Arts of the Mauryan Period

Written and reviewed by Subhra Gupta, Humanities faculty at UniDrill (M.A. Sociology, University of Delhi · 7 years teaching Humanities). Based on NCERT Fine Arts Class XI (An Introduction to Indian Art Part I), Chapter 3.

What is on your passport, and where does it come from?

Look at the cover of an Indian passport, a coin or an official letterhead. Lions standing back to back, with a wheel carved below them. That emblem is not a modern design. It is a pillar capital carved in stone more than two thousand years ago at Sarnath, in the reign of Ashoka. This chapter explains why the Mauryan period is remembered for monumental stone, for a gleaming polish, and for pillars and caves that still stand.

The background: a world of new ideas

The sixth century BCE brought new religious and social movements in the Gangetic valley, in the form of Buddhism and Jainism, part of the shramana tradition. Both became popular as they stood against the varna and jati hierarchies. Magadha emerged as a powerful kingdom and consolidated control over the other regions. By the fourth century BCE the Mauryas had established their power, and by the third century BCE a large part of India was under Mauryan control. Ashoka emerged as the most powerful Mauryan king and patronised the Buddhist shramana tradition.

Religious practice had many dimensions. The worship of Yakshas and mother goddesses was widespread, so many forms of worship existed side by side. Even so, Buddhism became the most popular social and religious movement. Yaksha worship was popular before and after the arrival of Buddhism, and it was assimilated into Buddhism and Jainism. This matters for art, because it explains why the large stone Yaksha and Yakshini images exist at all.

Pillars, sculpture and rock-cut work

In this period, apart from stupas and viharas (monastic buildings), there were stone pillars, rock-cut caves and monumental figure sculptures at several places. Pillar building is old, and the Achaemenian empire had pillars too. But the Mauryan pillars are different. The Mauryan pillars are rock-cut, carved from the rock itself, which shows off the carver's skill. The Achaemenian pillars were built in pieces by a mason.

Ashoka's stone pillars are found in the northern part of the empire and carry inscriptions. The top of the pillar was carved with a capital figure such as a bull, a lion or an elephant. All the capital figures are vigorous and stand on a square or circular abacus, the flat slab on top of the pillar, which is decorated with stylised lotuses. Surviving pillars with capital figures were found at Basarah-Bakhira, Lauriya-Nandangarh and Rampurva in Bihar, and Sankisa and Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh.

Two views. For the exam: Mauryan pillars were rock-cut, whereas Achaemenian ones were built in pieces, so the two traditions differ. Another reading: scholars have long discussed how much the Mauryan court borrowed from the Achaemenid world, with some pointing to parallels in the pillar tradition and the polished finish, and others stressing local roots such as the Yaksha tradition and earlier carving in wood. Both sides accept that the Mauryan result was a distinct and monumental style.

The Lion Capital of Sarnath

The Lion Capital was discovered at Sarnath, near Varanasi, more than a hundred years ago. It is one of the finest examples of Mauryan sculpture, and it is built to commemorate the first sermon of the Buddha at Sarnath, the Dhammachakrapravartana, which makes the wheel a standard symbol of that event.

The capital had five parts:

The capital without the crowning wheel and the lotus base has been adopted as the National Emblem of Independent India. It is now in the archaeological museum at Sarnath.

Reading the sculpture. The lions are impressive and massive. Their facial muscles are very strong. The lines of the lips show close observation of nature, and the lions look as if they are holding their breath. The mane follows sharp conventions that were in practice at the time, and the curly mane has protruding volume. The weight of the body is shown by the stretched muscles of the feet. The surface is heavily polished, which is typical of the Mauryan period.

The abacus carries a chakra (wheel) with twenty-four spokes, and between each chakra a bull, a horse, an elephant and a lion are finely carved in all four directions. Though they cling to the surface, the animals have volume and posture that create movement, and they show great command over the depiction of movement in a limited space. The abacus is supported by an inverted lotus capital, each petal carved with attention to its density. Because it is a pillar image, it was conceived to be seen from all sides, with no fixed viewpoint. A lion capital has also been found at Sanchi but is in a poor condition, and the lion-capital-pillar motif continued into later periods.

Pause and predict: look at the National Emblem on a coin. Which two parts of the original capital do you not see in the emblem?

Check your answer: the crowning wheel (Dharmachakra) and the lotus base. The emblem keeps the lions and the abacus with its wheel and animals. The crowning wheel itself lies broken in the Sarnath museum.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: learn the five parts, the 24-spoke wheel and the four animals on the abacus. In reality: the same 24-spoke wheel appears in the middle of the national flag of India, and in the emblem as it is printed, only three of the four lions are visible from the front, because the fourth is hidden behind. So a question about how many lions the capital had must be answered with four, and not with the number you see on a coin.

Yakshas, Yakshinis and a famous Yakshi

Monumental images of Yaksha, Yakshini and animals, pillars with capitals, and rock-cut caves of the third century BCE have been found in different parts of India. Large statues of Yakshas and Yakshinis have been found at many places, including Patna, Vidisha and Mathura. They mostly stand. A distinguishing feature of all of them is the polished surface, and the faces are rendered in full round with pronounced cheeks.

The finest example is the Didarganj Yakshi from Patna.

The statue shows a sculptor who is sensitive to the rounded, muscular body and who handles the stone and the form with sophistication.

Rock-cut work: Dhauli elephant and Lomus Rishi cave

Terracotta figurines show a very different treatment of the body from the stone sculptures. In rock-cut work, the monumental elephant at Dhauli in Odisha shows modelling in the round with linear rhythm, and it is accompanied by an Ashokan rock edict.

The Lomus Rishi cave in the Barabar hills near Gaya, Bihar, has a facade decorated with the semicircular chaitya arch as its entrance. An elephant frieze carved in high relief on the arch shows considerable movement. The interior is a rectangular hall with a circular chamber at the back, and the entrance is on the side wall of the hall. The cave was donated by Ashoka to the Ajivika sect. Many Buddhist caves of later periods were excavated in eastern and western India.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: Lomus Rishi is the example of the Mauryan period cave, with a chaitya arch and an elephant frieze. In reality: the arch and the rail-like patterns on early caves imitate wooden buildings, so many scholars read these caves as stone translations of earlier timber architecture, a useful idea when you reach the later Buddhist caves.

Stupas: where relics become monuments

Because Buddhism and Jainism were popular, stupas and viharas were built on a large scale. Stupas were built over the relics of the Buddha at places such as Rajagraha, Vaishali, Vethadipa and Pava in Bihar, Kushinagar and Pippalvina in Uttar Pradesh, and others. Stupas, viharas and chaityas belong to both Buddhist and Jaina monastic complexes, but the largest number belong to Buddhism.

One example of a third century BCE stupa structure is at Bairat in Rajasthan. The great stupa at Sanchi was built with bricks in the time of Ashoka, and it was later covered with stone and enlarged.

A collective effort. From the second century BCE onwards, many inscriptions mention donors and sometimes their professions. Patronage was collective, and very few examples of royal patronage are known. Patrons ranged from lay devotees to gahapatis (householders) and kings, and guilds also gave donations. Very few inscriptions name artisans, such as Kanha at Pitalkhora and his disciple Balaka at Kondane caves in Maharashtra. Categories of artisans are mentioned too: stone carvers, goldsmiths, stone-polishers and carpenters. Work was collective, and only a specific portion of a monument was sometimes given by one patron. Traders recorded their donations along with their place of origin.

In the second century BCE, stupas were elaborately built with additions such as the circumambulatory path with railings and sculptural decoration. A stupa consists of a cylindrical drum, a circular anda (dome) with a harmika (railed platform) and a chhatra (umbrella) on top. These remained consistent, with small changes in shape and size. Gateways were added beside the path.

How the Buddha was shown: symbols first, stories later

During the early phase of Buddhism the Buddha is shown symbolically: by footprints, stupas, a lotus throne and the chakra. This may indicate simple worship or showing respect, or at times a record of life events. Gradually narrative became part of the Buddhist tradition, and events from the life of the Buddha and the Jataka stories were carved on the railings and gateways (toranas) of stupas. Three narrative methods were used: synoptic, continuous and episodic.

The main events shown from the life of the Buddha are birth, renunciation, enlightenment, dhammachakrapravartana and mahaparinibbana (liberation from the cycle of birth). Among the most frequently carved Jatakas are the Chhadanta, Vidurpundita, Ruru, Sibi, Vessantara and Shama Jatakas.

Pause and predict: a relief shows an empty throne with a lotus and a pair of footprints, and no human figure at all. Is the Buddha missing from the scene?

Check your answer: No. In the early phase of Buddhist art the Buddha was shown through symbols such as a lotus throne, footprints, a stupa or a wheel. The empty space is part of the message, and a human form of the Buddha comes later.

Exam traps

60-second revision

Where this chapter connects

• Previous: Arts of the Indus Valley shows how an earlier civilisation used seals, bronze and terracotta, before the Mauryan turn to monumental stone.
• Next: Post-Mauryan Trends in Indian Art and Architecture follows the stupa to Bharhut, Sanchi and Amaravati, and moves from symbols to the human form of the Buddha.
• Later link: Temple Architecture and Sculpture shows how the tradition of stone carving shifts to temples.