The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c15.38

c15.38

It will now become clearer why Indian builders before Muhammadan times used the arch, as a constructive principle, so seldom. The arch, as I have explained elsewhere,² symbolised the aura of the sacred image, and every possible variety of the arch was constantly used for constructing the shrines or niches in which images were placed (fig. 45). For larger structural purposes it was also used occasionally, as in the sikhara at Bodh-Gayâ (Pl. XXV); but the trabeate system of building was preferred because it suggested a philosophical idea. There was also the practical reason that when good timber and building stone of almost any dimensions were plentiful, the beam and bracket were generally more expedient than the arch, especially in a country liable to severe earthquakes.