Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c16.21

c16.21

The structural complexes comprising these sanctuaries appear to have been laid out on no generic plan, as in most instances they consisted of miscellaneous collections of buildings, added to from time to time according to the need. For instance excavations at Nalanda have disclosed a long sequence of buildings erected and re-erected on the same site after intervals of ruin and desertion, the entire period ranging from approximately the sixth to the twelfth century A. D. Many of the other sites show evidences of the same chequered history. Fundamentally they were immense conventual establishments brought into being by the remarkable expansion of monastic life that arose at this time, inspired originally by the eremitical tendencies of the Buddha himself, and developed by his followers. But what is significant is that their most flourishing period coincided with that great wave of monachism which swept across the whole of the then known world from Arabia through Egypt as far as the extreme west of Europe. The Buddhist monastic movement in its Mahayana phase was therefore an Eastern manifestation of the same ideal, which took the form of a desire on the part of large communities of all nations, irrespective of differences in their belief, to withdraw from the outer world and to seek seclusion in an inner one of their own. Whether in the east or in the west, the allocation, disposition, and general character of these early religious retreats suggest some connection or common inspiration. Enclosed within high walls with watch towers and a single massive guarded entrance to ensure internal discipline, these fortress-like conditions signify that, although their primary object may have been a religious one, they could readily be utillized as refuges wherein the priests and their following could retire on occasion, and bid defiance to an intolerant ruler or resist the antagonism of the supporters