Buddhist Architecture - first Century CE

A R T A N D C U L T U R E 렁 A R C H I T E C T U R E

Early Indian construction

ORIGINS | CAVES | INDIA | STH. EAST ASIA | CHINA - JAPAN

Sanchi - oldest

Nalanda

The heading 'India' is used in the broad sense to include Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Sri Lanka - and other adjacent areas of influence although space limits the level of detail possible.
• Determining the various influences on the history of any country is difficult and India has such an ancient past that there are so many factors to consider. As regards the development of a Buddhist art form the way was significantly influenced through the province of Gandhara by the Greeks of Alexander the Great's colony in Bactria (northern Afghanistan) from the end of the 3rd century BCE. At Sirka (Taxila in modern Pakistan), capital of the Bactrians and successive invaders of India, the grid plan is Hellenistic, the palace Mesopotamian and the so-called Fire Temple is Graeco-Roman.
• They brought from their Hellenistic background a tradition of monumental sculpture that represented god in terms of the ideal man and this was significant in the appearance of the Buddha image. [see: BUDDHA IMAGES - ORIGINS] With the appearance of the Buddha image and the increase in his deification the image shrine was becoming increasingly common; there was now the need to provide 'him' with a house - represented by a palace. And, like many others, the Indians modelled their approach to worshipping the god on the way they honoured the king (and v.v.). So the temple in India is the palace of the god and is composed of the two major elements found in the palace of the king: the pillared entrance and the quadrangular core topped by a pyramidal roof.
• The earliest surviving temple in India, built about AD 450 at Sanchi, is hardly different in form to the primitive image shrine of Taxila: a square cell for the deity preceded by a little portico to shelter the worshipper. From this point the development of Indian Buddhist temple architecture is in principle very simple following more or less the standard pattern discussed in 'Origins'.

Partly due to the incredible industry of the Gandharans the area in the north and west of India yields a great deal of archaeology.
• One of the greatest centres of Buddhist monks and scholars in ancient Asia was Nalanda, a monastic university. No traces of the original buildings remain but the existing ruins give a continuous history of monasteries, sculptures, and patronage from the 7th century. The libraries, prayer halls, hostels, observatories and temples were largely destroyed by Turkish armies around the close of the 12th century.

Mahabodhi

• One of the largest monastic settlements of India was Sarnath [§], just outside Varnasi on the Ganges river. Ruins of numerous large and small monasteries can still be seen there. Two of the first monasteries were built here in the time of the Buddha. King Asoka had monasteries and stupas built here - perhaps his most well known addition being the installation of a monolithic pillar with the lion capital [§]that has come to be India's national symbol. Most of the monks and monasteries were destroyed by Muhammad Ghori in 1194.
• A superb example of classic Buddhist temple architecture is found at Bodh Gaya, the scene of the Buddha's enlightenment. Records vary as to construction on the site but it is clear that it has been a place of continuous pilgrimage and worship. The V&A museum has a broken upright (0 BCE?) from the railing surrounding the early tree shrine. A large monastery was errected by King Megahavarna of Sri Lanka in the 5th century CE. There was persecution in the 7th and 12th centuries and no ancient buildings have been preserved. The Mahabodhi Temple is by far the most important monument now on the site having been extensively restored in the 19th C.

• Buddhism arrived in Tibet in the 7th century but met with some resistance however by the 10th century native elements were merging with a form of east Indian and Kashmir Buddhism. The first monastery - traditionally identified as Samye, south-east of Lhasa - was built in 770 CE. There were over 3000 monasteries with perhaps 1/4 of the population as monks or nuns. The two major stylistic influences were Nepalese and Chinese. Almost no stone carving is found but cloth and wall-painting became highly developed. What we now see is a very distinctive style of architecture with splendid use of colour and ornamentation. The use of images, paintings, mandalas and tankas produced an extremely rich iconography and this can be seen not only artistically but architecurally.
• Nepalese Buddhism has merged with Hinduism and survives in a non-monastic form. Iconography has a very hybrid character. [§]

ORIGINS | CAVES | INDIA | STH. EAST ASIA | CHINA - JAPAN