Editing Architecture of India (section)

=== 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]]
| header = Achaemenid Derivatives
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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
| image4 = Sarnath capital.jpg
| 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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| image1 = Masarh lion sculpture.jpg
| caption1 = Masarh lion sculpture
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| image2 = Lion-shaped weight-Sb 2718-P5280901-gradient.jpg
| caption2 = Achaemenid lion
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| image3 = Lion of Menecrates at the Corfu Museum.jpg
| caption3 = Lion of Menecrates, Greece
| header = Perso-Hellenistic influence
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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" />