Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c15.186

c15.186

As to Art, it is seen at its best in the examples executed by Asoka. These are examples of different types of architectural activity for which Asoka is known to this day. He was the builder of cities, stūpas, vihāras or monasteries excavated in hard rocks, rock-cut caves, palaces and pillars of stone. The pillars are the master-pieces of Mauryan Art in the shining polish imparted to them which is supposed to be the despair of modern masons, and in the degree of perfection to which they were shaped, dressed, and decorated in accordance with the Emperor’s design. They carried to perfection the art of the delineation of natural forms of animals and plants in stone. They are also notable as feats of engineering when it is considered that all these pillars weighing on an average 50 tons, and measuring a height of 50 feet, are all monolithic productions, showing how large masses of rocks were shaped into these pillars, and also how these great weights were handled for the purposes of their transport over distances of several hundreds of miles to their appointed sites at which they were to be located in accordance with the imperial scheme of public welfare which they were intended to serve. For instance, a chain of pillars was called for to indicate the Pilgrims' Progress towards the holy lands of Buddhism from Pāṭaliputra to the place of the Buddha's nativity.