History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c10.4

v1.c10.4

Be this as it may, it will, if I mistake not, become quite clear when we examine the earliest "rock-cut temples" that, whether from ignorance or from choice, the Indians employed wood and that only, in the construction of their ornamental buildings, before Asoka's time.¹ From this the inference seems inevitable that it was in consequence of India being brought into contact with the western world, first by Alexander's raid, and then by the establishment of the Baktrian kingdom in its immediate proximity, that led to this change. We do not yet know precisely how far the Baktrian kingdom extended towards the Indus, but we feel Greek influence on the coinage, on the sculpture, and generally on the arts of India, from an early date, and it seems as if we might be able to fix with precision not only the dates, but the forms in which the arts of the Western world exerted their influence on those of the East. Meanwhile it may be sufficient to state here that we know absolutely nothing of the temples or architecture of the various peoples or religions who occupied India before the rise of Buddhism,² and it is only by inference that we know anything of that of the Buddhists before the age of Asoka. From that time forward, however, all is clear and intelligible; we have a sufficient number of examples whose dates and forms are known to enable us to write a fairly consecutive history of the architectural style during the 1000 years Buddhism was prevalent in India, and thence to trace its various developments in the extra Indian countries to which it was carried, and where it is still practised at the present day.³