Maurya and Shunga Art c10.5

c10.5

No less important exponent of Maurya court art is the independent column standing free in space. The idea and impetus persisted even after the Mauryas, but the form underwent considerable change. It was never adopted as part of any larger architectural entity in which case pillars and pilasters invariably show and evolve other forms directly from wooden prototypes. Already in the first century B. C. the Garuḍa column from Besnagar raised at the direction and patronage of a colonial Greek converted to Bhāgavata Vaishnavism,⁶⁶ shows form and features that are different from those of Asokan columns. The lowest third of the shaft is octagonal terminated by eight half-lotus designs; the middle third is sextagonal which is terminated by an octagonal band, each side of the band being decorated by a stylised full and round lotus design; the upper third is round and is superimposed by a bell-shaped capital that in its shape, form and appearance is related not so much with the Asokan capitals as with the typical Persepolitan ones with a ring of pointed lotus petals at the upper end of the base. The crowning adornment is not that of an animal but consists of a high cube supporting a stylised cluster of palmyra branches which again recall similar motifs in West-Asiatic art. The fact that this column was raised by a colonial Greek probably explains this emphasis on Achaemenian and West-Asiatic motifs, but the fact remains that post-Maurya art and architecture discarded the type and form of columns made current by the Maurya monarchs. This is further supported by the shape and form of pilasters met with at Barhut and derivable from wooden prototyes. True, there are certain pilasters with pronounced Persepolitan forms, but it is clear that they were the handiwork of masons from the North-west who left their marks in the Kharoshṭhī script.