Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c31.8

c31.8

The master-builders with their staff of masons formed an essential part of the pattern comprising this social economy, as they are in a lesser degree and in the more remote localities, to the present day. Relics of the builders’ guilds (*sena*) still survive, and descendants of the craftsmen are not infrequently found carrying on their trade in much the same manner as did their forebears in mediaeval times As an instance, one such, engaged on an intricate architectural undertaking when questioned as to how he could do it without models, plans, or working drawings, significantly touched his forehead, implying that all these material aids were stored in his mind He then proceeded to chant the ancient rules of the craft, a miscellany of religious formulas and astronomical propositions, unintelligible to most, but thoroughly understood by his workmen, as they followed the directions given in this manner, without a fault. Moreover the care and correctness with which the iconography on the temples was executed is proof that the master-masons had a sound working knowledge of the folk-lore and mythology of the country, most of this information being conveyed to them by means of the *shilpas*, or rules of the craft None of these workmen appears to have been an artist-priest, although instances are known of one being either by heredity or application empowered to perform the ritual of his creed on holy days, with all its complicated ceremonial. In the ranks of a certain group of artisans within recent years, was a cleric, one of the temple staff whose duty it was to paint the images at the festivals and perform art-work of a like nature, and who was accepted by his fellow craftsmen in the dual capacity of both painter and priest. As shown in the case of mediaeval Europe,¹ the building of temples in India was not done by priests trained in the art, as sometimes supposed, but entirely by the hand of lay artisans, professional masons by heredity, known as *silavats* or *salats*. When the Muhammedan governors after the fourteenth century changed the orientation of the building art from temples to mosques, these masons had no very deep religious or other irreconcilable convictions to overcome, but carried out the orders of their Moslem over-loads without any real break in the continuity of the architectural tradition.