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

s^ PYRAMIDAL

MONASTERIES

TheGandhara

monasteries,described

byM.Foucher,were

generallyrowsofcells

ranged in asquare, the

centreofwhich

was occupiedby the chaitya;

but occasionally the

cells were

placed inacircle roundthesacred

symbol. The panch-ratna,

or

"

five-jewelled

"

temple, from which the

plan of the Taj

Mahall was derived,

was probablyasmall

monasterywith a

verandah all round the

cell containing the chaitya

or image

andayogi's seat at each of

thefour corners—the nava-ratna

ornine-jewelledtemplebeinga

similaronewith twostories.

Themostcharacteristic

of ancient

Indian monas-

teries, often

described in

Indian

Buddhist literature

andbytheChinesepilgrims,

FaHianandHiuen

Tsang,

werethemany-storiedpyra-

midalones. Perhapsthere

wasintheseloftystructures

some reminiscence of the

pyramidal ziggarats of

Babylon, used for astro-

nomical observations

;

but

the use to which they were generally applied was of purely

Indianorigin. Theywereboth monasteriesandcolleges,their

arrangementbeingadapted for the graduation of the

courses

of study followed in these institutions, both Buddhist and

Brahmanical. ThePilibooksrecordthatthespiritualtraining

ofmembersoftheorderwasdividedintosixgraduated

coi^es.

As soon as

the

first section of the prescribed

texts was

mastered,themonkswereexemptedfromthecommon

drudgery

of their ordinary daily life. When theycould

expound two

sectionsperfectlytheywere permitted to reside in

an

"

upper

furnished room." Those who were expert

in three sections

Fig.35.—PlanofViharaatBedsa(halftoscale

ofFig.

34).