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

VISHNU SHRINES

AT

NINEVEH

95

festation

of

the cosmic creative

power

proceeding

from

the

Unknowable,

Brahman.

Butthe

man in

the Indian village,

though

not a polytheist,

as is

popularly

believed/

would

always

think of

a Vishnushrine

asthe

holyMount

Meru, or

as MountMandara,

Vishnu's

abodein

the Himalayas.

Architecturally

we are not

concerned

with

the primitive

Aryan

riteofcircumambulating

asacred

hillor

mountain

with

whichtheVishnushrine

isconnected,

butcertainly

theIndian

sikharaisoffargreater

antiquity

thanthesixth

orseventhcentury,

thedatewhich

Fergussonerrone-

ouslygaveto

thegreatBuddhist

shrine

ofBodh-Gaya. W^hatis

perhaps

the earliest and

most

interesting representation

of it

seemstohave

escapedthenotice

of orientalists

altogether. It

occursinoneofthebas-reliefsof

Nineveh discovered byLayard,

and described by him as the

PalaceofSennacherib.

In

this relief (fig.

40)

the

palace

itself is evidently the

groupofflat-roofedbuildingson

theright. Tothe left

ofthis arethreedomedbuildingswhich

Ihavenodoubt

aremeanttoberoyal tombs; theyare proto-

types ofthesttlpa—Siva'ssymbol—whichwasthe royal tomb

ofancient India. The

two

conical buildingsbehind

theseare

temples—shrines

of the holymountain which appears in the

background.

Tomakethesymbolismclearer,thefloweringtree,

theTreeofLife,and

the

pineorcedar,theTreeofEternity,

are

planted
closetothe tombsand ontheslopesofthe mountain.

^

SeeIntroduction,

p.

xxxv.

Fig.40.—VishnuTemplesandRoyalTombs

at

Nineveh

(Layard's

"

Nineveh,"2ndseries,

PI.16).