In this volume an endeavour has been made to give a brief survey of Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad. Materials are, however, not yet quite sufficient to attempt a full and complete history of the building activities of the Hindus in India itself. Architecture, in ancient India, was understood in a comprehensive sense, and included sculpture and a variety of other arts. In the preliminary section of the Manasara the ancient authorities themselves discussed the allied subjects. In the Introductory chapter of this volume a short account is given of what was understood as fine arts. Many of the fine arts are intimately connected with architecture. Thus a full history of Hindu architecture will be incomplete without a complete survey of all the allied arts.
In this volume an endeavour has been made to give a brief survey of Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad. Materials are, however, not yet quite sufficient to attempt a full and complete history of the building activities of the Hindus in India itself. Architecture, in ancient India, was understood in a comprehensive sense, and included sculpture and a variety of other arts. In the preliminary section of the Manasara the ancient authorities themselves discussed the allied subjects. In the Introductory chapter of this volume a short account is given of what was understood as fine arts. Many of the fine arts are intimately connected with architecture. Thus a full history of Hindu architecture will be incomplete without a complete survey of all the allied arts. Besides, Hindu architecture was cultivated with success not only in its homeland and in its neighbouring countries, but also in far off colonies and apparently disconnected and distant countries. It has been now admitted by competent authorities that the Maya civilization of Central America spread from India, the motherland of the Maya clans, who, in the times of the great Epics, were known as Danavas or opponents of Aryan invaders of India. Great explorers like Sir Aurel Stein have unearthed various Hindu monuments over an extensive area in Central Asia, which has been significantly designated as Serindia in order to keep its home connection with India alive, especially in the matter of architecture, both Buddhist and Hindu. Numerous savants, especially French and Dutch scholars, have published particulars, with minute details, of Hindu and Buddhist monuments of colossal character in numerous island countries of the Indian Ocean and the inlands connected therewith. This extensive area, also, has been significantly designated as Insulindia for the same purpose of keeping fresh in the memory its home connection with India. In the homeland itself the astonishing archaeological survey of General Sir A. Cunningham opened out an endless store of architectural materials of the Buddhist and later periods. The wonderful discoveries, at first of Mr. R. D. Banerji and, later, of Sir John Marshall and his colleagues, made especially at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, have brought out an unexpected netherland, with its awe inspiring cities and monuments which are stated to point to an Indian architecture of the pre-Vedic age, beyond 3000 B. C. These undreamed of discoveries have rendered quite stale the vigorous and learned controversy between Raja Rajendralal Mitra and James Fergusson regarding the architectural achievements of Vedic Indians, more specifically the question if the Indians of 2000 to 1000 B. C. know the manufacture and use of burnt bricks. Convincing references are, however, available not only to burnt bricks and carved stones, but also to the storeyed mansions with a hundred doors and a thousand pillars which are described in the Vedic literature, and subsequently, elaborated in the Buddhist scriptures and the Hindu Epics, Puranas, Agamas and numerous other branches of Sanskrit literature. One of the fortunate results of this controversy has been, however, the publication of valuable books, especially of Fergusson's History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, containing life-like references to our architectural monuments of Buddhist and later periods. His noble example has been followed with greater zeal and clearer understanding by genuine friends of Indian culture like the late lamented E. B. Havell, Vincent A. Smith and several others whose sacred memory deserves our respect, but who are too numerous to be quoted here. All these savants, however, had to restrict their researches to the trodden paths, which they enormously cleared, though they could explore no new avenue. Thus the period between 3000 B. C. and 500 B.C remained practically unrepresented, so far as archaeological remains are concerned. This gap could only be filled by those vivid descriptions which can be gathered together from literature. The reality of non-technical literary and casual references has, however, been reasonably substantiated by the publication of the Manasara series. The treatises on Silpa-sastra were till very recently known only from casual references. The stores of manuscripts on the subject of architecture and other arts were practically closed for a long time. The publication of the Manasara, the leading and standard work on the subject, has made it possible to fill to a certain extent the gaps left vacant by the explorers, archaeologists, and historians.
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