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

ARYAN

INSPIRATION IN

INDIA

45

It

is equallyfallacious

toassume,as Dr. Coomaraswamy

has

also done,'

that Indo-Aryans

borrowed most

of their

architectural
ideas from
the non-Aryan tribes which became

subject
tothem. There
isabsolutelynohistoricalevidencethat

this
was the case,
butper contra there is strong reason for

believing
thatallthe
higherculture of the ancient Indianvil-

lage

communities, including

theirorganisation, artsandcrafts,

wasdirectlydue
toAryaninspiration,ortothe practicaladap-

tation ofAryan
philosophical speculations to the concerns of

daily
life. I do not mean that the Aryans found India an

artisticdesertorpeopled

byprimitivesavages. The more

or

less civilised tribeswhose

immigrations preceded

theirs may

possiblyhaveacquired

theirculture,directlyor indirectly,from

earlier Aryan sources

;

they may have represented an earlier

stratum of

Aryan civilisation. This would explain whythe

Aryans of Vedic India found it comparativelyeasyto adapt

themselves totheirIndian environment, without establishing

impassable social barriersbetween themselvesandtheirdark-

skinned neighbours

;

for

theexclusivenessof the

castesystem

did not exist in the sixth

centuryb.c. orfor

many centuries

after

thetime of Buddha.

Indian civilisation

is,like Hindu

sacrificial vessels, an amalgam of manymetals

;

but the fire

whichfusedthemandseparatedthedrosswastheAryangenius

—thephilosophyoftheVedas. Ifithasonce moretogointo

the melting-pot, thosewho tearupits

foundations should at

least study its historycarefully from its own

standpoint, and

equipthemselveswith sureknowledgeofthematerialsthey

are

usingtoform thenew

India, otherwisetheyaremereempirics

instatecraft,playingwithforceswhichtheydonot

understand

andwhichtheyareunable tocontrol.

1

"ArtsandCraftsofIndiaandCeylon,"p.107.