Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c22.3

c22.3

BY the seventh century, as shown in the previous chapter, the art of building by means of dressed stone masonry had already considerably advanced in certain parts of the country. Yet in spite of the progress made in the sphere of constructional architecture, the rock-cut form of expression had in the course of many years become so inherent a tradition that it continued to be practised until almost mediaeval times. So much so that during the period from the seventh to the tenth centuries the most notable development of rock-architecture took place. An explanation of this method persisting and surviving in India after the rest of the known world had become proficient in the more rational mode of building production, may be traced to a condition of comparative isolation which appears to have prevailed at the time. Intercourse with other civilizations had tended to be rare and intermittent, so that new experiences were not readily acquired. But another and perhaps more important factor that encouraged this ancient procedure, and gave it so long an existence in India, was contained in the instincts of the people themselves. For it is fairly clear that the rock temples were eminently suitable to their religious susceptibilities, the dim-lit columned halls crowded with immense shapes indestructible and hewn out of the earth itself, when compared with their own puny selves, filled them with fear and fascination combined. The solemn mystery of these great colonnaded caverns, yet orderly and symmetrical in their formation, would appeal to minds imaginative and intensely receptive, an innate mental condition to which the impassioned nature of their art plainly testifies.