A Hand Book Of Indian Art

Front matter

A HANDBOOK OF INDIAN ART

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

Preface

The speech of H.M. the King at the opening of the School of Oriental Studies in London, and the efforts now being made by the India Society to endow a permanent Lectureship in Indian Art at the School, suggest the need of a suitable handbook for the subject. Public interest in Indian art, both in India and in Europe, has increased greatly since I made the first attempt to explain its ideals and modes of expression in my Indian Sculpture and Painting, now out of print.

The present work, embracing architecture, sculp¬ ture, and painting in its scope, aims at giving such a concise survey of the whole subject, free from dry technicalities, as will interest both the student and general reader, and serve as a useful handbook for travellers in India. At the same time it attempts a solution of several interesting problems which have exercised the minds of archaeologists for many years, and gives the results of further researches in a field which still offers unlimited scope for the art student.

In this respect, therefore, it enlarges upon and sometimes revises the conclusions arrived at in my previous works. It may serve as the foundation of a full and competent history of fine art in India, which still remains to be written.

In the architectural section I have aimed at giving such an explanation as will enable the reader to perceive

VI

PREFACE the intention of the builder, and correlate stupa, temple, monastery, palace, mosque, and tomb with the thought and life of the period to which they belong, rather than to classify them in a dry academic manner which makes the builder’s intention as unintelligible as the his¬ torian’s explanation. Only when the craftsman’s idea is realised will Indian architecture become a subject of living interest, an open book in which the thought and life of India are written from Vedic times down to the present day. The architecture of India will not then appear as a bewildering museum of marvels belonging to a bygone age, but as a still living tradition of practical craftsmanship constantly readapting itself to the spiritual and material needs of the age, and bearing witness to the wonderful constructive work of our Aryan predecessors, who three thousand years ago, occupying the same position in the East as their successors do to-day, laid the whole foundation of Indian civilisation upon which we are attempting to build. The spirit of the ancient Aryan empire builders will be our best guide in this great task.

The section devoted to sculpture explains the lead¬ ing ideas which underlie the Buddhist and Hindu con¬ ceptions of the Deity and of divine worship, as they are expressed in the finest works of different periods. Apart from the extraordinary artistic interest of these achievements of the temple-sculptor, the study of them will assist those who wish to penetrate deeper into the religious thought of modem India.

A point of much importance for the correct classifica¬ tion of Indian temples is the relation of the image to its shrine or temple, as every Buddhist or Hindu image has an architectural framework appropriate for it. The indications I have given may lead the way to a more systematic treatment of a subject hitherto neg-

PREFACE vii

lected by archaeologists ; but this is only possible for those who have the advantage of living in India.

A brief review of the different schools of Indian painting, with typical illustrations, is given in the third section of the book.

For permission to make use of official photographs and illustrations, my acknowledgments are due to the Secretary of State for India, and to the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington ; also to Mr. Norman Blount, Calcutta; Mr. C. Stanley Clarke, Curator, Indian Section, Victoria and Albert Museum; Mr. 0. C. Gangoly; Lt.-Colonel Victor Goloubeff; Dr. Karl Madsen, Director of the Royal Museum of Art, Copenhagen; Sir John Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India; Professor W. Rothenstein; Mr. Abanindro Nath Tagore, C.I.E., and to Lady Wantage for kind help in providing illustrations. I am further greatly indebted to Mr. F. W. Thomas, Librarian of the India Office, for his always ready assistance in details connected with the text.

E.B.H.

Section I. Architecture Cea F*

I. THE ORIGINS OF INDIAN ART—THE STUPA, OR KING’S MONUMENT .

II. THE VEDIC CHANDRA CULT AND THE STUPA .

III. STftPAS AT SANCHI, BHARHUT, AND AMARAVATI .

IV, ASOKAN PILLARS AND THE “ BELL-SHAPED ” OR

LOTUS CAPITAL.

V. THE STUPA-HOUSE, OR CHAPTER-HOUSE OF THE BUDDHIST ORDER.

VI. THE SIKHARA TEMPLE, OR KING’S TABERNACLE

VII, THE SIVA AND VISHNU-SIVA TEMPLE

VIII. THE MONASTERY, MANDAPAM, AND PALACE ,

IX. MOSQUE AND TOMB.

X. MUHAMMADAN ARCHITECTURE AT MANDU, JAUNPUR, AHMADAbAD, AND GAUR .

XI. THE BIjAPtJR AND MOGUL SCHOOLS MODERN INDIAN BUILDING ..

APPENDIX : THE LOTUS DOME ,

viii

PAGE

CONTENTS

Section II. Sculpture Chap

I. THE BUDDHA AS GURU AND AS KING

II. BRAHMA, VISHNU, AND SIVA, AND THEIR SAKTIS .

III. THE TRIMURTI AND THE LESSER DEITIES

Section III. Painting

THE PRINCIPLES OF INDIAN PAINTING, AND THE CHARAC¬ TERISTICS OF THE PRINCIPAL SCHOOLS .

ix

PAGE

Abbreviations. —I.O., India Office. A.S.I., Archaeological Survey of India.

Illustration by Mr. Abanindro Nath Tagore, by hind permission

of the Proprietors oj “ The Studio," owners of the Copyright.

KATE PACING PACE

I. Early Buddhist Stupas :

A. At Bedsa. B. At Bhaja .... 20

II. A. Lomas Rishi Cave, Entrance (250 b.c.) . . 24

B. Sudama or Nyagrodha Cave, Longitudinal

Section.24

III. A. Sanch! Stupa, General View (Photo a.s.i.) . 26

B. Sanch! Stupa, Northern Gateway ... 26

IV. A. Sanch! Stupa, Procession Path (Photo a.s.i.)

B. Maya, the Mother of the Buddha (Panels on the Back of the Northern Gateway) .

V. Reliefs from the Sanch! Gateways :

A. From Back of the Southern Gateway (Jataka

Story—the Six-tusked Elephant)

B. From Back of the Eastern Gateway (Middle

Transom)..

C. From Back of the Eastern Gateway (Lower

Transom) .

D. From Back of the Eastern Gateway (End of

Middle Transom).

VI. A. The Forest Spirit, Sculpture from Eastern

Gateway, Sanch!.

B. The Lotus and Lion Pillar of the Law (Asoka’s Imperial Standard) from Railing of Stupa No. II, Sanch! (Photo a.sj.) ....

VII. Carved Pillars from Railing of Stupa No. II,

Sanch! (Photo a.s.i.) .

LIST OF PLATES xi

PLATE PACISO PAGE

VIII. Bas-reliefs from the AmaravatI Stupa :

A. Translation of the Buddha’s Bowl . . 38

B. Carving of Coping Stone .... 38

IX. A. Nave of the Stupa-house, KarlE . . 46

B. Carved Pillars of the Nave, KarlE ( Photo,s l.o .) 46

X. A. Entrance Porch, KarlE . ... .48

B. Vishnu Pillar, Besnagar (erected by Order

of Heliodorus of TaxIla circ . 140 b.c.) . 48

[Photo A.S.I.)

XI. A. Interior of Stupa-house No. XIX, Ajanta . 50

B. Interior of Stupa-house No. XXVI, Ajanta 50

(Photos A . S . I .)

XII. A. Entrance to Stupa-house No. XXVI, Ajanta 52 B. Entrance to Vishvakarma Stupa-house,

Ellora (Photos 1 . 0 .) .52

XIII. A. Asoka's Temple at Bodh-Gaya ... 62

(From Relief at Bharhut )

B. The Existing Temple at Bodh-Gaya , . 62

(Photo AS . I .)

XIV. A. Sikhara of the Linga-raj Temple, Bhuvan-

Eshvar .. .64

B. MarkandEya Pool and Temple, BhuvanEsh-

VAR (Photos A.SJ.) .64

XV. A. Shrine of Laluk'Ishvara, Chohtan, Marwar

State ( circ . Eleventh Century) . . 66

B. Shrine of the Nine Planets at Bod,

Bengal (Photos a.S.i.) .66

XVI. Chaturbhuja Temple, Khajuraho, West End . 68

(Photo l.o.)

XVII. Chaturbhuja Temple, Khajuraho, from S.E. . 6q

XVIII. A. Kiianwar Math Temple, Khajuraho (In¬ terior of Mandapam) .... 70

B. Temple of Ittagi, Roof of Mandapam . . 70

(Photos 1 . 0 .)

XIX. A. Royal Chapel (Mira Bai’s) at Chitor . . 71

(Photo A.S.I.)

B. A City of the Devas, Palitana (Photo l.o.) . 71 xii

IXATB

XX.

XXL

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

FACING PAGE

A. Bas-relief from the Palace of Sennacha-

rib, Nineveh.72

B. Stele of Naran Sin, Louvre {Photo Mansell) . 72

A. Monolithic Siva Shrine at Mamallapuram

(Arjuna’s Rath).73

(By kind permission of M, Victor Goloubejf)

B. Siva Shrine at SanchI (Carving on East

Siva Temples at Mamallapuram ... 74

(By kind permission of M. Victor Goloubejf)

A. Tower of the Great Temple, Tanjore . 76

B. Golden Lotus Pool, Madura Temple . 76

(Photos LO.)

Kailasa Temple, Ellora (General View) . 78

(Photo I.O.)

Sculptures from Kailasa Temple, Ellora :

A. Siva and Parvati . . . 80

B. Siva as the Sun-God (Tripurantaka-

murti).80

Transverse Section of the Kailasa Temple,

Ellora.82

(From a drawing by the Archceological Survey of West India)

Kailasa Temple, Ellora:

A. View of Sculptured Plinth ... 83

(Photo Johnston &• Hoffmann)

B. LankEshvara Chapel . . .83

A. Main Gopuram, Temple of Srivilliputtur,

Tinnevelly.84

B. Gopuram of Madhava Perumal Temple,

GANDIKOTA, CUDDAPAH (Photos A.s.l.) . 84

Vishnu-Siva Temple, Ittagi (Photo a.sj.) . 86

A. Vishnu-Siva Temple, BalagamI . . 88

B, Vishnu-Siva Temple, Gadag (Photos I.O.) . 88

A. Gautama Putra Monastery, Nasik . 90

B. Aurangabad Monastery (Cave III) . . 90

(Photos 1,0.)

A Rock-cut Monastery, Undavalli . . 92

B. Rock-cut Monastery, Mamallapuram . 92

(By kind permission of Victor Goloubejf)

PLATE

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.

XLIII.

XLIV.

XLV.

XLVI.

A. Mandapam of the Vittalaswami Temple,

VlJAYANAGAR.

B. Diwan-i-Khas, Delhi ....

A. Palace of the Gods (Bharhut Sculpture) B Modern Mansion, Bikanir {Photo a.SJ.) .

A. Palace of Bir Singh, Datiya .

B. Front of Palace of Bir Singh, Datiya .

A. Datiya Palace, Water Front ( Photo I.o.)

B. JahangIri Mahall, Agra, Courtyard

{Photo a.s.i.)

A. Palace of Suraj Mall, Dig, Garden

Front .

B. Palace of Suraj Mall, Dig, Water

FRONT {Photos i.o.) ....

Mihrabs in Indian Mosques :

A. From Adinah Masjid, Gaur

B. From Jami’ Masjid, Junagadh {Photos i.o.)

A. Buland Darwaza, Fatehpur-Sikri .

(Photo I.O.)

B. Chaumukh Temple, Ranpur, Interior of

Mandapam {Photo a.s.i.)

A. Tomb of Sikandar Lodi

B. ShEr Shah's Mosque, Delhi {Photos a.s.i.)

A. Lotus Dome, Ajanta Sculpture {Photo I.o.)

B. Diagram Showing Construction of

Lotus Dome .

A. Tomb of Sher,Shah, Sahseram {Photo A.S.I.)

B. Tomb of Humayun, Delhi {Photo i.o.)

A. Atala Masjid, Jaunpur {Photo a.s.i.)

B. Ran! Rupawanti’s Masjid, Ahmadabad .

{Photo I.O.)

A. Interior of Jami' Masjid, Ahmadabad .

B. Jami' Masjid, Champanir

A. Perforated Stone Window, Ahmadabad .

B. Perforated Stone Window, Champanir .

(Photos I.O.)

A. Step Well, near Ahmadabad {Photo i.o .).

B. Chota Sona Masjid, Gavk _ (Photo a.s.i.) , xiii

PAGE

IIO

no

116 116

XIV

KJITB

XLVII. A.

B.

XLVIII. A.

B.

XLIX. A.

B.

L. A.

B.

LI. A.

B.

FACING PAGE

Itimad-ud-Daula’s Tomb, Agra (Photo i.o.) . 124

Interior of the Samman Burj, Agra . . 124

[Photo Johnston & Hoffmann)

PaNCH MAHALL, FATEHPUR-SlKRI (Photo A.S.I.) 126

Raja Birbal’s Palace, Fatehpur-Sikri . 126

Sultan Muhammad’s Tomb, Bijapur . . 130

Sultan Ibrahim’s Tomb, Bijapur (Photos 1.0.) 130

The Taj Mahall, Agra .... 138

Inlaid Marble Screen surrounding the Cenotaph in the Taj .... 138

Shah Jahan’s Mosque, Delhi . . . 142

(Photo Frith &• Co., Ld.)

Modern Mosque, Bhopal, now under Construction (Photo a.s.i.) . . .142

LII. Nineteenth-century Palaces at Benares :

A. At Ghosla Ghat.144

B. At MunSHI Ghat (Photos Muzumdar) . . 144

SCULPTURE

LIII. A. The Buddha, Anuradhapura, Ceylon . 154

B. The Buddha, Sarnath, near Benares . 154

LIV. A. The Buddha, Ajanta (Cave IX) . . 155

B. The Buddha, Mathura Museum (Photos A.S.I.) 153

LY. A. The Buddha, a Copper Statue from Sultan-

GANJ (Now in the Birmingham Museum) . . 156

B. The Buddha, Headless Figure, Sarnath . 156

(Photo A.SJ.)

LVI. A. A Bodhisattva, Torso from Sanch! . . 158

[Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Indian Section)

B. Surya, the Sun-God, Konarak (Photo a.s.i.). 158

LVII. A. Bodhisattva (Avalokiteshvara), from Java 160 B. Bodhisattva, from Prambanam, Java . 160

LVII I. A. Head of the Buddha, from Java . . 161

(Now in the Ethnographic Museum, Leiden)

B. Head of the Bodhisattva, from Java . 161

(Now in the Glyptoiek, Copenhagen)

LIX. A. Brahma. 162

(From a Sculpture in the Ethnographic Museum, Leiden)

B. Siva as Brahma (MahEshamurti ?) . . 162

(From a Sculpture in the Great Temple of Elephanta)

xv

PLATE

LX.

LXI.

LXII.

LXIII.

LXIV.

LXV.

LX VI.

LXVII.

LXVIII.

A. Vishnu supporting the Heavens

{Relief from M&maUapuram) {Photo I.O.)

B. The Cosmic Slumber (Vishnu-Narayana) .

{Relief from M&mallapuram)

Vishnu-Narayana ; Ceiling Sculpture from Old Temple at Aihole {Photo a.sj.)

A. Vishnu as the Universal Pillar .

{Sculpture from Java)

B. Vishnu raising the World from the Flood

(Boar-Incarnation).

A. LakshmI rising from the Ocean

(Relief from Mctmallapuvam)

B. The Churning of the Ocean

(Relief from Angkor. Vat, Cambodia)

A. Siva as Kalari-Murti, Conqueror of Death

(Bronze in the Brihadeshvar Temple, Tanjore)

B. Siva's Sakti , Durga or Devi

(Bronze in the Madras Museum)

A. Siva as Nataraja, the Lord of the Univer¬

sal Dance ......

(Bronze in the Brihadeshvar Temple, Tanjore)

B. Siva as Sandhya-nritta-murti, the Lord

in His Evening Dance .... (Bronze in the Colombo Museum)

A. Siva as Bhairava, “ the Terrible " .

(Sculpture from Elephanta)

B. Durga slaying the Buffalo-demon of

Ignorance (Mahisura) ....

(Sculpture from Java, now in the Ethnographic Museum, Leiden)

A. A Child Saint (Saiva Bhakta)

(South Indian Bronze, in the Possession of Lord AmpthiU)

(Bronze in the Brihadeshvar Temple, Tanjore)

A. The Hindu Trimurti, Elephanta

(By hind permission of M. Victor Goloubejf)

B. The Buddhist Trimurti . . ! .

(Gilt Copper Image, Nepal)

G PAftB

XVI

PLATE

LXIX.

LXX.

LXXI.

LXXII.

LXXIII.

LXXIV.

LXXV.

LXX VI.

LXXVII.

LXXVIII.

LXXIX.

PACING PAGE

A. Kuvera, from Huvishka’s Monastery,

Gandhara ....

.

. 190

B. Kuvera (Gilt Copper Image , Nepal ).

•

. 190

A. GanSSHA (Sculpture from Java)

.

. 191

B. Hanuman ....

.

. 191 pper Image in the Victoyia and Albert Museum, 'ndian Section)

PAINTING

Siva and Parvati: Ceiling Panel, Ajanta,

CAVE I (By kind permission of M. Victor Goloubeff) 196

Head of Bodhisattva : Wall Painting,

Ajanta, Cave 1 .200

A. Painting from SigirIya, Ceylon . . 202

B. Painting from SigirIya, Ceylon . . 202

A. Portrait of Suraj Mall, by Nanha, one

of Jahangir's Court Painters , . 204

B. A Fakir receiving Visitors : Painting by

one of Shah Jahan's Court Painters. 204

A Royal Keeper leading a Decoy Antelope,

by Manohar Das.206

(By kind permission of Lady Wantage)

Shah Jahan Holding a Durbar : Brush Drawing by one of Shah Jahan's Court Painters.207

(From the Original in the Royal Art Museum , Copenhagen)

A. Siva Worshippers at a Wayside Shrine 208

(From an Early Nineteenth-century Paintings Calcutta Art Gallery Collection)

B. Hunting by Lamplight , . . . 208

(From an Early Eighteenth-century Painting, Calcutta Art Gallery Collection)

Rag-mala Paintings :

A. From an Eighteenth-century Painting

in the Possession of Norman Blount,

B. From a Krishna Series in the Calcutta

Art Gallery Collection, probably Early Nineteenth Century . . 210

Kacha and Devajani.212

{From a Fresco Painting by Mr. Abmindro Nath Tagore, C.I.E.)

Chapter I The Origins Of Indian Art—the Stupa, Or King’s

MONUMENT

Though Sanskrit literature gives a vista of a great Aryan civilisation planted in Indian soil perhaps several millennia before the Christian Era, the evidence of its artistic evolution during this long period, which may lie buried on the sites of ancient Indian cities, such as Ajodhya, Mathura, Kanauj, and Raj agriha, has not yet been unearthed. Indian archaeological research, as yet, hardly goes farther back than the third century b.c., when the Buddhist Emperor-Saint, Asoka, built splendid stupas to enshrine the relics of the Blessed One, and marked the holy sites of Buddhism with colossal pillars carved in stone and inscribed with his edicts. These stupas and pillars, together with the remains of chapels, monasteries, and hermit¬ ages, some structural and some carved in the living rock, provide the earliest visible evidence of the origins of Indian art.

It happens that the monuments of Asoka’s time were almost exclusively dedicated to Buddhist worship ; and as Buddhist doctrine was a revolt against the teaching of Brahmanism, it might be assumed that Asoka’s propaganda brought about an entirely new departure in Indian building traditions—that early Buddhist art is to be entirely explained by the teaching of Buddhism. This would limit the field of investi¬ gation to the three centuries which preceded Asoka’s

PERSIA AND INDIA conversion to Buddhism, which took place about 256 b.c., a period embracing the foundation of the Persian Empire by Cyrus, its overthrow by Alexander the Great, and the latter’s famous expedition into India. Artistic research, in fact, has rarely gone beyond this limit, and the influence of Persia and of Greece during these centuries is persistently upheld by the highest authorities as that which dominated Indian art of the Mauryan period, and shaped its subsequent de¬ velopment.

It is apparent that Perso-Greek masons were among the many employed in Asoka’s public works, and no doubt their exceptional skill gave them a high rank in the select body of craftsmen attached to the imperial service. But though it may be inevitable, according to the inductive method of archaeological research, to describe the capitals of Asokan pillars as “bell-shaped” and “ Persepolitan,” such classifica¬ tion begs the whole question of the origins of early Indian art. Neither is it possible, by mere technical analysis of this kind, to discover the deeper meaning of any art, or to relate the monuments of a past age to the life and times of the people who built them.

The stupa, as is well known, was a relic shrine and a symbol of the passing of the Buddha into Pari- Nirvana, the boundless Ocean of Et.ernity. In Buddhist history it was primarily the funeral monument of the royal monk, the Prince of the Sakyas, who taught the four Aryan truths, the Aryan Eightfold Path, and founded the Sangha, organised after the customs and traditions of an Aryan clan. Although the stupa apparently belongs almost exclusively to Buddhism or its rival cult, Jainism, its origin cannot be explained in a sectarian sense. Its history did not begin with the death of Gautama Buddha, or of Mahay Ira. We shall

PERSIA AND INDIA understand it better by describing it as the mausoleum, or funeral monument, of an Aryan king or chieftain. The Buddha was given a royal funeral by the Aryan tribesmen as the Head of the Sangha. Similar honours were paid to his successors, and to all the Abbots of the great Buddhist monasteries, who on state occasions adopted the insignia of Indo-Aryan royalty : tem¬ poral kings bowed down to them, and even gave up their thrones to them. The royal umbrella raised on the top of the stupa was not mere religious symbolism : it was in the first instance a recognition of the social rank, real or assumed, of the spiritual teachers whose ashes were deposited there.

Indian building traditions in Asoka’s time were of much greater antiquity than the palaces of Darius, and it is not necessary to account for the perfection of Asokan masonic craftsmanship by assuming that it was borrowed from Iran. The royal craftsmen of Persepolis probably borrowed as much from India as the Mauryan craftsmen borrowed from Western Asia. The Iranians and Indo-Aryans were co-heirs of the Aryan tradition, but the symbolism of the “ bell¬ shaped ” capital of Persepolis, as we shall presently see, is Indian rather than Persian.

So with the stupa itself, we shall only get a clear conception of its place in Buddhist history by con¬ necting it with Indo-Ary an traditions, of which Vedic literature and the epics of Indo-Ary an, the Ramayana and the Mah&bharata, are the record. The connection of the stupa with Buddhist religious ritual was not derived entirely from the circumstance of Gautama Buddha’s royal birth. The Kshatriyas, or the warrior class, to which he belonged, had been from time immemorial the spiritual leaders of the Aryan people. The Kshatriya king, or chieftain, ex officio presided over

THE SUN- AND MOON-GOD the sacrificial rites of the Aryan tribe or clan. He was regarded as the representative, or offspring, of the deity invoked. Thus the royal line of Ajodhya in the Ramayana claimed to be of the Surya-vamsa—the race of the Sun-god, Surya 1 2 —while the Pandava and Kaurava princes in the Mahabharata were said to belong to the Chandra-vamsa—the race of the Moon-god, Chandra. The cult of king-worship would naturally have two branches, the one in which bhakti, or devotion to the deity in the person of the living king, was the starting-point; the other rooted in ancestor worship, with the stupa of the deceased monarch as its shrine. The Sun-god was the presiding deity of the one, the Moon-god of the other. The changes of the moon determined the dates on which shrdddha offerings to deceased ancestors were made.

The Buddha himself condemned as worthless the whole system of Vedic sacrifices, including in his ban astrology, divination, spells, omens, and witchcraft; but in the earliest Buddhist stupas known to us, the symbolism is entirely borrowed from the sacrificial lore of the Vedas. The Buddha, indeed, was emphatic in declaring that the Eightfold Path of Good Living along which he led his followers was the ancient Aryan way, trodden by Buddhas of a bygone age.®

It has been assumed by archaeologists, following Fergusson’s lead, that we must draw a hard-and-fast line between the ritual of Hinduism and the ritual

1 The Kings of Egypt, beginning with the Fifth Dynasty, were also reputed to be the sons of- Ra—the sun-god of Heliopolis. Each king of this dynasty built for himself a sanctuary of Ra, and the charge of these sun-temples was given to specially honoured nobles. (H. R. Hall’s Ancient History of the Near East , pp. 129-30.)

2 The metaphor of the Eightfold Path was borrowed from the processional path of the Aryan fortified settlement, which generally had eight gates.

VEDIC RITUAL of the Vedas; that the temple worship of the former is mostly derived from aboriginal superstitions adopted by the Brahmans, and that the latter is pure Aryan. On this theory Fergusson tried to explain the origin of the most conspicuous feature of Hindu temple architecture in Northern India, the curvilinear spire, or sikhara.

But the more the symbolism of Hindu architecture is understood, the clearer it becomes that, just as the chanting of the Vedic hymns in the temple service of to-day follows the musical traditions of three thousand years ago, born in the mountain-groves of Ariana, so the design of the temple itself is also directly derived from the sacrificial rites of the ancient Aryans in India.

Throughout these Vedic rites, as described in the Brahmanas, one can trace the same structural elements, though in a primitive form, and the same symbolism as are found in the Silpa-sastras, the canonical books of Hindu craftsmen. In Hindu temples the ceremonies connected with the worship of the Fire-spirit, Agni, began with the construction of huts or tabernacles of various shapes, oriented differently in relation to the house, and with doors facing different points of the compass. 1 These sacrificial tabernacles, though per-

1 In the Agny-adheya, or consecration of the household fires, there was a round hut placed on the west with doors on the east and south ; a square hut on the east with doors on the east and west; a crescent¬ shaped hearth for one fire, and a round hearth for another, etc. (see Barnett, Antiquities of India , pp. 156-7), Very similar instructions for the building of temples are given in Manasara. Thus a temple of Brahma, the Creator, must have a door on all four sides—the four doors of the sky. A temple of Vishnu, the Preserver, must have one door facing the rising sun, Vishnu taking the place of Surya, the ancient Aryan sun-god. A temple of Siva, the Lord of Death, must have one door facing the setting sun. A Brahma pillar was square, a Vishnu pillar octagonal, and a Siva pillar sixteen-sided. A plain cylindrical pillar symbolised Chandra, the Moon.

VEDIC RITUAL haps primitive in form and structure, served all the purposes of temples, and were doubtless the proto¬ types of those which were in later times built, on a great and costly scale, of permanent materials. In them the officiating priest, the householder, or Kshatriya chief¬ tain, passed days, sometimes even a year, performing the prescribed rites.

Now, when the king or chieftain, assisted by his furdhita, or chaplain, presided over the tribal sacrifices as the son of Surya, the Sun-god, it is more than probable that the sacrificial hut constructed for him was of a Special form easily distinguished by the crowd of the “ impure,” who were not allowed to enter the consecrated ground, that it was crowned by the royal or tribal ensign, and marked with the symbols of the Sun-god.

Furthermore, as the lighting of fires was an essential part of the Vedic ritual, it may be assumed that the sacrificial chamber was constructed so that the fire might burn effectively, and with the least inconvenience to the sacrificer—i.e., it must have had some kind of chimney with appropriate vent-holes for the smoke. All these conditions are fulfilled perfectly by the sikhara of the Hindu temple. The tall spire over the shrine, pierced by the sun-windows, which now are only ornamental since the shrine is no longer a firechamber, would have served admirably the purpose of a chimney. It forms a conspicuous landmark ; it is crowned by the same insignia of royalty as Asoka’s imperial standards—the amalaka, or pericarp of the blue lotus, which is the flower of Vishnu-Surya,^the Preserver of the Universe, and specially the patron deity of a Kshatriya king. In the earliest known examples the curvilinear faces of the sikhara are always decorated with Sun-emblems. The name vimana, the

THE SI KHAR A chariot, given to the temple shrine, connects it definitely with the sacrificial rites of the ancient Aryan warriorpriest ; and as if to emphasise the fact, the wheels of the chieftain’s war-chariot are sometimes carved in stone on two sides of the vimana, as in the temple of Surya at Konarak. This suggests that the chariot of the Aryan chieftain, with a bambu sikhara lashed to it, often served as a sacrificial hut, especially in time of war.

The peculiar form of the sikhara is certainly derived from bambu construction—bambu being the universal material for temporary structures of this kind in the holy land of the Aryans in India.

But Aryan history points to the conclusion that the sikhara derives ultimately from the conical mud huts of Mesopotamia and Persia, such as exist there in the present day. The stupa also probably comes from the valley of the Euphrates. One of the most interesting discoveries of modem archaeology is the fragmentary history of Aryan rule in Mesopotamia, for it helps to explain much that is obscure in the origins of Indian art. About 1746 b.c. Babylon was stormed and sacked by the Hittites. On their retreat the city was occupied by an Aryan tribe, the Kassites, and their chieftain, Gandash, founded a dynasty which lasted for six centuries.

About the same time another Aryan tribe, the Mitanni, founded a kingdom farther north, between the Tigris and Euphrates. Surya, the ancient Vedic Sun-god, was the chief god of the Kassites, and the gods of the Mitanni were also those which appear in the Vedic hymns—Varuna, the Concealer, the ruler of the night sky, and of the cosmic ocean into which the sun disappears at night; Indra, the ruler of the day, who, like Surya, was the especial patron of the Aryan warrior, said to be the brother of Agni, the Fire-spirit; 4

THE ARYANS IN MESOPOTAMIA and the Ashvins, the twin horsemen who preceded the coming of Ushas, the Dawn-maiden. Among the later kings of the Mitanni we find the name of Dushratta (or Dasaratha)—one which is very familiar in Indo-Aryan literature from the story of the Ramayana, and in Indian history as the name of Asoka’s son and successor. Among the finds at Tell el-Amama in Egypt, is a series of letters written by Dushratta to his relative Amenhetep III, King of Egypt, inscribed on clay tablets in the cuneiform script of Babylonia . 1

During the six centuries of Aryan domination in the Euphrates valley, we can hardly doubt that there was a close communication between the Indian and Mesopotamian branches of the Aryan family, and there are remarkable resemblances to be noted between the Aryavarta of Mesopotamia and that of the Panjab. The Aryans in Mitanni were living in a land of many rivers on the slopes of an “ abode of Snow,” the Taurus mountain range, sacred to the Bull—which in Baby¬ lonia was a symbol of the Sun ploughing his way among the Stars. It may be only a curious coincidence that on the western side of the Taurus, where their powerful neighbours the Hittites worshipped a god whose emblems, like Siva’s, were a trident and a bull , 8 lies the Anatolian vilayet called Sivas with a chief town of the same name, a district towards which the sun-wor¬ shipping Aryans of Mitanni must have turned their faces when they adored the setting sun. Was there another Mount Kailasa in the Anatolian plateau wor¬ shipped as the Sun-god’s paradise ?

The Aryan kings of Mitanni and of Babylon, like those of Vedic India, left no records of temple building or of sculpture. Their sacred literature was handed

1 See H. R, Hall, Ancient History of the Near East , pp. 258-60.

* See Frazer, The Golden Bough, v. 134.