Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.163

c11.163

(4) The shaft of the Iranian columns is fluted in all cases except in the façade of the tombs or the Nechropolis (*Śma’āna*) and also the single column that remains from the palace of Cyrus (*Kurush*). This latter pillar dates from the time when the Iranian art had not evolved its classical forms. The style of the plain unfluted columns was discarded by the Achaemenians themselves. It would be wrong to suggest that the Mauryan sculptors ignoring the fluted shaft of the time of Darius went back in search for their modles to the primitive designs of Cyrus. In the case of the pillars of Nechropolis they form part of the rock-cut tombs of the time of Darius and Yorks. In these tombs the shaft was kept plain because the vaults stood at a considerable height above the ground and if the pillars were made fluted it would have further reduced the columns and diverted them of a frank and clear aspect, if viewed from a distance. The Persian sculptors modified the form as the Greeks often did in similar cases. We may thus justifiably search for the original model of the plain Mauryan columns in such wooden pillars as found at Lauriā Nandagarh. In the early Buddhist literature, as well as in the Epics, there are references to pillars standing independently in religious buildings and public places. Aśoka himself has mentioned the existence of such pillars (Rūpnath Rock Edict, Sasaram R. E., Delhi Topra, VII). Similarly with respect to the animal capitals on the top of the Mauryan pillars, it was an ancient practice of providing pillars with animals as shown by such references as *Garuḍadhvaja*, *Vṛiṣabhdhvaja*, *Makaradhvaja*, etc. Therefore the upper component part of the Mauryan capitals fitted very well with the literary and artistic traditions of pre-Mauryan India.