1889.] 



on the Civilization of Ancient India. 



115 



known Greek examples by the excessive weight and height of the 

 abacus.* 



The employment of stucco to conceal the roughness of the limestone 

 and to facilitate the execution of the moulding reminds us of the temple 

 of Fortuna Virilis at Rome, where the same expedient was used to com- 

 plete the decorative work on Ioniu capitals made of rugged travertine. f 



Sir A. Cunningham subsequently discovered among the ruins of 

 Taxila in another temple the bases and portions of the drums of two 

 Ionic pillars, differing slightly in detail from those above described. J 



These two buildings are the only known examples of the use of the 

 Ionic form of pillar in India. 



The rude style of the capitals in the building first discovered — the 

 only ones yet found — might suggest the fancy that the Taxilan temples 

 preserve specimens of the primitive Ionic order in its Asiatic form, 

 before it was developed by Greek skill. But the evidence of the com- 

 pai'atively late date of the temple adorned by these rude capitals is too 

 clear to allow indulgence in such a notion. The building cannot, ap- 

 parently, be earlier than B. C. 20 or 30, the approximate date of king 

 Azes, twelve of whose coins were lifted out by Sir A. Cunningham with 

 his own hand from their undisturbed resting place below the floor of the 

 sanctum, and under the corner of a platform which had supported a 

 number of plaster Buddhist statues. § The date of the temple may 

 therefore be assigned roughly to the beginning of the Christian era, at 

 which time, it need not be said, the Ionic order had long been fully 

 developed. The question of date will be considered more fully in a later 

 section. 



The Taxilan temples with Ionic pillars were, like all the known 

 examples of Indo-Hellenic architecture, dedicated to the service of the 

 Buddhist religion. Sir A. Cunningham gives a plan of the one first 

 discovered, from which it appears that the whole edifice was 91 feet 

 long by 64 feet broad, standing on a platfoi'm, which projected about 15 

 feet beyond the walls on all sides except the east, forming a terrace 

 adorned with plaster statues. It is supposed that this terrace was roofed 

 in as a cloister. The entrance was on the east, in the centre of one of 

 the larger sides, through a portico supported on four Ionic columns. 

 This portico led into an entrance hall, 39| feet long from north to south, 

 by 15f feet broad from east to west. The sanctum or cella of the 

 temple lay behind this, with a length of 79 feet from north to south, 



* Cnnningliarn, Arcluml. Rep., Vol. II, p. 129 ; Vol. V, pp. 69, 190. 

 t Burn, Roman Literature, and Art, p. 204. 

 X Cunningham, Arctwol. Rep., Vol. XIV, p. 9, PI. VII. 

 § Cunningham, ibid., Vol. V, pp 72, 190. 

 P 



