Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c39.5

c39.5

Of all the arts practised by the people of the valley in the pre-Islamic period, the greater part of which corresponds to what is ordinarily termed the Middle Ages, the building art was one in which they were notably proficient, as the remains of their large monuments in stone are a standing proof. Three phases of this architectural movement are discernible The first was an early or primitive form which developed about A D. 200, the records of which are merely foundational remains. This was followed by an epoch of building on such a grand scale that it may be defined as the classical period of their building art, and lasted from 700 A.D. to the beginning of the fourteenth century, after which date the country came under the influence of Islam This long period of some seven centuries is itself resolved into two phases, during the earlier of which the buildings were mainly of Buddhist attribution, while later they were entirely Brahmanical.