UNIT 2 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE

In all the Buddhist schools the following teachings are common .

1. The individual existence is sorrowful, and consequencely require

deliverance. (rescue)

2. The belief in rebirth. The assumption of a moral natural law which rules
the process of Karman and rebirth and is neither created by a deity nor
supervised by him. Liberation is only achieved through extirpation of
greed, hatred, and delusion, therefore gaining wisdom (enlightenment).

3. The Buddha is regarded as a human teacher who had gained

enlightenment, a transcendental being who had once been mortal

4. The main spiritual goal of Buddhism is to attain Nirvana which means the
spiritual liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth.

5. Its core lies in the philosophy that everyone is equal and nothing lasts for
ever and nothing happens by chance.

6. The teachings of Buddha were first compiled in Pali script as the

Tripitakas .King Ashoka was one of the chief believers and propagators.

7. Buddhism is divided into 2 major sects Hinayana( travellers by a lesser

vehicle ) and Mahayana

( travellers by a greater vehicle)

Differences between Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism

1 The older version of Buddhism ( the Hinayanas) believed that only way to
attain nirvana was by leading a monastic life austerity, abandoning all
worldly pleasures.

2 The newer school, allowed for the possibility of enlightenment to all those
who followed the path of righteousness ,irrespective of their status in the
society.Also Mahayana ,tells that values of love and compassion combined
with that of knowledge.This made more devotees to be attracted to this
sect.

3 In Hinayana, Buddha was regarded as a natural teacher and at most a

superman ,whereas in Mahayana Buddha became the supreme deity . In
Mahayana ,Buddha is seen as the projection of beginningless, and endless
and omnipresent. He is seen as the projection of the absolute.

4 In Hinayana the four noble truths and eight fold path as told by Buddha is
followed,Whereas in Mahayana, Buddhas doctrines was reinterpreted in
order to make it universally acceptable.
5 Hinayana sees that liberation can only be achieved through one's own
effort, while Mahayana consider assistance from outside as possible.
Deliverance through other's power.

6 The followers of Hinayana sees the immediate goal as in achieving

nirvana. Those who follow Mahayana sees the immediate goal as in
following the ways of the Bodhisattva in leading all beings to liberation.

7 Nirvana, to Hinayana is the final exit from the world, while it to Mahayana
considered becoming conscious of one's own absoluteness and gaining a
state of mental aloofness. Hinayana has to create nirvana while Mahayana
sees all beings as holding liberation from very begining but not aware of
its existence

Interaction of Hellenic and Indian Ideas in NorthernIndia

In the areas to the west of Indian subcontinent ,since the time of conquest of
,Alexander the great qround 326 BC ,the Greek kingdoms had been in place in
Bactria( todays northern Afganisthan)These Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was found
around 250 BC

8 The Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I invaded India in 180 BC as far as

Pataliputra establishing an Indo Greek Kingdom that lasted until the end
of Ist century BCE. Buddhism flourished under the Indo- Greek kings and it
has been suggested that their invasion of India was intended to show their
support for the Mauryan empire ,and to protect the Buddhist faith from the
Sungas.

9 One of the famous Indo-greek kings is Menander ( 160-135BCE).He

apparently converted to Buddhism and is presented in the Mahayana
tradition , as one of the great benefactors of the faith,on par with King
Asoka or the later Kushan king KAnishka.

.
Menanders coins bear the mention of
the Savior king in Greek and
sometimes the designs of eight spoked
wheel

A coin of Menander I with eight spoked wheel

1 The Greco-Buddhist art had some influence on the development of

Mahayana faith,as the man-God treatment of Buddha was some what
familiar to Hellenic Gods.

2 Under the Indo-Greeks and then the Kushans the interaction of Greek and
Buddhist sculpture flourished in the areas of Gandhara, in todays northern
 Pakisthan,before spreading further into India , influencing the art of
Mathura and then the Hindu art of the Gupta empire.

3 Under the Indo-Greek kingdom in 180 BCE ,Fortified Greek cities ,such as
Sirkap in northern Pakisthan, were established.Architectural styles used
Hellenistic decorative motifs such as fruit garland and scrolls.

Gandhara One of the first representations of

Buddha 1 st -2nd century CE

1 First anthropomorphic representations of

Buddha were developed during this time.In
earlier representations, only symbols such
as stupa,the Bodhi tree , the empty seat ,
the wheel or foot prints were present.

2 The anthropomorphic Buddha reached a

very high level of sophistication due to
Hellenistic Greece.

3 Many of the stylistic elements in the

representation of Buddha point to Greek
influence, the Greek himation ( alight wavy
robe covering both soldiers) , the halothe
stylized Mediterranean curly hair and top
knot apparently derived from the style of
Appolo, and measured quality of faces all
rendered with strong realism.

ARTISTIC MODEL

An Indo-Corinthian capital with the

Buddha at its center, 3-4th century,
Gandhara.
1 Greco-Buddhist art depicts the life of the Buddha in a visual manner,
probably by incorporating the real-life models and concepts which were
available to the artists of the period.

The Bodhisattvas are depicted as bare-chested and jewelled Indian princes, and
the Buddhas as Greek kings wearing the light toga-like himation.

1 The buildings in which they are

depicted incorporate Greek style, with
the ubiquitous Indo-Corinthian capitals
and Greek decorative scrolls.
Surrounding deities form a pantheon of

1 In Hadda (Gandhara), the Greek divinity Atlas is represented holding

Buddhist monuments with decorated Greek columns .This motif was
adopted extensively throughout India ,Atlas being substituted for the
Indian Yaksa in the monuments of Sunga around 2 nd century BC

Art of Mathura

1 In the art of Maathura , later than Gandhara , there was a continuation of

old Indian art of Sanchi and Bharut and of the classical influence derived
from Gandhara, shown in usage of Greek scroll in combination with Indian
Deities and Greek chariots pulled by four horses.

Art of the Gupta

1 The art of Mathura , acquired

progressively Indian elements and
reached sophistication during the
Gupta empire between 4th and 6th
century,pinnacle of Buddist art.

2 Hellinistic elements in the folds of

clothing , improved upon a very
delicate rendering of the
draping.Shell like curls of hair style of
Buddha found to be less realistic
Architectural production during Ashokas rule Ashokan pillar, Saranath ,Rock
cut caves at Barabar,Sanchi stupa.
 Chandraguptas son Bimbisara extended the kingdom upto the areas of modern
Mysore. His son Ashoka came to power in 272 BC . His hard earned victory over
Kalinga, did not turn into jubilation. It made him adopt Buddhism , and he took
the task of propagating the message of Buddha not to only to India but to the
entire world.

Emergence of Stupa

1 Buddhist Architect choose the hemisphere to cover the relics ,in the place
of the humble mound of rubble that had been piled by the worshippers .
Thus it was transformed by the royal builders into a a hemispherical brick
paved tumuli.

2 The plan ,elevation and section of the stupa was derived from the
circle.Thus the Stupa, emerged for the first time under the Architecural
patronage of Ashoka.

The Stambhas,and Ashoka pillar at Saranath.

3 Inspired by the wooden poles of the primitive tribes, he ordered the

inscriptions to be carved on columns instead of mere slabs and these were
set up at regular intervals along roads leading to places of Buddhist
pilgrimage. Indian masons had learnt to carve in stone from Persian
masons.

4 Columns, some 40 feet in length and weighing as much as 50 tonnes

were carved from a single block of sandstone from the famous quarry at
Chunar in modern Bihar . These massive pillars were then carried
unbroken and intact to sites over hundred miles away.

5 The tapering piece of column after reaching the destination was varnished
and polished to give a mirror like structure. The column would rise from
the ground without any base , like the trunk of the tree or at some places
had a circular brick platform at its base.

6 The pillar at Saranath is more than 15m in height,and has four lions
surmounting the capital .

7 The capital more than 2m height resembles the shape of inverted bell or
lotus bud with series of fluted petals .

8 Above the capital is the abacus , which is circular , having broad edge
carved with ornamental borders containing four figures of animals
(elephant , bull, horse and lion ) in high relief that alternate with four
smaller wheels. These animals symbolise the four quarters of the
universe.

9 One of these , the famous sculpture of the four lions, the national emblem
of India,is a sculpture ,executed in a style reminiscent of Persian design,
weighing five tonnes and about seven feet in height , was effectively
 joined to the pillar by a 2 feet long cylindrical dowel, toned accurately
into the shaft without any cementing material.

10 The lion Pillar proclaimed Dharma to the world, form the top of the
stumbha.

Ashoka pillar,Saranath with

lion capital

LOMAS RISHI CAVE ,plan LOMAS RISHI CAVE

King Ashok aand
waselevn ,entrance
tolerant towards other religions, elevn towards the Ajvika
especially
ascetics.

1 Ajvikas discarded the conventional timber and brick structures. They

choose to carve out habitable caves. But they reproduced the exact
copies of the structures in wood and thatch in stone.

2 Some seven of these caves are seen in Barabar hills , in Orissa. Of these
caves the popular one in Lomas Rishi .

3 Its interior of circular cell of 19 feet diameter has a hemispherical domed

roof and approached through a 33feet long tunnel like hall.The barrel
 vaulted rectangular thatch hut and the circular hut of the Aryan
carpenter found in the innumerable Indian villages had thus been
perpetuated in the form of a cave.

4 The shape of the entrance arch on the hill side is the familiar gable end of
the rural dwelling of the Aryan village. Even the minute details of the cut
have been carefully reproduce d in the Lomas Rishi.

5 The rock cutters however have lifted this work from mere plagiarism
( copying) by introducing a beautifully sculpted semicircular panel at the
crown of the arch depicting two rows of elephants walking towards the
stupa. The shows the genious of Indian builders.

The cult of the Chaityas

1 The traditional Chaitya was a grove of trees in the middle of which small
tumuli of earth had been built up over the ashes of the tribal chiefs . The
Buddhist monks merely transferred the attention of their followers from
these to stupas that carried in them the relics of the Buddha.

2 These became the Chaityas, instead of wandering began to settle down

around such Chaityas.

3 Thus Chaityas grew into monasteries and the Chaityas became the touch
stone of the Buddhist ritual and worship.

The Growth of Sanchi

Sanchi stupa ,plan and Sanchi stupa ,view and

elevn thorana
1 After the reign of Ashoka ,the Aryan kings Shunga ruled the in North India.
But this did not affect the funds to pour to Buddhist monks to build their
own monasteries in a more peaceful and solitary environment.

2 The largest and the most famous one is Sanchi. Sanchi had already been
marked as sacred spot when a semi -circular brick mound some 70 feet
in diameter had been built here, as a part of Ashokas Architectural
campaign. The stupa is doubled in size increasing the diameter of the
original to 120 feet ( 36.5 m)and now it is a stone face mound.The height
is 54 feet ( 16.4 mts) .

3 Sixteen feet high from the ground level of the stupa, the builders created
an elevated Pradhakshina Pada , reserved for the clergy, the traditional
one at ground level being open to the common pilgrim.

4 The crown of the hemispherical mound was flattened out to make place
for circular platform from the middle of which rose a three tiered stone
umbrella,set inside a square enclosure marked out by a low stone fence.

The Stone Vedika

1 A massive was placed in the place of the original timber railing ,

fabricated entirely out of stone.

2 Already they were masters in sculpting and polishing as they installed

large number of Ahokan pillars all over India. They exactly copied the
timber costruction in massive stone blocks. Octagonal pillars 18 inch
( 45cm )diameter and 9 feet ( 2.7 m ) high were planted along the
periphery with a spacing of about 2 feet (0.6m) from each other. The
space between was spanned by three 2 feet ( 60cm)deep , lens shaped
horizontals were meticulously tennoned into corresponding mortices cut
in the pillars. The railing was topped by an appropriately massive stone
coping , giving it a total height of 11 feet ( 3.3 metres) .

3 Thus the original, security oriented Aryan vedika has also acquired sacred
virtues. Thus in the process of erecting a Vedika in stone the craftsman
had reapplied the structural techniques of the Aryan carpenter.
Constructed to a different scale the railing stone is a wonder.

The Buddhist Torana

1 With the stone Vedika around, lacked invitation ,So they installed
gateways to match the maginficence of Vedika . The rural bamboo
gateway of the Aryan village was transformed by the Buddhist builders
into a great 34 feet ( 10.3 m) high Toran. Four such Torans were installed
at the cardinal points of the railing . The techniques of stone masonry
employed in constructing the toranas were as those in erecting the
railing.Nevertheless after erecting the two vertical uprights , the stone
 masons realised the futility(uselessness) of cutting mortices and making
tennons in the stone.

2 Thus he developed the rationale of spanning the stone over the vertical
pillars , resting firmly on the uprights and sailing on either side over the
uprights. The horizontal spaces between the beams were filled with a sort
of stone trellies. The surface of the vertical uprights as well the cross
beams receive d generous , finely carved sculpture in stone, rich in the
symbolism and imagery of the Buddhist lore.This has prove d to be the
source of records of myths , legends and social mores of the day.

1
3

2
Symbolism 4 Stupa
and structural function of

1 Development of Chaitya
The hemispherical hallwas4the
stupa, ) Chaitya hall in
geometric timber
crystallization of mound of
from Stupa
earth, constrn circumambulation.
eminently suitable for endless
In order from 1,2,3,4,
2 The Harmika and Chatra are a stylized visual depiction of the Bodhi tree
surrounded by the sacred vedika or railing.

3 The torana ,erected after the railing is completed was planted some feet
away from the railing , to ensure privacy for the people who are
circumambulating the Pradakshina.This resulted in a swastika in plan in
its outlines.

The Buddhist Vihara

Salient feature of a Vihara

1 Building of Stupa led to the building of its ancillaries.Buildings were

needed to house the resident monks.

2 The places of residence in their bareness reflect the inherent austerity of

monastic life.

3 These were built a s a series of individual cells built around a courtyard.

The open courtyard served all th e community facilities ,at places ,
including a well of water.The cells on the other hand afforded enough
privacy for the practice of meditation.
4 The traditional house around the courtyard later become the viharas.Since
they were built in one or two stories in timber frame and brick walls , only
the foundations of these have survived at Sanchi, the super structure
having vanished soon after the monasteries were deserted.

Evolution and features of Chaitya Halls

1 The great Stupa had its limitations.It was an edifice incapable for using in
inclement (severe)weather.Therefore a need was felt for an enclosed hall
in which a miniature stupa could be conveniently be worshipped the year
around.

2 The simple solution was to place the stupa at the end of the rectangular
hall. Soon they realized that the circular stupa sat incongruously in the
rectangular enclosure.The walls behind the stupa was made semicircular
to echo the profile of the stupa.

3 The path for the circumambulation around the stupa was also clearly
defined. The roof was covered by a timber barrel vault , covered with tile
and supported on brick walls framed on timber pillars.

4 The entire composition was built on a high plinth enclosed by the

inevitable sacred railing. This type of structure is found at Sanchi.Later
this was carved in rocks as caves as the Chaitya caves of
Karle,Ajanthaand Ellora.

Karli Cave

View of Interior of Karli

,chaitya hall
 Plan and Section of Karli elevation of front entrance of
,chaitya hall
In plan this is a gigantic hall, ( 45 feet x 150 feet) is not remarkably different
from others. Its a vast sacred hall and one experiences a visual drama entering
the cave.A large artificial platform is built was built over the sloping hill in the
front.The entrance is marked by two 50 feet high enormous columns crowned
by glorius lion sculptures standing like sentinels( guards) on either side.

The Facade

The faade behind is a rock cut two storey screen of stately columns.After
passing through this double height vestibule there is the recessed sun window
set in a towering horse shoe arch way as the upper storey. The walls are richly
sculpted and flat bare surfaces at one time were painted with colorful scenes
from Buddhas legendary life.

Interior

1 Through this faade one enters the interior with a central apse at the end
flanked by massive columns .At the end of the cave is th e sculpture of
Buddha moulded into the hemispherical profile of the stupa. Light filters
through the outer collanade, screens, oriels of the sun window and falls
like a delicate mantle on the stupa.

2 The pillars separating the central nave from aisles have a pot base,
octagonal shaft,inverted lotus capital with an abacus.Abacus has
exquisitely carved pillars kneeling down,each with a couple in front.

3 The stupa at the apse end is tall and cylindrical with two tiers of railings
around the drum.It is crowned by the original wooden chatra.Time,Space
and Light has endowed these caves a magical quality.

Monastry of Takht E Bahi, Ghandhara

1 In Takht I Bahi , a vihara court is formally related to a stupa court.

2 View of stupa
The stupa Court - A 50 feet (15.2mts)high and boat keel profile
elongated
Plan of ,rested
stupa stupa court
on a and vihara
20 feet( stupa
6m ) high platcourt
from set within a 45 feet ( 13.7
court
m) by 55 feet ( 16.7m) quadrangle along the periphery of which were
Subsidiary chapels housing the Bodhisatvas of Mahayana creed. The roofs
 of the cells of surrounding chapels were alternately a dome derived from
the shape of the rural beehive hut , and a barrel vault derived from the
roof of the Chaitya . Constructed in stone the roof shapes were made by
means of corbelling rather than true arching. The masonry was covered
with a thick layer of lime plaster relieved with stucco decorations.

3 The central axis of the stupa leads to the familiar monastery which is a
series of cells around its own quadrangle.In between the stupa court and
vihara court is an open terrace adorned with small chapels and stupas.
Around this well knit plan of the central area are other haphazardly
situated ancillary structures such as assembly halls and refectory.

Monastries at Nasik

The second century Gautamiputra ( Cave 3 ) Nasik shows the typical

arrangement for rock cut viharas. A square hall with cells opening along the sides
and rear and usually a verandah in front . On the rear wall of Gautamiputra , a
stupa is carved in relief.By this date viharas were more like monastic temples
used for worship as much by the lay community as much by the monks.

Buddhist caves- Viharas excavated in Ajantha under Vataka rulers

1 Five caves were carved out of a horse shoe shaped ravine. In the vihara
plan that is typical of Ajantha , a square of pillars have been introduced in
the centre of the hall.,a nd a Buddhist shrine often with an anti chamber is
placed at the centre of the rear.The longitudinal axis between the
entrance and shrine progresses from fierce sun light to dimly lit cells
through layers defined by steps,thresholds, doorways and line of pillars.

2 In the centre positions on the flat ceilings are painted lotus centered
mandala like patterns , prefiguring the lotus ceilings of many hindu
temples.

ELLORA

The viharas of Ellora dated 400 AD to 7th century AD are of one, two, and three storeys
and are the largest of the type. They contain sculptured figures and belong to both
Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism.

Plan of Vihara at Plan of Vihara at Udayagiri

Rani gumpaAjantha
,Udayagiri , rises in two storeys with range of cells on two adjoining
sides of a vast central courtyard , was the residence of the monks. The doors of
the cells on the lower storey have engaged columns which support the stone
arches.Abundant decoration is found in this level, much of it is eroded.
On the second level as there is a pillared posrtico in front the sculptures are
protected. Above the arches are carved hunting scenes and procession of
elephants .