Mauryan Art
The Mauryan period witnesses the return of monumental stone sculpture and architecture following a long period of absence since the Harappan civilization. This emergence Monumental art in the Mauryan period can be linked to the higher levels of political complexity in the form of the emergence of an empire, the concentration of wealth in the hands of urban elite and increased institutionalization of religious activity. The art of the Mauryan period was linked to political ideology and religious practices. Upinder Singh classifies the Mauryan art into ‘court art’, which is the art and architecture resulting directly from the patronage of the Mauryan kings especially Ashoka. The other category is that of ‘popular art’, connected with the lives, activities and patronage of the ordinary people and this category contained articles such as stone sculptures and terracotta figurines, ring stones and disc stones etc.
Sections of a wooden wall have been noticed in the course of sporadic explorations and excavations in Patna over many decades. Excavations at Bulandibagh by D.B.Spooner gave a better picture of the fortifications. Traces of wooden fortification wall have also been found at sites such as Gasain Khanda, Rampur and Bahadurpur not far from the site of Bulandibagh. D.B.Spooner discovered 72 pillars arranged in a neat chessboard pattern and 8 more were discovered by A.S.Altekar and V.K.Misra at Kumrahar in Patna. Though the precise function of the 80-pillard hall remains uncertain.
The majestic Ashokan pillars may symbolize the axis of the world (axis mundi) that separated heaven and earth. Some of the pillars have a set of six edicts while a few are inscribed with other types of inscriptions for instance the commemorative inscriptions at Rummindei and Nigali Sagar and schism edict at Sanchi. There are also pillars without inscriptions-the one with a bull capital at Rampurva, the pillar with the lion capital at Vaishali and the Kosam pillar without a capital.
The Ashokan pillars are quite similar to each other in form and dimensions. They are made of sandstone and considered to be monoliths(carved out of a single stone).The motifs associated with the Ashokan pillars have a rich symbolism with resonances in many different indian religious traditions. Most of the motifs are those of animals apart from floral designs such as the lotus and honeysuckle. The lion appears on the capitals of the Vaishali, Lauriya-Nandangarh and one of the Rampurva pillar and also the popular quadruple lions appear on the Sanchi and Sarnath capitals. The Sanchi and Sarnath capitals were surmounted by a spoked wheel. The emblem of the Indian nation-state is based on the Sarnath capital.
The sculptural motifs must have been in harmony with the dhamma message. They were chosen with much care and probably by Ashoka himself. The wheel on Ashokan capitals is generally interpreted as the dharmachakra (the wheel of dharma) representing Buddha’s first sermon. The chakra is also associated with sovereignty. The appearance of the lion symbol can be associated with the Buddha being referred to as Sakya-simha (lion among the Sakya) in Buddhist tradition. As for the elephant, according to tradition, the future Buddha entered his mother’s womb in the form of a white elephant which appeared to Maya in a dream. Taken together all the symbols associated with the Ashokan pillars has a special Buddhist significance.
Some of the art historians talk about the foreign influence, especially Persian influence on the court art of the Mauryan Empire. Some suggest that Ashoka got the idea of inscribing proclamations on pillars from the Achaemenids. Distinct Greek influence and even greater Persian influence has been identified in the polished surface of the Ashokan pillars and the animal capitals. There was plenty of interaction between ancient India and ancient Iran whether in the form of trade or conquest of Gandhara by the Persian emperors. At the same time Niharranjan Ray draws attention towards the many differences between Mauryan and Persian pillars. Ashoka by having his dhamma message inscribed on the pillars transformed them into unique monuments.
The Mauryan period saw the beginning of Rock-cut architecture. The Barabar and Nagarjuni hills to the north d Bodh Gaya contain several caves that were inhabited by ascetics in ancient times. Three caves in the Barabar hills have dedicative inscriptions of Ashoka, and three in the Nagarjuni hills have inscriptions of his sons Dasharatha. The caves are simple in plan with plain but highly polished interiors.
Ashoka’s reign marked an important stage in the history of Buddhist stupa architecture. Old mud stupas were rebuilt or enlarged with bricks as evident from excavations at Vaishali. An important stupa site that definitely dates to Ashoka’s time is Sanchi. The remains on the Sanchi hillside include many stupas, shrines and monasteries.
Several large stone sculptures of what look like human figures have been found at various sites in and around Patna, Mathura and other places. Many of them represent yakshas and yakshis, deities whose worship was part of popular religion in many parts of the subcontinent from an early time. They were initially ascribed to the Mauryan period due to their ‘polished’ surface. However more recent assessments have pointed out that a polished surface in insufficient ground to assign a Maurya date to piece of sculpture. The ‘Didarganj Yakshi’ was found at Didarganj village in Patna. If some of these sculptures indeed belong to the Mauryan period, this suggests the existence of several centers of stone carving serving royal patrons as well.
A large number of carved ring stones and disc stones found at various sites of north India have been dated to the 3rd/2nd century BCE. These may have had a religious or ritualistic significance.
Terracotta art flourished with the expansion of urban centers and the terracottas of the Mauryan period vary a great deal in terms of theme, style and possible significance. They include male and female figurines, animals and carts.