No. 62. — 1909.] stone arohitectttre. 



327 



THE ANTIQUITY OF STONE ARCHITECTURE IN 

 INDIA AND CEYLON. 



By Don M. de Z. Wickremasinghe. 



It is indeed a marvellous fact, considering the high antiquity 

 of Indian culture, that not a single monument possessing any 

 architectural value has yet been discovered in India or Ceylon 

 which can safely be said to belong to a period earlier than the 

 middle of the third century before Christ. 



Yet, when we examine the oldest monuments of this period, 

 we are confronted, not with a primitive type of architecture just 

 struggling its way up, or with a crude imitation of a foreign one, 

 but with an indigenous style of a highly artistic order already 

 taken root all over India, as may be judged from specimens in 

 Nepal in the north, in Ceylon in the south, and amongst the caves 

 and ruins of Eastern, Central, and Western India. 



James Fergusson, one of the greatest authorities on Indian 

 architecture, writing in 1884, expressed as his opinion that the 

 architecture of India remained throughout a purely indigenous 

 art. The explorations which have since been undertaken have 

 not brought to light any building to upset this theory. 



It is true that in the case of pillars and certain sculptures, as 

 well as in certain decorative elements, we find sure signs first of 

 Persian, then of Greek influence. But this influence was purely 

 superficial and did not affect the indigenous character of Indian 

 architecture. 



We see this clearly from the sculptures on the gateways of the 

 Sanchi Stupa. The relief on the right jamb of the east gateway 

 is often given as a typical example of Persian style. It represents 

 the first or the second floor of a great palace. 



Slide 1. The pillar with bell-shaped capitals is distinctly 

 Persian, as surmounted by winged goats, horses, and lions, but in 

 other respects it is purely Indian. 



Slide 2. This is also true in the case of the carvings on other 

 gateways of Sanchi. Slide 2 is an illustration of the northern 

 gateway. Here you see the winged lion side by side with the 

 ordinary lion. 



Slide 3. Details of Chaldseo -Assyrian embroidery containing 

 winged animals. 



Slide 4. A compartment of the third archway of the east- 

 gate of Sanchi. Here are seen two figures riding on horned 

 lions. One holds what seems to be a bunch of grapes in his hands. 

 The shape of his head and the coarse features of his face give him 

 a non-Indian appearance. Dr. Griinwedel says : " Although the 



