Mauryan Empire: Art, Architecture, and Sculpture
After an interregnum of more than a thousand years since the demise of the Indus Valley Civilisation — which had once exercised full command over stone-cutting and sculpting — the Mauryan period witnessed a remarkable revival of sculptural art in India, marked by a decisive transition from the use of wood to stone. Flourishing under royal patronage as Court Art, and alongside it as an independently developing Folk Art, Mauryan artistic production encompassed monumental pillars, stupas, cave architecture, and sculpture in stone, metal, and clay. For UPSC History Optional aspirants, understanding the distinctive features of Mauryan art — and its debated relationship with contemporary Persian (Achaemenian) traditions — is essential to the study of ancient Indian art history.
- Mauryan art flourished primarily under royal patronage, but folk art developed alongside it in its own right; Mauryan art is therefore best studied in two parts — Court Art and Folk Art.
Court Art
The Mauryan Palace
- The 80-Pillared Hall discovered at Kumhrar (Patna) is believed to be the site of the Mauryan palace. The city of Pataliputra itself was fortified with wood.
- In the words of Megasthenes: “…the city formed a Parallelogram, nine miles by one and half miles, surrounded by a ditch, 200 yards wide, and protected by a timber palisade with loopholes for the archers. The palisade was reinforced by 570 towers and had 64 gateways…”
Mauryan Pillars
- The Mauryan pillars are of two types:
- Pillars attached to a hall — for example, the pillars of the 80-Pillared Hall at Kumhrar, which lack any capital.
- Independent, free-standing pillars of Ashoka, themselves of two kinds — those with animal capitals, and those without any capital at all.
- Free-standing pillars served as a symbol of political power and authority, their objective being to disseminate Buddhist ideology and court orders throughout the Mauryan Empire.
Distribution of the Pillars
- Pillars have been found in Bihar at four sites:
- Kolhua (Vaishali) — with a lion capital, but without any inscription; this is the largest of all the Mauryan pillars.
- Lauriya Areraj — without an animal capital, but bearing an inscription; it carries one of the first six pillar edicts of Ashoka, in early Brahmi characters.
- Lauriya Nandangarh — with a lion capital.
- Rampurva — where two pillars have been found, one with a lion capital and the other with a bull capital.
- Ashokan pillars have also been found at other sites, including Meerut, Topra (Delhi), Allahabad, Sankissa, Sanchi, Sarnath, Lumbini, Nigali-Sagar, Basarh, and Kosam.
Features of the Pillars
- The pillars were usually made of buff-grey coloured sandstone from the Chunar region (near Banaras), though some were made of spotted red and white sandstone from the Mathura region.
- Language: while most Ashokan pillar edicts were composed in Pali and Prakrit, a few were also written in Greek or Aramaic.
- The Mauryan pillars mainly comprise four parts:
- Shaft: a long shaft forming the base, made from a single piece of stone, or monolith.
- Lower capital: atop the shaft lay an inverted lotus-shaped, or inverted bell-shaped, form.
- Middle capital (abacus): a circular, rectangular, or circular base, engraved on its sides with animal figures or floral designs — spoked wheels are engraved on the Sarnath and Sanchi pillars.
- Capital figure: all the capital figures (usually animals such as a bull, lion, or elephant) are vigorously carved, standing on a square or circular abacus. Notable examples include the four-lion capital at Sanchi and Sarnath, the single bull at Rampurva, and the single elephant at Sankissa.
- Technique: the pillars were polished using the technique of agate burnishing; they have no base, are circular in shape, taper narrower towards the top, are carved from a single monolithic piece of stone, and are plain, without ornamentation.
- The Sarnath Pillar was constructed to mark the occasion of the Buddha turning the wheel of law.
Comparing Mauryan and Achaemenian (Persian) Pillars
Similarities
- Both Mauryan and Achaemenian pillars used polished stone and shared certain common sculptural motifs, such as the lotus.
- The Mauryan practice of inscribing proclamations — relating to Buddhist teachings and court orders — on pillars may have had its origin in Persian pillar traditions; inscriptions in both empires begin in the third person before shifting to the first person.
- Both traditions used stone construction and employed animal figures as capitals; the “80-Pillared Hall” at Kumhrar bears many similarities to the “Hall of a Hundred Pillars” built by Darius in his capital, Persepolis.
- Scholars such as D.B. Spooner and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy support the view that Mauryan pillars were modelled on Achaemenian columns, arguing that no comparable stone tradition existed in India before 300 BCE, and attributing its sudden emergence to Achaemenian influence.
- Iran and India had established cultural contacts, and Darius’s conquest of north-western India had further strengthened this relationship; the use of the Kharoshthi script and Aramaic language in some Ashokan pillars is cited as further support for this view.
Dissimilarities
- The historian Niharranjan Ray, however, questioned this view of Achaemenian influence, pointing to several key differences:
- The capital figure: absent in the Mauryan pillars of the Kumhrar hall, whereas the pillars at Persepolis feature elaborate capital figures.
- Achaemenian capitals feature two animals seated back to back, while Ashokan capitals feature either four animals or a single animal; Achaemenian capitals include forms such as the unicorn and the inverted cup, which are absent in Mauryan pillars, while the elephant appears in Mauryan pillars but not in Achaemenian ones.
- There is no abacus in Achaemenian pillars.
- Shape and ornamentation: the shape of the Mauryan lotus differs from that of the Persian pillar.
- Pillar surface: most Persian pillars have a fluted or ridged surface, whereas Mauryan pillars are smooth.
- Architectural scheme: Achaemenid pillars were generally part of a larger, somewhat complex architectural scheme, whereas Ashokan pillars were simple, independent, free-standing monuments.
- Shaft: unlike Mauryan shafts, built from a single monolithic piece of stone, Persian/Achaemenian shafts were built from separate segments of stone aggregated one above the other.
- Achaemenian pillars have a base (inverted lotus-shaped), while Ashokan pillars have none.
- Achaemenian pillars represent victory in military terms, while Ashokan pillars represent victory in terms of Dhammavijaya.
- The sudden emergence of this stone tradition may also simply be explained in light of the growth of the empire and its evolving imperial taste, rather than solely through external influence.
Stupas
- A stupa is a burial mound covered by a hemispherical structure — a solid dome, generally made of brick or stone. After the Mahaparinirvana (departure) of Lord Buddha, his physical remains were divided into eight parts, and stupas were built over each.
- Pre-Mauryan stupas were built of metal; of the original eight, remains of only the Piprahwa stupa have been found.
- It was really during Ashoka’s reign that stupas were built extensively — he is said to have had over 84,000 stupas constructed.
- Architecture: stupas consist of a cylindrical drum with a circular anda, a harmika, and a chhatra on top:
- Anda: the hemispherical mound, symbolic of the mound of dirt used to cover the Buddha’s remains (in many stupas, actual relics were used).
- Harmika: a square railing atop the mound.
- Chhatra: a central pillar supporting a form resembling a triple umbrella.
- Vedika: a railing running all around the stupa, built of stone and sparklingly polished.
- Torana: entry gateways positioned on all four sides.
- Materials used: the core of the stupa was made of unburnt brick, while the outer surface was made of burnt brick, covered with a thick layer of plaster; the medhi and the torana were decorated with wooden sculptures. The whole structure itself served as a place of worship, with the vedika and torana bearing beautiful engravings — on the stambha and ushnisha — related to folk and Buddhist symbols.
- Examples: the Mahastupa at Sanchi, built by Ashoka (and later developed further during the Shunga period), and the Dharmarajika stupa at Sarnath, also built by Ashoka.
Cave Architecture
- Cave architecture began during the Mauryan period, with caves cut directly into the rock of hills; though excavated in hard granite rock, the interior walls were polished to a glass-like finish.
- During the Mauryan period, caves were generally used as viharas — living quarters — by Jain and Buddhist monks; these particular caves were built by Ashoka and his grandson Dasaratha for the residence of the Ajivikas.
- Examples: in Gaya, three caves can be seen on the Nagarjuni hills and four on the Barabar hills, including the Sudama cave, the Karna Chaupar cave, and the Lomash Rishi cave (the most famous of all).
- The gateway of the Lomash Rishi cave at the Barabar hills features an ornamented, arched entrance.
- Shape of the caves: typically two chambers — one circular and the other rectangular.
Sculpture
- Mauryan sculpture encompasses both court and folk art, with sculptures made of stone, metal, and clay.
Court Sculpture
- Stone sculptures are found in three forms: sculptures made by cutting stone, sculptures engraved or independently carved upon a monolithic pillar, and independently made sculptures in their own right.
- The elephant carved out of the Dhauli stone in Odisha demonstrates the excellence of Mauryan stone sculpture — the elephant appears remarkably natural, almost ready to emerge from the stone itself. Similarly, an image of an elephant is found engraved on the Kalsi (Dehradun) stone; both images represent the height of excellence achieved in this field.
- Sculpture carved upon the monolithic pillar has already been discussed above; metal sculptures, meanwhile, are mentioned by Kautilya.
Folk Sculpture
- Independently made sculptures are found mostly within folk art, as are sculptures made of clay.
Folk Art
- Folk art was developed by independent artisans, without any royal patronage. Notable examples include:
- The Yaksha idol found at Parkham village, Mathura district — also known as Manibhadra.
- The Didarganj Yakshini idol (Patna), now exhibited at the Patna Museum, made of sandstone and polished.
- A laughing boy found at Bulandibagh.
- Two naked images of a Jaina saint, found at Lohanipur (Patna).
- A tri-mukha (three-faced) Yaksha idol, found at Rajghat (Varanasi).
- The images above are made of grey sandstone, still sparkling with their original Mauryan polish, with bodies decorated with clothing and ornaments.
Pottery: Northern Black Polished Ware
- The pottery of the Mauryan period is generally referred to as Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW), characterised by black paint and a highly lustrous finish, and generally used as a luxury item.
- Kosambi and Pataliputra were the principal centres of NBPW pottery production.
Conclusion
Mauryan art — from the monumental pillars and their contested relationship with Achaemenian traditions, to the earliest stupas and cave architecture, to the refined court and folk sculpture found across sites like Sarnath, Didarganj, and Lohanipur — marked both a revival of India’s stone-working tradition and the beginning of an indigenous artistic vocabulary that would shape Indian art for centuries thereafter. For UPSC History Optional aspirants, this dual legacy of Mauryan Court Art and Folk Art, and the enduring scholarly debate over its Persian influences, remains a foundational theme in the study of ancient Indian art and architecture.
