Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c17.3

c17.3

A reaction followed, as also took place in the occidental parallel when the Renaissance awoke the European mind to fresh life and activity, but in India the response was earlier. For the fourth century heralded the dawn of an epoch, which eventually developed into what has been generally accepted as a time of India's greatest intellectual awakening Several forces operating at the same time contributed to produce this high summit of attainment. In the first place, a large portion of the country came under the stabilized rule of the strong and cultured dynasty of the Guptas, whose diplomatic relations when at their zenith, about 400 A.D., extended from the Oxus to Ceylon. The personal patronage and scholarly encouragement of these rulers created an atmosphere favourable to a revival of all forms of human activity, spiritual and material. Secondly, owing to the fact that the Guptas were by religion Brahmanical, and also because the country itself was prepared for it, great stimulation was accorded to Hinduism, the innate faith of the people, so that they were mainly of one mind. And, lastly, the unification of the state under one authority engendered a national spirit to give birth to ideals which transformed every phase of thought and every form of action Among the effects of this fortuitous synchronisation of circumstances was that produced on the arts of the age, and notably on that of architecture In the art of building, two progressive movements of fundamental significance are discernible, one relating to its aesthetic character, and the other to structural procedure. The former marks the begetting of a new sensibility, a change from the mere imitative to the infinitely creative, from the servile copying of meaningless forms expressive of an undeveloped mind and unskilled forces, to a reasoned application of the first principles of architectural composition. The latter records the use for the first time of dressed stone masonry, a pronounced step in the technique of building construction, the introduction of which placed a new power in the hands of the workman. It was when the art was in such a formative state that there emerged the earliest known conception of the Hindu "house of god". And with the appearance of this type of building, architecture composed of stone masonry made its beginning.