Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c20.25

c20.25

The constructional methods of the Hindus, not unlike those of the Greeks, were of a simple but effective order, showing little inventiveness, or any serious attempt to solve structural problems. No effort was made to apply in their building productions the principles of the equilibirum of forces in action by means of the arch, vault, or other mechanical devices, which, instituted by the Romans, were by this time, being put into universal practice by the architects of the western world. Instead, the Indian craftsman, clinging to his own traditional technique and unmoved by the progress being made elsewhere, achieved his purpose solely by the judicious observance of the laws of gravity, strength being obtained by mass supporting mass, and stability by the solid resistance of weights acting only vertically, all pressure being transmitted directly downwards. In these circumstances mortar was unnecessary because it would have been of no use for distributing the pressure between the courses of the structure: it was therefore very rarely employed, with the result that all Hindu masonry is described as of the "dry" order. The Indian builder knew architecture as a fine or liberal art, but not as a mechanical art. He seems to have resembled the master mason of the Middle Ages in Europe, rather than the architect of the Greeks.