Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c57.41

v1.c57.41

After this brief treatment of Rock-cut Architecture from a synthetic standpoint where manuals and monuments, both have been given equal prominence, some remarks are called for here and now on the Stūpa Architecture as well. As already pointed out that the Indian rock-cut architecture is predominently Buddhist and Stūpa-architecture is cent percent Buddhist it, therefore, has to be examined in alliance with the rock-cut. Any sacred architecture of the post-Vedic period is fundamentally influenced by the motif of mountains. Caves and mountains have provided the shapes and the forms, to put it in one word, the prototypes for the formative evolution of the Prāsādas and Vimānas. If Hindu Temple is the grand Icon of the Supernal Man “प्रासादं पुरुषं मत्वा पूजयेत्”, Buddhist Stūpa is not lesser than it. It is a sacred structure akin to a mountain-temple to enshrine not the deity but the relics of that great Buddhist deity who was all against deification. If caves go with mountains, the cave-temples should also go with the Stūpas, the mountain-temples and the Buddhist architecture has a very rich heritage in this splendid side-branch of Indian Architecture. The Stūpa monuments at the renowned sites of Sanchi Barhut, Amaravati etc. are a superb legacy of Indian art and a brief purview is called for.