The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c11.17

c11.17

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.