The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c13.17

c13.17

The entrance to the hall was through a verandah (Pl. XXII) fronted by six pillars of the Sangha with capitals almost identical in their sculpture with those at Kârlê, except that some of the Devas on the Vedic altars ride upon bulls and lions instead of elephants. The bull was the sacrificial animal, the symbol of procreation, the *vâhan*, or vehicle of Siva, and thus the guardian of the western quarter, or the gate of the setting sun. The lion stood for the blazing heat of the sun high in the heavens which dried up the deadly mists of the plains : it was thus the vehicle of Dûrgâ, the Inaccessible, Destroyer of demons—who was Siva's bride and represented Nature-force, the counterpart of the Great Spirit who is the Lord of Death. The lion as a sun-emblem was the guardian of all four quarters, and became the *vâhan*, or throne symbol, of the Buddha to signify his world-wide dominion and the glory of his spiritual conquests. The elephant was Indra's rain-cloud and guardian of the south, whence came the rushing monsoon winds carrying Lakshmî's nectar-jar upon their wings. The horse, guarding the northern quarter, was the noble steed upon which the Aryan warriors rode to victory in India from their ancient home in the north. This early Buddhist sculpture is purely and intensely Indo-Aryan: it is the joyous nature-symbolism of the Vedas carved in wood and stone.