DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0435
Chap. I.
INTRODUCTORY.
-ill
the Jains hud stepped in with a ready-made religion and style, and
the followers of fciiva and Vishnu had not time to develop anything
very important in these northern provinces before it was too late.
If these views are correct, it is evident that though we may use
the term Indo-Aryan as the most convenient to describe and define
the limits of the northern style, the name must not be considered as
implying that the Aryans, as such, had anything to do either with
its invention or its use. All that it is intended to convey is. that it
was invented and used in a country which they once occupied, and
in which they have left a strong impress of their superior mental
power and civilization.
If this reservation is always borne in mind, I know of no term
that more conveniently expresses the characteristics of this style,
and it is consequently proposed to adopt it in the following pages
as the name of the style that prevailed among the Hindus in
northern India, between the Vindlrya and Himalayan mountains,
from the 7th century to the present day.
The general appearance of the northern temples, and the points
of difference between them and those of the south, will be appreciated
from the above woodcut (No. 227), representing two very ancient
temples, built in juxtaposition, at Badami, in Dharwar. That on
the left is a complete specimen of Dravidian architecture. There is
the same pyramidal form, the same distinction of storeys, the same
cells on each, as we find at Mahavellipore (Woodcut Xo. 181), at
INTRODUCTORY.
-ill
the Jains hud stepped in with a ready-made religion and style, and
the followers of fciiva and Vishnu had not time to develop anything
very important in these northern provinces before it was too late.
If these views are correct, it is evident that though we may use
the term Indo-Aryan as the most convenient to describe and define
the limits of the northern style, the name must not be considered as
implying that the Aryans, as such, had anything to do either with
its invention or its use. All that it is intended to convey is. that it
was invented and used in a country which they once occupied, and
in which they have left a strong impress of their superior mental
power and civilization.
If this reservation is always borne in mind, I know of no term
that more conveniently expresses the characteristics of this style,
and it is consequently proposed to adopt it in the following pages
as the name of the style that prevailed among the Hindus in
northern India, between the Vindlrya and Himalayan mountains,
from the 7th century to the present day.
The general appearance of the northern temples, and the points
of difference between them and those of the south, will be appreciated
from the above woodcut (No. 227), representing two very ancient
temples, built in juxtaposition, at Badami, in Dharwar. That on
the left is a complete specimen of Dravidian architecture. There is
the same pyramidal form, the same distinction of storeys, the same
cells on each, as we find at Mahavellipore (Woodcut Xo. 181), at