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

CHAPTER VI

THE CHAITYA-GRIHA,

OR BUDDHIST CHAPTER-HOUSE

—

THE

RAISOND'ETRE

OF ROCK-CUT TEMPLES AND MONASTERIES

THE

KARLEROCK-CUT CHAITYA-HOUSE—THE BIRTH

OF

GOTHIC

ART IN EUROPE

Ofallthebuildings

ofthe Mauryan epoch thatwhichismost

distinctly Buddhist

is the Chattya-griha, or House

of the

Chaitya, which

was the assembly-hall

or chapter-house of

theOrder.^

Thereligiousobservancesenjoineduponmembers

of theOrder

aredistinguished fromthoseof theJains and of

orthodox

Brahmans bybeing congregational instead ofindi-

vidualistic,andthus Buddhist builders hadto provideshelter

foramuch largernumberofworshippersthanwouldordinarily

gathertogetherat

Jain

or Brahman shrines, exceptwhen the

latterattracted

largecrowdsofpilgrims. Thoughthereligious

tenets of the Jains and Buddhistshad much incommon, the

socialorganisationofBuddhismdifferedfromthatoftheformer

in recognising a distinction between laymen who merely ac-

cepted theteaching

ofthe

Masterand membersoftheSangha

who devoted

themselves entirely

toareligious life. The ne-

cessityofprovidingaccommodationfor both classes, meeting

tog"etheratstatedtimes,inBuddhistplacesofworship,dictated

thestructural

arrangements

ofthe chaitya-griha. The Jains

^

Fergusson,ratherloosely, usesthe word chaitya,whichwas the symboloraltar

worshipped there,forthehouseitself. Therewasprobablysometechnicaldistinction

betweenachaityaandastflpa,butetymologicallythetwo

words

havethesamemeaning

—
i.e.atumulus,orheap.

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6s