ARCHITECTURE.
In seeking to explain the origin of Indian archi tecture, some traces of Greek influence have been found in the north, filtering through the Greek Kingdom of Bactriana, and visible in early monu ments of Kabul and Kashmir in the Ghandara monasteries of Jamalgiri and Takht-i-bahi, and in India proper at the Amravati Stupa ; but both Egypt, and especially Assyria, exercised far more fundamental influence, through the intermediary of Persia, which was flourishing when Indian art commenced. But whatever suggestions were re ceived, they seine but to bring out the originality of Indian art, which stands at the antipodes of Greece in its exaggeration of forms, its multipli cation of details, its love of complicated and confused lines. At the beginning comparative simplicity reigned, and it was not until long after the Christian Era that the richness of de sign was reached which remained characteristic. This was partly due to the use of brick, instead of stone or marble. in nearly all open-air struc tures before the tenth century A.D., which di minished the opportunity for elaborate surface (a-namentation. The principal classes of monu ments are the ehaityas, or temples, the riharas, or monasteries, and the stupas. or mound sanc tuaries. The temples are at first excavated in the rock; not until the fifth century were any built above ground (except that of Buddha Gaya), to judge from remaining examples.
BunnilisT PFmon. Of the earliest monuments, those of the Buddhist period, aside from the memorial columns or hats (e.g. those of Asoka), the important works wore some thirty rock-eut temple-. and about II Oa out of the mountain-side. The temples are large, single, (Hong halls. 4lividcd into nave andl aisles by twill rows cal hence coin nult,, 11 pprollelled I.y a ibl110 Willi all a l'cllea faeade. richly carved. and having .lt Ili' statue of Buddha. There is :1 series of these covering a period] of nearly a thousand years. The cailiest—at llhaja—are the smallest and simplest. .\t l.arli d seeond century tta•.) the
nave has a stilted tumid vault, and the heavy columns are with and surmounted by elephants, making the interior somewhat resemble a dark. tunnel-vaulted French Romanesque church. F.%en more impresske are the largest cave temples at .\janta and Ellora 19.N•l• where le1111111`: :11141 are multi plied sidle by side in the face of the rock. The massive piers, the wonderfully varied sculpture:, and the frescoes at Ajanta are of special interest. The monasteries are more modest : they are often grouped about these temples, and consist or a large central hall. out of which open the indi vidual cells of the recluses, all cut out of the rock. Ilnc of those at is 1;5 feet square, and is supported by twenty pillars. The cells are (Al Iwo sides, the entrance porch at one end and the sanetuary at the other. the whole being richly carved and painted. The third the sillpaS, or toms, are great brick memorial mounds of circular form. They were at. first of domical outline, surmounted by it little chapel or shrine, and stirroundlcd by a marble rail or balustrade entered by tour gates. The Bliarhitt stupa (e.150 ti.e.) has been demolished, but that of Sanchi is in splendid preservation. The _Voir:i v:10 stitpa is remarkable for its elaborate and beautiful figured sculptures. Finally, the only temple built above ground during the Buddhist period, Buddha flap) 1e.100 me.), is in the form of a pyramid with square base, at the cor ners of wide]] rise four small pyramids. It is 52 meters high, in nine stories. and with three inner superposed saratuaries. Like all the other early monuments, it is built of brick. Originally it was surrounded by a marble rail like the shwas. The pyramidal form is exceptional in the north at this period. though later it became common in the south. Evidently there is little of constructive value in this period, as Buddlm. Oaya is the only cxample of the builders' art, the rest being cut out of the mass or mere mounds.