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

VAISHNAVISM

AND

SAIVISM

93

To go back to the Indian

village: if one

divides the

southern

half of the pradakshin^

path,

which followed

the

movementofthe sunin theday,

fromthe

northernhalf,

which

represented

its night'sjourney, and

assumed thatthe

villagers

ofthe

southernquarters belongedtoone

schoolof

philosophy

and

those of the northernquarters to

another

;

and, further,

thatthesoutherners maintained

the supremacy

of the cosmic

powerswhich causedthesun

torisetoits

zenith at noon and

broughthappiness

in thispresent life

;

while the northerners

held

to the ascetic ideal and looked

forward to future bliss

through beingmerged in the

supreme Spiritwhich

rules the

universe, we shall have a sufficiently

clear conception

of the

broaddistinctionsbetween

Vaishnavismand

Saivism.

There

must

have

been, of course, in India

—as atother

timesandin

otherplaces—manythinkers

whoheldthemiddle

course

between the two extremes.

The Buddha was one of

thosewho succeededinworking

outa philosophicalformulary

so generallyacceptable that

for atimehis followingabsorbed

thegreatmajorityof

both extreme schools of thought.

The

architecture

of Buddhism, therefore, for several

centuries re-

presentedthe architecture of India, notbecauseit

created any

newarchitecturalstandards orideals,but

becausetheinfluence

of Buddhismwas supreme in

the State. Buddhist architec-

ture, like Buddhist

philosophy, absorbed the traditions of

VedicIndia, butdid not obliteratethem.

After several centuries Buddhism itself split into

two

camps: the Hinay^na—the Little Vehicle

—which was the

orthodoxagnosticschool,andtheMahayana—theGreatVehicle

—which accepted, amongotherthings, the doctrine of Yoga.

Then gradually

the

Brahmans,who under thepeacefulsway

of Buddhism hadsuperseded the Kshatriya, orwarrior class,

as spiritual leaders of the people, succeeded in establishing,

upon the
basis of so much of

the Buddha'steachingas

they