The Penguin History of Early India

by Romila Thapar

  Among the temples of the later period, the Jaina temples at Mt Abu, built in white marble by Vastupala and Tejapala, ministers to the Chaulukyas, are representative of Jaina architecture in western India. They are richly adorned with sculpture, which, though profuse, is subsidiary to the architecture. The temples at Khajuraho – Lakshmana and Kandariya Mahadeo – are among the best examples of the Bundelkhand group in central India, and these too are rich in sculpture. They display a balance in size and form that makes of each an aesthetically remarkable structure. The erotic sculpture at Khajuraho, as at Konarak in Orissa, and the eagerness of visitors to see it and guides to show it, often diverts attention from the impressive qualities of both architecture and sculpture. Among the more dramatic structures is the unfinished Shaiva temple near Bhopal, started by the Paramara King Bhoja in the eleventh century. Engraved sketches of some parts of the temple-plans are visible near by, also the ramp used for transporting large stones. The temples of Orissa, particularly the Lingaraja at Bhuvaneshwar and the Sun temple at Konarak, are monumental. The Jagannath temple at Puri in Orissa, built in the twelfth century, gradually became even more monumental. The greater use of erotic sculpture was associated with fertility cults and with some Tantric concepts. Closer to the Shakta cults and contemporary with the earlier temples were the Yogini temples, sometimes in the vicinity of other temples as at Khajuraho and sometimes as centres on their own as at Hirapur in Orissa. Yogini temples tend to be clustered in central India.

  Characteristic of Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan were the vav – the unique stepwells. A well of substantial size whose surface was located at a considerable depth was reached by flights of steps and enclosed by basement galleries. These were decorated with icons and scenes from mythology as in the Queen’s stepwell at Patan. The vav was a structure hewn out of the earth that went down, sometimes many storeys, instead of being built up. Such stepwells in their simpler forms were used for supplying water to places on the edge of the desert and also provided cool spaces during the heat of summer. Some were used for irrigating land, presumably in areas where the water table was low.

  The construction of temples was supervised by the sutradharas. Manuals on construction – the shilpa-shastras – were now being used where large temples were constructed. Craftsmen associated with the building profession – carpenters, masons, stonecutters, sculptors – had a low status in the social codes and were often included as mixed castes. The question then is, who wrote the manuals? If the sutradharas were formally trained in Sanskrit this would have raised the status of their otherwise technical and professional education. Or were the manuals written in conjunction with brahmans? The need for manuals became apparent when every independent dynasty declared its presence through various activities, of which building stone temples in a recognized style would have been one. To follow the established norms of temple building required the supervision of a sutradhara and a manual. Sutradharas were being named in inscriptions, such as the references to Kokasa, and they were associated with particular temples. However, it is not clear whether they travelled between courts or whether each body of architects and builders was attached to one court. The formalization of architecture in a text disseminated a style and way of building, but it might also have acted as a check on experimentation.

  7. Circular Devi temple: plan

  As in earlier times, sculpture reflected the impact of regional styles. Eastern India produced a distinctive sculpture in stone and metal. The stone, dark grey or black, shone with a metallic lustre when polished. Buddhist icons at Nalanda set the standard and Pala patronage also extended to the sculpting of icons of Puranic Hinduism. Although used in other parts of north India, the choice of bronze as a medium for sculpture was put to particularly effective use in eastern India, Kashmir and Nepal, even though it did not attain the aesthetic brilliance of Chola bronze sculpture. The Indian contribution to the fine arts was primarily in sculpture. Had it preserved an independent form it might have continued to evolve its own style, but when reduced to architectural embellishment it declined aesthetically as did temple styles in later periods. Sculpture in terracotta, usually treated as the art form of the less privileged, continued to be the medium for some striking terracotta icons and decorative friezes.

  Painting was now used to illustrate manuscripts. Initial attempts at such illustrations began in eastern India, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Nepal. Copying texts to ensure their constant availability was a normal activity in Buddhist and Jaina monasteries, but illustrating such manuscripts was an innovation within this tradition. The illustrations often depicted faces with angular features and prominent eyes. These were the experimental beginnings of what developed in later centuries into a fine tradition of miniature paintings, largely illustrating books. Mural painting became less common, but paintings of a popular kind gradually surfaced in painted hangings, which might have had earlier beginnings.

  The temple was by now fulfilling many roles. Where a matha was attached to a temple, this complex was the counterpart to the stupa and monastery of the earlier period. Where it received grants of land or villages, it too became a landlord with accompanying powers. The temple was the institution of the Puranic sect and as such it played a civic role: as a symbol of royal or local power depending on who was its patron; investing in commerce and credit; as an employer; and if it became a centre of pilgrimage it would also acquire a market. Those who managed temple property provided a nucleus for agrarian or urban corporations. Where the temple invested in commerce, its priests had close associations with administrative and commercial organizations.

  The act of worship had a permanent location in a temple or a shrine, a location that was strengthened when it became a place for pilgrimage. The location could include the worship of more than a single deity, although one was supreme. Flowers, fruit and grain were offered to the deity who was believed to sanctify the offering. The action was embedded in a ritual of worship – puja – that also encapsulated the personal tie between worshipper and deity. Worship included vratas or the observance of vows, fasts and other such acts seen as devotion to the deity. It was therefore different from the ritual of sacrifice performed according to Vedic rites. These were less frequent now. Vedic sacrifices no longer sufficed in claims to legitimacy. Other forms such as genealogies and patronage of temples became more immediate.

  The temple, particularly the section that housed the image, was not open to every worshipper. The so-called unclean shudra castes and the untouchables were not permitted entry. They had their own separate cult shrines, generally in the section of the village or town that they inhabited. Their deities were either different or were variant manifestations of the deities worshipped in the temple, and this was also the case with some of the rituals and offerings. Thus libations of alcohol were excluded in the temple and the sacrifice of animals, common to the ritual of the lower castes, was less frequent in temples, although those dedicated to Kali could make concessions to such offerings. This was a matter of caste, but the survival of places of worship was also dependent on environmental factors. Despite the imprint of Sanskritic culture many communities retained their earlier places of worship, which were small and less distinctive. Such temples would tend to merge into the landscape since they were constructed of locally available material and conformed to local architecture, function and climate. This also made them more susceptible to weathering and decline.

  Because the temple received offerings and donations it was also a treasury and a financial centre. The giving of gifts – dana – to brahmans and to the temple was an appeal to the deity through an intermediary. A temple built through royal patronage was seen as symbolizing the power and well-being of the kingdom. This was demonstrated by the characteristics which accompanied the establishment of a state – the titles of the king accompanied by a genealogy and often the writing of a vamshavali, the building of a capital with a royal temple constructed according to the norms of the shilpa-shastras, and agricultural and commercial
expansion. As an institution with managerial functions the reach of the temple included extensive areas surrounding it.

  The temple as an institution not only employed a large hierarchy of priests and others with administrative skills, but also those who would have provided religious discourses and the recitation of religious texts. Thus, there were recitations by professional narrators, often with a commentary, of the Puranas, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and other compositions now regarded as sacred. The adoration of the deity through music and dance meant that devadasis were also maintained. Occasions for pilgrimages were linked to festivals and the larger the number of such occasions the better, for pilgrims brought devotion and donations. At some temples, such as Somanatha, the pilgrims paid a pilgrim tax that provided a healthy income for the local raja, provided it had not already been looted from the pilgrim by other rajas, which was a common complaint.

  Puranic Hinduism required a location where the deity could be established permanently in an appropriate building for worship. Even though the worship was devotional and awaited the grace of the deity, an icon could be the focus for devotion and the giving of gifts. An icon was not necessary for worship, but gradually became common. The centrality of the icon further distanced Puranic Hinduism from the Vedic religion. An object of worship, even aniconic and with no recognizable form, could be converted into a deity and sometimes at a later stage replaced by an anthropomorphic deity with a human form. If required, additions were made to this form in the shape of extra physical features – such as arms, generally symbolizing the attributes of the deity. The ritual was performed by brahmans who had conceded the importance of the object of worship and the rites connected with this, or by priests from the earlier form of the cult who were now recruited to the brahman fold. The Puranas and the Agamas, relating to both Shaiva and Vaishnava worship, were texts recording the mythology that were intended to explain the rites in the worship of a deity. The Mahatmyas and the Sthala-puranas narrated the supposed history, legends and myths of the place of worship, with further explanations for rituals and observances. Not every cult deity was converted in this manner. The choice had much to do with popular support, political clout and the advantages of incorporating the cult into mainstream worship.

  Temples were also a signal of the upward social mobility of the patrons who financed the building. Vastupala and Tejapala, from a merchant family, had sufficient wealth to build temples at Mt Abu where they created a significant Jaina centre. This was on the scale of royal patronage. Their inscriptions at the site not only laud their own families but also indicate the status and power of their community of merchants. A signal of a different kind came from the Chandella dynasty. These kings narrated a complex origin myth linked to the lunar line in their inscriptions but their origin was also associated with the Gond tribes of central India. It is said that they originally worshipped a rock, Maniya Deo, installed in their earliest capital at Mahoba. Through the processes of acquiring Rajput status and subscribing to Sanskritic culture, which involved devotion to Puranic deities, they expressed this change by building the temples at Khajuraho which were distinctly different from the shrine of Maniya Deo. This illustrates a shift from a local cult to the patronage of a Puranic sect. Tribal priests could accompany such a transfer and eventually become priests of the Puranic sect with which the icon was associated. If the icon were linked to a Puranic deity this would assert the upper-caste status of the patron. This is also evident in the mutation of what appears to be a local cult associated with Vishnu-Jagannath in Orissa in the temple at Puri. When, in the thirteenth century, the king claimed to be the deputy of the god, the political dimensions of incorporating the territory where the god was worshipped were intermeshed with the requirements of belief and ritual. Such mutations have many layers of growth. The territory covered by the cult and its sacred geography became part of the circuit of pilgrimage. When such a cult acquired royal patronage, then the territory and the cult in turn became a base of support for its royal patron. The cult provided a hinterland of worshippers and a network of links, parallel in some ways to the network of grants of land. A comparable pattern can be seen in the western Deccan, with the worship of Vithoba as a manifestation of Vishnu at Pandharpur.

  In eastern India Buddhist monastic complexes, some built under the patronage of the Palas, constituted monumental religious architecture. The more impressive of these were the monasteries at Mainamati and Vikramashila, and the magnificent Somapuri monastery at Paharpur. Structures at the Buddhist site of Ratnagiri in Orissa were renovated in the eleventh century and it became a centre for Tantric Buddhism. The monasteries at Nalanda were enlarged. This patronage may have been encouraged by the Buddhist association with the mercantile community active in south-east Asia, and in the increasingly profitable trade with Tibet.

  These monumental structures of eastern and southern India already had parallels in some parts of south-east Asia, such as Cambodia and Java. The stupas at Pagan were closer in style to the south Asian ones but their clustering created a relatively different form. The linguistic linking of Sanskrit with Javanese can also be seen in Old Javanese, but here again, despite the closeness of Sanskrit, the assertion of a Javanese presence is unmistakable. The many versions of the story of Rama in south-east Asia, with local narrative traditions enveloping the kernel of the original story and creating a variety of renderings, were evocative of plural cultural strands. The links continued with areas of the subcontinent that had a strong interest in south-east Asian trade, such as Gujarat, the Coromandel coast and eastern India.

  Forms associated with Islamic architecture, the most obvious of which were the true arch and the dome, would have been innovations. Early attempts at such buildings would have been in the north-west and probably also in the Arab settlements along the west coast. This is evident from the reference to the mosque at Cambay destroyed by the Paramara king and the Shia’h mosque at Mansura desecrated by Mahmud. The establishing of the Sultanate was marked at Delhi and at Ajmer by converting the existing temple into a mosque, doubtless to proclaim victory but also to appropriate sacred space.

  Religions Mutations

  Buddhism was a proselytizing religion and Buddhist monks and teachers had taken it to various parts of Asia. It was therefore not unexpected that monks from distant places in Asia came to Buddhist monasteries in India, attracted by the libraries of manuscripts and the potentialities of discourse. These monks linked the areas from where they came or from where they were trained to other centres of Buddhism. Atisha, for example, contributed to the evolution of Tibetan Buddhism in the eleventh century although he was from eastern India and, according to tradition, was trained in Suvarnadvipa, possibly Java. Buddhist monasteries had provided a support to the state, but the ideology of Puranic Hinduism gradually replaced the Buddhists. The Puranic ideology was now honed to efficiency in its additional role of converting groups into caste society and religious sects, necessary to the establishing of states in areas that hitherto had none. Hostility between the Buddhists and some sects of Shaivas grew from philosophical and religious contestation, as well as competition for patronage. There was a questioning of the Shramanic emphasis on renunciation, which was seen as too unrealistic for the ordinary person. Monkhood was sometimes caricatured as an idle and comfortable life, made possible by the work of others. Brahmans, familiar with migrating to distant parts of the subcontinent, had taken their promises of ritual status to lands still further away. The Indian connections in south-east Asia were not only of value in commercial matters, but also in the forging of cultural norms. These connections were also of assistance to the Arabs, enabling them eventually to capture much of the trade when they established trading settlements in south-east Asia. In Java and the Malay peninsula these settlements evolved into an impressive cultural interweaving of the local culture with beliefs and practices from India and west Asia.

  By the end of this period, the Vaishnava, Shaiva and the Shakta-Tantric sects were dominant in norther
n India. Jainism was restricted to the west and Buddhism, which had been largely confined to the east, was declining. An attempt was made to assimilate the Buddha into the Vaishnava pantheon as an incarnation of Vishnu but this did not attract enthusiasm. The worship of the Buddha by non-Buddhists remained largely formal and deferential. The militaristic ethos of the Rajputs was incompatible with the emphasis on non-violence of the Shramanic religions, even though some Jainas distinguished themselves on the battlefield. Among those involved with Puranic Hinduism, the idea of non-violence was now closer to the teachings of a few bhakti sects who opposed violence for reasons largely similar to those of Mahavira and the Buddha.

  Many of the changes introduced into Hinduism at this time resulted from a compromise between orthodox belief and a popular demand for a more personal religion. Image worship increased substantially and a multitude of new forms took shape, many basically anthropomorphic. Ritual was not confined to elaborate sacrifices, and was more commonly individual worship, even if the worship was channelled through a temple or a shrine. This reflects new patterns of thought, aspirations and connections, as well as a different historical situation. The mythologies associated with the gods had a wide reach through versions in the regional languages and oral recitation. These included narratives that grew out of cults incorporated into Puranic Hinduism, which became part of the texts of regional languages when they acquired a literary form. The multiple Upapuranas gave even greater flexibility to incorporating local custom into ritual and belief. The theory that deities could be incarnated in human form was used as a method of incorporation. Such incarnations also served a political purpose and helped in legitimizing those kings who claimed to be incarnations of deity.