Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/110

 82 JAINA ARCHITECTURE. BOOK V. the pillars inside the temples at Mudabidri (Woodcut No. 305) and elsewhere in Kanara, we find that curious interlaced basket- pattern, which is so familiar to us from Irish manuscripts or the ornaments on Irish crosses. As pointed out elsewhere, 1 it is equally common in Armenia, and can be traced up the valley of the Danube into central Europe ; but how it got to the west coast of India we do not know, nor have we, so far as I know, any indication on which we can rely for its introduction. There was at all times for the last fifteen centuries a large body of Christians established on this coast who were in connection with Persia and Syria, and are so now. It would be strange, indeed, if it were from them the Jains obtained this device. But stranger things have happened than even this in the history of architecture, and few things can be more interesting when the means exist of tracing any connection that may be detected between them. If any one wished to select one feature of Indian architecture which would illustrate its rise and progress, as well as its perfection and weakness, there are probably no objects more suited for this purpose than these stambhas, or free-standing pillars. They are found of all ages, from the simple and mono- lithic lats which A^oka set up to bear inscriptions or emblems, some 250 years B.C. down to the seventeenth or perhaps even eighteenth century of our era. During these 2000 years they were erected by the Buddhists and by the Jains, as well as by the other sects in all parts of India ; and notwithstanding their inherent frailty, some fifty it may be a hundred are known to be still standing. After the first and most simple, erected by Aj-oka, it may be safely asserted that no two are alike though all bear strongly the impress of the age in which they were erected, and all are thoroughly original and Indian in design. 2 It may be owing to the styloclastic propensities of the Moslims that these pillars are not found so frequently where they have held sway, as in the remoter parts of India ; but, whether from this cause or not, they seem to be more frequent in Kanara and among the southern Jains than in any other part of India. In the north we depend mainly on the rock-cut examples for their forms, but they are so usual there that it seems hardly doubtful they were relatively as frequent in connection with structural examples, though these have generally disappeared. It has been suggested that there may be some connection between these stambhas and the obelisks of the Egyptians. The 1 Fergusson, ' History of Ancient and Medieval Architecture,' vol. i. p. 479. 2 With the A-roka lats, and the stambhas at Karle and Kanheri, may be compared the 6aiva and Jaina pillars at Elura, shown in Woodcuts Nos. 202 and 275-