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

66

THE VILLAGE

CHAITYA-HOUSE

intheirtemple-buildingusuallyfollowedthe

structuraltradition

of

theBrahmanical sects.

The chapter-house was not a

building taken

over more

or less complete, as were both the Christian

church and the

Muhammadan mosque, from an alien

faith, nor was it "de-

signed" inthe modern architecturalsense to

meettheneedsof

Buddhistritual. Theelements of its structure grewtogether

by

a

naturalcreativeprocess. Thechaityaitself,oftenenclosed

in

a

simplecircularshrinecovered byadome, as inPI. IX,a,

wasboth theobjectof

adoration

and the

pivot ofthe design.

The little

Buddhist congregation

of a

Bengali village, when

they met at

the holy spot to listen

to

the dialogues of the

Master and to

walk round

the chaitya-shrine,

"

turning

the

wheelof the

Law,"according to the

ancient

Vedicrite,needed

someshelter. So

they

put

overtheshrine

asimplebambupavilionwith

amatroof,likethe

coveringofa Bengaliboat-

vmage'chTS'ho'use.

cabiu{chhai) (PI.

II, fig. e), or bullock-cart

;

or sometimes amore

substantial building of

clayor brick,

roofedlikeoneoftheirown

cottages. Theplan

of such abuilding

(fig.

27)

was thatof a long

room, generally

semicircular or

apsidal at the end occupied

by the chaitya,

withentrances

attheoppositeone. This

allowed spaceforthe

congregationto

sitinfrontofthechaitya

shrinewhenlistening

to recitationsof

thewordoftheLaw,

andtowalkin

procession

round

it.

At

T^r,the ancient

Tagara, in

the Waldrug

district of

Hyderabad,

there is a

building of a

similar type,

one ofthe

oldest

structural

chaitya-houses now

existing,which

was dis-

covered by

Mr. H. Cousens

in

1901.

It is

built

of brick and

plaster, with

a roof

exactly like that

of the

village huts

sculpturedat

Bharhut(PI.

I). The

entrancefaces

east:asingle

window
overthedoorway
wasintended
tothrow
astrong
con-