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

THE

EVOLUTION OF

ARYAN

RELIGION

35

The

threedifferent

degrees of divineworship recognised

in

modern Hinduism

—thatof the Ishta-deva, or

the special

aspect of the Divine

appropriateto the individual,

the Ego

;

theGrihya-deva,

ortheguardian deityof

the household

;

and

the Gramya-deva,

the patron deity of

the village—represent

thethreefold

religious responsibility

of the Hindu—his duty

to

God, thefamily, andthe

state—thevillage standingforthe

wholebody politic./

There were three

analogous stages in

the

evolution of

Aryan

religionand of Indian religious

building. First, the

personal religion of the Aryan,

whichwasa direct appeal to

the Deity, and needed no shrines

except those which God

Himself

provided

;

next, hispositionas the headof ahouse-

holdinwhich hewasthefamilypriest; and,thirdly, hisjoint

responsibilityinthe performance of tribal sacrifices. In early

Vedic

literaturethereis no traceoftherelicorsymbolworship

represented inAsokan sculpture, nor evidence of shrines or

temples being dedicated to the worship ofany deity; but it

would

berash to

assume from thisnegative evidence that all

VedicAryans lived

in

a

spiritual planeso muchhigher than

the rest of humanity that they

could dispense entirely with

templesand symbols

madeby human hands. All that

canbe

said definitely is that

the philosophyof the pure

Aryan re-

ligion, thoughit recognised

manydifferent manifestations of

divine

power

in nature, was essentially

monotheistic, and as

muchopposed to image

worshipas the Puritanismof

Christi-

anityand ofIslam. Itis

thisaspectof Aryanreligion

which

is represented in the Buddhistsculpture

ofAsoka's time.

Inpre-Buddhistictimes

theKshatriyas,or

fightingAryans,

recognised

no

priestlyintermediary

betweenthemselves

andthe

Deity. The Kshatriya

head of ahousehold

wasthe sole

ex-

ponent of the

religious traditions

of hisrace, and

the Brah-

mans, whowerea

special classversed

in sacrificial

lore, held