Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c16.45

c16.45

As to the actual quality of the materials employed in these structures, the bricks themselves were usually prepared of well-puddled clay with their beds so smoothed that they fitted very accurately. No specific system of bonding is observable, but the method of headers and stretchers was followed, care being taken that no two joints came over one another. Between the joints a mixture of clay was interposed as an adherent, but only a very thin layer, as the bricks were brought into close contact. Lime mortar appears to have been known at this time although but only two instances of it have come to light, one in the foundations of a temple at Besnagar (Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh) of the second century B.C.¹, and the other at Budh Gaya, where it was sparingly employed. The character of the brickwork excavated at Besnagar is very remarkable for so early a date, as the beds of the bricks were grooved to hold the lime mortar, which on being analyzed was found to be of a kind far in advance of the Phoenician and Greek varieties, and approaching more closely to that used by the Romans.