What are the art and architecture of Maurya dynasty
Answers
Answer:
The most significant remains of monumental Mauryan art include the remains of the royal palace and the city of Pataliputra, a monolithic rail at Sarnath, the Bodhimandala or the altar resting on four pilars at Bodhgaya, the rock-cut chaitya-halls in the Barabar Caves near Gaya including the Sudama cave bearing the inscription dated the 12th regnal year of Ashoka, the non-edict bearing and edict bearing pillars, the animal sculptures crowning the pillars with animal and vegetal reliefs decorating the abaci of the capitals and the front half of the representation of an elephant carved out in the round from a live rock at Dhauli.[
Explanation:
Ananda Coomaraswamy, writing in 1923, argued that the Mauryan art has three main phases.[2] The first phase is found in some instances of the representation of the Vedic deities (the most significant examples are the reliefs of Surya and Indra at the Bhaja Caves).[2] However the art of the Bhaja Caves is now generally dated later than the Mauryan period, to the 2nd-1st centuries BCE.[3] The second phase was the court art of Ashoka, typically found in the monolithic columns on which his edicts are inscribed and the third phase was the beginning of brick and stone architecture, as in the case of the original stupa at Sanchi, the small monolithic rail at Sanchi and the Lomas Rishi Cave in the Barabar Caves, with its ornamented facade, reproducing the forms of wooden structure.[2]
Most scholars agree that Mauryan art was influenced by Greek and Persian art, especially in imperial sculpture and architecture.[4] Political and cultural contacts between the Greek and Persian cultures and India were intensive and ran for a long period of time, encouraging the propagation of their advances in the area of sculpture.[4]