Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c20.22

c20.22

Corresponding in some respects to the treatise of Vitruvius, the Vastusastra displays the obscurity of that famous Roman architect in his explanation of the "perfect numbers" of the Greeks, many times intensified. There seems little doubt that, although compiled with the best of intentions, the laws of the silpas cast their shadow over the arts, so that they never fully recovered their earlier elasticity and natural charm. In this connection, it may be remarked that at some time towards the middle of the first millennium, there appears to have been a spirit abroad, which aimed at priestly control over all cultural activities, the iron hand of religion being used to restrain complete freedom of expression. That it also affected literature is proved by the Ahamkara, or "Rules of Poetics," and there are indications that similar regulations were framed for the guidance of several of the arts. It has been found that any such discipline, operated by a fixed set of rules, is apt to emerge only during periods of intellectual stagnation, and any system devised to compel expression to conform to certain pre-ordained conditions, is bound to impair spontaneity of utterance. The silpas fall into this category, with the result that they stifled initiative and struck at the very root of inspiration. Only the genius of the Indian workman could rise superior to such circumstances—he maintained a living art, not because of the silpas, but in spite of them