Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c11.26

c11.26

Of the constructional advances shown in the stupas and other records of this age it can be said that the art of masonry building was moving slowly As already indicated it was retarded by the high standard of previous experience obtained in the field of timber construction, and the change of material from wood to stone was a long-drawn-out process. That progress was being made is manifest in the hammer-dressed encasement of the Sanchi stupa which marks a definite step, but the railings and toranas show how the technique of the old timber method persisted. Of the forms of the building art that were beginning to appear in the temple structure these are represented by the merest fragments, and the development that was taking place in the architecture of such buildings is based on these remains which have made certain conjectural deductions possible.