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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XXI. 



We cannot deduce from it that the Indians learned the art of 

 carving in stone from the Persians or from the Greeks, or that they 

 followed their example in using stones for building purposes. 



It is true, as the late Mr. Baden Powell has pointed out, that 

 the rich clay soil of Northern India did not necessitate the use of 

 stones very extensively. We must, nevertheless, remember that 

 long before this Buddhistic period, Valmiki composed the great 

 epic poem Bdmdyana. From Professor Macdonnell's lucid 

 account of this poem in his history of Sanskrit literature, we see 

 that Valmiki must have got his materials from epic tales then 

 current in Ay6dhya, narrating the fortunes of the Ikshvaku 

 dynasty. 



This poem, as well as the oldest portions of the Mahdbhdrata , 

 give us an insight into the state of Indian culture in pre- 

 Buddhistic times. They contain long descriptions of temples, 

 two-storeyed buildings, balconies, porticos, triumphal arches, 

 enclosing walls , flights of stone masonry steps, and a variety of other 

 structures — all indicative of a nourishing architecture in India 

 and in Ceylon, the kingdom of Ravana. 



As we carry our investigations further back into the Vedic 

 period all references to stone buildings gradually vanish. Vedic 

 scholars agree that the houses of the Vedic Aryans were built 

 of wood. Their domestic fire was burnt in the central portion of 

 each house. Their fortified enclosures were made on high ground, 

 and consisted of earth works strengthened with stockade or 

 occasionally with stone. 



I have so far dealt with the architecture of the Aryans. But 

 we must understand that even in the Vedic period there were 

 very many tribes of non- Aryans — the aboriginal inhabitants of 

 India — -who were as civilized as the Aryan invaders. They must 

 have had some sort of architecture at one period or other. 

 Possibly the comparatively modern Jaina and Dravidian styles 

 are offshoots of it. 



Slide 51. Here is, for example, a general view of the Raths at 

 Mahavallipore. They are supposed to be the oldest of the kind 

 in South India. They represent the Dravidian style of the sixth 

 or seventh century a.d. 



Slide 52. Subramaniya's temple at Tanjore, built by Saivites 

 in the twelfth or thirteenth century. It is one of the purest of 

 Dravidian buildings. 



Slide 53. A smaller temple near it, of the same age. 



Slide 54. A pagoda, also at Tanjore, built in the fourteenth 

 century. It is about 190 feet high, and dedicated to Siva. 



Slide 55. Details of the same pagoda. 



Slides 56 and 57. Tower over Tanjore palace ; G6pura of 

 Seringham temple at Trichinopoly, 150 feet high. 



Slide 58. Inner gateway of Seringham, with 16 pillars. 



In Ceylon also we find the Dravidian style greatly predominat- 

 ing in monuments of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 



