Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c43.8

c43.8

Here may be mentioned the historical fact that at this period intercourse between different peoples, was not only regionally but universally very prevalent. For in the first millennium, and particularly during the earlier centuries, there appears to have arisen a world-wide movement on the part of individuals and groups, who journeyed from one country to another, a condition largely due to a state of spiritual unrest There was a marked coming and going of pilgrims, of missionaries, of searchers in quest of ideals, impelled by some mysterious urge which carried them over immense distances and sustained them over long intervals of time. In the West, these were the means by which Christianity, and all that it implied was conveyed from Asia to the northern countries of Europe, while in much the same manner in the Middle East, inspired by Buddhism, the religio-culture of India was communicated to the distant regions of Asia. The famous Chinese pilgrims who spent years travelling to the holy lands of Buddhism are a case in point, and there are doubtless many others of whom no records remain. Some of these were intellectual men who brought with them ideas on art and architecture and kindred subjects which left a permanent impress on the countries in which they often sojourned for a considerable time