. Indo-Aryans: contributions towards the elucidation of their ancient and mediaeval history. ildings of the time of Asoka, and ofhis successors for two centuries. Under any circumstance theresemblances are by no means so close as to justify the sup-position that the Indian specimens are the handi-work of trans-Indian architects, entirely unaffected by other and indigenousinfluence ; for it would be absurd to suppose that the Assyriansin India erected edifices altogether after wooden models, whilein their own country the public buildings were, to a largeextent, of stone. If it be assumed that t
. Indo-Aryans: contributions towards the elucidation of their ancient and mediaeval history. ildings of the time of Asoka, and ofhis successors for two centuries. Under any circumstance theresemblances are by no means so close as to justify the sup-position that the Indian specimens are the handi-work of trans-Indian architects, entirely unaffected by other and indigenousinfluence ; for it would be absurd to suppose that the Assyriansin India erected edifices altogether after wooden models, whilein their own country the public buildings were, to a largeextent, of stone. If it be assumed that the architects werenatives, who had learnt the principles of their art chiefly fromAssyria, or Persia, or from a common source, it would be equal-ly strange that they should have perpetuated the constructionof wooden models in India for centuries after they had seenbetter and more artistic designs with their tutors. A careful survey of these facts leads me to the inevitableconclusion that quarriers, masons, and sculptors existed in the * History of Architecture, I. 155, woodcut 60. [ r; ]. Fig. 8. Stronghold from Sanchi. country long before the periods fixed by the learned authorof the History of Architecture, and by Mrs. Manning res-pectively, and that there likewise existed stone and brick edi-fices of some kind or other, and which, to judge from existingremains, were unlike any Greek, Egyptian, or Ass}rian build-ing that I am acquainted with. For ought I know, there mayhave been a time when the Indians copied from the Assyrians,but it was at such a remote period in history that nothingprecise can be said about it. It is to be regretted that specimens of architecture olderthan the date of Asoka are exceedingly rare ; but they arenot altogether wanting. I have elsewhere shown* that thecaves of Udayagiri date from the time of the Nandas, or be-fore the time of Alexanders invasion, and General Cunning-ham, than whom few can speak more authoritatively on thesubject, assigned the B
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectindiahi, bookyear1881
