The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c14.2

c14.2

It has been made evident in the last chapter that in ancient Indian monasteries the groups of cells inhabited by the monks were always very small and of no structural importance. All the architectural interest of the monastery was centred on the shrine or shrines around which the monastic cells were grouped, and on the Sangha halls, or the pillared pavilions, which belonged to the former. We have seen what the sacred symbol, the chaitya, or stûpa, venerated by both the Jains and disciples of the Buddha, was like. It is necessary now to describe in greater detail the shrine of Vishnu, the ancient symbol of the holy Mount Meru, which was also adopted by Buddhists and Jains, just as many pagan symbols were adopted by early Christians with a different connotation.