The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c9.41

c9.41

It is equally fallacious to assume, as Dr. Coomaraswamy has also done,¹ that Indo-Aryans borrowed most of their architectural ideas from the non-Aryan tribes which became subject to them. There is absolutely no historical evidence that this was the case, but *per contra* there is strong reason for believing that all the higher culture of the ancient Indian village communities, including their organisation, arts and crafts, was directly due to Aryan inspiration, or to the practical adaptation of Aryan philosophical speculations to the concerns of daily life. I do not mean that the Aryans found India an artistic desert or peopled by primitive savages. The more or less civilised tribes whose immigrations preceded theirs may possibly have acquired their culture, directly or indirectly, from earlier Aryan sources; they may have represented an earlier stratum of Aryan civilisation. This would explain why the Aryans of Vedic India found it comparatively easy to adapt themselves to their Indian environment, without establishing impassable social barriers between themselves and their dark-skinned neighbours; for the exclusiveness of the caste system did not exist in the sixth century B.C. or for many centuries after the time of Buddha. Indian civilisation is, like Hindu sacrificial vessels, an amalgam of many metals; but the fire which fused them and separated the dross was the Aryan genius—the philosophy of the Vedas. If it has once more to go into the melting-pot, those who tear up its foundations should at least study its history carefully from its own standpoint, and equip themselves with sure knowledge of the materials they are using to form the new India, otherwise they are mere empirics in statecraft, playing with forces which they do not understand and which they are unable to control.