Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c41.67

c41.67

Although the influence of India by means of the Buddhist contact is observable in the art of Ceylon during this early period, such influence is not great and only reveals itself in relatively minor evidences. For instance that characteristic feature, the conventional Buddhist "railing", does not seem to have commended itself to the Sinhalese builders as it figures in only one example at Anuradhapura near the Abhayagur Dagoba, but it is most distinctively treated. Carried around a platform square in plan, the uprights, with their cross-bars, copy almost exactly to a smaller scale the more famous stupa railing at Sanchi in India. Where this differs from its prototype is in its more ornamental manipulation as it is elevated on a massive moulded pediment nearly half its own height, with its coping stone also moulded, the whole rising to a height of 7½ feet. Moreover it is entered not by the usual torana gateway, but by means of a stepway having its ends finished with tall guard stones of the stele form, the entire scheme presenting an almost reluctant concession to the traditional Indian origin. Yet that in the style of all this early work there are traces of a definite Indian affinity is obvious, and in some of the patterns there are the same liner and plastic qualities which give character to the arts of Mysore, a circumstance which in view of its geographical proximity, is in no sense remarkable. The remains at Anuradhapura illustrating this first phase of the building art in Ceylon, are sufficient to prove that the inhabitants of the island at that time were naturally of an aesthetic disposition, and only required the stimulus of the Buddhist religion to express this in architectural form. This characteristic shows itself not only in the large monuments of which unfortunately only fragments survive, but it is particularly noticeable in all the accessories of these great compositions, thus conveying the impression that whatever the craftsmen of this period handled, however humble or material, they converted it into a pleasing work of art But at the beginning of the eleventh century the great and ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura was destroyed by an invasion from Southern India, and the northern portion of the island thus became included in the mighty empire of the Cholas, under a ruling dynasty which extended its influence from the tenth to the twelfth centuries over a very wide expanse of southern Asia While this encroachment from the Indian mainland signified the end of an important era in the history of Ceylon, owing to the devastation which accompanied this event, at the same time it brought into the building art of the island the architectural style of the Tamil country, or Dravidadesha, thus affecting to some extent the subsequent character of Sinhalese art as a whole