Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 264

242
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ DECEMBER, 1933
throve there under the Andhras and their successors, the Ikşvākus. The stūpa was rebuilt or re-embellished more than once, and the sculptures, which now adorn the staircase of the British Museum, belong to its latest phase. Their affinities lie with Gandhāra and Mathurā, and it is probably through Sāñchi that they came. But here that culture struck no deep roots, and did not survive the Cālukyan conquest of Telingāna and its later absorption in the Chēla empire.
3. Meanwhile, in the Pālār plain, the Tamils got busy with rock-cut temples and launched Dravidian' architecture on its long career. Structural experiments soon followed, for the seventh century Pallavas were vigorous and creative, and by the end of the century the * Dravidian' type was established, owing little except its sculptural themes to any other culture. Under the Chõļas the centre of activity shifted to the plain of the Kávēri, and a new phase opens with the great temple of Tanjore. Later developments are rather obscured by wholesale rebuilding under the Vijayanagar emperors, who spread Dravidian architecture all over their Telugu and Kanarese dominions. After them, in the south, the Madurā Nāyakas elaborated the tradition of Vijayanagar; and it still dominates the southern half of the Peninsula.
4. In the Kanarese country, thanks to their geographical position, the Cālukyas of Bādāmi had several cultural alternatives from which they could choose. In and around their capital they experimented with the Ajanta tradition, the 'Northern Style' and that of their predecessors, the Kadambas, but the basic ingredient was Pallara. Then came a break. The Rāştrakūtas took over the Western Deccan (754-973 A.D.), and concentrated their artistic energies on a rendering of Cālukya models at Ellora. Their fall marks a new departure. The restored Cālukyas modified the Pallava tradition on 'Northern lines, and embel. lished it with a wealth of sculptural detail second only to that of Gujarāt. Their heirs, the Hoysalas, brought this new 'Chālukyan Style' to maturity, but it did not survive the destruction of their capital by the armies of Delhi.
5. The Malayālam culture of Malabar, Cochin and Travancore is an unsolved puzzle. The language is closest of all Dravidian languages to Tamil, yet it has the highest percentage of Sanskrit words of any Dravidian tongue, while Tamil has the fewest. The Nambūdris are the strictest Brāhmaṇs in India, and in practice the most unorthodox. It is possible that, secluded from foreign intrusion by the Ghāts, the Malayālis preserve a more ancient type of orthodoxy than the rest of India. The architecture, both Hindu and Muslim, except in the south of Tranvancore, where Tamil models prevail, is unlike anything else in India, and the ncarest parallels are in Kashmir. The archeological evidence is meagre and difficult to interpret, even the Pahlavi of the Syrian crosses. Yet no part of India has been in closer touch with the West.
Of the Deccan Sultanates, Aḥmadanagar and Berār (and the Bahmanis, too, according to Firishta) were of Brāhman origin ; Ahmadnagar, Golkonda and Bījāpur were Shiah; Bidar was Turki, from Georgia. None of them had much in common with Delhi, and, once the tie was cut, they were thrown on their own resources, and on what fresh blood they could import from Persia or Africa. Up to 1400 A.D. the Bahmanis followed Delhi models, due, no doubt, to the wholesale importation of Delhi craftsmen by Muhammad bin Tughlaq in 1329. Then Persian architects were imported, but with the decline of the Bahmanis indigenous influences came into play, for under the later Sultanates Indian craftsmen, Indian clerks and Indian languages were freely used.
The foregoing survey explains to some extent the unity and diversity of Indian culture. Northern India is an area of shifting boundaries. From the Salt Range to the seas there