Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c56.74

v1.c56.74

In the previous chapter an attempt has been made to trace the origin of the temple as an institution of worship as well as an architectural edifice. Here in this chapter an attempt is to be made to trace its development. We know that the chief development of the Indian Architecture centres round the Hindu Temple, distributed all over this vast land as specimens of different styles more particularly the Northern and Dravidian ones is the two principal parts of this country—the Āryāvarta, the North and the Dakṣiṇāpatha the Deccan. Scholars have amply investigated this subject in their monumental works. Savants like Havell, Fergusson, Brown and Coomarswamy and Stella Kramrisch, to mention only a few of them, have in their respective volumes, investigated into this branch of architectural studies in relation to the monuments, as they are preserved to us. Naturally all these volumes are an attempt to evaluate the development of the Temple, the most fascinating architectural activity of the Indian architects and their patrons—the ruling dynasties of both the ancient and medieval India—Chālukyas, Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, rulers of Vijayanagaram and Hoysalas, all belonging to the southern India, their northern counterparts being those belonging to Orissa, Khajuraho, Rajputana, Central India, Gwalior and a host of others. Religious fervour was at the root of this architectural renaissance both in India and the West. Jainism and Buddhism and Brahmanism, all three religious currents have contributed to the marvel of architecture, of which we can be proud. I have expounded the thesis more than once that the Indian architecture got impetus for its evolution and development from religion and under the patronage of the kings, it made singular strides of development. Not one, not two, but dozens of temples, both rock-cut cave-temples and religious edifices of Prāsādas and Vimānas are stupendous in their craftsmanship and marvelous in the designs and supernatural in the accomplishment. This great achievement may fittingly be termed as the architectural renaissance of our land. The saying that literature is the mirror of society, if it has got any truth behind, the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, the standard compendium of the medieval architecture has portrayed this mass activity of mankind in India when "as if the whole population had to a man been apprenticed to the stone mason" otherwise how can we explain that in India every hamlet has its cluster of shrines and in every town the tall spires rose of temples singly or in groups. Mr. P. Brown is very apt when he says, "It should be realised that in all works of art, and particularly in the temple architecture of the country, in the mind of the Indian people, the religious, philosophical and meta-physical qualities of the production takes first place, the artistic character being regarded as secondary. The intellect of the age, absorbed largely in divine contemplation, is reflected in the temple ideal, where the spiritual dominated the material" (vide Indian Arch.).