The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

44

SIVA SHRINES

facing

west,ortowardsthesettingsun,andthe roofis of

what

Fergusson calls the

Dravidian type

—

i.e. it is

crowned bya

dome, evidently

derived from the sttlpa, but in

all buildings

nowextant

reducedtoasolidlybuiltsymbol. The

coincidence

that"Vishnu" shrines arechieflyconfinedto Northern

India,

andthoseof the

"

Siva

"

typetothe south, has nothingto

do

with

"

Dasyu provinces,"

'

or with anyethnological

question.

It isexplained

bythe factthatthe schools of

Hindu theology

whichtakeVishnu

fortheirIshta-deva^are

in

the

greatmajority

in the north, while those

which are the

exponents of Saiva

philosophy,takingSiva

as\h€vcIshta-deva,predominate

largely

in the south. Fergusson's

conjecture that

Saivism is

"

an

aboriginal

superstitionassimilatedbythe Brahmans"'

ispure

nonsense.

The derivation of the Hindu temple from therathas,or

cars,

ofAryanwarriors,

on

account

ofthe

poeticimagery used

inthe RamayanaandMah^bhirata,and theattemptsmadeby

medieval builders togive literaryimagination concrete form

by

placingstonewheelson the sidesof the vimina,as in the

Sdrya templeat Kandrak, has, pace Dr. Coomaraswamyand

other writers, no historical foundation. It

is a clear case

of

putting thecart before the horse. The temple car on which

thesacred imagewascarried inprocessioncould not havebeen

introducedintothetempleritual beforetheimageitselfbecame

part of it

—

i.e. before the first centuries before and after the

Christian era—and all the constructive types,as well as the

symbolismconnectedwiththem,ifIndiantemplebuildinghad

been developed before that time. There is no instance of

viminas being made like rathas, or cars, before the tenth

century.

1

Fergusson's

"

HistoryofArchitecture

"

(newedit.),Introduction,

p.14.

^

Seeante,

p.35.

*

"

HistoryofArchitecture"(newedit.),Introduction,

p.42.