Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c12.5

c12.5

It has already been shown that more than one form of early art in India was part of a widely spread cultural development in western Asia transmitted through the influence of Persia when that country was ruled by the Achaemenids towards the fifth century B.C. And it seems probable that the rock-architecture of the Buddhists originated from the same source For although a period of two hundred years separates the two movements, as this form of expression did not begin to appear in India until the third century B.C., the rock workmanship of each country bears a singular family resemblance. A comparison between the facade of the tomb of Darius at Naksh-i-Rustam near Persepolis, and that of the Lomas Rishi "chapel" in Bihar, although the latter is on a much smaller scale, reveals that the textural properties of the two productions have not a little in common. Rock-architecture appealed to the Indian mind for several reasons. In the first place its stability, as it was as immovable as the mountain of which it formed a part, was undoubtedly an attraction to a people living very largely in impermanent structures of wood and wattle. Secondly, it was acceptable to the Buddhists because from the earliest times natural caves and grottoes were the favourite abode of hermits and anchorites, a custom which even now survives in Nepal and parts of Tibet, where a Lamaistic form of Buddhism still prevails. Such habitations were therefore not only associated with religion but had also the sanction of tradition. But the principal reason was the great increase in the conventual life of the country at this time. From the ancient practice of asceticism, common in the Vedic period, it was but a step to that of monasticism, a system which all the world over has induced its followers to retire into rocky fastnesses, forest recesses, or lonely deserts, there to dedicate their lives to the rare worship of the self-absorbed. Some such convictions, perhaps accentuated by the pressure of religious intolerance, for the ruling powers belonged to the Brahmanical faith, were largely responsible for extensive monastic establishments flourishing within these secluded mountain retreats.