History of Architecture and Culture – II

Unit 2
Buddhist Architecture
Lecture 2

Ashokan School of Architecture

Ashoka was one of the major reasons behind the development of
Buddhist Architecture. So, during his reign, the various buildings that
evolved could actually be tagged below, ' The Ashoka School of
Architecture'. So let us see what his contributions were; so during his
reign, it was a period during which building art was indistinctly visible
as in there was not much that had been developed with regard to
architecture. But once Ashoka, the Mauryan emperor ascended the
throne, to spread the teachings of Buddha, thus, he contributed to the
development of the art and architecture of the country. So what he did
was wherever he went and wherever he propagated the teaching of
Buddha he built various Buddhist monasteries like; stupas, certain
monolithic accessories to shrines, the remains of a vast palace, a group
of rock cut chambers. During his reign, you can see various Stupas of
structural significance being erected, they were monolithic pillars with
artistic qualities and rock cut chambers were used as a technique. By
looking at the size itself, one can perceive its importance and what
Ashoka was trying to imply through his architectural techniques. Palace
for its architectural association. As you can see in the image, the Stupa is
being erected during his reign. So there were monolithic structures and
by looking at the sheer size of the building, it signifies power and
importance of what Asoka was trying to imply through these
architectural monuments. As you see in the image, this is how stupas
have evolved over various times and also he constructed rock cut
Viharas which were very polished on the interior side. So, this was a
period during which Rock cut architecture was evolving very rapidly.
So, apart from these free standing monolithic structures, rock cut
architecture also started developing rapidly. So basically as we saw
earlier, The Vedic period saw the usage of bamboo, but during Asoka’s
reign, the usage of stone came into existence. It was believed that this
was brought in through the European influence, as we saw in the
previous lecture the use of stone was introduced by Asoka which was
the Greco - Persian culture. Initially the artisans here in India, tried to
imitate whatever, they learnt in wooden construction into stone exactly.
The usage of stone as an architectural material was a new thing to them.
So, it was because of him that stone architecture initiated in India.

So first let us see about the Sanchi stone in Bhopal. If you see this image
there are mainly three main stupas of Sanchi. Stupa 2 and Stupa 3 are the
smaller ones. Stupa one is called the main stupa, the Sanchi stupa. This
shows an axonometric view of the entire complex. You can see various
smaller stupas. You can see various Chaitya halls. So a typical Buddhist
religious complex might have looked like this. This is Sanchi Stupa 3,
the smaller one. This is Sanchi stupa 2 and this is Sanchi stupa 1, the
Great stupa. You can see the scale of these structures. They are very
huge and the dome like structures symbolize power. These monolithic
structures were built in such a huge scale so that it shows the
monumentality of these structures.

This is a basic plan of a Sanchi stupa. It is a simple rectangular plan.

This Buddhist principle has the custom of circulating around the stupa
and that is what was incorporated even in design.

In the elevation, this is how a typical stupa looked. You have the dome
like structure, the circulatory passage is where people go around the
stupa. This is the circumambulatory passage. This is the top of the dome
is flattened and it has a structure on it called, Harmika. However, this
can be seen only in earlier stupas, later it was converted to a towering
structure, like a towering pyramidical structure. On top of the Harmika,
there was an umbrella like structure known as Chaitra. Below, you can
see the entry to the stupa has a gateway like structure, known as, Torana
and all around the passage you have railing. If you see the size of the
stupa, it was almost 120 ft in diameter, you can imagine the scale of the
stupa. The height was almost around 50 feet. Why do we need to know
these dimensions? It is to understand the scale of this structure as related
to the human scale.

This is how a Thorana looked, they were very intricately carved with
various stone figures. They were also some inscriptions. This was the
first time the masons were working with stone, they tried to imitate
whatever they did in wood, directly to stone. The dome like structure
was made of unburnt bricks which were plastered the unburnt bricks and
they also left a certain niches or recessions, so that during rituals, they
would light lamps inside those niches.

TORANA: This is a typical Torana, Toranas, the entrance to the

ambulatory were accepted as the traditional type of ceremonial potals
and excel the array of architectural embellishment.
Flattened crest of the dome was surmounted by a superstructure of a
particular design consisting of a square railing enclosing of a pedestal
(Harmika). Toranas, the entrance to the ambulatory were accepted as the
traditional type of ceremonial potals and excel the array of architectural
embellishment.
Torana consists of two square upright columns with capital of lion or
elephant heads denoting strength. It was also believed that the
inscriptions were multi lingual i.e. some were Greek.

These columns support three separate horizontal panels between each of

which is a row of ornamental balusters. These panels are supported by
Atlantean figures, a group of dwarfs, lions and elephant. The total height
of this erection is somewhat 10.36m with a width of 3m.

RAILING OR VEDICA: This is a typical railing or Vedica. If you see

this image, you will be reminded of the Vedic architecture that we saw
previously after the Indus Valley Civilization. You can see the amount
of influence that Vedic Civilization has had on the architecture, even
during these later stages. In the Vedic civilization we saw that a typical
village had a cluster of houses around the courtyard, they were very
organic in nature and kin shaped, kin based. What happened was, they
had these kind of fencing around cluster housing, so in this stupa they
literally transferred the wooden railing to stone. It is a wooden railing
but that is the kind of finish that they have achieved in stone. These
horizontal members are called Suchi and these vertical members are
called the Thaba and on the top, the railing is finished with the coping,
so that when rain water gets falls, it falls down instead.

You can see how, the Thorana is intricately carved. Now we will see
about some other examples of 'Rock cut' Viharas; So we saw in our
earlier lecture about what a Vihara is, now let us see some examples of
it. As you see in this plan, this is a typical plan of any Vihara. Any
Buddhist Vihara will have all these components. There will be an entry
porch. Some Viharas will have even multiple entries. They enter a
pillared verandah, they then pass through doors to reach the main
pillared hall. Why these Viharas were built? It was built for
congregation purposes. People go to the pillared hall, to perform rituals
or to worship. Finally, from this pillared hall, there are small niches that
lead to these cells. These cells are basically niches carved out inside the
rock that are meant for meditation purposes, for the monks. This pillared
hall then leads to the main Stupa or where the shrine was placed. This is
the typical plan of a Vihara. These Viharas were built at several places,
for example;
This is a Vihara at Nasik, which is a single storey Vihara. Whereas if
you see the Viharas in Ajanta and Ellora, there were even three storeyed
Viharas. The typical plan later evolved into these various type of
structures.

Ajanta and Ellora

This is one of our typical Vihara in Ajanta and Ellora. This is actually
located Aurangabad in Maharashtra. In Ajanta and Ellora there are not
only Viharas but Chaitya halls as well. One interesting fact is that, in
Ajanta and Ellora, they were also Hinduism and Jainism religious
activities were taking place alongside Buddhism. So, we can assume that
not only Buddhist related activities were taking place there but also,
Hindu and Jainism religious activities were taking place. This explains
the religious kind of harmony that was taking place even during those
activities.

You can see in this image the interior of a typical Vihara. This is an
overall plan of various kind of rock cut architecture in Ajanta and Ellora.
As you can see in the plan, these ones with the apsidal ends are the
Chaitya halls and the squarish plans are the ones with the Viharas. So
you can see, there are a lot Chaitya halls and different types of Viharas,
how they have evolved from a basic squarish plan to an elaborate plan.
All these are carved out, into the rock.

In this image you can see how it looks today. You can see the various
entries to the Chaitya halls and the Viharas. You can see the various
entries to the Chaitya halls and Viharas. This is another view of the same
place, this is actually located on a mountain which is almost 80 ft high
and this is about 300 ft. in length. This is a view from the other side.

These Viharas are of different sizes and there are a lot of Chaitya halls
and Chaitya number 19 is the most famous of all the Chaitya halls
because of its elaborate designs, carvings and sculptures. In this image,
you can see how the interior of a Chaitya hall looks in Ajanta and Ellora.
This is a typical entry (on the left) to a Chaitya hall. You can see how
the entry is highlighted with an arched doorway. Also, you have various
sculptures of Buddha in different postures like standing, sitting, etc. and
inside you will have the main Buddha statue which is very large in scale.
Ajanta caves are also very famous for their Fresco paintings that are
available. They depict the real life tales and even today these paintings
are very fresh.

This is an example of a Chaitya hall, located in Karli. The image on the

bottom is a typical plan of a Chaitya hall. Basically, it is a very
elongated plan with an apsidal end. What is an apsidal end? The
terminating point which is curvy in nature is known as an apsidal end.
The hall is approached through three entrances. As you can see the
central A and then you have a way with pillars on either sides and in the
centre you have the Stupa. So basically, people approach here and use
this place for congregation and worship. This is the main stupa. You can
see how it looks in the section and also outside as you can see here, there
is a monolithic free standing pillar which resembles the Ashoka pillar in
Sarnath.

Chaitya hall in Karli is one of the very famous Chaitya halls and it is
considered to be an Architectural Gem. As I told earlier, this is the plan
of it, all the columns in the interior are Octagonal in nature, in a typical
Buddhist column, you have a bell shaped Capital and above it, and you
have sculptures of either lions or elephants. This is the interior of
Chaitya hall in Karli. You can see the waltered roofing with wooden
ribs, this image shows the wooden archway that is created and these are
the octagonal columns with the bell shaped capital.

This is a perspective section of the Chaitya Hall. Here you can have a
clear image of how the stupa is located, the ribbed roofing, and the free
standing pillar on the outside. You can see the human figure here and
understand the scale of the building. This is one of the finest example of
Rock cut Buddhist architecture. So, these are the three entrances that
lead to the hall. The altered roofing. This is another detailed look of the
pillars, you can see.
Similar to the caves at Ajanta and Ellora, there are different rock cut
architecture elsewhere as well, for example, this is one of the caves in
Barabar. Actually Barabar is a hill with four caves and nearby there is
another hill called Nagarjuni which has three caves. These rock-cut
caves are made with granite and the interior of it is a with polished
internal surface and exciting echo effect. Mostly what they do is, the
exterior of the entrance doorway and the porch are very highly decorated
and sculpted whereas the interior is mostly left unadorned. There are not
many sculptures on the interior. However, the exterior only is mostly
decorated. Usually in this case, Barabar has only two chambers. The first
chamber which is meant for worshippers to congregate into large
rectangular hall and the second, a small circular, domed chamber for
worshipping purposes this inner chamber probably had a small stupa like
structure at some point, though they are now empty. This worshipping
structure is the one with the stupa structure.

Barabar Hill Caves

The Lomas Rishi Cave, Sudama Cave, Karan Chaupar (Karna Chaupar)
and Visva Zopri Caves.
Lomas Rishi Cave and Sudama Caves are the most important since they
are the ones that greatly influence the rock-cut architecture in later
stages, in the image you can see, the lomas Rishi cave; as you can see
how the entrance archway is intricately carved. Again, they are trying to
imitate timber architecture directly into stone, the kind of projections
that are made in the entrance archway. Everything is directly replicated
from timber construction.

This is the plan for the Lomas Rishi cave, you enter and there is this
large hall, this is the main chamber that is meant for congregation. This
is the smaller chamber which is meant for worshipping. So, this is
almost 55 by 25 feet in length and width. This cave is considered as one
of the fine examples of timber construction style is translated into stone
construction. In this you can see the interiors of the Lomas Rishi Cave.

Next we will about another cave, which is located in Bhubaneswar upon

two hills - Udayagiri and Khandagiri. So Udayagiri has 18 caves and
Khandagiri has 15 caves. In this image you can see how the caves are
formed. Basically, it is a huge rocky hill in which these temple like
structures are carved. This is another view, you can see the Viharas
being carved here. This is another different types of caves because these
are well known for their artistic sculptures and here we even see
sculptures of women and there also sculptures representing people
playing music, arts etc. This is the image of Ganesh Gumpha, this is one
cave in Udayagiri. HathiGumpha is another cave. You can see slowly
how rock-cut architecture is evolving into temple architecture that we
see these days. Slowly, they are trying to build something new with
stone. (cave 10) are especially well known due to the art treasures of
their sculptures and reliefs as well as due to their historical importance.

The image above depicts, an interesting monastery in Udayagiri. This

cave is called The Rani Gumpha (Cave 1, Rani ka Naur, Queen's cave,
Queen's palace Cave). As you can see in this image, this is a double
storeyed monastery. Frontal face of lower floor has 7 entrance doors,
while upper floor - 9 column entrances. Interesting fact about this is that,
it is known for its acoustical properties. Probably during construction,
they have taken into account the acoustical factors. So maybe this was
not only meant for congregation and worship but also a place where you
perform, dance or even plays, dramas, etc. So, this was probably meant
for that.

Next we will see one more example of a monastery, this is known as

Takht Bhai, which is now located in present day Pakistan. What is the
meaning of Takht Bhai is that, Takht means 'throne' and Bhai means
'water'. The Takht Bhai was a Buddhist place in ancient time. It was
earlier known as Takht bhai because Buddhist monastery was on top of
the mountain and on the mountain there was a stream. That is why the
name. Now there is a small spring at the place of the stream, which can
be found at the bottom of the mountain.

You would notice in the plan of the image, there were two courts;
Monastery and the Court of stupa. You can see the plan of the image.
Intermediate there were various chaple like structures that were
surrounding the courtyard. You can see the small structures all around
the courtyard and the stupa itself was placed on a very raised pedestal. If
you notice the roof of these chapels, they were alternating between a
capola and a dome like structure and a waltered roof like structure. So, it
kind of alternated all around. As I said the buildings are contained within
a 200ft complex, the stupa court was located on the southern side and
the Monastery court on the northern side. These are images of the
present day ruins which can now be seen, again as I mentioned earlier,
even here the interior walls were not decorated, they were left very
plain. You can see the remains of the chapels and here they were stone
beds that were means for relaxing and niches that acted like shelves.

Enclosing the court on three sides was a range of small chapels, each
containing a cell or niche, not as in Hinayana face. The roof of the
chapels were so designed that a cupola alternated with a trefoil vault,
each an architecturally decorative motif and depicting a separate
constructional tradition, for the former was derived from the anchorite's
beehive hut and later from the conventional shape of the Chaitya hall.