Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c38.5

c38.5

In spite of the destruction brought about by the various forces mentioned above, it is possible to identify from the remains of these productions, three separate movements illustrating the course of architectural development in this region. The first of these assuming more or less an end in itself, was confined mainly to the Southern area, and resolved itself into two distinct phases. What may have been the older of these phases was an offshoot of that very virile movement, already described, which flourished in Orissa in the early mediaeval period, as shown at Bhubaneswar. The other, of ancient origin, but represented by examples of a more recent date, was an indigenous style of building, appertaining to a form of folk architecture, notable on account of its sectarian and sociological aspects. The second of these movements, but one destined to have important implications, was part of that powerful Hindu-Buddhist development responsible for those immense monastic settlements, previously referred to, which flourished in Bihar and the Gangetic plain towards the end of the first millennium. The third was the outcome of that "Eastern School" of art and architecture, which under the patronage of the Pal and Sena rulers of Bengal, influenced greatly the arts of the surrounding countries until it ended with the Muhammedan invasion in the thirteenth century. It will be shown that the two latter movements coalesced in the course of time to form the chief inspiration of that powerful current of Hindu-Buddhism which, carried eastward, stimulated the creation of the magnificent monuments of Greater India.