Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c30.4

c30.4

To what extent the post-Gupta art and architecture derived its exquisite quality from the cultural conditions that prevailed in this region during the latter half of the first millennium, can only be conjectured Such a galaxy of intellectuals as that which comprised the "Nine Gems" at the Court of Ujjain, including the celebrated dramatic poet Kalidasa, and, later, Bhavabhuti, the Indian equivalents respectively of Shakespeare and Goethe, implies an epoch having real unity, corresponding in a measure to some of the great creative developments of the West. That this scholarly movement influenced all forms of expression is shown by the architecture of this period, and it is clear that it was a time when men's minds were working in accordance with high aesthetic ideals. In its cultural aspect therefore it suggests the age of Pericles, rather than that of the Elizabethans, with the addition of a profoundly religious trend. One of the chief characteristics of the great literary masterpieces of this period, and one which is insistent throughout, is an abundant sympathy with and love of Nature in her most florescent mood , and in this warm, colourful environment live and luxuriate chaste and graceful female forms Such an emotional atmosphere could not fail to react on the visual arts, and specially on the plastic embellishment of the temples. Can we not see therefore in these buildings, in the elegant scrolls of foliage clustering round column and capital, mouldings and cornice, some of that fondness for blossoming trees, trailing verdure, lotus lilies, and "pale red trumpet flowers", which so frequently comprise the setting of these poetical dramas ? And have not some of the love-idylls inspired those voluptuous feminine figures adorning pediment, bracket, and strut, embodiments of Sakuntala, daughter of the celestial nymph of whom Kalidasa sings?