Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c41.4

c41.4

Yet although the people of Ceylon appear to have received no stimulation from the great rock-cut temples that were being actively produced with the propagation of the Buddhist religion throughout India, it was by means of the transmission of that faith into the island, even before the Christian era, that its architectural procedure was initiated and developed. For as early as the middle of the third century B.C. the son and emissary of the Indian Emperor Asoka brought the word of the Buddha to Ceylon, an episode commemorated at the time by the erection of a colossal stupa at Mihintale where the gospel was first preached. During the succeeding years other stupas, also of immense size, arose on different sites, but with certain accessories and elaborations which give them a distinctive appearance and character. Founded in such a substantial and realistic manner it is only natural that the architecture of the country continued, with certain exceptions due to inroads by Hindu conquests from India, to be entirely Buddhist in its ideals, a condition which has been steadfastly maintained throughout the whole course of its history.