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

PILLARS

57

aspect, as

Avalokit^shvara—

the

Lord who

looks down from

above.

The consecration

of

structural forms,

originally

derived

frompurelyutilitarian

uses,

throughthis

religious

idealismwas

obviouslythe

reasonwhy

theVedic rail

and the

sun-window

were retainedas

decorative motifs in

thetraditional

canonsof

theIndianbuilding

craftlongafter

theirstructural

significance

was lostsight of.

Theywere

ideographs of

anart-language

which, though incomprehensible

bythose

outside the

Indo-

Aryan

pale, was perfectly

understood

by the people

whose

religious sentiments

it expressed.

Wewill

nowsee howthis

religioussymbolism

alsodeter-

mined

the decorativetreatment

of another

essential structural

feature in Indian building

—the column,

pier, or pillar.

In

Asokanand

later Indian sculpturethereare

two kinds repre-

sented

: one isthedhwaja-stambha

(flag-pole), ortheIdt,

used

to mark sacred places,

to carry inscriptionsand

symbols,and

aslamp-standards

;

theotheristhe structuralform

appliedto

thesupport

ofbuildings, and subsequently,

as intheclassical

"

orders

"

of Europe,totheir

embellishment. The first kind

isrepresentedby

thesinglepillarsuponwhichAsokainscribed

his edicts,and

by the pairs which, like the Boaz and

Jachin

of the

Templeof Jerusalem, stood in front of

the entranceto

Buddhist and

Jain

sttipasandtemples. They

wereoriginally

thetribalensigns

orthestandardsofroyalty,whichwereplanted

outside

theentrance tothe sacrificialarea at the great horse-

sacrifices inVedictimes.

A

quaint sculpture at Bharhut (fig. b, PI. XII) shows a

female,

probably Sri, orLakhsmi, carryingVishnu'sstandard

surmountedby themythicalsun-bird Garuda.

The Buddhist,

Jain,

and Brahmanical temple-pillar also

derives its symbolic decorative treatment from the ancient

Aryan
sacrificial ritual in which gilded posts,

"

octagonal and