Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c17.28

c17.28

In addition to the temples there are other productions of this period of an architectural character. These are several free-standing pillars chief among which are the Budhagupta monolith at Eran,¹ and the famous Iron Pillar at Delhi.² The former, which bears a date corresponding to A.D. 484-5, is a graceful composition with a faceted shaft surmounted by a lion abacus, but the whole effect is marred by the mean fluting and attenuated proportions of its bell capital. The object of the column is to support aloft a statuette of the god Vishnu, a well-executed work dignified by an expansive radiated halo As it is 43 feet high it equals in this respect the pillars set up by Asoka, but it has not the massive simple grandeur of those classical models.