History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c29.s2.t2: Maurya Architecture
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c29.s2.t2
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Maurya Architecture
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Mauryas made a remarkable contribution to stone architecture. They introduced stone masonry on a wide scale. Magasthenes states that Maurya palace at Pataliputra was as splendid as that in the capital of Iran. Fragments of stone pillars and stumps indicate the existence of eighty-pillared hall, discovered at Kumrahar on the out-skirts of modern city of Patna. This attests to the technical skill attained by the Maurya craftsmen in polishing the stone pillars, which have maintained their polish even to-day.
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Some new methods and techniques were developed to carry the huge blocks of stone from quarries, to polish and embellish them and for placing them erect. These stone pillars and columns are monolithic (made of a single piece of sand stone. Only their capitals which contain beautiful sculptures in the form of lions, elephants, horses and bulls are joined with pillars on the top. All this seems to be a great engineering feat.
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These polished pillars of sand stone were set up throughout the country, this points out to the development of transport technology. Mention may be made of some of the Aśokan pillars:
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1. Most celebrated of the pillars is the one of Sarnath (near Varanasi). This lion capital now serves as emblem of modern India.
2. Laurīya - Nandangarh pillar of Orissa.
3. Bull capital of Rāmpurvā pillar in U.P.
4. Pillars of Allahabad (U.P.) and Sanchi Pillar (M.P.) with lion capital.
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Maurya artisans also started the practice of carving out caves from rocks for monks (*see under ‘Rock-Architecture’*)
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*Stone and Rock-cut Architecture*: Earth is made up of layers of rocks, one above the other. Indian sub-continent is endowed with various landforms, varying in height and slope and may be classified into there major types : mountains, plateaus and plains, and is provided with rock shelters, caves and stone quarries.
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*Natural Caves and Rock-Shelters*: Early man in India inhabited the natural rock shelters and caves from lower palaeolithic time onwards. Mention may be made of the rock shelters of Bhimbetka and Adamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, those of Gudium ( a few miles from Madras), Chenchu group of rock shelters in Andhra Pradesh and the rock-shelters near Mirzapur in U.P. etc. These early people were acquainted with stone quarrying and tool making.
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From Mauryan times onwards there is development of a specific Indian architecture known as rock-cut architecture. It is also known as monolithic (single upright block of stone), that is to say that shrines were excavated in solid rock, either by hollowing out the necessary sanctuaries (chambers): the caves, the caityas and vihāras or by cutting away the exterior rock so as to leave an entire temple of solid rock.
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Of the former, some of the earliest examples of rock-cut architecture are found in the granite outcrops of twin Barabar and Nagarjuni hills of Bihar where seven cave temples date from 3rd century B.C. There are Mauryan period inscriptions which indicate that these caves served as retreats for Jain monks. The interiors are remarkable for their mirror-like polished surface as seen at Sudama and Lomaś Ṛṣi Cave.
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The beginning of monumental architecture in the Deccan is also of rock-cut sanctuaries and monasteries belonging to Śātavāhana period (2nd century B.C. - 2nd century A.D.). These monuments are excavated into basalt out-crop of western Deccan at numerous Buddhist sites including those of Ajanta, Bedsa, Bhaja, Junnar, Karli, Pitalakhora. During later phase (Śātavāhana- Kṣatrapa transition, first-second century A.D. the caitya halls of Kanhere and Nasik show more evolved arched motifs and decorative reliefs on the facades. Ajanta was provided with superb series of caitaya halls under the Vākāṭaka (5th - 6th century A.D). Under the patronage of the Kalacuri and Early Cālukyas (5th - 7th century A.D.) rock-cut caves and temples developed further as seen at Elephanta, Jageshwar, Ellora, Aihole, Badami etc.
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There is another resurgence under the Rāṣṭrakuta rulers in rock- cut architecture, most important being that of Ellora. In south, during Pallava period (7th century A.D.) rock-cut caves and temples were executed into granite as witnessed at Mamallapuram, Mandagapallu and Tiruchirappalli.
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In western India, under Kṣatrapa rulers of Junagarh (3rd/4th century. A.D.) monasteries for Buddhist and Jains were cut into the rock at Girnar. There is a group of 16 Jain sanctuaries on a rocky cliff at a height of 2100 feet, datable to Solanki period.
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In central India a series of 20 cave temples assigned to Gupta period are reported from Udaigiri near Vidisa in Madhya Pradesh. These are excavated into sandstone ridge.
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Earlier 35 cave temples were excavated into sandstone out-crops of Udayagiri and Khandagiri near Bhubaneshwar (Orissa). These were excavated under the patronage of Chedi Kings of first century B.C.
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Some later examples of rock-cut architecture imitated free standing buildings. At Mamallapuram in Southern India, granite boulders were cut into monolithic copies of temples during 7th century A.D. The most impressive monolithic monument is the Kailas temple at Ellora, also datable to this period. Here, a great ditch was excavated into a cliff exposing a solid mass of rock, this was then hewn into a free standing monolithic temple, complete in all of its architectural details; from the mouldings of the basement to the dome like roof of the tower.
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Monolithic solid rock architecture is also known from north India. One such representation is the fifteen towered temple datable to 9-10th century A.D. at Masrur near Kangra (Himachal Pradesh).
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Rock-Cut Cave temples : Beginning with Maurya period rock-cut caves and temples my be taken as an achievement of Maurya Period. They scooped into hard and refractory quartzose-gneiss outcrops at Sitamarhi near Gaya district the caves of the Barabar and Nagarjuni hills. The technology developed further during Gupta period. The rock-cut caves included scooping out of the laterite, sandstone, granite, gneiss, charnockite and bed rock. Pallavas alone chose the hardest rocks like granite and gneiss.
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Techniques of Scooping : Some of the unfinished caves give an idea and clue of scooping, chiselling and polishing practices adopted by the ancients.
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First of all, the outline of the facade was incised by driving a tunnel into the rock, beneath the place where the ceiling would be. For this, small and closely spaced cubical holes were drilled along the selected line for breaking. Dry wooden cubes were forced into these holes and then wetted, their swelling caused the stone to crack and break. Bronze and iron chisels and mallets were the main cutting tools.
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Considering the present day traditional craftsman it is likely that during Gupta period high quality steel chisels having a width between 1 to 2 cm, with two functional ends one pointed and another with broad cutting edge were used.
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Sometimes, the rock-face was divided into 2 to 3 feet square blocks and deep grooves were cut between these blocks, which were then hewn off. This process was repeated until required depth was achieved. The concussions of the heavy hammer helped to remove sizeable pieces of the rock.
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For reaching appropriate height metallic footholds were provided. The work of scooping, and chiselling off the projecting squares was done by vertical, lateral and centripetal strokes.
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Carving, Dressing, Pecking, Grinding and Polishing : For carving out monolithic columns, brackets, doorways and windows, position of the facade pillars, cornices, beams and doorjams etc. the portions requiring carving were first marked and then carved out. These were finished by more careful and light strokes of chisel by experienced and trained artisans. After blocking, scooping and carving out different architectural members, the dressing of surfaces were made even by parallel straight chiselling as can be noticed in Lomas Rsi cave. The ridges produced by the above mentioned chiselling were removed. In this process of thinning called as pecking one chisel mark overlaps the other and prepares flat surface ready for grinding and polishing. Grinding is done (after even surface is produced by pecking) with the help of coarse grained stone, coarse sand and wetting the surface throughout the process. In this process a vigorous rubbing of the surface was carried out, removing all ridges, pitts, moles and chisel marks. Pillars and all other members were also given this treatment before polishing. For polishing some shining agent was supposed to be added during polishing, but this is not supported by factual evidence. The shine is the result of extensive burnishing with fine stone and fine grained sand. It brings out polished surface which in some cases glistens rather than shinning. The final shining surface also depends upon the quality of the stone.