Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/52

HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. Khandagiri inscription about B.C. I5O. 1 Their capital was at DhSnyakataka, on the lower Krishna, close to Amaravati ; but, at a later date, they had a second capital at Paithan on the upper Godavari. They ruled over Malwa and the Dekhan from sea to sea, but about the end of the 1st or beginning of the 2nd century the provinces north of the Narbada seem to have been conquered by Saka. satraps, who were overthrown about A.D. 125, by Gautamiputra Satakarni, who raised the dynasty to the height of its power. The kings of this race have, however, left many and most interesting inscriptions in the western caves, and traces of their existence occur in many parts of India. Architecturally, their history begins with the gateways of the Tope at Sanchi ; the southern of these was almost certainly erected during the reign of the first Satakarni about the middle of the 2nd century before our era and the other three in the course of that century. It ends with the com- pletion of the rail at Amaravati, which was probably commenced in the ist century, and completed before the end of the 2nd. 2 Between these two monuments there is no great difficulty in filling up the architectural picture from the caves, at Nasik, Kanheri and Ajanta, and other places in western India, and more materials may still eventually be discovered. The history of this dynasty is more than usually interesting for our purposes, as it embraces nearly the whole period during which Buddhism reigned almost supreme in India. It became a State religion, it is true, somewhat earlier under A^oka, but there is no reason for believing that the Vedic religion or Brahmanism then vanished. During four or five centuries, however, after the A-roka Era we have not a trace of a Hindu building or cave, and, so far as any material evidence goes, it seems that Buddhism at the time was the predominant religion of the land. It is not, of course, to be supposed that the Hindu cult was wholly obliterated, but it was dormant, and in abeyance, and, to use a Buddhist expression, the yellow robes shone over the length and breadth of the land. It was during the rule of these Andhras, though not by them, that the fourth convocation was held by Kanishka, in the north of India, and the new doctrine, the Mahayana, 1 ' Epigraphia Indica,' vol. ii. pp. 88-89. 2 For fuller details of the Sanchi and Amaravati Stupas, the reader is referred to 'Tree and Serpent Worship,' which is practically devoted to a description of them. For a further account of Amaravati, and a rectification of the dates in accordance with later dis- coveries, reference may be made to ' The Amaravati and Jaggayapeta Stupas ' (1887); and to Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar's ' Early Dekhan Dynasties ' in the Bombay Gazetteer, vol. i. pt. ii.