Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c26.25

c26.25

The repetition of the "horse" motif in the pillars of this period which seems to attain the finality of extravagance in the Horse Court at Srirangam, is remarkable. A rampant animal was a notable decorative element in the architecture of the Pallavas, the earliest phase of the Dravidian style, a feature which became a permanent gift to the building art of the South. During the Vijayanagar regime this motif, in a much more developed form, appears so frequently that it dominates every conception, until it becomes an obsession Such conspicuous creations, when they persist in this manner, usually imply some vivid experience ever-present in the sub-consciousness of the people, a mass psychosis which they are unable to suppress. Several mysterious subjects of a like nature figure in Indian decorative schemes, one of the most constant depicting a dwarf-like creature, downtrodden and compelled to support buildings, or carry enormous weights, a conventional representation reminiscent of some conquest in the twilight of their history of an aboriginal race and since condemned to everlasting slavery. There are others equally graphic which either tradition or instinct ordains should be reproduced in the country's art. The rampant horseman in the later Dravidian buildings is an illustration of this mental phenomenon, and also reveals the spirit of the times, as the Vijayanagar era corresponded in some respects to that age of chivalry and romance which prevailed in mediaeval Europe. Save that they were on a lesser scale, the conditions in the Tamil country were not very different from those which produced the Crusades, except that in India the movement was mainly defensive, while in Europe it was more aggressive. Both people were faced with much the same peril, that of an impending Islamic subversion, to oppose which called for the highest valour and personal heroism. That the armed forces of the Vijayanagar empire were of the finest calibre, inspired and led by rulers of great audacity and daring, is proved by the long period of two centuries during which they kept their hereditary foes at bay, whereas almost every other part of the country succumbed at once. Something of this temper, a feeling of exultant invincibility translated into the power of good over evil, seems embodied in the art of this period and to account for these colonnades of splendid cavaliers nonchalantly astride gigantic rearing chargers and engaged in furious combat with fabulous creatures, an episode singularly analogous to that of St. George and the Dragon in the West.