The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c12.18

c12.18

In India, instead of building, as in temperate climates, so as to admit sunlight right into the interior of houses, man instinctively tries his utmost to diminish the glare and heat. A dwelling carved out of the living rock, when it is designed with due regard to lighting and ventilation, is not only an ideal retreat for the student and religious recluse, but it affords better protection from the torrential rains of the monsoon and from the exhausting heat of the dry season than any building which the utmost skill of the carpenter, bricklayer, and stonemason could construct. It was not, therefore, the ascetic side of Indian religion which finds expression in the wonderful cave temples and monasteries, but rather the same spirit of *bhakti*, or the feeling that God demanded the best man could offer Him, both in a spiritual and material sense, which ever moves the mind of India.