The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.10

c11.10

It is not enough to state the fact; we must also explain it. Certainly we cannot question the skill of the architect who conceived the complicated plan of these nine stories, who designed the mouldings and provided for the sculptural decoration, who, finally, by an ingenious arrangement of gargoyles carrying away the rain-water, made sure of an indefinite preservation at a slight cost of maintenance. If, therefore, he pitched so low the summit of his construction, he must have had some reason for it. We confess that this reason revealed itself to us only in the evening, when seeing from the verandah of the neighbouring *pasangrahan* (¹) the obscure silhouette of the monument stand out against the starry sky. The contours of this dark mass, in which all details were obscured, presented themselves to us as distinctly curved (pl. XXXIII, 1) : where we were seeking a pyramid, the builder had intended only a dome. Thus we learned our error. It had, in fact, become usual with archæologists to regard Boro-Budur as a *stûpa* erected on superposed terraces after the manner of those of northwestern India (²). In reality, it is only a *stûpa* in the form of a dome, according to the old Indian mode, but much more elaborate, being cut horizontally by a series of promenades and itself crowned with a second cupola. The influence which it has undergone, both in its general conception as in the detail of its mural decoration, comes to it not from Gandhâra, but, as is natural, from southern India, where its direct ancestor is called Amarâvatî¹. And this theory, imposed on the most uninitiated by observation of the monument, is confirmed beyond all hesitation by an examination of the plans and elevations which have been drawn up by specialists. The ruling lines of Boro-Budur, notwithstanding the right angles and vertical walls of its lower galleries, are all curves.