History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.25

v2.c24.25

As mentioned in the introduction the curtain drops on the drama of Indian history about the year 650, or a little later, and for three centuries we have only the faintest glimmerings of what took place within her boundaries. Civil wars seem to have raged everywhere, and religious persecution may have prevailed. When the curtain again rises we have an entirely new scene and new *dramatis personæ* presented to us. Buddhism had disappeared, except in a corner of Bengal, and Jainism had continued in influence throughout the west, and Vaishnavism had usurped its inheritance in the east. It was most probably during these three centuries of misrule that the structural temples and vihâras of the Buddhists disappeared, and the earlier temples of the Jains; and there is a gap consequently in our history which may be filled up by new discoveries in remote places,¹ but which at present separates this chapter from the account of Buddhist Architecture in Book I. in a manner it is not pleasant to contemplate.