Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c11.14

c11.14

Although the preparation of the four principal gateways at Sanchi may have extended over a period of nearly fifty years, the style of work throughout is fairly consistent. The first to be erected, towards the latter half of the first century B.C. and therefore during the supremacy of the Andhras, was the one at the southern entrance of the great stupa. This was followed, probably at an interval of a decade between each, by the northern, eastern, and western. Stylistically, however, they resolve themselves into pairs, the southern with the northern, the eastern with the western, the finest workmanship being on the southern example and the less skilful on the northern. Of the isolated torana before stupa No. 3 there is little to distinguish this from the western gateway of the main stupa and it was probably executed either at the same time or a little later. All of them appear to have been the production of a local school of artificers who carried on their trade in Besnagar, a populous town five miles away, the men thus employed being not masons accustomed to handling stone, but workers in the minor and applied arts. As a proof of this the southern gateway bears an inscription to the effect that it was made by the ivory carvers of Videsa (Besnagar). That those engaged in this and similar artistic crafts took their share in contributing their best to these gateways is shown by the variety of materials used in their composition. Mortice holes and slots indicate that there were not a few additions in metal, such as festoons and bells—a large bell and chain was probably suspended from the middle of the lowest beam—and some of the figures of elephants had ivory tusks decorated with gilt metal bands. The general character of these toranas with their skilfully wrought ornamental features but at the same time immature constructional practice, seems to postulate that at this period the applied arts were in advance of the functional, and that the Indian workman was so preoccupied with decorative effect that he overlooked some of the essential principles manifest in all good building construction. In comparison with the unadorned solidity of the railing the elegant intricacy of the gateways is an illustration of contrasts, the one acting as a foil to the other and notwithstanding that at the utmost there is only an interval of a century between the two projects, each seems to imply a different state of consciousness. The real facts responsible for such an apparent incongruity were that the two conceptions although produced as complimentary portions of the same scheme had each a separate aim. The ponderous beams and sense of collective power expressed by the massive proportions of the railing were an effort to impress the beholder as he progressed under its broad shadow with a majestic reminder of his individual insignificance, while the deep mysticism and soul-stirring episodes depicted with such consummate artistry on the toranas were afterwards introduced into the composition in order to stimulate his emotions to the highest degree, when in a receptive state. The efflorescence of symbolism contained in the accessories to the stupa coloured the art of India throughout much of its subsequent course, and the shape of the torana itself became a characteristic architectural feature whenever Buddhism prevailed.