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

70

hinayAna

chaitya-houses

exhaustingheatofthedry

seasonthan

anybuilding

whichthe

utmostskillofthecarpenter,

bricklayer,

andstonemasoncould

construct. It was not, therefore,

the ascetic

side of Indian

religionwhich finds

expression in the

wonderful

cavetemples

and monasteries, but

rather the same

spiritof bhakti, or the

feeling thatGoddemanded

thebestmancould

offerHim,both

in aspiritualand material sense,

which ever

moves themind

of

India.

Theearliestrock-cutmeeting-houses

ofthe Buddhist

order

belonging to

Asoka's time are generally

small and, like the

stdpas,ofthe

plainestdescription,though

someofthemexhibit

ahighproficiencyintechnique. Inthe

beginningthe ritualof

BuddhismwasoftheseverestPuritanform,

and didnot coun-

tenance any elaboration either of structure or

of symbolism,

though alltheartistic resources of Asoka's empirewereatits

disposal.

Fig.

30

representstheAsokantype of chaitya-housewith

plainoctagonalpillarssloping inwards,as if toresistthe out-

wardthrustof theroof, thoughin thiscasetheyarenot struc-

tural pillars,butcutin the solid rock

;

itis oneofthe earliest

oftheAjantiseries,and isevidently aclose reproductionofa

woodenbuilding. For furtherdetailsoftheseearlyHinayana

buildingsthereadermustrefertoFergusson and

otherwriters

;

they

are of great archaeological

interest, but

the structure of

themcanbe studiedin similar

works ofalaterdate.

Itwasnotuntilabout

acenturyafterthe

deathofthegreat

Emperorwhoiscanonisedas

asaintin the

Buddhist calendar

that Buddhism began to

adapt the elaboration

ofthe ancient

Vedicritualandthesymbolism

ofIndo-Aryan

arttothestruc-

ture and adornment of its

chaityas,

chaitya-houses, and

monasteries. By that time

the teaching

of the doctrines

of

Buddha wasbeingaffectedbythe

development

ofnew

schools

of Indo-Aryan philosophy, and

Hinayana

Buddhism

in the