Editing Architecture of India (section)

== Foreign Influence on Indian Architecture ==

=== Hellenistic influence ===
{{See also | Hellenistic influence on Indian art }}

The [[Greek conquests in India]] under [[Alexander the Great]] were limited in time (327–326 BCE) and in extent, but they had extensive long term effects as Greeks settled for centuries at the doorstep of India. After these events, the Greeks (described as [[Yona]] or [[Yavana]] in Indian sources from the Greek "[[Ionians|Ionian]]") were able to maintain a structured presence at the door of India for about three centuries, through the [[Seleucid Empire]] and the [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom]], down to the time of the [[Indo-Greek kingdoms]], which ended sometimes in the 1st century CE.

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| image1 = Pataliputra capital, Bihar Museum, Patna, 3rd century BCE.jpg
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During that time, the city of [[Ai-Khanoum]], capital of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the cities of [[Sirkap]], were founded in what is now Pakistan on the Greek [[Hippodamian]] grid plan, and [[Sagala]], now located in Pakistan 10&nbsp;km from the border with India, interacted heavily with the Indian subcontinent. It is considered that Ai-Khanoum and Sirkap may have been primary actors in transmitting Western artistic influence to India, for example in the creation of the quasi-Ionic [[Pataliputra capital]] or the floral friezes of the [[Pillars of Ashoka]]. Numerous Greek ambassadors, such as [[Megasthenes]], [[Deimachus]] and [[Dionysius (ambassador)|Dionysius]], stayed at the Mauryan court in Pataliputra.

During the Maurya period (c. 321–185 BCE), and especially during the time of Emperor [[Ashoka]] (c.268–232 BCE), Hellenistic influence seems to have played a role in the establishment of Indian monumental stone architecture. Excavations in the ancient palace of [[Pataliputra]] have brought to light Hellenistic sculptural works, and Hellenistic influence appear in the [[Pillars of Ashoka]] at about the same period.

During that period, several instance of artistic influence are known, particular in the area of monumental stone sculpture and statuary, an area with no known precedents in India. The main period of stone architectural creation seems to correspond to the period of Ashoka's reign. Before that, Indians had a tradition of wooden architecture, remains of wooden palisades were discovered at archaeological sites in [[Pataliputra]], confirmed the Classical accounts.

The first examples of stone architecture were also found in the palace compound of Pataliputra, with the distinctly Hellenistic [[Pataliputra capital]] and a pillared hall using polished-stone columns. The other remarkable example of monumental stone architecture is that of the [[Pillars of Ashoka]], themselves displaying Hellenistic influence. There is also very early stone architecture in the palace at [[Kosambi]], including true arches used in the underground chambers, from the last phase of the palace in the 1st or 2nd century CE.<ref>Gosh, A. (1964). ''Indian Archaeology: A review 1961-62'', New Delhi, Archaeological survey of India, pp. 50–52, [https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/nmma_doc/Indian%20Archaeology%20Review/Indian%20Archaeology%201961-62%20A%20Review.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417031955/http://nmma.nic.in/nmma/nmma_doc/Indian%20Archaeology%20Review/Indian%20Archaeology%201961-62%20A%20Review.pdf |date=17 April 2021 }}; Harle, 43</ref>

==== Pataliputra capital ====
The [[Pataliputra capital]] is a monumental rectangular [[Capital (architecture)|capital]] with [[volute]]s and [[Classical Greece|Classical]] designs, that was discovered in the palace ruins of the ancient [[Mauryan Empire]] capital city of [[Pataliputra]] (modern [[Patna]], northeastern India). It is dated to the 3rd century BCE. It is, together with the [[Pillars of Ashoka]] one of the first known examples of Indian stone architecture, as no Indian stone monuments or sculptures are known from before that period. It is also one of the first archaeological clues suggesting Hellenistic influence on the arts of India, in this case sculptural palatial art.

==== Pillars of Ashoka ====
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| caption1 = [[Pillars of Ashoka|Ashokan Pillar]] in [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vaishali]]
| image2 = Naxos Sphinx with humans for size.jpg
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| caption2 = [[Sphinx of Naxos]] at [[Delphi]]
}}The [[Pillars of Ashoka]] were built during the reign of the [[Maurya Empire]] [[Ashoka]] c. 250 BCE. They were new attempts at mastering stone architecture, as no Indian stone monuments or sculptures are known from before that period.

There are altogether seven remaining capitals, five with lions, one with an elephant and one with a [[zebu]] bull. One of them, the four lions of [[Sarnath]], has become the [[State Emblem of India]].

The animal capitals are composed of a [[Nelumbo nucifera|lotiform]] base, with an [[Abacus (architecture)|abacus]] decorated with floral, symbolic or animal designs, topped by the realistic depiction of an animal, thought to each represent a traditional direction in India. Greek columns of the 6th century BCE such as the [[Sphinx of Naxos]], a {{convert|12.5|m|adj=on}} Ionic column crowned by a sitting animal in the religious centre of [[Delphi]], may have been an inspiration for the pillars of Ashoka.

===== Flame palmette =====
The [[flame palmette]], central decorative element of the Pataliputra pillar is considered as a purely Greek motif. The first appearance of "flame palmettes" goes back to the stand-alone floral [[Acroterion|akroteria]] of the [[Parthenon]] (447–432 BCE), and slightly later at the [[Temple of Athena Nike]].

Flame palmettes were then introduced into friezes of floral motifs in replacement of the regular palmette. Flame palmettes are used extensively in India floral friezes, starting with the floral friezes on the capitals of the pillar of Ashoka, and they are likely to have originated with Greek or Near Eastern art. A monumental flame palmette can be seen on the top of the [[Sunga]] gateway at [[Bharhut]].

=== Persian influence ===

==== Achaemenid influence ====
{{See also|Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley}}{{multiple image
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| image1 = Colonne persepolis muze iran bastan teheran.jpg
| caption1 = Achaemenid capital in Persepolis
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| image2 = Achaemenid_capital_Persepolis.jpg
| caption2 = Highly polished [[Persian columns|Achaemenid load-bearing column]], [[Persepolis]]
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| footer = [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] influence like stone polishing and dual-headed capital from conquest by Persians and Greeks
| image3 = Sculptures near Teli Mandir, Gwalior Fort.jpg
| caption3 = Lion capital in Vardhana
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| caption4 = [[Lion Capital of Ashoka]] from [[Sarnath]]
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[[Lion Capital of Ashoka]] from [[Sarnath]].The [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] conquered and governed the territories of the North-western regions of the [[Indian subcontinent]], from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE. The conquest occurred in two phases. The first invasion was conducted around 535 BCE by [[Cyrus the Great]], who founded the Achaemenid Empire.{{sfn|Sen|1999|pages=116–117}} Cyrus annexed the regions west of the [[Indus River]], which formed the eastern border of his empire. Following the death of Cyrus, [[Darius the Great]] established his dynasty and began to reconquer former provinces and further expand the extent of the empire. Around 518 BCE Darius crossed the Himalayas into India to initiate a second period of conquest by annexing regions up to the [[Jhelum River]] in [[Punjab]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=André-Salvini|first=Béatrice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC|title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia|date=2005|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24731-4|language=en}}</ref> Each invasion brought in new style and soon started to influence the art and architectural styles in India.

Various Indian artefacts tend to suggest some Perso-Hellenistic artistic influence in India, mainly felt during the time of the [[Mauryan Empire]].{{sfn|Sen|1999|pages=116–117}}

The [[Pataliputra]] palace with its pillared hall shows decorative influences of the Achaemenid palaces and Persepolis and may have used the help of foreign craftsmen.<ref>[http://jsr.usb.ac.ir/article_1659_265.html The Analysis of Indian Muria Empire affected from Achaemenid's architecture art] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144452/http://jsr.usb.ac.ir/article_1659_265.html|date=2 April 2015}}. In: Journal of Subcontinent Researches. Article 8, Volume 6, Issue 19, Summer 2014, Page 149-174.</ref>{{sfn|Sen|1999|pages=116–117}} Mauryan rulers may have even imported craftsmen from abroad to build royal monuments.<ref>{{cite book|title=Monuments, Power and Poverty in India: From Ashoka to the Raj|author1=A. S. Bhalla|author2=I.B. Tauris|date=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=emATBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |page= 18|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9781784530877}}</ref> This may be the result of the formative influence of craftsmen employed from Persia following the disintegration of the Achaemenid Empire after the conquests of Alexander the Great.<ref name="auto1">"The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c.6500 BCE-200 CE" Robin Coningham, Ruth Young Cambridge University Press, 31 aout 2015, p.414 [https://books.google.com/books?id=hB5TCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA414]</ref><ref>[[iarchive:reportonexcavat01waddgoog|Report on the excavations at Pātaliputra (Patna); the Palibothra of the Greeks by Waddell, L. A. (Laurence Austine)]]</ref>

The renowned [[Mauryan polish]], especially used in the [[Pillars of Ashoka]], may also have been a technique imported from the Achaemenid Empire.{{sfn|Sen|1999|pages=116–117}}

==== Rock cut architecture ====
The similarity of the 4th century BCE [[Lycia]]n barrel-vaulted tombs, such as the [[tomb of Payava]], in the western part of the Achaemenid Empire, with the Indian architectural design of the [[Chaitya]] (starting at least a century later from circa 250 BCE, with the [[Lomas Rishi]] caves in the [[Barabar caves|Barabar caves group]]), suggests that the designs of the Lycian rock-cut tombs travelled to India along the trade routes across the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="GHA">{{cite book|last1=Ching|first1=Francis D.K|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPqKDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT707|title=A Global History of Architecture|last2=Jarzombek|first2=Mark M.|last3=Prakash|first3=Vikramaditya|date=2017|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781118981603|page=707|language=en|author-link1=Frank Ching|author-link2=Mark Jarzombek}}</ref><ref name="HI" />

Early on, [[James Fergusson (architect)|James Fergusson]], in his ''" Illustrated Handbook of Architecture"'', while describing the very progressive evolution from wooden architecture to stone architecture in various ancient civilizations, has commented that "In India, the form and construction of the older Buddhist temples resemble so singularly these examples in Lycia".<ref name="IHA">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JNbMexY8iWcC|title=The Illustrated Handbook of Architecture Being a Concise and Popular Account of the Different Styles of Architecture Prevailing in All Ages and All Countries by James Fergusson|date=1859|publisher=J. Murray|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JNbMexY8iWcC/page/n274 212]|language=en}}</ref> The structural similarities, down to many architectural details, with the [[Chaitya]]-type Indian Buddhist temple designs, such as the "same pointed form of roof, with a ridge", are further developed in ''The cave temples of India''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fergusson|first1=James|url=https://archive.org/details/cavetemplesofind00ferguoft|title=The cave temples of India|last2=Burgess|first2=James|date=1880|publisher=London : Allen|page=[https://archive.org/details/cavetemplesofind00ferguoft/page/120 120]}}</ref> The Lycian tombs, dated to the 4th century BCE, are either free-standing or rock-cut barrel-vaulted sarcophagi, placed on a high base, with architectural features carved in stone to imitate wooden structures. There are [[:File:Lycian rock-cut tombs.jpg|numerous rock-cut equivalents]] to the free-standing structures and decorated with reliefs.<ref>M. Caygill, The British Museum A-Z companion (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)</ref><ref>E. Slatter, Xanthus: travels and discovery (London, Rubicon Press, 1994)</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=A. H. (Arthur Hamilton)|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueofsculp02britiala|title=A catalogue of sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman antiquities, British museum|date=1892–1904|publisher=London : Printed by order of the Trustees|pages=[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofsculp02britiala/page/46 46]–64}}</ref>  Fergusson went on to suggest an "Indian connection", and some form of cultural transfer across the [[Achaemenid Empire]].<ref name="HI">{{cite book|last1=Fergusson|first1=James|url=https://archive.org/details/anhistoricalinq00ferggoog|title=An historical inquiry into the true principles of beauty in art, more especially with reference to architecture|date=1849|publisher=London, Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans|pages=[https://archive.org/details/anhistoricalinq00ferggoog/page/n349 316]–320}}</ref> The ancient transfer of Lycian designs for rock-cut monuments to India is considered as "quite probable".<ref name="GHA"/>

===== Masarh Lion =====
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| image3 = Lion of Menecrates at the Corfu Museum.jpg
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The sculpture of the [[Masarh lion]], found near the Maurya capital of [[Pataliputra]], raises the question of the Achaemenid and Greek influence on the art of the [[Mauryan art|Maurya Empire]], and on the western origins of stone carving in India. The lion is carved in [[Chunar stone|Chunar sandstone]], like the [[Pillars of Ashoka]], and its finish is polished, a feature of the [[Mauryan art|Maurya sculpture]].<ref name="Gupta 88">Page 88: "There is one fragmentary lion head from Masarh, Distt. Bhojpur, Bihar. It is carved out of Chunar sandstone and it also bears the typical Mauryan polish. But it is undoubtedly based on the Achaemenian idiom. The tubular or wick-like whiskers and highly decorated neck with long locks of the mane with one series arranged like sea waves is somewhat non-Indian in approach. But, to be exact, we have an example of a lion from a sculptural frieze from Persepolis of 5th century BCE in which it is overpowering a bull which may be compared with the Masarh lion."...&nbsp;Page 122: "This particular example of a foreign model gets added support from the male heads of foreigners from Patna city and Sarnath since they also prove beyond doubt that a section of the elite in the Gangetic Basin was of foreign origin. However, as noted earlier, this is an example of the late Mauryan period since this is not the type adopted in any Ashoka pillar. We are, therefore, visualizing a historical situation in India in which the West Asian influence on Indian art was felt more in the late Mauryan than in the early Mauryan period. The term West Asia in this context stands for Iran and Afghanistan, where the Sakas and Pahlavas had their basecamps for eastward movement. The prelude to future inroads of the Indo-Bactrians in India had after all started in the second century B.C."...&nbsp;in {{cite book|last1=Gupta|first1=Swarajya Prakash|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lDqAAAAMAAJ|title=The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan|year=1980|publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation|isbn=978-0-391-02172-3|pages=88, 122|language=en|author-link=Swaraj Prakash Gupta}}. Also {{cite journal|last1=Kumar|first1=Vinay (Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Faculty Member)|date=2015|title=West Asian Influence on Lion Motifs in Mauryan Art|url=https://www.academia.edu/10709971|journal=Heritage and Us|language=en|issue=4|page=14|access-date=16 August 2021|archive-date=14 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414181022/https://www.academia.edu/10709971|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Swaraj Prakash Gupta|S.P. Gupta]], the sculptural style is unquestionably [[Achaemenid art|Achaemenid]].<ref name="Gupta 88" /> This is particularly the case for the well-ordered tubular representation of whiskers ([[vibrissa]]s) and the geometrical representation of inflated veins flush with the entire face.<ref name="Gupta 88" /> The mane, on the other hand, with tufts of hair represented in wavelets, is rather naturalistic.<ref name="Gupta 88" /> Very similar examples are however known in Greece and [[Persepolis]].<ref name="Gupta 88" /> It is possible that this sculpture was made by an Achaemenid or Greek sculptor in India and either remained without effect, or was the Indian imitation of a Greek or Achaemenid model, somewhere between the fifth century BCE and the first century BCE, although it is generally dated from the time of the [[Maurya Empire]], around the 3rd century BCE.<ref name="Gupta 88" />