Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c10.26

c10.26

(In sharing the credit for these masterpieces, it is felt that the symbolism and imagination, their spiritual message so to speak, was supplied by the Indian mind while most of the technical skill, together with certain decorative elements, were the work of the imported craftsmen. But the brilliant polish which gives such a finality to the work was the result of Indian thought and labour, as there is evidence of an indigenous aptitude in this aspect of the stone-cutters' art. As a proof, few objects could be more delicately wrought or highly polished than the crystal reliquary¹ from the Piprahwa stupa, which has been assigned to this epoch, and was the handiwork of a *pasana-kottaka* or hereditary stone-cutter. The lustrous finish of the crystal was obtained by the laborious application of an agate burnisher, and somewhat the same process was adopted in the pillars and other sandstone objects. In completing their handiwork with this glazed effect the Asokan artificers were following the procedure of all early stone-workers, as the aim for instance of the 12th dynasty Egyptian masons was a "glassy surface," while the ideal stonework of the Greeks is described in the Homeric poems as "polished shining-glistening." It is doubtful, however, whether the creations of any of these great building nations could compare in this particular respect with the brilliant enamel-like finish obtained by the Mauryan craftsmen. So striking is its appearance that in the fifth century it excited the admiration of that observant Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien, accustomed as he must have been to the famous polished lapidary of his own countrymen, for he writes that it was "shining bright as glass." And even inspite of over two thousand years of the most destructive climatic conditions these monuments retain much of their highly glazed surface at the present day.