Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 05.djvu/178

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INDIAN ARCHITECTURE 140 INDIANS INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. that form of the building art existing in, and to a certain extent peculiar to, India. No remains exist earlier than the 3d century b. c, when the Emperor Asoka made Buddhism the religion of India. After that period there arose (1) Bud- dhist architecture, followed by (2) the Jaina Architecture. Of styles more distinctively Hindu there were four — viz., (3) the Southern, (4) the Northern, and (5) the Modern Hindu; and (6) the Cashmirian. Temples, etc., of the South- ern Hindu style exist within the area formed by a line drawn E. and W. from Madras to Mangalore, constituting a tri- angle, having each side 400 miles. The chief race is the Tamul. The temples are divided into a square Viman (the temple proper), with a pyramidal roof of one or more stories, mantapas (porches), gopuras (gate pyramids), and choultries (pillared halls). The most splendid example is the temple at Tanjore, its base being a square of 82 feet. The finest temples are in Orissa, especially Bobaneswar, built about A. D. 657. They have a curved spire, some- times surrounded by other spires. The Modern Hindu style is this ancient one modified by Mohammedan styles. INDIANS, AMERICAN, the original inhabitants of the western hemisphere. The name Indian was bestowed by Co- lumbus upon the copper-colored natives who greeted him when he first set foot on the soil of the New World, which he at that time supposed constituted a portion of India. The name has remained, and with the prefix "American" includes all the native races inhabiting the region from Mexico to the Arctic Ocean on the N., and to Tierra del Fuego on the S. Disfrihution. — The Esquimaux or In- nuit, the most N. of these tribes, extend across the continent along the Polar Sea. Next below them are the allied Kenai and Athabascan groups, the former repre- sented chiefly by the Yellow Knife or Atna tribe on the Yukon river. The Athabascans are chiefly found between Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains, but include besides the Chippeways, Cop- permine, Dogrib, and Beaver Indians; the Tlatskanai, Unkwa, and Hoopah In- dians of the Oregon coast; the Navajo tribe of the Highlands of New Mexico; the Apaches, ranging from the W. Col- orado to Chihuahua and Coahuila; and the Lipani, N. of the mouth of the Rio Grande del Norte. Canada and the United States E. of the Mississippi were formerly inhabited by the Algonquin- Lenape and the Iroquois, generally at war with each other. The extreme W. of the Algonquin region was occupied by the Blackfeet Indians; the Ojibways held the shores of Lake Superior; S. and W. of Hudson Bay were the Crees. The Lenni-Lenape section of the Algonquin- Lenape group comprised the five nations of the Delawares, including the Mohi- cans. The Iroquois included the Sene- cas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks, who formed a league of five nations, afterward joined by the Tusca- roras. The Hurons were of the Iroquois group. The Dakotah or Sioux group oc- cupied the plains between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi as far S. as Arkansas, and included the Assini- boines, Winnepegs, lowas, Omahas, Os- ages, Kansas, Arkansas, Menitarees, Crows, and Mandans. W. of the Missis- sippi also were the Pawnees and Ricka- rees about the Nebraska or Platte river, and to the S. E. were the Choctaws and Chickasaws. In the Rocky Mountain re- gions were the Shoshone or Snake Indi- ans, including the Comanches and others. The Cherokee tribes, which inhabited South and North Carolina, formed a de- tached group, and the Texas Indians were comprised in many small and di- verse tribes. Below these, in New Mex- ico, a more advanced and distinct family is found called Moquis or Pueblo Indi- ans. Of the numerous families occupy- ing Mexico the Nahuatls or Aztecs were the most powerful and civilized. The Otomis, speaking a peculiar language, were also a numerous people in Mexico. In Central America the predominating family was the Maya, including the Quiches, Kachiquels, etc. Portions of the Aztec tribes were also found in Cen- tral America. In South America the leading and more advanced famil'es were those that made up the Peruvian empire, among which the Inca race and the Ay- maras were the chief. The Araucanians, to the S. of these, in Chile, had a consid- erable resemblance to the Algonquins and Iroquois of North America. The re- maining portions of the continent, in- cluding the great alluvial tracts of the Atlantic slope, were principally occupied by the Guaranis; but along its N. coast were found the Caribs, who spread also over the Antilles and most of the West Indian Islands. In the extreme S. part of the continent live the tall Patagonians or Tehuelches, and squalid families in some respects resembling the more de- based Australians. Origin. — Speculation in regard to the origin of the American Indian has no limit; definite knowledge of his origin is an unknown quantity. By some, the tribes are considered an aboriginal and single stock, by others a mixture of Mon-