Editing Architecture of India (section)

==== 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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| caption2 = Achaemenid lion
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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" />