Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c39.25

c39.25

The stones forming the triad of structures at Parıhasapura were evenly dressed and united by means of lime mortar, or in some instances with metal dowels. The use of mortar in the building construction of India proper was practically unknown until the thirteenth century when it was introduced by the Muhammadans, all masonry previous to that date being of the dry order. The appearance of this adherent, freely and skilfully applied in the buildings of Kashmır as early as the eighth century A.D., as already remarked, is a matter of no little significance. As to the dowels none of these has been preserved, but they were almost certainly of metal, and from the appearance of the sockets, were of the usual flat section with expanded ends of hour-glass profile, in this respect not unlike the ebony cramps found occasionally in Egyptian masonry of the Ptolemaic era. But, in accordance with the scale of the Buddhist construction, they were of large size some of the sockets being as much as 18 inches in length. That there was a certain greatness, if not an appearance of supreme grandeur in these monuments there is every evidence, and no loss is more regrettable in the field of Indian architecture than their almost complete destruction.