PilgrimTrips - India Pilgrimage

From Stupas to Rock Temples

In ancient Hinduism god was everywhere and you prayed to him wherever you were- at home, by a sacred river, under a holy tree. Worship was through sacrifice and homes had their own sacred fires and shrines and no need was felt to build temples. So the oldest religious buildings of ancient India that have survived are not Hindu but Buddhist. It is the Buddhists who began the tradition of building temples and also carving icons of stone to be worshipped. The Buddist buildings included monasteries, viharas, prayer halls, chaityas and the circular mounds of the stupas that were first built by the Mauryan king Ashoka in the 2nd century B.C.E.

India’s history of building with stone begins with Ashoka. The Mauryans ruled over the Indo-Gangetic region with their capital in Pataliputra and their kingdom was the first known empire in the India subcontinent. Asoka’s power was acknowledged by regions as distant as Taxila in the north and the Deccan in the south. By placing pillars with carved capitals all across his kingdom, he was the first king to leave his mark on the landscape in lasting stone. It all began when he tried to conquer the neighbouring kingdom of Kalinga. There was a terrible battle where thousands died. Surveying the carnage he had caused, a penitent Ashoka gave up war and became a Buddhist and his prodigious building activity had the energy and enthusiasm of a new convert. India’s first creations in stone architecture and sculpture were therefore inspired not by kingly pride but by this religious zeal.

Across the length and breadth of his kingdom, Asoka erected monolithic columns of polished sandstone with his edicts engraved on them and topped by carved capitals. The most familiar is the famous four-lion capital that was discovered at Sarnath and has become the symbol of independent India. He also carved his message on large rocks and excavated caves to create prayer halls but his greatest buildings were the stupas. A stupa is a circular mound built over the relics of the Buddha and later those of great Buddhist teachers, the bhikshus. These stupas were originally built in brick by Asoka and during later reigns covered with dressed stone. Then walkways with railings wre laid around them and figures of the Buddha places by the gateways. Around the stupas grew religious communities of Buddhist monks with prayer halls, monk’s cells, refectories and other monastic buildings.

Built in the 2nd century BC. the stupa at Sanchi is considered the finest. After Ashoka had established a monastery near Vidisa he built the stupa, and over the following centuries many additions were made to it. The most impressive are the four gateways, the toranas, that are justly famous for the quality of their carvings. These are the earliest examples of the stone carver’s art in India, an art that would reach the heights of excellance in temples from Brihadishwara to Konarak. The gateways and railings at Sanchi were exact copies of existing wooden structures and proved that the art of building in stone was still in its infancy. In these gateways, the sandstone was carved in high relief and they set the standards for religious sculpture on the walls and gateways of temples in later centuries. The toranas are two square columns with three beams laid crosswise on top. Every inch of the surface was covered with carvings that illustrated episodes from the life of the Buddha, stories from the Jatakas and a delightful pageant of nymphs, warriors and monks. Even after so many centuries, this panorama of life in ancient India has an amazing vitality.

The next great empire to hold sway over northern India was of the guptas, from the 4th to the 7th century. One of the few surviving Gupta temples stands near the main stupa at Sanchi. Built entirely of stone it is a simple square structure with a sanctum and a portico supported by carved pillars. Its straight elegant lines and restrained decoration is typical of the classical Gupta style. The Guptas were patrons of the arts and during their reign a major school of sculpture flourished in Mathura. During the earlier Kushan period, Mathura had created the first free standing images of the Buddha. Later Mathura began to produce stone icons of Hindu deities and these were then placed in temples.

From the time of the Mauryans, temples were also carved out of rock. Artifical caves were excavated and then embellished with decorative doorways, figures were carved on the outer walls and stupas chiselled in the interior. The cave temples of Bhaja and Karli in the Deccan were created during the reign of the Satavahanas. The typical layout had a prayer hall with pillars carved on the side and a stupa at one end and other caves nearby had cells for monks. These chaityas were obviously copies of wooden structures with false pillars and roof beams mimicking wooden buildings. Gradually the whole layout became more elaborate with carved pillars, vaulted roofs, ornate windows and entrances. Full size figures of people and animals were placed at the entrances.

These were the years of the rise of Buddhism and monasteries appeared all across the land. Some monastic communities even lived in a series of carved out of hillside and as the art of sculpture developed these caves were more elaborately decorated. The most beautiful of such cave temples and monasteries were created over many centuries at Ajanta. The work carried on from the 2nd century B.C. to the 7th century A.D. and during these nine centuries 28 caves were carved out of a horse shoe shaped patch of the Western Ghats. The interiors were covered with carvings, the walls and ceilings painted with exquisitely drawn murals presenting a panorama of religious life that even today glow in a glorious palette of colours.

At the same time Hindu and Jain rock cut temples were also being built. The most spectacular is the magnificent Kailasanatha temple at Ellora. It was carved during the reign of the Rashtrakuta king, Krishna I in the 8th century. At Ellora the rock cut temple moved to the next stage of evolution. The Kailasanatha temple is not a cave, but an entire temple with spires, walls and gateways carved out of the rockface. The work began at the top of the hill with the craftsmen carving downwards in an extraordinary feat of sculpture. This temple is a magnificent achievement of the sculpture. This temple is a magnificent achievement of the sculptor’s art with the surface decorated with panels of figures and delicate decorative motifs. In the 7th century the Pallava kings were also carving cave shrines and complete temples from rock at Mamallapuram. Compared to Ellora these were on a smaller scale with simpler decorations. What makes Mamallapuram special is that the carvings on pillars, the figures, the use of spires, gateways and monoliths of animals are the first example of the Dravidian style of temple architecture. Another set of cave temples were discovered at Elephanta. These temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva and have the mammothe figure of Maheshvara, one of the greatest depictions of the god. After Mamallapuram and Elephanta the Indian builder moved to the next stage of temple architecture, of free standing buildings made of dresses stone. The following centuries would be the greatest era of temple building in India.