Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c12.3

c12.3

ABOUT the same time that the Buddhist communities at such places as Sanchi, Barhut, Budh Gaya and similar sites made sacred by Ashoka's stupas were elaborating these with structural additions, another and entirely different architectural development was becoming manifest in another part of the country. This took the form of Buddhist monastic establishments consisting of large halls and chambers, having notable architectural pretensions, not however, built of wood or stone in the customary manner but hewn out of the living rock by means of the pick, and finished off by the dexterous application of the chisel. It has been already shown that a beginning had been made in this direction by the rock-cut chambers in the Barabar hills, but after an interval of over half a century this method was revived on a much grander and more ambitious scale. Eventually as a form of architectural expression it assumed remarkable proportions, as there are as many as twelve hundred excavations of this nature, both large and small, in various selected localities. Rock-sculpture and rock-architecture have been practised in many countries in the past, particularly in Egypt and Assyria, by the Greeks in Lycia, and the Romans at Petra, while in Persia under the Achaemenids, and later by the Sasanids as seen at Naksh-i-Rustam, both found considerable favour. But in none of these instances did the art of the rock-cutter show so wide a range or such audacity and imaginative power as in India, where some of the most original examples of architecture produced in this manner may be seen. Specially does this apply to the great prayer-halls of the Buddhists, as within their pillared aisles there is something not only majestic but magical, as if they were the abode of spirits or supernatural beings, the carved and painted images on their walls giving substance to this impression.