[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.brown-1942) › c19.3 # Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c19.3 Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c19.3 - **Language:** English ### [c19.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.brown-1942.c19.3) STIMULATED also by the cultural conditions and atmosphere of toleration created during the Gupta regime, the Buddhists at the same time revived their architectural activity, particularly in its rock-cut aspect, in which they had already shown a marked proclivity. No doubt its exponents persisted in this form of production as it was a method with which they had long been familiar and also probably, because it presented no serious constructional difficulties. This Mahayana rock-cut architecture is restricted to certain specified localities in Western India, chiefly in the hilly country of the Ghats, such as Ajanta, Ellora, Aurangabad, and a few scattered retreats of lesser importance in the same region. At Ajanta, as described in Chapter V, a Hinayana order of priests had towards the beginning of the Christian era, excavated a group of large halls and monastic abodes, after which a quiescent period of four centuries intervened, when this Buddhist hierarchic settlement again sprang into life. On the other Buddhist site, that at Ellora as distinct from Ajanta, no earlier excavations had been made, it was previously unoccupied, so that here an entirely new undertaking was initiated by the Buddhists, and eventually developed, under the Jains and Brahmans into the most important and comprehensive range of rock-cut monuments in India. The Mahayana Buddhist movements, both at Ajanta and Ellora, appear to have begun simultaneously about the middle of the fifth century, but the other group, that near Aurangabad, which was probably an off-shoot from Ellora, may be dated slightly later. After the seventh century, as far as the Buddhists were concerned, this form of expression ceased, in fact this date marks the termination of Buddhists architectural effort in India, with the exception of the brick-built monasteries of the north, as produced in Bihar and the Gangetic plain (Chapter IX) Although the rock-cut monasteries of the Buddhists at Ellora are of great interest, the real glories of the site are the subsequent works of the other religious communities, the Hindus and the Jains, as will be shown later (Chapter XV). - [Previous: c19.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.brown-1942.c19.1) - [Next: c19.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.brown-1942.c19.4) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.brown-1942.c19) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.brown-1942.c19.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.brown-1942.c19.3) · Pramāṇa