Public Administration in Ancient India c20.23

c20.23

Architecture began to attract the attention of the Hindus from very early times. As Fergusson points out, the Hindus "possessed palaces and halls of assembly, perhaps even temples, of great magnificence and splendour, long anterior to Asoka's accession."² But as these ancient structures were usually constructed of wood, stone being employed only for the foundations of buildings or in engineering works, no examples of such buildings have survived the depredations of time. Stone architecture began to be common only from the time of Asoka; most of the ancient monuments, therefore, that are known to us, are Buddhistic. Fa Hian, speaking of Asoka's palace at Pātaliputra, says: "In the middle of the city is the royal palace, the different parts of which he commissioned the genii to construct. The massive stones of which the walls are made are no human work. The ruins of the palace still exist.” ¹ Asoka spent enormous sums of money for the erection of buildings in aid of Buddhism. He built a great temple at Bodh-Gayā, and enlarged and beautified the famous topes at Sanchi. He is also said to have erected eighty-four thousand stūpas in different parts of his vast empire, besides many pillars and columns on which his edicts were inscribed. As Mr. Vincent Smith remarks: “The arts in the age of Asoka undoubtedly had attained to a high standard of excellence.” “The royal engineers and architects,” adds Mr. Smith, “were capable of designing and executing spacious and lofty edifices in brick, wood, and stone, of constructing massive embankments equipped with convenient sluices and other appliances, of extracting, chiselling and handling enormous monoliths, and of excavating commodious chambers with burnished interiors in the most refractory rock. Sculpture was the handmaid of architecture, and all buildings of importance were lavishly decorated with a profusion of ornamental patterns, an infinite variety of spirited bas-reliefs, and meritorious statues of men and animals.” ² Asoka’s great work was continued by his successors and by other Buddhist rulers.