The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c20.8

c20.8

The command of an unlimited number of skilled craftsmen which the affluent Buddhist sect had for centuries after Asoka’s conversion naturally gave Buddhism greater architectural opportunities. But in every period of Indian history it was only the popular side of Indo-Aryan religion that was represented by the sculptor, painter, and architect. The higher philosophy of every sect ignored the aids to contemplation and the gorgeous ritual which popular feeling demanded. The lonely forest, the mountain cave, the quiet river-bank were more to the philosopher than the most splendid shrine ever made by the hands of men. So at Ellora and every other sacred tîrth the centre of interest to the pilgrims would often be, not a magnificent chaitya-house, temple, or splendid monastery, but a roughly hewn cave or a natural grot, where a yogi lived whose inspired sayings were treasured up in the people’s mind and added to the storehouse of Indian wisdom. Archæology can give a date to the work of the painter, sculptor, and architect; but the antiquity of the hermit's cave, which to the Indian historian may be a record of far higher significance, must always remain a matter of conjecture.