The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

VEDIC AND PRE-MAURYA CIVILIZATIONS 45
of Hindu and Buddhist architecture as the
horseshoe-shaped chaitya arch presumably had
their origin in the Vedic Period. According to
Percy Brown 3 thongs corresponding to the tierods
of Italian Gothic constricted the chord of
the wooden arch to the familiar horseshoe
profile that we find carved in the 'rose windows'
of the later Buddhist cave-temples.
One of the most important architectural developments
of the Vedic Period was the layout
of the Indo-Aryan village that is preserved for
us in far later manuals of Indian architecture.
This was the plan that, by reason both of its
commodity and specific metaphysical implications,
has survived in countless arrangements in
the architecture of Hinduism and Buddhism.
The characteristic plan, according to Havell, 4
derived from the fortified camps of the Aryan
invaders, and was a rectangle with its sides
oriented to the four quarters and intersected by
two avenues terminating in four gateways. Although
space does not permit our entering into
a detailed account of the symbolism attached to
every part of this layout, it can be stated briefly
that the plan was intended as a kind of microcosm,
with the five divisions of the village corresponding
to the five elements of the universe,
and each of the gateways dedicated to one of the
four Vedic deities typifying the positions of the
sun in its course through the heavens. These
village plans also included a broad path girdling
the buildings within the outer walls which the
householders circumambulated with recitations
to ensure the favour of the gods. This feature,
together with the metaphysical symbolism
attached to the gateways, is perpetuated in the
plan and ritual of the Buddhist stupa. The
regularity of these early plans, based on straight
intersecting avenues, is possibly a survival of the
systematic arrangements of the Indus cities
adapted to the metaphysical and architectural
needs of the new Aryan civilization.
We may presume that it was only towards
the middle of the first millennium B.C. that the
resettlement of the population in urban concentrations
gradually led to the replacement of
wooden forms by stone, perhaps beginning with
the necessity of erecting stone ramparts and
fortifications. If we can credit the accounts of
Hsiian-tsang (the seventh-century Chinese
Buddhist pilgrim), concerning the conflagrations
that destroyed King Bimbisara's capital
at Rajagriha, we may conclude that even as late
as the sixth century B.C. whole cities were still
constructed largely of wood and perishable
materials. 5 The only surviving relics of stone
walls are the ramparts of cyclopean rubble
masonry at ancient Rajagriha, which, according
to Hsiian-tsang, formed the enclosure of
the inner citadel. 6 These ruins are generally
assigned to the sixth century B.C.
The only monuments that may possibly be
recognized as pre-Mauryan are a number of
enormous mounds at Lauriya Nandangarh."
These tumuli have the domical shape of the
later Buddhist stupa and, presumably, mark
the sites of royal burials. Consequently, there is
every reason to recognize in them the prototype
for the Buddhist relic mound. Wooden masts
were found embedded in the centre of the solid
earthen tumuli. These, as in certain Buddhist
stupas, were inserted for their symbolic function
of representing the tree or axis of the universe
and also, perhaps even in these early
examples, for the purpose of supporting an
umbrella - the emblem of royalty - above the
summit of the mound. 8
In southern India a number of rock-cut
tombs of the Vedic Period have been found at
Mennapuram and Calicut in Malabar. 9 They
have been described as hollow stupas, since they
are domed chambers with a monolithic stone
column at the centre, perhaps as a symbolic
equivalent of the wooden masts penetrating the
Lauriya mounds. Intended for the burial of
Aryan chieftains, these caves are presumably
translations into stone of Vedic round huts of
wood or thatch. 10 A circular Buddhist rock-cut