moslem bigotry or faulty construction, it is difficult to

say.
Judging from appearances, I am inclined to believe the latter
was the true cause. The mode of building is without mortar, and
is

The

the joints are by no means well fitted.

free

from figure-sculpture, which

easily

excites

the

iconoclastic

is

of

feelings

remarkably

style is also

generally

thing that most

the

the

followers

of

the

Prophet.

In Worangul there are four Kirti Stambhas, as they are called,

as if they formed the entrances to a square
enclosure (Woodcut No. 218).
No wall is there, however, nor is
facing one another,

there anything inside

is by no means
up by the same Pratapa Eudra who built the
great temple in the old capital, and built several others in this new

They were

apparent.

city.
art.

It

so the object of their erection

set

cannot be said they are particularly elegant specimens of

Their main interest

lies

in their being the lineal descendants of

may have
which had

the four gateways at Sanchi (Woodcut No. 33), and they

been erected to replace some wooden or

Whether

fallen into decay.

this

is

so

frailer structure

or

not, they

are

curious as

exemplifying how, in the course of a thousand years or thereabouts,

a wooden
become as

style

of

building

essentially lithic

clearly as they

do

may
as

for it seems

lose

all

these, but

traces
still

of

betray

its
its

origin
origin

and
as

most unlikely that any such form

could have been invented by any one using stone constructions, and
that only.

CHALUKYAN

302

Kirti Staiiibha at Woraiigul.

STYLE.

Book

(From a Photograph.

Mysore.
It

is

attained

ill

the province of Mysore, however, that the Chahikyan style

its

fullest

development

during the three centuries

Bellalas

a.d.

and

highest

1000 to 1300

had supreme sway in that country.

groups of temples, were erected by them

throne a.d. 1043

owed

its

the

Sea

now

first

Bellala,

Yishnu Yerddhana, in

greatest at a place they called

from which the

perfection

at a place called

who ascended

the

the second at Baillur, in the centre of the province,

origin apparently to

the last and

of

of

which the Hoisala

Three temples, or rather

the

Somnathpur, south of Mysore, by Yinaditya

degree

in

known

capital

as

Hullabid, not

or about a.d.

Dwarsamudra
far

1114

the

Gate

from the last-named,

was removed by Yijaya Narsinha, in 1145.

It continued to be the metropolis of the

kingdom,

till it

was destroyed

Chap.

MYSOKE.

I.

and the building

Mahomedan

stopped by the

great temple

the

of

893

invasion in a.d. 1810-1311.^

Even
progress

in

this

of

art,

short

series

Hindu

characteristic of

sculpture and details of

evidence

see

Ave

in

especially

of

which

sculpture,

downward

that

is

everywhere

the

Though the design is the grandest, the

HuUabid are inferior to those of Baillur, and
art.

We

Somnathptir seems superior to both.

consequently long to trace

some more distant date, when we

might find it emerging in purity and elegance from some unknoAvn
prototype.
Unfortunately, we are not at present able to do this.
We are obliged to leap over the dark ages to the caves and temples
of Badami and Aiwulli, and have no intermediate examples to connect
the tAvo.
It is more than probable that they do exist, and Avill be
found Avhen looked for. Meanwhile, however, we can only assume
back the history of

the

to

style

that the star-like plans and peculiar details of the style Avere elaborated

between the Gth and the 10th centuries in Central and Western India,
but Avhere and by Avhom remains

still

to be discoA^ered.

Like the great temple at Hammoncondah, that at Somnathpur

triple,

the

hall, to

cells,

is

with their sikras, being attached to a square pillared

the fourth side of which a portico

stance of

very moderate dimensions.^

cloistered

court,

and

has

The

this

in-

stands in a square

accompaniments

usual

the

attached, in

is

AA'hole

entrance-

of

porches, stambhas, &c.

The

folloAving

imperfect one,

marvellous

(No.

illustration

must be confessed

it

elaboration

Judging from the

of

figure of a

seems to be only about 30

detail

man

219)

that

characterises

AA'ith

it,

siderable

and

court,
it

is

Avhere

sufficient,

idea

an

outline

and

an

giA^e

the elegance

of

these

shrines.

in one of the photographs, its height

would

Avhich, if it stood in the open,

ft.,

be almost too small for architectural effect

enclosed

Avill

of

there

when

are

but in the centre of an

no larger objects to contrast

judiciously treated,

and

impression of grandeur,

to

produce a con-

apparently does

so

in

this

instance.

The temple
at Baillm*,

at

Somnathpur

is

a single but

rounded by four or

five others

enclosed in a court by a high

having two very

that

fine

and numerous subordinate buildings,

measuring 860 ft. by 440 ft., and

gateways or gopuras in

These dates are taken from a list of

among the Mackenzie MSS.,
quoted by Prinsep, Useful Tables,' xli.,
and are confirmed by tlie architectural
evidence and other indications.
2 I regret that I have been unable to

any

or,

indeed, of

triple temple.

eastern

front.

As

That at Girnar (Wood

cut No. 127) belongs to another

religioi),

and
j

is

too far distant in locality to assist

us here.
An imperfect one might be
compiled from the photographs, but I
have not even an approximate dimen-

a plan of this temple

its

'

AA'all

this dynasty

complete Avhole

on the other hand, consists of one principal temple, sur-

sion.

CHALUKYAN

394

Temple

will

at SonmatlipiiV.

STYLE.

(From

be seen from the following- plan

Book V.

a Plioiograjjh.)

(AYooclcnt

No. 220), the great

temple consists of a very solid vimana, with an anterala, or porch

and

in front of this a porch of the nsnal star-like form, measnring 90

across.

The whole length

back of

cell, is

115

high, and from 10

features

of

ft.,

ft.

of

and the whole stands on a terrace abont 3

to 15

ft.

ft.

the temple, from the east door to the

wide.

This

is

ft.

one of the characteristic

Chalnkyan design, and adds very considerably

to

the

effect of their temples.

The arrangements

of

the

pillars

have

much

of

that

pleasing

CUAl'.

TEMPLE AT BAILLUR.

I.

Plan of Great Temple at Baillur.

220.

Scale 50

395

ft.

to

1 in.

and variety of spacing' which is found in those of the

we miss here the octagonal dome, which gives sucli poetry
and meaning to the arrangements they adopted. Instead of that,
we have only an exaggerated compartment in the centre, which fits

siil)ordiiiatioii

Jains, but

nothing, and, though

it

does give dignity to the centre,

it

does

it

so

clumsily as to be almost offensive in an architectural sense.

It is not,
its

however, either to

its

dimensions, or the disposition of

plan, that this temple owes its pre-eminence

class,

among

but to the marvellous elaboration and beauty of

others

of

its details.

its

The

effect of these, it is true, has been, in modern' times, considerably

marred by the repeated coats of whitewash which the present low

order of priests consider the most appropriate

l)eauty of
ever, their
lias

the most delicate sculptures.

outline

can

way

of

adding to the

Notwithstanding

this,

how-

always be traced, and where the whitcAvash

not been applied, or has been worn

off,

their

beauty comes out

with wonderful sharpness.

The
richness

woodcut (No. 221)

and variety

of

are

pierced with

will

convey some idea of the

pattern displayed

These are twenty-eight

porch.

Some

following"

in

in

the

number, and

windows
all

are

of

the

different.

merely conventional patterns, generally star-

and with foliaged bands between others are interspersed

with figures and mythological subjects the nearest one, for instance,
on the left, in the woodcut, represents the Yaraha Avatar, and otliers

shaped,

CllALUKYAN

39B

View

temple

The

dedicated.

is

the worship

pierced

V.

(From a Photograph.)

of part of Porch at Baillilr,

different scenes connected with

Book

iSTYLE.

Vishnu, to

of

themselves,

slabs

whom

the

however,

hardly so remarkable as the richly-carved base on wdiich they

are
rest,

and the deep cornice which overshadows and protects them. The
amount of labour, indeed, which each facet of this porch displays is
such
in

as, I believe,

never was bestowed on any surface of equal extent

any building in the world

highest order of

and though the design is not of the

and appropriate, and never offends

art, it is elegant

against good taste.

The

sculptures of the base of

whitew^ashed, are as elaborate as

more

so

and the mode

The upper

of this class.
it

of

such as

is

is

part of the tower

is

has been whitewashed and repaired

whole design.

others of

My own

its class, it

subsequent periods.
little

in

pavilions

the

that

was

adorn

the

projections

between,

and

it

it

certainly
is,

It

may

has assumed

that,

blot

like

be
its

on

many

and the upper part added at

form most probably was that of the
portals, one of which is represented

left unfinished,

following woodcut

the style

the cornices have

anomalous.
till

impression rather

Its original

features of

of

only to be found in temples

present discordant appearance, which renders

the

have not been

the porch, in some places

which the undersides

in

been elaborated and adorned

that

the vimana, which

those

its

222), which has all the peculiar

band on each face, the three star-like
the peculiar
ornament of the

(No.

flat

Chap.

HULLABln.

I.

and the presence

of the great tower,

The plan

style.

397
of the pavilions

Avhere they stand, seems to prove almost beyond donbt that this was
but the design
the original design
;

may have been

gressed, or

altered

as

pro-

it

may, as I suspect, have

it

been changed afterwards.

There seems to be little or no donbt
about the date of this temple. It was
erected

Yishnu

by

Yerddhana,

the

comme-

fourth king of the race, to

morate his conversion by the celeEama Anuja from the Jaina to

brated

Hindu

the

He

faith.

took place soon

is

the

ascended

1114, and his conversion

throne a.d.

afterw^ards

possible he did

but

it

not live to finish

temple, and as the capital was

removed by the next king to Hullabid,
of the
it is possible that the vimana
great temple, and the erection of some
the

at

smaller

the

of

least

shrines,

may

belong to a subsequent period.

Hullabid.
Pavilion at Baillur.

The

earliest

temple

known

from a

I'hotograph.")

to exist

at Hullabid is a small detached shrine,

known by

the inexplicable

name

of Kait Iswara, dedicated to

and probably erected by Vijaya, the

general appearance will

Its

It is star-shaped

(No. 223).
a porch,

difficult

to
to

is

in

make out its

the summit

Siva,

king of the Bellala dynasty.

be understood from

so entirely ruined

the basement

it

now

fifth

plan, with

the

sixteen

next woodcut

points,

and had

and covered up with vegetation that

plan.
Its roof is conical, and from

it

covered with sculptures of the

is

very best class of Indian art, and these so arranged as not materially

with the outlines of

interfere

to

the

building, while

impart

they

an amount of richness only to be found among specimens of

Hindu art.^ If it were possible to illustrate this little temple in

to

it

^
In a very few years this builling will
be entirely destroyed by the trees, which
have fastened their roots in the joints of

the stones.

In a drawing in the Mackenthe India Office, made in

zie collection in

the early part of this century, the build-

ing

is

shown

entire.

Twenty years ago

it was as shown at p. 398.

A subsequent
photograph shows it almost hidden a few
years more, if some steps are not taken
to save it, it will have perished entirely.
very small sum would save it and, as
the country is iu our charge, it is hoped
that the expenditure will not begrudged.
;

398

C^HALUKYxVN STYLE.

Kait Iswani, Hullabkl.

anything

(From a Phctograph hy CaiU. Tripo.)

like completeuess, there is prol)ably nothingin

would convey a better idea of what

its

India whicli

architects \vere

capable

of

accomplishing.
It

is,

bour, the

however, surpassed in
great

temple at

size

and magnificence by

Hullabid, which, had

it

its

neigh-

been completed,

is one of the buildings on which the

advocate of Hindu architecture
would desire to take his stand. Unfortunately, it never was
finished,
the works having been stopped by the Mahomedan
conquest in
A.])., after tliey had been in progress
apparently for eighty-six

Chap.
years.

HULLABlD.

I.

It

instructive

is

to

observe

899

that

the

single

century

that

elapsed between the execution of the sculpture of the Kait Iswara and
of this temple,

was

sufficient to

demonstrate the decay in style which

we have already noticed as an inherent characteristic of Indian art.

The sculptures of Hullabid are inferior to those of the Kait Iswara,
and those of that temple, again, to those at Baillur.
The general arrangements of the building are given on the annexed
plan (Woodcut No. 224), from which it will be perceived that it is

Plan of Temple at Hullabid.

224.

a double temple.

If

it

Scale 50

ft.

to 1 in.

were cut into halves, each part would be com-

plete with a pillared porch of the

same type

as that at

Baillur, above

and a sanctuary conBesides this, each half would

referred to, an anterala or intermediate porch,

taining a lingam, the

have in front of

it

emblem

of Siva.

a detached, pillared porch as a shrine for the Bull

Nundi, which, of course, was not required in a Vaishnava temple.

Such double temples are by no means uncommon in India, but the

two sanctuaries usually face each other, and have the porch between
them. Its dimensions may roughly be stated as 200 ft. square over
all,

including

all

the detached pavilions.

The temple

itself

is

lOo

ft.

CHALUKYAN

400

north and south, by 122

remains, to the cornice
stands.

be judged of as

it

enough

now

Book V.

west.

height, as

Its

now

it

from the terrace on which it

be considered by any means as a large

about 25

It cannot, therefore,

building, though large

and

east

ft.

is

STYLE.

for

ft.

This, however, can

effect.

stands, for there

no doubt but that

is

intended to raise two pyramidal spires

over

the

hardly
it

sanctuaries,

was
four

smaller ones in front of these, and two more, one over each of the two

Thus completed, the temple would have assumed

shown in the woodcut (No. 225), and if

central pavilions.

something

like the outline

carried out w^ith the richness of detail exhibited in the Kait Iswara

(Woodcut No. 223) would have made up a whole which

The

material out of which this temple

Restored

225.

View

of

Temple

is

erected

is

an indurated

at Hullabid.

potstone, of volcanic origin, found in the neighbourhood.

is

said to be soft

when

first

quarried,

and

easily cut

though hardening on exposure to the atmosphere.

ever,

will

diminish our admiration of

not

bestowed on the temple,

it is

for,

and carved long

is

if

its

class, it

This stone

in that state,

Even
amount
still

this,

of

how-

lal)our

unfinished,

was built in block,

had become hard. As we now see

creamy colour, and so close-grained as

after the stone

of a pleasing

take a polish like marble.

which look as

the

from the number of parts

evident that, like most others of

the stone

would be

it

anywhere.

difficult to rival

The

pillars of

the great

Nundi

it,

to

pavilion,

they had been turned in a lathe, are so polished as

what the natives call a double reflection in other words,

The enduring qualities of the stone
to reflect light from each other.
seem to be unrivalled, for, though neglected and exposed to all the
vicissitudes of a tropical climate for more than six centuries, the
to exhibit

HULLABlD.

Chap. L

401

minutest details are as clear and sharp as the day they were linishcd.

Except from the splitting of the stone arising from bad masonry,
is as perfect as when its erection w^as stopped by the

the building

Mahomedan
It

and

is,

conquest.

of course, impossible to illustrate completely so complicated

varied a design

so

but the following woodcut (No. 22G) will

suffice to explain the general

ordonnance of

stands on a terrace ranging from 5

with large

On

slabs.

ft.

The building

its elevation.

to 6

in height, and paved

ft.

elephants, following

this stands a frieze of

the sinuosities of the plan and extending to some 710

ft.

all

in length,

and containing not less than 2000 elephants, most of them with
riders and trappings, sculptured as only an Oriental can represent the
Above these is a frieze of " shardalas," or convenwisest of brutes.
the emblems of the Hoisala Bellalas who built the temple.
tional lions
Then comes a scroll of infinite beauty and variety of design over
over which is a basthis a frieze of horsemen and another scroll
Ramayana,' representing the conquest of
relief of scenes from the

'

Ceylon and
is

550

the varied incidents of that epic.

all

about 700

long.

ft.

Then come

ft.)

windows

of pierced slabs, like those of Baillur,

These windows

rich or varied.

and then a

and other objects

5

ft.

frieze of

of

6 in. in height,

building,

gods and heavenly apsaras

Hindu mythology.
is

continued

all

and extends to some 400

is

This

Some

of

frieze,

is

dancing
which

left

first

is

girls

about

round the western front of the

ft.

in

length.

with his

Siva,

repeated at least fourteen times

his nine Avatars even oftener.

four times, and every great god

place.

be observed on the light and

will

consort Parvati seated on his knee,

Vishnu in

Over

though not so

In the centre, in place of the windows,

of the woodcut.
scroll,

than

less

is

and celestial birds, and all along

groups from human life, and then a cornice,

divided into panels, each containing two figures.

rail,

this are

This, like the other,

Parthenon

the

of

frieze

celestial beasts

the east front a frieze of

with a

(The

the

of these arc carved with a

Brahma occurs
Hindu Pantheon

three
finds

or

his

minute elaboration of detail

which can only be reproduced by photography, and may probably be

considered as one of the most marvellous exhibitions of
to be
It

human

labour

found even in the patient East.

must

not, however, be

industry that this building

remarkable.

it

is

only for patient

The mode

in

which the

broken up by the larger masses, so as to give height

eastern face

is

and play

light

of

considered that

is

and shade,

(xothic architects attempted

is

by

a better

way

what the
and projections. This,
where the variety of

of accomplishing

their transepts

is surpassed by the western front,

and the arrangement and subordination of the various facets
in which it is disposed, must be considered as a masterpiece of design

however,
outline,

in its class.

If the frieze of

gods were spread along a plain suiface

2 u

it

226.

Ceatnvl Pavilion, lluliabid,

iiiiist

Fiuiit.

(From

a I'Lioiograph.)

Chap.

HULLABlD.

I.

would

more

lose

403

half its effect, while the vertical angles, without

tluiii

interfering with the continuity of the frieze, give height

The

whole composition.

to the

the lower friezes

Here again the

equally effective.

is

and strength

disposition of the horizontal lines of

com-

artistic

bination of horizontal with vertical lines, and the play of outline and

and shade,

of light

The

far surpass anything in Gothic art.

effects

are just what the mediaeval architects were often aiming at, but which

they never attained so perfectly as was done at Hullabid.

Before leaving Hullabid,

may

it

be well again

to

attention

call

to the order of superposition of the different animal friezes, alluded

to

already,

when speaking

the

of

rock-cut

monastery described by

There, as here, the lowest were

the Chinese Pilgrims {ante, p. 135).
then the lions
above these came the horses then the
the elephants
;

here

is

was in the shape of a pigeon.

fifth storey

however,

is

also by a
would puzzle a naturalist. The succession,
the same, and, as mentioned above, the same five genera

that

species

of living things

monuments

form the ornaments

the same, the

if

friezes are

the

succession

When we know

&c.

horses,

this curious selection

in hopes that

further

are

and succession might lead

investigation

may

always

is

them

the cause of

At present we can only

very suggestive conclusions.

it

found, but

elephants being the lowest, next above

and then the

seems as

moonstones of the various

of the

Sometimes in modern Hindu temples only

Ceylon.

in

two or three animal

to

The oxen

replaced by a conventional animal, and the pigeon

bird of

lions,

and the

oxen

afford

to

the

it,

it

some

attention

call

means

the

of

solving the mystery.

If it were possible to

illustrate the

Hullabid temple to such an

there would be few things

more interesting or more instructive than to institute a comparison
between it and the Parthenon at Athens. Not that the two buildings
on the contrary, they form the tw^o
are at all like one another
the alpha and omega of architectural design
but they
opposite poles
are the best examples of their class, and between these two extremes

extent as to render

its peculiarities familiar,

lies

the whole range of the art.

we know
of

The Parthenon

of pure refined intellectual

is

Every part and every

an architectural design.

the best example

power applied to the production

effect is calculated

with mathematical exactness, and executed with a mechanical precision that never
bolas,

or

other

was equalled.

All

the curves are hyperbolas, para-

developments of the highest mathematical forms

every optical defect

is

foreseen

and provided

for,

and every part has a

relation to every other part in so recondite a proportion that

inclined to call
ciation.

of the

The

it

fanciful, because

sculpture

is

we can hardly

exquisitely designed to

masonry severe and

rise to

aid

the

its

we

feel

appre-

perfection

godlike, but with no condescension to the

lower feelings of humanity.

2 D 2

CHALUKYAN

404

Book V.

STYL?:.

The Hiillabid temple is the opposite of all this. It is regular, but

with a studied variety of outline in plan, and even greater variety in
All the pillars of the Parthenon are

detail.

facets of the Indian temple are the

No two

scroll is different.

same

no two

identical, while

every convolution of

e\

ery

canopies in the whole building are alike,

and every part exhibits a joyous exuberance of fancy scorning every

mechanical restraint.

human
there

feeling

is little

is

All

less

than there

would be possible

It

that

human

wild in

is

found portrayed on these walls

human

of

is

to

arrange

faith

warm

or

feeling in the Parthenon.

all

the buildings of the

between these two extremes, as they tended toward the severe

lectual purity of the one, or

other

but perfection,

if

it

mean. My own impression

had been able to maintain

world
intel-

playful exuberant fancy of

the

existed,

would be somewhere near the

that

the so-called Gothic architects

is,

if

two or three hundred years more the

for

rate of progress they achieved

the

to

in

but of pure intellect

between the 11th and the 14th century,

they might have hit upon that happy

mean

betw^een severe construc-

and playful decorative imaghiings Avhich would have

combined into something more perfect than the world has yet seen.
tive propriety

The system, however,

as I

broke down before

had

it

have endeavoured to point out elsewhere,

acquii'ed the requisite degree of refinement,

and that hope was blighted

ever

never to be revived.

again assumes an onward path,

it

will

If

architectm-e

not be by leaning too

strongly towards either of the extremes just named, but by grasping

somewhere the happy mean between the two.

For our present pm'pose, the great value of the study of these
is that it widens so immensely our basis for archi-

Indian examples
tectural

criticism.

utterly dissimilar

that

we

It

is

only by becoming

perceive hoAV narrow

form or one passing fashion.

architecture

perceive that

familiar

with forms so

from those wx have hitherto been conversant with,

is

is

the purview that

By

is

content with one

we

rising to this wider range

as many-sided

as

human

nature

shall
itself,

and learn how few feelings and how few aspirations of the human
On
heart and brain there are that cannot be expressed by its means.
the other hand, it is only by taking this wide survey that we aj^preciate how worthless any product of architectural art becomes which
does not honestly represent the thoughts and feelings of those who
built

it,

To

or the height of their loftiest aspirations.

return, however,

from

this

digression.

There are some eight

or nine different temples in this style illustrated

the great work ou the

'

exhibit the peculiarities of this style in

Plates

by })hotographs in

Architecture of Dharwar and Mysore,'

and 32-40.

more or

less detail

rublishcd by Murray, 18G4.

which

but none

C^HAP.

of

lIULLABlD.

1.

405

these plates are accompanied by plans or

light

details

new

that throw

on the subject, and none of the temples are either so large or so

beautiful

as

those just described, so that the enumeration of their

unfamiliar names would add very

It Avould

little

to the interest of the subject.

be very interesting, however,

if

we could adduce some

northern examples of the style from either the capital city of the
Ballabhis, or

A.D.

allied

some town in

500 to 700
to the

Chalukyas

their

and

their

style,

found, would throw great light on that

at the period

when

it is

For about two centuries

kingdom.

were a leading power in India, and closely

^they

most wanted.

of

if

any examples could be

their southern allies just

Unfortunately, however, even

unknown. If it were at Wulleh, near Gogo,

on the shores of the Gulf of Cambay, as is generally supposed, it has
Not one vestige of its architecture now
perished root and branch.
remains, and what antiquities have been found seem all to belong to
a much more modern period, when a city bearing that name may
If it were situated near Anhulwarra
have existed on the spot.
Puttun, which seems far more probable, it has been quarried to
supply materials for the successive capitals which from that time
forward have occupied that favoured neighbourhood, and it would
require the keen eye of a practised archaeologist to detect Chalukyan
details in the temples and mosques that have been erected there
during the last 800 years. Nothing of the sort has yet been attempted,
and no materials consequently exist for the elucidation of one of the
most interesting chapters in the history of Indian art.
the site of their capital

is

NOETHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

406

Book VI.

BOOK VL
KOETHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

CHAPTER

1.

INTRODUCTORY.
CONTENTS.
Introductory

Dravidian

and Indo- Aryan Temples

at

Badami

Modern

Temple

at Benares.

Of

the three styles into which

the northern

itself,

is

Hindu

architecture naturally divides

found spread over a far larger portion of the

country than either of the other two.

pactness and

strongly-marked

the Dravidian,

of

and

developed with that exuberance Avhich characterised the

never was

southern style from the 15th to the 18th century.

it

com-

It wants, however, the

individuality

In

many

respects

resembles more the Chalukyan style, the examples being small and

elegant,

and found dispersed over

the

face

where

the country,

of

wanted, without any apparent massing together in particular spots.

Unfortunately, we have no
in

its

name which would

the style

describe

ethnographical and geographical relations without being open

much

to the objection of expressing either too

respect the southern style

is

or too

singularly fortunate

little.

In this

Dravidian correctly

it to people speaking Tamil, Telugu, or some cognate dialect

and the country where the people speaking those tongues are to be
found is generally and correctly known as Dravida Desa, or country

limits

of the Dravidians.

The term Chalukyan,

expressive
It

but

it

is

applied

to

the

unobjectionable, as

it

only a conventional term, derived

is

dynasty ruling in

tliat

second

style,

is

not so

cannot mislead any one.

from the principal known

country, applied to a style occupying a border-

land between the other tAvo, but a land that has not yet been fully

surveyed, and w^hose boundaries cannot

Till

they are, a conventional

can be hoped
If

it

name

now be

fixed with precision.

that does not mislead

is

all

that

for.

were allowable to adopt the loose phraseology of philological

'

Chap.

INTKODUCTOEY.

I.

term Arvan
which the people practising
ethiiograpliy, the

and

niig-lit

this

direct antithesis of Drayidian.

by that

Asia, bet\yeen

in

India,

the correct and

is

it

name by

the

known

It is eyident, ho\yeyer, that

i>eople,

whereyer they

any such

Bay

it

and

of Bengal

If used in con-

exists.

with the adjectiye Indian or Indo,

junction

across Euroj^xi

settled, all

the shores of the Atlantic and the

need hardly be said that no such style

it

is

it

are usually

applied to architecture, ought to be descriptiye of some style

if

practised

and

be employed, as

style

Avould be particularly conyenient here, as

it

term,

407

becomes much

less

and has the adyantage of limiting its use to the people

who are generally known as Aryans in India in other Ayords, to all
those parts of the country where Sanscrit was eyer spoken, or where
the people no\y s})eak tongues so far deriyed from Sanscrit as to be
objectionable,

distinguishable as offsets of that gi'eat family of languages.

in

this

respect, has

graphical

or

the great

linguistic

boundaries of the

style.

map
It

Its use,

conyenience that any ordinary ethnoIndia

of

is

to

sufficient

extends, like the so-called

describe

the

Aryan tongues,

Yindhya mountains. On the east, it is

and on the west in ^laharastra. Its
southern boundary between these two proyinces will only be known
when the Xizam's territory is architecturally suryeyed but meanfrom the Himalayas

to

the

found preyalent in Orissa

while

may

Aye

rest assured that

and architectural boundary-lines

is,

whereyer

will be

it

traced the

is

Another reason why the term Aryan should be applied

to the style

that the country just described.

and ahyays

Ay here

it

preyails,

is,

They consider

has been, called Aryayarta by the natiyes themselyes.

it

the pure and just

as the land of

speaking peoples
Dasyus,

and

as

other

meaning

contradistinguished
tribes,

Ayho,

thereby the Sanscrit-

from that

the

casteless

haye

adopted

of

may

though they

Brahmanical institutions, could not acquire their purity of

The
biting
of

linguistic;

found coincident.

the

great defect of

the

the term, howcA^r,

term,

whateyer philologists

may

that the people inha-

is

north of India are not Aryans

in

say

to

any reasonable sense

the contrary.

Sanscrit-speaking people, Ayho came into India 2U00 or

years B.C., could

race.

it

may

The

be 3000

neyer haA'e been numerically one-half of the inha-

bitants of the country, except, perhaps, in some such limited district

and the Jumna and since the Christian

Era no Aryan race has migrated eastAyard across the Indus, but waye
after Avaye of peoples of Turanian race, under the names of Yayanas,

as that betAyeen the Sutlej

^
In 1848 Gen. Cunningham applied
the term Aryan to the architecture of
Kashmir, apparently on the strength of
a pun ('Journal of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal/ September, 1818, p. 242).

Tiiid, huwcA'cr,

was limiting a term that

belongs to two continents to an insignificant valley, in one of them.

besides, wholly uncalled for.

It was?,

The term

Kashmiri was amply sufficient, and all

that was wanted for so strictly local a
style.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

408

Book VI.

Sakas, Huiias, or Mono-ols, have poured into India.

This, combined
with the ascendancy of the aboriginal races during the period when

Buddhism was

the reUgion of the country, has so completely washed

from northern India during the building ages, that
probably no community there which could claim one- tenth of

out Aryanism
there

is

pure Aryan blood in

and with nine-tenths of impurity the

If it were not, we would certainly
find some trace of external Aryan affinities in their style
but this is
not the case.
In fact, no style is so purely local, and, if the term
may be used, so aboriginal, as this. The origin of the Buddhist style
is obvious and unmistakeable
that of the Dravidian and Chalukyan
nearly as certain, though not quite so obvious
but the origin of the
term

certainly a

is

its veins,

misnomer.

northern Hindu style remains a mystery, unless, indeed, the solution

suggested above {ante,

be

so, to

some extent

224) be considered an explanation.

p.
;

but

confess

it

to

is

my mind

may

It

neither quite

satisfactory nor sufficient.

The

style

was adopted by the Jains, who, as the successors

and several examples

Buddhists, certainly were not Aryans,

peculiar forms

of

of the

the

of

vimanas, or sikras have already been given

their

(Woodcuts Nos. 137, 145, &c.) but it still remains to be ascertained

from what original form the curvilinear square tower could have
arisen.
There is nothing in Buddhist, or any other art, at all like it.
It does not seem to have been derived from any wooden form we
;

know, nor from any brick or stone, or tile mode of roofing found
else.
I have looked longer, and, perhaps, thought more, on

anywhere
this

problem than on any other of

that hinted at

above.

The

real

connected with Indian

primitive rudeness the secret

we

may remain

are

so

now

sure that

but an indigenous production, and that

ofi^er

old as

to betray in their

Mean-

guessing at in vain.
it

it

than

found in

will probably be

solution

the accidental discovery of old temples

while Ave probably

class

its

no more plausible suggestion to

architecture, but I have

was not an imported form,

has no connection with the

architecture of any other people Aryan, or others outside of India.

The view above proposed for the origin of the style derives confrom the mode in which the temples are now found
distributed.
There are more temples now in Orissa than in all the
rest of Hindustan put together.
They are very fi'equent in Maharastra, and, if we admit the Jains, who adopted this style, they are ten
times more frecjuent in Gujerat and the valley of the Nerbudda than
in the valley of the Ganges, or in Aryavarta, properly so called.
The
siderable support

first

and most obvious explanation

of

this

fact

might be that the

last-named country has for 600 years been occupied by a

empire, and

they, hating

them wherever they were

idolatry

and

idol

so absolutely in possession of

as to be able to do so with impunity.

Mahomedan

temples, have

This may be

so,

destroyed

the country

and

it

is

an

Chap.

INTRODUCTORY.

I.

409

argument which, with our present materials,

My

impression, however,

that

is

it

That the Moslems did

true state of the case.

difficult to disprove.

is

not correctly represent the

does

it

ruthlessly destroy Jaina

may

temples at Ajmir, Delhi, Canouge, and elsewhere,

but then

The

construction of their mosques.

of Siva or

be quite true,

was because their columns served so admirably for the

it

astylar temples of

Vishnu could only have served

the

Hindu temples have been

that had been previously used in

followers

and no stones

as quarries,

traced to

any extent in Moslem buildings. Even admitting that at Delhi or

Allahabad, or any of their capitals, all Hindu buildings have been
utilised, this

hardly would have been the case at such a provincial

capital as Fyzabad, once

Ayodhya, the celebrated capital of Dasaratha,

the father of the hero of the

'

The most

ancient building.^

Ramayana,' but where not one carved

can be discovered that belongs to any

stone or even a foundation

crucial instance, however,

Benares, so long the sacred city,

^^cir

excellence, of

is

the city

of

the Hindus, yet, so

of an ancient Hindu temple exists within

James Prinsep resided there for ten years, and Major
Kittoe, who had a keener eye than even his great master for an
architectural form, lived long there as an archaeologist and architect.
They drew and measured everything, yet neither of them ever thought
and it was not till
that they had found anything that was ancient
Messrs. Horne and Sherring^ started the theory that the buildings
around the Bakariya Kund were ancient Buddhist or Hindu remains,

far as
its

is

known, no vestige

precincts.

that any one pretended to have discovered any traces of antiquity in

that

city.

certainly, however, are

Tliey

about the Bakariya

Kund was

mistaken.

Every

building

not only erected by the Mahomedans,

but the pillars and roofing-stones, with the fewest possible exceptions,

were carved by them for the purposes

They may have used the stones of some

for

which they were applied.

deserted monasteries, or other

Buddhist buildings, in the foundations or on their terraces, or for

but all the architecture, properly so
detached pavilions

little

called, is in

and brought
destroy

a style invented, or at least introduced by the Pathans,

to

In

was done wantonly.

^

'

bad,'

under

perfection

Historical Sketch of Tahi-il

by P. Carnegy,

Lucknow,

Fyza1870.

Gen. Cunningham attempts to identify

mounds at this place with
those described as existing in Saketu
by the Buddhist Pilgrims (' Ancient

Geography of

India,'

p.

401, et seqq.

Archajological Reports,' vol.

et seqq.)

ever,

is,

The

i,

p.

is

did

not clear that this

293,

Fa Hiannor Hiouen

it

Thsang were ever near the place. The

and where the Toothbrush-tree grew, was the present city
of Lucknow, which was the capital of
the kingdom in Sakya Muni's time.
city they visited,

'

Sacred City of the Hindus,' London,

Journal of the
18G8, p. 271, et seqq.
Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xxxiv. p.
'

truth of the matter, how-

that neither

That the Moslems

it

the instances which are authenticated,

all

the various

'

Akbar.

Hindu temples may be admitted, but

1, et seqq.

NORTHERN OR INDO-AIJYAX

410

STYLE,

Book YI.

was to gain ready-made materials for their mosques, and it was not
the time of Aurungzebe that any of their monarchs felt himself
sufficiently powerful or was so bigoted as to dare the power and
enmity of the Brahmans of Benares, by erecting a mosque on the site
of one of the most sacred temples as an insult and a defiance to the

till

Hindus. Even then, had such a temple as the great one at Bhuvaneswar ever existed in Benares, every stone of Avhich, from the
ground to the kullus, is covered with carving, it seems impossible
that

all

away and not one now

these carved stones should be hid

be found.

am

myself personally

familiar with

tolerably

to

Benares,

and the conviction such knowledge as I have forces on my mind is,

that though the city was the earliest and most important settlement
of the Yedic Brahmansthe sacred city of the Aryan Hindus from
the remotest ages
yet just from that cause it had fewer temples than
any of the cities inhabited by less pure races. What few fragments
remain are Buddhist or Jaina, and Ave must consequently ascribe the

absence of anything really ancient more to the non-building instincts of

the Brahmanical Aryans than the iconoclastic bigotry of the Moslems.

we proceed but meanwhile it may be

two other instances of this. The rock at
the earliest conquests of the Moslems, and they

All this will be clearer as

well to point to one

Gualior was one of

or

it more or less directly for five centuries.

They built palaces
and mosques within its precincts, yet the most conspicuous objects
on the hill are Hindu temples, that were erected before they obtained

held

manner Chittore was thrice besieged and

numerous buildings are
its
intact, and I do not recollect observing a single instance of wanton
destruction in the place.
An even more striking instance is found
at Ellora.
Though Aurungzebe, the most bigoted of his race, built
his capital in its neighbourhood, and lies buried within sight of the

possession of

it.

In

like

thrice sacked

by the Mahomedans, but

caves, there

no proof that he or any

of

is

of his race

any of the damage that has been done to the

tically,

Prac-

there.

they are intact, or ha\;e only received such mutilation as

would be tedious to attempt

it,

but, fortunately,

it

may

state that the impression I

religious

causes.

It

India

is

more owing

but

that the absence of old

is,

to

ethnographic than to

seems more probable that they

than that they were destroyed.

have derived from such attention

as I have been able to give to the subject

temples in northern

not

is

necessary for our present purposes to go into the whole evidence

I

is

from other causes.

easily accounted for

It

were the authors

idols

No

never

existed

temples are mentioned in the

Yedas or the older Indian writings, and none were required for the
and so long as they
simple quasi-domestic rites of their worship
;

remained pure^ no temples were

as

if

between the

fall

of

built.

On

the other hand,

Buddhism and the advent

it

of the

appears

Moslems

Chap.

INTRODUCTORY.

T.

411

the Jaiiis had stepped in with a readj^-made religion and style, and
the followers of Siva and Vishnu had not time to develope anything
very important in these northern provinces before it was too late.
If

the

these views are correct, it is evident that though we may use

term Indo-Aryan as the most convenient to describe and define

the limits of the northern style, the name must not be considered as
implying that the Aryans, as such, had anything to do either with

invention or

its

its

use.

All that

it

is

intended to convey

Dravidian and Iiido-Aryau Temples at Badanii.

227.

(From

is,

that

it

a Photograph )

was invented and used in a country which they once occupied, and
in which they have

left

power and

(civilization.

If this

reservation

that

and
as

more
it

the

name

of

India,

the

of

their

always borne in mind, I

expresses

style

between

from the 7th century

The

impress

the

that

the

it

prevailed

Yindhya

superior mental

know

characteristics

consequently proposed to ado]^t

is

northern

is

conveniently

strong

and

of

of

no term

this

style,

in the following

pages

among

the Hindus in
Himalayan mountains,

to the present day.

general

appearance of the northern temples, and the points

of difference between them and those of the south, will
be appreciated
from the above woodcut (No. 227), representing two very
ancient
temples,

the

left

built
is

in

juxtaposition, at

a complete

the same pyramidal

cells

Badami, in Dharwar.
specimen of Dravidian architecture.

form, the same

distinction of

That on
There is

storeys, the

on each, as we find at Mahavellipore (Woodcut No.

same

181), at

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN

412
Taiijore

STYLE.

Book VI.

(Woodcut No. 191), or

at Madura (Woodcut No. 188).

In
ludo-Aryaii, on the contrary, the outline

the light-hand temple, the

pyramid

of the

of

division

of

reminiscence
or

pillars

it

habitations,

no trace

anywhere.

and

no

Even

in

form

all

are curvilinear, the

trace

observable, no

is

(Woodcut No. 228),

retains the same characteristics,
the lines of the pyramid or sikra

still

and

of

pilasters

modern

its

curvilinear

is

storeys

of

where.

If

No

base polygonal.

utilitarianism

any-

visible

is

Woodcut No. 228

com-

is

pared with that at page 831 (Woodcut

No.

the

183),

hibited

in

when, after
they

tice,

two

styles

have

receded

the forms in which we

Yet

228.

Modern Temple

memory

of

its

the

at Benares

229.

and

storeys

nothing known in

civil or

its

cells.

be

will

ex-

most modern garbs,

more than 1000 years' practheir

Madras

from

furthest

first

temple

meet them
the

retains

Diagram Plan of Hindu Temple.

The Bengal example

recalls

domestic architecture.

Neither the pyramid nor the tumulus affords any suggestion as to

the origin of the form, nor does the tower, either square or circular

nor does any form of

to

civil or

be derived from any

beautiful

or

principally at

otherwise,
least

for

impress from the earliest

The plan
generally the
if

of
it

domestic architecture.
these

seems

assthetic
till

ever, without

is

and, whether

certainly

to

we consider

have been

seem
it

as

invented

purposes, and to have retained that

the present day.

of a northern temple

same form

It does not

is

always a square internally, and

retained in the exterior

some addition.

In some instances

it

but very rarely,

is

only a thin

Chap.

INTRODUCTORY.

I.

parallel projection, as at

has two such

are only half

diagram (No. 229).

in the

added, as at

slices

413

Sometimes

it

but in the oldest examples these

From

the thickness shown here.

they proceeded

this

to three projections, as at C, the oldest examples being the thinnest.

In more modern times the thickness of the projections became equal

to their distance

from each other, as

at

so that the temple

which were

in plan practically a square, the sides of

diagonal of the original square or to the line

when

was the

case, the

E F

Even, however,

G.

always retained

became

parallel to the

original form
and the entrance and windows kept their position on
what had thus practically become the angles of the building. This is
the case with the temple at Benares, shown in Woodcut No. 228, and
generally also with the Jaina temples, and especially the case with
this

and

direction,

the

temple on the

cell

Takht-i-Suleiman

depth and width of these

Kashmir.

at

Although

the

vary considerably even in the same

never lost sight of the four central

offsets

design, the original square

is

and more strongly accentuated

angles, as at F, being always larger

than the others, and their line

summit

its

always carried

is

through

the

to

of the pyramid.

It will be observed that

same form or plan

for

by

this

we have arrived

process

a solid building that was

attained

the

at

by the

arrangement of

pillars described above, page 216.

In fact, the two
forms were elaborated simultaneously, and were afterwards constantly

used together.
oldest,

and

My

impression

that the pillared arrangement

is,

is

the

led to the deepening of the additions to the solid square

till

Whether

the two became identical in plan.

this w^ere so or not,

it

is

one of the most distinguishing features of northern Hindu architecture.

In the very centre of India, near a place marked Adjmirghur on
the map,

is

a sacred tank, from which

to the north, the

Mahanuddi

the Nerbudda to the Indian Ocean.

their sources in the hill.

perfect accounts
this

This

hill
is

The

available

surrounded by temples

is

extends the

of

is

said that the Soane flows

Bay

Bengal, and

of

All these rivers

On

great age.

and

and

can be gathered from the im-

fertile

south and east of

the

table-land

of

Chutteesghur.

now, and has always been, so far as our knowledge extends,

one of the principal seats of the native

tribes.

My

conviction

is,

that country and the surrounding valleys could be examined,

if

have

certainly

spot has always been held sacred,

as far as

great

it

to Cuttack in the

older forms of

these temples

might be discovered

old as to betray the secret of their origin

Bengali devala must be relegated

like the

but,

some

till

Irish

that

much

perhaps so

this is done, the

round towers^

to

the category of unexplained architectural puzzles.

Curiously cuoiigh they muko their

appearauce on the stage about the same
1

time,

aud both then complete and per-

feet iu all their details.

NOirniERN

414

OPi

INDO-AKYAX STYLE,

CHAPTER

I'hx.k

Y1.

n.

OR IS S A.
CONTENTS.
History

The two

Temples at Bliiiv;mcswar, Kaiiaruc,

provinces

India,

of

coast.

style, so as to

interesting, both

and

west,

The former has the advantage

mixed up with the Dravidian

singularly

historical point of view.

can he

style

Dharwar on the

contrasts that

are

Jajcpnr, and Ciittack.

where the Iiido-Aryan

studied with the greatest advantage, are

Orissa on the east

Piiri,

of

and

being

admit of synonyms and

from an ethnological

In Orissa, on the contrary, the

style is

unmixed with any other, and thus forms one of

the most compact and homogeneous architectural groups in India, and
as such of more than usual interest, and it is consequently in this
perfectly pure, being

province that the style can be studied to the greatest advantage.

One

the

of

architecture

most marked and striking

of

peculiarities

marked and almost absolute contrast

the

is

Orissan

presents to

it

the style of the Dravidian at the southern end of the peninsula.

The

curved outline of the towers or vimanas has already been remarked

upon, but, besides
of

no Orissan towers present the smallest trace

this,

any storeyed or even

member

is

so universal

is

never a dome, nor a remi-

niscence of one.

Even more remarkable than

Orissan style

almost absolutely astylar.

is

which

step-like arrangement,

further south, and the crowning

this, is

In

the fact that the

some

of

the

most

modern examples, as for instance in the porches added to the temples

at Bhuvanesw^ar and Puri in the 12th and 14th centuries, w^e do find
pillars,

but

it is

probably correct to state that,

among

original shrines at Bhuvaneswar, not one pillar

is

the

is

more remarkable, because, within sight

the 500 or 600^

to be found.
of

that

This

capital, the

caves in the Udayagiri {ante^ p. 140) are adorned with pillars to such

an extent as to show that their forms must have been usual and well
known in the province before any of the temples were constructed.

When we

no great temple in the south was considered

recollect that

'

Hunter's Orissa,'

vol.

i.

p. 233.

Chap.

ORTSSA.

II.

without

complete

had

this

conceivable

what

its

Imndreds
complete

terposed between

races

more

is

on

besides

shown

and

striking,

side

this

of

they

shows

were,

in-

India, though

not

temple

Orissan

every

rule,

many

and

Chalukyas, whoever

the

the two

As

on the other.

contrast

the

barrier

columns,

about the place, aud used for every

dispersed

purpose,

lOOO

of

liall

415

consists

of

tAvo

(Woodcut
No. 124). The inner one is generally a cube, surmounted by a tower,
here called Bara Deul, or Dewail, corresponding with the vimana of
the south, and in it the image or images of the gods are enshrined
in front of this is a porch, called Jagamohan, equally a cube or apapartments, similar in plan, as

the

in

diagram

proaching

The

and surmounted by a pyramidal roof of varying

diagram (Woodcut No.

it,

pitch.

peculiarities are illustrated in the

124)

which purports to be an elevation of the celebrated

Black Pagoda at Kanaruc. It is only, how^ever, an eye-sketch, and
cannot be depended upon for minute detail and correctness, but it is
just referred to,

sufficient to explain the

more porches

w^ere

meaning

Bhog mandirs (mantapas), but

afterthoughts, and

Sometimes one or

the text.

of

added in front of

this

these, in

not parts of the

one,

If enclosed in a

There are gateways,

it

is

wall, they

are

called

tAvo

Nat and

almost every instance, are

original

Be

design.

may, in every instance in Orissa the tower with

temple.

and

its

this

as it

porch forms the

always to be seen outside.

true, but they are always subordinate,

and

there are none of those accretions of enclosures and gopuras that form
so

marked

a characteristic of the southern style.

There generally are

other shrines within the enclosures of the great temples, but they are

always kept subordinate, and the temple

itself

towers over everything

to even a greater extent than that at Tanjore

(Woodcut No. 191),

giving a unity and purpose to the whole design, so frequently wanting

in the south.

Other contrasts will come out as we proceed, but, in the meanwhile, few examples bring out

more

clearly

ethnography as applied to architecture.

practically the

the

importance of

vast

That two

people, inhabiting

same country, and worshipping the same gods under

the guidance of the same Brahmanical priesthood, should have adopted

and adhered

to tw^o such dissimilar styles for their

sacred

buildings,

shows as clearly as anything can well do how much race has to do

with these matters, and

how

little

such contrasts, unless we take

we can understand the

affinities

causes

or

differences

of

and

others, the

main

race

of

into

consideration.

HiSTOEY.

Thanks

to the industry

of Stirling

outlines

of the history of Orissa have been ascertained Avith sufficient accuracy

to enable us to describe its architecture

AAithout the

fear of

making

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

416

Book Y1.

any important chronological blunders. It is trm^ that the dates of

only two of its temples have been ascertained with tolerable certainty.
The great one at Bhuvaneswar is said to have been erected in or
about A.I). G37, and that at Puri in a.d. 1174, nearly the first and the

My impression is that the series may be carried

the series.
back to about the year 500, but in the other direction it can hardly
be extended beyond the year 1200, but within these limits it seems
last of

possible to arrange the sequence of all the temples

much

without

difficulty,

in

the province

and to ascertain their dates with

at

least

a fair approximate certainty.^

With

the exception of the great temple of Juganat at Puri,

described in this chapter were erected under

Kesari dynasty, or " Lion line," as Hunter calls them.

buildings

particulars of their history have been recorded, but

all

the

the

great

Few

of the

we know

at

least

the date of their accession, a.d. 473, and that in a.d. 1181 they were

whom

succeeded by a new dynasty, called Ganga Yansa, the third of

was the builder of the great Puri Temple.

As mentioned

in a previous part of this work, Orissa

was princi-

from the time of Asoka, B.C. 250, till the Gupta

era, a.d. 319, when all India was distracted by wars connected with
the tooth relic, which was said to have been preserved at Puri then
till that time.
If the invaders
in consequence called Danta Pura
pally Buddhist, at least

came by

sea, as it is said

^
I regret very much being obliged to
send this chapter to press before the
receipt of the second volume of Babu

Antiquities of
Rajendra Lala Mittra's
Orissa.'
He accompanied a Government
expedition to that province in 1868 as
archaeologist, and being a Brahman and
an excellent Sanscrit scholar, he has had
opportunities of ascertaining facts such as
no one else ever had. Orissa was the

is

province

visited in India

for the

research, and
was then quite
unfamiliar with the forms and affinities

purposes

of

of antiquarian

every one

like

Hindu

else,

architecture.

have enabled

me

to

tent the deficiency of

that time

taken by a

Photographs

supply to some ex-

my knowledge

at

but unless photographs are

scientific

man

for scientific

purposes, they do not supply the place of

local

experience.

1 feel confident that,

on the spot, I could now ascertain the

sequence of the temples with perfect
certainty
but whether the Babu has
sufficient knowledge for that purpose
remains to be seen. His first volume
;

very learned, and

may be

very inter-

esting,

but

it

adds

little

or nothing to

'

what we already knew

of the history of

Orissan architecture.

'

first

Mughs

they did, they probably were either

I have seen two plates of plans of

temples intended for the second volume.

They

are

either to

arranged

without

reference

convey
and the photo-

style or dates, so they

very little information,

graphs prove them to be so incorrect that

no great dependence can be placed upon
them. The t^xt, which I have not seen,
may remedy all this, and I hope will, but
if he had made any great discoveries,
such as the error in tlie date of the
Black Pagoda, they most probably would

have been hinted at in the first volume,

or have leaked out in some of the Babu's
numerous publications during the last
seven or eight years.

Mr. Hunter, who was in constant communication with the Babu, adds very
little in his work on Orissa to what we
learnt long ago from Stirling's, which up
to this hour remains the classical work on
the province and its antiquities.


Chap.

ORISSA.

II.

417

from Arrakaii, or the Burmese of Pegu, and

their

if

object was

obtain possession of the tooth, they as probably were Buddhists

have

as they
it

no buildings that have yet been identified as

left

impossible

is

now

were driven out, after

determine

to

the race unfortunately do

first

not

of the Kesari line.^

us

tell

theirs,

they

were,

and were succeeded in or

1-46 years' possession,

about A.D. 473 by Yayati, the

of

Whoever they

this.

to

but

who

the

The annals
or

Kesaris were,

whence they came. From the third king before the Yavana invasion
being called Bato Kesari, it seems probable it may have been only a
revival

of

the

dynasty

old

and from the circumstances

regarding the expulsion of these strangers,

more

it

looks as

to a local rising than to extraneous aid.

If they

interior, it

was from the north-west, where a similar

first,

it

narrated

were due

came from the

style

seems to

Their story, as told in their own annals, states that

have prevailed.
the

if

or one of the first kings of the race, imported, about the year

A.D. 500, a colony

10,000

Brahmans

from

Ayodhya, and they being

bigoted Saivites, introduced that religion into the province, and

all

rooted

it

so firmly there, that

Kesaris ruled.^

600

A.D.

If

it

was the faith of the land so long as the

as the number of the Brahmans, and

we read 100

as the date of their advent,

but be this as

we

shall probably be nearer the

may, these Brahmans were

settled at Jajepur,
not at Bhuvaneswar, and soon came into conflict with a class of " Old

truth

it

Brahmans," who had been established in the province long before

Mr. Hunter supposes them to have been Buddhists
their arrival.
Brahmans converted to the Buddhist faith which seems probable,
but if this were so, they would certainly have become Yaishnavas on

the decline of that religion, and such, I fancy, was certainly the case
in

tliis

instance.

The

architecture of the province seems to

the case, for, unless I

of

in the city of

am

Bhuvaneswar

is

very

much

me

to confirm this view

mistaken, the oldest temple

that called Parasurameswara

(Woodcut

No. 230), which from its name, as well as the subjects portrayed on
It may, however,
its walls, I would take to be certainly Yaishnava.
belong to the preceding dynasty.
the early

and

at

Its style is certainly different

from

Kesari temples, and more like what we find in Dharwar

other

places

outside

the province.

If,

indeed,

it

were not

found in a city which there seems every reason for thinking was
founded by the Lion kings,
A.D. 450, instead of a.d. 500.

would not hesitate to give

It

is

These particulars are taken, of course,

from Stirling, 'Asiatic Kesearcbes,' vol.
The whole evidence
XV. pp. 263, 264.
was embodied in a paper on the Amravati tope, Journal of the Royal Asiatic
^

'

it

not large, being only 20

Society,' vol.
2
'

iii.

a date
ft.

of

square^

(N.S.), p. 149, et seqq.

Hunter's Orissa,' vol. i. 4). 238.

This dimension is from Babu Eajen'

Orissan Antiquities,'
but I don t like it.

dra's

'

vol.

2 E

i.

p. 41,

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

418

at

its

base

passed,

than

(From a Photograph.)

Temple of Parasurameswara.

230.

is

but

sculptures

its

are

Book VI.

cut with

a delicacy

seldom sur-

and there is an appropriateness about the ornaments greater

seen in most of the temples.

The temple itself

summit to the base it
character, but

38

and from the

is

apparently

is

covered with sculptures of the most elaborate

ft.

in

height,

without detracting from the simplicity and vigour

still

of its outline.
If I

temple,
in

the

am
it

is

first

correct in assigning so early a date to the tower of this

evident that the porch must be a subsequent addition

place,

because

because the necessities of

fits

it

badly

to

the

tower,

more

but

construction require pillars internally,

its

and they do not occur in Orissan architecture till a long subsequent

It may, however, be that if this is really the oldest temple of
date.
its class in Orissa, its design may be copied from a foreign example,
and borrowed, with
where.

Be

by which

that as

light

all
it

its

peculiarities,

may,

it

is

from a

interesting

as

style

practised

was sometimes introduced into the porches

of

temples between the ends of the beams of the stone roof.

sloping

roofing-stones

subdued light

is

project

considerably

introduced, without

sun, or the rain being able to penetrate.

either

else-

showing the mode

beyond

the

the direct

these

As the

openings,
rays

of

the

Chap.

ORISSA.

II.

The temple

of

"

Muktcswara (Woodcut No. 231)

419

very similar

is

richer and
and its porch partakes more of the regular
has no pillars internally, and the roof externally

in general design to that of Parasurameswara, but even

more varied

in detail,

Orissan type.

It

Temple

231.

exhibits

at

somewhat

class it

may

Mukteswara.

(From a Photograph.)

the germ of what we find in the porches of the

Bhuvaneswar and the Black Pagoda. Its dimensions

least

great temple at
are

of

less

than those of the

be considered the

gem

last

temple described, but in

of Orissan architecture.

2 E 2

its

NORTHEFtN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

420

The

much from

style of these temples differs so

group, of which the great temple

this

may have

belonged to different

one to the Yaishnava, that to the Saiva.

means, however, of

verifying this

and

conjecture,

it

as temples originally destined for the

not always

is

nothing so

it

is

worship of one deity

Whatever may be the

we

being afterwards devoted to that of another.

case in this instance,

have no

is

do so even on the spot, for in India there

easy to

common

well to bear this in mind, as, whenever

have a complete history of

may

that of the next

the typical example, that I was

is

at one time inclined to believe they

religions

Book YI.

Orissan architecture, these distinctions

lead to most important historical deductions.

Besides

these,

there

are

One

than the great temple.

would
is

from the

other temples which,

several

of their architecture, I

style

inclined to place as earlier

feel

known

as Sari Deul, near the great

temple, and another, a very complete and beautiful example,

Moitre {query Mittra) Serai, w^hich

scale, of the

of

great temple, except that

As above pointed

itself.

is

it

lias

out, almost all the

no repetition

Buddhist temples are repetitions of themselves

carried

early,

generally a fair test of

and the extent

Hindu

the age of

it

temples.

In the great Pagoda there are eight copies of

and in the Raj Bani the system is carried so

form of the temple.

face,

on

but the Hindus

to w^hich

is

of itself

ornaments on the fagades

do not seem to have adopted this system so

is

called

is

almost a duplicate, on a small

on each

itself

almost to

far as

obliterate the original

Geeat Temple, Bhuyaneswar.

The

great temple at

Bhuvaneswar

It

Kesari,

who reigned from

it is

is

one of the landmarks in the

seems almost certainly to have been built by Lelat Indra

style.

perhaps

the finest

Though not
temple in plan

a.d.

617 to a.d. 657, and, taking

it all

in

all,

example of a purely Hindu temple in India.

a building of the largest class, the dimensions of this

are, so far as

The whole length is

60 ft. to 75 ft. The

can make out, far from contemptible.

nearly 300

ft.,

with a breadth varying from

original temple, however, like

almost

all

those

in Orissa, consisted only of a vimana, or Bara Dewul, and a porch

Jagamohan, shaded darker in the plan (Woodcut No. 232), and

160 ft. The Nat and Bhog-mandirs, shaded
Though
lighter, were added in the beginning of the 12th century.
or

they extend only to

several temples have all these four apartments, so far as I can

out,

none

temple

is

w^ere

originally

erected

like that represented in

two apartments only, and these

with

them.

Woodcut No.

The

true

make

Orissan

124, a building with

the

pillars

were only introduced in the comparatively modern additions.

The outline of this temple in elevation is not, at first

sight.

astylar, or practically so

Chap.

GREAT TEMPLE AT BHU VANES WAR.

IT.

pleasing to the European eye

to

but when once the eye

is

accustomed

has a singularly solemn and

it

it,

421

pleasing aspect.

It

a solid, and would

is

be a plain square tower, but for the

which takes

slight curve at the top,

off

the hardness of the outline and int^*^-

duces pleasingly the circular crown i

object

Ascompai

(Woodcut No. 233).

with that at Tanjore (Woodcut No.

certainly

it

the larger, being 82

is

This one

only 6G

is

though

angle,

ft.^

75

is

it

the

over 180

to

the

across

ft.

height

is

both of them being

same,

ft.,

square.

ft.

from angle

Their

projection.

central

nearly

design

the finer

far

In plan the southern ex-

of the two.

ample

by

is

19j.;,

but the upper part of the

northern tower

much more

so

is

that the cubic contents of

solid,

the two are

probably not very different.

Besides,

however, greater beauty in

form,

the

northern example excels the other im-

measurably in the fact that

from the base

in stone

what, unfortunately,
show every inch

it is

wholly

and
no woodcut can
to the apex,

the

of

surface

is

covered with carving in the most elaborate manner.

It is not only the divi-

sions of the courses, the roll-mouldings

on the angles, or the breaks on the face

of the tower
lieve

cient

but

and with any other

would

they

people

these are sufficient to re-

flatness,

its

every

be

deemed

individual

suffi-

stone

in

the tower has a pattern carved upon

not so as to break
cient to relieve
It

is,

its outline,

but

suffi-

any idea of monotony.

an exaggeration to
would take a sum say

perhaps, not

say that
a lakh

if

of

it

rupees or pounds

such a building as

this, it

to erect

This and the dimensions in

plan

Babu

Rajendra's work,

p.

41.

am

Plan of Great Temple at Bhuvaneswar.

(Compiled partly from Plan in
Babu Rajendra's work, but corrected
from Photographs. (Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.)

232.

would take

generally are taken from a table in

it,

afraid

they

are

only

round numbers, and

but they suffice for

certainly incorrect,
!

comparison.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

422
three

lakhs

outlay

is

would

be

produce

to

carve

or

opinion

of

View

233.

this is not the

not,

way

imposing

Bhu vanes war.

Hindu

ever

could

render

whether he

his

was right

temple
or

question.

architectural

effect

looked at the matter.

most

wrong, the

but

CFrom a Photograph.)

labour bestowed on every detail was the

he

Whether such an
Most people
four times as large would

carved.

building

more

of Great Temple,

is

another

is

that

and

greater

one

this

as

it

judicious

Book VI.

mode

worthy
effect

in
of
of

Infinite

which he thought
the
the

deity

whole

is

and,
cer-

GRKAT TEMPLE AT

Chap. U.

marvellonslY

tainly

beautiful.

It

not.

is

building shown in the woodcut

the

of

BHl' VANESWAR.

423

however, in
that

those parts

amount

the greatest

was bestowed, but in the perpendicular parts

seen from the courtyard (^Woodcut No. 284). There the sculpture
is of a very high order
carving or design

of

and

beaut v

great

ought

not

smprise

to

when we

us
that

of

This, however,

design.

at

recollect

Amravati, cn

the banks of the Kist-

from the

nah, not far

boimdarv

southern

kingdom,

this

in

temple

stood

delicate
its

and

of

there

more

elaborate

carvings

than

any other building in

India,^ and that this
temple had been finished
probably not more than
century

Kesari

established

though

and

before

dynasty

tory of art

th-

was

Orissa

in

the

his-

in India

is

written in decay, there

was not much time for

and the dynasty

was new and visrorous
when this temple was
decline,

-ISL.

Lower {n of Great lover at l>iiavaueswr.

(From a PhotosRaph.)

erected.

Attached to the Jagamohan of this temple

dancing-haD, whose date

is,

is

fortimately, perfectly

Xat-mandir, or

known, and

well

us to measure the extent of this decay with almost absolute

It was erected by the wife of Salini between the years
certainty.
enables

1099 and 1104.^

perished

among

It

is

elegant,

of

course,

for

art

had

not yet

the Hindus, but it differs from the style of the porch

attached more than the leanest example of Tudor art

which it is
differs from the vigour and grace of the buildings of the early
Edwards. All that power of expression is gone which enabled the
early architects to make small things look gigantic from the exuberance of labour bestowed upon theuL A glance at the Xat-mandir
to

'

Tree and Serpent Worship/ plate = iS-L

^.

Hunter's

'

Orissa,'

voL

i.

p. 237.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

424
sufficient

is

the mastery of

for

details.

its

Jagamohan would every hour reveal new beauties.

The last Avoodcut may convey some idea of
the

older

were

parts

elaborated

Book

VL

week's study of

the

the extent to which

but even the

photograph hardly

enables any one not familiar with the style to realise

the combination
really

of

mass with exubeiance

of

solidity

how

exquisite

of

ornament

is.

During the four centuries and a half which elapsed between the
these two porches, Bhuvaneswar was adorned with some
hundreds of temples, some dozen of which have been photographed,
but hardly in sufficient detail to enable the student to classify them
erection of

On

according to their dates.

any one trained

were done.

it

the spot

The group

it

and

to this class of study,

probably would be easy for

it

would be a great gain

nearest in richness and interest

Khajuraho, mentioned above

if

that at

is

but that group belongs to an

Bhuvaneswar group, and only
enables us to see that some of the most elaborate of the Cuttack
It is to this
temples may extend to the year 1000 or thereabouts.
date that I would ascribe the erection of the Raj Rani temple.
The
age just subsequent

names

of

of those

which

data, are given in the

from burdening
despair,

the

text

the

of

have photographs, with their approximate

list

245)

(p.

that

to

end

at the

of

this chapter

but I refrain

with their unpronounceable names, as

by any reasonable number

of woodcuts, of

illustrating their

marvellous details in anything like a satisfactory

1

manner.

The Raj Rani

temple, as will be seen from the

woodcut (No. 235), is small but the plan is arranged so as to give great variety and play of
;

light

and shade, and

exquisite beauty,
art.

Plan of Rnj Rani Temple.

(Compiled from a Plan by
Babu R,ijendra, and cor-

s2ieVo'ft?to\hr^^^^''*

The

as the details are of the

is

it

following woodcut

attempting to

illustrate

racteristic

the

of

most

one of the gems of Orissan

(No. 236), without

the art,

emblems

of

quoted as cha-

is

the

Kesari

line.

Below the pillar are three kneeling elephants, over

which domiuecr thrcc lious, tlic cmblems of the race.

Above this a Nagni, or female Naga, with her
i

,-,

seven-headed snake-hood, adorns the upper part of

They

the pillar.
all

the

this

now

temples of the province.

It is to be

dra's

are to be found, generally in great numbers, in almost

book

hoped that Babu Rajento some extent remedy

may

deficiency.

In the part, however,

pubUslied, he docs not promise that

Over the doorway are the Nava

this will
2

41G.

be the case.

Cunningham's

'Reports,'

vol.

ii.

p.

Chap.

BHUVANESWAR.

IT.

425

Graha, or nine planets, which are almost more universal, both in

temples dedicated to Vishnu and in those belonging to the worship
of

Indeed,

Siva.

there

in

far

so

does not seem to

any external signs are concerned,

as

be any means by which the temples of the

two religions can be disfrom one another.

Throughout the

tinguished

province,

from

the

we

meet

it,

first

time

about

A.D.

500, till it dies out

about A.D. 1200, the style
seems
to
be singularly

uniform

and

in

it

its

features,

requires

consider-

able familiarity with

it

to

detect its gradual progress

towards

decay.

standing

this, it is

Notwitheasy to

perceive that there are two

of

styles

architecture

in

Orissa, w^hich ran side

by

with

side

one

during the whole

The

first

is

another
course.

represented

by the temples of Parasu-

and

rameswara

Muktes-

wara (Woodcuts No. 230,

the second by the great temple (Woodcut No. 233).
They are not
231)
antagonistic, but sister styles, and seem certainly to have had at least
;

partially different

origins.

We

can find

affinities

Mukteswara group in Dharwar and most parts

I

know

of nothing exactly like

with that of the

of northern India

the great temple anywhere

seems to be quite indigenous, and

if

not the most beautiful,

but

else.

It

is

the

it

and most majestic of the Indo-Aryan styles. It may look

hobby to death, but I cannot help suspecting a wooden
origin for it
the courses look so much more like carved logs of

simplest

like riding a

wood laid one upon another than courses of masonry, and the mode
and extent to which they are carved certainly savours of the same
material.
There is a mosque built of Deodar pine in Kashmir, to be
referred to hereafter, which, certainly seems to
till

this

we

favour this idea

but

some older temples than any yet discovered in Orissa

must remain in doubt. Meanwhile it may be well to point out
find

that about one-half of the older temples in Orissa follow the type of
the

great

temple, and

one-half

that of

get confounded together in the 8th

Mukteswara

and 0th

centuries,

but

the

two

and are mixed

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN

426

together into what

and temples

may

STYLE.

Book VI.

almost be called a new style in the Raj Rani

lOth and 11th centmies.

of the

Kanaruc.
With, perhaps, the single exception of the temple of Juganat at
Puri, there

no temple in India better known and about which more

is

has been written than the so-called Black Pagoda at Kanaruc

there any

nor

and dedication is better known, if

Stirling
the literature on the subject could be depended upon.
does not hesitate in asserting that the present edifice, "as is well
known, was built by the Raja Langora Narsingh Deo, in a.d.
1241, under the superintendence of his minister Shibai Sautra;"^
is

one whose

and every one who

date

has since written on the subject

date without hesitation, ^ and the native

Complete as this evidence, at

in putting

it

after the

asido,

first

sight, appears, I

for the simple

erection

temple of Puri (a.d.

1174)

anything so beautiful as

the

this.

Jagamohan

reason that

it.

have no hesitation

it

seems impossible

degraded a specimen of

of so

adopts this

records seem to confirm

the art

the

as

could have reverted to

style ever

In general design and detail

it

so

is

Bhuvaneswar that
at first sight I should be inclined to place it in the same century
but the details of the tower exhibit a progress towards modern forms
which is unmistakeable,^ and render a difference of date of two or
Yet the only written
possibly even three centuries more probable.
similar to the

of the great temple

at

authority

know

of

for

such a date

is

by Abul Fazl.

that given

After describing the temple, and ascribing

to

it

Raja

ISTarsingh Deo,

with an amount of detail and degree of circumstantiality

which has deceived every one, he quietly adds that it is said " to be
in A.D. 1241,

*
In other words, it was erected in
850 or A.D. 873, according to the date we assume for the comIf there were a king of that name
position of the Ayeen Akbery.

a work of 730 years' antiquity."

A.D.

among

the Rois faineants of the Kesari line, this would suffice

no such name

is

in an inscription

mentions

it,

found in the

This, however,

lists.^

is

not final

but

for

on the Brahmaneswar temple the queen, who built

the names

her husband, Udyalaka, and six of his

of

Asiatic Researches,' vol. xv. p. 327.

resque Illustrations of Indian Architec-

Myself included in the number but,

as explained above, I had no knowledge
of the style when I visited Orissa, and
had no photographs to illustrate the
architecture of temples to which I was

iii.
It has since fallen entirely,
but whether from stress of weather or by
aid from the Public Works Department
is by no means clear.
* 'Ayeen
Akbery,' Gladwin's trans-

not then allowed access.

2 When I visited
Orissa in 1837 and

lation, vol.

sketched this temple, a great part of the

187, et seqq.

tower was

still

stanliug.

See

'

Pictu-

ture,' part

ii.

p. 16.

Hunter's 'Orissa,' Appendix

vii.

p.

Chap.

KANARUC.

II.

ancestors

427

but neither he nor any of them are to be found in the

first, Janmejaya, and it is doubtful whether even he

was a Kesari king or the hero of the Mahabharata.' ^ In all this
uncertainty we have really nothing to guide us but the architecture,

except the

lists

and

testimony

its

so distinct that

is

it

does not appear to

me

doubtful

that this temple really belongs to the latter half of the 9th century.

Another point of

interest connected with this temple

is,

that

all

Abul Fazl, agree that it was like the

temple of Marttand, in Kashmir (ante, p. 287), dedicated to the sun.
I have never myself seen a Sun temple in India, and being entirely
ignorant of the ritual of the sect, I would not wish to appear to
authors, apparently following

dogmatise on the subject

as to the dedication of

them

The

here.

but I have already expressed

Marttand, and

Sun worship

traces of

may

my

doubts

be allowed to repeat

in Bengal are so slight that

they have escaped me, as they have done the keen scrutiny of the

H. H. Wilson.^

late

In the Yedas

appears that Vishnu

it

called the Sun, or it

is

may

and this may account,

perhaps, for the way in which the name has come to be applied to
this temple, which differs in no other respect from the other temples
of Vishnu found in Orissa.
The architectural forms are identical
they are adorned with the same symbols. The Nava Graha, or nine
be the sun bears

name

the

of

Vishnu

planets, adorn the lintel of this as of all the temples of the Kesari

The seven-headed serpent-forms

are found on every temple

from the great one at Bhuvaneswar to this one, and it
is only distinguishable from those of Siva by the obscenities that
disfigure a part of its sculptures.
This is, unfortunately only too
line.

of the race,

common
hardly,

a characteristic of Vaishnava temples

ever,

if

know, a characteristic of the worship

Architecturally,

form

all

over India, but

is

found in Saiva temples, and never was, so far as I

the

great

of the

Sun god.

beauty of this temple arises from the

Jagamohan, or porch the only

and detail, it is extremely
like that of the great temple at Bhuvaneswar, but it is here divided
into three storeys instead of two, which is an immense improvement,
and it rises at a more agreeable angle. The first and second storeys
consist of six cornices each, the third of five only, as shown in the
part

of the design of the roof of the

now

remaining.

Both

in dimensions

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

vii. p.

Asiatic Researches,' vol. xvi. p, 25.

'

'

In his Antiquities of Orissa

'

Babu Rajendra sums up

argument

for

Even, however, if the case were

than it appears to be,
it by no means follows that what was
only dimly shadowed forth in the Yedas
may not have become an accepted fact in
the Puranas, and aa established dogma
tion.

much

557.

'

(p. 151),

exhaustively the

and against Yishnu being

considered the same as the

Sun

in the

Vedas, and, on the whole, makes out

a strong cate in favour of the identifica-

less strong

in Orissa in the 9th century,

temple was erected.

when

this

NORTHERN OK INDO-ARYAN

428

diagram Woodcut No. 124.

beauty and variety on

STYLE.

The two lower ones

Book VI.
carved with

are

and the antefixae

at the angles and breaks are used with an elegance and judgment a
infinite

Yavana could hardly have

true

their twelve faces,

all

There

surpassed.

no roof in India where the same play

so far as I

is,

and shade

of light

is

know,

obtained

with an equal amount of richness and constructive propriety as in

instance,

this

supports

about 40

ft.

it

was

beams

iron

long.i

ft.

11

in.

on

the

base

that

the

My

ceiled

with a

ft.

square by 12
less

in.

ft.

to

to 18
in.,

ft.

but

and Babu Rajendra points out that one,

long, has a square section of

in

ft.

ft.,

supported by wrought-

roof,

Stirling says nine, nearly 1

to about 20

contracts

it

till

stone

flat

measurements made the section

the length greater, 23

21

gracefully

peculiarities

begins to bracket inwards,

it

where

so

sits

chamber is singularly plain, but presents some

worthy of attention. On the floor it is
square, and the walls rise plain to about the same height.

Internally,

constructive

Here

one that

nor

it.

the centre,^ showing

strength of the material that

is

in. at

the end, but a depth of

knowledge

of

the properties

and

remarkable in a people who are now

so utterly incapable of forging such masses.

The

iron pillar at Delhi

(Woodcut No. 281) is even a more remarkable example than this, and
no satisfactory explanation has yet been given as to the mode in
which it was manufactured. Its object, however, is plain, while the
employment of these beams here is a mystery. They were not wanted
for strength, as the building is still firm after they have fallen, and
so expensive a false ceiling

plain a chamber.

It

was not wanted architecturally to roof

so

seems to be only another instance of that pro-

fusion of labour which the

Hindus loved

on the temples

to lavish

of

their gods.

PURI.

When
more

from the capital we turn to Puri, we find a state

might be expected from the short space

altered than

of affairs
of

time

Pagoda and the

celebrated one now found there.
It is true the dynasty had changed.
In 1131, the Kesari Yansa, with their Saiva worship, had been superseded by the Ganga Yansa, who w^ere apparently as devoted followers
of Yishnu
and they set to work at once to signalise their triumph
by erecting the temple to Juganat, which has since acquired such a
that had elapsed between the building of the Black

world-wide celebrity.

'

Asiatic Kesearches,' vol. xv. p. 330,

These discrepancies arise from the

fact that the beams lie on tlie floor buried
under the ruins of the stone roof they
^

once supported, and

cult to get at

them

measurements.

it is

extremely

diffi-

so as to obtain correct

Chap.

PURI.

TI.

It

not, of course, to be supposed that the kings of the

is

were the

line

429

Vishnu

to introduce the worship of

first

to Orissa.

Ganga
The

whole traditions, as recorded by Stirling, contradict such an assump-

and the

temple erected on this spot to the deity is said

by Yayati, the founder of the Kesari line.^ He it
was who recovered the sacred image of Juganat from the place where
it had been buried 150 years before, on the invasion of the Yavanas,
tion,

first

to have been built

and a " new temple was erected by him on the site of the old one,
which was found to be much dilapidated and overwhelmed with
sand." 2 This, of course, was before the arrival of the Ayodhya Brahmans alluded to above, who, though they may have retained possession of the capital during the continuance of the dynasty, did not

apparently interfere with the rival worship in the provinces.

be contrary to

w^ould indeed

It

experience

all

where Buddhism once existed, those who were

had not degenerated

and then into Yishnuism.

into Jainism

first

Udayagiri we have absolute proof in the caves of the

and that
the

seems

continued there

it

obtain possession of

was

relic

like

before

Puri

till

mentioned, to

According to the Buddhist version,

it.

erected

manner, there

preserved at

Yavanas, apparently, as

the

of

In

peak.

At

first transition,

when the Mahrattas

the time

till

southern

the

doubt that the tooth

little

invasion

the

on

temple

little

a country

in

if,

follow^ers of that faith

it

was

buried in the jungle, but dug up again shortly afterwards, and con-

According to the Brahnianical

veyed to Ceylon.^

account,

it

was

the image of Juganat, and not the tooth, that was hidden and recothe Yavanas, and then was enshrined

vered on the departure of

Juganat in a new temple on the sands.

Krishna being contained in the image

form

cal

of

Buddhist

The

* is

evidently only a Brahniani-

worship, and, as has been frequently sug-

relic

gested, the three images of Juganat, his brother

Subhadhra, are only the Buddhist trinity

sister

Sanga

disguised

common

to suit the

The

people.

at

tradition of a bone of

Balbhadra, and the

Buddha,

pilgrimage, the Eat Jutra, the

caste prejudices, everything in fact at Puri,

is

Dharma,

among

condition of belief

altered

suspension

the
of

redolent of Buddhism,

but of Buddhism so degraded as hardly to be recognisable by those

who know that faith

The degradation
that

the

of

marks that

only in

Even

style.
it

its

older

Stirling,

lavish

in

the

'Asiatic Rosearclies,'

Loc.

Tour.iour's

c:t., p.

is

hardly so remarkable as

who was no

captious critic,

re-

seems unaccountable, in an age when the architects

obviously possessed some taste and

ticularly

and purer form.

of the faith, however,

use

of

vol. xv. p. 31G.

and were in most

^Yano in

ornament, so

of

the

D.ila-

cases par-

little

pains

the 'Journal of the Asiatic

Society of Bengal,' vol.

265.

abstract

skill,

sculptural

vi. p.

'Asiatic Ecscarchcs,'

v.

1.

85G, et seqq.
xv. p. 320.

NOKTHEEN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

430

should

Book VI.

have been taken with the decoration and finishing of this

sacred and stupendous edifice.^

It is not, however, only in the detail,

but the outline, the proportions, and every arrangement of the temple,

show that the art in this province at least had received a fatal downward impetus from Avhich it never recovered.
As will be seen from the annexed plan ^ (Woodcut No. 287), this
temple has a double enclosure, a thing otherwise unknown in the
north.

Externally

by a wall 20

ft.

it

to 30

measures 670
ft.

Sca^le

rian of Temple

237.

ol

ft.

by 640

ft.,

200 f!^ to

Juganat at

Piiri.

and

The

high, with four gates.

is

surrounded

inner enclosure

the Inch.

(From a Tlan by

E..

P. Mukerji.)

by 815 ft., and is enclosed by a double wall with

Within this last stands the Bara Dewul, A, measuring
80 ft. across the centre, or 5 ft. more than the great temple at Bhuvaneswar with its porch or Jagamohan, B, it measures 155 ft. east
and west, while the great tower rises to a height of 192 ft.^ Beyond
measures 420

ft.

four openings.

'

'

Asiatic Researches,' vol. xv.

The

p. 315.

reduced from one to a

Fcale of 40 feet to 1 in., made by an
iiitelli;2:ent native assistant to the Public
Works Department, named Radliicv Pur2

plan

is

sad Mukerji, and

is the only plan I ever

found done by a native sufficiently corrc ct to be used, except as a diagram, or

after perious doctoring.

^

Hunter,

'

Orissn,' vol.

i.

p.

128.

ClIAP.

this

PURl.

II.

431

two other porches were afterwards added, the Nat-mandir, C, and

Bhog-mandir, D, making the whole length of the temple about 300

or as nearly as
this

there

shrines

are,

may

be the same as that at Bhuvaneswar.

in

as

all

great

Hindu

north, they

are

View

Except in

its

as

in

all

instances

smaller
in

the

kept subordinate to the principal one, which here

towers supreme over

238.

numberless

temples,

within the two enclosures, but,

ft.,

Besides

of

all.

Tower

of

Temple

(PYom a Pbotograpb.)

of Jugauat.

double enclosure, and a certain irregularity of plan,

arrangement from the great

this temple does not differ materially in

ones at Bhuvaneswar and elsewhere

but besides the absence of detail

already remarked upon, the outline of

its

vimana

is

totally

devoid

either of that solemn solidity of the earlier examples, or the grace that

characterised

those

subsequently erected

and when we add

to

this

that whitewash and paint have done their worst to add vulgarity to

forms already sufficiently ungraceful,

it

will easily

be understood that

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

432

most famous,

this, the

Hindu

is

also

the

the

all

older

iUustration

same as those found

so nearly the

temples at Bhuvaneswar, that the difference could

hardly be expressed in words

even the woodcut, however,

show how changed they are in

to

VI.

most disappointing of northern

As may be seen from the preceding

temples.^

(Woodcut No. 238), the parts are

in

Book

effect,

but the building

is

sufficient

itself

should

be seen fully to appreciate the degradation that has taken place.

Jajepur and Cuttack.

Jajepur, on the Byturni, was one of the old capitals of the pro-

and even now contains temples which, from the squareness

vince,

their forms,

may

be old, but,

if so,

of

they have been so completely dis-

guised by a thick coating of plaster, that their carvings are entirely

and there is nothing by which their age can be deterplace was long occupied by the Mahomedans, and the
presence of a handsome mosque may account for the disappearance of
some at least of the Hindu remains. There is one pillar, however, still
standing, which deserves to be illustrated as one of the most pleasing
examples of its class in India (Woodcut No. 239). Its proportions
obliterated,

The

mined.

are beautiful,

and

its details in excellent taste

but the mouldings of

the base, which are those on which the Hindus were accustomed to
lavish the utmost care, have unfortunately been destroyed.
it is

said to have supported a figure of

and
if

it

a figure

is

is

Garuda

of

may

be

pointed out as the identical one.

the case, the pillar

is

Originally

the Yahana
It

of the 12th or 13th century.

Yishnu
so, and

This also

seems to be the age of some remarkable pieces of sculpture which

were discovered some years ago on the brink of the river, where they

had apparently been hidden from Mahomedan

News has

just reached this country

of a curious accident having happened

in this temple.

Just after the gods had

been removed from their Sinhasan to

take their annual excursion to the
Gundicha N^r, some stones of the roof
fell in, and would have killed any attendants and smashed the gods had they
Asnot fortunately all been absent.
suming the interior of the Bara Dewul
to be as represented (Woodcut No. 124),
it is not easy to see how this could have
happened. But in the same woodcut the
porch or Jagamohan of the Kanaruc
pagoda is represented with a flat false
roof, which has fallen, and now encumThat
bers the floor of the apartment.
roof, however, was formed of stone laid

They

bigotry.

are

in

on iron beams, and looked as if it could

only have been chaken down by an earthquake. I have little doubt that a similar false roof was formed someway up the
tower over the altar at Puri, but formed
probably of stone laid on wooden beams
and either decay or the white ants having
destroyed the timber, the stones have
fallen as narrated.

similar roof so supported on

beams

wooden

temple
on the shore at Mahavellipore, and, I
have no doubt, elsewhere, but it is almost
still

exists in the structural

impossible to

when

get access to these cells

the gods are

places are so dark

to see, except

were roofed.

at

it is

when

home, and the

equally impossible

in ruins,

how they

Chap.

JAJEPUR AND CUTTACK.

II.

433

a different style from anything at Bhuvaneswar or Kanamc,

and probably more modern than anything at those places.
Cuttack became the capital of the country in a.d. 989-1006, when
quite

Markut Kesari

certain

croachment of the
ant bigotry of
the

the

rulers,

British

remains
palace

how-

too,

It

from the

intoler-

Moslem, and

the

wards from

from en-

site

river. ^

ever, has suffered, first

stone

built

revetement to protect the

after-

indifference^

stolid

very

that

so

of

little

but for this the nine-storeyed

Mukund

of

Deo,

contem-

the

porary of Akbar, might

remain to

still

us in such a state at least as to be intel-

We

ligible.

hear so much, however, of

these

nine-storeyed palaces

that

it

Abul

Fazl's

may

worth

be

and viharas,
quoting

while

description

one, in

this

of

order to enable us to understand some of

and descriptions we after" In Cuttack,"

" there is a fine palace, built by

the allusions

may meet with

wards

he says,

Rajah Mukund Deo, consisting

The

storeys.

for

and horses
and military

is

camels,

phants,

artillery

quarters

are

also

storey

first

other attendants

the

nine
ele-

the second

where

stores,

the

for

of

for

and

guards

thii'd

occupied

is

Hindu Pillar in Jajepur.

(From a Photograph.)

239.

by porters and watchmen

appropriated for
the kitchens

the

make

apartments

public
business

the fourth

several

the eighth

the
is

seventh

a very ancient

As

the

sixth contains

is

for

the transaction

women

where the

Rajah's sleeping apartment.

is

artificers

the fifth range

;

is

To

reside

the

Rajah's

of

private

and the ninth

is

the

the south," he adds, " of this palace

Hindu temple."^
when

Orissa at the period

this

part of Akbar's kingdom, there seems

was ^nitten was practically a

doubt that this description

was furnished by some one who knew the place. There are sevenstoreyed palaces
at
Jeypur and Bijapur still standing, which
were erected

own

about this date, and

little

one of

five

storeys

Asiatic Kesearches,' vol. XV. p. 367.

'

'

Ibid

'

Akbar's

'Ayeen Akbery,' Gladwin's

i.

in

palace at Futtehpore Sikri, but none, so far as I know, of nine

p. 266.

p.

335

Hunter's

'

lution, vol.

Orissa,' vol.
I

ii.

p. 13.

tians-

NOETHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

434
storeys,

though

I see

Book VI.

no reason for doul)ting the correctness

of

the

description of the one just quoted.

Although it thus consequently happens that we have no more

means of ascertaining what the cix'il edifices of the Indo-Aryans of
Orissa were like, than we have of those of the contemporary Dravidians, there is a group of engineering objects which throw some
on the arts of the period. As has been frequently stated above,
Hindus hate an arch, and never will use it except under compulsion.
The Mahomedans taught them to get over their prejudices
and employ the arch in their civil buildings in later times, but to
light

the

Uiiidii Briilge at Cuttack.

the

present

possible to

day they avoid

do

so.

numerous bridges

it

in

(Imoui a riiotograph.)

their

temples

in so far

as

it

is

In Orissa, howe^'er, in the 13th century, they built

in various

parts

of

the

province,

but never em-

The Atarah Nullah bridge at

by Kebir Narsingh Deo, about 1250, has been drawn and

ployed a true arch in any of them.

Puri, built

described by Stirling, and

is

the finest in the province of

those

still

Between the abutments it is 275 ft. long, and with a roadway 35 ft. wide. That shown in the above woodcut (No. 240) is
probably older, and certainly more picturesque, though constructed
in use.

on the same identical

]ilan.

It

may

be unscientific, but

many

of


JAJEPUR AND CUTTACK.

CflAP. 11.

old

tliese

many

standing and in use, while

are

britlo'es

435
of

we

those

have constructed out of the ruins of the temples and palaces have
been swept away as

upon them.

a curse were

if

Conclusion.

The above may be considered

somewhat meagre account

as a

of

one of the most complete and interesting styles of Indian architecture.

It would, however, be impossible to

of

do

it

justice without

an amount

with the scope of this work, and with

incompatible

illustration

drawn on a larger scale than its pages admit of. It is to be

Babu Rajendra's work may, to some extent, at least,
supply this deficiency.
The first volume can only, however, be con-

details

hoped that
as

matters,

and avoiding

The

when

second,

hoped

to be

being

introductory,

sidered

would convey a more correct idea

From

with

preliminary

this

and

defect,

good monograph of the Orissan

so, as

what Indian

of

a similar account of any other style

of

occupied

may remedy

appears,

it

do

will

wholly

dates or descriptions of particular buildings.

all

we

art

really is

it

is

style

than

are acquainted with in India.

the erection of the temple of Parasurameswara, a.d. 500, to that

Juganat

at Puri, a.d. 1174, the style steadily progresses without

interruption

admixture of

or

foreign

elements,

while

any

examples

the

numerous that one might be found for every fifty years of

probably for every twenty and we might thus have a

are

so

the

period

chronometric scale of

Hindu

during these seven centuries that

art

would be invaluable for application

also in Orissa,

much

that will explain

and the origin

temples

to other

places or

anywhere that we may hope

if

that
of

styles.

It is

to find the incunahula

is now mysterious
many parts of their

in the

forms of the

ornamentation.

An

examination, for instance, of a hundred or so of the ruined and halfruined temples of the province would enable any competent person to
say at once

how

far the theory above enunciated

to account for the curved

form of the towers

accordance with the facts of the case, and,

the

true

if

(Woodcut No. 124)

or was not in
opposed to them, what

was

theory of the curved form really was.

In

like

manner,

it

seems hardly doubtful that a careful examination of a great number

of

examples would reveal the origin of the amalaka crowning orna-

ment.

grow out

feel

absolutely

the

of

berry

convinced, as stated above, that

of

the

PhyUanthus

emdltca,

and

it

did not

am

very

had a vegetable origin at all. But no one yet has

suggested any other theory which will bear examination, and it is
only from the earliest temples themselves that any satisfactory
doubtful

if

it

answer can be expected.

It

is

not

only,

questions will be

however,

that

these

and

many

other

technical

answered when any competent person undertakes a

2 F 2

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

436

Book VI.

thorough examination of the ruins, but they will afford a picture of

the civilization and of the arts and religion of an Indian

community

during seven centuries of isolation from external influences, such as can

hardly be obtained from any other source.
So far as we at present

know,

any

it is

a singularly pleasing picture, and one that will well repay

pains that

may be

taken to present

it

to the English public in a

complete and intelligible form.

Tentative List of Dates and Dimensions of the Pbincipal Orissan Temples.

External
Dimensions
of Towers.

Dates.

,.

Sari

Dewala

..

of Cells.

ft.

ft.

500-600

Internal

Dimensions

20 X 20
14 X 14
24 X 22

ft.
.

ft.

11

12

X 12

IH

X 14
X 42

6x6

. .

600-700

Ananta

Vasii

Deva

..

657

,,

26 X 26
66 X 60

42

Sideswara
Vitala Devi

700-850
873

..

Markandeswara
Brahmeswara
Kanaruc

in Puri
.

:.

1104
1198

..

Nat Mandir

..

Juganat, Puri

at

60

60

32 X 25

:.

40 X 40

12

29

(?)

Blmvaneswar

These dimensions, except those of

Kanaruc, are taken from a table in Babu
'

Rajendra's 'Antiquities of Orissa,' vol. i.

and are sufficient to give an idea

p. 41,

So
can make out they are taken
from angle to angle of the towers, but as
they all have projections on their faces,

73 X 73

when cubed,

as

is

29'

done in the table

re-

much too small. I may

also observe that I know of no instance
in which the two dimensions differ. The
ferred to, they are

of the relative size of the building.

four faces are

always, I believe, alike.

far as I

The

my own

dates are

none are given,

except for the great temple, in the Babu's

first

volume.

Chap.

DHAKWAR.

III.

CHAPTER

WESTERN

437

III.

INDIA.

CONTENTS.

Dharwar

Brahiiianical

Rock-cut Temples.

Dharwar.
If the province of Orissa
uniformity of

more

or,

its

style of

is interesting from the completeness and

Indo-Aryan architecture, that of Dharwar,

correctly speaking of Maharastra,

exactly the

opposite

conditions.

is

almost equally so from

In the western province, the Dra-

for supremacy during all

and the mode in which the one
influenced the other will be one of the most interesting and instructive lessons we can learn from their study, when the materials

vidian style struggles with the northern

the

earlier stages

of

their growth,

exist for a

thorough investigation of the architectural history of this

province.

In magnificence, however, the western can never pretend

There are more and far finer buildings

Bhuvaneswar alone than in all the cities of
Maharastra put together, and the extreme elaboration of their details

to rival the eastern province.

in

one city of

the

gives the Orissan examples a superiority that the western temples cannot

pretend to rival.

Among
is

As

the oldest and most characteristic of the

Dharwar temples

that of Papanatha, at Purudkul, or Pittadkul, as

it

now

is

spelt.

(Woodcut
No. 122, page 221), the cell, with its tower, has not the same
and
predominating importance which it always had in Orissa
instead of a mere vestibule it has a four-pillared porch, which would
in itself be sufiicient to form a complete temple on the eastern side
of India.
Beyond this, however, is the great porch, Mantapa, or
Jagamohan square, as usual, but here it possesses sixteen pillars,
will be seen

from the plan

of this temple given above

in

four

groups, instead of

the east.

It

is,

the astylar arrangements

so

common

in

in fact, a copy, with very slight alterations, of the

plan of the great Saiva temple at the same place (Woodcut No. 189),
These, with others recently
or the Kylas at Ellora (Woodcut No. 186).

brought to
style,

light,

form a group

but having no

affinity,

of early temples wholly Dravidian in

except

in

plan, with

the

Temple

of

NOHTIIERN OR INDO-AllYAN STYLE.

^38

Papanatha, which
arrangements.
teristic

is

This,

as essentially Indo-Aryaii in all its architectural

in

may

fact,

difference between

from

Book VI.

the

be

styles

proximity to

upon as the characDharwar and Oris^a. The

the Dravidian and admixture
looked

of

Avestern

style,

with

in fact, used pillars freely

and with

effect

almost

unkrown

in the best ages

it,

its

while their use in Orissa

style,

and

their introduction,

View

241.

is

of

Temple

of

clearly the necessity that

as

it

whenever wanted

the

of

took p^ice there, showed only too

Papanatha at rittadkul.

(From

had arisen in the decay

a Photograph.)

of the style, to supply

with foreign forms the want of originality of invention.

The

external effect of

above woodcut

the building

(No. 241).

The

may

outline of

be judged of from the

the

tower

is

not unlike

that of the Parasurameswara temple at Bhuvaneswar, with which

probably contemporary

circa a.d.

500

but

the central belt

is

pronounced, and always apparently was on the west side of

It will also

was
more

it

India.

be observed in this tower that every third course has on

the angle a form which has

just been described

as

speaking of the crowning members of Orissan temples.

an amalaka in

Here

it

looks

BHAHMANICAL ROCK-CUT TEMPLES.

Chap.

III.

as

the two intermediate courses simulated roofs, or a roof in two

if

storeys,

and then

crowning member was introduced, and the same

this

thing repeated over and over again

In

obtained.

the

Parasurameswara

the

till

there

angles,

intermediate

but are supplied by the miniature temple-forms applied to

In the temple at Buddh Gaya the

("Woodcut No. 16) on the angle of each storey

same

form occurs

but there

it

looks

like the capital of a pillar, which, in fact, I believe to be its real

But from whatever form

original.

in the best possible taste

is

three

the sides.

more

height was

requisite

are

in the great tower at Bhuvaneswar,

(Woodcut No. 280)
and in the more modern temples they disappear from the

courses
five

439

on the angles
upwards by it, and is prethus no longer isolated and

derived, this repetition

the eye

is

pared for the crowning member, which

led
is

alone, but a part of a complete design.

The frequency of the

now known, no bad test of

repetition of this

ornament

the age of a temple.

so far as is

is,

an example were

If

found where every alternate course was an amalaka, it probably would

It would then represent
be older than any temple we have yet known.
a series of roofs, five, seven, or nine storeys, built over one another.

had, however, passed into conventionalities before we meet with

Whenever the temples

they

will,

the

case

centres in the caves

caves

of this district are thoroughly investigated,

no doubt, throw immense light on the early history of

As

style.^

known

now

of

It

it.

stands,

however,

the

principal

tlie

interest

Badami, which being the only Brahman ical

upon them, they give us a fixed

that have positive dates

we have

point from which to reason in respect of other series such as

For the present, they must make way for other

examples better known and of more general architectural interest.

never had before.

Brahmanical Rock-cut Temples.

Although the structural temples

of the

Badami group ^

Dharwar

in

are of such extreme interest, as has been pointed out above, they are

surpassed

in

importance,

for

our present purposes

at

by the

least,

rock-cut examples.

At Badami

'

there are

The two works ou

three

ca\'es,

this subject are

not

of

any great dimensions.

For architectural purposes the three

the 'Architectural History of Dharwar

places

may be

and Mysore,' fol., 100 plates, Murray,

1866, and Burgess's Keport on the Belgam and Kuladgi Districts,' 1874. Considering the time available and the
means at iiis disposal, Mr. Burgess did

is five

or six miles north of

'

no dispraise to say
that he has not, nor could any man in
his place, exhaust so vast a subject.
wonders, but

it

is

Purudkul

considered as one.

AiwuUi

Badami, and

or Pittadkul as far south.

Ten

miles covers the whole, which must have

been in the 6th or 7th century a place
of great importance

possibly

Watipi-

pura, the capital of the Chalukyas in

the 5th or 6th century.

See

'

Journal of

the Royal Asiatic Society,' vol.

iv. p. y.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

440

Book VI.

but of singular interest from their architectural details and sculptures,

and more so from the

fact that one of them, N"o. 3, contains

date upon

inscription with an undoubted

There

it.

are,

an

pointed

as

out above, innumerable Buddliist inscriptions on the western caves,

none with dates from any well-ascertained

l>ut

fortunately,

of

era, and none, unBrahmanical caves at Ellora or elsewhere have

the

and not one certainly with a

mode by which their
by arranging them in sequences,
knowledge of the history of the

inscriptions that can be called integral,

date on
ages

The consequence

it.

that the only

is,

was

could be approximated

according to our empirical or real

period during which they were supposed to have been excavated.

At

was assumed that the Buddhist preceded the

Brahmanical excavations, and that these were succeeded by the Jaina
and various local and architectural peculiarities rendered this hypoEllora, for instance,

it

Arguing on

thesis extremely probable.

this basis, it

was found that

the one chaitya cave there, the Yiswakarma, was nearly identical in
style

cave,

with the
for

four chaityas at Ajunta (No. 26), and that

last of the

given

reasons

above,

The

century, say a.d. 600.

was placed

caves next

it

the

at

end

the

of

6th

were assumed to occupy the

7th century, thus leading on to the Rameswara group, about a.d. 700,
and the Jaina group would then have occupied the next century.

The age

the

of

Kylas or Dravidian group, being exceptional, could

only be determined by extraneous

from

out,

its

and, as already pointed

evidence,

extreme similarity with the great temple at Pittadkul,

belongs almost certainly to the 8th century

of reasoning the Jaina

group

is

and from a similar chain

brought back to about the same age, or

rather earlier, say a.d. 650.

The

inscription

on the No. 3 cave

at

Badami

is

dated in the twelfth

year of the reign of a well-known king, Mangaliswara, in the 500th

year after the inauguration of
therefore

is

a.d. 579.

the

Saka king, or in 79

Admitting, which I think

ders nearly certain, that

is

it

its

the date

architecture ren-

the earliest of the three,

they are

still

the latest must be assumed to have been

so like one another, that

excavated within the limits of the next century, say a.d. 575-700.

Comparing the architecture of this group with that known as the

or Rameswara group at Ellora, it is so nearly identical,
that though it may be slightly more modern, it can hardly now be
central

doubted they

too, including

perhaps the cave

known

as the Ashes of

Ravana, must have been excavated in the 7th century.

fore, of the

Instead, there-

sequence formerly adopted, we are forced to

fall

back on

by

the

Chinese Pilgrim as exhibited at Allahabad in the year a.d. 643.

On

that

marvellous

that occasion the

priests

{religieux),

Aditya the Sun

picture

King
the

of

religious

toleration

described

Siladitya distributed alms or gifts to

first

(Vishnu

10,000

day in honour of Buddha, the second of

?),

and the third in honour

of

Iswara or

Chap.
Siva

BHAHMANICAL ROCK-CUT TEMPLES.

III.

and the eighteen kings who

;^

assisted

this

at

411

splendid quin-

quennial festival seem promiscuously to have honoured equally these

With this toleration at head-quarters, we ought not to

we find the temples of the three religions overlapping
some extent.

three divinities.

be surprised

if

one another to

The

truth of the matter

is,

that one of the greatest difificulties an

antiquary experiences before the 8th century,

divinity any temple

or a cave

is

to ascertain to

is

what

In the three caves, for

dedicated.

Badami, the sculptures are wholly Vaishnava, and no one

would doubt that they were dedicated to that deity, but in the sancinstance, at

tuaries of all

that this

the lingam or

is

may have been an

of Siva.

It has been suggested

so the cave must have

no sinhasan or throne on which an
a deity could be placed, nor is the cell large enough for that

been without meaning.

image of

emblem

afterthought, but

There

if

is

pm-pose.

Unfortunately there are no Buddliist buildings or caves so far

south as Badami, and we are consequently deprived of that means for

comparison

and before anything very definite can be laid do^vn, it

some one familiar with the subject should go over
the western caves, and institute a rigid comparison of

will require that

the whole of
theii'

Meanwhile, however, the result of the translations of

details.

by Mr. Burgess, and of his plans and views,^

we must compress om* history of the western caves within narrower limits [than originally seemed necessary. ^ The buildings in the
Dharwar district seem all to be comprised between the years 500
and 750 A.D., with probably a slight extension either way, and those
at Ellora being certainly synchronous, must equally be limited to the
same period of time.
Pending a more complete investigation, which I hope may be
the inscriptions gathered

is

that

undertaken before long, I would propose the following as a tentative

chronology of the far-famed series of caves at Ellora

Viswakarnia to Das Avatani

ludra, Juganat, Subhas, &c
Hindu: Eameswara to Dhumnar Lena
Buddhist:

Jaina

The cave

..

..

..

a.d.

Dravidian
at

500-600
550-650
600-750

:Kylas

725-800

Elephanta follows of course the date here given for

Dhumnar Lena, and must

the

..

thus date after the middle of the 8th

centmy.*

^
Hifctoire de Hiouen Thsaiig,' p. 255
Vie et Voyages,' vol. i. p. 280.
2 'Keport on tlie District of Belgam
and Kuladgi.' 1874.
^ When I originally wrote on tlie subject I thought I had the 9tli and 10th cen*

'

turies at

my

disposal.

It

now

appettrs

they must be blotted out as non-existent

for
*

in

any

historical or artistic purpose,

This
his

is

the date given by Mr. Burgess

description

in

'The Caves

Elephanta,' Bombay, 1871,

p. 5.

at

'

NORTHERN OR INDO- ARYAN

442

STYLE.

Book VI.

These dated caves and buildings have also rendered another service

inasmuch

to the science of archaiology,

as they enable us to state with

confidence that the principal caves at Mahavellipore must be circum-

same

scribed within the

and poor,
from the

architecture there being so lean

as hinted above, I believe it arose

it was Dravidian, and copied literally from strucby people who had not the long experience of the

fact that

buildings,

tural

The

limits.

most misleading, but,

is

Buddhists in cave architecture to guide them, for there seems to have

But be
Badami with

been no Buddhists so far south.

Hindu

the

of

hand, and

practically

later

Some

Ellora on the one

it

almost absolutely

The famous

at Ellora

seems

now

is

and one, the Yiratarupa,^

of the

same subject

the other bas-reliefs are later, some

of

than those representing similar subjects in the three

earlier,

bas-

Mahasura, the Minotaur,^

by probably a century than the sculpture

in cave 3 at Badami.^

l)ut it

it

may, a comparison

it

those of

contemporary.

slaying

lion,

than one very similar to

earlier
is

they were

Durga, on her

of

relief

that as

Mahavellipore on the other, renders

that

certain

sculptures at

series,

impossible to get over the fact that they are practi-

Even the great bas-relief, which I was inclined to

modern period, probably belongs to the 7th or 8th
The great Naga king, whom all the world are there w^orship-

cally synchronous.

assign to a more
century.
ping,

represented as a

is

man whose head

shaded by a seven-headed

is

serpent-hood, but also with a serpent-body from the waist downwards.

That form was not known in the older Buddhist sculptures, but has
now been found on all the Orissan temples (for instance Woodcut
No. 236), and nearly as frequently at Badami.^ This difficulty being
removed, there seems no reason why this gigantic sculpture should not
take the place, which its state of execution would otherwise assign to
as a mean date, subject to subsequent adjustment.
say A.D. 700
it

In a general work
illustrate

so

like

the

extensive a group

present

it

as that of

is

such an extent as to render their history or

those

who have not by

other

course impossible to

of

the

Brahmanical caves to

affinities

Fortunately, however, in this

instance

the materials

to

intelligible

means become familiar with the

exist

subject.

by which

any one may attain the desired information with very little difficulty.
or rather Mr. Wales'
made in 1795, have long
Daniell's drawings

made

the public

acquainted with the principal caves at Ellora

Charles Malet's paper in the sixth volume of the

Seely's

works,

'

Wonders

of

Ellora,' published in

'

Loc.

Sir
;

1820, and numerous other

now available, supply nearly all that

direction.
The same may be said of Elephanta,

Transactions of the Royal Asiatic

Society,' vol.
"

Asiatic Researches

with the photographs

can be desired in that

ii.

pi. 4.

cit., pi. G,

Burgess, 'Report on Belgam,' &c.^

pi. 31.
*

Loc.

cit,, pis.

20, 23, 40.

Chap.

BRAHMANICAL ROCK-CUT TEMPLES.

III.

by Mr. Burgess in the work

which has been exhaustively treated

above referred
'

443

Chambers' paper in the second volume of

to.

the

Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society,' supplies, with Dr. Hunter's

photographs, a vast amount of information regarding the Mahavellipore antiquities

and Mr. Burgess's recent report on the Dharwar

caves completes, to a great extent, the information wanted to under-

stand the peculiarities of the group.

worthy of a monograph, insomuch as

of

and mythology

the art

which was commenced by the Guptas

religion,

this,

is

it

well

affords the only representation

Hindus on the

the

of

Notwithstanding
it

a.d.

revival

of

their

318-465, but really

inaugurated by the great Vicramaditya, a.d. 495-530, and which, when

once

After
of

continued

started,

flourish

to

till

the

great

the

in

collapse

century.

8tli

however, the subject

all,

is

one more suited to the purposes

mythologist and the sculptor than to the architect.

the

Like

all

rock-cut examples, except the Dravidian, the caves have the intolerable
defect

of

tectural

having no

and consequently no external archi-

exteriors,

The

form.

only parts

of

be

vary

they

interesting,

from

local

same

external

ford.

Such a

are

circum-

forms would

af-

pillar, for instance,

from the cave

as this one

the

significance

historical

that

to

them would

do not possess

stances, that they

the

belong

strictly

series of

so

much, from the nature of

material
in
which they
carved, and

them which

and though a

architectural art are their pillars,

called

Lanka, on the side of the pit

which
the
Kylas stands
(Woodcut No. 242), though in

in

exquisite

taste

example,

where

strength
to

is

support

above,

as

rock-cut

the

utmost

apparently

required

mass

the

does

not

of

rock

afford

any

points of comparison with structural examples

of the

Li a building

it

bersome and

absurd

same

age.

would be cumPillar in Kylas, Ellora.

mass of rock
appropriate.

it

is

The

the opposite fault

under a

elegant and
pillars in

(From a Drawing by the Author.)

the

caves

at

Mahavellipore

fail

from

they retain their structural form, though used in

the rock, and look frail and

weak

diversity in practice prevailed,

it

in

consequence

but while this

prevents their use as a chronometric

NORTHERN OK INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

444
scale

being

uniform.

appreciated,

As,

date, A.D. 579,

Nos.

as

it

however, No.

it

248 and

may

244)

would be

the

if

Badami

at

Book YI.

had been

practice

a cave with a positive

is

be well to give a plan and section (Woodcuts

to

illustrate

peculiarities,

its

comparison

and

it

will

so

examples.

other

enable

to

as

made

be

to

between
details

Its

be found fully illustrated in Mr.

Burgess's report.

Though not one

is

suring 70

ft.,

beyond which
containing

243

Avatar

Plan of Cave No. 3, Badami.

(From a Plan by Mr. Burgess.)
Scale 50

ft.

seated

to 1 in.

three

The

very wooden design,

brackets, of

244.

Section of Cave No.

or dwarf

of

all

inner pillars

3,

all

Badami.

(From

Yishnu

five-headed

serpent

front pillars have each

which are ornamented

and female, with a child

of

generally a male

figures,

end

other

the

Drawing by Mr. Burgess.)

Narasingha

the

is

Scale 25

ft.

to 1 in.

considerable beauty and delicacy of execution.

are varied,

and more architectural in

Hindu art.
Compared with the style of

ft.,

cell,

At one end

lingam.

the

on

Ananta.

by two or three

a simple plain

is

tlie

at

mea-

with a depth of 50

the verandah

of

of the largest, it

a fine cave, its verandah

still

their

The

forms, but

in the best style of

coast, it is curious to observe

art

how

found

at

Amravati, on the opposite

nearly Buddha, seated on the

headed Naga,^ resembles Yishnu on Ananta in the

though the religion

is

last

many-

woodcut, and

changed, the art has hardly altered to such an

extent as might be expected, considering that two centuries had pro-

bably elapsed between the execution of

change of

however,

religion,

appear at Badami,

it

is

is

these

complete,

for

two

bas-reliefs.

The

though Buddha does

in the very subordinate position of the ninth

Avatar of Yishnu.^

Sometimes the Hindus successfully conquered one

of

the

main

cave architecture by excavating them on the spur of a

difficulties of

'

Tree and Serpent Worship,'

pi. 76.

Burgess, 'Report on Belgara and Kuladji,'

pi. 31.

Chap.

BRAHMANICAL ROCK-CUT TEMPLES.

III.

Dhumnar Lena

as at the

hill,

at Ellora, or

445

by surrounding them by

was introduced on three sides

instead of only one, as was too often the case both with Buddhist
These two, though probably among the
and Hindu excavations.

courts, as at Elephanta

so that light

are certainly the finest

last,

from an architectural point

larger and finer, measuring 150

Hindu excavations existing, if looked at

The Ellora example is the
of view.

each way

ft.

(Woodcut No.
245).
Elephanta,
That
at
though extremely simiarrange-

lar in general

ment,

is

plan,

and

regular in

less

what

some-

also

mea-

smaller,

ft.

by

easy

to

suring only 130

120

It

ft.

see that

is

these temples

if

stood in the open they

Dhumnar Lena Cave

245.

(From

would only be porches,

that

like

everywhere

'

Baillur

at

No

(Woodcut

at Ellora.
Daniell's Views in Hindostan.')
Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

221), and numberless other examples, which are found

but the necessities of rock-cut architecture required that

the cella should be placed inside the mantapa, or porch, instead of

externally to

perhaps,

it,

was always the case in structural examples.

as

was hardly

be regretted

to

practice of cutting temples in the rock

but

it

shows how

This,

little

the

was suited to the temple-forms of

we need not, therefore, feel surprised how readily they

when any idea of rivalling the Buddhists had ceased to

the Hindus, and

abandoned

prompt

it

their efforts in this direction.

So far as I know, there

Aryan

architects

is

only one example where the

Indo-

attempted to rival the Dravidian in producing a

monolithic exterior.

It

is

at

a place called

Dhumnar,

in Rajputana,

where, as already mentioned {ante^ p. 162), there is an extensive series

of late Buddhist excavations.
In order to mark their triumph over
that

fallen

the Hindus, apparently in the 8th century, drove

faith,

an open cutting into the side

high enough for their purpose.
a pit 105

ft.

by 70

ft.,

of

the

hill,

they came to a part

this cutting into

leaving a temple of very elegant architecture

standing in the centre, with seven small

cisely as

till

Here they enlarged

was done in the case

of

cells

surrounding

the Kylas at Ellora.

it,

The

however, can hardly be said to be pleasing (Woodcut No. 246).

temple standing in a pit

it

is

how

is

pre-

effect,

always an anomaly, but in this instance

valuable as an unaltered example of the style, and as showing

small shrines

which

have too often disappeared

were

originally

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

446

2J6.

Rock-cut Temple at Dhumnar.

(From a plan by Gen. Cunningham.)

Scale 50

Book VI.

ft.

to

1 in.

grouped round the greater shrines.

The value of this characteristic we

when we come to describe the temples

shall be better able to appreciate

Brambanam and other places in Java. When the Jains adopted the
architecture of the Buddhists, they filled their residential
cells with
at

images, and made them into little temples, and the Hindus seem
to some
extent to have adopted the same practice as here exemplified, but
never
carried it to the same extent.

With

number

a sufficient

the rise and

of

fall

more interesting

this

for

dhist monasteries at

now

examples,

of

cellular

we

find

{ante,

p.

that

Gandhara

would be easy to trace

few things would be

it

system, and
it

Budwould be most im-

in full force in the

171),

it

portant to be able to say exactly

when the monk made way

image.

no instance of

In India Proper there

Saiva Tcuii

is

ruonah.

(From

a Sketch

by

this being

Daniell.)

to the

done

in

BRAHMANICAL EOCK-CUT TEMPLES.

Chaf. in.

447

Buddhist times, or before a.d. G50, and hitherto we have been in the
habit of considering

it

be done

to

This must now be

what extent should this

a purely Jaina arrangement.

modified, but the question

still

remains

to

One more illustration must conclude what we have at present

It is found near Poonah, and is
say of Hindu rock-cut temples.

very

little

known, though

than most examples

tecture

much more
of

its

appropriate

class.

to

cave archi-

The temple

simple pillared hall, with apparently ten pillars

in

itself

is

and pro-

front,

bably had originally a structural sikra built on the upper plateau to

mark

is

front of the
its

the sanctuary.
The most original part of it,
Nundi pavilion, which stands in the courtyard in
temple (Woodcut No. 247). It is circular in plan, and

the position of

however,

roof

the

which

is

a great slab of rock

is

sixteen square pillars of very simple form.

priate a bit of design as is to be
It

has, however, the defect

vations

that,

being in a

it is

as appro-

found in Hindu cave architecture.

only too

pit, it

supported by, apparently,

Altogether

common

in those

Hindu

can be looked down upon

exca-

which

is

a test very few buildings can stand, and to which none ought to be
exposed.


NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

448

CHAPTER

Book Vf.

IV.

CENTRAL AND NORTHERN

INDIA.

contents:

Temples

at Gualior,

Khajuraho, Udaipur, Benares, Bindrabun, Kantonuggur,

Amritsur.

Theee are certainly more than one hundred temples in Central

and Northern India which are well worthy of being described in
detail, and, if described and illustrated, would convey a wonderful
impression of the fertility in invention of the Hindu mind and of
None of
the elegance with which it was capable of expressing itself.
temples can

these

make

the

southern examples in scale

Orissan examples

of

greater

pretension to rival the

smallest

they are

all,

and while some

Orissan temples in elegance of form,

great

indeed, smaller even than the

many

them surpass the

them in the profuse

of

rival

elaboration of minute ornamental details.

None

of

these temples

none,

at least, that

are

now complete

seem to be of any great antiquity. At Erun, in the Saugor territory,

are some fragments of columns, and several sculptures that seem to
belong to the flourishing age of the Guptas, say about a.d. 450 and
;

in the

Mokundra Pass

be as

old, or older,

upon

there are the remains of a choultrie that

but

it is

may

a mere fragment,^ and has no inscription

it.

Among

more complete examples, the

the

consequently the most beautiful,

vati, near

is

know

of,

and

In

Jahra Puttun, in Rajputana.

Tod found an

oldest

the porch or temple at Chandra-

inscription, dated a.d. 691,^

its neighbourhood Colonel

which at one time I thought

might have been taken from this temple, and consequently might
give its date, which would fairly agree with the style,^ judged from
that of some of the caves at EUora, which it very much resembles.

my

view of this was published in

'Picturesque Illustrations of Indian

me

Architecture,' pi. 5.
2

Tod's 'Annals of Rajastan,'

description. Gen.

vol.

ii.

Cunningham
ii.

p.

a scale to his plan whicli makes the build-

p. 734.

ing ten times larger than I

Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient

Architecture in Hindostan,' pi. 6, with

than

'

('Archjeo-

264) agrees with

as to the date, but inadvertently adds

logical Reports,' vol,

it

really

is.

made

it,

or

CHANDRAYATI.

Chap. IV.

As

have forced us to carry their dates

discoveries, however,

recent

449

further back by at least a century,

is

it

probable that this too must

go back to about the year GOO, or thereabouts.

Indeed, with the

Chaori in the Mokundra Pass, and the pillars at Erun,

dravati fragment completes the
sui'e

of

all

we

examined, for

certainly one

can

feel

There may be

would be well

others, and, if so, it

were

Chan-

this

present

at

having been erected before the dark ages.

of

they

list

this

is

the most elegant

of

specimens of architecture in India

(Woodcut Xo. 248),

the poetry

not

has

It

arrangement of the

of

Jaina octagonal domes, but

proaches very

nearly

ap-

it

them by

to

the large square space in the centre,

which

was

designed

quisitely

carved

exist

by the most
and most ex-

covered

elegantly

known

roof

anywhere.

from

borrowed

is

evidently

of

Buddhist viharas, and

from them in

to

arrangement

Its

that

it differs

because their

style

and

interiors were always plastered

painted

on

here,

everything

the

honestly

is

contrary,

carved

in

stone.^

Leaving

one

fragments,

these

the oldest, and certainly one of

of

the most perfect, in Central

now

the

is

situated

Barrolli,

romantic

not

spot,

the

falls of

in

India

temple

desecrated
a
far

Avild

at

and

Temple

at Chandravati.

from the

Chumbul, whose distant roar in the

still

night

is

only sound that breaks the silence of the solitude around them.
principal temple, represented in the

added

be

to

the

list

before 750 a.d.

It

of

Woodcut Xo. 249, may probably

buildings

certainly

is

enumerated

above

at least a century

as

erected

more modern than

that at Chandravati, and, pending a more precise determination,

be ascribed to the 8th or

that age

outline

Tod

(loc. cit.)

'

9th century, and

now known which were

general

is

identical

may

one of the few of

is

originally dedicated to

Siva.

Its

with that of the contemporary Orissan

gives seveial plates of

the details of the

the

The

porch by a native

artist

fairly

shadow

well

to reader

drawn, but wanting

them

intelligible.

2 G

450

NORTHEIIN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

up the temple, and

Book VI.

is sculptured with a richness and complexity

of
design almost unrivalled, even in those days of patient prodigality
It will be observed in the plan (Woodcut No. 250) that
of labour.

BARROLLI.

Chap. IV.

451

the dimensions are remarkably small, and the temple

high,

that

so

and

tions,

coyers

merit

its

entirely

in

and profnsion

elegance

the

in

consists

of

barely 60

is

ft.

shape and propor-

its

the

ornament that

it.

In front of the temple

is

a detached porch, here called a Chaori, or

nuptial hall (the same word, I belieye, as Choultrie in the south), in

which tradition records the marriage of a Huna (Hun) prince to a

Rajputni bride, for which purpose it is said to haye been erected ^
;

but whether this

known

detached halls

dome

so or not,

is

is

it

one of the

We

the north.

in

finest

examples of such

miss here the octasfonal

which would haye giyen elegance and

of the Jains,

relief to its

though the yariety in the spacing of the columns has been

attained by a different process.
The dome was seldom if eyer em-

ceiling,

Hindu

ployed in

gain sufficient

but they seem to haye attempted to

architecture,

otherwise monotonous arrangement of

their

relief to

columns by breaking up the external

mantapa, and by ranging the

outline

of

the

plan of the

aisles

diagonally across the building, instead

of placing

The

them

somewhat
in

parallel to the sides.

two temples here are

other

taller

form,

their

and more pointed

and are consequently

more modern in date, or if of

same age which may possibly
be the case would bring the date
of the whole group down to the 10th
either

the

century, which, after

all,

may

be their

true date, though I

am

clined to think the

more ancient date

more

at present in-

with

consistent

our

present

knowledge.

A little
are two

way from

(Woodcut

represented

They

eyidently

those

torans, or

which
the

succeeded

Buddhist

quently

Hindu

the great temple

one of which

pillars,

251).

one

of

triumphal archways,

gateways

the

topes,

yery

temples.

supported

here

is

No.

and

pleasing

They

are,

form

of
fre-

251.

(From a

Pillar in Ban olli.

Plate ia I'od's ' Annals of
Kajastan.')

adjunct to

howeyer,

frail edifices at best,

and

oyerthrown, whereyer the bigotry of the Moslems came into p'ay.

ToJ's

'

Annals

of Eajastan,' vol.

ii.

p.

712.

2 G 2

easily

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

452

Book VI.

GUALIOR.

One

temple, existing in the

Gimlior, has been

fortress of

already

described under the title of the Jaina Temple {ante, p. 244), though
whether it is Jaina or Yaishnava is by no means easily determined.

At the same place there is

name of the Teli ka Mandir,
60

It is a square of

about 11

ft.

another, bearing the not very dignified

Temple (Woodcut No. 252).

or Oilman's

each way, with a portico on the east projecting

Unlike the other temples we have been describing,

ft.

does not terminate upwards

in a pyramid, nor

is

ft.

I cannot help

in extent,

it

crowned by an

which may originally

amalaka, but in a ridge of about 30

have had three amalakas upon

it.

it

believing that this

form of temple was once more common than Ave now find it. There
are several examples of it at Mahavellipore (Woodcut Nos. 181, 182),
evidently copied from a form common among the Buddhists, and
one very beautiful example

is

found at Bhuvaneswar,^ there called

The

Kapila Devi, and dedicated to Siva.

Teli

ka Mandir was

ori-

ginally dedicated to Vishnu, but afterwards converted to the worship

There

Siva.

of

is

no inscription or any tradition from which

gathered, but on

date can be

the whole

am

inclined

its

to place

it

in the 10th or lltli century.

KhajurIho.
As mentioned
temples belonging
tecture

is

They

are

extend

also

to

the

the

gathered

that

dates

above,

the

finest

northern

five

style

or

six

historically,

centuries,

of

archi-

inasmuch as their

and they alone conse-

quently enable us to bridge over the dark ages of Indian

its

group of

extensive

Indo-Aryan

round the great temple at Bhuvaneswar.

most interesting

through

and most
or

art.

From

remote situation, Orissa seems to have escaped, to a great extent

at least,

from the troubles that agitated northern and western India

this cause we can
up the gap between Chandra vati

and though from

during the 8th and 9th centuries

find nothing in Central India to

fill

and Gualior, in Orissa the series is complete, and, if properly examined and described, would afford a consecutive history of the style
from say 500 to 1100 or 1200 a.d.

Next in

in

interest

and extent

to

the Bhuvaneswar group

Khajuraho,^ in Bundelcund, as before mentioned

at

my

'

view of this temple will be found

Picturesque Illustrations of Indian

Architecture,' pi.
^

We

4.

are indebted to Gen. Cunning-

ham

is

that

(p. 245).

At

we know about this

from his 'Reports' and
photographs that the following account
has been compiled.
for

place,

almost

and

it is

all

Teli ka Maudir, Gualior.

(From a Photograph.)

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

454

now

this place there are

found some thirty important temples,

to be

which, with the exception of the Chaonsat Jogini and the

of

all

Book VL

Ganthai, described when treating of Jaina architecture, are of the

same or nearly the same age. Nor is it difficult, from theii*

from the inscriptions gathered by General Cunningham, to

The

age was.

that

and though

it

is

temples he

see

and
what

1001

a.d.

much

err

enumerates

we

if

the whole

assign

twenty-eight

950 and ending

century beginning

the

to

What

1050, with a margin of a few years either way.

group more than usually interesting

renders this

that the Khajuraho

is,

three great Indian

are nearly equally divided between the

temples

religions

one-third being Jaina, one-third Yaishnava, and the remainder Saiva

and

all

being contemporary,

we were hardly prepared

centuries,

though

curious

for

struggles

the

after

of

result

toleration

this

to

community

or

no one could say to which

alone,

it

temple

examined that

belonged.

It

then there are anomalies which

instance,

for

the

of

Kandarya Mahadeo

are

instance, so far as I

Saiva

temple,

it

sculptures

have

circumstances

of

grossly indecent

are

and even

the

the

only

^
;

sort being

found in

bad pre-eminence being reserved to

belonged to

the

It is possible

sect

latter

consideration, this

is

portion,

Saiva temple

but,

that

taking

temples

may

it

all

the

most unlikely, and the fact

added to many others to prove how mixed together the

must be
various

any

character

know, of anything of the

that

into

their

the principal

belonging to the worshippers of Yishnu.

originally

religions

sculptures

three

the

when

difficult to explain.

is

of

is,

so similar that, looking

is

of

only

is

earlier.

feeling

of

original destination becomes apparent,

their

the preceding

of

might have been expected three centuries

it

conveys an impression of toleration

it

that the architecture of all the three groups

particular

not clear to what particular temple they apply, we

not probab'y

shall

from a.d. 954 to

inscriptions range

style

sects

were

how

even at that time, and

antagonistic

little

they then were to each other.

The

general character of these temples

annexed representation (Woodcut No.

temple,

Kandarya Mahadeo.

the

As

may be

258)
will

be

gathered from the

the

of

seen

principal

from

Saiva

the plan

(Woodcut No. 254), it is 109 ft. in length, by GO ft. in breadth over

and externally is 116 ft. above the ground, and 88 ft. above its

all,

own

floor.

Its

basement, or perpendicular part,

is,

like all the

temples here, surrounded by three rows of sculptured figures.

Cunningham counted 872

2^

ft.

to 3

ft.

statues on

and in

this temple,

in height, or about half life-size,

great

General

ranging from

and they are mixed up

with a profusion of vegetable forms and conventional details which

defy description.

The vimana,

Cunningham,

'

or tower,

it

will be observed, is built

Archseological Reports,' vol.

ii.

p 420.

Chap. IV.

^5j.

KHAJUKAHO.

Kaiidarya Maliadco, kliajuraho.

(iTuma

455

I'iiotogvapli.)

NORTHERN OR INDO-AHYAN STYLE.

456

Book VI.

which became at this age one of the

modes of decoration, and afterwards an essential feature of
Here it is managed with singular grace, giving great
the style.
variety and play of light and shade, without
The
unnecessarily breaking up the outline.

up

of smaller repetitions of itself,

favom:'ite

of the porch, as seen in front, is a little

roof

confused,

but

pleasingly

on the flank

seen

as

step

by step

till

abuts

it

it

rises

against

the tower, every part of the internal arrange-

ment being appropriately distinguished on the

exterior.

we compare the design of the Jaina

temple (Woodcut No. 13G) with that of this
building, we cannot but admit that the former
is by far the most elegant, but on the other
hand the richness and vigour of the Mahadeo
temple redeem its want of elegance and fasciUatCS iu SpitC of itS SOmCWhat COUfuScd OUtline.
The Jaina temple is the legitimate
If

Plan of Kaiidar*va ft]ahadeo,

(From a Plan by Gen.

Cuii-

outcrop of the class of temples that originated

scair5(ff5;!'to^i in.

the Great Temple at Bhuvaneswar, while

Kandarya Mahadeo exhibits a complete development of that
style of decoration which resulted in continued repetition of itself
on a smaller scale to make up a complete whole. Both systems have
in

the

their advantages, but on the whole the simpler seems to be preferable

to the

more complicated mode

of design.

Udaipur.

The examples already given

will perhaps

have sufficed to render

the general form of the Indo- Aryan temple familiar to the reader, but
as
is

no two are quite

like

one another, their variety

is

There

infinite.

one form, however, which became very fashionable about the 11th

and

century,

is

so

that

characteristic

it

deserves

to

be illustrated.

Fortunately a very perfect example exists at a place called Udaipur,

near Bhilsa, in the Bhopal territory.

As

will

be seen from the Woodcut (No. 255) the porch

is

covered

with a low pyramidal roof, placed diagonally on the substructure, and

in

rising

steps,

varying shapes.
great

each of which

The tower

beauty and elegance

thirty-five

in five

little

tiers,

and

of

repetitions

of

is

ornamented with vases or urns of

ornamented by four
design,
itself,

flat

between each of
placed

bands,

of

which are

one above the

other

the wiiole surmounted by an amalaka, and an urn of

very elegant design.

precision

is

delicacy,

As every
and

part

as the whole

of
is

this

is

carved with great

quite perfect at the present

UDAIPUR.

Chap. IV.
day,
of

well

than this

known.

appears

it

few temples of

are

there

the style

one.

From an

its

class

Fortunately,

inscription

457

which give a better idea

too,

copied by

its

date

is

perfectly

Lieutenant Burt,

it

was erected by a king who was reigning at Malwa, in the

year 1060 of our era.^

Temple

255.

At

Kallian, in

very similar to

Bombay

this,

at Udaipur.

harbour, there

is

a temple called Ambernath,

on making drawings and

casts

from which the

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of' given from four difTerent epochs, so that
ix. p. 548.
The date is there can be no mistake about it.

Bengal,' vol.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

458

Bombay government

has lately spent a good deal of money.^

however, in a very rninous

It

is,

and even when perfect could never

Udaipur, and to many others on which

state,

have been equal to this one at

money might have been

the

Book VI.

better laid

In

out.

there

it

is

slab

with an inscription, dated in the Saka year 782, or a.d. 860.^

It

not quite clear, however, whether this inscription belongs to the

is

temple which we

now

an

see, or to

fragments of w^hich are

earlier one,

found built into the vimana of the present one. If the date of the
temple is that just quoted, as Dr. Bhau Daji would have us believe,
all

that can be said

is

that

it is

utterly anomalous.

If it is in a.d. 1070,

might lead us to

as another inscription he quotes found near the place

we know of the style.

One other illustration must complete what we now have to say
regarding these Indo-Aryan temples. It is one of the most modern of
the style, having been erected by Meera Bale, the wife of Khunibo
Eana of Ohittore (a.d. 1418-1468). Khumbo was,

infer,^ it accords

with

all else

known, devoted

having
(Woodcut No. 133), and
the Pillar of Victory (Woodcut No. 143)
yet here
we find him and his wife erecting in their capital
two temples dedicated to Vishnu. The king's temple,
which is close by, is very much smaller than this

as is well

to the Jaina faith,

erected the temple at Sadri

Diagram^^xpianatory

peculiarity

with four

little

gcts

that

is

cession-path round the

No' scJfe

is

his wifc

ouc, for wliich

MeemBaie?Tempie, ouly

cell, is

pradakshina,

pro-

or

here an open colonnade,

pavilions at the four corners, and this

manner shown

repeated in the portico in the

lu plan, the

Credit.

the

in the annexed diagram

(Woodcut No. 256).

The

roof

the portico,

of

in

form of a pyramid,

the

diagonally as at Udaipur, while the

might

tower

itself

is

outline,

much

date than the 15th century (Woodcut No. 257).

however,

it

is

that

it

closely looked

at

sight

first

we miss

at,

bands and other ornamental features of

the

be

and the crown-

ing members are more unlike those of ancient temples.

too, of its

outline

is

am

is

more

portion

but taking

it

all

in

an ancient temple than any other of

acquainted with.

of a style that

like

The

curve,

regular from base to summit, and consequently

feebler than that of the older examples

certainly

When,
amalaka

frequent

earlier times,

and

ascribed to a

unbroken an
earlier

placed

so solid

of

is

was dying

It

was a

out, in that

of the casts are in the

South Kensington Mufeum. Transcripts

from the dra\Aings were published in the
'Indian Antiquary,' vol. iii. p. 316.

revival,

form

'

the

last

it

age

effort

at least.

Journal

Bombay Branch

Royal Asiatic Society/

expiring

all,

its

of

the

vol. ix. p. 219.

Ibid., vol. ix, p. 221.

TEMPLE OF VISHVESHWAR, BENARES.

Chap. IV.

Temple

257.

of Vriji, Chittore.

C^'om

459

a Photograpli.)

ViSHVESHWAR, BeNARES.
If

you ask a Brahman of Benares to point out

to

you the most

ancient temple of his city, he inevitably leads you to the Vishveshwar,

most holy, but the oldest of its sacred edifices. Yet it

known, and cannot be disputed, that the temple, as it now stands,
was erected from the foundation in the last century, to replace one
that had been thrown down and desecrated by the bigot Aurungzebe.
as not only the

is

This he did in order that he might erect

spot of the

heads

in

Hiudus

insult

strange thing

is,

his mosque,

over

all

tall

on the most venerated

minarets

Hindu buildings of
assertion the Brahmans

the

that in this

whose

still

the

rear their
city.

The

arc not so very

NORTllEHN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

460

from representing the true

far

any great

city

antiquity

as

Hindustan

in

Benares.

The

the most

fact

is,

city,

Temple

show
remains

of

buildings
to

about
the

the

15th

(From Trinsep's

Bukariya
century.

'

at

Sarnath

hardly

are, as

above

The
Moslem tombs and

their class

Views

hardly

is

few evidences of

so

and even there they

modern examples

of Vishveshwar.

There

the case.

that the oldest buildings in the city are the

258.

belong

of

can

Buddhist

can be said to belong to the

explained,

state

that

Book YI.

in Benares.')

in

ISIo

India.

scale.

Kund, and they almost certainly

Even the temple of Vishveshwar,

which Aurungzebe destroyed, was not erected before the reign of his
predecessor Akbar.
The style is so nearly identical with that of

known

buildings of his reign, at Muttra and elsewhere, that there can

be no doubt on this head.

When

desecrated

probably the most splendid, edifice of

and probably

is

true,

that

the

its class

it

was the principal, and

in the city.

It

may

Vedic Brahmans erected their

be,
fire

TEMPLE OF SCINDIAH'S MOTHER, GUALIOK.

Chap. IV.

and worshipped the sun, and paid adoration

altars,

461

to the elements

on

4000 years ago. It may be also that the emblem of Siva has
but
attracted admiring crowds to this spot for the last 1000 years
there is no material evidence that before the time of Akbar (a.d. 1556this spot

1605) any important permanent building was ever erected there to

dignify the locality.

The

present temple

is

a double one

exactly duplicates of each other.

One

two towers or
of these

is

spires almost

represented in the

preceding woodcut (No. 258), and they are connected by a porch,

crowned by a dome borrowed from the Mahomedan style, which,
though graceful and pleasing in design, hardly harmonises with the

The

architecture of the rest of the temple.

and covered with ornament

height,

in this style.
cut,

The

to

spires are each 51

an extent quite

details too are all elegant,

and without any evidence

of vulgarity or

sufficient

ft.

in

even

and sharply and cleanly

bad

taste

but they are

compared with the more ancient examples, and the forms

of the pyramidal parts have lost that expression of power and of
constructive propriety which were so evident in the earlier stages

feeble as

of the art.

It

is,

however, curiously characteristic of the style and

place, that a building, barely

50

ft.

in length, and the same in height,

should be the principal temple in the most sacred city of the Hindus,

and equally so that one hardly 150 years old should be considered as
the most ancient, while it is only that which marks this most holy
spot in the religious cosmogony of the Hindus.

Temple of Scindiah's Mother, Gualior.

One more example must

ultimate form which

suffice to explain the

the ancient towers of the Orissan temples have reached in the present
century.

having been erected by the mother of the

It is just finished,

present reigning Maharajah of

tomb

Gualior,

and

to it has been

added a
from
elegant, though feeble as compared with

or cenotaph either by herself or her son.

the woodcut (No. 259)

ancient examples.

it

is

As

The Mahomedan dome appears

will be seen

in the background,

and the curved Bengali roof in the pavilion in front. The most
striking peculiarity of the style is, that the sikras have nearly lost the
graceful curved form, which is the most marked peculiarity of all the
ancient examples.

As has

already been

remarked, the straight-lined

pyramid first appears in the Takht-i-Suleiman's temple in Kashmir,

where its introduction was probably hastened by the wooden straightlined roofs of the original native style.

It is equally evident, however,

in a temple which Cheyt Sing, the Raja of Benares, erected at

nugger in the end of the

last

or beginning of

Eam-

the present century.

Since that time the tendency has been more and more in that direction,

and

if

not

becked, the probability

is

that the curve will be entirely

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN

462

259.

lost before the

Temple

of Scindiah's

century

is

Moih

out.

to our straight-lined spires, that

r,

Gualior.

STYLE.

(From a Phoiograph.)

To an European
may seem hardly

but to any one educated in Eastern forms

doubtful that these spires

will

of the graceful curved outline they

lose

Book VI.

half

it

their

eye,

accustomed only

a matter for regret

can scarcely appear

charm

if

deprived

have so long retained.

BlNDKABUN.
In order not to interrupt the story of the gradual development
down to the present day

of the style, the history has been brought

in as nearly a consecutive
dates of several temples.

It

manner

as possible, thus anticipating the

seems expedient, however, in any history

that this should be done, for few things of

class are more intewhich the robust form

its

resting than to trace the progressive changes by

BINDRABUN.

Chap. IV.

463

Parasurameswara temple at Bhuvaneswar, or of the great temple

became changed into the feeble elegance of the Yishveshwar

of the
there,

that can be adduced in such a

The few examples

or Gualior temples.

may not suffice to make this so

With twenty or thirty examples
to myself.
evident, and that may one day be done, and
work

clear to others as it

as this

made

could be

it

chapter in

this curious

which

architectural history ba thus added to the established sequences

every true style

to go back a

art

of

it

necessary

is

mention one or two aberrant types which

to

little

Meanwhile, however,

affords.

is

self-

still

are not without interest.

As mentioned

above,

they wanted the

temples

the

materials

the

for

centuries

three

Mahomedan

of

art in

country w^here their rule was firmly established.

reign of Akbar, however, a

new

evident

India were

Hindu

unfavourable for the development of

is

it

in

rule

mosques or

of

not,

or

when

the Hindus, except

of

erection

But, whether this was so

buildings.
first

not appear proven that the Moslems

does

it

down

did wantonly throw

other

that

any part

With

the

of the

tolerant

Not

was inaugurated.

state of affairs

only was he himself entirely devoid of religious bigotry, but most

most eminent

at least the

of

But, besides

quented his court.

its

of

any other Indian sovereign of his

buildings

unrivalled

couraged

among

around him

those

all

others, a

fre-

then unknown during that

till

Not only

faith.

are his

own

and magnificence, but he enfollow his example, and found,

extent

their

in

or

was marked by

tolerance, his reign

a degree of prosperity and magnificence

and friends were Hindus,

his ministers

he lent an attentive ear to the Christian missionaries wiio

anB.

the

singularly

to

most apt imitator in the celebrated

Man Singh of
He erected

Amber, afterwards of Jeypore, who reigned a.d. 1592-1615.

at Bindrabun a temple, which either he left unfinished at his death, or the sikra of which may
have baen thrown down by Aurungzebe.
of

It is one

most interesting and elegant temples in

the

and the only one, perhaps, from which an

European architect might borrow a few hints.

India,

The

temple, as

it

now

stands, consists

of

cruciform porch, internally nearly quite perfect,

though

externally

it

is

not

clear

how

it

was

intended to be finished (Woodcuts Nos. 260, 261).

The

cell, too,

ship

but

is

the

perfect internally
sikra

is

gone

never have been completed.

its

dimensions

suring 117

ft.

and south, and

the

are

used

possibly

for worit

Though not

may
large,

26o.
^

drSn?

the porch measL^ie loo ft."to I'^iu.

and west, by 105 ft. north
covered by a trae vault, built with radiating arches
respectable,

east
is

only instance,

except

one,

known

to

exist in a

Hindu temple

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

464

Book V[.

of India.
Over the foni' arms of the cross the vault
and only 20 ft. span, but in the centre it expands to
and is quite equal in design to the best Gothic vaulting

in the north
is

85

plain,
ft.,

known.
is

force
for
It

It

most

external

the

is

remarkable.

and

decision,

that climate,

design of this temple,

angles

are

howe\'er,

accentuated

with

Avhich

singular

and the openings, which are more than sufficient

picturesquely arranged and pleasingly divided.

are

combination of

however, the

is,

The

with horizontal

vertical

lines,

covering the whole surface, that forms the great merit of the design.

This

indeed,

is,

not

View

261.

of

peculiar

Temple

to

this temple

at Bindrabun.

but at Bhuvaneswar,

(From a Photograph

and elsewhere, the whole surface is so overloaded with

on bad taste. Here the accentuation is equal,
but the surfaces are comparatively plain, and the effect dependent on
the elegance of the profile of the mouldings rather than on the extent
Without elaborate drawings, it would be
of the ornamentation.
Hullabid,

ornament

as to verge

difficult to

convey a correct impression of this

but the annexed view

(Woodcut No. 262) of a balcony, with its accomj^animents, will suffice

The figures might as well be omitted
to illustrate what is meant.
being carved where Moslem influences had long been strong, they are
:

the weakest part of the design.

The
far off,

other vaulted temple,

and

built

just alluded to,

is

at

Goverdhun, not

under the same tolerant influence during the reign

KANTONUGGUR.

Chap. IV.

Balcouy in Temple at Bindrabua.

262.

of Akbar.
ternally,

It

is

a plain edifice 135

and both in plan and

Romance churches

that

details are not

for

an example

(^Krom a Pliotograph.)

ft.

long by 35

ft.

in width ex-

design singularly like those early

met with in the south

constantly

are

France, belonging to the

465

11th and 12th centuries.

too closely looked

of

indeed, the

might almost pass muster

into, it

of Christian art at that

If,

age,^ while

except in scale

the plan of the porch at Bindrabun bears a most striking resemblance

to that of St.
larity

is

Front at Perigeux (Woodcut No. 328,

course

accidental, of

distant in time

but

and place should

obtain certain desired

it

curious

is

hit so nearly

The

vol. i.).

simi-

that architects

so

on the same devices to

effects.

Kantonuggur.
In addition

to

the

described above, there

great

are

Both these temples are

Indo-Aryan

number

illustrated

to a considerable extent in Lieut.

H. H.

of

style

small

of

temple-building

aberrant types which

Muttra and Agra, published by the India

Office, 1873, to which the reader is re-

Cole's illustrations

of ^buildings

near

ferred for further information.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

466

might be expedient to

it

one, none

except

of

more extensive work

in

descril)e

them seem

of

VL

Book

but,

importance to require

sufficient

work like the present. The exceptional style is that

which grew up in Bengal proper on the relaxation of the Mahomedan severity of religious intolerance, and is practised generally in

iUustration in a

the province at the present day.

may have

It

examples are known, and

it

about

characteristic

leading

Its

this.

from the bambu huts

existed earlier, but

bent cornice, copied

the

is

To understand

of the natives.

may

this, it

as well to explain that the roofs of all the huts in Bengal are
of tAvo rectangular frames

when formed, but when

substructure

they are

flat and rectangular

from the ground and fitted to the

the

that

so

elasticity

resisting the flexure, keeps all the fastenings

which makes a singularly firm roof out

is

know

the only instance I

but

of elasticity

so singularly successful

is

be

formed

bambus, perfectly

of

lifted

bent

no

consequently impossible to feel sure

is

of

in

very

the

bambu,

state of

tension,

of

frail

materials.

It

being employed in building,

attaining the

in

and

desired end,

is

common, that we can hardly wonder when the Bengalis turned

their attention to more permanent modes of building they should
so

have copied this one.

It is nearly certain that it

the same purposes before the

in

all

Mahomedan

Hindu temples

all

over northern India.

One

till

it

is

found

Malda but we do not know of its use

afterwards, though now it is extremely common

the mosques at Gaur and

in

was employed for

sovereignty, as

of the best examples of a temple in this style is that at

tonuggur, twelve miles from the station at Dinajepore.

Kan-

was combe seen from the

It

and finished in 1722.^ As will

(Woodcut No. 263), it is a nine-towered temple,
considerable dimensions, and of a pleasingly picturesque design.

menced

in A.D. 1704

annexed

illustration

of

The

centre pavilion

enough

clearly

its

square, and, but for

is

descent

its

pointed form, shows

from the Orissan prototypes

eight are octagonal, and must, I fancy, be derived from

originals.

borrowed

The pointed
from that

employment was

No

stone

is

arches that

style,

but

prevail

the

the

other

Mahomedan

throughout are certainly

building being in brick their

inevitable.

used in the building, and the whole surface

is

covered

with designs in terra-cotta, partly conventional, and these are frequently repeated, as they may be without offence to taste
but the
bulk of them are figure-subjects, which do not ever seem to be
;

repeated,

and form a perfect repository

of the

manners, customs, and

costumes of the people of Bengal at the beginning of the

last century.

In execution they display an immeasurable inferiority to the carvings

vol.

Buchanan Hamilton,
ii.

p. 628.

'

Eastern India,' edited by Montgomery Martin, 1837,

KANTONUGGUR.

Chap. IV.

467

on the old temples in Orissa or the Mysore, but for general

and prodigality of labour this temple may

compete with some of the earlier examples.

richness
to

Temple

263.

There

is

at

Kantonuggur.

district,

effect of

be allowed

(From a Photograph.)

another and more ornate temple, in the same

Gopal Gunge,^ in the same

^

fairly

style,

but in infinitely worse taste

Frontispiece to Buchanan Hamilton's

'

Eastern India.'
r

at

and

Book

YL

Black Pagoda, at Calcutta, and many others

all

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

468

one known as
tlirongli

tlie

Lower Bengal

as this one at

but hardly any so well worthy of illustration

Kantonuggur.

Amritsur.

One

other example

may

serve for the present to complete

what we
This

have at present to say regarding the temples of modern India.

time, however,
of prayer,

and

it

is

no longer an

differs,

Ihc Golden I'emple in

2G4.

have been describing.

idol-shrine, but a monotheistic place

consequently, most

The

tlie

essentially

Holy Tank

religion

at Amritsur.

the

of

from those we

Sikhs appears to have

been a protest alike against the gross idolatry of the Hindus and
the inflexible monotheism of the Moslems.

It does not,

however, seem

that temples or gorgeous ceremonial formed any part of the religious

system propounded by
are

We,

what were

its

founders.

Beading the

'

Granth

'

and prayer

insisted upon, but even then not necessarily in public.

in consequence,

know nothing

of their temples, if they

have any

but Bunjeet Singh was too emulous of the wealth of his Hindu and
Moslem subjects in this respect not to desire to rival their magnificence,

and consequently

Ave

have the Golden Temple in the Holy

AMKITSUR.

CUAP. IV.

Tank

at

Amritsur

as

splendid an example

found in India, thoug'h neither

its

mended (Woodcut No.

It

2G4).

of

its

class

as can be

outline nor its details can be

is

useful, however, as

com-

exemplifying*

one of the forms which Indian temple-architecture assumed in the

19th century, and where, for the present, we must leave it. The Jains
and Hindus may yet do great things in it, if they can escape the
but now that the sovereignty has
influence of European imitation
;

passed from the

Sikhs we cannot expect their priests or ]x;ople to

indulge in a magnificence
encourage.

their

religion

does

not

countenance or

xoirrHRiiN

470

(n\

indo-aryan style.

CHAPTER

B(.<.K

VT.

V.

CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.
CONTENTS.

Cenotaphs

rulaces at Gualior, Amber, Deeg Glials Reservoirs Dams.

Cenotaphs.

As remarked
^

the art,

any attempt

absence of

As the Dra-

magnificence.

sepulchral

at

were undoubtedly of Turanian origin, and were essentially

vidians

we

builders,

respect

for

would

certainly

expect

the memories of their

how

uncertain
all

of the most unexpected peculiarities of

by the inhabitants of southern India, is the

one

above,

practised

as

they should show some

that

great

men.

It

however, even

is,

far the cromlechs, dolmens, or sepulchral circles

a ruder stage of
tribes

society, or

whether they belong to some aboriginal

who may have adopted

language of

the

the

superior

greatness,

but in the Rajput

seized

this respect,

been burnt.

which

respect the

otherwise

eagerly

where

noblest

trait

sovereigns

of

in

a secluded spot at some

the

Most

buried with their wives.

little

picturesque

the

Hindu

female's

a necropolis

state

its

and their

of these

is

that of

Rajput

hundreds, of

as

it

is

is

nearest

Sati,

had

or place

relatives

found anywhere.

Oudeypore, the capital of

sizes,

Maha

rocky and well-wooded,

to be

states still existing.

all

character,

are

are appropriately situated in

however, the most magnificent, and certainly

turesque,

they

pure,

magnificence in

distance from the town, and, the locality

being generally chosen because

of all the

less

is

what they conceived to be their duty.

In Rajputana every native capital has

where the

blood

Mahomedan

and erected chuttries on the spots where their bodies had

Where, too, their widows, with that strange devotion

the

is

states,

suggestion offered by

the

sacrificed themselves to

in

after

Mahomedans paid to departed

they failed to imitate them in this peculiarity.
It was
in the north of India
not among the pure Aryans, of

they had seen

course

how much

races

Even

without being able to change the instincts of their race.

as

found

over the south of India can be said to belong to the Dravidians in

from the

little

it

forms

Of

these,

among the most picMewar and the chief

Here the tombs

exist literally

domical canopy supported by

CENOTAPHS.

Chap. Y.
four columns

ported by

pretensions

together as

would be

the

architectural

accident

difficult to

ancient

dictated,

point

beauty

capital

the finest

is

sup-

all

at

Chittore by

make more

or

while as they are grouped

and interspersed with noble

out a more beautiful

Cenotaph of Sinjram Sing at Oudeypore,

265.

Among

from

All are crowned by domes, and

to

is

has been the burying-place of the race ever

expelled

Akbar in 1580.
less

dome

the splendid chuttry whose octagonal

to

fifty-six, for it

they were

since

471

trees,

it

cemetery anywhere.

(From a Phutograpu.)

that of Singram Sing, one of the most illustrious

who was buried on this spot, with twenty-one of his

As will be seen from the annexed Woodcut
wives, in a.d. 1733.
pillared portico, with one octagonal dome
fifty-six
(No. 265), it is a
The dome itself is supin the centre (vide ante, Woodcut No. 119).

of

his

race,

ported on eight dwarf

pillars,

which, however, hardly seem sufficient

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

472

Book

VL

for the pm-pose.

The architect seems to have desired to avoid all
appearances of that gloom or solemnity which characterise the
contemporary tombs of the Moslems, but, in doing this, to have erred
in the other direction.
The base here is certainly not sufficiently
solid

mass

for the

and the

effect

it

has to support

so pleasing,

that

it

but the whole is so elegant,

seems hypercritical to find fault

Cenotaph in Maha

266.

with

it,

and

difficult

Sati at

Oudeypore,

to find, even

\fi\

(From a Photograpb.)

among Mahomedan

toml)s,

any-

thing more beautiful.

He

it

who
Amera Sing

was, apparently,

of his predecessor

erected
II., for

the

cenotaph to the

memory

the Hindus do not appear to

have gone so far in their imitation of the Moslems as to erect their

own tombs. In style it is very similar to that last described, except

CENOTAPHS.

Chap. V.
that

columns

only thii'ty-two

possesses

it

473
instead

of

fifty-six.

It

which adds so much to the

that the dome is
effect of these tombs, but has also the same defect
raised on eight dwarf columns, which do not seem sufficient for the

has, however, the

same

lofty stylobate,

purpose.^

"Woodcut No.

266 represents a cenotaph in this cemetery with

only twelve columns, which, mutatis mutandis,

celebrated

tomb

at

The

Halicarnassus.^

is

columns, the octagonal dome, and the general mode of

same

are the

but the twelve or

have so altered the details that the likeness

From

recognisable.

the form of

more modern than that

last

have elapsed

and the difference

tAvo,

dome

its

described

twelve

construction

thii'teen centuries that

between the construction of the

with the

identical

lofty stylobate, the

is

it

of

locality,

sight easily

first

evidently considerably

may, indeed, have been

it

not at

is

erected within the limits of the present centm-y.

To

the right of the same woodcut

is

another cenotaph with only

weak and nnpleasing that it is

hardly to be wondered at that the arrangement is so rare. The angle
columns seem indispensable to give the design that accentuation and
firmness which are indispensable in all good architecture.
These last two illustrations, it will be observed, are practically
for, though adopting a Mahoin the Jaina style of architectm-e
medan form, the Eanas of Oudeypore clung to the style of architectm'e which their ancestors had practised, and which Khumbo Rana
had only recently rendered so famous. This gives them a look of
eight pillars,

but the

effect

is

so

greater

antiquity than they are

entitled

Chittore in

of

1580

and nearly equally

for

to,

that Oudeypore was not the capital of the

it

kingdom

so

since to fuse

He

did more than

all

quite

certain

before the sack

that the Hindus never

thought of this mode of commemorating their dead

reign of Akbar.

is

till

the tolerant

that had been done before or

together the antagonistic feelings of the two religions

into at least a superficial similarity.

Further north, where the Jaina style never had been used to the

same extent

at least as in the south-west, the

dilferent style in their palaces

and cenotaphs.

Hindus adopted quite a

It was much more of

and though never, so far as I know, using a true

form of the foliated arch, which is so common
in the palaces of Agra and Delhi, and all the Mogul buildmgs.
In
the palace at Deeg, and in the cenotaphs of Goverdhun, this style is
an arched

style,

arch, they adopted the

seen

in

liarities,

my

'

great perfection.

It is

in the next view of the

view of this temple

is

well

given iu

Picturestiue lUustratious of Aucieut

illustrated,

tomb

of

with

all

Baktawar Sing

its

Arcliitecture in Hindostan,' pi. 14.

i

Ante, vol.

i.,

pecu-

at Ulwar,

Woodcut No. 241.

474

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

Book VI.

erected within the limits of the present centnry (Woodcut

No. 267).
To a European eye, perhaps the least pleasing part will be the Ben-

gali curved cornices

familiar

with the

alluded to in the

style,

its

last

employment

chapter

gets

over

but to any one

many

difficulties

PALACES.

Chap. V.
that

with

its

t)e

straight

line

could

found in India, of

Rajahs

some

at

of

Goverdhun
them being

as pleasing a

age at

its

meet, and altogether

hardly

domes and pavilions

475

group of

The tombs

least.

makes up

it

as

its class

are similar to this one, but on a larger scale,

older, are in

better taste

in India at the present day,

One was
its

in course of construction
I learned

architect

more

of

and some

when

them

of

of the

are very modern.

was there in 1839, and from

the books I have since read.

all

my

Another was commenced after the time of

being one of the worst buildings of

visit,

and

it is

from

far

one could only

If

class.

its

inspire the natives with a feeling of pride in their

little

and

the secrets of art as practised in the

Middle Ages than I have learned from

seems

to

but the more modern

ones avoid most of the faults that are only too characteristic
art

is

Bhurtpore

of the

own

style,

there

doubt that even now they could rival the works of their

forefathers.

Palaces.

Another feature by which the northern

distinguished from the southern,

which are found in

palaces,
cially in

to

Rajputana.

architectural

is

most pleasingly
of

the

the capitals of the native states, espe-

all

These are seldom designed with much reference

symmetry or

As a

where they are found.

but are nevertheless always pic-

effect,

and generally most

turesque

style

number and beauty

the

is

ornamental
rule,

objects

in

the

landscape

they are situated on rocky emi-

nences, jutting into or overhanging lakes or artificial pieces of water,

which are always pleasing accompaniments to buildings of any sort in

that climate
and the way they are fitted into the rocks, or seem to
grow out of them, frequently leads to the most picturesque combi;

nations.

Sometimes their bases are

bastions,

on whose terraces the palace stands

not the case, the basement

height, in a

manner that

is

with round towers or

fortified

generally built

up

and even when

this is

solid to a considerable

gives a most pleasing effect of solidity to the

whole, however light the superstructure

may

and often

is.

If to

these natural advantages you add the fact that the high caste

Hindu

be,

almost incapable of bad taste, and that all these palaces are exactly
what they profess to be, without any affectation of pretending to be
what they are not, or of copying any style, ancient or modern, but
is

that best suited for their purposes

it

will not be difficult to realise

what pleasing objects of study these Rajput palaces really are. At

the same time it will be easily understood how difficult it must be in
such a work as this to convey any adequate idea of their beauty
without plans explaining their arrangements, and architectural details
;

of

their

judged

two

interior,

of.

neither their

palace

is

elegance

not like a temple

halls or cells, almost identical

nor appropriateness can be

simple edifice of one or

with hundreds of others

but a vast

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

476

Book VI.

congeries of public and private apartments grouped as a whole more

for convenience than effect.

Few

of the palaces of India have escaped the fate of that class of

Either they must be deserted and left to

the world over.
which in India means rapid obliteration, or they must be
altered and modified to suit the requirements of subsequent occupants,
edifice

all

decay,

till

little

far as

anything remains of the original structure.

if

known, has overtaken

is

existed before the dark ages

so

them has been found anywhere.

much so,
Even after

where one of the

earliest

fate, so

may have

indeed, that no trace of

that

At

anything important before the 13th century.

we look

in vain for

Chittore, for instance,

Rajput dynasties was established, there are

name

buildings that bear the

This

the royal abodes that

all

of the Palace of the Mori, but so altered

and remodelled as to be unrecognisable as such nor can the palace

the Khengar at Girnar exhibit any feature that belongs to the date
which it is assigned.
;

At Chittore the

oldest building of this class

of

to

which can with cer-

be said to have existed anterior to the sack of the place by

tainty

Alla-u-din

1305,

in

is

the palace

of

Bhim and Pudmandi, which

remains unaltered, and

is, though small, a very pleasing example of

The palace of Khumbo Rana (a.d. 1418-1468) in the same

the style.i
place

is

far

more ^grandiose, and shows

all

that beauty of detail which

characterises his buildings in general.

The

palaces

at

Chittore belonging

to this

dynasty were however

by those which Udya Sing commenced

which place he removed his capital after

far surpassed, in extent at least,

Udyapur

at

or Oudeypore, to

the third sack of Chittore by

Akbar

It has not unfrequently

in 1580.

been compared with the Castle at Windsor, and not inaptly, for both
in outline

and extent

it

is

not unlike that palace, though differing so

wonderfully in detail and in situation.

In this

latter

Eastern has the advantage of the Western palace, as

verge of an extensive lake, surrounded by
outline,

and

in the lake are two

where art
fairy-like

equals

the

great

beauty of

Jug Newas and

know

are

of elsewhere.^

it.

The
1

of

respect

stands on the

more beautiful in their class than any similar

It would be difficult to find any scene
and nature are so happily blended together and produce so
an effect. Certainly nothing I know of so modern a date

Jug Mundir, which

objects I

hills

island palaces, the

it

palace at Boondi

view of

jastau,' vol.

i.

it is

is

of about the

given in Tod's 'Ra-

p. 2G7.

Some

parts have

'

same modern age

A view of one

bo found iu

fairly.
j

given iuniy

Other illustrations will

L'Inde dcs Rajahs,' p. 187,

India,' plate 15.

on the whole

represents the building

is

Illustrations of Ancient Architecture iu

been misunderstood by the engraver, but

it

of these

as that at

tt

seqq.

'

PALACES.

Chap. V.

Ondeypore, and almost

however, and

on

its

Still,
its

the

its

islets,

mode

lake

477

ecjuals it in architectnral effect.

instead of
in which

it

It is smaller

and has only temples standing

palaces with their pavilions and gardens.
is placed on its hill, and the way in which

is less

in extent,

buildings gradnally fade into the bastions of the hill above, are sin-

gularly pictnresqne even for this coimrry, and the hills being higher,
and the valleys narrower, the effect of this palace is in some respects
even more imposing than that at Ondeypore.
There are, however, some twenty or thirty similar royal residences
in Central India, aU of which have points of interest and beanty
some
:

P^-^-r

263.

for their

their locality, and some for their beanty

which wonld require a volmne to describe
examples, thongh among the least known, must at

extent, others for

in detail, bnt every one of

Two

in detail.

present snffice to illustrate their general appearance.

That

at

Duttiah (Woodcut Xo. 268), in Bimdelcund,

is

a large

square block of building, more regular than such buildings generaUj

are,

but stiU sufficiently relieved both in outline, and in the variety

monotony, and with

tombs opposite, combine

of detail applied to the various storeys, to avoid

its

to

gardens leading down to the lake, and

make up an
The other

its

architectural scene of a singidarly pleasing character.

is

even

less

known, as

it

belongs to the

little

Bundel-

GUALIOR.

ClIAP. V.

cund

479

makes up
where.

residence
edifice

is

modern

too

is

much

for

objectionable than

less

its

combination as can well be found any-

as picturesque a

It

is of a much more
domes and gateways

Ourtcha (Woodcut No. 209), but

state of

varied outline than that at Duttiah, and with

purity of detail, but that

it

in

would be in a temple, or in an

devoted to any higher purpose.

GUALIOR.
Perhaps the most historically interesting of these Central Indian
palaces

is

The rock on which

that of Gualior.

that fortress stands

is

and by nature so strong, that it must

always have been occupied by the chiefs of the state in which it
formation,

of so peculiar a

situated.

is

Its

temples have already been

palaces have undergone the

of

fate

by

possesses, or possessed, in that built

Man

The

by 160
ground

ft.,

surface

is

and on the

by

relieved

Hindu

of

100

ft.

of

an

300

ft.

palace

towers

tall

high, having two under-

On

over the country.

storeys looking

however,

external dimensions of this palace are

east side it is

all

its

singularly

of

older

its

it,

Sing (a.d. 1486-1 5 1G), the

most remarkable and interesting example

early age in India.

described, but

similar edifices

all

faces

the

pleasing

flat

design,

crowned by cupolas that were covered with domes of gilt copper

when Baber saw them in 1527.^ His successor, Vicramaditya, added
another palace, of even greater extent,

to

this

Jehangir and Shah Jehan added palaces to

making up a group

of

edifices

by anything

of

their

interest

Among

of the

Erskine's ' Memoirs of Baber,' p. 384

These particulars are taken from

ii.

exists is

Central

in

far

anything of

and

by no means

all this

clear.

We

and

India.^

to be

de I'arche'ologue, et

faire disparaitre ce pre'cieux

document

88.

now

Test sont livrees a la pioche et le

occu-

tlie fort during the mutiny, and

have retained it ever since. The first
thing done was to occupy the Barradurri
as a mess-room to fit up portions of the
palace for military occupation then to
build a range of barracks, and clear away
:

a lot of antiquarian rubbish to make a

parade ground. What all this means is
only too easily understood. M. Rousselet
critic

anywhere

de I'histoire de I'lnde; deja toutes les

constructions
la gauche de la porte de

pied

no unfriendly

of its class

simplifier la besogne

Reports,'

plates 87

p. 346, et seqq.,

How

exists

square, with a stone roof, which

ft.

most beautiful apartments

'

that

the apartments in the palace was one called the Baradurri, sup-

Cunningham's Archaeological
vol.

the whole

two,

unequalled for picturesqueness

class

ported on twelve columns, and 45

was one

and

one in 1516

these

observes " Les

:

Anglais sont tres-activement occupes a

sort est
I

Rajah's,'

p.

au

362).

meme

L'Inde des
And, again: "Mais,
reste

('

I'Ourwahai lui aussi a vecu. Quand

revins en Decembre, 1867, les arbres

helas
j'y

reserve'

coupes, les statues volaient en

sous les pics des travailleurs, et
le ravin se remplissait des talus d'uue
etaient
e'clats,

nouvelle route construite par les Anglais

talus dans lesquels dorment les palais

des Chandelas et des Tomars, les idoles

des Bouddhistes et des Jainas." Loc.

cit. p.

366.

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

480

Rook VI.

It was, besides, singularly interesting from the expedients

which the Hindu architect was forced to resort to imitate the
vaults of the Moslems.
They had not then learned to copy them,

found.
to

they did at the end of

as

that

century,

at

Bindrabun and

else-

where, under the guidance of the tolerant Akbar.

Of

palaces of

now

little

The

remains.

We

have ruthlessly

work

set to

Emperor

of the

Moslems

the Hindus, and spared their temples

the Jains.
feres

which so excited the admiration

these buildings,

Baber, probably

added

and the

the

to

of

statues

to destroy whatever inter-

with our convenience, and during the few years we have occupied

the fort, have probably done

more

to disfigure its beauties,

and

obliterate

memories, than was caused by the Moslems during the centuries

its

they possessed or occupied

Better things w^ere at one time hoped

it.

but the fact seems to be, the ruling powers have no real heart in

for,

the matter, and subordinates are allowed to do as they please, and

they can save

money

or themselves trouble, there

is

if

nothing in India

that can escape the effect of their unsympathising ignorance.

Ame^r.

The

Amber, the

palace at

original capital

of

Jeypore

the

ranks next after that of Gualior as an architectural object

Rajput palaces.

It

is,

states,

among

the

however, a century more modern, having been

commenced by another Man Singh, who ascended the throne in 1592,

and was completed by Siwai Jey Sing, who added the beautiful gateway w^hich bears his name before he removed the seat of government
In consequence of this more modern date it has
to Jeypore in 1728.
not that stamp of Hindu originality that is so characteristic of the
Gualior example, and throughout
influence w^hich Akbar's

bears

of

that
that

was done in India during his

it

reign.

Its

the
is

sky, the

true,

which

is

Amber

and

its

palace

pinnacles
is

situation, too, is

inferior

Instead of standing on a

to that of Gualior for architectural effect.

lofty rocky pedestal,

strong impress

mind and works stamped on everything

being relieved boldly against

situated

in

valley

picturesque,

it

but where the masonry competes with the rocks in a manner

certainly unfavourable to the effect of the building.

Nothing,

however, can be more picturesque than the way in which the palace
grows, as

it

were, out of a rocky base or reflects itself in the mirror

of the deep lake at

in

its base,

and nothing can be happier than the mode

which the principal apartments arc arranged, so as

to afford views

over the lake and into the country beyond.

The

details, too,

of

this

palace

are

singularly

good,

and quite

from the feebleness that shortly afterwards characterised the

In some respects, indeed, they contrast favourably with those
style.
There the
of Akbar's contemporary palace at Futtehpore Sikri.
free

PALACES.

Chap. V.

commandment

second

inanimate objects
indulge

to

and

ture

men and

seem

dus

of

the decorator to pnrelj

Hindus enabled him

figure-sculp-

animals

The Hin-

any extent.

to

fancy

laxer creed of the

elephant

in

capitals
of

confined the

here the

481

also

have

to

indulged in colour and in

mirrors to an extent that

Akbar did not apparently

himself

feel

quence
has

that

is

in

justified

The

employing.

richer

conse-

the

whole

and

more

picturesque effect

than

Mahomedan

but the

rival,

make up

two together
curiously

its

perfect

illustra-

tion of the architecture of

seen from

day, as

that

Hindu,

that from

point of
It

with

contrasted

Mahomedan,

vicAV.

Man

was the same

Sing who erected the Observatory at Benares which

bears

still

his

name, and

though not very architectural in its general appear-

ance, has on the river-face

a balconied window, which
is

a fair

and pleasing spe-

cimen of the architecture

of his

270).

age (Woodcut No.

He

also

was

(From a
James Prinsep.)

Balcony at the Conservatory, Benares.

Drawing by the

late

the

king who erected the temple at Bindrabun,

which has been

illus-

trated above (pp. 468, 464).

Deeg.
All the palaces above described are

more or less irregular in their

and uneven ground. That
at Deeg, however, is on a perfectly level plain, and laid out with
a regularity that would satisfy the most fastidious Renaissance
architect.
It is wholly the work of Suraj Mull, the virtual founder
disposition,

and are

all

situated on rocky

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

482

of the Bluirtpore

and

left

Nudjiff
of the

it

Khan

who commenced it,

see it, when he was

1703.

in

It wants, it

conception and beauty of detail

tAvice the

1725,

with

battle

the massive

character

but for grandeur of

states,

surpasses

it

in

slain

true,

is

other Rajput

fortified palaces of

The whole

apparently in

dynasty,

we now

as

Book VI.

them

all.

palace was to have consisted of a rectangular enclosure

length

of

its

with buildings, with a

breadth, surrounded

garden in the centre, divided into two parts by a broad terrace, intended to carry the central

Only one

pavilion.

of

these rectangles

has been completed, measuring about 7(tO feet square,^ crossed in the
centre by ranges of

tectural

The
7G

ft.

and

pavilion on

8 in. by 54

in

East,

ornaments of the most elaborate

behind

arcades,

fountains and parterres, laid

and interspersed with archi-

the most beautiful

out in the formal style of the

the north

finish.

side contains the great audience-hall,

ft. 7 in., divided in the centre by a noble range of

which are the principal dwelling apartments, two,

some parts

Opposite this

three, storeys in height.

On

occupied principally by fountains.

a pavilion

is

one side stands a marble

hall,

attached to an older palace facing the principal pavilion, which was

meant to occupy the centre

plan (Woodcut No. 271), it

As

of the garden.

will be seen

a parallelogram of 152

is

by the

by 87

ft.

each end occupied by a small but very

ft.,

ele-

gant range of apartments, in two storeys

the central hall (]()8

ported on
at

both

reservoir for

Hall at Deeg.
(From a Flan by the Author.)
I.

Scale 100

ft. to

sup-

and open
a

is

marble

and a similar one

on each

which,

after

cove,

roofed with a

is

seems

in.

is

The whole

side.

roofed with stone, except the central part,

exquisitely
27

end

each

fountains,

exists externally
is

at

ft.)

of columns,

four roAvs
sides

by 87

ft.

being

carved.

have

to

contracted

l)y

flat ceiling

This

bold

of timber

wooden

been considered

ceiling

a defect,

nothing but stone being used in any other

The

part of the palace.

architect, therefore,

attempted to roof the corresponding pavilion of the unfinished court

with slabs of stone 34
still

exist

arcades,

in

in.

with rubble.

I'ally

ft.

in length,

places, but

which are only 18

two facings 4
in

their

or 5

in.

in.

thick,

Some

in. square.

of these

weight was too great for the

and not of

solid

stone, but of

and the intermediate spaces

though the form of the arch is

thick,

Besides this,

copied from the

and 18

their

Mahomedan

^
A plan of it is given in Lieut. Cole's
'Report on the liuildings nenr Agra'

style, neither

correct
comiilote.

as

far

here, nor

as

it

filled
lite-

elsewhere

goes,

but not

Chap. Y.

PALACES.

throughout the palace,

483

there a single true arch, the

is

oj^^niuii's

being

by two brackets meeting in the centre.

The general appearance of the arcades of these buildings mav he
gathered from the annexed view (Woodcut Xo. 272), and may be
characterised as more elegant than rich.
The glory of Deeg, however,
virtually covered

in the cornices, which are generally double, a peculiarity not

seen elsewhere, and which for extent of shadow and richness of detail
surpass any similar ornaments in India, either in ancient or modern
consists

The lower

buildings.

cornice

universal in such buildings.

is

the usual sloping entablature, almost

This was adopted apparently because

View from the Central Pavilion

in the Palac-j at Deeg.

it

(Fiuni a riioto-raph.)

took the slope of the curtains, which almost invariably

hang beneath
projecting shade, and which, when drawn out, seem
almost a continuation of it.
The upper cornice, which was horizontal, is peculiar
its

to Deeg,

and seems designed to

w^hich in Eastern palaces

the

house

adds

but whether

singtilarly

shadow

affords

to

the

relief

fin-nish an extension of the flat roof,

usually considered the best apartment of
designed for this or any other purpose, it
is

richness of the effect, and by the

double
and character seldom exceeded even in the

East.

Generally speaking, the

bracket

arcades

of

Deeg

are

neither so
I

NORTH I^:EN ok INDO-AllYAN STYLE.

484

Book VI.

rich nor so appropriate as the bold bracket capitals of the older styles.

That the bracket

almost exclusively an original

is

capital can, I think, scarcely be doubted

much
than

had ever been carried by

The Hindus, on

the ^^orth.

original

its

receiving

it

inventors, at

in

least

back, luxuriated in

its

an extent that astonishes every beholder

pic-

and
modern buildings of India is owing to
bold projecting balconies and fanciful kiosks that diversify the

tnres(iue richness

to

half the effect of

most

the

Indian form of

but the system Avas carried

by the Moguls, especially during the reign of Akbar,

further
it

of the

otherwise plain walls.

The
erected,
pillars

greatest defect of the palace

was losing

and

their

its

is

that

the

when it was
The form of its

style,

true form of lithic propriety.

ornaments are better suited for wood or metal than for

stone architecture

and though the

style of the

Moguls, in the

last

days

of their dynasty, was tending in that direction, it never threw off the

and constructive propriety to such an extent as is done in

modern palaces of the Hindus. It is not at Deeg carried so far
as to be offensive, but it is on the verge of good taste, and in some
more modern buildings assumes forms more suited for upholstery
solidity

these

than for stone architecture.

Since

the time

when Suraj Mull completed

this

fairy

creation,

the tendency, not only with the Rajput princes, but the sovereigns of

such states as Oude, and even as Delhi, has been to copy the bastard
style of

Italian architecture

we have introduced

into India.

natural, perhaps, that they should admire the arts of a race

shown themselves
was

in w^ar

and policy superior

themselves

was

but

it

and whether a revival is now possible remains

might be so, if their rulers showed the smallest possible
the works of their ancestors, but can hardly be hoped

fatal to their arts,

to be seen.

It

appreciation of

for while a department of the^istate

for

to

It

who had

the

express

is

organised, as they must believe,

purpose of destroying and obliterating

what was once noble and beautiful in the

all

traces of

land.

Ghats or Landing-places.
Another object of architectural magnificence peculiar to northern
Hindustan,

are

in most of

situated

number

of

the construction of the

is

river-banks

on the Ganges.

edifices of

fjJidts

that everywhere

the great cities, more

line the

especially those

which

Benares possesses perhaps the greatest

this class

but from Calcutta to Hurdwar no

some specimens of this species of architectural display.

Ghat
at Benares (Woodcut No. 273), though one of the
The Ghoosla
city is without

most modern, may be taken as a fair specimen of the

many are richer and much more elaborately adorned.

class,

although

Their object

GHATS OR LANDIKG-PLACES.

Chap. V.

485

being to afford easy access to bathers, the flight of steps in front

in reality the ghat,

generally

and the main object

broken, as in

lines

of

narrow

The

steps.

solid,

is

a noble
are

projections,

stairs

is

and when,

the

bank

afford

shelter

as in this instance,

adorned,

or

to

them-

high, the lower part of these buildings

is

it

basement to an ornamental upper

generally

long

merely an object of architectural

is

of the sun to such of the idle as choose to avail

When

it.

often

in

always backed by a

without any particular destination, except to

from the rays

selves of

of

flight

small

monotony inherent

the

off

building, which in most instances

display

by

instance,

this

crowned by kiosks, which take

is

These are

of the erection.

temple

the

is

nearly plain,
storey,

which

affords

it

with which they

crowns

frequently

them.

Though

the Ganges

is,

the most beautiful in India

273.

par
is

exceUence, the river of

Ghoosla Gbat, Benjies.

(From

widow) at Maheswar, on the Nerbudda

cities

is

all

India that

seldom indeed that these are

attempt at architectural

display,

is

and Ujjain and other ancient

without

left

(Holkar's

Prinsep's Views.)

almost rival Benares in this respect.

a tank or stream in

ghats, one of

that erected by Ahalya Baiee

Indeed, there
its

is

scarcely

flight of steps,

and

it

without some adornment or an

water being always grateful in

so

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

486

Book YI.

hot a climate, and an especially favourite resort with a people so fond

of

washing and so cleanly in their habits as the Hindus.

Keservoirs.

The same fondness

display

architectural

for water has given rise to another species of

peculiar

India,

to

the

in

great

or

reservoirs

which are found wherever the wells are deep and water far
from the surface. In design they are exactly the reverse of the ghats,
howlees,

the

since

are

steps

wholly below the ground, and descend to

water often at a depth of

or 100

80, ft.

display, the only objects usually seen above

to

mark

to

40

Externally they

ft.

the

make no

ground being two pavilions

the entrance, between which a bold flight of steps, from 20

down

in width, leads

ft.

ft.

Facing the entrance

to the water.

is

a great screen, rising perpendicularly from the water to the surface of

and dividing the stairs from a circular shaft or well, up

is drawn by pulleys by those who prefer that mode of
obtaining it instead of descending the steps.
The w^alls between which
the steps descend are ornamented by niches, or covered with galleries

th3 ground,

which the water

leading to the great screen.

Where

the depth

great, there is often

is

a screen across the stairs about half-way down.

To
as

persons not familiar with the East such an architectural object

may seem

bowlee

strange perversion

ingenuity, but

of

grateful coolness of all subterranean apartments, especially

the

when accom-

panied by water, and the quiet gloom of these recesses, fully compensate, in the eyes of the
of

the ghats.

now

Hindu,

for the

more

attractive magnificence

Consequently, the descending flights of which we are

speaking, have often been

pieces of architecture than

any

made more
of

elaborate

and expensive

the buildings above ground found

in their vicinity.

Dams.
In the same manner the bunds or dams of the
great tanks, which

works of

great

with flights of
temples

or

are

so

necessary

architectural
steps,

pavilions,

like

and

those
kiosks,

of

is

artificial

irrigation,

magnificence,
the

ghats,

Where

soraL3times the case in Rajputana, the

by

first

interspersed

statues in breaks between these flights.

as

for

all

are

covering

and then

with

lakes, or

often

made
them

erecting

fountains

and

these are of marble,

whole make up as perfect

a piece of architectural combination as any the Hindus can boast of.

One of the most beautiful of these is that erected by Eaj Sing,

who ascended the throne of Oudeypore, in 1053, to form the lake of

Rajsamundra (Woodcut No. 274), which is one of the most extensive
in his dominions.
This bund is 37G paces in length, and wholly

DAMS.

CUAP. V.

and with its beautiful kiosks proand the palaces which cvovm the hills at

covered with white marble steps

jecting

either end,
its

the water,

into
it

makes up a

waters and

woods,

its

487

scene

fairy

which

is

of

architectural

hardly

sui-passed

beauty, with

by

any

in

the East.
It

would be tedious, however,

to enumerate,

without illustrating

them, which the limits of this work will not permit,

architectural magnificence of

the

Hindus.

Like

the modes of

all

all

people

untram-

melled by rales derived from incongruous objects, and gifted with a

feeling

for

the

beautiful,

Bund

274.

object of

bsauty.

of

they

adorn whatever

however utilitarian in

convert every object,

Lake Rajsaaiundra.

its

they

require,

purposes,

into

and
an

(From a Sketch by the Author.)

They long ago found out

that

it

is

not temples

and palaces alone that are capable of such display, but that everything
Avhich man makes may become beautiful, provided the hand of taste
be guided by sound judgment, and that the architect never forgets

what the object

of

the building

is,

and never conceals the

itself.

It

is

constructive

exigences

simply this inherent taste and love of

beauty, which the Indians seem always to have possessed, directed by

unaffected honesty of purpose, which enables those

of

political independence,

who

are destitute

or knowledge, or power, to erect, even

at

the present day, buildings that will bear comparison with the best of
those erected in Europe during the Middle Ages.
fessed that

it

would

reipiire far moi'e

It

must be con-

comprehensive illustration than

NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE.

488
the

preceding slight sketch of

so

extensive

subject

Book VI.
can

pretend

make

this apparent to others.

now

in course of construction in those parts of the country

But no one who has personally

visited the objects of interest with which India abounds can fail to
be struck w^ith the extraordinary elegance of detail and propriety
of design which pervades all the architectural achievements of the
Hindus and this not only in buildings erected in former days, but
to be, to

in those

to which the bad taste of their

European

rulers has not yet penetrated.

489

BOOK VIL
INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER

INTRODUCTOKY.
From

a very early period in

the world's

civilized nations existed in Central

and the Indus.

They

lived

iVsia

history

great

apart, having

few relations with their

neighbours, except of war and hatred, and served rather to

than to bring together the Indian and European

flourished

changes.

separate

communities Avhich

beyond them on either hand.

Alexander's great raid Avas the

barrier,

group of

between the Mediterranean

first

attempt to break through this

and to join the East and West by commercial or

The

steady organisation of the

Roman empire

social inter-

succeeded in

consolidating what that brilliant conqueror had sketched out.

During

the permanence of her supremacy the space intervening between India

and Europe was bridged over by the order she maintained among the
various communities established in Central Asia, and there seemed no
reason

why

the intercourse so established should be interrupted.

Un-

by the Roman world, two nomade nations, uninhung on either flank of this great line of
civilization,
its
fluenced by
communication, ready to avail themselves of any moment of weakness
suspected, however,

that might occur.

The Arabs,

as the

most impetuous, and nearest the centre, were the

and in the course of the 7th century Syria,

Spain was conof Africa became theirs.
Under Muawiah, the
quered, and India nearly shared the same fate.
first Khalif of the Ommiahs, two attempts were made to cross the
first

to break their

Persia, Egypt,

bounds

and the north

Indus by the southern route that which the Scythians had successBoth these attempts failed, but
followed a short time before.

fully

under Walid,

Muhamed Kasim,

a.h.

99, did

effect

settlement

in

for though a MahoIt proved a barren conquest, however

Scinde.
medan dynasty was established there, it soon became independent of
;

the Khalifat, and eventuahy died out.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

490

The supremacy

of the Khalifat

was as brief as

it

Book VII.

was

brilliant.

Its

hour of greatest glory was about the year a.d. 800, in the reign of
Haroun al Eashid. From that time decay set in and after two
;

more the effeminacy and corruption inherent in Eastern

dynasties had so far progressed as to encourage the Northern hordes

centuries

to

move.

During the course

hitherto only
of

known

Northern Asia,

of the 11th century the Tartar hordes,

as shepherds pasturing their herds

made

first

range as conquerors

and

who were

on the steppes

their appearance south of the

Paropamisan

for six centuries their progress

was steadily

we find the Turks encamped under

the walls of Vienna, and the Mogul Aurungzebe lord paramount of
the whole of India Proper, while Egypt and all the intervening
countries owned the rule of sovereigns of Turanian race.
The architecture of the nations under the Arab Khalifat has already
been described, and is of very minor importance.^ The ruling people
were of Semitic race, and had no great taste for architectural magnificence
and unless where they happened to govern a people of another
onwards,

till,

in the'year a.d. 1G83,

stock, they

With

have

left

few traces of their

the Northern hordes

the

art.

case

w^as

were, without an exception, of Turanian blood,

widely

different

more or

less pure,

they

and

wherever they went their mosques, and especially their tombs, remain
to

mark

and

their presence,

to convey

order to understand what follows,

an idea

it is

of their splendour.

In

mind

that

necessary to bear in

Semitic conquest, from Mecca as a centre, extended from the

mouths of the Guadalquivir to those of the Indus, and left but little
worthy of remark in architecture. The Turanian conquest, from
Bokhara and Balkh as centres, extended from Constantinople to
Cuttack, and covered the whole intervening space with monuments
Those of the west and centre have already been
of every class.
the Eastern branch
described in speaking of Turkey and Persia
remains to be discussed, and its monuments are those of which this
division of the work purports to be a description.
The Saracenic architects showed in India the same pliancy in
adopting the styles of the various people among whom they had settled

the

which characterised their practice in the countries already described.

It thus happens that in India we have at least twelve or fifteen difand if an attempt were
ferent styles of Mahomedan architecture
:

made

to exhaust

enumerate

the examples,

all

even

greater

it

number.

would be found necessary to

Meanwhile, however, the fol-

lowing thirteen divisions will probably be found

purposes
^

Egypt showed

tectural display

sway

sufficient for present

of the

little taste for arclii-

till

she

fell iiiider

the

Metnlook Sultaus, aud Sara-

cenic architecture in Persia practically

commences with the

Seljiiklanb.

CflAP.

l^^TRODUCTORY.

I.

The

1.

of these

first

is

491

that of Ghazni^ which, though not, strictly

speaking, in India, had without doubt the most important

influence

of

and formed in fact the stepping-stone by means

which the architecture of the West was introduced into India, and

it

long remained the connecting link between the styles of the Eastern

on the Indian

and those

of

styles,

the Western world.

It

would consequently be of the

greatest importance in enabling us to understand the early examples

of the style in India Proper,

if

we could

describe this one with any-

thing like precision, but for that we must wait

till

some

qualified

person visits the province.

Xext

2.

to

comes the Patlian

tliis

style

northern India (a.d.

of

1193-1554), spreading over the whole of Upper India, and lasting for
about three centuries and a

After the death, however, of Ala

half.

ud-din (a.d. 1316) the central power was at times so weak, that the

conquered

recently

outlying

everywhere, by

individuality

their

were

provinces

render themselves independent, and

when

enabled

frequently

this

was the

to

case, exhibited

inventing a style of architecture

expressive of their local peculiarities.

3.

One

existing for less than a

Jaunpore

of

century, they

marked individuality of treatment.

4. The style adopted by the kings

viduality.
lectually,

Gujerat during

of

for a well-

theii*

period

(a.d.

They borrowed too mu2h, physically as well as

from the architecture of the Jains, among whom

were located, to be entirely independent

style is in proportion to the

Hindu

MaJwa became independent

A.D.

1568,

magnificence,

intel-

they

but the richness of their

details they introdaced.

and between that date

Mogul empu'e, her
Mandu with palaces and mosques of
in a.d. 1401,

when they were absorbed

kings adorned their capital at

great

and by none

1396-1572) was richer and more varied than

Jaunpore, though hardly so original or marked by such indi-

of independence

and

but

Though

adorned their capital with a

those of any city in India for magnificence,

5.

brilliant

1394-1476).

(a.d.

mosques and other buildings which are hardly sui-passed by

series of

that of

was the

of the first to exhibit this tendency

short-lived Sharki dynasty

in

the

but more similar to the parent style at Delhi

than the two last-named

styles,

and wanting, consequently, in the

local individuality.
6.

Bengal was early erected into a separate kingdom

more

or less independent of the central

tinuance

till

A.D.

1573

the

capitals,

power

in

a.d.

and during

its

1203
con-

Gaur and Maldah, were adorned

many splendid edifices. Generally these were in brick, and

now so overgrown by jungle as to be either ruined or nearly
invisible.
They are singularly picturesque, however, and display all

with
are

the features of a strongly-marked individuality of style.

These

six

divisions

are

probably

sufficient

to

characterise

the

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTUHE.

492

Mahomedaii

north of

styles

To

Nerbudda.

tlie

Book VII.

the south of that river

there are three well-marked styles.

Bahmani

First that of the

7.

1:^47,

and afterwards

Avith

edifices

magnificence and

groat

of

First at Kalbergah, a.d.

dynasty.

at Bidar, a.d. 142G, they adorned their capitals

well-marked

before they were absorbed, in a.d. 1525, in the great

Next

was the

individuality,

Mogul

empii-e.

more celebrated Adil Shahi dynasty

of Bijajmr (a.d. 1489-1660).
Their style differed most essentially
from all those above enumerated, and was marked by a grandeur of
conception and boldness in construction unequalled by any edifices
8.

to these

still

erected in India.
9.

The

third southern style

(Jolconda, a.d.

1512-1672.

Kutub Shahi dynasty

that of the

is

most striking groups in India, but show evident signs

of the

decadence that

too

Avas

of

Their tombs are splendid, and form one

of

invading art at the age when they

surely

were erected.

One by one all these brilliant individualities Avere absorbed

Mogul empire, founded by Baber, a.d. 1494, and Avhich,

10.

in the great

though practically perishing on the death

may

be

A.D.

1750.

considered

as

existing

the

till

of

Aurungzabe, a.d. 1706,

middle of the

towns in northern India owe their most splendid

11. Before leaving this

to

enumerate the

style of

edifices.

branch of the subject,

may

it

be expedient

Moslem art existing in Scinde. Practically,

form and the style of decoration, and must

it is Persian both in its

have existed in this province from a very ancient time.

now known

examples, however,

century,

last

dynasty that Agra, Delhi, and most of the

It is to this

of

it

are

All

the

comparatively modern, and

bring us back, curiously enough, to the neighbourhood of

which we started in our enumeration.

12. Leaving these, which may be called the true

Ghazni,

from^

medan

bastard styles.

In

its capital

The

first

in taste to

shortly

an extent
before

it

had

Oude

of these is that of

there are ranges of

ness to those of any of

so

styles

(a.d.

Maho-

of

we have two which may be designated

architecture,

as

the

1756-1847).

building equal in extent and rich-

the capitals above enumerated, but degraded

is

hardly possible to credit in a people

shown

themselves

capable

of

such

who
noble

aspirations.
13.
(a.d.

The

style

pean vulgarity,

and

adopted

by

the

short-lived

dynasty

of

Mysore

1760-1799), being further removed from the influences of Euro-

inartistic

is

not so degraded as that of Lucknow, but

when compared with

is

poor

earlier styles.

In an exhaustive treatise on the subject, the styles of Ahmednugger and Arungabad, a.d. 1490-1707, ought, perhaps, to be enumerated, and some minor styles elsewhere. These have not, however,
sufficient individuality to deser\'e

being erected

into

separate

styles.

Chap.

INTRODUCTORY.

I.

and the amount

of

illustration

like the present is not

493

that can be introduced into

work

to render the differences sensible to

sufficient

who are not personally acquainted with the examples.

Even as it is, it would require a much more extensive series of
illustrations than that here given to make even their most marked
merits or peculiarities evident to those who have no other means than
what such a work as this affords of forming an opinion regarding
Each of these thirteen styles deserves a monograph
them.
but,
except for Bijapur ^ and Ahmedabad,^ nothing of the sort has yet
been attempted, and even the two works in which this has been
attempted for these two capitals by no means exhaust the materials
those

available

be
it

for

supplied,
is

the

and

purpose.

the

Let us hope that these deficiencies

undertaken

others

before

long

will

and before

too late, for the buildings are fast perishing from the ravages

of time

and climate and the

still

more destructive exigences

of

the

Ahmedabad.

120

present governing power in India.

*
Ar liitecture of Beejapore. Photographed from Drawings by Capt. Hart
and A. Cumming, C.E., and on the spot
by Col. Biggs and Major Loch, with text
by Col. Meadows Taylor and J. BY-rgiis'

son.'
2

Folio,

Murray, 1866.

'Architecture of

Photographs by Col. Biggs, with Text

by T. C. Hope, B.C.S. and Jas. Fergusson.*
Small folio, Murray, 1866.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

494

CHAPTEK

Book VI F.

11.

GHA ZNI.
CONTENTS.

Tomb

Mahmud Gates

of

of

Somnath

Minars on the Plain.

CHRONOLOGY.
Sabuktagin, founder

Mahmud
Masud

....
....

Towards

A.D.

975
911
1030

Ahdul-rashid
Ibrahim
Shabab ud-diii

.D.

104

-i

1054
(first

of Ghori dynasty)

1139

the latter part of the 9 th century the power of the Khalifs

Bagdad was

of rapid decline which is

During the reign of Al Motamed,
A.D. 870-891, Egypt became independent, and the northern province
of Bokhara threw off the yoke under the governor appointed by the
of

the fate of

all

sinking into that state

Eastern dynasties.

Ahmed,

Khalif, Nasr ben

a descendant of Saman, a robber chief,

who

declared and maintained his independence, and so formed the Samanian

After the dynasty had existed about a century, Sabuktagin,

dynasty.

a Turkish slave

belonging to a general of one of the

Samanian kings, rendered himself

established

himself

the

well-known

A.D.

977-1030,

owing to

one of

his brilliant

the

and

last

Ghazni, of which he was governor, founding

in

dynasty of
is

of

also independent of his master,

His successor, Mahmud,

Ghaznavides.

the best-known kings

in

campaigns in India, and more

Indian history

especially that in

which he destroyed the celebrated temple of Somnath.

On his return from an earlier campaign, in which he had sacked
the town of Muttra, we learn from Ferishta that the king ordered a
magnificent

known by
university.

mosque
the

name

When

to
of

be built of marble and granite, afterwards

the Celestial

Bride.

Near

it

he founded a

the nobility of Ghazni perceived the taste of their

king in architecture, they also endeavoured to vie with one another

in the magnificence of their palaces, as well as in the public buildings

which were raised for the embellishment of the city, "Thus," continues the historian, " the capital was in a short time ornamented
with mosques, porches, fountains, aqueducts, reservoirs, and cisterns,

beyond any

city in the East."

Brigg's translation,

vol.

i.

p. 61.

Chap.

GHAZNI.

II.

The

plain of Ghaziii

still

495

shows the remains of this splendonr

and, in the dearth of information regarding Persian art of that age,

an acconnt of

wonld be one of the most interesting and valuable

it

Minar

275.

pieces

of

(From a Drawing

at Ghazui.

information we could receive.

bj- (i.

T. Vigne, Esq.)

These

not been as yet either examined or described

'

It is

very

much

to be regretted that

accompanied our
armies, when they passed and repassed
through Ghazni, able or willing to appreand it
ciate the interest of these ruins
not a

single

officer

overlooked,
j

ruins, however,

have

and even the tomb

of

be hoped, if an opportunity should

again occur, that their importance to the
history of art in the East will not be
is to

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

496

Mahniud

unknown

Book YII.

us except by name/ notwithfrom the removal of its gates to

India at the termination of our disastrous campaigns in that country.
The gates are of Deodar pine,'^ and the carved ornaments on them

the

Great

standing-

is

celebrity

tlie

it

to

ac(|uired

mosque of Ebn Touloun

and other buildings of that age, as not only to prove that they are
of the same date, but also to show how similar were the modes of
decoration at these two extremities of the Moslem empii-e at the time

are so similar to those found at Cairo, on the

of their execution.

At

the same time there

that at

is

nothing in their style of ornamentation

resembles anything found in any

all

their age or at

any other time.

There

Hindu

temple, either of

in fact, no reason for doubt-

is,

ing that these gates were made for the place where they were found.^

any other parts

If

of the

tomb

Ornameiits from the

276.

are ornamented in the

Tomb

of

Mahmud

same

style, it

at Ghazni.

would be of great interest to have them drawn. It probably is, howfrom the Jumma Musjid that we shall obtain the best picture

ever,

the

of

arts

examining

Two

that

of

day,

when any one

take the

will

minars

still

adorn the plain outside the

city,

and form,

the most striking, at least the most prominent of the

The

sketch of

by Mr. Vigne in his

tlie
'

tomb published

Travels in Afghan-

istan,' gives too

confined a portion of

to enable us to

judge either of

or detail.

trouble

of

it.

The gate

in front is

it

form
probably

uath,

is

if

of

not
that

and brought from Somby the fact of

entirely disproved

their being of the

local

pine-wood, as

well as by the style of decoration, which

its

modern, and the foiled arches in the

background appear to be the only parts
that belong to the Uth century.
2 The tradition that these gates were

of sandal -wood,

ruins

has no resemblance to Hindu work,

^

^ An excellent
representation of the
gates will be found in the second edition

of

'

vol.

Maroo
ii.

Polo's Travels,'

p. 390.

by

Col. Yule,

GHAZNI.

Chap.

II.

city.

Neither of them was ever attached to a mosque

497
they are,

and

indeed, pillars of victory, or Jaija Stamhhas, like those at Chittore

elsewhere

in

such as we might expect to find in a

are

One

Buddhist.

country so long
himself

and

India,

them was

of

by Mahmiid

erected

the other was built, or at least finished, by Masiid, one of his

immediate successors.^

The lower

part of these towers

of a star-like

is

form

the plan being

apparently formed by placing two squares diagonally the one over the

The upper

other.

ground,

is

140

part, rising to the height of about

circular

from the

ft.

both are of brickwork, covered with ornaments

of terra-cotta of extreme

and beauty, and retaining

elaboration

their

sharpness to the present day.

Several

other minars

the same class are

of

found further west,

even as far as the roots of the Caucasus,^ which, like these, were
pillars

None
at

victory, erected by the conquerors on their battle-fields.

them have the same architectural merit as those of Ghazni,

of
of

least

in

their present

though

state,

may

it

be that their orna-

ments, having been in stucco or some perishable material, have disappeared, leaving us

The weakness
for

the

now

of

only the skeleton of what they were.

Mahmiid's successors

more than a century and a half

Ghaznavides

the Indians

left

and, like

were gradually sinking to

all

repose

in

Eastern dynasties,
decay,

inevitable

when

was precipitated by the crimes of one of them, which were

fearfully avenged by the destruction of their empire and capital by
their fall

Ala ud-din, and their race was at length superseded by that of the
Ghori, in the person of Shahab ud-din, in the year 1183.

Though

centuries

the time of
their

of

weighed on

of misrule have

the Ghaznavides,

magnificence have

it

this

away

passed

but

till

country since

that

scarcely probable

is

all

their

traces

cities

are

examined by some one competent to discriminate between what is

good or bad, or old or new, we must be content merely to indicate the
position

when

of

the

style,

the requisite

meanwhile

it

is

Indus there do

leaving

chapter to be

this

have been

information shall

satisfactory

to

exist a sufficient

know

that

number

of

travellers,

monuments

may

to enable us to

East.

They have

but not in such a manner as to

render them available for our purposes

state of the country it

In the

between Herat and the

connect the styles of the West with those in the

been casually described by

written hereafter
obtained.

and in the present unsettled

be some time yet before their elucidation

can be accomplished.

See translation of the inscription on

these minars,

Journal of the Asiatic

Society of Bengal,' No. 134, for 1843.

'

^ Xwo are represented by Dubois dc

Montpe'reux,' Voyage autourduCaucasc.'


INDIAN SxVHACENIC AKCHITECTURE.

498

CHAPTEll

Jk)OK vir.

III.

PA THAN STYLE.
CONTENTS.

Mosque

at

Old Delhi

Kutub Minar Tomb of Ala uJ-din Pathan Toiiibs

Ornamentation of Pathan Tombs.

CHRONOLOGY.
Shahab nd-dm Ghoii

Ktitub ud-din Ibek.

Sbum ud-dni Altumsb

Ala ud-din Khiiji
Tugluck Shah
.

With

defeated Prithiraj

Bebloli Lodi

1450

1295

Sbere Shab

1321

Sekunder defeated by Akbar.

1510
1554

race, the

in

1194

a.d.

a.d.

and

set

1393
1414

about the con-

1193,

when he attacked and

was followed by the con-

after the fall of these

two, the

may be
have been conquered before his death, which happened in
in

his death his great empire

fell

to

last of tbe Kbiljis

Ghorians

success

empires

capitals

said

1210

TMs

of Delhi.

Canouge in

quest of

Kbyer Kban under Tamerlane

After sustaining a defeat in the year 1191, Shahab

again entered India

Tid-din

Nasar ud-din

1006

new

the vigour of a

all

quest of India.

1192

the

of

greatest

the

peninsula,

India

A.D. 120G.

At

and India

to pieces,

fell

to the

Kutub ud-din Ibek. This prince was originally a Turkish

who afterwards became one of Shahab ud-din's generals and

share of
slave,

contributed greatly by his talents and military

his master.

He and

so successfully begun,

his successor,

skill to

the success of

Altumsh, continued nobly the work

and before the death

of the latter, in a.d. 1235,

the empire of northern India had permanently passed from the hands
of the

Hindus

to those of their

For a century and a half

Mahomedan

conquerors.

after the conquest the empire continued

a united whole, under Turkish, or, as they are usually called, Patlian
dynasties.

These monarchs exhibited a continued vigour and energy

very unusual in the East, and not only sustained and consolidated,

but increased by successive conquests from the

infidels,

that

newly-

acquired accession to the dominions of the faithful, and during that

time Delhi continued practically the capital of this great empire.

the latter half, however, of the 14th century,
tion manifested themselves.

provinces

reared

the

One

symptoms

In

of disintegra-

after another the governors of distant

standard of revolt, and successfully established


PATHAN

ClIAP. III.

STYLE.

499

independent kingdoms, rivalling the parent state in power and in the

splendour of their capitals.

Still

Delhi remained the nominal head at

least of this confederation of states

it

if

may

be so called

the

till

time when Baber (a.d. 1494), the fourth in descent from Tamerlane,

He

invaded Hindustan.
three

for

lasted

put an end to the Pathan sway, after

and a

centuries

and

half,

had

it

finally succeeded in esta-

blishing the celebrated dynasty of the Moguls, which during six successive reigns, extending over

extraordinary period of more than

the

1494-1707),

reconsolidated

the

Moslem empire

two

centuries

into

one great whole, which reached a degree of splendour and of

(a.d.

power almost unknown in the East.

Nothing could be more brilliant, and at
characteristic,

the

same time more

than the commencement of the architectural career of

So soon as they

these Pathans in India.

felt

themselves at

all

sure of

work to erect two great mosques in their

two principal capitals of Ajmir and Delhi, of such magnificence as
should redound to the glory of their religion and mark their triumph
A nation of soldiers equipped for conquest, and
over the idolatoi*s.
that only, they had of course brought with them neither artists nor
architects, but, like all nations of Turanian origin, they had strong
architectural instincts, and having a style of their own, they could
hardly go wrong in any architectural project they might attempt.
At the same time, they found among their new subjects an infinite
number of artists quite capable of carrying out any design that might
their conquest, they set to

be propounded to them.

In the

first

place, they

Jaina temples nearly

all

found in the colonnaded courts

that was wanted for

All that was required was the removal of the temple in

the erection of a

mihrabs

new

wall

is

when they

well

its centre,

prayed.

It is not certain, however, that they were

we

are

now

In the two instances at

referring, they determined

in addition

screen of arches in front of the Jaina pillars, and to adorn

the

and

adorned with niches

which Mecca lay,

known, they were commanded in the Koran

ever in India content with this only.

w^hich

side,

the

to point out to the faithful the direction in

towards which, as
to turn

on the west

of

a ready-made mosque.

richness

and elaboration

of

least to

to erect
it

with

a
all

carving w^hich their Indian subjects

Nothing could be more successful than

the results. There is a largeness and grandeur about the plain simple
outline of the Mahomedan arches which quite overshadows the smaller
parts of the Hindu fanes, and at the same time the ornamentation,
though applied to a greater extent than in any other known examples,
were capable of executing.

is

of

kept so

flat as

never to interfere with or break the simple outlines

the architectural construction.

surface-decoration as elaborate as
a scale.

Some

There may be other examples

this,

of

but hardly anywhere on such

parts of the interior of Sta. Sophia at

Constantinople
2

INDIAN SAKACENIC AKCHITECTURE.

500

are as beautiful, ^ bufc

at Meshita,

they are only a few square yards.

completed, might have rivalled

if

and there may be

certainly were

Chosroes and

times of

and even

Haran

it,

examples

but
in

least are

The

])alacc

a fragment

it is

Persia

^
;

between the

may have
not known to

al-Rashid, which

have perished, or at

these, but they

Book VII.

e(|ualled

us

now

they ever existed, must have been unlike these mosques.

if

In them we find a curious exemplification of some of the best qualities

by the Hindus, and practised

of the art, as exhibited previously

after-

wards by their conquerors.

Delhi.

Of the two mosques at Delhi and at Ajmir, the first named

having been begun some seven or eight years before the

earlier,

is

the

other,

It is, besides, associated with the

is also very much the larger.^
Kutub Minar, and some of the most beautiful tombs of the age, which
altogether make up a group with which nothing at Ajmir can compare.
The situation, too, of the Delhi ruins is singularly beautiful, for they

and

stand on the gentle slope of a

overlooking a plain that had once

hill,

apparently been a lake, but which afterwards becaine the site of three

In front are the ruins of Tugluck-

the East.

successive capitals of

abad, the gigantic fort of an old

Pathan chief

and further north the

covered with the ruins of Old Delhi, the capital of the

plain

is

later

Pathans and

still

earlier

Beyond

Moguls.

that, at

the distance

of

nine or ten miles, are seen the towers of Shahjehanabad, the modern
capital,

and

recently the

till

Great Mogul.

Still

nominal monarchy of the

of the

seat

further north are situated

the civil

cantonments of the British rulers of the country.

It

and

stations

is

a fortunate

circumstance that the British station was not, as at Agra, placed in

the midst of the ruins, since
tion.

But

for the

been taken for

all

it

distance,

is

to this that

we owe

their preserva-

marble columns w^ould doubtless have

purposes for which they might have been available,

with a total disregard to their beauty, and the interest of the ruins
thereby annihilated.
celebrated

Shahlimar

importance

Vide ante,
Vide ante,

in

the

vol.

ii.

vol.

i.

Even

as

gardens,

it

is,

the

which

neighbourhood

p. 444, et seqq.
p. 387, et seqq.

of

buildings belonging to

were
the

the

the

only buildings

English

station,

of

have

signed; but before the death of Altumsb,

the real builder of bolh, the
screen of arches at Delhi had been ex-

who was

do not know why Gen. Cunningshould go out of his way to prove

that the Ajmir mosque is larger than that
at Delhi (' Arehjeological Eeports,' vol. ii.
His remarks apply only to the
p. 260).

of the two mosques are nearly in the

same proportion, their whole superficial

may have
been the whole mosque as originally de-

area being 72,000 ft. at Ajmir, as compared with 152,000 ft. at Delhi.

ham

inner court at Delhi, which

tended to 380 ft. as compared with the

200 ft. at Ajmir, and the courtyards

Chap.

DELHI.

III.

disappeared

501

but these are of slight importance as compared with

the ruins further south.

The

general arrangement of the principal ruins will be understood

from the

])lan

though the

Plan of Ruins in Old Delhi.

277.

all its

(Woodcut No. 277), which was taken with great care,

which it has been necessaiy to reduce it prevents

scale to

peculiarities

from being

mind that all the

Mahomedan, architecture.

to bear in

It

is

little

(From a Plan by the Author.)

difficult to

seen.

Scale 100

To understand

pillars are of

it, it

Hindu, and

all

ft.

to

is

1 in.

necessary

the walls of

determine to w^hat extent the pillars

stand as originally arranged by the

now

Hindus, or how far they have

been taken down and re-arranged by the conquerors.

Even supposing

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

502

them

to be undisturbed,

quite evident

is

it

that

the

Book VIL
enclosing walls

were erected by the Moslems, since

all

the

with ornaments in their

all

the openings possess pointed

and

style,

Hindus never

arches, w^hich the

On

used.

stringcourses are

covered

the whole the probability

seems to be that the entire structure was re-arranged in the form we

now^ see

The

by the Mahomedans.

it

mosque

celebrated

at

Canouge

is

undoubtedly a Jaina temple, re-arranged on a plan precisely similar to

Amrou

that of the mosque of

The

and domes are

roof

Moorish

style is to

Mahomedan

of

Mandu,

all of

Old Cairo (Woodcut No. 921,

be seen internally

There

architecture.

more modern

of

at

but the exterior

purely

as

is

another mosque at Dhar, near

is

date, and, without doubt, a

re-arrangement

many

Another, in the fort at Jaunpore, as well as

of a Jaina temple.

Ahmedabad and

other mosques at

vol. ii.).

Jaina architecture, so that no trace of the

elsewhere,

all

show the same system

of

taking down and re-arranging the materials on a different plan.

If,

therefore, the pillars at the

exceptional

;^

Kutub were

in situ, the case would be

but I cannot, nevertheless, help suspecting that the two-

may

storeyed pavilions in the angles, and those behind the screen

as originally erected,
this

we

Jaina

will return

pillars

are

and some

of the others

when speaking

almost

the Ajniir

of

certainly

may

as

first

be so also

be

but to

mosque, where the

arranged.

It

is

quite

some of the pillare at the Kutub are made up

of dissimilar fragments, and w^ere placed where they now stand by
The only question and it is not a very
the builders of the mosque.
important one is, how many were so treated ? It may, however, be
necessary to explain that there could be no difficulty in taking down

certain, however, that

and rebuilding these

fitted

erections, because the joints of the pillars are all

with the precision that Hindu patience alone could give.

compartment

of the roof is

composed

of nine stones

four

Each

architraves,

four angular and one central slab (as explained in diagram No. 114,
214),

p.

exactly fitted,

all so

to be taken

down and put up

and so independent

The same

again.

of cement, as easily

is

which being honestly and fairly fitted, would

from the process of removal and re-erection.

all

The

section

(Woodcut No. 278),

colonnade (the one facing the great

Gen. OunuiiigLam found an inscrip-

of

true of the domes,

suffer

one half of

series of

no damage

the principal

arches) will explain

its

unless

Khajuiaho, excepting the Ganthai,

would not provide pillars for one half
the inner court. One temple like that at
Sadri would supply a sufficiency for the
whole mosque, and though the latter is
more modern, we have no reason for supposing that similar temples may not have

like

existed before

'

tion on the wall recording that twenty-

seven temples of the Hindus had been

pulled down to provide materials for this

mosque
p.

17G).

('

Archasological Reports,' vol.

Tliis,

however, proves

i.

little,

we know what the temples were

which were destroyed for this purTwenty-seven temples like those
pose.

at

Mahomedan

times.

Chap.

DELHI.

III.

form better than words can do.

have been mentioned

It is so purely Jaina, that it should,

perhaps,

in

Section of part of East Colonnada at

278.

forming a part

speaking of

tlie

that

Kutub, Old Delhi.

mosqne in India,

of the earliest

ately introduced

503

in this place.

The

style

Scale 25

it

to

(t.

but as

in.

more appropri-

is

the same order as

pillars are of

Mount Abu (Woodcut No. 130), except that those at

much richer and more elaborate. Most of them probably
the 11th or 12th century, and are among 'the few specimens

those used on

Delhi are
belong to
to

be found in India that seem to be overloaded with ornament.

There

inch of plain surface from the capital to the base,

not one

is

the

except

belong to

behind

pillars

older

and the

cleverly executed,

ruin so picturesque, that

is

the

buildings.

is

ornament

the

is

in their present

effect,
it

and some others which may

screen

Still

very

so

and

shai-p

so

and
with what

state of decay

difficult to find fault

In some instances the figures that were on the shafts

so beautiful.

of the pillars have been cut

Mahomedan

as offensive to

off,

with regard to idolatrous images

but on the roof and

strictness

seen parts,

less

the cross-legged figures of the Jaina saints, and other emblems of that
religion,

The

may

still

be detected.

glory of the mosque, however,

is

and south

for about

smaller arches
side-arches 21

arch

the

385

ft.,

and consisting

the central one 22

ft.

smaller

in.,

-1

arches,

ft.,

ft.

high

the larger

and about the same height as the central

which are unfortunately much ruined, are

are the foundations

Behind

of another wall

tended, apparently, to

be carried as high as the

pillars it encloses.

seems probable that the Hindu

It

and eight

of three greater

about half these dimensions (Woodcut No. 279).

distance of 32

extending north

side,

wide and 53

ft.

Hindu remains,

not in these

but in the great range of arches on the western

this, at the

but only in-

roof of

Hindu

the

between

pillars

the two screens were the only part proposed to be roofed, since some

them
them is

of

are built into the back part of the great arches,

and

all

above

quite plain and smooth, without the least trace of any inten-

tion to construct a vault or roof of any sort.

means an

essential part of a

mosque

Indeed, a roof

a wall facing Mecca

is

is

by no

all

that


INDIAN SAI^ACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

50i

and in India

required,

is

enclosure

frequently

is

that

all

is

Book Yll.

built,

though an

often added in front to protect the worshippers from in-

is

Roofed colomiades are, of course, convenient and ornamental accompaniments, yet far from being indispensable.

teri-nption.

The

of

history

this

curious as anything- about

mosque, as

told

in

constmction,

its

as

is

seems that the Afghan conquerors

had a tolerably distinct idea that pointed arches were the true form
architectural

for

openings

It

it.

but,

Central Rango of Arches at the Kiitub.

2^9,

construct

them, they

left

out the form.

indeed,

(From

a Ski-tch

science

by the Author.)

to this time

they for centuries

had never

afterwards.

courses

as

built their domes.

far as

they could,

the aqueduct at Tnsculum, shown in

This mode of constrnction

is

principle

they

upon

They carried them up in horizontal

and then closed them by long slabs

meeting at the top, the construction being, in

built arches

Accordingly,

proceeded to make the pointed openings on the same

which they

to

sufficient

Hindu architects and builders whom

own devices as to the mode of carrying

The Hindus up
did

without

tlie

they employed to follow their

nor,

being

fact, that of

Woodcut No. 178,

only feasible

when much

the arch of

vol.

i.^

The

larger stones are used

Chap.

DELHI.

III.

505

same architects were employed by their masters to ornament the faces

and this they did by copying- and repeating the ornaof these arches
ments on the pillars and friezes on the opposite sides of the court,
covering the whole with a lace-work of intricate and delicate carving,
;

such as no other mosque except that

Ajmir ever received before or

and which though perhaps
thrown away
a great measure

at

since
in

when used on such a

scale

is,

with-

out exception, the most exquisite spe-

cimen of

known

its class

The

where.

hard and

carving retains

the

good,

to exist any-

being particularly

stone

day, and

freshness to the present

its

destroyed above

only

is

the arches,

where the faulty Hindu construction

has superinduced premature decay.

The Kutub Minar,

48

ret, is

and,

base,

was 242

ft.

ft.

however,

ft.,

ft.,

which
belts

It

ornamented

is

the second

the third at 188

ft.

ft.,

from the

balconies
at

148

raised

In the

low^er storey the projecting ribs

and

flutes are alternately

circular

in

the

which
Minar of Kutub.
(From a Sketch by the Author.)

280.

angular

second circular

and in the third angular

principally of white

at

between

containing inscriptions.

form the

ft.,

and the fourth

ground

richly-sculptured

are

so
ft.,

to this to complete its

boldly-projecting

one at 97

214

ruined,

or perhaps 20

elevation.

four

was

capital

its

some 10
must be added
by

or great mina-

in diameter at the

when measured in 1794,

Even then,
in height. ^

that

original

in.

only.

Above

this

marble, with belts of

the minar

is

plain,

and

the same red sandstone of

which the three lower storeys are composed (Woodcut No. 280).

than were here employed. The consequence was that the arch had become seri-

or have fallen

the false

when I saw and sketched

has since been carefully restored by

ously crippled
it.

It

Its

Government under efficient superintendand is now as sound and complete

as when first erected.
The two great

down

in consequence of

of construction.

'Asiatic Eesearches,' vol.

present

iv.

p. 313.

height, according to Gen.

Cunningham, is (after the removal of the

modern pavilion) 238 ft. 1 in. (' Archjc-

ence,

side arches either were never completed,

mode

ological Reports,' vol

i

i.

p. 19G).

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

506

whether the angular flutings are copied from some

It is not clear

Khorasan and further westward,

peculiarity found in the minarets at

derived from the

or whether they are

The forms

Jains.

the

of

bases

lend probability to the

to

principally

temples

p. 394,

et seqq.)

would seem

Hindu

origin.

No

forms of the temples of the

Jaina

Ghazni

the minarets at

of

hypothesis

first

many

far north,

Book VII.

in

and

Mysore

elseAvhere

{ante^

to countenance the idea of their being of

forms have

star-like

yet,

however, been found so

and their destruction has been too complete

may

appear

but the star-like form of

for us to hope

Be this as it may, it is probably not

too much to assert that the Kutub Minar is the most beautiful example
of its class known to exist anywhere.
The rival that will occur at
that they

be found now.

once to most people

is

That

30

the

of

true,

is

it

is,

cathedral

poetry of

that

the campanile

alongside

and,

every moulding of the minar.

the sides had been at

of

when

seen at a distance

form

its

is

perfect, and,

It

it

crushed by the mass

is

beautiful

and exquisite

design

though

finish

of

it

is,

when viewed from

under any aspect,

is

that

it

wants

which marks

detail

might have been better

higher angle, but

by Giotto.

at Florence, built

but

taller,

ft.

if

the slope

only apparent

is

the court of the mosque

preferable to the prosaic

squareness of the outline of the Italian example.

The

only

Mahomedan

known

building

the minaret of the mosque of Hassan, at

No. 928,

vol. ii.)

building,

it

known

lookedfat as
to

pillar at

Old Delhi

taller
(p.

than this

is

389 and Woodcut

a wholly independent

is

has a far nobler appearance, and both in design and finish

only

not

far surpasses
class

but as the

to be

Cairo

me

to
if

Egyptian

its

erected for the

its

same purposes

as those usually attached

It

call

been used for that purpose

Stambha, in fact

but any building of

This, however, must not be

was not designed as a place from which the

the j^rayers, though its lower gallery may have

mosques elsewhere.

miieddin should

rival,

in the whole w^orld.

an

also,

emblem

but as a Tower of Victory

of conquest,

Jaya

which the Hindus could

only too easily understand and appreciate.

At the distance of 470 ft. north of this one a second minar was
commenced, by Ala ud-diu, of twice its dimensions, or 297 ft. in
circumference.
It was only carried up to the height of 40 ft., and
abandoned probably in consequence

government

The

to the

date of

new

all

capital of

these buildings

from the inscriptions which they

the inner court was
of arches

the

of

removal of the seat of

Tugluckabad.
is

known with

bear,^

enclosed by Shahab ud-din.

(Woodcut No. 279) was

Translated by Walter Ewer,

'

built

'

See al80

vol.

i.

appears that
central
;

range

the wings

Arch{Bologieal Reports/

Roscarehcs,' vol. xiv. p. 480.

it

The

by Kutub ud-din

Cuuniugliam,

Asiatic

sufficient exactness

from which

p. 182, et seqq.

Chap.

DELHI.

III.

by Altumsh, whose tomb

Minar

is

behind the iiorthern range, and the Kutub

Avas either built or finished

therefore,

from

a.d.

507

by the same monarcli

they extend,

1196-1235, at which date they were

left

incom-

plete in consequence of the death of the last-named king.

Iron

231.

The

One
the

of the

Kulul).

(From

a Photograpli.)

shows the extent below the

gioiinil.

most interesting objects connected with

iron pillar which

the centre of

rill.ir at
(lotted line

its

stands

-and

this

mosque

apparently always has stood

courtyard (Woodcut Xo. 281).

It

now

above the ground, and as the depth under the pavement

stands 22
is

now

is

in
ft.

ascer-


INDIAN SAllACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

508

tained to be only 20

the total heii^ht

in.,

the base

is

and

sharply and clearly

is

IG'4

in,,

is

28

wrought

ft.

The

at the capital 12*0.5 in.

Its diameter at

iii.^

capital

the

into

Book VII.

is

3J

hii^'h,

ft.

form

Persian

that

makes it look as if it belonged to an earlier period than it does

and it has the amalaka moulding, which is indicative of consider;

It has

able antiquity.

wiiat its age really

From

a date.

the form of

8rd or 4th century

an inscription upon

is

alphabet, Prinsep

its

Bhau

been yet correctly ascertained

not, however,

There

is.

same evidence,

Daji, on the

The

the 5th or beginning of the 6th century.^

My own

between the two.

Chandra Rajas

of the

conviction

Gupta dynasty,

that

is

it,

it

but without

ascribed

it

to the

the

to

end

truth probably

of
lies

belongs to one of the

either consequently to a.d.

3G:-5

or A.D. 400.

Taking a.d 400

the truth

mean

as a

date

and

it

certainly

is

not far from

opens our eyes to an unsuspected state of affairs to find

it

the Hindus at that age capable of forging a bar of iron larger than

any that have been forged even in Europe up

As we

not frequently even now.

afterwards using bars as long as this

temple at Kanaruc {ante,

much more

to a very late date,

hit in roofing

222), we must now

p.

the porch of the

believe that they were

familiar with the use of this metal than they afterwards

It is almost equally startling to find that, after

became.

and

find them, however, a few centuries

an exposure

wind and rain for fourteen centuries, it is um-usted, and the capital
and inscription are as clear and as sharp now as when put up fourteen
to

centuries ago.*

As the

it

sometimes

to

is

Cunningham published
he

stated,

diffi-

obtain correct

when Gen.

that

India,

information in
1871,

how

a curious illustration

It is

cult

inscription informs us the pillar was dedicated to Vishnu,

Reports in
apparently on the
his

'

'

authority of Mr. Cooper, Deputy Commissioner, that an excavation had been

down

a depth of 26 ft., but

without reaching the bottom. " The man
temoin oculaire
ia charge, however"
carried

"assured

to

him

that the actual depth

reached was 35 ft." Vol. i. p. 169. He

consequently estimated the whole length
at 60 ft., but fortunately ordered a new
to reach the
excavation, determined
bottom cow^e qui coute and found it at
20 inches below the surface. Vol. iv.
At a distance of a few
p. 28, pi. 5.
inchts below the surface it expands in
a bulbous form to a diameter of 2 ft.
4 in., and rests on a gridiron of iron bars,

whicli arc lastcned

witli lead

into the

stone pavement.
2

'

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.
^

'

Journal

vii. p.

629.

Bombay Branch of the Royal

Asiatic Society,' vol. x. p. 61. These

two translations .arc painfully discrepant

though agreeing sufficiently as

main facts. On the whole, I am

in detail,
to the

Bhau

Daji's the most

agree with Prinsep
in believing that the more archaic form
of the letters is owing to their being

inclined to think
correct,

though

punched with a cold chisel on the in-n,

instead of being engraved as those on
stone always were.
* There is no mistake about the pillar
being of pure iron. Gen. Cunningham
had a bit of it analysed in India by Dr.
Murray, and another portion was analysed in the School of Mines here by
Dr. Percy. Both found it pure malleable
iron without any alloy.

Chap.

DELHI.

llf.

there

doubt that

is little

summit

the

Avhich the

509

originally sap23orte:l a figure of

it

Mahomedans

of course

removed

Garuda on

but the

real

object of its erection was as a pillar of victory to record the " defeat of

the Balhikas/ near the seven mouths of the Sindhu," or Indus.

to say the least of

it,

men from

wards

It

is,

a curious coincidence, that eight centuries after-

that same Bactrian country should

Jaya Stambha ten times as

tall as

this one, in the

have erected a

same courtyard,

to

Hindus who

so

celebrate their victory over the descendants of those

long before had expelled their ancestors from the country.

Immediately behind the north-west corner of the mosque stands the

tomb

of Altumsh, the founder.

examples

of

art applied

to

medan purposes
Old Delhi
is

Though

small,

it is

one of the richest

Hindu
Mahothat

affords,

and

extremely beautiful,

though

the

builders

display a certain

still

degree of inaptness in
the

fitting

The
is

details

new

their

to

purposes.
at

effect

present

injured by the want

of a roof, which, judg-

ing from

appearance,

was never completed,

if

ever commenced.

In

addition to the beauty

of its details it is in-

teresting as being the

oldest

tomb known

exist

in

India.

to

He

died A.D. 1236.

more

beautiful

example than even this

shown on
the left hand of the
plan (Woodcut No. 277).
is

the other,

the date 1310

* Can
we have

is

282.

It

found among

Tomb at Oid D<4ui. (From

a Sketch by the Author.)

Interior of a

was erected by Ala ud-din Khilji, and

its inscriptions.

these Balhikas be the dynasty

known as the Sah kings

of Saurastra? They certainly were settled
hitherto

on the lower Indus from about the year

A.D. 79, and were expelled, accordiug to
their own dates, a.d. 261 or 371.
(See

'Journal

It is therefore about

Bombay Branch

Asiatic Society,' vol.

impression

is,

that this

prove to be the true

riddle.

viii.

of the Royal
p.

may

28.)

My

ultimately

solution of

the

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

510
a century

more modern than the other buildings

displays the Pathan style at

the

Hindu masons had

mode

in

learned to

fit

elegant

is

Its walls

and

when

changed into an octagon

The pendentives accord

decorated

are

and the
more simply

excellence,

and appropriate than any other example

with in India.

place,

their exquisite style of decora-

with a diaper pattern of unrivalled

which the square

the

of

period of greatest perfection,

its

tion to the forms of their foreign masters.

internally

Book VII.

is

am

perfectly with

acquainted
the pointed

openings in the four other faces, and are in every respect appropriately

For instance, they are rather

True, there are defects.

constructive. 1

too plain for the elaborate diapering which covers the whole of the

lower part of the building both internally and externally

ment might

but orna-

and their plainness accords with

the simplicity of the dome, which is indeed by no means worthy of
Not being pierced with windows, it seems as if
the substructure.
the architect assumed that its plainness would not be detected in the

gloom that

easily

have been added

in consequence prevails.

This building, though small

it

is

53

only

ft.

square externally,

and with an internal apartment only 34 ft. 6 in. in plan

culminating point of the Pathan style in Delhi. Nothing

had been done

wards.

marks

by them

before, nothing so ornate w^as attempted

the

so complete
after-

In the provinces wonderful buildings were erected between this

Mogul conquest, but in the capital their edifices were

more marked by solemn gloom and nakedness than by ornamentation
Externally it is a
or any of the higher graces of architectural art.
good deal damaged, but its effect is still equal to that of any building
period and the

of its class in India.

Ajmir.

Ajmir (Woodcut No. 283) was commenced appaand was certainly completed during the reign
According to tradition, it was finished in
of Altumsh, A.D. 1211-1236.^
two days and a half hence the only name by which it is now known
the " Arhai din ka Jhompra," which, if it means anything, can only
apply to the clearing away of the Pagan temples and symbols, and

The mosque

at

rently in the year 1200

the dedication of a heathen shrine to purposes of the

this instance

seems almost certain, whatever

it

Delhi, that the pillars are in situ.

down by

At

all

events,

The same form of pendeutivo is found

at Serbistan

(Woodcut No.

946, vol.

ii.),

nearly ten centuries before this time.

*

if

Faithful.

In

be the case at

they were taken

the Mahomedans, they certainly have been re-erected exactly

The

as they were originally designed to stand.^

may

Cuuningham,

'

Archsc logical

Re-

ports,' vol.
^

am

ii.

pillars, their

archi-

p. 261.

sorry to differ from Gen.

ningham on
the mosque

He

this matter.

have not

Cun-

has seen
but I have

AJMIR.

ClIAP. III.

traves, the roofing' stones,

exactly

what we

find at

511

and the domes, are

Abu and

all

of

a piece, and

so

Girnar as to leave no doubt that we

Jaina Temple, which probably

had been used by the followers of that religion for a couple of
centuries at least before it was appropriated by the conquerors.
It
see before us a part of the courtyard of a

is

only the west side, with

The
can

cloisters

its

nine domes, that

on the other three

sides are in ruins,

easily be traced

What

even now.

is

now

standing.

though their plan

remains, however,

sufficient

is

show that it must originally have been a singularly elegant specimen of its class. The pillars are taller and more slender than those
of the mosque at Delhi, but purer and more elegant in design.
The glory, however, of this mosque, as of that of the Kutub, is the
to

283,

Mosque

screen

of

(Woodcut
rival.

at Ajmir.

(Compiled from a Plan by Gen. Cunningham.)

Scale 100

ft.

to 1 in.

seven arches with which Altumsh adorned the courtyard

'No. 284).

The

Its

central arch

is

dimensions are very similar to those of

22

ft.

3 in. wide

its

the two on either side

end 10 ft. 4 in. In the centre

and on it are the ruins of two
small minarets 10 J ft. in diameter, ornamented with alternate circular
and angular flutes, as in the lower storey of the Kutub. It is not clear
13

ft.

6 in.,

and the outer one

at each

the screen rises to a height of 5G

ft.,

photographs and drawings of it, and

directed Mr. Burgess's attention espe-

as a Jaina temple, without referring to

cially to this point

when he visited it,

and the result is a conviction on my
mind that the pillars now standing arc

any possible alterations, except additions

made by Moslem architects, vol. i. p. 779,
sec also his plate, which is singularly

unaltered in arrangement.

correct.

Tod, in his

'

Annals,' treats

it

simply

INDIAN SAKACENIC AECHITECTURE.

512

whether unything of the same sort existed at Delhi

"as

the great

ni'iiar

may have

served

for

that

Book VII.

probably

purpose,

and

not,

their

introduction here looks like an afterthought, and the production of an

hand working in an unfamiliar style. Wherever and

whenever minars were afterwards introduced, preparations for them

unpractised

Great Arch in Mos'jue ut

284.

Ajiiiir.

(From a Pbotograpb.)

were always made from the foundations, and their lines are always
carried

down

to the ground, in

some shape or

This solecism,

they ought to be.

if

it

may

other, as

in

true

art

be so called, evidently

Hindus, unfamiliar Avith the style

due the fact that all the arches are constructed

arose from the architects being

and to

this also

on the horizontal

is

principle.

There

is

not a true arch in the place

Chap.

AJMIR.

III.

513

owing to their having- the command of larger stones than were

but,

available

Delhi,

at

the

arches are not here

they were

crippled, as

there before the late repairs.

It is neither,

however,

its

dimensions nor design that makes this

screen one of the most remarkable architectural objects in India, but

mode

the

in

which

it

Nothing can exceed the

decorated.

is

taste

with which the Cufic and Togra inscriptions are interwoven with the

more purely architectural decorations, or the manner in which they

life and variety to the whole, without ever interfering with the

give

As

constructive lines of the design.

surface-decoration, these
are probably unrivalled.
site

in

for

beauty

Besides

surface-decoration.

of

would

else

of Altumsh at Delhi and Ajmir

Nothing in Cairo or in Persia is so exqui-

and nothing in Spain or Syria can approach them

detail,

Nowhere

before remarked, as examples of

two mosques

it

Hindu

conception, combined with

they

this,

delicacy

of

unique.

largeness

of

ornamentation, carried

out to the same extent and in the same manner.

their historical value as the first

are

Mahomedan

be possible to find

If to

this

we add

mosques erected in India, and their

ethnographic importance as bringing out the leading characteristics

the two races in so distinct and

of

tainly

Government

of

other has

the

marked a manner, there

are cer-

no two buildings in India that better deserve the protecting care

;

the one has

been most

received

shamefully

its

share of

fair

neglected,

and

attention;

latterly

most

barbarously ill-treated.^

Owing

to the

Hindu

part being un-

and the Maliomedan part

better built and with largi r materials,
the mosque is not in the same ruinous
condition as that at the Kutub was

disturbed,

before the late repairs.

in

might

filthy

at

It

is,

however,

and neglected state, and

very slight outlay be pre-

served from further dilapidation, and

beauties very

much enhanced.

its

There

so far as I can judge, no building

in India more worthy of the attention
of Government than this. The kind of

is,

care, however, that is

bestowed upon

may be gathered from

the following ex-

it

tract from a private letter from a gentle-

high in the Government service in

Ind'a, and one perfectly well informed
as to what he was writing about " Have

man

you ever heard that some of the Hindu

pillars of the great mosque at Ajmir
were dragged from their places (I pre-

sume they were fallen pillars), and set

up as a triumphal arch on the occasion
of

Lord Muyo's

visit ?

and have you heard

that they were so insecurely converted

nobody dared to go under them, and

Lord Mayo and the inspired
of architects went round it ? "
Tiiis is
more than confirmed in a public letter by
that

that

Sir

John Strachey, Lieut.-Governor

of

the North-West Provinces, addressed to

Lord Northbrook, on 25th August last.

In

this

he speaks

of

"an

over zealous

who, not long ngn, actually

pulled down the sculptured columns of a
well-known temj^le of great antiquity "
the Arhai din ka Jhompra " with the
object of decorating a temporary triumphal arch tlirough which the Viceroy was
to pass."
He then proceeds to quote
what Kousselet says regarding our neglect of such monuments, which is not
one whit too severe.

district officer

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTUHE.

614

Book VII.

Later Pathan Style.

After the death of Ala ud-diii (a.d. 13IG) a change seems to have

come over the

Pathan

the

of

spirit

and

architects,

subse-

their

all

quent buildings, doAvn to the time of Shere Shah, a.d. 1539, exhibit a
stern simplicity of design, in

marked contrast

mentation with which they began.

from any puritanical reaction against

earlier examples, or from any political
is

now

difficult to trace

but, certain

to the elaborate orna-

It is not clear

causes, the effect of

it

is,

name

his

by a severe

^Tugiuckabad

marked

in

simplicity,

all

his

when

that

New

warrior Tugluck Shah, a.d. 1321, founded the

bears

whether this arose

quasi-Hinduism

the

buildings

it

that stern old

Delhi, which

still

characterised

are

with

contrast

the

of

which

which

those

his

predecessors erected in the capital that overlooks the plain in w^hich

his citadel

His tomb, which was finished

situated.

is

at

least,

if

not built, by his successor, instead of being situated in a garden,

as

is

usually the case, stands by itself in a strongly-fortified citadel

own, surrounded by an artificial lake.

The sloping walls
and almost Egyptian solidity of this mausoleum, combined with
the bold and massive toAvers of the fortifications that surround it,
form a model of a warrior's tomb hardly to be rivalled anywhere, and
in singular contrast with the elegant and luxuriant garden-tombs of
the more settled and peaceful dynasties that succeeded.
The change, however, of most interest from a historical point of
view is, that by the time of Tugluck Sliah's reign, the Moslems
had worked themselves entirely free from Hindu influence. In his
of

its

buildings

the

all

arches

true

are

for the place where they are found.

appropriate

more

indeed

so,

Jumna

if

arches

the

all

His tomb, in

details

invented

would be as

fact,

found in the valley of the Nile than

and from that time forward Mahomedan architecture in India was a new and complete style in itself,
and developed according to the natural and inevitable sequences of
on the banks

true styles in

of

all

the

parts of the world.

mosques,

they

materials

when they

turesque

frequently,

effect.

four pillars only,

adopt with the

placed
a

as

circular

to

that in their tombs, as well as in their

nevertheless,

It is true,

w^ere

Many

to

save

available,

themseh'es

trouble,

used

and often with the

Hindu

most

these

pillars

supi^ort

the

Jaina arrangement of twelve

an octagonal framework,

basement for a dome.

This, as

easily

before

pillars,

is

so

moulded into

observed,

is

arrangement of the tomb at Mylassa, and the formative idea of

that

pic-

compound edifices are composed of

surmounted by a small dome but frequently they
of

the
all

beautiful in the plans of Jaina buildings in India.

One example must

suffice

to explain the effect of

these buildings

Chap.

LATER PATHAN STYLE.

III.

At

(Woodcut No. 285).

the substracture

the

design

would be

sight the

first

ojDcn

If

it.

to

dome

the whole

effect of

to find fault with

difficult

is

but the

all

criticism

515

looks rather heavy for

is

so picturesque that

it

the materials were original,

when

but,

portion

is

may

avowedly borrowed, a slight want of balance between the parts

be excused.

There are several examples of tombs of this sort at the Bakaraya

Kund

Benares,

in

made up from Jaina materials ;^ and,

Mahomedans fairly settled themselves on a site

evidently

indeed, wherever the

previously occupied by the Jains, such combinations are frequent

no attempt

285.

is

ever

Pathan

made

Tomb

(From

at Shepree, near Gualior.

those belonging to the

are of the age in

to assimilate the parts that are

Hindu

style

a Sketch

but

Mahomedan with

by the Author.

which they are employing

which the tomb or mosque was

built,

and that

they
age,

consequently, easily recognisable by any one familiar with the style.

The

usual form of a Pathan

tomb

will

be better understood from

the following woodcut (No. 286), representing a nameless

among
sists of

the hundreds that

still

sepulchre

strew the plains of Old Delhi.

an octagonal apartment, about 50

ft.

It con-

in diameter, surrounded

by a verandah following the same form, each face being ornamented

^

'

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

plans, pis. 7

and

8,

can see anything in

Bengal,' vol. xxxiv. p. 1, et seqq., pis. 1-8.

It is to me inconceivable that any one

them but the usual tomb of a Mahomedan

looking at these plates, especially the

panying mosque.

noble of the 15th century with

2 L

its

'>

accom-

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

516

by three arches
Pathans, and

of tlie stilted pointed

it

is

Book VII.

form generally adopted by the

supported by double square columns, which are

almost as universal with them as this form of arch.

It is a

so altered

form evidently borrowed from the square pier

and

so simplified, that

it

requires

its

series of

with that of

Pathan tombs

Shere

No. 287), the last

most illustrious of
situated

to recognise

new combination.

origin in its

The

of the Jains, but

some ingenuity

closes

(Woodcut
but one and the

Shah

his

race.

It

on a square terrace in

is

the

middle of a large tank, near Sasseram,

in

Shahabad, and,

and

its

design,

])icturesquc object
Its
287.

Tomb

of Sliere

No

Shah

scale.

gallery,

10

ft.

from

now

its

locality

singularly

(Woodcut No. 288).

dimensions too are considerable.^

at Sasserain.

Its base

side

is

is

an octagon,

externally.

In

5-1

the

ft.

on each

interior

wide, surrounds the central apartment, which

is

sur-

These diuicDslous are tukcu from the text and a plan of the building in Mont-

LATER PATHAN STYLE.

Chap. Ill

517

mounted by a dome G5 ft. in diameter, beneath which stands the

tomb of tlie founder and of some of his favourite companions in
arms.

On

the exterior, the terrace on which

it

stands

is

ornamented by

bold octagonal pavilions in the angles, which support

the central dome, and the

round the drum

monotony

of

there

of the

Altogether, as a royal

few that surpass

are

dome, and the dome

itself,

the composition Avithout detracting from

apparent solemnity.

or appropriateness

of

appropriately

bracketed kiosks between them break

In the same manner the octagonal kiosks that

pleasingly the outline.

cluster

little

detail.

it

tomb

in India, either

Originally

it

its

relieve the

solidity or

of the second class,

for beauty of outline

was connected with the

mainland by a bridge, which fortunately was broken down before the

gomery Martin's edition of Buchanan

Hamilton's Statistical Account of Shahal)ad,' vol. i. p. 425.
Tlic plan is, how-

'

ever, so badly drawn that

be reproduced.

it

can hardly

INDIAN SAKACP:NIC ARCHITECTURE,

518

But

grand trunk road passed near.

for this,

Book VII.

would probably have

it

been utilised before now.

The mosques of the Pathans bore the same

The so-called Kala Musjid in the present city
according to an inscription on
unlike the

aspect as their tombs.

its walls, in a.d. ];->89, is

tomb (Woodcut No.

and

of Delhi,

finished,

in a style not

28G), but more massive, and even less

This severe simplicity seems to have been the charac-

ornamented.
teristic of the

protest of the

latter part of the

14th century, and

more puritanical Moslem

may have been

spirit against the

Hindu exu-

berance which characterised both the 13th and the loth centuries.

and the late Pathan style of Delhi was

and certainly far more appropriate for the purposes

reaction, however, took place,

hardly
to

rich,

less

which

it

was devoted than the

as

style,

first

exhibited

in

the

buildings at the Kutub.

This, however, was principally owing to the exceptional splendour
of the reign of Shere Shah, who, however,

and in association with the

so

is

mixed up both in date

Moguls, that

earlier

it

is

difficult to dis-

Though Baber practically conquered India

successor, Humayun, was defeated and driven from

criminate between them.

in A.D. 1494, his

the throne by Shere Shah in a.d. 1540, and

that the

The

Mogul dynasty was

style consequently of

finally

the

first

it was only in
and securely established

At

this

mental,

and

it

was

w^ell

1554

at Delhi.

the 16th century

half of

considered as the last expiring effort of the Pathans, or the

of that of the great Moguls,

a.d.

may be
dawn

first

w^orthy of either.

age the fa9ades of these mosques became far more orna-

and more

frequently

encrusted with

marbles,

adorned with sculpture of a rich and beautiful character

by

of the buildings were also relieved

richly bracketed pillars, but

little

and
;

always

the angles

kiosks, supported

by four

never with minarets, which, so far as I

know, were not attached to mosques during the Pathan period.

The

attempt at Ajmir, I

made from the

do not know a

for such a purpose,

though they were, as we know, universal in Egypt

call

and

to

prayer was

elsewhere

indispensable

long

before

this

in the buildings of

The Pathans seem

roof

and, except the

first

rude

single instance of a minaret built

and

time,

Avere

considered

nearly

the Moguls very shortly afterwards.

to have regarded the

minar

as the Italians

viewed

the Campanile, more as a symbol of power and of victory than as an

adjunct to a house of worship.

The body of the mosque became generally an oblong hall, with a

dome flanked by two others of the same horizontal dimensions,

central

but not so

lofty,

and separated from

it

by a broad bold arch, the

mouldings and decorations of Avhich formed one of the principal orna-

ments

of the building.

The pendentives were even more remarkable than

elaborateness of detail.

Their forms are so various that

the arches for

it

is

impossible

Chap.

LATER PATHAN STYLE.

III.

519

them perhaps the most usual is that represented

Woodcut No. 289, where the angle is filled up with a number of

to classify or describe

in

small imitations of arches, bracketing out one beyond the other.

of

It

form that was afterwards converted into the honeycomb work

the Arabs in Spain.

was

this

mm
Penclcntive from

289.

at OUl Delh'.

(From a Sketch by

tlie

Author.)

were not that the buildings of the Pathans are so completely

If it

eclipsed

Mosque

by the greater splendour

succeeded them in their

own

of those of the

Mogul dynasty, which

would have attracted

more attention than has hitherto been bestowed upon it and its
monograph would be as interesting as any that the Indian-Saracenic
affords.
In its first period the style w^as characterised by all the
richness which Hindu elaboration could bestow
in the second by a
capitals, their style

stern simplicity

and grandeur much more appropriate, according to

our ideas, to the spirit of the people

existence,

by a return

to the

period every detail was fitted to

the

Hindu except

in

his

and during the

elaborateness of
its

place and

delicacy,

latter part of its

the past

its

and we recognise

development one of the completed architectural

but at this

purpose.
in

We

forget

this

styles of the world.

last

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTUKE.

520

CfJAPTEK

Book VII.

IV.

JAUNPORE.
CONTENTS.

Mosques

of

Junima Musjid nnd Lall Dui-waza.

CHRONOLOGY.
Khoja Jeban assiimos independence
Jaunpore
Mubarick, his son

Mahmud

at

,D.

A.D. 1397

Husain Shah

1400

deposed

Shems ud din -Ibrahim Shah

1441

1451
arnl

seeks rifuge at Gaur.

1478

1401

It was just two centuries after the conquest of India by the Moslems
that

Khoja Jehan, the Soubahdar

or

governor of the province in

assumed independence, and established a

dynasty which maintained itself for nearly a century, from a.d. 1397
to about 1478, and though then reconquered by the sovereign of
which Jaunpore

Delhi,

still

is

situated,

retained a

sort

of

semi-independence

porated in the Mogul empire by the great Akbar.

till

finally

During

incor-

this period

Jaunpore was adorned by several large mosques, three of which

still

and a considerable number of tombs, palaces,

and other buildings, besides a fort and bridge, all of which are as
remarkable specimens of their class of architecture as are to be found

remain tolerably

entire,

anywhere in India.

Although so long after the time when under Ala ud-din and Tugluck
Shah the architecture of the capital had assumed something like completeness, it is curious to observe how imperfect the amalgamation
was in the provinces at the time when the principal buildings at Jaunpore were erected.

The

principal parts of the mosques, such as the

gateways, the great halls, and the western parts generally, are in a

complete arcuate

style.

Wherever indeed wide openings and large

and domes and radiating vaults

internal spaces were wanted, arches

were employed, and there

is

little

in those parts to distinguish this

architecture from that of the capitals.

Bat

round the

in

pillars

are

architraves,

in

courts,

as

and in the

generally

in the cloisters that sur-

the

interior,

employed, with bracket

and roofs formed

Hindu and Jaina

galleries

of flat slabs, as

temples.

Instead

of

short

capitals,

square

horizontal

was invariably the case

being fused together, as

they afterwards became, the arcuate style of the Moslems stands here,

though in juxtaposition, in such marked contrast

to the trabeate style

JAUNPORE.

Chap. 1Y.
of

the Hindus, that

521

some authors have been

pillared parts belonged to ancient Jaina or

led to suppose that the

Buddhist monuments^ which

had been appropriated by the Mahomedans and converted

their

to

The truth of the matter appears to be, that the greater

part of the Mahomedans in the province at the time the mosques were
built were Hindus converted to that religion, and who still clung to
and
their native forms when these did not clash with their new faith
purposes.^

those whose

the masons were almost certainly

them much more

taste inclined

newly-introduced arched

As we

to the old trabeate forms

and whose
than to the

style.

shall presently see

style prevailed

traditions

from the

at

Gaur, on the one hand, the arched

because the builders had no other ma-

first,

than brick, and large openings were then impossible without

terial

At Ahmedabad, on the other hand,

arches.

an

in

Jaina

essentially

country, and where stone was abundant, the pillared forms were not

only as commonly employed, as at

Jaunpore, but were used for so

long a time, that before the country was absorbed in the

empire,

Mogul

amalgamation between the trabeate and arcuate

the

forms

was complete.

The

mosque

at

Jaunpore

from an inscription on

it,

w^as

oldest

barely

100

ft.

is

that in the fort, which

completed in a.d. 1398.

north and south

and

consists of a central block of

masonry, with a large archway, of the usual style of the

architecture of the period,

The

hand.

and

rows of

front

five

these

we learn

It is not large

Mahomedan

openings between pillars on either

pillars

are

richly

sculptured,

and

were evidently taken from some temple that existed there, or in the
neighbourhood, before the Moslem occupation, but they seem to have
exhausted the stock, as no other such are found in any of the mosques
built subsequently.^

There are three great mosques

the grandest

is

the

Jumma

still

standing in the city

of these

Musjid (Woodcuts Nos. 200, 291), or Friday

^
The first to sug:gest this was the
Baron Hiigel, though his knowledge of
the subject was so flight that his opinion
would not have hud much weight. The
idea was, however, taken up afterwards
and warmly advocated by the late Mr.
Home, B.C.S., and the Rev. Mr. Sberring,

they

mean

Buddliist or

Jaina,

any

thougli
historical

they
or

say
other

evidence that will bear a moment's examination. There may have been some

Jaina or Hindu buildings at Jaunpore

of the 13th or 14th centuries that may

have been utilised by the Mahomedans,

in a series of papers in the 'Journal of

but certainly nine-tenths at least of the

the Asiatic Society of Bengal,'

pillars in these

p.

1,

et

work on
p.

283,

seqq.,
'

The
and

and by the

vol.

xxxiv.

latter in Lis

sacred city of the Hindus,'

elsewhere.

They have

hitherto failed to adduce a single ex-

ample of similar pillars existing in any

authentic Buddhist or Jaina building

the time they

places they

now

mosques were made at

were required for the
occupy.

view of this mosque will be found

in Kittoe's
Indian Architecture,' but,
unfortunately, no plan or dimensions.
That quoted in the text is from memory.
^

'

INDIAN SAEACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

522

Book VII.

Mosque, which was commenced by Shah Ibrahim, a.u. 1410, but uot
com23leted

293.

till

the reign of Husaiu, a.d. 1451-1478.

Plan of Western Half of Courtyard of

Jumma

Scale 100

291.

View

of lateral

courtyard 220

ft.

Gateway

of

by 214

Jumma
ft.,

Musjid, Jaunpore.
It.

Mutijid,

to

It consists

of

(From a I'Uu by the Author.)

1 in.

Jaunpore.

{hvom

Drawing uy ihe Author.)

on the western side of which

is

range of buildings, the central one covered by a dome 40

situated a
ft.

in dia-

JAUNPORE.

Chap. IV.

523

meter, in front of Avhich stands a gate pyramid or propylon^ of almost

Egyptian mass and outline, rising to the height of 8G

pyramid by

its

a feature as

little

the

capital

city

elevation supplied the place

known

at Jaunpore, as

Delhi.

of

On

it

of

and beyond

Lall

292.

this,

on each

each side of

side, is

Durwaza ilcsque, Jaunpore.

(From

covered by a bold pointed vault with

the

dome

floor

is

comon

supported

by 50

ft..

constructed that

its

an apartment 40

is

was, at the same age, in

partment divided into two storeys by a stone

pillars

This gate

ft.

a minaret, which

ft.

Drawing by the Author.;

ribs,

so

upper surface forms the external roof of the building, which in Gothic
is scarcely ever the case.
The tlu'ee sides of the courtyard were
surrounded by double colonnades, two storeys in height internally,
but with three on the exterior, the floor of the courtyard being raised
to the height of the lower storey.
On each face Avas a handsome gate-

vaults

way
^

one of Avhich

A view

of

it,

is

represented in

but not a good one,

seen in \yoo<leut No. 291.

is

Woodcut Xo. 291, which

givcu in Dauiell's plates.

gives

It is partially


INDIAN SARACENIC AKCHITECTUllE.

524

a fair idea of the style

the greater part of the eastern side of the

down and removed by

court has been taken

and bridges,

station-roads

Book VII.

which in

for

English to repair

the

their estimation these pillars

are admirably adapted.

The smallest of the mosques in the city is the Lall Durwaza or

Red Gate. It is in the same style as the others and its propylon
displays not only the bold massiverepresented in Woodcut No. 292
;

ness

with which these mosques were erected, but shows

Hindu and Mahomedan

strange admixture of

vaded the

Of

style

all

during the whole period of

rows are single square

almost at

All this

so like a

is

is

by a

below the

Jumma

ment common enough

outer

cells

opening

that one might

Musjid the
of

it

open outwardly, and

cells

the

mosque

an

arrange-

in Buddhist,

purely

Saracenic,

and the western face

adorned by three propylons similar to that represented in the

woodcut, but richer and more beautiful, while

any other specimen

roofs are superior to

was

remark, however, that

however, which are the principal ornaments

are

court,

series of

failed to

courtyard

slabs,

of

two storeys in

Mahomedan, but never found

in

Its gateways,

buildings.

the

the

of

level

roof

is

it

Baron Hugel, to fancy

He

originally a Buddhist monastery.

both here and in the

three intermediate

flat

Hindu arrangement

sight be tempted, like

first

Externally, too,

height, the lower storey being occupied

outwardly.

The

pillars.

columns, supporting

arranged as in Jaina temples.

of

Musjid

The colonnades surrounding

court are four aisles in depth, the outer columns, as well as those

next the court, being double square

are

continuance.

the mosques remaining at Jaunpore, the Atala

the most ornate and the most beautiful.

its

its

that

also

architecture which per-

of

They

acquainted with of so early an age.

domes and

interior

its

Mahomedan
are,

is

last

art

am

perhaps, more

too,

striking here, because, though in juxtaposition with the .quasi-Hindu-

ism of

the

architects

court,

in

as

they exhibit the arched

great

degree

Saracenic

the

of

style

completeness as

of

exhibited at

it

any subsequent period.

The

other buildings hardly require particular mention, though, as

two styles, these Jaunpore examples

and in themselves possess a simplicity

transition specimens between the

are well worthy of illustration,

and grandeur not often met with

strength, moreover,
is

is

in

this

An

style.

appearance of

imparted to them by their sloping walls, Avhich

foreign to our general conception of Saracenic art, though at

luckabad and elsewhere

Among
teristic

it

is

the Pathans of India the expression of strength

of

the

as

style

massiveness

is

of

that

of

the

is

Tug-

Jaunpore.

carried even further than at

as charac-

Normans

in

found conjoined with a degree of refinement

seldom met with e^.sew^here, and totally free from the coarseness which
England.

In India

it

is

in other countries usually besets vigour

and boldness

of design.


JAUNPORE.

Chap. IV.

The
capital

peculiarities

this

of

style

525

by no means confined

are

In the suburbs of

the examples are frequent.

at Benares

at a place called the

Bakaraya Kund,^ there

mentioned above, and

belonging

buildings

other

The kingdom

Jaunpore

of

is

to

Moslems,

the

and

style,

tombs and shrines

also rich in little

which the Moslems have used up Hindu and Jaina

rearranging them after their oAvn fashion.

that city,

a group of tombs, as

is

which are singularly pleasing specimens of the Jaunpore

certainly belong to the same age as those just described.
in

to the

they prevail at Gazeepore, and as far north as Canonge, while

pillars,

merely

These, of course, will not

bear criticism as architectural designs, but there

is

always something

them as fairly to extort admiration.

The principal example of this compound style is a mosque at
Canouge, known popularly as " Sita ka Rasui," " Sita's kitchen." It
is a Jaina temple, rearranged as a mosque, in the manner described
It measures externally 133 ft. by 120 ft.
at pp. 263-4.
The mosque
itself has four rows of fifteen columns each, and three domes.
The
cloisters surrounding the court are only two rows in depth, and
had originally sixty-eight pillars, smaller t'han those of the mosque.
indescribably picturesque

so

Externally

it

has

no

great

picturesque and pleasing.

cipal

gateway,

about

conversion

its

but

beauty,

its

pillared

court

According to an inscription over

was

effected

by

Ibrahim

is

its

very
prin-

Shah,

of

Jaunpore, a.d. 1406.^

At a

later age,

and even

after

it

had

lost its

independence, several

important buildings were erected in the capital and in other towns

the

of
is

kingdom

now known,

work

'

in the style of the day

but none of these, so far as

are of sufficient importance to require notice in such a

as the present.

If the buildings

Kund had
miles of

of the

been found

Bakaraya

M'ithin

twenty

Ahmedabad, where there

same

are

dozens exactly like them, they would

hardly have deserved a passing remark.
Any one familiar with the style would
have assigned them a date a.d. 1450, or
thereabouts and would hardly have
troubled himself to inquire who built

them, they are so like

2

all others of the

age.

General Cunningham's 'Reports' for

vol. i. p. 287.
From this I learn
the pillars surrounding the court
on three sides have been removed since

1862-63,
tiiat

saw them

in 1836

not by the English.

this time, however,

INDIAN SAKACENIC ARC HITECTUHE.

5-0

CHAPTEll

Book VII.

V.

GUJERAT.
CONTENTS.

Jiimma Musjid

aiul other

Mosques

aud Butwa

at

Ahmedabad

Tombs and Mosques at Sirkej

Buildings in the Provinces.

CHRONOLOGY.

MuzafFar

Shah,

Mahmiul Shah Begurra

appointed

ll.ijput,

Viceroy

Ahmed

a.d. 139i

Shah, his grandson, founds Ah-

Of

Bahadur Shah murdered by Portuguese

1526

Muzaffar Shah III

1561

1443

Gujerat becomes a province of Akbar's

war with Rana Khumbo.

1454

that

1583

considered as the most

most characteristic

the

is

so essentially Indian,

is

kingdom

which the Saracenic architecture assumed in

certainly

it

Ahmedabad may probably be

of

elegant, as

form

1459

1511

1411
the Merciful

the various forms

India,

a.d.

II.

medabad

Mohammed Shah
Kutub Shah

Muzaffar Shah

and no one

tells

of

its tale

all.

No

other

with the same

unmistakable distinctness.

As mentioned above, the Mahomedans, in the first century of the

made a brilliant attempt to conquer Scinde and Gujerat, and

Hejira,

apparently succeeded

but the country was so populous, and

tion so great, that the invaders were absorbed,

its civiliza-

and soon disappeared from

the scene.

Mahmud
manent mark

Ghazni next overran the province, but

of

and even

after the fall of

maintained the struggle for independence for

till

verted

Rajput, of the

was only on the eve

Tak

clan, to

nearly

The next two

the

be his viceroy.

of the troubles caused

lane, and, mutato domino, Gujerat

two centuries

whole, however, their power

increase

till

the

may

of

Tamer-

remained as independent as before.

during
were spent

centuries

throne

This, however,

by the invasion

Ahmed

Shahi dynasty

continual wars

and struggles

which the
in

with their refractory vassals and the neighbouring

the

no per-

Feroze Tugluck, in a.d. 1801, appointed Muzaffar, a con-

longer,

occupied

left

Delhi (a.d. 11 G) Gujerat

chiefs.

On

the

be said to have been gradually on

death of Bahadur, a.d.

1536, but they never

wholly subdued the rebellious spirit of their subjects, and certainly

never converted the bulk of them to their faith.
this,

As

the princijial buildings with which this chapter

a consequence of
is

concerned are

GUJERAT.

Chap. V.
to

be found in the capital and

Hindus followed

that the

though in such large

Cambay

of worship,

of course, possessed places

and

built temples as before

some

them

of

Mahomedans,

or Baroach the

made up from

importance, and generally

Beyond

immediate proximity.

its

their old faith

cities as

527

considerable

of

borrowed from Hindu

pillars

buildings.

In Ahmedabad
be

every detail

Even the mosques

truth of the matter

in India,
to

knew

combines
a

the

to

inserted, not because

is

was a symbol

of

it

the faith,

is

generally w^anting.

The

Mahomedans had

forced themselves

upon

this

civilized and most essentially building race at that time

and the Chalukyas conquered their conquerors, and forced
adopt forms and ornaments w^liich were superior to any the

the most

invaders

is,

it

influence continued

Hindu, or rather Jaina, in

are

only here and there an arch

was wanted constructively, but because

while in their tombs and palaces even

them

Hindu

however, the

itself,

throughout..

felt

certain

or could have introduced.

The

result

is

a style which

the elegance and finish of Jaina or Chalukyan art, with

all

largeness

which

attained, but

Avere subjecting all

conception which

of
is

characteristic of

the

Hindu never quite

who at this time

the people

India to their sway.

Mahomedan power was Anhilwarra, the old

and which, at the time it fell into their power,
must have been one of the most splendid cities of the East. Little
now remains of all its magnificence, if we may trust what is said by
The

seat of the

first

capital of the Rajputs,

recent travellers

who have

visited its deserted palaces.

Ahmed, the

second king, removed the seat of power to a town called

wutti, afterwards

known

Ahmedabad, from the name

as

Kurna-

of its second

founder, and which, with characteristic activity, he set about adorning

with splendid

edifices.

Of these the principal was the

which, though not remarkable for

mosques in the East.

arrangement

Its

next plan (Woodcut No. 293).

over

all

externally

the mosque

consequently about 20,000

pillars,

its size, is

sq. ft.

will

Jumma

Musjid,

one of the most beautiful

be understood from the

dimensions are 382

ft. by 258 ft.

by 95 ft., covering
Within the mosque itself are 200

Its

itself

being 210

ft.

supporting fifteen domes arranged symmetrically, the centre

somewhat larger and considerably higher than the

is compared with that of the temple at Sadri
(Woodcut No. 133), which was being erected at the same time by
Khumbo Rana within 160 miles of Ahmedabad, it will afford a fair
means of comparison between the Jaina and Mahomedan arrangements of that day. The form of the pillars and the details generally
are practically the same in both buildings, the Hindu being somewhat
In plan, the mosque looks monotonous as
richer and more elaborate.
three alone being
others.

If

the plan

compared with the temple

but this

is

redeemed, to some extent, by

the different heights of the domes, as shown in the elevation

(Wood-

INDIAN SAKACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

528

Book Vil.

cut No. 294), and by the elevation of each division being studiously
varied.

My own

there

a sobriety about the plan of the mosque which, after

is

be in better

feeling is in favour of the poetry of the temple, but

taste.

Both

plans,

it

all,

may

need hardly be remarked, are

in-

Di

293.

rian of Jmunia Mu!^jid, AhineJabad.

'29-t.

Elevation of

finitely superior to the

The

latter

are

tliLi

monotony

architecture.

it

Scale 50

ft.

ft.

to

in.

to 1 in.

1000 pillars.
and the amount of labour

of the southern halls of

remarkable for their

bestowed u])on them, but

good

Jumniu Mu-jid.

S ale 100

size

retpiircs

more than

this

to

constitute

GUJEEAT.

Chap. V.

529

The general character of the elevation will be understood from the

woodcut No. 294, bat unfortunately its minarets -are gone. When
Forbes ^ drew it, they were still standing, and Avere celebrated in
Eastern story as the shaking minarets of

Ahmedabad

an earthquake

1818 shook them

too much, but there are

in

A.D.

several others

stand-

still

ing in the city from which

form can

their

easily

be

restored.

The

plan and

extension

Musjid

The
the

lateral

Jumma

the

of

Flan of the Queen's Mosque, Mirzapore.

Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

exceptional.

are

form taken by
mosques at Ahmedusual

abad

that

w^as

the

of

Queen's Mosque at Mirza-

and consists of three

domes standing on twelve
pore,

pillars

with

each,

the
Z9o.

central
to

part

so

raised

admit light to the

terior.

The mode

in

the annexed diagram

Section of

297.

Elevation of the Qne'

Scale 50

as

ii's

Mosque, Mirzapore.

ft. to 1 in.

in-

this was effected will be understood from

(Woodcut No. 297). The pillars wliich support

which

Diagram exp anatory

of the

Mosques

at

Ahmedabad.

domes are twice as high as those of the side domes, and

two rows of dwarf columns stand on the roof to make up the height.

the central

See plate in Forbes'

'

Oriental Memoirs,' vol

iii.

cli.

xxx.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

630

In front of these internally

is

a solid balustrade, which

Thus arranged,

most richly ornamented by carving.

amount

ceived that

the

drum

Byzantine dome, but in a more

of

necessary

Book VII.

light

of

it

generally

is

be per-

Avill

introduced, as in the

is

artistic

The

manner.

sun's rays can never fall on the floor, or even so low as the head of

any one standing there. The light is reflected from the external
roof into the dome, and perfect ventilation is obtained, with the
most pleasing
to

mosques a

dreaded contingency, in most of

last

These

columns.

these

stonework was introduced between

perforated

of

dwarf

outer

the

the

screen

In order further

illumination without glare.

effect of

guard against

screens

were

frequently

of

the

most exquisite beauty, and in consequence have very generally been

removed.

There are three or four mosques at Ahmedabad, built on the same

pattern as that last described, but as the

style progressed

it

became

more and more Indian. The arches in front were frequently omitted,
and only a screen of columns appeared, supported by two minarets,
This system was carried to

one at each angle.

from the

Sirkej, about five miles

commenced
of

Ahmed

this

tomb (A on Woodcut No. 208) here, in honour

the friend and adviser of his father.
Buksh,
Gunj
The

may

be judged of from the w^oodcut (No.' 299,

532), representing the pavilion

tomb

greatest extent at

Shah, in a.d. 1445,

erecting a

style of these buildings

page

its

Mohammed

city.

(I in

Woodcut No.

298).

of

They

sixteen

pillars

in

front

of

are of the usual simple out-

the shafts square, and with no

ornament except a countersinking on the angles, and crowned wdth

line of the style

square base

tall,

The building

a moderately projecting bracket-capital.

nine

domes, insignificant

small

and externally forming

in

as pleasing

but

themselves,

mode

is

roofing

of

roofed with

both

applied to such a small detached building of this class.

internally

as

ever was

The mosque

(D) was completed in a.d. 1451, and Mahnuid Begurra added afterwards a tomb for himself (B) and one for his wife Bajbaie (C). AYith
their accompanying palaces and tombs these make up one of the most
important groups in the neighbourhood.
without a single arch
of the

all

The

Avholc

are constructed

the pillars have the usual bracket capitals

all the domes are on the horizontal principle.

In
tomb an attempt has been made to get a larger dome than

Hindus, and

the large

the usual octagonal arrangement would admit

cessfully.

The octagon does not accord with

of,

but not quite suc-

the

substructure,

and

either wider spaces ought to have been introduced or a polygon of a

greater

number

of

sides employed.

The moscjue

is

the perfection of

an improvement on the plan of the Jumma

Musjid.
There are five domes in a line, as there, but they are placed
nearer to one another, and though of greater diameter the width of

elegant simplicity,

the whole

is

less,

and

is

and they are only two ranges in depth.

Except the

GUJERAT.

Chap. V.

208.

Plan of

Tombs and Mosque

at Sirkej.

(From a Sketch by T.

531

C,

Hope, Esq.) Scale 100

ft.

to

1 in.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

532

Pavilion in front of

299.

Tomb

Book YIF.

at Sirkej.

Mootee Musjid at Agra, to be described hereafter, there

in India more remarkable for simple elegance than this.
Besides
there

are

these

is

no mosque
mosques

larger

ones

smaller

several

great beauty, of Avhich two

Sipri

are

vation of

and

it

the

first

is

details are exquisite,

its

retains

its

minarets, which

As

will be

as

well as

too seldom the case.

seen from the woodcut,

from

those

of

the

Queen's Mosques
the

bases

Mosque

at Moohafiz Khan.
ft. to 1 in.

Scale 25

at Chandravati
all

or

Hindu temples

the minarets

Hindu architecture
at Ahmedabad are

more nor
.500,

Jumma and

(Nos. 294, 296),

lower part of

of pure

less

all

is

the

neither

than the perpendicular

parts of the basement of

Jaina

Rani

The eleby no means

pre-eminent.
the

happy, but

is

Khan and

Moohafiz

of

of

those

temples

Hindu

elongated.

or

Every

form and every detail may be found

Abu, except in one particular on the angles of
are niches

containing images.

This the Moslem

OUJERAT.

Chap. V.

could not
the

he

tolerate, so

the

of

2^rogress

Musjid, through

Mosque

patterns of the Queen's

own

any part

class,

of

We

tracery.

all

its

at Mirzapore.

which

rience they produced forms

their

them with

filled

can follow

development of this form, from the

Jumma

attempt in the

533

first

rude

stages to the exquisite

After a century's expe-

as architectural

ornaments

will,

in

stand comparison with any employed in any age or in

the world

and in doing

they invented a

this

window-tracery in which they were also

class

of

The specimen

unrivalled.

below (Woodcut No. 301), from a window in a desecrated mosque

in the palace (the

Wiuilow

and

grace.

vegetable

in

Bhudder)

Bhudder

at

will

C3nvey an idea of

Abm.dab^d.

(From a Piiotogiaph by

its

elaborateness

Colouel Biggs.)

It would be difficult to excel the skill with which the

forms are conventionalised just to the extent required for

the purpose.
The equal spacing also of the subject by the three ordinary trees and four palms, takes it out of the category of direct imitation of nature,

and renders

but perhaps the greatest

it

sufficiently structural for its situation

manner in which
the pattern is spread over the whole surface.
There are some exquisite specimens of tracery in precious marbles at Agra and Delhi, but
none quite equal to

Above the

skill is

shown

in the even

this.

roof of

the mosques

the

minarets are always round

towers slightly tapering, as in the mosque of Moohafiz

cut No. 300), relieved

by

galleries

displaying

great

Khan (Woodrichness in the


INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

534

Book VIL

them as well as in the balustrades which

The tower always terminates in a conical top relieved
disks.
They are, so far as I know, the only minarets

brackets which support

protect them.

by various

belonging to mosques which surpass those of Cairo in beauty of outline

or richness

which

only

excepting those of the Eani Sipri mosque,

more beautiful. Indeed, that mosque is the most
Ahmedabad, both in plan and detail. It is without

detail,

still

gem

exquisite
arches,

of

are

at

and every part

Hindu

artists

is

such as only a Hindu queen could order, and

could carve.^

Tombs.

Knowing

the style,

The

of the tombs.
T3

difficult to predicate the

Abu Tourab

form

an octa-

ET

E]

131

would not be

it

simplest would be that of

FT
m p

JJL

Tomb

of Meer Abu T. urab.

Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

gonal
pillars,

side,

dome

supported

and

this extended

and

in

the

Jaina
latter

the

of

between

arrangement
is

diagonal

The

faces.

and

this

that

the

No.

303.

Plan and Eleva ion of

Not,

apparent at a glance.

it

is

true, in so small

that last quoted, but in the tombs at Sirkej

effect is so

monotonous

Jains this never

is

that

the octagonal

of Syad

to 1 in.

an arrangement as

almost to become unpleasing.

as

Besides the monotony of the square plan,

Syad Osmiln,

Tomb

ft.

(Woodcut No. 298), the

the case, however numerous the pillars

as already pointed out

to its supports.

Scale 50

Osnitlii.

The
Hindu mode is

119), while these are square.

superiority of the

the

(Woodcut

is

r/

being

entrances

the

centre

difference

twelve

on every

remaining

always

but

square,

on

it

was

dome

With

may

felt at

fitted

the

be.

Sirkej

aAvkwardly on

This was remedied, to a great extent, in the tomb of

built in a.d.

4G0 by

'
As it is inipos.siblo by a woodcut to
convey an impression of tlie beauty of
is
referred
tliefcc mosques, Ihe reader

Mahmud
to

Begurra.

In this instance

the photographs of 'Architecture of

Ahmedabad,' &c.

GUJEKAT: TOMBS.

Chap. V.
the base of the
variety

of

a dodecagon, and a very considerable

is

obtained by grouping the pillars

is

and by the

dome

added

to

perspective

in

the

inclose

and when the screens

it was altogether
the

square,

central

most successful sepulchral design carried out in the pillared

Ahmedabad.
Towards the end

their

of

the

career,

architects

the

and

He

India. ^

in

also

Ahmedabad, a tomb over the grave of a saint,

same style. So little, how-ever, were

erected at Butwa, near

is

built

w^iolly in the arched style,

is

remains one of the most splendid sepulchres

which

generally

Mahmiid Begurra

used by their brethren in other countries.

tomb near Kaira, which

style at

Ahmedabad

of

evinced a strong tendency to revert to the arched forms

-himself a

amount

twos and fours,

in

In elevation the dome looks heavy for

different spacing.

the substructure, but not so

were

535

in every respect in the

accustomed to arched forms, that, though the plan

builders

judiciously disposed by placing smaller arches outside

as to abut them,

and the whole

is

much

very

is

so

No.

tomb without arches,

The scale of the

crippled, w^hile the

that stands within a few yards of

two, however (Plan

larger,

those of the outer range have fallen down,

all

still

the

it,

remains entire.
the

reveals

305),

secret

of

the preference

The

accorded to the arch as a constructive expedient.

larger piers,

wider spacing, the whole dimensions, w^ere on a grander scale

the

than could be attained wdth beams only, as the Hindus used them.

As the Greeks and Romans employed

were

that

the

with

feasible

Hindus worked

known how

arches

to increase

It

it.

only in

compare

them

but

the

by

them

were

use

them

when

wath

employed

the Moslems

by

pillars

but

and do not -seem to have

must, however, be remarked that they

used pillars

forms

any dimensions

features,

attained

be

to a smaller modulus,

generally

the

these

could

came

to

courts,

there

w'here

own

spectator's

enough.

large

externally,

nothing to

w^as

height

It

and there
was only

and in conjunction

with arches and other larger features, that their

diminutive

scale

became apparent.
It is perhaps the evidence of a declining age to find size

the

principal

aim.

But

it

is

one

certainly

great

and

becoming
important

ingredient in architectural design, and so thought the later architects

Ahmedabad.

of

In their

later

was

greater dimensions, but

it

earlier style so beautiful

and

Described further on,

p. 538,

mosques and buildings they attained

at the expense of all that renders their

so interesting.^

Wood-

of the

names given

When

cuts Nos. 306 and 307.

erroneous.

- I understand from Mr. Burgess that,

during his recent visit to Ahmedabad,

new names and

he copied a number of inscriptions from

the mosques there which prove that some

to the buildings arc

these are published

dates must in some

be given to several of the
buildings, but the alterations, as I
understand it, are not very important.

instances

INDIAN SAEACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

536

Book VII.

Besides the buildings of the classes above enumerated, there are

several smaller objects of art at

Among

beauty.
fliglits

of steps leading

Tomb

down

are of extraordinary

deep

wells,

with broad

and ornamented with pillars and

some of the largest buildings above

to them,

an extent as

galleries to as great

jj

Ahmedabad which

these are se\eral bowlees, or

of Kutub-ul-Alum, Butwa.

Scale 50

ft.

to

ii

B---3)

a --

Plans ot

ground.

Tombs

It requires

of

Kutub-ul-Alum

liiid

his Sun, Buivva.

Scale about 50

ft.

to 1 in.

a personal experience of the grateful coolness of

a subterranean apartment in a hot climate to appreciate such a class

of buildings,

water

may

and in the rainy West we hardly know how valuable

become.

Another object

of architectural beauty is

found in the inflow and

outflow sluices of the great tanks which abound everywhere around


GUJERAT; PROVINCIAL BUILDINGS.

Chap. V.
the

Nowhere did the inhabitants

city.

537

Ahmedabad show how

of

an architectural people, as in these utilitarian

essentially

they were

works.

was a necessity of their nature that every object should be

It

made ornamental, and

mosques or

was as great in these

their success

as in

their

palaces.

Buildings in the Provinces.

In addition to the numerous

Among

worthy of notice.

these

perhaps the most splendid.

Mohammed Shah
120

by 135

ft.

Gori,

measures over

It

size.

adorn the capital, there

edifices that

several in the provincial capitals that are well

as hinted above,

are,

the

Jumma

and

is

all

200

Musjid

by 210

and

ft.,

internal

its

Except being somewhat smaller in

ft.

is

the capital in

only inferior to that of

ft.

Cambay

at

a.d. 1325, in the time of

was erected in

It

court

plan and

scale, its

arrangements are almost identical with those of the Altumsh Mosque

(Woodcut No. 283)

at

Ajmir

when

but,

it

is

looked into,

it

yvould

be difficult to conceive two buildings more essentially different than

The

these two are.

of

Jaina

the

screen of arches at

pillars

of

the

interior.

from desecrated temples, and in

without

much

this

These

instance

dimensions

the

fit

latter

are

borrowed

all

rearranged

certainly

attention to congruity or architectural effect.

effect is picturesque,

and the parts being employed

which they were designed, there

for

Cambay, only three in number,

even to baldness, and low, in order to

plain

are

is

Still

the

purposes

for the

no offensive incongruity any-

where.

One
which

the most remarkable features in this

of

its

founder, Imrar ben

Ahmed

mosque

is

the tomb,

Kajerani erected for himself.

It is wholly composed of Hindu remains," and is two storeys in height,

and was crowned with a dome 28 ft. in diameter.
The parts, how-

ever

borrowed,

fitted

apparently, from different

together that,

buildings

were

standing some three centuries,

after

so

badly

fell

it

in,

and has since remained a ruin, singularly picturesque in form and

exquisite in detail, but a

monument

of the folly of

employing building

materials for any purpose but that for which they were designed.^

There

is

another mosque at Baroach, not unlike this one in design

but smaller, being only 135

now, at

Hindu

least

no

courtyard

ft.
;

over

all

north and south, and

but some of

its

details,

it

has

borrowed from

temples, are very beautiful.

There are also two very beautiful mosques at Dolka, a city twentytwo miles south-west from Ahmedabad, almost identical in size and
*
All the particulars above quoted
regarding that mosque are derived from

Cities

B.C.S.
j

a work publislied in

Bombay

entitled, 'Surat, Baroacli,

in 1868,

and other old

plans,
i

of Goojerat.'
Illustrated

By

T.

by

photographs,

and with descriptive

C.

text,

Hope,

INDIAN SAEACENIC ARCHITECTUEE.

538

plan, being- each of

them squares

SB^llllKlligj

of

about 150
front

Book VII

and the mosquewith fixe domes

ft.,

covered

and the screen-wall with three

arches each.^

The most

beautiful, however,

of

these provincial

the

tomb

class

at

examples

Mahmiidabad,

is

of its

one of the most beautiful

in India

(Woodcut No. 306).

It

was erected by the same Mahmiid Begurra,

erected

the

a.d.

tomb

148J:,

of

who

Kutub-ul-

Alum

at Butwa, described above

(Woodcut No. 304), and is said

to

have

same

been designed by the

This is, howmore successful example, and though small

it
architect.

ever, a far

306.

Plan of

Tomb

Kaira.

307.

ihnn'id Regurra, near

of
Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Tuiiib of

'

iVlaljiiu'id

is

only 94

of

the

liegurra, near Kaira.

ft.

porch

(From a

square,

there

I'botugrapli )

rians of these arc in Mr. Hope's work.

exclusive
is

sim-

GUJEKAT: PROVINCIAL BUILDINGS.

Chap. V.

plicitj about its plan, a solidity

which

is

not always found in

and balance

and appropriate,

so

that

tive

The

first

of

if

ever,

details, too, are all ele-

only wants

it

dimensions to rank among the very

parts in the design,

tombs, and has rarely,

these

been surpassed in any tomb in India.

gant

of

539

its

somewhat

increased

Its

construc-

class.

arrangements, too, are so perfect that no alterations in them

would be required,

The tomb

if

itself

the scale had been very

is

much

increased.

surrounded by a screen of perforated stone-

work, of the very finest tracery, and with

its

double verandah aids in

giving the sepulchral chamber that seclu ion and repose

so

indis-

pensable in a mausoleum.^

There is a very good view of the

tomb in Mr. Grindlay's Views of the
*

East'; but the plan aud details here

given are from Mr. Hope's work, sup. cit.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

540

CHAPTER

Book VII.

VI.

M AL W A.
CONTENTS.

The Great Mo^que

at Maiulu.

CHRONOLOGY.
Sultan Dilawar Ghori
Sultan Hosliang Ghori

U'

Khan
Mahniud Khan, cotemp. lima Khumby

Ghori

same time

dynasty

1401.

A.D.

owes

1469

1512

II

annexed by Akbar

from
It

is,

1534

15G8

independence

attained

of Jamipore

and

his

to

the

all

about

Sultan Dilawar, who

1887, having assumed

a.d.

however,

greatness

its

Mandu

of

as the Sharkis

province

the

Mahmiid

Malvva incorporati-d with (jujerat

1435

of Cilittore

The

Sultan

1432

<ihazni

....

Sultan Ghir.s u 1-din

A.u 1:01

the

of

in

Hoshang, that Mandu

successor

finest

Shah

of

title

the

governed

The

buildings.

its

state

continued to prosper as one of the independent Moslem principalities

A.D.

till

finally

when

1584,

was incorporated with Gujerat, and was

it

annexed to Akbar's dominion in A.D. 15G8.

The

original capital

of

Hindu

the state was Dhar, an old

city,

twenty miles northward of Mandu, to which the seat of government

was transferred

after

it

Though an

became independent.

venerated city of the Hindus, Dhar contains no evidence of

greatness, except

principal

102

of

two mosques erected wholly

the

these,

Jumma

itself

is

119

ft.

by 40

ft.

ft.

them more

or less

are also of purely

containing

There

carving.

Ajmir.
for
wall,

The

columns, 10

here no

Internally nothing

their
it

is

disposition

and

other
its

ft.

ft.

court

The

direction.

roof

6 in. in

is

supported by

height,

and

is

screen of arches, as
is

visible

all
it

surrounded by an arcade

in height, but

but Hindu

equally

at the

rich in

Kutub

pillars,

or

at

and, except

and the prayer-niches that adorn the western

might be taken

for

Hindu

building.

however, there seems no doubt that there

pillars

The

richly carved, and the three domes that adorn

Hindu form.

forty-four

of Jaina remains.

the

in

6 in.,

sixty-four pillars of Jaina architecture, 12

of

and

former

Musjid, has a courtyard measuring

north and south, by 131

ft.

mosque

old
its

is

In this instance,

nothing in

situ.

The

have been brought from desecrated temples in the town, and

MALWA.

Chap. VI.

541

now

arranged here by the Mahomedans as we

find them, probably

Mandn.
this one, and only

before the transference of the capital to

The

mosque

other

slightly smaller.

half -buried

lying

Lat Musjid, from an iron

It is called the

sadly out of repair.

now

similar to

is

however, ceased to be used as a place of prayer, and

It has long,

front

in

of

This

gateway.

its

is

pillar

generally

is

supposed to have been a pillar of victory, like that at the Kutub

but this can hardly be the

mental purpose,

it

case.

If

it

were intended for an orna-

would have been either round or octagonal, and

had some ornamental form. As it is,

some 20 ft. or 25 ft. in height, and
mental form whatever.

My

it is

only a square bar of iron,

9 in. section, without

impression

that

is,

it

w^as

any orna-

used for some

purpose, like those which supported the false

Pagoda at Kanaruc {ante, page 428). There are some
holes through it, which tend further to make this view of its origin
But, be this as it may, it is another curious proof of
probable.
the employment of large masses of wrought-iron by the Hindus
constructive

useful

roof

at

in

the

a time

when they were supposed

mechanical exertion.

mosques where

it

is

Its

date

is

to

any such

be incapable of

probably that of the pillars of the

found, and from their style they probably belong

to the 10th or 11th centuries.

The

on which the city of

site

Mandu

j^laced

is

one of the

is

an extensive plateau,
detached from the mainland of Malwa by a deep ravine about 300

noblest occupied by any capital in India.

to

400 yards

in

depth.

It

is

where narrowest, and nowhere

less than 200 ft.

by a noble causeway, defended by three
gateways, and flanked by tombs on either hand.
The plateau is

across,

This

surrounded by

is

crossed

w^alls

28 miles in extent.
of

on the brink of

erected

This,

the

cliff

it

is

said

however, conveys a very erroneous idea

the size of the place, unless qualified by the information that the

walls follow the sinuosities of

many

of these

the

ravines wherever

cut into the hill a mile

or two,

they

occur,

and are only

and

half a

The p^.ateau may be four or five miles east and west,

mile across.
and three miles north and south, most pleasingly diversified in surface,
abounding in water, and fertile in the highest degree, as is too plainly
evidenced by the rank vegetation, which is tearing the buildings of
the city to pieces or obscuring them so that they can hardly be seen.

The

finest

building in the city

is

the

Jumma

Musjid, commenced

and nearly completed by Hoshang, the second king, who reigned from
A.D. 1405 to A.D. 1432, which, though not very large, is so simple and
grand in outline and details, that it ranks high among the monuments of its class. Its dimensions are externally 290 ft. by 275 ft.,
exclusive of the porch.
Internally, the courtyard

is

almost an exact square of 102

ft.,

and

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

542

would

quite so, were

l)e

west faces are doubled.

are

exactly

of

not

it

tliat

two of the piers on the east and

In other respects the four sides of the court

each being ornamented by eleven great arches

same dimensions and height, supported by piers or

similar,

the

precisely

The only

each of one single block of red sandstone.

pillars,

attempted

is,

being

variety

that the east side has two arcades in depth, the north

and south three

besides

Book YII.

while the west side, or that facing Mecca, has

ornamented

by three

each 42

domes,

great

five,

ft.

in

diameter.

As

will be

seen on the plan

supported each by twelve

are

(Woodcut No. 308), these

pillars.

The

equally

all

the

spaced,

domes

large

are

pillars

architect

having omitted, for the

sake of uniformity,

to

widen the central aveon

nues

the

intersec-

tion of which the

stand.

It follows

domes
from

this that the four sides

of the octagon support-

ing

dome,

the

which

are parallel to the sides

of the court, are shorter

than the four diagonal

Internally,

sides.

produces

appearance

w^ard
it

this

awk-

very

but

could not have been

avoided except by run-

ning into another

culty

that

oblong
riaii of

308.

Mosque

No

at Maiidii.

spaces

iuterSectioUS

scale.

wider

aisles

narrower, to which the smaller domes must have been

on the whole, the architect took the

of

less

fitted.

diffi-

having
at

the

of

the

with

the

Perhaps,

inconvenient course of the

two.

The
for

interior of the court is represented in

simple

grandeur and expression

of

taken as one of the very best specimens

It

is,

deprive
visited

now

however, fast falling to decay, and

it
it

of

most

of

that

Woodcut No. 309, and

power
a

it

may, perhaps, be

to be

found in India.

may
me when I

few years more

beauty which so impressed

in 1839.

The tomb

of the founder,

not remarkable for

size, is

which stands behind the mosque, though

a very grand specimen of the last resting-

MALWA.

Chap. VI.

Courtyard of Great Mosque at Mandu.

309.

a stern old Pathan king.

place of

with

reveted

is

marble,

white

543

(From a Sketch by

Both internally and externally

but not

artistically,

and consequently in many places peeling

applied,

tbe Author.)

The

off

only admitted by the doorway and two small windoAvs, so

interior

gloomy, but

is

more

not

so

than

seems

it

constructively,
light

that

suitable

is

the

to

its

destination.

On

one side of the mosque

is

a splendid Dharmsala, or hall, 230

ft.

long, supported by three ranges of pillars, twenty-eight in each row.

These are either borrowed from a Hindu

native

architect

edifice, or formed by some

from stones originally Hnidu, and on the north side

a porch, which

is

is

avowedly only a re-erection of the

pillars

of

Jaina dome.

The

palaces

able than

from

of

Mandu

are, howe^'er,

perhaps even more remark-

Of these the principal is

being situated between two great tanks
mosques.

its

the water, like a "ship."

It is so covered

almost impossible to sketch or photograph

turesque outline
date

called Jehaj Mehal,

almost

its

make

it

literally in

with vegetation that

it,^

but

its

one of the most remarkable

very unlike the refined elegance afterwards

it

is

mass and picedifices

of

its

introduced by the

Moguls, but well worthy of being the residence of an independent

Pathan chief

The

'

A view

Elliot's

'

of a warrior state.

principal

apartment

is

a vaulted hall, some

24

ft.

wide by

of this palace, but not from the best point of view, will be found in

Views

in the East.'

INDIAN SAKACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

544
twice

that

and

length,

24

ft.

height,

in

massive enough to support a vault four times

end

Book VII.
by

flanked
its

buttresses

Across the

section.

of the hall is a range of apartments three storeys in height,

and

Beyond
the water, which

the upper ones adorned with rude, bold, balconied windows.

this is a long

range

of

vaulted halls, standing in

were appareutly the living apartments of the palace.

of the palace they are bold,

Indian

On

edifices,

and massive

to a degree

and produce a corresponding

Like the

rest

seldom found in

effect.

the brink of the precipice overlooking the valley of

the

Ner-

budda is another palace, called that of Baz Bahadur, of a lighter and

more elegant character, but even more ruined than the northern
palace,

and scattered over the whole plateau are ruins of tombs and
of every c^.ass and so varied as almost to defy description.

buildings

In their

an

solitude, in a vast uninhabited jungle, they

impression

of

the

ephemeral

dynasties as anything in India, and,

to prove

how wonderfully

of architectural desi2:n.

splendour
if

their builders

of

illustrated,

convey as vivid

these

Mahomedan

would alone

suffice

had grasped the true elements

BENGAL.

Chap. VII.

CHAPTER

645

YII.

BENGAL.
CONTENTS.

Kmlam

Roussoul Mosque, Gaur

iil

Capital
It

not

is

very

easy

to

Adinali Mosque, Maldah.

Gauk.
why

understand

the

architects

of

Malwa

have adopted a style so essentially arcuate as that which we

should

find in the capital, while their brethren, on either hand, at Jaunpore

and Ahmedabad, clung so fondly to a trabeate form wherever they
had an opportunity of employing it. The Mandu architects had the

same initiation to the Hindu forms in the mosques at Dhar and there
must have been innumerable Jaina temples to furnish materials to
a far greater extent than we find them utilised, but we neither find
;

them borrowing nor

arch

style,

which

imitating, but adhering steadily to the pointed-

the essential characteristic of their art in foreign

It is easy to understand,

countries.

the

is

trabeate

style

on the other hand, why in Bengal

The country

never was in vogue.

practically

is

without stone, or any suitable material for forming either

Having nothing but

beams.

brick,

it

pillars or

was almost of necessity that

they employed arches everywhere, and in every building that had any
pretensions to permanency.

The Bengal

style being,

however, the only

one wholly of brick in India Proper, has a local individuality of

own, which

material, deficient
racterise

its

curious and interesting, though, from the nature of the

is

in

many

of the higher qualities of art

which cha-

the buildings constructed with larger and better materials.

Besides elaborating a pointed-arched

brick style of their own,

the

new form of roof, which has had a most important influence on both the Mahomcdan and Hindu styles in more
modern times. As already mentioned in describing the chuttrie at
Bengalis introduced a

Alwar
of

{a7ite,

p.

474), the Bengalis, taking advantage of the elasticity

universally employ in their dwellings a curvilinear

which has become so familiar to their eyes, that they
It is so in fact when
beautiful (Woodcut No. 310).

the bambu,

form

of

consider

roof,
it

bambu and

thatch are the materials employed,

into stone or brick architecture, its taste

is

but when translated

more questionable.
2

There

INDIAN SAEACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

546

Book VII.

however, so much that is conventional in architecture, and beauty

depends to such an extent on association, that strangers are hardly
is,

judges in

fair

this as it

case

may, certain

of this
it

Be

sort.

at all events,

is,

that after being elaborated into a feature

of pei'manent architecture in Bengal, this

form found

curvilinear

way

its

the

in

17th century to Delhi, and in the 18th

to Lahore,

and

the intermediate build-

all

from, say a.d. 1650, betray

ings

pre-

its

sence to a greater or less extent.

It is a curious

of
Modern^vn-ved Form of

310.

how much

that

is

not so abstractedly, that while

is

Hindu

form

this

Mahomedan

or

the most elegant of modern inventions.^

it is

Even

extent and

its

however,

irrespective,

peculiarities,

local

its

which

was so distant from the

it

the archi-

capital of Bengal, deserves attention

the immense variety of detail

apparently because

Bengal,

of

Mahomedan

tecture of Gaur, the

for

far fami-

European eye

always remains unpleasing, to the native eye

how

render that beautiful which

the

to

architecture

in

is

Conventional and

may

liarity

however,

illustration,

there

it

displays.

capital,

was

kingdom almost simultaneously with Delhi itself.

Mahommad Bakhtiar Khilji, governor of Berar under Kutub ud-din,
became first king of the dynasty in a.d. 1203, and was succeeded by a

erected into a separate

long line of forty-eight kings,

kingdom

vast

the state was absorbed into Akbar's

till

Daud Khan ben

in a.d. 1573, under

none of these kings did anything that

general history, they possessed one

and employed
which,

when

their

larly

inimical

to

Suleiman.

them

to

the richest portions of India,

The

taste.

must have been gorgeous, even

climate

the preservation

of

Bengal

of

architectural

building, its

the luxuriant
that

it

Add

to

is

destruction

growth

sometimes

this

that

is

inevitable

remains.

can

this,

of the jungle hides the building

so

completely,

always

to

explore

difficult

Gaur

is

to

discover

singularly

float

up

to

any of the

^
In this respect it is something like
the curvilinear pediments which Roman
and Italian arcliitects employed as win-

dow

it

well

removal of materials by water-carriage.

dation, boats

the

If

any crevice

and even without

not

if

however, singu-

is,

roots of a tree of the fig kind once find a resting-place in

of

Though

a place in

wealth in adorning their capital with buildings,

in a state of repair,

always in the best

of

entitles

to

facilitate

it.

the

During the summer inunruins, and after embarking

heads.

selves,

suited

yet

Though detestable in themwe use and admire them

because we arc accustomed to them.

BENGAL.

Chap. VII.
stones or bricks, drop

be rising.
Calcutta,

while

it

down

the stream to any

thus happens that

It

in

are

rich

has

itself

547

of

spoils

new

capital that

may

Moorshedabad, Hoogly, and even

the

old

become only a mass

Pathan capital of
of

Bengal,

but almost

picturesque

indistinguishable ruins.

The

city of

was

taken

Gaur was a famous capital of the Hindus long before

possession of by the Mahomedans.
The Sen and
Bellala dynasties of Bengal seem to have resided here, and no doubt
adorned it with temples and edifices worthy of their fame and wealth.
it

These, however, were probably principally in brick,

with

and

pillars

what used

details in

though adorned

to be called black

marble, but

seems to be an indurated potstone of very fine grain, and which takes

a

beautiful

polish.

among

are found

Many

us to restore the style.

influence

fragments of Hindu art in this material

the ruins

and

if

carefully

Its interest,

had on the Mahomedan

it

examined might enable

however, principally

the

in

lies

succeeded

style that

It is

it.

neither like that of Delhi, nor Jaunpore, nor any other style, but one

purely local, and not without considerable merit in itself

arches and vaults, in brick

whereas

pillars carried horizontal ai'chitraves

The

its

principal

being heavy short pillars of stone supporting pointed

characteristic

general

from a mosque

means devoid

character of the
called the

at Jaunpore, for instance, light

and
style

Kudam

of architectural merit

flat ceilings.

will be

seen in

example

the

and

ul Roussoul at Gaur,

is

The

(Woodcut No. 311).

by no

solidity

go far to redeem the inherent weakness of brick archiand by giving the arches a firm base to start from, prevents
the smallness of their parts from injuring the general effect.
It also
presents, though in a very subdued form, the curvilinear form of the
of the supports
tecture,

roof,

which

is

so characteristic of the style.

there are two very handsome mosques

the Golden
and the Barah Durwaza, or twelve-doored. Both their fa9ades are in
stone, and covered with foliaged patterns in low-relief, borrowed evidently from the terra-cotta ornaments which were more frequently

In Gaur

itself

employed, and continued a favourite mode of adorning fa9ades down

to

the time

of

the

erection

above (Woodcut No. 263).

rally
is

of the

Kantonuggur temple

In the interior their

been removed, and the vaults consequently fallen

not easy to judge of their

effect,

even

the whole area being grasped at once.

be judged
of the

of,

if

illustrated

have genethat

in, so

it

the jungle would admit of

Their general disposition

may

however, by the plan on page 549 (Woodcut No. 312)

Adinah mosque

at

Maldah, which formed at the time

erected the northern suburb of the capital.

it

pillars

From

inscriptions

it was
upon it,

appears that this mosque was erected by Sikander Shah, one of the

most

illustrious of his race (a.d.

being himself buried within

1358-1367), with the intention of

its precincts,

or in its immediate neigh-

N 2

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

548

Book VII.

Its dimensions are considerable, being nearly 500 ft. north

and south, and nearly 300 ft, east and west. In the centre it contains
a courtyard, surrounded on all sides by a thick wall of brick, divided

boiirhood.

by eighty-eight similar arched openings, only one of which, that in

acing Mecca, is wider and more dignified

the centre of the west side

than the

rest.

The

roof in like

manner

They

No. 311.
fessed

wanting in

are bold
variety.

Kudam

311.

3<S5

domes,

tion

that

all
is

pillai*s

of

Woodcut
must be con-

it

These with the walls support no

ul Koussoul

is

supported by 266

and pleasing in design, but

Mosque, Gaur.

similar in design

made

is

to those represented in

black hornblende, similar in design

(From a Photograph.)

and construction.

where a platform,

Takht, or King's Throne, divides a

than

less

2)art

called

of

the

The

only

varia-

Padshah

the

building into

ka
two

storeys.^

A
^

design, such as that of the

These

prirtieiilars

are

Adinah mosque,

gomeiy Martin

taken prin-

w^ould be appropriate

in

liis

'

Eastern India,'

cipally from

Buchanan Hamilton's

'

Sta-

1838, vol.
|

tistics of

Dinajepore,' published by Mont-

ii.

p. G49, et seqq.

Chap.

BENGAL.

VIL

for a caravanserai

absolutely required

but in an
it

is

with

where expression and beauty were

The same

far too monotonous.

through the whole group

details, joined

edifice

549

and though

the picturesque

their

size

defect runs

and elegance

of

state of richly foliaged ruin in

which they are now found, make them charming subjects for the

312.

Plan of Adinah Mosque, Maldah.

Scale 100

pencil, they possess all the defects of design

halls of a

ft.

to 1 in,

we remarked

in the great

thousand columns in the south of this country.^

indeed, almost as

if

here

It seems,

we had again got among the Tamil

'

Page 347,

et seqq.

race,

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

550

and that

peculiarities

their

Book VIL

were reappearing on the surface, though

dressed in the garb of a foreign race.

One

of

the most interesting of

the

the place

antiquities of

minar, standing in the fort (Woodcut No. 313).

height

the

gon

it

above that
it

sides

circular,

The door

ft.

till

height

attains the

84

of

a poly-

is

twelve

of

is

For two-thirds

of

at

is

some distance from the

ground, and altogether
it
looks more like an
than

round-tower

Irish

any other example known,

though
bable

most impro-

it is

should

that there

be any connexion between

two

the

forms.

It

is

evidently a pillar of vic-

tory

Jaya Stambha

such as the Kutub Minar

and

Delhi,

at

There

elsewhere.

an

was,
Minar

313.

(From a Photograph by
Eavenshaw, B.C.S.)

at Gaur.

J.

H.

monument

this

who

If

it

must be the king

is,

its

of

or

on

which

erection

to

that province

reigned in Gaur a.h. 702-715, or a.d. 1302-1315,^ and the cha-

racter

of

the

architecture

native tradition

on

this is so,

at

and

inscription

ascribed

Feroze Shah.

those

Dowlutabad,

Coel,

its

is,

fully

bears

out

tliis

adscription.^

that a saint. Peer Asa, lived, like

Simon

The

Stylites,

summit

Besides these, there are several of the gateways of Gaur which are
considerable

of

magnificence.

The

finest

that called

is

Dhakhal,

which, though of brick, and adorned only with terra-cotta ornaments,

as

is

grand an object of

its class

as is to be

found anywhere.

The

gate of the citadel, and the southern gate of the city, are very noble

examples of what can be done with bricks, and bricks only.

however, in the dimensions of

'

Initial

coinage of Bengal, by

Thomas, B.C.S.
2

its

Edward

1866.

In the woodcut, though not so clearly

as in the photograph, will be observed

the long jicndcnt root of the tree which

has been planted hy some bird in the

buildings or the beauty

It is not,

of

their

In another year or two

ground, and then
down comes the minar. Any one with
a pocket-knife might save it by five
minutes' work. But Cut bono ? says the
Saxon,

upper gallery.
it

will

reach

the

BENGAL.

Chap. VII.
details that the glory of

Gaur

resides

551

it

is

in the wonderful

mass of

bank of the Ganges,

mosques still in"
for nearly twenty miles, from Maldah to Maddapore
tombs, temples, tanks and
use, mixed with mounds covering ruins
towers, scattered without order over an immense distance, and half
buried in a luxuriance of vegetation which only this part of India
can exhibit. What looks poor, and may be in indifferent taste, drawn
on paper and reduced to scale, may give an idea of splendour in decay
when seen as it is, and in this respect there are none of the ancient
capitals of India which produce a more striking, and at the same
time a more profoundly melancholy, impression than these ruins of
ruins stretching along what was once the high

the old Patlian capital of Bengal.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

552

OHAPTEE

Book VIL

VIII.

KALBURGAH.
CONTENTS.

The Mosque

at Kiilburgah.

CHRONOLOGY.
Ala ud-din Balimaui, a servant

hamud Tugluck's

Muhammad

court

Nlzam Shah

Ma-

....

Ghazi

Shah.

in

A.D. 1347

Mujahid Shah

1375

MahmudShah

1378

Feroze Shah married daughter of Vija-

yauagar raja
Ahmad Shah, capital Bidar

The

1397

Bahmaiii dynasty

1525

Kasin Berid, founder of Berid Shahi

dynasty
Ala Rena Shah assumes royalty

1492

1549

Amir

Berid Shah, last of his race

1609

last of

1422

campaigns of Ala ud-din and

of the

A.u. 1461

KuUam UUah,

1358

Tuginck Shah in the beginning

of

14th century extended the fame and fear of the Moslem power

over the whole peninsula of India, as far as Cape Comorin and the

Manaar.

Straits of

It

was almost impossible, however, that a

state

in the semi-barbarous condition of the Pathans of that day could so

organise a government as to rule so extensive and varied an empire

from one central point, and that as remote as Delhi. Tugluck Shah
felt this, and proposed to establish the capital at Dowlutabad.
If he

had been able

to accomplish this, the whole of the south

permanently

been

As

conquered.

was,

it

the

might have
dynasty of

Bellala

Hullabid was destroyed in a.d. 1311,^ and that of Worangul crippled

but not finally conquered till some time afterwards,^ while the rising
power of Yijayanagar formed a barrier which shielded the southern

the

Chera, Chola, Pandya against Mahomedan encroachsome centuries after that time and but for the establishment
of Mahomedan kingdoms independent of the central power at Delhi,
the Dekhan might have been lost to the Moslems, and the Hindus

states

ment

for

held their

own

for a long time, perhaps

for ever,

to the south of the

Yindhya range.

The

first

pendence

Ganju, being
court,
title

of those dynasties that

was that

servant

the

and owing

his rise

in gratitude.

Ante,

called

p. 393.

He

of
to

successfully established its inde-

Bahmani, from

the

a
his

Brahman

its

founder,

Mahamud

master, ho adopted his

established himself

in

at

Hasan

Tugluck's

name

as

Kalburgah, an ancient

Elpliinstoiie's 'India,' vol.

ii.

p. 57.

KALBURGAH.

Chap. VI 11.

Hindu

Dekhan, and with

city of the

553

immediate successors not only

his

Hindu sovereigns of Worangul and Vijayanagar,

but actually forced them to pay him tribute. This prosperous state
of affairs lasted for nearly a century, when Ahmad Shah I. (a.d.
1422-1425), for some reason not explained, transferred the seat
of power to Bidar.
They lingered on for another century or more,
latterly known as the Berid Shahis, till they were absorbed in the
great Mogul empire in a.d. 1609.
Long before that, however, their
place in the Dekhan had been taken by the Bijapur Adil Shahis, who
held

in check the

established themselves there a.d. 1489.

During the short supremacy

(a.d.

1347-1435),

among

wliich

Kalburgah

of

as capital of the

was a mosque, one

most remarkable of

of the

(Woodcuts Nos. 314, 315).

though not excessive it measures 216
in India

east

ft.

and west, and 176

38,016

sq.

pecuharity, however,

is

that, alone of all the great

the whole of the area

is

covered over.

it

Mandu, which

is

its class

dimensions are considerable,

Its

north and south; and consequently covers

the mosque at

Dekhan

was adorned with several important buildings,

it

Comparing

mosques in India,

it,

for instance, with

the one in other respects most like

will be observed that the greater part of its area is occupied

courtyard surrounded by arcades.

the whole
walls,

At Kalburgah

roofed over, and the light

is

is

which are pierced with great arches

ft.

Its great

ft.

there

is

it,

by a

no court,

admitted through the side

for this purpose

on

all sides

except the west (Woodcut No. 316).

Having only one example

of the class,

repose and a solemnity which

is

is

it

opinion which of the two systems of building

is

not easy to form an

the better.

There

is

singularly suited to a place of prayer,

by cloisters on all sides, and only pierced by

two or three doors but, on the other hand, the heat and glare arising
from reflection of the sun's rays in these open courts is sometimes
most painful in such a climate as India, and nowhere, so far as I know,

in a courtyard enclosed
;

it ever even attempted to modify this by awnings.

On the
Kalburgah plan, on the contrary, the solid roof covering the whole

was

space afforded protection from the sun's rays to

all

worshippers, and

every aisle being open at one or both ends, prevented anything like

gloom, and admitted of far freer ventilation than was attainable in

the enclosed courts, while the requisite privacy could easily have been

obtained by a low enclosing wall at some distance from the mosque

itself.

On

the

whole,

my

impression

is

that the Kalburgah plan

is

the preferable one of the two, both for convenience and for architectural effect, so

much

why, when once

the cause of
extensive a

its
flat

must have been

so indeed, that it is very difficult to understand

tried,

it

was never afterwards repeated.

Probably

being abandoned was the difficulty of draining so

roof

during the rains.

fatal

yet

this

Any

settlement or any crack

mosque stands

in

seemingly good

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

554
repair,

Book VII.

Whichever way
must be admitted that this is one of the
the old Pathan mosques of India, at least among those which
four centuries of comparative neglect.

after

the question
finest of

decided,

is

""""

it

'i

w''^r^\
l\
-4

\\.

7^
J

7^
'I

7-

'S

J:
7^

Mosque

314.

at Kalburgah.

are built wholly of

Mahomedan
course,

but

^ For
the
mosque, and

am

Sir

by the Hon.

its

own

indeed I

indebted to

my

Arthur Gordon,

Arthur Gordon.)

Scale 50

ft.

to 1 in.

circumstances.

This owes

of

of
its

original merits of design.^

plan and section of this

all

Sir

and in the arcuate style

and Ajmir are more interesting

materials

at Delhi

from adventitious

is

greatness only to

a Plan

original

Those

art.
it

(From

know

friend

at present

about

it,

the Hon.

governor

of the Fiji Islands.

himself,
at

my

and most

disposal.

He made

the plans

liberally placed

them

KALBURGAH.

Chap. VIII.

Besides the mosque, there

is

in

555

Kalburgah a bazaar, 570

ft.

long-

adorned by a range of sixty-one arches on

cither hand, supported by pillars of a quasi-Hindu character, and

by 60

ft.

wide, over

all,

Half elevation half section of the Mosque at Kalburgah.

315.

View

316.

of the

Mosque

at Kalburgah.

Scale 50

ft.

to

in.

(From a Photograph.)

with a block of buildings of a very ornamental character at either end.

I

am

its class more striking in any part of

most
resemble this arc those that line the
The arcades that

not aware of anything of

India.

INDIAN SARACENIC AUCIIITECTURE.

55G
street

Book VII.

called the Street of the Pilgrims, at Yijayanagar,

which may-

be contemporary with this bazaar.^

There are other buildings, especially one gigantic archway, in the

Kalburgah, the use of w-hich is not apparent, and some very

city of

grand old tombs, with sloping walls

information

they can

before

be

but we must wait for further

in a history of Indian

utilised

architecture.

Ahmad

After the seat of government was removed to Bidar by

Shah, A.D. 1422-1435, the new capital was adorned by edifices worthy
the

of

greatness
these

erected

by Mahomet Gaun, the

the

the

most

Mahmiid

tryant

II.

but

dynasty,

the

of

Among

magnificent

faithful

It appears

now

appears

tity of

be

the

madrissa

but unfortunate minister of

to have been finished

most complete and flourishing establishments

when

to

two

and in Ferishta's time was one

before his death, in a.d. 1481,

Unfortunately,

ruined.

apparently

all

of its

class

in

yeai*s

of the
India.'^

the place was besieged by Aurungzebe, a quan-

gunpowder was stored

and exploded, either

in its vaults,

dentally or by design, so as to ruin one wing.

acci-

Since then the building

has been disused, but so far as can be judged from such imperfect
information as
buildings of

is

its

available, it

day.^

must have been one

The tombs

which reigned in Bidar from

of the

most splendid

too of the Berid Shahi dynasty,

a.d.

1492-1609, are of considerable

splendour, and rival those of Golcondah in extent.

Bidar, however,

who has had the power or opporits monuments in such a manner as

has not yet been visited by anyone

tunity of

drawing or describing

them for historical purposes, and till this

them must remain among the many desiderata

to enable another to utilise

is

done, a knowledge of

in Indian art.

'

have photographs, but no measure-

ments, of this
2

street.

Brigg'g translation of Ferishta, vol.

p. 510.

^ There is a view of it from a sketch

by Col. Meadows Taylor, in the Oriental
'

Annual

'

for 1840.

BIJAPUK.

Chap. IX.

CHAPTEK

557

IX.

BIJAPUR.
CONTENTS.

The Jumma Musjid

Tombs of Ibrahim and Mahmud The Audience Hall

Tomb

of

Nawab Amir Khan,

near Tatta.

CHKONOLOGY.
Yusaf Khan Adil Shah
Ismail Adil Shah
Muliu Adil Shah
Ibrahim Adil Shah I.
.

1511

Ali Adil Shah .

Ibrahim Adil Shah

II.

1579

1534

Muhammad

1626

1535

Ali Adil Shah

1660

If the materials existed

from

interesting,

purpose,

the

for

point of

historical

grew out

that

styles

each other

of

Dekhan succeeded one another and

in

cessors

With

II.

would

it

view,

to

be

trace

in

to

surpass

their

1557

extremely

the various

the later dynasties

as

strove

magnificence

architectural

,D.

successive

the

of

their

prede-

capitals.

the exception, however, of Bijapur, none of the Dekhani cities

produced any

edifices

that, taken

by themselves irrespective

of

their

surroundings and historical importance, seem to be of any very great

value in an artistic sense.

Burhampur, which was the capital of the Faruki dynasty of

from a.d. 1370-1596, does possess some buildings remarkable for their extent and picturesque in their decay, but of
very little artistic value, and many of them especially the later
Ahmednugger, the capital of the
ones in very questionable taste.
Kandeish,

Nizam Shahi

dynasty, a.d. 1490-1607,

considering

grandeur,

tectural

important dynasty

while

Shahi dynasty, a.d.

able, all

how

singularly deficient in archi-

is

long

it

was the capital of an

Golcondah, the chosen seat of the Kutub

if

1512-1672, has any buildings that are remarkis that they have not yet been drawn or

that can be said

described.

The tombs

of the

kings of this dynasty, and of their

nobles and families, do form as extensive and as picturesque a group

as

bad

is

to be
taste.

found anywhere

but individually they are in singularly

Their bases are poor and w^eak, their domes

exaggerated,

showing

executed, but

still

the

faults

of

tall and
which they were

the age in

not unworthy of a place in history

existed for illustrating

As mentioned

all

them

above,

if

the materials

properly.

the

Bahmani dynasty

of

Kalburgah main-

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

558

Hindu

taincd

the struggle against the

nearly

a century and a half, with very

the central power at

Book VII.

principalities of the south for

little

assistance

from

either

Delhi or their cognate states in the Dekhan,

Before the end of the 15th century, however, they began to

feel

that

and the Hindus might have

recovered their original possessions, up to the Yindhya at least, but
for the appearance of a new and more vigorous competitor in the
field in the person of Yusaf Khan, a son of Amurath II. of Anatolia.
decay inherent in

all

Eastern dynasties

thus a Turk of pure blood, and, as

He was

happens, born in Con-

it

though his mother was forced

stantinople,

to

thence while he

fly

was still an infant. After a varied career he was purchased for the
body-guard at Bidar, and soon raised himself to such pre-eminence
that on the defeat of Dustur Dinar, in 1501, he was enabled to
proclaim his independence and establish himself as the founder of
the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur.

For
struggle

devoting

the

first

for

existence

much

seventy years

or

sixty

after

their

was too severe to admit

attention

of the city commences

to

The

architecture.

with Ali, a.d.

Adil Shahis

building epoch

real

1557, and

the

accession,

the

of

the important
which elapsed between his
accession and the wars with Aurungzebe, which ended in the final
all

buildings are crowded into the 100 years

destruction of the dynasty.

During that period, however,

their

capitals of India, hardly excepting even

was adorned with a

any of the Mahomedan

capital

as remarkable as those of

series of buildings

Agra and Delhi, and showing

wonderful originality of design not surpassed by

capitals as

those

of

such

Jaunpore or Ahmedabad, though differing from them in

a most marked degree.

It

is

now

not easy

determine

to

European descent

from the

from any

hardly

how

the Adil

My

appreciate.

impression

is,

Like
their

Roman and

Mahomedan

most

architectural

career

the fort at Bijapur out of

there by

them

From

informed.
portions

of

them

were intended

is

were removed from their

Be

or

of

whether

it

which we can now

the

is

the true

Bijapur

style

reminiscences of the

Hindu

remains.

Adil Shahis commenced

mosque and madrissa in

How

far the pillars used

torn from other buildings,

it

would appear

that

we

are not

considerable

used at least for the purposes for which they

but this

present purposes.

the

by building a

photographs,
are

of

Byzantine architects.

dynasties,

are in situ, or

originality arose

that the former

and that the largeness and grandeur

owing to its quasi- Western origin, and to

great works of the

this

Hindus,

local circumstances, the value

cause,
is

far

Shahis and their avowed

belonged to the

hatred of everything that

arose

of

this

not incompatible with the idea that they

positions and readapted to their
may, as soon as the dynasty had

original
as

it

BIJAPUR.

Chap. IX.

to think really about the

leisure

matter, they abandoned entirely

tendency to copy Hindu forms or Hindu

carry out a pointed-arched,

or

559

details,

but

all

work to
own, and did

set to

domical style of their

with singular success.^

it

The Jumma Musjid, which is one of the earlier regular buildings

was commenced by Ali Adil Shah (a.d. 1557-1579), and,

of the city,

though

by

continued

his

successors

on the same plan, was never

completely finished, the fourth side of the courtyard with

Plan of

gateway

Mupjid, Bijapur. (From a Draw ing by A.

Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

not having been even commenced

Even

overthrown.

As

Jumma

will

Bijapur

as it

is, it is

been

singularly

in

which

it

for-

has been illustrated.

A set of drawings plans,

details

elevations,

and

were made by a Mr. A. Gumming,

C.E., under the superintendence of Capt.

Hart,

when

the

Bombay

Engineers,

which,

dynasty was

one of the finest mosques in India.

tunate, not only in the extent, but in the

mode

great

Gumming, C.E.)

be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 317),

has

its

for

beauty of drawing and accuracy of detail, are unsurpassed by any architectural

it

would have

drawings yet made in India. These were

reduced by photography, and published

by

me

at the expense of the

in 1859, in a folio
four plates,

Government
volume with seventy-

and afterwards

in 1866 at the

expense of the Committee

for the Publication of the Antiquities of Western India,

by photographic views
taken on the spot by Col. Biggs, R.A.

illustrated further

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

560
been,

if

completed, a rectangle

itself

is

perfect,

about 37,000

covers

very

little

less

881

of

and measures 257

sq.

the wings, which extend 186

of

plete

would have covered about 50,000

it

about the usual

or

markable,

however,

size

in

itself

but

this

for

beauty

the

of

sq. ft.

55,000

to

It

arrangement or extent of

dome

but so

(Woodcut No. 318)

flat

the

Twelve

roof.

sq.

ft.,

more

re-

Each
is

very beautiful form,

of

externally

com-

divided

is

it

roofed by a

concealed

irre-

if

plan.

its

which

into

is

is

than either the

details

its

of the squares

only a

beyond, so that

ft.

mediaeval cathedral.

of

and consequently

is

than the mosque at Kalburgah

spective

The mosque

ft.

ft.,

consequently

It

ft.

by 257

ft.

by 145

ft.

Book VII.

in
of

to

as

the

thickness

these

squares

b'j

of
are

occupied in the centre by the great dome,

57

ft.

diameter in the circular part, but

in

standing on a square measuring 70

way.

The dimensions

immensely
318.

exceeded

of

afterwards

Plan and section of smaller

which

Domes

of Jumnia Mupjid.
Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

covers

the

but the

smaller

dimensions

and more graceful

architect to use taller

of

by

here employed
outlines,

and

each

that

Mahmud,

same plan and 124

structed on the

diameter

tomb

ft.

dome were

this

con-

ft.

in

enabled the

if

he had had

the courage to pierce the niches at the base of his dome, and

make

innnm

n
319.

Section on the line

A B through

the Great

by Mr. Gumming.)

them

into windows, he

the plan of

(From a Drawing

would probably have had the credit of design-

ing the most graceful building of

If

of the Jnmma Musjid.

Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Dome

this

mosque

its class
is

in existence.

compared with that

of

Kalburgah

BIJAPUR.

Chap. IX.

561

(Woodcut No. 314), it will be seen what immense strides the Indian
had made in constructive skill and elegance of detail
during the century and a half that elapsed between the erection of
If they were drawn to the same scale this
these two buildings.
would be more apparent than it is at first sight but on half the
present scale the details of the Kalburgah mosque could hardly be
expressed, while the largeness of the parts, and regularity of arrangement can, in the scale adopted, be made perfectly clear in the Bijapur
example. The latter is, undoubtedly, the more perfect of the two,
but there is a picturesqueness about the earlier building, and a poetry
about its arrangements, that go far to make up for the want of the
skill and the elegance exhibited in its more modern rival.
The tomb w^hich Ali Adil Shah commenced for himself was a
square, measuring about 200 ft. each way, and had it been completed
It is one of the
as designed would have rivalled any tomb in India.
disadvantages, how^ever, of the Turanian system of each king building
his own tomb, that if he dies early his work remains unfinished.
This defect is more than compensated in practice by the fact that
architects

man

unless a

builds his

own

sepulchre, the

by

much
memory

chances are very

against anything worthy of admiration being dedicated to his

his surviving relatives.

His successor Ibrahim, warned by the

fate

tomb, commenced his own on so small a plan

as

he

long

reign,

and

prosperous

ornament that
render

it

by

most exquisite
ornamental

the whole

is

engraved on

13

cornices

ela-

it

Koran

its

walls.

are

sup-

bracketing,
filled

CD

The

ported by the most

windows

inscriptions

said

borate

he

numerous that

is

The

and

carvings.

so

that

cover-

ing every part with the

are

could

however,

accomplished

borate

predecessor's

square

worthy of him-

This,

self.

he

ft.

by

only

w^as

it

his

by

blessed

w^as

of

116

ela-

the

on

Tomb or

Rozah of I.,rahim. (From a Plan by

Mr. cumming.) scaie 50 ft. to 1 in.

with tra-

and every part so richly ornamented that had his artists not
been Indians it might have become vulgar. The principal apartment in the tomb is a square of 40 ft. each w^ay, covered by a stone
roof, perfectly flat in the centre, and supported only by a cove procery,

IKDJAN SAl^ACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

562
lu

jecting

ported

is

from the walls on every

ft.

How

side.

Book VII.

the roof

familiar with the use the Indians

make

sup-

is

who

a mystery which can only be understood by those

are

of masses of concrete, which,

with good mortar, seems capable of infinite applications unknown in

Above

Europe.

as the one below

apartment

this
it,

though

its

height required for architectural

dome

another in the

is

only object

and access to

effect,

ornamental

as

to obtain externally the

is

its

interior can

only be obtained by a dark narrow stair in the thickness of the wall.

tomb

Besides the

there

garden, in which these

is

are

a mosque to correspond

and the royal

adorned, as usual, internally

situated, is

with fountains and kiosks, and externally with colonnades and cara-

making up a group
and as picturesque as' any in India, and far excelling anything
the sort on this side of the Hellespont.
The tomb of his successor, Mahmiid, was in design as complete

vansaries for strangers and pilgrims, the whole

as rich
of

a contrast to that just described as can well be conceived,

and

is

as

remarkable for simple grandeur and constructive boldness as that of

Ibrahim

was

for

I'ichness

and

contempt

of

proprieties.

It

constructive

excessive

on the

same
principle as that employed in
constructed

is

the

design

the

great

No.

scale

wonder

into a
skill

what,

Avas

only

in

an

as

of

(Woodcut

much

but on so

819),

larger a

dome

the

of

mosque

convert

to

of constructive

that

instance,

elegant

archi-

tectural design.

As
plan,
321.

Plan of

of Mahmud at Bijapur.
Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

ft.

At

the

height of

by a

to a circular

gallery

is

57

is still
ft.

opening 97

dome

more than 12

dome

internally a square
p

it.

each way;

area consequently

18,225

is

within the walls, only

is,

all

the recesses in

the

the larger of the two.

from the

floor-line

the

hall

begins

to

series of pendentives as ingenious as they are beautiful,

pendentives the

the

Rome

and even taking into account

walls of both buildings, this

contract,

be seen from the

is

apartment, 135

while that of the Pantheon at

15,883 sq.

will

Tomb

its

sq. ft.,

it

175

being about 10

ft.

ft.

ft.

wide

high,

On

in diameter.

erected,

is

124
all

ft.

round the

externally

the platform of

these

in diameter, thus leaving a

198

ft.,

interior.
its

Internally,

general

thickness

ft.

The most ingenious and

uovq]

part

of

the

construction

of

this

BTJAPUK.

Chap. IX.

dome

is

acted.

mode

the

in

which

5G8

outward thrust

lateral or

its

counter-

is

This was accomplished by forming the pendentives so that

they not only cut

off

the angles, but that, as shown in the plan, their

arches intersect one another, and form a very considerable mass

of

masonry perfectly stable in itself and, by its weight acting inwards,

counteracting any thrust that can possibly be brought to bear upon
;

it

by the pressure of the dome.

has any tendency to move,

circular

form

is

impossible

If the
is

it

to

whole

fall

edifice

while the action

of

thus balanced

which from

inwards,

the weight

and keeps the whole

at all with the outline of the

322.

Pendentives of the

its

the

dome,

pendentives being in the opposite direction to that of the

acts like a tie,

of

it

in equilibrium, without interfering

dome.

Tomb

of Mahmini, looking upwards. (From a Drawing by

Mr. Gumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

In the Pantheon and most European domes a great mass of masonry

thrown on the haunches, which entirely hides the external form,
and is a singularly clumsy expedient in every respect compared with

is

the elegant

mode

of

hanging the weight

inside.

Notwithstanding that this expedient gives the dome a perfectly

which no thrust can move, still, looking

(Woodcut No. 828), its form is such that it appears

stable basis to stand upon,

at

the section

almost paradoxical that such a building should stand.

represented an arch or a vault,

but the
is

dome

almost as

is

it is

itself so perfect

difficult to build

If the section

such as would not stand one hour

as a constructive expedient, that

dome

that will

fall

as

it

is

it

to build a

2 0 2

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITPXTURE.

564
vault

that will

stand.

beautiful form of

As

the

dome

roof yet invented,

also,

is
it

may

from the most extraordinary and

complex

anywhere, to pause and examine a

little

its

Book VI I.

artistically,

the

most

be well, before passing

example

more

closely

yet

attempted

the

theory

of

construction.

Let us suppose the diagram to represent the plan of a perfectly

flat

dome 100

ft.

in diameter,

and each rim consequently 10

ft.

wide.

Further assuming for convenience that the w^hole dome weighs

rim

weigh 282G tons, or almost exactly as

7850

tons, the outer

much

as the three inner rims put together

will

the next will weigh 2204,

the next 15(38, the next 942, and the inner only 814
siderable extra thickness

might be heaped on

it,

so that a con-

or on the two inner

ones, without their preponderance at all affecting the stability of the

dome

but this

is

the most unfavourable view to take of the case.

understand the problem more

A AA

clearly, let

To

us suppose the semicircle

(AVoodcut No. 824) to represent the section of a hemispherical

BIJAPUK.

Chap. IX.

The

dome.
be 30

ft.

and 10

first

segment of

in height, and

only 1884

10

in width, will

ft.

the next, 10

the third, 10

fourth will weigh 942

the

thougli only

this,

weigh 9420 tons

Avill

wide, will weigh 3140

ft.

565

by

ft.

ft.,

ft.

will

high

weigh

and the central portion,

as

before, 31 G.

Diagram

324.

Now

it

is

pendicular,

illustrative of

evident that the

Domical Construction.

portion,

first

also two-thirds of the whole weight of the

constructed,

is

it

which

third,

is

immoveable
did

fantastic

sufficient

from an inspection

and

must be

it

if

this

is

basis, the architect

be clumsy indeed
they

more than

dome, how easy

the springing

B, being the most per-

dome,

steady and firmly

if

abutment for the remaining

the whole of the rest of the dome.

It is evident

of the

the one least liable to disturbance or thrust, and, being

is

if

of the figure, or

play

with their
seeking

may

play with the rest

the

please

perfectly stable.

it

domes, and made

to

segment from

very solidly built and placed on an

he cannot make

forms,

from any section

to construct the first

eye

the engineering necessities of the case, and yet

and he must
In the East

them of all
more than to
it

is

sorts

of

consult

the rarest possible

contingency to find a dome that has fallen through faults in the

construction.

Europe

In

building

architects

have been timid

and unskilled in dome-

but with our present engineering knowledge

it

would be

easy to construct far larger and more daring domes than even this of

Mahmud's tomb, without

The

the smallest fear of accident.

external ordonnance of this

At each angle

building

is

as beautiful as that

an octagonal tower eight

storeys high, simple and bold in its proportions, and crowned by a
dome of great elegance. The lower part of the building is plain and
of

the

interior.

stands

solid, pierced

only with such openings as are requisite to admit light

and

the height of 83

12

air
ft.

at

from the

ft.

a cornice projects to the extent

wall, or nearly twice as

architect ever attempted.

Above

this

much

as the boldest

of

European

an open gallery gives lightness

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

5GG

and

Book VII.

by two small

finish to the whole, each face being further relieved

minarets.

The same daring system

of Bijapur

architects

construction was carried

of

in their

civil

The

buildings.

out by the

great

x\udience

(Wcodcut No. 825), opens in front with an arch

82 ft. wide, which, had it been sufficiently abutted, might have been
a grand architectural feature
as it is, it is too like an engineering
work to be satisfactory. Its cornice was in wood, and some of its
Hall, for instance

supports

are

liarities of

still

in

their

Indeed,

places.

it

one of the pecu-

the architecture of this city that, like the English

wood

tects in their roofs, those of Bijapur clung to

long after

its

use had been abandoned

India.

The Ashur Moobaruk, one

city, is

entirely

open on one

archi-

as a constructive

(From a Photograph.)

Audience Hall, Bijapur.

325.

expedient

is

side, the

in

other parts

of

most splendid palaces in the

of the

roof

behig supported only by

two wooden pillars w^ith immense bracket-capitals and the internal

ornaments are in the same material. The result of this practice was
;

the same at Bijapur as in England

far greater depth of framing
and greater richness in architectural ornamentation, and an intolerance of constructive awkwardness which led to the happiest results
in both countries.

Among

the principal edifices

storeyed palaces which

way

corners

of

in

the city

come across us

the world.

has been converted by the

Add

so

to this

Mahomedans

is

one of those seven-

strangely in
that

the

all

out-of-the-

Ashur Moobaruk

into a relic-shrine to contain

SCINDE.

Chap. IX.

some hairs

the Prophet's

of

5G7

and we have a picture

beard,

strange difficulty of weaning a Tartar from

the

the

of

innate prejudices of

his race.

Besides

two there are

these

within the walls,

five other palaces

them of great splendour, and numberless residences of the

nobles and attendants of the court.
But perhaps the most remarkable
civil edifice is a little gateway, known as the Mehturi Mehal ("the

some

of

Gate of the Sweeper ")

with a

legend attached to

mixed Hindu and Mahomedan

It is in a

here.

too long to quote

it

style,

every part and

every detail covered with ornament, but always equally appropriate and

Of

elegant.

though

The

its class

it

may

this class

gigantic walls of

are a

work

those

who

of

perhaps the best example in the country,

is

not be the highest.

the

Gj miles in

city itself,

and with the ruins of the suburbs of

built them,

make up a scene of grandeur

now to be found even in India.

great city, they

anything

else

circumference,

no mean magnitude, and, combined with the tombs of

this once

in desolation, equal to

SCINDE.

Among

the minor

styles

Mahomedan

of

art

one that would be singularly interesting in

number

sufficient

sense

if

is

and they were

it,

with those of the West.

must
and the countries

situation, almost outside India, the province of Scinde

its

have had a certain

always

style

India there

in

historical

examples existed to elucidate

of

of sufficient antiquity to connect the

From

with

affinity

Persia

we kncAV

lying to the westward of the Indus, and

if

we might probably be
of the forms we cannot now
East with those of the West

trace

able

liistory

to

its

to their

architectural

many

source

and join the styles of the

in a manner w^e cannot at present

explain,

pretend to accomplish.
It is doubtful, however,

doing

The

this.

whether the materials are in existence for

buildings in this province were always in brick, no

stone being available

and though they are not exposed

tive agencies of vegetation like those

and the bricks are

easily picked

of Bengal,

out and

to the destruc-

the mortar

utilised

is

bad,

by the natives

to

build their huts or villages.

All

we

at present

bourhood of

by

the

sway.

governors

At

know

be^.ong to a series of

Tatta, which were

or

erected

men of the
now known is that

great

least the oldest

erected in or about a.d. 1572, the year

Jami dynasty and annexed Scinde

of

the

exist.

earlier

dynasties

The known

under

series

have

in

the

province,
of

Amir

Mogul dynasty
during

their

Khalleel Khan,

which Akbar deposed the

to his empire.

yet

tombs in the neigh-

No tombs

been edited, though

or

mosques

they

extends from a.d. 1572-1640, and

all

may
show

INDIAN SAEACENIC AKCHITECTUIIE.

568
a

strongly-marked

affinity

Persian

to the

One example must

age.

earlier

the

for

their general appearance, for they are all very

tomb

suffice

much

Nawab Amir Khan, who was governor

the

of

same or an

the

of

style

present

Book VII.

of

explain

to

It is the

alike.

the province

Shah Jehan, from a.d. 1G27-1G32, and afterwards a.d.

The tomb was built apparently about a.d. 1640 (Wood-

in the reign of

1641-1650.
cut No. 326).

It is of brick,

ornamented with coloured

pattern and

great beauty of

Tomb

326.

of

Nawab Amir Khun,

not a very monumental

out on the
or

in the

dome
mosque

of the

but was, like

tiles,

way
Eock

all

those

like

exquisite

harmony

near Tatta, a.d. 1640.

of

the others of
of

Persia
of

(From a

its class,

generally,

colouring.

I'hotograph

It

of
is

adorning a building, but, as carried

at Jerusalem, in the

middle of the 16th

at Tabreez in the beginning of the 13th century,^

and generally in Persian buildings, it is capable of producing the

most pleasing effects.
Like the other tombs in the province, it is so similar to Persian
buildings of the same age, and so unlike any other found at the same
age in India Proper, that we can have
of those

who

little

erected them.

Ante, vol.

ii.

p.

553.

doubt as to the nationality

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

CHAPTER

569

X.

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.
CONTENTS.

Tomb of Mohammad Ghaus, Gualior Mosque at Futtehpore Sikri

Akbars Tomb, Secundra Palace at Delhi The Taje Mehal The Muti
Musjid Mosque at Delhi The Imambara, Lucknow Tomb of late Nawab,

DyDasties

Junaghur.

CHEONOLOGT.
a. d. 1494

Baber

Humayun

Akbar

a.d. 1556

1531

Jehant;ir

1605

Shere Shab

1539

ShahJehan

Selim

154i

Aurungzebe
Bahadur Shah

1628
)65S

1553

dies

1707

Till very recently, a description of the style introduced by the

Mogul emperors would have been considered a complete history of
Mahomedan architecture in India. It is the style which was described by Roe and Bernier, and all subsequent travellers.
It was
rendered familiar to the public in Em'ope by the drawings of Daniell
in the beginning of this century, and, since Agra and Delhi became
practically British cities,

their buildings

have been described, drawn,

and photographed till they have become almost as well known as

any found in Europe. It will take a very long time before even
photography will render the mosques or tombs of such cities as

Ahmedabad
is,

or

Bijapur as familiar or as easily understood.

Yet

it

perhaps, true to assert that the buildings of other dynasties, com-

mencing with the mosques at the Kutub and at Ajmir, and continuing till the last Dekhani dynasty was destroyed by Aurungzebe,

make up

a whole as

art

peculiarly

comparison,

any part

and

so

of

in

acquainted with, that

equal

size

the

Their buildings, however, are so original,

the masterpieces
it

is

of

art that

we

are generally

almost impossible to institute any com-

can we compare the Parthenon with the Taje

nearly

On

that dynasty,

which makes the study of their

some of their buildings will bear
with any architectural productions in

parison between them which shall be satisfactory.

of

Moguls.

a unity in the works of

and

respects,

the world.

unlike any of

is

their history,

fascinating,

some

interesting, in a historical

that was done by the

all

other hand, however, there

and a completeness in

and more

extensive

point of view, than even

How, for instance,

They are buildings

and magnificence, both in white marble, both

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

570

Book YII.

admirably adapted for the purposes for which they were built

what

common

have they in

else

The one

simple in

is

but

outline,

its

and depending on pillars for its external adornment the other has no
pillars, and owes its greatest effects to its singularly varied outline
and the mode in which its various parts are disposed, many of them
wholly detached from the principal mass.
The Parthenon belongs, it
;

true,

is

a higher

to

of

class

art,

sculptures raising

its

region of the most intellectual branch of phonetic art

it

on the

other hand, the exquisite inlay of precious stones at the Taje

beautiful

aesthetically

to bring

it

on a

Though

level

as,

the

into

but,

so

is

merely architectural estimate, almost

in a

with the Grecian masterpiece.^

may

their value, consequently,

be nearly the same, their

forms are so essentially different that they hardly look like produc-

same

and in an art so essentially conventional as

and must be, it requires long familiarity with
any new form, and a knowledge of its origin and use, that can only
be acquired by constant study, which makes it very difficult for a
tions

of

the

art

architecture always

is

stranger

the

to

realise

beauty that

real

often

underlies

even

strangest forms.

When, however,

will probably be

found that there are few among the Eastern

these

difficulties

are

the

conquered,

it

styles

that deserve more attention, and would better repay any study that
might be bestowed upon them, than the architecture of the Moguls.

Some

little

interruptions are experienced at the

beginning of the

narrative from the interpolation of the reigns of Shere Shah and his

He was an Afghan by descent

and an Indian by birth, and, had he been left to follow his own
devices, would, no doubt, have built in the style of architecture used
at Agra and Delhi before his countrymen were disturbed by the
Mogul invasion. We have, it is true, very little to tell us what that
son Selim in the reign of Humayun.

was during the 170 years that elapsed between the death of
Tugluck Shah and the first invasion of Baber, but it seems to have

style

been singularly plain and

solid,

duced by the Moguls, and

apparently in rivalry
difference

is

there,

to

new master

the

of

Hindustan.

So

little

between the architecture of Shere Shah

how^ever,

Adopting the numerical

and very unlike the florid art introby Shere Shah and his son

practised

scale

de-

True

scribed in the introduction to the

'

Principles of Beauty in Art,' p.

140,

phonetic, not that

phonetic

mode

it

has any direct

of utterance, but from the

singular a d pathetic distinctness \Nith

Taje I should on the contrary estimate

which every part of it gives utterance to

the sorrow and affection it was erected
Its index number would conto express.
sequently be 20, which is certainly as high
as it can be brought, and near enough to

as possessing 4 technic, 5 {esthetic, and

the Parthenon for comparison at least.

estimated the Parthenon as possessing

4 parts of technic value, 4 of aesthetic,

and 4
ber,

phonetic, or 24 as its index

being

the

higl'est

known.

numThe

MOGUL ARCHITECTUKE.

Chap. X.

571

Akbar that they must be treated as one style, beginning

sobriety and elegance, and ending in something nearly
approaching to wildness and exuberance of decoration, but still very
beautiful
in some respects superior to the chaste but feeble elegance
of the later Mogul style that succeeded it.
There is, again, a little difficulty and confusion in our having
no examples of the style as practised by Baber and Humayun.
The
well-known tomb of the latter king was certainly built by his son
Akbar Baber was buried near Cabul, and no buildiiig known to be
and
in

of

great

Yet that he did build

his has yet been identified in India.

In his own

'

Memoirs

cutters

belonging to

palaces

680 persons

he

'

us, "

tells

that place

and

certain.

is

In Agra alone, and of the stoneBiana,

Sikri,

my

day employed on

only, I e^'ery

in Agra,

Dhulpur, Gualior,

and Koel, there were every day employed on my works 1491 stone^
In the following pages he describes some of these works,
and especially a Bowlee of great magnificence he excavated in the
cutters."

This was in the year 152G, and he lived to carry on

of AgTa.2

fort

these works for five years longer.

retained the

we

empii'e,

he adorned his capital with

During the ten years that

many

"splendid

containing seven pavilions or audience-halls

of

the

planets, in

his son

from Ferishta and other sources that

learn

edifices

one

one,

dedicated

palace

to

each

which he gave audience on the day of the week

There are traditions of a mosque

dedicated to the planet of the day.^

Jumna, opposite where

and his name is so frequently mentioned in
connexion with buildings both at Agra and Delhi that there can
be little doubt that he was a builder to as great an extent as the
he

said to have built on the banks of the

is

now

the Taje

stands

troubled character of his reign would admit

of.

But

his buildings

have perished, so that practically the history of Mogul architecture

commences with the buildings

throne

the

Humayun's
It

is

India

of

for

India,

that

probable that

a hundred
city

Em'opeans.

the

part

of

light will

be

last

is

Its

long very considerable

before

of the style

from an examination

the

during

years

reign.

thrown upon the origin

Timur

an Afghan dynasty who occupied

of

sixteen

which the Moguls introduced into

of the buildings erected at

Samarcand by

years before Baber's time (a.d. 1893-1404).

the hands

in

buildings

of

Russians,

the

been drawn

have

it

Xow

accessible

is

to

and photographed, but

not yet described so as to be available for scientific purposes, but

sufficiently

pected.

so

to

Though

indicate

the

frightful

direction

savage

in

in

which

most

light

respects,

possessed of a true Turki love for noble architecture

'

Memoirs,' translated

p. 331.

by Erskine,

Loc.

be ex-

Timur was

and though he

pp. 311-2.

'

Brigg's translation, vol.

cit.,

may

ii.

p. 71.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

572

generally massacred

the

on the embellishment of his

with splendid

filled

materials

available,

everyw^here,

and was not known

mode

favourite

of

Coloured

Scinde.

of

few years hence

meanwhile

intelligible,

Ave

a.d.

all

and

it

was

were

the

that

brief

space,

may

be

made

to

15:59-1545.

men

one of the most remarkable

during

tiles

this

must pass on

in

years' dura-

five

by

disturbed

rnled

ever

w^ho

northern India, though his reign was limited to only

tion

than

Persia

of

The bulbous dome appears

that time in India, unless

at

Sheee Shah,
Certainly

those

style

and altogether their style was gorcompared with the sobriety of the later

Pathan buildings in India.

and

in

India.

decoration,

geous in the extreme as

quite clear

far as

more resembling

the quasi-Persian province

work

to

Samarcand was consequently

can be jndged from the

capitals.

in

him,

resisted

and sent them

artists,

but, so

edifices,

anything now known to exist

in

any town that

inhabitants of

he always spared the architects and

Book VII.

the troubles

all

incident to a usurpation, he left his impress on every branch of the

The revenue

administration.

the great

tration,

all

carried

out,

system, the

reforms,

commenced,

were

police,

army adminis-

the

which Akbar so successfully

to some extent perfected, by

in fact,

and

him. In architecture, too, which

most concerns us here, he certainly pointed out the path by which
usurper,

this

as

the

Moguls

call

his successor reached such eminence.

The most
mosque

the

were repaired by

am

his buildings that I

perfect of

in the

Purana Kilah

Humayun

The

at Delhi.

in a.d. 1533,

and

do not

he had not something to do with the mosque.

latest authorities,

doubt
hall,

it

with

would

call

panels

in

however,

was finished
five

by

it

is

acquainted with
w^alls

quite sure

feel

According to the

said to have been built

Shere Shah in a.d.

is

of this place

1541.^

have no

It is a

single

openings in front through pointed arches of what we

Tudor form, but

carved with

the

with parti-coloured marbles.

beautifully varied in design,

and arranged

most exquisite designs and ornamented

One important dome,

small windows, crowns the centre

it

pierced with twelve

has, however,

no courtyard, but even without these adjuncts

it

is

no minarets and
one of the most

satisfactory buildings of its class in India.^

In the citadel at Agra there stands

in

Cunningham, Reports,' vol. i. p. 222.

A description of this mosque is given
'

Mr. Carllyle's Report on the Buildforming part of Cunning-

iiigs of Delhi,'

'

or

at least stood

when

was

ham's fourth volume, but like everything

Neither plan
else most unsatisfactory.
nor dimensions are given, mere verbiage
conveying no distinct meaning.

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

573

a fragment of a palace built by Shere Shah, or his son Selim,

which was as exquisite a piece of decorative art as anything of its
Being one of the first to occupy the ground, this
class in India.
there

palace was erected on the highest

spot within

the

fort

hence the

present Government, fancying this a favourable site for the erection

pulled

barrack,

of

it

down, and replaced

usually hideous brick erection of

house, and looms, in wliitewashed

Moguls

of the

it

own.

theii'

'

by

This

ugliness, over

is

more

now

the marble

than

a warepalaces

standard of comparison of the tastes of the two

fit

races.^

Judging from the fragment that remains, and the accounts received
spot, this palace must have gone far to justify the eulogium

on the

more than once passed on the works of these Pathans that "they
built like giants, and finished like goldsmiths :" for the stones seem
to have been of enormous size, and the details of most exquisite finish.

many

It has passed away, however, like

another noble building of

under the ruthless barbarism of our

class,

rule.

its

Mosques we have

and sometimes tombs, because they were unsuited to

it would not answer to offend the religious
But when we deposed the kings and approfeelings of the natives.
priated their revenues, there was no one to claim their now useless
abodes of splendour. It was consequently found cheaper either to pull
them down, or use them as residences or arsenals, than to keep them

generally spared,

our economic purposes, and

up, so that very few

The tomb

now remain

for the admii'ation of posterity.

Shah has been already described (ante, p. 516),

It was erected at his native place
as it is essentially Pathan in style.
in Behar, to the south of the Ganges, far from Mogul influence at that
time, and in the style of severe simplicity that characterised the works
of his race between the times of Tugluck and those of Behlol Lodi
(a.d.

of Shere

1450-1488), the

last really

It is not quite clear

how much by

or

built the

independent king of his

how much

of the

tomb was

his son Selim, Avho certainly finished

in

New

any buildings inside

is

not certain

remains of any importance.

and completed
left

his

father's

buildings,

find

any trace

of this

book on Agra, I premust have been utilised since

fort in his third

my

clay.

at

least

now

and between them they have

if

collected together

and

of Inciian-

styles.^

I cannot

it

Selim also

Generally he seems to have carried on

building in Keeue's description of the

sume

nothing

would form an interesting chapter in the history

Mahomedan
As

by himself,

Whether, however, he

Delhi.

a group of architectural remains which,

illustrated,

it.

Selimghur on an island in the Jumna, to which Shah Jehan

afterwards added his palace

erected

line.

built

Unless

it

is

the building he

Nobut Klianaof Akbar's palace

have never seen it in any photo-

calls the
(26)> I

graph of the place.

2

It is not quite clear

gur owes

its

how much Rhotas-

maguifictnce to Shere Shah,

INDIAN SAllACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

574

Book VII.

Akbar, 1550-1005.
It

this

would require a volume to describe

man

remarkable

hundred plates would hardly

Had

liarities.

all

the buildings erected by

during his long reign of forty-nine years, and a

make known

suffice to

all

pecu-

their

Akbar been content to follow in the lines of the style

invented by the Pathans and perfected by Shere Shah,

it

might be

easy enough to follow the sequence, but nothing in his character

remarkable as the

spirit of

is

tolerance that pervaded all his acts.

so

He

seems to have had as sincere a love and admiration for his Hindu
subjects as he

had

own

for those of his

faith,

or inclination, to have cherished their arts as

belonged exclusively to his own people.

throughout
correct,

all

works of two

his

styles,

which might, in the course

if

The consequence is a mixture

often more picturesque than
persevered in.

There

tolerance, however, died with him.

policy

as he did those that

of another half century,

blended into a completely new style

the works of

and whether from

much

no trace

is

have been

The spirit
of Hinduism

of
in

Jehangir or Shah Jehan, and Aurungzebe w^ould have

been horrified at the suggestion that arts of the

infidels could influence

anything he did.

One probably

works was the mausoleum, which he

of his earliest

erected over the remains of his father,

it

certainly

was finished by Akbar,

and commenced by

his

father

for,

it

Humayun,

Though

at Delhi.

most probably was designed

frequently

as

remarked in the

previous pages of this work, the great architectural peculiarity of the

Tartar or Mongolian races

is

their tomb-building propensity, in

which

they are so strongly distinguished from the Aryan, and also from the
great

Semitic

families, with

whom

they divide the greater part

of

Nowhere is this more forcibly illustrated than in

India where the tombs of the Pathans and Moguls form a complete
and unbroken series of architectural monuments from the first yeai's
of the Moslem invasion to the present hour.
The tombs of the Pathans are less splendid than those of the
Moguls but nevertheless the whole series is singularly interesting,
Generally
the tombs being far more numerous than the mosques.
speaking, also, they are more artistic in design, and frequently not
only larger but more splendidly decorated than the buildings excluthe habitable globe.

sively devoted to prayer.

The
made it

princes of the Tartar races, in carrying out their love of tombs,

the practice to build their

how much

to

Akbar

both certainly built

own

in their lifetime, as

"They

nii^ht easily

Klumd,

be ascertained how much belongs to each.

Unfortunately, the part tliat belongs to

horses."

the

voce.

there,

and on the spot

British

is

too

it

easily

ascertained.

people

all

converted the beautiful

of

drawing,

Dewan

which Daniell published a

into

stable

Hamilton's

'

for

breeding

Gazetteer,'

sub

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

CHAr. X.

must who are

really desirous

In doiug

sepulchral magnificeuce.

of

mode

they rejected the Egyptian

this

575

of

preparing dark and deep

The

chambers in the heart of the rock, or of the massive pyramid.

Tartars, on the other hand, built their sepulchres of such a character

enjoyment for themselves and their friends

as to serve for places of

during their lifetime, and only when they could enjoy them no longer
they became the solemn resting-places of their mortal remains.

The

usual

process

for the

erection of these structures

for the

is

king or noble who intends to provide himself a tomb to enclose a

high crenellated walls,

city walls, generally with

garden outside the

and with one or more splendid gateways and in the centre of this he
erects a square or octagonal building, crowned by a dome, and in the
more splendid examples with smaller and dome-roofed apartments on
;

four of the sides or angles, the other four being devoted to entrances.

This building

generally

is

on a

situated

lofty

from

square terrace,

which radiate four broad alleys, generally with marble-paved canals

ornamented with fountains
the angular spaces are planted with
;

and other evergreens and

cypresses

fruit-trees,

making up one of those

During the

formal but beautiful gardens so characteristic of the East.

lifetime of the founder, the central building is called a

and

festal hall,

oi'

and

his friends.

At

his death its destination

changed

is

interred beneath the central dome.

beside

him

vaults never

building
sistence

is

founder's remains are

to

When

to priests

and

cadis,

The
who gain a

sale of the fruits of the garden, or the

visit

the

last

resting-place

of

Though

effect as graceful as it is

the tombs, with

numerous throughout

all

the

place

of
to

solemn and appropriate.

the remains

India,

alms of those

The beauty

surrounding objects combines with the repose of

produce an

care of the

scanty sub-

their friend or master.

Perfect silence takes the place of festivity and mirth.

the

lies

once used as a place of burial,

resound with festive mirth.

again

handed over

by the

who come

the

Sometimes his favourite wife

but more generally his family and relations are buried

beneath the collateral domes.

its

Barrah Durrie,

used as a place of recreation and feasting by him

is

the

of their enclosures, are so

Taje Mehal, at Agra,

is

almost

tomb that retains its garden in anything like its pristine

beauty, and there is not perhaps in the whole world a scene where
nature and art so successfully combine to produce a perfect work of
the

only

art as within the precincts of this far-famed

The tomb

of

buried in India,

Humayun
still

Delhi, of which indeed

It

mausoleum.

first

stands tolerably entire

it

of

the Moguls

among

who was

the ruins of Old

forms the principal and most striking object.

stands well on a lofty square platform, adorned with arches, whose

piers
is

Shah, the

are

ornamented with an inlay

of white marble.

The tomb

itself

an octagonal apartment, of considerable dimensions, crowned by a

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

576

dome

white marble,

of

of

very graceful contour externally.

sides of the octagon are occupied

by the entrances

Four

to the other four

are attached, making up a building

with only the angles slightly cut away.^

octagonal apartments

smaller
nearly

Book VII.

square

in

j^lan,

plan is in fact that afterwards adopted at the Taje (Woodcut

No. 338), but used here without the depth and poetry of that celebrated building.
Its most marked characteristic, however, is
its
Its

purity

it

might almost be

called poverty

of design.

unlike anything else that Akbar ever built, that

it

could have been designed by him.

boldness of the
buildings a
is,

earlier

century at

it

is

so very

It is

hardly possible

It has not even the picturesque

Pathan tombs, and in fact looks more

least more modern than it really is.

however, a noble tomb, aud anywhere

like

It

must be considered a

else

wonder.

Humayun's tomb, however, is so well know^n from drawings and

photographs, that, in order to illustrate the architecture of the day, it

may

be preferable to take the contemporary tomb of

Gualior,

at

which

certainly

Mohammad Ghaus

was erected during the early part of

Akbar 's

l^^l

reign,

and

is

singularly

interesting

example of

the

of

the period.

square,
ft.

tombs
It is a

measuring

100

each way, exclusive

of the hexagonal towers,

which are attached

to

(Woodcut No.
The chamber of
327).
the tomb itself is a hall
the angles

43

ft.

square, with the

angles cut off by pointed

arches so as to form an

which the

octagon, on

dome

this square
Plan of

a gallery,

of Mohammad Ghaias, Gualiur.

Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Tomb

a screen

of

the

building

20

between the
closed

Around

rests.

on

ft.

en-

piers,

all

is

wide

sides

by

most exquisite tracery in pierced stone-work with

a projecting porch on each face (Woodcut No. 328).2

have mislaid the measurements and

plan I

made

neither Gen.

of this building

Cunningham nor

and, as
his

as-

sistants give either plan or dimensions,

am

unable to quote any figures in

tlie

text.
^

The plan

Cunningliam

is
('

taken from one by Gen.

Reports,'

vol.

ii.,

plate

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

On comparing

this

577

with the tomb of Shere Shah at Sasseram,

which in many respects it resembles to a considerable extent, it will

be seen that it marks a considerable progress in tomb-building during
even the short period that elapsed between the erection of the two.
There is an inherent weakness in an octagonal form as compared with
the square, that even the Pathans never quite successfully conquered
and the outward screen of trellis-work is far more elegant than the
open arcade of the Sasseram tomb. Something may be due to the fact
;

Toiub of Mohammad Ghaus, Gualior.

328.

that

(From a Fhotcgraph.)

Gualior was a city where building of an

ornamental character

had long been going on, and where consequently a superior school of
masons and architects may always have
a remote country village, where these

But be

this as

can only ascribe

it

it

may, the progress

is

existed, Avhile

Sasseram was

advantages were

unknown.

such in so short a time, that we

to the invigorating touch of Akbar's genius,

which

was afterwards to work such wonders.

91).

He

omits, however, these square projections.

have added them from the

photographs.

2 P

INDIAN SARACENIC AECHITECTURE.

578

One

of the

the old or

is

most remarkable and characteristic

Red Palace

much

consequently

of

by 72

by

ft.

62

largest,

by 37

ft.

It is a square

off.

In the centre

2G() ft.

on either side of which are two

ft.,

The

another.

ornament has peeled

its

building, measuring 249

ft.

Akbar's buiklings

in the fort, so called from being constructed

red sandstone, unfortunately not a very good quality, and

entirely of

71

of

Book VII.

has a

ft.,

flat

halls facing one

ceiling

divided into panels, and supported by struts of purely

Man

very similar to those used in the palaces of

Every feature around

ditya at Gualior.

Hindu

No

architecture.

carved on

the

all

flat

of

or Gualior, though

that

originality

it

too,

Indeed, throughout

palace

this

of place

at

bears that impress of vigour and

still

he and he only

is

construction

would hardly be out

it

which

by Akbar, but not

Hindu forms and Hindu

such an extent, that

to

Chittore

Sing and Vicrama-

The ornamentation,

others.

arches are used so sparingly, and

prevail

stone,

design,

this court is indeed of pure

surfaces, is of a class used

found in the buildings

of

Hindu

arches appear anywhere, but the horizontal

everywhere.

construction

of

style

a courtyard,

is

knew

how^

to

impress

on

his

all

works. ^
It

is,

however, at Futtehpore Sikri that Akbar must be judged

During the whole

of as a builder.

He

residence.

apparently the
identified as

apparently was

last, at least,

of his reign

the

to build there,

was

his favourite

no single building being

having been erected by any of his successors.

Akbar seems

to

have had no settled plan when he commenced

The

building there.

original

Khas Mehal, a square block

way, and therefore of

part

the

of

of building

building seems to be the

measuring about 260

each

ft.

about the same dimensions as the Red Palace

Its courtyard, however, is larger,

in the fort at Agra.

each way, and the buildings that surround

of design

it

occupy the spot, and

to

first

and ornamentation.

it

about 170

ft.

very inferior in richness

This, however,

is

far

more than com-

pensated for by the courts and pavilions that he added from time to

There

time.

the

is

Dewanni Khas,

ing with a throne consisting of

or throne-room, a square build-

an enormous flower-like

bracket,

supported

on a richly-carved

his

very similar to one he erected at Allahabad, to be men-

office,

pillar

peristylar

building,

called

a five-storeyed open pavilion, all the pillars of

which are most richly carved, and long colonnades and walls conThe richest, the most beautiful.
necting these with one another.

tioned hereafter

'

An

Gen.

al tempt

has lately been made by

Cunningham and

his

assistants

('Reports,' vol. iv. p. 124), to ascribe this

palace to Jehangir. On what authority
is

not stated

and

distinct, I

but unless

it is

must decline

to

very clear

admit

it.

The whole
judge,

is

evidence,

hypothesis.
palace, in his

so far

There
'

is

a plan of

cast of

can
an
this

Reports,' vol. iv., plate 8.

throne
Kensington Museum.
2

as

directly opposed to such

tliis

is in

the South

(!iiAP.

u,s

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

X.

well as the

most characteristic of

small pavilions,

Mehal,

minister,

consort
it

is

Bir

to

favourite

date his three

ka

said

for

his

Bui

impossible

to

sultanas

of the

hence

Roumi

Sultana.

pavilion,

perhaps,

Beti

favourite

are small, but

to

a Photograph.)

such an extent, without the

bad

The two

taste.

pillars

annexed woodcut, are from a cast from the last-named

which
the

his

of

They

(From

Sikri.

smallest approach to being overdone or in

in the

Bir Bui ka

called

daughter

the

anything so picturesque in outline, or

any building carved and ornamented

shown

three

House, appropriated to his Christian

Miriam's

conceive

wife,

Carved Pillars in the Sultana's Kiosk, Fmtehpoie

329.

his buildings here are

have been erected to please and accommo-

Hindu

and the palace

all

579

is

now

in

the

most elaborate of

South Kensington Museum.

the

three

but the

It

other two

is,

are

generally in better taste.

The

glory, however,

of

Futtehpore Sikri

is

its

mosque, which
2 V 2

is

INDIAN SAIIACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

C80

Book VII.

by any in India (Woodcut No. ?>?>0).

It measures
and west, by 470 ft. north and south over all.
Tlie
mosque itself, 290 ft. by 80 ft,, is crowned by three domes. In its
sni'passed

Jijirdly

r)50 ft. cast

courtyard,

350

Avhich measures

ft.

by 440

pierced tracery
tracery

is

of

stand two tombs

and the windows with

ft.,

that of Selim Chisti, wholly in white marble,

most exquisite geometrical patterns

the

a subsequent invention.

It possesses besides a

flowing

deep cornice of

marble supported by brackets of the most elaborate design, so much

so iTidced as to be almost fantastic

Mosque

330.

in

the place

in

excellent

these

parts,

gateway,

at Futtehpore Sikri.

the

(From a Plan by

the other toml), that

taste,

but

(|uite

only approach

of

eclipsed

to

bad

taste

Lieut. Cole, R.E.)

Khan,

Islam

by

its

is

soberer and

surroundings.

Even

however, arc surpassed in magnificence by the southern

measuring

180

ft.

by 85

ft.

in plan,

and

of

proportionate

dimensions in height (Woodcut No. 331).

As it stands on a rising
ground, when looked at from below, its appearance is noble beyond
that of any portal attached to any

whole

This

world.

gateway

satisfactory solution of a
of

architects

in

all

ages,

mosque in India, perhaps in the

may

also

be

quoted as

a perfectly

problem which has exercised the ingenuity

but was more successfully treated by the

Saracenic architects than by any others.

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

CiiAP. X.

It
all

was always manifest that

in proportion to its

to give a large

building a door at

dimensions was, to say the least of

Southern Gateway of Mosque, Futtehpore Sikri.

it,

very

(From a Pliotograph.)

high,

and they do not want portals

through which elephants might march.

The Greeks never ventured,

inconvenient.

Men

are only 6

ft.

'

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTUKE.

582;

rouK VII.

however, to reduce the proportionate size of their portals, though

may

it

he they only opened the lower half, and they covered them, in

almost

them a dignity that even

instances, with porticos to give

all

their dimensions failed to impart.

The Gothic

architects

deeply-embowed

by splaying their

tried,

doorways, and by ornamenting them richly with carving and sculp-

was

It

them

give

to

ture,

left,

very moderate

They placed

became those
that

their portals

measures

its

dimensions

wholly irrespective of the size of the

its

and

scale that

its

of the size of

The semi-dome

base.

its

the

is

by which the imagination

magnificence.

The same system pervades almost

all

style,

and always with a perfectly

more

satisfactory than in this instance,

The

portionate dimensions.

and,

achieve success

though

it

age and

the

the portals of

satisfactory result

sometimes

may

be in

less

failure

such as few

very

mind

pro-

as difficult, as it is to

is

the design

wrong.

is

romance

altogether, this palace at Futtehpore Sikri is a

it

even

principle seems the best that has yet been

when that is right,

when the principle of

a reflex of the

is

This

semi-dome.

and that only, and no one thinks

of the design,

Taking

one, or three, or five,

of

porch or portico, and

the

portal,

modulus

hit upon,

back

the

at

the openings which are provided at

in stone,

their

for

one, for instance, looking at this gateway can mistake

a doorway

is

it

the

of

No

opening.

dimensions

thus became

feature

last

was indispensable

that

however, for the Saracenic architects completely to get

over the difficulty.

of

dignity

the

without unnecessarily increasing the size of the openings.

situation

few

are

of the great

found anywhere

to be

man who

built it

more

and

it

distinct

than can easily be obtained from any other source.^

Allahabad was a more favourite residence of this monarch than

Agra, perhaps as

much

so as even Futtehpore Sikri

having appropriated the

The most

beautiful thing was

forty pillars, so called

floor,

glories

fort, its

from

its

the

pavilion

of

the

Chalis Sitiin, or

having that number on the principal

other outside of twenty-four.

by the inner colonnade, was an upper range

pillars

crowned by a dome.

materials being

hall,

but the English

disposed in two concentric octagonal ranges, one internal of six-

teen pillars, the

its

have been nearly obliterated.

however,

(No. 332).

It

w^anted

still
is

Above this, supported

the same number of

This building has entirely disappeared,

to

remains,

now

of

repair

the

represented

the ai'senal

fortifications.

in

a brick

the

wall has

Photographs of this palace arc now

common, and can be obtained anywhere

supplies

and recently Lieut. Cole s

the text arc quoted.

Buildings in

tlic

'

Eeport on

Neighl^ourliood of Agra

The

great

annexed woodcut
been run up

some very interesting new ones

with plans, from which the diniensions in

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

between

its

and

curious

its

colonnades with windows of English architecture,

outer

pavilions

internally, whatever

and other accompaniments removed

could not be conveniently cut away

(From

Hall in Palace at Allahabad.

fittings.

Still

its

is

and

carefully

whitewash, and hid by stands of arms

covered up with plaster and

and deal

583

Drawing by

Diiniell.)

can be made out

plan

square hall

supported by eight rows of columns, eight in each row, thus making

in all sixty-four, surrounded by a deep verandah of double columns,

with groups of four at the angles,

of the

and

surmounted by bracket capitals

all

most elegant and richest design, and altogether as

fine in style

ornament as anything in India.

as rich in

Perhaps, however, the most characteristic of Akbar's buildings

tomb he commenced

the

which

is

quite

is

to erect for himself at Secundra, near Agra,

unlike any other

tomb

built in India

before

either

or since, and of a design borrowed, as I believe, from a Hindu, or

more
still

correctly, Buddhist, model.

It

stands

in an extensive

kept up, approached by one noble gateway.

garden, on a raised platform, stands the

form.

The lower

tomb

ft.

itself,

of

a pyramidal

each way, exclusive of the

It is 30 ft. in height, and pierced by ten great arches

and with a larger entrance adorned with a mosaic of

angle towers.

on each

storey measures 820

garden,

In the centre of this

face,

marble in the centre ("Woodcuts Nos. 333, 334).^

On this terrace stands another far more ornate, measuring 186

on each
design,

No

side,

and

and 14

ft.

9 in. in height.

respectively 15

ft.

third

2 in. and 14

plan or section of this tomb has

know, been published,

though it has been in our possession for
nearly a century. Those here given are
from my own mcasurcmentp, and, though
ever, so far as I

they

may

ft.

and

ft.

fourth, of similar

6 in. high, stand

on

be correct as far as they go, are

monument ought to be, and would have been,

had it been in the hands of any other
European nation.
not so detailed as those of such a

INDIAN SAKACKNIC ARCHITECTURE.

584
this, all

the

length

marble

Within and above the

these behig" of red sandstone.

a white marble enclosure 157

of

the lowest terrace,

trellis- work

surrounded

l)y

ft.

of

Book YU.

its

outer wall entirely composed of

most beautiful patterns.

the

last is

each way, or externally just half

Inside

is

it

colonnade or cloister of the same material, in the

centre of which, on a raised platform,

is

the tombstone of the founder,

a splendid piece of the most beautiful arabesque tracery.

ever, is not the true burial-place

This, how-

but the mortal remains of this great

king repose under a far plainer tombstone in a vaulted chamber in

333.

the

Plan of A-kbar's

basement 85

Tomb

ft.

at Secundra.

square,

(From a Plan by

exactly

the Author.)

Scale 100

ft.

to 1 in.

under the simulated tomb that

adorns the summit of the mausoleum.

At

first

exceptional

sight

it

might appear that the design

tomb was

of this curious

monarch who

either a caprice of the

built

and

it,

or

an importation from abroad (Woodcut No. 335). My impression, on

the contrary, is, that it is a direct imitation of some such building as
the old Buddhist viharas which

purposes in Akbar's time.

may have

Turning back,

Nos. GO and 18], representing the groat

existed,

for

I'ath

applied

instance, to

to

other

Woodcuts

at Mahavellipore,

it

will

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

585

be seen that the number and proportion of the storeys

The

the same.

is

tomb appear

pavilions that adorn the upper storeys of Akbar's

distinct

reminiscences of the cells that stand on the edge of each platform of

If the tomb had been crowned by a domical
the rock-cut example.
chamber over the tombstone, the likeness would have been so great
that no one could mistake it, and my conviction is, that such a
No such royal tomb
chamber was part of the original design.
and the
remains exposed to the air in any Indian mausoleum
;

raised platform in the centre of the upper cloister, 38

so like

its

As

the

monument now

stands,

square, looks

it

was intended

the

pyramid has

foundation that I cannot help believing

for that purpose.

ft.

Diagram Section

331.

'

of one-half of Akbir's

Tomb

Scale 50

a truncated and unmeaning aspect.

now

is

more than 100

little

ft.

and a central dome 30 or 40

that

been so completed,

among Indian

The diagram

and

outline
it

in

explanatory of

Arrangements.

The

total height of the building

to the top of the angle pavilions

ft.

higher,
is

which

the

is

wanted to make

proportion as

certainly

its

to 1 in.

the base gives, seems just what

as beautiful in
it

at Secundra,

ft.

it

is

in

proportion
this

tomb

detail.

Had

would have ranked next the Taje

mausolea.^

is

probably sufficient

to

angle kiosks, I had no means of mea-

and

explain the text, but must not be taken

suring,

as pretending to be a correct architectural

memoranda

drawing. Theic were parts, such as the

height of the lower dome and upper

after all, I
for

was merely making

my own

satisfaction.

After the above was written, and

diagram drawn (Woodcut No. 334),

tlie

was

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

Jehangir,

587

1605-1G28.

a.d.

Wlieu wc consider how much was done by his father and his son,
rather startling to find how little Jehangir contributed to the

it

is

magnificence of

ai'chitectural

Partly

India.

monarchs

these two great

which

there in preference to

Agra

The

or Delhi.

which was built by him, seems

Shah Jehan

that built by

to

characterised

but partly also to his having made Lahore

during his reign, and to his having

the capital

ever,

may be owing

this

not having the same passion for buildnig

his

generally

mosque

resided

how-

there,

be equal in magnificence to

to

This mosque, however, seems

Delhi.

at

great

have been surpassed by one erected in the city of Lahore by his

to

It

vizir.

in the Persian style, covered with enamelled

is

resijlendent in

but not very graceful in form.

colours,

tiles, and
His tomb,

in which he lies buried with his queen, the imperious Nurjehan,

worthy of

and half the splendour of the temple

palace, too,

was worthy of his other buildings, but

so altered, to adapt
little

dence
city,

has suffered as

it

it

wants of

to the

its

much

them,

regarding

either

which seems

as the

and

this,

successive occupants, that

measurements and no information about

have, however, no

monuments which would enable us

these

due to marbles

which he erected,

form remains.

of its original

We

is

has been used as a habitation from that time to

It

rest.

Amritsir

at

The

plundered from this mausoleum.

was

by the Sikhs,

builder, but has been used as a quarry

its

to

owe

or

speak with any confi-

to

other

the

buildings

that

of

principal splendour to the reign of this

its

monarch.

At

buildings of
cipally

considerable

ruinous

peering
pieces,

with

stone.

decay

Most

only

prinpillars

them, consequently, are in a state

of

marvellously picturesque,

must

it

is

be

tearing

confessed,

them

to

but hardly worthy to be placed in competition with the stone

is

one building

the

fur

some years, and visited the

tomb for the last time apparently in 1609,

and after describing most faithfully all its
peculiarities

up

to the

stands, adds

"

upper

At my

capitals.

tomb known

iiot a little pleased to find the following

entry in Mr. Finch's journal. He resided

now

however, were

through the luxuriant vegetation that

There

Agra

with several

it

and with

stucco,

and marble buildings of the more northern

in

and adorned

These,

dimensions.

brick-work, covered

in

and brackets in
of

new

the other end of his dominions also he built a splendid

capital at Dacca, in supersession to Gaur,

floor,

as

last

sight

it

as

that

of

Eti-niad-

thereof there was only overhead a rich

Semaine over the tomb.

But

to bo inarched over with the

most

tent with a
it is

curious white and speckled marble,

to bo seeled all witliin

and

with pure sheet

gold richly inwrought." 'Purchas, his
I^ilgrims,' vol,

i.

p. 440.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTUEE.

583

Doulah

at

Agra,

Book VII.

which certainly belongs to

however,

and, though not erected by the monarch himself,

reign,

this

cannot be passed

not only from its own beauty of design, but also because it
marks an epoch in the style to which it belongs. It is situated on
the left bank of the river, in the midst of a garden surrounded by
In the centre of this, on a
a wall measuring 540 ft. on each side.

over,

platform, stands

raised

on each

side.

It

is

tomb

the

square measuring

itself,

two storeys in height, and

G9

ft.

each angle

at

The

an octagonal tower, surmounted by an open pavilion.

is

towers,

however, are rather squat in proportion, and the general design of

the building very far from being so pleasing as

Had

pretentious tombs in the neighbourhood.

in red sandstone, or even with

Humayun,

of

an inlay

of

that

it,

of

many

white marble like that

would not have attracted much attention.

it

less

indeed, been built

real

Its

being wholly in white marble, and being covered

merit consists in

throughout with a mosaic in " pietro duro "

and certainly one

of

the

the

first,

apparently,

most splendid, examples of that

class

of

ornamentation in India.

seems now to be ascertained that in the early part of the 17th

It

century Italian

artists,

apparently from

principally,

Florence,

were

introduced into India, and taught the Indians the art of inlaying

No

marble with precious stones.^

occurs, so far as I

Although the

to

fact

seems hardly now

he douhted, no very direct evidence has

yet been adduced to prove that

foreign

Florentine artists

it

was

to

that the In-

dians owe the art of inlaying in precious

stones generally

duro."
is

known as work in

pietro

Austin or Augustin de Bordeaux,

the only European artist whose

name

can positively be identified with any works

He

was employed
by Shah Jehan at Delhi, and executed
that mosaic of Orpheus or Apollo playing

of the class.

to

certainly

the beasts, after Eaphacl's picture,

which once adorned the throne there,

and is now in the Indian Museum at
South Kensington.
It is, however, hardly to be expected
that natives should record the

those
arts

even

who surpassed tlumin

and needy

names of
their

own

Italian adventurers were

have an opportunity of
recording the works they executed in a
strange and foreign country. Had any
Italian who lived at the courts of Jehangir
or Shah Jehan written a book, he might
less likely to

mode

instance of this

know, in the reign

of

Akbar

of decoration

but in that of Shah

have recorded the artistic prowess of his

countrymen, but none such, so far as I am
aware, has yet seen light.

The

internal evidence, however, seems

complete.

Up

the erection of the

to

tomb at Secundra in the

ten years of Jehan gir's reign, a.d

gates to Akbar's
first

1605-1615,

we have

infinite

mosaics of

coloured marble, but no specimen of

lay."

in-

In Eti-mad-Djulah's tomb, a.d.

1615-1628,

we have both systems

great perfection.

in

In the Taje and pi-

Agra and Delhi, built by Shah

Jehan, a.d. 1628-1668, the mosaic has
disappeared, being entirely supplanted

laces at

by the "

inlay."

It

was just before that

time that the system of inlaying called

" pietro duro " was invented, and
the

rage at Florence and, in

became
fact, all

throughout Europe and we know that

during the reign of the two last-named
monarchs many Italian artists were in
their service quite capable of giving in;

struction in the

new

art.

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

ClIAP. X.

589

became the leading' characteristic of the style, and both his

and his tombs owe their principal distinction to the beanty
the mode in which this new invention was employed.

Jchaji

it

palaces
of

this new art was really a foreign

had not been invented by the natives
of India themselves.
The question never, probably, would have
arisen had one of the fundamental principles of architecture been

has been doubted whether

It

whether

or

introduction,

better understood.

copy a Grecian or

we do

it

When we, for instance, having no art of

Roman pillar, or an Italian medieeval arch

so literally, without

climate

any attempt

to

adapt

adopt any feature or process belonging

not copy but adapt

it

to their uses

any other

it is

their

to

they do

this distinction between

mosaics

The Indians

Cinque-cento architecture.

own wish
style,

the difference.

all

Italians to introduce with

allowed the
of their

and

adopting and adapting that makes

to

our uses or

to

it

but when a people having a style of their

our own,
in detail,

We

would have

all

the

them

set

details

to

repro-

new materials and processes, the patterns which the

Akbar had been in the habit of carving in stone or of

duce, with their

architects of

inlaying in marble.

The

was to be used.

Every form was adapted to the place where it

style remained the same, so did all the details
;

the materials only were changed, and the patterns only so far as was

adapt them to the smaller and more refined materials

necessary to

that were to be used.^

As one
the

of

of the

least

the

first,

tomb

Eti-mad-Doulah was certainly one

of

specimens of

successful

its class.

The

patterns do not

the places where they are put, and the spaces are not always

quite

fit

those

best

suited

for this

help fancying that the

this building

decoration.

style of

Altogether I cannot

had more to do with the design

desirable, and they are to blame for

Italians

than was at

all

of
its

But, on the other hand, the beautiful tracery of the

its windows, which resemble those of Selim

w^ant of grace.

pierced

marble slabs of

Chisti's

tomb

at

Futtehpore Sikri, the beauty of

its

white marble

and the rich colour of its decorations, make up so beautiful a

whole, that it is only on comparing it with the w^orks of Shah Jehan
that we are justified in finding fault.

walls,

Shah Jehan,
It

tecture

would be

Akbar and that

Something of the same

1628-1658.

point out in the

any change so sudden as

the style of

difficult to

a.d.

that

of his

sort occurred

when the Turks occupied Constantinople,

They adapted the architecture of the

whole history of archi-

which took

place

grandson Shah Jehan

Christians to

their

without copying.
528, et seqq.

own

between

nor

purposes,

Vide ante,

vol.

any

but
ii.

p.

INDIAN SAI^ACENIC AKCHITEGTURE.

590
contrast

so

p'cat
of

effeminate

elegance

following

and palaces in the same

in any country whose

religion, built temples

the

now known

is

Nowhere
marked than

the second.

of

same

the

compared with the extreme but almost

Certainly Avhen the same people,

as

first,

nothing of

locality,

history

the

between the manly vigour and exnl)erant

that

as

originality

Book VII.

ever

sort

occurred

to us.

styles more strongly

Agra from the red stone palace of
Akbar, with its rich sculptures and square Hindu construction, a door
opens into the white marble court of the hareem of Shah Jehan, with
all its feeble prettiness, but at the same time marked with that pecuis

the

the palace

in

liar

elegance which

170

ft.

by 235

ft.,

Three sides of

of

this

The

found only in the East.

is

but the whole

not remarkable for

beauty

between the two

contrast

are

by the

occupied
nor, in

size,

finished with the

is

court

is

residences

the

of

their present state, for

but the fourth, overhanging the

river, is

not large,

most elaborate

care.

ladies,

architectural

occupied by three

white marble pavilions of singular elegance, though

it is

not easy

now

some English officer having pitched upon the principal

one as a residence, and having in consequence covered the ix)lished
marble and elegant arabesques of flowers inlaid in precious stones
to see them,

with thick coatings of that whitewash Avhich

his idea of comfort

As

and elegant

indispensable

Moorish palaces, the baths on one side of

in most

to

this court

and elaborately decorated apartments in the

were the most elegant

palace.

was

simplicity.

The baths have been

destroyed, but the walls and roofs

still

show the elegance with which they were adorned.^

Behind this, in the centre of the palace, is a great court, 500 ft.
by 370 ft. surrounded by arcades, and approached at the opposite
ends through a succession of beautiful courts opening into one another

One one side

Dewanni Aum 208

of great magnificence.

by gateways

the palace

great hall of

the

of this court is the

ft.

ported by three ranges of arcades of exquisite beauty.

three sides,

by 7G
It

for the throne at the back.

and with a niche

now an

is

ft.,

sup-

open on

This, like

and reduced to as near a

in
our
dockyards.^
Behind it are two
those
similarity as possible to
the
Dewanni
or private hall
containing
Khas,
one
smaller courts, the
the hall at

Allahabad,

is

arsenal,

The great bath Avas torn up by the

Marquis of Hastings with the intention
of presenting it to George IV., an in-

genial to the spirit of

but
now,
as the whole of the marble flooring with
what remained of the bath was sold by
auction by Lord William Bentinck, and

understand

revenues of India in a manner most con-

tention apparently never carried out

it is

vernor of the North West Provinces, I

difficult to ascertain the facts

fetched probably
ginal

its governors.
Since the appointment of Sir John
Strachey, the present enlightened Go-

co.sit:

but

it

per cent, of

its ori-

hf li)ed to eke out the

that this state of affairs

entirely altered.

are

now expended
and

is

Both care and money

liberally for the pro-

maintenance of such old

buildings that remain in the province.
tection

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

most

the

The

other the hareem.

of audience, the

591

hall in the former is one of

Shah Jehan's buildings, being wholly of white

with precious stones, and the design of the whole being in

ele<?ant of

marble inlaid

the best style of his reign.

One

of the

pavilion, in

on the river
an

most picturesque features about

two

this palace is a marl)le

surmounts one of the circular bastions

storeys, that

between the hareem and the Dewanni Khas.

face,

looks

of

built

anything here

than that of Shah Jehan, and

earlier style

On

this.

is

it

a smaller scale,

if

occupies

it

It

Jehangir
the

same place here that the Chalis Situn did in the palace at Allahabad
and exemplifies, even more than in their larger buildings, the extreme
;

who designed

elegance and refinement of those

these pala(;es.i

Palace at Delhi.

Though

Agra

the palace at

more

perhaps more picturesque, and his-

is

of Delhi, the latter had

immense advantage of being built at once, on one uniform plan,
and by the mcsb magnificent, as a builder, of all the sovereigns of
It had, however, one little disadvantage, in being somewhat
India.
All Shah Jehan's buildings there, seem to have been
later than Agra.
finished before he commenced the erection of the new city of Shah
Jehanabad with its palace, and what he built at Agra is soberer, and
Notwithstanding these
in somewhat better taste than at Delhi.
defects, the palace at Delhi is, or rather was, the most magnificent
perhaps in the world and the only one, at
palace in the East
least in India, which enables us to understand what the arrangements
torically certainly

interesting, than that

the

when

of a complete palace were

and carried

deliberately undertaken

out on one uniform plan (Woodcut No. 336).

The
the

palace at Delhi, which

edge of the Jumna,

angles

3200

slightly

ft.

canted

off,

situated like that at

is

a nearly regular

is

Agra

close to

parallelogram, with the

and measures 1600

ft.

north and south, exclusive of the gateways.

east

and west, by

It is

surrounded

by a very noble wall of red sandstone, relieved at intervals

The principal entrance faces the
by towers surmounted by kiosks.
noble
wide
street,
nearly a mile long, planted with
a
Chowk,
Chandni
on

all

sides

two rows of
centre.

'

the

trees,

and with a stream

Entering within

Perfect plans of this palace exist in

War Department

of India.

It is

Government cannot aiFord

the very few rupees it would require to
lithograph and publish them. Without
^reat pity the

such plans

it

is

of

w\ater

running down

deeply-recessed porta,l, you

its

very difficult to

make

find

its

yourself

any description intelligible.

That in
Keene's
Handbook of Agra,' though
useful as far as it goes, is on too small
a scale and not sufficiently detailed for
'

purposes of architectural

illustrati(;n.

INDIAN SAEACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

592

beneath the vaulted

the sides of which

hall,

with an octagonal break in the centre.

length

over

all,

has very

much

Book YIL

are in two storeys,

This

hall,

which

the effect of the nave

is

375

and

ft. in

of a gigantic

Gothic cathedial, and forms the noblest entrance known to belong to

any existing palace.

yard, 850
right

One

and

ft.

left,

of these

At

its

inner end this

hall

opened into a court-

square, from the centre of which a noble bazaar extended

like

the

led to the

hall, tw^o

storeys in height, but not vaulted.

Delhi gate, the other, which I

never quite finished, to the garden.

believe was

In front, at the entrance, was the

MOGUL AKCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

593

Nobufc Kliana (A), or music hall, beneath which the

second or great court of the palace, measuring 550

by 385

Aum

and

east

ft.

entered the

^'isitor

ft.

north and south,

In the centre of this stood the Dewanni

west.

(B), or great audience hall of the palace, very similar in design

to that at Agra, but

as I can ascertain,

more magnificent. Its dimensions are, as nearly

In its centre is a highly
ft. by 100 ft. over all.
which, on a platform of marble richly inlaid with

200

ornamental niche, in

precious stones,^ and directly facing the entrance, once stood the cele-

brated peacock throne, the most gorgeous example

perhaps even the East could ever boast

garden-court

on

eastern side was the

its

Behind

of.

its

class

Rung Mehal

(jC),

that

was a

this again

or painted

containing a bath and other apartments.

hall,

This range of buildings, extending 1600

the palace into two nearly equal halves.
it

of

east

ft.

and

west, divided

In the northern division of

were a series of small courts, surrounded by buildings apparently

appropriated to the use of distinguished guests

and in one

overhanging the river stood the celebrated Dewanni Khas

private audience hall

highly ornamented of
tainly,

and

if

so elegant in design

tion runs

may

It is

which

be

palace

now

it

round the roof

" If there

safely

Shah Jehan's

buildings.

ornament than that

It

at Agra,

is

larger cer-

though hardly

but nothing can exceed the beauty of the inlay

of precious stones with

the design.

them

(D), or

not the most beautiful, certainly the most

all

far richer in

of

is

adorned, or the general poetry of

is

of this hall that the

a heaven on earth

rendered into the

existing

in

the

sober

it

is

famous inscrip-

this, it is this,"

which

no

English assertion, that

world possesses an apartment of

such

singular elegance as this.

Beyond

this to the

northward were the gardens

of the palace, laid

out in the usual formal style of the East, but adorned with fountains

and

little

beautiful

pavilions and kiosks of white marble, that render these

and so appropriate to such a climate.

The whole

of the area

between the central range of buildings to

the south, and eastward from the bazaar, measuring about

When we

so

1000

ft.

which was apparently at the back of the

is a bad copy from Raphael's
most independent fashion. picture of Orpheus cliarming the beasts.
after the
Among others, a Captain (afterwards As is well known, that again was a copy
There
Sir John) Jones tore up a great part of of a picture in the Catacombs.
Orpheus is playing on a lyre, in Raphael's
this platform, but had the happy idea to
get his loot set in marble as table tops. picture on a violin, and that is the inTwo of these he brought home and tetrument represented in the Delhi mosaic.
Even if other evidence vrere wanting, this
sold to the Government for 500, and
they are now in the India Museum. No would be sufficient to set the question at
one can doubt that the one with the rest. It certainly was not put there by
birds was executed by Florentine, or at the bigot Aurungzebe, nor by any of his
^

took

possession of

the

palace every one seems to liave looted

platform,

least

Italian

artists

while

the

successors.

other.
I

2 Q

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCIIITECTUllE.

594-

Book VII.

each way, was occupied by the hareem and private apartments of

the palace, covering, consequently, more than twice the area of the
Escurial,

or,

in

fact,

of

any palace in Europe.

According to

native plan I possess, which I see no reason for

distrusting,

it

the

con-

some thirteen or fourteen other

some for state, some for convenience but what they
were like we have no means of knowing. Not one vestige of them
now remains. Judging from the corresponding parts of the palace
at Agra, built by the same monarch, they must have vied with the
public apartments in richness and in beauty when originally erected,
but having continued to be used as an abode down to the time of the
tained

three

garden courts, and

courts, arranged

mutiny, they were probably very

much

disfigured

and debased.

Taste

was, no doubt, at as low an ebb inside the walls of the palace durnig
the last hundred years as it was outside, or as we find it at Lucknow
and elsewhere but all the essential parts of the structure were there,
and could easily have been disencumbered from the accretions that had
been heaped upon it. The idea, however, of doing this was far from
The whole of the hareem
entering into the heads of our governors.
;

courts of the palace were swept off the face of

way

for a hideous British barrack, without those

fearful piece of

Vandalism thinking

it

the

who

earth to

make

carried out this

even worth while to make a

plan of what they were destroying, or preserving any record of the

most splendid palace in the world.

Of the public parts of the palace all that now remains is the
entrance hall, the Nobut Khana, the Dewanni Aum and Khas, and
the Rung Mehal now used as a mess-room and one or two small

pavilions.

They

are the

gems

of the palace, it is

the courts and corridors connecting

and more than half

their beauty.^

them they

set at

random

in

ought in fairness to be added that,

have been in our possession,
considerable sums have been expended
on the repair of these fragments.
2 The excuse for this deliberate act of
Vandalism was, of course, the military one,
*

It

tl)at it

precious

some exquisite piece of Oriental

a bed of the commonest plaster.^

since they

was necessary

to place the garrison

of Delhi in security in the event of any

sudden emergency. Had it been correct

it would have been a valid one, but this
is not the case.
Without touching a
single building of Shah Jehan's there was
ample space within the walls for all tlie
stores and materiel of the garrison of
Delhi, and in the palace and Selim Ghur

but without

meaning

Being now situated in the middle

of a British barrack-yard, they look like

their settings in

true,

lose all their

stones

jeweller's

from
work and

torn

ample space for a garrison, more than

doubly ample to man their wails in the
event of an emeute. There was am]>le
space for larger and better ventilated
barracks just outside the palace walls,

where

the

Sepoy

now are, for

who could easily

lines

the rest of the garrison,

have gained the shelter of the palace

walls in the event of any sudden rising
of the citizens.
to

It

is,

liowever, ridiculous

fancy that the diminished and un-

armed population of the city could ever

dream of such an attempt, while any
foreign enemy with artillery strong enough
to force the bastioned enceinte that sur-

TAJE ME HAL.

Chap. X.

505

Taje Mehal.
It is a pleasure to turn

to the Taje

from

this destroyed

and desecrated palace

Mehal, which even more, perhaps, than the palace was

always the chef-d'oeuvre of Shah Jehan's reign (Woodcut No. 337).

has been fortunate in attracting the attention of the English,

It, too,

who have paid

sedulous attention to

for

it

some time

past,

and keep

it now, with its gardens, in a perfect state of substantial repair.

No

building in India has been so often drawn and photographed

as this, or

more frequently described

impossible to convey an idea of

only because of
in

Taje were only the tomb

form on which

it

it

who have not

is

seen

almost
it,

not

extreme delicacy, and beauty of material employed

its

construction, but from

its

but, with all this,

to those

it

the

itself, it

stands, with its

complexity of

design.

its

If

the

might be described, but the plattall minarets, is a work of art in

Beyond this are the two wings, one of which is a mosque,

which anywhere else would be considered an important building.

itself.

TMs

group of buildings forms one side of a garden court 880

square

and beyond

an outer court,

this again

but only half the depth.

This

is

own, and contains in the centre of

entered by three
its

of the

garden court, a worthy pendant to the Taje

in

the Taje would lose half

many

the combination of so

It is

in

itself,

which each

is

gateways of

its

beauties,

subordinated to the other,

to

Beautiful

itself.^

charm if it stood alone.

and the perfect manner
that makes up a whole

which the world cannot match, and which never

even those who are most indifferent

its

inner wall the great gateway

as

it is

ft.

same width

the

of

the

fails

effects

to

impress

produced

by

architectural objects in general.

The plan and

ciently

tomb

general

(Woodcuts Nos. 338, 339) explain suffiarrangement and structural peculiarities of the

section

or principal building

which
313

the

ft.

it

stands

square.

is

18

ft.

the

of

group.

The

raised

platform on

high, faced with Avhite marble, and exactly

At each corner

rounds the town would in a very

of this terrace stands a minaret

few-

hours knock the palace walls about the

ears of any garrison that might be caught
in such a trap.
The truth of the matter appears to be
this
the engineers perceived that by
:

gutting the palace they could piovide at

no trouble or expense a wall round their
barrack-yard, and one that no drunken
soldier could scale Avithout detection,

and

gome such wretched motive

economy the palace was sacrificed
for this or

of

133

ft.

The only modern act to be compared

with this is the destruction of the summer
palace at Pekin.

That, however, was an

war, and may have

been a political necessity. This was a
deliberate act of unnecessary Vandalism
most discreditable to all concerned
of red-handed

act

in

it.
^

and

A plan of

this garden, with the

Taje

the surrounding buildings, will

be found in the ' Journal of the Royal
all

Asiatic Society,' vol.

vii. p. 42.

2 Q 2

CllAP.

389.

X.

TAJE MEHAL.

Sfctiou of Taje Mehal, Agra.

Scale 110

597

ft.

to 1

iii.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

538

and

height,

in

most exquisite

the

of

than any other in India.

perhaps,

cut off to the extent of 33

the principal dome, 58

which

a chef-d'oeuvre

stand the tombs

that

elegance

of

marble

occupied by

is

height, under

in

ft.

Indian

in

Within this
and that

art.^

These, however, as

side.

centre,

usual in Indian

is

tombs the bodies rest in a vault, level

the ground (as seen in the section) beneath

sepulchres, are not the true

with the surface of

tombstones,

plainer

centre of this

and 80

beautiful,

this

with the corners

ft.,

Mumtaz-i-Mehal in the

of

Shah Jehan on one

of

in diameter

of

an enclosure formed by a screen of trellis-work of white

is

marble,

The

9 in.

ft.

ft.

more

proportions,

In the centre

platform stands the mausoleum, a square of 18G

Book VII.

placed

underneath

exactly

those

the

in

hall

above.

In every angle of the building

two storeys in height, 26

nected, as

The

shown

light

ft.

in the plan,

is

a small domical apartment of

8 in. in diameter, and these are con-

by various passages and

the central apartment

to

double screens of white marble trellis-work of

design, one on the outer,

the

and one on the inner face

our climate this would produce nearly

India,

halls.

admitted

is

and in a building wholly composed

of

exquisite

In

of the walls.

darkness

complete

through

only

most

white

but

in

marble, this

was required to temper the glare that otherwise would have been

As

intolerable.

no words can express the chastened beauty of

soft gloom of the subdued light
through the distant and half -closed openings that

it

is,

that central chamber, seen in the

that

reaches

it

When used as a Barrah Durrie, or pleasure palace, it

must always have been the coolest and the loveliest of garden retreats,
and now that it is sacred to the dead it is the most graceful and the
most impressive of the sepulchres of the world.

surround

it.

This building,

too,

an exquisite example of

is

inlaying with precious stones which became

Moguls

of the style of the

after the death of

of the Taje, all the angles

by being

are heightened

bloodstones, jaspers,
scrolls,

and

the

that

great

Akbar.

system

of

characteristic

All the spandrils

and more important architectural

details,

inlaid with precious stones, such as agates,

and the

These are combined in wreaths,

like.

design as beautiful in colour

frets, as exquisite in

and,

by the pure white marble in which they are inlaid, they

form the most beautiful and precious style of ornament ever adopted
though, of course, not to be compared with the inin architecture
tellectual beauty of Greek ornament, it certainly stands first among

relieved

the purely decorative foi-ms

ornamentation

'

From

its

design

of

cannot help fancyj

ing

tiiat

this

screen

was erected

design.
This mode of
tombs themselves and the

architectural

lavishly bestowed on the

is

after

Shall Jelian's dcatli.

more modern.

It certainly

looks

MUTI MUSJID,

Chap. X.

them, though

surrounds

that

screen

mosque that forms one wing

ornament

on

the

and

indeed, with which this style

itself,

almost as remark-

is

and conveys a high idea

The long rows

cypresses,

of

which

backed up by masses of evergreen

and

which the founder

could

hardly

With

and each

the

to the whole

have

vista leads

Jumna

fountains and gateways behind

its

may

material and grace of forai, the Taje

in

with

front,
its

Though
of

class,

but in

Shah Jehan erected

of Agra,

is

over

o o o

which

dignity,
to

it

ought

by

enter

the effect

stylo-

give

to

it

the

the

moment you

eastern

of

on

effect

but the

makes no pretentions

architectural

outside

by
and

ft.

externally

all

some

Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, which

not

It is

though raised on a lofty

bate,

beauty

the purest

measuring only 187

ft.

Its

unsurpassed.

in the fort

one of

(Woodcut No. 340).

234

this

purity

challenge comparison

its class it is

and most elegant buildings of

its class to be found anywhere
large,

some

to

and

neither so magnificent nor so richly ornamented as

other buildings, the Miiti

his

realised.

own

with any creation of the same sort in the whole world.

not be of the highest

that

and,

these trees has a canal along its

centre studded with marble fountains,

beautiful architectural object.

charm

foliage, lend a

children

his

main avenues among

of the

garden with

the marble paths

line

garden at right angles, are now of venerable age

intersect the

may

and

of the taste

the Indian architects of that age.

skill of

of

introduced

sparingly

apportioned to the various parts

is

able as the ornament

Each

599

the Taje, or on the fountains

The judgment,

surrounding buildings.
of

of

AGllA.

gateway

courtyard

its

is
CATEW/rv

surpassingly

whole

is

the forms

The

beautiful.

marble,

and

graceful and

ele-

of white
all

The only ornament

gant.

duced

which

architectural,

is
is

not

an

intro-

Plan of Mnti Musjid.

340.

(From a Plan by Gen. Cunningham.)

strictly

Scale 100

in black marble, inlaid in the frieze of the

yard

is

nearly a

square,

154

ft.

surrounded by a low colonnade 10

by the mosque

itself,

ft.

to 1 in.

inscription

159

ft.

mosque

by 158
ft.

by 56

10

ft.

in.

deep

is

three
;

The
sides

courtit

is

but on the west,

It opens on the
surmounted by three

internally.

court by seven arches of great beauty, and

itself.

On

ft.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

600

Book VII.

domes of the bulbous form that became universal about this time
(Woodcut No. 341). The woodcut cannot do it justice, it must be
seen to be appreciated
but I hardly know, anywhere, of a building
so perfectly pure and elegant, or one that forms such a wonderful
contrast with the buildings of Akbar in the same palace.
The Jumma Musjid at Delhi is not unlike the Miiti Musjid in
plan, though built on a very much larger scale, and adorned with
two noble minarets, which are wanting in the Agra example while
from the somewhat capricious admixture of red sandstone with white
marble, it is far from possessing the same elegance and purity of
;

It

effect.

however, one of the few mosques, either in India or

is,

View

341.

elsewhere, that

As

will

in Courtyard of

is

Muti Musjid, Agra.

(From a Photograph.)

designed to produce a pleasing effect externally.

be seen from the woodcut (No. 342),

basement, and

its

three

it

is

gateways, combined with

raised

the

towers and the frontispiece and domes of the mosque

a

design

where

all

the parts

are

pleasingly

on a
four

itself,

subordinated

lofty

angle-

make up
to

one

another, but at the same time produce a whole of great variety and
elegance.

Its

principal

gateway cannot be compared with that

Futtehpore Sikri (Woodcut No. 331)

from its smaller dimensions more

which it is surrounded.
It

is

not

little

singular,

in

but

it

is

harmony with the

looking at

at

a noble portal, and

objects

the magnificent

by

mosque

602

INDIAN SAKACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

Book VII.

which Akbar

built in

his palace at Futtehporc Sikri,

and the Muti

Musjid, with which Shah Jehan adorned the palace at Agra, that

he should have provided no place of worship in

his palace at Delhi.

mosque that is now found there was added by

Aurungzebe, and, though pretty enough in itself, is very small, only
60 ft. square over all, and utterly unworthy of such a palace. There
is no place of prayer, within the palace walls, of the time of Shah
Jehan, nor, apparently, any intention of providing one. The Jumma
Musjid was so near, and so apparently part of the same design, that

The

it

Muti

little

seems to have been considered sutBcient to supply this apparently

anomalous deficiency.

Aurungzebe,

a.d.

1658-1707.

There are few things more startling in the history of

than the rapid decline of taste that

The power

Aurungzebe.

set

in

Mogul empire reached

of the

this

style

with the accession of

its

culminating

and there were at least no external signs of decay

visible before the end of his reign.
Even if his morose disposition
did not lead him to spend much money on palaces or civil buildings,
point in

his

liis

reign,

fanaticism might,

religious

surpass his predecessors

or

religious

He

one would think, have led him to

in the extent or splendour

establishments.

This,

however,

is

mosques
from being the

of their

far

mentioned above, pull down the temple of

Yishveshwar, at Benares, in order to erect a mosque, whose tall and

case.

did, indeed, as

graceful minarets

form one

still

every view of the city.

tectural magnificence

It

was

that this

of

the

most prominent features in

from any love of archiwas done, but to insult his Hindu

not, however,

and mark the triumph of Islam over Hinduism. The mosque

of no great magnificence, but>none more important was
erected, so far as I know, during his reign.
Few things can show how steadily and rapidly the decline of
taste had set in than the fact that when that monarch was residing

subjects
itself

at

is

Aurungabad between the years 1650-70, having

daughter, Eabia Duranee, he

his favourite

lost

ordered his architects to reproduce an

exact copy of his father's celebrated tomb, the Taje Mehal, in honour

memory. They believed they were doing so, but the difference
between the two monuments, even in so short an interval, is startling.
The first stands alone in the world for certain qualities all can
of her

appreciate

the

is by no means remarkable for any qualities

and narrowly escapes vulgarity and bad taste.
the present century a more literal copy of the

second

of elegance or design,

In the beginning of
Taje was erected in Lucknow over the tomb
In this

last,

difficult

to

of

one of

its

sovereigns.

however, bad taste and tawdriness reign supreme.

understand

how a thing can be

so like

in

It

is

form and so

AURUNGZEBE.

Chap. X.
unlike

in

spirit

perfect scale

but so

by which

it

to

Mogul dynasty passed

603

and these three Tajes form a very

is,

measure the decline of art since the great

and began

zenith

its

downward

rapid

its

career.

Aurungzebe himself

The

caves of Ellora.

and

He

esteemed sacred, but the tomb

is

beyond what would have

insignificant

nobles.

buried in a small hamlet just above the

lies

spot

apparently,

neglected,

provide for himself this ne-

to

even had they been inclined, to supply the omission.

of the brickwork,

and

Strange to

the Hindus has taken root in a

flourishing there as

is

mean

and his successors were too weak,

cessary adjunct to a Tartar's glory,

say, the sacred Tulsi-tree of

is

any of his

for

sufficed

if

crevice

in derision of the

most

bigoted persecutor the Hindus ever experienced.

We

have scarcely any remains of Aurungzebe's own works, except,

as before observed, a few additions to the palace at Delhi

his reign

many

but during

splendid palaces were erected, both in the capital and

The most

and splendid of these was that built

Dara Shekoh. It, however, was
converted into the English residency
and so completely have improvements, with plaster and whitewash, done their work, that it
requires some ingenuity to find out that it was not wholly the work

elsewhere.

by

extensive

his aspiring but unfortunate son

of the Anglo-Saxons.

In the town of Delhi many palaces

of the age of

Aurungzebe have

escaped this profanation, but generally they are either in ruins or

used as shops

and with

all

their

splendour show too clearly the

degradation of style which had then fairly set in, and which

is

even

more apparent in the modern capitals of Oude, Hydrabad, and other

cities which have risen
into importance during the last hundred
years.

Even

these capitals, however, are not without edifices of a palatial

which from

class,

their

and the picturesqueness

size

deserve attention, and to an eye

educated

among

the

of

their forms

plaster glories

Alhambra would seem objects of no small interest and beauty.

Few, however, are built of either marble or squared stone most of

of the

them

are of brick or rubble-stone,

and the ornaments in

stucco, which,

coupled with the inferiority of their design, will always prevent their

being admired in immediate proximity with the glories of Agra and

Delhi.

In a history
to be

of

exhaustive,

many minor

Mahomedan
it

art in India which had any pretensions

would be necessary to describe before concluding

buildings,

corner of the land.

especially

above, the neighbourhoods of

of

the

tombs,

For in addition

nobles of the court,

which are found in every

to the Imperial tombs,

mentioned

Agra and Delhi are crowded with those

some of them scarcely less magnificent

than the mausolea of their masters.

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

60i

Book VII.

Besides the tombs, however, in the capitals of the empire, there

any importance in the whole course

scarcely a city of

Jumna, even

or

as far eastward as Dacca, that does not possess

but Patna and Dacca

two of the most pleasing of the smaller

])ossess

are to be

some

Jaunpore and

specimens of this form of architectural magnificence.

AlLihabad are particularly rich in examples

is

Ganges

of the

of

class

tombs that

met with anywhere.

OUDE AND MySOKE.

If

it

were worth while to engrave a

make

to

trations

the

sufficient

number

of

illus-

subject intelligible, one or two chapters might

with the architecture of these two dynasties.

only lasting forty years a.d. 17G0-1799
though
That of Mysore,
from European influence to practise a
far
removed
was sufficiently
very

be

easily

retaining

style

pavilion

called

filled

something

true

of

the Deriah Doulut

architectural

The

character.

Seringapatam resembles some-

at

what the nearly contemporary palace at Deeg in style, but is feebler

and of a much less ornamental character.^ The tomb, too, of the
founder of the dynasty, and the surrounding mausolea, retain a
reminiscence of former greatness, but will not stand comparison with
the Imperial tombs of

On

Agra and Delhi.

tomb of

the other hand, the

Lucknow

Saftar Jung, the founder of the

dynasty, situated not far from the

quite unworthy of the locality in which

in date (a.d. 175G),

it

be awarded of

dynasty was

any of

to

constitute

much

of

it

extent

Even

so late

the

in

which

in

capital

it

can hardly

this qualified praise

buildings

the

architecture,

his

as

Lucknow.

It

this

dynasty

filled

is,

fewest possible

exceptions

in

suffi-

few capitals in India could show so

in fact,

amazing

capitals

its

during the one short century of

its

to observe to

with gorgeous

existence, but all

worst possible

the

taste.

what

buildings

or with the

Whatever

be said of the Eenaissance, or revival of classical architecture

Europe in the 16th century, in India

in

Though

mass and richness of ornamentation were in themseh'es

If

may

at Delhi, is not

finally established.

cient

an

Kutub
found.

looks grand and imposing at a distance, but

not bear close inspection.

will

it is

The

it

was an unmitigated mis-

"Orders" are
by a people who were capable of such noble things in
their own styles, is one of the most startling phenomena in the history
of architecture.
The subject hardly belongs to this work, and has
already been treated of in the History of Modern Architecture.'^
Even at Lucknow, however, there are some buildings into which
fortune.

there

unintelligent vulgarity with which the

used,

'

'

There are eight pbotograplis

others.

of

it

iu Capt. Lyon's collection,

^

Page 478,

et seqq.

and many also by

IMAMBARA AT LUCKNOW.

Chap. X.

605

European leaven has not penetrated, and which are worthy

the

of

being mentioned in the same volume as the works of their ancestors.

Among

these

Imambara, which, though

the great

is

not bear too close an examination,

scale as to entitle it to

is

of

162

the
ft.

long by 53

aud

at

ft.

each end an octagonal apartment,

mense building

is

and 27

6 in.

53
ft.

ft.

343), the

On

6 in. wide.

ft.

whole interior dimensions being thus 263

will

earlier age.

Imambara (Woodcut No.

are verandahs, respectively 26

sides

its details

conceived on so grand a

still

rank with the buildings of an

As seen by the plan

principal apartment

is

ft.

the two

3 in. wide,

diameter,

in

by 145

the

This im-

ft.

covered with vaults of very simple form and

still

simpler construction, being of a rubble or coarse concrete several feet

313.

in

riaii of

Imambara

thickness,

at

which

Lucknow.

is

and mud, and allowed

centering

is

laid

(From Measurementi by

the Author.)

Scale 100

on a rude mould or centering

to stand a year or

two to

set

and

to

ft.

of

in.

bricks

dry.

The

then removed, and the vault, being in one piece, stands

without abutment or thrust, apparently a better and more durable

form

of

roof than our most scientific Gothic vaulting

cheaper and far more easily made, since

form, which

may

may

it

is

certainly far

literally cast

on a

mud

be moulded into any shape the fancy of the architect

dictate.

It

would be a curious and instructive subject of speculation to try

what would have been the fate of Mahomedan architecture

to ascertain

in India

had no European influence been brought

materials for the inquiry are not abundant, but

to bear

we can

upon

it.

The

perceive that

the decadence had set in long before the death of Aurungzebe.

It is

Agra or Delhi
during the lapse of the 18th century, even where no European influence can be traced, there is a feebleness and want of true perception,
though occasionally combined with a considerable degree of elegance.
There, however, the inquiry fails, because European influence made
itself felt before any actual change had developed itself, but in remote
also evident that in such buildings as were erected at

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

606
corners the

downward progress became apparent without any

This

neous assistance.

Mysore
there

Book Yll.

but there

exists a

is

is

extra-

partially the case, as just mentioned, in the

cemetery at Junaghur,

group of tombs,

all

erected

in

Gujerat,

where

within this century, some

within the last tw^enty or thirty years, which exhibit more nearly

than any others

344.

Tomb

am

acquainted with the forms towards which the

of the lato

Nawab

of

Junaghur.

(From

a Photograph.)

The style is not without a certain amount of

(Woodcut No. 344). The tracery of the windows
is frequently fascinating from its beauty, and all the carving is executed with precision and appropriateness but it is all wooden, or, in
other words, every detail would be more appropriate for a sideboard or
a bedstead, or any article of upholstery, than for a building in stone.
style

was tending.

elegance in detail

MOGUL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. X.

The domes

especially

607

can hardly be traced back to their f^rand and

solemn form as used by the Pathan architects.

The

pinnacles arc

and the brackets designed more for ornament than work. It

is a style, in fact, broken loose from the true principles of constructive
design, and when this is the case, no amount of ornament, however
elegant it may be, will redeem the want of propriety it inevitably
fanciful,

exhibits.
It is curious, however,

of

architecture

called, to observe

We

and

how

concluding our history

instructive, in

as practised within

the limits

of

India properly so

completely we have been walking in a

circle.

by tracing how, two hundred years before Christ, a

wooden style was gradually assuming lithic forms, and by degrees
being elaborated into a style where hardly a reminiscence of wood
remained.
We conclude with finding the style of Hullabid and
began

Bijapur,

or

Delhi,

returning to forms

but as unsuited to masonry as the

Sanchi.

It

whether

it

direction.

feared

that

appropriate to carpentry

as

rails or

gateways at Bharhut or

might some time ago have been a question worth mooting

was likely it would perish by persevering in this wrong

That enquiry, however, seems

the

idle

now, as

death-blow will be given, as at

where, by the fatal imitation of a foreign style.

it

is

to

Lucknow and

be

else-


INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

608

Book VU.

CHAPTER XL
WOODEN ARCHITECTURE.
CONTENTS.

MosquG

of

Shah Humadan, Srinuggcr.

Kashmir.

Turning for the nonce from this quasi-wooden style wliich is only
an indication of decadence and decrepitude it would be pleasing if
we could finish our narrative with the description of a trae wooden

style

as

ficent as

interest

in

exists

it

Srinugger,

Kashmir.

if

in the

city of

not so magni-

some of those described in the preceding pages, is of great

from being designed to be constructed in wood, and wood only.
of its peculiarities would,

knowledge

understanding

many problems

of architecture in India.

ing,

The Jumma Musjid,

a large and important building, and

is

and

of the

Unfortunately

1001 tourists who

and no photographer has yet

set

up

it

is

his

all

the pillars that support

it,

a courtyard surrounded by

its

in

history

its precincts.^

longer and loftier on the side towards Mecca,

being that

much

no one mentions

camera within

one

the

not a fashionable build-

visit the valley

Its plan apparently is the usual

cloisters,

consequently, help us

that arise in investigating

roofs are of

its

peculiarity

Deodar pine

not used, of course, to imitate stone or stone construction, but honest

wooden forms,
on them is, I
effect is said to

There

is

as in

Burmese monasteries and elsewhere. The carving

and beautiful, and though dilapidated, the

believe, rich

be

still

singularly pleasing.

one other mosque in the same

city,

known

as

that

of

Shah Hamadan (Woodcut No. 345), which is equally erected wholly

in wood, and though very much smaller than the Jumma Musjid, is
interesting, in the first place, because its roof

is

probably very similar

which once covered the temple at Marttand (Woodcut No. 161)^

and the crowning ornament is evidently a reminiscence of a Buddhist

to that

would have been

If Lieut. Cole, instead of repeating

rendere

plans and details of buildings which had

grateful

already been published by Gen. Cunning-

cipally derived from verbal

ham, had given us a plan and details of

unknown building, he might have

tion with Col.

this

a service
ior.

all

What

know

of

it is

prin-

communicaMontgomerie, R.E.

WOODEN AHCHTTECTUHE.

Chap. XI.
Tee, very

much

altered,

it

must be confessed, but

unlike some found in Nepal, as at

for instance,

The

345.

still

not so very

Swayambunath (Woodcut No.

170),

and elsewhere.

walls, too, are of interest to us, because the

Mosque

logs are disposed

of Shah HaDiadan, vSrinngger.

(From

mode

in

which the

a Photograph.)

and ornamented resembles the ornamentation

Orissan temples more clearly than any stone forms

The

G09

courses of the stone

work

in

Ave

can

call to

of the

mind.

the tower of the great temple at

Bhuvaneswar (Woodcut No. 288), the Moitre Serai, and other temples
produce so nearly the same effect, that it does not seem

there,

li

INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE.

GIO

Book VII.

may have been derived from some snob original. The

which the Orissan temples are carved, and the extent to

improbable they

mode,

too, in

which that
of a

class of

wooden than

ornamentation

is

carried, is

much more

suggestive

of a lithic origin.

These, however, are questions that can only be profitably discussed

when we have more knowledge

possess.

When

there are few

of

this

Kashmiri

style

the requisite materials are available for

chapters that will be of

greater

more worthily conclude the Architectural History

that treat of the true and false styles of wooden
narrative begins, and with which it also ends.

than we
the

now

pui-pose,

interest, or that will

of India than those

art,

with which the


(ill

BOOK
F

II

HE

VIII.
ND

[{

CHAPTEE

A.

I.

BURMAH.
CONTENTS.
Introductory

Ruins

aud Pagan

of Thatun, Prome,

Circular Dagobas

Monasteries.

Introductory.

The
this

of

styles

described

architecture

the preceding chapters

in

volume practically exhaust the enumeration

were practised in India Proper, with

from the

earliest

dawn

of

its

till

itself,

Ceylon,

of

the present

of

which

those

all

adjacent island

our knowledge

day.

It

work

and to conclude without reference to other

styles

might, therefore, be possible to treat their

complete in

of

practised in neighbouring countries.

description

as

immensely

It will add, however,

not only to the interest but to the completeness of the work,

if

the

continued through the architectural forms of those countries

history

is

w^hich

adopted

religions

them

architectural forms

ness,

how

far

their

originating in India, and borrowed with

which expressed, with more or less distinct-

religious

beliefs

differed

from, or agreed

Avith,

those of the country from which they were derived.

The

first

of these countries to

which we naturally turn

which adopted the religion of Sakya Muni

is

Burmah,
and

at a very early period,

borrowed also many of the Indian forms of architecture, but with

differences we are now at a
we know nothing practically

Bengal
forms
or

it

provinces

before

loss to

the beginning

may have been taken

may be that a northern

to

intei'esting

of

It

for.

may

be, that, as

forms of the Lower

the

Prome and Pegu

6th century,

these

before that time

Burmah
we cannot now follow.

or Thibetan element crept into

across the northern mountains

These are

account

of the architectural

problems

by some route
we shall not be able

to

solve

R 2

till

FURTHER

612

we have a more
English

travellers,

The works

of

are replete

with

we do know

information

were

they

What

really

ledge

we now have,
or

all,

six

nearly

abont Bnrmese

deal

and, above

from

snatch

some

all,

Colonel

of

art.

Yule,-"*

public

pressing

duties.

take

person should

qualified

through the country with no

and travel

than to investigate

object

great

but what they did was done in the

that

is,

specially,

other

us

to

able

wanted

up the subject

tell

the

to

Symes,^ Crawfnrd,^

intervals
is

knowledge than we now possess of Bnrmese

zeal
and intelligence of some recent

(critical

Thanks

buildings.

INDIA.

With

antiquities.

its

know-

the

months spent on such a mission ought

all,

we now

want

Pending

know.*

to

good deal

being done, we must be content to leave a

still

to

that

be

to

explained by future investigators.

Thatfx.
The
in the

cation

'

we have

earliest really authentic notice

Mahawanso.'

240

B.C.

of

these countries

It is there related that, after the

third

is

con^'o-

Asoka despatched two missionaries, Sono and Uttaro,

to Souverna Bhumi, the Golden Land, to carry the glad tidings of the
religion of the Vanquisher.^

It is

now

perfectly ascertained that this

was almost certainly the Golden Chersonese

place

graphers, situated on the Sitang river, and

forty miles' travelling distance north

now

of

classical

geo-

called Thatiin, about

from Martaban.^

Since

it

ceased

by the silting up from the river or

but there can be
the elevation of the land, it is now no longer a port
little doubt that for some centuries before and after the Christian
Era it was the emporium through which a very considerable portion
of the trade between China and the western world was carried on.

to be a place of importance, either

The

was apparently across the Bay

of Bengal from
and Godavery and it was to this trade
route that we probably owe the rise and importance of Amravati
sea-voyage from Gujerat and
till it was superseded by the direct
The place was sacked
the west coast of India in the 6th century.
line

of passage

the delta of

'

'

the Kistnah

Embassy to Ava

in 1795.'

London,

'Journal of Embassy to Court

Ava,' 1827.
^

Ava

am

afraid

it is

not in the nature of the Anglo-Saxon to

in 1855.'

think of such a thing. Fox-hunting and

pheasant-shooting are more congenial

numerous illustrations.
any of our 1001 idle young men
who do not know what to do with themselves or their money would only qualify
themselves for, and carry out such a
ittission, it is wonderful how easily and
4to.,

pleasantly they might add to our

of

4to., plates.

'Mission to Court of

how

stores of knowledge.

3800, 4to., 27 plates.

pursuits.

If

'

R.

vol.

in

Mahawanso,'

ii.

F.

St.

p. 71

John, in the 'Phoenix,'

p. 204, et seqq.

Sir Arthur Phayre,

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

xlii. p. 2.S, et f^eqq.

Cjiat.

and

PKOME.

I.

entirely destroyed, according

Pegu

king of

Aiiauratha,

G13

A. Phayre, in a.d. 1080, by

to Sir

but long before that time

had been

it

dwindling, from the growing importance of Pegu, which was founded

517 or a.d. bl'S}

in A.D.

The only

description

volume

in the second

of

ruins

its

of the

Phoenix

'

by

is

seem even now to be very extensive, in

The

quent decay.
tion

by 4000

700

acres.

can

still

enclosure

this

tunately, recently repaired, but

with, though

The

Its base

48

square and 12

ft.

several

but they

and conse-

in one direc-

ft.

more than

all

of

old pagodas, some, unfor-

form we have not yet met

to speak of Java.

here, like all the others, is built

a square, measuring 104

is

the second storey

are

when we come

shall presently

principal pagoda

laterite.

high

we

neglect

spite of

be traced for 7700

70

is

On

high.

ft.

ft.

ft.

now

hewn

of

each way, and 18

square and IGJ

this

John,

St.
;

in another, enclosing a regular oblong of

ft.

In

w^alls

Andrew

St.

above referred to

'

ft.

high

ft.

the third

stands a circular pagoda,

making up the whole height to 85 ft.

Mr. St. John fancies this
circular part may be much more modern than the rest, but he adds,
" the whole face of the pagoda has been carved in patterns

most remarkable part

is

by four

one in the centre of each face.

flights of steps,

the second storey, to

but the

which access

given

is

The whole was

apparently adorned with sculptures of the most elaborate character."

There seem to be no data to enable

date

the

of this

or of Other

similar

us

to

fix

with certainty

pagodas in this place, and no

photographs to enable us to speak with certainty as to their

which

to be regretted, as

is

we may expect
that

is

coeval

now

is

in

which may explain so much

subsequent

for

the

square form

the round

form.

Thatiin

examples.

with Anuradhapura in Ceylon, and

as much
may do for

details,

just in such an old city as this that

to find those early forms

unintelligible

might do
capital

it

of

examined with

if

temple as

the

was
care,

island

Their greatest interest would,

from the light they might throw on the square temples

Pagan and other Burmese cities, whose origin it has hitherto been
Meanwhile it is a fact worth bearing in
impossible to explain.
mind that we find here square three-storeyed pagodas, which certainly were erected before a.d. 1080, when the city was destroyed,
and probably before the 6th century, when it was practically superseded by the rise of the new city and kingdom of Pegu.
how^ever, arise
of

Prome.
If

we might

trust the

Burmese annals, Prome was

Nirvana of

as early as the year 101 of Faith, or after the

'

Sir A. PJi.iyrc, loc.

cit.

Cmwt'urd'.s

'Embassy

a capital city
Buddha.'-^

to Ava,' vol.

ii.

In

p. "277.

6U

FURTHER

other words,

it

INDIA.

Book VII

seems probable that Buddhist missionaries from the

second convocation held under Kalasoka, in the previous year

established

themselves

The

the country.^

here,

and

introduced

new

the

(b.c.

483),
into

religion

time

the country at that

real political capital of

seems to have been Tagoung, half-way between Ava and Bhamo, on

Prome, however, seems to have continued the

107, when the two capitals were amal-

the Upper Irawaddi.^

religious

capital

a.d.

till

gamated, under the name of Old Pagan on the northern

New

again transferred to

site,

to be

Pagan, below Ava, about the year 847.^

Upper Pagan seems to have been visited by Captain Hannay, in

and by others subsequently, and the remains are described
as extensive, but too much ruined and obscured by jungle to admit of
any scientific investigation.
Those of Prome would probably be even
more interesting but I know of no description that enables us to
ascertain what they really are.
I have photographs of some dagobas
rather too tall to be very old
but, without some mouldings or
architectural details, it is impossible to guess even what their age
A.D. 1835,

may

be

so

that

the

practically

history

architectural

Burmah

of

begins with the foundation of Pagan in the middle of the 9th century,

was destroyed by the Chinese, or rather the Tartar army

Kublai Khan, in 1284,* its glory lasted little more than four cen-

and
of

as

it

During

turies.

that

however,

period,

was adorned by a very

it

extensive series of monuments, most of which

still

remain in a state

of very tolerable preservation.

and

It will thus be observed that the rise

nearly as

may

be,

coincident with that

of

fall of

Pagan

are, as

Pollonarua, in Ceylon

but the Burmese city seems to have excelled the Ceylonese capital

both in the extent of

differences,

too,

its

properly investigated,

if

Their

buildings and in their magnificence.

both in form and

are very remarkable, but,

detail,

would throw light on many religious and

ethnographical problems that are

now

very obscure.

Pagan.

The
river,

ruins of

Pagan extend about eight miles

may

space Colonel Yule estimates there

800 or 1000 temples.

It has recently become the fashion

doubt the holding of this convocation

100 years after the death of Buddha but

very pointed allusion to it, in the
;

early

be traced the remains of

that the fact of

appear

this

firms

still

Several of these are of great magnificence,

to

in length along the

with an average breadth of about two miles, and within that

Burmese annals, so completely conwhat is said in the Mahawauso.'

Yule,

Loc.

'

'

to

seqq.

me
'

its

and

being held docs not

doubtful.

Mission

cit., p.

to

Ava,'

p. 30.

32.

Yule's 'Marco Polo,' vol.

ii,

p. 84, et

Chap.

PAGAN.

I.

are kepfc in a state of repair

615

but the bulk of them are in ruins, and

the forms of the greater part hardly distinguishable.

Plau of Ananda Temple.

Of

(From Yule.)

one of the most remarkable

these,

Scale 100

is

ft.

to

that of Ananda.

be seen from the annexed plan (Woodcut No. 346),

200

nearly

on

ft.

with projecting por-

ticos

on each

is

As

will

a square of

face, so that

measures 280

across

ft.

Like

each way.

it

each

side,

it

1 iu.

the

all

great pagodas of the city,

it

seven

is

height

and

square

minishing
as

in

these

are

each

di-

flat,

in

extent,

form

pyramidal
seventh,

which

simulates

the

temple,
of

whole

the

give

to

storeys

of

six

takes

Hindu
rising

height of 183

or

is

of

the

the

form

or

Jaina

temple, the whole

instance

a
the

cell

so

in this
to

the

347.

Plan of Xhapmya.

(FromYule.)

Scale 100

ft.

to 1 in.

ft.

Internally, the building

is

extremely solid, being

intersected only

FUUTHKH

616

INDIA.

by two narrow concentric corridors

transept

is

Book VIII.

but in rear of each projecting

niche most artificially lighted from above, in which

stands a statue of Buddha more than ;^>0 ft. in height.

This is the
arrangement we find in the Chaumuk temple at Palitana and at

(Woodcut No. lo3), both Jaina

Sadri

and which

it

is

consequently

the

of

Yule,

'

we must be prepared

Mission to Ava,' p. 3G. As

here ineutioucd

all the particulars

arc taken from this work as the

latest

for

unlike

any amount

and

to

find

century,

here

as

but the form and the whole

arrangement of these temples are so

elsewhere that

almost

surprising

rather

early as the 11th century (a.d. 1066^)

the loth

temj^les of

Lest, it

what we

find

of anomalies.

will

not be

necessary

repeat references on every page.

to

Chap.

PAGAN.

T.

Next
Ananda.

rank to

in

It

is

very similar to the

except that

it

Its height is '201

Ananda both

in dimensions

and

in

has only one porch instead of four, and consequently

only one great statue in

US).
The third

this is the Thapiiiya

the Omniscient
erected
1100 by the grandson of the king who built the

about the year

j)lan,

617

ft.,

its

and

cell

it is

instead of four standing back to back.

the highest in the place (Woodcuts Nos.

;U7,

This temple
richness

in

importance

is

called the Gaudapalen, built

smaller than those

is

and beauty

of detail for its

in

IKKi.

makes up

just mentioned, but

in

more diminutive dimensions.

The Dhamayaugyee, now in ruins, is quite equal in dimensions to

and very much resembles it in plan and design while one
called the Sem Byo Koo, is, in its details, the most beautiful of any.
the Ananda,

View

349.

The

of the

Temple

of Gaudapalen.

general appearance of these temples will be

the

annexed view (Woodcut No.

and

their general arrangements

which a plan
that

it

(From Yule.)

is

of

multiply illustrations,

being in the greater or

less

that

from the section

given (Woodcut No. 347).

needless to

is

849)

amount

of

of

They
the

understood from

called

Gaudapalen,

the Thapinya, of
are

all

so

similar

only real difference

ornament in stucco which has

been applied to each.

The
temples

first
is

thing

that

strikes

the

inquirer

on

examining these

their remarkable dissimilarity with anything

on the con-

They are not topes in any sense of the term, nor are
The one building we have hitherto met with which
they viharas.
they in any way resemble is the seven-storeyed Prasada at Pollonarua (Woodcut No. 106), which, no doubt, belongs to the same
tinent of India.


FUETHER

618

It

class.

may

the

Book VIIL

pagodas at Thatiin, when

square

we are searching
They evidently were not alone, and many other examples may
be found when looked for.
On the whole, however, I am inclined

properly examined,
for.
still

to

that

possible

is

INDIA.

improbable as

believe,

real

synonyms

Birs

Nimroud
leading

stairs,

contain

like

is,

to a

may

it

be found

to

are

at

sight

first

or

cell

Burmah have become

in

apparently

of

the

Henry Rawlinson found the remains

Sir

The

Of course, during

sanctuary.

internal

At the head

external.

their

which elapsed between the erection of

two buildings, considerable changes have taken

stairs

that
India.

appear,

not in

Babylonia,

in

them, a seven-storeyed temple, with external

crowning

the seventeen centuries

explanation

the

in

The

place.

Babylonia they were

third flight

at

the

external flights were

places

Burmah

to a simulated

wliich, in India, always contained a cell

to

whom the temple was dedicated.

It may be asked. How is it possible

reach

Burmah without

and Central Asia

do not know of

leaving

answer to say

explanation to say that such

and

Gangetic

traces

one only, but of a form

and an image

of

the

that a Babylonian form should

of

its

passage through India

cities,

but,

monuments may have existed in the

these Burmese examples, in brick

like

and have perished, as they would be sure to do

and where hostile races succeeded the Buddhists.

however

it

me

in that

may

it

climate,

plaster

deity

must have come via Thibet

because, in the present state of our knowledge, we
such a route being used.
It is a more probable

It is hardly a sufficient

great

both

at

but in Babylonia they lead to what seems to have been the

sanctuary, in

real

Birs,

At Pagan
The
storey.

of three recesses.

had been pushed into the centre of the third

continued on the upper three storeys

these

the

lowest

be eventually accounted

for,

But,

hardly appears to

it

doubtful that these Burmese seven-storeyed temples are the lineal

descendants of the Babylonian examples, and that we shall some day

be able to supply the gaps which exist in their genealogy.

Meanwhile one thing must be borne in mind.

The

earliest capital

Burmese was Tagoung in the north, and their real affinities are
with the north. They got their religion by the southern route from
Bengal, but it was engrafted on a stem of which we know very little,
of the

and

all

whose

affinities

have yet got to be traced to their source.

Before leaving these square temples,

some

peculiarities

which are new to

it

us.

may

be well to point out

In the

first

place

it

is

purely brick style, and, as such, using true radiating arches, not only
the openings but to roof their passages and halls.

to

si3an

so

unlike

what we

to point with certainty to

country for

its

origin.

This

is

seems

any part
some foreign most probably a northern
As frequently mentioned above, no Buddhist

find in

of India Proper, that

it


ClIAP.

arch

CIRCULAR DAGOBAS.

I.

619

known to exist in India,^ and, except in the reign of Akbar,

Hindu one, in any temple down to the present day. It

is

hardly a

could hardly, in consequence, be derived from that country, but there

is

no reason for believing that the

Chinese

We

showed any aversion to these forms.

or

Tartar nations ever

know,

at

all

events, that

and Babylonians used brick arches long before the

Christian Era, and the art may have been communicated by them
to the nations of Northern Asia, and from them it may have come
the

Assyrians

down

the Irawaddi.

It

would be a curious speculation to try and find out what the

Jains in western India would have done had they been forced to use
brick instead of stone during the 11th and 12th centmies, which w^as
the great building epoch on the Irawaddi and in Gujerat.

Possibly

they would have arrived at the same conclusion, in which case we

can only congratulate ourselves that the w-esterns were not tempted
with the

fatal facility of bricks

Another peculiarity
the curvilinear
sidered

sikra

sufficient

is,

the

of

and mortar.

that these square Burmese pagodas

Indo-Aryan

This

style.

they derived

indication that

may

some, at

their architectural features, as well as their religion,

adopt

be

conof

least,

from India

but

it

form was adopted by both Jains and Hindus in the north of

mouths of the Indus to the Bay of Bengal in that age,
hardly enables us to point out the particular locality from which

it

was derived, or the time

as this

India, from the

at

which

it

was

first

introduced.

however, so far as we at present know, the only instance of

its

It

is,

being

found out of India Proper.

Cjecular Dagobas.
Leaving these square quasi-Jaina temples, which are clearly excepdagobas of Burmah are found to be generally much more
like those which are found in India and Ceylon, though many, having

tional, the

been erected only in the present century, are of forms more complex

and attenuated than those in India Proper.

The one most like the Indian type
Madii,

as the

Kong

not far from Mengun, on the same side of the river.

The

mass of the dome, according

It is taller

Round

three

the whole

standing about 6

is
ft.

that

known

to Colonel Yule,^ is about

than a semicircle

and stands on

is

which

concentric

100

ft.

diameter.

would indicate a modern date

each wider than the other.

bases,

a railing, consisting

of

784 stone

pillars,

each

out of the ground, and divided into four quadrants

*
I of course except the arches in the
tower at Biiddh Gaya, which, I believe,

were introduced by these very Burmese

in 1305.
^

See

ante, p. 69.

Mission to Ava,'

p. 66.


FURTHER

(>20

1NI)[A.

by four stone gateways (Woodcut No.

marble

white

the

slab, records

r,(X)K

An

i55U).

erection

this

of

inscription,

I,

the evidence of

explorations renders this date

than
little

it

formerly appeared.

real

elapsed

at one time, thouglit

If correct,

it

is

it

on a

pagoda between the

years 1686 and 1650.

recent

YIH.

must be older but

more probable
;

curious as showing

how

change had occurred during the sixteen centuries which

between the erection of the tope at Sanchi (Woodcuts Nos.

10-12) and the seventeenth century.

PerhajDS

the great

most important pagoda in the Burmese

the

Shoemadu

at

Pegu,

of

empire

is

which a plan and elevation are

given from those published by Colonel Symes in his account of his

As

embassy to Ava.

will

be seen from the woodcuts

(Nos.

351,

352), the plan deviates considerably from the circular form, which
exclusively

is

used in the edifices of this class hitherto described, and

approaches more nearly to those elaborately polygonal forms which are

affected

by

the

all

Hindu

ever, to the circular

Burmese buildings

builders of

modern

of this class,

Another peculiarity

is

by an iron

strongly

is

how-

crowned, like

all

spire or tee richly gilt.

indicative

of

its

namely, that instead of a double or triple range of

its base,

It returns,

date.

form before terminating, and

modern date

pillars

we have a double range of minute i)agodas

surrounding

a mode

of orna-

mentation that subsequently became typical in Hindu architecture

their temples

and

spires being covered, and, indeed, (X)mposed of in-

numerable models of themselves, clustered together

up a whole.
in

Eoman

As
art,

Literally "

before remarked, something of the

where every window and opening

Golden great god."

Madu

is

the

is

Burmese

so

as

to

make

same sort occurs

surmounted by a

for

Maha

Deva.

C'HAP.

SHOEMAPU

T.

pediment or
spire is

iiiiiuatnre

PACxODA, PKGU.

temple end, and in Gothic

snrronnded by pinnacles or spirelets

to the

never carried

Slioemadu Pagoda, Tegu.

351.

it

is

as

(From

Half-plan of Shoemadu Pagoda.

352.

instance

same excess

in

'

(From Symes.)

interesting:, as beino-

art,

wliere a oi-eat

bnt in these styles

Hindu

Col. Rj'mes'

621

art.

Kmbassy

it is

In the ])resent

to Ava.')

Scale 100

ft.

to 1 in.

one of the earliest attempts at this

class of decoration.

The

bnildino- stands

on two terraces, the lower one about 10

ft.

FURTHER

G22
liigh,

and

square
is

395

ft.

number
above

181)1

ft.

square

from the centre

The

its terrace,

nbout equal to that of

terrace

is

only 83

Buddha

at last it

high, and 108 or 110 in

ft.

itself rises

Cathedral

its

commencement

to the height of

381

ft.

while the side of the upper

assumed

its

to two merchants,

who

raised

an age slightly subsequent to that of

Successive kings of

himself.

till

ft.

than that of the great Pyramid.

to the height of 12 cubits, at

time,

and

above the country, thus reaching a height

ft.

St. Paul's

ft. less

Tradition ascribes
it

in height,

ft.

pagoda, the diameter of whose base

small pagodas are 27

or 361

Book VIII.

the upper one, 20

rises the

while the great pagoda

INDIA.

Pegu added

to

it

from time

to

present form, most probably about three

or four centuries ago.

The next in importance,

known Shoedagong pagoda

we know, is the more generally

Eangun, a building very similar in
dimensions to the last named, and by no means unlike it, except
that the outline of the base is cut up to even a greater extent, and
the spire more attenuated both signs of a comparatively modern
The base is even more crowded by little temples than that
date.
at Pegu, and its whole height is somewhat less.
There is, however,
no essential difference between the two buildings, and this is prhicipally
interesting as leading us one step further in the series from the solid
hemispherical mound to the thin spire, which, both in Burmah and
Siam, is the modern form usually assumed by these edifices, till they
lose all but a traditional resemblance to the buildings from Avhich they
so far as
at

originally sprang.

The general appearance

shown on the left of

three

of their spires

precisely that of the Great Pagoda.

as

showing the

last

may

be

gathered from the

the annexed woodcut (No. 353), which

lineal

This illustration

is

is

also valuable

descendant of these great human-headed

winged lions that once adorned the portals of the palaces at Nineveh
but after

nearly

3000

years

of

wandering and ill-treatment have

degenerated into these wretched caricatures of their former selves.

The Shoedagong pagoda, like all the more important ones, is

commenced about 2300 years ago, or about the
of Buddha himself
its sanctity, however, is owing to its con-

fabled to have been

era

taining relics, not only of the last Buddha, but also of his three predecessors

Buddha

having vouchsafed eight hairs of his head to

its

two

founders, on the understanding that they were to be enshrined with

the relics of the three former Buddhas, where and

when found.^

After

numerous miraculous indications, on this spot were discovered the staff

of Kakusanda, believed to have lived some 3000 years before Christ,
the Avater-dipper of Konagamma, and the bathing garment of Kasyapa,
which, with the

eight

hairs

above mentioned, are enshrined within

'

See

p. 58.

Chap.

great

this

PAGODAS AT RANGUN.

I.

pagoda.^

Originally, however, notwithstanding

of its deposit, the building was small,

a century since

it

623

assumed

its

and

it is

the

valne

probably not more than

present form.

crowd of smaller pagodas surrounds the larger one, of all sizes,

from 30 ft. to 200 ft. in height, and even more. There is scarcely a

353.

View

of

Pagoda

in

Rangun.

(From

a Photograph.)

village in the country that does not possess one or two,

more important towns they are numbered by hundreds

may

almost be said to be innumerable.

They

are

and
;

in all the

indeed, they

almost

all

quite

modern, and so much alike as not to merit any distinct or separate

^
See account of the Great Bell at
Researches,' vol. xiv. p. 270.

Eangim, by the Rev. G. H. Houj^h, 'Asiatic

FURTHER
They

mention.

INDIA.

Book VIII.

indicate, however, a great degree of progressive wealth

and power in the nation, from the earliest times to the present day,
and an increasing prevalence of the Bnddhistical system. This is a
direct contrast to the

history of Ceylon, whose glory was greatest in

the earliest centuries of the Christian Era, and was losing

at

when the architectural history of Burmah

Thus the buildings of one country supplement

the time

upon

us.

its

purity

first

dawns

those of the

and present together a series of examples of the same class,

2000 years, if we reckon from the oldest
topes in Ceylon to the most modern in Burmah.
At a place called Mengiin, about half-way between the former
other,

ranging over more than

Amirapura and the present one

capital of

two pagodas,

at Mandale, are

which are not without considerable interest for our present purposes
if

no other reason,

for

the

within

of

limits

at

for

least

the

present

this

both

were

erected

and

show

that

neither

century,

forms nor aspirations of the art were wholly extinguished even

the

The

in our day.

first

Burmah

As

also the author of the second.

(No. 354),

it

cular wall, 750

Within

this

with the

with

Buddha, and

four cardinal

the

is

Bodo Piyah, who

from the woodcut

niches
is

containing,

accessible

The

points.

ft.

procession-

ornamented by a curious serpent-like balus-

of these is

interspersed

trade,

statues of

called

will be seen

practically a dagoba, with five concentric

is

Each

paths.

and was erected in the

circular in form,

is

year 1816, in the reign of a king of

is

that

or

by four

Avhole

intended to contain,

flights

of

facing

steps

surrounded by a low

is

cir-

in diameter, said to represent the serpent Ananta.

a basement, measuring about 400

procession-paths

seven storeys, intended,

it

and

dagoba

said, to

is

on

ft.

across,

and

this,

summit, make

the

up
Mount

symbolise the mythical

Meru.i
It will be recollected that,

Anuradhapura

in Ceylon,

it

when speaking

was pointed out

had three procession-paths round

by

flights of

It

is

steps

of

the great dagobas of

190) that they

{ante^ p.

manner

their bases, ascended in like

opposite the four cardinal points of

interesting to observe here, after a lapse of

2000

the compass.

years,

and

distance of nearly 1500 miles, the changes have been so small.

true the

number

of procession-paths has increased

and the

terraces

become

older

examples

relatively

but, barring

this

*
The above particulars are abstracted
from a paper by Col. Sladen in tlie
' Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society,'
vol. iv. (N.S.) p. 406, with remarks by
It is curious that
Gol. Yule and others.
there is a discrepancy between the native

and

tlie

European authorities as

to the

from three to

much more important than

and some changes in

number

of storeys

not

course, but symbolical

at a
It is
five,

in the

detail, the

mechanical, of
wliether, in fact,

the basement should be counted as a

The above I believe to

be the correct enumeration. We shall
presently meet with the same difficulty
in describing Boro Buddor in Java.
storey, or not.

FURTHER

G26

monuments

INDIA.

Book VriT.

are practically the same, notwithstanding all the curious

have sprung up in the interval.

varieties that

commenced by the same king,

Mentara Gye, or Bodo Piyah, who died in 1819, and seems to
have been an attempt to revive the old square forms of Pagan, in the
same manner as the other was intended to recall memories of the
" It stands on a basement
older forms of early Indian Buddhism.

The

other pagoda at this place was

called

of five successive terraces, of

a square of 450

the pagoda, 230

pile of

height

the

mass, to

Above

From

ft.

this

it

little

square in

ft.

about

of

contracts

height, the lower terrace forming

the upper terrace starts the vast cubical

100

and

plan,

in successive

terraces,

work was abandoned."

the

that,

if

From

completed,

it

solid

had

three of which

been completed, raising the mass to a height of 165

inferred

in

rishig,

with slightly sloping walls.

ft.,

ft.,

at the time

model standing

would have risen

near,

it

is

the height

of

to

500 ft. it is even now a solid mass containing between 6,000,000

and 7,000,000 cubic feet of brickwork. Had it been carried out, it
would have been the tallest building in the world. It was, howbut, even in its ruined
ever, shattered by an earthquake in 1839
state, is as large and imposing a mass of brickwork as is to be
found anywhere.2 Since the pyramids of Egypt, nothing so great
;

has been attempted, and

it

belongs to the 19th century

Monasteries.

As Burmah
flourishes

is

information regarding

might enable us

The

travellers

Buddhism
we had more

a country in which the monastic system of

at the present

to

its

day to the

extent,

fullest

if

monasteries, or Inoums as they are called,

it

understand the arrangement of the older ones.

who have

have been

visited the country

on the

silent

subject, principally because the monasteries are, in almost all instances,

less

magnificent than the pagodas to which they are attached, and are,

with scarcely an exception, built of wood

their architectural character,

monumental appearance

of

and

practice destructive

also depriving

stability

which

them wholly
so

is

essential

of

of that

true

to

architectural expression.

This peculiarity

from that

is

not confined to the monasteries

all

of the poorest peasant to the palace of the king,

constructed from time immemorial of

this

residences,

having been

The

perishable material.

custom has now passed into a law, that no one

shall

of erecting buildings of stone or brick, except

be the king himself,

it

have the power

or unless the edifices be of a purely religious character.

exception

is

not always

taken

advantage

Mission to the Court of Ava,' p. 169.

of this ruin will be found in Yule's

A view

'

of,

for

the

Even

king's

this

palace

Mission to Ava,' plate 23.

Chap.
itself

is

627

MONASTERIES.

I.

as essentially a
It

his subjects.

is,

wooden erection

however, not the

less

as the dwelling

of

any of

magnificent on this account

so immense sums being spent on the most

and the whole being lacquered, painted, and gilt,

rather, perhaps, more

elaborate carvings,

355.

to

FaQAde of the King's Palace, Burmah.

an extent

of

(From a Sketch by

Col. Yule.)

which we have no conception in our more sober

clime.

The

general appearance of

annexed view (Woodcut No.

the facade

:^>55)

but

may

its

be realised from the

real magnificence consists

2 s 2

FURTHER

628
in the profusion

it

]i(H.K

YIII.

and curving with wliich every part is

justice on so small a

gilding

of

covered, and to which

INDIA.

impossible to do

is

scale.

The same

profuse decorations are bestowed upon the monasteries,

one of which

is

represented

showing a building in which

in

all

annexed woodcut

the

(No.

356),

the defects arising from the use of so

excess. If the colouring and

would represent a building such as the West
for, however dazzling
us hope, never will see

easily carved a material, are carried to

gilding could be added,

never
its

saAV,

and,

let

it

splendour, such barbaric magnificence

is

worthy only of a

half-

civilized race.

will

Col.

Symes'

'

Embassy

to Ava.')

the expression

may be

be understood from the following woodcut (No.

857) of

The naked form

used

(From

Burmese Kioiim.

356.

of these monasteries

if

one recently erected at Mandale, and, though inhabited, not

finished.

It is five storeys in height, and, if I

(jnite

mistake not, as nearly

Lowa Maha Paya of Anuradhapura, as the circular

Mengun pagoda does the Abhayagiri or Kuanwelli dagobas there.

reproduces the

Here, however, the storeys have lost their meaning

is
it.

used as a residence

The upper

the

storeys

utilitarian forms, but

first,

only ornamental

are

only one storey

or " piano nobile," as

we would

reminiscences

which evidently once had a meaning.

building been completed

perhaps

it

is

now

it

would

call

past

of

Had
have

the

been

ornamented with carving as richly as that represented in the pre-

Yule's

'

Mission

to Ava,' p. 1G3.

Chap.

MONASTERIES.

1.

ceding Avoodcut, for

that

ture,

its

it

is

629

one of the advantages of wooden architec-

may

decorative features

be added after the fabric

is

practically complete in all essential points.

Monastery

357.

at

Mandale.

(From a Photograph.)

These many-storeyed kioums, with the tall seven- storeyed spires

(shown in Woodcuts Nos. 353 and 356), bring us back to the manystoreyed temples in Nepal, which are in all essential respects so nearly
identical, that it

We

will fuse the

whole, but

common

that

it

origin.

which

detached fragments of this style into a homogeneous

is probibly in China that they must be looked for, only

so little of the architectural history of the western portion

we know
of

can hardly be doubted they had a

are not yet in a position to point out the connecting links

great

country,

that

we must wait

for

further

information

before even venturing on this subject.

The
pagodas,

fact that all the buildings of

may

also explain

how

it

is

Burmah

are of wood, except the

that India possesses no architec-

tural remahis anterior to the age of Asoka.

Except the comparatively

few masonry pagodas, none of which existed prior to his era, there
is nothing in Burmah that a conflagration of a few hours would not
destroy, or the desertion of a few years entirely obliterate.

That the

same was the practice of India is almost certain, from the essentially
wooden forms still found prevailing in all the earlier cave temples
;

and,

if

so,

this

fully

accounts

for

the

disappearance

of

all

earlier

monuments.
AYe know that wooden architecture was the characteristic of Nineveh, where all the constructive parts were formed in this perishable
material
and from the Bible we learn that Solomon's edilices were
;

FURTHER

630
chiefly so constructed.

in Asia of this

INDIA.

Book VIII.

Persepolis presents us with the earliest instance

wooden architecture being

rently in consequence of the intercourse

Egypt and with Greece.

In Bnrraah these wooden types
than, perhaps, in any other country.

still

petrified, as it

its

exist

Even

were

appa-

builders maintained with

if

in

more completeness

the student

is

not pre-

pared to admit the direct ethnographic connexion between the buildings of

he
in

Burmah and Babylon

will at

ancient

it is

which

any rate best learn in

architecture,

hard to understand.

Avhich,

seems hardly to admit of doubt

this country to appreciate

without such

living

much

illustration,

Solomon's House of the Cedars of Lebanon

detail, reproduced at Ava or Amirapnra

and the palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis are rendered infinitely
more intelligible by the study of these edifices. Burmah is almost
equally important in enabling us to understand what an active,
prosperous Buddhist community may have been in India at a time
when that religion flourished there and altogether, if means were
available for its full elucidation, it would form one of the most inis,

with mere difference of

teresting chapters in the History of Architecture in Asia.

ClIAl'.

vSIAM.

11.

CHAPTER

II.

SIAM.

Piigodas at Ayuthia aud

Bangkok

Hall of Audieucc at Bangkok Geueral

Remarks.

Although the architecture

that of Burmah on the one

of

sufficiently so to prevent its

of styles.

Siam

Up

very

much

less

importaut than

being passed over in a general

worst feature, as we

Its

tremely modern.

is

hand, or Cambodia on the other,

to the

now know

it,

is,

that

it

it

is

still

summary
is

so ex-

14th century the capital of the country

city on the Menam, 200 miles from the sea in a direct

and situated close to the hills. This city has not been visited
by any traveller in modern times, so we do not know what buildings
it may contain.
About the year 1350 the Siamese were successful
in their wars with the Cambodians, and eventually succeeded in

was Sokotay, a
line,

capturing their capital, Intha patha puri, or Indra prestha

and

practically

(Delhi),

annexing Cambodia to their kingdom.

Having accomplished this, they moved their capital down to

little more than fifty miles from the sea
and three centuries
afterwards Bangkok succeeded it, and is now the capital.
It is by
no means certain whether this migration downwards was caused by
political events and increasing commerce, or from the country gradually becoming drier and more fit for human habitation.
Judging
from what happened in Bengal in historical times, I should fancy it
Ayuthia, a

was the

latter.

In India we find civilized nations

first established in the Punjab

and on the watershed between the Sutlej and the Jumna. Between
2000 and 3000 years B.C. Oude seems to have become dry enough for
human habitation, and Ayodhya ^ (from which the Siamese capital took
its name) became the chief city.
Between 1000 and 500 B.C. Janak-

pore on the north, and Rajagriha on the south, were the capital cities
of

Bengal

time (250

but both being situated on the

B.C.) that

hills, it

was not

till

Asoka's

Patna on the Soane and Vaisali on the Gunduck,

became capitals and still another 1000 years elapsed before Caur
and Dacca became important, while Moorshedabad, Hooghly, and
;

'

The Siamese

invariably cliange the Indian d into

tJi.

FURTHER

032

Ulciitta, are cities of yesterday.^

occurred

in

Siam, and, what

is

Rook Vlll.

INDIA,

The same phenomenon seems to have

of stiU more interest, as we shaU

presently see, in Cambodia.

As Ayuthia was

for three centuries the flourishing capital

of the g-reat building races of the world,

considerable magnificence having

From

we should,

of

been displayed in

its

architecture.

the accounts of the early Portuguese and ])utch ti-avellers

Ruins of a Pagoda

358.

visited it in the days of its glory,

it

at

one

of course, look for

who

Ayuthia.

seems to have merited the

title

of the "

Venice of the East," and the remains

The buildings, however, seem to have been
justify tlieir eulogiums.
and as the city has now
l)rincipally constructed of brick and wood
they bestowed upon

it

been practically deserted for more than a century, the wild fig-trees

For the

tion of the

inirticularis of this deaicca-

VaUey

of tlic Ganges, see the

'

'

Journal of the Geological Society,' April,

1863.

CiiAr.

PAGODA AT AYUTHIA.

II.

every wlicre

liave

by recent

into the masonry, and decay

wooden erections. As described
nothing can be more wildly picturesque than this

inserted

rapidly

has progressed

G33

visitors,

once splendid city,

roots

their

among

the

now overgTown with

jungle

but such a stage of

conditions, the least favourable to the researches

of

The form which the older pagodas took at Ayuthia differs

many essential respects from those which we find either in India
The top or
in Burmah.

or

dec.iy

of

is,

all

the antiquary.

in

upper part has a rounded

domical

can

which we

shape,

fancy

easily

from

derived

but

the

upright

looks

more

like

tope,

part
sikra

the

Hindu temple than

of

be

to

the

Buddhist.

anything

we had a few

If

ex-

earlier

amples, perhaps we might

the

trace

other

by which

steps

one

the

passed

the

into

at present the gaps

in the series are too great

to

be

bridged

over

w^ith

anything approaching cer-

One

tainty.

link,

how-

ever, seems to be supplied

by the temples of Nakhon

Wat
more

in Cambodia, of which
hereafter.

The same
found

members

is

crowning

of the pagodas of

Bangkok,
covered

outline

the

in

but

they

with an

are
l^uiusofaPagoduat Ayuthia.

elabora-

(From Muuhot.)

tion of detail and exuber-

ance of coloured
desirable

it

ornament

should be,

th.it

for

it

has seldom been surpassed, nor

is

here carried

to

an

extent

is

it

truly

barbarous (Woodcut No. 3G0).

Notwithstanding the bad

taste

which they display, these Bangkok

pagodas are interesting in the history of architecture as exemplifying

which some races build, and the innate and

they display.
But it also shows
these higher aspii'ations degenerate into something vei*y

the instinctive
irrepressible

how

easily

mode

love

of

in

architecture

3G

).

The Great

I'owct of the P.igod.i \Vat-chiiig at

Bangkok.

(From Mouhot.)

Chap.
like

HALL OF AUDIENCE AT BANGKOK.

11.

\^nlg:arity,

when exercised by a people

modern Siamese.

in

so

635

low

stage

of

civilization as the

The same remarks apply

porticos,

to

their

and even dwelling-houses, are

civie
all

baildings
as

rich

as

palaces

and

carving and

FURTHER

G3G

INDIA.

and painting, can make them

gilding,

overdone, and

The

fails to please,

typical

design of

because

it

these

all

Book VIII.

but, as in the pagodas,

it

is

verges on vulgarity.
halls

and minor buildings

will

be understood from the preceding woodcut, representing the Hall of

Audience at Bangkok.

Like

all

the others,

secting one another at right angles, and

has two roofs inter-

it

spire

of

gables are placed in front of the

first,

ordinate gables are of

sometimes the outer one

the same width

as

Generally, the sub-

those

in

smaller, forming a porch.

is

on the right and

left of

the

centre

may

the central spire in the view, but the

second towards the front are hidden by the outer gable.

of sight being taken exactly in front,

it

but

In the audience

These

quoted there are three gables each way.

hall just

or less

each lower than the one behind

so as to give a pyramidal effect to the whole.

it,

greater

Sometimes one, two, or three smaller

elevation on the intersection.

be seen

and

first

The point

looks in the view as

if

there

were only one in that direction.

The Burmese adopt the same arrangement in their civil buildings,

and in Siam and Burmah the varieties are infinite, from the simple
pavilion with four gables, supported on

twelve and sixteen

walls and pillars for

As the Siamese

four pillars,^ to those with

combined with a greater complication of

gables,

their support.

are certainly advancing in civilization,

asked. Will not their architecture be improved

process
tion

is

The answer

is,

ladies

may

be

The new civilizaThe men of progress wear

unfortunately, too easy.

not indigenous, but an importation.

hats, the

it

and purified by the

crinolines,

and they build palaces with Corinthian

and sash-windows. It is the

found in the Bazar in Calcutta, and it

porticos

tectural point of view, at all events,

if,

sort
is

of

civilization

that

is

not desirable, in an archi-

indeed,

it

is

so in any other

respect.

Tliis

form

is interesting to

us as

it is

wliicli is also

much more

like that

that adopted for the Albert Memorial in

ployed in Siam than anything yet

Hyde

tempted out of doors in Europe.

Park, the style of decoration of

emat-

Chap.

JAVA.

III.

G87

OHAPTER

III.

JAVA.
CONTENTS.

Boro Buddor Temples at Mcndoet and Brambanam Tree and

History

Serpent

There

Temples Temples

at

Djeiug and Suku.

no chapter in the whole history of Eastern art so

is

of

full

apparent anomalies, or which so completely upsets our preconceived

ideas of things as they ought to be, as that

stated that the leading

phenomenon

which

treats of the archi-

In the Introduction,

tectural history of the island of Java.

it

continued influx of race after race across the Indus into her
plain,

was

in the history of India was the

but that no reflex wave had ever

returned

to

fertile

redress

the

This seems absolutely true as regards the west, and practi-

balance.^

neighbouring countries on

cally so in reference to the north, or the

Thibet and Burmah received their religion from India, not,

the east.

however, either by conquest or colonisation, but by missionaries sent

to instruct

and convert.

at least of

Cambodia.

This also

land, or a very short sea passage,

migrations,

if

is

true of Ceylon,

These countries being

any ever took

it

is

all

there that

place, but it is not so.

and

partially so

easily accessible

by

we might look for

The one country

to which they overflowed was Java, and there they colonised to such

an extent as for nearly 1000 years to obliterate the native arts

and civilization, and supplant it by their own. What is still more
singular is, that it was not from the nearest shores of India that these
emigrants departed, but from the western coast. We have always
been led to believe that the Indians hated the
sea voyages, yet

it

sea,

and dreaded long

seems almost certain that the colonists of Java

came not from the valley of the Ganges, but from that of the Indus,
and passed round Ceylon in thousands and tens of thousands on their
way to their distant sea-girt home. The solution of this difficulty

may

perhaps be found in the suggestion that the colonists were not

Indians after

nations

term, but

"

As

for

Ihem ever
attempt

all,

in which

from the north-west

the Indian kings none

letl

the

in the sense

of

an army out of India to

conquest of any other

we usually understand the

the

country,

lest

inhabitants

they

should

in

of

le deemed

guilty of injustice." Arrian,

ch. ix.

fact

'

Indica,'

FURTHER

638

INDIA.

Book VIII.

(xandham and Caml)odia, who, finding no room

ill

new

for

down

India Proper, tnrning to their right, passed

settlements

the Indus, and

sought a distant home on this Pearl of Islands.

them the bad habit of all

that we have practically
no authentic written record of the settlement and of its subsequent
history, and were it not that they made up for this deficiency to a
great extent by their innate love of building, we should hardly know
They did, however, build and carve,
of their existence in the island.
Avith an energy and to an extent nowhere surpassed in their native
lands, and have dignified their new home Avith imperishable records
records that will be easily read and
of their art and civilization
understood, so soon as any one will take the trouble to devote to them

Whoever they

were, they carried with

their cognate races, of writing nothing, so

the attention with which they deserve to be studied.

It

has been said, and not without reason, that the

English did

and history of Java during the

live years they held the island (1811 to 1816) than the Dutch had
done daring the previous two centuries they had practically been in
The work of the governor. Sir Stamford Eaffles, is a
possession.
model of zealous energy and critical acumen, such as is rarely to be
more

for the elucidation of the arts

found of

its class

in the English language,

which the bulk of our knowledge

His

who took up

down everything he came

and accumulated vast

not draAV, and

knew nothing

Surveyor-General of India

across

information

patient

Avith

but

he could

drew

other, Colin

Mackenzie

afterwards

everything he found of any archi-

most

industrious

and

successful

drawings and manuscripts that India has ever known

The few

but he could not write.

extreme,

have

be derived.

still

by two Scotchmen,
One of these, John

architecture or the other arts, with

of

and was the

importance,

collector of

Had

stores of

The

which he had no sympathy.

the

must

the cause with almost equal zeal.

noted

Crawfurd,

tectural

the storehouse from

is

in this direction were well seconded

efforts

industry,

and

of the subject

these tw^o

and nine-tenths

men been

left little for

of

essays he attempted are

his

knowledge perished

meagre in
him.

Avith

able to Avork together to the end, they

would

There was, hoAvever, still a

Leyden Avho, had his life been

future investigation.

fourth labourer in the

field

Dr. John

and
and know-

spared, could have easily assimilated the w^ork of his colleagues,

Avith

ledge

his

OAvn marvellous genius for acquiring languages

of

shrouds so

all

sorts,

much

of

Avould

certainly

have

lifted

the

Javan history in darkness, and

be desired in this respect.

He

veil

left

all

that Avith

they might haA^e accomplished.

now

little

to

died, lioAvever, almost before his Avork

was begun, and the time was too short, and the task too
the others to do

that

very

more

leisure

ncAV, for

and better preparation

Chap.

JAVA.

IJI.

639

Dutch have done a good deal

During- the last sixty years the

to

redeem the neglect of the previous centuries, but, as has happened in

the sister island of Ceylon, it has been without system, and no master

mind has

from what

arisen to give unity to the whole, or to extract

The

done the essence, which is all the public care to possess.

Dutch Government have, however, published, in four great

is

folio

volumes, 400 plates, from Mr. Wilsen's drawings, of the architecture

and sculptures

of

Boro Buddor

and the Batavian Society ^ have pubsame monument and as

lished sixty-five photographic plates of the

Leyden has added a volume of text, historical and

descriptive, there is no monument in the East so fully and so well
illustrated as this one, and probably none that better deserves the
The same Society have also
pains that have been bestowed upon it.^
published 332 photographs of other Javan antiquities and temples,
the most part without any accompanying
l)ut, unfortunately, for

Leemans

Dr.

text.

of

tunately he

work

of his

the

visit

died

long

before

his

'

Transactions

only a fragment, and just sufficient to

is

it

At the same time

more.

for

localities,

published in the 33rd volume of the

is

of the Society, but

us

Heer Brumund, was

and write descriptions, but unfortask was half complete.
A fragment

thoroughly well qualified antiquary,

employed to

an

Oriental

'

make

scholar.

Dr.

employed by G-overnment to translate the numerous

inscriptions that abound in the island, and which, without doubt,
Friederich, Avas

away
monuments.

Avould explain

and

its

volume of the

'

the difficulties

all

Some

these

of

Verhandelingen

'

the

in

1856, and

in

history

were published

the

of

in

the

island

2Gth

more were promised,

but ill-health and accidents have hitherto prevented this being done,

and

he should happen to die before publishing the results, the

if

accumulations of half a century

From

the above

it

may

may

perish with him.

be gathered that a considerable amount of

information exists in English and Dutch publications regarding the

antiquities

of

without

tions

Java,

but

description, very few

architectural details

and

plans,

no

how

little

indlgestaque

moles

descrip-

and photographs without

and, except for Boro Buddor, very few
drawings

and no maps on which all

provoking to think Avhen so much

statistical account,

the places can be recognised.

has been done,

rudis

is

it

illustration,

It is

more

and fuse the whole into one

is

required to bring order out of chaos,

of the

most interesting and most

easily

intelligible chapters of architectural history.

'

Geuootscliap
Bataviaasch
Wetenschappen.'
en

Kunsten

van

They

have done me the honour of electing

me an honorary member of their Society
an honour I feel all tlie more as it was

quite unsolicited and unexpected.

2

There are twelve plates

the same
Raffles'

'

monument

in

History of Java.'

illustrating-

Sir

Stamford

FUHTHEPv INDIA.

G40

Book VrU.

History.

Amidst

(u)nfusioii of

tlie

make no claim

the Javans

annals,

their

it

more remote

to

is

rather fortunate thai

political history

than

th()

fabled arrival in the island of Adji Saka, the founder of the Saka era
of the

Buddhists, in a.d. 79.

It

true that in the 8th or 9th cen-

is

tury they obtained an abridged translation of the

under the

own

the

of

title

'

Brata Yudha,' adopted

on the island for

history, assigning sites

of that celebrated struggle

'

Mahabharata,' and,

it

as a part of their

the principal scenes

all

which took place in the neighbourhood

Delhi and Hastinapura, adding only their

own

of

favourite Gendara Desa

(Gandhara), to which they assigned a locality on the north of the

It is thus, unfortunately, that history is written in the East,

island.^

and because

Javans next thought

so written, the

is

it

it

necessary to

bring Salivahana, the founder of the Saka era, to their island

Having, as Buddhists, adopted his

his presence there, but as

certain he never saw the island, his

is

it

have resulted in

visit is fabled to

also.

childish vanity required

era, their

failure,

and said

to have left

no traces

of his presence.

The next person who appears on

the scene

is

one of the most mys-

In the annals of Siam,^ of Cambodia,^ of

terious in Indian history.

Java,* and at Amravati,^ a

prince

Rom,

of

or

Rum, coming from

Taxila, plays a most important part, but without apparently any very

permanent

more

is

Nowhere

result.

most probably

name

his

is

given, nor any particulars

King Commerce.

only a reminiscence of

is

it

than that the ships of the

likely

Roman

perors, with their disciplined crews, should have

on the semi-civilized communities

memory be perpetuated

these

of

Leaving these fabulous

ages,

em-

times.^

to a tradition that
" In the year 525 (a.d. G08), it

at

Ave

or Byzantine

made an impression

remote lands, and the

modern
last come

in fabled exploits to

Nothing

seems to rest on a surer foundation.

being foretold to a king of Kuj'rat, or Gujerat, that his country would

decay and go to ruin, he resolved to send his son to Java.

He em-

barked with about 5000 followers in six large and about 100 small
vessels,

and

after a

supposed to be Java

and

Sir S. Raffles'

24

text, vol.

1.

p.

'Journal of

Bengal,'
^

at

finally settled

'

voyage of four months, reached an island they

but tinding themselves mistaken, re-embarked,
;

Matarem,

History of Java/

in the centre of the island they were

tlie

Asiatic

Asieu,' vol.
^

Sir S.

'

'

i.

p. 393.

Raffle.*?,

Journal

Die Volker dcr Oestlichcn

of

vol.

the

ii.

p. 73.

Royal

Asiatic

'

(N.S.), vol.

There

iii.

p. 153.

doubt that

if the South
Sea Islanders had at some distant epoch
become civilized without European assistance, Captain Cook and the caily
explorers would have figured in their
annals as English or French princes.

Society of

vol. xvii. pp. 80, 87.

Bastian,

Society

pi.

465, 8yo. edition.

is little

Chap.

HISTORY.

TII.

"

seeking."

make

The

prince

now found

a great and flourishing state

for assistance,

when

his

father,

641

men

that

alone were wanting to

he accordingly applied to Gujerat

delighted at his success, sent

him

" From this period," adds the chronicle,

reinforcement of 2000 people."
" Java was known and celebrated as a kingdom
an extensive commerce
;

was carried on with Gujerat and other countries, and the bay

Matarem was

filled

with adventurers from

During the sovereignty

of

all

and

prince

this

his

two immediate

The

"the country advanced in fame and prosperity.

successors,

Mendang Kumulan,

of

parts."

city

Brambanan, increased in size and

splendour
artists, particularly in stone and metals, arrived from distant countries, and temples, the ruins of which are still extant, were
constructed both at this place and at Boro Buddor, in Kedu, during
this period by artists invited from India." ^
All this is fully confirmed by an inscription found at Menankabu,
in Sumatra, wherein a king, who styles himself Maha Raja Adiraja
Adityadharma King of Prathama the first or greatest Java boasts
of his conquests and prowess, and he proclaims himself a Buddhist, a
worshipper of the five Dyani Buddhas, and records his having erected
This inscription
a great seven-storeyed vihara in honour of Buddha.^
is dated fifty years later, or in a.d. 656, but its whole tone is so completely confirmatory of the traditions just quoted from Sir S. Raffles,
that there seems little doubt the two refer to events occurring about
of

since called

the same time.

The only other event of importance in these early times bearing

is Fa Hian's visit to the island in a.d. 414, on his
way from Ceylon to China by sea. The more, however, I think of it,
on our subject

the more convinced I

the

he

island

am

that Java the Less, or Sumatra, was really

It certainly

visited.

was the labadius, or YavadAvipa,

Ptolemy, and the Java the Less of the Arab geographers and of

of

Marco Polo

and

all

the circumstances of the voyage seem to point

His testimony is, howseem to have been united under one emperor
" In this
in A.D. 656, and may have been so two centuries earlier.
but the Law of
country," he says, " Heretics and Brahmans flourish
rather
ever,

to

this

island

than to Java proper.

valuable, as they

Buddha

not

is

much known."

As he

resided there five months,

had been fourteen years in India, he knew perfectly what he

and
Avas

speaking about.

'

ii.,

Sir S. Raffles'

'

History of Java,' vol.

8vo. edition, p. 87, et seqq.

2 I am perfectly aware that this is not

borne out by the translation of this inscription given by Dr. Friedericli in vol.
xxvi. of the Verhandelingen;' but being
'

dissatisfied

with

its

unmeaningness,

took

it to

who

is

my

friend, Profossor Eggeliiig,

perhaps a better Sanscrit scholar

than Friederich, and. he fully confirms my
view as above expressed.
3

Yule's 'Marco Polo,' vol.

ii.

et seqq.
*

I3( al's

translation, p. 1G9.

2 T

p.

264,

FURTHER

642

That there were Brahmans

INDIA.

Book YIll.

in these islands before the advent of

the Buddhist emigrants in the 7th century seems more than probable

from the traditions about Tritresta collected by Sir S. Raffles^ and

others
but, if so, they were Aryan Brahmans, belonging to some of
;

who may have gone

the non-building races,

there

missionaries,

as

seeking converts, but hardly as colonists or conquerors.

Indeed,

all

over the island circles of stone are found, either wholly unfashioned
or carved into rude representations

of

Hindu

deities

even Ganesa can hardly sometimes be recognised

an

requires

Hindu

almost

sometimes

stones
of the

Hindu Pantheon.^
their

artists,

to

The

attempt.

the

rude that

it

frequently

that

believe

if

fashion

the early

Brahmans

tried to

gods for themselves, but,

Buddhists,

if

failed

on the contrary, were

and came in such numbers that they were able

native assistance, nearly

rude

these

knowledge of their own to communicate,

artistic

miserably in

It seems as

converts

native

to

so

even Siva and Vishnu and other gods

represent

teach

having no

trustfulness

and

to dispense with

not altogether.

The next recorded event

that seems to bear on our investigations

Dewa Kusuma to Kling or India,

might be educated in the Brahmanical religion.^
This event took place in a.d. 924, and seems to point distinctly to a
the mission of the children of

is

in order that they

time when the

Buddhist religion, as evidenced by the erection of

Boro Buddor, had died out, and the quasi-Hindu temples of Brambanam and Singa Sari had superseded those of the Buddhists. Those
at Brambanam are said to have been completed in a.d. 1097, which
seems an extremely probable date for the Chandi
that period

ments

till

many

plete,

At
having

From
monu-

them with dates upon them*

of

will

are

com-

tolerably

be no difficulty in classifying them whenever

undertaken.

is fairly

this time
its

" 1000

the beghining of the 15th century, the series of

and there

the task

Sewa, or

much more Jaina than Hindu.

temples," which, however, are

we

capital at

find the island divided into

two kingdoms

one,

Pajajaram, about forty miles east of Batavia,

occupied the whole of the western or Sunda part of the island.

The

Sundas, however, were not a building race, and the portion occupied

'

Raffles, vol.

About half

p. 77, et seqq.

ii.

of

tlie

pliotographs of tho

Balavian Society are filled with reprcrude deities, which

resemble more the images of Easter
Island than anything Indian.
sejitations of these

Raffles,

'History of Java,'

vol.

ii.

The compilers

give no reason for this, and

Leemans and

all

of the catalogue of

Brumund,

the best modei n authors

use the Indian index,

to throughout.

p. 93.
*

the photographs of the Batavian Society

use 53 instead of 78 or 79 as the factor
for converting Saka dates into those of
the Christian Era. As, however, they

it

is

here adhered

Chap.

BORO BUDDOR.

III.

043

by them need not be again referred to here.

except the rude

The
of

Hindu remains above

kingdom

eastern portion of the island was occupied by the

Majapahit, founded, apparently, about the

rose

no buildings

It contains

referred to.

1300.

year

a higher pitch of power and splendour than

to

preceding kingdoms, and the capital was adorned with

soon

It

any

of

edifices

the
of

now they are

little more than a mass of indistinguishable ruins.
When, however,
it had lasted little more than a century, Mahomedan
missionaries
surpassing magnificence, but mostly in brick, so

appeared on the island, and gradually

induced

but by persuasion

not

that

by conquest or the sword,

the inhabitants of the island

forsake

to

the religion of their forefathers and adopt that of the Arabian Prophet.

In the year 1479 the Mahomedans had become so powerful that the

Majapahit was taken by them by storm, and the

city of

Hindu

last

dynasty of the island overthrown, and those that remained of

the

foreign race driven to take refuge in the island of Bali.^

Then occurred what

was, perhaps, the least-expected event

" this strange eventful history."

away

and the

their tools,

carvers.

From

chisels

It is as if

in

all

the masons had thrown

had dropped from the hands

that time forward no building was erected

of

in

the

Java,

and no image carved, that is worth even a passing notice. At a

time when the Mahomedans were adorning India with monuments of
surpassing magnificence no one

Java thought

in

of

building either

a mosque, or a tomb, or a palace that would be deemed respectable in

any second-class

state in

any part of the world.

For nearly nine centuries

persevered in adorning

the

often

blood

India, their

their energy effete, and, as

disappear.

The

with

edifices

almost

unrivalled

but at the end of that time, as happened so

elsewhere of their class

in

603-1479) foreign colonists had

(a.d.

island

if

had become

diluted,

their

race

at the touch of a magician's

inartistic native

races

impure,

wand, they

resumed their sway, and

art

vanished from the land, never, probably, again to reappear.

BORO BUDDOR.
There may be older monuments in the island of Java than Boro
if so, they have not yet been brought to light.
The

Buddor, but,

rude stone monuments of the western or Sunda end of the island may,
of course, be older,

though

and

we know nothing.
Raffles and J. Crawfard wrote

When

doubt

it

l)ut

they are not architectural,

of real native art

Sir

S.

These latter dates are taken from

and ('rawfnrd, but as they are

Raffles

their

perfectly well ascertained,

sccins needful.

works,

no

no reference

FURTHER

644

means

Book YIII.

by comparison

existed of verifying dates

therefore, little to be

INDIA.

wondered at

the

if

of styles,

and

it

gives a.d. 13G0,^

first

is,

and

The former,

the second a.d. 1344,^ as the date of this building.

however, was not deceived by this date, inasmuch as at page

"The

he says,

67

Singa Sari were probably executed in the

edifices at

8th or 9th century. They nearly resemble those of Brambanam and

Boro Boddor. It is probable the whole were constructed about the
same period, or within the same century at any rate, between the
;

sixth

and ninth century

the other way.

Heer Brumund, on historical grounds, places
Buddor " in the ninth, perhaps even in the eighth century of

of the

Era."

Christian

This, perhaps, errs

little

Boro

On

the Christian Era."^

hesitatingly place
its

it

architectural grounds I

The

a century earlier.

style

would almost un-

and character

of

sculptures are so nearly identical with those of the latest caves at

Ajunta (No. 26, for instance), and in the western Ghats, that they
look as if they were executed by the same artists, and it is difficult to
conceive any great interval of time elapsing between the execution of

the two.

If I

am

correct in placing the caves in the first half of the 7th

we can hardly be far wrong in assigning the commencement,

at least, of the Javan monument to the second half of that century.
This being so, I am very much inclined to believe that Boro Buddor
may be the identical seven-storeyed vihara, mentioned by Aditya
Dharma in his inscription at Menankabu.* Its being found in
century,

Sumatra does not appear to me to militate against this view. Asoka's

inscriptions are found in Gandhara, Saurastra, and Orissa, but not in

At home he was known

Behar.

a permanent

place

his dominions.

of

record

The

of

his

but

be that he desired to
the remote portions

date of the inscription, a.d. 656, accords so

exactly with the age I would assign to

may

may

it

greatness- in

from other

it

Of

at least stand for the present.

course,

it

sources, that

it

was not completed

The whole group, with Chandi Pawon

at once, or in a few years.
and Mendout, may probably extend over a century and a half down,
say, to A.D.

800, or over the whole golden age of

Buddhism

in

the

island.
It certainly is fortunate for the student of

attention

devoted to

'

'

'

Buddhist art in India

Buddor (Woodcuts Nos. 362 and 363) has attracted

that Boro

for,

even now, the

its illustration

History of Java,' vol.

ii.

five

folio

so

volumes of plates

much

recently

do not contain one figure too many for the

p, 85.

Dictionary of Indian Archipelago,'

p. 66.
^ 'Boro
Boudour,' par Dr. 0. Leemans. Leydcn, 1874, p. 53G. I quote
from the Fieucli translation, having lent
niy original Dutch copy to Dr. Mayo

New

It was inadpacked among his baggage

when he went to Fiji.
" Ante,
Also Verhandelingen,'
-p. 6 il.

of

College, Oxford.

vertently

'

&c., vol. xxvi. p. 31, et seqq.

inscriptions

the

Java proper.

fourth

One

was

of his

found in

Chap.

III.

BORO BUDDOR.

643

FURTHER

646

purpose of renderino'

the

Buddhist

before its

system
It

fall.

Book VIII.

peculiarities available for scientific purposes

its

the fact being that this

INDIA.

monument was
attained

its

greatest

thus contains within

itself

when

erected just at the time

development, and

just

a complete epitome of

and a perfect illustration of all we

The 1000 years were complete,
and the story that opened upon us at Bharhut closes practically at
Boro Buddor.

we
know

learn

all

from other

sources,

Buddhist art or

of

ritual.

The fundamental formative

is

idea of the Boro

become square

in plan instead of circular

domical building in the centre we

have

ones, each containing the statue of

Section of one of the smaller

364.

Domes

at

Buddor monument

These, however, have

that of a dagoba with five procession-paths.

and instead

smaller

Buddha (Woodcut No.

Elevation of principal

365.

(From

Boro Buddor.

of one great

seventy-two

here

Sir S. Raffleb'

through an open cage-like lattice-work

'

364),

Dome

at Boro Buddor.
History of Java.')

and one larger one

(Woodcut No. 365),
but had a cell in its centre, which may have contained a relic or some
precious object.
There is, however, no record of anything being
found in it when it was broken into. All this is, of course, an immense
development beyond anything we have hitherto met with, and a sort
visible

in the centre, which was quite solid

externally

of half-way house between the majestic simplicity of the

at

Anuradhapura, and the somewhat tawdry complexity

at

Mengun (Woodcut No.

With

Abhayagiri

of the

the idea of a dagoba, however, Boro

Buddor

also

combines

that of a vihara, such as that illustrated by Woodcuts Nos.

There the

cells,

pagoda

354).

though only copied

solid in the

rock,

still

66, 67.

simulated

the residences of the monks, and had not yet advanced to the

we

stage

Gandhara monasteries, where the cells of monks had

become niches for statues. Here this is carried further than in any
example found in India. The cells of the Mahavellipore example
find in the

are here

repeated on every face, but essentially as niches, and are

occupied by 436 statues of Buddha, seated in the usual cross-legged
attitude.

In this respect Boro Buddor

Bahi, Avhich

is

the

monument

in

is

in advance of the Takht-i-

India that most nearly approaches

BORO BUDDOR.

Chap. HI.
to

it

ill

mythological significance.

6i7

So great, indeed,

the similarity

is

between the two, that whatever date we assign to the one drags with
it

that of the other.

the

would, indeed, be impossible to understand

It

7th century, Buddhism had been so far developed towards

liow, in the

modern Nepalese and Thibetan systems

hara monasteries to

similar a Buddhist development in

difficult to separate

the

As

will be observed

Gand-

these

the other hand, having

Java in the 7th century,

monuments

by any very long interval

we had not

if

On

back upon.

fall

so

seems

it

from

of the north-west of India

it

of time.

from the plan and elevation (Woodcuts Nos. 362,

363, page 645), the monument

may

be described either as a seven or

a nine-storeyed vihara, according as we reckon the platform on which

the

seventy-two small dagobas stand as one or three storeys.

basement measures over 400

300

ft.

from angle

but the real temple

across,

ft.

to angle either way.

not, however,

It is

Its

only

is

either

for its dimensions or the beauty of its architectural design that

Buddor

is

Boro

so remarkable, as for the sculptures that line its galleries.

These extend to nearly 5000

almost

ft.

an English mile

and

as

lineal

ft.

we have nearly 10,000

there are sculptures on both faces,

or, if we like to add those which are in two storeys,

we have a series of sculptures, which, if arranged consecutively in
Most of
a row, would extend over nearly three miles of ground.
Javans
were
too,
are
singularly
well
for
when
the
them,
preserved

of bas-reliefs

converted to

Mahomedanism

urged to

destroy

what

was not in anger, and they were not

it

they had

reverenced

before

now be nearly
The outer

as perfect as

historical

importance.

the second

its

gallery

is,

The

though extremely rich

is

enclosed

first

of all the five, the

inner wall the whole

life

of

or,

of

these

are

most interesting

800 years
all

earlier.

till

is

the

at

life,

historically.

pourtrayed in

is

The

first

it is

his marriage,

he meets the four predictive

or

signs

easy to recognise

and domestic happihis

subsequent de-

parture from home, and assumption of the ascetic garb

the forest

twenty-

Tusita heavens,

Bharhut or Sanchi, 700 or

In the following sculptures

the familiar scenes of his

ness,

it

in

little

call it,

In the twenty-fifth we have

events that took place before the birth.

Maya's dream, depicted exactly as

Dutch

as the

Sakya Muni

occupied with scenes

in archi-

comparatively

of

120 bas-reliefs of the most elaborate character.

four

merely

first erected.

face of the basement,

ornaments and figure-sculptures,

tectural

On

when

they

monuments would

neglected them, and, except for earthquakes, these

his preaching in the Deer-garden at Benares

his life in

the

whole

few variations from

the pictures we already possess from Gandhara to Amravati, with
Lalita Vestara, in short, pourtrayed, with very

this

singular

exception

in

all

Indian examples the birth and the

Nirvana are more frequently repeated than any other events

for

FURTHER

648

some reason, not

the

events

that

Below these

guessed,

easily

INDIA.

Book VIII.

they are omitted

though

liere,

all

preceded and followed them are minutely detailed.

depicting the

bas-reliefs

life

of

Buddha

is

an equally

extensive series of 120 bas-reliefs of subjects taken from the Jataka,

which might, no doubt, be

of

all

easily identified,

though

this has not

yet been attempted.

In the three galleries above this Buddhism

is

represented as a

Buddhas
three, five or nine
are repeated
over and over again, mixed with Bodhisatwas and saints of all sorts.
Among these, the five Dhyani Buddhas are conspicuous in all, perhaps
more than all, the variety of manifestations which are known in
Nepal and Thibet,^ which, as Lassen points out, almost inevitably
leads to the conclusion that this form of faith was introduced from
Groups

religion.

of

Nepal or Western Thibet.^

Whether

this is exactly so or not,

no one probably who

is

familiar

with Buddhist art in

its latest

probably doubt that

was from these parts that the builders of Boro

Buddor migrated.

it

The

age on the Avestern side of India will

character of the sculptures, and the details of

the ornamentation in cave 26 at Ajunta, and 17 at Nassick, and more

especially in the later caves at

Salsette, at

Kondoty, Montpezir, and

other places in that neighbourhood, are so nearly identical with what

found in the Javan monument, that the identity of the workmen

and workmanship is unmistakeable. It is true we have no monument
in that part of India to which we can point that at all resembles
Boro Buddor in design, but then it must be borne in mind that there

is

is

not a single structural Buddhist buikUng

now

existing within the

Western India.

It

seems absurd, how-

limits of the cave region of

community confined themselves

They must have had structural buildings

ever, to suppose that so vast a

and caves

only.

to caves,

of some
towns and elsewhere, but not one fragment of any such
and we are forced to go to Gandhara, in the extreme north-

sort in their

now

exists,

west, for our nearest examples.

many

points

of

As

already pointed

out,

between Jamalgiri, and more

similarity

between Takht-i-Bahi and Boro Buddor

there

are

especially

if any architect, who was

draw and restore these
northern monasteries, many more might become apparent.* We know

accustomed to such work, would

All these, or nearly

identified

all,

by Dr. Leemans

that accompanies

have been
in the text

tlie plates.

plates 1-4,

If

'

actions

'

of the

and

to the very inferior

of Sclilagintweit,

'Buddhismus

work

in Thi-

bet.'

Brian Hodgson would attempt it,

he perhaps alone could explain all this
vast and bewildering mythology.
At
present our means of identification is
almost wholly confined to his rei:)resentation in the second volume of the Trans2

and

(Carefully

Royal Asiatic Society,

'

Indisclie Altertliuniskundc, vol. iv.

p. 4G7.
* General
Cunningham's drawings,
though nearly sufficient for anyone as
familiar with all the styles as I have
become, are not enough for anyone who

is

a stranger to the subject.

do not,

Chap.

BORO BUDDOK.

III.

enough even now to render

cient to prove

it

649

this morally certain,

much

in the face of

that

may

though hardly

suffi-

be brought forward

by those who care to doubt it. Meanwhile, my impression is, that if

we knew as much of these Gandhara monasteries as we know of Boro

366.

View

of Central Entrance

Buddor, we could

tell

at

Boro Buddor.

(From a Lithographic

I'late.)

the interval of time that separated them, probably

within half a century at

indeed,

and Stairs

least.

know any Englishman who has

Frenchman might be found who couhl

the knowledg-c, combined with the powers

do

of drawing, to be entrusted with this task.

his imagination.

it,

if

he wonld be content

to restrain


I'URTllER INDIA.

G50

Book Vlll.

Strotclung sucli evidence us we at present

liiive,

as far as

will

it

we can hardly bring the Takht-i-Bahi monastery within one cenIt may be two
and Jamalgiri is still one or
tnry of Boro Buddor.
two centuries more distant in time. But, on the other hand, if we had
not these Gandhara monasteries to refer to, it would be difficult to
believe that the northern system of Buddhism could have been so
completely developed, even in the 8th century, as we find it at
Boro Buddor. It is this wonderful progress that has hitherto made
the more modern date of that monument probable
it looks so much
in advance of anything we know of in Indian Buddhism.
But all
this we must now revise by the light these Javan monuments throw

bear,

on the subject.

Being merely a pyramid, situated on the summit of a

were no constructive

Buddor, and
in

entire,

it

consequently no wonder that

is

spite

of

wholly without mortar.

fully

the corbel-stones,

so

to

as

Indian

the

They did not even think

arches.
of

to

it

it

Javan

all

It is curious to observe,

adhered

architects

its

being,, like

its

hill,

there

encountered in the erection of Boro

difficulties

now remains

buildings,

however,

superstition

so

erected

how

faith-

regarding

necessary to cut off the angles

simulate

an arch, though using the

pointed-arched forms of the old chaitya caves of the west.

The two

systems are well exemplified in the preceding Woodcut (No. 366), but
All the niches are surmounted by arch forms

runs throughout.

it

circular,

and

it

or

elliptical,

may

pointed

but

all

are

constructed horizontally,

be added that, in nine cases out of ten, the keystones are

adorned with a mask, as in this

last

example.

Mendoet.
At

a place called Mendoet, about two

Buddor,
small,

is

there
of

is

half miles
class,

from Boro

which, though

extreme interest for the history of Javan architecture.

stands on a basement 70

temple

and a

temple of a very different

itself is

which gives

it

about 45

ft.

ft.

square,

and 15

ft.

to 16

ft.

high.

It

The

square, including a projection on each face,

a slightly cruciform shape.

Inside

is

cell,

about

by an inverted pyramid of steps, in which are

three colossal images seated, and about 11 ft. high each.
The central
one is Buddha, curly headed of course, and clad in a diaphanous robe.^
The two other colossi, though having only two arms each, are almost
certainly intended for Vishnu and Siva.
On one of the faces, exter20

ft.

square, roofed

Col. Yiilc, from

whose account most

of these particulars arc taken

('

Journal

of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' 18G2),

calls

it

"nearly naked

"
;

but a drawing

by Wilsen

(' Veihandelingen,' vol. xix.

IGG) I think settles the question, that
he is intended to be represented as

p.

clothed.

Chap.

III.

nally,

is

On

BRAMBANAM.
Laksmi, eight-armed, seated on a

another face

snake-hoods.

It

is

is

supported by two figures

in

fact

inserted

among

Karli.^

That insertion

century

this

the

older

group

part of the matter

with attendants.

lotus,

a figure, four-armed, seated cross-legged

is

stem of which

the

651

is,

is

on a

lotus,

with seven-headed

shghtly altered repetition of a group

on the fagade

sculptures

of

the cave

at

have always believed to be of the 6th or 7th

more modern.
The curious
Mendoet example is so very much more

certainly slightly

that the

and perfect than that at Karli. The one seems the feeble
an expiring art the Javan example is as refined and elegant
The same remarks
as anything in the best ages of Indian sculpture.
Like
apply to the sacred tree under which the figure is seated.
all the similar conventional trees at Boro Buddor, they are complirefined

effort of

cated and refined beyond any examples

The

fact that

it

If it is correct

and

temple arises from the

assume a.d. 650-750 as the period during which

to

must have been

built

in India

was marked by decay

and

it

between a.d.

at a time w^hen

It shows, too, a progress in design

a.d. 800.

Buddhist art

in India.

little

almost certainly succeeded immediately to Boro Buddor.

that temple was erected, this one

7 50

known

great interest, however, of this

exhibits such pro-

gress in mythology, that though there can be no doubt as to the purity

of the

Buddhism

of

Boro Buddor, anyone might

fairly

argue that this

temple belonged either to that religion or to Hinduism.

It is in fact

one of those compromises that in India would be called Jaina

words, one of those transitional examples of which we have

in other

many

in

but the want of which leaves such a gap in our history of

Java,

architecture in India.

Brambanam.
At a distance of twenty miles south-east from Boro Buddor is a
group of temples, marking the site of the old Hindu capital of the
which are almost as interesting as that great temple

island,

They

are unfortunately

much

known,

less

or,

at all events,

been illustrated to anything like the same extent.

much more

ever, so
details

cause,

ruined, that

it

may

of

are,

how-

be owing to this that their

have not been so completely made out

we cannot speak

They

itself.

have not

but from whatever

them with the same confidence

as of

Boro

Buddor.

The oldest group at Brambanam seems to be that known as Loro

Jongram, consisting of six larger temples, enclosed in a wall, and surrounded by fourteen smaller cells.^ They may be of the age of Deva
^
An impei-fect representation of this
sculpture will be found in the ' Journal
of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. vi.

plate 53.
2
ii.

Sir S. Eaffles' 'History of Java,' vol.

plate 32.

FURTHER

C52

Kosuma,

Book YIll.

or of the beginning of the 9th century,

the earUest
is

INDIA.

Hindu temples

here, but

and possibly are not

we have more

till

illustrations

it

impossible to speak of this with confidence.

The

great interest of the place centres in a temple known as the

" thousand temples," which is, or was, when complete,

Chandi

Sivva, or,

only second to Boro Buddor in interest.

The

general character of the

great temple will be understood from the annexed plan of a smaller

one at the same place (Woodcut No. 367).

Both

consist of a central

number

temple, surrounded by a

detached

smaller

of

instance

this

there

such, each

sixteen

In

cells.

only

are

of

which

is

supposed to have contained an

Buddha Jaina,

image

Saiva, according

to

tion of the central

or

the dedica-

cell.

In the great temple the central

and

tached

367.

Smill Temple at Brambanam.

(From a Drawing at the India Office.)

No

building

is

scale.

and

richly

measured

cell

way,

with

as

an entrance porch,

cross

90

surround

the

the square
eight

easy to

whole

the

of

is

central

terrace

these

of

be made out

group

on a richly

ornamented square

base.

with

row

is

This
but

carving,

dedi-

its

temples which

smaller

of

Immediately

number.

in

beyond

which supports the central temple stand twentysquare

on

eight

of

Beyond these,
forty-four in number

angular ones both ways.

the second square,

formed

but the most remarkable feature

238

one,

it

whole being raised

multitude

the

at-

each way, the

ft.

with a singular absence of figure-sculpture, which renders

cation not

each

ft.

four

one of which served

cells,

ornamented

elaborately

45
the

wide space of above 80

ft.,

each

side,

at a distance

counting
of

35

the

ft.,

is

between this and the next

which there are only

in

six

temples, two in the centre of the north and south faces, and one on

each of the others.

to

The two

outer rows of temples are situated close

one another, back to back, and are IGO in number, and form a

square, each face of which

is

about 525

similar to one another, about 12

ft.

All these 238 temples are

ft.

square at the base, and 22

*
The information here given is taken
from Sir Stamford. Raffles' 'History of

mistake
scales

in

the

Java,' second edition, vol.

before

me

His

with

p. 17, et seqq.

do not quite agree

measurements in the text, a

i)lans, liowevor,
tlic

ii.

English

high,^

from the
drawings now
being in Rhcinland roods,
not always converted into

arising,

which are

ft.

feet.

believe,

original

Chap.

TREE AND SERPENT TEMPLES.

111.

richly carved

all

and ornamented, and

653

in every one is a small sqnare

in which was originally placed a cross-legged figure, probably of

cell,

one of the Jaina saints, though the drawings which have been hitherto

whom

enable us to determine

published do not

they represent

the

draughtsmen not being aware of the distinction between Buddhist

and Jaina images.

AVhen looked a little
Siwa is neither more nor

closely into,

it

is

evident that the Chandi

than Boro Buddor taken to

less

that compromise between

and

pieces,

spread out, with such modifications as were necessary to adapt

to

it

Buddhism and Brahmanism which we

call

Jaina.

Instead of a central dagoba, with

seventy-two subordinate ones,

its

and its five procession-paths, with their 436 niches containing figures
of Buddha, we have here a central cell, with four subordinate ones,
each containing no doubt similar images, and surrounding these 236
cells,

containing images arranged in five rows, with paths between,

but not joined together with sculpture-bearing screens, as in the earlier

examples, nor joined side by side with the sculpture on their fronts,
or inside, as

was invariably the case in similar temples in Gujerat of

the same age.

1098

Sir Stamford Raffles states a.d.

temple which, from the internal

from the truth.

for the completion of this

evidence,

fancy cannot be far

would, however, be extremely interesting

It

if

it

could be fixed with certainty, as these Javan monuments will probably

be found to be the only means we have of bridging over the dark

Already we can see that Takht-i-Bahi, Boro Buddor,

and Chandi Siwa form landmarks in a series extending over at least
500 years, w^hich we may hope some day to fill up, though the materials

ages in India.

We

have not even correct drawings

of the pickle-bottle-like cells of the

Gandhara monasteries, and those

for it

do not at present

Chandi Siwa are

at

form.

so ruined, that

it

difficult to

is

make out

their

It seems, however, quite clear that they, with the

spires that

crown the

one connected

series.

form which, with a

back to

exist.

cells

of

They

little

domes and
the Boro Buddor fayade, form parts of

are, in fact,

information,

it

merely developments of one

would be very easy to trace

its original source.

Tree and Serpent Temples.

There

is

still

another class of temples in Java which, when properly

investigated, promises to throw great light

Indian mythology and

of

'History of Java,'

furd makes

it

vol.

ii.

p. 85.

art.

They

Craw-

12G6 to 1296; but no con|

are

on some vexed questions

found principally in the

fidence can be placed on his dates for

buildings.

FURTHER

654
provinces of

INDIA.

EooK VIII.

Kediri and Malang, in the eastern part of

and, from dates on some of them, seem to be

examples of Javan

art, all hitherto

among

island,

tlie

the most modern

known being dated

in the

centmy

preceding the overthrow of Majapahit in a.u. 1479.

Four
far as I
and.

of these are described by Heer Brumund,^ but only one, so

know% that of Panataram in Kediri, has been photographed,

no plans or architectural

any have yet been published.

details of

It is consequently difficult to speak

with certainty regarding them,

but they are too interesting to be passed over in

woodcut
sarily

will

on too small a

rally they

may

'this instance

100

ft.

projection

stairs leading

bastion

or

summit

to its

flat

open to the sky.

centre

its

the lower platfoi'm, so far as I can

square, with

which the

Gene-

scale to render all its details recognisable.

be described as three-storeyed pyramids, having a

platform on the top, with a wxll-hole in

In

The annexed

silence.

convey some idea of that at Panataram, though neces-

make

on each

out, is about

behind

face,

are arranged, as in the great

Ceylonese dagobas (ante, p. 190).

From this a flight of sixteen steps
leads direct to the platform of the second, and a similar flight to that

The basement here is ornamented with numerous

on panels, representing subjects, taken principally from the

of the third storey.

bas-reliefs
'

Ramayana,' but many also from

separated from that next

local

legends.

by a panel, with a

it,

Each

of

these

is

circular medallion, con-

taining a conventional animal, or a foliaged ornament.

The

bas-reliefs

from their extent, more

their subjects, however, seem to be all taken from local

of the second storey are better executed, and,

interesting

legends not yet identified.

winged

and

figures, griffons,

better executed than

Hindu

art I

am

The

third

is

ornamented by panels, with

Garudas, and flying monsters, more spirited

any similar

figures are in

any examples

According to Heer Brumund, the temple of Toempang

" It

equal to this.
leaves those of

Buddor

is,"

Unfortunately we have nothing

descriptions of these temples, and of those on the

ham,

so

it

is

quite

is

he says, " the most beautiful in Melang.

It

Singa Sari far behind, and may be called the Boro

Melang."

of

of

acquainted with.

mountain

but

verbal

of Sangra-

impossible to feel quite sure about their arrangement or

who have seen them, all describe them as

we must be content with this assurance till some photographer
visits the place, or, what would be better, till some one goes there
who is capable of making a plan and drawing and a few architecappearance

but as those

similar,

tural details.

The most remarkable

all

peculiarity of these terraced temples

is

that

have a well-hole in the centre of their upper platform, extending

Sometimes

apparently to their basement.

'

'Boro Booddoer,'

]>.

438.

'

it

appears to be square, at

Vcrlmndelinj^cn,' kc, vol. xxxiii. p. 222.

FURTHER INDIA.

G56

others circular, and cnlargiTig as

Book VIII.

descends, being 7

it

or lu

ft.

wide

ft.

at top.

Both Heer Brumund and Dr. Leemans expend a considerable

amount of ingenuity in trying to explain the mystery of these welltemples.^
Both assume that the wells were covered with pavilions
or cell-temples (Kamer tempels), but without any Avarrant, so far as
At Panataram, for instance, the parapet of the
I can make out.
upper terrace is a frail structure, that any man with a crowbar might
destroy in a morning, or any earthquake w^ould certainly shake down
;

yet neither

displaced

nor a single stone elsewhere in this temple has been

it

now

but of this central pavilion not one vestige

remains,

Besides this, a temple without a

either in situ or strewn around.

floor,

and with nothing inside but a facilis descensus of 20 ft. or 30 ft., and
no means revocare gradum, does not seem likely to have been popular
either with priests or people, and in fact no form of worship can be
Neither here nor elsesuggested that would be suitable to them.
to
controvert
anything
the theory that these
there
seem
where does
open to the upper

wells were always

The only suggestion

the

case

planted in

The

them.

raised 30

Bo-tree

or

of

at

published,

least

at Ceylon, or

the

such a temple as that at

its

Javan

the

or

practically, in three

on

a well-hole

it

tree

was

that they

or

soil,

on a

planted

is

meet

likely to

sacred

planted in
terrace,

and

but no

which would

were three storeys on the three other

there

The Naha Yihara

parently in five
in

not

or

reality, just

in

is,

made,

been

have

show whether
sides.

above the plain, ascended on one side by steps

ft.

excavations

that

with earth and the tree

filled

Buddh Gaya

at

as at all

on the virgin

these w^ell-holes, either

were wholly or partially

me

to

Tree-temples

were

they

that

is

air.

that occurs

summit.
temples

"VYe

but

temple of the Bo-tree,

Panataram.

storeys, with

It

is

ap-

the tree planted

have, unfortunately, no plan of

if

any one

will

read

Captain

Chapman's description of the Maha Vihara,^ and compare it with

Heer Brumund's of temples in Malang and Kediri, abstracted by
do not think he can

Dr. Leemans,^ I

No

plan has yet been

pictures

correct

notions

(No.

wholly

is

'

as

copied

3()9),

book, will

so

that
to

it

its

brick,

literally

Boro Boeddocr,'

p.

and

439.

its

'

is

extremely

to

the resemblance.

see

from
its

one

in

and such photo-

higher aim than to

difficult

Meanwhile the

form.

convey an idea of
in

fail

of the Ceylonese vihara,

been taken with no

graphs as exist have

pretty

made

Sir

to

arrive

folloAving

at

any

woodcut

Emerson Tennent's
The structure

general appearance.

ornamentation was consequently painted

Verliamle-

ciety,' vol. xiii. p. 1G6.

|

lingcn,' vol. xxxiii. p. 222.

2

make

'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soj

'

Boro Boccklocr,' pp. 433-439.

TREE AND SERPENT TEMPLES.

Chap. IIL

on

which has wholly^ disappeared, so

plaster,

comparison

Javanese

the

to

exist

View

369.

of the

Maha

to us.

We

nor

temples,

these

(From

safe

'

assert

to

none

Sir E. Tennent's

of

With regard

is

it

Buddhism

trace of

Vihara, Anuradhapura.

could be called Jainism

known

on

sculptm'es

means

no

that

between the two modes of decoration.

them shows any

that not one of

057

even that

Ceylon.')

any trace of the Hindu religion as now

with the Hindu

are, for instance, perfectlylfamiliar

Pantheon, as illustrated by the sculptures of the nearly contemporary

temple of Hullabid

402)

p.

in these well-temples.
different

but not a trace of these gods or

myths there pourtrayed,

goddesses, nor of any of the

Whatever they

are,

is

found

to be

they belong to a religion

from any whose temples we have hitherto met with in

volume, but one whose myths pervade the whole story of

The worship

mythology.

of

this

Indian

seems to have been taken up in

trees

by the Buddhists, Jainas, and Vaishnavas, but may be

than either, and may, in like manner, have survived all three.

succession
earlier

In India, at the present day, there

see in the villages

exact

models of

of

Bengal

these

little

Javan

nothing so

is

common

three-storeyed pyramids of

temples

on

planted the Tulsi shrub, the sacred plant of the Vaishnavas

to

mud

which

top of

the

as

is

{Ocymum

sanctum, or Sweet Basil), which succeeded the Ficus religiosa in the

affections of the

in

vases,

or

Hindus.

little

Frequently, however, this

hollowed out for the purpose.

but no one

Numbers

'

This

is

planted

at least in recent times

of these exist also in

having

is by no means so
we must assume it.

certain

Lut

till

is

Java

visited the island wiio

was familiar with the ordinary domestic religion

place,

emblem

models of ordinary temples, the top of which

of

the Hindus, the

some one capalle of observing

visits tlie

2 U

FURTHER

058

Dutch

much

described

as

it

of

which

and every

lingam,

this mistake, however, is instructive,

how

shoAVS

as it

of their emblems, at least, these religions interchanged in the

They

ages of toleration.

draw a

to

it is difficult

At Panataram
island

that

and

In most cases they are neither the one nor the

Tulsi vase as a Yoni.

Even

Book VIII.

have mistaken every model of a dagoba

anti(iuariaiis

thousands exist in India

otlier.

INDIA.

there
to

entitled

is

is

another temple, which,

Batavian

devoted

There

The

figures,

itself

from the character

of its sculptures,

The reason why

it

made up

is

it,

though,

almost certainly coeval.

called a Serpent temple

is

is

appears

inferred are

is

but on a bath or tank attached to

it is

figure

Its date

however, from which this

not on the temple

the basement-moulding

have given no

not even a general

is

introduced from which a scale might be guessed.

to be A.D. 1416.

twenty-two

might be gathered, and no

outline

merits

certainly

sculptures, but

its

plan and not one syllable of description.

its

any one in the

if

temple,

have

Society

photographs to the illustration of

view from which

750

a.d.

anywhere.

be called a Serpent

The

appellation.

enough now, but before

are distinct

line

of

eight

is,

that the whole of

great serpents, two on

each face, whose upraised heads in the centre form the side pieces of

up

lead

that

steps

tlie

These serpents are

tliat

to the

not,

we meet with everywhere

the fierce crested serpents

does

Buddor

never

in India

Central

of

very frequently

occur

serpent

central

whatever that was.

building,

however, our familiar seven-headed Nagas

and Cambodia, but more

among

like

The seven-headed

America.

the sculptures at

Boro

independently, however, nor as an object to be wor-

Naga

shipped, but as adorning the heads of a

who come

people

to

worship Buddha or to take a part in the various scenes represented

there.

Even then they

are very unlike the Indian Naga, whose hood

unmistakably that of an expanded cobra.

Those at Boro Buddor

and Panataram are crested snakes, like that represented in the Japanese
Avoodcut in Tree and Serpent Worship,' page 56.
is

The

sculptures

on these monuments are not

of

religious

What

mythological character, but either historical or domestic.

represent

may

be ascertained, for above each scene

inscription, quite

a hurry, and

we must, consequently,

Meanwhile

monuments

it

is

curious

to

in our whole history

and the

last of

Nol however, of

tlie

observe that

which are so

the great school

more modern

Dutch

are never in

wait.

fdluded to above, erected two centuries

'

a short

perfect,

probably, has been done, but our good friends the

earliest

is

and in a character so modern

fancy any scholar on the spot might easily read them.
It,

descriptive

that I

easily

or

they

we know
treated,

of only two
and these the

that at Bharhut, so often

before Christ

class of teinplcH,

and

this

one,

iuasmuch as when John

Chap.

DJEING PLATEAU.

III.

659

Mahomed an

erected in the 15th century, while the struggle with the

was gathering around

religion

it

that strength, which, within half a

century from that time, finally extinguished the faith to which

it

belonged.

There

one other temple of this class at a place called Matjan-

is

pontih, regarding which some

more information Avould be

by Heer Brumund

It is described

interesting.

as partly of brick, partly of stone,

but singularly rich in ornamentation.

"The sub-basement," he says,
" is composed of a tortoise and two serpents the heads of these three
;

animals unite on the west face and form the entrance."

and many others

This

of the

gible without illustrations, but

of

Serpent temples, which,

light

on the mystery that

if

still

description

many
better

are

nearly

unintelli-

them seem to point to a class

known, might throw considerable
of

shrouds that form of faith in India.

Djeing Plateau.

On an

elevated plateau, near the centre of the island, on the back

Mount Prahu, there exists a group of some five or six small temples.
They are not remarkable either for the size or the beauty of their
details, when compared with those of the buildings we have just been

of

describing

but they are interesting to the Indian antiquary, because

they are Indian temples pure and simple and dedicated to

So

gods.

us further

far,

we

feel

is,

that

if

Indian

home again but what these temples

Java got her Buddhism from Gujerat and
at

tell

the

Hinduism from Telingana and the

These Djeing temples do not show a trace of
mouths of the Kistnah.
the curved-lined sikras of Orissa or of the Indo-Aryan style.
Had the
Hindus gone to Java from the valley of the Ganges, it is almost impossible they should not have carried with them some examples of
It is found in Burmah and Siam, but no trace
this favourite form.
mouths

of it is

of the Indus, she got her

found anywhere in Java.

Nor are
They are in

these temples Dravidian in any proper sense of the word.

storeys, but not with cells, nor any reminiscences of such

but they are Chalukyan, in a clear and direct meaning of the term.
The building most like these Javan temples illustrated in the preceding

pages

is

that at

Buchropully (Woodcut No. 216), which would pass

Crawfurd visited Ava in 1826, he de2nd ed.) his visit to a

temple just finished by the reigning
monarch, which was adorned with a

nearly identical the descriptions are

with those which might be written over
any Buddhist series.
All the scenes
there depicted are not perhaps to be

series of paintings

found at Bharhut or Sanchi, but all are

at Amravati, and in the Gandhara mo-

scribes (p. 162,

ing scenes from

on plaster representthe

life

of

Buddha.

Each of these had a legend in the

modern Burmese character written over
it;

and

it

is

curious to observe

how

nasteries, or are to be

found among the

sculptures at Boro Buddor.

'

Boro Boeddoer,'

p. 483.

u 2

FURTHER

cr.o

without remark in Java

Nizam's

13th century, and

frequently used at the time of

this as it

may,

Book VIII.

its portico.

however, like

It,

India, especially

in

of

Most

the

them

probably have

been

Deva Kosuma's

816.

visit in a.d.

a remarkable fact that there

is

it

may

pillars

in
of

subsequent to the 10th century.

territory, is

belong to the
less

Be

deprived of

if

Chalukjan temples we know

the

all

INDIA.

is

not a single

Java: at least no book I have had access to, no drawing,

and no photograph gives a hint of the existence of even one pillar in
the island.
AYhen we think of the thousands that were employed by
the Dra vidians in the south of India, and the Jains in the north-^^'est,
pillar in

mentioned above,

is

nearly

absolutely so, and, so far as

know,

Orissa, as

astylar
is

also interesting,

is

that there

is,

early style of

but in Java this

is

only important style in

the

What

the world of which this can be predicated.

but

The

curious they escaped being introduced here.

is

it

is

not so curious,

not a true arch in the whole

is

In the previous pages, the Hindu horror of an arch has often

island.

been alluded to

but then they frequently got out of the

wood

There

difficulty

materials in the island,

no trace of the use of these

and no peculiarly Javan feature can be traced

to a w^ooden original.

All

by the use

the

or

dients

of

arches which
of

the

or iron.

is

It

may

also

be

in these temples.

It is

but

it

and

largely in

expe-

all

the

not that they were ignorant of the use of lime,

was never employed

many

so

art.

of their buildings are plastered

to this that so

figure

mentioned here, while describing the negative

art, that no mortar is ever used as a cement

Javan

many

nine-tenths of the constructive

mediaeval architects,

characteristics of

for

in stone, but without either the pillars

make up

western styles of architectural

is

and painted on the

to give strength to construction.

plaster,

It is

owing

of their buildings are in so ruinous a state.

an island where earthquakes are frequent, a very

In

shake reduces

little

tall temple to a formless heap in a few seconds.

If cemented, they
might have been cracked, but not so utterly ruined as they now are.^

Be

this as it

may, the Javan

only one of which

it

can be

style of architecture is

said

that

probably the

reached a high degree of

it

perfection without using either pillars, or arches, or mortar in any of

its

buildings.

SUKU.

At

a place called Suku, not far from

trated, promises to be of great

in Java.^

are

among

Col. Yule's visit to Java,

tlie

They

the centre

'

illus-

importance to the history of architecture

modern examples

the most

Journal of

Asiatic Society of Bengal,' 1861-1862,

p. 3.

Mount Lawu near

group of temples, which, when properly

of the island, there is a

Sir

plates 31

S.

Raffles'

and

61, vol.

of

the style,

'History of Java,'
ii.

p. 49, et seqq.

SUKU.

CiiAr. III.

661

having dates upon them of a.d. 1435 and a.d. 1440,^ or

years

and

destruction of Majapahit

the

before

than forty

less

the abolition

of

the

Hindu religion of Java. So far as can be made out, they are coarser
and more vulgar in execution than any of those hitherto described,
and belonged to a degraded form of the Vaishnava religion. Garuda is
most prominent figure among the sculptures but there is also

the

the tortoise, the boar, and other figures that belong to that religion.

The

sculptures, too, are said,

many

which

of them, to be indecent,

is

only too characteristic a feature of Yishnuism.^

The most
as well as of

interesting feature connected with the remains at Suku,

buildings in Java,

the later

all

likeness to the contemporary edifices in Yucatan,

be only accidental, but

all

it is

No

unmistakable.

is

their extraordinary

and Mexico.

one, probably,

It

who

may
is

at

familiar with the remains found in the two provinces, can fail to

though no one has yet suggested any hypothesis to account

observe

it,

for

When we

it.

expanse of ocean that stretches

look at the vast

between Java and Central America,

that

it

seems impossible to conceive

any migration can have taken place

10th century
or, if it

that

had taken

the use

say

after

the
;

Javans would not have taught them

place, that the

alphabetical

of

eastward

could have influenced the arts of the Americans

and of many

writing,

arts

they cultivated,

but of which the Americans were ignorant when discovered by the

It
seems equally improbable or impossible that any
from America could have planted themselves in Java so as
But there is a third supposition
to influence the arts of the people.

Spaniards.

colonists

that

may

be possible, and,

It is possible

same family

if

may

so,

account for the observed

as

the native inhabitants of Java.

stock,^ and, if this is so, it is

to the connexion.

If

this

build

that

monumental
their

first

edifices

were their

During the next

five

'

and Crawfurd seem

to be mistaken in ascribing them to the

they seem

have been misled

by the appearance of a Phallus, but
there is no lingam.
* In
the firdt three volumes of the
photographs published by the Batavian
Society are numerous examples of rude
Saivites

to

Javans were

taught to

first

also the most purely Indian.

650-1150) we can watch the
and during the next three (a.d. 1150-

'

S. Raffles

no bar

(a.d.

Crawfurd, Diet, Indian Archipelago,'

Both Sir

The

is

be admitted, the history

and

finest

sub voce.
2

may

by immigrants from India, and we know

centuries

Indian influence dying out

circumstances

evident that distance

hypothesis

the connexion would be this

of

Many

Easter Island belong to the

lead to the belief that the inhabitants of

same

facts.

that the building races of Central America are of the

sculptures,

which are indistinguishablb

from those of Easter Island. Crawfurd

and other ethnologists do not seem to
feel the least difficulty in

Malay

extending the

race from Easter Island to

gascar; and

if this is so,

it

Mada-

diminishes

of another nearly
extending through the
Pacific Islands from Java to the American continent.

the

improbabilities

allied

family,

FURTHER

662

INDIA.

Book VIII.

itself, which resulted at last

Panataram and Suku. It mayhave been that it was the blood and the old faith and feelings of
these two long dissevered branches of one original race that came
again to the sm'face, and produced like effects in far distant lands.

1450) a native

style developing

local

in

the quasi-American examples at

If

this or

something

must have been

of its class

like it

were not the cause of the similarity,

accidental, and, if

known

anywhere

to exist

other example that occurs

is

so,
;

it

almost the only instance

is

and, strangely enough, the only

in respect to the likeness that

is

unmis-

takable between certain Peruvian buildings and the Pelasgic remains

and Greece.

of Italy

and

These, however, are even more remote in date

must remain in
some fresh discovery throws new light upon
locality, so

till

the

This, however,

subject

is

not the place, even

attempt to investigate and

broach them even here,

settle

if

present uncertainty

its
it.

space were available, to

such questions

but

well to

is

it

for, unless attention is directed to

the subject,

the phaenomena are not observed with that intelligent care which

is

indispensable for the elucidation of so difficult a problem.

The above

must be confessed, only a meagre outline of what

of the most interesting and important chapters

it

is,

might be made one

the

in
it

To do

History of Indian Architecture.

would require

at

least

justice,

it

however,

100 illustrations and 200 pages of

text,

which would swell this work beyond the dimensions within which
seems at

present

expedient to

determined to attempt

performing

it

restrict

it.

it
it

the materials do not exist in Europe for

this,

We know

in a satisfactory manner.

are ever likely to know,

Even, however, were

all

about Boro Buddor and one

we want,
or

or

two other

monuments, but with regard to most of the others our information is

most fragmentary, and in respect to some, absolutely deficient. Any
qualified

ordinate

person might, by a six months'

all this

be able to write a

But
will

it is

tour

in

the

island, so co-

as to supply the deficiencies to such an extent as to

full

and

satisfactory History of Architecture in Java.

not probable that the necessary information for this purpose

be available in Europe for some years to come, and

many

very

many

unless

the

work

is

it

may

be

undertaken on a more sys-

Both in this island

and in Ceylon the intentions have been good, but the performance
disappointing and unsatisfactory.
The Dutch have, however, far
tematic plan than has hitherto been the case.

outstripped

our colonial authorities, not only in the care of

their

monuments, but in the extent to which they have published them.

It is only to be hoped that a wholesome rivalry will, before long,
render the architectural productions of

purposes of scientific rcscarcli.

both islands available for the

CAMBODIA.

Chap. IV.

CHAPTER

063

IV.

CAMBODIA.
CONTENTS.
lutioJuctory

Temples of Nakhou Wat, On^cor Thorn,

Paten ta riirohiu, &c.

Introductory.
Since fchc cxhiimifcion of tho buried cities of Assyri by Mons. Botta
and Mr. Layard nothing has occurred so startling, or which has
thrown so much light on Eastern art, as the discovery of the ruined
Historically, they are infinitely less important
cities of Cambodia.
but, in an archito us than the ruins of Nimroud and Nineveh
and, for the elucitectural point of view, they are more astonishing
i

dation of certain

Indian problems,

it

seems impossible to overrate

their importance.

The first European who visited these ruins

M. Mouhot, a French naturalist, who devoted the

modern times was

in

last

four years of his

(1858-18G1) to the exploration of the valleys of the Mekong and

life

Menam

Though

rivers.

investigate

primary object of his travels was to

the

the natural productions of the country, he seems to have

been so struck with the ruins of Ongcor

and made plans

buildings.

Wat

that he not only sketched

them, but wrote descriptions of

of

all

the principal

Unfortunately for science and art he never returned to

down by

Europe, being struck

fever while prosecuting his researches

and, though his notes have been

and in France, they were not pre-

in the northern part of the country

published both in this country

pared for publication by himself, and want the explanatory touches

his own work.
M. Mouhot from obtaining

which only an author can give to

choly death prevented
entitled to

for his

discovery,

it

has borne rich

Though
all

his melan-

the credit he was

fruit

as

far

as the

public are concerned.

The next person who visited these ruins was the very learned
^
who has Avritten a most recondite but most

Dr. Adolph Bastian

unsatisfactory
*

a>id

Svo.

work on the Indo-Chinese

Travels in Intlo-Cliina, Cambodia,

by Henri Mouhot.
Murray, 1864.

Laos,'

vols.

nations,

in

five

volumes.

2
Die Volker der Oeatlichcu Asicn,*
von Dr. A. Bustian. Leipzig, 186G.
'

FURTHEK

GG4

Book

INDI2V.

lie lias also written an account of the ruins in the

Royal Geographical Society'

'Ausland' (Nos. 47-50).

their age

is,

himself

satisfied

Journal of the

from

who

the

in

all

these

these temples,

built

what worship they are dedicated.

or to

know anything about

'

and four papers

It is impossible to find out

whether Dr. Bastian has

what

xxxv.),

(Vol.

VIII.

If

these matters, he has carefully concealed

he docs
it

from

the uninitiated, under a confused mass of undigested learning that

is

it

impossible to fathom.

His

was followed by that

to these ruins

visit

of

Mr. J. Thomson,

a professional photographer at Singapore, who, at considerable expense

and risk, carried his photographic apparatus to the spot, and brought
away a plan of the great temple of Nakhon \yat, with some thirty
photographs of

it,

besides views of other places in the neighbourhood.

Since that time the French have sent two thoroughly well equipped
expeditions to the place

the

exploration of the

Mekong

under a Captain Doudart de

first

As

in 1866, the second in 1873.

river,

the

main object

on the frontiers

his results to the extent he

They

home.

return

of

Gree

they were able to devote only a por-

tion of their time to antiquarian researches,

of their chief

la

of the first w^as the

and the unfortunate death

China prevented his ever working out

no doubt would have done had he lived to

however, published as he

were,

Lieutenant J. Garnier, the second in

command

left

them, by

of the expedition,

with

notes and additions of his own.^

As

they, however, could not complete the investigation, a second

who had taken

expedition was fitted out, under Captain Delaporte,

part in the previous expedition.

They
detailed

retuj-ned to

France in 1874, bringing with them not only

plans of most of

the temples, but copies

inscriptions they could find,

The

casts.

and

latter

are

accessible to the

and a large

of nearly all the

collection of antiquities

when

course of publication, and,

available, they will supply materials

from which we may reason wdth confidence, not only

but as to the history of this wonderful people.^

'

'Voytige

d'Exploration

Chine,' 2 vols, quarto

plates.

and

cn

folio,

Iiido-

Atlas of

Paris, 1873.

^ Few thiugs arc more humiliating to

an Englishman than to compare the in-

telligent

interest

French display

and

and

now arranged in the Chateau of Compiegne,

The drawings and inscriptions are in
public.

liberality

the

in these researches, con-

tiasted with the stolid indifference and

parsimony of the English in like matters.

Had we exercised a tithe of the energy

and intelligence in the investigation of

Indian antiquities or history, during the

At

as to the arts

present

we

are

100 years we have possessed the country,

French displayed in Egypt

during their short occupation of the
valley of the Nile, or now in Cambodia,
which they do not possess at all, we
should long ago have known all that
can be known regarding that country.
Something, it is true, has been done of

that the

late years to

make up

for past neglect.

General Cunningham's appointment to

the post of Archaeological Surveyor of
India, and that of Mr. Burgess to a

CAMBODIA.

ClIAP. IV.

What

in a position to do so.

]icirdly

GG5

has hitherto been collected has

been got together in too fragmentary a manner, and

gone through the sifting process which

possible to separate the

wheat from the

in the country

by a Chinese

traveller,

when the kingdom was

He

who

1295-97.

decessors in India,

Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang,

much through Buddhist

is

was a Buddhist, and,

spectacles

a most inte-

is

spent two years

most flourishing

in its

between the years

too

it

chaff.

In addition to these sources of information there

resting account, written

has not yet

it

indispensable before

is

like

state,

his pre-

sees things a little

but, with

this slight defect,

nothing can be more graphic than his account of the country and the
people.^

There are
the

two papers, by Col. James Low, in the

also

Bengal

Asiatic Society of

traditional information extracted

The

first

which

(Vol. xvii.),

'

Cambodians, as gathered

" In the country of

sufficiently startling.

is

Jom*nal of

from Siamese books.

assertion in the traditions of the

by Dr. Bastian,

replete with

are

Romaveisei, not far from Takkhasinla (Taxila), reigned a

Rome

great

or

and

His son, the Vice King Phra Thong by name having

done wrong, was banished, and, after many adventures, settled in
Cambodia," &c.2 The time is not indicated, but we gather from the
context that it must have been about the 4th century.
It may, at
wise king.

first sight,

look like catching at a nominal similarity, but the troubles

which took place in Kashmir in the reign

in western India about the year

319, look

Tungina, and generally

of

so

what

like

is

recorded

further east, that, at present, that seems the most probable date for the

migration, assuming
to

it

to

Many would

have taken place.

be inclined

doubt the possibility of any comnnmication between the two coun-

must be borne in mind, that the country around Taxila

that it was the head-quarters
called Camboja
of
Serpent-worship
that the architecture of Kashmir bears very
while there is a general
considerable resemblance to that of Cambodia

tries

but

it

in ancient times was

Cambodians came from India. If this w^ere so, it

seems certain that it was not from the east coast that they migrated.

consent that the

As pointed out above, the Indians who introduced Buddhism and

Buddhist architecture into Java went there
countries on the west coast.

similar office in the

Bombay

Presidency,

are steps in the right direction, which,

if

persevered

in,

factory results.

may

lead to most satis-

Many

years must, how-

good work can be

brought up to the position in which it
ought to have been long ago, and mean-

ever, elapse before the

from

Gujerat

or

the

This hardly seems doubtful, and there

while

much

is

that was most important for

the purpose has perished, and no record

now remains.
The work is translated in extenso in
Abel Rimusat's Nouvcaux Melanges
of

it

Asiatiques,' vol.
-

Bastian, loo

i.

p. 78, et seqq.

cit.,

vol.

i.

p. 393.


FURTHER

66G

no greater improbability
than of one from Gujerat

INDIA.

Book YIII.

from the Indus

of a migration

to

Cambodia

to Java.

Ceylon was always addicted to Snake- worship, and may have

formed a half-way house. On the other hand, it is by no means
improbable that the communication may have taken place behind the

Himalayas

in

fact,

derived from some

that the

common

All this will require

where

religion

elaboration

careful

can be more fully treated than

it

wanted now
connexion

to

is

the

countries

was

some place

hereafter, in

All that

possible here.

is

is

on the fact that there must have been a

insist

between

two

the

of

centre in Northern Asia.

and

two countries,

that

the

traditions

of

Cambodia point to Taxila as their parent seat.

For six centuries from this time we have nothing but stories of
dragon-kings and their beautiful but troublesome daughters
of the
and of the spells and enchantments
treasures and relics they guarded
which were had recourse to to vanquish and rob them. All this is
common to all the nations between Cambodia and the North Cape of
Norway, but does not concern us here.
At last we come to a fact. " In the year 957 Inthapathapuri was
founded by King Pathummasurivong." ^ In the same manner as the
name of the old capital of Siam was the mispronunciation of Ayodhya,
so this is only the Cambodian way of spelling Indraprastha, or the
;

old Delhi of the

Mahabharata.'

'

Leaping over the intermediate space from

this initial date

we have

a final one in the conquest of the country by the Siamese (a.d. 1851-

1374), after which time the

temples were erected there.

fined to the four centuries

the

three of

first

was the

was deserted, and no more

capital

Our

architectural

history

is

thus con-

which elapsed between 951 and 1357.

Nakhon^ Thom

these, at least,

About the middle, however,

capital.

king was

old

the

For

Great City

of the 13th century, the

with leprosy "because he had forsaken the Snake-

afflicted

worship of his forefathers," and taken to the Brahmanical or Buddhist

heresy,

it

not quite clear which

is

ferred to a site

some

and the capital was then trans-

fifteen miles further east,

Paten ta Phrohm (the City of Brahma

as

Meanwhile we have at
worship prevailed
large

and

city built,

known

centuries

during which Naga-

giving rise to the erection of a series of temples as

ornamented

as richly

The

of the world.

three

least

and a

?).

last of

any

as

these

that

to be

found in any other part

known

as

Nakhon Wat

was,

not the greatest, at least the best from an architectural point of

if

view,

and

is

the

only

one of which we have at present

sufficient

information to speak with confidence.

'

Bastiau, vol.

Nakhon

is

i.

p.

429.

only the Siamese pi'oiuiu-

of tlic Imliau

ciation

Thom means

" <?rcat."

Nagara, Nngj^ur,

TEMPLE OF NAKHON WAT.

Chap. IV.

From

the

we know

little

of the others

667

does not seem that there

it

would be any difficulty in arranging them all in a chronological series,

from the gradations of style they exhibit nor of ascertaining their
;

with inscriptions in a character that could

datei, since they are covered

be read without serious trouble

of the kings,
least,

even

The

if

and these probably contain the names

which would enable

no

there should be

buildings of Paten ta

this to

be done, approximatively at

dates.

Phrohm

much

(the Brahmanical) are of a

more varied but less perfect style. They seem, from the descriptions
of M. Mouhot and Dr. Bastian, to be Buddhist, Jaina, or Hindu, or all
these styles mixed up together as in Java.
In fact, they seem very
much to resemble the buildings in that island, and their date is about
the same, omitting only the Buddhist series, which does not seem
to occur here
but, as no detailed drawings or good photographs
of them have yet been published, there is very little to be said about
them now. For the present our attention must be principally confined to the city of Ongcor
or Ongou, as it is popularly named,
but more correctly known as Nakhon Thom the great city and
;

It is

now

not difficult to point out the situation of this city, as

the lake near which

generally

suburban monastery of Nakhon Wat.

especially to the

situated

it is

now found

their

way

and the

into most

hills

that approach

it

have

Generally

it

may

atlases.

be said that about half-way between the great rivers of Siam and

Cambodia

is

a lake, the Tali Sab, about 120 miles long, and varying

in width from 30 to 60.

ft.,

but in the rains

and

water,

rises

large boats.

80

At a

In the dry weather

fed by the

it is

or 40

ft.

little

ft.

average depth

its

Mekong,

more, so that

of

which

it is

is

only

a back-

easily navigable for

it is

distance from the northern shore of this lake,

in 103 50' East longitude and 13 30' North latitude, the ruins are to

be found, situated in a great plain extending some

between the lake and the

hills

on

its

fifty

miles in width

northern boundary.

Temple of Nakhon Wat.

The temple

of

Nakhon Wat, literally " the temple

it is now called by the Siamese,

of the city," or

" of the capital," as

is

situated in a

sandy plain, about four miles to the southward of the city of Ongcor
itself,

and between

the small
square,

2,

Woodcut No. 370)

and measures nearly

a.n

charts of the river.

and published detailed

Maps

it

be seen from

will
is

almost an exact

English mile each way.

The French have navigated the lake

in a large steamer,

As

and the lake Tali Sab.

it

plan (figure

are also found

in Mouhot's

'

Tmvels

;
'

those which are found

Lieut. Garnier's

The

walled

but the best are

in the Atlas of

work above referred

to.

FURTHliK INDIA.

GG8

370.

I'laii

of Tcu)i)lo uf

Nakhon Wat.

(From

Survey by Mr.

Book VIII.

J.

Thomson.)- ^Mle 155

ft.

to

1 in.

TEMPLE OF NAKHON WAT.

Chap.
enclosure

temple measures

the

of

G69

lOSO yards by 1100, and

The moat

rounded by a moat or ditch 230 yards wide.

is

sur-

crossed on

on either

splendid causeway, adorned by pillars

the west by a

is

side.

This leads to the great gateway, not unlike the gopura of a Dravidian
temple,

storeys

five

but extended by lateral galleries and

height,

in

towers to a fa9ade more than 600

front of the temple (shown in figure 1,

side of

where

about half-way down,

this,

would be considered

else

Within

in extent.

ft.

this a second

370 yards long, leads to a cruciform platform in

causeway,

raised

Woodcut No.

On

370).

either

a detached temple, which

is

any-

but here may be passed

of importance,

over.

The

general plan

the temple will

of

understood from

be

the

woodcut (No. 370). It consists of three enclosures, one within the

other, each raised from 15 ft. to 20 ft. above the level of that outside
it,

The
are

the whole a pyramidal

so as to give

measures 570

by 650

ft.

ft.,

and

great temple at Karnac (Thebes)

three portals,

side of these
reliefs,

are

galleries or verandahs,

probably the

outer enclosure

430,000

covers

adorned with towers on each

open

are

The

form.

covers, therefore, about 370,000 sq.

most

remarkable

sq.

face,

ft.

There

ft.

and on

either

which, with their bas-

features

of

this

temple.

from the Woodcut

that of the interior from Woodcut No. 374
though
No. 373
these illustrations are on too small a scale to do justice to their
Their

appearance will

external

be

understood

magnificence.

may be gathered from "Woodcut No.

pyramid more than 600 ft. in breadth
shortest width north and south, and rising to 180 ft. at the

Its appearance in

371, which shows

across its

summit

of

the

it

elevation

to be a

central

tower.

It

is,

consequently, both larger and

higher than Boro Buddor, and notwithstanding the extraordinary elaboration of that temple
extent of

its

it is

probably surpassed by this one, both in the

ornamentation as well as in the delicacy of

carvings.

its

There may have been as much, or nearly as much, labour bestoAved on

the colonnades at Ramisseram as on this temple
but otherwise the
;

Indian example cannot compare with either of

these

two.

It

has

and practically no design

while both Nakhon
Wat and Boro Buddor are as remarkable for their architectural

literally

no

outline,

designs as for their sculptural decorations.

The mechanical arrangements

of the galleries or colonnades

referred to are as perfect as their artistic design.

stood from the diagram.

of

the

temple.

Woodcut No. 372.

On

These
one side

will
is

above

be under-

a solid wall

most exquisite masonry, supporting the inner teiTace of the

It

is

built of large stones without cement,

and

so beautifully

At

fitted that it is difficult to detect the joints

between two stones.

a distance of 10

stands a range of square

piers, very

much

ft.

in.

in

front of

this

in the proportion of the

Roman

Doric

oixler,

with

670

FUrtTIIEK INDIA.

Book YIII.

examples, but more ornamented.

capitals also similar to the classical

These
J^:^|

-il

l'

is

have no

pillars

but on each face

bases,

carved a figure of a

devotee

worshipper,

or

surmounted by a canopy
ornament,

incised

of

which

carried

also

is

along the edge of

The

shafts.

the

pillars carry

an architrave and a deep

which,

frieze,

the

in

inner part of the temple,

is

ornamented with basthe most ela-

reliefs of

borate

and

character,

above this

a cornice

is

of very classical outline.

Above the

cornices

is

pointed arch, not formed

with voussoirs,

but

beyond
with

the

the

quite

Pelasgi
to the

This

day.

and

plain,

probably

as

other,

old

and the Indians

present

of

one

projecting

stones

is

was

originally

in-

tended to be hidden by
a

wooden

indicated

ceiling,

the

in

as

dia-

gram
at
least,
Mr.
Thomson discovered the
;

which

mortises

were

intended to secure some

adornment,

such

one

in

mains

place

and
re-

a teak-Avood

of

ceiling

the

beautifully

and

elaborately carved.

Outside this gallery,

as

shown

cuts
is

in the

Nos.
second,

by shorter

Wood-

372,

373,

supported

pillars,

with

TEMPLE OF NAKHON WAT.

Chap. IV.

both base and capital. This outer range supports what

a tie-beam, the one end of which is
inserted

the

into

the

serts

column

may be

called

just

So beautifully, how-

below the capital.

ever, is this

inner

071

fitted

that

inner columns

M. Mouhot
are

as-

monoliths,

and, like the other joints of the masonry,

the junction cannot be detected even in
The
the photograph unless pointed out.

beauty of this arrangement will at once

anyone who knows how difficult

to keep the sun out and let in the

strike
it is

light

and

climate.
effect

it

so

air,

The
in

indispensable in

British

India for

have

that

tried

100 years,

to

but

never hit on anything either so artistic

It is, in fact, the
or convenient as this.

372.

Diagram Section of Corridor,

Nakhon Wat.

FURTHER

672
solution of

fi

INDIA.

Book VIII.

problem over which we might have puzzled for centuries,

but which the Cambodians resolved instinctively.

nice here, as throughout the temple,

is

composed

The

exterior cor-

of infinite repetitions

of the seven-headed snake.

The most wonderful

Wat,

tecture

374.

parts, however, of these colonnades of

Nakhon

are the sculptures that adorn their walls, rather than the architliat

View

These are distributed in eight compart-

shelters them.

of Interior of Corrido)-, Nakhoii Wat.

(From

a rbotograpli by

Mr.

J.

Thomson.)

ments, one on each side of the four central groups of entrances, measuring each from 250
ft.

ft.

to

300

Their aggregate length

is

ft.

in length, with a height of about

thus at least 2000

the parts photographed to be a fair average, the

animals represented extends from

so

18,000 to

ft.,

and assuming

number

20,000.

of

The

men and
relief

is

low that in the photograph it looks at first sight as if incised

but this is not the case.
infaijlintoYxka the Egyptian sculptures

Generally

speaking, these

reliefs

represent battle-scenes

of

the most

TEMPLE OF NAKHON WAT.

Cjiap. IV.

taken from the

iiiiimated description,

673

Ramayaiui,' or

'

Maliabbarata,'

'

which the immigrants either brought with them, or, as the Siamese
annals say, received from India in the 4th or 5th century.
These,
Pathammasurivong, the founder

of the city, caused to be translated

into Cambodian, Avith considerable variations,

and here they are sculp-

tured almost in exteiiso}

One

however,

bas-relief,

supposed to

larly

popu-

and hell.
Above
resembling those in Egyptian temples as

procession so closely
startling.

occupied by a different subject

is

heaven,

represent

The king

earth,

is

to be

borne in a palanquin very like those seen in

is

the sculptures on the banks of the Nile, and accompanied by standards

and emblems which go

row

far to complete the

a judge, with a numerous

sits

demned

are

in

modes which Eastern

the

all

however, that this

It is not clear,

seems more probable that

it

and

churning of the

that

Vishnu,

m.^

Hindu mythology'
notwithstanding

wears an

it

second Avatar of

could^'be

this, it is

was his choice of

it

it

in

face

world-supporting

with,- tbj

which the Indian

One subject alone can be called

familiar

old

the

ingenuity has

a theological hell

is

mode

represents the

immigrants " improved " the natives.

mythological,

and the con-

assessors,

thrown down to a lower region, where they are repre-

sented as tortured
devised.

In the middle

illusion.

body of

the

and

the

No

snake Naga.

great

represents

it

tortoise,

legend in

more appropriate for a snake-temple but,

out of place, and I cannot help fancying
;

this subject that

gave

rise to

the tradition

that the king was afflicted with leprosy because he had deserted the
faith of his

and

The

This

forefathers.

evidently the last attempted,

relief is

remains unfinished.

still

only other temples that I

in anything like the

and that

at

example,

however,

am

aware of where sculpture

Hullabid,

above,

described

the

sculptures are in high relief,

many

is

it

Here, however, the two arts

independent,
itself,

its

aim.

There

are

kept

The Gothic

quite

but

Indian architects.

distinct

are

the

and

distinct

The Greeks, on

and

each perfect by

architects attempted to

incorporate their sculpture with the architecture in the same

as the

all

are, in fact, the architecture

each mutually aiding the other,

and separate in

employed

of the figures standing free,

are essential parts of the architecture

itself.

used

In the Indian

page 401.

which

on

principles

diametrically opposed to those in vogue in Cambodia.

all

is

same profusion are those at Boro Buddor in Java

the

manner
them

contrary, kept

they provided a plain wall outside the cclla of the temple

paintings and sculpture, and protected it by screens of

columns precisely as the Cambodians did and it is difficult to say
which was the best principle. A critic imbued with the feelings of
for

their

Bastiau, vol.

i.

p. 402.

2 X

FURTHER

674

INDIA.

mediagval art would side with the Indians

Book YIII.

but

the Greeks were

if

correct in their principle, so certainly were the Cambodians.

Leaving these outer

the west door,

150

we

an ante-naos measuring 180

ft.

by

supported by more than 100 columns, and lighted by four

ft.,

courts open to the sky above

small

the present, and entering by

for

peristyles

find ourselves in

but the

arranged most

as to obtain the

artistically, so

floors, as in

The whole

temples, are tanks or reservoirs for water.

Naga

all

of this part is

most varied and

any part

pic-

as well worthy of study as

on either hand, is a detached temple, similar
in plan to those that stand on either side of the causeway, half-way
between the entrance and the temple.
Ascending from this we enter the middle court, in the centre

turesque

effects,

temple.

Beyond

and

is

of the

this,

It
which stands what may be considered as the temple itself.
ft. by 213 ft., and is crowned by five towers or spires,

of

measures 200

on each

one

angle,

and

that

Sadri, one

at

these towers

may

than the others, in the centre,

one, taller

rising to a height of 180

The

ft.

The

way.

each

facing

central tower has four cells, like

appearance of

general

be gathered from the elevation (Woodcut No. 371),

They are very Indian in character and

when looked closely into, are unlike anything known in
country.
The building which resembles the inner temple most,

and from Woodcut No. 375.

outline, but,

that
so

far as

known,

at present

that at Sadri (Woodcut

is

200

Its dimensions are nearly the same,

has
as

five spires similarly disposed,

are a certain

there

here,

a connexion between the two.

amount

extraordinary

Cambodian temple
the

courts at

of

No. 133).

like this,

that

of

the

of

Indian example

is

may have

If it were,

far

not clear, nor

1100 yards square, in which

been the case.

and

How

are not courts but water-tanks.

from the analogy of the Kashmiri temples,

The

in the

detail

the

stands, was not also capable of being turned into a lake.^

that this

it

similarity ceases.

and exuberance

the lower courts were also capable of being floodef-

whether the whole area,

ft.

and at Sadri,
snake-images, which suggest

number of
But there the

surpasses

far

by 225

and four open courts

richness

Nakhon Wat

ft.

temple

Judging

it

would seem probable

it

is difficult

to conceive

a more fairy-like scene than this temple would have presented, rising

from the

lake

which

forms in the calm

reflected its

stillness

of

tropical sunset.

One

of the

most curious circumstances connected with the archi-

tecture of this temple

Roman

is,

that all

its

pillars

are as essentially of the

Doric order, as those of Kashmir are of the Grecian Doric

^
Mr. Thomson was informed that
during the rains the whole was flooded,

and the temple could be

boats.

reached

in

TEMPLE OP NAKHON WAT.

Chap. IV.

Even

if

this is disputed,

one thing at

G75

least is certain, that

no such

At Nakhon Wat there is not a single

The pillars nowhere change into
base.
Indian
an
nor

pillars occur anywhere in India.

bracket-capital

375.

General View of Temple of Nakhon Wat.

(From

a Photograph by Mr. J. Thomson.)

sides,i and all the enoctagons or polygons of sixteen or thirty-two

be conceived. At
well
can
as
forms
tablatures are as unlike Indian

* Outside the temple the sides of the

causeways are in places ornamented with
dwarf columns of circular form. They

seem to simulate a bundle of eight reeds,

and have tall capitals.

2x2

FURTHER

076
Xaklioii

Wat,

IKDIA.
and

also, there are iiitersectiiifi; vaults

contrivances of

all

sorts,

roofing-

iii<i:enions

but no dome, and no hint that the architects

were aware of the existence of such a form.

On

^-^p^..^.

take snch a pillar as that

the contrary,

shown in Woodcut No. 376

diameter to height

"'^^^ tion between

Roman

the

its

abacus

it

the propor-

and lower diameter

architrave,

order that

the proportion of

entasis

the upper

the capital with

plinth

the

the base with

are

&c.,

so

the

like

conceive

to

difficult

is

its

the likeness being accidental.

But whoever gave

pillars

and,

the

according

to

design

these

for

M. Mouhot,

there

we

1582 of them in this single building

have abundant evidence to show that

are

whom

people for

it

was erected were

Without

Turanian blood.

the

pure

of

on other

insisting

in every part of the building

facts, there are

Thev

groups of female figures in alto-relievo.

are sometimes in niches or in pairs, as in the

AVoodcut No. 377, attached to

groups of four or more.
or

pilasters, or

in

There are a hundred

more in various parts

aU have the thick

true Tartars, their

of the building, and

and the flat noses of
eyes forming an angle with
lips

one another like those of the Egyptians, or

any other

attached,

so

standing
37G.

the

of

true

building-races

Unfortunately, no statues of

world.

though

there

which

figures

are

tell

the

of

men

are

several

free-

same

tale.

the

Pillar of Porch,

Naklion Wat.
CFrnm a Photograph by
Mr. J. Thomson.)

The
as

the

artist

carefully

the nations represented, and,

know who

do not help

bas-reliefs

the inquiry,

in

has taken pains to distinguish

the ethnographic peculiarities

till

the

inscriptions are

are intended for Indians or

who

read,

for Chinese

or

of

all

and we

Cambo-

we cannot use the evidence they supply.

It is a well-known fact that, wherever Serpent-worship prevailed
in any part of the w^orld, it w^as the custom to devote the most beauThis Avould not only
tiful young girls to the service of the temple.
account for these numerous female statues, but their presence affords
This, however, is
a hint of the worship to which it was dedicated.
not required
for, though the god is gone, and the Buddhists have
dians,

taken possession of the temple, everywhere the Snake-god appears.

Every angle of every roof is adorned with an image of the sevensnake, and there are hundreds of them
everv cornice is

headed

TEMPLE AT NAKHON WAT.

Chap. IV.

composed

of snakes' heads

The

snake.

balustrades

and the ridge

are snakes,
of

was

every roof

adorned

rently

appa-

with

gilt

These being in

dragons.

have

metal,

every convolution of the roofs, and

seven-headed

or

in a five

terminates

thousands,

are

G77

disappeared,

but the holes into w^hich

they were

can

fixed

still

be seen on every ridge.

There
the

no image in

is

sanctuary,

because

is

it

of

course,

the

peculi-

arity of this religion that

god

the

and
by

his

so

that

is

up

eaten

is

fellow

divinities,

no trace

him

of

But, beyond

remains.

water

the

this,

god,

living

or

dies,

all

arrange-

ments which pervade every

part

the

of

temple

great

are such as belong to the

worship

and

the

of

At present

this temple

has been taken

of

Serpent,

to that only.

possession

by Siamese bonzes, who

have dedicated

the

to

it

They

worship of Buddha.

have introduced images of

him

sanctuaries

the

into

and other

places, and, with

the usual

incur iousness of

people of their class, assert

that

always

Avas

it

so

one who

has

yet

no

unfortunately,

while,

visited

the place has been so familiar

with Buddhist

tecture

as

be

to

contradict them.
ever,

there

archi-

able
If,

one

is
,

more certain than

to

howthing
^,

'

anotiier

377.

Lower

i'ari ol I'lliister,

Nakhon Wat.

rhotograph by Mr. f.

j. Tbou-son.)

C*-"'^'"

FUKTHER

678

INDIA.

Book VIIL

ill
this history, it is that Nakhon Wat was not originally erected
by Buddhists or for Buddhist purposes. In the first place, there
is no sign of a dagoba or of a vihara, or of a chaitya hall in the

whole building, nor anything that can

any

Buddha,

trace of

any scene from his

of

found among the sculptures.

to doubt this

but

life,

now

that any

familiar with the sculptures at Bharhut, at

this,

there

is

no

from the jatakas to be

or

In former days

not so

is

it

be called a reminiscence of

More than

Buddhist architecture.

feature of

might be excusable

it

man may make

himself

Amravati, or

Sanchi, or

with those from the Gandhara monasteries or at Boro Buddor.

It is

just as easy to recognise a Buddhist scene or legend in these repre-

sentations, as

it

at Padua, or at

is

to identify a Christian scene in the

What may

Monreale near Palermo.

Arena chapel

hereafter turn

up

know, but meanwhile I most unhesitatingly assert that there

is not a trace of Buddhism in any of the bas-reliefs yet brought to
light from Nakhon Wat, nor an integral statue of Buddha or of any
I do not

Buddhist saint about the place.

I

am, of course, aware that there are traditions of Asoka having

sent missionaries there,

but they are

the

and

of

merest of

Buddhaghosha having
imported,

traditions,

Had

Siam, and resting on no authenticated basis.

come here

eyi

it

seems impossible the fact should

But

not be observable in the buildings.

There

there.

no Eastern

is

seems to have been so

the

of

prove

it

country,

known in
who visited

little

Chinese traveller,

sufficient to

from

Buddhists ever

masse, or the country ever been converted to that re-

was the case in Java,

as

ligion,

visited the place,^

apparently,

there seems no trace of

in

fact,

ancient times.
the country in

did exist in his time

Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang, he saw

where that

The testimony
a.d.

1295,^

is

but, like his predecessors

own

his

it

religion

faith everywhere, and,

with true Chinese superciliousness, saw no other religion anywhere.

So far as can be at present ascertained,

it

seems as

if

the migra-

Java and to Cambodia took place about the

same time and from the same quarter but with tliis remarkable
difi^erence
they went en masse to Java, and found a tabula rasa
a people, it may be, numerous, but without arts or religion, and

tions of the Indians to

they

implanted

there

their

own

with

very

slight

modifications.

In Cambodia the country must have been more civilized, and had
The Indians seem sloAvly, and only to a
a religion, if not an art.
limited extent, to

Gamier,

loc. cit., vol.

i.

p. 120.

Bas-

pp. 400, 415, 438, &c.

In the extracts from the 'Chinese

tian, vol.
2

have been able to modify their religion

1.

Annals,' translated by Abel Kemusat, in

the

first

volume of the 'Nouveaux Me-

towards

langes Asiatiques,' he finds the earliest

mention of the Cambodian kingdom in
A.D. 616.

From

that period the accounts

are tolerably consecutive to a.d. 1295,

but before that nothing.

BAION.

Chap. IV.

Hinduism, probably because

was

it

679

identical, or at least sympathetic

but they certainly endowed the Cambodians with an art which we

Now

have no reason to suppose they before possessed.

that

we know

to what an extent classical art prevailed in the country these Indians

are

reputed to have come from,

and

how

to

date that

late

art

continued to be practised in the north-west, we are no longer puzzled

to understand the prevalence of classical details in this temple

work out the connexion

in all

variations

its

but to

one of the most interest-

is

ing problems that remain to exercise the ingenuity of future explorers.

Baion.

There is a temple within the city walls which, when as well

known, may prove to be a grander and more splendid temple than
Nakhon Wat itself. When Mr. Thomson visited the place, it was so
overgrown with jungle that
even count

its

plan (plate

21), but

(page

the

67),

towers.

we may expect
about 400

by

ft.

to

the

about

all

and

ft.,

effect

the whole, so

of

its

It

it.

Wat
more

ornamented

It

than

probably

even

it

that

temple.

belongs to

plan or

the

sculptures are consequently better

It

understood,

and made

that

short

in a

with

may

time

be gathered
towers

fifty-two

richly

certainly

11th or

is

its

in the text

the place,

general appearance

Nakhon

of

its

a rectangle, measuring

is

instead of nine, and the whole perhaps

older

a woodcut

lithograph in his atlas.

know

by 433

imagining

one

Delaporte has cleared out

and drawings

plans

careful

make out

not

could only form a diagram of

he gave two view^s

other

however, that M.

he could

Grarnier

and elaborately
to

be

and

its

appears

12th century

execution, though whether they

in

are equal in design w^e have yet to learn.

The most remarkable

is

in

feature in the design

One

adorned by four great masks.

the next woodcut

is,

that each of the towers

of the smaller of these is

shown

(No. 378), and gives an idea of the style of

their decorations, but cannot of the larger towers, nor of the effect of

number

them grouped together, and dominated by one

and of proportionate height.
The question still remains, to what deity, or for what form

a great

the centre 60

ft.

of

worship, was this strange temple erected

elsewhere.

known,

It

is it

in

in diameter,

certainly is

Hindu.

We know

of nothing

of

like it

not Buddhist, nor Jaina, nor, so far as

Neither Siva nor Yishnu, nor any of the familar

gods of that Pantheon, appear anywhere.

wise, but at present there seems

was dedicated to Brahma.

We

It

may

turn out to be other-

no escape from the hypothesis that it

have no temple belonging to this god

in India Proper, but he does appear with the other two in sculptures
at HuUabid,
are found

and in other

much more

places,

completing the trinity.

His images

frequently in Java than in India, thou^'h I

am

FUKTHER

680

INDIA.

Book Yill.

not aware that any temple has yet been found in the island dedicated
to hini.

In Cambodia, however, he plays a most important part in

When,

the local traditions.

for instance, the sovereign

the Snake-king's daughter got tired of his father-in-law, he set

image of the four-faced Brahma over the gates

man

terrified the old

378.

gate

One of the Towers

of

the

city

in 1295,1 calls

it

of the

up an

the city, which so

that he fled to his dark abode cursing his un-

Such an image does

grateful children.

of

all

who married

Ttmple

at Oiigcor I'hora.

still

exist over the principal

(From a Photograph by Mr.

Tliomson.)

who visited the place

The traveller was
Buddha
mentioned, saw his own religion every-

but the Chinese

traveller,

a five-faced image of

Buddhist, and, as before

J.

where, and that only in every temple and in every place.

by Bastian, and the numerous images

Ta Phrohm or Brahma found by the French at Mount Kromi and
All the traditions collected

of

elsewhere, fully bear

'

'

out

this

assignment of the temple to

Nouvcaiix Melanges Asiatiques,'

vol.

i,

p. 10;i.

I)rahma,

BAION.

ClIAP. IV.

But

if

681

should eventually prove to be correct, what a wide door

it

opens for speculation, and what a flood of light

many questions that are now

Brahma really existed in the

worship of

Is it that a

perplexing us.

it

throw on

would

it

north-west, in the original seats of the

immigrant races before they passed into India, and that it was left
vegetate there while the settlers adopted the more fashionable

to

and Vishnu in the countries of their adoption ? If

migration may have taken place by a northern
route through Yunan, taking with them the older form of the faith

religions of Siva

this were so, a later

and planting

it

in this far-off land.

was not by accident that the knowledge either of Brahma or of

these strangely classical forms of art were imported into this country.
We cannot yet explain how all this happened, but we see enough to
It

that in a very few years the solution will be possible

feel sure

haps easy.

It

back to the cave where he has been so

known

worship Avith some of the

if

religions of the world.

Rather more than a mile to the eastward of the city

first-class

dence of

Ta Proum,

temple, called

Phrohm

or Brahma.^

per-

we could track Brahma

long hidden, and connect his

would indeed be a triumph

another

is

Paten ta Phrohm, the

or

It is a square,

resi-

measuring about 400

ft.

each way, and, so far as can be made out from M. Mouhot's plan, was
of the
is

same

class as

Nakhon Wat

but, as Lieutenant Garnier says,

so ruined that its plan can hardly be

made

out,^

and

it is

with vegetation, that in a few years not one stone of

it

it

so choked

will

remain

upon another.

About twenty miles further eastward is another temple of the

class, but much more perfect, called Melea, and at seventy miles
a third, called Preacan.
These were only imperfectly explored by the
first French expedition, but have been thoroughly investigated by the
second,^ and we may hope soon to have plans and all the details
same

necessary to
curious but

speak with confidence with regard to this

enable us to

most interesting group

very numerous, and

all

of

temples.

They

most elaborately adorned, and,

be added, very unlike anything we have met with in

India described in the previous chapters
tainly are neither Buddhist, Jaina, nor

we have

hitherto

of

Yunan, or the provinces

some hints as to their

Bastiaii, vol.

any

j)art

They

of

cer-

Hindu, in any sense in which

understood these terms, and they as certainly are

when we become acquainted with the ancient

need hardly

this work.

not residences or buildings used for any civil purposes.

that,

evidently

are
it

i.

p.

of Central
origin.

404.

of

and AVestern China, we may get

At present

^
'

It is j)ossible

architecture

am

inclined

Garnier, 'Voyage,' &c.,

L'Art Khmer,'

i>.

38.

vol.

i.

to

look

p. 74.

FURTHER

682

INDIA.

Book VIII.

further north and further west for the sohition of the riddle;

we

are

the

possession of

in

results of

but,

the

French expedition,

be

considered

till

it

is

premature to speculate.

These

galleried

great

may

temples

typical, as they certainly are the

most magnificent,

the

as

most

of the temples of

but, besides these, there are ten or twelve great

Cambodians
Thorn and its neighbourhood, which anywhere else
Ongcor
temples in
Of these, one at Mount
would be considered worthy of attention.

the

Bakeng, to the south of the city, is a five-storeyed pyramid, with

on its steps, and a platform on its summit, which

sixty small pavilions

is

now

only encumbered with some debris

remains of a Sikra, or whether

Java,

by no means

is

To

but whether they are the

was a well-temple

it

the east of the city

is

another somewhat similar

with three storeys, rising to a height of about 50

enclosed in a gallery, measuring 250

had

on

five pavilions

The

like

those

in

clear.

its

ft.

It,

pyramid,

however,

is

each way, and seems to have

ft.

summit.^

other temples are not of such magnificence as to justify their

being described here

their

would be great in a monograph

interest

of the style, but, without illustrations, their dimensions, coupled with

namas, would convey very

unfamiliar

their

little

information to the

reader.^

Civil Architectuee.

The
of

palaces

They

are,

being

less

more

and public buildings

either

temples,

its

as

regards

Ongcor seem

of

extent

or

monumental in

their

mode

to our present purpose, they

A view

of one of the gates of

Garnier, Plate 8
is

to

and

as it

is

be hoped that

the present expedition.

of

construction, and,

full

vol.

i.

'

p. 83.

what

is

intelligible.

Thom

as remarkable
details

Fortunately,

it

It

we could

worthy

decoration.

have neither been drawn nor pho-

Ongcor

would be interesting if among these

identify that one of which the
Chinese traveller gives the following description
" A Test de la ville est un
autre temple de I'esprit nomme Pho-to-U,
auquel on sacrifie des hommes. Chaque
annee le roi va dans ce temple faire luimeme un sacrifice humain pendant la
nuit."
Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiqucs,'
^

of

however, as might be expected, in a more ruinous state

tographed to such an extent as to render them

place, it

to be quite

richness

is

as

will

given by Lieutenant

anything about the

be brought home by

the gateway described by

is

At Buribun, on the

other side of the

me there is a
complete copy of the Nakhon Wat sculptures, carved in wood in the 16th century.
The place was the residence of the kings
lake, Dr. Bastian informs

Cambodia after the fall of the capital,

and as original art had then perished,

of

they took this mode of adorning their

palace.

What

museum

a prize for any European

CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.

Chap. IV.

683

the Chinese visitor, in 1295,^ as at the end of the great bridge, which
was, and

adorned by fifty-two giants, bearing on their arms the

is,

great seven-headed

On

Naga

that formed the parapet of the bridge.

each side of the gate are three elephants, and on each angle

Above

head of a great seven-headed Naga.

the

men and women, but

Brahma,

on the

as

the

spires

great
of

feature

the

is

these are figures of

four-faced

the Baion (Woodcut No.

misk of
The

878).

upper part also so far resemble those of that temple

details of the

must be nearly the same age. This, therefore, cannot well

be the four-faced figure of Brahma, which his ungrateful children
set up to frighten then' parent when they were tired of him (ante,
that they

page 680) but it is curious to find the legend repeated in stone and
standing at this day.
It may, however, be that the stone gave rise
;

to the legend

but, whichever

as material evidences of

we know

this time,

The

little

walls of the

way it
and

a history

arose, it

equally interesting

is

a religion of which, up to

of

or nothing.

cities

were

very great extent, and

of

also

dimensions commensurate with their importance.

They seem

of

generally

to have been constructed of a coarse ferruginous stone in large blocks,

and only the gates and ornamental parts were of the fine-grained
sandstone of which the temples and palaces are built.
Wonderful as
these temples and palaces are, the circumstance that, perhaps, after
gives the highest idea of the civilization of these ancient

all

bodians

is

the perfection of their roads and bridges.

One

Cam-

great trunk

road seems to have stretched for 300 miles across the country from
Korat, in a south-easterly direction, to the

stream that

main

Mekong

river.

It

was a

Roman road, and every

bridge, many of which re-

causeway, paved throughout like a

raised

crossed was

it

spanned by a

Dr. Bastian describes two of these

and 50 ft. in breadth, richly ornamented by
balustrades and cornices, and representations of snakes and the Snake
perfect to the present day.

400

one,

king.2

in length,

ft.

The extraordinary thing

that

is,

radiating arches, but like every structure

of bracketing or horizontal arches,

withstood,
torrent

Even
tures of

for

which
if

five
it

centuries

at

it

is

the

in

constructed without
place,

and without cement.

the

least,

violence

of

by a system
Yet it has
the tropical

spans.

no vestiges

Nakhon Wat

of these roads or bridges remained, the sculp-

are sufficient

to prove

the

state

of perfection

art of transport had reached in this community.

In these
there are numerous representations of chariots, all with wheels from
3 ft. to 5 ft. in height, and with sixteen spokes, which must be of

which the

'

vol.

and

'

Nouveaux

i.

p.

G2.

103.

Melanges Asiatiques,'
Gamier, woodcuts pp. 61

'

Journal of the Royal Geographical

xxxv. p. 75.

Society,' vol.

FURTHKE

(184

The

anything so delicate in wood.

rims,

problem

difficult a
is

make

to

is

it

are

too,

and,

metal,

in

Those who are aware how

apparently, the wheel turns on the axle.

much

VI II.

\l00K

no Loudon cociclnnaker at the present day could frame

for

metiil,

INDIA.

a perfect wheel will appreciate

involved in such a perfect solution of the problem as

is

how
here

found.
But it requires a knowledg'e of the clumsiness of the Eomans
and our media3val forefathers in this respect, and the utter barbarism
of the wheels represented in Indian sculptures and still nsed in India,
to feel fully its
If,

importance as an index of high civilization.

who

however, the Cambodians were the only people

18th century made such wheels as these,

it

before the

also probably true that

is

who had sufficient mechanical skill

hewn stone, without the aid either of
and who could dovetail and join them so beautifully

their architects were the only ones

to construct their roofs wholly of

wood

or concrete,

and perfect

that they remain watertight

after five centuries of neglect

Nothing can exceed the

in a tropical climate.

and ingenuity

skill

with which the stones of the roofs are joggled and

another, unless

the

is

it

and

walls are so polished

It

is

difficult

detect

to

skill

even in

joints

cement of any kind.

sun-picture,

works of the old pyramid- building Egyptians,

know

When we

put

these

all

Cambodian

architects

conception

and

things together,

displayed in

artistic

merit

These alone ought

is

it

find

Indian

in

design,

temples

and

Egyptian in character.

constructed

To

largeness

sufficient to

Taken

together,

with

pillars

bas-reliefs

the ethnologist they

these

investigation so important that

delayed.

the

or

decide

which the
of

recommend

the historian of art the wonder

ornamented with

interesting, in consequence of
cated.

skill

pervades every part of their

more than

To

to

difficult

is

temples with such a singular combination of styles in such

locality

classical

construction

which

to be

their study to every architect.

to

nothing to

of

it.

whether we ought most to admire the mechanical

designs.

which

Except in the

generally reveals flaws not to be detected by the eye.

compare with

into one

with which the joints of their plain

so evenly laid without

their

fitted

the

religion

to

circumstances
it

is

hoped

it

are

almost
so

purely

strangely

almost equally

which they are dedirender

will

not

their

complete

now be

long

G85

BOOK

IX.

CHINA.
CHAPTER

I.

INTRODUCTORY.

CHRONOLOGY.
Hea

Period of

Woo Wong

period of Cliow

r..('.

....

2100
1100

Confucius died

Chy hoang-ty

477

built Great

Han dynasty
Hoty, seventeenth king
troduced

Wall

240

201
;

Buddhism

in-

90

Tsin dynasty

It

is

260

extremely

difficult, in

Wootae dynasty
kingdoms

Chinadividcd into two

a.d.

China reunited, capital Honan

Tang dynasty
Northern China conquered by Mongols
Kublai Khan
Ming dynasty Mongol expelled
Manchow Tartar dynasty now on the throne
.

This

and

partly

may

arise

416
585
897
1234
1281

1366
1644

the present state of our knowledge, to write

partly from

the

because there really are no

worthy of the people or their

the

architecture

incuriousness

buildings
Till

civilization.

would have appeared to be the true cause

latter

anything, either conclusive or satisfactory, about

China.

of

country

the

in

of

travellers,

very recently, the

our ignorance

of

but lately the photographic camera has penetrated even within the
walls
sions

of

the

imperial

of

city

which go some way

to

Pekin, and has brought away impres-

modify

Unfortunately, the

this opinion.

camera has not been accompanied by the measuring-tape or the notebook, and our information
it

is

therefore, in

some

respects,

vague

but

seems certain that there are buildings worthy of more attention

Even
among

than has hitherto been bestowed upon them.

not such as we might expect to find

these,

however,

whose
and whose civilization seems so exact a counterpart of that
of Egypt.
In both countries w^e have the same long succession of
dynasties with dates, extending through 8000 or 4000 years, interrupted only by shepherd invasions which in both countries lasted
about five centuries, when the w^ords of Manetho are as literally
are

people

history

applicable to the Taeping rebellion as they are

to

the

overthroAV of

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE.

686

the Hyksos by the uprising of the native

in both

vailed

Egyptian

the same patriarchal form of

long period

this

all

Book IK.

countries

the

races.

During

government pre-

king being not only the head of the

Both people
and maintained it with-

secular government, but the chief priest of the people.

early attained a certain stage of civilization,

out change or progress during

The

syllabic symbols

whole period of their existence.

the

of the Chinese are the exact counterpart of the

the Egyptians, as clumsy and as unlike that

any other contemporary nation, and as symbolic of their exclusive

hieroglyphic writing of
of

from the

segregation

rest of

mankind.

In both countries there was

always the same calm contemplation of death, the same desire for

an honourable funeral and a splendid tomb, and the same reverence

for the dead.
In these and fifty other particulars, the manners

and customs
lelism

two peoples seem

of the

identical,

down when we come

only breaks

and the perfect paral-

speak of their buildings.

to

There are no tombs in China to be compared with the Pyramids,

and no temples that approach those of Thebes in dimensions or in
splendour.
If the Chinese

tribes

on

were as closely

north-eastern

their

difference

could not have existed.

suspected,

that

the

Polynesian races,

true

part of the country

we

on

as

cause

to

closely

sea-board,

it

as

to

the

if,

as

is

is

allied

which

is

When

are really acquainted with.

modify our opinion

supposed,

this

therefore be, as has been

more

are

the

country has been more carefully examined,

see

generally

is

may

It

Chinese

especially

Tartar or Mongolian

allied to the

frontier

to

the

the inner

probable that Ave

architectural

the

only

may

character

of the Chinese people.

This
called
closely

will be especially the case

Indo-Chinese
allied

in

inhabitants

of

highly probable, the so-

Cambodia

are

very

much more

blood to the Chinese than they are to any of the

races inhabiting India

since,

by the erection of the buildings described

Cambodians have nobly vindi-

in the last division of this work, the

cated their

to be

title

of the world.

limited area

considered as one of the great building races

Considering the short time of their existence and the

they occupied, they

may

in

fact

lay

claim to having

surpassed even the Egyptians in this respect.

It will

be strange

if

in

find the links which will

Honan and Quang-si we do

not eventually

confirm the connexion of the two races of

Cambodia and China, and explain what

at present can only be regarded

as one of the unsolved problems of architectural history.

A little

well-directed industry on the spot would very soon clear all

Meanwhile there are other minor causes which may

have contributed to the absence of monumental buildings in China,
and which it may be as well to allude to before proceeding further.
In the first place, the Chinese never had either a dominant priesthood
this

doubt away.

Chap.

INTRODUCTORY.

I.

The absence

or a hereditary nobility.

important consideration, because, in

687

countries where

has been carried to anything like perfection,

has owed

its

former class

the

of

all

is

a very

architecture

to sacred art that it

it is

highest inspiration, and sacred art

never so strongly

is

developed as under the influence of a powerful and splendid hierarchy.

Again, religious and sectarian zeal

architecture,

Though

and

is

often a strong stimulus to sacred

wanting in

remarkable people.

this

we can

the Chinese are bigoted to a greater extent than

conceive in

we know

moment

they are more tolerant

matters,

political

all

other nation
present

this is entirely

in

of

concerns

that

all

For though Buddhism

equally between them.

At the

religion.

divide the

three great religious sects

well

than any

empire nearly

the religion of the

is

reigning family, and perhaps numbers more followers than either of

the other two,

still

the followers

the

of

contemporary and rival of Sakya Sinha

doctrines of

are a

Confucius

the

more purely Chinese

than the other, and hold an equal place in public estimation

sect

while,

the present

at

time, the sect of

Laou

Tse, or the Doctors of

more fashionable, and certainly more progressive, than

Christianity, too, might at one time have encroached
largely on either of these, and become a very prevalent religion in
this tolerant empire, had the Jesuits and Dominicans understood that
the condition of religious tolerance here is a total abstinence from
Reason,

is

the others.^

This, however, the

interference in political matters.

priesthood never coald be brought to understand

Roman

Catholic

hence their expul-

sion from the realm, and the proscription of their faith, which other-

wise would not only have been tolerated like

others, but

all

bid fair

more extensive favour than any. Such toleration is highly

laudable in one point of view
but the want of fervour and energy
from which it arises is fatal to any great exertions for the honour of
find

to

religion.

In the same manner the want of an hereditary

any

of

strong

family

pride,

is

equally

At a man's death

architecture of a durable description.

generally

is

wealthiest
their

'

own

divided equally

men do

The population

would
it

of China

feel

very

much more

at SCO millions,

is

generally

inclined to

and of that number

Buddhists at 100 millions

of souls. This, however, in the present
state of our knowledge, is, and must be,
mere guess-work. If we put down 50
to estimate the

children.

royal palaces are merely

estimated at 400 millions of souls. This

I believe to be a gross exaggeration, and

put

his

domestic

his property

Consequently the

not build residences calculated to last longer than

The

lives.

among

and indeed

nobility,

unfavourable to

somewhat

larger

and

millions for the Buddhist population of

Burmah, Siam, Camand Ceylon, we shall probably not

Thibet, Manchuria,
bodia,
err

on the side of underestimating them,

making 150

millions the total

followers of this religion

in

number

of

the whole

world, or one-eiglith or one-tenth of the

human
at

race

not one-third or one-fourth,

which they are usually estimated.

CHINESE ARCHITECTUHE.

G88

Book IX.

more spleiulid tliau those of the niaiidarins, l)ut the same in character,
and erected with the same ends.
There is no country where property has hitherto been considered
China.

so secure as

unknown

foreign

feuds and private wars were

Private

invasion

was

practically

impossible,

till

lately

and

little

Hence they have none of those fortalices, or fortified manwhich by their mass and solidity give such a marked character

dreaded.
sions,

to a certain

and

peace,

overestimate

to

exist, it is in

the

or

domestic edifices in the western world.

class of

humbler path

it

Equality,

would be

difficult

but on the dead though pleasing level where they

vain to look for the rugged sublimity of the mountain,

terrific

The Chinese have chosen the

grandeur of the storm.

of life,

and with singular

a more industrious or,

the globe

blessings whose value

toleration, are

success.

There

is

not perhaps

the late wars, happier people on the face of

till

but they are at the same time singularly deficient in every

element of greatness, either political or

Notwithstanding
civilized people

all

this,

it

artistic.

certainly

curious to find the oldest

is

noAv existing on the face of

the globe almost wholly

without monuments to record the past, or any desire to convey to posterity a

worthy idea of their present greatness.

no

It is

less

remark-

able to find the most populous of nations, a nation in which millions

are always seeking employment, never thinking of any of those higher

modes

of

expression w^hich w^ould

serve

as

means

occupation, and which elevate while feeding the masses

of
;

multiplying

and

more

still

startling to find wealth, such as the Chinese possess, never invested in

self-glorification,

which

by individuals erecting for themselves monuments

shall astonish their contemporaries,

and hand down

their

names

to posterity.

From
w^orthy of

these

much

causes

may

it

attention.

be

that

Chinese architecture

In one respect, however,

since the Chinese are the only people w^ho

an

essential part of their architecture

it is

is

not

instructive,

now employ polychromy

indeed, with them, colour

is

as

far

more essential than form and certainly the result is so far pleasing
and satisfactory, that for the lower grades of art it is hardly doubtful
that it should always be so.
For the higher grades, however, it is
hardly less certain that colour, though most valuable as an accessary,
;

is

incapable of that lofty pow^er of expression which form conveys to

the

human mind.

CUAI'.

PAGODAS.

II.

CHAPTER

689

II.

PAGODAS.
COXTENTS.

Temple

Taas Tombs Pailoos

Great Dragon Buddhist Temples

Domestic Architecture.

of the

If we had the requisite knowledge, or

if

the

known examples

of

Chinese

temples were sufficiently numerous, we ought, before describing them,

to classify the buildings, apportioning

which

to

religions

each

to that one

For the present

belongs.

it

this

of the three

must be

left

some one on the spot. Meanwhile there is no difficulty in recogThese

nising those which belong to the religion of Fo or Buddha.

to

are generally the nine-storeyed towers

or taas, which, as will be

plained hereafter, are merely exaggerated tees of

The

this religion, are not very

temples, properly so-called, of

ffcent,

This

ex-

the Indian dagobas.

magni-

nor are they generally built in a permanent style of architecture.

is

still

The only one

more the

case,

apparently, with the temples of Confucius.

that has been carefully described and

that at Pekin, which

is

photographed is
most magnificent. Judging
more resembles a university than a

also probably the

from our present information,

it

There are neither images nor altars, but great halls, on which
are hung up the names of the emperors and of the most distinguished
There are no priests
literates of the kingdom.
and though ceretemple.

monies are there performed annually by the emperor in honour of the

great philosopher, these

scarcely can

be called worship, or the hall a

temple.

Temple of the Great Dragox.

The most magnificent temple in the capital, so far as Ave know in
is that known as the Temple of Heaven, or the Great

the empire,

Dragon.^

'

The

It is situated close to the southern wall of the city in a square

following description

is

current in European books, which were

generally derived from the accounts of

abridged

from that by Mr. A. Michie in his work

entitled ' The Siberian Overland Koute,'
Murray, 1864. It is by far the most distinct I have met with.
The larger woodcuts in this

the Jesuits, who probably obtained their

information from Chinese sources. It is
generally safer to trust to the account of

chapter are generally bor-

rowed from his work.

It

must, however,

be observed that his descriptions differ

sometimcs essentially from those hitherto

an educ.ited gentleman describing what

he saw, than to the essay of a mere
scholar compiling from information couvcyed in a foreign tongue.

690

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE.

Book IX.

Chap.

BUDDHIST TEMPLES.

II.

enclosure

From

measuring about a mile each way.

a raised causeway leads

numerous buildings

At

planted.

accommodation

flights of

outer

gate
are

which are
steps leading down to a park beau-

inner extremity

its

the

the temple, on either side of which

to

for the

approached by frequent
tifully

691

of the priests,

stands

temple

the

itself,

circular building, three storeys in height, with broad projecting roofs,

the upper terminating in a gilt ball, directly under which stands the
altar.

The temple

is

on a circular pyramid, the three terraces of

raised

There are several handsome gateways

which are seen in the woodcut.

at intervals across the causeway,

so arranged that

from the entrance

the circular temple itself can be seen through the long vista, framed
as

it

blue

were by them

and

as the whole of the upper part

and gilding, the

tiles

In the same enclosure

where
they

sacrifices

may

covered with

another temple called that of the Earth,

of animals are annually offered to the gods,

whom

be, to

is

is

be very pleasing.

effect is said to

this temple

is

whoever

dedicated.

These temples are said to have been erected about the year 1420,
and,

if

seem

so old,

sidering the

manner

to be in a very fair state of preservation, con-

in

which they are now neglected.

In reading Mr. Michie's, or any other description of the Dragon

Temple

of Pekin,

it

seems impossible to avoid feeling that there are

many points
Nakhon Wat,

that

variations

hardly greater than

so

are

of resemblance between

the

it

coincidence can

and the Serpent Temple

hardly

be accidental.

might be expected from

of

The
differ-

ence of age, and the fact that the one was erected by Chinese at the

northern extremity of their empire, the other by Cambodians near the

southern limit of theirs.

two temples are

still

All the links, however, which connect the

wanting

yet, as

we have the

Chinese traveller in 1295 that the Tao-tze religion

bodia while he was there, we should not
that

may

assertion of the

existed in

feel surprise at

Cam-

any similarity

be traced between the temples of the two countries.

Buddhist Temples.

The

only Buddhist temple in China of which any plans have been

I have myself had an opportunity of inspecting, is that

Honan, opposite Canton. Unfortunately it is very modern, and by
no means monumental. It is a parallelogram enclosed by a high wall,
measuring 306 ft. by 174 ft. In the shorter front facing the river is a
gateway of some pretension. This leads to a series of halls opening
into each other, and occupying the whole of the longer axis of the
internal court.
The first and second of these are porches or ante-

made, or which
at

'

'Nouvcaux Melauges

Asiatitiucs,' vol.

i.

p. 110.

CHINESE ARCHITECTUKE.

692

The

chapels.

the

central one

bnilding.

three

It

the largest, and practically the choir of

is

contains

the

Buddhas, with

precious

ments necessary for the daily

partment,

Kuan

Lady Chapel

Behind

service.
its

this, in

images of the
all

by A\'omen

and

refectory,

all

in fact, the

are arranged the cells

the necessary offices of

These are generally placed against the outer

the convent.

arrange-

the next com-

rear another apartment devoted to

Around the court

of the church.

gilt

monks and

for the

yin, principally worshipped

monks, their kitchen,

of the

adorned by

altar,
stalls

and in

a dagoba,

is

the goddess

Book IX.

wall,

and

open into the court.

Any

person familiar with the rock-cut

temple

easily recognise in this

the

examples in India

the features he

all

is

will

accustomed to in

Chaityas and Yiharas, though strangely altered by their

earlier

The figure which stood in front of the dagoba

(Woodcut No. 61) is moved forward and placed on an altar by itself,
with two companions added, in accordance with modern Chinese
Chinese disguise.

theology

interesting part, however,

the

tively to

the arrangement of the

is

In one of the caves at

temple.

central

&c., rela-

it

is

evidently so

are not surprised to find

it

what was intended to be represented on

Mahavellipore (Woodcut No. 181), and must

It is evidently

not repeated.
the

we

of execution in the rock, that

cells,

Dhumnar (Bhim ka

Bazar) something like this has been attempted, but

difficult

The most

but the general arrangements rem.ain the same.

rath

of

indeed have been the general arrangement of Buddhist ecclesiastical

establishments.

What

is

now wanted

is,

that

some one should supply

information regarding the earlier temples of the Chinese, say of the

They no doubt

12th to the 16th centuries.

exist,

and would throw

In the meanwhile, howFrom it it

curious to refer back to the Woodcut No. 129.

great light on the earlier Indian examples.

ever,

is

it

will be

early

perceived that as

as

the

11th century the Buddhist

Chaitya in India, standing in the centre of

its

Vihara, had already

been sublimated into an idol temple, surrounded by a series of idol

niches, since there cannot be a doubt that the Jaina temple of Vimala

Sah

is

tery.

a reproduction for another purpose of an old Buddhist monas-

The

reproduces,

curious point
for

their

is,

that the 18th-century temple of

original

purpose,

forms which

in

Honan

India had,

away to another faith, and became

more strange that, if we leap over
wholly conventional.
and
go
seven
centuries further back, we shall
the intermediate period,
performed
in the same form of
ceremonies
same
find in India the

seven centuries

earlier,

It

passed
is

still

temples as those at which any one

may

assist in

China

at the present

day.

At Pekin there are several liamaseries

much more monumental character than

of a

or Buddhist monasteries,
that at

Honan, but

it

is

very difficult indeed to guess at their arrangement from mere verbal

Chap.

BUDDfllST TEMPLES.

II.

descriptions without dimensions.

Woodcut No.

;-}80,

g-ives

The gateway

a fair idea of the usual

gateways in China.

6<)3

of one, represented in

mode

of constructino^

It has three openings of pleasing

proportions, and is as wel'
designed as any to be found in China.
Behind it is to be seen the
dagoba, to which it leads
a tall form, with a reverse slope, and
an
:

Muiiumeutal Gateway of Buddhist Monastery,

exaggerated

tee,

so

altered

Pekiii.

Beato.)

from those we are accustomed to in the

it requires some familiarity

days of Indian architecture, that

with the intermediate forms in Nepal and
earlier

(From a Photograph by

Burmah to feel sure that it

the direct lineal descendant of the topes
at Sanchi or Manikyala.
Around it are minarets, with a cross-legged
seated figure of Buddha
IS

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE.

004

on each

But without a plan

face.

they come

say whether

basement they

to

or description

it

is

impossible to

gronnd, or on what kind of

the

rest.

The ordinary form

in China,

clown

lioOK IX.

temple, as seen in the villages or towns

of a

extremely simple, and seems to be the same, whether

is

dedicated to Buddha, or to the Qneen of Heaven, or to any other deity

pantheon of the Celestial Empire.

of the strange

of the side-walls removed.

It generally consists

ornamented

of a square apartment with a highly

The entrance

is

roof,

and with one

never at the end, nor the

end wall ever removed, as would be the case in the West, but always
the side

and

it

is

by no means

Temple

381.

at

clear that this is not

the right and

(From a Sketch by the Author.)

Macao.

way of arranging matters. In very small temples a single

beam supports the eaves, and a screen inside forms the back of the
porch and the front of the temple. In larger temples two or more
reasonable

pillars

are introduced, but the

Both these may be seen

other arrangements remain the same.

annexed woodcut (No. 381), and when

arranged as picturesquely as in this group, and with their gateways
and subsidiary adjuncts, they become very pleasing features in the

As

landscape.

principally on

the

form

paintings,

of

in the

architectural
colour,

glazed

which
tiles,

objects,
is

they

depend

applied with

painted

ornaments, and

such as landscapes and figure subjects.

employed to a great extent, and with good

effect.

for

their

effect

an unsparing hand in
frequently

also

Gilding

also

is

Chap

TAAS.

II.

695

Taas.
Tlio objects of Chinese architecture with which the European eye
most familiar are the taas, or nine-storeyed pagodas, as they are
In the south they generally have that number of
usually called.

is

but not always, and in the north

storeys,

As

thirteen.

and

of dagobas,

is

it

it

ranges from three

to

nothing but exaggerated tees

easy to trace them through all the stages of the

before hinted, these

are

In India we can easily trace the single wooden chattah or

change.

umbrella of Karli (Woodcut No. 56) to the nine-storeyed tower at

Chittore (Woodcut No. 143), and from that the transition

is

easy to

the Chinese examples, although the elaboration of the two Avas simultaneous, and the Chinese had probably erected

tall

towei's as early as

the Jains.

Of those which existed

in

China

in our

own time

the best

known

is

the celebrated porcelain

tower at Nankin. ^ Com-

menced in the year 1412,

and finished in 1431,
it was erected as a mo-

nument

gratitude to

of

an empress of the Ming

and was, in
family,
generally

consequence,

Temple

the

called

Gratitude.

of

was oc-

It

tagonal in form, 236

in

of

height,

30

ft?

deducted

for

however, about

must

be

ft.

which,

the iron spire that surleaving

it,
mounted
little more than 200 ft.
for the elevation of the

or

about the

height of the

Monument
From the

building,

of

London.

summit
eight

the

of

chains

to each of

spire

depended,

w^hich

attached nine

bells,

were

and

Porcelain Tower, Nankin.

a bell was also attached

to

each angle of the lower roofs, making

The tower was destroyed

in the rcccut

144

bells

in

all,

Taeping rebellion.

which,

chinp:se architecture.

696

when

tinkling

duced an
to

its

in

harmony

evening

the

to

effect as singular as pleasing.

dimensions or

its

bells

It

Book IX.

breeze, must have prowas not, however, either

that the tower

owed

its celebrity,

but

to the coating of porcelain wliich clothed its brick walls, as well as

the upper and under sides of the projecting roofs, which

The

division of each storey.

which

is

mark the

porcelain produced a brilliancy of effect

totally lost in all the representations of it yet published,

which was, in

fact, that

on Avhich the architect almost wholly

for producing the effect he desired,

and without which

but

relied

his design

is

a mere skeleton.

Another celebrated pagoda

on the Canton

river.

is

that

known

as " Second

It is a pillar of victory, erected to

Bar Pagoda,"
commemorate

a naval battle which the Chinese claim to have gained near the spot.

TAAS.

ClIAP. 11.

It is, in design, nearly identical

dimensions, and

is

These two are

now
of

697

with that of Nankin, bnt of smaller

fast falling to ruin.

the usual and most typical form, and so like

it is impossible to deduce any sequence from

them with such representations as we now possess. Though pleasing
and purposelike, as well as original, they are somewhat monotonous

hundreds of others, that

Tung Chow Pagoda.

384.

in design.

(From

a Photograph by Beato.)

tower divided into nine equal and similar storeys

is

very inferior design to that of the minars of the Mahomedans, or the

ordinary spires of Christian churches

should

and,

if

all

were

like these,

we

deny the Chinese the faculty of invention in

architecture.
In the north, however, the forms seem much more
various.
One in the Summer Palace (Woodcut No. 383) is divided
into either three or seven storeys, as you choose to count them.
Four
be

forced

to

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE.

098

Book IX.

of the sides of tlie octagon are longer than the other fonr,

gether there

is

a play of

and altoand shade, and a variety about the

light

which

ornaments

in this

more

an Indian design than any other known

like

tower,

extremely pleasing.

is

It

is

much

China, and

with the circle of pillars round its base, and the Lat or Stambha,
which usually accompany these objects further west, it recalls the
original forms as completely as any other object in this country.

In direct contrast to this

No. 384).

Its

those of the

thirteen

Nankin Pagoda

Tung Chow (Woodcut

almost more monotonous than

are

but they are merely architectural orna-

ments, string-courses, in fact

windows above the

the Pagoda of

is

storeys

and

as the tower is not pierced with

becomes, like an Orissan temple, an im-

base, it

posing object of architectural art without any apparent utilitarian

object.

It thus escapes the charge of littleness in design,

too justly applies to most of

It is

its

which only

compeers.

extremely difficult to form a correct estimate of the artistic

merits of these towers.

interesting

Edifices so original

from that circumstance

sible to build

alone,

and

and

it

so national

must be

seems almost impos-

anything in a tower-like form of great height, whether

as a steeple, a minar, or a pagoda,

object from its salience

which

shall not

and aspiring character

form a pleasing

alone, even without

any

Besides these qualifications, I cannot but

real artistic merit in itself.

think that the tapering octagonal form, the boldly-marked divisions,

the domical roof, and general consistence in design and ornament of
these

towers, entitle

them

to

rank tolerably high among the tower-

like buildings of the world.

Tombs.
Like

all

people

of

Tartar origin, one of

the

most

remarkable

characteristics of the Chinese is their reverence for the dead, or as

is

In consequence of

usually called, their ancestral worship.

it

this, their

tombs are not only objects of care, but have frequently more ornament bestoAved upon them than graces the dwellings of the living.
often merely conical mounds
Their tombs are of different kinds
of earth, with a circle of stones round their base, like those of the
Etruscans or ancient Greeks, as may be seen from the woodcut
China
which would serve
(No. 385) borrowed from Fortune's
;

'

'

More

equally well for a restoration of those of Tarquinia or Yulci.

generally they are of a hemispherical shape, surmounted with a spire,

not unlike the Indian and Ceylonese examples, but

siognomy peculiarly Chinese.

still

of a horseshoe-shaped platform, cut out of the side of a

sequently has a high back, in which

slopes off

to

with a phy-

The most common arrangement

is

hill.

is

that

It con-

the entrance to the tomb, and

nothing at the entrance to the horseshoe, where the

Chap.

TOMBS.

TI.

terminates with

wall generally
tastic
is

ornament common
as

situated,

generally

on

the

two

to Chinese

099

lions

or

dragons,

or

When

architecture.

some fanthe

tomb

is

case,

a hillside, this

arrangement
only

is

but elegant.

When

same thing

the

not

appropriate,

is

imitated on a plain,
it is

singularly mis

placed and unintel-

Many

ligible.

of

the tombs are built

of

granite,

polished,

regret

(From Fortune

'

Wunaenngs

in China.

finely

and carved with

that

with such

wooden

Chinese Tomb.

386.

the people

facility

profusion

who can employ

should have

of

the

labour that makes

us

most durable materials

so great a predilection for

ephemeral

structures.

When

the rock

is

suitable for the purpose, which, however, seems

to be rarely the case in China, their

Etruria and elsewhere

and tombs

tombs are cut in the rock, as in

of the class just described

seem to

be a device for converting an ordinary hillside into a substitute for

the more appropriate situation.
Occasionally, however, the Chinese do

ornamental, are far from

just quoted.

tumulus

erect tombs, which,

though

being in such good taste as the two forms

is

considered appropriate for this purpose

all

CHINESP] ARCHITECTURE.

700

Book IX.

world over, and so is tlie horseslioe form under the circumstances in

which the Cliinese employ it but what can be said in favour of such
an array of objects as those shown in the Woodcut No. 387 ? Judged
by the standard of taste which prevails in China at the present day,
tlie

Group of Tombs near Pekiu.

387.

they

but

may be
it

(From a Pliotograph by Beato.)

considered by the natives as both elegant and ornamental,

would be

sepulchre, even

difficult to

conceive anything which spoke

from a Chinaman's point

of

view

less of

the

while, on the other

them

of all dignity as

Pailoos, or " triumphal gateways," as they are

most improperly

hand, their dimensions are such as to

dei:)rive

architectural objects.

Pailoos.

The

called, are

another class of

in Chinese scenery

as

the

monument almost
nine-storeyed

nearly as familiar to the European eye.

as

frequently met with

pagodas,

and consequently

Their origin

is

as distinctly

Indian as the other, though, from their nature, being easily overthrown, but few examples can be found in a country that has so long
ceased to be Buddhist.

Fortunately, however,

we

still

possess in the

Chap.

PAILOOS.

II.

701

(Woodcut Xo. 10) the typical example of the

whole class and we find them afterwards represented in bas-reliefs
and in frescos in a manner to leave no doubt of the frequency of
Saiichi

of

o-iiteway

their application.

In China they seem almost uni^ersally to be employed as honorific

monuments

of deceased j^ersons

have not married

Avho

Frequently they are

used they

retain

a.ii'ain,

virgins

constructed

still

men of distinction, or widows

who have died unmarried.

either

or

in

Avood,

and when stone

is

this

to

and dewooden construcWhatever the ma-

hour the forms

of

tails

tion.

they

terial,

so

as

of

posts,

on the g-round,

either

set

consist

two or four

either

passage

allow a

to

through, or on a platform,
as

Woodcut No. 388.

in

This

is

the

as

how

form

usual a

as

other,

and shows

inapplicable the term

gatcAvay

is

ments.

The

to these

monu-

posts always

carry a rail or frieze, bear-

ing an
is,

inscription, Avhich

in fact,

the object for

Palloo near Canton.

333

(From

a Sketch

by the Author.)

which the monument was

Above this are various architectural details, which complete

manner both original and artistic.

erected.

the design in a

One serving

the portal

as

to

dagoba has already been given

and though rich, can hardly be considered as

superior to that in Woodcut No. 389, which spans a street in Amoy.
Instead of leading to a dagoba, as was the case at Sanchi, and
generally in India, we have, in this instance, what appears to be a
(AVoodcut No.

simulated
cornice,

some

380),

placed

coffin

which

coffin is

is

an

under a canopy, and

essentially Chinese

idea.

above

the

principal

With them a hand-

an object of the highest ambition, and

is,

consequently,

a luxury which the rich take care to provide themselves with dm'ing
their lifetime.

existed

So far as we know, no great structural dagobas ever

their form is generally unfamiliar to the

in China, so that

people.

Probably the Chinese would have spent more pains on their tombs

had they not hit on the happy device

the sepulchre.

and

We

pillars or other

monuments

to

monument from
when we erect statues

of separating the

do so in exceptional

cases,

our great

men on

hill-tojis

or in

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE.

702
markct-pliices
his body

good
is

but as a rule,

laid,

is

though

Pailoo at

is

placed

where

difficult to assign a

great peculiarity of China

ten they effect these objects by processes

Amoy.

(From Fisher's

which are exactly the reverse

not easy to decide which

nionunicnt

The

reason for the practice.

logical

that in nine cases out of

3si9.

is

man's

would probably be

it

Book IX.

'

Cliiua Ulustrated.')

of those of Europe,

is best.

and in most

cases it

In erecting the Pailoo, or monu-

ment, in a conspicuous place apart from the sepulchre, they seem to

common

have shown their usual

regret

the designs

that

of their

sense,

though an architect

must

tombs suffered in consequence, and

have none of that magnificence which we should expect among a

people at

all

In an

times so addicted to ancestral worship as the Chinese.

historical point of view, the

most curious thing connected

with these Pailoos seems to ba, that at Sanchi, about the Christian

we

Era,

them used

find

gateways to a simulated tomb.

as

In India

both the tumulus and the Pailoo had at that time passed away from
their original sepulchral

the other an

we

find

meaning

iconostasis.

them both

still

Two

the one

had become a

relic-shrine,

thousand years afterwards in China

used for the purposes

for

which they were

originally designed.

Domestic Architecture.
It

excel

is

in

there

their domestic architecture,

we do not look

either

for

if

in any, that

the Chinese

monumental grandeur

or

for

Chap.

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.

II.

and

durability,

almost impossible to resist being captivated by

is

it

the gaiety and brilliancy of a Chinese dwelling of the

and

first class,

the exuberant richness and beauty of the carvings and ornaments that
are heaped on every part of

One

of

it.

most remarkable peculiarities of their houses

the

the

is

almost universal concave form of roof, which writers on the subject

have

who

reminiscence

of

supposed to have introduced

are

it.

as

to

referred

generally

Tartars,

this theory, however, forgot that the Chinese

and know

tents,

the

of

The authors

of

have been longer out of

them, than any other people now on the face

less of

The Tartar

the globe.

of

the tent

conquest, like our

Norman

one, has long

been a fusion rather than a subjection, and does not seem to have produced any visible effect on the manners or customs of the original
inhabitants of China.

It

may

of the roof of a Tartar tent

also be observed that the typical

was and

is

the Assyrian sculptures, and seldom,

in

hollow curve

the argument

that

so

form

domical, like those represented

if

tells

ever, constructed

the other way.

with a

Be

this

may, the form of roof in question arose from a constructive

In a country like
exigence, which others would do Avell to imitate.

as

it

China, where very heavy rains

at

fall

one season of the year, tiled

such as they almost univei*sally use, require a high pitch

roofs,

carry off the Avater

to

but the glaring sunshine of another season renders

shade to walls and win-

dows

absolutely

sary.

If (as

annexed

the

of

neces-

on the

left

dia-

gram) the slope of the

roof

is

continued so far

out as to be effective for

the

last

the

purpose,

upper windows are too

much
is

darkened, and

it

impossible to see out

of

them.

To remedy

this defect, the Chinese

carry

out

their

390.

Diagram of Chinese construction.

eaves

almost horizontally from the face of the walls, whera a leak becomes
of

slight importance

by the meeting
cur^'e,

of

and then, to break the awkward angle caused

two slopes, they ease it oft' with a hollow

these

which not only answers the double purpose of the roof more
but produces what the Chinese tliink and perhaps rightly

effectually,

the most pleasing form

The only
are

of roof.

parts of such a roof that admit of decoration by carving-

evidently either

the central

or

angular ridges

exaggerate their favourite hollow curve

to

and here they

an extent unpleasing to a

CHINESE AllCHITECTUllE.

704

European eye
back, and

the

instances, actually turned

by uptnriied ornaments

the ridge being also ornamented

an extent we cannot reconcile with our notions

at its ends, to

indeed

some

in

beinu",

ani^'les

is

we should, when they

possible

it

Book IX.

nor

are overloaded with

gro-

tesque ornaments to the extent too often found.

Another peculiarity that gives a very

architecture

other

mode

their

is

of

framing a

local

roof, so

character

This arises from the timber most easily available for

people.

purpose being a small pine, which has the peculiarity of being

the

and spongy in the

soft

under

the

bark,

inside, while

the outer rims

and

hardness

their

retain

framing as we do, would

pieces

to

fall

wood, just

of

strength

hollow wooden cylinder, which,

practically

it

one which

requires

is

frame together with

squared to form a

if

but merely cleaned and

Chinaman's

all

ingenuity and

neatness

The uprights which support

cannot be called

pillars

steadied,

which and the roof

to

form a

The

to

sufficient rigidity for the purposes of a roof.

these roofs

generally formed of

are

the same w^ood, though not unfrequently they are granite posts

rather

thus

is

it

a very strong and durable building-material, though

used whole,

or

their

to

nnlike that of any

of

the same dimensions, and

by transverse pieces

they

strengthened,

of wood, the space

between

generally filled with open-work carving, so as

is

species of frieze.

roof

usually constructed (as shoAvn in diagram No. 800) by

is

using three or four transverse pieces or tie-beams, one over the other,

beam being supported on

the ends of each

that below

By

a framed piece of a different class of wood.

to us it

may

look unscientific, they

make up

this

by means of

it

method, though

a framing

that

resists

Sometimes, as shown in the dotted

the strongest winds uninjured.

same woodcut, they carry the curve across the top of the
but, when this is done, they are obliged to have recourse to
roof
metal roofing, or to tiles of a greater length than are usually found or
lines of the
;

easily

made.

As before remarked, however,

Chinese architecture depends
generally painted

it

is

on

as

red, the friezes

not so

this

would improve a

admit of doubt

but

it is

singularly appropriate

grouped as

and
tilled

with

the

to

these

may

easily be

approve of the

finer or

gayest

is

forms that

pillars

being

blue marks

used profusely everywhere.

more

solid

style of

art

may

certainly remarkably pleasing in China,

the

architecture

buildings

fountains more fantastic

its

the

and open work green

the floors and stronger lines, and gilding

Whether

much on

colours

its

than

usually are

and

flowers,

the

charmed with the

we have been

adorned
buildings

result,

and

describing

around garden courts,

with

though

and

rock-work

themselves,

the fancy
us

to

prevailed

in

taste forbids

details.

The same ephemeral system

of

construction which

Chap.

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE.

II.

dwellings of

the

rich

705

merchants and mandarins was carried ont in

the royal palaces without any increase of

monumental character, but,

and upon a larger scale.

of course, with greater richness of ornament,

Like most

Oriental

number

detached

of

palaces, however,

pavilions,

rather

apartments grouped under one roof, as

391.

Pavilion in the

Summer

Palace, Pekin.

those

at

than of
is

Pekin consist of a

numerous

of
;

(_From a Photograph by Beato.)

and they consequently never attain the magnitude

tectural dignity.

suites

usually the case in Europe

essential to archi-

In the Summer Palace at Pekin there were many

detached pavilions similar to that represented in Woodcut No. 391,

which, when interspersed with trees and w^ater and rocky scenery,
aid

in

making up a very

fairy-like landscape, but in themselves can

hardly be considered as objects of dignified architecture.

2 z

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE.

700
Occasionally,

however,

the

monumental, but without much

of sufficient size
is

and in

Chinese
success.

Book IX.

attempted

Where

sufficient quantities to glaze the

a difficulty in so arranging

them that the room

when they

are

be utterly

shall not pene-

In wooden construction these

open.

more

windows, there

shall not

dark when the shutters are closed, and that the rain
trate

something

glass is not available

difficulties

much more easily avoided deep projecting eaves, and light screens,
open at the top, obviate most of them at least, so the Chinese always
thought, and they have consequently so little practice, that when they
are

tried

solid

architecture in a palace

pavilion as that figured in

they could only produce such a

Woodcut No. 892, which, though charac-

Chap.

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTUEE.

II.

of the style,

teristic

707

cannot be praised either for the elegance of

its

form or the appropriateness of its ornamentation.

Perhaps their most successfnl efforts in this direction were when
they combined a solid basement of masonry with a light superstructure
of Avood, as in the Winter Palace at Pekin (Woodcut No. 393).
In

and

this instance the height

dignity to

solidity of

the mass, and the light

the basement give sufficient

superstructure

an appropriate

is

termination upwards.

393.

View

This

more

in the

Winter Palace, Pekin.

last illustration

(From a Photograph.)

interesting, because

is

it

enables us to realise

distinctly than

any other example yet known, what inust have

been the effect of the palaces of Nineveh and
Khorsabad in the days of
their splendour.
Like this palace, they were raised on a solid basement of masonry, and were themselves composed of pavilions
of light
and ornamental woodwork the great difference being
that they had
;

flat-terraced roofs

Pekin

instead

of

but the resemblance

akin might probably be found

The engineering works

those

is
if

covered with

curious,

looked

have been much extolled by

claim to praise as works of science than

writers, but

their

buildings have as works of art.

extensive

for.

of the Chinese

some

have

tiles, as in snowy
and examples even more nearly

less

Their canals,
but with 300 millions of inhabitants this

it

is

is

true,

are

small praise,

and

their construction is most unscientific.

Their bridges, too, are
sometimes of great length, but generally made up
of a series of small
arches constructed on the horizontal -bracket
principle, as
of the

nine-tenths
bridges in China arc, and consequently iiarrow
and unstable.
2 z 2

CHINESE ARCHITECTURE.

708

When

they do use the true arch,

knowledge of

and without much

timidly,

is

it

Book IX.

its principles.

Their most remarkable engineering work

is

certainly the

Great

which defends the whole northern frontier of the country,

extending over hill and dale for more than 1200 miles as the crow
Wall,

It

flies.

is,

however, of very varying strength in different places, and

seems to be strongest and highest in the neighbourhood of Pekin,

where it has generally been seen by Europeans. There it is 20 ft. in
height,

and

15

at

ft.

its

average thickness

is

25

There are

the summit.

at the

ft.

towers

also

base,

at

tapering to

short

distances

dimensions are generally about double those just quoted for

w^hose

the wall.

However absurd such a

may

wall

be as a defensive expedient,

it

proves that 200 years B.C. the Chinese were capable of conceiving and

executing works on as great a scale as any ever undertaken in Egypt.

The wonder

who 2000

that a people

is,

years ago w^ere competent to

such undertakings should have attempted nothing on the same scale

With

since that time.

their increasing population

and accumulating

wealth we might have expected their subsequent w^orks to have far

surpassed

those

be solved,

to

the

of

Egyptians.

why nothing on

however, remains a problem

It,

grand a scale

so

w^as

ever

afterwards

attempted.

In the rear of the Great Wall, in the Nankau Pass, there

way

some architectural pretension, and which

of

1345.^

a well -ascertained date, a.d.

and

it

is

The upper

erected

in

part

is

side

of

true

an arch-

dimensions are considerable,

Its

though

arch,

was thought necessary

it

to

form into that of a semi -octagon, or

the keystone is a figure of Garuda, and on either

On

him a Naga

beyond that a

is

interesting as having

bold style of masonry (Woodcut No. 394).

disguise this by converting

three-sided arch.

is

its

with a seven-headed snake hood, and

figure,

class of flowing

India about the period of

tracery

its erection.

we

are very familiar with in

Its similarity to the

Nepalese

gateway at Bhatgaon (Woodcut No. 174) has already been remarked

upon, and altogether

interesting, as exemplifying a class of Indian

it is

ornamentation that came into China from the North.

If

we had a few

specimens of art penetrating from the south, we might find out the
secret of the history of

A
.of

few years hence

architecture

in

Buddhist art in China.

it

may

China.

be possible to attempt to write a history

At

present,

all

that

describe the style as practised at the present day,

what

respect

countries.

it

differs

Beyond

this

from the

we

shall

'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,'

styles

can be done

and

prevailing

in

331 (N.S.),

to

neighbouring

not be able to advance

vol. vii. p.

is

to point out in

till

some

vol. v. p. 14, et. seqq.

Chap.

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTUKE.

11.

Archway

39J.

ill

the

Nankau

person, accompanied by a

qualified

(From

PasF.

a Photograph.)

photographer,

the central and western provinces of the empire.

will

be of very

style as

little

now known,

and what

is

old,

use, unless

he

is

sufficiently

is

enabled to visit

Even then

Assuming

what

series of inductions to

and form

absurdities of native tradition,

his

own opinion on

all this, it is still

his visit

familiar with the

to be able to discriminate between

and by an extended

presented to him.

709

is

the facts

doubtful whether the

materials exist in China for any extended history of the art.

facts as

too

have come to light are not encouraging.

extensively

used throughout

ever having

for

new

check the

Wood

Such

has been far

any very permanent

style

of

But there are things in

Cambodia, and other neighbouring states, which seem to have come
neither from India, nor from any other country we are acquainted
with, but are nevertheless of foreign origin, and must have been
imported from some extraneous land and it is difficult to say where
we are to look for their originals if not in central or western China.
The same remarks apply to Japan. So far as our knowledge at
architecture

been employed.

present

extends,

there

is

not

single

permanent building in the

CHINESE AKCHITECTUKE.

710
island

of so

monumental a character

to

deserve

Book IX.
being dignified by

being classed among the true architectural examples of other countries.

It

may

be that the dread of earthquakes has prevented them raising

buildings to more than one or two storeys in height, or con-

their

structing

them

more

of

materials than wood.

solid

may

It

be,

how-

Japanese do not belong to one of the building races of

ever, that the

mankind, and have no taste for this mode of magnificence. It is the

same story as in China we shall not know whether it is true that
there are no objects worthy to be styled architecture in Japan till the
nor, if they do
island is more scientifically explored than it has been
not exist, shall we till then be able to say to which of the two above
;

causes their absence

very discouraging

is

it

and

in

beyond the shores

hand,

it

cient to

has no
pages,

is

to be

is

so

curious
interest

itself,

title

it

feared

that,

it

extent

of

is

On

the islands themselves.

only too clear that the

we have

as

art,

little

other

the

our knowledge

of

is

though quaint and

worthy of attention,

far

of

to be feared that the

make

Such information

to be ascribed.

and

suffi-

is

as practised in Japan,

rank with that already described in the preceding

to

and consequently no claim

to a place in a general history

of

architectural art.

However admirable and ingenious the modern Chinese may be, it

minor arts such as carving in wood and ivory, the manufacture of vessels of porcelain and bronze, and all that relates to silk
and cotton manufactures. In these they certainly excel, and reached

is

in the

high degree of perfection while Europe was

all

still

barbarous,

but in

the higher branches of art they take a very low position, and seem

utterly unprogressive.

They have no
of the

name.

poetry, properly so called,

Their painting never rose

ration, their sculpture is

and no

much above

literature

worthy

the scale of deco-

more carving than anything we know by

the higher name, and their architecture stands on the same low level
as

their

other

arts.

It

is

ornamental, and

rich,

appropriate

for

domestic purposes, but ephemeral and totally wanting in dignity and

grandeur of conception.
after

all, its

Still

it

is

pleasing, because

truthful

but

great merit in the eyes of the student of architecture will

probably turn out to rest on the light

and on the ethnographic

of Eastern Asia.

relations of

it

throws on the

earlier styles,

China to the surrounding nations

'

Til

APPENDIX.
APPENDIX

A.

ON SOME DISPUTED POINTS OF INDIAN CHKONOLOGY.

Throughout

the preceding* pages

the dates of

kings' reigns, where

from which they

quoted, have been assumed as known, and the eras

are

calculated

as

This has been done in order not to

ascertained.

the narrative of events by introducing a chronological dis-

interrupt

quisition at every point where a date occurs

but no one at

all

familiar

with the subject needs to be told that the dates of mediaeval dynasties
in India are far
in.

from

settled,

Great progress has,

years in clearing

much

it is

away the

and that few are universally acquiesced

true,

been made in the

difficulties

last

ten or twenty

So

that surround the subject.

two dates of sufficient

importance to affect our reasoning which still remain in doubt
but
though this may be true, there are many others about which the
world in general feel considerable hesitation. It consequently becomes
this the case, that there are only one or

is

almost indispensable to state briefly the grounds on which the chronology used throughout this work

most

of

of the inductions

is

stated

based, in order that the correctness

in

it

may

estimated

be

at

their

true value. 1

The
possess

earliest reasonable
is

statement bearing on the subject which we

in the 9th chapter of Arrian's

quoting from Megasthenes " That

'

Indica.'

di'ocottus (Chandragupta), the Indians reckon one

In the year 1870 I published iu the

Journal of the Koyal Asiatic Society
^

'

(N.S.), vol. iv. p. 81, et seqq.,

an

article

difficult to follow

subject is new.

hundred and
by those

The

to

fifty-

whom

following

is

the

au

abstract of that paper, with such correc-

on Indian chronology, in which my views

on the subject were stated at greater
length and more detail than it is proposed to do here. Being addressed to
those who were supposed to be more or

tions

wiUi the subject, the paper

took the form of an argument, rather
than of a statement, and is, consequently,

the

less familiar

It is there stated

from Bacchus (Ixwaku) to San-

as have occurred to me in the

meanwhile, and stated in a consecutive
form, and with only those details that
seem necessary to render it intelligible.
For further particulars on special points

reader

itself.

is

referred

to

the

article

APPENDIX.

712
three moiiarclis,

who reigned during the

space

of

thousand and

six

forty-two years."

The

part

first

seems clear from

it

of

statement

this

that

we

is

eminently satisfactory, as

same

possess in the Pnranas the

were submitted to the Greeks in the fourth century

lists

it

as

In the Solar

B.C.

we have in the Treta Yug sixty-tw^o reigns, from Ixwaku to

Eama.^ There is no complete Lunar list in that age. For the Dwapar
age w^e have three Solar lists
one for Kusha to Vrihadsana, thirtylists,

five reigns

and a
Rama,

another from Dishta to Janamejaya, tliirty-three reigns

from the son

third,
to

ef

list,

but the Lunar

list

Yug we

In the Kali

Mahabasi, thirty-four reigns.

complete Solar

Swadhaja, the father of Sita, wife of

have no

gives fifty descents from Jara-

This gives 145 or 140 reigns, or rather too

last Nanda.
But the Lunar lists, from the Dwapar Yug, give forty-four
from Puru to Yudhishihira, and fifty from Yadu to Krishna, so that
the average is as nearly as may be that stated by Megasthenes.
The second part of the statement, giving these kings' reigns an
average duration of nearly forty years, must of course be rejected, but

sandha to the

few.

it

is

satisfactory to find that, at that early age, the falsification of the

chronology had only gone to the extent of duplication, and that the

monstrous system of Yugs, with

all

their

attendant absurdities, had

not then been invented.

Though

it

may

not at present be capable of direct proof, I

have

myself no doubt that the date assigned by the Hindus for the Kali

Yug

(3101

date

when

B.C.)

is

a true date, though misapplied.

It either

the Aryans assumed that their ancestors had

the Indus, or

when they had

first settled

first

was the
crossed

on the banks of the Saraswati

It forms no part of any subsequently invented system,

and seems the only one fixed point in a sea of falsification. Assuming
it for the present, and deducting Chandragupta's date from it, we
have 3101 325 = 277G years from Ixw^aku to Chandragupta, which,

or the Ghoghra.

divided

by 153, gives

the

that these

lists

number
Of course

reasonable

for the duration of each king's reign.

are absolutely to be depended

and many

of
it

is

eighteen years

not contended

upon many names may

from the carelessness of copyists, or

on the whole, when treated in this maimer,
they afford a reasonable framework for the reconstruction of the
ancient history of India, and one that accords perfectly with all we
at present know about the ancient history of the immigrant Aryans.
be

lost,

from other causes

misj)laced,

but,

^ The lists used for this statement of

pre-Buddhist chronology are those compiled by James Priusep, and published
in his 'Useful Tables' in 18^6. They were
afterwards revised and republished by
Ed. Thomas, in his edition of Prinscp's

In a regular treatise on
would be indispensable to
refer to the Purauas themselves; in a
mere statement ef results these tables
are amply sufficient.
works, in 1858.

chronology

it


APPENDIX.

713

which are described in

If this view can be sustained, the events

the

Ramayana

dern

took

not

poem, which

is

comparatively mo-

2000 years before Christ.

Adhering to the

of course the

place about

above average, we gather that the events described in the Mahabharata,' in like manner, occurred 900 years before Chandragupta, or 1225,
'

or

more

Puranic chronology, thus

precisely, according to the

B.C.

Chandragupta

325
360
128

.......

Sisunagas, 360 years

Sunakas

Saliadeva to Ripunjaya, 23 i-cigus at 18 years

414
1227

wliich

may

probably be taken as very near the true date.

It

must

for the present

remain an open question whether the dates

just quoted can be so established as to stand the test of the exigencies of

modern

acumen.

critical

be so accomplished.

It

In the

would be very satisfactory

first place,

basis for all our reasoning regarding

graphy of India, but also because

contain the germs

it

if

this could

would afford a firm

it

the ancient history and ethnowould prove that the Puranas do

when properly investigated, may

My own imjDression is entirely

truths which,

of

because

lead to the most important deductions.

in favour of the existence of the requisite materials for the purpose

but the fashion has been lately to pooh-pooh the whole thing, and no

attempt has been made

to investigate the

Be
the

so far as I

know by any competent

may, when we come to the Anjana era, 691 b.c.,^ and

Buddha, we tread on surer ground and it is fortnate for

of

om' purposes that

history of India
of

his

it

as

so,

may be

successors

with the

said to

life

of

Buddha

can be established with at

in

least

They have

abundance.

not,

it

true,

is

approximate

believe,

in

disappearing,

and

as

exist

in

been as yet investigated to

such an extent as to render any point certain, but the

daily

date and

his

India must remain unintel-

In this instance, however, the materials, I

ligible.

the mediaeval

commence, and unless

the history of architecture

certainty,

are

scholai*,

scientific principles.

this as it

life

that

matter on

difficulties

every point gained adds materially

light on others that have hitherto been considered

we may hope before long to see the wliole satisfactorily

tlirowing

unsettled,
resolved.

There

is

perhaps no single point in the whole early history of

India on which the chronicles of

distinct

Ceylon

and Further India are

and unanimous than that Buddha died

'

Crawfiird's

'

Embassy

to Ava,' vol.

ii.

as

p. 274.

they express

so
it,

APPENDIX.

714
attained Nirvana

Attempts have recently been made,

and

illogical

falsification in the Ceylonese annals, as set

Mahawanso,' of sixty years about

easy,

out, explained

it

me on

appears to

it

B.C.,

or

the most

There

insufficient data, to invalidate this conclusion.

an admitted
pointed

548

at the age of eigiity years, in the year

148 of the Eetzana^ or Anjana epoch.

in the year

'

and the

result clear.

this date

the

also

but as Turnour,

reason

for

it,^

first

is

the

in

who

first

the rectification

seems that Vijaya, the

It

forth

is

Indian im-

migrant or conqueror of Ceylon, landed in the island 483 years

B.C.,

or

and the reigns of his successors, down to Devenampiyatisso, the contemporary of Asoka, when added together, amount to
only 286 years.
When the annals came to be expounded in the Mahathereabout

'

wanso,'

coming
the

as

was thought expedient, for the good

it

of

religion, that the

of Yijaya should be coincident with the death of

era

sacred

Buddha

and

could not be disturbed, Asoka's reign was carried

This was effected principally

back so as to admit of the adjustment.

by reducing the epoch of the nine Nandas from 100 years, at which
the Puranas place them, to forty-four, and by other slight alterations.

The

years

sixty

was afterwards

much

subsequent reigns, not of

by small

recovered

the coiTCctness of the whole chronology of the

about A.D.
date

the
Ave

400,

when

Asako's reign

of

is

to

in

perfectly well

'

Mahawanso,' down to

its

As

form.

present

known (272-23G

B.C.),

have only to reject the most improbable coincidence of Vijaya

Buddha's Nirvana, which there

landing on the day of

and the whole becomes

support,

to

was compiled

it

increments

consequence, but injuriously affecting

clear,

is

and everything

nothing

falls

into

its place.*

Besides the Ceylonese

Burmese

and those quoted by Crawfurd from the

which are

and the whole are

of great interest to us,

that there seems very

'

Bigaudet's

'

lists,

annals,^ the Puranas afford us two, quoted below,

Embassy

little

Life of Gaudama,'

'

p. 323.

to Ava,' loc. cit.

vi. p.

715.

our

diflficulties,

for assistance in

are not likely to afford us

any in this. Confucius was born 551 b.c

and died 478 he was consequently only
eight years old when Buddha died, and
,

in order to give

Buddha

the necessary

precedence in date, the Buddhists boldly

added

five centuries to this,

about 1000

B.C.

uns comptent 1200 ans,lcs autrcs

1500 ans il y en a qui aflfirment qu'il
s'est ecoule plus do 900, mais que lo
nombre de 1000 n'est pas encore com-

d'

hui

les

Unfortunately the Chinese annals, to

which we generally look

that in the 7tli century Hiouen Thsaug

wrote " Depuis le Nirvana jusqu'aujour:

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

so marvellously coincident,

doubt of their general authenticity.

placing him

This struggle between

truth and falsehood led to sucii confusion

plet."
i,

('

335.)

Histoire,' p. 131. 'Vie et Voyages,'

The

first

is

cording to our ideas.

apparently in 1190 a.b.

the nearest, ac-

He
It

v^&a

writing

may be

1200,

China
but from this confusion it is evident no
reliance can be placed on any dates he
may quote from the Nirvana.
^
Embassy to Ava.' Appendix.
if it

was written

'

after his return to

APPENDIX.
SOLAU

715

Lunar

1. 1ST.

Saifumuja
15.

Kritanjaya

Sanjaya

Sakja
Suddhodaua

...

....

Bhumiputra,

KsliuJraka

Kundaka

603

9.

14.

.......

Ajatasatru

685

...

Kanwopana,

Prasennjit

years.
B. o.

Sisunnga
Kakavai-na
Ksl.eraadharmau
Kshetruujas
Bimlisara

Ratnla

oGO

C.

(1)1

Rynanjaya

List,

Dyiiaatij reUjned

551
519

Udayaswa

Suratlia

Suinitra

451?

Uasaka
Nagadasoka

503

Sisuuaga
Kalasoka

471
453

MahaNanda

495

...

425

Sumalya
7 Nandas

Interregnum KauHlya ending 325

With regard

to the first

or Solar

Professor Wilson remarks,

list,

that " Sakya

is

hism, but

out of place, as he was the son and

is

Suddhodana."

no doubt the name of the author or reviver of BuddThis, however,

not

in which the grandson takes his grandfather's name,

interminable cause

Gautama,

as

of

like

father of

and which

confusion in Indian chronological

list

not the cousin and com-

is

panion of Buddha, but the grandson, or grand-nephew of that

king of the same name.

Sumitra, the

our chronology

if

manner the

Nirvana.

is

who

and with him perished

more than twenty-six cenhad influenced in so marked a

correct

for

This, too,

referred to in
Ijike

it

has recently become the fashion to doubt.

is

'

landing

said

Vishnu Puiana,

to

p.

The

Mahawanso,' and the pointed mode in which

the Burmese

Vijaya's

Prome

Nirvana,

this

second convocation was held, 100 years after the

the

accounts, however, in the

point.

the

about 451.

was during the reign of Kalasoka, the eleventh king of

It

is

throne

earlier

in

destinies of India.

dynasty, that

it

name mentioned

for fixing this event,

the long line of Solar monarchs,

last

Purana, seems to have ascended the

There are no exact dates

turies

an

son Ratula succeeded his grandfather.

manner, the Prasenajit in the

Bhagavat

is

inquiries.^

we know, never ascended the throne, but devoted himself

to his religious duties, but his

In

the

only one of the numerous instances

is

annals, seem sufficient to settle

in

Ceylon on the day of

have been founded

-143,

the

463.

'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,'

vol. iv.

(N.S.) p. 85.

the

Buddha's
year

of

APPENDIX.

716
this convocation.^

They must have

believed strongly, or they would

not have attempted the adjustment.

As before mentioned, we have

neither buildings,

would enable us to verify the chronological data.

near the time when these became abundant, that

is

curious piece

found, the absence of

all

It

facts that

however, so

is,

does not seem

it

may

unreasonable to hope that some such evidences

something

nor coins, nor

any material

inscriptions belonging to this period, nor indeed

turn up.

Till

such materials must remain as a

regarding the important influence that the

of evidence

contact of the nations of the

West had on the

arts

and

civilization of

India at the time.

Maurya, Sunga, and Kanwa Dynasties.

Chronology.

Maurya Dynasty, 130

Chaudragupta

Buildings,
years.
B.C.

....

Bimbisara

Asoka
Suyasas
Dasaratha
Sangata
Indrapalita

Somasarman.
Sasadharman

...

Vrihadratha

Sunga Dynasty, 112

325
30
276
240
230 ?
220?
212?
210
203
195

Hathi Guniplia, Udayagiri.

Caves at Barabhar, luscriptious, Lats, &c.

Cave

at Barabhar.

Cave

at

Bhaja ?

Caves at Udayagiri.
Rail at Bharhut.

ysars.

Pushpamitia
Agnimitra

]88

Sujyeshtha

144

Caves 9 and

Vasumitra
Badraka, or Ardraka
Pulindaka
Ghoshavasu

137
129

Chaitya Cave, Nassick.

....

12, Ajuuta.

124
121

Bhagavata
Dcvabhuti

112

86

Cave

76
67

Raj Rani cave, Udayagiri

at Karli.

Dynasty, 45 years.

Vasudeva
Blmmimitra
Narayana
Susarmau

at Bedsa.

127

Viijramitra

Kanwa

Cave

152

53
41
31

died

The chronology of these three dynasties, as recorded in the Puranas,

may admit of some adjustment in detail but the whole is so rea;

Crawfiird's

'

Embassy

to Ava,' vol.

ii.

p.

277.

APPENDIX.
sonable and consistent

The

whole, too,

architecture

found,

it

no

see

can hardly be to any great extent.

to be

so perfectly

in accord with the

and with such inscriptions

their age,

of

that

that

now found

is

717

reason

whatever

for

have been

as

doubting

general

its

correctness.

The

which the whole hinges

point on

cardinal

reign after his consecration

year of Asoka's

the

In that year he published his rock-cut

inauguration.

he mentions his

allies,

is

the twelfth

sixteenth from his

edicts, in

which

Antiochus and Antigonus, Ptolemy (Phila-

and Alexander (of Macedonia).^

As it
names are mentioned together in Justin's
abridgment of Trogus Pompeius (xxvi. 2, 3 and xxvii. 1), though
without giving any date. As Magas, however, died B.C. 257, and the
only year in which all five were aUve together was either that year or
the preceding, we may safely assume that the sixteenth of Asoka
delphus),

Magas

happens,

all

was

B.C.

down

(of Cyrene),

these

256 or

the date

him

257.

B.C.

If that is so it

the accession

of

modern than one

allow

five

of

seems impossible to bring

Chandragupta to a time more

or two years after B.C. 325.

tliirty-four

years,^

The Ceylonese annals

but our knowledge of what happened in

India in Alexander's time forbids any such extension.

On

hand, his accession happening in the year, or the year

Porus,

is

but there

is

defeat

of

context

Even

if

it

we

not exactly what

would

expect

nothing, so far as I know, to controvert

were not so certain as

the other
after,

the

from

the

it.

appears to be from the state-

it

ments just quoted, there can be no doubt that the chronology of this
period can easily be settled from the numerous inscriptions found in
the

rock-cut

excavations

and other materials that

starting-point for

quoted in the table, as well as from coins

exist.

These dynasties thus become a fixed

our inquiries, either backwards or forwards.

all

Andra, oe Andrabritya Dynasty.

Chronology.

Sipraka

Buildings.

31

Krishna

a.d. 8

10

Satakarni 1
Purnotsanga

28

Srivaswami

46

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

'Journal of the
vii. p. 261

Bengal,' vol.

Koyal Asiatic Society,' vol. xii. p. 232

Cunningham's 'Archaeological Reports,'

Cave

at Nassick.

South gatewaj^ Sanchi,

Caves 10 and 11 Ajunta.

vol. v. p. 20, &c., &c.

2

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

vi. p.

714.

APPENDIX.

718

Andra, cm Andrabritya Dynasty

continued.

Chronology.
Saiakarni

Buildings.

Saka Era established a.d.

Nahapana cave, Nasiick.

D. 61

II.

LaniLodara
Apitaka
.

120
138

III.

1G8

Skandliaswati

186

79.

Saiigha

Satakarni

Rudra Dama, bridge

inscription, a.d. 151

Mrij^endra

193

Kuntalnswati

196

204
205
241
266

Svvatikarna

ruloniavit

Goraksliaswasri
Ilala

Mautalaka

271

Piirindra sena

276

Sindara

381

Rajadaswati
Sivaswati

6 ms.

281

Gaiitamiputia

312

Gupta Era established

Nassick, outer

Vasith i

Puloinat

putm

335
363

Sivasri

Skandaswali
Vijaya

370
377
406
412

Cliandrasri

Pulomat

422
429
436

died

For

at Nnssiok.

Great cave Keniuri.

Caves

but

16, 17,

chronology, like theirs,

its

with what we learn from

consistent

reason whatever for

slight

Cave

and 19

this dynasty, as for the preceding three,

Puranas

the

333

Yajuasri

319 cave at
Amiavati.

a.d.

rail

doubting

discrepancies of

course,

its

other

general

is

we

Ajiinta.

are dependent on

so reasonable

that

sources

and so

There

correctness.

Thus the Vishnu

Purana, according to Wilson, enumerates thirty kings, reigning

;

the

are

not only as to names but as to the

duration of this dynasty in the different Puranas.

years

no

see

Yayu and Bhagavat

the

same.

The Matsya

twenty-nine kings, but makes them reign 4G0 years

gives

4.50

only

but none of

them give all the names, nor does the addition of the longest list
extend beyond 435 years.^ The whole, from Chandragupta to the
last, are also added together (p. 232), and make up 751 years, or
l)ringing the last of the Andras down to a.d. 42G.
The actual fixation
of

these

Two

'

of

dates will

probably be found in Nassick cave inscriptions.

these bear dates

Wilson's

'

one, apparently in the reign of Pulomavi,

Vishnu Purana,' Second Edition,

vol. iv. p.

200

see also p. 232.

APPENDIX.

719

the other is in
or Padma, is dated nineteen from an unspecified era
the twenty-fourth year of the " modern era," and the act recorded is,
;

by order of Gautamiputra.^ As it is, however, almost

Gupta era, a.d. 319, was established in the reign of

apparently,

certain that the

the last-named king,

more

carefully

these

reigns

are
fix

Puranic dates

the

new

seems probable that when these inscriptions

it

examined than they hitherto have been, they will

with even greater certainty than we obtain from
one element of uncertainty being that the

the

does not seem

era

from the accession

to be dated either

of the

king or from any great event, but four cycles of sixty years, or 240
years from the Saka era

However

may

this

it

was intended to supersede.

be settled,

it

cannot disturb either the

initial

or the final dates of this dynasty, nor affect to a greater extent than

say ten or twelve years the period of 751, which extended from
accession of Chandragupta to the final overthrow of the

the

Andras in or

about A.D. 426.

This being

so,

it

evident that these four dynasties form the

is

backbone of our mediaeval chronology of India to which

must be

events

any

difficulty.

all minor
and fortunately most of them do so without
was the great period of Buddhist supremacy in

fitted,

It

There wxre,

India.

it

they were then only a

centuries

after

struggling

the

true,

is

sect,

fall

of

The

faction.

Buddhists in India before Asoka, but

and Buddhism
Andras.

the

modern

It

Hindu

w^as

religion

was

then,

was

religion

two

for

however, a
gradually

Gupta and Ujjain princes, and in the 8th

superseded Buddhism in most parts of India.

raising its head under the

century

A
the

it

great part of the uncertainty that of late years has

these

dynasties

crept

into

owing to the neglect with which

treated by modern investigators.
This

chronology of this period

have been

is

has arisen principally from the extreme rarity of their coins, while

it

has been principally from numismatic researches that progress has

been made in the

tion into India.

and

it

their

elucidation

of

many dark

passages

is

The Bactrian Greeks were the

coiners

kings

down

130

to

their coins also that

'Journal

Eoyal Asiatic

B.C.

have been compiled.

we know the names

Bombay Branch

of

Society,' vol. v. p.

42 and

the

As

Indian

the

excellence^

commencement

of this era is

not coincident with the years

we employ,

but about half-way between 78 and 79,

lists

It is only

either of these figures

Sanivats.

may be employed

Saka

or

Era

Ballabhi, or

Tliroughout this work

I have used the latter figure as that

generally in use.

who

appear next in our

in converting years of the Christiiin

Gupta

of

from

of the barbarian kings

into those of the

47.
2

imr

through their coins, and those only, that complete

succeeded them, or those of the Sah kings, w^ho

of

Coinage Was, however, a most distinctly foreign importa-

history.

more

APPENDIX.

720

But the four dynasties from Chandragupta to Chaudrasri were

kings, who had only indirectly, if at all, come in contact
with the Greeks, and had never learnt the art of coining, or, at least,
used it to a sufficient extent to enable us to identify their names or
Their caves, and the inscriptions with
succession from their coins.

list.

of

native

which they covered their walls, are fast supplyhig the information
but the investiif they had existed, would have afforded
gation has not been taken up by those who have the ear of the public
Enough, however, has been
to the same extent as the numismatists.
their coins,

exist for establishing the history

done to show that the materials

;

of

done from inscrip-

and when
combined with architecture, the results are more
than when dependent on numismatic evidence alone.
these dynasties on a sure basis

this is

satisfactory

tions

Sah Kings of Saueastea.

Coin Dates,
.

Dama

72
102
104

Daman Sali
Yasa Daman

a.d.

170

197

151

Damajata Sri
Rudra Sah
Visva Sinha

181

Atri

183

Visva Sah

Daman

Vijaya Sah

Rudra Daman
Rudra Sinha
Rudra Sah
Sri Sah
Sangha Daman

Vira

Isvara Datta.

Jiva

Coin Dates,

a.d.

79

Naliapana
Ushavadata
Swami Chastana
Jaya Dama

22.

Daman

200
270

Rudra Sinha

Asa Daman
Swami Rudra Sah
Swami Rudra Sah

271

144

223

292
IF.

Damajata Sri

The evidence on which

the dates in the above

on which those

in curious contrast with that

rest.

It

is

arata,^ certainly

The one point

the

800

who conquered

felt

Nahapana was the founder

^
This list
from one in

is

vol.

Bombay Branch

abstracted
viii.

p.

of

us here

inclined

the era

principally
27,

'Journal

Royal Asiatic
Society,' quoting only such dates as appear certain. The earlier names are taken
from a paper by Bhau Daji, vol. ix. p. 243
of the

King Kshahit

years.

that interests

subject,^

is

of the dynasty,

the country and held

is

to

When

afterwards as

that

of

same journal.

'Journal Bombay
Royal Asiatic Society,'
^

I previously

adopt a suggestion that

known

of the

from what

ascertain

to

dates on the coins are to be calculated.

wrote on the

are founded

as the viceroy or satrap of

foreigner,

in subjection for nearly

era

The founder

almost wholly numismatic.

Nahapana, describes himself

list

of the previous dynasties

Brancli

of

the

vol. v. p. 49.

'Journal of the Royal Asiatic So-

ciety,' vol. iv.

(N.S.)

p. 129.

APPENDIX.
Vicramaditya,

56.

B.C.

that no king of

that

721

did this principally because I

name reigned

in the first

felt

century

certain

and

B.C.,

could discover no event occurring about that time so important as

to deserve to be

On

commemorated by an

era.

the other hand, a foreign conquest and

the foundation of a

new dynasty were jast such events as would be so celebrated

pending further

evidence,

assumption

this

seemed

and,

account

to

for

what was otherwise inexplicable in the foundation of this era. Since

then, however, a more careful study of Rudra Daman's Bridge inscription,^ and the architectural evidence detailed in the preceding
The
pages, have convinced me that such a theory was untenable.
Bridge inscription is dated in the year 72, from the same era from
which all the coins of these kings are dated. In it he boasts " that,
after twice conquering the Sata Karni, Lord of Dakshinapatha, he
did not completely destroy him on account of their near con-

And he boasts of conquering,

and thus obtained glory."
countries, Anupa, Saurastra, Asva Kutcha, Kukura,

nexion,

among

other

Aparanta, &c.2

little

further

reign the era was

on

in

our

Gautamiputra, in whose
was afterwards adopted by the

history,

established which

Guptas and Ballabhis, boasts, in an inscription in a cave at Nassick,

that he had conquered,

among

the countries

above enu-

merated, and as having re-established the glory of the

Satavahana

dynasty, and
state of

destroyed

the

others, all

race of

Khagarata.^

All

this

reveals

matters that will not accord with the Vicramaditya era, but

does perfectly agree with that of Salivahana.

Assuming that the Sata Karni dynasty is correctly represented

the Puranas, as enumerated above, Rudra Dama would, on the

in

Sam vat, have been

assumption that the dates were

(72-56),

immediately after the

establishment of

before the long and prosperous reign of

reigning a.d. 16
the

Sata Karni

and
which could

dynasty,

II.,

hardly have taken place had his family been smitten so early in their
career.

But

if

we assume that

it

was

a.d.

151 (79-j-72),

it

would

king of that name, and at a

coincide with the reign of the third

time when, so far as we can judge from the length of the reigns, and
the

careless

way they

are

enumerated in the Puranas, the fortunes

and it is little more than

of the family were considerably depressed

a century and a half

fortunes

of

his

after this time that

family.

Had 300

years

Gautamiputra restored the

between these two

elapsed

events, the family could hardly ever have attained the position it did.

Another point of more importance

'

Journal

Royal Asiatic
2

Bombay Branch

of

the

Society,' vol. viii. p. 119.

is,

that the dates on the Sah

Ibid., vol. ix. p. 238; see also Blisn-

darkar,

MS.

translation.

Ibid.
}

APPENDIX.

722

from

coins

doubtfully

whatever

to

Sam vat,

ditya

calculated

era

292.^

If

these

On

Vicrama-

the

the other hand,

would have been in

A.D. 79, their final extinction

A.D.

270-271, or

to

from

and there would have been no Khagaratas for Gauta-

miputra to humble after a.d. 312.

latest

only

calculated

they must have ceased to reign in a.d. 214, or at the

latest A.D. 236,

from

extend

are

if

calculated

a.d. 349, or at

So that, though humbled by Gautamiputra, they

it seems is almost indis-

371.

overlap the Gupta era to some extent, which

mode

pensable to account for the

run into those of the Gupta

and,

which the Sah coins overlap and

in

on which Mr. Thomas so strongly

series,

appears to me, so correctly insists.^

it

One

of

two things seems necessary

either that the

Guptas

shall

be carried back so as to overlap the Sahs, dating either from the

Yicramadityan or Selucidan
them,

to overlap

so as

if

Sahs be brought down

eras, or that the

dating from the era bearing their name.

Mr. Thomas and General Cunningham prefer the former hypothesis.

For the reasons

just stated,

and others

convinced

the

hypothesis

that

latter

to be given further on, I feel

accordance with the facts of the case as we

one

only

the

is

that

is

in

now know them.

This substitution of the Saka era for the Samvat brings w^hat we

know

the history, with what

of

we

learn from the

inscriptions,

and

gather from the coins, so completely into accordance, that I can hardly

doubt now that

more

it

is

the correct view of the

in accordance with the facts

matter, and certainly

than that I previously adopted.

Guptas.
Although the Puranas conduct us
factory

manner

guidance forsakes

temporary
expression

to

us

dynasties

and

end

the
there.

were

After

thrown

reasonable

so

Andrabritya

that,

into

all

the

hotch-pot

a system of fraud and falsification

the reproach of Indian history.

is

in

the

of

and

dynasty,

subsequent

to

use

satis-

their

conlegal

commenced which

It is not, however, difficult to see

the causes of this new and monstrous invention.

For six centuries
and a half Buddhism had reigned supreme in India, and the system
of the Brahmans, though probably never extinct, was at least subdued and subordinate. With the decline of the Andras this state of
affairs

was

altered.

The Guptas, who immediately succeeded them,

are shown, both by their coins

Journal

Bombay

Brancli

of

and

the

Eoyal Asiatic Society,' vol. viii. p. 28.

^ Essay on the Sah Kings of Saurastra,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.'

'

inscriptions, to have been followers

vol.

xii.

p.

16;

and 'Journal of the

Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xxiv, p.

503 ; see also Thomas'is ' Prinsep,' vol. ii.
p. 95.


APPENDIX.
Vishnu and

of

723

and their buildings

Siva,^

Erun

at

same

the

tell

story. 2

Though the Guptas may have inaugurated the new system, it was
by the great Yicramaditya of Ujjain that it was established, a.d. 515He did for the new religion what Asoka had done for Buddhism
550.
some seven and a

half

religion in India,

and established

a century

after

death

his

was invented

not

have

seems to

it

He made

his time.

so firmly that

it

a state

more than

little

Buddhism

superseded

Puranic system

his reign, apparently, that the

It is in

altogether.

before

centuries

that the Puranas were written or

all

the falsifica-

commencement was then

tions of history invented in his day, but a

made, and by the 10th or 11th century of our era it was brought
to the complete perfection of fraud in which it is now found.
the period

the new system was to throw back

when India was Buddhist, and to place a gulf between

them and

their

One

of the first necessities of

the following:

reign

seven

fourteen

successors.

"After these"
A^liiras, ten

Tusharas,

To

effect

Pauras

eleven

will

be

destroyed, Kailakila

Yavanas

be Yindhya

&c.

Sacti,

Mandas,

106

all

identify

all

these

1399 years.

when they

are

whom

will

"

The

be kings, the chiefs of

After various others

years."

Kantipura, and Mathura

Guptas of Magadha along the Ganges

we cannot

Hunas"*

or

the earth for

300 years

kings for
will

Mannas

eleven

nine Nagas will reign in Padmavati,

the

Puranas enumerate

Gardabhilas, sixteen Sakas, eight Yavanas,

thirteen

seventy-nine princes will be sovereigns of

Then

the

this,

(the Andrabrityas) "various races will

to

dynasties with

Pryaga."

certainty,

and

Although

we know, at
more than

events, that, instead of succeeding one another during

2000

years, they were all

none were

earlier

more or

less

than the Gupta era

them survived Yicramaditya

(a.d.

certainly that
and that none of

contemporary

(a.d.

550).

319)

The Sakas and Mannas,

Hunas, may be those destroyed by him, but of this hereafter.

The Yindhya Sactis were contemporary with the Guptas, and the
or

Gardabhilas are somehow connected with

Bahram Gaur

and others we recognise dimly, but they are not

the Sassanian

sufficiently

important

to be discussed here.

Of
their

all

date

most important are the Guptas, and fortunately

these the
is

one of the most clearly established facts in mediaeval

Indian chronology.^

'

Thomas's edition of

p. 242, et seqq.
^

'

'

Prinsep,' vol.

see also p. 365,

1.

et seqq.

Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

vii. p.

634.

The Vishnu Purana has Maunas, the

Vayu and Matsya, Hunas. Wilson's
^

'

Vishnu Purana,' vol. iv. p. 209.

* Wilson's
'Vishnu Purana,'

vol.

iv.

pp. 201-218.
^

need hardly say that this

is

not

universally admitted by Indian archaeologists.

Some indeed

of the

most eminent

APPENDIX.

724

Coins and
Dates on Inscriptions.

Dynasty.
Kaja Gupta
Mabaraja Gliatotkacha
M. R. adhiraja Chandra Gupta
Sri or

93+319 =

82,

I.

401,412.

C.ivoslGto

20 Ajuuta. Buildings at Eruu.

Samudra
Chandra Gu^ita

Kumara

II.

124

Skanda

Mahendra a minor
Maharaja Sri Hastina
Kaja Buddha
M. R. adhiraja Toramana

130,1.37,141 14G

....

The

three last

443
449, 45G, 4G0,

1G3 +

482

1G5 +

484
501

182

+
+

named cin hardly be considered

46.')

as belonging to the

and the two first

was ohly Chandra
Maharaja adhiraja,

great dynasty, though they date from the sam3 era,

comparatively

were
Grupta

characters.

who assumed

401,

A.D.

I.,

insignificant

and founded the greatness

of

the

It

of

title

on the ruin^

his race

of

that of the

Andrabrityas.
to the above chronology, compiled from coins and dated
Major Watson has recently supplied a most important
item to their history from written records existing in Gujerat.
From this we learn that Chandra Gupta II. reigned twenty-three
that Kumara Pal
years after the conquest of Saurastra by his son
Gupta reigned twenty years and that Skanda Gupta succeeded him,

In addition

inscriptions.

but

lost

Saurastra by the rebellion

among them
ably

place the Guptas consider-

My

earlier.

conviction, however, is

that they never would have done

it

so,

had

not been that they place a mistaken

confidence on a passage

in a foreign
author of the 11th century, translated by
Re'musat to tlie following effect " Quant
au Goupta Kala (ere des Gouptas), on
:

cntend par

le

dit-on, etaieut
1

mot Goupta des gens

mechants

ere qui jiorte leur

leur extermination.

qui,

et puissants, et

nom est I'epoque de

Apparemmeut Bal-

labha suivit imme'diatement les Gouptas,

car 1 ere des Gouptas conimence aussi I'an
241 de I'ere de Saca." (' Journal Asiatique,'

4me

se'rie,

Albiruni, from

tom.

iv. p.

whom

his

Senapati

Skanda

and dates with industry, and refaitlifully.

But he would
have been a magician if he could have
unravelled the tangled meshes with which
the Hindus had purposely obscured their
chronology, and could have seen through
facts

corded them

all the falsifications

ries earlier.

We

invented

six centu-

could not do so

now

witiiout the aid of coins, dated inscriptions,

and buildings.

available in his day,

aid, the

wonder

is,

None of

these were

and without

their

not that he blundered

he went so
His facts and

in his inductions, but that

near the truth as he did.

and may generally

His mode of putting

figures are valuable,

passage

is

them together and

Mahmud

of

generally, worthless

Ghazni, in the 11th century, and was

learned beyond his compeers in the
learning of the Hindus. He collected

Bhatarka, the

years after this event

be relied upon.

28G.)

this

taken, lived at the court of

of

Two

founder of the Ballabhi family.

his inductions are, as

not

of his, but because they

from any fault

had been pur-

posely falsified by those

who presented

tliem to him.

APPENDIX.
Gupta

died, and, as

we

The
doubtful

era

"at

are informed,

were dethroned by foreign invaders."

725

time the Gupta race

this

from which these dates are taken never appeared to me

this confirms more and more the conviction that it

and

was from the era that bears their name,

from the Saka

a.d. 319.

It could not be

has generally been assumed, from the fact that

Albiruni asserts that the era that bears their name, was " apparently "
era, as

that of their destruction, ^ because in that case Skanda

Gupta must

have lived and reigned for ninety-four years in addition to the sixteen

we already know, from

for the reasons stated in

is

inscriptions, he occupied the throne.

110 years seems impossible

of

my

and,

it

if

not

is

reign

seems certain,

so, it

previous paper, that the Gupta era, 319,

that from which their coins and inscriptions are dated.

Besides this, there

an inscription on the rock at Junaghar, en-

is

graved by the same Skanda, the

Had

his last illness.^

This was

of the great Guptas.

last

not translated by Prinsep, though a copy of

was in his hands before

it

he lived to translate

my

it,

impression

that

is

the controversy as to the age of the Guptas never would have arisen

its

Be

evidence seems so absolute.

so far

may,

this as it

it

never appeared,

know, in a complete form and translated,

as I

Bhau Daji
In it we have

was

this

till

accomplished by the late

in the sixth volume of the

bay Journal of 1862.'

three dates

the Sadarsana

Bom-

lake

said to have burst its banks in 130, to have been repaired in 137,

a temple to Vishnu built in 138, and twice

the era of the Guptas " (Guptasya Kala).

from

the middle date occurs, but there

The same

king, on the

Kuhaon

but without mentioning the

is

just space

pillar,

era,

is

it

The

is

and

repeated " counting

stone

enough

is

worn where

for these words.

dates his inscription in 141,*

which seems to have been so usual

in Bengal as not to require being specified.

we know from

Besides this, the 146^ years from 319, which

dated

inscriptions

required to

fill

that

they reigned,

is

just

the

interval

up the gap between the Ballabhis and

they adopted on usurping the inheritance of the

their

that

their era

is

which

Guptas, two years

before Skanda Gupta's death.^

One
arises

of the

other point of considerable importance to Indian history which

from the
Guptas

fixation of this date (a;D.

is,

that

it

465-70) for the destruction

Huns who

was almost certainly the White

were the " foreign invaders " that struck the blow that stopped their

'Indian Antiquary,' Vol. ii.

Journal Asiatique,' series

'

p. 312.
iv. vol. iv.

*
^

Gen. Cunningham, and

is

in addition to

the three others of the same reign quoted

p. 285.

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

copper-plate grant, in the possession of

vii. p.

634.

Thomas's Prinsep,' i. p. 250.

This date is from an unpublished
'

in

my
^

previous paper,

p. 112.

'Indian Antiquary,'

see also vol.

iii.

p. 344.

vol.

ii,

p.

312;

APPENDIX.

72G

At

career.

we

least,

learn from

years after this time, that the

Cosmas Indicopleustes, writing seventy

Huns were a powerful nation

may infer, from what he

in the

north of India in his day, and we

says of

them, had been settled there some time.^

On

Bhau Daji

reads
somewhat doubtfully, it
Skanda Gupta had fought, apparently
with success, against the Hunas.^ But the great point is that it was
just about this time that the White Huns broke loose and extended
their incursions east and west, so that there is not only no improba-

Bhitari

the

must be confessed

their

bility of

Lat,

the

being the " foreign invaders " alluded

they were

likelihood

fact that

knowledge we now

No

so.

one, indeed, can,

Huns,^ without perceiving that

many

De

read

possess,

it

but every

to,

believe,

with the

Guignes' chapter on the White

contains the key to the solution of

mysterious passages in Indian history.

mentioned there

It is true India is not

but from the time of Bahram Gaur in 420,

the

till

Feroze in 475, the Persians were waging an internecine

defeat of

with these Huns, and nothing can be more likely than that

Avar

the varying fortunes ot that struggle should force

alliance

of the

common

foe.

them

to seek the

Guptas, to assist them against their

then powerful

the same impression is conveyed by what is said by

and the Persian historians * of the history of that time.
Nothing can now, however, be more easily intelligible than the visit
of Bahram Gaur to India when first attacked by the White Huns.
His marriage with an Indian ( ? Gupta) princess of Canouge the tribute or assistance claimed by Feroze and his successors on the Persian
throne, are all easily explicable, on the assumption that the two nations
Precisely

Ferishta

were at that time engaged in a struggle against a

This, too,

Gupta's

the

explains

Allahabad

mention

of

Hence,

inscription.^

influence on the gold coinage of the

the

too,

Guptas.

the

of the war.

465-70, or

In

this the Sassanians

all

The
The

decided

Persian

Canouge Guptas, and the innu-

merable Sassanian coins of that period found in

of India. ^

common enemy.

Shah in Shahi on Samudra

the

all

parts of the north

seem inseparably mixed with

however, came eventually victorious out

Persians,

down at some date between

The struggle, however, was

great Guptas were struck

very

afterwards.

shortly

apparently continued for some time longer by a subordinate branch of

Topograpliia Christiana,'

lib.

xi.

p.

'

Journal

Royal Asiatic
^

Bombay Branch

the

of

Society,' vol. x. p. GO.

'Histoirc dcs Huns,' vol.

i.

part

ii.

lib. iv. pp. 325, et seqq.

*

]Maleolm's 'Persia,'

Briggs's translation of

Ixxvii. et seqq.
*

338, edit. Paris, 1707.

Bengal,'

vol.

Thomas's

'

vol.

1.

p.

118.

introd.

translation, p. 13.

vi.

1837, p.

Prinsep,' vol.

i.

963;

also

p. 234.

Ibid., vol. V. plates 36 and 37

also
Thomas's Prinsep,' vol. i. p. 277, plate 23.
^ Thomas's
Prinsep,' vol. i. p. 407, et
;

'

FcrL-ilita.

Dow's

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

'

passim.

APPENDIX.

727

iuasmuch as we learn from an inscription found at

their successors
Aphsar in Behar,^ that the fourth of that dynasty, Damodara Gupta,
;

" successfully eucountered, at the battle of Maushari, the fierce

army

Western Huns." This event may have stopped the career of

the Huns in India, in which case it could not well have taken place
before the year 535, when Cosmas Indicopleustes is supposed to have
of the

wi'itten his

'

Topogi-aphia Christiana

but

'

it

is

that he was not describing events that took place

in India

some time previously.

the time

when the

But be

by no means

clear

when he was himself

it may, it brings us to
which more hereafter and
Maushari freed India from the Sakas and Hunas, who had long held her

battles

in hated subjection.

me

to

and

As

of Konii*

this as

of

I shall presently attempt to show, it appears

hardly doubtful that these two battles were fought between 524

54:4

and they thus

diieval Indian liistory.

fix

one of the most important epochs in me-

Indeed, so near each other are these two events

in date, that I sometimes feel almost inclined to fancy they

only different names for the same battle.

At

all

may

be

events, they almost

same campaign which freed India in

and that it was to commemorate the
glories of these struggles that the Yicramaditya Samvat was instiThis expulsion of the Yavanas was, too, the first serious blow
tuted.
that was struck at Buddhist supremacy, and from the effects of which

certainly represent parts of the

that age from the Yavanas

it

never afterwards completely recovered.

Ballabhi Dynasty.
Dates on Ixsckiptioxs.

a.d.

Sridharasena III

272

Siladitya II

356

675

400

71S

Bhatarka Seuapati
Dharasena

Dronasinha
Dhruvasena Mabaraja
Dharapatta
Grihasena
Sridliara Sena

....

Siladitya I

Charagriha I
Sridhai-a Sena II

Dhravasena II

Charagriha
Siladitya

Siladitya Musalli

.
I

ningham's

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

j

p.

273.

Sec also Cun-

iii.

p. 186.

Cotem. Vicramaditya

Dynasty
ofUjjaiii,

470 to 550.

591
Cotem. Hiouen Thsang

II.

IH

Bengal,' 1866,

465 or 470

Arcbfeological Reports.' vul.

APPENDIX.

728

However mistaken
doubt that he

Albiruiii

may

" L'ere de Ballabha est posterieure a

remment Ballabha
Gouptas commence

This we learn

also,

happened, from Colonel Watson's account

it

Puttun Somnath

also certain that the Ballabhi era

seems

so, it

Appa-

Gouptas, car Tere des

while Colonel Tod's celebrated

it

This being

319.2

les

little

is

the effect that

to

de Saca de 241 ans.

aussi 241 de l'ere de Saca."

of the transaction

makes

celle

immediatement

suivit

with the particulars how

inscription

be in his dates, there

quite correct in his statement

is

commenced

why

understand

difficult to

a.d.

the era should

have been called that of Ballabhi as well as that of the Guptas,

unless

it

were that

it

they dated from

that

There may be reasons why

tremely numerous.
wise

was adopted by the first-named dynasty, and

it their acts and inscriptions, which are exthis should be other-

though the point has been generally and

but,

by eminent Indian chronologists,

fiercely contested

appreciate the arguments

to

fail

brought forward in favour of either the Vicramaditya or Saka

eras,^

and look upon their own era (a.d. 819) as certainly the one from which
all the Gupta inscriptions are dated.
My impression is, that this would never have been considered
doubtful but for an incautious statement by Colonel Tod that Balby the Parthians

labhi was destroyed

Siladitya,

its

king.

last

524,* in

a.d.

inhabitants

Its

were,

the reign

according

account, slaughtered with the usual romantic incidents

while

remnant

established

themselves

this

but after a

and

Sidhapore,

in

of

to

finally

new capital, which they called Anhilwarra.

The utter falsity of the information so supplied to Colonel Tod
proved by the fact that when Ballabhi was visited by Hiouen

built a

is

Thsang, 115 years after

its

reputed destruction, he found

standing, and neither Sidhapore nor Anhilwarra thought

old

capital

still

cities of India,

The

India.

and

its

king one of the three greatest kings of northern

a nephew or

Malwa, and the son-in-law

of Siladitya,

of Siladitya of

'

iv. p.
2

Lastly,

a Dhruvasena, one in 310

of

Journal Asiatique,'

4me

serie, torn,

Annals of Rajputana,'

vol.

i.

Lasseu's

seqq.

'

Ind. Alt.', vol.

987; Dowsoii

to

ii.

p.

752, et

'Journal of the

Royal Asiatic Society (N.S.), vol. i. p.

247, et seqq. Thomas's Priiisep,' vol. i. p.
270-276 Cunuiiigliaiu's Archaeological
Reports vol. iii. p. 56 Babu Rajendra
'

'

'

'

Mittra,

p.

'

'

dates in copper-

the other 322 -f

xliii. p.
i.

p.

372, &c., &c.

216,

et seqq.

At

230 he quotes another account, which

destruction of the Ballabhi

era at 305, instead of 205, as iu the previous statement.

These are evidently
If he had found another
would probably have been correct

clerical errors.

405,

it

5
'

405 + 319 = 724.

'Vie et Voyages,' pp. 206,254, 260;

within a year or so

Journal of the Asiatic Society

= 629;

Annals,' vol.

places the

p. 801.
3

+ 319
*

'

we have the

of Bengal,' vol.

286.

Tod's

but the

name was Dhruvapatou, and he was

the reigning king of Canouge.^

plates

not only

remaining one of the richest and most prosperous

king's

grand-nephew

it

of,

Relations,' &e., vol.

ii.

p.

163.

APPENDIX.

729

or 641,^ the very year that Hioueii Thsang met him at Allahabad,
we assume them dated from the Ballabhi Samvat.
It would be satisfactory if we could determine the date of the

:-il9,

if

destruction

Ballabhi with precision, as

of

mark an epoch in Indian

of the old drama that

that
acts

history.

It

and ushered in the dark ages which

history,

one of these events

is

of the concluding

medieval period of Indian

the

closed

it

was one

lasted

more than two

centuries from that time.

The

materials for this hardly exist at present, though

We

approximated.

may

it

810, 326, 338, 348, &c.,2 or a.d. G29, 645, 657, 667 respectively,
figures are all

be

have numerous inscriptions of this dynasty, dated

which

correctly read,

not quite clear

is

and

if

the

lastly,

Mr. Burgess reports one dated 400, or a.d. 719, belonging to the last
and consequently approaching very nearly to the event.
Two accounts are current as to the mode in which the destruction
Siladitya,

was effected

that

one,

was caused by an earthquake, which may

it

have happened at any time

destroyed by the Parthians.

the other (by Tod), that the city was

If it

have been by the Mahomedans.

in 22

Hegira,* or a.d. 644, or

was by a foreign

foe, it

could only

They were on the Indus in strength

before Hiouen Thsang had left India,

and no foreigner could have crossed the Indus or attacked Ballabhi

after that time, or for some years before it, without being noticed by
Mahomedan historians.
They remained there in strength till after
Mahomed Kasim, 711-715,^ and it was to him that I was at one time
inclined to ascribe

the destruction.

correct, his death

is

at

however, Mr. Burgess's date

If,

was three years too

improbable that Ballabhi

early.

But

one of the

I do not

think

Barus

and
by Junaid in a.d. 725 or 726.^ Barus
looks very like Baroach, and Uzain is almost certainly Ujjain
but
whether Maliba is Ballabhi, I must leave others to determine.
it

all

Uzain

is

cities

said to be plundered

All the accounts agrea that Anhilwarra Puttun was founded

Samvat 802, or A.D. 746,' which may be correct within a year or two
but from the accounts we have, it is clear that an interval of from
twenty to thirty years must have elapsed between the two events,
during which the inhabitants of the destroyed city sought refuge at
Punchasur and Sidhapore before they undertook the building of their
;

new

capital.

If, therefore,

tion of Ballabhi,

we

we assume 725

shall probably not

as the date of the destruc-

err

more than a year or two

either way.

The
*

earliest date of this

'Journal

Royal Asiatic

Bombay Branch

Ibid., vol. viii. p. 245.

Forbes' 'Ras Mala,'

'

of

the

Society,' vol. viii. p. 245.

Tod,

family yet discovered

Aunala,' vol.

i.

vol.

p. 230.

i.

p.

Elliot,

'

p. 417.

18;
'

Loc.

'

cit.,

is

one on a copper-

Historians of India,' vol.

* Loc. cit.,
432, et seqq.

1.

441-42.

Ras Mala,'

Travels,' p. 149.

vol.

i.

p.

24

Tod's


APPENDIX.

730
plate

of

Dharasena

darkar as 272,^

or,

which has been read by

II.,

Professor

according to the views here adopted, 591.

much

hardly probable that any

found

earlier will be

for

it

BhanIt is

must be

borne in mind that though the Ballabhis wrested the sovereignty of

Gujerat from the Guptas two years before Skanda's death {ante, p.
724), neither the first nor second of the race ventured to assume even
the modest

title of

Generals.

The

Eaja

they Avere content to remain Senapatis, or

third calls

Maharaja

himself

but their greatness

only culminated in or about a.d. 650, Avhen one of them, Sri Dharasena III., became Maharaja Adhiraja

Northern India. ^
that

the family

The reason
that

really

of

King

of kings

we

as

this,

or

Emperor of
was

shall presently see,

Guptas in the place of

succeeded the

supreme authority in India was that of Ujjain, the second or third

monarch

Yicramaditya, whose date,

of this race being the celebrated

for reasons to be given hereafter, seems almost certainly to have been

from 515

to

550.

Be

this as

it

may,

we

as

shall presently see, it

seems quite certain that a great Brahmanical revival took place in

the

beginning of

the

6th

which

century,

quite

overshadowed

all

For a while these were

wave of Buddhism, which for a century

the Buddhist dynasties in northern India.

again eclipsed by a reflex

A.D.

550-650

again illumined

India.

It

however, and after the last-named date

existence
are

on the part

known no

of the Buddhists,

was a
it

last

expiring effort,

was only a struggle for

and in another century they

longer in those central countries where they had so

long reigned supreme.

^
'Journal Bombay Branch of
Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. x. p. 70.

the

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal,' vol.

vii. p.

972.

APPENDIX.

731

Chalukya Dynasties.
Eastern Branch.
Capital Rajmehendri.

Western Branch.
1.

2.

3.

4.

Capital Kalyan.
Jaya Sinba Vijayaditya.
Kaja Sinha, Kana K:iga, Vislmu
Vardhana.
Vijayaditya II.
Pulakesi/A.D. 489

Vaima

5.

Kirtti

6.

Mangalisa.
Satyasraya began to reign 609.

7.

I.

1.

Vishnu Vardhana II., or Kubja

conquered
Vi&hnu
Vardhana,
Vengi A.D. 605.
Jaya Sinha I.

8.

Amara.

2.

9.

3.

Indra Raja, his brother.

10.

Aditya.
Vikraraadiya

4.

Vishnu Vardhana

11.

Vinay aditya, Yuddha Malla, began

5.

Manga Yuva

to reign a.d. 680.

Vijayaditya III. began to reign a.d.

6.

Jaya Sinha

12.

7.

Kokkili.

>

8.

Vishnu Vardhana IV.

I.

695.
13.

Vikiamaditya

began

II.

to

reign

A.D. 733.

9.

10.
11.

14.

Kirtti Varraa II.

15.

Kirtti

Vavma

last, A.D.

16.

Tailapa.

17.

Bhima

18.

12.

III.,

cousin of the

13.

799.

Kaja.

III.

Raja.

III.

Vijayaditya

brothers.

I.

Vishnu Vardhana V.
Narendra Mriga Raja.
Vishnu Vardhana VI.,
Vishnu Vardhana.

or

Kali

Vijayaditya II., or Guna Gunanka

Vijayaditya, conquered Kalinga.

14.

Chalukya Bhima

15.

17.

Vijayaditya III., or KoUabhiganda

Vijaya.
Amma Raja.
Vijayaditya IV., or Kaudagachita

18.

Talapa.

16.

Ayya, or Kirtti Varma IV.

I.,

Ids brother.

Vijaya.

Usurper.

19.

Vijayaditya IV.

19.

Vikramaditya V., the sou of a brother

of Am ma Raja I.

20.

Taila Bhnpall. or Vikram aditya III.,

in A.D. 973 restored the monarchy
which had been for some time
usurped by the Ratta Kula. He
died A.D. 997.
Satyasraya II. Irivi Bhujanga Deva,

20.

Yuddha

21.

Raja Bhima

II.

22.

Amma

II.

23.

Dhanarnava.

24.

twenty-seven years.
Kirtti Varma, son of Dlianarnava.

25.

Vimaladitya, his brother.

26.

Raja Raja Narendra.

27.

Rajendra Chela.

28.

Vikrama Deva Kulottunga Chola.

29.

Raja Raja Chola, viceroy

21.

Malla.

A.D. 997.

22.
23.
24.

Vikramaditya

V. began to reign
about A.D. 1008 (?)
Jaya Sinha Deva, Jagadeka Malla,
about A.D. 1018 (?)
Someswara Deva I., Trailokya
Malla Ahawa Malla, about a.d.

Raja

Interregnum

of

1040.

27.

Someswara Deva II., Bhuneka Malla

A.D. 1099, expelled by his brother.
Vikramaditya VI., Kali Vikrama,
Tribhuvana Malla, in a.d. 1076.
Someswara Deva III., Bhuloka

28.

Jagadeka Malla,

29.

Tailapa Ddva

25.
26.

Malla, a.d. 1127.

a.d. 1138.

III.,

Trailokya Malla,

A.D. 1150.
30.

Someswara Deva

IV., Tribhuvana

30.

Malla, A.D. 1182. Dethroned by Bijjala Deva of the Kalabhuriya line.

After this the southern part of these dominions
under the sway of the Hoisala Bellalas, whose
in the Mysore dates from a.d. 984 ; their
destruction by the Mahomedans in 1310.

fell

rise

for

one

year.

Vira Deva Kulottunga Chola, ojr

Saptama Vishnu Vardhana. Viceroy from A.D. 1079 to 1135.

After Vira Deva Kulottunga Chola the country

under the sway of the Kakatya dynasty of
Worangul, of whom Pratapa Rudra was the chief

fell

(a.d.

ll(i"2).

The

dated A.D. 1336.

latest

of their inscriptions

is

APPENDIX.

732

lists in the preceding page are among the most inteand most important of those we possess, inasmuch as they
contain the backbone of all we know regarding the Chalukyas, and
are, in fact, what justify us, historically, in erecting their style into
a separate division, different from the other forms of architecture

The two

resting

known in India.
What we know
intelligent zeal

made

India,

of

much more
these

dynasties
Elliot,

lists

Royal Asiatic

the

he

Society

published

first

in

but afterwards

'Madras Journal,' in 1858, from w^hich

in detail in the

Some

are copied verbatim.^

lists

almost wholly due to the

is

who, during his residence in

he abstracted the

these

fourth volume of

the

these

Walter

a collection of 595 inscriptions from various parts of the

From

Dekhan.

of

Sir

of the inscriptions were trans-

and published with those papers, and others by Major now

General Le Grand Jacob, in the Bombay Journal (vol. iii. p. 206, et
seqq.), and other notices of them are found among Mr. Wathen's inscrip-

lated

tions in various volumes of the

'

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.'

But we shall not know more than a fraction of what Ave ought to,
and might know, till Sir Walter Elliot's inscriptions are translated
and published.^
When this is done, and the architecture of the
Mzam's territory explored, the Chalukyan style will take its place
worthily between the Dravidian and Indo-Aryan styles, and will, if
I mistake not, be found equal to either, both in importance and in
artistic merit.

Fortunately there

no mistake or doubt about the era from which

is

the Chalukyan inscriptions are dated

to the

possessions of

These

Professor

lists

were

Dowson

in

the Ballabhi branch succeeding

the Guptas in Gujerat, natm'ally adopted their

republished
the

new

by

series

Royal Asiatic
but with
chronological additions that are by no
means improvements.
^ The advantage of their publication
was fco strongly felt by the Council of the
Eoyal Asiatic Society that in 1873 they,
backed by a letter from Sir Walter, ap-

Indian Council are responsible, and know

best what should be done and what re-

no more

of the 'Journal of the

fused, there

Socieiy,' vol.

the matter, though to outsiders this seems

1.

pealed to Her

p. 253, et seqq.,

Majesty's

Secretary of

State for India in Council, to sanction an

expenditure not exceeding 200 for the

purpose.

It

seems, however, that the

finances of India could not bear

August

tlie

a reply was received to the effect that " His Lordship

regrets that he cannot consent to charge
the public revenues of India with the
strain, for in

last

cost of such an undertaking."

As

the

is

to

be said about

slightly inconsistent with their grant of

2000

to

Max

Miiller for doing nothing

that he had not been well paid for doing

beforehand.

As no

available

this

other

country,

means are

is to be
hoped that either the French or German
Governments will take it up. They have
always abundance of funds for such purposes and had these inscriptions been
collected by one of their countrymen,
they would have been published without
a year's delay after having been brought
home, although they have no inteiest in
India that can for one moment be compared with ours.
;

in

it

APPRNDTX.

7:38

but the southern branch being entirely detached from any such

era,

Saka era

association, adopted the

is

known, the only other era

is

equally important

among

those quoted in

all

name

attached to the
Elliot

thought

of

tells

the

lists

Pulakesi

copperplate on which

me

it is

initial date it

in use in

411 Saka

of

In his

I.

that he

far as

What

India.

only one doubtful

that

first

date

(a.d.

490),

paper,^ Sir Walter

rejected

altogether

it

and

he has strong reasons for suspecting the

found to be a forgery.
does not appear impossible,

though certainly improbable.

correct,

which was then, so

79),

seems

there

so improbable,

it

Professor Eggeling

As an

that

is,

(a.d.

at that time

my

if

views are

Bhatarka Senapati wrested

If

Gujerat from Skanda Gupta two years before his death, or in 463
or

4G8,

it

by no means impossible

is

may have been

the other

is

There seems no doubt, from Mr. Burgess's Badami inscriptions,^

way.

Mangalisa succeeded his brother Kirtti Yarma in 567, and

that

reigning in 490, especially

galisa

was the son

it is

number

for doubt-

In the meanwhile, however,

Senapati.

know

but to what extent we shall not

till

it

is

whether Yijaya was the son or grandson of Bhatarka

ascertained

years to the date of 411,

allow

609.

till

which there seems no reason

evident that the central figure of his date must be altered

to a higher

fifty

he continued to reign

if

of Pulakesi,

it

who was
If Man-

does seem impossible that he should have been the son of one

ing,

him

the fourth from

that

reigning in a.d. 490, but the difficulty

Pulakesi

reign

of

we, as

if

and make

it

an hypothesis, add

461, or a.d. 540,

twenty-seven years before

the

it

will

accession

567, which will bring the whole within the limits

and seems perfectly consistent with the context.
With the seventh king we tread on surer ground. He was the

of Mangalisa in
of probability,

king who, when bearing his

Thsang
hero

of

grandfather's name, Pulakesi, Hiouen

and was, as his inscriptions tell us,^ the
those wars with Harsha Yerddhana, or Siladitya of Malwa,

visited in

640,^

which Ma-twan-lin so graphically describes as occurring in 618 to

627.
From that time the dynasty seems to have flourished till
death

the

of

Yicramaditya

He

II.

ascended the throne

733,

and

died about 750, or twenty-five years more or less after the destruction
of the Ballabhi branch.

" the

power of

sufi'ered

After

the

this, as Sir

Chalukyas

a partial obscuration,

restoring

as

the

till

monarchy in

a time, or

the time of Teila,

who

973."

'Journal of the Koyal Asiatic So'

p.

seqq.

Memoires des Contrecs,'

ii.

Bengal,' vol.

'

p. 150.

&c., vol.

it

is

Society,' vol.

it,

had

described

enjoyed

Bombay Branch

'Journal

Keport on Belgam and Kuladgi,'

24.
^

After this

Royal Asiatic

ciety,' vol. iv. p. 12.

2

Walter Elliot expresses

was alienated for

iii.

of

two
the

p. 206, et

'Journal of the Asiatic Society of

vi. p.

68.

APPENDIX.

734

centimes of prosperity,

till

was

it

finally extinguished

their northern

possessions passing to the Kalabhuryas their southern to the Hoisala

Dwarasamudra

Bellalas of

The

history

or Hullabid.

the younger branch of this

of

some future historian

interesting to

family will be more

of Indian architecture

than

it

is

Their possessions lay principally below the

to us at the present day.

Eastern Ghats, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, in what are gene-

known

rally

day

to

No

nothing.

Circars, extending

as the three

I believe

Mahavellipuram

traveller

educated

from Gangam

in their

but of their architecture we

in

architectural

know

matters has

yet

and though it sounds like a paradox to say so,

what we do know of it we learn from buildings not erected by them,
and in a country they never seem to have possessed. It is only from
the buildings of Pratapa Rudra at Worangul and elsewhere above the
Ghats that we can appreciate the perfection to which they had brought
visited that country

their style.

From

the meagre

which Sir Walter

seems

little

Thsang's

from the inscriptions of Pulakesi I.,

on this subject,^ there

doubt that he was the king who, 100 years before Hiouen
harried

time,

Buddhism

extracts

Elliot gives in his first essay

in

monastery at Amravati,^ and abolished

the

those parts.

It

seems also more than probable, as he

conquered the Chola, and burnt Conjeveram, that he also expelled

and commenced the works at Mahavellipur.

If the
Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang, and
so often referred to above, existed at all, it was in his territories, and
may still exist in the Nizam's. If it did so, nothing seems more probable
than that he should seek to mark the boundary of his southern conquest
the

Pallavas,

rock-cut monastery mentioned by

by similar works.
so

much

Knowing

all this,

we

contemporary caves at Mahavellipur.

why

see also

similarity between Mangalisa's cave at

We

there should be

Badami, and the nearly

know,

too, that there is a

vast tract of country in Central India, extending east

and west from

shore to shore, and north and south from Sadras to Ellora, which

is

covered with buildings of great beauty and interest, but which nobody
cares to explore.

We know

also that there exists in the Asiatic Society's

rooms a volume which contains their history, and that of the dynasties
who built them, but which nobody cares to read. Knowing how easily
all this

could be remedied,

meagre a sketch

of the

it is

tantalising to close this history with so

Chalukyan

style as that

contained in the pre-

ceding pages, but as the principles of the Indian Council seem fixed,
its

must

description

in all

probability be relegated

to a

generation.

'Journal of the Eoyal Asiatic Sccietv,'

'

Yic ct Voyages,'

p. 188.

vol. iv. p. 9.

subsequent


APPENDIX.

735

Ujjain and Canouge Dynasties.

Eeign.

Vicramaditya

I.

of Ujjain

Date.

zO

A ~A
4
/U

9ft

rr<'t> r

I.

of

Malwa

25
5

40

Died and troubles commenced

15
oou
580
605
610
648-650

35
Siladitya

Although the Ballabhis wrested the province of Gujerat from the

failing

hands

Skanda, the

of

his death, in or about

tion.

Their

Great Guptas, two years before

last of the

470, they remained long in a subordinate posi-

earliest inscription yet

found dates only in 593, and their

one Emperor or Kaja Adhiraja, Sri Dharasena

III.,

only ascended

down in 648-50.
we are now happily able

the throne after the Canouge dynasty were struck

fill

The interval between these two events

up with two of the most illustrious dynasties

of

India

including the reign of the great Vicramaditya of Ujjain,

the

who

is

to

first

to the

Asoka to the Buddhists.

The last-named religion, as mentioned above, was becoming effete
about the middle of the 5th century, and the Guptas were introducing
What, however, they were
the modern Brahmanical faith in its place.

Hindus what Solomon

is

to

the Jews,

or

only feebly attempting, the Ujjain dynasty accomplished with a brilliancy that has eclipsed everything
India, in the eyes of the

Hindus

that happened before

or in poetry, or the arts, shone forth

Solomon's

the exact counterpart of

place in India bears the

stamp

is

or since in

great in science,

around his wonderful throne

and

all

that

of his greatness.

subsequently took
It

seems, however,

The four succeeding monarchs were

to have been too bright to last.

Buddhists

All that

at least.

of a singularly tolerant type

it

is

true

but

still

certainly

The last of them, Siladitya, was the king

whose court Hiouen Thsang sojourned in 636, and afterwards in

favourers of that religion.

at

642, and where he witnessed the festival of the distribution of alms so

Hiouen Thsang gives the date of his death

and adds, though in the form of a prophecy, that

often alluded to above.

categorically, 650,

after that, " I'lnde entiere sera en proie a des troubles affreux

hommes

pervers se feront une guerre acharnee."

This

is

et des

more than

confirmed by Ma-twan-lin, but with an apparent discrepancy of date,

to the extent,

it

may

be, of

two

years.^

It

was in fact the commence-

'

Vie

'

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,*

et Voyages,' p. 215.
vol. vi. p. 69.

APPENDIX.

736

Buddhism, then

meiit of those troubles which extinguished

and a century

India,

later abolished it wholly, except in

in Central

some remote

corners of the land.

Whether he died
rous

in G48 or 650, there

our Chinese

no doubt, from the nume-

is

recounts,

that

ascended the throne 610, one year after his great

rival,

incidents

traveller

this

Siladitya

Pulakesi 11. of
,

Kalyan, who, as pointed out above, began to reign in 609, and fought

with him with varying success in 618-627.

For the chronology of the four preceding reigns we have nothing

but the assertion of Hiouen Thsang, that " snivant la tradition " ^ nnd

in another place, " on

occupe

etait

de ce royaume,^ que

tione
"
ans
par
un
roi
nomme
soixante
Siladitya
and
a
y
he reigned fifty years, which would carry us back

il

I'histoire

le
;

that

further,

dans

lit

to 530 for the accession of this king, supposing the passage was written

in 640.

Notwithstanding the confidence with which

it

is

stated, I

have no

hesitation in rejecting as excessive 110 for the length of the reign of

three kings, two of

whom

fidence, as our author,

were brothers. I do so with the more conthough so exact a geographer, and recorder of

no one instance to be depended upon for his dates.

and must have had
access to its records, yet he tells us that the convent existed for 700
years,^ and then gives the names of the five kings by whom the
various parts were built from that time to his day, but sees no
things he saw,

He

is

in

resided, for instance, for five years at Nalanda,

absurdity in representing these in

named

next

reigned more

than 100 years

must be

accession of Siladitya

subsequent

with

all

or

discoveries

to abridge

suffice

that

When we

we

at present

To what

extent

this

date

of

curtailed can only be ascertained

For

investigations.

by twenty

it

instances as the son of the one

all

Each, according to his account, must have

previously.

years,

know from

which

the

present

will bring it

the

from

it

will

accord

in

other sources.'^

we have certainly three

room in eighty years
and one of the three, the great Yicramaditya, must have had a long
Professor Wilson ascribes to him thirty-five years,^ and I
reign.

probably
kuow

of

turn to the other end of our

four kings

for

no authority better than

chronology of this period.

Vic

'

'Relations,' &c., vol.

Loc.

When

cit., vol.

ii.

wrote

ii.

p. 150.

p. 42.

last

on the subject

('Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,'

vol.

iv.

N.S.) I assumed the figures as

they stand, as

me

of

much

it did not then appear to

importance, and as this in

find

his, especially for

The Hindus

et Voyi.ges,' p. 204.

'

list,

whom we must

the

history or

themselves, with their usual

the only arbitrary adjustment

occasion to

have

make

let tliis

have had

in the chronology, 1

stand in the text, leaving

the correction to be

made when authority

found for it. The twenty years, more

or less, do not affect any architectural
quest icm mooted in the preceding pages.
is

'

Asiatic Researches,' vol. xv.

p. 87.

APPENDIX.
carelessness,

have forgotten to record

it

737

and though there are

certain

dates in the Puranas and elsewhere, there are no means of testing their

accuracy

worth

accession, however, there

for his

Thus,

recording.

Wilford

one or two that are

are

reports

that

Vicramaditya

this

ascended the throne of Malwa 441,^ reckoning from the first of Salivaor, according to the Agni Purana, 437 years after the
hana, or, 520
;

same epoch, or 51 6,^ which, I believe, may be the exact year and there
are several other dates which might be used to confirm this assumption, but there are no means of testing the genuineness.
Assuming this for the present, it leaves only forty-five years for
and it seems hardly sufficient for
the tw^o or three preceding reigns
the purpose, for, as we shall presently see from the Raja Tarangini,'
;

'

there were nine descents between Pratapaditya, the friend of the

Vicramaditya, and Matrigupta, the protege of the second.

there

may

among

be considerable overlapping

these nine kings, but

it

the

first

Of course
and last of

first

seems impossible to compress the whole within

a shorter period than has been allowed.

However the small

adjusted,
will

know

that there

is

admit of a greater correction than say ten years,

certain

perfectly

Ballabhi,

of

as

to

Sasanka,

the dates
of

of

Pundra Yerddhana,

rupa, and of Pulakesi II. of Kalyan.

We

point in our mediaeval history which

is

we can

of

an interesting one, as

Laladitya just one century

as

we

much, and

Kumara,

of

least

Kama-

one fixed

650,

is

difficulty,

and

shall see in the next section,

later.

Indrajita.

B.C.

Jaloka.

Ravana.

Damodara.

Vibhishana.

Hushka

Nara.
Siddha.

Tartar Princes established

Jushka
Kanislika

Buddhism.

Utpalaksha.
Hiranyaksha.
Hiranyakula.

Abliimanu, 79 a.d.

GoNARDYA Dynasty.
Gonarda. Naga ivorship
Vibhishana.

Vasukulo.
Mihirakula, invaded Ceylon 250
Vaka.

restored.

'

'

Asiatic Researches,' vol.

ix. p.

150.

is

the beginning of the

Kashmir.
Asoka, 27G to 240

feel

quite certain, and from which

its final date,

end which was consummated,

so

Dhruvasena, of

have thus at

backwards and forwards without

calculate

if

enables us to

son-in-law,

his

hereafter be

probably no date that

the age of the last king, Hiouen Thsang's friend,

also

may

discrepancies of this dynasty

satisfactory to

it is

Loc.

cit.

p. 161,

3 B

by


APPENDIX.

738

KASirMiR

continued.
\

Contemporaries of

Vicrain aditya.

Vasunauda.

Hiranya
Toramana

Nara.

Matrigiipta, viceroy under Yicramadiiya

Ksliilinanda.

II.,

Akslia.

515.

Pravarasena

Gopaditya, 830?
Narendraditya.

Yudliislithira II.

Yudliislithira.

Nandravat.
Rnnaditya.
Vikramaditya.

Aditya Dynasty.
Pratapadit.ya,
I.,

invaded

II.,

Siladitya

kinsman of Yicramadilya

Baladitya.

890.

Naga or Karkota Dynasty.

Jalaukas.

Tnnjina.

Dnrlabhaverddliana, 027.

Vijaya.

Pratapaditya, 663.

Jayendra.
Arya Raja.

Parapira, 721.

Chandrapira, 713.
Lalataditya, 725; died 761.

GoNARDYA Line

restored.

Yasoverna

Megliavahana invaded Ceylon, 472.

Pravarasena 1.

When
it is

of

Gnjerat, 560.

Gokarna.

the

'

is

spoken

specimen of

class.

its

ing and important,

It

may
Some

" Parmi

be the best, bnt

few events

of the

but they

much

lose

a real Indian history,

of, in

only in the sense of the Frencli proverb

borgnes sont rois."

overran

India.

Raja Tarangini

'

Conquered

Kanoujo, and

of

avengles Ics

is

it

narrates are interest-

their

of

les

a very indifferent

it

value

from the

chronology to wliich they are attached being wilfully and systemati-

Even they, however, may become more valuable than

when the work is better edited than it has been
The earliest and best account we have of it is that of Pro-

cally falsified.

they

now

hitherto.
fessor

The

appear,

Wilson, in the fifteenth volume of the

Asiatic

Researches.'

by Troyer in French, is fuller,

perfect manuscript, and is far less
now in the valley, is said to have

translation, afterwards published

made from a less

who is
collected several additional and more complete MSS., from which it
When
the work.
is understood he is preparing a new edition of
meanthis is done, we may be able to use it more profitably
while, for chronological purposes, we can only try and find an initial

no doubt, but
critical.

is

Dr. Geo. Biihler,

and

and with one or two intermediate synchronisms, try to

bring the whole into an intelligible sequence but so hopelessly is the
chronology confused by its author, that this at present can only be
effected by the application of a system of averages, which is, and
always must be, a most unsatisfactory mode of procedure.
final date,

Rejecting at once as worthless or hopelessly lost

the history before the third century B.C., the

first

the familiar one of Asoka, but here placed 1894

all

those parts of

name we come

B.C.,

or

to is

more than 1000

APPENDIX.

739

It was in order to recover what was lost by this first

Kalhana Pandit was forced to falsify all the dates np to the
accession of the Karkota dynasty (a.d. 627), when they were known,

years too early.

error that

To

even in his day, as certain within ten or twenty years.

efi'ect

he added ten, twenty, or thirty years here and there, as caprice

this,

dictated,

at last, losing patience, he gave one king, Eanaditya, in

till

made

the 6th century, 300 years, instead of a possible thirty, and so

both ends meet

So history

The

'

in the lists with

which we

that of Kanishka, and he plays so important a part in

is

Kashmir and Gandhara, that

the history of

Raja Tarangini

'

would be

it

of extreme

be fixed with even approximate certainty.

his date could

interest if

written in the East

name we meet

After Asoka's, the next

are familiar

is

gives us no help in this matter.

Generally,

it

has been assumed, principally on numismatic evidence, that he reigned

cither immediately

before

or

immediately after the Christian Era

but between him and Asoka our

we

therefore,

are

to

apply

to

same

the

history

this

only two names.

afford

lists

logic

we must

Mahadown Asoka to the first century B.C., or

third.
As neither process is admissible,

either bring

take back Kanishka to the

nothing remains to be done but to admit that the record

and that

it

If,

the very

learned have attempted to apply to dates of the Nirvana in the

wanso,'

;^

'

imperfect,

is

only from external evidence that these dates can be

is

fixed with anything like certainty.

Even admitting

that

Hushka and Jushka were

grandfather of Kanishka, which I

am

the

to think

inclined

case, instead of his brothers, as is usually supposed, it will

us

much

four

reigns of

insignificant princes in

equally inadmissible, and will not help us to

fix

father

may

and

be the

hardly help

200 years

is

nearly

Kanishka's date from

Asoka's.

much narrowed by

Eecently the question has been very

the dis-

covery of a number of dated inscriptions at Muttra and elsewhere, in

which the name of Kanishka and his successor Huvishka frequently

occur

the

latter

It is this that

always following, never preceding, the former name.

makes me

Hushka

believe that the

the father of Kanishka, and nothing in that case

his

successor should take

nowhere in the inscriptions,

it is

is

name.

his grandfather's

possible he should take his uncle's,

of the chronicle

was

so probable as that

is almost imJushka appears

natural to assume that he had passed

and

as the

name

It

of

away some time before they were written.

Be this as it may, the following table gives the
they were found by General Cunningham ^

inscriptions

as

^
General Cunningham hesitates between 17 and 24 a.d. for his death

('

Nuniis. Chron.,' vol.

sen brings him

down

175) Las40 a.d. ('Ind.

viii. p.

to

Alt.,' vol.
2

29,

to

'

ii.

p. xxiv).

Arch geological Reports,' vol. iii. p.

et seqq.
Ed. Thomas's In trod actio u.
'

Marsden,'

p. 4G, ct sexfq.

B 2

APPENDIX.

740
In

Kanishka.
huvishka.

Vasudeva.

9.

Samvat 39.
Maharaja Rajatiraja Devapiitra Huvishka. Samvat 47.
Maharaja Huvishka. Samvat 48.
Maharaja Rajatiraja Devaputra Vasu (deva). Samvat 44.
Maharaja Vasudeva. Samvat 83.
Maharaja Rajatiraja, Shahi, Vasudeva. Samvat 87.
Raja Vasudeva. Samvat 98.

the

Badrian-Pali Alphabet.

Maharaja Rajadiraja Devaputra Kanislika.

Samvat 11, on the 28th of the (Greek) month of Dcesius.
Manikyala Tope. Maharaja Kaneshka, Gushana vasa samvardliaka.
Increaser of the dominion of the Gushans " (Kushans). Samvat 18.
Wardak Vase. Maharaja rajatiraja Huveshka. Samvat 51, 15th of Arte-

I
I

^
O

Samvat

Maliaraja Devapiitra Huvishka.

Bahawalpur.

Indo-Fali Alphabet.

Maharuja Kanishka.

In

the

misius.

In addition to these Bactrian-Pali inscriptions, we have a record of a king called

Moga (Moa?), on a copper plate from Taxila, wherein the Satrap Liako Ku>uluko
(Kozola ?) speaks of the 78th year of the " great king, the great Moga," on the 5tli
of the month of Pangemus.

In addition to the inscriptions bearing these names, General Cunnigham quotes a great number of others, with dates in the same
Samvat era, extending from the year 5 to the year 281, but without
any kings' names in them. Their purport, however, and the form of
the characters used, he considers sufficient to show that they form a
connected series dating from one and the same era, whatever that

may

be.

may safely assume was

by Kanishka, either from the beginning of his reign, or
to mark some important event in it, and which was used after his
Here, therefore, we have an era, which we

established

time for two or three centuries at

the era since

was

it

is

least.

Cunningham

In the

question

King Salivahana, dating 135

is,

was that

from 56

B.C.,

or

years after that

unhesitatingly adopts the former

not a subject to dogmatise upon, I

adopt the

The

as that of Vicramaditya, dating

the Saka era of

General
it

known

am much more

and though
inclined to

latter.
first place,

in use before the

because I can find no trace of any such era being

cataclysm in a.d.

750.

Bhau Daji

states that

he

knows no inscription dated in it before the 11th century.^

General
Cunningham says it was not used as early as 82 6, ^ but, in another
place, quotes an inscription in 754,^
I know of none earlier
and
can trace no allusion to any king of the name of Yicramaditya in the
first century B.C., and no events that could have given rise to an era
;

^
'

Journal

Royal Asiatic

Bombay Branch

of

Society,' vol. ix. p. 242.

the

266.

'

Archaeological Reports,' vol.

^

Loc.

cit. p.

68.

ii.

p.

APPENDIX.
56

ill

and

Xo

B.C.

it

trace of

it is

741

found in Thibet, in Bui-mah, or Cambodia,

never was heard of in Cevlon or Java.

the Saka era

known and was

is

bv

era established

so

used,

and

In

these countries

all

seems strange that an

it

Buddhist king as Kanishka should

powerful a

have endured for two or three centuries, and then perished, without
leaving a

in

trace

any Buddhist country, and then,

century, been revived and adopted

nology.

It

may

be so

strong evidence to

but

make

it

it is

by the Brahmans

so strange,

it

seems to require some

and none such has yet

credible,

8th

after the

for their chro-

been

advanced.

Kanishka's date has

Hitherto

numismatic evidence, but

In

all

the

lists

it

almost wholly on

assmned

been

seems to

me

without sufficient grounds.

hitherto published,^ there are at least a dozen barbarian

whom, from the extent of their mintages, must have

had long and prosperous reigns. To compress the whole into the
kings, several of

sixty-four years that elapsed for the destruction of the Bactrian king-

dom

(120

and the era of Yicramaditya (56

B.C.),

seems to

B.C.),

very strong measure, for which I can see no justification.

as

especially

many more names may

yet

me

allow

much more

prob-

be discovered

and

each, on an average, sixteen years' reign, seems very

able,

To

even without them this would take us on to the Saka era (a.d. 79)
without difficulty. One of them, Gondophares, as we shall presently
reigned for twenty-six years at

see,

least.

The Roman consular coins found by M. Court, above referred to

{ante, p. 79), were so worn as to be hardly legible, and though, therefore,

44

they limit the antiquity of his reign certainly to this side of

B.C.,

On

they by no means prove that he was so early.

the con-

trary, the coins being worn, seems to prove that they were old before

being bmied

the probability

is

that they

may have belonged

to

some pilgrim, or missionary, in the West, and had become sacred relics
before they were enshrined.
If Kanishka had merely wanted foreign
coins,

Greek or Roman, he might have had hundi-eds of perfect ones

at his

command.

for their deposit

There must have been some other and holier motive

than merely to mai'k a date.

Every one has heard

of

the legend of

St.

Thomas

the Apostle

some add, being beheaded by

his order.
It may be a legend, and not one word of truth in it, but
those who invented it in the second or third century must at least have
had the means of knowing what was the name of the king who was
visiting the court of Gondophares, and,

on the throne
Crucifixion.

of

Gandhara

at,

or immediately

afi/cr,

the time of the

This name appears frequently on coins and inscriptions,

and, from the numismatic evidence, has been placed by

They

are all given in Thomas's edition of

which the reader

is referred.

'

Prinaep,* vol.

ii.

all as

anterior

p. 173, et seqq., to

APPENDIX.

742

Kanishka, and

to

arrive at

fancy

no one looking at the coins can well

If this is so, and he was reigning at

tliat

any other conclusion.

any time between a.d. 83 and 50, Kanishka certainly belongs to the
latter half of that century.

Against this

it

must be stated that both General Cunningham and

Professor Dow^son read an inscription of this king found at Takht-i-

Bahi, as dated in his twenty-sixth year

one

says in the lOSrd,^ the

other 100th,- of the same Samvat as the inscription of Kanishka

which would answer perfectly

an end

of the controversy

for the legend.

so indistinct, that I cannot see

is

so worn,

gentlemen find there, and others are equally unable to do so

besides this,

it

is

is

and the writing

in the photographs of it what these

but the stone

a date

If this is so, there

such a wrench to

and
numismatic evidence to place

all

the coins of Gondophares 100 years after those of Kanishka, that

we
must have more evidence than this imperfect inscription affords
before we adopt its epochal date.
The regnal date seems quite clear.
There is one other point of view from which this question may be
regarded, but which

is

it

It is the date of the

of.

third convocation, as the northern Buddhists call

cording to the southern.

auspices,

and

without going to

difficult to express clearly

a greater length than our limits will admit

was held

It

it

certainly

the

under

fourth, ac-

Kanishka's

At

cannot help fancying about the year 70 or 80 a.d.

Buddhism seems to have made a great

Burmah, and the East generally. It was about

that time, at least.

stride

Thibet, in

this time

that

it

was fabled to have been

time when

it

was

first

first

carried to Java,

introduced in China.^

and about the

It looks so

those outbursts of missionary zeal that followed

all

in

like

one of

the three previous

convocations, that I cannot help fancying that this one was held in
the latter half of the first century,

held

it

was allowed in

all

Nirvana, which, as far as

the

and that the era

of the

king who

Buddhist countries to supersede that of

can

see,

was the only one that had

existed previously in India.

To

argue this out fully would require more space than

ance for architectural purposes would justify

age of the Gandhara monasteries

is

in

but

its

its

import-

bearing on the

some respects considerable.

If

they are as modern as I suspect them to be, the more modern date for
Kanislika would accord better with the
date

up before the Christian

known

facts

than carrying his

era.

Proceeding onward, the next name we come to of any importance

Mahiracula,

is

'

'

who

is

said to have invaded

ArcLiGological Reports/ vol.

v.

p.

59.
^

'

Journal of the

lloyal Asiatic So-

Ceylon.

ciety,' vol. vii.

3

is,

how-

serj'g.
(N.S.) p. 37G,
Fa Hian,' lutroduc-

Beal'a'Lifc of

tiou, p. xx.

There

APPENDIX.
ever,

no trace

743

any such invasion at that time, which, by the appli-

of

cation of averages would be about 180 a.d.,

and 250
it

if

Kanishka ruled

if

before,

His date would be interesting

Era.

after, the Christian

if

could be ascertained from his connexion with Baladitya, the

king of Magadha, whose story Hiouen Thsang

in

tells

such minute

detail.^

The Aditya dynasty opens with a king who

a kinsman of Vicramaditya, and

who

great king of that name,

The

Eaja Tarangini,' and

in the history.

He was

said to have been

figures prominently in the next dynasty

as the patron of Matrigupta.

detail in the

is

evidently the grandfather of the

is

story of the latter

is

told in great

one of the most curious episodes

is

Kashmir four years before the death

sent to

Vicramaditya (550), and on hearing of his patron's decease,

of

re-

signed his viceroyalty, and retired to Benares, leaving the throne to

his successor, Pravarasena.

In speaking

Malwa, only twenty or twenty- five

of the dynasty of

Harsha, and only eighty for

years were allowed for the reign of Sri

the whole duration, from the

of the Guptas, 470, to the death of

fall

the great Vicramaditya, 550, a period,

the 'Raja Tarangini,'

kinsman

of the

vahana, the

first

first,

it

is

was,

seems from the evidence of

it

Pratapaditya, the

impossible to contract.

we

are told, the great-grandfather of

Mega-

king of the next dynasty, and then we have one more

king before we reach Hiranya, who

is

said to have been contemporary

siderable overlapping at

Of course there may have been conboth ends, and the lives of the Kashmiri kings

may have been

but as we have six intermediate kings in the

with the second Vicramaditya.

one

list

seems that the

if

short

between the two Vicramadityas, and only one in the other,

last

could hardly have ascended the

tlii'one

it

before 515,

so early.

One

of

Pravarasena was to invade Siladitya, the

the acts of

Ballabhi king of that

true,

name

ruling in Gujerat.

any dated coins or inscriptions belonging to

his next successor but one, Sri

Dharasena

II.,

that any date between 550 and 570 would

this war,

and the

establish

the correctness

first

We

have not,

Mm,

but we have of

593

{cuite,

it is

730), so

p.

answer perfectly well for

fact of its being so is in itself almost sufficient

of

the chronology

we

now

are

trying

to
to

explain.

Since I wrote last on the subject, a passage has been pointed out

me^

to

in R6musat's

Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques

'

(vol.

i.

p. 197),

which enables us to fix the cln'onology of the Naga dynasty witliin a year
or two for extreme deviation. It seems that the thii'd king, Chandrapira,
applied to the Chinese Emperor for assistance against the Ai*abs in

p.

'

Relations des Contrecs,' &c., vol.

190, et seqq.

i.

ham's

am
'

indebted for this to Cunuiug-

Geography

of India,' p. 91.

APPENDIX.

744

Emperor conferred the title of King on him in or

As he was on the throne only eight years and eight
months, there is no room for deviation in this date, and it carries with

713, and that the

about 720.

it

and

those of his predecessors

becomes clear that

It thus

followers.

was the king who was on the throne when Hiouen Thsang
resided in the valley, 631-633, and also when he passed near it on
Durlabha

his

I.

home

return

we

which

in 643, all

find in his text

and

the most important kings in the

list,

what

perfectly consonant with

is

one of

also fixes the date of Lalitaditya,

it

with almost absolute certainty,

as 725-762.

"Without placing implicit reliance on

all

that

said in the

is

Raja

Tarangini,' with regard to the exploits of this king, or of his having

overrun and conquered

Comorin,
to

that the

see

Siladitya

all

India, from beyond the Himalayas to

Cape

a sufficient residuum of fact must remain to enable us

still

troubles

which had begun in 650, on the death of

feet of any

Canouge, had laid India prostrate at the

of

daring adventurer.

From whatever

we approach

side

it,

we can hardly

fail to

perceive

that a great revolution took place in India about the year 750.

the old dynasties are then swept away, and for 200 years

All

we have

nothing but darkness, and when light again dawns, about two centuries
afterwards,

map

the

is

new

and

re-arranged,

dynasties

and new

religions have taken the place of the old.

This reign,
cipal

too,

division

Yasoverman

of

forms a most appropriate termination to the prinour architectural history.

of

The

coins of his rival,

Canouge, found in the great Tope

Manikyala,

at

prove the completion of that great Buddhist monument, just 1000

had been inaugurated by the great Asoka, and in

years after the style

all

that

is

important in Buddhist architecture

fact,

too,

of

his

that thousand years

included.

is

The

being the builder of the great

Naga temple at Marttand, the earliest, so far as I know, in Kashmir,

marks the commencement of a new architectural era, the fruits
of which we see when the curtain again rises.
The Jaina religion,
with its new style of temples, had entirely replaced Buddhist forms
over the greater part of India, and the Vaishnava and Saiva religions
reigned supreme everywhere

else,

in the forms in which

them, after the lapse of nearly another

however, there are no chronological

1000

difficulties

later dynasties, the discussion of the dates of

built

them has evidently no

Cunningham's

'

One

Ancient Geography

As,

with regard to these

the kings' reigns

who

Useful Tables of Indian Dynasties,

They were republished by Mr.
Thomas in his edition of Prinsep,' with
considerable additions and many imsep's

'

&c.'

of the most useful

for

find

place in this Appendix.2

of India,' p. 92.

published

we now

years' duration.

the use

of

manuals ever
students

'

of

Indian history and chronology was Prin-

provements by himself, but the edition

APPENDIX.

745

Era of Vicramaditya.
Before concluding this Appendix, I would like to be allowed to
explain an hypothesis which,

can be sustained, not only clears up

if it

what has hitherto been a great mystery, but gets rid

of rubbish which obscures the chronology of the period.

of a quantity
It does not,

however, alter any date, nor affect them further than,

confirms some, wliich,

if

it

prove groundless,

are

if

true,

deprived

it

of

its

support.

No

one has yet been able to point to the name of Vicramaditya as

belonging to any king in the grst century

to give

rise

origin of the era dating from 56 B.C., and

name

its

My

or to

B.C.,

an era being dated from

to

how

any event

likely

WJiat, then, was the

it.^

did

it

arise

and obtain

the mystery will be found in a

belief is that the solution of

passage in Albiruni, the meaning of which he did not profess to understand,

combined with two or three passages

The passage in Albiruni is

Saca, nommee par les Indiens

to

Vicramaditya de 135 ans.

est le

the

Sacakala,

Saca

contree

nommee
que

classe autre
etait

Soudra

placee

etait

celle

son

mer

Les Indiens

des (Kchatrias

occidentales.

despotisme,

de

?)

font

le

le territoire

qu'il
lui,

vint

leur

de
de

celle

?),

dans

la

dans une

naitre

quelques-uns pretendent qu'il

de Mansoura.

la ville

Golfe du Bengale).

(le

y en a meme
son origine

II

tirait

Les peuples eurent beaucoup a

jusqu'a ce

Vicramaditya marcha centre

sur

" L'ere

d'un prince qui a regne

qui disent qu'il n 'etait pas de race indienne, et qu'il

des regions

au centre de I'Empire (Muttra

Aryavartha.

et oriiginare

Raja Tarangini.'

'

posterieure

est

nom

sur les contrees situees entre I'lndus et la

Sa residence

in the

following effect

souffrir

du secours de

mit son armee en d^route,

de Korour, situe entre Moultan et

le

de

I'Orient.
et le

tua

Chateau de Louny.

Cette epoque devint celebre, a cause de la joie que les peuples res-

mort de Saca,

sentirent de la

chez

les

astronomes."

et

on

la choisit

pour

It seems impossible to apply this narrative to

ing in the

first

ere,

princxpalement

century

B.C.,

any events happen-

not to mention the inherent absurdity of

Vicramaditya establishing an era 56 B.C., and then 135 years afterwards defeating the Saka king on the banks of the Indus. If it

meant anything,

it

might point to the origin

of the

Saka

era,

not that

of Vicramaditya.

is

exhausted.

any
than

There could hardly be

better service done

if

for

the cause,

he or some one would republish

them in a separate form, so as to render

them generally available. It is a pity
Government has no funds available for

such a purpose, for I am afraid it would

hardly pay as a bookseller's speculation.
'
Journal of the Koyal Asiatic So'

ciety,' vol. iv.

2

iv.

(N.S.)

p. 131, et seqq.

Journal Asiatique,'

p. 282.

4me

se'ric,

torn,

APPENDIX.

746

Turning from

this to the

"Ayant
du

fait venir ensuite,

roi Yicramaditya,

d'un autre pays, Pratapaditya, parent

sacrerent souvcrain de I'Empire.

D'autres induits en erreur ont ecrit que ce Yicramaditya fut

*'

memo

qui combattit

Qakas

Pheureux

we have

" Dans

le

est rejetee."

le

meme temps the death

nom Harcha,

a Udjdjayini I'Empire de PInde sous un seul

comme moyen

la fortune

ainsi qu'encore

c'est

mais cette version

Employant

talents

Yicramaditya, appele d'un autre

comme empereur

reunit

parasol.
*'

les

further on

little

Hiranya

of

ils le

Raja Tarangini,' wc find the following

passages in Troyer's translation

d'utilite,

aujourd'hui

les

fleurir

fit

il

hommes de

trouvent la tete haute au milieu des riches.

" Ayant d'abord detruit les ^akas, il rendit leger

les

talent

se

fardeau

de

Poeuvre de Hari, qui doit descendre sur la terre pour exterminer

les

Mletchhas."

le

Before going further,

to be a fair inference

it

may be

as well to point out

what appears

That the

Yicramaditya,

from the above.

first

the friend of Pratapaditya, was so near in date to the second^

fact,

appears to have been his grandfather

he,

in

as to be confounded with

him, and to have the name of Sakari applied to him, which in fact
belonged to his grandson, the real destroyer of the Sakas.

My
event

conviction

is,

that these paragraphs refer to one and the same

and, assuming that the battle of Korur was fought 544

the

year before Yicramaditya sent Matrignpta to be his viceroy in Kash-

mir

what

I believe

happened was this

Some time

after 750,

when

the Hindus were remodelling their history and their institutions,

as

mark

to

their

victory

establishing two eras,

hists, A.D. 79,

and

which should be older than that of the Budd-

for this purpose instituted one, ten cycles of sixty

years each, before the battle of Korur, and called

hero

the

that

of

so

Buddhists, they determined on

the

over

the

battle,

most

it

by the name of

their

of

illustrious

history

the

other ten centuries, or 1000 years before the same date, and called

by the name of

his father, Sri

in conjunction with his

56

B.C.,

The

the

first

it

he himself often bore

title

consequently dated for

need hardly be added that no Sri

It

century

co-existence of these eras

Troyer's

B.C.,

any more than a Yicramaditya

translation

from

it

ii.

p.

is said,

the

may

be gathered from the following

translation

Tarangini,' vol.

arch

fifth

first.

passage in Albiruni

own name

the second from 456.

Harsha existed in the

in the

Harsha

43.

"A

Saccari

of

thongh sometimes erroneously

the 'Raja
In Wilson's

dillcrcnt

with that prince."

mon-

Yicramaditya,

vol. XV. p. 32.

'

Loc.

cit. p.

identified

Asiatic Researches,

70.

'


APPENDIX.
"

On

emploie orclinairemenfc

les eres

747

de Sri Harscha, de Vicrama" D'apres cela, en s'en

ditya, de Saca, de Ballabha, et des Gouptas."

tenant k I'an 400 de Fere de Yezderdjed, on se

1488 de

I'ere

Tan 953 de

I'an

I'an

I'ere

Gouptas (a.d.

des

sous Tannic

trouve

de Yicramaditya
1088 de
de
de Saca
712 de
de Ballabha,
1032)." Journal Asiatique,'

de Sri Harscha

I'ere

et

I'ere

series

'

iv.

celle

vol.

iv.

pp. 280, 286.

The Sri Harsha era, exactly 400 years before that of Yicramaditya,
was avowedly conventional, and seems never to have come into use,
and no further mention

is

made

of it afterwards.

view of the matter can be sustained, the advantage will be

If this

not only that the date of the battle of Korur, and of the expulsion of
the Sakas, Hunas, Yavanas, &c., from India will be fixed with mathe-

matical precision in 544, but that one of the greatest mysteries con-

nected with the history of the period will be cleared up, and the
revival of the

Hindu

on the other hand,

it

religion relegated to a

much

later

period.

can be shown that this view of the matter

If,

is

not

we shall lose these advantages, but it will require a great

more than that to prove that Yicramaditya, or any Hindu king,
Buddhism was then in its palmiest
reigned in the first century B.C.
Hindu religion then existing, and
trace
of
the
there
is
no
state, and
the expulsion of Sakas, Yavanas, and Hunas did not take place for

tenable,

deal

long afterwards.

Be

this

as it

may, having now cursorily run through the whole

chronology, in so far as

it

admits of controversy, I

feel

very confident,

none of the important dates quoted

above can be disturbed to a greater extent than say ten, or at the utmost

on a calm review

twenty years
epoch, 691

of the whole, that

except,

B.C., to

perhaps, that of Kanishka.

From

the death of Lalitaditya, a.d. 761,

all

the Anjana

seems

now

and fixed, and, with a very little industry, minor

blemishes might easily be swept away. If this were done, the chronology of mediaeval India for the Buddhist period might be considered
as fixed on a secure and immoveable basis of ascertained facts.
tolerably

clear

The advantages

of this being

improving

knowledge of India

things,

it

our

done can hardly be over-estimated for

about that country, which, for want of

so vague

generally,

would give a precision and soHdity to

and unsatisfactory.

it,

while,
all

among

other

our speculations

have hitherto been generally

..

APPENDIX.

748

APPENDIX
TfiE following are the

and

of

last

the twenty-four Buddhas, beginning

who appeared
whom Sakya Muni succeeds

with Dipankara
to

B.

and enlighten mankind,

Kalpa

to instruct

I.,

in the present

His Bo-tree the

22.

Kakusanda, born at Khemawatinagara.

23.

Kanagamma, born

24.

Kassyapn, born at Baranasi-nagara, Benares.

Sirisia (Sirisa accasia).

His Bo-tree the Udambara (Ficus

at Sobhawatinagara.

glomerata).

His Bo-tree the Nigrodha (Ficus

Indica).

Gautama, born G23

B.C.,

Kapilawasta.

at

His

Bo-tree

Pipphala

(Ficus

religiosaV

APPENDIX

C.

THE TWENTY-FOUR TIRTHANKARAS OF THE

Name.

Elephant

Ajitanatha

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

Sambhunatha
Abhainandanatha
Suniatinatha

....
....

Monkey
Chakwa (Red Goose)

Supadmanatlia
Suparswanatha
Chandiaprabba
Pushpadanta

Swastika

....
Moon
....

Crescent
Crocodile

Sitalanatha

Tree or Flower
Rhinuceros

Ansanatha
Vasupadya
Vimalanatha
Anantanatha
Sri

Buffalo

Santanetha

Kunthanatha
Aranatha

Neminatba
Parswa atha
Yardhamaua
Mahavira

'

From

Sindh
Champapuri.
.

Pinnacle

....
....

Tortoise
Lotus, with stalk
Shell

Ratanpuri
Hastinapura

Cbampapuii
Mt. Sikhar

)>

Mithil'a

Rajgriha
Mithila

Dwarika
Benares

>

Kumpatapuri
Ayodhya
.

>>

'>

9?

Mt. (^irnara
.

Mt. Sikhar

or

Chitrakot

to
Tumour's
where the names,

Introduction

Mahawanso,'

Kausambhi
Benares

Parisnath

>

Mallinatha
Muiiisuvrata
Nauiinatha

>,

....

Sawanta
Ayodhya

Gujerat
Mt.Sikhar,Chodri

Kakendrapur
Bhadalpur

....

Porcupine
Thunderbolt
Antelope

Ayodhya

Cliandripur

Dharmmanatha

Died.

'

EOBN.

Distinctive Sign.

Adinatha or Vrishabha

JAINS.

p. xxxiii.,

Pawapuri

places of birth, and Bo-trees of the whole

twenty-four are given.

INDEX.
AYODHYA.

ABHAYAGIRI.

Abhayagiki dagoba, 192.

Abu, Mount, aucient Juina temples on,
234.
Temple of Vimala Sah, 235
237.

Adinah mosque, Gaur,

547.

Afghanistan, topes at, 72. Caves, 107.

Agra, 572. The Taje Mehal, 596599.
Akbar's mosque, 602.
Ahmedabad, temple of Shet Huttising
at, 257.
Style and character of the
architecture, 527.

AiwuUi, old temple at, 218. Plan, 219.

View, 220.
Ajmir, temple at, 263. Mosque at, 510.
Plan, 512. Great arch, 512.
Ajunta, rock-cut Tee at, 64. Chaitya
cave, 122. View of interior, 123. Crosssection, 123.
Plan, 124. View of
fa9ade, 125.
Rock-cut dagoba, 126.
Caves at, 145, 146. Viharas, 153
159.
Akbar, architectural glories of, 574
586.

Alexander the Great,

pillars ascribed to,

56.

Allahabad, lat or pillar

at,

at, 53.

Palace

388405.
Architecture,
Civil
Dravidian, 880.
Northern, or Indo-Aryan, 470475.
Architecture, domestic, in China, 702
710.
Architecture, Dravidian. 319. Rock-cut
temples, 326339. Raths, 328330.
Kylas, 334. Temples, 340. Palaces,
:

381385.
Architecture in the Himalayas, 279.
Kashmiri temples, 283318.
Architecture, Indian Saracenic Ghazni,
494500. Pathan, 498. Delhi, 500,
510514. Later Pathan, 514519.
Jaunpore, 520 525. Gujerat, 52
539. Malwa, 540544. Bengal, 545
:

Altumsh, tomb of, 509.

Amara Deva, temple erected by,

C9.

Amber, palace at, 480.

Amoy, pailoo at, 702.
Amravati, tope at, 71, 72. Rail at, 93,
99101. Dagoba, 102.
Amritsur, golden temple at. 468.
Amwah, Jaina temple at, 250. View of
porch, 251.

Ananda, temple at, Pagan, 615.

Andher, topes at, 65.

Andra dynasty,

the, 20.

Anuradhapura, ancient capital of Ceylon,

188. The sacred Bo-tree, 189. Foundation and present state of the city, 188,
189.
Topes, dagobas, &c., 189195.
Great Brazen Monastery, 195. Pillars,

The Maha

vihara, 657.

Arch, objection of the Hindus to the,

210. Indian examples, 211. See Gateways.
Architecture, Buddhist, 44.
Stambhas,

Kalburgah, 553556. Bijapur,

Scinde, 567, 568. Mogul,
569.
Wooden, 608610.
Archite(-ture, Further Indian Burmah.
611620. Siam 631636. Java, 637
662. Cambodia, 663 G84.
Architecture, Indo-Aryan, or Northern,
406. Temples, 411436. Bralimanical
rock-cut temples, 437 447. Temples,
551.

557 5K7.

52 56.

Architecture, Jaina, 207. Arches, 210

212.
Domes and roofing, 212218.
Plans, 218221.
Sikras, 221225.
Northern: temples, 226 251. Towers,

252254.
260.

Modern: Temples, 255

Caves,

261, 262.
Converted
263.
Southern Indian:
colosoal statues, 267, 268.
Aryans, their migration into India, and
position among the Brahmans, 9
11.

mosques,

The dominant people

Asoka, Buddhist king, his connexion

with Indian architecture, 47, 52. His
missionaries into Ceylon, 199.
His
edicts at Girnar, 229.
His missionaries into Burmah, 612, see 61, 65.
Atala Musjid, the, 524.
Audience hall at Bijapur, 566.
Aurungabad, mosque at, 602.
Auruugzebe, 602.
His copy of Iho
Taje Mehal, 602.
His burial-place,
603.

Ava, modern temple

Avantipore, temples

184.

Ayodhya, 631.

6083.

Ceylon, 185206.

before the rise

of Buddhism, 48.

Stupas, 57 60. 'J'opes,

Rails,
84104.
Chaitya
halls, caves, 105
144.
Vihara caves,
144 168. Gandhara monasteries, 169
orlats,

^j

448464.

583.

196.

Temples

Architecture, Chalukyan, 386.

of pillar at, 292.

at,
at,

659, note.
291.
Fragment

750

INDEX.

AYUTHIA.

Ayuthia, ancient capital of Siam, ruins

of

pagoda

at,

architectural synonyms in
G18.
Ethuograpliical connexion, 630.
Badanii, in Dharwar, Jaina cave, 261.
BaViylonia,

Burmab,

Dravidian
at, 411.

and

ludo-Aryan temples

Contrast of

439-441.
Bagh, cave at,
at,

fetyle,

Cav(

411.

Plan and section, 444.

146.
Great vihara, 159.

Baillur, in Mysore, great temple at, 393.

Plan, 395. 'View of porch, 396. View
of pavilion, 397.
Bainn, Cambodia, temples at, 679 681.
Bukeng, Mount, ruined temple at, 682.

Bancorah, Hindu temple

at, 14.

Bangkok, Great Tower,

134.

Hall of

audience, 635.
Barabar, Behar caves at, 108.
Baroach, mosque at, 537.
Barrolli, temple at, 449.
View and
plan, 450.
Ornamented pillar, 451.

Bastian, Dr. Adolphe, Cambodian explorations of, 663.

Bayley, E. C, sculpture brought from

Jamalgiri by, 169.

Bedsa, Cbaitya cave, 112.

Plan and

capital of pillar, 113.

View on verandah, 114.
Behar caves, 108. Bengal, 138144.
Benares, view and diagram of temples
at, 412, 460,
View of balcony at the
observatory, 481.
Bengal, caves, 138. Its architecture and
local individuality of its style, 491,
545.
Type of the modern roof, 546.
Bettu temples, 267.
Bhaja, Cbaitya cave, plan, 110. Fa5ade,
111.
Bhaniyar, near Naoshera, temple at, 292.
View of court, 293.

85 91. Square and

cells, from a bas-relief at, 135.
Bound temple and part of palace, 168.
Bhatgaon, Devi Bhowani temple at, 304.
Doorway of Durbar, 307.
Bhilsa Topes, 6065.
Bhojpur, Topes at, 65.
Bhuvaneswar, great temple af, 420
plan, 421
view of, 422. Great Tower,
423.
Raj Rani temple at, 424 doorrail at,

way

Bijanagur, gateway, 211.

557

Bo-tree, the sacred,

it in Ceylon, 199.
656.

189.

its

architecture,

of

Buddha La Monastery,

Thibet, 312.

Bowlees or Reservoirs, use and architectural features of, 486.

Brahma, numerous images

of, in

Cambo-

dia, 680.

Brahmaui^m,

323.

of temples at,

651.

Brazen Monastery, Anuradl.apura, 195.

Buchropully, 388. View of temple, 389.

Buddh Gaya,

stupa, 69, 70. Temple, 70.

Rail, 85.
Bas-relief from, 111.
The
Sa^'red Tree, 199.
Buddha, period of his biith, 14. Apportionment of his remains, 57 59.
Relic of, at Bintenne, 58. Colossal
statue of, 200, note.
His tooth, its
sanctity, shrines, migrations, .'"i8, 59,
161.
Relics ot, at Ranguu, 622.
Buddhism, its founder, 15. Secret of
his success, 16.
Buddhist architecture, earliest traceable
date, 48
50.
Religion dominated by
it, 49.
Classification, 50.
Temple in
China, 691. Monastery at Pekin, 693.
St 3 Architecture.
Bunds, or Dams, 486, 487.

Buribun, sculptures

at, 682, note.

Burmah, architecture

in, 611.
Thatun,
Prome, 613. Pagan, 614. Circular dagobas, 619 626. Monasteries,
626630. Non-use of mortar, 660.
Butwa, tomb at, 536.

612.

Cabul, topes near, 72.

Cambay, Jumma Musjid at, 537.

Cambodia, M. Mouhot's researclies in,
663. Labours of Dr. Bastian, 663 of
Mr.
Thomson, 661
of
Captains
Doudart de la Gree and Delaporte,
;

Traditions, original immigrants,

664.
history, 665, 666.
Temple of Nakhon

Wat, 666. Temple of Baion, 679 of

Ongcor Thorn, 680
other temples,
681.
Civil architecture, 682.
Remarkable evidences of mechanical
skill and civilization, 684.
Canara, stambhas at, 263.
;

at, 263.

Mosque

at, 525.

558.

Jumma Musjid at, 559. Seetions,

560. Tomb of Ibrahim, 561. Of Mahmud, 562. Ancient Hall, 566.
Bimeran, Tope at, 78.
Bindrabnn, 462. Plan of temple at, 463.
View, 464. Balcony in temple, 465.
Bintenne, relic of Buddha at, 58.

Bombay, number

Branch

At Buddh Gaya,

Canouge, Jaina temple

in, 425.

Bijiipur,

of central entrance

stairs, 649.

Brambanam, Ja\ a, group

Plan, 160.

Bharhut,
oblong

View

domes, 646.

and

G32, G33.

CAVES.

of caves at, 107.

Booudi, palace at, 476.
Boro Buddor, Java, 643. Plan, elevation, and section, 645.
Sections of

Canton, pailoo near, 700.

Canton

river, "

Second Bar Pagoda " on

the, 696.

Capitals and columns, Tirhoot and Sankissa, 54.

Jamalgiri, 173, 176.
Caves, 106.
Geographical distribution
of, 107.
Ajunta, 122, 127, 153. Ba-

dami, 439. Bagh, 146, 159. Barabar,

108. Bedsa, 112. Behar, 108. Bengal,
Dhumuar,
138144.
Bhaja, 110.
131.
116.

Ellora, 127.

Junir, 166.

Kenheri, 129.

Kholvi,

Karli,
132.


INDEX.

CENOTAPHS.

Mode

Satapanni, 108.
Salsette, IGl.
of ornamentation, 133.
Cenotaphs, 470 475.

Ceylon

Buddhist

relics in, 58.

185

cient architecture,
Anuradl'.apura.

206.

Its an-

See

Chaitya Halls Buddhist temples, 105.

Examples, 109132. See Caves.
Chalukyans, the, 386. Early identity of
the Jains with the, 387. Peculiarity
:

of their style, 387.

See Architecture.

Chandragupta, the Sandrocottus of the

Greeks, 17.
Chandravati, pillars at, 238. Temple or
porch, 448. Plan, 449.
Cheras, territory occupied by the, 322.
Chillambaram, temple at, 350. Plan,
Section of
351. Porch of hall, 353.
porch, 353. View of ruined temple,
or pagoda, 354.
China, deficiency of information, 685.
Point of divergence between its people
and the Egyptians, 686. Causes of
the absence of certain clashes of buildings,

686688.

Pagodas

Temple

of

the Great Dragon, 689.

Buddhist
temples, 691. Taas, or towers. 695.

Tombs, 698. Pailoos, 700. Domestic

architecture, 702
710.
Chittore, diagram of Meera Baie's temple
Temple of Vriji, 459. Palace
at, 458.
of Bhim and Pudmaucli, 476.

Chola, region forming the kingdom

of,

322.
Clioultrie,

Tirumulla Nayak's, 361.

Cenotaphs, 470.
Civil Architecture, 470. Cambodia, 682.
China, 702.
Cole, Lieut., explorations in Kashmir,
280.
Colombo, Hindu temple at, 332.
Combaconum, 367.
Gopura or gate
pyramid at, 368.
Confucius, temples of, 689.
Conjeveram, temples and hall, 369.
Court, M., Topes opened by, 79.
Cowie, Rev. A., Kashmirian explorations
of, 280.
Crystal Palace, Sydenham, Gill's copies
of Indian frescoes, 158, note.
Sculptures, 169.
Cliuttries, or

Cunningham, Gen., Eastern Archaeological explorations

Cuttiick, caves at,

of,

1,

et seqq.

140, 143.
Ninestoreyed i)alace, 433. Hindu bridge
at, 434.

Dagobas

Amravati, 102. Rock-cut, at

Ajunta, 126. Anuradhapnra, 190
:

Circular,of Burmah, 619. Kong

619. Shoemadu, 621. Ranguii,
623.
Men gun, 624626.
Dams, or bunds, 486487.
Darunta, Jelalabad, topes at, 77.
Das Avatar, Buddhist vihara, EUora, 165.
Dasyus, the slave people, 12. Their
196.

751

GATE.

Decg, garden palace of, 481. Hall, 482.

Yiew from the Central Pavilion, 483.
Deepdans, or lamp pillars in the East,
336, 337.

Dehrwarra vihara, Ellora, plan of 163.

Delai Lama, worsliip paid to him, 312.
Delaporte, Captain, explorations in Cambodia, 664.
Delhi, Lat at. 52. Jaina Temple, 259.
Jumma
Palace, 591.
Plan, 592.

Musjid, 601.
Delhi, Old, section, arches, and minar of
the Kutub, 503509.
Iron pillar,
Interior of t-.mb, 509.
507.
Yiew of
tomb, 516. Pendentive from mosque,
519.
Deriah Doulut, the pavilion of, at
Seringapatam, 604.
Dhar, mosque at, 540.
Dharwar, deepdans in, 337. Braiimanical rock-cut temples, 437.
Dhumnar, caves at, 131, 162.
Dhumnar Lt na, Ellora, Rock-cut temple
at, 445.
Plan, 446.
Disfgu Hublum, unfinished Mantapa at,
378.
Dimapur, monoliths at, 309.
Djeiug Plateau, Java, group of small

temples

at, 659.
Tal, or Dookya Ghur, Ellora, a
Budilhist vihara, 165.
Dolka, mosque at, 537.
Domes : Hindu, 212. Indian Snracenic,
560.
Constructive diagram, 565
Boro Buddor, 6i6.
Domestic architecture, Chinese, 702.
Doorways: Nepal, 305. Hammoncondah, 390. Bhuvantswar, 425.
Doudart de la Gre'e, Captain, explorations in Cambodia, 664.
Draviiiian style, 319. Its extent, 319.
Historical notice, 320. Religious, 323.
See Architecture.
Dra vidians, the, 11.
Durbar, Bhatgaon, doorway of, 307.
Duttiah, palace at, 477.

Do

Elaala, so-called tomb of, ] 89.

Ellora, caves at, 127.
Alharas, 163,
Indra Subha Cave, 262. Kylas at:,
331 337.
Dhumnar Lena Cave,
445.

Erun,

lats at, 55.

Fa9ade3

Pillar, 317.

Behar, 109,

111.

Burmah,

627.

Feroze Shah, lat rebuil t by, 52.

Futtehjiore Sikri, 578. Carved pillars
in, 579.
Mosque at, 580. Southern

gateway, 581.

Madu,

architecture, 13.

Gal Yihara

sculptures,

200.

Ganesa

Cave, Cuttack, 140. Pillar in, 140.

Gandhaia Topes, 72 76. Monasteries,

169184.
Ganges, the, and its ghats, 484.
Gate-pyramid at Combaconum, 368.


INDEX.

GATEWAYS.

752

Gateways

Sauolii, 96.
or Torans, 95.
Bijanagur, 211. Jaun pore, 522. Gaur,

550.
693.

Pekiii,

Futtelipore Sikri, 581.

Indo-Aryau or Northern style, 406.

Keasons for the term, 406. See Architecture.

Iron pillar at Kutub, 507.

Gaudapaleu, temple at, Pagan, 617.

Gaur, peculiar form of roof in, 545,
516. Mosques, 547 their defects, 549.
Ancient Miliar, 550. Gateways, 550.
Gautamiputra Cave, Nassick, rail at, 94.
;

Pillar in, 150.

Ghats, or landing-places, 484. Ghoosla,

Beuares, 485.
Ghazni, buildings of Mahmu and his
Minar at, 495. Ornanobles, 494.
ments from the tomb of Mahmiid at,
1

496.

Ghoosla Ghat,

the, Benares, 485.

Gill, Major, Oriental

note.

Hammoncondah,
of, 389.
View

temple

Metropolitan

of,

at

Bijapur,

559.

Imambara,

the, at

See Architecture.
Byturni, pillar at, 432.
Jamalgiri, plan of monastery at, 17 J.
Corinthian cajjitals from, 173.
its style,

208.

Jajepur on

Jarasandha

tlie

Ka

Baithak tope,

68.

Jaunpore, style adopted at, 520. Plan

and view of the Jumma Musjid, 522.
The Lall Durwaza INIosque, 523. The
Atala Musjid, 524. Tombs and shrines,
Its history, 640.
Boro Bud643650. Mendoet, 650. Brambauam, 651. Tree and Serpent temples,
653 659. Djeing plateau, 659. Suku,

Java,

6:-7.

dor,

of great doorway, 390.

Himalayas, the, architecture in, 279.
Hindu temple at Bancorah, 1
Hiouen Thsang at Amravati, 103; at
Assam, 310.
Honan, China, Buddhist temple at, 691.
HuHabid, in Mysore, temple at, 397.
The Kait Iswara, 398. Plan, 399.
Restored view of the temple, 400. Its
varied design, 401. View of central
Succession of animal
pavilion, 402.
friezes, 403.
Humayun Shah, tomb of, at Old Delhi,
575.

Ibrahim Shah, Mosque

Jaina Architecture, 207. Identical with

Buddhist, 207. Region dominated by

525.

drawings by. 158,

Girnar, the Hill of, shrine of the Jains,

Temple of Neminatha, 230.
228.
Gopal Gunge, temple at, 467.
Gopura at Combaconum, 368.
Gualior, temple at, 244. Teli ka Mandir
temple, 452. View, 453. Temple of
Scindiah'a mother, 461. View, 462.
Palace, 479. Tomb of Mahommad
Ghaus, 576. View, 577.
Gujerat, 526. Historical account, 526,
527.
Gurusankerry, pavilion at, 274. Stimbhn, 276.
Gyraspore, temple at, 249.

Lucknow,

605.

Immigrations, 25.
India, Northern, inducements
study of its architecture,
history,

KENHERI.

660.

Jehangir, desecration of his tomb, 587.

Jelalabad topes, 77, 79.
Jinjuwarra, gateway, 211.
Juganat, temple of, 430. Tower, 431.
Jumma Musjid, Jaunpore, 521. Section
and view, 522.
Ahmedabad, 527.

Plan and elevation, 528.

Malwa,

541.

Plan, 542. Courtyard, 543.

Juiiaghur, tomb of the late Nawab of,606.
Junir, caves at, 167. Plan and section
of circular, 167.

Kait Iswara, temple at Hullabid, 397.

View, 398.
Kakusanda, one of the Buddhas, discovery of a relic of, 622.
Kalbnrgah, 552. Mosque, 553. Plan,
554.
Half elevation and view, 555.
Kaliian, in Bombay harbour, Ambernatli
temple, 457.

Kanaruc, Orissa, Black Pagoda at, 221.

Restored elevation, 22'Z.
Diagram,
plan and section, 223. History, 426.
Kangra, 314. See Kote.
Kantonuggur, 465. View, 467.

Kanwa

dynasty, 19.

Karkala, colossal statue at, 268.

Karli, cave at, 55, 116.
Section and
plan, 117.
View of exterior, 118.
Lion-pillar,
View of interior, 120.
121.
Chopar Cave, 108.
Kasachiel, temple of Bouddhama at,
302.
Kashmir, its architecture, 279. Writers
thereon, 280. Peculiar form of temples
and pillars, 283. Starting-point of its
Temple of
architectural history, 285.

Kama
to
4.

the
Its

629.

India, Southern, unsatisfactory records,

29.
Mythology, 35.
Sculptures, 32.
Statistics, 42.

India, Western, its architecture, 437

447.
India, Central and Northern, 448.
India, Further, 611684.
Indian Saracenic style, 489. Divisions
of styles and their boundaries, 491
493. See Architecture.

Marttand, 285291. Other examples,

The ' Raja Taraugini,' or

native history, 297.
Kasyapa, one of the Buddhas, discovery
of a relic of, 622.
Kenheri Cave, the Great, near Bombay,
129.
View of rail iu front, 130.
292297.

INDEX.

KESERIAH.

Keseriah, Tirhoot, capital of, lat at, 71.

Kliajuiaho, temples at, 245 248, 452.
Kaudarya IMaliadeo, temple at, 454.
View, 455. Plan, 456.
Kholvi, caves at, 1H2, 162.

Kioums, Burmese, 628.

Kiragrama, 314. See Kote Kangra.
Kirti Stamblia at Woraugul, 392.
Kona gamma, one of the Baddba^, relic
of,

622.

K')ndooty, near

Bombav, chaitya

cave,

108, note.

Kong Madii Dagoba,

details of the, 619.

Koisthakar, or Kepalese temple, 303.

Kote Kangrii, temples, 313. View
temple at Kiragrama, ne ir, 314.

Kumululu, rock-c-nt temple at. 33'.).

Kutub, the. Old Delhi, 503. Section of
at,

Central ran>re of
Minar, 505, 506. Iron
503.

arches, 504.
pillar at, 507.
at Ellora,
443.

Kvlas

Central cell of court, 288.

Niche with Naga

290.

Pillar in,

312.
Lats, or Buddhist in.-cription-pillars, 52.
53, 54.

Lomas

Kishi. Behar cave, 108.

and pUin, 109.
Lucknow, the Imambara at, 605.

FaQade

Maurya dynasty,

drawing.s by, 638.

625.

Milkmaid s Cave, Behar,

and minarets

Minars

Chakri,

Cabul,

378, note.

presidency

of,

hill of Tripetty

Prevailing style in the

385.

Madura, Perumal pagoda at, 331. Plan

of Tirumulla Nayak's c-houltrie, 361.
Pillar in, 361. View of the hall, 363.
Great temple, 364. The Jumbukes\vara temple, 365.
vihara, the, Anuradhapura, 657.
Mahavellipore, raths of, 134, 175, 326,
330.
Pavilion at, 274. Tiger cave at
Saluvan Kuppan, 333.
Mahawunso, or Buddhist history of
Ceylon, accounts of Oriental structures
in the, 58, 185, 189, 195, 196, 612.
Maheswar, ghat at, 485.
Malimud
Begurra, tomb of, near Kaira, 538.
Mahmud of GhMzni, temple of Soumath
destroyed by, 494.

Maha

Mahoniedanism,

migration into, and

dealings with the architecture of Imlia,

380, 526, 527.

Malwa, 540. See Mandii.
IMandale, monastery at, 629.
Mandu, capital of Malwa. 540.
The
Junima Mu>jid, 541. Palace, 543.

Manikyala

topes, 79

83.

Eelic casket,

109.
:

56.

Surkh

and

Ghazni,

495.

Kutub, 505. Gaur, 550.

Mirzapore, Queen's mosque at, 529.
M'lggalana, relic casket of, 62.
Originality of
of Sh^re
Shah, 572.
Akbar, 574586.
Jehangir, 587589. Shah Jehan, 589.
architecture, 569.

the buildings,

5')9.

Works

Aurungzebe, 602 604.

Oude and
Mysore, 604607.
Mohammad Ghaus, tomb of, at Gualior,
576.
Virw, 577.
Monasteries, or viharas, 133. Gandhara,
169.
Burmese, 62'> 630. Thibetan,
312.
Pekin, 693.
Monoliths at Dimai^ur, 309.
Moodbidri, Jaina temple at, 271, 272.

Tomb

of priests, 275.
of, 532.
660.
Agra, 596.
Adinah, 549.
Mosques
Ahmedabad, 527. Ajmir, 511. BaCambay,
Bijapur, 559.
roach, 537.
Delhi, 601.
537.
Canouge, 525.
Dhar, 540. Dolka. 537. Futtehporo,
581.
Gaur, 547. Kala Musjid, 518.
Kalburgah, 553. Kashmir, 609. Kutub Minar (Old Delhi), 501. JaunMandu, 543. Mirzapwre,
pore, 521.
Su-kej,
529.
Moohafiz K]ian, 532.
531.
Mosques, converted, 263, 264.
Mouhot, M., researches in Cambodia,

Moohafiz Khan, mosque

Mortar, non-users

of,

663.

Muktagiii, Jaina temples at, 240.

INlukteswara, Orissa, temple of, 419.
Miilot in the Salt Range, temple at, 296.
Muti Musjid, the, or pearl mosque, 599.
A^iew in courtyard, 600.
INIuttra, rail at, 91.

IMysore, 392, 604.

Mythology of the Hindus,

of,

285.

PJan 286.

3542.

Nagas, or Snake worshippers, 10. Headquarters, 297. See Kashmir, Cambodia,

Nakhon Wat, Ongcor Thorn.

Nahapana vihara, Nassick, 149.

Pillar

in, 150.

Xakhon Thorn

80.

Marttand, temple

derived

information

Madras, temple on the

at,

17.

Mechanical skill of the Cambodians, 684.

Mehturi Melial, "the Gate of the
Sweeper," 567.
Mendoet, Java, temple at, 650.
Mengun, circular pagoda at, 624. View,

Pillar, 273.

Macao, temple at, 694.

Mackenzie, Col., Indian researches and

figure,

Soffit of arch, 291.

Masson, Mr., ex})loration of the Jelalabad

topes by, 77 79.
Matjanpontih, serpent-temple at, 659.

Mogul
334337.

Lahore, Jehangir's buildings at, .'^87.

Lall Durwaza Mosque, Jaunpore, 523.
L:issa, monastery of Bouddha La at,

Examples,

View, 287.

Mr. A.,
from, 689, note.

of

753

Date, 289.

Michie,

View, 620.

colonnade

NAKHON.

(the Great City),

bodia, 666.
?.

Cam-

INDEX.

NAKHOX.

754

Nakhou Wat (Cambodian

temple),

its

grand dimensions, 667.

Plan, 6G8.
Uncemcnted masonry, 669. Elevation,
Corridors, 67i, 672.
General
670.
view, 675. Pillars, 676, 677. Multiplicity of snake-seulptures, 677.
Nankau Pass, archway in, near the
Great Wall, China, 709.
Nankin, porcelain tower at, 695.
Na^sifk, cliaitya cave at, 115.
Nat-mandir, or dancing-hall at Bhuva-

neswar, 423.

Neminatha, Gimar, temple

of, 2.30.

Nepal, 298. Its architecture, 299. History, 300

302.
Stupas or chaityas,
Kosthakar, 303. Temples, 304
302.

318.
Nigope Behar

RELIC.

Hullabid, 403.
Pekin, 705.
Payech, Kashmiri temple
385.

of monastery, 698.
mer palace, 705.

Pagan, ruins of, 614. Ananda temple,

Thapinya, plan, 615. Section,
615.
616. Temple of Gaudapalen and Sem
Byo Koo, 617.
Pagodas, Hindu, 221, 344. Burmese,
619626. Siamese, 632. Chinese, 697.
Pailoos, or " Triumphal Gateways " of

Sah, 237.
Pendentive from mosque at Old Delhi,
519.
Bijapur, 564.
Peroor, near Coimbatore, date of porch,
Compound pillar at, 372.
370.

Near Canton,

701.

196.
140.
317.

Cut'lack,
Chandi-avati, 238.
Delhi, 507. EUora, 443. Erun,

Futtehpore Sikri, 579.

miputra,

lr>0.

Jajepur,

432.

GautaKash-

mir, 283.
Madum, 361. Moodbidri,
Peroor, 372.
273.
Nahapaua, 150.
Srinagar, 284. Vellore, 372. Yadnya
Sri, 152.
221.
Pittadkul, plan of temple at,
Temple of Papanatha at, ^37. View,
438.
Pollouarua, Ceylon, 199. Extent and
epoch of its temples, 200. Examples,

201203.
Poonah, Saiva temple near. 447.
Porches: Anwah, 251. Chillambaram,
351.

Delhi, 259.

Jaina, 216.

Prome, early capital of Burmah, 613.

Provincial building, Gujerat, 537 539.
Purl, 428.
Plan of Juganat, temple at,

430.

View

of tower, 431.

Purudkul, or Pittadkul, great temple

of,

338.

Palaces, 475. Allahabad, 583. Amber,

480. Chittore,476. Deeg,481. Delhi,
Duttiah, 477.
591.
Gualior, 479.

Ourtcha, 478. Pekin, 705.

Palitana, the Sacred Hill of Sutrunjya,
near, 227.
Panataram, three-storeyed temple at, 654.
"View, 655.
Serpent temple, 658.

Pandrethan, temple at, 294.

Pandyas, the, 321.
Parasurameswara, Orissa, temple

of,

418.

Mahadeo and Krishna,

Paten ta Prohm, Cambodia, character of

the buildings of, 667. Temple, 681.
Pathau style, 498513. Later Pathan,
514519.
Pathans, the, 498. Historical summary,
498.
Their architectural glories and
career, 499. Examples, 503519. See
Delhi.

Pavilions: Ceylon, 167.

Bailiiir,

397.

Queen's mosque, Mirzapore, 529.

Stamford, 638.
Bharhut, 86.
Amravati, 93.
Buddh Gaya, 85. Dhumnar, 131.
130.
Kenheri,
Gautamiputra, 91.
Kholvi, 132. Muttra, 91. Sanchi, 92.
Eaja Tarangini,' the, or native History of Kashmir, 289, 297.
Rajputana, bund of, 486.
Rajsamundrii, bund of Lake, 487.
Ramisseram, great temple at, 355. Plan,

Ktiffles, Sir

Bails:

'

306.

274.

331.

Ajunta, 156. Amravati, 101.

Avantipore, 293. Barrolli, 451. Ceylon,

702.

Parisnath, 239.
Patau, temple of

Tombs, 700. SumWinter palace, 707.

Pemiongchi, Nepal, porch of temple at,

313.
View, 314.
Pendants to domes, 216.
At Vimala

Pillars

public buildings, 682.

Orissa, fragment of a column from a
temple in, 317. History, 415. Architecture, 417. Earliest authentic building, 417.
Temples, 418420.
Ornament, honeysuckle, at Allahabad,
From the tomb of Mahniud at
53.
Ghazni, 496.
Oudeypore, cenotaph of Singram Sing,
In Maha Sati at, 473.
471.
Ourtcha, Bundelcund, palace at, 478.

View,

Pegu, Shoemadu pagoda at, 620.

Pekin, temple of Confucius, 689. Temple
of the Great Dragon, 689.
Gateway

Ongcor Thorn, temple of, 679. Tower

and sculptured masks, and tradition
relating thereto, 680.
Palaces and

At Amoy,

at, 294.

632.

295.

Perumal pagoda, Madura,

cave, 108.

the Chinese, 700.

Sirkej,

Gurusankerry,
Vijayauagar,

356.
358.

Corridors,
Its dimensions, 357.
of central corridor, 358.

View

Bangun, the
622.

Shoedagong pagoda

at,

View, 623.

Rani Gumpha cave, the,

Rath at Mahavellipore,

140.

134, 175, 326,

328.

Relic worship, Buddhist, origin of, 57.

Distribution and depositaries of the
Discorelics, 58, 59, 66, 189, 195.
veries of, 622.

INDEX.

RESERVOIRS.

TEMPLES.
Bundelcund, Jaina

Reservoirs!, or bowlees, scope for archi-

Sonaghur,

tectural display in, 48G.

Roads and bridges of the
683.

256.
Souari topes, 64.

Cambodians,

191.

Khumbo

Rana's temple at, 240.

External view, beauty of

View, 241.

details, &c., 242.

tomb

Saftar Jung,
604.

of,

near the Kutub,

Result of his appeal

mortification, 15.

countrymen, 16.
Salsette, Durbar cave at, 147.

Kenheri

caves, 161.

Saluvan Kuppan Tiger Cave, 333,

Sanchi, great tope, 61, 63. View, plan,
section, and details, 63.
Rails at,
Gateways, 9597.
Small
92, 93.
tope, 98.
Torans, 99. Chaitya hall,
105.
Sankissa, capital of a lat at, 54.
Sariputra, relic-casket of, 62.
Sarnath, tope

at,

6568.

Vihara, 173.

Satapanni cave, 108.

Satdhara topes, 64.
Sat Ghurba cave, 108.
Scinde, tombs in, 567.
In the Gandhara
Sculptures, 32 35.

Allat, tower of,

at

Chittore,

251.

View, 252.
Srinagar, Kashmir, pillar at, 284.
Srinugger, Jumma Musjid at, 608. Shah
Hamadan Mosque, 608. View, 609.
Stambhas. 52. At Gurusankerry, 276.
They illustrate the rise and progress
of Indian architecture, 277. See Lats.
Statues Seperawa, 200. Sravana Belgula, 267.
Karkala, 268.
Yannur,

Secundra, Akljar's tomb

Diagram

268.

Stephen's, Walbrook, resemblance to

plans, 218.
Stupas, or Topes, 57. See Topes.
Stupas, or Chaityas, Nepal, 302.
Sudama, or Nigope Cave, 108.
Suku, Java, group of temples, 660.
Their likeness to contemporary edifices
ia Yucatan and Mexico, 661.
St.

Sultangunge, near Monghyr, vihara

at, 583.

section,

585.

Plan,

View,

at,

137.

Sultanpore, tope at, 78.

found in the tope, 126.

Small model

Sunga dynasty, 19.

Surkh Minar, Cabul, 56.
Swayambunath, Nepal, temple,

302.

Taas of the Chinese, 695.

Taje Mehal, the, 595.

View, 596. Plan

597.
Details, inlay ings
of precious stones, &c., 598.
Takht-i-Bahi, plan of monastery at, 171.

and

monasteries, 176, 177.

section,

Takt-i-Suleiman, Kashmir, Hindu temple

Seringham, pillared hall

at,

347.

View

of temple, 319.
Serpent temples, 653.
Serpent-worship, 266.
Shah Dehri, plan of Ionic monastery at,
Ionic pillar, 176.
176.

Shah Hamadan, mosque

of,

Srinugger,

608.

Shah Jehan,

Sri

Hindu

liis

584.
586.

Soubramanya, temple at Tanjore, 345.

Sravana Belgula, colossal statue at, 267.
Bastis, 269.
View, 270.

Sakya Muni, founder of Buddhism, 15.

His early life and subsequent selfto

temple

at,

Rock-cut temples, 437447.

Roofing, diagrams, 213 215. Modern
curved style, 546. Chinese, 703.
Ruanwelli dagoba, Anuradhapura, 190,

Sadri,

755

589.

Taje Mehal, 595.

Palace at Delhi, 591.

The Muti Musjid,

599.

Shepree, near Gualior, Pathan tomb

at,

515.
Sliere Shah, works of, 572.
Tomb, 573.
Slioediigong Pagoda at Rangun, 622.j

Shoemadu, Pegu, the Great Pagoda at,

620.
View and plan, 621.
Siain, eaily and present capitals?, 631.
Ayuthia, 632. Bangkok', 634.
SiUras, or Vimanas, 221225.
Sirkej, tombs and mosque at, 531.

at, 343.
of Great Pagoda, 344.
Temple
Soubramanya, 345.
Tarputry, temples at, 375. Views of
gopurii, 376, 377.
Tassiding, doorway of Nepalese temple
at, 313.
Tatta, tomb of Nawab Amir Khan noar
568.
Teen Tal, a Buddhist vihara, at EUora,
165.
Tees in rock-cut temples, 64. At Ajunta,

View

of

61.

Tejpala atid Vustupala, triple temple

Girnar, 232.

Temples: Abu, 234.

Aiwulli, 218.
468.

Pa-

vilion, 532.

Sisuuaga dynasty,

at, 282.

Tanjore, diagram plan of pagoda

14.

Siva, serpent of, 41, note.

Snake sculptures, 676, 677.
Somnath, Girnar, trmple, 232.
Somnathpur in Mysore, temple at, 393.
View, 394.

Amwah,

Ahmednbad,

at,

257.

Ajmir,263. Amritsur,
250.
Avantipore, 292.

Badami, 411. Bailiur, 393. Bakeng

(Mount), 682.
Bancorah, 14. Barrolli, 449.
Benares, 412, 459. Blianghur, 250. Bhaniyar, 292. Bharput,
168.
Bhatgaon, 304. Bhuvaneswar,
418.
Bindrabun, 464.
Boro Buddor,
643.
Brarabanam,651. BuchropuUy,
389.
Cambodia, 666. Canouge, 263.
Chandra vati, 448. Chillambaram, 350.


TENNENT.

756

INDEX.

Cliittorc, 459.
689, 094.
832.
Combaeouum, 367.
Djeing Plateau, 059.
259.
Gaudapalen, 017. Gimar, 230. GnaGyrasporo, 249.
lior, 244, 453, 402.
Hiimmoticondah, 390. Hullabid, 397.
Java, 050. Kanaruc, 420. Kautouuggur, 407. Khninraho, 245, 455. KiraMnrttand,
gram:i, 310. Maduia, 3.59.
285.
Meudoet, 050. Moodbidri, 271.
Mulot, 297. Nepal, 302. Pagau, 015.
Pandri than, 294. Pat;in, 300. Payech,
Pittadkul,
Peniiongchi, 314.
295.
221,438. Poouah, 440. Puii (Juganat),
Ram'sseiara, 355. Sadri, 240.
431.
Seringliam, 347. Sonaghur, 250. Somnatlipur, 394.
Siavana Belgula, 270.
Suku, GOO. Tanjore, 344. Tassiding,
Tiruvalur,
Tiunevelly, 300.
313.
Vellore, 371.
Udaipiir, 457.
340.
Vijayanagar, 375.
Tcnnent, Sir Emerson, works on Ceylon
by, 185, 200.
Thapinya, temple of, at Pagan, 615.
Section, 616.
Thatun, pagoda at, 613.
Thibet, exclusion of travellers, number
and character of its monasteries, 311.

Cliincse,

Colombo,

Delhi,

The Delai Lama, and the worship

paid to h'm, 312.

See Nepal.

Thomson, Mr. J., his photographs of the

Great Temple of Nakhon Wat, 671,
672, 675677.

Thuparamaya

Tope,

Buddhist

relic-

shrine, 192.
Tiger-cave at Cuttack, 143. At SaUivan
Kuppan, 333.
Tmnevelly, temple at, 366. Dimensions,
details, &c., 367.
Tirhoot, lats, or inscribed pillars at, 53.
Capital, 54.
Tirthankars, Jaina Saints, 208, 331.
Tirumulla Nnyak's clioultrie, 301. Di-

mensions,

and ornamentation,

View, 303.

302.

Tombs

cofct,

of

Buddha,

its sanctity,

shrines,

migrations, &c., 58, 59, 161.

Topes or stupus of the Budd] lists, their
form and purpose, 58. Bhilsa group,
E.Kample at Sanchi, 63. Invari61.
able accompaniments to these htructures, 64.
68.
09.

Gandl

72.

ara,

7270.

Jtlala-

bad group, 77. Bimeran, 78. Sultanpore, 78.

Manikyala, 79 83.
Torans, 95. See Gateways.

Towers Bangkok, 653. Chittore, 253.

Nankin, 095. Ongcor Thorn, 080.
Tree and Serpent temples, 053.
:

Tree- worship, 200.

Trisul emblem at Amravati, 104.

Tung Chow

p.igoda, 097.

Udaipur, temple at, 450. View, 457.

Udayagiri, Cuttaek, caves at, 138.
Ujjain dynasty, 22.

tomb of Rajah Baktawar

Umbrella ornaments on topes,

Illwar,
12.5,

at,

474.

04, 80,

120.

Vellore, near Coimbatore, 370.

View of
portico of temple, 371.
Compound
pillar, 372.
Ventura, General, topes opened by, 79,
81.

Victory,

Tower

of,

at Chittore, 253.

Vigne's travels in Kashmir, 280.

Viharas, or monasteries, 133. Diagram,
Sultangunge,
Nalanda, 136.
134.
Sarnath, 137.
137.
Nassick, 147151.
Viharai', 144147.
Bagh, 159, 160.
Ajunta, 153159.
Eilora, 103.
Vijiiyanagar, 373.

Mahomedans,

of Vitoba at, 375.

Palace, 385.
384.

Vimala Sah, temple

by the
View of temple
Garden pavilion,

Destroyed

374.

of,

235.

Vimanas, or Sikras, 221225.

Vii<hveshwar

temple,

Benares,

459.

View, 400.

Viswakarma Cave, Eilora, 128.

Vitoba, temple of, at Vijayanagar, 375.
Wall, Great, in China, 708.
Waniyat, Kashmir, group of temples

at,

293.

Butwa, 530.
Bijapur, 501.
Chinese, 098. Delhi (Old), 509, 510.
Gualior, 577. Gujerat, 534. Lucknow, 000. Moodbidri, 275. Secundra,
Shepree, near Gualior, 515.
584.
Tatta, 568.
Sirkej, 531.

Tooth

71,

ZEIN.

Sarnath and Behar, 66

The Jarasandha Ka Baithak, 08,

Buddh Gaya, 09, 70. Amruvati,

Well-holes in temples, 054, 050.

Window
Wooden

at Ahmedabad, 533.
Kashmir, 008.
architecture,
Mos(iues at Srinugger, 008.
Wooden temples, similarity to the
wooden aicliitecture of Sweden and
Norway, 308.
Woraugul, Kirti Stambhas in, 391.
View, 392.

Yadnya

Sri cave, Nassick, 151.

in, 152.

Yannur, colossal statue

at, 208.

Zein-ul-ab-ud-dm, tomb

of,

281.

Pillar

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