Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c11.13

c11.13

In view of this prodigality of embellishment it is not easy to separate the constructional from the ornamental, but relieved of its sculptured overlay, the actual framework of these gateways resolves itself into a comparatively simple structure. Each one consists of two square upright posts 15 feet high, prolonged vertically and connected above by three separate lintels between each of which is a row of ornamental balusters. The total height of this erection is some 34 feet with a width of 20 feet at the broadest part. When it is understood that the thickness of the whole averages only two feet, and that it stands alone without any struts or similar supports, it is a matter for astonishment that any of these gateways should have remained in position for some two thousand years. Added to which they are definitely top-heavy, and the method of jointing, as in the case of the accompanying railings, was technically irrational. Their purely indigenous composition is shown in a variety of ways, notably by the absence of any recognized form of pillar and capital, the first principles of which the Indian workmen had not yet assimilated. Although the Asokan column was before them, and even introduced into the ornamentation, the square upright for a pillar with a square slab above as an abacus was as far as the builders had advanced in the evolution of this almost universal architectural feature. Nevertheless the method of support by means of atlantean figures and also of animals was well understood and artistically applied, as the groups of dwarfs, elephants, and lions introduced for this purpose plainly show.