Buddhist architecture

Buddhist Architecture Prof.Abhijeet B. Shinde, Pravara Rural College of Architecture,Loni

BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE

Prof. Abhijeet B. Shinde, Pravara Rural College of Architecture, Loni From “A History of Indian Buddhism_From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana” by H Akira


Prof. Abhijeet B. Shinde, Pravara Rural College of Architecture, Loni

INTRODUCTION • In the 6th century BCE , two men,

Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha, or “enlightened one”) and Mahavira Jain, both from marginal clans, asserted the idea of an independent and individual journey to spiritual bliss, or nirvana, that contradicted not only the principles of warfare, but also the highly regimented Vedic rituals.

• The main difference between the two men was that while meditation-based practices were at the core of the Buddha’s teachings, Mahavira Jain insisted on a radical vegetarianism that including a prohibition on farming, since that inadvertently killed soil worms.



INTRODUCTION • Asoka (r. 272–231 BCE) adopted

Buddhism as state law and moral order • The difference between Asoka and his

predecessors was that he adapted Buddhist teachings into a new moral and social order for his empire that he called the dhamma.

• In essence Buddhism became a state religion.

• To promote his dhamma, which consisted of about thirty-three edicts, Asoka had them etched in stone tablets, on the side of prominent rocks, and inside cave sanctuaries, all in the vernacular language of his kingdom.

The Brahmi inscription on the pillar

Ashokan Pillars • He also carved them on the sides of

pillars, about twenty of which have survived.

• One such pillar, in Lauriya Nandangarh (in Bihar), made from a single piece of polished sandstone, rises 12 meters above the ground and extends 3 meters into the earth.

• Though it is surmounted by an ornate capital, it is the shaft with the inscribed edicts that is of primary significance.



Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunainasuneja/211826694/ (downloaded Sept. 2006)

Ashokan Pillars • The Ashokan pillars consist of a stylized

lotus base that supports an ornamental drum on which there are sculptures of animals ranging from the bull to the lion signifying royal authority.

• Most famous is the pillar found at Sarnath, the site of the Buddha’s first sermon, the lotus base and drum of which is topped by a capital of four lions.

• Surmounting all this, at least originally, was the Buddhist wheel of law, which has, in turn, been adopted as the symbol of the modern Indian nation.



The Lion Capital on the ground at Sarnath, before 1911, probably 1904-05

Ashoka • Asoka also memorialized the major

sites associated with the Buddha—in particular his birthplace (Lumbini), the site of his enlightenment (Bodh Gaya), the location of his first sermon (Sarnath), and the place of his death (Kushinagar).

• The Buddha was never represented as a human figure in Asoka’s time.

• Representations of the Buddha began to be made in the 1st century CE and have become important in the Buddhist tradition ever since.



Monolithic Pillars

Boldly Designed, Finely Proportioned &

conceptually well balance

Purpose Solely monumental as they were free standing pillars, not part of architectural composition

Broadly Divided in Two parts – 1. Shaft 2. Capital o Two Pipes joined together by copper bolt

accurately fitted into tenon made for it o Shaft is circular piece of Stone tapering

towards upperside(40-50ft long ) o Capital Placed on top of tapering shaft



Monolithic Pillars Capital further Divided in Three parts –

1. Inverted lotus or bell

2. Base pedestal

3. Animal with dhamma chakra

o Capital Design Symmetrical from all 4 directions



Barabar hill caves • Buddhist ascetics were

responsible for the oldest rock-cut caves in India, which date to the mid 3rd century BCE

• They are located in the Barabar Hills of Bihar, 20 miles north of Bodh Gaya.

• There are four caves, consisting of two chambers each: a rectangular hall followed by a round room with a hemispherical ceiling.



Plan, section, and interior: Lomas Rishi Cave

Barabar hill caves • One of them, the Lomas Rishi Cave, is

incomplete.

• This cave has deeply carved openings and a wooden roof outline with a finely etched elephant frieze centered on a stupa.

• Since this cave has no inscription, it probably dates to Asoka, though its exterior may well have been carved later.



External Elevation: Lomas Rishi Cave



INTRODUCTION • Late in the 2nd century BCE ,

Asoka’s Mauryan Empire began to disintegrate, resulting in the formation of a series of smaller kingdoms:

1. The Sunga in the west, 2. The Satavahanas to the south,

and in 3. The north the Shakas. • This transformation paralleled

an equally important transformation within Buddhism that had important implications in the field of architecture.



INTRODUCTION • As originally conceived, the Buddhist

monkhood was strictly mendicant. • Its members lived itinerantly in poverty

and survived by begging; they were not allowed to erect shrines, acquire property, or deify the Buddha. This form of Buddhism was subsequently referred to as Hinayana (or the “Lesser Vehicle”).

• In time, as Buddhism began to receive royal patronage and its practitioners became more diverse, a more monastic and populist form of Buddhism, known as Mahayana (or the “Greater Vehicle”) emerged that required the establishment of institutions where monks could live and study.

Stupa III

Great stupa

Temple 17

Temple 40

Global history of architecture

Plan Stupa complex at Sanchi



• The most important of the remaining Sunga period Buddhist complexes is Sanchi, which was founded by Asoka and flourished for thirteen centuries.

• The complex is located near the ancient town of Vidisa, along the fertile river valleys of the southern trade route (or dakshinapatha).

• It is located on a hill that rises sharply above the valley, making its three stupas distinctly visible from afar.

• The surrounding hills are also surmounted by stupas, all of which establish the area as a sacred landscape.

• Large groups of visiting monks came to Sanchi in processions.

STUPAS



STUPAS

• Stupas started out as reliquary mounds, or chaityas, which can denote any sacred place such as where a funeral pyre had occurred;

• They were usually marked off by a wooden railing. • Asoka had the Buddha’s bodily remains divided into eight parts and

distributed throughout his empire as relics, with their location marked by ceremonial mounds. (Stupa means “piled up.”)

• Built by the thousands and becoming the dominant symbol of Buddhism, stupas came to embody many meanings, some standing in for the body of the Buddha, others for his enlightenment, and yet others serving as a cosmic diagram.

• The fundamental elements of a stupa are present in the oldest of Sanchi’s stupas, the so-called Stupa II (ca. 100 BCE).

Stupa II at Sanchi

• Conceptually, a stupa is a cosmological diagram linking the body of the Buddha to the universe.

• The central mass consists of an earthen hemispherical mound faced with fired bricks, with a shallow berm (or medhi ) ringing its base.

• This round structure is then surrounded by a stone balustrade (or vedika) that replicates a construction out of wood.



STUPAS

Plan diagram: Stupa II at Sanchi

• Both the interior and exterior surface of the vedika are carved with shallow reliefs and medallions depicting scenes and events of Buddhist significance.

• The vedika has openings on four sides, aligned to the cardinal directions. • These are accessed not on axis, however, but at right angles, through bent

entrances, all of which open in a counterclockwise direction. • The cross axis of the cardinal directions, coupled with the directional

openings, form a space-time cosmological diagram, or mandala, in the form of a svastika (or “swastika”).

The idea of the stupa



• The directions represent space, and the bent entrances, replicating the movement of the stars, represent time.

• The purpose of the vedika is to give spatial definition to the ritual counterclockwise circumambulation of parikrama.

• A Buddhist monk, or a pilgrim, in performing the

• parikrama, engages in a haptic reenactment of the fundamental order of space and time, and in the process, brings his or her body into harmony with that larger order.

• In Buddhism, as in Hinduism, parikrama, along with the mandala and the svastika (totally unrelated to its Nazi appropriation), are still fundamental to architectural expression.

Global history of architecture Plan: Stupa complex at Sanchi



STUPAS • Stupa I is the largest stupa at Sanchi; • it is also known as the Mahastupa, or

the “Great Stupa.” • Begun by Asoka, it was enlarged to its

present diameter of 36 meters late in the Sunga period.

• It is a solid mass built up in the form of hundreds of stone rings that were surfaced with plaster and painted. (This outer surface has eroded away and has not been replaced.)

• The significance of the Mahastupa is highlighted by the rare presence of one of Asoka’s pillars at its southern entrance.

• The Mahastupa is essentially a magnification of Stupa II in plan, with the addition of another vedika around the inner medhi, which is also accessible by stairs on the south.

• This makes it possible to conduct a double parikrama around the stupa.

• At the top of the stupa is another vedika— the harmika—that is inaccessible and serves only symbolic purposes.

• In the middle of the harmika is a finial, with three stone discs of diminishing size, called chattris, balanced on a columnar support.

• The harmika and the chattris collectively denote the stupa’s vertical axis, echoing Asoka’s pillar and completing the cosmic connections of the stupa.



STUPAS

Stupas



• The other innovation at the Mahastupa are the monumental stone gateways called toranas.

• The toranas, imitating wooden construction, consist of two vertical pillars supporting three horizontal bars that are slightly bent at their center and that project well beyond the posts.

• The beams end in volutes that connote the sacred scrolls, the treasured objects of the Buddhist sanghas.

• Like the vedikas, the surface of the toranas are elaborately decorated, depicting Buddhist themes and events, completing the classic stupa as we know it.

• Sanchi enjoyed extensive patronage and grew into a large monastic complex of Buddhist learning and worship that included subsidiary structures where the monks lived.

• The Hindus also recognized this site as important, and one of the oldest Hindu stone temples—from the 4th century CE—is to be found there, close to the southern entrance of the Mahastupa.



Stupas

Stupas



• A relief on the northern torana of the Mahastupa depicts a large ceremonial procession, complete with musical instruments and offerings and led by elephants, on its way to the Mahastupa.

• One has to imagine Sanchi thus—not as a remote monastery populated by mendicant Buddhist monks totally disassociated from ordinary life, but as a bustling center of religious activity where the monks and their patrons enjoyed extensive contact and communication.

Stupas

• The Dhamekh Stupa and the Dharmarajika stupa at Sarnath are believed to have been built by Ashoka and later rebuilt in the Gupta period.

• These stupas contain the relics of Buddha and are therefore important places of Buddhist pilgrimage.

• Buddha gave his First Sermon in Sarnath and also founded the Sangha or Order of Monks here.



Stupas

• The original Dhamekh Stupa built with mud or brick is a cylindrical structure 43.5 m. high.

• The stone basement 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 thc Gupta period.



Rock Cut Caves Chaitya hall,



Rock Cut Caves Chaitya hall, Bhaje

• Constructed for residential purpose and meditation

• Interior walls have smooth surface

• Architecture and construction detailing are derivatives of timberand thatched construction hued out in stone



Rock Cut Caves Chaitya hall, Bhaje

• The caitya hall at Bhaja, Maharashtra (100–70BCE), besides being much larger than the rest, dissolves the distinction between the stupa chamber, with its parikrama path and antechamber. It fuses them into one large space while maintaining the distinctive presence of the parikrama path by creating a long, U-shaped colonnade that extends the entire length of the hall. The consequence is a simple and elegant building that has the effect of separating an independent three dimensional form from within the larger excavation. The hall’s presence is projected at the entrance in the form of a large opening with a horse shoe-shaped top, reflecting the vaulted ceiling of the hall. As is the case with all Buddhist rock-cut architecture, the caitya hall at Bhaja is carved out to faithfully imitate wood construction, complete with ribs, inward leaning columns, and traces of joinery. The exterior facade carved around the central opening consists of a number of miniaturized faux building facades, complete with carved human figures leaning over railings.



Rock Cut Caves - Chaitya hall, Karli



One of the largest and most impressive of the Buddhist chaityas was built in 120 CE at Karli, on the western Deccan Plateau. About 40m deep and 12 m wide,

Rock Cut Caves Chaitya hall, Karli



• the Karli cave is fronted by a recessed entrance of stone screens that has holes in it, indicating that originally, a larger wooden construction was added to complete the building.

• Just beyond the screen, on the left, is a large pillar carved from the same matrix as the rest of the cave.

• The central panel of the cave entrance is dominated by several panels of male female couples,




• The end wall of the entrance portico displays a stamped-out, repeated set of horseshoe-arched building motifs that sit a top a plinth composed of life-size elephants, as if they were supporting the weight of the superstructure

• (The entrance panels also contain bodhisattvas, but these were carved in the late 5th century CE, when the iconography was “modernized.”)

• Compared to earlier chaitya caves, the width of Karli’s central space is much more generous in relation to its height and depth.




• The pillars separating the central nave

from the aisles have a pot base, an

octagonal shaft, inverted lotus capital

with an abacus.

• The abacus has exquisitely carved pairs

of elephants kneeling down, each with a

couple in front and caparisoned horses

with riders on them.

• The stupa at the apse end is tall and

cylindrical with two tiers of railings

around the drum. It is crowned by the

original wooden chhatra.

Rock Cut Caves Chaitya hall,Karli



• The Karli stupa the focus of a hierarchical composition.

• The stupa itself is relatively simple in form.

• simple hemisphere sits atop a slightly tapered base, ornamented with carved vedikas.

• its chattri rises simply from a rectangular base, or harmika, which expands into mushrooming tiers of horizontal bands.

• then it suddenly projects into space on a high vertical stambha, upon which sits the final chattri, which becomes the focus of the entire composition.

• The chattri catches the light in the dark surroundings and there by appears as a horizontal flash in the vertical composition.

• (The chattri denotes the umbrella of the Buddhist ideal under which the monk finds shelter and faith.)

Ajanta Caves



• In 390 CE the Gupta king Vikramaditya arranged the marriage of his daughter Prabhavatigupta to Rudrasena II, the prince of the vassal state of Vakataka, through which went the dakshinapatha, the southern trade route.

• The Vakatakas’ gratitude for their status as guardians of the Dakshinapatha is recorded in their lavish patronage of Ajanta, the largest assemblage of Buddhist rock-cut chaityas (meditation chambers) and viharas (dormitories) found anywhere in South Asia.

• These caityas and viharas are collectively called caves even though they are not caves but rock-cut architecture.



• Ajanta was a kind of college monastery, affording accommodations for up to several hundred teachers and pupils.

• the Ajanta Caves have survived; even their paintings are relatively intact. Though somewhat difficult to access, being on dakshinapatha the caves effectively served the needs of both the Mahayana Buddhist monks and their students.

• As Mahayana practitioners, Ajanta’s monks were allowed and encouraged to create Buddha figures

Ajanta Caves



Ajanta Caves



Ajanta Caves

Plan: Cave complex at Ajanta, near Aurangabad, India The caves are numbered from east to west, not according to their age.



The Ajanta Caves are located along the sheer rock wall of a dramatic C-shaped chasm carved by the Waghora River. The Waghora, a mountain stream, forces its way into the valley and forms in its descent a series of waterfalls 60 meters high, which must certainly have been audible to the monks in the caves.

Ajanta Caves

The thirty-odd caves vary from 10 to 33 meters in elevation above the river. Their chaitya window, originally an imitation horseshoe-shaped wooden window, has now been transformed into an abstract representation of the Buddha, with a prominent topknot and elongated “ears” reminiscent of the ears of earlier statues of the Buddha.



• The columns are richly sculptured with floral and figural representations symbolic of the gardens where the Buddha preached and gained enlightenment.

• The column capitals and bases bulge like the folds of the corpulent Buddha.

Ajanta Caves

• The stupas are also richly ornamented, with Buddha statues attached directly to their surfaces, presaging the eclipse of the stupa as the primary representational element, particularly in China and Southeast Asia.



Ajanta Caves

• The oldest pre Vakatakachaityas(Caves No. 9 and 10,located almost in the middle) were relatively simple, with an apsidal colonnade marking the circumambulatory route around a largely Unadorned stupa at the end.

Section – cave no. 10

Plan – cave no. 10

Section – cave no. 09

Plan – cave no. 09



Ajanta Caves

Facade – cave no. 09



Ajanta Caves

Interior – cave no. 10



• CavesNos.19 (450CE) and 26 (490CE),from the reign of Harisena, take on Mahayana overtones.

• Both have an elaborate forecourt open to the sky, with side chambers hewn directly out of the rock.

• Unlike the great chaitya at Karli, whose entrance replicates a wooden assemblage of chaityas, these are covered by large and small Buddha figurines and stupas.

• No longer imitation-wood stage sets, they are symbolic entities in themselves.

Ajanta Caves

Facade, Cave 19, Ajanta

• Two figures of standing Buddha flank the entrance.

• The walls of the hall and the ceiling of the aisles is richly painted with figures of Buddha, floral motifs, animals and birds.

Cave 19, Ajanta



Ajanta Caves



• As Mahayana Buddhism became evermore popular, it developed a more elaborate liturgical practice that supported a richer artistic program.

• Evidence of this can be seen in Ajanta’s viharas, which served as the monks’ residences.

• Over time, the viharas at Ajanta changed from simple dwellings for the monks to full-fledged ceremonial spaces, but the basic form, a rectangular colonnaded hall preceded by a portico and surrounded by cells, persisted.

Ajanta Caves

Entrance to Cave No. 2 at Ajanta



• The Ajanta viharas have a broad veranda, the roof of which is supported by pillars that open into a central pillared hall averaging about 6 by10 meters.

• The cells open to this hall. The number of the cells vary according to the size and importance of the vihara.

• Some of the cells associated with particularly significant monks were transformed into shrines with their own votive Buddha statues (like at Caves Nos. 2, 6, and 17).

Ajanta Caves

Plan: Cave No. 2 at Ajanta



Ajanta Caves

Painting at Cave No. 2, Ajanta



• Structural expression is denied. Like the imitation-wood construction present in the older caityas, the essential symbolic message of the Ajanta viharas was to display the profound beauty of the life and world of the Buddha and, at the same time, underline its character as an illusion, or maya—a fundamental doctrine of Mahayana Buddhist practice on the path to nirvana.

Ajanta Caves

Reclining Buddha, Cave 26 (photo: Shriram Rajagopalan, CC: BY 2.0)



• Cave 1 is a magnificently painted Vihara (monastery), filled with wall murals, sculptures, and ceiling paintings, that date back to the 5th century.

• Originally, Cave 1 also had a porch which led to the main hall, however it has since collapsed.

• The main hall of Cave 1 is a square in plan, with aisles along all four sides.

• Adjacent to these aisles are doorways leading to fourteen small chambers.

• Cave 1 contains twenty painted and carved pillars.

Ajanta Caves

Plan of Cave 1 (Erik128, CC: BY-SA 3.0)

Main Hall

aisles

porch

Buddha

cham

ber

s

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GrundrissAjantaHoehle1.jpg



• Above the pillars are reliefs depicting tales from the life of Buddha (Jataka tales). Located at the rear of the hall is a large shrine of the Buddha. The walls were originally covered in paintings, but today there are only nine surviving images, the most famous being the Bodhisattva Padmapani (Padmapani in Sanskrit literally translates into "one who holds the lotus").

Ajanta Caves

View to the rear of Cave 1 with the Bodhisattva Padmapani to the left of the Buddha Shrine (photo: Christian Luczanits, CC: BY-SA 3.0)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AjantaHoehle1HaupthalleCella.jpg




Ajanta Caves

View to the rear of Cave 1 with the Bodhisattva Padmapani to the left of the Buddha Shrine (photo: Christian Luczanits, CC: BY-SA 3.0)





Ajanta Caves • Some viharas even

acquired multiple stories (Cave No. 6) and ircumambulatory routes (usually defined by a colonnaded passage).

• As they began to house more ceremonies, they also became more ornamental and decorative, with images depicting scenes from

the life of the Buddha and from Buddhist treatises painted onto the walls. • Despite the dim light, every surface of the viharas was painted over. Art,

sculpture, and architecture, in other words, comingle to create a seamless, sensory experience.



Ajanta Caves

Interior of Cave No. 26 at Ajanta Interior of Cave No. 19 at Ajanta

• The drum of the central stupa is elongated and carved.

• Projecting from the drum is an arched nasika or niche with the figure of a standing Buddha carved in it.

• The rounded dome of the stupa is surmounted by a harmika and three tiers of chhatras,

Internal view , Cave 19, Ajanta



diminishing in size and supported by figures on four sides. On top of the chhatras and touching the ceiling is another small stupa with a miniature harmika.

Ajanta Caves

Viharas • Viharas or monasteries constructed

with brick or excavated from rocks are found in different parts of India.

• Usually built to a set plan, they have a hall meant for congregational prayer with a running verandah on three sides or an open courtyard surrounded by a row of cells and a pillared verandah in front.

• These cells served as dwelling places for the monks.

• These monastic buildings built of bricks were self-contained units and had a Chaitya hall or Chaitya mandir attached to a stupa - the chief object of worship.



The viharas of Ellora dated 400 AD to 7th century AD are of one, two, and three storeys and are the largest of the type. They contain sculptured figures and belong to both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism

Three Storeyed Vihara, Ellora





Mahabodhi Temple, Gaya, India




• Bodh Gaya, the garden in Gaya near Patna where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment while sitting under a pipal tree, is one of the most venerated pilgrimage destinations of the entire Buddhist world.

• The Mahabodhi (literally “Great Buddha”) Temple at this site was begun by Asoka, who ordered the construction of a simple stone platform, known as the Vajrasana (“Diamond Throne”), to mark the spot where the Buddha supposedly sat.



Bodhi Tree

Lotus pond Votive stupas





• In accordance with the nonrepresentational requirements of Hinayana Buddhism, Asoka had no other representation or temple built at the site.

• The pipal tree itself is said to have been cut down by zealots, first in the 4th century BCE and then again in the 7th century CE.

• But a sapling from the original tree, taken to Sri Lanka by Asoka’s daughter in the 4th century BCE, still thrives. In the late Gupta period, the Mahabodhi Temple (late 5th or 6th century) was constructed next to the tree.

• The temple has been renovated repeatedly over time, and it is difficult to be absolutely certain what part of it is original to the Gupta period.

• Nonetheless, its contours today are not that different from its description by Hsuan Tsang (Xuanzang) in 637 CE.




• Hsuan Tsang recorded that the Bodhi Tree was enclosed by a strong, high brickwall (originally built by Asoka) 500 paces in circumference.

• Rare trees offered shade, while fine grasses, flowers, and strange plants covered the ground. • The main gate opened east toward the Niranjana River, while the south gate

connected to a large lotus tank, the sacred tank where it is believed that the Buddha spent a week.

• The north gate opened into the grounds of a large monastery.Inside there were innumerable stupas and shrines, built as memorials by sovereigns and high officials.




• In the center of the Bodhi Tree enclosure defined by a stone vedika or fence (like the one around the Sanchi stupa) was the Vajrasana, sandwiched between the Bodhi Tree to its west and, to its east, the Mahabodhi Temple, 48 meters high with a width of 20 paces.

• The temple was made of bricks coated with lime. It had tiers of niches with gold images, its four walls were adorned with exquisite carvings of pearls, and at its top was a gilt-copper stupa.

• Hsuan Tsang separately also recorded that south of the Bodhi Tree was an Asokan pillar more than 30 meters high.




• Along with the Bhitargaon Temple, the Mahabodhi Temple is among the oldest multistory brick temples in South Asia.

• Although they went out of fashion in India once stone temples began to be constructed, it is also possible that the development of the Buddhist pagodas in China may have in part been inspired by Hsuan Tsang’s description of this temple, which was widely circulated.

Vajrasana (“Diamond Throne”) at Bodh Gaya

• The Mahabodhi Temple is today clearly similar to this description. It is surrounded by four subsidiary shrines at its corners that were added in the 19th century.

• The central chamber houses the image of the enthroned Buddha of the temple. The brick shikhara contains another cella at the upper level with a secondary image of the Buddha.

Reference : 1. Global History of Architecture by D.K. Ching 2. Images.googgle.com

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