Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c41.2

c41.2

THE general impression first conveyed on viewing the remains of the deserted and partially buried cities of Ceylon is that of an area of desolation containing groups of square granite pillar shafts, each group marking the site of some building long since destroyed. These monolithic pillars, owing to the ravages of time and to the want of support often inclined at diverse angles, are attached by sockets to substantial and elegantly moulded stylobates of dressed stone, approached by a massive stairway in the middle of one side. Such are the remains of the ground stories which these ruins represent, but what kind of upper structure these pillars supported is a matter very largely of conjecture. It is clear however that what survives is a record of two contrasting constructional systems almost invariably employed in the same building. On the one hand the foundations and ground stories prove the use of permanent materials effectively jointed and solidly united and therefore capable of supporting an equally strong and stable superstructure. On the other hand, the builders, after this notable exposition of an enduring fundamental storey seem to have given up any further ideas of stone construction and rather inconsistently carried out the remainder of their conceptions in the lighter but less durable materials of wood, brick and terracotta. The results of this combination of two dissimilar methods of structural procedure are plainly visible in the existing remains, for while the granite pillars and basements are still standing, every vestige of the upper portions has disappeared. The foregoing relates mainly to the larger architectural productions of the cities, but there was another important development of a somewhat different order. Prominent among the ruins of the earlier period are the remains of numerous stupas or dagobas, some of immense size, in certain instances of colossal proportions, all constructed of solid brickwork, but with approaches and appurtenances of granite in which pillars predominate. It will be seen therefore that the historical architecture of the country resolves itself a style of building composed partly of indestructible granite which, although damaged, still remains in situ, and partly of a variety of materials of a perishable nature which under the influences of the climate and from other causes has entirely disappeared.