INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 607 is significant of the intense heat which prevails, which influenced tlie size and forms of architectural openings. The pierced screen or lattice window in Indian and all Eastern art is a decorative feature due to persistent sunsliine, and acting as a fine architectural screen against the excessive light and heat, Water storage being important for irrigation and as a provision for the dry season, rendered necessary the number of canals, reser- voirs, and tanks in connection with temples and palaces. These form such special features in Indian architecture. iv. Religion. — The Early Vedic religion, of which the " Rig- Veda "• — a collection of poems addressed to the gods — forms the literary memorial, had existed long before the rise of Buddhism in the sixth century B.C. Buddhist. — Sakya Muni (Buddha — the "Enlightened"), the founder of Buddhism, was born in b.c. 623, and died e.g. 543, and from the age of thirty-five spent his life in preaching. Asoka (B.C. 272-236) adopted and made Buddhism the state religion, as Constantine did with Christianity. It remained so for nearly a thousand years, i.e., from e.g. 250 till a.d. 750. From the foundation of Buddhism, the first great bond of union among the Indian races, can be traced the historical architecture of India, an architecture of religion, in which the sacred buildings were originally not temples to gods but monasteries or memorial shrines to holy men. Relic worship, an essential feature of the Buddhist religion, necessitated the erection of the many important topes or dagobas containing a relic of a deceased saint, such as a tooth, bone, toe- nail, or even hair. The tenets of Buddhism are inscribed on the monuments chronologically at Buddh Gaya, Bharbut, the topes and gateways at Sanchi and elsewhere, few other records existing. Tree and serpent worship, which was introduced by the non-Aryan peoples of India, still prevails, and is responsible for many decorative emblems, as seven-headed serpents. The celebrated "Bo-Tree" at Anuradhapura, in Ceylon, has been worshipped for over two thousand years. Jaina. — This religion, which rose to importance about a.d. iooo, seems to have been founded on Buddhism, A statue of one of the twenty-four Jinas or saints (with distinctive sign, as a bull, elephant, monkey, crocodile, rhinoceros, or lion) is placed in each temple. The extraordinary number of image cells in one building, numbering 236, has led some to suppose that the Jains believed the saint was honoured in direct ratio to the number of his statues. Hindu. — The modern Hindu religion, generally known as the Brahmanical (the name of the priestly order), dates from about A.D. 750. It was the joint product of Vedic, Brahmanism and
