The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c9.22

c9.22

One of Fergusson's most fatal errors was his conclusion that the symbolism of Buddhist art was more ancient than that of orthodox Brahmanism, instead of being, as we shall presently see, entirely derived from it. Brahmâ, Vishnu, and Siva are philosophical concepts which have their root in the earliest religious ideas of the Aryan race, and the blunder of dating the history of Hindu temples from about the seventh century A.D.,¹ instead of from the earliest origins of Indian religious building, has put archæological research on the wrong track ever since it was accepted as a truism on Fergusson's authority.