The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c33.11

v1.c33.11

These materials left their character deeply and permanently impressed on Indian architecture. From the use of the bamboo came the curvilinear type of roof which was afterwards reproduced in cut timber and subsequently in stone, and from which were evolved the familiar *chaitya* arches used over doorways and windows. Log capitals were imitated in stone, and the more finished timbering of walls, roofs, and gateways in the same material, every detail down to the nail-heads being copied with sedulous care and accuracy by the masons of later days. As a protection against destructive insects, wooden posts were set in *ghaṛas* or jars of earthenware, and from these resulted the ‘pot and foliage’ base, so beautifully developed in the Gupta age. A striking illustration of the influence exerted by wood as contrasted with brick construction is to be found in the pillars of the cave temples. In the earliest examples the stone pillars are manifestly copied from wooden prototypes and are relatively slender, though amply thick enough for their purpose. In the later examples, on the other hand, the pillars are heavy and cumbersome, not because extra strength was required, nor yet in order to save labour, but because they were copied from the brick-in-mud pillars of famous *vihāras*, which necessarily required to be much thicker in proportion to their height than columns of stone. It is stated by Arrian that cities on the banks of rivers and in other low-lying spots were built of wood, those in more commanding situations, where they were less exposed to floods, of mud or brick. This statement refers to the time of Megasthenes, Ambassador to the Court of Chandragupta Maurya, on whose writings the *Indica* of Arrian is believed to have been based. It has been endorsed by the discovery of portions of the wooden palisades of Pāṭaliputra and of the mud or brick walls of Çrāvastī, Bhītā, and other towns. But no kiln-burnt bricks have been found in the Gangetic plains which can be referred to an earlier date than the fourth century B.C., and it is improbable that they came generally into vogue in this part of India until after the reign of Açoka; for the unwieldy size of the bricks used in the buildings of Açoka at Sārnāth and other places, coupled with their inferior quality, betoken but little experience of brick-making. The potter’s art, on the other hand, had been practised throughout India from time immemorial, and in the Punjab and North-West, which were in closer touch with Persia and Mesopotamia, it is likely enough that burnt bricks were used at a more remote age. In this connexion a special interest attaches to certain seals of unknown date and origin (Pl. XI, 22, 23), which are said to have been found from time to time among the remains of brick structures at Harappa in the Montgomery District of the Punjab. The majority of these seals are engraved with the device of a bull with head outstretched over some uncertain object, possibly in the act of being sacrificed, and all of them bear legends in a pictographic script, which remains still to be deciphered.