A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c7.47

c7.47

But, although nearly all Indian art is religious, it is a mistake to suppose that style was dependent on creed. Fergusson's classical *History of Indian Architecture* is grievously marred by the erroneous assumption that distinct Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu styles existed. Style, which M. Le Bon regards as an affair of race, is more conveniently considered as a function of time and place, varying according to the date and locality of the work. There is no such thing, for example, as a Jain style of architecture. The *stūpas* of the Jains were indistinguishable in form from those of the Buddhists, and a Jain curvilinear steeple is identical in outline with that of a Brahmanical temple. Works of art, including architecture, should be classified with regard to their age and geographical position, not according to the creed for the service of which they were designed. The arrangement of the following chapters is based on that principle, a small exception being made in the case of the monotonous mediaeval Jain sculptures, which for convenience are treated together without distinction of age and place.