the history of Aryan rule in India, as every Indo-Aryan dynasty built royal chapels for the worship of its Ishta-devata. Beginning with Vedic times, it was the symbol of the Kshatriya chieftain's priestly functions, laid aside for a time when the Buddhist monk became the people's guru, and the relic shrine the people's temple. It reappeared when Buddhism itself found an iconic symbol in the crowned king, and when the abbot of a monastery assumed all the insignia of royalty. From that time to the present day almost every temple in Aryāvarta, the modern Hindustan, has been crowned by the royal sikhara.
The shape of the sikhara follows the plan of the shrine, or cella,[1] which it covers. This may be circular, octagonal, or star-shaped, but generally it is square. The simplest form of it is found in thousands of wayside shrines in Northern India (Pl. XV). Every province has a characteristic variation given by local schools of craftsmen, but these are much too numerous to describe. So far as is known, the most ancient sikhara temple existing in India is the great shrine of the Bodhi-tree at Bodh-Gayā, marking the spot where the Blessed One obtained enlightenment. The shrine which Asoka built at the same place is represented in the Bharhut sculptures (Pl. XIII, a). It is interesting to note that here and elsewhere at Bharhut the symbolism of the "Persepolitan" capital is explained, for the turned-down petals of the lotus are carved upon the "bell" of the Asokan pillar standing in front of the entrance. The present brick temple at Bodh-Gayā (Pl. XIII, b) is structurally, perhaps, that which Huvishka, the Kushān king, built in the first century B.C., but the exterior is to a great extent a modern restoration undertaken by the Archæological
- ↑ Hiranya-garbha, womb of the universe.
