Chapter 17 - Architecture, Sculpture and Art (gleaned from Bhasa’s plays)

As has been rightly observed by Dr. Acharya, architecture should not merely include public and religious buildings or even civic and domestic architecture, but interior decorations, furniture, etc., as well. Thus architecture concerns itself not only with temples, arches, forts, palaces, edifices, etc., but also with doors, windows, balconies, floors, roofs, pillars, porches, as well as with bedsteads, couches, tables, chairs, baskets, cages, nests, mills, lamps and lamp-posts.' In fact, some of the texts on architecture, including the great Manasara, refer in detail to all these particulars in architecture. We have dealt with some of the aspects of architecture in earlier chapters concerning "Court Life" and "Urban and Rural Life," though not under suitable paragraphs. That information will be supplemented here with additional details. In the age of the Rigveda, we come across stoneforts, walled cities, stone-houses and brick-edifices. The excavations at Mohenjo-Daro have set at rest the controversy between Fergusson and Rajendralal Mitra as regards the indigenous origin of the Indian (Hindu) architecture, and have once for all justified Dr. Mitra's conclusion. In the Indus culture, we come across such peculiarly Indian ideas and motifs as the open courtyard in a house, elaborate drainage system, separate well and a separate bath-room (ablution room) for every house signifying the sanctity of water or water worship, use of rectangular baked brick, burnt brick and mud mortar, 1 Modern Review, Sept., 1934, pp. 281-284; Aug. 1935, pp. 136-137.

418 absence of true arch, and round column. It appears there were storeyed buildings with flat roofs and a number of rooms on each floor at Mohenjo-Daro, which was divided into a number of blocks by wide and long roads cutting each other almost perpendicularly. as In the epics also we read of dwelling houses, temples and palaces. In Ayodhya, in addition to resplendent temples, there were most elegant assembly halls, gardens and alms-houses, with well arranged extensive buildings everywhere. The steeples of houses shone like the crests of mountains and held hundreds of pavilions. The rooms were exquisitely gilt and decorated, and seemed charming as pictures. The floors were laid evenly. The Mahabharata also speaks of guest houses built in connection with the Rajasuya. They were lofty, most charming in appearance and provided with excellent furniture. They had well built high walls of white colour on all sides and the windows were decorated with jewellery and had golden lattices. The stairs were easy of ascent. The houses were white as the swan, bright as the moon and looked most picturesque even from a distance of four miles. Doors were of uniform height with a variety of quality and inlaid with numerous metal ornaments. There were also charming lakes and ornamental plants by the side of the guest houses. The epics, again, describe cities with special palaces having a number of courts for the king, the princes, the chief priests and civil and military officials. There were also various assembly halls, courts of justice and the booths of small traders with goldsmith's shops and the work-places of other artisans." 66 Coming next to the Buddhist age, we find that the Buddhist scriptures contain some religious discourses dealing with domestic architecture. Dwelling houses are stated to be of five kinds, and an ordinary residence is said to contain a sleeping room, a stable, a tower, a onepeaked building, a shop, a boutique, a storeyed house, an attic, a cave, a cell, a store-room, a refectory, a fire-room, a kitchen, a privy, a place to walk in, a house to walk in, a well, a well-house, a weapons-room, a lotus pond, a pavilion, and a bathing place for hot sitting baths". A 1 Modern Review, Sept. 1934, p. 282; Ramayana, I. 5. 10-15. 2 Acharya, Modern Review, Sept. 1934, p. 281.

419 number of articles of furniture is referred to in the Buddhist Canonical texts. Benches to accommodate three persons, bed-stead (pallanka), couches (asandi), rectangular chairs (asandako), Sofa, state chair (bhaddapitham), cane-bottomed chair (koccham) are mentioned, as also carpets, rugs, pillows, bolsters, curtains, mosquito curtains, handkerchiefs, etc. Sufficient reference has already been made to the laying out of a city and a palace in the Arthasastra. To recapitulate the particulars furnished by our author with regard to architecture in brief, we may state that there were parks both outside and in the hearts of the cities. A courtyard, a tank, a garden and a well were the invariable concomitants of a private dwelling house. Cool summer-houses, luxuriously decorated rooms, well guarded harem, pleasure garden and artificial mountains, lakes, etc. were associated with palaces. In the business quarters of the city there were rows of palatial buildings on both sides of the roads. It appears that the residential quarters were housed caste or sectwise. No particulars are supplied with regard to the aspect and orientation of public and private buildings and no reference is made to any article of furniture. a An important reference to a building of a semireligious character, viz., the Pratimagrha (Statue-house), however, occurs in the Pratima. The statue-house was a a magnificent structure, taller than even palaces, monument of architectural skill. It was situated not in the heart of the city, but outside, in the suburban area amidst the trees. To all outward appearances it resembled a temple, the only point of difference being that the statue-house exhibited no external symbols of weapons or flags of the deities; and it was looked on as a shrine." The statue-house was under the control of a care-taker and was open to the public. There was no restriction on entrants, nor was there any door-keeper to prevent entrants. 5. Special preparations were made in the statue-house on important occasions such as the visit of the queen- 1 1 pp. 59, 66 (III. 13). 2 Prat, III. 13-A & Grigon: Prat, p. 59-vrksantaraviskrte devakule | 4 Prat pp. 59, 66 - neha kincit praharano dhvajo va bahiscihnam drsyate | (p. 59 ) ; bina pranamam pathikairupasyate | ( III. 13). 3 5 III. 13.

420 mothers. Not only was the inner dome of the statue-house cleared of its dovecotes, but the walls were whitewashed, the doors were decorated with wreaths and garlands, the paths were spread with white sand, and flowers were scattered everywhere. The walls, further, were anointed with sandal paste by fingers and fried rice also was to be seen common with what we see in temples even to this day especially on festive occasions. scattered.' These preparations have much "C These statue-houses bear ample testimony to the advanced stage of architecture in those days. A Siva temple with a fire-shrine is mentioned in the Pratijna. 2 Sculpture seems to have attained a very high degree of perfection in the period. The excavations in the Indus valley have shown the antiquity and nature of the statuary of that period and have once for all exploded the myth of Hellenic indebtedness in this connection. The Jatakas also testify to perfect statues of elephants and maidens, thus showing a developed stage of the art of the lapidary. Stone works, sculpture of birds and beasts in natural colours with inlaid gems were so exquisitely made that they were often mistaken as live creatures by ordinary visitors. The gild of stone workers or stone cutters in the Buddhist period not only prepared stones to be used for building purposes, but made various artistic articles of stones such as jugs, boxes, cups, etc. 3 In the period represented by our plays, statues of dead kings used to be carved of stone or granite. They were pieces of exquisite workmanship, and were not mere symbols, but bore human expressions and had remarkable similarities with the original subject. It appears that statues were erected of all dead kings. Each statue brought out or emphasized through some symbol the peculiar characteristic of the king whose statue it was. Thus, in the Pratima, the statue of Dilipa had something to suggest that he was the embodiment of dharma; that of Raghu suggested embodiment of charity, and that of Aja suggested embodiment of love. Similarly, in many old capitals where statues of old kings are kept, the statues 4. 1 Prat, pp. 54, 59. 2 Pratijna, pp. 39, 47 (p. 3); (p. 47). 3. 3 Prat, p. 59 - aho kriyamadhurya pasananam | aho bhavagatirakrtinam | 4 Pratima, pp. 62-63.

421 are represented on horseback, if the kings met with their death in battles and in other positions if they died natural deaths. The custom of erecting stone images of dead kings is an ancient one, but it is not yet known from any ancient extant work. These statues were worshipped with fried rice and flowers. Offerings of food are still made to the stone images in Bikaner where all royal personages down from Bika have their statues.* 2 These statues were not exposed to weather as are the busts and statues of many modern celebrities, but were kept in especially built statue-houses, about which we have written earlier. In contrast with the temples which generally contained only one image the statue-houses contained a number of images. As these statues were of the Ksatriyas, the Brahmanas were naturally not to make any obeisance to them. But other visitors also paid their homage to the dead without prostrating themselves before the statues and without chanting any mantras. In the case of sacred images, one had to bow down and chant mantras of that particular deity. The statues and statuehouses seem to be unknown in the Kekaya country (a province of the Asuras) in the days of our poet. They were, of course, well known in Ayodhya." Dr. Jayaswal placed Bhasa in the second Century B. C. on the similarity between the Pratimas referred to in the Pratima and the Saisunaga statues which the learned Doctor relegated to the fifth Century B. C. But the discovery of the statuary in the Indus valley has proved the existence of the art of sculpture in India milleniums. before that epoch, and hence Bhasa, cannot be said not to have lived in the pre-Mauryan age on the score of the alleged absence of any human stone image of the earlier period. The custom of throwing sand in the enclosures of sacred places has been mentioned by Apastamba alone, and Apastamba belongs to the fifth century B. C. This fact also indicates the antiquity of Bhasa. Prof. Pisharoti suspects some connection between the institution of statuehouses and the ancestor worship which is current amongst 1 Cf. Haraprasad Sastri, OC, V. pp. 97-98. 2 Prat, p. 59-YYMY- lajaviskrta balayah | 3 Haraprasad Sastri, OC, V. pp. 97-98. 4 Cf. K. Rama Pisharoti, Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society, XII, pp. 386, 395. 5 Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, V, pp. 89, 95; cf. also, V. Smith, Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, V, pp. 512-513. 6 Haraprasad Sastri, OC, V. p. 98.

the Nairs in Malabar. 422 He does not, however, elucidate the point regarding the nature of the exact relationship between the two and the historical development of the institution. Possibly, the ancestor worship of the Nairs may be an off-shoot of the worship of the statues. We have already refuted the view that the statue-houses have been copied from Kerala. Another specimen of fine workmanship in statuary is supplied by the artificial elephant manufactured by king Pradyota Mahasena of Avanti to capture Udayana Vatsaraja. It was prepared exactly as in the description. of a deep blue elephant given in the Hastisiksa; and the possession of such an elephant was reputed to bring sovereignty to its owner king. We are not definitely told about the material of which the elephant was carved. 2 Painting. There are many references to painting in our works and there are significant similes describing pictures on a canvass.³ Pictures were drawn on walls as well as on panels or boards. The walls of the fire-shrine are stated to have got fast-coloured paintings on them.* A painter surrounded by many cups is referred to in the Carudatta. The details about the picture depicting the denuding of Draupadi in the Dutavakya shows that the painter looked to many particulars and minor details. Not only was close attention paid to the dress of all the persons portrayed, but their expression was carefully worked out on the canvass. The portraits of Udayana and Vasavadatta are said to be quite life-like and to show a remarkable resemblance to the original. Courtesans had a special room in their mansions with all the paraphernalia required for painting. Cultured courtesans like Vasantasena were well versed in portraiture also, and Vasantasena's representation of Carudatta as he was passing by the road below her balcony is said to have been. faithfully carried out. At the time of Vatsyayana, every 3 Cf. Uru, st. 1 Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society, XII, p. 396. 2 Pratijna, pp. 9, 10-11- hatthi nikuvalabhatanu nama hatthisikkhae pathido | "divvavarana padicchando | | 3. 4 Pratijna, p. 40. 5 Car, p. 10- cittaaro vibha bahumallaehi parivudo| 6 Dv, pp. 9-12- aho asya varnadhyata | aho bhavopapannata, aho yuktalekhata | suvyaktamalikhito'yam citrapadah | 7 Svapna, pp. 134-136 --na sadrsi | saiveti manye | (p. 135 ). 8 Car, p. 88 - citraphalaka ; vartikakaranda ; so bhattidarao idiso evva |

423 cultured man had a drawing board (citraphalaka) and a vessel (samudgaka) of colours." Music. The musical instruments used by the Indians were generally of four types-tata (stringed instruments), anaddha (percussion), susira (wind instruments) and ghana (cymbal). The Vedas and the Brahmanas refer to various instruments of all these types. The playing of musical instruments was prescribed at sacrifices in the same way as was the singing of the Sama Hymns. Vina (lute) was the most popular of instruments, and it was considered as a ratna (jewel) obtained without churning the ocean, while the well-known fourteen jewels were extracted from the ocean by churning it. The lute contained seven strings and much resembled the modern Sitar. It was resorted to most by musicians and was appreciated by the general public. Many ladies in high class families also were experts in playing on lute and in singing, and their consorts enjoyed nights in listening to the enchanting tunes of music. Among wind instruments were used flutes made of reed (vamsa). Vocal music also was much popular, and kings felt no compunction in engaging tutors for giving lessons to the princesses in music. Not only courtesans but ladies of respectable families also learnt the art of dancing. An accomplished courtesan was an expert in all branches of music. The art of weaving seems to have reached a developed phase in the period in that the garments made from barks of trees were so finely produced as not to be easily distinguishable from the ordinary cotton garments.* Florists, perfumers, garland-makers, jewellers and goldsmiths are the other artisans and craftsmen mentioned by Bhasa. 1 Chakladar, Social Life, p. 188. Cf. Avi, pp. 43-44; III. 5, 6. 4 2 Car. p. 64 - vina nabhasamudrotthitam ratnam | Cf. Prat, I. 9.