Buddhist Architecture in India

GS Art and Culture | Buddhist Architecture | UPSC Prep

Buddhist Architecture in India

The Buddhist architecture is related to different aspects of Buddha's life, symbols representing Buddha and tales and stories associated with him. Ashoka the Mauryan King was the greatest patron of Buddist architecture. During his reign, several stupas and mounds of bricks commemorative of the Buddha were constructed. The three key element of Buddhist architecture is Stupa, Chaityas, and Viharas. However, Under Mauryan rule, several pillars were also constructed to commemorate Buddha.

Types of Buddhist architecture

The distinctive structures and sculptures have been associated with early Buddhist religious architecture such as

• Stupas,
• Viharas (Monasteries) and
• Chaityas (Prayer halls), which later came to be called temples in some places.
• Stambhas (Pillars)

The details of these structures are discussed below

Stupas

The Stupas holds the most important place among all the earliest Buddhist architecture. They offer the earliest sculptural representations of important episodes in the Buddha s life and of the Jataka stories. A Stupa is a dome-shaped sacred burial mound of brick which was used to house Buddha's relics or to commemorate significant facts and events related to Buddhism.

The earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates back to the late 4th century BCE. In India, Sanchi, Sarnath, Amaravati and Bharhut are among the oldest known stupas.

Characteristics of Stupas

Initially, mounds of Earth are taken to form the core of the stupa. In due course of time, the earthen mound is encased in bricks. The brick encasing is sometimes superimposed by a cover of stones.

• Stupas are usually built on a foundation laid with blocks of stone or bricks. On this foundation, a hemispherical dome (anda) was raised.
• In later years, the drum of the stupa became more elongated and elevated. Almost it took the form of a cylindrical vessel.
• On the truncated top of the hemisphere, a harmika is placed, surrounded by a railing.
• The stupa is enclosed by a vedika. At Barhut, Sanchi and Amaravati the vedika consisted of upright pillars with three transverse bars known as the suchi. The railing is provided with four gateways.
• A path of circumambulation (Pradakshinapath) runs around the stupa at the ground level within the railing.
• Toranas were ceremonial gateways around the stupas.

The Great Stupa (Sanchi)

• The Great Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh is one of the oldest structures in India.
• It is built of large burnt bricks and mud mortar.
• The stupa was built by Ashoka and was damaged during the break-up of the Maurya Empire. In the 2nd century B.C., during the rule of the Shungas, it was completely reconstructed.
• The Great stupa has a large hemispherical dome which is flat at the top and crowned by a triple umbrella or Chattra on a pedestal surrounded by a square railing.
• Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha.
• Stupa at Sanchi has upper as well as lower Pradakshinapath or circumambulatory path. It has four beautifully decorated toranasdepicting various events from the life of the Buddha and the Jatakas.

Dhamek Stupa (Sarnath)

• The Dhamek Stupa at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh is believed to have been built by Ashoka and later rebuilt in the Gupta period to commemorate the Buddha's activities in this location.
• This stupa contains the relics of Buddha and is, therefore, an important place of Buddhist pilgrimage.
• The Dhamek Stupa is said to mark the spot where the Buddha gave the first sermon to his first five Brahmin disciples after attaining enlightenment, "revealing his Eightfold Path leading to nirvana".
• In its current shape, the stupa is a solid cylinder of bricks and stone.
• The stone base ment has eight projecting faces with niches in them. Delicately carved with beautiful floral and geo metrical patterns, it is believed to have been put up in the Gupta period.

Bharhut Stupa

• The Bharhut stupa may have been built originally by Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, but many works of art, particularly the gateway and railings, were apparently added during the Shunga period in the 2nd century BCE.
• It has been largely destroyed, and most of the existing remains railings and entrance gateways are now in the Indian Museum in Kolkata.
• The central stupa was surrounded by a stone railing and four Torana gates, in an arrangement similar to that of Sanchi.
• The railings of the stupa are carved and have numerous images of the yakshas and yakshinis on it.
• The pillars at Bharhut also depict various Jataka stories associated with Buddha s life.

Amaravati Stupa

• The Amaravati stupa was the largest in the Andhra region and is referred to in ancient inscriptions as a Mahachaitya.
• It is a ruined Buddhist monument, probably built in phases between the 3rd century BCE and about 250 CE, at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh
• The stupa at Amaravati was initially encased in bricks and later on covered by carved limestone slabs. The railing and the gateways were built around the principal structure in due course of time as in the case of Sanchi.
• The dome, railings and gateways of the Amaravati stupa were profusely ornamented with beautiful relief carvings.

Rock cut architecture

Rock-cut architecture occupies a significant place in the history of Indian architecture. Earliest known examples of rock-cut architecture belong to Buddhism. Numerous caves were excavated by the Buddhist monks for prayer and residence purposes.

The caves were cut out of solid rocks and were in two parts, one called the hall of worship or chaitya and the other the monastery or vihara. The Jain and Buddhist monks lived in these caves and meditated. About 1200 Jain and Buddhist cave structures have been found in India. The most famous among them are at Ajanta, Ellora, Nasik and Karle etc.

The Barabar caves in Bihar, built in the third century BCE and credited to Emperor Ashoka, are the oldest example of rock-cut architecture. Many Buddhist caves of the subsequent periods were excavated in eastern and western India.

Chaityas (Prayer Hall)

A chaitya is a Buddhist shrine or prayer hall with a stupa at one end for congregational worship by the monks. The chaitya is entered from one end, and at the other end, a small stupa is situated. Chaityas were commonly part of a monastic complex, the vihara.

Structures like Chaitya were common in Jainism and Hinduism as well. However, many early examples of chaitya that survive in India belong to Buddhist rock-cut architecture.

These early chaityas are apsidal in the plan. At the centre of the apse was a rock stupa or a large figure of Buddha, sitting or standing. The later Buddhist temples at Buddhagaya (Bodhgaya), Nalanda, Ellora, Ajanta, Kuda, Shelarwadi, Karad etc., consist of a square or oblong ground plan. To provide sufficient light for the interior of the cave a chaitya window was pierced in the facade. In due course of time, the chaitya window had become an ornament to the facade.

Some of the most beautiful Chaitya caves are those at Ajanta, Ellora, Bhaja, Karle, Bagh, Nasik and Kanheri etc.

Viharas (Monasteries)

Viharas or monasteries were dwelling place for Buddhist monks. The term is also found in Ajivika, Hindu and Jain monastic literature, usually referring to a temporary refuge for wandering monks during the rainy season. These monastic buildings carved out of rocks or built of bricks were self-contained units and had a Chaitya hall attached to it with a stupa - the chief object of worship.

Viharas were constructed with brick or excavated from rocks. Usually built to a set plan, they have a hall meant for congregational prayer with an open courtyard surrounded by a row of cells and a pillared verandah in front. The hall has one or more entrances. The cells served as dwelling places for the monks. Each cell had a door and one or two stone platforms to serve as beds.

The use of images and paintings in these monasteries produces rich iconography not only architecturally, but artistically as well.

Some of the important Buddhist viharas are those at Ajanta, Ellora, Nasik, Karle, Kanheri, Bagh and Badami. Twenty-five of the rock-cut caves of Ajanta is the finest of monasteries. The viharas of Ellora are of one, two, and three stories and are the largest of the type. They contain sculptured figures and belong to both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism.

Stambhas (Pillars)

The tradition of constructing pillars is very old in India. A large number of stone pillars were erected during the Mauryan empire with inscriptions engraved on them. The Mauryan pillars are rock-cut pillars thus displaying the carver s skills. The top portion of the pillar was carved with capital figures like the bull, the lion, the elephant, etc. Some of the existing pillars with capital figures were found at Basarah Bakhira, Lauriya-Nandangarh, Rampurva, Sankisa and Sarnath.

The Mauryan pillar capital found at Sarnath popularly known as the Lion Capital is the finest example of Mauryan sculptural tradition. It is also our national emblem. It is carved with considerable care voluminous roaring lion figures firmly standing on a circular abacus which is carved with the figures of a horse, a bull, a lion and an elephant in vigorous movement, executed with precision, showing considerable mastery in the sculptural techniques.

This pillar capital symbolizes Dhammachakrapravartana (the first sermon by the Buddha) and it has become a standard symbol of this great historical event in the life of the Buddha.

Brick Structures

While early Buddhist structures were constructed by carving rocks in the form of caves. Gupta period embarked a new chapter in the history of Indian architecture with the commencement of brickworks. Many Buddhist temples and monasteries were constructed across India, in Gupta period and post-Gupta era.

Mahabodhi temple

Mahabodhi Temple is an example of one of the oldest brick structures in eastern India. It is considered to be the finest example of Indian brickwork and was highly influential in the development of later architectural traditions.

Bodhgaya is a pilgrimage site since Siddhartha achieved enlightenment here and became Gautama Buddha. While the bodhi tree is of immense importance, the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya is an important reminder of the brickwork of that time. The Mahabodhi Temple is surrounded by stone ralling on all four sides. The design of the temple is unusual. It is, strictly speaking, neither Dravida nor Nagara. It is narrow like a Nagara temple, but it rises without curving, like a Dravida one.

Nalanda University

The monastic university of Nalanda is a mahavihara as it is a complex of several monasteries of various sizes. Till date, only a small portion of this ancient learning centre has been excavated as most of it lies buried under contemporary civilisation, making further excavations almost impossible.

Most of the information about Nalanda is based on the records of Xuan Zang which states that the foundation of a monastery was laid by Kumargupta I in the fifth century CE.

Related terms

Harmika - small Square fencing about the anda or semicircular dome of Stupa.

Vedika - Vedika is a stone- walled fence that surrounds a Buddhist stupa and symbolically separates the inner sacral from the surrounding secular sphere.

Torana - Carved, serpentine-shaped ceremonial Gateways

Yakshas/Yakshinis - Demi-gods and demi-goddesses