Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c14.20

c14.20

Sealed up for centuries within the mounds of Taxila, and now exposed by excavation, are many other remains showing how in this region several distinct civilizations met. Among the structures thus revealed there is the base of a stupa at Sirkap, probably erected in the first century B.C., the ornamentation of which shows how elements appertaining to each culture were sometimes introduced into one production. On an architectural foundation of a quasi-Corinthian order, with pilasters and a moulded entablature, there may be seen such an agglomeration of motifs as a Buddhist chaitya arch and torana, a Greek triangular pediment, an Achaemenid niche, and an Iranian fire-altar. Included with these elements is the figure of a double-headed eagle, after which this stupa has been named, a symbol believed to have been of Scythian origin, from which source it afterwards found its way into the imperial arms of Russia and Germany, but it also travelled southward to appear in the insignia of Vijayanagar in the Deccan, and it even penetrated into Ceylon. On the same site at Taxila, the remains of a palace have been unearthed, apparently of Parthian foundation, but in the disposition of its parts it bears a marked resemblance, although on a smaller scale, to the plans of the Assyrian palaces, as for instance Sargon's great palatial residence at Khorsabad. Most eastern palaces were laid out on the same general principles, with the apartments arranged around open courtyards, one portion for public and official purposes, the other for the private use of the royal family, with a wing and enclosed garden reserved for the ladies. In all such palaces, and at all periods, two large and important halls were invariably provided, one for the public and the other for private audiences. And in many other particulars, the planning of these royal residences in India, from this Parthian example at Sirkap to the magnificent palace fortresses of the Mughals, the builders followed the same general tradition.