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

8o ANCIENT INDIAN

MONASTERIES

Prince Siddhartha

of

Kapilavastu, andtothat

ofthe spiritual

Lord, the MonkofBodh-Gaya.

A fixed chhattri, or shelter,

for a yogi or bhikku inthe

absence ofa tree,would be simply

an umbrella supported on

four

sticks; but respect

for the holyman

frequentlyinspired

individualsorthe

community to build permanent

chhattrisof

finecarpentry,

brickwork,ormasonry; otherswerefour-pillared

pavilions covered byadome,

like

the

villageshrine shown in

PI. IX,A. Akbarbuiltsucha

yogi-seat of stone closetohis

palace at Fatehpur-Sikri. Yogis also

went through their

spiritualexercises insquarecells madeof

matting, clay, brick,

orstone, with a domed orvaulted roof.

Their sleeping-cells

are shownin ancientIndian sculpturesasoblong hutswith a

singleapartmentroofed likethe Bharhutcottages.

Anancient Indian monasteryconsisted simplyofrowsof

suchcellsranged roundorinfrontofthe shrine,which might

beasolidst(ipa,oracellcontaininganimagededicated tothe

particular cult to which the monks belonged. In the early

Hinayina

monasteriesthechaityawas onlysculptured in low

relief onthewall

ofthequadrangle,whichwasthe hallofthe

Sangha,opposite

thedoorway.

None of the early

structural monasteries now remain.

Amongtheoldestandmostinteresting

oftherock-cutexamples

are those situated among

the hillswhichformthewatershed

oftheupperGodaveriRiver,

atN^sik,anancientseatofIndo-

Aryan learning mentioned

byPtolemy. The Gautaml-putra

Monastery,

nowknownarchaeologically

as"CaveIII,"

belonged

tothe Hinayana
school, likethegreat
chaitya-house
of Kirl^,

withwhich some
of the Nisik
monasteriesarecontemporary.

Theplan of it(fig.

33)

shows the oblong

sleeping-cells

ofthe

monks
;

thereare

none ofthe square

yogi seats which

appear

in later Buddhist
monasteriesafter
the Brahmanical
doctrine

of Yoga had filtered
intoBuddhism
throughthe
teaching of