The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c11: Chapter V. Symbolism: The Lotus-leaf Arch, or Sun-window—Pillars, Capitals, and Bases—The Vishnu Standard and Pillar—The Holy Mount—The Symbol of Death
The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c11
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Chapter V. Symbolism: The Lotus-leaf Arch, or Sun-window—Pillars, Capitals, and Bases—The Vishnu Standard and Pillar—The Holy Mount—The Symbol of Death
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SYMBOLISM
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THE LOTUS-LEAF ARCH, OR SUN-WINDOW—PILLARS, CAPITALS, AND BASES—THE VISHNU STANDARD AND PILLAR—THE HOLY MOUNT—THE SYMBOL OF DEATH
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It has been explained already that the Asokan arched window (fig. 17), commonly called "horseshoe" by Western writers—a form also applied to vaults and domes—was derived from the use of bent bambu, as in Bengali thatched roofs. The exquisite
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FIG. 17.—Sun-window of the Hînayâna School.
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FIG. 18.—Sun-window of the Mahâyâna School.
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FIG. 19.—Mahâyâna Sun-window used as a Shrine.
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symbolism, inspired by the poetry of the Vedic hymns, which was read into the structural use of it, was again that of the sun and of its floral emblem the lotus or water-lily; it suggested the sun on the horizon in a cloudless sky rising or setting over sea, lake, or river. As a theological symbol, therefore, it stood for Brahmâ, or Buddha, or Siva, and when image-w aureole of a seated figure of the divinity, the form of which was associated in the mind of the devout with the lotus leaf. The outside line of the arched opening, following the curve of a village thatched roof, took the shape of a conventionalised leaf of the sacred pîpal—the Bodhi tree (fig. 20).
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These sun-windows, as they may be called, in the oldest Indian buildings had no sculptured ornament, but in carved representations of them as symbols the ends of the purlins which supported the rafters of the roof were shown, and also, as a rule, the wooden screen or lattice which filled them. Later on, at Ajanṭâ and elsewhere, an elaboration of the symbolism was brought in (fig. 18). The outer edge on each side started at the springing from the mouth of a *makara*, a fish-dragon, which suggested the water or cosmic ocean from which the sun rose, and into which it sank at eventide: it was an emblem of the clouds or vapours which sometimes veiled, but never impaired, the glory of the sun.¹ At the pointed crown of the sun-window was carved the head of another dragon—Râhu, the demon of the eclipse—philosophically regarded as a manifestation of the tâmasic quality of Siva which Vishnu, the Preserver, prevented from destroying the universe. Sometimes, when the sun-window was only a symbol, it was filled by a single head representing Siva, either in his sâttvic or tâmasic
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¹ The *makara* was also the symbol of Kâma-deva, the God of Love, whose eyes, like those of a fish, never closed, but were for ever gazing at the object of his desire: the antithesis of the blind god of Europe. To the Indian mind, closed eyelids, or the shutting out of sensual vision, suggest meditation and the opening of the third eye of spiritual consciousness.
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FIG. 20.—Leaf of the Pîpal Tree (*Ficus religiosa*).
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A. DHWAJA-STAMBHA FROM THE AMARĀVATĪ SCULPTURES
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B. HORSEWOMAN CARRYING VISHNU STANDARD (BHARHUT SCULPTURES)
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C. THE IRON PILLAR, DELHI
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VISHNU PILLARS AND STANDARDS (DHWAJA-STAMBHAS)
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aspect, as Avalokitêshvara—the Lord who looks down from abovê.
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The consecration of structural forms, originally derived from purely utilitarian uses, through this religious idealism was obviously the reason why the Vedic rail and the sun-window were retained as decorative motifs in the traditional canons of the Indian building craft long after their structural significance was lost sight of. They were ideographs of an art-language which, though incomprehensible by those outside the Indo-Aryan pale, was perfectly understood by the people whose religious sentiments it expressed.
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We will now see how this religious symbolism also determined the decorative treatment of another essential structural feature in Indian building—the column, pier, or pillar. In Asokan and later Indian sculpture there are two kinds represented: one is the *dhwaja-stambha* (flag-pole), or the *lât*, used to mark sacred places, to carry inscriptions and symbols, and as lamp-standards; the other is the structural form applied to the support of buildings, and subsequently, as in the classical "orders" of Europe, to their embellishment. The first kind is represented by the single pillars upon which Asoka inscribed his edicts, and by the pairs which, like the Boaz and Jachin of the Temple of Jerusalem, stood in front of the entrance to Buddhist and Jain stûpas and temples. They were originally the tribal ensigns or the standards of royalty, which were planted outside the entrance to the sacrificial area at the great horse-sacrifices in Vedic times.
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A quaint sculpture at Bharhut (fig. B, Pl. XII) shows a female, probably Sri, or Lakhsmi, carrying Vishnu's standard surmounted by the mythical sun-bird Garuda.
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The Buddhist, Jain, and Brahmanical temple-pillar also derives its symbolic decorative treatment from the ancient Aryan sacrificial ritual in which gilded posts, "octagonal and smoothly planed " and decorated with pennons, served to mark out the holy ground. Râm Râz gives interesting details taken from the Mânasâra Silpa-sâstra as to the ritualistic significance of different forms of pillars. A square-shafted one was associated with Brahmâ worship; an octagonal one with that of Vishnu; the circular or sixteen-sided one with Rudra-Siva as the Destroyer.¹ Translating this ascription into Buddhist terminology, it may be said that the square pillar stood for Buddha, an octagonal one for the Sangha, and a circular or sixteen-sided one for Dharma. A cylindrical pillar without capital or base was dedicated to Chandra, the moon.
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¹ To symbolise the Trimûrti, or the Three Aspects of the One, all three forms are combined in one pillar, as in the great temple of Elephanta.
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FIG. 21.—Vishnu Pillar from the Bharhut Sculptures.
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In pillars or piers intended for structural support and built up of three or more pieces, the capital, shaft, and base are all primarily structural forms, and the decoration should not impair, but rather emphasise, the structural functions of each part. This principle was fully recognised by Indian craftsmen in applying their religious symbolism to the forms of structural supports. Fig. 21 shows the type of capital and base which appears in Asokan buildings; the structural and decorative elements in it, derived from the lotus flower and fruit, and from the sacrificial waterpot, prevailed in various combinations throughout the classic period of Indian architecture.
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In all Indo-Aryan religious ritual, from the earliest Vedic times, the fruit of *Nelumbium speciosum*, the sacred lotus of Egypt (fig. 22) has always been regarded as a symbol of the opening by night, had a different shape (fig. 24) and a somewhat different symbolic implication. It was the jar which contained the *amrita*, or elixir of immortality, the nectar of the gods; and thus its form was adapted not only to sacrificial vessels, but to the ordinary Indian domestic water-pot, the lota. The shape of it was as admirably adapted for making a firm base to a pillar or column (fig. 21) as the form of the *Nelumbium* fruit was suitable for the structural purpose of the capital.
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The section of the water-lily fruit given in fig. 24 shows how its symbolic use was associated with form as well as colour, for within it is the mystic wheel containing the seeds of life,
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FIG. 24.—Fruit of Water-lily (*Nymphæa*) and Section showing the Mystic Wheel.
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which are scattered over the waters in which it grows like stars floating in the cosmic ocean. A fresco at Ajantâ¹ seems to suggest that wooden poles of garden pavilions were actually inserted into metal lotas firmly fixed in a stone, brick, or wooden base—a practice which might have arisen from the use of domestic water-vessels in street decorations for fixing up and keeping fresh young plantain and palm trees. The following passage in the Ummagga Jâtaka, describing the preparations made for a royal procession, is interesting in this connection: "He also strewed the ground with white sand and flowers of various kinds, and put brimming jars of water on either side
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¹ See Griffiths, "Ajanta," vol. i. pl. 17.
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A. FROM THE SÂNCHÎ SCULPTURES
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B. FROM THE BHARHUT SCULPTURES
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C. FROM A FRESCO PAINTING AT AJANTÂ
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THE SACRED LOTUS AND THE WATER-LILY
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of the roadway with cocoa-nut flowers and ornamental plantain trees." ¹
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FIG. 25.—Indian Water-vessel.
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Another motif which is used both structurally and decoratively in Indian art is a combination of the fruits of *Nelumbium* and *Nymphæa*. This was applied to the domestic water-vessel, as in fig. 25, and also to the capitals of pillars for producing the form used at Elephanta and Ajantâ, called by Fergusson "cushion-shaped" (fig. 26). It may be noted that an exaggeration of the torus to which either side of it. Behind the throne is the standard, the shaft built up of six fruits of the blue or white water-lily combined with mythical animals and figures. Five pairs of mounted figures, three pairs on lions and two on horseback, are ranged on either side of the shaft. They are probably the ten Visva-devas, or the ten chief powers controlling the forces of the universe. Above these deities, on either side of the shaft, a half-opened water-lily growing from it affords foothold to a female dancer, who, like the dancing Siva, probably symbolises the cosmic rhythm.¹
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¹ Incidentally the connection of these two water-lilies with this stambha proves that the melon-shaped forms which help to compose it, technically known as *amalakas* (from *amala*, pure), are really the fruit of *Nymphæa*, which was also taken for Lakshmi's jar holding the amrita of immortality. The importance of this fact for elucidating the symbolism of the sikhara of Vishnu's shrine will be seen below (p. 63). The amalaka and Lakshmi's jar are used generally as interchangeable symbols, as they are in this stambha.
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The explanation of the symbolism of the whole stambha is no doubt that given in the Mahânirvâna Tantra of the Seven Upper Spheres, described as a revelation of Siva. First, rising above the seven nether spheres of Pâtala, the under-world, is the Brahmâ Lotus, with its four petals turned downwards, the fruit of which is "the beautiful circle of earth."
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Over this is the blessed lotus, Bhîma the Terrible, with six petals and an inner circle having four openings. The fruit of it is Bhuvaloka, the region of the air.
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Next above it is the rare flower of ten petals, Mahâpadma, the heavenly lotus, containing within its fruit the fire element. The fourth is the transparent lotus of the Ether, with sixteen petals: its fruit is the abode of Vâyu—Wind-force (*vajra*, electric power).
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The fifth lotus is also transparent, with sixteen petals enclosing the fruit which is Jnâna-loka, the abode of pure knowledge.
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The sixth is Gajna-padma, very rare, with two petals round as the full moon. Within its fruit is the *Chîtamâni*, the jewel of Thought, and here Siva dwells in bodily form as Brahmâ, with the divine swan Hamsa, a mystic word which being transposed becomes Saham—I am he.
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Crowning all is the vast lotus with a thousand shining turned-down petals, which contains the germs of thousand thousands of worlds yet unborn. It is the abode of para-brahmâ, and there is the formless and motionless one, mahâ-kâlî. “As the lightning is born from the cloud, and disappears within the cloud, so Brahmâ and all the gods take birth from kâlî, and will disappear in kâlî who is the giver of nirvana.”
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Now, the sikhara, or spire of Vishnu’s shrine, which has been the subject of so much erratic archæological conjecture, is only an application of the water-lily symbol to the roofing of the The flower and fruit in combination were used as the decorative motif of the cross-brackets (fig. 26A) placed as a super-capital above the lotus-flower capital. Thus the temple pillar stood, like the flowering tree climbing round the cedar or pine, as a symbol of life and death. The datura is also the
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FIG. 26A.—Cross-brackets used as Super-capital of Temple Pillar.
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motif of the brackets supporting balconies and chhajas in Indian houses (Pl. III, B).
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When the symbolic and structural significance of the Indian “orders of architecture” is understood it is easy to trace the derivation of medieval forms and combinations, and their later Muhammadan modifications, from their Asokan prototypes, for the tradition remained unbroken throughout the Mogul period and has continued to the present day.
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TEMPLE AT AIHOLE (*circa* A.D. 600)