[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908) › c8.18 # Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c8.18 Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c8.18 - **Language:** English ### [c8.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c8.18) The schools of art were not the courts and palaces of kings, or offices of state, but the monasteries and the sacred shrines at which the pilgrims paid their devotions. The early history of this art and architecture belongs to a period when, the greater part of the country being covered by dense forests, the most convenient material for building and sculpture was wood. But, though in this perishable material no actual monuments of this earliest period have survived to the present day, we can gather a clear idea of the style from the monuments of Asoka's time, in which all the forms of the ancient wooden construction began to be copied in stone, and from the pictures of the buildings given in the Ajanta cave-paintings. The modern wooden architecture of the sub-Himalayan countries, like Nepal, and that of Burma, has many affinities with it. - [Previous: c8.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c8.17) - [Next: c8.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c8.19) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c8) ## Linked texts (1) - [Ajanta](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.ajanta) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c8.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.havell-1908.c8.18) · Pramāṇa