Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c10.24

c10.24

(The aesthetic properties of the pillars are concentrated in the design and execution of the capitals and superstructure. These portions of the monuments which together average seven feet in height are in one piece of stone, while the shaft of the column consists of another separate piece, the two being joined by a copper bolt accurately fitted into the tenons made for it without the use of cement. The bolt in one of the Rampurva pillars has been preserved, and is a barrel-shaped piece of metal over two feet in length, showing that those who employed this copper dowel were quite aware of the destructive action of iron and other metals in such circumstances. The capitals themselves, which are some three feet in diameter, are campaniform in shape consisting of a series of fluted petals elongated and which, falling together, take the form of a bell. In most instances the capitals are cut to one specified pattern, the exception being that at Nandangarh, which appears slightly stunted in its proportions, while the abacus and other features are somewhat different, so that it is possible this particular example was an early and experimental effort. There may be some symbolic connexion between the campaniform capital and the bell (*ghanta*), as this in a conventional form, was used early in Indian decoration, and it also figures prominently in the temple ritual. But the boldly marked fluting the section of which is unmistakable, has an undoubted foreign origin, exactly similar fluting being not uncommon on Persian and Greek pillars, as may be seen on the bases of those at the palace of Artaxerxes II (B.C. 404-358) at Susa, and on the capitals of the Ionic temples of Apollo at Naukratis and Diana at Ephesus, both of which were built about 560 B.C. Above the Asokan capital is a circular abacus having its broad edge carved with ornamental borders of a special character. On some of these are repetitions of Buddhist emblems, as for example the goose (*hamsa*), but on others, as in the case of the bull capital at Rampurva, there are such well-known conventional motifs as the honeysuckle and palmette, the bead and fillet, and the cable moulding, each one of direct Hellenic extraction. These motifs may not be in exact