Short notes on Art and Architecture of Mauryan Economy

A.K. Coomaraswamy, the famous art historian and critic, has divided Mauryan art into two types: (i) official or court art (ii) indigenous art.

Examples of indigenous art include two free standing stone images. One is the yaksha image from Parkham and the other, a yakshi sculpture from Besnagar. A good example of this style is the large image of a female chauri bearer from Patna. Another specimen is a yaksha image only the upper part of which has survived.

The dimensions of the torso indicate that the original must have been over twelve feet in height. All these specimens show that the indigenous school of art was well developed. The patrons of popular art were probably the local governors and the more-well-to-do citizens.

Official art in Asokan times is represented by the monolithic pillars on which the king’s edicts were engraved. These pillars symbolise the highly devel­oped technique in the cutting and polishing of the surface of stone.

The capitals of these pillars were realistically modelled, and consist of groups of animals. One of the finest examples is the Sarnath capital. It consists of four lions which originally supported a dharmachakra.

The lions rest on an abacus bearing in relief an elephant, a horse, a bull and a lion separated by four small dharmachakras.

A remarkable animal figure of the Mauryan period is the elephant at Dhauli. It shows an elephant emerging from the rock and was probably made to draw attention to the inscription nearby.

The Mauryan inscriptions, including those on pillars, are made of accurate and careful carving. A perfect example is the brief record engraved on the Rummindei pillar.

The Lauriya-Nandangarh pillar is considered the most graceful of Asokan pillars because of the dimensions of its shaft, which is 32 feet 9’/2 inches high, 22Vi inches wide at the top and broadening at the base to a diameter of 35’/2 inches.

Some historians have suggested that notable pillars probably mark the stages of Asoka’s pilgrim­age, especially those in Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts, Rampurva, Lauriya Araraj, Lauriya- Nandangarh and Kolhua lying on the route from Bihar to the holy region of Buddhism near Nepal.

The shaft and capital of the pillars were joined by a copper bolt fitting into the tenons without any cement or binding material. A bolt made of copper, found at Rampurva, is barrel-shaped and has a length of over two feet. It is an excellent sample of the development of the coppersmith’s art.

The Graeco-Persian inflict is visible on Mauryan art with the introduction of stone as a medium for large- scale construction. Like the huge hall in the Pataliputra royal palace, the pillars also show Achaemenind influence.

Though it was inspired by foreign models, scholars believe that Mauryan art is different and, in some respects, superior. Unlike the Persepolitan pillars, the Asokan pillars are monoliths of enormous size.

The heaviest pillar weighs about fifty tons and the quarrying, sculpting and engraving, transport and erection of such huge masses is evidence of the superior skills of the stone cutters and engineers of Asoka’s time.

The artists probably had considerable freedom as there are differences in detail among the capitals of the pillars. The abacus is circular or rectangular, depending on the sculpture it bears.

The Mauryan pillars were made of two types of stones spotted red and white sandstone from the region around Mathura and the buff coloured Chunar sandstone obtained from the region around Varanasi.

Several caves were excavated by the Mauryas in the Barabar hills in Bihar, for the Ajivika sect. There are four caves on the Barabar hill and three on the Nagarjuni hill nearby. These form the earliest known examples of the rock-cut sanctuaries.

These caves are polished like glass on the inside. The caves, excavated in hard rock, imitate contemporary wood­en structures to a large extent. One example is the entrance to the Lomash Rishi cave in Barabar, carved in complete imitation of wooden forms.

A large number of fragmentary sculptures belonging to the Mauryan period have been recov­ered. Most of them include heads, which are pre­sumably parts of donor figures. Their specialty is the range of head-dress depicted and the individu­ality of expression.

Most of them are made of polished, buff sandstone. Groups of terracotta images have been discovered at several Mauryan sites. Most of them are usually made from moulds and depict a standing female divinity with an intricate coiffure.

This figure has been identified as a mother-goddess, associated with fertility. Terracotta toys were also made and included wheeled animals, the most common being the elephant. Terracotta’s found at Taxila include primitive idols, votive reliefs with deities, toys, dice, ornaments and beads.

For construction of houses and palaces, mud or mud bricks, bamboo, timber and thatch were the materials used.

The Greek writers have described the royal palace at Pataliputra as grander than the Achaemenid palaces at Susa and Ecbatana.

All towns were probably surrounded by high walls with battlements and a moat with water having lotuses and other aquatic plants, enclosed within a palisade. Fragments of the wooden ramparts of Pataliputra have been excavated at Bulandi Bagh near Patna and they attest to the magnificence of the building.

According to literary sources, Asoka constructed many structures throughout the empire and im­proved upon the palace of Pataliputra. In later times, Fa-hsien who visited India was full of praise for the palace.

It was probably destroyed by fire as indicated by the ashes found in the site of Kumrahar in the neighborhood of Bulandi Bagh. Probably, an im­portant structure within the palace enclosure was an immense pillared hall of three stories covering a square of 250 feet side.

The remains of this hall were discovered by Dr. Spooner. The hall had a wooden floor, and the pillars stood on wooden bases supporting a wooden superstructure. At the site, a layer of silts about eight feet thick shows that the hall was flooded before it burnt down.

Stupas-solid dome-like structures of rock or brick for preserving the relics of the Buddha-were constructed by Asoka.