Nature and Art, June 1, 1867.] 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF INDIA. 
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country. It was by similar means that Ceylon was 
converted. The word “ emancipated,” in the in- 
scription, means that the individual had attained 
to Nirvana, or final absorption into Buddha. This 
is the Buddhist idea of ultimate bliss, because it 
frees or emancipates them from the pains of birth 
and existence. 
It was the belief in re-birtli, and the desire to 
be emancipated from such liabilities, which led to 
asceticism and monasticism. The numbers who 
devoted themselves to a holy life seem to have 
been very large — “ the land glittered with the 
yellow robes,” such being the colour worn by the 
Buddhist monks. They had places to live in 
together, called “ Viharas,” of which no more 
than one or two fragments only are left in 
India. The most important remains of this kind 
of building are at Anuradkapoora, in Ceylon, and 
are called the Maha Lowa Paya, or “ Great Brazen 
Monastery.” It was covered with a roof of brass, 
and probably this was gilt. There are only a few 
upright granite pillars now standing, and upon them 
stood the Viliara, built in nine stoi'ies of a pyramidal 
form. Fergusson is inclined to the idea that this 
must have been the original style of building from 
which the architecture of southern India took its 
rise. To it, for instance, we may trace the high, 
many-storied temples in the form of a pyramid of 
which the gateway at Madura is a good example. 
This is confirmed by some of the sculptures on the 
gateways at the Bilsah Tope. (See Plate, fig 5.) 
It seems to represent an ordinary house of the 
time, and we may accept it as figuring the style of 
the domestic architecture of the period. Certainly 
no dwelling is built in India at the present day in 
the least resembling the one on that sculpture. But 
if any one will compare it with the details of the 
temples of southern India, a very great resemblance 
will be seen, particularly in the circular and oval 
form of the upper windows. This was evidently 
built of wood, and it is the type from which this 
peculiar form, so common in all southern archi- 
tecture, is likely to have had its origin. The whole 
of the house in the sculpture was evidently of wood ; 
under the windows, where the man and woman are 
looking out, is the Buddhist railing, which is the 
great feature of the period. This house — small 
fragment as it is of the building of that time — 
renders Mr. Fergusson’s conjecture highly probable, 
that the “ Great Brazen Monastery ” was erected in 
a similar style, and that the architecture of southern 
India is the descendant of this manner of building. 
There is only one other species of Buddhist 
architecture of which it will be necessary to take 
notice in this article — that is, the old Lats. They 
were, erected by Asoka, about the middle of the 
third century, b.c. Asoka had embraced the 
Buddhist faith, and he put up these pillars to 
contain the declaration of Buddhist faith, which 
is called “ Dliarma.” They are found in many 
places of India, but the best known are those in 
the fort at Allahabad, and in the Purana Keela at 
old Delhi, now called Feroze Shah’s Lat. They 
are tall, slender, round columns. The word lat 
means staff, which exactly describes these pillars. 
They were often surmounted by the figure of a lion. 
As the Tope led us back to the mound or cairn, 
these columns lead us also back to the primitive 
time when it was the custom to set up a stone, and 
write upon it all the words of the law. This was 
the practice in the time of Moses, and it can be 
traced through all the nations of antiquity. 
Mr. Buskin refuses to consider iron as one of the 
materials of architecture, but although inclined to 
agree with the principle, we must in the present case 
refuse to be guided by it, so that we may be able to 
include the celebrated iron lat at the Ivootub (the 
ancient Delhi) under the term architecture. Delhi 
(the word comes from dil, the heart) claims, like 
Delphi, to be the terrai umbilicus — the centre of 
the world, and it is believed by the people of India 
that this iron pillar is the spindle upon which the 
world revolves. It is a tall shaft, not less than 
twenty feet high, fixed into the ground ; it is sur- 
rounded by the remains of an old temple, said to 
be Hindoo; but the capital on the top of the lat 
clearly indicates that it is as old as the Buddhist 
period- — possibly even older ; and, if so, it becomes 
the oldest architectural fragment in India. The main 
point in this iron pillar is, that its claims are so 
similar to those of Delphi, Jerusalem, and Mecca, 
all of them being called the “ centre of the earth.” 
This is generally explained — at least, in the case of 
Jerusalem — -that it was very near the centre of the 
then known world ; but a more likely explanation 
would be, that they were all centres of a religious 
system — they were centres to turn to in prayer ; 
Jerusalem and Mecca are so to this day. By thus 
giving a religious and symbolical signification, we 
give a more reasonable character to the title which 
such places claim. 
In Ladalc, at the present day, the Buddhists, or 
Lamas, build Topes, and in the villages they seem 
often to be more numerous than the houses of the 
living. In the language of that country, they are 
called Chock-Tain and Dung-Tain, words which 
mean “ holy receptacle,” and “bone-holder.” (For 
the form of these erections see Plate, fig. 9.) They 
also build a very peculiar erection, called by them 
a “ Manie.” This is one of Buddha’s many names. 
It is in the form of a dyke ; in section it might be 
about ten feet square, the top being pointed like 
the roof of a house ; in length, they vary from a 
few feet to a quarter of a mile. The whole of the 
upper surface is covered with flat stones, upon 
which is inscribed the celebrated mystic Mantra, 
“ Aim Mani Padmi Hoong.” The Lamas engrave 
these stones, and pious people buy them, as an offer- 
ing to Buddha, and place them on these Manies. On 
the tops of hills, and particularly on the highest 
points of passes, they erect cairns of stones ; these 
they also call Manies. The stones are thrown 
together, just like the cairns on places where a 
murder or unusual death has taken place in Scot- 
land. Into these stones they insert pieces of wood, 
to which they attach small flags or banners, with 
prayers written upon them. They are also very 
fond of putting horns upon them ; some are quite 
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