DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0066
34
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
Presidency is that at Amaravati, on the Krishna ; and from that
vicinity northwards to Orissa there are remains showing that
there must have been flourishing communities there both of
Buddhists and Jains in early times. Whether the prevalence
of such structures in this region was due to a colony or settle-
ment formed by the northern Buddhists, at or near their port
of departure for Java and their eastern settlements, may be
doubted. The Andhras who ruled over the districts, were either
Buddhists or very liberal patrons of the sect. At Guntupalle in
the Godavari district have been found a group of rock-cut caves,
a structural chaitya, and a stupa, whilst at Chezarla, in the Nellor
district, another chaitya has been discovered almost entire,
though now used as a Hindu shrine.1 And remains of stupas
have been excavated in the Kistna district—at Jaggayyapeta,
Bhattiprolu, Gudivada, Guntupalle and Ghantai'ala ;2 unfortun-
ately they have been utterly destroyed — some within living
memory.3
The rock-cut temples at Badami and Mamallapuram are the
works of Hindus in the 6th and 7th centuries, and the structural
temples of Kailasanath and Vaikunthaperumal at Conjivaram are
of nearly the same age, and, with some others, they help materially
to illustrate the history of the style till the 8th century. From
that time forward their building activity was enormous. The
style culminated in the 16th and 17th centuries, to perish in the
18th.
When the history of the south does acquire something like
consistency it takes the form of a triarchy of small states. The
eldest and most important, that of Madura — so called after
Mathura (or Muttra) on the Jamna—was also the most civilised,
and continued longest as a united and independent kingdom.
The Cholas rose into power on the banks of the Kavert, and to
the northward of it, about the year 1000, though no doubt they
existed as a small state about Conjivaram for some centuries
before that time. The third, the Chera, were located on the
west coast, extending from the Tulu country southwards, and
including Malabar and most of Travankor. Tradition assigns
to them a dynasty of kings called Perumals which ended in the
9th century. Chola and Chalukya inscriptions speak of their
beirig frequently defeated, but we have no inscriptions of any
1 See below Book I. chap. v. p. 166.
These very interesting structures were
surveyed several years ago, but the results
have not yet been fully published. The
caves are Buddhist of an early type.
2 ‘South Indian Buddhist Antiquities,’
by A. Rea, 1894 ; ‘ Epigraphia Indica,’
vol. ii. pp. 323-329.
3 The Gudivada and Bhattiprolu stupas,
were demolished by the Public Works
officers about thirty-six years ago, for
bricks to use in road-making, and the
marbles of the latter were built into the
walls and floor of the Vellatur sluice,
or burnt for lime.—‘ Madras Government
Orders,’ No. 1620, of ist Nov. 187S.
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
Presidency is that at Amaravati, on the Krishna ; and from that
vicinity northwards to Orissa there are remains showing that
there must have been flourishing communities there both of
Buddhists and Jains in early times. Whether the prevalence
of such structures in this region was due to a colony or settle-
ment formed by the northern Buddhists, at or near their port
of departure for Java and their eastern settlements, may be
doubted. The Andhras who ruled over the districts, were either
Buddhists or very liberal patrons of the sect. At Guntupalle in
the Godavari district have been found a group of rock-cut caves,
a structural chaitya, and a stupa, whilst at Chezarla, in the Nellor
district, another chaitya has been discovered almost entire,
though now used as a Hindu shrine.1 And remains of stupas
have been excavated in the Kistna district—at Jaggayyapeta,
Bhattiprolu, Gudivada, Guntupalle and Ghantai'ala ;2 unfortun-
ately they have been utterly destroyed — some within living
memory.3
The rock-cut temples at Badami and Mamallapuram are the
works of Hindus in the 6th and 7th centuries, and the structural
temples of Kailasanath and Vaikunthaperumal at Conjivaram are
of nearly the same age, and, with some others, they help materially
to illustrate the history of the style till the 8th century. From
that time forward their building activity was enormous. The
style culminated in the 16th and 17th centuries, to perish in the
18th.
When the history of the south does acquire something like
consistency it takes the form of a triarchy of small states. The
eldest and most important, that of Madura — so called after
Mathura (or Muttra) on the Jamna—was also the most civilised,
and continued longest as a united and independent kingdom.
The Cholas rose into power on the banks of the Kavert, and to
the northward of it, about the year 1000, though no doubt they
existed as a small state about Conjivaram for some centuries
before that time. The third, the Chera, were located on the
west coast, extending from the Tulu country southwards, and
including Malabar and most of Travankor. Tradition assigns
to them a dynasty of kings called Perumals which ended in the
9th century. Chola and Chalukya inscriptions speak of their
beirig frequently defeated, but we have no inscriptions of any
1 See below Book I. chap. v. p. 166.
These very interesting structures were
surveyed several years ago, but the results
have not yet been fully published. The
caves are Buddhist of an early type.
2 ‘South Indian Buddhist Antiquities,’
by A. Rea, 1894 ; ‘ Epigraphia Indica,’
vol. ii. pp. 323-329.
3 The Gudivada and Bhattiprolu stupas,
were demolished by the Public Works
officers about thirty-six years ago, for
bricks to use in road-making, and the
marbles of the latter were built into the
walls and floor of the Vellatur sluice,
or burnt for lime.—‘ Madras Government
Orders,’ No. 1620, of ist Nov. 187S.